News

The three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) help the UK public sector gain access to telecoms products and services at scale from Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) Business

Today, VMO2 and CCS have signed a new MoU “to provide enhanced technology and telecoms solutions to support ongoing digitisation efforts within the UK Government and broader public sector”.

CCS is a government organisation that supports public sector procurement efforts, helping to organise the purchase of common goods and services across organisations.

In the 2022–2023 financial year, CCS reportedly helped the public sector realise £3.8 billion in cost-savings through joint procurement.

Now, through this new partnership, CCS will be able to leverage its reach within the public sector to offer VMO2’s products and services at scale and deliver cost savings.

Solutions provided by VMO2 include those related to fixed connectivity, mobile shared data bundles, IP telephony, professional services, equipment, and devices.

“Our new agreement with Crown Commercial Service will help accelerate digital transformation and offer innovative discounting for UK government bodies and public organisations,” said Martin McFadyen, Director of Public Sector at Virgin Media O2 Business. “Whether overcoming barriers or exploring the advantages of 5G technology, there is a key role for Virgin Media O2 Business in supporting the public sector to get the most from telecoms technology and connecting communities across the nation. This partnership will also boost efforts to tackle digital literacy, helping people tap into the benefits of connectivity in their daily lives.”

The deal is expected to further simplify the public sector’s procurement process for digital technology.

“The new agreement will establish a new discounting model to provide public sector organisations with competitive rates. This innovative discount model will reward increased engagement by aligning with Government playbooks on procurement. This means it will be simpler and more cost-effective for public sector organisations to purchase, process, and manage telecoms services,” explained a government statement.

In related news, earlier this week it was announced that VMO2 had selected Netcracker Technology to help with its ongoing OSS and BSS modernisation. The partnership will include the deployment of the Netcracker Digital Platform, helping to support converged services for customers.

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

Also in the news:
UK government conditionally approves £15bn Vodafone–Three merger
Nokia and Vodafone trial Open RAN with Arm and HPE
T-Mobile and Verizon to buy US Cellular, reports say

Press Release

LONDON, May 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Boldyn Networks (Boldyn), today announced the close of its acquisition of Apogee Telecom (Apogee), the leading provider of on-campus connectivity infrastructure in the US Higher Education (HED) industry. This bold move expands Boldyn’s connectivity offering in the growing education segment by combining Apogee’s strong reputation and experience with Boldyn’s global expertise and full portfolio of wireless and fiber solutions. It reinforces Boldyn’s commitment to improving connectivity across the US, where it has already invested billions of dollars.

Apogee offers managed wireless residential and campus networks, as well as IT solutions, fibre infrastructure as a service, and video services for students, faculty, and staff. With this acquisition, Boldyn will acquire and continue to serve more than 350 HED customers, representing the vast majority of US outsourced on-campus residential infrastructure connectivity.

“The acquisition of Apogee represents a fantastic opportunity for us at Boldyn to bring extended wireless capabilities to the growing US Higher Education segment,” said Igor Leprince, Group CEO of Boldyn Networks. “With over 25 years’ experience, deep knowledge and an exceptional reputation in this segment, Apogee’s expertise and know-how ensures we continue to support US Higher Education institutions with the technology infrastructure services they need to operate and excel in today’s digital learning environment.”

“These are exciting times for Apogee and the education ecosystem. Apogee has become the technology services partner of choice for colleges and universities in the US to provide the highest quality wireless services to their students and staff,” said Scott Drossos, CEO of Apogee. “As a Boldyn Networks company, we are committed to continue serving and delighting our customers with the tailored connectivity infrastructure and managed technology services they have come to expect. Now with broader wireless technical expertise in areas like private LTE, 5G and DAS, combined with unlimited innovation, and the financial backing of Boldyn that’s changing the game in the connectivity industry.”

“We’re eager to welcome the Apogee team to our Boldyn family and further enhance our network connectivity offerings and support to our combined customers.  Together, we will expand our connected solutions throughout the US Higher Education market,” said Christos Karmis, Boldyn Networks’ US CEO. “Connectivity requirements at colleges and universities are growing at some of the fastest rates in the country given the sophisticated user base and their demand for high bandwidth and low latency applications – Boldyn’s expertise in building the connectivity backbones of smart cities and large public venues puts us in a unique position to create the ‘smart campus’ of the future in partnership with leading institutions.”

Apogee, a Boldyn Networks company, will become part of Boldyn’s US organization, reporting to Christos Karmis, Boldyn Networks’ US business CEO. With the addition of Apogee to the Boldyn umbrella, the neutral host leader strengthens its breadth of expertise and reinforces its commitment to unlocking the power of an interconnected future. Through global shared communications infrastructure that spans subway systems, stadiums, real estate, government agencies, airports, heavy industry, and education campuses, Boldyn is enabling new possibilities in the way people live, work and play.

News 

This week, BT released its financial results for the full year to 31 March 2024 

Reported revenue currently stands at £20.8 billion, up 1% from this time last year, as a result of price increases for broadband customers, fibre-enabled product sales in Openreach, and increased revenue in the consumer division.  

But despite an increase in revenue, the company’s profits took a significant hit, with pre-tax profits falling 31% to £1.18 billion. Adjusted EBITDA stood at £8.1 billion, up 2%. 

Capital expenditure (capex) was £4.9 billion, down by 3%, due to lower network spending despite Openreach’s accelerated fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) rollout. 

Openreach’s FTTP deployment rate reached one million premises in the past quarter, working out at an impressive 78,000 homes per week. The company has passed around 14.8 million FTTP broadband connections have been made on Openreach’s network, with a take up rate of around 34%. 

In terms of cost savings, BT says it has hit its target to save £3 billion by 2025 a year early, with much of this total presumably being delivered by the company’s ongoing job cutting programme that will see 55,000 jobs eliminated by the end of the decade. 

Now, new CEO Allison Kirkby says BT will aim to to do the same thing again, cutting a further £3 billion in costs, by 2029. 

“This delivery and greater capex efficiency gives us the confidence to provide new guidance for significantly increased short term cash flow and sets out a path to more than double our normalised free cash flow over the next five years,” said Kirkby in a company press release. 

“As we move into the next phase of BT Group’s transformation, we are sharpening our focus to be better for our customers and the country, by accelerating the modernisation of our operations, and by exploring options to optimise our global business. This will create a simpler BT Group, fully focused on connecting the UK, and well positioned to generate significant growth for all our stakeholders,” she continued. 

Upon the news, share price was up 8% in early trading at 122p.  

Kirkby also increased shareholder dividend by 3.9% to 8p per share. 

The full overview of results can be found here. 

The company has been under pressure to simultaneously continue its fast expansion of FTTP, whilst also cutting costs to make a dent in its £20 million debt pile. This week prior to the results release, it led investors to short BT for £300m in a twelve-year record as the company battles its consistently declining share price. Banks including BlackRock, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and hedge funds such as AKO Capital and Kintbury Capital have shorted 2.79% of BT shares, making it the sixth most shorted company in the FTSE100 after major names such as Sainsbury’s and Rightmove. 

Kirkby said she was confident these investors are making the wrong decision, saying “I always love to squeeze the shorts . . . and prove them wrong.” 

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

Also in the news:
UK government conditionally approves £15bn Vodafone–Three merger
Nokia and Vodafone trial Open RAN with Arm and HPE
T-Mobile and Verizon to buy US Cellular, reports say

Internet traffic travelling across the London Internet Exchange (LINX), which excludes data being passed by private interconnection (PI), reached a new record peak of 9.5Tbps (Terabits per second) on the Tuesday 14th May 2024 at around 8:25pm this week.

The figure, which just for comparison, is up from 7.83Tbps recorded during August 2023. Such peaks typically occur when major new software releases, large video game updates or Premier League football streams are occurring – this tends to rise in the evenings, when more people are online.

The LINX typically handles a key chunk of UK and global data traffic through their switches via around a thousand members (broadband ISPs, mobile operators etc.). But LINX’s data does not provide a complete overview of the internet traffic flow from all ISPs, although they do give a useful indication of how much extra traffic is flowing around when compared with normal conditions.

LINX Traffic (Aggregated) – 10th to 16th May 2024

Demand for data is constantly rising and broadband connections are forever getting faster, thus new peaks of usage are being set all the time by every ISP. Ofcom’s last Connected Nations 2023 study noted that the average monthly data volume per household on fixed broadband connections increased over the past year to 535 GigaBytes (up by 11% vs 482GB last year).

An unspecified number of Openreach’s broadband ISP and phone customers, including some Ethernet links, appear to have been disrupted in the Shropshire (England) town of Telford after the operator’s network was “badly damaged” in an attack. The operator informs that this “attack” is not being linked to cable theft.

The event appears to have started at around 1-2am last night after 5 cables were cut in a manhole along the A4169 Queensway, which impacted services in and around the Cuckoo Oaks area. A number of other network operators have also been impacted by the disruption this has caused.

New cables are understood to have already been installed to replace a 144, 240, 48 and 864 ribbon cable, but the splicing work is expected to take a bit of time. Damage like this can often take most of a day or more to fully resolve.

An Openreach spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Our network in the Cuckoo Oaks area of Telford has been badly damaged, impacting phone and broadband service for local homes and businesses.

Our engineers have already started work and are doing their best to carry out repairs and restore connectivity as quickly and safely as possible.

These attacks cause unacceptable disruption to the lives of local people and put vulnerable people at risk.

We encourage anyone who is experiencing problems to contact their provider who will advise us. It’s also worth remembering that vulnerable status (which can prioritise repair work) is determined by broadband providers; if you think you or a family member should be given this status, please register with your provider.”

News

The partners claim the deal paves the way for the elimination of not-spots across the US

This week, AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have signed a definitive commercial deal to work together in bringing direct-to-mobile satellite communication to AT&T customers.

The agreement, which builds on a previous Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018, extends until 2030

As part of the MoU, AT&T will invest $500,000 into the satellite firm, with AT&T’s Head of Network, Chris Sambar, taking a seat on AST’s board of directors.

In a LinkedIn post, Sambar said the deal brings the company “one step closer” to effectively combining satellite and terrestrial mobile connectivity, in efforts to ensure customers are never without access to connectivity.

“Working together with AT&T has paved the way to unlock the potential of space-based cellular broadband directly to everyday smartphones. We are thrilled to solidify our collaboration through this landmark agreement,” said Abel Avellan, AST SpaceMobile’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO. “We aim to bring seamless, reliable service to consumers and businesses across the continental U.S., transforming the way people connect and access information.”

Currently, AST SpaceMobile has just one test satellite in orbit, which it used to conduct successful voice call, text, and video calls to an unmodified smartphone last year.

Now, the company has five ‘Block 1’ satellites planned for launch in July or August in this year, enabling the launch of commercial services. These five satellites have been delayed for over a year due to supply chain issues related to satellite production.

Once in orbit, these five satellites will allow for non-continuous nationwide service in the US, with additional Block 1 satellites set to be launched to enhance services at a later date.

AST’s larger and more advanced ‘Block 2’ satellites will begin launching between December 2024 to March 2025.

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

Also in the news:
Investors shorting BT for $300m in twelve-year record
4G now covers all stations on the Elizabeth Line
EXA Infrastructure continues expansion in North America with new route between Ashburn and Atlanta

Press Release

Virgin Media O2 has hit another significant milestone in its work to deliver the Shared Rural Network (SRN) after rolling out reliable 4G coverage to 150 rural communities
The remote Isle of Eigg became the 150th site delivered by Virgin Media O2, a landmark welcomed by Julia Lopez, Minister of state for Data and Digital Infrastructure
The operator’s rapid SRN rollout continues, with dozens more sites set to go live in the coming weeks

Virgin Media O2 has reached a major milestone in its Shared Rural Network (SRN) rollout, as the Isle of Eigg became the operator’s 150th site to benefit from improved 4G coverage. These new and upgraded sites are providing residents, businesses and visitors in rural areas with faster and more reliable mobile connectivity than ever before.

Virgin Media O2 has gone further than any other operator to date to deliver new infrastructure as part of the SRN programme. While these 150 sites are controlled by Virgin Media O2, customers of Three and Vodafone are also benefitting from the operator’s extensive rollout. Taking into account progress from all operators, Virgin Media O2’s customers can now benefit from reliable 4G services at more than 200 rural locations.

The remote, community-owned Isle of Eigg, which has a population of less than 100, became the 150th site to benefit from improved mobile connectivity after Virgin Media O2 used boats, helicopters and off-road vehicles to install a new 4G mast on the island.  The island previously had coverage from just one provider so the upgrade offers residents choice and will help many visitors stay connected for the first time.

The SRN is a £1billion joint initiative between mobile network operators and the UK Government to extend 4G connectivity to 95% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2025.

Of the 150 rural sites that have been built or upgraded by Virgin Media O2 so far, 117 are in some of Scotland’s most remote areas, including Shetland, Ardross, and Argyll & Bute. A further 28 are in rural parts of England, including parts of Yorkshire, Suffolk and Kent, while three sites have been upgraded in Northern Ireland and one in Wales.

The upgrades provide customers with faster and more reliable mobile data and higher quality voice calls, transforming coverage in areas that previously suffered from patchy or slow services.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “We are continuing our Shared Rural Network rollout at pace to ensure more rural communities can access reliable mobile connectivity. Having delivered more sites than any other operator, our commitment to delivering this ambitious programme and levelling up rural areas is clear.”

“The 150 sites we have delivered will enable more residents, businesses and visitors in rural areas to benefit from better mobile coverage, with dozens more locations set to go live in the coming weeks. This work is vital in tackling the urban-rural digital divide that exists in the UK.”

Julia Lopez, Minister of state for Data and Digital Infrastructure, said: “Backed by government funding, Virgin Media O2’s rapid rollout of the Shared Rural Network is delivering better 4G coverage to rural communities across the UK.

“The completion of its 150th mast in the Isle of Eigg in Scotland involved the use of helicopters, boats and off-road vehicles to get the build done and shows the UK Government’s commitment to rural residents and businesses, so the British public can enjoy good connectivity wherever they live.”

News

Solar storms last week had the telecommunications industry on edge, but discernable impacts have been minimal.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

A solar storm over the weekend that provided spectacular viewing of auroral displays as far south as Florida has had only minor impacts on the telecommunications industry.

The event, which caused National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center to issue geomagnetic storm watches and warnings, was the first extreme geomagnetic storm to impact the Earth since Halloween of 2003.

The October 2003 solar storms are remembered for resulting in power outages in Sweden, and damaged transformers in South Africa, according to NOAA.

During the height of this weekend’s solar storm, on May 10, both AT&T and T-Mobile were monitoring the events but did not predict any serious disruptions, due to having networks that don’t rely on high-frequency bands, according to published CNN reports.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Starlink, wrote that Starlink’s satellites were under pressure during the solar storm on the company’s website, but SpaceX has since reported that “all Starlink satellites on-orbit weathered the geomagnetic storm and remain healthy.”

In the aftermath of this weekend’s solar storm, the Associated Press reported that federal agencies like The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Energy have experienced no significant issues due to the geomagnetic event, which persisted through the weekend into May 11 and May 12.

Understanding the solar storm threat to communications

Geomagnetic storms often occur when plasma from coronal mass ejections (CMEs) pelt the Earth, according to NOAA. CMEs are usually caused by solar flares, which are large eruptions of electromagnetic radiation on the Sun, NOAA’s website stated.

Though most CMEs pose little to no threat to Earth, strong Earth-directed ones can threaten communications networks and electrical grids.

The strongest geomagnetic storm on record, an incident known as the Carrington Event, occurred in September of 1859. According to NOAA, impacts of the Carrington Event included excess currents that were produced on telegraph lines. The currents shocked technicians and, in some cases, set telegraph equipment on fire.

“Today, a storm like that would cause significant impacts on our technology,” NOAA’s website stated.

Another notable solar storm incident occurred in 1989, when a geomagnetic storm was responsible for triggering a blackout in Quebec, leaving millions without power for hours, according to NOAA.

The sunspot responsible for the weekend’s solar storm, known as Region 3664 to scientists, has since produced the strongest solar flare registered in the current solar cycle, a flare ranked with a magnitude of X8.7.

Solar cycles, which scientists say average 11 years in length, represent fluctuations of activity on the sun. Scientists expect the current solar cycle, the twenty-fifth since data began being collected, to peak in 2025.

Solar activity remains active

While Region 3664 slowly disappears from sight behind the Sun’s southwest limb, a new sunspot, from just beyond the Sun’s eastern limb, produced a X2.9 flare today. NOAA said the CME associated with that flare, and the X8.7 recorded on May 14, will likely not have major impacts on Earth.

According to NASA, X-class flares are the biggest flares within the agency’s classification system for solar flares.

NOAA’s website described the threat that CMEs associated with strong solar flares can pose to communications networks.

“Solar flares sometimes produce energetic particles (protons and electrons) that stream to Earth and are captured by Earth’s magnetic field,” the agency’s website stated. “These particles can damage satellites used for commercial communications, global positioning, intelligence gathering, and weather forecasting, and cause high-frequency radio blackouts in the polar regions.”

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Contributed Article

The Netherlands is known as an important digital hub. There is a very high density of datacenters, a strong digital economy, and an excellent digital infrastructure, both by sea and by land to the European hinterland. To emphasise and strengthen this position as a digital hub, the Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition* was founded in early 2023

Unique support for landing sea cables in the Netherlands

The coalition is a unique public-private partnership with partners from the business community, knowledge institutions and government. Different categories of stakeholders are represented: infrastructure, datacenters, knowledge institutes, wholesale end users and different levels of government. The coalition supports new cable initiatives by sharing knowledge about the Dutch ecosystem, connecting with relevant parties and navigating the regulatory and licensing system in the Netherlands.

Despite the fact that it is a relatively new coalition, great developments are already underway. Martin Prins, the ambassador of the Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition (pictured), says: ‘We are currently working on cable routes with various consortia. As a coalition, we help, for example, to make it easier to obtain permits and establish landings. We work together with the responsible authorities in the Netherlands.’

For example, the coalition is in discussions with FNF, with the ambition to make a special maritime cable landing: the first direct digital route from Asia, along North America to Central Europe.

Streamlining and lowering the threshold for landing

In addition to directly assisting international consortia, the coalition is also actively working on projects in the Netherlands that make landing simple and attractive. For example, work is being done to set up one central coordination point, in order to place all information provision and licensing under one process coordinator and thus significantly shorten application procedures.

The coalition is also investigating the possibilities for central Cable Landing Stations at sea, connecting data cables with energy cables and reusing existing routes and facilities of cables that are being phased out. All these projects are examples of simplification of the landing process and the power of public-private partnerships.

Peter van Burgel, CEO of AMS-IX: “The Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition is undertaking significant steps in further facilitating submarine cable systems to the Netherlands. We are happy that we are actively collaborating on further strengthening the leading position of the Netherlands as digital hub and digital gateway to Europe.”

The Dutch government is ‘future-focused and supportive’

Landing and properly maintaining sea cables is also on the political agenda. The Dutch government emphasizes that we should not take the digital infrastructure, including maritime cables, for granted.  It requires continuous efforts from both companies and the government to keep the digital infrastructure innovative, high-quality, affordable, resilient, safe and sustainable.

“The Dutch government’s plan is to invest more in digital infrastructure in the coming years,” says Martin Prins. ‘That is of course a positive development for us, because we want to continue to encourage submarine cable landings. But it is also a good time for external parties to make landings.’

Looking forward to meeting you at Submarine Networks

Martin Prins, together with his colleagues Aldert de Jongste (coalition strategist) and Björn Oosterwijk (Project Advisor), will be present at the Submarine Networks EMEA conference in London, May 2024. During the News in Brief session, Martin will further discuss the coalition and the proposition of the Netherlands. ‘It is clear that the Netherlands is “open for business”. We will introduce our coalition to the international submarine cable community and inform interested parties about the possibilities that the Netherlands and the Subsea Cable Coalition can offer.’

*The Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition is a collaboration of: ABN AMRO, AMS-IX, Digital Realty, Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA), Equinix, Eurofiber, Fiber Carrier Association (FCA), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, i3D.net, InnovationQuarter, Liberty Global, Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), NL-IX, Relined, Rijkswaterstaat, Stichting DiNL, Stratix and SURF.

Join the Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition at Stand 13 at this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA conference! Get your tickets today

Telecoms and broadband giant BT has announced that, as part of their ongoing UK programme to modernise and consolidate the number of offices they have, they’ve decided to close their Enniskillen Contact Centre in Northern Ireland. The move is expected to result in the loss of around 300 jobs from the site.

The Broadmeadow Place site is now expected to be formally closed by the end of October 2024. Some staff members may be able to move to a different site, although for many others this is likely to be impractical.

According to BT’s spokesperson: “We have now made the difficult decision to propose closing the site to the small number of remaining desk-based colleagues on 31st October and have entered into consultation with colleagues and trade union partners. We will continue to support all impacted colleagues throughout this process. These proposals will have no impact for customers.”

BT added that it would continue to make significant investments in the rollout of full fibre (FTTP) broadband and 5G mobile connectivity across Northern Ireland.

Deirdre Hargey, N.I Economy Minister, said:

“It is extremely disappointing that BT has decided to close its Enniskillen contact centre with a loss of 300 jobs. As a major employer in the region for over three decades, this decision is devastating for the workers and their families, and also for the wider community.

In line with his commitment to regional balance Conor Murphy met with both CWU representatives and BT to retain these skilled jobs. He also supported Invest NI’s concerted efforts to work with BT to find an alternative site within Enniskillen so these jobs could be retained. I have asked Invest NI to ensure every step possible is taken to support the staff impacted.”