Network operator CityFibre has today announced that their 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network now covers 3 million UK premises (up from 2.5m in January 2023) and 2.6 million of those are considered to be ‘Ready For Service’ (up from 2.2m), which means that residents can place an order with one of around […]

Project Gigabit, the UK government’s £5 billion plan to connect hard-to-reach properties to fibre optic broadband, is evidence of the value they place on digital inclusion. Access to high-speed internet means the ability to work remotely, work efficiently, communicate better and prevent children from being locked out of education. Multi Dwelling Units (MDUs [blocks of […]

The CEO of alternative broadband network builder Freedom Fibre, Neil McArthur, has today – as part of an exclusive interview with ISPreview – spoken about some of the challenges the operator has faced in building a new full fibre (FTTP) network and called on the government to be more overtly supportive of such efforts. At […]

News 

The funding is part of President Biden’s ‘Internet for All’ initiative, which promises a high-speed internet connection to every American citizen by 2030 

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the US government’s Department of Commerce, has awarded seven grants worth nearly $3.5 million to seven Tribal entities as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Programme (TBCP). 

The TBCP is a $3 billion subsidy programme designed to help bring fast internet to Tribal lands. The scheme is funded by President Biden’s Internet for All Initiative, part of The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will provide $2 billion in funding. The Consolidated Appropriations Act provides a further $980 million, bringing the total funding to just under $3 billion. 

The seven new grants bring the total allocated funds to over $1.79 billion, with money awarded to 198 Tribal entities since the programme began in 2021. Successful recent applicants of the $3.5 million in funding include the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, who received $500,000 for the set-up of a wireless site, and the Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation of Washington, which received $466,902 to connect unserved homes and businesses in the community. 

“President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is helping to close the digital divide on tribal lands,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. 

“These grants will reduce barriers to Internet access for tribal communities across five states, connecting them to the education, good-paying jobs, and health care they need to succeed in our 21st century economy.” 

The expansion of high-speed internet access across the US will result in increased economic development, improve quality of life, allow for the creation of remote learning and employment opportunities, and improve access to telehealth within Native American societies, according to the programme. 

Join the discussion around President Biden’s connectivity goals at next year’s Connected America 2024 live in Dallas, Texas 

Also in the news:
Dish seeks extension for purchase of T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum
Brazil making rapid 5G progress but challenges remain on the horizon
ASA bans ‘misleading’ 5G ads from EE 

News 

Huawei is currently the world’s largest 5G patent owner with 20% of global patents 

Chinese tech giant Huawei has signed a deal with Sweden’s Ericsson to renew their patent cross-licensing agreement.  

The deal, which was last renewed in January 2016, allows each company to access each other’s patented technologies deemed vital to product standards set by 3GPP, ITU, IEEE, and IETF, covering 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular technologies. 

 “We need to pay Ericsson and Ericsson need to pay Huawei, so there is some net payment from one company to the other company,” explained Emil Zhang, Head of European Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) at Huawei. 

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. 

“This agreement demonstrates the commitment of both parties that intellectual property should be respected and rewarded, and that leading technological innovations should be shared across the industry,” said Christina Petersson, Ericsson’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer. 

“We are delighted to reach a long-term global cross-licensing agreement with Ericsson,” said Alan Fan, Head of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Department. 

“As major contributors of standard essential patents (SEPs) for mobile communication, the companies recognize the value of each other’s intellectual property, and this agreement creates a stronger patent environment. It demonstrates the commitment both parties have forged that intellectual property should be properly respected and protected.” 

Under the agreement made in 2016, Huawei would make “ongoing royalty payments” to Ericsson based on the sale of products using the Swedish vendor’s patents. 

Today, Ericsson says the new deal will contribute to it increasing its IPR revenues for 2023 to approximately SEK 11 billion ($1 billion). Huawei, similarly, has been a major contributor to mainstream ICT standards for over 20 years, including cellular, Wi-Fi, and multimedia codecs. Last year, the company filed 4,505 patents to the European Patent Office, the most of any company.  

Patent licencing is a major revenue stream for the company, which reportedly made between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion from licencing between 2019 and 2021. Since then, the company has only increased its research efforts, claiming to have spent  $125 billion on R&D in the last decade. 

This revenue stream has not been without controversy, however. Back in May, it was announced that US-based network equipment maker ADVA Optical Networking would sue Huawei for charging “grossly excessive” fees for the use of their intellectual property , and asking ADVA to pay for patents not required by international standards. ADVA argue that Huawei is using its dominant position in the IP area to apply disproportionate influence over the market. 

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest international telecoms news? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox 

Also in the news: 

Huawei’s secret semiconductor strategy to skirt sanctions
Battle for Ethiopia’s mobile money market begins as Safaricom’s M-Pesa takes on TeleBirr
What’s in a name? 6G Internet falls foul of advertising regulator over consumer confusion 

News 

The announcement comes as the firm fights with rising costs in the increasingly competitive market 

T-Mobile US has announced that it will cut 5,000 jobs in the US, reducing its 71,000-person workforce by 7%.  

The job cuts will take place over the next five weeks, and will include both corporate and back-office roles, although the cuts will not impact the firm’s retail and customer care divisions. 

“Impacted roles are primarily duplicative to other roles, or may be aligned to systems or processes that are changing, or may not fit with our current company priorities. Some areas of the business will be implementing more centralized models where they can improve efficiency and effectiveness and save costs. We’re also taking opportunities to build bigger, broader people manager roles with deeper spans and fewer layers, to provide longer-term growth opportunities. At the same time, we’ll also be decreasing our reliance and spend on external workers and resources,” said CEO Mike Sievert in an email to staff. 

“Today’s changes are all about getting us efficiently focused on a finite set of winning strategies, so that we can continue to out-pace our competitors and have the financial capability to deliver a differentiated network and customer experience to a continually growing customer base, while simultaneously meeting our obligations to our shareholders,” he added. 

In the release of its Q2 reports last month, T-Mobile reported profits of $2.2 billion, up from a $108 million loss for the same period last year. Furthermore, the firm announced a gain of 760,000 postpaid mobile customers, its highest increase in the quarter for eight years, and the most in the US mobile industry. 

Considering the firm’s recent success, laying off so many employees may appear questionable, especially given the company’s promises of job creation surrounding the company’s merger with Sprint. Sivert added that “the time to challenge the status quo and write the next chapter, is WHILE we are still successful. That’s how we sustain it.” 

It is estimated that the firm will incur a charge of around $450 million as a result of the move. 

Upon the announcement on Thursday, shares were down 2%. 

T-Mobile’s largest rivals are also undergoing major workforce reductions in recent years; AT&T has cut roughly 45,000 in the last two years, while Verizon has cut around 18,000 in a similar time frame. 

Join the discussion around America’s changing telecoms market at next year’s operators in discussion at Connected America 2024 live in Dallas, Texas 

Also in the news:
Dish seeks extension for purchase of T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum
Brazil making rapid 5G progress but challenges remain on the horizon
ASA bans ‘misleading’ 5G ads from EE 

Mobile operator and UK ISP Vodafone has today launched a new home broadband Xtra bundle, which adds an Apple TV 4K box, a 24-month subscription to the Apple TV+ streaming service, as well as inclusive anytime landline calls – all for just £12 a month, saving customers over £200. Just to be clear, the figure […]

News reports are this afternoon claiming that Octopus Energy is now the frontrunner to acquire UK retail energy and broadband ISP Shell Energy from its parent group, although they haven’t yet entered formal exclusivity and that means rival bids (e.g. from Ovo Energy) could still upset an agreement. At present, Shell Energy UK is home […]

Network builder and UK broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which has so far extended their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP/B) network to cover over 1.2 million homes (275,000+ customers), have announced that they’ve snapped up Liberty Global veteran Duncan Macdonald to be their new Chief Technology Innovation Officer (CTIO). The operator, which recently announced a number of redundancies […]

Network builder and UK gigabit broadband ISP toob has today announced that their £18m project to roll out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the Hampshire (England) town of Gosport, which will eventually reach 45,000 premises in 2024, has finally started to go live. The announcement doesn’t mention where in the town their service has […]