Barcelona, an open digital hub

The protagonism of Catalonia and Barcelona in the broadband development is high. We analyse in collaboration with Héctor Gasulla, Andy Causse and Adrià Laborda the broadband reality in Catalonia, focusing on its capital, which has an interesting history behind it. The importance of communication in Barcelona has been so great throughout its history. 

It is well known that telecommunication is a powerful weapon to control the public opinion from the population and manipulate information such as in the Civil War. One of the best examples were the 18th July 1936 and the May Days of 1937. Although Internet didn’t arrive until the late 1990’s, communications were so important in this period of Spain’s History. We are talking about radio, telephonic lines and telegraphs were so important these days and were used for informing the population, but also to point which are the real enemies.

Banda ampla i HbbTV: la santa aliança

Un dels fenòmens més atractius i rupturistes dels últims anys (de fet, ja de fa gairebé un decenni) és l’aparició de l’estàndar de televisió interactiva HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV), que s’ha demostrat que permet una millor monetització de les inversions publicitàries.

De fet, tenim l’honor d’haver assolit i portar a terme una recerca inclosa en el Projecte Reptes de la Direcció General d'Investigació Científica i Tècnica, Subdirecció General de Projectes d'Investigació, Ministeri d'Economia, Indústria i Competitivitat, "Noves formes de publicitat interactiva en televisió, Internet i els mitjans digitals. Aplicacions reals en HbbTV "(CSO2017-88895-R), des de Blanquerna-Universitat Ramon Llull, CECABLE, Cellnex i altres entitats

Broadband in Maresme and Mataró

Broadband is necessary. In Catalonia, the most remarkable changes that have been done in the broadband sector is related to the rural zones, a problematic that has been faced mostly via WiMAX technology, creating a network called Banda Ancha Rural (BAR). We will analyze this case and the Maresme and the Mataró case, with Neus Masnou, from UPF.

When it comes to the situation in Spain, the downloading speed is of 15,25Mbps, a little bit under the media on the European Union, that reaches a speed of 18,44Mbps.

Some keys for broadband in Spain

Like any other country in the world, Spain has its own broadband world that it’s important to know, especially if you’re Spanish or based in Spain. To understand Spain’s broadband system and the evolution of its Broadband Society, we have to take into account different things, and we analyze it in collaboration with Aina Velasco. 

First of all, we must know the biggest and most important providers. Movistar is, without any doubts, the biggest broadband provider of the whole country, and it’s owned by the telecommunications giant Telefonica. 

Broadband in Germany: promoting fiber optics

German technology is symbol of reliability, quality, innovation and high technology. We analyze the Broadband Society in Germany in collaboration with Natalie Barresi, from UPF. As it refers to high-speed internet broadband, Germany is certainly at the head of the group, right? Wrong, actually Germany scrambles to merely cover large cities with broadband and has consistently missed the dates agreed by both government and telecom companies to build a digital infrastructure that matches their European neighbors’. 

According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, a research center composed of the world’s most developed economies, Germany’s adoption of fiber-optic cable stands at just 1.8 percent of Internet users, putting it fifth from the bottom in the list of the OECD’s 35 members. In contrast both Japan and South Korea have more than 70 percent of subscribers on super-fast fiber-optic cable.

Broadband in Guatemala: new challenges to advance

The digital era has made broadband a global necessity, yet, many countries are still struggling to cope with this technology. We analyze the case of Guatemala in collaboration with Natalia Gámez, from UPF. The Latin American case is very useful to show the universalization of broadband everywhere, taking in consideration applications like e-commerce and uses in rural and sustainable tourism.

In the framework of the Broadband Society, Guatemala is a country in which the political and economic condition of the same highly influences and limits the telecommunication system of the country, as in many other third world countries. In CECABLE we are collaborating with Latin American research centers to improve communication and telecommunications.

The effects of broadband in music

In recent years, broadband has become an essential tool to transmit data from one place to another. Multiple disciplines have been positively affected by this phenomenon. One example is music industry, which has suffered the consequences of the constant progresses in information and communication technologies (ICT) and Broadband Society. These progresses have been included in all the phases: from the production of the music to the distribution of these contents. We analyze it with Roger Argemí Tutusaus, from UPF.

Regarding to the creation of the songs, the situation has significantly improved since the last century. Editorial companies are the ones in which the authors write songs after the major labels request them hits for their artists. The work of editorial companies is to manage the author rights, strongly associated to the intellectual property and copyright. When authors write songs, they create from different places in the world at the same time. This requires a good connection to the Internet, in order to share large files and to have them mixed and mastered before the deadline. In fact, files are usually uploaded in a WAV format, which means a lot of storage.

Key factors for the Spanish broadband

In the context of the Broadband Society and the Internet access, broadband encloses any high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than dial-up access over traditional analogue or ISDN PSTN services. We analyze it in collaboration with Clàudia Llena.

According to the the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) made by the European Commission on May 2018, the broadband in Spain is very expensive compared to the rest of the countries in the EU. In fact, in 21 countries of the 28 that form the EU, it is cheaper than in Spain to have internet connection. It affects rural and sustainable tourism.

Agraïment per l'èxit de les XXIV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya

Moltes gràcies a totes i a tots! Hem gaudit d'unes XXIV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya boniques, intenses, apassionades, amb una espectacular participació de públic i uns continguts capdavanters. El networking empresarial ha estat constant, i hem pogut llançar idees per aconseguir la universalització de la connectivitat i fórmules creatives per a l'HbbTV

Us adjunto un dels nombrosos impactes mediàtics assolits. De fet, tant en mitjans de comunicación com en xarxes socials hem aconseguit un moviment enorme. Estem contentíssims. Ja comencem a preparar el màgic repte de les XXV Jornades del Cable i la Banda Ampla a Catalunya-2020. Seran 25 anys i ho celebrarem d'allò més!

El HbbTV cataliza las XXIV Jornadas del Cable y la Banda Ancha en Cataluña

¡En pocos días ya llegan! Sí, el 9 y 10 de abril el HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV), el cable y la banda ancha gobernarán el debate científico de las XXIV Jornadas del Cable y la Banda Ancha en Cataluña-2019, organizadas por el Centro de Estudios sobre el Cable (CECABLE), Blanquerna-UniversitatRamon Llull (incluyendo al grupo de investigación INTADTV) Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros Técnicos de Telecomunicación de Cataluña (COETTC) y Acotec (Asociación Catalana de Operadores de Telecomunicaciones por Cable) en el Auditorio Blanquerna de la Universidad Ramon Llull, en el centro de Barcelona. 

El HbbTV refleja la necesidad de un flujo de banda ancha generoso y, a poder ser, garantizado. La Sociedad de la Banda Ancha y el Cloud Journalism se sintetizan en este estándar interactivo que se está expandiendo internacionalmente y que concede el control a las cadenas de televisión, en contraste con un Smart TV en manos de los fabricantes.