Value-added services for fibre to the home: Market potential, time horizons and user groups

Abstract

Currently, telecom operators are developing large-scale projects in the internet broadband sector in cooperation with utility companies and public institutions. The roll-out of fibre to the home network infrastructure is often justified by the supposed increasing user demand for high-bandwidth applications. Starting from a user-oriented perspective, however, it is important to consider the utility of fibre networks for future users and to explore those killer applications that can convince end-users to migrate from their current connections to high-bandwidth networks. By means of an international expert survey, this paper tries to identify value-added services that benefit from fibre's network potential in terms of high speed, symmetry and low delay. In contrast to initial expectations, video delivery applications were found less convincing by the experts whereas health monitoring, online content storage and management services, and desktop sharing were identified as the most promising fibre applications. In terms of timing, content storage and management systems and desktop sharing are identified as more market-ready than health monitoring applications. Whereas the health monitoring and desktop sharing are mainly seen as a service only for the consumer and business market respectively, content management systems are considered useful for business as well as for consumer purposes.