Euroleague matches are typically licensed to an operator in a country that holds the exclusive rights for broadcasting it. At the same time, Euroleague keeps the rights to broadcast the matches in real-time and offers a VoD service for the matches at www.euroleague.net.  What I found quite interesting last week-end was the fact that the euroleague final four games were broadcasted not by one but two channels. Something which, to the best of my knowledge, was new for Greece.

It was not just two broadcasters competing by serving different content at the same time of the day. It was practically the same content, the same match, with different added-value per case . Two separate crews of reporters and speakers covering the event. It was practically two network/service providers serving the same content in different package.

Quality became the major differentiating point to choose one program over the other. It was not simply that you had to choose between watching the game and watching other channels (for the most part discussions about the elections). A viewer could choose based on the quality of the transmission, and there was a big difference. The quality of the speakers, the reporters in the court, the commentators and guests, it all counted. It worth noting that I didn’t watch all the games on one channel only.

It seems that service providers (which in the aforementioned case were also the network providers) realize that the quality of service becomes a major decision point for the consumer. Content was the king. But it won’t be for long. Quality of service and the value that it adds to the content is going to change that.

For the record, Olympiakos won the cup after 15 years. Two great wins against the biggest names of the season Barcelona and CSLA Moscow landed the trophy to Greece for the second consecutive year.

For more read: http://www.e-alsace.net/index.php/smallnews/detail?newsId=10264.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2k2l5P7gII

Similarly to previous years, network providers continued in 2011 to eye FTTP networks as an option to upgrade their access facilities and differentiate themselves from the competition. The new report “The World of Fiber – 2012 edition” prepared by yours truly and released last week by Diffraction Analysis offers an in-depth analysis and supportive data of what is happening in the world with regards to FTTP. What becomes most apparent in our analysis is that the number of countries where FTTP is happening  either by governments that take a serious look at the topic or by forward-looking private firms continues to grow. The report also features a taxonomy of network providers and their corresponding roll-out strategies. This taxonomy provides insight on the similarities and differences of these actors on the basis of their core business (telcos, cable TV providers, alternative operators, public agencies and real-estate developers) and the characteristics of the geographical markets.

This is a free-to-get report and you can have it if you ask for it. Be sure to expect more insight on the global FTTP market in a new, more analytical version of the report, which will be available soon. For more information visit the web site of Diffraction Analysis.

Zhone Technologies and Palm Hills Development (PHD) announced the deployment of an FTTH network in one of PHD’s new development areas. Egypt has been very slow in adopting FTTH and the market is practically driven by private initiatives mostly from property developers. PHD is very active in this domain and has made a few FTTH announcements in the past. FTTH in the country is so far financially attractive only to high-income residential areas and holiday resorts.

The first week of February marked the end of an era for me, both professionally and personally. On Monday 6, I successfully defended my PhD thesis (title: Next Generation Access Networks: Strategies for Municipal Intervention). It was the final step in a little over 6 years effort.

These were exciting years, I can tell you. Next to my doctoral degree, I worked on developing my freelance business, and tried as much as humanly possible to be a good husband to a wonderful wife and a good dad to two beautiful, smart kids. It wasn’t easy but the people around me – especially the important ones – made it feel achievable.

So, 6.5 years after, the PhD is behind me, I have lots of productive time free again  :-), and I am fortunate to be working with some of the most brilliant minds in the  industry and to be  involved in projects that challenge common business stereotypes and traditional market perspectives.

I want to keep one final note for the blog. The last two years, I faced rough times and things got worse last summer. As a result I haven’t been as loyal as I would like to be to this blog and ended up writing practically only once or twice per month. Even so, the subscriptions and site visits stayed close to what they used to be in the past with some overall drop but not dramatic. The outlook is much better than I’d ever expect it to be. I want to thank you all for that. This is a serious morale boost. I promise to be in full shape soon.

Because (to paraphrase Arnold), I am back!

Bezeq, the Israeli incumbent plans for a field trail of GPON FTTH. As part of a several months long trial in Petach Tiqva the operator will connect hundreds of GPON FTTH subscribers. These are surprising news from Israel where no serious FTTH seemed not to be considered by any major provider. There’s an article with more details about the project in Hebrew.

link