Deutsche Telekom is harmonising its broadband device middleware with that of T-Mobile US’s fast-growing Home Internet service, opening the way to collaboration on customer experience initiatives and a parallel 5G fixed-wireless access launch in Europe.The project is seeing both DT and its American business roll out open source Reference Design Kit for Broadband (RDK-B)-based middleware on their home routers, giving them a “common architecture” on which to offer residential users more advanced device management, parental control, security, and troubleshooting features.DT, one of RDK-B’s main backers, has already been deploying the technology on cable, DSL, and fibre routers (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #105 and #113), and now plans to extend adoption to wireless broadband devices for the home.According to DT’s latest Annual Report, a “new-generation”, RDK-B-based router went live in Austria and Poland last year, and is tabled for deployment across all Europe markets by 2024.A win for EuropeThe collaboration between DT and T-Mobile US was flagged briefly by Group Technology & Innovation Head Claudia Nemat last week, in a speech at Mobile World Congress.She highlighted that T-Mobile’s Home Internet service — which has signed up 2.6 million customers since debuting in April 2021 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #121 and passim) — will “soon” be enhanced with DT’s RDK-B-based platform. This, she noted, was an example of a “global innovation originated in Europe… being adapted to the United States”, instead of the other way round.Nemat went on to confirm that the RDK-B-based software and accompanying app were now being rolled out by DT in Europe and set to be applied to “all access technologies”, including 5G.Separately at MWC, Thorsten Müller, Innovation Lead for Product Innovation & Customer Experience at DT, described the upgrade to the new router middleware as a “big step into really superior customer experience”.“In the not too far away future, we will have, on both Magenta sides of the Atlantic, a common middleware for all of our routers. That means we can provide a similar customer experience to our customers, using a 5G router — we will also introduce them in some countries in Europe — [as] a fibre router, a DSL router, or Ethernet, or even DOCSIS. ” - Müller.The move to a common broadband platform will bring both groups major efficiencies in management of devices, said Müller. “Imagine the scale and relevance of this technology and middleware for Deutsche Telekom. If one data analyst has a great idea for self-optimisation of the routers, we can easily roll it out across millions of routers”, he added.Crossing the TsDT and T-Mobile, which have a current combined broadband base of about 24 million households, have been moving closer on product development over the past year or more, having historically operated at something of arm’s length, despite DT’s control of the American operator.Last year, they jointly rolled out a cross-border Internet of Things service called T-IoT, and, at this year’s MWC, flagged roll out of a combined network API platform, branded T-DevEdge.On T-Mobile’s side, the broadband OS meld could not only benefit the growth of its 5G-based Home Internet offering, but also ease a future expansion into fibre-based broadband, following recent signals that it is considering options on rollout partnerships (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #119 and #121).For DT, meanwhile, FWA could provide a less capital-intensive path towards expansion in broadband, particularly for more mobile-led NatCos in Europe, such as T-Mobile Czech Republic and T-Mobile Poland.The Group has yet to fully launch 5G-based fixed-wireless services in Europe, although debuted a Hybrid 5G offering in Germany during February, enabling backup for wireline connections through an outdoor 5G receiver that is attached to the customer premises, as well as having offered 4G FWA in some European markets for several years.RDK, described by Müller as the Android of home broadband devices, was initially conceived by cable operators and driven by Comcast in its early phases. It is an open source software platform for video set-top boxes (i.e. RDK-V) and broadband devices (RDK-B), as well as connected home IoT devices. It is deployed on more than 100 million devices, according to a September 2022 update from RDK Management, the consortium that oversees the RDK community of 500 companies.The advantages of RDK for cable operators and telcos are that it can run on multiple access technologies, and offer more control over their services, device management, and overall customer experience, rather than having features and capabilities set by customer premise equipment device manufacturers. New features and services can be deployed at once to millions of video or broadband devices. Alternatives to RDK include Amazon’s Fire TV and Google’s Android TV.DT is a “Preferred Plus Member” of the consortium behind RDK and flagged its development as one of its strategic innovation priorities in 2020. Then, at its Capital Markets Day in 2021, the operator set a target of installing 75% of its router base with its own operating system, based on RDK, by the end of 2024 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #104–#105).By decoupling the hardware and software in home routers and developing its own software, DT aims to have more control over service development and customer experience, and to gain efficiencies by delivering a common set of services across different hardware and access networks. Vendors that have worked with the Group on RDK development include Airties, a managed Wi-Fi solutions provider headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.
