Consumers hoping for some respite from spiralling price hikes on their broadband ISP and mobile operator bills will have to keep waiting. Yesterday’s meeting between the Chancellor of the UK Government, Jeremy Hunt, and the heads from all of the UK’s major regulators, including Ofcom, appears to have produced nothing new. At the end of […]

A new Lords Committee report has today become the latest to try and tackle the age-old problem of Digital Exclusion (i.e. getting everybody online and ensuring they have the right skills). The Committee finds that the scale of the problem is a “direct consequence of political lethargy” and highlights the UK Government’s “lack of a […]

Press Release

By connecting to its metro fibre ring around Birmingham and national fibre network, ATI’s low-cost wide footprint dark fibre network will enable businesses in the region to benefit from enhanced connectivity and colocation services, ultimately supporting their future growth and success. 10 and 100GB services as well as dark fibre connectivity will be available for ensuring maximum flexibility and scalability of network solutions.

Kenny Roberts, CEO of ATI Fibrenet said, “ATI’s low-cost network is a very efficient method of providing end to end solutions to customers. Connection to Proximity’s data centre in Birmingham will further streamline and simplify the overall process by providing customers easy access to both networking and colocation services from a single provider.”

Commented John Hall, Managing Director-Colocation, Proximity Data Centres: “We welcome ATI Fibrenet to our edge and data centre facility in Birmingham and look forward to a strong partnership. This latest addition to our growing list of network providers reinforces our commitment to providing comprehensive and reliable connectivity solutions to our customers. With their low-cost and wide footprint dark fibre network, ATI brings a valuable new offering that complements our existing services.”

ATI Fibrenet minimises civils build and reduces environmental impact by deploying its dark fibre network through existing infrastructure.  ATI’s AI powered Quoting platform is another exciting aspect of the service offering by allowing customers to self-provision and customise networking and colocation services according to their specific requirements.

Press Release

KDPOF (leading supplier for high-speed connectivity over fiber optics in harsh environments) proudly announced that the European Commission has granted access to the 8.1 billion European investment for their projected packaging plant for optoelectronic devices in Spain. “The funding supports us in making our plans of manufacturing ICs in Europe come true in the near future,” stated Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-founder of KDPOF. “European fabs only manufacture approximately 10 percent of semiconductors worldwide, making us dependent on Asia and the United States. We will pioneer the manufacturing of automotive optoelectronics in Spain in high volume, thus reducing this dependency.”

Close to their headquarter in Tres Cantos, Madrid, KDPOF is advancing a high-quality packaging factory for state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices. In addition, KDPOF is developing a new and innovative optoelectronics packaging technology. It will be applied for the first time to produce the upcoming transceiver IC for high-speed automotive optical communications.

Incorporating AI, sensors, and processors in self-driving vehicles requires KDPOF’s technology to interconnect all components robustly and inexpensively using fiber optic links within the vehicle. Since 2014, with the launch of the first transceiver, KDPOF leads high-speed optical communications for the automotive industry and has international clients like Daimler.

IC Manufacturing: Silicon Wafer, Assembly and Testing

The manufacture of a chip consists of three fundamental processes: the first is the creation of a silicon wafer that serves as the basis for the microchip, the second is the assembly, and the third is the testing to ensure quality. It is these last two steps that KDPOF brings to Tres Cantos. “The manufacturing of the silicon wafer is a process that requires very large volumes to be profitable, and for a small company it can hardly be profitable,” added Carlos Pardo. “For the latter two phases, which are packaging and testing, the machines needed are relatively inexpensive. These stages can be done at more reasonable volumes, as we have now in the automotive industry. We’re excited about building an encapsulation and testing factory in Madrid for large volumes.”

EU Funding for Microelectronics in Europe

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an “Important Project of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) to support research, innovation and the first industrial deployment of microelectronics and communication technologies across the value chain. The project, called “IPCEI ME/CT”, was jointly prepared and announced by fourteen member states: Austria, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain. The member states will provide up to 8.1 billion Euro in public funding, which is expected to unlock an additional 13.7 billion Euro in private investments.

There are 56 companies participating in this project. Among the Spanish companies are Innova IRV Microelectronics, KDPOF, Openchip, and Semidynamics Technology Services. The proposal has a deadline of development in 2032, although the intent is that the commercialization of products will take place beginning in 2025. It is also expected that these 68 projects will generate a total of 8,700 direct jobs.

News

UK alternative network providers (altnets) are experiencing mixed fortunes. On the positive side, the likes of Gigaclear and CityFibre continue to bullishly celebrate their continued expansion, whilst others are falling foul of tough economic conditions – most recently Broadway Partners who went into administration at the end of May.

The situation isn’t eased by the consumer concerns over whether they can trust an altnet.

New research published by comparison website Uswitch found that only 15% of broadband customers answered positively when asked “Do you know what a broadband alternative network altnet is?” and only one-in-three consumers said they would consider using a new or unfamiliar provider.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, commented “The main challenge altnets face is that no one knows who they are. So, when they offer lower prices with incredible advertised speeds, consumers understandably may find it hard to be sure if they can trust them over the big names who have been around for decades.”

The irony of the situation will not be lost on the altnets. Most broadband customers (61%) would like to see more variety and choice in terms of broadband providers in their local area and altnets are well positioned for the current economic climate, generally offering consumers better value for money (up to three times more performance per £ according to Uswitch) – but still consumers are wary.

Today Chancellor Jeremy Hunt meets with economic regulators to discuss how to protect consumers from the impact of high inflation, so maybe this is the moment for altnets to shine? Certainly, this is the view of YouFibre’s CEO, Jeremy Chelot, who commented “Alternative networks like YouFibre, Hyperoptic, and Community Fibre are working hard to offer consumers ultrafast internet at fair prices and it’s time for them to make their voices heard.”

To hear more from the altnets, make sure you attend Connected Britain this September…

British registered OneWeb, which is part-owned by the UK government, has announced that they’ve expanded the commercial availability of their new constellation of low-latency and ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The service is now available throughout Europe and to the majority of the United States. The operator has so far launched 634 […]

The UK internet connection testing firm SamKnows, which supplies services that are used by both major broadband ISPs and Ofcom to help measure network performance, has announced that they’re to be acquired by global networking giant Cisco and will be joining their ThousandEyes team to integrate their technology. The name SamKnows is a familiar one […]

As expected, Ofcom has today formally launched an investigation into telecoms giant BT, which follows the significant UK-wide disruption to emergency call services that occurred as a result of a fault on their 999 service during Sunday 25th June 2023. The regulator’s existing General Conditions rules (i.e. General Condition A3.2 and sections 105A and 105C […]

The Cambridgeshire Constabulary has appealed for information after they revealed that Openreach’s UK broadband and phone network in the county had been attacked eight times since May 2023 by criminal gangs, which typically target the theft of underground copper cables and often cause significant service outages. In this case the criminals are understood to have […]

News

The European Commission has responded to Orange and MásMóvil’s proposed 19,6 billion euro merger with a Statement of Objections. The preliminary view of the Commission is that the “proposed joint venture may reduce competition in the retail supply of mobile and fixed internet services” in Spain.

If approved, the tie-up would see Orange and MásMóvil, the second and fourth largest providers in Spain respectively, form a 50:50 joint venture. The combined operator would have approximately 7.1 million fixed customers and 20.2 million mobile users.

Plans for the merger were announced in March 2023 and the European Commission subsequently launched an investigation on 3 April. The investigation assessed whether the transaction would restrict competition in Spain for the retail supply of both mobile and fixed services and multiple-play bundles.

Following the investigation, the Commission has expressed its concern that the joint venture would reduce the number of network operators in Spain thus “eliminating a significant competitive constraint and innovative rival in the Spanish retail markets” for fixed and mobile telecommunications services, and potentially leading to “significant price increases for affected retail customers”.

So, what happens next? The ‘Statement of Objections’ is a formality within an investigation, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the final decision, which will come no later than 4 September 2023. Both companies now have the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s objections and can request a hearing.