Telefónica, the leading telecommunications company, and Siminn, Iceland’s largest telecommunications operator, have accomplished the initial test phase for TV roaming. The two companies have demonstrated that it is possible to distribute video services with local delivery, while users are on a visited network, by interconnecting their Content Delivery Networks (CDN). They utilized the Open Caching standard, defined by the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA).

Broadpeak, the provider of CDN technology utilized by Siminn, and Telefonica CDN (TCDN), Telefonica’s proprietary technology used for video content distribution within its coverage area, have implemented integration based on the Open Caching standard. The companies conducted tests on a scenario in which a Siminn user in Spain accesses TV service via Telefónica’s network and delegates local delivery to TCDN instead of remote delivery from Siminn’s CDN in Iceland. They used lab environments for testing, but plan to introduce the same proof of concept into production in the upcoming months.

Open Caching Initiative: Enhancing Video Service Quality for End-Users

The SVTA-led Open Caching initiative offers standard interfaces, allowing content providers to improve the quality of their video service by bringing it closer to the end-user through operators’ CDNs. This scenario enables operators to optimize video traffic on their networks, as video traffic accounts for 80% of total traffic and is expected to continue growing in the coming years.

Implementing this use case can provide a better TV service to users who access it from outside their networks, offering enhanced quality by utilizing local operators’ CDN for closer delivery and higher availability. In addition, both operators will significantly reduce the volume of traffic associated with these scenarios, resulting in greater service efficiency for both.

Telefónica and Siminn’s Partnership: A Story of Innovation

Bjarki Jónsson, team leader of TV services at Siminn, comments “„We are excited by this partnership with Telefonica as it has the potential to give our customers a great experience driven by open standards when using our services while traveling abroad while keeping our operational costs down”.

Ruben Mellado director of Digital Home services at Telefónica says: “We are pleased that as a result of our collaboration with our partner Siminn we have been the first to successfully achieve this proof of concept for the optimised distribution of video roaming services and we look forward to bringing it into production as soon as possible. We are also confident that this TV Roaming initiative will also be of interest to other operators and we can quickly add new participants”.

Telefónica and Siminn have been collaborating on innovation since 2017 when the Icelandic operator became part of Telefónica’s Partners Program. Since their alliance began, both operators have been working on a number of business areas, including innovation, procurement, roaming, digital products and multinational services.

Final Thoughts tv roaming

In conclusion, the successful test phase for TV roaming between Telefónica and Siminn marks an important step towards improving the quality of video services and optimizing traffic on operators’ networks. As the first proof of concept for TV roaming, this initiative sets a significant precedent for the telecommunications industry and showcases the potential benefits of interconnecting CDNs using standardized interfaces. It is likely that other companies will follow in their footsteps and explore similar solutions, but Telefónica and Siminn have demonstrated a level of innovation and partnership that sets them apart.