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The partnership is set to improve the notoriously difficult indoor connectivity problem

This week, Freshwave has announced the fruits of a partnership with infrastructure vendor CommScope, reportedly achieving a “world-first” by combining 4G connectivity from all four of the UK mobile network operators (MNOs) in a  single small cell solution. 

Freshwave’s Omni Network approach uses CommScope’s ONECELL technology, a small cell solution built to provide strong and reliable LTE and 5G services from multiple MNOs indoors. 

Indoor connectivity remains a major challenge for mobile operators, with 4G and particularly 5G signals delivered from macrosites outside the building being severely attenuated when passing through walls and even windows. Deploying small cells within in-building, in a fashion similar to typical Wi-Fi deployments, can alleviate much of this issue.   

In this case, neutral host operator Freshwave will deploy, maintain, and operate the small cells, charging customers a monthly managed service fee. 

This approach, Freshwave says, requires less equipment, cabling, and installation than previous alternatives, and can reduce costs by up to 65% compared to a normal distributed antenna system (DAS). It also reportedly consumes 60% less energy than traditional DAS. 

Crucially, Omni Network will allow all four UK MNOs – EE (BT), Vodafone, Three UK, and Virgin Media O2 – to provide services from the same small cell, reducing the need for overlapping deployments among the operators. This, says EE’s Director of Mobile Radio Access Networks James Hope, says “provides a clear benefit for sharing costs” in a competitive mobile market. 

 Though currently providing 4G connectivity, the announcement’s press release states that 5G connectivity will be brought to the solution in the next few months. 

“Omni Network extends in-building mobile connectivity to a wider range of organisations than ever before thanks to our team’s technical innovation,” said Freshwave CEO Simon Frumkin. 

“As the only company in the UK able to offer omni network, we’re looking forward to the benefits it will bring to our customers across the public and private sector. We’re grateful to all the UK mobile operators for their collaboration which made omni network possible,” he continued. 

Join the conversation around the neutral host connectivity solution at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here!  

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Belfast-based alternative UK network builder and broadband ISP Fibrus, which is backed by investment from Infracapital, has today announced that they’ll be issuing grants worth a total of £60,000 to 30 community groups across Northern Ireland, which are being supported as part of their 2024 Community Fund.

So far Fibrus have already allocated £175k to local groups in Northern Ireland since launching the fund in 2021, with a further £120,000 allocated to Cumbria. The grants, which are worth up to £2,000 for each organisation selected, typically focus on organisations or projects that help to address issues like digital poverty or fostering inclusivity within local communities.

Delivered in partnership with The Community Foundation Northern Ireland, the Fibrus Community Fund has now provided grants to over 100 community groups across the region. Some of the latest in N.Ireland to be supported from the 2024 Fund include The Tuesday Club in Cookstown, Tempo Community Playgroup in Enniskillen and Friends of St Mary’s Primary School in Craigavon.

In addition, Fibrus are separately supporting grassroots sports clubs in Northern Ireland and Cumbria – for a second year – through ‘Fibrus Play it Forward‘, a £50,000 funding pot.

Linda McMillan, Chief People Officer at Fibrus, said:

“One of our primary goals is to enhance people’s lives by improving digital literacy and connectivity, and this is what the Fund seeks to achieve.

We believe every person deserves access to essential services in Northern Ireland and beyond and The Fibrus Community Fund is a vital part of our mission to foster a more digitally inclusive society.

This year, we received some fantastic applications from organisations working hard to support those in need in their community and we are honoured to play a part in their journey.

We eagerly anticipate seeing these groups grow and develop in the coming months.”

Meanwhile, the network operator’s gigabit broadband network has, as of 31st March 2024, already been expanded to cover 354,000 premises (337k RFS) across parts of England and N.Ireland, which is up from 339,000 premises on 31st January 2024 (321,000 RFS). In addition, the operator recently grew their customer base to over 80,000.

Residential customers can expect to pay from £24.99 £21.99 per month for download speeds of 159Mbps (average) and uploads of 34Mbps on a 24-month term (£39.99 thereafter), which rises to £44.99 £39.99 for their top 982Mbps (310Mbps) tier (£59.99 thereafter). The packages also include an Amazon Eero 6+ router (or routers), UK support, free setup and the pledge of “no mid-contract price hikes“. Prices may differ in areas of subsidised build.

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The new deal will see Nokia’s radio solutions enhance Solis’ private wireless offering, helping farms to maximise the value of real-time data insights and the latest agritech solutions

This week, Nokia has announced a new partnership with Brazilian infrastructure specialist Solis Tower Telecom do Brasil, aimed at deploying private networks for the agricultural sector.

The deal will see Solis incorporate a wide variety of Nokia products into their private wireless service offering, including Nokia’s AirScale radio solutions encompassing small cells, baseband units, radio heads, and Flexi Zone base stations.

This, the companies say, will allow Solis to offer improved private LTE and NB-IoT networks to agricultural customers, connecting machines, people, and sensors and providing detailed real-time information that can support farming operations.

“Bringing reliable connectivity and accelerating the digitalization of these rural communities is essential. It will help businesses and workers collaborate and innovate, becoming more productive and efficient, while enabling easier communications with co-workers and families. Through our industry-leading technology, we help our customer Solis bridge the digital divide and connect the unconnected,” explained Renato Bueno, Enterprise Sales Director for Nokia Mobile Networks in Latin America.

Deploying private networks for the agricultural sector has been a growing focus for wireless infrastructure vendors for a number of years now. Nokia’s rival Ericsson, for example, signed a deal with AgriBusiness Connect in Australia last year to explore the value of private 5G for farming operations.

But despite the clear value that improved connectivity can provide to farming operations, wireless service providers dedicated solely to the sector are few and far between.

Indeed, Solis itself is something of a newcomer, having been found in early 2023. Since then, the private network operator has deployed 150 towers and related wireless infrastructure to connect 2.1 million hectares of farmland as part of 76 separate projects.

Solis says it plans to increase this total to 350 4G mobile towers on farms by 2025.

“Our mission is to enter the planted forest sector now, but we also want to enter the coffee sector. We will unlock the segments according to the level of technological adoption of each group,” said company co-founder Felippe Antonelle.

The scale of the opportunity here should not be underestimated. Of all of Brazil’s viable farmland, only 19% currently has access to 4G or 5G connectivity, leaving the majority of farms unable to make use of new technologies like robots, drones, or autonomous vehicles.

“This important project will have a transformative impact on farming communities across Brazil giving them access to critical communications and internet access. It will drive greater efficiencies and increases in productivity. We are delighted to partner with Nokia on this and look forward to seeing how it will develop in the future,” said Antonelle.

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

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Network operator MS3, which is building a new 10Gbps capable open access (wholesale) full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network across 30 locations in the UK (mostly East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has signed a new partnership that will enable them to serve tenants of the Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP).

The master wayleave agreement (i.e. a legal land / property access deal) is expected to benefit over 450 residents (social housing tenants) living in LHP’s low and medium-rise apartments in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas. The expansion with LHP will take the total number of Lincolnshire premises that can access MS3’s full fibre broadband to over 60,000, including a completed Scunthorpe build covering 37,000 premises.

The partnership with LHP comes shortly after MS3 was granted similar permission to install its full fibre network in low and mid-rise homes owned by Hull City Council in East Yorkshire (England).

Jo Fleming, Corporate Partnerships Manager at MS3, said:

“Digital exclusion caused by a lack of fast and reliable broadband is a problem that particularly affects social housing residents. In North East Lincolnshire, around one in eight households live in socially rented housing, so our partnership with LHP allows us to improve socialisation, education and job opportunities for residents.

But digital inclusion goes further than simply providing access to the infrastructure needed to get online, it’s about affordability. Due to our network of wholesale partners, residents will be able to choose a broadband option that suits their usage and budget needs, with an average annual saving of £200.”

The Asterion-backed operator currently aims to cover 535,000 UK premises by the end of 2025 – they’ve already covered 200,000 premises (171,814 Ready for Service). A big chunk of that has been happening in Hull, where the operator – based in the same city – has now seen its network rollout reach 113,000 premises passed (93,000 RFS) and local customers top 10,000. The gap between their Built and RFS figure partly reflects issues with gaining access to Multi-Dwelling Units (MDU).

The European Commission has this week published their annual 2024 ‘Broadband Coverage in Europe’ study, which reveals how the EU’s fixed gigabit broadband and 5G mobile networks compare across all of its 27 countries, plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The EU’s main target for digital infrastructure is for every European household to have access to “high-speed internet” coverage by the end of 2025 (defined as 100Mbps+) and gigabit (1000Mbps+) connectivity by the end of 2030. Today’s new report, which is largely based on data from last year (June 2023), is intended to help gauge the progress toward achieving those goals.

The EU’s Broadband and Mobile Targets

This Gigabit Society vision for 2025 relies on three main strategic objectives:

➤ Gigabit connectivity for all of the main socio-economic drivers;

➤ uninterrupted 5G coverage for all urban areas and major terrestrial transport paths;

➤ access to connectivity offering at least 100 Mbps for all European households.

The ambition of the Digital Decade is that by 2030:

➤ all European households are covered by a Gigabit network (e.g. DOCSIS 3.1 + FTTP);

➤ all populated areas are covered by 5G (at least).

By comparison, the UK’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme aims to extend gigabit-capable broadband to reach at least 85% of UK premises by the end of 2025, before reaching nationwide coverage (c. 99%) by around 2030. The public funding for this is focused upon aiding the final 20% of hardest to reach premises, where commercial deployments may struggle.

According to Ofcom’s latest data to January 2024 (here), some 97% of UK premises could access a 30Mbps+ (“superfast“) connection (unchanged from 97% last year), while 80% (up from 75%) are able to access gigabit broadband (via FTTP and DOCSIS 3.1 / Hybrid Fibre Coax) and that falls to 62% (up from 52%) when only looking at Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP). Take note that, in the UK, DOCSIS 3.1 largely reflects Virgin Media’s urban Hybrid Fibre Coax (cable) network.

As for mobile networks, over 99% of UK premises (outdoor) have access to 4G and between 85-92% of premises can access 5G from at least one operator (up from 76-85%) – falling to 16-28% in 5G areas where all four operators exist (up from 12-22%).

However, it’s important to stress that the EU’s comparative data below is about 6 months older than Ofcom’s latest data above, which is why the figures for the UK come in a little bit lower.

Overall, the EU27 appears to be in a roughly similar sort of place to the United Kingdom, with total FTTP coverage of 64%, gigabit (VHCN) broadband coverage of 78.8% and 5G population coverage of 89.3%. But we do have to remember that quite a few EU states have been building FTTP at scale for many years longer than the UK, although we’re now catching up fast.

We should point out that they also report total EU fixed NGA (Next Generation Access) broadband coverage of 92.9% (up from 91.5%) – this generally means fixed lines that can deliver so-called “superfast” downloads (30Mbps+), which is one area where the UK – with its strong FTTC (VDSL2) coverage via Openreach’s network – does tend to do better. By comparison, a lot more EU rural areas are still stuck on much slower ADSL.

However, the main focus of the EU’s report is on 5G and gigabit / VHCN (FTTP + DOCSIS 3.1) coverage, with the differences between EU states and the UK becoming much clearer in these areas once we drill down to the individual country level. In both cases, the UK still resides in the bottom quarter of the table (much like last year’s report). Check out this summary of EU country codes if you don’t know which ones they reference.

Despite the negatives, it’s worth remembering that the UK’s pace of FTTP build is currently one of the fastest in the world and catching up fast (here), so it’s not all bad news. The UK’s 5G deployment also took a hit a couple of years ago when the Government decided to ban Huawei’s kit, and not to mention that our overall coverage targets in this area have historically been quite weak.

Mercifully the UK government did recently set a firmer ambition for “all populated areas to be covered by ‘standalone’ 5G (5G-plus) by 2030“ (here), although the reference toward “populated areas” may not necessarily deliver a good % figure for geographic coverage – depending upon how they define this. Overall, the UK’s 5G targets are still a bit flaky, although EE alone does expect to hit over 90% geographic coverage by 2028 (here).

The full report contains a lot more data.

Broadband Coverage in Europe 2024/23
https://ec.europa.eu/../document/106735roadband-coverage-europe

Three, the UK’s Fastest 5G Network*, has today become Chelsea Women’s first women’s-only Principal Partner, including sponsorship of the team’s training kit.

As Three continues to be the Official Telecommunications Partner of Chelsea Football Club, the mobile network’s branding will now also be front and centre on the reigning Women’s Super League champions’ training kit as the team prepare for major tournaments including UEFA Women’s Champions League, FA Cup and Women’s League Cup this season. This partnership is a landmark deal in the new era for Chelsea Women with recently appointed Head Coach, Sonia Bompastor joining in the summer.

This collaboration is the perfect next step in Three’s continued support and commitment to the women’s game. From players to coaches and all those across the wider sports industry, Three recognises and rewards women at the heart of the game through the ‘WeSeeYou’ Network – a national platform founded in partnership with Chelsea in 2022. The initiative encourages those with a passion for football to recognise, celebrate and connect through a series of amazing experiences and mentorships that will further their personal development.

The partnership news follows Chelsea’s recent announcement of their long-term strategic plan to accelerate the growth of Chelsea Women where a repositioning will see dedicated resources, management and commercial leadership, which will focus solely on the growth and success of the women’s team. This new approach will enable Chelsea Women to harness the full potential of the opportunity for women’s football, mirroring Three’s work-to-date in highlighting and amplifying our women-led stories.  

As a Principal Partner of Chelsea Women Three’s logo will appear on all women’s players’ training kit, matchday warm-up shirts and travel apparel in the coming season. Fans will be able to purchase the equivalent range following the full retail rollout from the 2025/26 season. Three also offers exclusive offers on WSL match tickets, stadium tours and merchandise through its Three+ loyalty app.

Elaine Carey, Three UK and Ireland’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “At Three, we are proud to shine a light on female talent, both on and off the pitch which is why the partnership with Chelsea Women is the perfect fit. Following an incredible number of years building the WeSeeYou network, we’re excited to continue supporting, celebrating, and connecting women in sport, to help them reach their full potential.”

Casper Stylsvig, Chief Revenue Officer for Chelsea Football Club, said: “We are thrilled to announce the renewal of our partnership with Three. Since we began working together in 2020, they have been a steadfast supporter of the club and created really impactful campaigns, like the ‘Talk More Than Football’ mental health initiative.

After an incredible end to the 2024 season and a seventh WSL title, along with the redefined resources and team in place to help the squad grow on and off the pitch, it’s the perfect time to reimagine the positioning of the partnership with a greater focus on our hugely successful Women’s team.

Three have consistently delivered best-in-class initiatives in the women’s football community, and their new role as a Principal Partner of the team is a perfect illustration of our joint passion for the game and ambition to be innovative.”

*Based on analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data for Q1-Q2 2024. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. Visit speedtest.net/awards/fastest-5g to find out more. 

Network benchmarking firm MedUX has today published the results of a new study, which examined the fixed broadband performance and quality of three major UK ISPs – BT, Sky Broadband and Vodafone. Overall, BT ended up topping the rankings, but it’s unclear why they left out TalkTalk and Virgin Media, both of which are bigger than Vodafone.

The methodology and data gathering of the new study is a little unclear, but it claims to be using an independently developed scorecard to evaluate the performance of the networks, which is said to encompass “various benchmarks essential to fixed broadband service quality and end-user experience” (it sounds like data was crowdsourced from in-home performance measurements). The report then took a “detailed look at scores” measuring a combination of service reliability, speed compliance, accessibility, throughput, streaming, data and OTT (over-the-top) experience results.

The study found that BT – after being subject to over 900,000 network tests – not only leads in fixed broadband network responsiveness, but is also able to provide the overall finest Quality of Experience (QoE) in the United Kingdom, with a strong score of 4.59 out of 5. BT also achieved the most consistent experience (99.88% service reliability).

The research claims to show that BT’s older FTTC (Fibre-to-the-Cabinet) customers also enjoy the highest average download speed, reaching 60Mbps. Moreover, BT achieved the best performance for delivering web browsing (99.92% success rate) and an excellent gaming and streaming experience (99.78% and 99.99% success rates respectively). BT also came top for social media access, with a loading time (median) of 2.6 seconds.

However, BT did not lead in all metrics within the UK study. For example, Vodafone achieved the best average latency for online video gaming (23.7 milliseconds) and they were found to be the most likely to match their service promises with an average ratio of effective download speed versus what it advertised of 87%. The European average for that last one is 72%.

Vodafone and BT also shared the lead in network responsiveness and streaming experience. Meanwhile, Sky Broadband was named the best for web browsing, with just 8 out of 10,000 internet sessions “failing“, and they also came top for video streaming with a score of 100% for stable video playbacks – hardly surprising for a media empire.

Rafael González, CMO at MedUX, said:

“We’re pleased to be providing another first of its kind study on UK connectivity. This report builds upon the momentum from our UK and European-wide 5G quality of experience (QoE) reports, and the recently released Italian fixed broadband QoE study. It showcases the breadth of our benchmarking capabilities – providing unique insights into the state of European connectivity.

As operators, regulators and industry bodies continue to have pivotal conversations on the state of connectivity, we look forward to seeing insights from our reports being used so networks can be optimised, improving the overall experience for end users.”

Overall, we found the public summary of the new study to be quite wishy-washy and lacking in detail or useful comparisons between the named providers, as well as there being no explanation for why it ignores two of the market’s biggest providers – Virgin Media and TalkTalk.

Just to make matters worse, you have to ‘register’ in order to see the full report and must then await approval. But this should really have been provided alongside the announcement to give the correct or best context, particularly as they’ve yet to respond to our requests for access. Consequently, the somewhat random little details above are the only ones we can give, which are not particularly useful. Take this study with a pinch of salt.

Mobile network operators Vodafone and O2 (Virgin Media) have today announce a new 10-year network sharing agreement. Crucially, the deal also includes a provision for Vodafone’s proposed merger with Three UK (aka – MergeCo), which will enable the merged company to “participate” in the same network sharing deal and divest some radio spectrum to O2.

In case anybody has forgotten, O2 and Vodafone originally established a 50:50 network sharing agreement – via Cornerstone (CTIL) – all the way back in 2012, which has helped to support the roll-out of 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) services. But this has already been through quite a lot of changes as the operators have moved to commercialise their mast (tower) sites.

The recently proposed mega-merger between Three UK and Vodafone (here), which is currently going through the final phase of a tedious competition review (here), has also thrown up a new complication for the network sharing deal, which today’s deal helps to resolve (although unpicking EE and Three UK’s separate network sharing agreement is another matter).

Breaking news.. more to follow..

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Nokia and Telefonica have announced an agreement to drive the development of the 5G private network market in Spain 

The agreement will last three years and will allow Telefonica to offer customers up to 100 solutions, including the company’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), Modular Private Wireless (MPW), MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) solutions, and Industrial devices. These, the company’s say, can be deployed in a wide variety of industries, including ports, manufacturing, and logistics, to improve productivity and safety in the workplace. 

Nokia has so far deployed mission-critical networks to over 2,600 enterprise customers in various industries, as well as 730 private wireless customers. 

“This collaboration with Nokia aligns with our vision of empowering the industry with cutting-edge technology in a new era where Artificial Intelligence and the use of data lead the way forward,” said Adrián García Nevado, Business Director at Telefónica Spain in a press release. 

“This strategy is preceded by more than 90 use cases with real customers for exploring the capabilities of 5G,” he continued. 

“This collaboration with Nokia aligns with our vision of empowering the industry with cutting-edge technology in a new era where Artificial Intelligence and the use of data lead the way forward. This strategy is preceded by more than 90 use cases with real customers for exploring the capabilities of 5G,” echoed Rolf Albrecht, Head of Enterprise Campus Edge Business Europe at Nokia. 

The use of private 5G networks is growing, as telcos seek to better monetise their investment in 5G. It is hoped that private 5G network use cases will help deliver a faster ROI. 

Currently, private 5G networks are mainly used in logistical areas, such as shipping, airports etc. “Over the next 10-15 years, 5G will trickle down to private businesses and become the wireless standard for any environment that demands flexibility and reliability,” says Nokia. These wireless networks are not vulnerable to issues such as cut cables. 

The companies have also recently partnered to explore new 5G Standalone (SA) opportunities to support developers in creating new use cases for consumer, enterprise, and industrial customers. 

Here, Telefonica will be able to access Nokia’s Network Exposure Function (NEF) solution to offer developers access to its 5G network capabilities. This access will enable functions such as precise device location services, enhanced connectivity-based notifications or edge discovery. 

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

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

The chances are reasonably good that most internet users in the UK didn’t wake up this morning and, while craned offer a hot cup of coffee, think “gosh, I know what this already fragmented video content market really needs, ANOTHER streaming platform!“. But that is what Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation has just launched in Tubi. At least it’s “free“.

The platform, which has been available in North America for a while and is now home to 80 million active users, takes a different approach from other paid streaming services by being ad-supported and free. So, you should expect to be forced into watching a few adverts while streaming one of Tubi’s 20,000+ movies and TV episodes on-demand, including a small selection of originals made for Tubi.

The content it includes comes from the likes of Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as some “modern British classics” and “well-known UK TV franchises” alongside new areas of discovery – from Bollywood and Nollywood to Arthouse Cinema.

Fox states that, over the “coming weeks“, Tubi will be available for UK viewers to access as a “free application on every major connected TV platform, iOS and Android smartphones, and on the web.” But you can also just go directly to the Tubi website right now and access the content, without even needing to register for an account, which is nice.

Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi, said:

“Tubi has spent the last decade honing our approach to vast, free and fun streaming in North America, and we feel that now is the perfect time to bring that recipe to UK audiences. We are launching with one of the largest and most diverse content libraries in the UK, designed to indulge viewers in everything from blockbusters to original stories to hidden gems. Most importantly, we’re committed to listening to what resonates with UK fans, and bringing them more and more of what they love.”

A quick look at Tubi’s website shows a selection of movies from the Twilight saga, as well as various less familiar – or even popular titles – most of which you’ve probably never heard of before (the Sci-Fi section is a veritable paradise for B-Movie fans). But if you’re willing to dig a little deeper then there is quite a lot of content to be found, including some good stuff too.

In terms of the platform’s broadband requirements, you’ll need at least a 1Mbps download speed, although the “optimum” recommended connection is 4Mbps. A quick test showed that most of the content quality options max out at 720p, although it’s unclear whether it will scale to anything higher. But the actual video quality still seemed to be fairly good during our testing, even for a lower bitrate, and you can’t expect miracles from a free service.