San Jose, Calif. – July 22, 2024 – Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN) announced today that SECOM is modernizing its middle-mile and business Ethernet access network using Infinera’s XTM Series optical transport solution to bring new multi-gigabit broadband services to rural southern Colorado communities previously underserved. SECOM’s enhanced network provides connectivity for thousands of customers, including homes, schools, libraries, government entities, telecoms, and businesses.

SECOM, the wholly owned broadband subsidiary of Southeast Colorado Power Association (SECPA), a rural electric power cooperative, is one of the largest telecommunications service providers in the region, with a fiber network spanning around 2,000 miles throughout southeastern Colorado.

With Infinera’s XTM Series, SECOM is expanding the capabilities of its middle-mile network to deliver multi-gigabit Ethernet services driven by the bandwidth growth of large enterprises and industrial parks, as well as the 100G/400G broadband transport needed to aggregate thousands of broadband services offered in newly created fiberhoods. This middle-mile network modernization project provides SECOM the network flexibility, reliability, and reach needed to maximize the region’s economic and social development opportunities and close the digital divide in the most remote and rugged locations.

The XTM Series provides SECOM with a temperature-hardened and low-latency packet optical middle-mile network that is ideally suited to the combination of residential, business, and Carrier Ethernet traffic in the network and the demanding operational environment at the edge of the network.

“Infinera’s XTM solution was easy to deploy,” said Elijah Quinn-Ridgwell, Chief Technology Officer at SECOM. “We have a vast and mostly rural service area, which benefits from Infinera’s edge-optimized platform, enabling us to aggregate larger amounts of traffic from more varied and remote locations. Upgrading the network with Infinera’s XTM solution maximized our broadband and Ethernet capabilities across our network, creating a more robust and scalable infrastructure that will allow us to continue to grow well into the future.”

Infinera worked with its partner World Wide Technology (WWT) on the network design and deployment for SECOM.

“We are pleased to work with WWT to upgrade SECOM’s network, bringing vital fiber and mobile broadband connectivity to underserved communities in rural Colorado,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “Modernizing SECOM’s middle-mile network ensures southern Colorado keeps pace with the rest of the world.”

Infinera technology experts will be at FiberConnect July 24-28 at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. To schedule a meeting or to learn more about Infinera’s solutions for rural broadband networks, contact sales@infinera.com.

Contacts:

Media:

Anna Vue

Tel. +1 (916) 595-8157

avue@infinera.com   

Investors:

Amitabh Passi, Head of Investor Relations

Tel. +1 (669) 295-1489

apassi@infinera.com

About Infinera

Infinera is a global supplier of innovative open optical networking solutions and advanced optical semiconductors that enable carriers, cloud operators, governments, and enterprises to scale network bandwidth, accelerate service innovation, and automate network operations. Infinera solutions deliver industry-leading economics and performance in long-haul, submarine, data center interconnect, and metro transport applications. To learn more about Infinera, visit www.infinera.com, follow us on X and LinkedIn, and subscribe for updates.

Infinera and the Infinera logo are registered trademarks of Infinera Corporation.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the operational and performance benefits of Infinera’s XTM Series optical transport solution. These statements are not guarantees of results and should not be considered as an indication of future activity or future performance. Actual results may vary materially from these expectations as a result of various risks and uncertainties. Information about these risks and uncertainties, and other risks and uncertainties that affect Infinera’s business, is contained in the risk factors section and other sections of Infinera’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the Fiscal Quarter ended March 30, 2024 as filed with the SEC on May 24, 2024, as well as any subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. These reports are available on Infinera’s website at http://www.infinera.com and the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions, or strategies and can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “will,” and “would” or similar words. Infinera assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements.

News

The proceeds from the 10% stake sale will help reduce the company’s debt pile

Today, Vodafone has announced the sale of a further 10% stake in Oak Holdings, the infrastructure joint venture that controls its mobile tower spin-off Vantage Towers.

The stake’s buyer is Vodafone’s partner in Oak Holdings, a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners ad KKR, who have agreed to pay the operator €1.3 billion.

Back in 2022, Vodafone shifted its 81.7% stake in Vantage Tower to the newly formed Oak Holdings, saying it would gradually sell down its stake in the joint venture until it had achieved ownership parity with the consortium. By doing so, Vodafone explained at the time, the operator aimed to retain control over its critical passive infrastructure whilst also raising funds to reduce its debt.

Follow the 10% stake sale today, Vodafone has now achieved the desired 50:50 ownership split with Oak Holdings. The operator is not planning any further divestment.

Including today’s announcement, the formation of the joint venture and subsequent stake divestment has seen Vodafone raise €6.6 billion in the last two years.

Funds raised from the stake sale will reportedly go towards reducing Vodafone’s debt, which stood at €33.2 billion as of March this year.

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

Also in the news:
Power play: Thailand’s biggest telco to merge with energy giant
Germany implements long-awaited Huawei ban
Telecom Egypt readies for country’s first 5G services

London, 22nd July 2024 – Cerillion (AIM: CER), a leading provider of BSS/OSS-as-a-Service solutions to the telecoms industry, today announced further details of a new five-year contract with a leading provider of connectivity solutions in Southern Africa, first announced in May. Cerillion will implement its pre-integrated BSS/OSS suite to support a wide range of B2B and B2C services including 5G Standalone, fibre and satellite, in one convergent solution.

With a network spanning seven countries across the region, the multi-service operator is growing rapidly and now needs to consolidate its operations on a unified BSS/OSS platform with a strong digital engagement layer and end-to-end order-to-cash integration. Key to choosing Cerillion was the company’s proven track record of supporting multi-country operators with a fully convergent solution, with all customer types and service types managed on one unified platform.

Built around a common technology framework using industry standards including TM Forum Open APIs, Open Digital Architecture and the 3GPP charging specifications, Cerillion’s BSS/OSS suite and SaaS delivery enables rapid implementation with ease of integration, maintenance, and upgrades through its evergreen software programme, ensuring customers always have access to the latest product features.

“We are delighted to be working on this exciting new multi-country project in Southern Africa,” commented Louis Hall, CEO of Cerillion. “Faced with stiff competition and an extremely thorough selection process, the benefits of our pre-integrated product suite and the quality and flexibility of our delivery team have shone through once again, providing the certainty of outcome the customer needs for this mission-critical transformation project.”

– ends –

Notes to Editors

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, KDDI and Proximus. For more information visit: www.cerillion.com

IVT Communications FZE LLC’s recent unveiling of afina, a cutting-edge data monetization platform, is truly remarkable and forward-looking. The introduction of afina marks a significant advancement in the telecom industry, poised to revolutionize telecom operators’ revenue streams and address the longstanding challenge of entering the advertising market.
afina distinguishes itself through its utilization of sophisticated machine learning algorithms, enabling it to deliver highly targeted promotions tailored to each individual subscriber. This emphasis on personalized advertising aligns seamlessly with the industry’s growing emphasis on data-driven strategies.
What truly sets afina apart is its dedication to fully leveraging subscriber databases available to telecom companies. In a landscape where annual advertiser budget growth surpasses 20%, this feature becomes particularly enticing. Furthermore, afina goes above and beyond by offering a complimentary launch and handling 90% of the setup process, underscoring the user-friendly and convenient nature of their approach.
afina offers telecom operators rapid market launch capabilities, enabling them to swiftly seize new opportunities. The platform assists operators in refining their promotional strategies through the provision of proprietary modules for hypothesis testing. Co-founder Rostislav Ringer emphasizes that afina empowers operators to maximize revenues while delivering promotions that truly resonate with subscribers.
With features like transparent financial reporting, data-centric advertising, and a guided integration process, afina showcases its commitment to arming operators with a competitive edge. This platform is a vital resource for both MNOs and MVNOs as they navigate the dynamic telecommunications industry landscape.
afina’s Features:
ML-based Monetization: afina utilizes machine learning algorithms to deliver highly targeted promotions, boosting ARPU by up to 5%.
Rapid Market Launch: The platform enables swift deployment, allowing telecom operators to capitalize on new opportunities promptly.
Proprietary Modules for Hypothesis Testing: Exclusive modules assist operators in testing hypotheses and refining promotional strategies.
Guided Process: Operators are seamlessly guided throughout the entire integration process.
Transparent Financial Reporting: afina provides comprehensive financial reporting, offering operators valuable insights into the success of their promotional campaigns.
The platform’s innovative features, commitment to data-driven strategies, and potential for significant revenue growth make it a formidable player in the market.
For further details on afina and its transformative capabilities, interested parties can visit afina’s official website: afinadmp.com

About IVT Communications FZE LLC:
IVT Communications FZE LLC emerges as a leading provider of advanced AI solutions. With a team of experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the company develops cutting-edge technologies that drive innovation and optimize business processes.

Research Nester’s recent market research analysis on “Data Center Interconnect Market: Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2036” delivers a detailed competitors analysis and a detailed overview of the global data center interconnect market in terms of market segmentation by type, application, end-user, and by region.

Increased Advancements by Data Center Providers to Promote Global Market Share of Data Center Interconnect

Data center providers are improving their cloud and co-location offerings, which is one of the major factors propelling the growth of the market. The public, financial, OTT, and ISP sectors will all be developing use cases for DCI networks as a result of the expansion and dispersion of data centers, increased fiber consumption, and affordable pluggable modules. Product innovation is a crucial way for market players to set themselves apart. Vendors like Ciena, Infinera, Huawei, and Nokia have been pushing the limits of contemporary optics since the beginning of 2020. For instance, in 2022, one of the top digital network integrators in the country, STL unveiled India’s first multicore fiber and cable. This innovative breakthrough will transform India’s optical connection environment.  This has been conceptualized and developed in-house with leading interdisciplinary R&D specialists at STL’s Centre of Excellence in Maharashtra. Using space division multiplexing, STL’s Multiverse increases transmission capacity per fiber by 4X while maintaining the same diameter.

Some of the major growth factors and challenges that are associated with the growth of the global data center interconnect market are:

Growth Drivers:

Increase in the Number of Data Centers
Surge in the Global Demand for 5G Network

Challenges:

Several factors must be considered when preparing for the construction of the data center. Some of these aspects are engineering, authorizations and approvals, power systems, insulated generators, conduits or cables for electrical equipment, data center lighting, illumination protection, air quality control, fire suppression, etc. These expenses may soon be compensated for by capital investments. Consequently, the growth of the data center interconnect market may be hindered by this factor.

Some other factors such as data privacy issues and capacity limitations may impede the growth of the data center interconnect market.

By end-user, the global Data Center Interconnect market is segmented into communication service providers, internet content providers/ carrier-neutral providers, governments, and enterprises. The internet content providers/carrier neutral providers segment is expected to hold a share of 32% during the forecast period. Several of the biggest ICPs, like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook (Meta), are producing enormous amounts of internet traffic. For this reason, to connect their data centers, many ICPs are also choosing to construct fiber networks. Several carrier-neutral colocation facilities are making significant investments in DCI technology since flexibility is crucial for these types of facilities. Therefore, this factor is accelerating the growth of the segment.

By region, the Middle East & Africa data center interconnect market is anticipated to hold a share of 15% by the end of 2036. Major international cloud service providers are present in the Middle East and Africa (MENA) region. These providers include Amazon Web Services, Tencent, Microsoft, Google, Alibaba, Oracle, and Huawei Technologies. Microsoft, for example, plans to set up a cloud region in Saudi Arabia. Operators in several Middle Eastern and African nations are encouraged to build data centers by the availability of industrial parks, land, and government assistance. With the introduction of new submarines, the connectivity of the Middle East and Africa data center interconnect market is continuously expanding. It is anticipated that these factors will bolster the market growth in the region.

Source : https://www.researchnester.com/reports/data-center-interconnect-market/5904

News

BT has now put measures in place to prevent a reoccurrence 

Today, Ofcom has fined BT £17.5 million for technical faults which caused 14,000 emergency calls to be missed over an 11-hour period last summer. 

BT manages the UK’s emergency services call system. When someone dials 999, the call is routed to one of BT’s emergency call centers, where an operator will then transfer the call to the appropriate emergency services branch. 

On 25 June last year, the company experienced a network fault that affected nearly 14,000 attempted emergency calls. After the incident, BT reported the incident to Ofcom, as is required by law. The operator said it had fully cooperated with Ofcom’s subsequent investigation and was “sincerely sorry for the distress caused” by the outage. 

“We found that BT did not have sufficient warning systems in place for when this kind of incident occurs, nor did it have adequate procedures for promptly assessing the severity, impact and likely cause of any such incident or for identifying mitigating actions,” confirmed Ofcom in a statement today. 

“We also found that BT’s disaster recovery platform had insufficient capacity and functionality to deal with a level of demand that might reasonably be expected,” it continued. 

Ofcom has therefore fined BT £17.5 million and ordered measures be introduced to prevent reoccurrence. 

The network outage did not result in any serious harm to the pub, which was reflected in the size of the fine. 

“Today’s fine sends a broader warning to all firms -– if you’re not properly prepared to deal with disruption to your networks, we’ll hold you to strict account on behalf of consumers,” added Ofcom’s Director of Enforcement, Suzanne Cater. 

Join BT at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here!  

Also in the news:
Messaging and billing are key to the bottom line
Ofcom clamps down on mid-contract price rises
Global IT outage disrupts the world in “biggest IT fail ever” 

Market regulator Ofcom has proposed to ban UK telecoms operators from leasing Global Titles – numbers like +44 (for the United Kingdom) that support mobile services – to third parties. This is because such leasing can be misused to try and intercept messages and calls, disrupt the operation of networks and track the location of users of other networks.

According to the regulator, a small number of operators have been leasing their Global Title numbers to third parties, which can be done to facilitate the provision of legitimate mobile services. But Ofcom also found that this can make it easier for “bad actors” to abuse the system. As a result, +44 Global Titles are “one of the most significant and persistent sources of malicious signalling traffic affecting mobile networks globally“.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is also aware that +44 Global Titles have been exploited for malicious purposes, such as location tracking and the interception of SMS used for 2-step verification (2SV) to target both UK residents and populations globally. Suffice to say that the regulator is aware of how this “gives rise to reputational risk to the UK as these harms have regularly been facilitated by the misuse of UK mobile numbers.”

Ofcom added that the current measures, such as the GSMA Global Title Leasing Code of Conduct and controls implemented by some Global Title lessors (e.g. signalling firewalls which block unauthorised message types and monitoring tools), have “not been effective at preventing malicious signalling“. As a result, they believe that intervention is now both “necessary and proportionate“.

Ofcom’s Proposal

We are proposing to strengthen our existing rules and introduce new rules to tackle misuse of Global Titles, in particular by:

• banning leasing of Global Titles to third parties by operators that hold UK mobile numbers;

• banning the creation of Global Titles from sub-allocated numbers by third parties;

• strengthening our rules to prohibit the misuse of Global Titles by operators that hold UK mobile numbers; and

• strengthening our rules to prohibit the creation of Global Titles from numbers not allocated for use.

Taken together, these proposals should significantly reduce malicious signalling from UK Global Titles, thereby providing material benefits to UK and international citizens. They should also enhance the transparency and accountability of operators that use Global Titles.

We consider that these proposals are appropriate and proportionate. They will result in a significant reduction in harm to UK and international citizens which we consider outweighs the adverse impacts on lessors and lessees that we have identified. Our assessment suggests that any adverse impacts are likely to be limited, in particular due to the availability of alternative ways of providing legitimate mobile services that are currently facilitated by the leasing of Global Titles.

We propose that the rules to prohibit misuse of Global Tiles by operators that hold UK mobile numbers and the rules to prohibit the creation of Global Titles from numbers not allocated for use should come into force immediately after the publication of our final decision.

Ofcom’s consultation on all this will remain open for feedback until 15th October 2024 and they’ve also provisionally proposed that the ban on leasing, alongside the ban on creating Global Titles from sub-allocated numbers, should then come into force from 1st January 2026. “This should provide the relevant parties with sufficient time to migrate to alternative solutions and dissolve legacy arrangements,” added the regulator.

Just to get a bit technical. The issue above specifically relates to the Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) protocol suite, which is used by 2G and 3G mobile networks (not 4G, which uses the Diameter protocol) to facilitate the provision of mobile services (e.g. authenticating handsets to the network, setting up and terminating calls, sending SMS messages, subscriber profile management and to facilitate roaming).

The above consultation is thus about the security risks arising from SS7 signalling associated with GTs formed from +44 mobile numbers. But users of 4G and 5G networks can also be affected by malicious SS7 signalling because 2G and 3G networks operate alongside 4G and 5G networks, providing fallback coverage in areas where 4G or 5G coverage is not yet available.

Insight

This article was written by Antony Savvas, a global freelance business technology journalist, for VanillaPlus. The article first appeared here.

Customer messaging and billing are key items to get right in the communications ecosystem, but failings still prevail. Business technology journalist, Antony Savvas looks at how both enterprises and telecoms resellers are not coming up to the mark.

Research shows that 89% of consumers want to initiate and reply to two-way conversations with businesses, via multiple mobile and social channels. However, over half (53%) said they were frustrated at the fact that often they cannot reply to a mobile message sent from a business, whether to ask a question, receive an update or complete an action, such as scheduling an appointment.

In all, 3,000 consumers across 15 countries were questioned for the research, which was commissioned by cloud communications firm Sinch.

And this comes after recent research from Mitto, the provider of global omnichannel communications solutions, which found that 87% of US consumers now use social media apps to message with brands, while 80% of consumers in China, Brazil, India, and Nigeria use chat apps for brand engagement.

Boosting sales

Mitto’s research among US consumers, shows increased messaging with brands is driving their purchasing decisions, with 55% reporting a brand’s social media messaging influenced a purchase via the website, 39% in store and 42% via the social media app.

The types of messaging consumers like to see from brands via social media include promo codes (70%), sales (61%), customer support (54%) and order updates (52%).

It’s clear there’s a big opportunity to generate sales through messaging. But when Sinch asked how long it typically takes to get a response from a brand on social media, nearly one-in-four people said it took a day or longer. Most respondents said they’d be less likely to buy from a brand given these unreasonable wait times.

AI-powered?

The Sinch study found 70% of people had interacted with an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot at least once, but what happens when a live service agent needs to step in? A resounding 95% of respondents wanted to be instantly handed off to a live agent in these situations, but this is a stark contrast to the 35% of businesses currently enabling this, according to a recent IDC white paper.

Sinch said the situation “amplifies the imbalance” between consumers’ desire for more intimate digital brand interactions and the limitations of brands’ current one-way messaging realities.

“Because many brands aren’t yet equipped to provide this enhanced conversational experience, customers are being unintentionally ignored, which can lead them to abandon a business altogether,” says Jonathan Bean, chief marketing officer of Sinch. “Activating omnichannel two-way messaging is a critical way of boosting the customer experience and forging more loyal, satisfied relationships with consumers.”

That said, it’s clear that messaging specialists, and the telcos that carry such messages, have an opportunity to generate more sales, in hopefully helping enterprises meet customer expectations going forward.

Making bills pay

Around 20 years ago, the Telecommunications Managers Association (TMA) in the UK had a number of key issues in its sights, including the high price of leased lines from only a limited number of suppliers, and the lack of a broadband alternative for businesses, as incumbent BT was not unbundling its exchanges, to enable the faster introduction of ADSL and other forms of broadband.

Another key topic was billing, specifically the difficulty in companies actually understanding their telecoms costs, and often being overcharged as a result. Also, it was concerned that alternative service providers were finding it very difficult to resell telco services, because carrier billing systems were too complicated.

While most phone exchanges have now been unbundled as a result of market forces and thanks to government action, and the resulting different broadband services are now widespread, the issue of billing problems has still not gone away.

The TMA became the Communications Management Association (CMA) to reflect the fact its members were no longer just managing telephone call records, but also extensive data ones too, as a result of the convergence of telephone networks and computer networks. And eventually, the CMA was taken over by the British Computer Society (BCS), the IT managers’ association.

This little history perfectly illustrates the extensive problems being faced by those having to manage communications bills, they are big, and growing, as a result of the wider communications services all markets internationally are creating.

Coping

So how to cope at the sharp end? Well, implementing robust revenue assurance protocols before and after each bill run can make a big difference to the bottom line, for one. And checks should also be performed to ensure that buy prices are in accordance with the tariff agreed with the carrier. Assuming the carrier gets it right can be a costly mistake made by many.

These are basics, but without an automated billing platform most end customers and resellers cannot tally up charges as they grow their business, and the bills become a big threat to the bottom line.

I spoke to Gareth Pritchard, marketing manager for Union Street, a provider of billing platforms. He says that while billing automation is key to enable organisations to cope, resellers also shouldn’t lose site of the opportunities.

For instance, in mobile, most users demand unlimited call and data packages, even though most don’t need them for their actual usage. The clever providers, he says, will buy a large bundle from a carrier and then resell pieces of it to end customers using “unlimited” accounts, which they won’t make use of.

This results in bigger profits for the reseller, providing they have a decent automated billing system to carefully manage the operation.

Roaming

For the last three months, I’ve been trialling Vodafone‘s 5G MiFi device, a mobile router that provides either personal communications use or which can be shared with multiple devices. It can be deployed in either a fixed space to support retail use, for instance, or carried on your travels.

I’ve been using it around the UK, in search of those slowly growing 5G signals, and abroad. Where there is a 5G signal to be had, the network performance is solid and the battery is also reliable, sometimes lasting a couple of days without having to re-charge.

Outside the UK, I have also tried to use it in the US, Spain and the Middle East. It didn’t work in California, as a Vodafone bod hadn’t flicked the necessary switch in a data centre. Although I hadn’t warned them of my impending travel, that was part of the trial in my mind.

In Spain’s Canary Islands, I was only able to find a 4G signal, but this was excellent and supported two smartphones and a very happy Mrs Savvas, an F1 nut. While on holiday, she watched the entire Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on her iPad by the pool, with no service drops.

As I write this, I’m on a business trip to Tel Aviv, Israel. I can’t find a 5G signal in the centre of town at the moment, but the 4G signal, and even the 3G one that occasional pops up, is good enough for the basics. The networks that appear through this device while abroad are often Vodafone’s interconnectivity partners, and that’s why Vodafone has always been a reliable operator to use while travelling.

Network operator and ISP Brsk, which now covers 573,050 UK premises (RFS) with their full fibre network and is in the process of being merged into Netomnia (here), has today announced that they’ve added the industrial port town of Runcorn in Cheshire (England) to their roll-out plan. A total of around 30,000 homes and businesses are expected to benefit.

The addition of the town to their roll-out will see brsk pass almost 45,000 homes across the whole of Cheshire (i.e. they can also be found in parts of Wilmslow, Handforth and Poynton). But the announcement doesn’t say how long the local roll-out will take or how much investment is involved, although we can see that engineering work has already begun.

Naturally, brsk won’t have a busy area like Runcorn all to itself, with both Virgin Media and Openreach having already deployed wide coverage via their own gigabit-capable broadband networks. In addition, Hyperoptic covers a few local MDUs, while ITS Technology have deployed fibre to the Astmoor Industrial Estate and Manor Park areas.

Brsk’s network can also be found in parts of West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, The Black Country and South Birmingham.

Regional Head, Gareth Cornelius, said:

“Having expanded our network across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and recently St Helens, we are delighted to now be expanding further across the North West and bring our award-winning broadband services to Runcorn. For too long the town has been overlooked by the major incumbents, and we feel it’s borderline criminal that the people of Runcorn have so little choice when it comes to good quality and affordable broadband options. By bringing our full fibre services to the town, we look forward to establishing ourselves as the broadband provider of choice for the people of Runcorn.”

Residential customers typically pay from £23 per month for a 100Mbps (symmetric) package and this rises up to £32 for their top 900Mbps tier on a 24-month term, which includes a router and free installation.

The Preston City Council (PCC) in Lancashire (England) recently announced that it will be the founding member of a new Preston Digital Cooperative (PDC) organisation, which seeks to promote digital inclusion across communities in the city through the deployment of new digital infrastructure (e.g. free broadband WiFi) and enhancing digital skills.

The cooperative is being set up as a way to “bring together public, voluntary and private organisations” working to improve access to connectivity, devices and skills across the city for digitally excluded people and communities. It will use UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) to help provide “free [internet] connectivity in some areas, refurbished devices for residents that need them, and free digital skills training“.

The Community Broadband Network (CBN), which works with local authorities, businesses and NGOs – both in the UK and internationally – to help develop transformational and sustainable digital infrastructure, is also supporting the new organisation.

Councillor Matthew Brown, Leader at Preston City Council, said:

“As a growing number of its own services are now digitally based, it is important that the Council leads by example. The work of the Preston Digital Cooperative will help to tackle the digital divide and improve digital inclusion, ensuring that our residents have equal access. It also fits with our Community Wealth Building principles of anchor collaboration and democratic ownership.

In the longer term we will explore how Preston Digital Cooperative can be an alternative, ethical provider in the market working with and supporting our local communities and businesses.”

Shaun Fensom, Chair at Community Broadband Network, added:

“We are excited to be working with Preston City Council and other organisations across the city to set up and be involved with Preston Digital Cooperative. It is an opportunity to develop and build on our work in other regions across the UK for more than 20 years.

The cooperative will work on innovative ways to source and distribute devices and enable free wireless broadband connectivity in selected places across the city.”

We should highlight that CBN is also a founding member of the Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI) scheme in Tameside, Blackpool, Manchester and Sussex, which has done a reasonable job of enabling the commercial re-use of existing local authority owned cable ducts and fibre to aid the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband.

Various network operators like Virgin Media, CityFibre, Telcom, ITS Technology, F&W Networks and others have benefitted from that and it’s possible we may see something similar emerge in the Preston area.

In terms of gigabit-capable broadband coverage, Preston is already well covered by Virgin Media’s network and there’s significant FTTP coverage from Openreach, CityFibre, ITS Technology and Netomnia, albeit still a bit patchy in places. Some smaller deployments also exist or were being planned by Grain, Hyperoptic and MS3.