The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) has just published their latest biannual UK Customer Satisfaction Index (July 2023), which finds that Tesco Mobile (ranked 7th), Sky Mobile (ranked 16th) and giffgaff (ranked 34th) were the only telecommunications providers to make their table of the top 50 organisations. The research reflects the results from a large […]

A new Which? survey conducted by Yonder has claimed that 7.2% of households missed a bill or housing payment during June 2023 and, among those who missed one or more bills, 32% struggled to pay for broadband and / or TV, rising to 42% for energy bills, 40% for council tax and 38% for water. […]

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The regulator is aims to ensure that Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) customers are not being disincentivised from changing to another service provider due to onerous termination procedures

Today, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has announced an investigation into Virgin Media O2 following complaints from customers about the company’s cancellation practices.

Ofcom rules require that VMO2 ensure that the conditions or procedures for contract termination do not act as disincentives for customers against changing their communications provider.

Customer complaints made to the regulator, however, spoke of the difficulty in cancelling their contract, noting trouble connecting to an agent on the phone, calls dropping during conversation staff, and being placed on hold for long periods of time. Others also complained that they had made repeated attempts to cancel after their initial requests were not actioned.

The announced investigation will seek to verify the legitimacy of these complaints, as well as assessing whether VMO2 had made it clear to customers that they could take disputes to an independent ombudsman after eight weeks if their complaints had not been satisfactorily resolved.

If found to be in breach of Ofcom’s rules, VMO2 is likely to face a fine and instructions to change its procedures where appropriate.

“Our rules are there to protect people and make sure consumers can take advantage of cheaper deals that are on offer. That’s particularly important at the moment as households look for ways to keep their bills down,” said Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive. “We’re taking action today, on behalf of Virgin Media’s customers, to investigate whether the company is putting unnecessary barriers in the way of those who want to switch away.”

In it’s online statement, Ofcom noted that VMO2 scored below average for call waiting times and satisfaction with complaint handling in their annual customer satisfaction report.

In a statement, VMO2 defended itself, said it is “committed to providing our customers with excellent service” and pointing out that complaints related to customers having difficulty leaving their contracts have halved over the past year.

It is worth noting here that the UK’s ISPs are currently wrestling with instructions from Ofcom to implement One Touch Switching (OTS), a system that would theoretically allow customers to jump from one network to another at the click of a button.

Ofcom made the decision to introduce OTS back in September 2021, saying it would to allow customers to switch ISPs quickly and painlessly, as well as helping them avoid paying for two services simultaneously during the transition period between two services.

However, implementing OTS across all of the UK’s broadband networks is a significant technical challenge, hence the regulator gave the nation’s ISPs until 3 April 2023 to make the requisite arrangements.

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that this deadline was overly ambitious, with estimates suggesting an industry co-developed OTS platform would not be ready for service until 2024. The April deadline came and went without OTS being implemented, with Ofcom subsequently launching an investigation into the industry’s failure.

Once OTS is finally implemented, it is likely that a large portion of the complaints for which VMO2 is currently being investigated will be a thing of the past. How long consumers will have to wait for these capabilities, however, remains to be see.

Will OTS have a major impact on the dynamics of the UK ISP sector? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain conference

Also in the news:
Netomnia passes half a million premises with full fibre
Telefónica sells majority share of Peruvian fibre network to KKR
5G NTN-mobile market revenue to hit $18bn by 2031

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Optus, Australia’s second largest telco, will use Space X’s low latency satellite constellation to provide mobile connectivity to 100% of Australia 

Optus’s terrestrial mobile network coverage currently covers 98.5% of Australia’s population (around 25.5 million people). However, due to Australia’s unique geography, the vast majority of these people are located in a small number of dense urban centres, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, leaving vast swathes of the outback largely untouched by mobile connectivity. In fact, around 60% of the country’s landmass has no mobile connectivity at all. 

Covering these relatively unpopulated areas with terrestrial networks is economically unviable, hence operators are looking to emerging technologies to help solve this challenge.  

That is why Optus has this week partnered with SpaceX, aiming to make use of the latter’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation Starlink to provide direct-to-mobile connectivity to consumers in hard-to-reach areas.  

“Australia’s vastness and terrain can make it difficult for any operator to provide mobile coverage everywhere it is needed – especially in remote or hard-to-reach locations,” said Matt Williams, Marketing and Revenue Managing Director at Optus. 

“Our work with SpaceX aims to bring the coverage capabilities of satellites direct to compatible mobile handsets without the need for customers to buy additional equipment. This partnership builds on our proud history of satellite innovation in Australia.” 

Testing of the satellite-to-phone service is underway, with the connectivity services be rolled out in stages, SMS services beginning in late 2024, and data and voice services the following year. 

“This is a truly innovative model for Australia – connecting satellites to standard mobile phones – and a significant evolution beyond the services SpaceX has provided in Australia to date. It will create a unique experience for Optus customers,” added Williams. 

The deal comes just weeks after Optus’s largest rival, Telstra, also signed a Starlink deal. However, as opposed to direct-to-mobile coverage, Telstra’s partnership with the satellite operator will focus on providing fixed broadband services. 

Starlink currently has around 4,000 satellites orbiting Earth at a height of around 550km, with the aim of increasing this number to 12,000 in the near future.  

How is the growth of the LEO satellite industry impacting the global telecoms sector? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam 

Also in the news:
New Zealand’s Spark partners Lynk for satellite-to-mobile connectivity
Satellite spectrum struggles: Elon Musk’s Starlink urges India to ditch airwave auction
Vocus launches drone to serve as an emergency mobile tower in Australia 

Openreach (BT) has confirmed the next batch of 18 UK exchanges under ‘Tranche 13‘ of their project to move away from older copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR etc.) services and on to a new all-IP network, which in this case will also occur once over 75% of premises in each area are able to […]

Ofcom has published an update on its action plan to support broadband and mobile customers during the cost-of-living crisis, which once again calls on UK ISPs to take “immediate action” to boost the take-up of cheaper social tariffs (available to those on state benefits) and promises to publish take-up data for each provider. Back in […]

VIEWPOINT

5G is a massive opportunity for carriers to accelerate economic growth in the post-COVID era. However, carriers must invest in the infrastructure to move beyond 5G to 5.5G to boost economic growth across all industry sectors.

As per the GSMA estimates 5G will represent 600 billion in terms of additional GDP value to the global economy, translating to approximately 1% of GDP. By the end of March this year, 38 carriers had launched commercial 5G Standalone (SA) networks and another 14 are likely to do so by the end of the year. Asia Pacific region is leading the development of 5G SA with the region accounting for 50% of all launches globally. China, along with other countries in the region, like South Korea and Japan, have taken the lead in deploying 5G SA.

As the 5G ecosystem continues to strengthen, there is an emerging need to improve its capabilities to address the evolving requirements. This is all the more crucial as the vision for 6G has only been finalized recently and the technology is still a decade away from commercialization.

“Today, increasingly diverse requirements across different scenarios are calling for technological innovations based on 5G. This is where 5.5G comes in. So, 5.5G is like a bridge between 5G and 6G,” says Yang Chaobin, Director and President of ICT Products and Solutions at Huawei, during a recent interview with Pau Castells, Head of Economic Analysis at GSMA Intelligence.

“Requirements from many customers in many industry scenarios are becoming clearer. For example, 10-gigabit speeds, greatly improved downlink capabilities, and emerging IoT technologies. All of these requirements must be satisfied in the 5.5G era, rather than waiting for the 6G era,” adds Yang Chaobin while emphasizing the growing need for 5.5G.

Defining the value of 5.5G for operators

5G Non-Standalone (NSA) allowed the service providers to quickly launch 5G services and this is one of the key reasons 5G has become the fastest-ever mobile generational change in the world. Since the launch of 5G technology four years back, it will have more than 1 billion connections globally by the end of the year.

Now the first stage of the 5G rollout is complete in several countries and it is paving the way for the next stage, 5G SA and 5G-Advanced, which requires the service providers to deploy a new dedicated 5G core network along with more advanced protocols. “Our global mobile survey of operators indicates that 20% of operators worldwide have already begun 5G standalone deployments and 80% of them will be beginning these deployments in the next three years,” says Pau Castells.

The network transformation required to transition from 5G NSA to 5G SA is required to ensure the delivery of the true benefits of 5G. “The reality is that it is crucial to deliver the true benefits of 5G in terms of latency, networks, licensing, IoT support, and all these really will enable new use cases that can be transformational, particularly for the enterprise sector,” adds Pau Castells.

5G Advanced will enable several groundbreaking 5G use cases like connected robots and connected drones in manufacturing, which are not possible with 5G NSA. This will help the carriers delight their users by providing advanced 5G use cases, leading to improved 5G monetization.

5.5G will allow service providers to ensure better uplink capabilities leading to improved customer experience. “Thanks to the network experience being 10 times better, consumers can enjoy faster network speed. The great improvement of uplink speeds also means significantly higher efficiency for consumers in a live webcast and AI application scenarios. In B2B scenarios, enterprises and industries have much larger uplink data traffic than downlink data traffic, says Yang Chaobin.

5.5G is also required to address the growing number of IoT devices. “In 5.5G, we will define RedCap, passive IoT, and other IoT technologies, increasing the number of wireless connections from 10 billion to 100 billion and presenting operators with even more business opportunities,” says Yang Chaobin.

Enabling 10 Gbit/s experience

One of the key capabilities of 5.5G is that it enables a 10 Gbit/s experience, further allowing the service providers to provide exceptional customer experience.

A key element of delivering 10 Gbit experience is the spectrum. “There are mainly two new frequency bands: 6 GHz and mmWave. How can we make them work effectively with Sub-6 GHz that operators currently use? This is a key element for achieving 10 Gbit/s experience. Based on Huawei’s technical verification, if we use the 400 M band with 6 GHz, we can reach 10 Gbit/s. It is technically feasible to use the large bandwidth of mmWave to provide a downlink rate of 10 Gbit/s,” explains Yang Chaobin.

In the 5.5G era, carriers need to combine the large bandwidth capabilities of 6 GHz and mmWave with the frequency bands within Sub-6 GHz. This will allow the service providers to ensure both wide coverage and 10 Gbit/s experience. 5.5G also helps carriers address the uplink weakness of 5G with solutions like Supplementary Uplink (SUL).

5G and 5.5G are the key enablers of digital transformation and will spur investment and economic growth. There is a strong linkage between ICT investments and generating employment and productivity, consequently, economic growth. “GSMA Intelligence conducted economic research that finds that over a 20-year period, on average, a 10% increase in mobile adoption increased GDP by 1%, with the effect increasing by approximately 15% when connections upgrade from one mobile generation to the other, so from 2G to 3G, from 3G to 4G, and now from 4G to 5G. As a result of that, approximately about 7% of all the global GDP growth that we have seen over the last 20 years can be actually attributed to the role and the eruption of mobile and mobile broadband,” says Pau Castells.

As the 5G ecosystem continues to mature, the time is now right for the telcos to invest in 5.5G to fast-track the economic growth in all industry verticals, from manufacturing to retail to automotive. Providing true 5G use cases and realizing the IoT potential along with delivering a 10Gbit experience is possible only with 5.5G. The industry must promote the wider adoption of 5.5G.

 

UK ISP Cuckoo (Giganet), which sells broadband packages to consumers via Openreach’s full fibre (FTTP) network, has today signed a deal to adopt the cloud-based Kraken Utilities (part of Octopus Energy Group) platform, which they claim could lead to “better customer and employee satisfaction“. At this point the marketing spin for the new platform, which […]

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The drone, created through a partnership between NSW Telco Authority and Vocus-owned Challenge Networks, will help to provide vital connectivity to those affected by natural disasters 

Supported by high speed, low-latency satellite connectivity from the Vocus Satellite–Starlink solution, the drone can act as a temporary mobile tower providing mobile connectivity to a 28km² area.  

This will serve to provide vital mobile connectivity in situations where pre-existing infrastructure may be damaged, such as following natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. 

The drone is tethered with a ground-based power supply, meaning it will be able to fly for an unlimited amount of time, eliminating worries around limited battery life during emergency operations. It will only need to briefly land for maintenance checks around every 12 hours. 

The drone has been designed to be adaptable for various emergency situations, carrying different payloads for different scenarios. It can carry up to 15kg of equipment, which could include 4G and 5G network equipment, P25-compliant two-way radios, or even floodlights and cameras.  

When equipped with mobile network infrastructure, the drone can be used as a repeater to support preexisting public networks, or to create a private network only used by emergency responders. 

The drone was tested recently at a fire service base in Bimbimbie, rural New South Wales, where disaster response teams trialed the drone’s critical communication capabilities. 

“This is an example of how Vocus is using its strength in satellite technology, and Challenge Networks’ expertise in wireless and systems integration to deliver a brilliantly simple solution for a particularly Australian challenge,” said Ashley Neale, Development Manager Space and Satellite, Vocus. 

In Australia, mobile network coverage currently only reaches 27% of the country’s landmass, hence it is particularly difficult to access casualties and offer support during emergency situations in remote areas. 

How is the growth of the low Earth orbit satellite industry impacting the global telecoms sector? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam 

Also in the news: 

Telstra partners Starlink to serve remote customers in Australia
New Zealand’s Spark partners Lynk for satellite-to-mobile connectivity
SKT invests $100m in flying taxi company Joby Aviation 

Unite the Union, which has previously expressed its opposition to Vodafone and Three UK’s proposed merger (here), is attempting to up the ante by pressing some of Vodafone’s largest shareholders (e.g. Blackrock, Vanguard, Norges Bank and local authority pension funds) to take a stand, on conflict of interest grounds, at the next AGM. The deal, […]