Several thousand of 1p Mobile’s customers in the UK are currently suffering from network connectivity problems, which appears to have started yesterday morning and remains ongoing today. At the same time, the operator’s website reports that they’re also having “issues with our customer service telephone system” (probably due to high demand).

The issue initially only affected a small portion of 1p Mobile’s customer base, hence why we didn’t cover this yesterday. But we’ve observed that this seems to have increased over the past 24 hours, and our inbox has been getting quite a few gripes about it, including from many customers who are frustrated at 1p’s lack of updates (or any semblance of a service status page).

According to the complaints, customer affected by the issue have been finding that the network’s data (mobile broadband), calling and text (SMS) connectivity hasn’t been working since yesterday morning. The only indication we could find about this on 1p Mobile’s website was on their contact page, which didn’t address the issue itself and highlighted how their support lines aren’t working correctly.

“We are currently experiencing issues with our customer service telephone system and some calls are not connecting correctly or are being cut-off mid call. We apologies for any inconvenience caused and our phone engineers are working on the issue currently,” states 1p’s contact page.

However, after a bit of digging, we also found this support post buried in a customer reply on X (here): “The issue has been linked with the renewal of Boosts, top-ups and account changes that have been applied since the morning of the 12th of May.” Given that the provider works by monthly top-ups, rather than direct debits, this could help to explain why the complaints seem to be growing with each passing day.

What’s not so clear is why 1p Mobile aren’t currently able to highlight the issue with a proper service status update, which is particularly relevant given the state of their support lines. Sadly, we don’t have a press contact for 1p Mobile and couldn’t find one on their website.

Future wireless broadband and home networks, using technologies such as 6G or WiFi in the higher frequency mmW and sub-TeraHertz (THz) bands (i.e. between around 24GHz and 300GHz), could be set for a significant speed boost after researchers discovered a way to curve light beams around objects.

The 6G standard is currently still in the early R&D phase, and the first commercial builds aren’t due until around 2028/30. But it is roughly aiming for theoretical peak data rates of up to 1Tbps (Terabits per second) – or 1000Gbps if you prefer – and may be able to harness radio spectrum up to the TeraHertz (THz) bands, while also using AI optimisations, new antenna designs and other changes to improve network efficiency.

At present, most mobile networks tend to work within the lower and mid-frequency mobile bands, such as between 700MHz and 3.8GHz, which enables their signals to travel further (more cost-effective). But this sacrifices some data speed due to limitations on the available spectrum amounts. One way around that is to push mobile and WiFi networks to harness much higher frequency bands, where there’s plenty of extra spectrum frequency.

The problem is that much higher mobile frequencies, like the 24-60GHz range for 5G (Ofcom has yet to auction off any of this in the UK for mobile) or 100GHz+ (THz) for future 6G networks, make for extremely weak signals that don’t travel very far and are very easily disrupted (i.e. weather, buildings, trees and device choice etc. all impact signal quality).

Consequently, mobile operators typically only deploy such solutions within the busiest urban areas (e.g. shopping centres) or for fixed-wireless links (e.g. to served individual homes/businesses), but even this would be a challenge once we get into the extremely challenging THz bands.

A New Approach

One possible solution to the aforementioned problem may now have come from a team of researchers at Brown University and Rice University in the USA, which published a report in Nature that, in simple terms, found a way of “curving” light beams mid-air to help them get around physical obstacles (e.g. buildings) – reducing the need for a line-of-sight connection.

Light in the THz band normally prefers to travel in straight lines, unless warped by the curvature of spacetime (e.g. around the edges of stars or black holes), but the team found a rather more accessible approach to achieve a similar sort of outcome.

Extract from the Research Paper

A key challenge in millimetre-wave and terahertz wireless networks is blockage of the line-of-sight path between a base station and a user. User and environmental mobility can lead to blockage of highly directional beams by intervening people or objects, yielding link disruptions and poor quality of service. Here, we propose a solution to this problem which leverages the fact that, in such scenarios, users are likely to be located within the electromagnetic near field of the base station, which opens the possibility to engineer wave fronts for link maintenance.

We show that curved beams, carrying data at high bit rates, can realize a link by curving around an intervening obstacle. We develop a model to analyse and experimentally evaluate the bandwidth limitations imposed by the use of self-accelerating beams. We also demonstrate that such links employ the full aperture of the transmitter, even those portions which have no direct line of sight to the receiver, emphasizing that ray optics fails to capture the behaviour of these near-field wave fronts.

This approach, which is ideally suited for use at millimetre-wave and terahertz frequencies, opens vast new possibilities for wave front management in directional wireless networks.

In the study, the team introduce the concept of self-accelerating beams. The beams are special configurations of electromagnetic waves that naturally bend or curve to one side as they move through space. The beams have been studied at optical frequencies but are now explored for terahertz communication. So, the actual photons still travel in a straight line, but the THz signal effectively bends around the object.

Fig. 5: Communicating around a semi-infinite obstacle

Naturally, there are some caveats with this, such as the fact that you’re going to suffer a fair bit of performance loss for receivers positioned behind the object. Not to mention that the lab test was conducted over very short distances inside a single room, while 6G signals in the wild would need to go much further. At present, the team still hasn’t fully quantified how much it will be possible to curve a signal and how far away it will work.

“Curving a beam doesn’t solve all possible blockage problems, but what it does is solve some of them and it solves them in a way that’s better than what others have tried,” said Hichem Guerboukha, who led the study as a postdoctoral researcher at Brown and is now an assistant professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City.

The development follows shortly after a separate team of Japanese researchers demonstrated a prototype 6G technology reaching a mobile broadband speed of 100Gbps (Gigabits per second) over a distance of 328 feet or 100 meters (here). The indoor test harnessed spectrum in the 100GHz band, while the outdoor test used the 300GHz band. The distance is impressive, given the bands being harnessed.

A different team of scientists in Japan similarly demonstrated (here) 6G speeds of up to 240Gbps, albeit over a shorter distance of only 66 feet (20 metres) – using 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (64QAM) at a single carrier frequency of 275GHz. We should point out that 6G, much like 4G and 5G before it, will also be able to harness all the existing mobile bands – at lower or mid-band frequencies.

As a side note, Ofcom are due to auction off their first 26GHz and 40GHz bands for mobile network operators in the near future (here), although the exact timeline remains somewhat dependent upon the outcome of Three UK and Vodafone’s proposed mega-merger. This is because that deal, if approved, would change the competitive landscape of UK spectrum ownership and thus needs to be settled before any auction can proceed (estimated for late 2024 or early 2025).

Hull-based UK broadband and Pay TV provider Octaplus, which sells services to consumers over various full fibre (FTTP) networks (e.g. MS3, CityFibre and FullFibre Limited), has this morning announced that they’ve given their brand identity a new lick of paint and launched a new website.

The new website is said to be more mobile friendly and has been designed to ensure a “seamless and more efficient booking process, allowing our customers to connect and manage their services effortlessly on the go” (it’s noted that about 80% of their traffic comes from mobile users).

“Our revamped brand is more than just a new look — it is our commitment to excellence and our relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction,” says Gladstone, CEO of Octaplus. “With enhanced speed and heightened support to our customers, we are poised to set new standards in the industry.”

Several of our readers have spotted that mobile operator 1p Mobile are stealthily offering a 500GB data (4G / 5G mobile broadband) SIM with unlimited UK calls and texts, which doesn’t appear alongside their main plans but costs just £25 per month on a regular rolling monthly term.

The special 500GB plan appears to be hidden away on 1p’s website, although much like their regular plans it includes the usual commitments to “no annual price rises“, support for Wi-Fi & VoLTE calling, support for tethering (i.e. for use in tablets/MiFi devices, as well as Smartphones) and EU roaming (fair usage cap of 14GB applies) etc.

Admittedly, it is possible to get “unlimited data” plans that are cheaper on Three UK’s network (e.g. iD Mobile and Smarty), but that’s much harder to do if you prefer the coverage or experience of EE’s network.

Broadband ISP Ogi, which is currently deploying a multi-Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to premises across parts of South Wales, have this morning revealed that their network has now signed-up “one in every five premises” covered (c.20,000 customers) and has so far completed two thirds of its planned Phase 1 rollout.

The network operator has so far covered a total of 100,000 premises (Ready for Service) with their new full fibre network – most of them residential – in Wales up to the end of 2023 (up from 60k on 30th June 2023). The latest customer figure (c.20,000) would appear to mark a significant improvement from the 15,000 reported on 4th March 2024.

The rate of customer growth is said to be even faster in some places, like Pembrokeshire, where in quite a few places they have a first mover advantage vs rivals. The build is also said to be continuing, albeit admittedly at a slower pace after recent issues (here), such as job cuts, and the Q1 2024 move to re-focus on growing the retail ISP side of their business (take-up etc.).

In case anybody has forgotten, Ogi also holds an aspiration to cover “at least” 350,000 premises in a future Phase 2 build across other parts of Wales, but they’d need to raise a lot more funding for that and the current climate (i.e. high build costs and interest rates) makes this rather challenging. Otherwise, some 60 towns and villages are expected to be covered under their current Phase 1 plan.

Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allwright, said:

“With one in five of the premises we can serve already signed up to Ogi, it’s clear to see we’re investing in the right places. Passing the 100,000 premises milestone – two thirds of our initial plan, completed – and seeing the massive benefits from this technology as adoption increases is encouraging.

Putting our ISP operations first since the start of the year, and harnessing the build machine as a tool for growth has allowed us to take a breath, and make sure we’re doing the right things for our customers and long-term sustainability. While we might not be as visible installing new network as we had been – we’ve been busy in the background, supporting our existing customer base and welcoming thousands more every month.

We’re building something really exciting here at Ogi; and the people of Wales are invested in our journey to create a real challenger brand – one that Wales can be proud of, and others are already envious of.”

Residential customers can typically expect to pay from just £15 per month for a 200Mbps (20Mbps upload) package (free setup and included router) on a 12-month term (£41.25 thereafter), which rises to only £30 for their top 900Mbps (90Mbps upload) tier (£72.50 thereafter).

Customers can optionally get faster upload speeds, but they cost extra and the performance uplift varies by package. For example, paying an extra £2 on their 200Mbps plan gets you 40Mbps uploads, while an extra £10 on 900Mbps gets you symmetric speeds.

Ogi’s Active Rollout Locations

➤ Bridgend: Caerau, Cwmfelin, Garth, Llangynwyd, Maesteg^, Nantyffyllon, Pencoed^, Porthcawl^

➤ Caerphilly: Blackwood^, Cefn Fforest, Cefn Hengoed, Fleur-de-lis, Hengoed^, Pengam, Ystrad Mynach, Maesycymmer, Pontllanfraith, Tir-y-Berth, Woodfieldside.

➤ Cardiff^

➤ Monmouthshire: Abergavenny^, Caerwent, Caldicot^, Chepstow, Crick, Monmouth^, Portskewett, Rogiet, Sudbrook, Undy.

➤ Newport: Langstone, Llanvaches^, Underwood^.

➤ Pembrokeshire: Haverfordwest^, Johnston, Milford Haven^, Neyland^, Pembroke^, Pembroke Dock^. Tenby^.

➤ Rhondda Cynon Taf: Cymmer, Dinas, Llwyncelyn, Mount Pleasant, Porth^, Tonyrefail^*, Tonypandy^*, Trebanog, Trehafod, Ynyshir.

➤ Torfaen: Griffithstown, New Inn, Pantymoile, Penygarn, Pontypool^, Sebastopol, Trosnant, Wainfelin.

➤ Vale of Glamorgan: Dinas Powys^, Llantwit Major^, Rhoose^, St Athan.

^Local Network Exchange

News 

The cause of the damage is currently unknown 

Countries in East and Southern Africa are currently suffering from an internet outage caused by faults along numerous submarine cables. 

Cloudflare Radar, a website that monitors internet outages, has confirmed that Tanzania is one of the worst affected countries, with traffic stooping to 30% of normal levels.Ben Roberts, Group CTIO at African network infrastructure specialist Liquid Intelligent Technologies posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) that “Internet to East Africa is severely impaired”. 

“All subsea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down. EASSy Cable – Fault confirmed Seacom Cable – Observing Fault that occurred at same time. 3 cable cuts in Red Sea (Seacom, EIG, AAE1) remain unrepaired.” 

The affected cables appear to have been damaged somewhere between South Africa and Mozambique.According to Chris Wood, group CEO of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company, an investor in the EASSy cable, “a cable repair ship based in Cape Town has been mobilised and will sail on Tuesday morning.”  

Its me again. Internet to East Africa is severely impaired. All sub sea capacity between East Africa and South Africa is down.
EASSy Cable – Fault confirmed
Seacom Cable – Observing Fault that occurred at same time.
3 cable cuts in Red Sea (Seacom, EIG, AAE1) remain unrepaired.

— Ben Roberts 🇬🇧🇰🇪 (@benliquidkenya) May 12, 2024

Travelling to the site of the cable damage will take three days and the repair time will be dependent on many factors including the weather, sea conditions, and the extent of the damage, which is still unknown. 

Kenyan operator Airtel Kenya is among those suffering service disruption as a result of the damage, as are the operators’ rivals Telkom Kenya and Safaricom. 

“We are still working with undersea fibre cable team to have them resolve the issue,” said Airtel Kenya, in a statement this morning. 

The incident is the second significant submarine cable break in Africa this year. In March, four submarine cables situated on the West Coast of Africa – WACS, Sat-3, Ace, and MainOne – were damaged near the Ivory Coast which caused widespread issues across the continent. Response to the damage was fast, although there has been no official announcement that all of the affected cables have been fully repaired. 

Join us at this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA, 29-30 May in London! Tickets available here

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

News

The deal aims to make cloud-based solutions more accessible in India 

Bharti Airtel  and Google Cloud have announced a strategic collaboration to offer advanced cloud solutions to businesses in India.

The deal will bring new cloud solutions from Google Cloud to Airtel customers, including 2,000 large enterprises and one million emerging businesses. 

The Indian public cloud services market is growing rapidly, expected to be worth $17.8 billion by 2027, according to IDC. Airtel itself has over 570 million customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa, roughly 375 million of which are in India. 

As part of the deal, the two companies will combine their expertise to develop AI and machine learning solutions, leveraging Airtel’s  large pool of telecoms data. Such solutions will include: 

– Geospatial analytics solutions to predict market trends, site selection, risk management, and asset tracking; 

– Voice analytics solutions for conversational applications trained across different languages; 

– and marketing technology solutions to predict customer behavior and streamline content creation, such as contextualised advertisements. 

Additionally, Airtel has introduced an end-to-end IoT solution targeting the utility sector, integrating connectivity, Google Cloud services, and application software for easy deployment.  

To support its cloud-based solutions, Airtel has established a managed services center in Pune, in West India, with over 300 employees trained to use Google Cloud services and to develop new tech solutions. 

“As India accelerates its digital transformation, cutting-edge cloud and AI solutions will be at the heart and center of this change,” said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel said in a joint press release. 

“Our strategic collaboration with Airtel marks a significant milestone towards our commitment to accelerate cloud and AI adoption in India,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud.  

“Through this partnership, we aim to explore and build transformative solutions that can enhance Airtel’s customer experiences,” he continued. 

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

News

Thuraya’s satellite phones no longer work in Australia after a “sustained force majeure event” has taken Yahsat’s Thuraya-3 satellite out of action

Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat first announced that its Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite had experienced a major outage on April 15, warning that related services would be significantly diminished.

Launched back in 2008, the Thuraya-3 satellite provided L-band satellite services via its dedicated satellite phone, predominantly over South and East Asia and the Pacific region.

Exactly what technical fault had occurred to the satellite is unclear, but attempts to restore services on the satellite appear to have failed, with Yahsat last week announcing that the “sustained force majeure event” would make recovery impossible.

Now, however, the company says it has managed to restore services to some parts of the Indo-China region, including Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Western Malaysia, Western Indonesia, Singapore, and the majority of China. This was achieved by reconfiguring Thuraya-3’s sister satellite, Thuraya-2 satellite, which operates over East Arica, to cover the affected region.

Even after reconfiguration, however, Thuraya-2 cannot extend to Australia, leaving Australian customers without access to satellite connectivity, including emergency services.

As such, Australian satellite service provider Pivotel, which uses Thuraya’s services, has been forced to offer customers alternative services from the likes of Inmarsat and Iridium at a reduced price.

The failure of Thuraya-3 has been described by Pivotel as ‘very disappointing’, given that an audit of the device conducted by its manufacturer Boeing on behalf of Thuraya in 2020 suggested it would be serviceable until 2031.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with Total Telecom’s 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 Service Provider launched a new PoP in the capital of Poland, which is based at Equinix WA1 data center (Aleje Jerozolimskie 65/79, Warsaw, Poland).

This strategic expansion underscores the company’s commitment to enhancing its network across Central Europe. The new PoP marks GlobalNet’s first foray into Poland and its third launch in Central Europe following the recent PoP in Berlin. The new site will serve as a critical hub, offering robust connectivity options of IP-Transit and DATAIX services via 1G, 10G, 40G, and 100G ports. Moreover, the Berlin-Warsaw route will bring new transport options to the region due to GlobalNet’s European backbone spanning through Stockholm, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin and now Warsaw.

“GlobalNet sees great potential in developing its network in Central Europe. This is an important step for us as we intend to expand our network throughout Poland and other countries in the region. We see a noticeable interest in our services among current and potential DATAIX members, which is why we decided to deploy our 69th Point of Presence in the Warsaw data center. The new connection in Poland’s capital will enable GlobalNet to interconnect the Northern, Western, Central, and Eastern European regions through a single DWDM system.” – said Alex Surkoff, Business Development Director at GlobNet.

The addition of the Warsaw PoP will significantly enhance the service offerings to GlobalNet’s existing and prospective members, providing improved access to international and local traffic via DATAIX international distributed peering network. 

“The new PoP not only strengthens our network but also enhances our ability to deliver high-speed Internet access and connectivity with full channel redundancy across Europe,” added Surkoff.

GlobalNet remains committed to its rapid expansion strategy, with further developments expected to enhance connectivity and digital service capabilities across Europe and Asia.

—

About GlobalNet:

GlobalNet is a leading backbone ISP headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. With more than 15,000 kilometers of its own DWDM system and 69 points of presence, GlobalNet offers a distributed network infrastructure boasting high fault tolerance. Its DATAIX service, a distributed international Internet Exchange Network, connects over 580 ASNs, including more than 440 Internet Service Providers and 140 content generators, across key locations in Eurasia.

INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. — May 9, 2024 — Black Box®, a global leader in delivering innovative communication and technology solutions, today announced the grand opening of its state-of-the-art Hyperscale Data Center of Excellence (DCoE) in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. With over 30 years in the Minnesota region, the company marks a significant milestone with this new facility, demonstrating its commitment to innovation and excellence in data center services and the technology industry.

The Hyperscale DCoE is designed to meet the evolving needs of hyperscale data centers, offering a comprehensive suite of services tailored to optimize performance, efficiency and reliability. Key focus areas of the DCoE include complete custom cable management, hyperscale-specific training, quality assurance, DAS and public safety solutions, logistics-as-a-service (LaaS), server refresh, fit-outs, AV integration and comprehensive networking support. At Black Box, safety is a fundamental value ingrained in the organizational culture, ensuring the safety of the company’s employees, clients and communities. As part of the commitment to safety, the Hyperscale DCoE will integrate safety training programs to uphold the highest standards of occupational health and safety.

“With the opening of the Hyperscale Data Center of Excellence, Black Box reaffirms its dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions that empower our clients to thrive in the digital age,” said Sanjeev Verma, CEO of Black Box. “This facility represents a significant investment in the future of data center infrastructure, enabling us to deliver unparalleled service and support to hyperscale data centers across the region.”

The DCoE leverages Black Box’s decades of experience in technology solutions and its commitment both to innovation and to delivering best-in-class services to clients. From advanced networking solutions to AI-driven optimization, the center is equipped to address modern data centers’ most complex challenges.

Black Box understands that the success of data centers depends on agility, scalability and reliability. The DCoE embodies these principles, offering comprehensive services aligned to an organization’s growth and success.

The DCoE is located at 8210 Courthouse Blvd, Suite 200, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, 55077. More information about Black Box and its Hyperscale DCoE is available at www.blackbox.com/en-us/solutions/infrastructure/data-center.

Visit Black Box at the National Data Center Investment Expo & Conference (DICE East), May 21-23, in Reston, Virginia.

# # #

About Black Box
Black Box® is a trusted IT solutions provider delivering cutting-edge technology solutions and world-class consulting services to businesses across the globe. The breadth of our global reach, continuous innovation, and depth of our expertise accelerate customer success by bringing people, ideas and technology together to solve real-world business problems. Our IT infrastructure solutions, services and products enable secure, flawless connectivity and meaningful collaboration for businesses in every major market across six continents.

To learn more, visit the Black Box website at https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/solutions/infrastructure/data-center. Follow the company on LinkedIn @Black Box.

Black Box® and the Double Diamond logo are registered trademarks of BB Technologies, LLC.

All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

Link to Word Doc: www.wallstcom.com/BlackBox/240509-Black_Box-Data_Center_of_Excellence.docx

Photo Link: www.wallstcom.com/BlackBox/BlackBox_DCOE.jpg
Photo Caption: Black Box’s new Hyperscale Data Center of Excellence in Minnesota

Photo Link: www.wallstcom.com/BlackBox/BlackBox-Sanjeev.jpg
Photo Caption: Sanjeev Verma, CEO of Black Box