Software and internet giant Microsoft have announced that they’re increasing the monthly price of their online Game Pass service for multiplayer Xbox and PC gamers. On top of that, they’re soon be replacing the standard sub for Xbox users, which means you’ll have to stump up for ‘Game Pass Ultimate‘ to access new games on release day.

The official announcement only provides the pricing details for the USA (here), but they’ve also published a table that lists the changes for each country (here). In short, the PC Game Pass will increase from £7.99 to £9.99 for new members, while Game Pass Ultimate will jump by the same amount (+£2) to £14.99 per month for new members and Game Pass Core (12 months pre-paid) will increase from £49.99 to £55.99. 

Microsoft’s Three Key Xbox Changes

1. Price Hikes

2. Changes to Xbox Game Pass for Consoles

3. The New XBox Game Pass Standard

We created Game Pass to offer players more choice in how they discover and play games. That includes offering different prices and plans, so players can find what works best for them. A new Game Pass option, Xbox Game Pass Standard, will become available for $14.99 USD (pricing varies by market) in the coming months.

Xbox Game Pass Standard gives you hundreds of high-quality games to play on your console. It also features all the benefits of Game Pass Core, such as online console multiplayer and select member deals and discounts, including up to 50% off select games. Game Pass Standard will not include games released on day one.

The new XBox Game Pass Standard is planned to launch in the “coming months“. By comparison, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adds access to day one (release) titles, specific entries to the Game Pass Ultimate library, access to EA Play, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Perks, Quests, and discounts on games in the Game Pass library.

News

Article by Bradford Randall, originally published on Total Telecom’ sister site, Broadband Communities

Viavi Solutions Inc., also known as VIAVI, has announced a strategic partnership with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to expand Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) testing capabilities for VIAVI’s Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN, also known as VALOR.

The efforts, according to VIAVI, were made possible by a $21.7 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund.

According to the company’s July 8 release, the money helped fund the creation of VALOR, which “provides a pathway to certification in the U.S. for new entrants, startups, and academia.”

“By bringing VALOR’s test-as-a-service capabilities to TIP, VIAVI advances the mission of TIP’s OpenRAN Project Group and enhances the broader industry’s ability to implement and certify Open RAN technologies,” the release stated.

As part of the partnership, VALOR, which “offers cloud-based and virtual testing capabilities critical for modern, scalable network performance assessments,” will be incorporated into TIP’s system performance certification program.

Dr. Sameh Yamany, the chief technology officer at VIAVI, said the partnership addresses deployment challenges faced by vendors.

“This initiative aims to reduce market fragmentation, create supply chain efficiencies, and build marketplace confidence through standardized testing and certification processes​,” Yamany said.

With the announcement, VALOR has become the first of TIP’s authorized test labs, according to VIAVI’s release.

Kristian Toivo, TIP’s executive director, said end-to-end testing, like that provided by VALOR, “ensures that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities, thereby maintaining service quality and reducing downtime.”

Toivo said VALOR’s Open RAN virtual testing environment bring new capabilities to TIP’s community.

“This strategic engagement fosters innovation, improves supply chain resilience, and accelerates the global adoption of Open RAN technologies, offering operators more flexible, cost-effective, and high-performance network solutions​,” Toivo said.

As a result of the partnership, TIP plans to leverage VALOR’s capabilities to help build a performance certification framework to promote industry alignment, according to VIAVI’s release.

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Interview

At Submarine Networks EMEA 2024, Isabelle Paradis, founder of Hot Telecom, interviewed Stacie Pascale, CPO of Aqua Comms, to discuss one of the hottest topics of the conference: spectrum.

In the ever-changing submarine cable industry, two types of customers emerging when it comes to spectrum sharing: those looking to diversify and minimise capex, and those looking to scale rapidly and prepare for massive demand.

“Spectrum sharing has been around for a long time, but mainly at the consortium level between operators. But now we’re seeing operators that would have previously been interested in a full fibre pair, insead be interested in spreading their capex out around more systems. Instead of buying one system with one fibre pair, they would rather buy four with a quarter fibre pair on each, so they can better serve their IP transit backbones and meet their other customer needs without the capital intensity,” explained Pascale. “The other kind of customer we see is a scaling customer […] that sees they may want 5Tb of capacity in 5-10 years, so they want to plan for that now.”

Check out the full Hotshots interview below!

Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s most important subsea telecoms event, returns in February! Get your tickets today!

News

The government claims the rapid growth has been spurred by initiatives like Make in India and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme

This week, a press release from India’s Ministry of Communication (MoC) has revealed that sales of telecoms equipment made in the country have risen to Rs 50,000 crore ($5.99 billion). This represents an increase of 370% compared to the FY 2019–2020.

Telecoms exports have also grown significantly, rising to approximately Rs 10,500 crore ($1.25 billion).

The government attributes this growth to various government-backed schemes, including the Make in India initiative and the PLI, which the MoC says has attracted Rs 3,400 crore ($407 million) of investment in the past three years.

These schemes, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wider ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (‘self-reliant India’) approach, are focussed on supporting domestic manufacturing industries via various subsidies, tax breaks, and strategic investments.

Alongside spurring growth of the telecoms equipment market, the MoC claims the initiatives have also resulted in the creation of over 17,800 direct jobs and many more indirect.

In a politically charged tweet, Minister of Communications and Electronics, Ashwini Vaishnaw, praised the efficacy of the PLI, calling domestic telecoms equipment production “a dream for India”.

The reality of mobile phone, electronics and telecom product manufacturing is known to all except those who don’t like our country’s progress.

In 2014-15, India produced only 5.8 Crore mobile phones and imported about 21 Crore mobile phones. In 2023-24, Bharat produced 33 Crore…

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 9, 2024

In the last five years, the trade deficit in telecoms equipment and mobile phones has shrunk dramatically, falling from Rs 68,000 crore ($8.1 billion) in 2019 to Rs 4,000 crore ($470 million) in 2024. In fact, the MoC claims that the Indian telecom industry is almost self-sufficient in some areas of telecoms technology, such as antennae, GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), and CPE (Customer Premises Equipment).

It should be noted, however, that despite this progress, India still remains heavily reliant on exports for telecoms equipment, particularly when it comes to mobile devices themselves. In the last fiscal year, India imported seven times as much telecoms equipment (including mobile phones) as it exported, valued at Rs 1,46,000 crore ($17.5 billion) and Rs 20,000 crore ($2.4 billion), respectively.

India’s domestic telecoms capabilities are no doubt increasing dramatically, but so too is the demand for equipment for its network operators for devices for consumers. Despite its best efforts – and despite vocal efforts of Reliance Jio to develop exportable 5G equipment – India still lacks telecoms equipment players with the scale to truly challenge the global hegemony of Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei.

For the time being at least, self-sufficiency within the Indian telecoms market remains a long way off.

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Also in the news:
Australian Government and AWS Collaborate to Strengthen country’s Cybersecurity
Solving congestion challenges in FTTP deployment
Vodafone Invests £120m in AI Chatbot ‘SuperTOBi’

The Comms Council UK, which represents the United Kingdom’s national Unified Communications and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone industry, has today released their shortlist of finalists for the organisation’s 16th annual 2024 industry awards event.

Eli Katz, Chair of Comms Council UK, said: “I am delighted to announce CCUK’s 16th annual Awards finalists. It’s a great opportunity to highlight and celebrate the amazing talent and innovation in our sector – as the shortlist so clearly demonstrates. We’re excited to welcome you to the Maxwell Library at The IET in September where we will see the winners pick up their awards, as well as taking the chance to get together as an industry to network and catch up with each other..”

This year’s winners will be announced during a ceremony at The IET in London on the 26th September 2024.

Comms Council UK 2024 Awards Finalists

Best Comms SME

Dial9 Communications

Rydal Group

VoiceHost

Voipfone

VoIPstudio

Voxbit

Best Comms Enterprise

8×8

Bandwidth

Pure IP

Vonage

Best SOHO Service

bOnline

Dial 9 Communications

SwitchboardFREE

V4 Cloud

Voipfone

VoIPstudio

Best Enterprise Service

8×8, Contact centre as a service (CCaaS)

CallSwitch One

CallTower, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) Solutions

PolyAI Customer-Led Voice Assistants

VoIPstudio

Best Innovation

8×8 Supervisor Workspace

bOnline – VoIP digital phone solutions

CallTower Operator Connect

Kerv Compliance Cloud with Pulse

PolyAI Customer-Led Voice Assistants

Vonage Conversational Commerce

Best Comms Application

Kerv,Compliance Cloud

Microtalk – Channel Partner Connect (CPC)

PolyAI, Customer-Led Voice Assistants

Rydal Group, Curo Analytics

VoIPstudio

Vonage, Global Network Platform

Best Comms Device

Grandstream GXV3480 Smart Video IP Phone for Android

Snom Technology – M500 series

Yealink W73P DECT Phone System

Best Industry Enabler

Microtalk

Netaxis – Fusion

NetSapiens International

PolyAI

Sangoma Technologies

Voxbit

Best Multi-national Service

8×8

Pure IP

PolyAI

VoIPstudio

Outstanding Contribution Award – to be announced at the awards ceremony

UK ISP Quantum Broadband (formerly Quantum Air Fibre) appear to be gearing up for an expansion of their ongoing efforts to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network “throughout Lincolnshire and the adjoining counties” in England, which provides ultrafast broadband to residential, business, and wholesale customers.

The provider, which originally started life as a fixed wireless ISP, began branching out into FTTP a few short years back. In 2020 they set themselves a target of covering 120,000 homes across Lincolnshire with their 10Gbps capable FTTP network and, at the last update at the end of 2021, they revealed that this network had already covered 5,000 premises and would reach 10,000 in Q1 2022.

Since then we’ve not had any further updates from the operator. But that changed today after the company put in an application for Code Powers from Ofcom. Such powers are typically sought to help speed-up deployments of new fibre and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licenses needed for street works.

The powers can also help with supporting access to run new fibre via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles (PIA), which is something they intend to harness. But other than that, the application doesn’t tell us anything particularly new, except for helping to confirm that they’re still active and moving their plans forward.

Customers of this service still pay the same as they did in 2021. Prices start from just £19 per month for an unlimited 120Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 24-month term and with an included router, which rises to £60 for their top 1Gbps plan.

Viewpoint

[Shanghai, China, June 27, 2024] At MWC Shanghai 2024, the World Broadband Association (WBBA) released the Net5.5G network construction standard during a WBBA Summit themed “AI Empowering Cloud & Broadband Excellence: Opportunities vs Challenges”. The standard defines for the first time the objectives and evolution timeline for network construction in the intelligent era, setting the direction for efficiently unleashing computing power and accelerating the development of inclusive AI.

The AI industry, represented by ChatGPT, is developing rapidly with various large, medium, and small models emerging one after another. From single-modal Q&A bots to multi-modal text-to-image and text-to-video generation, AI technologies have witnessed a boom, requiring a surging amount of computing power and posing stricter requirements on the transmission capacity of networks. In addition, the rapid development of AI technologies significantly improves network capabilities. The industry believes that the AI era requires next-generation networks to consolidate the connectivity foundation and accelerate the intelligent transformation of various industries. For this end, the WBBA, led by more than 80 enterprises that include leading carriers such as Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom, and China Telecom, as well as leading device vendors such as Huawei, set up the Network Technology Working Group (WG4) and jointly defined the Net5.5G-oriented next-generation target network architecture. They also systematically analyzed network requirements and key technologies in the AI era and focused network evolution on three application scenarios:

First, hyper-converged data center networks. In the AI era, the network throughput needs to be improved to efficiently release computing power and reduce the computing power costs of AI. For this purpose, the Net5.5G network construction standard specifies that 400GE/800GE is the basic requirement of data centers in the intelligent era and network scale load balancing (NSLB) technology is used to improve network performance in heavy-load scenarios such as foundation model training.
Second, converged transport networks. Networks must support high concurrency, serve numerous intelligent computing users, and implement intelligent scheduling of computing power through elastic and flexible bandwidth. To address such challenges, the Net5.5G network construction standard proposes that networks need to evolve to a 400GE/800GE ultra-broadband network foundation and improve their flexibility and service quality through technologies such as SRv6 and network slicing.
Third, high-quality 10 Gbps campus networks. Networks need to intelligently identify applications, provide intelligent experience assurance through mechanisms such as resource scheduling and optimization, and meet the experience requirements of AR/VR and HD video conferencing/live streaming services. To meet these requirements, the Net5.5G network construction standard suggests that Wi-Fi 7 and eXperience-centric Network Architecture (XNA) technologies be used to provide ultra-broadband access and experience assurance capabilities and VIP user experience be guaranteed based on user requirements.
In addition, the network construction standard points out that in the intelligent era, technologies such as network digital twin and network foundation models need to be utilized to improve network intelligence.

Tayeb Ben Meriem, Co-chair of the WBBA WG4, said that the release of the Net5.5G target network construction standard specifies the industry development directions and provides clear guidance for network upgrade in the AI era. He also noted that the standard helps comprehensively improve network capabilities, guarantees each phase of digital services, and fully unleashes digital productivity. He called on the industry to jointly drive the evolution to Net5.5G and promote the prosperity of the industry.

The BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker, which is really intended for network operators and ISPs but has always been used by savvy consumers to check the status of BTW and Openreach based services, appears to have recently made a change that seems to stop displaying ADSL results in areas where VDSL or FTTP (or both) are present.

Just to recap. Pure copper line based ADSL (SOADSL / SOTAP) broadband services offered highly variable speeds of up to c.20Mbps and were fed directly from the exchange (these are very old). By comparison, FTTC / VDSL2 (SOGEA) lines are considered hybrid-fibre services and offered speeds of up to c.75-80Mbps (i.e. the fibre went from the exchange to a street cabinet / DSLAM, which then fed the service to homes via existing copper lines).

As it stands today, both FTTC and ADSL lines have a similar level of coverage (i.e. c.98-99%). But there are still some remote rural and a few very disadvantaged urban areas where ADSL remains the only fixed line broadband option available.

Equally, there are some locations where FTTC is available, but the local street cabinet may be full to capacity and this can force new customers back on to ADSL lines until capacity improves. Furthermore, there are situations where the nature and distance of local copper lines means that FTTC may actually end up delivering slower speeds than local ADSL lines.

Situations like those above make it helpful to know what’s actually available at a specific address and, until recently, you could generally see ADSL, FTTC and FTTP (Openreach) availability for every address via the BTW Checker. But some of our readers recently spotted that (here) BTW have stopped showing ADSL speed results in areas where VDSL/FTTC or FTTP are present. We also found the same when testing a number of addresses.

Forum Member ‘Some Edinburgh Guy’ said:

“It now appears that if you are able to receive a VDSL (SOGEA) service, no matter what speed it is (even if it’s just 10mbps), you can no longer request an ADSL service. The availability checker now ONLY reports the VDSL speeds if that technology can be provisioned at a location, and you can no longer see ADSL speeds, even if you could theoretically receive that service.

Properties which are too far to receive VDSL service and don’t have FTTP will still display the ADSL speeds, but that only seems to be relevant to very rural areas that are too far from the DSLAM they are connected to. I have to assume BT Wholesale are now in the process of a phased withdrawal of ADSL in some form?”

ISPreview are currently attempting to clarify BTW’s position on this change and will report back shortly, although it should be said that most Openreach-based ISPs have long since stopped advertising ADSL based broadband packages or have already completely removed them as an option for new customers.

The reality is ADSL remains a very old service and one that’s due for withdrawal, particularly after 2030 when Openreach starts shutting down around 4,500 of their oldest exchanges under the Exchange Exit Programme (here and here). BTW’s change could thus probably be seen as part of that process, even if it does seem a little early (quite a few people still use ADSL) and we’re uncertain about how it might impact some of the edge cases mentioned earlier.

In addition, it also makes it much harder for people to know what services and performance actually exists in such disadvantaged locations.

Network operator CityFibre, which has so far extended their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 3.6 million UK premises (3.3m RFS), have today confirmed the completion of their “primary” £14m build in the large market and commuter town of Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire (England).

The original “town-wide” network deployment, which aimed to reach “almost every home and business” in the area, first entered the construction phase toward the end of 2022 and has now covered “over” 20,000 homes (RFS) or “about 82% of residential properties and most businesses in the town“. The work involved the laying of over 136km of dense full fibre infrastructure across the town.

However, while the primary-build is said to now be completed, the operator added that they would still “continue to explore opportunities to reach more sites including new build properties, multi-dwelling units, homes on private or unadopted roads and business parks.”

The catch is that CityFibre aren’t the only gigabit-capable network in town. Virgin Media’s network already covers the vast majority of premises, while Openreach are extending their own FTTP lines. On top of that, a number of alternative networks also have limited full fibre deployments in the town (e.g. Hyperoptic and OFNL, while Gigaclear is present nearby).

Charles Kitchin, CityFibre’s Partnership Manager for Wellingborough, said:

“The rollout of our full fibre network and completion of our primary-build in Wellingborough is excellent progress. This will provide a significant boost to the local economy, making the town one of the best-connected places in the country as it benefits from faster and more reliable broadband. Residents can now enjoy seamless streaming, even when using multiple devices at once, with ample productivity and innovation benefits.”

The work also supports CityFibre’s wider ambition of covering up to 8 million UK premises (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK subsidy) – across over 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK), although it’s unclear precisely when they will achieve that (the original goal was for the end of 2025, but their current build + M&A plan may only get them to c.6m).

LetterOne, the investment firm behind alternative network provider Upp’s £1bn project to deploy a new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network across 1 million premises in the East of England (here), has asked the High Court of Justice in London to rule it was unlawfully ordered to sell the network by the UK Government.

Just to recap. Upp’s efforts to roll out the new network were dealt a significant blow in December 2022, after the UK Government ordered LetterOne – an investment firm that previously received significant backing from several prominent and now sanctioned Russians – to sell its entire stake in Upp in order to “prevent, remedy, or mitigate the risk to national security” (here).

The move came despite the fact that LetterOne itself was not under any sanctions after its oligarch founders resigned from the group’s board in 2022. The investment company then froze the shareholdings of those individuals (who jointly own less than 50% of the company) and said they had no operational involvement in the business.

At the time, LetterOne said they “believe that L1 ownership of Upp is not a threat to national security in any way” and pointed out that “L1 is not sanctioned and has taken fast, decisive action to put in place strong measures to distance L1 from its sanctioned shareholders. They have no role in L1, no access to premises, infrastructure, people and funds or benefits of any description.”

However, despite LetterOne launching a legal challenge against the government’s decision during spring 2023 (here), the investor ended up selling Upp to rival network operator Nexfibre in September 2023 (here). At that point Upp’s network had only covered 175,000 premises and is today still in the process of being integrated into Nexfibre’s network, while their customers (c.4,000) were shifted to retail ISP partner Virgin Media (O2).

The most recent development is that LetterOne’s related appeal against the decision by Britain’s National Security and Investment Act has now reached the hearing stage at the High Court of Justice in London. Day 2 of 4 of the hearing (AC-2023-LON-000405) took place yesterday before Mrs Justice Farbey DBE, which saw LetterOne ask the court to rule that it was unlawfully ordered to sell Upp.

According to Reuters, LetterOne’s lawyer, Tom Hickman, said that “a comprehensive package of legally binding measures” would have prevented Upp’s ultimate beneficial owners, which include sanctioned oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, from exerting any improper influence over Upp. But Hickman argued their proposal was rejected because government officials feared a potential risk that Britain’s allies might perceive its response as too soft on Russia.

The company added that Upp was ultimately sold for less than it had invested into the company, while the Government’s lawyers – acting for the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industry – maintained that the decision to order the sale of Upp was justified on national security grounds. The hearing continues.

The case represents the first real challenge of Britain’s relatively new national security law to reach the High Court. A ruling against the government wouldn’t enable LetterOne to take back Upp (that ship has long since sailed), but it could expose the government to a damaging financial claim and highlight weaknesses in the new law.