Network services provider BT Wholesale has confirmed to ISPreview that they’ve taken the decision to “retire” their long-running BroadBand Performance Test (speed tester), which is a change that was formally introduced at the start of this month. But BT has yet to post a notice about this on the service page, which may cause some confusion for those trying to run a test.

The tester itself was more intended for BTW’s ISP customers to use as part of their customer connectivity diagnostics, although it was also accessible to end users. But today the online world seems to be chocked full of free connection speed tests and very few now use the service provided by BTW.

A spokesperson for the operator confirmed to ISPreview that “limited usage” of the Broadband Performance Tester and the “availability of numerous free alternatives” was the reason behind their “decision to retire the platform earlier this month.” The change has already been communication to ISPs, although for some reason BTW has yet put a note about it on the tester itself.

News

This article was originally released by our sister publication, Broadband Communities

An order signed by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump names Brendan Carr as chairman of the FCC.

Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner who was first named as Trump’s pick to be chair back in November, released a statement with the news.

In the statement, Carr said he’s deeply grateful and honored that Trump has designated him to be chair.

“I have had the privilege of working at the FCC for over a dozen years now, including serving previously as the agency’s General Counsel, and I am humbled by the opportunity to lead the FCC,” Carr’s statement read.

Carr’s comments continued, and he said there is important work ahead in sectors like technology, infrastructure, and space.

Media regulation and “unleashing new opportunities for jobs and growth through agency actions on spectrum” were also mentioned as priorities.

“I am eager to accelerate the FCC’s work on these and other fronts,” Carr’s statement read. “I look forward to collaborating with the Trump Administration, my Commission colleagues, and the FCC’s talented staff as well as Congress to deliver great results for the American people.”

As chair, Carr replaces Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, who has left the FCC.

Trump has previously called Carr “a warrior for free speech.”

Carr has served as a commissioner on the FCC since 2017.

He was first nominated to serve on the FCC during Trump’s first term.

Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.

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Some customers of UK ISP Sky Broadband, primarily those in West Yorkshire (England), appear to be suffering from an unusual problem with their internet connectivity. The issue is disrupting video playback on YouTube and hampering access and downloads from Google Play (App store) on Android devices, as well as some other services.

The sporadic problem (i.e. it doesn’t impact everyone in West Yorkshire, but there are a lot of complaints) appears to have started over a week ago (around 11-12th January 2025) and is currently still ongoing this week (credits to Julian and Mac for the alert). Customers affected by it find that they’re struggling to get a smooth video stream from YouTube (buffering starts and then playback doesn’t resume) and have been unable to update/install apps via the Google Play store. But most other services appear to work as normal.

The issue, which sounds more like it could be a routing/peering fault or some sort of problem with one of Sky’s Content Delivery Networks (CDN), also doesn’t appear to be related to the router(s) customers are using – reports have come in both from those on third-party devices, and those using Sky’s own models. In addition, disabling the Sky Broadband “Shield” (network-level parental filter) service has no impact.

Sky have already tried sending various engineers out to some of their customers and replacing routers, albeit to no avail. A sizeable number of complaints about the problem can now be found strewn across social media and Sky’s own Community Forum (examples here, here, here, here and here); we’ve included a few examples of that below.

Sample Complaint 1

I’m having the same problems on my connection also. I have broadband shield turned off, and have restarted the router. Only buffers on select videos on YouTube, but downloading apps or updating them doesn’t work over wifi. It is very strange as everything else works over wifi connection, i.e Netflix, prime video, etc. Youtube also has connection problems on iPad, but downloads app updates fine

Sample Complaint 2

I have the exact same thing. YouTube app not loading videos or shorts. Everything else works fine.

I can go on mobile data, start the video and then it plays.

Sample Complaint 3

Sky broadband have a really weird localised issue for over a week. It sounds really unlikely but google play store apps won’t install or update while using sky broadband in large parts of West Yorkshire. It affects youtube and skygo apps too.

Sky are sending engineers out and have been blaming phones equipment etc. Engineers have been sent as well as new routers. It’s been more than a week and sky seem to be clueless in how to fix it.

Sadly, Sky did not respond to ISPreview’s attempts to query this yesterday. But one of their Community Managers, Kev, has today confirmed that Sky is aware and working on the issue “at a high level“. The support agent later added: “I totally understand everyone’s frustration and apologise for this. I suspect my colleagues initially hadn’t realised that it was a wider issue; they will only speak to one customer with this problem, or none at all. The contact centre handles thousands of calls daily and advisors support more than one product.”

The good news is that customers can work around the problem by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) client to avoid pushing traffic over Sky’s side of the internet connection, which enables YouTube and Google Play to work again. But not everybody will feel comfortable using a VPN and hopefully Sky don’t continue to drag their feet over this for too much longer, particularly as unresolved issues can sometimes spread.

21 January 2025 – Telstra International, the global arm of telecommunications and technology company Telstra, has announced its vision and roadmap for the international network, aligning with Telstra’s broader strategy to develop a highly autonomous network that aims to transform customers’ experiences in a zero-touch, secure, and resilient way.

As part of its ambitious plan, Telstra International is upgrading its subsea cable infrastructure to over 800 Tbps of total lit capacity, to meet customers’ increasing bandwidth consumption, data centre demands and growth in global backbone networks fueled by cloud and AI applications across key global routes, including intra-Asia, Transpacific, and Asia to Australia.

The upgraded network utilises the latest optical technology from Infinera and Ciena.

Telstra International is using Infinera’s solution to cloudify the infrastructure layer with decoupled software and hardware that will significantly increase the available subsea and backhaul capacity with greater flexibility. This is also foundational to Telstra International’s plan for a highly autonomous network.

“With the scale of our subsea network in the Pacific, this move will better position us to ensure the stability of the world’s digital connectivity, and support the future growth of local economies,” said Roary Stasko, CEO Telstra International.

“As network operators look to upgrade their networks to meet rapidly increasing customer bandwidth demands, flexible compact modular solutions like Infinera’s GX platform play a critical role in delivering scalable, high-performance, and cost-effective optical transport solutions for subsea networks, while also supporting multiple generations of embedded optical engines,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “We are excited to partner with Telstra to upgrade and modernize its network, enabling them to increase capacity and offer a new kind of network with predictive capabilities and powered by AI.”
Progressing towards a highly autonomous network

In addition to ensuring sufficient capacity for future customer needs and cloudifying the infrastructure layer, Telstra International’s autonomous network will be able to configure, monitor, and maintain itself by using modern technologies including built-in AI, machine learning (ML) and cognitive computing.

Telstra International has reached foundational milestones on this journey with the simplification of its network architecture, the removal of legacy platforms and the introduction of next generation network inventory and management systems using Ciena’s Blue Planet inventory management. AI, ML and cognitive computing will be implemented over the next five years for network self-management and standard-based APIs will simplify interoperability, enabling the faster roll-out of innovative solutions and improving customer experiences.

“Telstra International is making significant strides toward a highly autonomous and adaptive network, and Blue Planet will support this transformation by providing intelligent automation for its multi-vendor network and services. This collaboration is helping Telstra accelerate its journey towards AI-driven operations, improving both service delivery and customer experiences,” said Joe Cumello, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Blue Planet, a division of Ciena.

“Our vision represents a fundamental shift in how we manage and operate our international network. By focusing on intent-driven outcomes, we are paving the way for a more resilient, efficient, and customer-centric network.

“We expect to see traffic grow at a much faster rate, at least three times by 2030, with the development of AI which drives the need for more capacity and a network that covers vast areas of society. In order to deliver this, we need a step change. We are transforming our network at all layers and innovating with strategic partners to apply the principles of virtualised and cloud technologies to the network,” said Stasko.

Central to the network vision is quality data and inventory management, and the development of a digital twin of Telstra International’s network infrastructure. This digital twin will act as a virtual replica of the physical network, enabling real-time monitoring, simulation, and optimisation of network operations. By harnessing the power of AI, ML and cognitive computing, the digital twin will provide unparalleled insights into network performance, facilitating proactive management and continuous improvement.

“By 2030 we will have built a highly autonomous network able to detect underutilised routes and turn capacity up or down or respond to changes or detect vulnerabilities such as temperature levels and move traffic off those to avoid outages. AI and ML give us the opportunity to strengthen our network defence. Underpinning this technology is our people who develop the models and patterns that drive AI and ML,” said Stasko.

#####
Media Contact
Babel PR
telstra@babelpr.com

About Telstra International
Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company with a proudly Australian heritage and a longstanding, growing international business. Telstra International empowers enterprise, government, carrier, and OTT customers with innovative technology solutions. These services are underpinned by our wholly owned subsea cable network, which is the largest in Asia Pacific and includes more than 30 cable systems spanning over 400,000 km, with access to multiple cable landing stations and more than 2,000 points of presence around the world. For more information, please visit telstrainternational.com

London, 21^st January 2025 – Cerillion (AIM: CER), a leading provider of BSS/OSS-as-a-Service solutions to the telecoms industry, today announced a major new contract with Ucom, one of the leading telecommunications providers in Armenia. Cerillion will implement its pre-integrated BSS/OSS suite as the digital foundation to power-up Ucom’s quadruple-play services portfolio and enable the next phase of growth.

Thanks to its 4G+ and 5G mobile networks and state-of-the art fibre network, Ucom provides a convergent portfolio of services to both B2C and B2B customers and is already a major provider of IPTV and broadband. Now, as the company continues to grow, it has become vital for Ucom to unify its services and customer data in one convergent solution that will help it to scale efficiently and deliver a seamless customer experience across all channels.

Following an extensive selection process with Ucom evaluating all major BSS/OSS providers, Cerillion was selected due to its functional breadth, SaaS delivery and pure product model, with all customers using the same core software. This will allow Ucom to personalise its customer experience through configuration not customisation, whilst also keeping control of its day-to-day business operations.

“After the extensive selection process our evaluation team visited three different Cerillion customers, to see their BSS/OSS Suite in action and to speak with real users,” said Ralph Yirikian, General Director of Ucom. “These reference visits proved to be invaluable, seeing the software used and talking with the teams validated our own technical assessment, and gave us absolute confidence in the certainty of outcome that Cerillion delivers. Robustness, flexibility and scalability, are all non-negotiable, and we’re confident this partnership with Cerillion will provide the digital foundation we need to support our ongoing growth.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Ucom as a very important new client and our first in the Caucasus region,” commented Louis Hall, CEO of Cerillion. “This milestone marks an exciting step in our global journey, and we are honoured that Ucom has chosen Cerillion to support its growth and innovation. We are fully committed to building a long-term partnership that delivers sustained value, and we look forward to working closely together to achieve their strategic goals.”

– ends –

Notes to Editors

About Ucom

Ucom, one of the leading telecommunications providers in Armenia, delivers comprehensive communication services to both B2B and B2C Customers. It operates large 4G+ and 5G mobile networks, extended fixed fibre network and up-to-date IPTV service.

About Cerillion plc

Founded in 1999, Cerillion (AIM: CER) is a leading provider of billing, charging and customer management systems delivering its solutions across a broad range of industries including the telecommunications, finance and utilities sectors. The Company has a global customer base, with c. 80 customer installations across c. 45 countries and customers include Liberty Global, Virgin Media, KDDI and Proximus. For more information visit: www.cerillion.com

News 

A new report from Liberty Global and EY has highlighted the role that AI could play in helping the telecoms sector to achieve sustainability milestones over the next decade 

The ‘Smarter Networks, Greener Planet’ report, released this month, explains how AI tech can be used to improve operations, increase efficiencies, and reduce environmental impact in the telco industry.  

The two companies highlighted eight actionable strategies to help the telco sector use AI for sustainability: 

1. Evaluate AI’s environmental impact: Identify areas where AI can reduce energy consumption and waste. 

1. AI network optimisation: Use AI to enhance the efficiency of mobile and fixed-line networks. 

1. Integrate renewable energy: Use AI to optimise the use of renewable energy sources and even predict future energy needs. 

1. Circular economy practices: Use AI to extend the lifespan of equipment and reduce waste. 

1. AI governance frameworks: Create policies that integrate sustainability into AI development. 

1. Foster cross-functional collaboration: Encourage cooperation between teams to drive both technological innovation and sustainability. 

1. Workforce development: Invest in upskilling teams with skills in AI, data analytics, and sustainability. 

1. Industry wide standards: Lead efforts to establish common ground for sustainable AI practices across the sector. 

“While the scenarios we present are speculative, they highlight the strategic potential of AI in the telco sector,” said Dr Harvey Lewis, partner for AI at EY and the author of the report. 

“Success will depend on network collaboration across Europe, investment in skills and infrastructure to create more competition, and a holistic approach to AI adoption that balances immediate efficiency gains with long-term sustainability impacts,” he continued. 

Perhaps the most important of these points from an emissions perspective is AI’s impact on network energy efficiency. Telcos’ RAN networks and their accompanying equipment comprise around 76% of telcos’ energy usage, according to a GSMA Intelligence report.  

Using AI to automate network operations can have a huge impact in reducing this energy consumption. According to Nirali Patel, VP Data & AI Strategy at Liberty Global, AI integration has the potential “to reduce our total network energy consumption by around 10% to 15%.” 

But while more closely interweaving AI into telcos’ operations can yield numerous benefits, it should not be forgotten that the technology’s wider use in society carries its own sustainability cost. 

A 2024 report published by The Green Web Foundation and Microsoft highlighted that training a single large AI model can consume as much energy as a transatlantic flight for 1,000 people. For example, the energy required to train the GPT-3 model is estimated to have the same environmental impact as the total electricity usage of the entire city of London for over 2 weeks. Even for an end user, a request made through ChatGPT consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search. 

By 2027, AI could account for up to 134 terawatt hours (TWh) of global electricity usage, 0.5% of total global consumption, equal to the current energy demand of the Netherlands.  

Thankfully, the telecoms industry well placed to maximise the benefits of AI without negatively impacting their sustainability credentials. The report forecasts that telecom networks could manage 50 times more data traffic by 2035, with only a 10% increase in energy usage, thanks for the impact of AI. 

“While AI adoption brings complex challenges across all sectors, the telecommunications industry is uniquely positioned to enable innovation and environmental stewardship to work hand in hand,” said Manuel Kohnstamm, SVP and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Liberty Global in the foreword to the report.  

Join us to discuss the UK’s AI industry at Connected North, 3-24 April in Manchester. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
EXA Infrastructure enters into agreement to acquire Aqua Comms
“European competitiveness has one foot in the morgue,” warns Nokia CEO
BT quietly scraps EV charging pilot 

Press Release

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, opens a new Point of Presence (PoP) in Brasilia to support the growing demand for international connectivity in Brazil. First in Brasilia and fifteenth in the country, the new PoP expands Sparkle’s network capillarity in Brazil – featuring presence also in Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Rio De Janeiro, Salvador, and São Paulo, – while consolidating its positioning as a leading global Tier-1 backbone in Latam and one of the main providers in the Americas.

Located at ELEA BSB2 data center, the PoP is fully integrated with Sparkle’s global Tier-1 IP backbone Seabone that boasts extensive coverage in Central and South America with 18 points of presence across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru, and Puerto Rico. In addition, thanks to its terrestrial and submarine networks which includes four “digital highways” – Curie in the Pacific and Monet, Seabras-1 and soon Manta in the Atlantic -, Sparkle offers five diversified routes for connectivity from South to North America ensuring complete redundancy and a top-quality data experience.

Integrated with Sparkle’s Tier-1 global backbone Seabone – the sixth largest IP network worldwide – the new node will enable network operators, ISPs, OTTs, content delivery networks, and content and application providers to benefit from reliable, low-latency IP transit services in scalable multiples of 10 GB, 100 GB, and 400 GB. Additionally, customers have access to a comprehensive suite of IP solutions, including DDoS Protection services, which safeguard networks against cyberattacks, and Virtual NAP, providing virtual access to leading Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) without the need for proprietary infrastructure development.

How is the submarine cable ecosystem evolving in 2025? Join the discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s largest dedicated subsea cable event

About Sparkle

Sparkle is TIM Group’s Global Operator, first international service provider in Italy and among the top worldwide, offering a full range of infrastructure and global connectivity services – capacity, IP, SD-WAN, colocation, IoT connectivity, roaming and voice – to national and international Carriers, OTTs, ISPs, Media/Content Providers, and multinational enterprises. A major player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa and the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 33 countries.

Find out more about Sparkle following its X and LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website tisparkle.com

Media Contacts:

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

News

The relief package could provide a 50% waiver of interest and a 100% waiver on penalties related to adjusted gross revenues

This week, rumours are swirling that India’s upcoming government budget could contain a life raft for the nation’s beleaguered telecoms sector.

According to reports, the government’s annual Union Budget, set to be announced by Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, may contain a relief package waiving billions of dollars in fees that are owed to the government related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

To recap, back in 2019 the Indian Supreme Court upheld the definition of AGR presented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). To the telcos’ horror, this definition saw a far greatr swathe of their revenues fall under the AGR definition, leaving them owing the DoT billions in fees.

India’s largest telco – then a relatively new challenger in the market – quickly paid off its comparatively small AGR dues.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), on the other hand, commenced a longwinded legal campaign to get the fees dismissed or recalculated. All of these challenges have been rejected by the Supreme Court in the past six years, with the only relief coming in the form of a staggered payment schedule and a moratorium on payment. That moratorium concludes this year, with the next tranche of payments due in 2026.

Combined, Airtel and Vi owe the government around 1.2 lakh crore rupees (around $11.6 billion). Vi, which has been struggling to compete and losing ground to rivals for almost a decade, owes around two-thirds of this total.

Over half of the money owed is from interest on the initial AGR dues, as well as a myriad of penalties accrued from missed and late payments.

According to the reports this week, the new budget could contain a 50% waiver on this accrued interest and a 100% waiver on penalties.

The scale of this windfall for the telcos cannot be underestimated. A research note from ICICI Securities estimates that such a decision would reduce the total Vi owes by 520 billion rupees ($6 billion) and 380 billion rupees ($4.4 billion) for Airtel.

Exactly whether this relief will come to pass, however, remains unclear. Following media report yesterday, Vi released a statement clarifying that the company has “not received any communication from the Government in relation to the above-reported matter”.

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter  

Also in the news:
EXA Infrastructure enters into agreement to acquire Aqua Comms
“European competitiveness has one foot in the morgue,” warns Nokia CEO
BT quietly scraps EV charging pilot 

A new report from consultancy firm EY and European broadband operator Liberty Global, which alongside Telefonica is also a parent of the merged Virgin Media and O2 UK, has today argued for the “strategic adoption” of AI in the telco sector to help drive “major sustainability gains over the next decade“. Just don’t worry about its power consumption.

The report – ‘Smarter networks, greener planet‘ (PDF) – argues that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help broadband and mobile operators to “build smarter, more efficient networks that are kinder to our planet“, such as by optimising energy use in networks, as well as monitoring and predictive maintenance to reduce downtime, and extending the life of infrastructure and mobile handsets etc.

However, the report also acknowledges that AI is not a panacea, and its benefits must out way the costs. For example, research cited in the report shows that in just two years’ time the AI sector could consume between 85 and 134 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity annually – approximately 0.5% of total global consumption and roughly equivalent to the current electricity usage of the Netherlands.

On the flip side, other research in the report states that telco operators now carry as much as 10 times more data compared with five years ago, whilst maintaining similar levels of energy consumption. But it’s worth noting that a lot of this has to do with evolutionary improvements in the energy efficiency of CPUs (processors), lasers, the growing use of fibre optic lines and so forth – not strictly AI.

Manuel Kohnstamm, SVP and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Liberty Global, said:

“Despite these challenges, I’m optimistic about our industry’s future. Our research points towards a scenario we call ‘Growth’ — where the strategic application of AI not only leads to significant energy efficiency across telco operations but also helps establish best practices for sustainable AI across all sectors.

We’re already seeing promising signs, with some operators managing to carry ten times more data than five years ago without increasing their power consumption.”

Dr Harvey Lewis, partner for AI at EY and Report Author, adds:

“While the scenarios we present are speculative, they highlight the strategic potential of AI in the telco sector. Success will depend on network collaboration across Europe, investment in skills and infrastructure to create more competition, and a holistic approach to AI adoption that balances immediate efficiency gains with long-term sustainability impacts.”

The admittedly quite speculative “Growth” scenario mentioned above would see telecommunications networks handle “50 times more data traffic” than now, while increasing energy consumption by only 10%. This, claims the report, would see the elimination of both Scope 1 and 2 emissions, a 70% increase in the lifespan of equipment, and networks becoming net contributors to clean energy production.

Quite a lot of this AI related investment and development is already happening. Testament to this is the fact that not a week seems to go by these days without at least one big announcement dropping into ISPreview’s inbox about new AI related technologies being adopted into modern digital networks, often alongside big claims of energy efficiency.

On the other hand, quite a few of those same AI announcements often read more like an attempt by marketing departments to repack routine enhancements in network automation and machine learning as something more sophisticated. The result is often one that dilutes the very meaning of AI in order to sell new products that aren’t really all that different from what came before. But experiences do vary, and more sophisticated AI solutions and Large Language Models (LLM) are at play in some areas.

The industry also faces some real hurdles, like the complexity of integrating new technology with existing infrastructure and the evolving, while not always predictable, regulatory landscape. The report thus concludes by outlining eight key recommendations that it claims could lead the telecommunications sector to reach a desirable outcome.

The 8 Recommendations for AI in Telecommunications

• Conduct comprehensive assessments of AI’s sustainability impact to identify opportunities for reducing energy consumption and waste.

• Prioritize AI-driven network optimization to enhance efficiency across mobile and fixed-line networks.

• Accelerate the transition to AI-managed renewable energy sources by optimizing integration of diverse energy sources, managing storage, and predicting future needs.

• Implement AI-enhanced circular economy practices to extend equipment lifespans and improve recycling and reduce waste.

• Develop comprehensive AI governance frameworks that integrate sustainability considerations.

• Foster an organisational culture that values both technological innovation and sustainability through cross-functional collaboration.

• Invest in workforce development – equipping teams with necessary skills in AI, data analytics, and environmental management.

• Lead efforts to develop industry-wide standards for sustainable AI, establishing common metrics for measuring environmental impact.

Edinburgh-based alternative UK network ISP GoFibre has today announced that they’ve managed to sign-up 1,000 customers to their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband network in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick, which has just completed its build. Locals are now being offered a special deal that gives new customers speeds of 1000Mbps for the price of 500Mbps for the duration of their contract.

The operator’s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network is now available to 6,000 premises (ready for service) in Hawick, which is home to a population of c.12,500 and gives them a local broadband take-up rate of 16.67% (not bad coming so soon after build completion). In total, GoFibre now has over 22,000 premises ready for connection across the Scottish Borders in places like Galashiels, Kelso, Melrose, Selkirk, Jedburgh, and Duns.

Residential customers of the new service typically pay from £25 per month for a 150Mbps (30Mbps upload) package on a 24-month term with an included wireless router, which rises to £39.50 for their top 1000Mbps (100Mbps upload) plan. The latter also comes with a bonus Wi-Fi extender (this can optionally be taken on other plans at extra cost).

Neil Conaghan, CEO of GoFibre said:

“To reach this milestone in our heartland of the Borders is fantastic, with Hawick locals now able to enjoy the benefits of our seamless high speed connection.

To celebrate achieving 1,000 customers, we are offering new Hawick customers our max speed package (1,000 Mbps) for the price of the 500 Mbps [£33] for the duration of their contract. We remain committed to adding value to every community that we serve, and we would like to thank all of our customers throughout Scotland and the north of England for their continued support.”