Work package 3 conducts case studies (e.g., successful business stories) that show examples where R&D know-
how has been transferred to industry and applied in the context of defined scenarios for metro, urban and rural access in an attempt to expose and confirm the real needs and priorities for different groups of residential users. The studies will be based on combinations of broadband access and aggregation methodology options. An aim will be to work with developers who are responsible for infrastructure development to identify self-financing service/infrastructure scenarios using new technology options and also with other FP6 projects with appropriate technology offerings.WP3 will exhibit those cases that are the most successful (technologically and business-wise) and which
can be considered as good practices. This will lead to the development of a preliminary model framework as part of the strategic modelling activity in WP4 where, after it is refined, it will lead to the presentation of a .Good Practice Framework. in WP5. The work performed will be carried out along two axes (not necessarily orthogonal): one will entail the study and evaluation of existing business cases (in the commercial deployment of broadband services) and exhibit those that they can be deemed as the most successful, while the other will engage the application of methodologies and simulated experiments (games). Both these approaches, namely the actual cases and the simulated environment will provide valuable (and in most cases hopefully comparable) results and feedback with clear benefits for all the participating actors.WP3 will vigorously support the activities of WP1 (Knowledge Dissemination, Networking
Support and Events); it aims at illustrating applications and successful practices in the implementation of technologies for broadband access. WP3 will furthermore:- enable broadband connectivity and e-service priorities and requirements to be further understood in the context of national and regional cultures and regulatory framework
- take account of national need, commercial imperatives and regulatory objectives and will encourage the advance towards knowledge-based economies across Europe
- engage external players (e.g., Affiliated Partners in validating the results of the case studies and/or be actively involved is such studies
- provide networking opportunities to help players to better understand the technical options and economic factors and the suppliers to better understand the market opportunities
- present results at workshops with actors and published to raise awareness of service, network and technology opportunities with organisations providing e-services, networks or related technology.
Early in the work package certain modelling tasks will be carried out to arrive at a suitable data input format,
where templates will be defined in conjunction with WP2 (Broadband Access) and WP3 (Case Studies): WP2 will define the technology attributes and values whilst WP3 will define the services characteristics. The model will aim at generating a set of pre-selected cost/revenue characteristics and, as all of the data and calculated results are accessible, a trained user could prepare additional characteristics. The model will be further used for scenario analyses while refined versions of it will serve as basis for WP4 (Strategic Modelling and Planning) work package. A schematic of the proposed workflow for the work packages is shown below:
Throughout this workpackage we will create and evaluate sample business cases related with the deployment of
broadband networks and the associated services that would be offered over them. Examples of possible case studies are:- upgrade of an ADSL network to a VDSL
- upgrade of an HFC network with GbE overlay
- upgrade to a UMTS based 3G network from 2G
- WiMax fixed wireless versus APON FTTH broadband connectivity.
A number of additional scenarios can be devised and investigated including:
- rapid market penetration vs. a conservative approach
- identification of the proper customer base for a specified technology.
As first part in the creation of each case study, we will carry out the following steps:
- identification of the customer demands in terms of services, market penetration, demand evolution, spatial customer distribution, user behaviour, etc.
- identification of the relevant broadband access technologies / registration of the current state
- technological forecasting and registration of trends and development possibilities
- market analysis of broadband access technologies / registration of the technology’s potential for market entry.
The outcome of carrying out these steps is the formulation of a roadmap for the evolution of broadband
access technologies and for developing strategies for the deployment of each broadband access network technology.The various case studies will be evaluated using a modelling methodology for network value analysis that has been
developed by previous EU projects and will involve CapEx & OpEx calculation methodologies and overall case evaluation based on techno-economic evaluation measures (e.g. NPV, IRR). The costs & benefits of the currently installed systems and those of the new broadband system will be compared. Besides development and implementation costs the ongoing support costs should be also considered. The methodology that will be used for the evaluation of the various cases is presented in the figure below.