Infracapital-backed ISP Fibrus, which is busy rolling out their alternative gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of Cumbria (England) and Northern Ireland, has confirmed another round of redundancies as their roll-out in N.Ireland comes to an end. But new jobs in customer facing roles are expected to be created.

Just to recap. The operator has already built their full fibre network to cover 400,000 UK premises and have previously claimed to be “fully funded to complete” their roll-out plan for 500,000 premises in the near future (here). In November 2024 they also passed the 100,000th customer mark (here).

However, while their deployment in Cumbria still has a long way to go, Fibrus’ build in Northern Ireland is getting closer to completion and this will inevitably mean a loss of further engineering roles. Not to mention that the company is also having to deal with a pre-tax loss of nearly £60m in its latest accounts (here).

According to the Belfast Telegraph, around 48 jobs could be cut in their civil engineering company, Vibreoptix, which would be on top of those that were lost at the start of last year (here). The latter was also partly due to the fact that network operators across the market are being placed under a lot of strain, not least due to issues like rising build costs (inflation, leases, suppliers etc.) and the difficulty in raising fresh investment during a period of high interest rates.

A Fibrus spokesperson said:

“Fibrus is nearing the completion of its planned build programme in Northern Ireland. We have restructured our teams to support our business priorities and enable the next phase of growth.

We have hired, and will continue to hire, customer-focused roles in line with business expansion plans.”

Put another way, Fibrus, like many other altnets, is now increasingly focusing their efforts on growing the take-up (commercialisation) of the infrastructure they’ve already built. The operator’s most recent accounts also reported a 58% increase in revenues to £17.6m and a record-breaking year for customer growth, including a 143% increase in connected customers, which grew by 46k during the year from 32k to 78k and have passed the 100k milestone subsequent to year end. Customer penetration now exceeds 25%.

News 

Nokia has been selected by Openreach to deliver its One Network Platform, an open-access fibre network designed to connect millions of homes and businesses across the UK 

The project will see Nokia deploy a wide range of technology upgrades across Openreach’s network, aiming to boost efficiencies and simplify further fibre rollouts.  

Using Nokia’s Altiplano and NSP controllers, Openreach will be able to automate its fibre services across various technologies, which they say will simplify operations and reduce network complexity by 85%. The system also includes real-time monitoring tools to give Openreach better insights into how the network is performing. 

Openreach’s network provides wholesale broadband to around 300 service providers, ranging from cities down to remote rural areas. Nokia’s technology will make the new platform flexible, efficient, and scalable to meet customer needs. It will also reduce the number of exchange buildings required to cover the UK, making the network more streamlined. 

The new system is built with a modular design, helping Openreach create a large-scale network while cutting power and the space required by over 50% at Ethernet exchange sites. T 

“This is the next step in our plans to build a future-proof, multi-service, one network platform – that supports both full FTTP and future Ethernet products. Introducing Nokia’s Altiplano and NSP network domain controllers and 7250 IXR data centre routers will boost automation, network visibility and control, and product flexibility for our Communication Provider customers and their end-user customers,” said Trevor Linney, Director of Network Technology at Openreach in a press release. 

“Ultimately, this is about making our network easier to manage, more efficient and reliable, for example, through quicker identification of faults via automation, and helping to cut operational costs,” he continued.the project will expand Openreach’s full fibre network from 17 million properties today to 25 million by the end of 2026, meeting the rising demand for faster broadband. 

How is the UK fibre market evolving in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected North live in Manchester 

Also in the news: 

VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m

News 

Vodafone has announced today that it has sold its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers Limited, a 3% stake in the company 

The sale raised INR 28 billion ($330 million), according to a recent stock market filing. Vodafone used $105 million of this to repay loans tied to its Indian assets and cover transaction costs.  

The remaining $225 million was invested in its Indian mobile subsidiary Vodafone Idea (Vi), increasing the company’s stake in the operator from 22.56% to 24.39%. Vi will use these funds to settle outstanding payments to Indus Towers, thereby completing Vodafone’s financial commitments to the company. 

Vodafone has gradually been divesting of its Indus Towers stake since 2022, gradually reducing its stake from 28% to 21.5% last year. In June, the company announced it was looking to sell a further 10% in the company, but a surge of interest saw them reconsider the scale of the stake sale. 

Vodafone sold an 18% stake worth $1.8 billion to a variety of buyers, including SBI Mutual Fund, Kotak Securities, and rival telco (and Indus Towers shareholder) Bharti Airtel. Airtel is now the company’s largest stakeholder, owning 49% of the business. 

Vi has faced significant challenges in the Indian market, struggling to stay afloat amid intense competition from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for many years. Despite securing funding earlier this year, the company continues to steadily lose subscribers to its rivals. 

The company lags behind competitors in 4G deployment and has yet to roll out 5G services at scale, unlike Jio and Airtel, both of whom launched 5G in 2022 and millions of users. Cash-strapped Vi is taking a more cautious approach, primarily focusing on expanding its 4G network to cover 90% of India’s population by mid-2025. 

In October last year, Vi announced the launch of commercial 5G services by March this year, starting with Delhi and Mumbai, and expanding to other major cities across 17 regions.  

This follows recent multi-billion dollar deals with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung to upgrade 75,000 existing 4G sites over the next three years.  

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter  

Also in the news: 

VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m

The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Digital Infrastructure Programme has launched a new Prior Information Notice (PIN), which is seeking feedback from suppliers that might be interested in helping to provide “affordable” gigabit broadband to poorly served premises in the Swansea Bay City Region (Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, and Neath Port Talbot).

Just to recap. The UK and Welsh Governments gave their approval for a £55m digital infrastructure investment under the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City Region project back in 2021 (here), which among other things aimed to expand full fibre and 5G mobile connectivity to benefit residents and businesses across Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea. Some of this investment comes from the Local Broadband Fund (LBF) for Wales.

Several digital infrastructure projects are already taking place under this programme (examples here and here) and the new PIN forms an additional part of that. According to the detail, the focus seems to be on finding solutions for 2,363 eligible premises (residential and business) in “both rural and urban locations“.

The premises reflect those that are currently in areas where only sub-30Mbps broadband download speeds are possible and which are not set to benefit from either commercial plans or any future publicly funded builds (i.e. not part of either a UK Project Gigabit deployment or existing broadband voucher scheme).

PIN Statement (Better Broadband Infill Project)

We have recently concluded a tender process for the Better Broadband Infill Project, unfortunately, none of the bids received met the necessary criteria. In light of this, we would like to engage with the market to discuss the opportunity further before reissuing the tender.

We are considering increasing the budget allocated for this project while reducing the coverage targets to ensure a more viable and competitive process. This consultation will help align expectations and provide a clearer understanding of the project’s scope.

Requirements (high level overview, subject to change):

New connection must offer affordable broadband packages for residents and businesses.

New connection must be available to the premise to request a service for a minimum of 12 years with no ECCs to the resident/business.

The network built with the subsidy must be open access to all interested service providers on fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory terms. This shall include both Wholesale Access Products and Wholesale Passive Products.

The solution must provide a gigabit capable connection.

The documents include a map that shows, very roughly, the intervention area – residential premises in RED and commercial premises in BLUE. The fact that many of these are quite spaced out may help to explain why resolving them has been a difficult task. We suspect that several network operators, such as Openreach, Voneus and Ogi, are likely to have some interest given the proximity of their existing infrastructure.

Several market engagement sessions are being planned for next week to discuss all this, although we’ll probably have to wait until later this year before learning the final outcome.

Mobile operator Three UK has introduced a new discount this week that cuts the monthly price of their 5G powered unlimited Three Home Broadband package to just £19 per month on a 24-month minimum term, rising to £28 if you only take a 1-month term or £21 for the equivalent 4G service on a 24-month term.

As usual, Three’s Home Broadband packages all include a mobile router (their website currently depicts a ZTE device for 5G), while also promising “average download speeds of 150Mbps” (this will vary a lot between different locations) and a 30-day money-back guarantee. But take note that Three UK’s pricing policy means that, each April, your Monthly Charge will increase by a fixed amount of £2 per month.

The new promotion is likely to be time-limited (follow the link above), although at the time of writing they haven’t given us an end date.

The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which is the industry-led company that is helping to implement Ofcom’s solution (One Touch Switching) for easier and quicker UK consumer switching between broadband and phone providers, has now started to consult on contract changes to enable business switching.

The current OTS system is a Gaining Provider Led (GPL) process, where the customer contacts their new (“gaining“) ISP to start and manage the process on their behalf. But the new process is, technically, only a requirement for residential customers.

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has previously stated that this is because “business and residential customers can sometimes have different needs when switching and that there is diversity among business which means it may not be appropriate to specify certain rules that would apply to all business customers in the same way as to residential customers.”

The catch in all this is that businesses are still required by Ofcom to follow most of the same OTS rules (i.e. Ofcom simply have not specified what the process should be for business ISPs) and so, in practice, TOTSCo recognises that many business providers may see a benefit in using their platform in order to deliver a switching solution. But to be clear, there is no requirement for any ISP or Managed Access Provider (MAP) to use TOTSCo’s business switching solution (once it exists). “Business switching is a competitive market,” said TOTSCo’s latest bulletin.

However, TOTSCo has already begun work to develop a switching solution for businesses alongside the separate Gaining Provider Led Business (GPLB) Switching Industry Process (here), which has continued today with the launch of a new 21-day consultation (running until 31st January 2025). This is proposing changes to their User Agreement and MAP Agreement to “enable us to adapt those contracts to the requirements of business switching.” This will be followed by a further 90-day period before the changes, once approved, are adopted.

The organisation has previously indicated that the first integration testing of all this probably won’t begin until Q2 2025.

Contributed Article

The optical distribution network (ODN) is a point-to-multipoint passive optical network (PON), as shown in FIG. 2-1. The ODN is an optical transmission channel from an optical line terminal (OLT) in a central office (CO) to multiple optical network units (ONUs) on the user side.

In traditional ODN construction, the feeder optical cables, distribution optical cables, and drop cables are stripped or terminated onsite for fiber connection. In both OSP and ISP scenarios, cable distribution boxes need to be opened before optical cable installation and connection.
It is difficult to monitor the traditional ODN resources in real time because the ODN is passive. Currently, the traditional ODN resources are managed mainly by means of manual onsite recording with paper labels. Therefore, problems such as difficult fault locating and delayed update of maintenance information exist in the data entry and resource maintenance phases, causing heavy workloads and low efficiency. Even faults and errors caused by data information deviation may occur. As the scale of the broadband access network increases, the traditional ODNs face a series of challenges in applications.

In the traditional ODN, the connection status of optical ports in the cable distribution box is usually labeled on patch cords and recorded in a chart attached to the box. The installation and maintenance personnel manually record the connection status on site and enter the information into the system afterwards. After long-term O&M, the paper labels may fall off or severely fade, causing disordered port scheduling and failing to sort out the connections with the patch cords. According to survey statistics, the accuracy of optical port information manually recorded by some carriers outside China is lower than 70%.
In addition, because the optical ports of the conventional ODN distribution box are not associated with the ONUs/ONTs of users, after the users apply for network exit, information indicating release of the optical ports cannot be fed back to the resource management system in a timely manner. As a result, the cables are still connected but the user devices have been removed. The resource silence rate of some carriers outside China reaches up to 10% to 20%, wasting the initial construction investment. Even some feeder and distribution optical cables also need to be reconstructed after resource silence, reducing the efficiency of the investment in the optical network construction.
Inaccurate ODN connection information has always been a major challenge for carriers. The traditional O&M depends on manual operations and has many problems. Therefore, strict processes and specifications are required to improve the resource management accuracy.
How to resolve the bottleneck of the traditional ODNs will be the focus of research on digital and intelligent ODNs. Therefore, to address the challenges faced by the traditional ODN construction and health management, digital and intelligent management is required for the next-generation ODNs.
As the fiber infrastructure, the ODN is the most complex and costly part of fiber to the home (FTTH) construction. How to reduce the construction and O&M difficulties has been a continuous research topic in the industry. Based on the industry consensus, three generations are defined for different evolution phases of the digital and intelligent ODN solution, as shown in the following figure.

A digital and intelligent ODN system connects the OLT and ONUs through digital and intelligent ODN hardware, and connects to the carriers’ operation support system (OSS, including the resource management system and fault management system) in the upstream direction, to collect optical path information from the ODN network, restore the optical path topology, and demarcate and locate faults. The following figure shows the position of the digital and intelligent ODN system on the network.

The digital and intelligent ODN system consists of the physical label, digital and intelligent ODN device, intelligent optical path sensing device, intelligent management terminal, intelligent management system, and dumb resource collection and control module. It supports interconnection with the third-party OSS system. The following figure shows the reference model of the digital and intelligent ODN.

The construction of the digital and intelligent ODN includes reconstruction of the traditional ODN and new deployments. The following figure shows the functional entity model in the traditional ODN reconstruction scenario.

The following figure shows the functional entity model in the new deployment scenario.

Currently, the commercial digital and intelligent ODN technologies belong to ODN 2.0, and the ODN 3.0 technology is still in the R&D phase. The following describes the ODN 2.0 solution and its applications. The digital and intelligent ODN is a passive ODN network that is highly automated and intelligent in terms of precise resource management and fast service provisioning by introducing new technologies such as digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) throughout its lifecycle, including planning, construction, acceptance, O&M, and maintenance. It improves the O&M efficiency and quality. The following figure shows the requirements for network digitalization throughout the ODN lifecycle.

In traditional networking of digital and intelligent ODNs, an intelligent optical path sensing device, optical path switching device (OSW), and optical coupler are deployed on the OLT side, and an intelligent digital optical splitter with the split ratio of 1:4 or 1:8 is installed in the level-1 FDT.

In new deployment scenarios of QuickConnect ODNs, each link consists of a Hub Box, multiple Sub Boxes, and one End Box (all of them have a built-in intelligent digital optical splitter). The onsite construction procedure is the same as that of traditional QuickConnect devices, without additional processes or requirements. In this way, intelligent O&M can be implemented in coordination with the intelligent optical path sensing device and OSW device on the OLT side, to support remote acceptance and fault demarcation and locating, as shown in the following figure.

In the reconstruction scenarios for QuickConnect ODN networking, because the shell of the QuickConnect product cannot be opened, external intelligent digital optical cables or fiber adapters can be used to upgrade the optical splitters on the live network so that the optical splitters have digital-intelligent capabilities to support intelligent O&M, remote acceptance, and fault demarcation and locating, thereby implementing live network reconstruction, as shown in the following figure.

The following figure shows the CO migration for OLT upgrade when the intelligent optical path sensing device and optical path switch unit are installed in the OLT subrack.

The ODN is an important part of a fiber bandwidth network. The traditional ODN cannot meet the requirements of high-quality development of fiber broadband networks due to long construction period, high deployment cost, difficult fiber management, and slow troubleshooting. Therefore, the digital and intelligent ODN has become the ODN evolution direction due to cost-effective deployment, efficient management and O&M, and simplified connections.
Based on the technologies such as identification of branch optical lines, QuickConnect, and uneven optical splitting of optical splitters, the digital and intelligent ODN features automatic setup of network topology, real-time monitoring of the line status, flexible scalability, easy construction and maintenance, and precise resource management, thereby implementing visualized management of access network resources throughout the lifecycle.

Some customers of mobile network operator Vodafone UK, specifically those who are currently abroad in a variety of countries and using the operator’s roaming services, have for the past few hours been complaining about connectivity problems (e.g. they’re unable to make any calls and find that mobile broadband / data isn’t working).

Diagnosing problems with roaming can be very difficult, not least because they’re usually more likely to be caused by the remote network operator, rather than your home operator. Despite this, there’s been a notable trend in complaints about roaming from Vodafone’s customers over the past 4-6 hours, which appears to be occurring across a variety of countries.

At the time of writing, it’s not yet clear what the cause is or how many customers have been impacted, although some of the responses by Vodafone’s staff on social media suggest that they are aware of something occurring. “We apologise for the inconvenience caused and we’re currently in the process of identifying the root cause,” said one support agent in response to a complaint from a roaming user in the USA.

Sample Complaint 1

“I’m currently in Greece Athens and having issues with the network. For the past 5 hours I’ve been unable to make any calls nor have I got access to the internet.”

Sample Complaint 2

“We are getting 3G service or SOS in Toronto Canada. Basically no service for a few hours now.. What’s going on? It looks like others in different countries are also having issues. Please update.”

Sample Complaint 3

“I’m abroad and it’s said I have no service for about three hours now. This is also happening to another person I know abroad, also with Vodafone. The app is also down. What is happening and when will it return to normal?”

Sample Complaint 4

“Maybe you have already received a lot of queries regarding Vodafone Roaming issue currently experiencing including my self and my other phone in Europe. But ever since the past two hours there have been no coverage on either of my Vodafone phones.”

We have shot off a query to Vodafone to see if they have any additional comment or insight into the issue.

Based in Singapore, Sarah’s extensive expertise in international digital infrastructure will continue Telstra International’s leadership in the Wholesale market. With 25 years’ industry experience, Sarah previously served as Chief Revenue Officer for Neos Networks, a UK infrastructure business managing both Enterprise and Wholesale and held the position of Business Development Director for Telefonica Global Solutions, overseeing sales, commercial, and solution design teams across LatAm, EMEA, and Asia Pacific.

“Telstra International has unrivalled network reach and footprint in subsea cabling in the Asia Pacific region, boosted by an established Cable Landing Station footprint and terrestrial Data Centre connectivity. We have a huge opportunity for exponential growth. The depth and breadth of experience that Telstra International brings to market, alongside the significant digital infrastructure capability positions us well to lead. There is increasing demand for robust connectivity, significant capacity and digital services and we are poised to meet this demand head-on,” said Sarah Mills, Head of Wholesale, Telstra International.

At the heart of Sarah’s operations will be the customer, sustainable operations and expanding on diversity and inclusion.

“Sarah’s extensive experience and passion for partnering with customers make her an invaluable addition to our team. Her leadership will be instrumental as we continue to invest in critical digital infrastructure and upgrade technology to provide capacity on our subsea cable systems, ensuring we are placed to meet the increasing demand for data being driven by emerging technologies.

“Sarah’s clearly motivated by enabling people to be their best and fostering a collaborative environment. Her dedication to excellence and her strategic vision will be key drivers in our ongoing efforts to innovate and lead in the industry,” said Roary Stasko, CEO of Telstra International.

News 

The deal is the latest in a string of deals for Starlink 

Telstra has announced a new partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink to introduce Satellite-to-Mobile text messaging in Australia.  

The service, the partner say, will help to address the gaps in mobile coverage, especially in remote areas where terrestrial network infrastructure is limited. 

“The collaboration will initially focus on testing and refining a Satellite-to-Mobile text messaging capability for Australian conditions, ahead of a commercial launch,” the press release states. 

Telstra’s mobile network already covers 99.7% of the population but, as says Shailin Sehgal, Group Executive Global Networks and Tech at Telstra, points out, the sheer scale of Australia means much of the country is still without connectivity.  

“Australia’s landmass is vast and there will always be large areas where mobile and fixed networks do not reach,” he said. “This is where satellite technology will play a complementary role to our existing networks.” 

The service will initially support text messaging, with potential future expansions to include voice and low-rate data services.  

Back in 2023, the Telstra and Starlink signed a deal to deliver fixed broadband and voice services to remote areas across the country. That collaboration focused on providing faster broadband and home phone services for customers. As part of this earlier deal, Telstra aimed to offer broadband speeds significantly higher than older systems, combined with local technical support and optional professional installation to ease adoption. 

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter 

Also in the news:
Deutsche Telekom combines domestic and international wholesale under T Wholesale banner 
Toyota completes Phase 1 of Mount Fuji smart city construction
Is there still a role for the rural ISP in tomorrow’s digital infrastructure? Beyond the Cable discusses