Hull-based broadband ISP KCOM, which has spent the past few years building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England, has begun upgrading their packages to support symmetric speeds. But only up to a maximum upload speed of 500Mbps.

The change, which started to be deployed from 20th January 2025 (credits to Phil for the news tip), means that all KCOM packages up to 500Mbps will now offer fully symmetrical upload and download speeds. For packages above 500Mbps, upload speeds will be capped at 500Mbps and so aren’t fully symmetric (although we doubt people will moan too much about a 500Mbps upload rate).

The upgrade “comes at no extra cost, delivering enhanced experience and performance“, said a KCOM spokesperson to ISPreview. The move doesn’t come as too much of a surprise because the operator had already promoted some similar changes at the wholesale level.

Copy of KCOM’s Customer Letter

News 

Amazon’s satellite arm, Project Kuiper, has secured a deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) worth £670,000  

The consultancy deal will see Amazon study the potential use of “translator” satellites to facilitate communications between military, government, and private satellites as well as between allied nations.

This technology, which is also being explored by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to improve communication between military, government, and private satellites, as well as between allied nations.  

Currently, satellite networks are typically limited to communication within the same network. As such, Amazon suggests it could provide an intermediary layer, allowing military satellites communicate with their non-military counterparts without compromising security.  

According to a previous article in The Telegraph, senior Project Kuiper executives met with British defence officials back in February, including Air Marshall Paul Godfrey, head of the UK Space Command at the time. 

Just last month, Kuiper confirmed it is preparing to launch a satellite broadband services in the UK to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink, with the launch of more than more than 3,200 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which will deliver high-speed broadband to underserved areas around the world. Commercial satellites are set to be launched as early as this year. 

Amazon already works closely with the UK government, with Amazon Web Services a main supplier of secure internet storage. 

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Also in the news:
Navigating the depths: Strategies for delivering successful subsea cable projects
Vodafone–Three reveals leadership team
French energy giant EDF offers up land for data centre projects

Contributed Article

By James McKenzie, international arbitration and cross-border litigation partner at Eversheds Sutherland

The difficulties inherent in delivering subsea cable projects are well known, but a confluence of geopolitical events is making delivering them now, in the current climate, particularly acute.

The critical security role performed by subsea cables makes them an obvious target. Recent events have highlighted the physical challenges of policing and patrolling large cables, and heightened international tensions is reinvigorating the debate about the security of cables as well as the data that passes through them. The nature of subsea cable projects means they usually span multiple geographies (the ownership of which can be contested), jurisdictions, and legal systems, each of which bring unique challenges and cultural differences.

We consider here two key areas in which parties to these projects can mitigate risks and hopefully help to deliver subsea projects efficiently in 2025 and beyond.

Effective change mechanisms

A recent survey of over 2,000 international projects across 107 countries, conducted by global consultancy firm HKA, highlighted that the most common cause for claims and disputes on international projects was change in scope, impacting 36.9% of projects surveyed.  The other leading causes were incorrect design (21.5%), late design information (21.3%), and incomplete design information (19.8%).

Subsea cable projects take years, with costs running into hundreds of millions; it is inevitable that changes will be required during the life span of a project.  When preparing for and delivering a project, parties need to understand (and contract clearly for) the circumstances in which a variation will arise, who is responsible for valuing its impact, and how to record its consequences quickly and accurately.  The more certain all parties are of these requirements, the quicker they can continue to deliver the project with minimal interference.

The potential impact of variations also highlights the need to ensure that, at the outset, the design and route of a cable is sufficiently well developed, and contractual responsibility clearly allocated, to allow the parties to prepare accurate cost estimates for each section(s).  To the extent that contract variations can be priced at the outset, this is a sensible approach to take.

For example, if route changes are required, either temporary or permanent, the successful project will be the one which can identify changes early and then move to quickly re-sequence its programme and re-deploy resources elsewhere.  As always, communication, and compliance with contractual notice regimes will help.  To the extent that differences as to the value, extent or impact of a variation arise at the time, or many years in the future, accurate, detailed, and contemporaneous records are key.

Supply chain and international protections

Secondly, there are only around 80 ships worldwide capable of laying new cable (whilst, for context, there are approximately 20,000 cargo ships). The relative scarcity of capable cable ships highlights the importance of scheduling and tracking project delivery very closely. If projects are delayed and cable ship operators are left carrying cable on board, they will want to be compensated via standby costs or released to work on other projects.

Stakeholders should aim to have clear contractual relationships that cater for unexpected works and flexibility when problems are encountered. The above issues, as well as likely future regulatory changes, also highlight the importance of securing additional protections for investment into subsea cable projects.

Existing legal protections for damage to subsea cables is provided through the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) and the 1884 Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables (the “1884 Convention”). While almost all European countries are signed up to UNCLOS, fewer are signed up to the 1884 Convention, which, unlike UNCLOS, makes wilful or negligent damage to subsea cables a punishable offence. In Europe, none of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, or Lithuania have ratified the 1884 Convention and therefore lack the necessary laws (and obligation to create such laws) to protect subsea cables against sabotage and negligent damage. As a matter of priority, countries should ratify the 1884 Convention to deter damages and provide a clear route for stakeholders to recover their losses.

Finally, in our May 2024 article for Total Telecom (link), we noted that another way for parties to achieve a further measure of protection is through structuring their investments to take advantage of bilateral and multilateral investment treaties.  Multilateral and bilateral investment treaties can grant investors falling within the relevant definitions considerable rights which can give rise to additional, distinct remedies to those they have contracted for.  These include protections against expropriation (direct and indirect), nationalisation, discrimination, or unfair and inequitable treatment.  Although this differs from treaty to treaty, to benefit from their protections a project investment needs to be structured through vehicles incorporated in a country that has the most advantageous investment treaty within the relevant jurisdiction(s).

Structuring investments in this way should go hand in hand with good contracting to provide parties with the tools that they need to deliver their subsea cable projects on time and within budget.

Join Eversheds Sutherland and the submarine cable community next week at Submarine Networks EMEA 2025, the world’s leading subsea connectivity event

Alternative network operator Freedom Fibre, which has built a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network that it wholesales out to UK ISPs across the North West and West Midlands of England, have today appointed Lindsey Sutherland to be their new Chief Operations Officer (COO). This will become effective from 4th March 2025.

Lindsey is a former military veteran with 30 years of experience, most of which has been spent in engineering and IT roles. He originally founded a data systems business to underpin transformation work in industry, including NHS acute hospitals and military shipbuilding. Lindsey then headed up the technology team at CommunityFibre where he led the integration of a strategic acquisition and was CTO of the rapidly growing SaaS VOIP provider Nebula.

Nathan Vautier, CEO of Freedom Fibre, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Lindsey to our leadership team. His experience and vision align perfectly with our ambitions for the future of Freedom Fibre.”

Wireless infrastructure provider Freshwave, which is backed by investment firm DigitalBridge and naturally has its own vested interests in this field, have published a new study that claims a focus on improving indoor mobile (4G, 5G etc.) signals and “eliminating mobile dead zones” could help to grow the UK economy by £70bn a year.

According to Freshwave’s somewhat high-level Mobile Connectivity ROI Index, just 5 minutes of poor current connectivity a day reduces annual productive time by 1% and 87% of UK organisations say poor current connectivity causes “daily disruptions at their sites“. The value lost each year by poor current connectivity in the average UK organisation with more than 100 employees is said to be -£4.6m.

Overall, the study claims to have found that poor indoor mobile connectivity costs the UK economy £100bn annually. But respondents to the study believe better indoor mobile connectivity could reduce that impact by as much as 70%, equating to added value of £70bn per year across the UK economy.

The public sector was found to be the most affected by indoor connectivity dead zones, losing £46bn annually, with potential gains of £33bn not being realised. The professional and financial services sector follows, losing £24bn annually, with a potential gain of £17bn from better indoor mobile connectivity. As the nation’s financial and governmental hub, London stands to gain the most from improved indoor mobile connectivity (£14bn), followed by the South East (£13bn) and the Midlands (£10bn).

The majority of respondents (62%) identified workforce productivity as being the primary beneficiary of improved indoor mobile connectivity. Not to mention other immediate gains from better indoor signal, such as financial performance (57%), operational efficiency (56%), and customer satisfaction (52%). Respondents also saw longer term benefits such as AI-driven use cases, automation use cases and personalised experiences.

Simon Frumkin, CEO of Freshwave, said:

“The UK economy simply cannot afford to lose £100bn every year. That is why massive investments have been made in digital infrastructure over the past decade. We must now build upon this platform and ensure seamless mobile connectivity extends to wherever people want to use it. The prize will be £70bn of added value for businesses, so it’s little wonder the majority expect to invest in mobile technology over the next two years.

Working alongside the UK’s mobile network operators, we’re at the forefront of helping businesses reap the full economic benefits of this decade-long investment. 4G/5G connectivity is going to enable transformative technologies across every sector, benefiting organisations and the economy both today and for years into the future.”

Admittedly, we always advise taking studies like this with a pinch of salt, not least since there are vested interests fuelling it and they tend to make a lot of assumptions about service coverage, performance and economic benefits, which may or may not accurately reflect reality.

On the other hand, there are clearly positives to be had and few people will complain about the arrival of indoor signal improvements, regardless of whether they can be directly proven to result in significant economic or other positive impacts.

After conducting more research, the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today formally begun to consult on a proposal that will allow low power indoor WiFi and mobile broadband (4G, 5G etc.) networks to “share” access to the upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz). But full implementation could take years.

The regulator has already made the lower part (5925 to 6425MHz) of the 6GHz band available for WiFi under the new WiFi 6E, WiFi 7 and future standards (here), yet the Upper part has remained the subject of some debate. Mobile operators want to harness it (licensed) to deliver faster 5G based data speeds, while others say it should go toward licence-exempt consumer WiFi. Existing users of the band (e.g. fixed services, satellite, radio astronomy etc.) have also sought protection.

Suffice to say, both sides of the debate have been able to field strong arguments and Ofcom has, thus far, opted not to pick a side. Instead, the regulator has been exploring the option of “hybrid sharing” (details), which could potentially enable, with some performance caveats (i.e. co-existence without causing interference is a challenge), the use of both Wi-Fi and mobile in the Upper 6GHz band.

The big development today is that Ofcom has now progressed these ideas into a formal proposal, which is set out below. This will be open to feedback until 5pm on 8th May 2025.

Ofcom’s Proposal

Lower 6 GHz (5925–6425 MHz)

We are consulting on making standard power Wi-Fi (up to 4 Watts) available in the Lower 6GHz band provided it is under the control of an AFC database (this would include outdoor use). This would be subject to a clear expression of demand from industry and an indication that industry parties are willing to provide AFC database services.

Upper 6 GHz (6425–7125 MHz)

We are consulting on a phased approach to maximise the use of spectrum by enabling commercial mobile and W-Fi to share the Upper 6 GHz band. We include detailed proposals to make Wi-Fi available in the band in phase 1. We provide an overview of our expected approach for enabling shared use by mobile in phase 2, including measures that may be needed to facilitate coexistence between mobile and incumbents.

Phase 1 – Initial Wi-Fi access:
We are proposing to authorise low power indoor Wi-Fi (up to 250 milliwatts) across the whole band on a licence exempt basis. We intend to do this as early as feasible, ideally before end 2025.

Phase 2 – Adding mobile access:
We intend to propose the specific sharing mechanism between mobile and Wi-Fi, once the European harmonisation is clear. We are currently leaning towards a prioritised spectrum split as our preferred outcome with between 160 and 400 MHz prioritised for Wi-Fi. We expect the remainder (a minimum of 300 MHz) would be prioritised for mobile, enabling high power mobile deployments while still allowing Wi-Fi access to the full band where there is no mobile deployment.

We understand demand for this spectrum might be greater in high traffic areas, we therefore intend to authorise mobile use of the band in high density areas (possibly by award) and will decide on the authorisation approach for mobile outside high density areas in due course (possibly through local or smaller area-based licences).

The catch above with Phase 2 (adding mobile access) reflects the admittedly understandable decision to link this change with wider talks on “European harmonisation” (Europe is also looking to adopt a similar approach), with related discussions currently being expected to drag on toward completion by 2027. Suffice to say that it might be a while before mobile operators can harness this band.

Finally, on the changes to the lower part of the band, it’s worth noting that solutions involving the use of a remote database have a bit of a mixed history (e.g. TV White Space wireless technology largely seems to have gone the way of the Dodo). In that sense, we’re not surprised to see Ofcom linking this to the need for a clear expression of industry interest, although that does mean the change may not necessarily come to pass.

Press Release 

Following CMA clearance of the Vodafone UK Three UK merger in December 2024 (subject to legally binding commitments), and in anticipation of final deal completion in the coming months, Vodafone-Three has announced the company’s General Management Team

Max Taylor, CEO Vodafone UK, and CEO of the future merged entity, has appointed the following people to lead the new company:

• Darren Purkis, CFO
• Kelly Barlow, Strategy and Portfolio
• Clare Corkish, HR
• Andrea Dona, Networks
• Nick Gliddon, Business
• Stephen Lerner, Regulatory, Government Affairs & Company Secretary
• Nicki Lyons, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability
• Stephen Reidy, IT
• Jon Shaw, Consumer Operations
• Rob Winterschladen, Consumer
• Andy Yorston, Legal, Security, Compliance & Risk

The appointments followed a robust selection process and were approved by the MergeCo Governance Board, with representatives of both Vodafone Group and CK Hutchison as shareholders of the future merged company. The General Management Team appointees will transition into their new roles once the CMA process is fully complete and the new company, [MergeCo], is created, with the date of completion yet to be announced.  Until then, all appointees will continue in their current roles at either Vodafone UK or Three UK, with both companies and teams continuing to operate separately until the merger is finalised.

Max Taylor said: “I would like to congratulate everyone on their new appointments. The new leadership team are all looking forward, following completion of our merger, to integrating our two companies and deliver on our commitment to build the UK’s best network for our customers”.

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Also in the news:
Why network infrastructure needs a rethink in the age of AI and Edge computing
Iliad once again eying Italian consolidation with TIM
Eutelsat connects one million Sub-Saharan Africans to satellite 

Ofcom have today published their Q3 2024 study of UK consumer telecoms complaints, which names and shames TalkTalk for attracting the most complaints about broadband, while O2 took the most flak mobile and Virgin Media was put on the naughty step for Pay TV.

Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.

Otherwise, the results below reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) due to limited data.

Take note that the proportion of people who were satisfied with their communications services in 2023 was 77% for landline services, 82% for broadband and 87% for all mobile services. Sadly, we don’t yet have any figures for 2024 or 2025 as Ofcom seems to have stopped tracking this.

Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints

TalkTalk attracted the most broadband moans in Q3 2024, with customers’ complaints mainly being driven (33%) by issues with faults and service provision. On the flip side, Sky Broadband once again attracted the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.

Devesh Raj, Chief Operating Officer of Sky, said:

“Sky has received the fewest complaints in total to Ofcom across all categories out of all providers. This success is a testament to the outstanding efforts of our teams across all departments, from technology to customer service, enabling us to deliver the best possible Sky experience.”

Fixed Line Phone Complaints

Meanwhile, EE, NOW TV and TalkTalk all jointly attracted the most complaints for fixed line phone services, with their customer complaints being mainly drive by issues with faults and service provisions. By comparison, Utility Warehouse continued to attract the fewest complaints for the third consecutive quarter, followed closely by Sky.

Mobile Complaints

Mobile operators enjoy lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but that didn’t stop O2 from attracting the most moans again, which were primarily driven by issues with complaints handling. By comparison, both Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile attracted the fewest gripes.

Pay TV Complaints

Finally, Virgin Media attracted the most complaints for Pay TV services, while Sky TV and TalkTalk received the fewest complaints.

In response to this report, TalkTalk have said they “continue to invest heavily in customer experience“, both in terms of their frontline agents and their digital experience. The operator has also boasted of using AI features to enhance their customer services and expects to see an improvement in Ofcom’s next report.

A TalkTalk spokesperson said:

“We have always been committed to delivering the best possible service for our customers. While this number represents a very small proportion of our total customer base, we are disappointed, and determined to improve on it.

We continue to invest to enhance the way we work with customers, making it easier than ever to get in touch with us through a variety of contact methods, and expect to see this reflected in future reports.”

Similarly, the CEO of Virgin Media and O2, Lutz Schüler, has posted a new blog on the steps they’re taking to improve customer service. To summarise, the operator said their goal is to provide consistently exceptional service and give all their customers confidence that where they do have an issue, they will be able to contact them easily and have it resolved quickly and effectively. As part of this, the operator highlighted some of their recent improvements:

• By the end of last year, we reduced the number of Ofcom complaints by 48% compared with the average monthly run rate in 2023.
• In December, complaints relating to Virgin Media were at the lowest levels since 2017, while complaints about O2 hadn’t been lower for two years.
• In the past three months, 92% of complaints raised were resolved within 24 hours.
• We’ve reduced call transfers for both Virgin Media and O2 customers by 18% and 12% respectively since the start of 2024, while average call waiting times reduced from two minutes in 2023 to 44 seconds in the past three months, and just 20 seconds in January alone.

Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q3 2024
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints

News 

“This large AI infrastructure is needed to allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and to make Europe an AI continent,” the European Commission said

The European Commission has launched InvestAI, a €200 billion initiative aimed at accelerating AI investment and innovation across Europe. Central to the plan is a €20 billion investment in AI gigafactories, designed to provide the computing power needed for AI development.  

The InvestAI fund will support the creation of four AI gigafactories across Europe. These factories will focus on training some of the most complex AI models, which require powerful computing systems. Each gigafactory will feature 100,000 advanced AI chips, four times more than the AI factories currently being built. 

“AI will improve our healthcare, spur our research and innovation and boost our competitiveness. We want AI to be a force for good and for growth. We are doing this through our own European approach – based on openness, cooperation and excellent talent,” said EC President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement. 

“But our approach still needs to be supercharged. This is why, together with our Member States and with our partners, we will mobilise unprecedented capital through InvestAI for European AI gigafactories,” she continued. 

These gigafactories will be the largest public-private partnership in the world dedicated to AI. They will help ensure that even smaller companies have access to the high computing power needed to develop the next generation of AI technologies. 

The initiative will be structured with a layered funding model, offering varying levels of risk and return. The European Commission will reduce the investment risks for partners by using existing funding from programs such as Digital Europe, Horizon Europe, and InvestEU. Member States will also contribute by using funds from their own programs, while the investment mix will include grants and equity to fuel AI innovation. 

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Also in the news: 

The not-for-profit London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles a large chunk of UK and global data traffic through their switches via around 900 members (broadband ISPs, mobile operators etc.), has today announced that their regional internet exchange in Manchester has hit a new “record maximum traffic peak” of 725Gbps (Gigabits per second).

The exchange states that LINX Manchester has seen consistent growth in traffic, rising by an average of 100-200Gbps throughout 2024. At least part of this growth has been fuelled by recent developments, such as the £23.8m project (public investment) to deploy a new wholesale Dark Fibre network across the area, which was part of the previous Government’s Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) programme.

To further enhance Manchester’s internet connectivity, LINX’s new location on its Manchester network went live in September last year at the Lunar Digital Data Centre, providing peering and further interconnection services to deliver improved performance, increased redundancy and lower network latency by keeping traffic local to the Manchester area.

Datum is another of the data centre partners on the LINX Manchester network and its MCR2 data centre in South Manchester is due to go live by the end of Q1 2025.

Colin Peckham, LINX Interconnection Specialist, said:

“Manchester is a thriving hub of business and technology, at the forefront of innovation and economic growth, so it’s vital that the area has fast, resilient network infrastructure. Working with our data centre partners in the area, we’re able to quickly deploy advanced peering and cross-connect services to strengthen connectivity in the region and best support the people and businesses driving forward growth. Keeping traffic local keeps latency low and bolsters network security to ensure that internet access remains strong and operational for longer.”