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Broadband ISP and mobile operator Vodafone has revealed more details about how they’re harnessing their UK mobile network to provide more accurate rain “nowcasting” (i.e. short-term forecast of rainfall – from a few minutes to a few hours ahead). This is supported by the River Severn Partnership’s Advanced Wireless Innovation Region (RSPAWIR) and Wireless DNA.

The trial is being run across the River Severn catchment area, which has a long history of flooding. An estimated £230 million per year is said to be spent across the region to manage and mitigate damage to infrastructure brought by floods. Suffice to say that being able to understand exactly where the rain may be falling or will soon fall can help to mitigate or manage such problems.

Crucially, rain and other forms of precipitation in the atmosphere can absorb and scatter microwave radio signals (i.e. the links that exist between some mobile masts), reducing their strength. The interference this creates is typically considered a negative thing, which can reduce the performance of such connections.

However, the same disruptions also create data that can be processed to “function as a virtual rain gauge, providing pinpointed and precise precipitation data“, which is what Vodafone has been experimenting with. “Wireless DNA will monitor all signal variations to identify those caused by precipitation and share this data with the River Severn Partnership to enhance early warning systems for flooding and improve flood defences for local residents,” said the mobile operator. The additional data will supplement conventional systems, like radar and rain gauges, with a dense layer of ground-level observations.

Vodafone says their mobile network can work as an environmental sensor because the data offers “greater accuracy than radar and more detail than weather stations“, improving forecasts with localised insights. The data this delivers could also be used to support the information that is already being collected via millions of Vodafone’s worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) based environmental sensors.

Nick Gliddon, Director of Vodafone Business UK, said:

“Storms and extreme weather are becoming more frequent and destructive. Working with River Severn Partnership, we can use our cutting-edge technology to provide greater insight on weather forecasting and help mitigate the impact of extreme events.

This example shows how, through innovation, our mobile network can have a real impact on not just the lives of residents who live and work in the River Severn area, but for communities across the UK.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News  

Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) has approved changes to Starlink’s licence, allowing it to launch 7,500 more satellites 

The decision significantly broadens Starlink’s footprint in Brazil, building on its existing licence granted in 2022, which covered 4,408 satellites. 

Starlink currently operates around 6,750 low Earth orbit satellites, which provide global coverage of satellite internet services..  

Following this latest approval, the company is now authorised operate up to 7,500 additional satellites to provide services across the country.  

While the council unanimously approved the expansion, Anatel issued a regulatory alert highlighting the need to modernise Brazil’s telecoms framework.  

According to councillor Alexandre Freire, the “purpose is to preserve the coherence, predictability and legitimacy of administrative deliberations, while ensuring transparency in dialogue with the regulated sector and society in general”. 

“Although we have unanimously granted the request to change Starlink’s satellite exploration right to expand the number of satellites and authorized frequency bands, as well as update the associated networks, this case has made clear to me the limitations of the current regulations to offer adequate responses to the complex issues that emerge in this scenario,” he added. 

Starlink’s operations in Brazil have become entangled with Elon Musk’s broader business interests, particularly his ownership of X (formerly Twitter). In August 2024, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the suspension of X after the platform refused to comply with legal demands to take down accounts accused of spreading misinformation and failed to appoint a local legal representative. Although Starlink and X are legally separate, authorities treated them as part of the same economic group, freezing Starlink’s assets to force compliance. While Starlink ultimately agreed to block access to X, allowing it to maintain its service in Brazil, the episode highlights the fragile and politically sensitive relationship between Musk’s companies and Brazilian institutions. 

The recent implementation of significant tariffs on US imports, such as the 104% tariff on Chinese goods effective from this month, could impact the satellite industry. These tariffs may increase costs for electronic components essential for satellite manufacturing, potentially affecting production expenses and service affordability for companies like SpaceX.  

Separately, several regions globally have reconsidered Starlink contracts, reflecting the importance of geopolitical tension in the satellite connectivity industry. For example, the Canadian province of Ontario announced the cancellation of a $68 million Starlink contract, commenting “Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy.” 

Italian defence Minister Guido Crosetto also announced last month that negotiations over a $1.63 billion Starlink contract had stalled, expressing outrage over reports that the US had threatened to shut down Starlink’s communications in Ukraine earlier this year. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to our newsletter 

Also in the news: 
Nokia, Telia, and Finnish military demo 5G network slicing across borders
Mobile operators quibble with Ofcom over spectrum fees
Deutsche Telekom commits to Google Cloud through 2030 

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News

All four of the UK’s mobile players have found fault with Ofcom’s proposed adjustments to spectrum annual licence fees (ALFs) for spectrum, arguing the prices are too high

This week, Ofcom has published statements from the UK’s four national mobile network operators, all of whom are unhappy with proposed spectrum pricing remedies.

The comments come following an Ofcom review into ALF pricing launched last summer, the results of which were published seeking industry comments in December.

In short, these proposals would see a decrease of ALFs for 900MHz spectrum of to £1.097m per MHz (a 21% reduction), a decrease of ALFs for 1800 MHz spectrum to £0.81m per MHz (a 21% reduction), and an increase of ALFs for 2100 MHz spectrum to £0.766m per MHz (a 12% increase).

In total, the regulator said these changes would save UK mobile operators around £40 million per year.

The operators, however, say they would still be being overcharged.

The issue revolves around Ofcom’s methodology when calculating an appropriate price for ALFs. Currently, the regulator does this by assessing the estimated market value of the spectrum, converting this value into an annual payment over the licence fee period (typically 20 years), and increasing the ALFs annually in line with inflation via the consumer price index (CPI).

The operators say that both Ofcom’s estimations of the spectrum’s market value and the inflation-linked price increases are flawed. They say that these calculations do not reflect the fact that the value of the spectrum licence is actually decreasing year-on-year as more bands become available and older services like 3G are discontinued.

“We think that the appraisal of current ALFs still does not reflect the observed changes in market value of the spectrum and therefore the proposed ALFs will not promote the optimal use of spectrum in line with Ofcom’s duties,” said BT’s statement, suggesting the proposal overestimates BT’s ALFs by £36 million a year.

Virgin Media O2 agreed, noting the significant loss in spectrum value today compared to 2021, when the spectrum’s value was initially calculated.

“Our response identifies four key factors that have driven value change from 2021–25: inflation (used by Ofcom); discount rates; the timing of future spectrum supply; and projections for mobile traffic,” said the company’s statement. “The impact of these factors, individually and jointly, must be considered to secure a full understanding of how spectrum values have evolved in recent years.”

Vodafone’s complaints, meanwhile, focussed on ensuring market stability, arguing that excessive fees “risks derailing the Government’s desire to invest for growth” in the telecoms market.

“Ofcom has failed to take a suitably conservative approach” to ALFs, said the operator, suggesting that Ofcom should “introduce guard rails in the application of CPI”. Capping CPI increases to 4%, for example, would help operators significantly with their investment planning.

Finally, Three UK argued that ALFs should be abolished entirely.

“We reiterate that ALFs have no role to play in mobile and should be abolished, as we invited Ofcom to do in 2018. Professor Martin Cave (the original proponent of ALFs) has now withdrawn his support. Spectrum trading already ensures that spectrum will find its way to the highest-value users without the need for ALFs,” said Three, which nonetheless proposed similar ALF reductions in line with the other operators.

Exactly how receptive Ofcom will be to these various arguments remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely that the regulator will abandon ALFs completely or stop linking them to inflation.

“We think it is appropriate to increase ALFs by actual, rather than forecast, inflation such that they remain constant in real terms,” said Ofcom in its December statement.

A final decision from Ofcom on ALF pricing was initially set to be published later this year, but is now likely to take place in Q2 of the next financial year as the regulator assesses the mobile operators’ objections.

Join the mobile operators in discussion about key regulatory issues and the UK connectivity market at Connected North live in Manchester

Also in the news:
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Rogers strikes $7bn deal with Blackstone-led group to boost balance sheet
Harmeen Mehta Joins Equinix as Chief Digital and Innovation Officer to Accelerate Customer and Employee Experiences

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network infrastructure provider CommScope has today announced that they’ve started a new collaboration with Brighton-based Altnets (the company, not the sector), the telecoms procurement specialist. The aim of this is to “accelerate the UK’s full-fibre rollout, supporting Project Gigabit and the nation’s digital infrastructure“.

According to the announcement, Altnets and CommScope will accelerate UK fibre rollouts, improve network resilience, and support the next phase of digital connectivity. Additionally, supplying CommScope’s products paves the way for Altnets’ to support the rollout of FTTX networks and central offices, which they say “will be of key importance for the future of the nation’s economic prosperity“.

CommScope will also be able to harness Altnets’ established market position and logistical expertise to help expand their connectivity solutions to more UK clients.

Paul Britnell, Co-Founder of Altnets, said:

“We’re incredibly excited to support CommScope’s initiative to further support the UK telecoms sector, helping ISPs build faster and more resilient networks for the digital future. We are delivering high-density fibre connectivity solutions that are instrumental in FttX networks. Altnets is proud to play a key role in advancing the UK’s digital infrastructure.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative network operator Elevate (formerly Telcom and Luminet) has today announced that they’ve completed the deployment of a new full fibre “Hypercity” network across the city of Cardiff in Wales. The new network gives over 5,000 businesses access to dedicated internet speeds up to 10Gbps and over 4,000 homes access to speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Just to recap. The Cardiff Council (Gyngor Caerdydd) has long been aware that patches of the city still lack any commercial upgrade plans for gigabit broadband and suffer from sub-30Mbps broadband speeds, which is what they’ve been trying to improve – using a £7m+ funding boost from the Welsh Government that was first awarded in 2022 (here) via the Local Broadband Fund (LBF).

Last year we reported that Telcom had won a contract to deliver the first phase of this network roll-out (here), which is understood to have delivered the new fibre connectivity to 79 sites, both residential and commercial. The same operator was then contracted to deliver Phase 2, which focused on premises identified as high on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) and was due to complete by March 2025 (here).

The new network has now been completed. The company will operate under the Elevate brand for business customers, and WeFibre for residential customers in their homes. Elevate Wholesale will also be working with local IT organisations to support their customers’ connectivity needs in the City.

Elliott Mueller, CEO at Elevate®, said:

“Working in the cultural and commercial centre of Wales, businesses across the region need rapid and resilient access to the best possible digital infrastructure.”

When we were awarded the contract back in 2023, we committed to full fibre coverage across Cardiff by 2025, and we’re delighted that the work we’ve undertaken with Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government has delivered exactly that.”

Isabelle Bignall, Chief Digital Officer at Cardiff Council, said:

“Broadband is a necessity in this digital age, and access to reliable connectivity is essential to help our local businesses flourish and our residents thrive. I am proud to share the transformative impact of Cardiff’s Local Broadband Fund project which has successfully delivered gigabit speed connectivity to the most digitally deprived areas of the city. This project has boosted connectivity for businesses and residents, driving economic growth and enhancing daily life in Cardiff. Alongside the improvements in broadband infrastructure, this project has also invested in our local communities.

Elevate has provided Cardiff’s Virtual School with online tuition credits to enable students, who may struggle in a traditional school setting, to complete their English and Maths GCSEs. WeFibre offers an affordable social tariff helping to reduce the financial barriers to connectivity, and 15 community sites have received free-for-life gigabit internet connections, helping to ensure that everyone in our community can stay connected and flourish.”

We should point out that the vast majority of Cardiff and surrounding areas are already covered by gigabit-capable broadband networks, mostly via Hybrid Fibre Coax (Virgin Media) solutions and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure from the likes of Openreach, Hyperoptic, Ogi, FibreNest (Persimmon Homes) and the community orientated Michaelston-y-Fedw CIC project. But the above project should have helped to close many of the remaining gaps.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A useful new interactive map has today been published by Thinkbroadband, which rather handily provides a visual overview of broadband related roadworks across the whole of England and thus helps to see who is building near to your home. Plans are also afoot to expand the map’s coverage beyond England.

Figuring out who is building new broadband networks nearby has always been a bit of a hassle. Services like Causeway’s One.Network can help, but its recent moves toward commercialisation have somewhat restricted its usefulness, and there are limits to how much you can filter the results for telecommunications related works. More recently, the Better Internet Dashboard has also proven to be quite useful.

The good news is that Thinkbroadband have now added a new “Telco Roadworks” layer to their existing map, which groups such works into several selectable categories related to Openreach, Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre), KCOM, mobile operators and other telcos (i.e. alternative broadband networks).

In each case it’s also possible to filter by the status of the works (i.e. Planned, Cancelled, Completed or In Progress) and, if that wasn’t enough, you can look both forward in time by 40 days and backwards in time by 14 days (currently limited to 8 days). Once you have the results it then becomes possible to zoom-in and click each bit to see the details of what is occurring.

Suffice to say that we really have to credit the work Thinkbroadband has done here, as this is an extremely useful tool. At present, it’s only showing data for England, but they’ll be looking to expand that to include Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland “over the next few months“.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative ISP Highland Broadband (Lothian Broadband), which is building a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network across rural parts of the Scottish Highlands, has confirmed that they’ve worked with network partner ADTRAN to cover the Caithness village of Halkirk.

The community, which is home to a population of almost 1,000, previously didn’t have access to any gigabit-capable broadband networks, until Highland Broadband completed the extension of its network into the area.

According to the announcement, locals originally only had access to super slow speeds of 2.8Mbps. But so far as we can tell most of the local premises could already access speeds of much faster than that via Openreach’s 40-80Mbps capable FTTC (VDSL2) network.

Colin Woodward, MD of Highland Broadband, said:

“At Highland Broadband, we’re committed to delivering world-class connectivity to Scotland’s furthest away communities. Halkirk’s transformation proves that no town is too small or too far away to benefit from full-fiber broadband. Leveraging Adtran’s technology and the support of its team, we’ve built a network that provides Gigabit speeds and ensures long-term, high-quality internet access.

This deployment expands opportunities for residents and businesses, enabling education, commerce and digital services that were previously out of reach. It demonstrates that high-speed fiber can succeed even in the most challenging locations, setting a blueprint for future rural broadband expansion.”

Residential customers of the service can expect to pay from £34.99 per month (discounted to £29.99) for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric) service on a 24-month term, which rises up to £89.99 (discounted to £54.99) for their top 2Gbps tier! Various phone, pay TV and mesh WiFi solutions can also be added at an extra cost.

The local village deployment features Adtran’s 631 ONTs for connectivity, along with 8733 Wi-Fi 7 residential gateways that provide whole-home coverage. HB also harnesses Adtran’s AI-driven insights from Mosaic One, which allows them to remotely monitor and optimize network performance, reducing costly truck rolls.

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Consultancy firm FarrPoint has today published the results of a new study, which saw them working with the Orkney Islands Council to investigate 4G mobile coverage and network performance (mobile broadband) across Orkney. Vodafone and O2 were found to have the best coverage in the main areas surveyed, while Three UK and EE have the “worse coverage overall“.

The Orkney study also looked at the impact on local businesses from increased numbers of people using mobile (particularly when cruise ships come), which involved a survey of 39 local businesses – the majority being based in Kirkwall and Stromness.

Overall, FarrPoint’s economic assessment suggested that poor mobile coverage may lead to mobile access issues for tourists and the local community. But the same impact is not being felt by local businesses, who mostly use fixed (broadband) connectivity.

The study also found opportunities for improving mobile connectivity across Orkney, however, it concluded that any improvements “would not have an economic impact on businesses” when there are increased tourist numbers from cruise ships.

Stage 1: Coverage Results

Conclusions

• EE – Overall coverage is relatively poor in Kirkwall and across the barriers to St Margaret’s Hope, with slightly better coverage in the Stromness area.

• Vodafone – Coverage is generally good in all areas except the main road to the northwest, which has poor coverage to the north.

• O2 – Coverage is good in Stromness and in some parts of Kirkwall. However, the road to the northwest and across the barriers, plus St Margaret’s Hope, has more mixed coverage.

• Three UK – Coverage is poor in most areas, with Finstown having almost no coverage. Stromness is the exception from Three, which has good coverage.

Overall:

• Vodafone and O2 have the best coverage in the main areas surveyed. Three and EE have poorer coverage overall. EE and Three best serve the road heading to the northwest of the mainland.

• However, it is important to recognise that user experience is affected by both coverage and capacity. Where the data suggests reasonable coverage, if user issues remain, then capacity could be an issue that would require the operators to take action.

• Our survey recorded 4G coverage from all four operators, plus Ofcom indicates that O2 has some 5G coverage in Orkney.

This will be non-standalone 5G, meaning that a sufficient 4G service is still required to enable access to the 5G network and potentially higher throughputs. Looking ahead, mobile networks will remain on 4G for a significant period of time and it is expected additional operators will deploy 5G in Orkney as networks are refreshed. 5G Standalone coverage will increase in urban areas, but may need further intervention if it was required in more rural areas.

Ewan Kennedy, Council Graduate Trainee (Digital Engagement & Enterprise), said:

“Access to reliable mobile coverage is increasingly essential to all and whilst Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) publish their coverage maps, these are based on modelled (predicted) coverage and don’t necessarily reflect the real, on the ground experience of users.

Mobile phone coverage in Kirkwall and Stromness varies depending on the network provider and officers have had anecdotal evidence from residents and businesses that the coverage is not always as good as a mobile operator information may suggest.

Gaps in coverage remain and some are being addressed by intervention programmes such as S4GI and Shared Rural Network, but not all.

Through this data gathering exercise we now have a much better understanding of the ‘lived experience’ of users in Kirkwall and Stromness and can identify coverage gaps and areas needing improvement and enhanced mobile coverage.

The data from this project will directly feed into development of projects to improve connectivity in the area.

Anecdotally, it has been suggested that mobile performance is affected when there is an influx of visitors to the county using the local mobile networks resulting in the inability of local businesses to fully function, e.g. take card payments.

The survey findings found this was not the case – in fact out of 39 business respondents, only one, who was reliant on a mobile signal, gave a negative response to their business during high visitor density days. All other businesses reported only positive responses.”

The report recommends that improvements should be focused on mobile coverage and capacity where there is a demonstrated need. A review of overall resilience to ensure high availability of service is also advised.

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Some customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media, specifically those with one of their legacy addresses that use the ntlworld.com domain, are having trouble sending and receiving email today. The issue appears to be rooted in the fact that the domain has stopped resolving. But the provider is working on a fix.

According to Thinkbroadband, which spotted the issue, the registry whois information for ntlworld.com indicates that the domain is currently in a “clientHold” status, which usually means the registrar (Network Solutions) has put the domain on hold, and it is not published in the Domain Name System (DNS).

Quite why this is occurring remains unclear, although it doesn’t appear to be a domain expiry issue (often the cause of problems, when people forget to renew an old domain). A spokesperson for Virgin Media said: “We’re aware that customers with ntlworld email addresses are currently unable to send or receive emails. Our teams are working to fully restore services as soon as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”