More bad news for alternative networks today. Swedish provider VXFIBER, which alongside subsidiary and ISP LilaConnect had recently been busy rolling out several new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP networks in the UK, has confirmed to ISPreview that they’ve paused the rollout. Until now the operator had been building their full fibre network across several […]

Sky has today finally taken the wrapping off their new dedicated 4K HDR smart camera add-on for the Sky Glass TV product, which otherwise uses your broadband ISP and Wi-Fi connection to stream their on-demand video content and live TV channels directly to Sky’s own brand TV sets (without a satellite dish). The new Sky […]

The state aid supported Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme in England has today issued a progress update on their £6m Fibre Extension Programme (FEP) contract with Openreach (BT), which was originally due to cover 2,000 rural premises with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband by the end of 2021. The contract, which mostly harnesses public investment that […]

News

Read will serve as EXA’s new chairman, aiming to deliver significant growth for the business and expand its global infrastructure portfolio

Today, global fibre infrastructure firm EXA Infrastructure has announced that ex-Vodafone CEO Nick Read will be taking on the role of company chairman.

EXA currently owns 125,000km of fibre network across 34 countries, as well as a number of major submarine cable systems, including a trio of transatlantic cables. Since its formation from the backbone assets of GTT bac in 2021 by I Squared Capital, the company has been expanding rapidly, making numerous acquisitions and strategic partnerships around the world to bolster its global portfolio.

This rapid growth environment will be something of a stark contrast for Read, who resigned from his position as CEO of Vodafone at the end of last year after facing increasing pressure from investors to improve the Group’s sluggish performance. He had served in the role for four years, during which time he championed consolidation in the company’s most competitive markets, the majority of which did not ultimately materialise.

At the time of his resignation, Vodafone’s share prices had almost halved.

In this new position, however, Read should find growth comes much easier – at least for now.

“It is a privilege to be appointed Chair of EXA Infrastructure, particularly at a pivotal time for the telecoms industry where we are seeing significant investment in digital infrastructure and market growth,” said Read. “I look forward to working with the EXA leadership team who have a clear focus and commitment to customers, network excellence and continual investment to provide the most compelling experiences to clients and end users.”

EXA’s management was jubilant at the appointment, saying that Read would help lead the company’s “strategic network expansion plans, commercial growth and ongoing operational excellence efforts”

“Nick is a titan in our industry and I am convinced that his extensive leadership and technology experience will be invaluable to execute our ambitious growth strategy,” said EXA Infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer, Martijn Blanken. “His track record in business performance and transformation will be a welcome addition to guide EXA’s executive team. I am delighted to see Nick join us and I look forward to working closely with him.”

In related news, last week EXA Infrastructure announced they had acquired Croatian telco Unitel, expanding their existing infrastructure footprint in the Balkans. Unitel owns a 515km fibre backbone network that spans the country, including border crossings to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

How is Europe’s data centre ecosystem evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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News

The Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT) refused to overturn a ruling by the competition watchdog that argued the deal would ultimately harm rural competition

This week, the ACT has upheld the decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to block a network sharing deal struck by Australian mobile operators TPG Telecom and Telstra.

The ACT argued that though were substantial benefits to the sharing agreement, the improved market position gained by Telstra could lead to the company’s rival, Optus, being disincentivised to invest in rural areas and in 5G.

Over time, this would lead to a breakdown of competition and lead to an increase in prices for customers.

The ten-year network sharing deal was first announced back in February 2022, with Telstra and TPG Telecom saying that the move would allow them to accelerate their respective rollouts and provide better service to customers.

In theory, the mutually beneficial agreement would provide both operators with a missing piece of their connectivity puzzle: TPG would gain access to around 3,700 of Telstra’s mobile network assets, allowing it to expand its coverage to areas previously considered economically unviable, while Telstra would gain access to TPG’s 4G and 5G spectrum, helping to increase its capacity.

But while the operators hailed this deal as a win for Australian customers, the industry’s wider response was more mixed. The companies’ biggest rival, Optus, strongly argued that the deal was not really a sharing arrangement at all, but rather an excuse for TPG to withdraw its investment in rural Australia.

“It is an arrangement where TPG withdraws from rural Australia and gets access to a network owned and operated by Telstra, paying Telstra for every customer it onboards to Telstra’s network,” argued Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

Later that year, Optus even suggested to the ACCC that they should be the preferred partner for the sharing arrangement with TPG, though this option  was quickly quashed by TPG itself.

The deal, naturally, faced an investigation from the ACCC, who sought to explore whether the deal would reduce competition in the market and leave customers materially worse off.

This probe was concluded in December, with the ACCC deciding to block the deal, saying it would likely disincentivise the operators to invest in rural areas.

Now, with this decision upheld, TPG and Telstra say they will carefully examine the tribunal’s reasoning before considering further appeals.

“At the moment, we’re limited in the amount of spectrum we can buy at auction and, as today’s result shows, limited in the type of commercial arrangements we can put in place to improve services for our customers,” lamented Telstra CEO Vicki Brady.

Optus, meanwhile, was “delighted” that the decision was upheld, saying it would help reaffirm the industry’s commitment to expanding connectivity in rural Australia.

Are operators doing enough to deliver connectivity to their most hard-to-reach customers? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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Press Release

VEON Ltd., a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services, today announced that it will invest, through its subsidiary Kyivstar, equivalent of USD 600 million in the recovery of Ukraine over the next three years. The investment will span Kyivstar’s infrastructure projects, ensuring essential connectivity and 4G services throughout the country, the development of superior digital services accessible to all Ukrainians, and community support projects.

The investment pledge is announced as a part of the international Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on June 21st and 22nd with a focus on mobilising international support for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. Launching its “Invest in Ukraine, Now!” campaign, the company invites all international and national stakeholders to consider investments in Ukraine today, in order to accelerate the country’s reconstruction.

“The past 16 months have shown the world that communications are indeed the lifeline of Ukraine. With the dedication of our 4000-strong team, and the support of our parent company VEON, Kyivstar has been central to Ukraine’s resilience and recovery since the very morning of February 24th, 2022,” said Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of Kyivstar.

“Today’s sizeable investment commitment signifies not only a continuation of our track record, but also an acceleration of our investments. At a time when many others are refraining from making future plans, we proudly commit to ‘building back better’ in partnership with public sector counterparts and other national and international stakeholders. We would like to invite other companies to invest with the same enthusiasm to contribute today to the future Ukraine.”

As the country’s largest telecommunication company, Kyivstar has been at the forefront of Ukraine’s resilience, maintaining essential connectivity for its customers – currently 24.3 million mobile and 1.1 million fixed-line users. In partnership with fellow operators, it enabled Ukrainians to remain connected to their home country with roam-like-home offers, currently serving 2.5 million mobile customers in roaming. Equally importantly, Kyivstar services also benefited the wider Ukrainian population through measures including infrastructure sharing with other operators, and providing free Wi-Fi to shelters and new settlements.

To enable the continuity of services, Kyivstar technical teams have skilfully performed nearly 150 thousand repairs with twice the intensity compared to the pre-conflict period, reconnected 800 settlements, upgraded and deployed nearly 10,000 4G base stations, and installed 32,000 new batteries to ensure continuity of communication during energy black-outs. With these efforts, 93% of Kyivstar’s network is operational, enabling critical communications services that continue to sustain Ukraine’s society and economy.

The company’s work also includes supporting the cybersecurity of Ukraine, defending the cyber space against DDoS, phishing and malware attacks which intensified by 200%, 300% and 400% respectively in 2022 as compared to 2021.

The USD 600 million commitment signifies an acceleration of Kyivstar’s investments in these areas in the coming three years, and will enable the continuation and expansion of these services. The new investments in network expansion – starting with ‘LTE everywhere’ and fiberization, and eventually leading to 5G-focused reconstruction – will mean higher quality internet coverage for millions of users. With the planned expansion of 4G networks, Kyivstar plans to cover 98% of Ukraine’s population in 4G in three years’ time, including in small and remote settlements.

The investments will accelerate the digitalization of the country with essential digital services as well as connectivity. Kyivstar currently serves Ukraine with a significant portfolio of digital solutions supporting the provision of essential services such as information dissemination, mobile education, and mobile health. The company recently invested in in Ukraine’s leading digital healthcare provider, Helsi, which serves a registered base of 25 million customers, not only users of Kyivstar but of all operators. The USD 600 million investment will partially be used to support further development of these services, as well as new investments into digital verticals that will make a positive social impact on the Ukrainian society.

Another pillar of Kvivstar’s support to Ukraine has been charitable support, which leverages the capabilities inherent to its business as a digital operator and a focus on giving back to the society. Since the onset of the conflict, Kyivstar supported Ukrainians with humanitarian donations amounting to UAH 1.1 billion – roughly USD 32.5 million. Within the scope of its investment pledge, Kyivstar will continue to work with leading Ukrainian NGOs and social initiatives, supporting charity projects with donations and with socially responsible business partnerships.

How is the war in Ukraine impacting the European telecoms ecosystem? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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British multinational corporation and mobile network operator Lyca Mobile, which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) based off O2’s (VMO2) national platform, has today announced the appointment of Richard Schäfer to be their new CEO (Mobile and Group) – having previously served as Lyca Group CFO since May 2021. Schäfer has a strong track […]

A new piece of research, from a distinguished group of engineers and astronomers, has indicated that Starlink’s latest “V2 Mini” (Bus F9-2) ultrafast broadband satellites, which sit in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and began to be launched earlier this year (here), are over ten times fainter than SpaceX’s first generation (GEN1) spacecraft. Just to […]

The latest H2 2022 study into the broadband coverage of UK new build homes reveals that 98.3% of houses constructed by the end of 2022 were covered by a fixed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (unchanged from H1 2022), which falls slightly to 98.1% when only looking at the latest early data for 2023. The data, which […]

Rural UK ISP Wildanet, which is building a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Cornwall and Devon in England, has this week become the latest provider to sign the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) – witnessed by several of the many ex-service personnel already working for the company. The AFC broadly reflects […]