Alternative network provider and UK ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which recently announced job cuts and a slowdown of their plan to reach over 1 million premises across the East of England with a gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network by 2026 (here), has been acquired by Kompass Kapital for an unspecific sum. Just to recap. LightSpeed previously […]

Approximately 30 customers of GoFibre‘s (BorderLink) alternative full fibre broadband ISP network in Scotland (e.g. Stonehaven) have been left to suffer internet connectivity problems for several days. The issue occurred after one of the operator’s legacy connectivity suppliers, Scottish ISP Caleycom, suddenly went into liquidation. In case anybody has forgotten. GoFibre currently plan to deploy […]

The Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council in Essex (England) is demanding that UK broadband ISP Gigaclear cough up £25,000 after the operator installed a new street cabinet to support their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network on the corner of Five Acres and Cambridge Road, without consultation. According to recent reports, local residents in the area have complained […]

News

Around a third of the site’s 2,900 staff will see their jobs cut or be relocated

Today, BT has reportedly informed staff at its Adastral Park site in Ipswich that it intends to reduce the site’s workforce by roughly 1,100 over the next two years.

The site, which spans over 100 acres and includes BT Labs, currently employs around 2,900 people in various roles, from research and development to core network operations.

Some members of staff will face redundancy, with the operator offering staff the chance chance to relocate to other BT locations in the UK “wherever possible”.

Back in May, BT announced that it will aim to cut roughly 55,000 jobs – around 40% of its current workforce – by the end of the decade, citing the need for more streamlined operations and digitalisation in today’s tough economic climate. The company has been trying to generate significant cost-savings for years, last year increasing its target to £3 billion in cost-reductions by 2025, of which job cuts will play a key role.

However, today’s announcements surrounding staffing at Adastral Park are seemingly not part of these wider cost-saving measures, but are rather taking place as a result of the company’s Better Workplace Programme, which aims to consolidate staff in fewer and more modern buildings.

“We’re consolidating into a smaller number of buildings around the UK that provide cutting edge technology and great working environments for our people,” explained BT in a statement. “As part of these activities, we’re proposing to reduce the size of our presence at Adastral Park and move some roles to other BT Group locations over the next two years.”

Nonetheless, the operator says it remains “committed to Adastral Park for the long-term” and will continue to invest in the site in future, nothing that the location requires “significant investment to modernise”.

The operator said that it currently has no plans to sell the land or any of the roughly 100 buildings it owns at Adastral Park, but it will be consolidating staff into a smaller number of offices and other spaces on-site.

What do the latest job cuts mean the UK telecoms sector? Join the operators in discussion at the UK’s largest digital economy event Connected Britain

Also in the news:
SK Telecom overhauls AI service ‘A.’ using ChatGPT
Leveraging 5G to develop new value and unlock digital dividends
SKT invests $100m in flying taxi company Joby Aviation

News 

The deal will support the operator’s ambition to achieve nationwide standalone 5G coverage by the end of the year 

Jio, India’s largest telecoms operator, is set to sign the contract as early as today at Nokia’s Headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, according to sources speaking to the Economic Times.  

The purchase will be financed by several global banks, including HSBC, Citigroup, and JP Morgan, whose combined loans will total around $4 billion. Finnish state-owned export credit agency Finnvera is set to issue guarantees to the lenders. Representatives from the banks are likely to be present at the signing, as well as Senior Executives from Reliance Group. 

In October last year, Jio signed 5G equipment contracts with both Nokia and Ericsson.  

At the time, financial details of the deals were not disclosed; however, media reports have since suggested that the deal with Ericsson was worth $2.1 billion. 

Now, this deal with Nokia will see the total 5G investment reach roughly $3.6 billion. 

Earlier this year, Jio’s president Mathew Oommen said the company aimed to become “the largest 5G SA (standalone) only network operator in the world in the second half of 2023”, with the company targeting nationwide coverage by the end of the year.  

In related news, earlier this week, Reliance Industries announced the launch of a budget 4G phone, (costing $12), aiming to convert the 250 million 2G users in India to 4G. The company says its goal is to pass the benefits of the internet-capable mobile technology to every Indian.

How is the Indian telecommunications market evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam 

Also in the news:
Ericsson to consolidate Estonian operations with new €155m tech hub
Airtel joins the 5G race in Nigeria
Transitioning from 5Good to 5Great to maximize 5G revenue potential 

 

VIDEO INTERVIEW

Martin Connelly, UltramapGlobal Co-Founder, and Mychael Owen, Brand and Marketing Lead at UltramapGlobal were once again present at Submarine Networks in London, UK in the summer of 2023. Harry Baldock, Editor of Total Telecom chatted to Mychael in this 8 minute video.

Harry and Mychael went back to basics, exploring what UltramapGlobal is, how it works, and – in straight-to-the-point style, Harry asked Mychael to explain just how good UltramapGlobal actually is.

Here’s a short introductory quote from Mychael:

“UltramapGlobal created AssetMonitor®. The world’s most chosen subsea cable protection software. We protect the world’s most important subsea cables from sea vessel strikes. 

And with regards to how UltramapGlobal works, at our core, we’re two things. Our software, AssetMonitor®. And our Global Monitoring Teams. The software identifies threats. Then filters the serious risks to our monitoring teams. They intervene to avoid cable strikes. 24 hours a day. 365 days each year.”

Mychael then addressed Harry’s ‘so how good are you?” question,

“AssetMonitor® is the world’s most chosen. 100% of customers experience fewer cable strikes after choosing us. And over 50% of UltramapGlobal clients have no cable strikes – at all.”

Neat! There’s more in the video.

 

Call to action

Read more at www.ultramapglobal.com. And experience UltramapGlobals brand new “UltramapGlobal in 30 Seconds” video on the homepage.

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has issued a progress update on their £210m investment (up from £180m in January 2023) to deploy a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across Wales, which reveals that they’ve now covered over 700,000 premises (up from 600k). The deployment forms part of Openreach’s wider £15bn investment to cover 25 […]

As expected (here), UK ISP Plusnet this week confirmed that they’re no longer providing BT Sport as a part of their existing customer home broadband packages, which means you won’t be able to access the service, including the BT Sport App or via a Sky TV set-top-box. The move to close BT Sport is not […]

News 

The €518 million deal will see Cellnex take full control of the towerco, which has over 8,500 sites across Poland

Tower infrastructure giant Cellnex has acquired a 30% stake in OnTower Poland from French telco group Iliad for €510 million.

Combined with Cellnex’s existing 70% stake in the business, this now gives the company full control of the Polish towerco.

OnTower owns and operates around 8,500 mobile sites across Poland, with Cellnex planning to expand this portfolio by an additional 3,400 sites by 2030.

“This transaction must be seen as an intermediate step in the process of actively assessing strategic options for our current portfolio in order to crystallize value and accelerate the path to the Investment Grade rating,” said Cellnex in a statement, noting it was hoping to achieve this status by 2024.

OnTower Poland was formed back in 2021 when Cellnex agreed to acquire 7,000 sites from Polish mobile operator Play for €800 million. The transaction gave Cellnex a 60% stake in the newly formed company, with the remaining 40% stake held by French telco group Iliad, which was in the lengthy process of acquiring Play.

Cellnex would go on to purchase a further 10% stake in the business from Iliad in early 2022, indicating at the time that they may could be interested in taking full ownership of the business in future and merging it with Cellnex Poland.

With the purchase of this final 30% stake, Cellnex will now make this ambition a reality.

The Polish market has been a major focus for Cellnex in recent years, having quickly bolstered its position with the purchase 99% stake in Polkomtel Infrastruktura from parent company Cyfrowy Polsat in 2021. The deal gave Cellnex an additional 7,000 towers and sites in Poland.

Combined, this means that Cellnex’s total footprint is Poland is today around 15,500 – a not insignificant portion of the roughly 135,000 sites the company manages across Europe.

How is the tower infrastructure market changing in 2023? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam

Also in the news:
SK Telecom overhauls AI service ‘A.’ using ChatGPT
Leveraging 5G to develop new value and unlock digital dividends
SKT invests $100m in flying taxi company Joby Aviation

Viewpoint Article

By Steven Moore, Head of Climate Action at the GSMA

At the time of writing, there are an estimated five billion phones lying dormant, sitting in drawers unused, but full of useful material. Those mobiles contain 50,000 tonnes of copper, 500 tonnes of silver, 100 tonnes of gold, and enough cobalt for 10 million EV batteries!

Taking an unused and neglected device tucked away at home can have a monumental effect: it can help get someone online who couldn’t previously afford it; it can help avoid the environmental impact of manufacturing a new phone; or it can be used for parts to keep other devices running for longer or incorporate in new models. A refurbished phone has 87% less climate impact than a new one.

The huge potential from the reuse of devices plays a central part in our sustainability vision for the mobile industry. We were the first to commit fully to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and we set our 2050 net zero climate ambition back in 2019, before any major world economy.

But to achieve these commitments, we really need to get on the front foot with the three ‘Rs’ of reuse, refurbish and recycle. We don’t just need to work with manufacturers and refurbishers, we need a major, concerted effort from governments and policymakers too. It’ll be a big challenge, but we’re tackling it head on, with a three-phased approach to creating a circular economy for mobile devices.

Phase One: Setting our vision

The first phase is our vision – understanding what the end destination should be, and reaching it together as an industry.

We completed phase one last November, when we published our Strategy Paper on the Circular Economy: Mobile devices. This is included a long-term vision for 2050, to create a fully sustainable, circular economy for mobile devices. We believe in this vision for 2050, similar to our net zero ambition; in fact they are complementary and support each other.

The paper explained the current environmental impact of mobile phones, and what would be a sustainable future, made up of three core actions:

To ensure every single mobile device that is produced has the longest lifetime possible.
Each should be 100% recyclable, made using 100% recycled content and 100% renewable energy.
To guarantee no device ends up in landfill or being incinerated.

The next phase is to take this vision and set out clear and tangible actions for both mobile operators and the broader industry.

 Phase Two: Putting the vision into action with targets

Working with the project group who helped put the paper together, we wanted to put metrics in place for what was within mobile network operators’ control: take back rates of mobile phones.

Operators proposed a target take back between 20% and 40% of the new phones they sell customers. We believe the 20% target is more likely, given the challenges around getting customers to hand in phones, but if we’re able to hit 40%, that would be incredible.

The other target we agreed was ensuring no mobile ends up as waste – either in landfill or incinerated. Wasted phones means wasted materials and components, which have a greater energy and environmental impact when created from scratch than recycled. For example, one tonne of used mobile phones contains 100-times more gold than one tonne of gold ore. There are also major health impacts on people who carry out informal burning of mobile phones on waste dumps.

We recently announced these ambitious new targets with a leading group of 12 operators including BT Group, Telefonica, KDDI, and our project group leads Orange and Tele2.

The third phase is to get even more companies behind the circularity vision to help us transform.

Phase Three: Get more companies to support the vision

As an industry,  we must collectively rethink how mobile phones are made and used so they have less environmental impact and are used to their maximum potential. All stakeholders in the mobile industry have a part to play; through collaborative, innovative research and development, we can build a mobile industry that puts the planet first.

We are already seeing signs of this from phone designers and manufacturers. Fairphone has been a leader in designing more modular and repairable phones, and engaging their supply chains to source recycled and conflict-free materials. Apple has an ambition to make their products using 100% renewable energy by 2030, has started to report on the level of recycled content across its portfolio, and has developed sophisticated technology to dismantle and recycle phones. Samsung announced a new sustainability strategy last year, with a focus on improved energy and material efficiency, as well as investments in R&D to be more circular.

We are also seeing the mobile industry stride forward in handset longevity. Replacement services are becoming more accessible for end users, while phone batteries and screens are becoming more durable; all in the name of sustainability, developing mobile manufacturing practices fit for purpose.

But this is just the start and we want more manufacturers and policymakers to play a central role too.

In many high-income countries it’s already illegal for phones for end up in landfill, but we as an industry want to work with lower- to middle-income countries to build an end-of-life framework for mobile technology to ensure no phone becomes waste. As an example, at the moment Orange removes unwanted phones from markets in Africa to have them recycled in France. Ideally they would be recycled locally and the recycled materials then used to support local manufacturing in Africa.

But we can help solve the problem by engaging with mobile users too. If phones end up in landfill then it’s often because people don’t know how to dispose of their devices when they’re done with them. They either hoard them or bin them, often illegally. Many of us can also relate to the problem of having phones gathering dust in cupboard at home, either because of uncertainty over how to dispose of it, or security concerns regarding personal data being exposed in the recycling process.

The industry has a role to play in educating people on what to do with old devices and how to properly dispose of them. In Australia, we’ve seen some strong progress in this respect, with the country’s nationwide MobileMuster, a free, not-for-profit recycling programme. Users are guided through recycling their old, broken mobile phones, chargers and accessories easily from home, or at one of MobileMuster’s local drop-off locations.

Putting sustainability top of the table

Understanding how the industry is progressing is essential not only to the industry meeting 2030 and 2050 targets, but also raising ambition to surpass expectations.

We’re pushing for industry-wide monitoring and metrics that boost transparency. With our recently published ESG Metrics for Mobile, mobile companies can show the consumer and stakeholders around the world how serious they are about creating change. Sustainability awareness programmes like Eco Rating give the public the information to make sustainable choices when deciding on the next phone.

We hope these ratings will create an ambition loop of competition in the industry to be the sustainable gold-standard and top of the list.

What you can do

If you’re a mobile network operator, manufacturer or policymaker, we urge you to read our strategy paper on the circular economy and get behind the targets and vision.

Whether an operator who can improve takeback rates, a manufacturer who can make handsets easier to self-repair, or a policymaker who can build better recycling programmes and right to repair initiatives, we need you on this journey with us.

Is the telecommunications sector doing enough to promote sustainability and the circular economy? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam

Also in the news:
SK Telecom overhauls AI service ‘A.’ using ChatGPT
Leveraging 5G to develop new value and unlock digital dividends
SKT invests $100m in flying taxi company Joby Aviation