D4

The current document reports on service deployment issues for the foreseen project trials, presenting also an overview of the current broadband network market and next generation network deployments, and the project exploitable results. The dominant service and respective business models foreseen to be used in such service deployments are presented and the trial sites report on feedback based on these service and respective business models. For this, a structured questionnaire has been prepared to capture the foreseen involvement in broadband service deployment of the trial participating local government organizations.

The project exploitable results are identified in the present document as the VisionAIR common platform, the service portfolio and the associated business cases per trial. The VisionAIR Common Platform is one of the major project results and enables the provision of data, voice & video services over IP networks, as a set of basic functionality, bearer services, that allow the synthesis of complex service offerings as well as interfaces to 3rd party service and content providers. The VisionAIR Service Portfolio is built as sets of value added services, to be provided in the VisionAIR trials. These sets will be used as paradigms for future exploitation of VisionAIR results. A summary of the service bundles available to users target groups are also included. Business case studies per trial are presented having as a goal to provide a number of conclusions regarding the sustainability / viability of the VisionAIR business concepts as applied to the 4 pilots. Service deployment issues are discussed. The broadband market status with focus on the European countries, where the trials will be performed is analyzed along with a detailed analysis of the drivers of this market. The service offerings are described in detail, addressing market needs, commercial aspects with respect to the trial sites in which the services will be offered and concludes with the positioning of the foreseen services to market segments.

Business models associated with broadband network services are presented along with the business modeling practices and methodology on which the derivation of the business models is based. Three models for service provision are included, namely the open service, the walled garden and the semi-walled garden. The business models for each entity in the VisionAIR value web are presented and a description of the roles and relationships of each organization are also provided. Conclusions about the models and practices that can potentially be adopted by the municipalities in order to assist large-scale deployment are included.

As far as service models are concerned, the “semi-walled garden” model seems to be the most appropriate one for adoption by the municipalities in the VisionAIR framework. It allows network operators a certain investment assurance in order to team with municipalities, while it is also for the benefit of the end user since it stimulates competition between service providers. However, it is heavily dependent on the implementation of the platform in terms of appealing features and actual participation requirements posed to 3rd party providers.