Telecoms giant BT has kindly provided ISPreview with some internet traffic statistics from the first UEFA Euro 2024 football match between England and Serbia, which took place at 8pm on Sunday (16th June 2024), as well as the opening match between Germany and Scotland on Friday 14th (8:30pm).

Matches that take place outside a traditional holiday period, and during normal working hours, tend to drive a larger increase in usage, as people often attempt to stream such content while at work via their Smartphones, rather than view it via a traditional TV broadcast. However, the opposite is often true when outside of working hours, since people are more likely to tune-in via a traditional living room TV and terrestrial signal.

Suffice to say that most of the ISPs we’ve spoken with only saw a small increase in overall usage from the aforementioned UEFA Euro 2024 matches, which is unsurprising as they both occurred while most people were at home. But the latest data from BT’s fixed broadband network still manages to include some interesting stats.

The data below shows the impact that both matches had on BT’s UK network, as well as the number of fans who streamed the match live, how much data was streamed at the time of both matches and in what parts of the UK.

England vs. Serbia

Unique customers: 1.39 million, with a peak of 298,000 viewers.
Data usage: BBC’s streaming drove 982.1 TB (TeraBytes) of data, marking a 186% increase compared to an average week, with a peak of 1.15Tbps (Terabits per second), an increase of 182%.
Total network traffic: 15,664 TB of data, peaking at 18.5 Terabits per second.
Top content providers during the match: BBC ranked 3rd, following Netflix and YouTube, with Facebook and Amazon completing the top five.
Significant increases in network traffic in various regions, particularly in London and South East of England, indicating high concentration of football fans in these densely populated regions, glued to their screens and streaming the match

Scotland vs. Germany

Unique customers: 571,000, peaking at 247,000 viewers.
Data usage: ITV’s streaming drove 1,250 TB of data, a 341% increase compared to an average week, with a peak of 1.44 Terabits per second, an increase of 336%.
Total network traffic: 15,104 TB, peaking at 17.6 Terabits per second.
Top content providers during the match: ITV ranked 3rd, following Netflix and YouTube.
As expected, Scotland saw significant traffic spikes, especially in major cities. Additionally, parts of the North West and Midlands also showed notable increases, suggesting widespread interest in the match.

News 

The company won spectrum in the 28 GHz band earlier this year 

The South Korean Science Ministry has announced it will revoke the license of new mobile carrier, Stage X, for failing to meet the legal requirements to run its business.  

Stage X is the country’s fourth mobile operator (after SK Telecom, LG U+, and KT), and is owned by a consortium led by tech giant Kakao Corp. and other unnamed partners. It has not met set requirements, which include paying the paid-in capital of KRW 205 billion ($149 million) that was due last month. 

The ministry has since requested additional reasoning and compliance from the company but the problems are still unresolved. Therefore, the ministry will launch proceedings to revoke the company’s license before formally cancelling it.  

“We concluded the capital raising claimed by Stage X could not be trusted and that it would be difficult to properly carry out the business if the capital specified in the allocation application was not properly secured,” said second Vice Science Minister, Kang Do-Hyun in a press conference. 

A representative of Stage X, Seo Sang-won has refuted the claims, saying “we submitted a plan to the government and are proceeding accordingly, but they suddenly ignore it and say it is wrong. If I understand the government’s argument, I will accept it, but I think it is unreasonable.” 

It was only in February this year that Stage X emerged as the winner of a spectrum auction, placing a bid of $322.1 million for a licence in the 28 GHz (‘mmWave’) band. The newly established company was due to launch services in 2025. 

Keep up with all the latest news from the international telecoms community with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter 

Also in the news:

The Horsham-based Telecom Acquisitions Group (TAL), which is a holding company for several familiar UK residential broadband ISP brands (Home Telecom, Eclipse Broadband etc.), has today announced yet another acquisition after they scooped the CityFibre (FTTP) linked residential customer base of ISP Gigabit Networks.

Not unlike the recent deal with Eze Talk (here), it seems as if today’s agreement reflects the fact that Gigabit Networks has decided to focus on the wholesale side of their business, which has left the door open for their residential base of customers on CityFibre’s national full fibre broadband network to be sold. Some 2,000 customers will be impacted by the change.

The TAL Group, which is now home to over 100,000 broadband customers and has returned a turnover of £40m, is currently continuing to negotiate with other prominent alternative networks and ISPs for further expansion during the course of 2024.

Nigel Barnett, CEO of TAL, said:

“Gigabit Networks is a highly successful ISP in the B2B arena. Over the last few years, CEO David Yates and his team have built a reasonably sized residential base but have now made a strategic decision to put all their focus into their B2B offering. This will add circa 2,000 residential customers to our expanding base and enhances our relationship with CityFibre and TalkTalk.

David and I have both been in this industry for years and over that time I’ve built a great business relationship with him and his family. He is not alone in his decision to withdraw from the residential space. It seems so simple to add customers, but it’s become very competitive and expensive.”

David Yates, CEO of Gigabit Networks, said:

“We’ve built a very solid infrastructure aggregating multiple fibre networks across the UK and delivering quality connectivity to businesses, wholesale partners and consumers. The consumer business has become secondary to our channel and wholesale ISP offering, so seeing what Nigel has done with TAL over the last four years means it makes great sense to partner with him on the residential base.

I’m really looking forward to working with TAL to grow the residential side allowing us to focus on our channel and wholesale partnerships.”

In terms of the customer impact from this, TAL has confirmed that based on this agreement, all prices and terms and conditions will remain the same for former residential customers of Gigabit Networks. TAL and Gigabit Networks will now also work together on a residential offering that “enhances services” provided by BT, TalkTalk, Sky Broadband, Vodafone, Virgin Media and other altnets, all from one postcode checker.

Broadband ISP Wildanet, which in January 2023 secured the £36m state aid fuelled Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract to cover more than 19,250 hard-to-reach premises across rural parts of Cornwall in South West England (here), has today revealed that they’ve already covered 3,500 premises across 9 FTTP build locations.

The Cornwall project actually reflects two local supplier contracts under the government’s Project Gigabit scheme – Central Cornwall (Lot 32.03) and South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02) – with the funding and premises being fairly evenly split between both.

Theconstruction phase for this began last summer and the first premises started to go live in March 2024 (here), but since then they’ve expanded this coverage to 3,500 homes and businesses. The operator now states that they’re “on schedule” to make the service available to more than 6,000 premises by the end of 2024, supported by build partners such as CGS, L Traffic, RBS Groundworks, MMB, Dynamic Fibre, Oakway, CTS and SGC etc.

The work has so far required more than 230km of new fibre optic cable to be laid, which has meant harnessing both existing cable ducts/poles, and some 120km of new physical infrastructure installation and civil engineering work. In addition, the operator has had to construct a total of 950 new chambers to help house some of the related kit (nodes, splitters etc.).

Wylde-Archibald, Wildanet CEO, said:

“Wildanet was founded with a mission to bridge the digital divide and to unlock the social and economic opportunities which fast, reliable internet can deliver. It’s a huge challenge and one which we could not achieve without the partnership and support of a wide range of businesses across Cornwall, Devon and beyond who share our passion, values and commitment to extending digital inclusion into the areas in which we work.

I would like to give special mention to our Build Partners and key suppliers who have been instrumental in the roll-out of Wildanet’s Full Fibre network. The strong partnerships we have created with each one of our build partners has enabled us to achieve this milestone and to continue building the network at pace.

The progress to date has been fantastic as together we have tackled a network build in areas which have previously proved too hard for the major telecoms operators and in the face of some of the most challenging winter and spring weather any of us can remember. To each and every one of our team and to our suppliers and contractors, I say ‘thank you’.

We now look forward to continuing the close working relationships we have developed, the mutual trust and support which makes this such a special team effort, as we move forward together to complete the build over the next 18 months.”

We should point out that Wildanet also recently won the £41m Project Gigabit contract to roll-out new full fibre broadband connections to a further 16,800 premises in East Cornwall, West Cornwall and the island of St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly (here). Installation works on this are expected to get under way during the Autumn 2024, while the first premises are anticipated to have access to gigabit-capable broadband in 2025.

News

Financial details of the merger have not been disclosed 

UK altnets Brsk and Netomnia have agreed to merge, the companies said over the weekend. 

The newly established unit will have a combined footprint of 1.5 million premises immediately post-merger, with a target of reaching 3 million premises by the end of next year, according to the press release. This will make it the second largest altnet behind CityFibre, who cover around 3.6 million premises. 

There have been rumours surrounding the merger for a while, as the two companies share an investor, asset manager Advencap. 

“By merging our network expertise and resources, we are creating a powerhouse to deliver an unparalleled internet experience for our customers, driving innovation and further consolidation among altnets. The additional capital from our investors and support from our lenders is a powerful endorsement of our vision and ability to execute at the highest level,” said Netomnia CEO Jeremy Chelot. 

“Together, we are set to deliver a fibre network that is not only fast and reliable but also futureproof, ensuring our customers benefit today and tomorrow. Our joint platform will be where the most powerful internet lives,” echoed Giorgio Iovino, CEO of Brsk. 

The deal is set to be finalised in the next few weeks, pending regulatory approval. The new entity will be led by Chelot as CEO. 

There has been much altnet consolidation in the UK broadband market recently. Currently, the UK has over 100 altnets rolling out fibre countrywide. The UK incumbent BT has long claimed that the current altnet landscape is too saturated and thus unsustainable. Back in March, CityFibre, the UK’s leading independent network operator, has announced the acquisition of full fibre altnet Lit Fibre from Newlight Partners. In December, altnets Freedom Fibre and VX Fibre also merged their businesses for an undisclosed amount. 

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

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Industry trade body Mobile UK, which represents Three UK, EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone, has joined with the Mobile Infrastructure Forum (MIF) to set out a series of recommendations for how the next government can tackle an “underfunded and under resourced planning system” to “unlock growth and get Britain fully connected” to the latest 4G, 5G and future 6G networks.

Ofcom recently reported that, as of January 2024 (here), geographic coverage of 4G mobile (mobile broadband) networks stood at between 81-88% for all operators, while 85-92% of UK premises can get outdoor 5G coverage via at least one operator (population coverage). But the latter figure drops to just 16-28% when considering outdoor 5G capable premises covered by all operators.

However, there are a number of programs and targets that are attempting to support improvements in this area, such as the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network project (i.e. extending geographic 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025) and the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy (i.e. “all populated areas to be covered by ‘standalone’ 5G (5G-plus) by 2030”). But problems remain on the deliverability side, particularly when it comes to 5G.

The new and somewhat high-level report – ‘Failing to Plan, Planning will fail‘ – from Mobile UK and the MIF has thus sought to find ways of accelerating these deployments, which they’ve done by attempting to “uncover the barriers that exist within the planning system that hinder the roll-out of this critical national infrastructure.”

Hamish MacLeod, CEO of Mobile UK, said:

“There is widespread acknowledgement that the planning system is dysfunctional, and we are calling on all parties to acknowledge this and commit to our six-point planning framework.

We see this dysfunction on a daily basis. Planning departments operate on tight budgets and face severe labour and skills shortages, which has led to inconsistency and delays in decision-making.”

In particular, the report notes that replacing existing infrastructure can still be challenging, while planning decisions for mobile infrastructure in remote areas can take up to 2 years (appeals against negative decision can also be slow) and there remains a lack of awareness and understanding about the benefits of mobile connectivity; the latter often results in objections to new masts etc.

The report then goes on to make a series of six recommendations, which will no doubt already be quite familiar to our regular readers because they’ve often come up before in prior reports from the industry (here, here and here).

The Six Recommendations

1. Urgently increase funding for planning services – there are a range of policies in place to combat this, but they need to be delivered, and additional financial support is needed.

2. Recognise the importance of mobile infrastructure in the planning system – to ensure that sufficient weighting is given to the economic and social benefits of mobile connectivity by building super squads of mobile infrastructure specialists, creating barrier-busting taskforces, fast-tracking of planning in key growth areas and exploring mobile connectivity considerations in redevelopments.

3. Hire Digital Champions to support the planning process – helping to align decision-making within local authorities around digital connectivity, and acting as a single point of contact for the mobile infrastructure industry.

4. Do more to attract and retain talent – local authorities, government departments and professional bodies should build upon programmes like Pathways to Planning; and implement steps to reverse recent pay erosion for planning professionals to help retain talent.

5. Improve planning policy frameworks – telecommunications-specific reviews of the National Planning Policy Framework and Permitted Development Rights should happen as soon as possible.

7. Foster proactive digital leadership within councils – by working with local government bodies to ensure the benefits of mobile connectivity are well understood by councils and that an evidence-based and honest discussion can be made with residents about the infrastructure required to provide it.

In terms of fostering softer planning rules, we’ve already seen some developments on this front, such as changes to support the use of taller masts and making it easier to upgrade existing sites via Permitted Development (PD) rights. But one big obstacle to further change is that politicians still have to balance such demands against issues of public opinion (i.e. new mobile masts often attract complaints), which is particularly relevant during a General Election period.

On the flip side, there are also plenty of people and politicians who object to new masts based on questionable grounds, which can create unnecessary obstructions to deployments that would otherwise be very suitable. Finding a balance in this area remains feverishly difficult, but it’s a problem that the next government will have to tackle if they want to improve the pace and performance of UK mobile infrastructure.

At the same time, nobody should be pretending that mobile network operators and related infrastructure developers are saintly figures that will only ever do the right thing, which means that some credible checks and balances against abuse of even a more flexible approach must always exist.

News reports have indicated that the auditor – PKF Littlejohn – for mobile network operator Lyca Mobile, which is a virtual operator (MVNO) on EE’s platform in the UK, were unable to sign off the company’s most recent accounts (to December 2022) due to various concerns, such as the recoverability of a due balance of nearly £150m.

According to Lyca’s latest company accounts (here), which were published at the start of this month, the operator had 1.7 million subscribers at the end of 2022, a churn rate of 9% and revenues of £145m (up from £138m). But they also made a loss after tax of £25.1m, which compares with a profit of £1.8m in 2021, and they’re still in dispute with HMRC over an issue related to the treatment of Value Added Tax (a provision of £99m has been recorded to reflect their current best estimate of potential exposure).

However, the accounts also included an independent auditor’s report (page 11) from PKF Littlejohn, which saw the auditor state that it did “not express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements” and that’s partly because they had “not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion” of those statements.

The core issue seems to concern the recoverability of around £150m, which includes a balance of “£105,979,000 due from related parties“, as well as “£41,704,000 due from directors and parties associated with directors” and the “completeness and accuracy of the deferred income balance of £10,870,000” related to creditors. The Telegraph (paywall) has a bit more detail on these items.

Generally, it’s worth noting that PKF Littlejohn expressed some concerns around the statements in Lyca Mobile UK’s accounts in the previous year, too (here). But despite all this, the Directors’ report in the filing does still say they: “believe the company will be able to continue to operate and meet its obligations as they fall due for the foreseeable future.”

A spokesperson for Lyca Mobile said:

“Lyca has a number of successful private businesses and entities under common control, but it is not a ‘group’. There is no obligation to produce consolidated group accounts, nor to have these audited. As a result, no single auditor has a remit to audit or review related party transactions, which is noted by the auditor of Lycamobile UK as a reason for the disclaimer in the audit report.”

The development follows last year’s cyberattack (here), recent problems with 5G connectivity (here) and the conviction of Lyca’s French entities for money laundering and VAT fraud. The hope is that Lyca will be able to find a way through all the recent bumps, but then we’ve still got the outcome of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation into last year’s hack to come.

Edinburgh-based network builder and ISP GoFibre (BorderLink), which is rolling out a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of North England and the Scottish Borders, has today announced that they’ve passed a key milestone by covering “more than” 100,000 premises with their new infrastructure.

The announcement represents significant build progress for such a young alternative network, which aims to cover 500,000 premises in the North of England and Scotland by around the end of 2025 and is supported by an investment of £164m from Gresham House (here).

As of June 2024, GoFibre claims that their full fibre network is now “ready for service” (RFS) to more than 100,000 premises, spanning key regions (“across more than 30 local areas“) including:

➤ Aberdeenshire: 9,600 premises
➤ Angus: 12,200 premises
➤ Fife: 23,500 premises
➤ East Lothian and Midlothian: 21,500 premises
➤ Scottish Borders: 23,900 premises
➤ North Northumberland: 11,200 premises
➤ Durham-Teesdale: 3,700 premises

Neil Conaghan, CEO of GoFibre, said:

“We are proud to have reached this significant milestone in such a short length of time, because that means we’ve been able to make a positive impact on even more lives and businesses quicker. In today’s digital world, where online activity is ever-increasing, a reliable high-speed broadband connection is essential and not having it in place can really hold people and businesses back from reaching their full potential.

Our unwavering local focus and dedication to customers and local communities sets us apart. Scottish engineering and ingenuity has driven us to achieve this milestone, and has ensured that we can provide responsive, high-quality customer service from experts with local knowledge.

This accomplishment firmly places us on the map as a major broadband provider in our regions, and we can’t wait to continue expanding our services, bringing high-quality connectivity to even more communities and customers. Our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction will drive us forward as we build on this success.”

Customers of the new service can expect to pay from £36 per month (currently discounted to £29) for a 135Mbps (25Mbps upload) package on a 24-month term with an included wireless router, which rises to £69 per month (currently discounted to £49) for their top 900Mbps (100Mbps upload) plan. The latter also comes with a bonus Wi-Fi extender (this can optionally be taken on other plans at extra cost).

Network operator MS3, which is rolling out a 10Gbps capable open access full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network across 30 UK locations (mostly East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has today announced the launch of a customer referral programme that will offer a £50 shopping voucher to all those who make use of it.

The Asterion-backed operator currently aims to cover 535,000 UK premises by the end of 2025 and 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).

However, in order to complement this effort, the operator has now launched a customer referral programme. The scheme will provide customers with a personalised code to share with their friends, family and colleagues. When the code is used to sign-up to one of MS3’s internet service provider (ISP) partners, both the new customer and the person who referred them will receive a £50 voucher from their choice of Amazon, Asda or Just Eat.

The programme is now available across MS3’s network areas of Hull, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Immingham and Mexborough.

Adam Kelly, Head of Marketing at MS3 Networks, said:

“As fast and reliable internet becomes increasingly important, we don’t want people in the Hull and Humber region to sacrifice speed for affordability, especially amid cost-of-living concerns. Our referral scheme not only allows local people to switch to a quick and affordable package, but also helps them save money on food and household essentials with Asda, Amazon and Just Eat vouchers.”

The new programme also has an online dashboard that allows existing customers to see how many times their link has been used, as well as any vouchers they are due to receive.

Broadband ISP Manx Telecom (MT), which serves premises on the Isle of Man (a British Crown Dependency) in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, has warned that its ongoing work to deploy a new full fibre (FTTP) network across the island could be delayed due to issues with getting planning approval for new poles.

In case anybody has forgotten. Back in 2020 the Isle of Man Government agreed (here) to invest £10m with MT in order to help them extend the coverage of their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network from 25% (10,000) of local premises to 99% (41,000+) by around the end of 2025 (MT’s commercial investment of £50m would have only got them to 75%).

As part of the fibre deployment, MT has had to complete civil works which have involved the installation of new duct work, poles, and short-term road closures. But the operator’s CTO, Hugo Von Zylwork, has now warned that their work on the state aid supported side of this roll-out could be at risk of missing its target due to delays in getting planning approvals, particularly for new poles.

According to the BBC News, a total of 12 planning applications for poles have already been submitted – 9 of which are still awaiting a decision, while 2 have been approved and 1 rejected. During a recent planning committee hearing, planning committee member Matthew Warren said he felt “more problems” would arise from “putting up poles for everything“.

However, Hugo Von Zylwork warned that it was often “not practically possible” to build underground ducts across all of the remaining areas, which is partly due to the risk of disrupting gas pipes, water mains, and a cost that would be up to five times more expensive than poles. Hence, why such areas have previously not been considered commercially viable to upgrade.

Much as we’ve seen elsewhere around the UK, not everybody is a fan of poles and a growing number of people in related areas have often voiced objections, particularly when they’ve been rolled out into a location that hasn’t previously had them before. Residents typically find the new erections ugly, obstructive, and often complain about the lack of effective prior consultation. But economically viable alternatives for FTTP are hard to find.

On the flip side, the Isle of Man has stricter rules around approvals for new poles, and it would be incredibly difficult for the UK to achieve its own coverage targets for gigabit-capable broadband if our country was similarly slow and restrictive with granting permissions on a national scale (poles are considered Permitted Development in the UK and do not require planning permission).

Balancing both viewpoints remains a key challenge for operators and politicians, even outside the UK.