Some of Three UK’s mobile customers are reporting a large network outage, which appears to be hitting sporadically across various different parts of the country. The issue is also known to be impacting users of the company’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners, such as Smarty etc. The disruption appears to have started at around […]

News 

EE has announced that it will invest £6 million in its UK store portfolio over the next year 

The news comes as the company unveils its new Experience store in Gateshead today, which will be the first of “more than ten” EE Experience stores that will open over the next year. 

The new type of retail store was announced last year at the launch of the White City Westfield London store. It is the UK’s largest telco retail space, which aims to reinvent the role of retail in the telco industry, “putting innovation, personal experience, and community front and centre”, as per the EE press release.  

The store features numerous new areas, including ‘immersive digital spas’ and gaming areas, which EE believes will demonstrate why physical retail stores are still vital for the experience of the EE customer, despite our increasingly digital world. 

The stores aim to “create standout experiences that reflect the changing needs of our customers and the increasingly connected lives they lead,” said Bridget Lea, Managing Director of Commercial at EE.  

“As part of our ambition to become the most personal, customer-focused brand in the UK, we are proud to be offering our customers the chance to get up close and personal with the latest innovations and game changing technology that is right for them,” she continued. 

In October last year, EE underwent a huge rebrand, launching their new era of connectivity ‘New EE’, which encompassed new broadband and mobile packages (including the company’s most advanced broadband offering, EE Full Fibre 1.6Gbps), and an “everything app”, a new integrated platform offering a range of services from device sales and subscription management, available to everyone. 

The move follows an announcement last April, when BT announced EE would gradually become the “flagship brand for consumer customers”, while BT would become the main brand for the Enterprise and Global units. 

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

Also in the news:
EU telcos join forces against Gigabit Infrastructure Act
Jio releases ‘Jio Brain’ AI platform
Ofcom issues further crackdown on spoof phonecalls

News

The move is the company’s largest restructuring in thirty years 

Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), the owner of Canadian telco Bell Canada, has announced this week that it will cut 4,800 job to cut costs, with the company reporting “declining legacy phone and news business”. 

The job cuts will see roughly 9% of the company’s 44,610 employees laid off at all levels.  

The announcement was made in conjunction with its fourth quarter and 2023 full year financial results.  

Alongside its financial performance, the company said it was compelled to make the cuts due to the “increasingly unsupportive federal government and regulatory decisions, legacy business declines and a macroeconomic environment with higher interest rates and continued inflation”. 

“Today’s changes are difficult, but necessary to respond to evolving external drivers, accelerate our transformation and ensure Bell’s future health and longevity so that we can continue to advance our purpose to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world,” stated Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada in a press release of the company’s financials. 

The company estimates that the job cuts will bring in “in-year cost savings” of between CAN$150 million ($111 million) and $200 million ($148 million) and will put the company in a better position for future success. 

Bell Media is also set to sell 45 of its radio stations – over half of its total – which are no longer deemed viable, according to BCE’s legal chief Robert Malcolmson. 

Back in November, Bell announced its intention to cut back on capital expenditure by over $1 billion in 2024–2025 year due to a regulatory decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to open up the fibre networks run by large operators and set the price that operators can charge for access, in a bid to increase market competition.  

“The CRTC decision to unrelentingly pursue wholesale access at the expense of critical network investment [has lead to these cuts],” the company said in November. 

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

Also in the news:
EU telcos join forces against Gigabit Infrastructure Act
Jio releases ‘Jio Brain’ AI platform
Ofcom issues further crackdown on spoof phonecalls

News

The regulator says it wants to ensure that vulnerable customers are being treated fairly and that access to emergency services is not being jeopardised during the switch

Across the UK – and, indeed, across many parts of the world – steps are being taken to migrate customers away from traditional analogue landlines to IP-based digital landline services.

While for the vast majority of customers this process will cause little disruption, for a number of vulnerable customers who rely more heavily on the older system, the switch could be more problematic. Perhaps the largest issue is related to IP-based services reliance on a consistent power supply; if power supply is disrupted, such as during a storm, this can leave customers unable to contact emergency services.

Concerns related to these issues saw Ofcom call on operators to pause their landline migration process back in December last year, asking the operators to review their processes.

Today, Ofcom has gone one step further, launching an investigation into Virgin Media to examine whether they have been treating vulnerable customers appropriately.

“This investigation relates to concerns about Virgin Media’s compliance with two areas,” explained the regulator in a statement. “First, our rules require that Virgin Media must take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations. Second, our rules also require that Virgin Media establish and comply with effective policies and procedures for the fair and appropriate treatment of vulnerable consumers.”

Virgin Media defended itself, saying it has been working with Ofcom and the government to ensure the switch-over takes place smoothly and are following best practices.

“Last December we signed a Government-led charter and have paused all landline migrations, carried out an end-to-end review and will make further improvements to the measures we already have in place before switchovers restart,” said the company in a statement. “While telecoms companies like us have a crucial role to play in this switchover activity, it’s essential that telecare companies and local authorities also step up and meet their responsibilities to ensure everyone receives the support they need. We’re cooperating fully with the regulator’s investigation and will continue to work closely with the rest of the industry and other parties.”

Want to keep up with all the latest news from the UK telecoms sector? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester

Also in the news:
EU telcos join forces against Gigabit Infrastructure Act
Jio releases ‘Jio Brain’ AI platform
Ofcom issues further crackdown on spoof phonecalls

News

A reform package proposed by Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador would see a number of regulatory organisations shut down, including the telecoms regulator the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT)

This week, the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed a raft of constitutional changes that includes weakening or dissolving entirely various autonomous bodies, including the IFT.

According to López Obrador’s proposal, this would allow public spending to be redistributed more fairly – particularly to pensions and social programmes.

2024 is an election year in Mexico and López Obrador is seeking to push through these reformed before his term expires in summer.

The Mexican constitution limits the president to just a single six-year term.

With regards to the IFT itself, abolishing the regulator would see related regulatory powers moved to the central government itself. This, López Obrador says, would make the regulatory process more effective and more cost efficient.

López Obrador has been on something of a crusade against the IFT for years, claiming that the regulator’s commissioners earn too much money and refusing to replace them when their terms expired.

The IFT, naturally, was displeased by the proposal.

“This institution considers that the proposal represents a setback to the detriment of users and audiences, given that it implies returning to a model that was demonstrated to have serious limitations to achieve, among other objectives, the entry of more competitors, greater legal certainty and ensuring a level playing field so that more Mexicans can have more telecommunications services at a lower price and with higher quality, as well as more radio and television stations where a greater diversity of voices and opinion can be expressed,” said the regulator in a statement.

The IFT was set up in 2013, prior to which the sector was overseen by the communications and transport ministry (SCT). As such, returning regulatory powers to the government could simply be seen as a return to the status quo of nearly a decade ago.

However, the realities of the situation would be much more complicated. Not only would the change have major ramifications for the sector domestically, but the removal of the IFT could also create issues on an international level; the free trade agreement between Mexico, the USA, and Canada (the USMCA), for example, requires the existent of an independent ICT regulator, and could be in jeopardy if López Obrador’s proposed reforms come into effect.

Perhaps ironically, given the shakeup these proposals would have for Mexico’s telecoms sector, the reforms would also move to define internet access as a constitutional right.

The internet, says López Obrador, “constitutes a strategic public service whose objective is to prevent a significant part of the population, for economic reasons, from [not being able to access] this fundamental instrument for education, culture, economy and information, and therefore a constitutional criterion must be added with which the State guarantees its development.”

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

Also in the news:
EU telcos join forces against Gigabit Infrastructure Act
Jio releases ‘Jio Brain’ AI platform
Ofcom issues further crackdown on spoof phonecalls

The chances of any ISPs deploying long-range TV White Space (TVWS) based wireless broadband networks to serve remote rural UK premises has just significantly declined. Ofcom has given notice that their related device (WSD) authorisation framework is no longer available. Just to recap. The TVWS technology harnessed the gaps that exist between radio spectrum in […]

New customers looking to take one of BT’s ultrafast broadband packages may like to know that the ISP has just discounted their 150Mbps and 500Mbps full fibre (FTTP) plans to £29.99 and £34.99 per month respectively, at least when taken without a phone service and on a 24-month contract (rising to £34.99 and £39.99 post-contract). […]

Broadband ISP and TV provider Virgin Media (VMO2) has reiterated to ISPreview that it currently has “no plans” to make its relatively new Stream TV service available to consumers on other internet providers, which is despite Sky opting to make their equivalent Sky Stream product available to users on other ISPs since launch. The Virgin […]

Internet connection testing firm Ookla, which collects its data via the popular Speedtest.net service, recently published their latest Q3-Q4 2023 (H2) study into the performance of 5G based mobile broadband networks in the United Kingdom and found that Three UK continues to deliver the fastest speeds. But performance has declined. Mobile data performance remains a […]

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has this morning announced that they’ve opened a new investigation into broadband ISP Virgin Media’s migration of customers from analogue to IP-based digital landlines. The case will look at whether they’ve been treating vulnerable consumers correctly and “ensuring uninterrupted access” to emergency services. The regulator’s General Condition rules typically require […]