Vodafone UK has released their latest quarterly (Q4 FY23) results, which reveals that their fixed line broadband ISP base grew strongly to total 1.223 million customers (up by 65k in the quarter vs 47k in Q3 FY23), while their mobile base also now totals 17.92 million (up by 118k vs 259k in the previous quarter). […]

The latest network build update from alterative broadband ISP Truespeed, which is rolling out a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to homes in the South West of England, has revealed that they’ve now covered 75,000 premises (up from 70k in April 2023) and are continuing to ramp-up. Put another way, Truespeed says they’ve extended […]

News

The landing further cements Sicily as a cornerstone of Mediterranean connectivity, as well being a milestone for Google’s larger Blue–Raman cable project

Italian wholesale connectivity specialist Sparkle has announced that it has landed its BlueMed cable at its data centre in Palermo, Sicily.

This landing completes the BlueMed’s primary Genoa-Golfo Aranci-Pomezia-Palermo Tyrrhenian route, with the system expected to be operational by the end of May.

Further expansion to Bastia in Corsica is expected in autumn this year.

The BlueMed cable comprises four fibre pairs and an initial design capacity of more than 25 Terabits per second (Tbps) per pair, helping to further transform Sicily into a digital hub in the centre of the Mediterranean.

Sparkle’s open access Sicily Hub open data centre in Palermo already serves eighteen international cables.

“With the landing of BlueMed in Palermo, we complete the laying of the Tyrrhenian section of one of the most advanced digital infrastructures in the world while reinforcing Sicily’s centrality in the global Internet system,” said Sparkle CEO Enrico Bagnasco. “Thanks to BlueMed, the Sicily Hub in Palermo is set for further expansion and growth, confirming itself as a strategic asset for the country’s digitization and a key hub for data traffic in the Mediterranean region.”

The plan to create BlueMed was first announced back in 2019, with Sparkle aiming to connect their Sicily Hub to a new landing site in Genoa. From there, the system would connect overland to Milan, one of Europe’s busiest data nodes.

Shortly after announcing the creation of this new open landing station in Genoa, however, Google announced they were seeking to create their own submarine cable route across the Med, presenting a plan to incorporate Sparkle’s nascent MedBlue cable into their larger Blue–Raman project.

The Google’s Blue–Raman cable system plans to expand the BlueMed system all the way to Tel Aviv, Israel. From there, the system will travel overland to Aqaba, Jordan, before linking to Raman cable system and continuing its journey through the Red Sea and on to Mumbai, India.

In this way, Google and its partners aim to create a new route for Asian data traffic to travel into Europe.

Blue–Raman will have a total of 16 fibre pairs, four of which will be shared with Sparkle.

The Blue–Raman cable is expected to be ready for service next year.

Sparkle will be participating in this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA event at the end of this month!

On May 31, Sparkle’s VP Product Management Backbone & Infrastructure Solutions Giuseppe Valentino will discuss the development of the latest connectivity hubs in the EMEA region and, on June 1, Sparkle’s EVP Europe, Zvika Caspy, will provide an update on Sparkle’s latest projects.

Also in the news:
Wind Tre carves out network assets, sells majority stake to EQT
Rakuten Mobile and KDDI strike roaming agreement
CMA gives Viasat the thumbs up to acquire Inmarsat

News

We caught up with Victoria Lamberth, Chief Revenue Officer at ZenFi Networks, at this year’s Connected America conference to discuss the company’s neutral host model, their mission to connect the unconnected in urban environments, and their recent acquisition by BAI Communications

At this year’s Connected America conference, bridging the digital divide was one of the hottest topics, with discussions spanning the latest technologies to how best to make use of the wealth of public funding becoming available through government initiatives.

Naturally, much of the discussion focussed around extending wireless and fibre networks to rural and hard-to-reach communities, but, as ZenFi’s Victoria Lamberth reminds us, the digital divide is far from a purely rural phenomenon.

“When we hear about the underserved community, we typically think about rural communities,” explained Lamberth. “But people are often surprised to hear that in a place like New York City there are millions of people that are unconnected and under connected. A recent survey by the American Consumer Group has shown that nearly 33% of New Yorkers do not have home and mobile broadband that’s sufficient to serve in the 21st Century.”

ZenFi specialises in providing outdoor connectivity to these urban areas as a neutral host, making use of a variety of different technologies, from fibre to 5G. Indeed, Lamberth notes that the nature of the neutral host business model makes the company well placed to tackle the urban digital divide, since they must address not only needs of their immediate customers, like mobile network operators, but also communities’ long-term requirements.

“The more broadly we can build these infrastructure assets today, the better opportunity we have to serve those markets in future,” said Lamberth.

ZenFi was acquired by BAI Communications last year, bringing them into BAI’s wider portfolio of specialist network infrastructure companies, which includes players focussed on military and transit connectivity. As a result of this varied brand identity, BAI has recently announced its intention to rebrand as Boldyn Networks in June this year, which Lamberth explained will give customers a simpler path to holistic connectivity.

“When we first came together under BAI, we realised that there were all of these competing brands that offered very complementary services to customers. An easier way for our customers to engage with us is under one brand and that brand is Boldyn Networks,” said Lamberth. “The idea behind it is we want to bring this forward-looking, innovative view to the digital infrastructure space, with a long-term focus on digital equity and inclusion. At the end of the day, we’re responsible for connecting our communities globally.”

You can watch our full interview with Victoria Lamberth from the link below.

Want to join telecoms experts from across the US as they tackle the industry’s biggest challenges in connectivity? Get involved in Connected America 2024 today  

Also in the news:
Wind Tre carves out network assets, sells majority stake to EQT
Rakuten Mobile and KDDI strike roaming agreement
CMA gives Viasat the thumbs up to acquire Inmarsat

News

The newly formed Zain Omantel International will offer global wholesale services, providing services to Middle Eastern operators, data centres, international carriers, and hyperscalers

Today, Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain and Oman-based Omantel have announced the formation of a new wholesale joint venture (JV), Zain Omantel International (ZOI).

According to a filing, Zain will own 74% of the combined wholesale business, with Omantel owning the remaining 26%.

The new company will manage the international wholesale business for both Zain and Omantel in eight countries, serving over 55 million customers.

Aiming to become a ‘global powerhouse’ in the wholesale market, ZIO will offer end-to-end wholesale communications services to network operators, international carriers, data centres, hyperscalers, content, and cloud providers throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Zain and Omantel suggest that the formation of this joint wholesale business will immediately allow them to reduce operating costs and increase competitiveness across their combined footprint.

“This strategic value-enhancing partnership reflects the next stage of industry collaboration and advancement, and represents another significant milestone of our ‘4Sight’ profitable growth strategy. It also demonstrates our commitment to transforming the business and creating synergies while extending our reach and capabilities to provide the highest quality services to our customers,” explained Bader Al-Kharafi, Zain’s Vice-Chairman and Group CEO. “ZOI is ideally positioned to evolve into a significant international player on the wholesale telecommunications scene that will benefit both Zain and Omantel on financial, commercial and operational levels.”

ZIO will be led by Sohail Qadir, who has served as Omantel’s VP of Wholesale for 13 years and overseen investments in over 20 subsea cables.

Indeed, ZIO will be deeply involved with Zain and Omantel’s ongoing submarine cable projects, such as the Blue-Raman, Africa-1, Jeddah to Marseille (J2M) systems, which are being deployed alongside various consortium partners. These projects will be supported by an extensive terrestrial communications network.

“The region has matured in terms of the scope and consumption of reliable wholesale services, and this strategic partnership in this integral part of the telecommunications business is well-timed to capitalize on global trends. I look forward to leading ZOI in delivering differentiated services to regional and international customers alike, and providing increased value and enhanced customer-experience to all associated stakeholders across our extensive operational footprint,” said Qadir.

How will the creation of this new wholesaler impact the submarine communications landscape of the Middle East? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s live Submarine Networks EMEA event

Also in the news:
Wind Tre carves out network assets, sells majority stake to EQT
Rakuten Mobile and KDDI strike roaming agreement
CMA gives Viasat the thumbs up to acquire Inmarsat

VIEWPOINT

Communications service providers across the world need help to monetize their 5G investments. In fact, many operators strive to find the right framework to monetize their network while delivering great value to customers. However, some telcos, like Saudi Arabia’s leading ICT and digital services provider Zain KSA, have achieved 5G success in record time, proving that with the right strategy and partners, it is possible to deliver customer delight and quickly monetize your investments.

In October 2019, Zain KSA became the first service provider in Saudi Arabia to launch commercial 5G services. The award-winning 5G roll-out has helped Zain achieve growth across multiple metrics, increasing its market share, Zain has seen constant 3 digits growth YoY of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) users since 2019.” The service provider recorded an increase in ARPU for wireless home customers compared to 4G to 5G.

At a recent interaction between Mr. Tiago Rocha da Silva, Chief Marketing Officer of Zain KSA and Dr. Philip Song, Chief Marketing Officer at Huawei Carrier BG, Rocha elaborated on the factors responsible for the spectacular success of Zain.

“Zain KSA’s 5G success first stems from the strong foundation that the Saudi leadership has built for the ICT sector, mainly the national digitalization roadmap. Zain KSA’s strategy which prioritizes investing in innovation has given us the first-mover advantage on a national and regional scale. In terms of outcome, Zain KSA’s growth was driven by several factors. The average 5G speed is more than 250 Mbps, about ten times higher than 4G. Differentiated 5G tariffs based on speed and bundled content with optional bundled devices, including PS5, VR glasses, Smart TV devices, tablets and more, helped us increase our market share. We grew our network to more than 5,000 towers covering 53 cities, and expanded vertically, tapping into adjacent markets including cloud computing, fintech and eSports, and launching several 5G-enabled innovative services, including a full-fledged B2B portfolio, cloud gaming platform and high-definition video streaming with highly reliable user experiences guaranteed to provide differentiated experiences for high-end users,” says Mr. Rocha da Silva.

Growing 5G ecosystem 

5G is being deployed and adopted at a faster pace than any technology before. “By the end of 2022, more than 240 5G networks have been launched worldwide, creating more than one billion 5G users. In the 5GtoB field, there are more than 10,000 private networks. 5G has achieved in three years what 4G took five years to accomplish,” says Dr. Philip Song of Huawei. 5G has helped increase the ARPU and revenue growth of the world’s top 20 operators by 10% and 6%, respectively.

Unlike previous technologies, 5G offers several monetization opportunities to the service providers, such as volume, speed. “It also allows service providers to contribute more to society by reducing carbon emissions due to its role in accelerating automation,” says Dr. Song.

Leveraging Opportunities in the 5G era 

As the 5G ecosystem continues to grow, Zain KSA has not limited itself to the commendable success it has so far achieved. Zain KSA is now gearing up to upgrade user experience and leverage new technologies, such as Metaverse and other immersive services like 3D and XR. Zain KSA is also looking to increase its FWA 2.0 business.

“High-end users in the Saudi market have great expectations from upcoming services. In addition, the potential of the home broadband market in Saudi Arabia is huge and the demand is strong. Therefore, the network experience needs to be continuously upgraded with a focus on hyper-customization to realize the commercial benefits in the home broadband market,” says Mr. Tiago Rocha da Silva of Zain KSA.

5G is already helping Zain KSA deliver differentiated and innovative offerings to high-end users, including 5G cloud gaming and video streaming, among others. “The immense 5G potential is essential for unlocking value in the gaming and video streaming market by offering unconventional experiences at scale. Zain cooperated with ecosystem partners to explore 5G cloud gaming and has achieved great success in enhancing lifestyles, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. We launched GeForceNow (from NVIDIA) and PLAYHERA MENA, providing users with compelling digital entertainment experiences, “says Mr. Tiago Rocha da Silva.

In its mission to underpin the nationwide digital transformation and position itself as a preferred digital service provider, Zain KSA continues to enhance its capabilities to support its vertical expansion strategy and deliver customer-centric solutions across a range of adjacent markets. The network upgrades focus on ensuring higher speed and lower latency to enhance user experience and support immersive interactive services. This is also crucial to leverage opportunities in the enterprise segment, like massive IoT, among others.

“At the same time, we are focusing on our sustainability goals, aiming to become more energy-efficient, bringing down carbon emissions and cutting down operational expenditure,” says Mr. Rocha da Silva.

Preparing for 5.5G 

As the 5G deployments continue to grow in all geographies, the telcos have also started exploring 5.5G to improve network capabilities and unlocking new business frontiers and create a whole new range of business opportunities.

“Passive IoT will usher in the era of 100 billion connections. Passive IoT will be widely used in the fields of automated inventory of massive items in storage, temperature monitoring of power grid equipment, agricultural breeding, and positioning of personal items,” says Dr. Philip Song of Huawei.

Further, 5.5G networks will allow telcos to move from connectivity to sensing, which can be widely used in scenarios such as smart transportation, making urban infrastructure more efficient and intelligent.

Besides, 5.5G will enable telcos to provide a more immersive and interactive experience. Huawei believes that with continuous breakthroughs in terminal technologies and accelerated content prosperity, the number of online users of immersive interactive services in the 5.5G era will exceed one billion, a 100-fold increase.

5.5G will also enable industry digitalization. “With the increasing capabilities of 5G private networks, the application scenarios of 5G private networks will expand ten-fold and the value of a single connection in key application scenarios will increase ten times. Further, AI applications will enter a new era and create new opportunities for network connectivity in 5.5G era. Mobile 5.5G, F5.5G, and Net5.5G networks will provide real-time, reliable, and convenient connections for AI services on the cloud through technological innovation,” elaborated Dr. Philip Song.

Huawei is looking to work with global operators and partners to build simplified, green and intelligent ICT infrastructure to lay the foundation for 5.5G and enable them to leverage the opportunities offered by 5.5G.

In closing

The 5G networks offer an incredible opportunity for service providers to move beyond providing traditional voice and data services. However, they must focus on upgrading the network and customer experience to do so. As Zain KSA illustrates, they must also partner with a company, like Huawei, with proven expertise and experience in helping telcos benefit from the market opportunities.

 

Interview

The EMEA submarine cable market continues to be a hive of activity. At the end of 2022, the region saw a new cable go into service; N0r5ke Viking. Anders Vik, Co-Founder of N0r5ke Fibre, the team behind the project, caught up with Total Telecom to share his insights into the first few months since the launch.

The N0r5ke Viking cable went live at the end of 2022; how have the first 4 months been?

We’re very pleased with how the build-out went and especially that we managed to finish the construction on schedule and within budget. Since finalising construction last December, we’ve been busy operationalising ‘N0r5ke Viking‘ and onboarding customers. We have also spent a lot of time on sales activities and getting our plans for a 1,650 km network expansion ready for execution.

Can you share more about the deployment process? Any key learnings and takeaways?

We have acquired a lot of experience and very valuable know-how during the ‘N0r5ke Viking’ deployment process; from the initial route planning and pitching to investors, to securing the necessary funding from new investors and building the 800km subsea cable network.

A decision we made early on was not to go for a turnkey solution, but rather that the N0r5ke team should have a hands-on approach in managing the project from the beginning. We did get most things right, especially selecting some very professional and specialised suppliers who delivered quality as promised. And of course, we had some challenges that needed extra time and focus to overcome.

One important takeaway is the RFQ process for selecting a subsea cable producer, subsea installer, and contractor for all terrestrial construction work. Although a time-consuming process, it was totally worth it and something we’ll make sure to include for all upcoming projects. We’ve also become proficient in how to approach Norwegian municipalities and apply for necessary permits – quite handy as our next project will pass through some 60 municipalities.

Why did you choose this route and landing stations for the project? What impact do you expect the cable to have for local communities in the region?

There are several reasons for choosing the Bergen to Trondheim route as our first build. Firstly, it is a route that previously had little to no available dark fibre for customers in need. Secondly, it is a region with a combined electricity production output of 50 Twh. Thirdly, Bergen and Trondheim are the second and third largest cities in Norway.

The N0r5ke Viking cable will therefore fill an important void on the Norwegian dark fibre map, by providing abundant dark fibre for lease between Bergen and Trondheim, a region with significant production of green hydropower. Along the cable route we ensure connectivity to regional and local fibre networks with our carefully chosen landing sites and ILA huts.

We believe that this region is now even more attractive for establishing data centres, as green power and redundant fibre is available and abundant.

What do the next 12 months look like for N0r5ke Fibre?

There is very good customer interest, so we look forward to onboarding additional dark fibre customers and focusing on operational excellence. If the financial markets are favourable, we do hope to be back in construction mode before year-end and to execute our ‘N0r5ke Viking II’ expansion plans from Bergen to Oslo, and terrestrial from Oslo to Trondheim. The result will be a dark fibre ring connecting the main data centre locations south of Trondheim in Norway, all international subsea and terrestrial fibre connections. We hope that this significantly improved fibre diversity could trigger the construction of more data centres in Norway.

What are you looking forward to at Submarine Networks EMEA 2023?

Submarine Networks EMEA in London is a great event and we really look forward meeting up with new and old friends in the international submarine cable community. This year we’ll also give a short update on ‘N0r5ke Viking’ and our plans to further expand our dark fibre network to both Oslo and Trondheim.

Join Anders and 800+ senior executives from the global subsea market at Submarine Networks EMEA 2023 on 31st May and 1st June. Head to the event website for more details on how to attend the region’s pre-eminent subsea conference.

Broadband ISP and UK network operator Connexin, which is currently building a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Hull and Yorkshire (here), has today announced the appointment of two “new” Tier 1 contractors to accelerate their full fibre network expansion to cover 500,000 premises. Until today, we still don’t know exactly how […]

VIEWPOINT

With the digital economy growing and becoming ubiquitous, nearly 80% of the 5G traffic is generated in the indoor environment. Furthermore, 5G allows Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to offer innovative use cases, like online gaming, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), smart factory and telemedicine, among others, which demand superior indoor coverage. It is then imperative that the CSPs ensure improved indoor coverage and experience as digital networks stimulate continuous traffic growth and support business diversification in vertical industries.

Trends for Indoor Target Network in 5G era

From coverage-oriented to experience-oriented

As our dependency on communication networks grows, there is an urgent need to reimagine the indoor experience strategy adopted by the telcos. The inferior quality indoor experience not only impacts the uptake of the services but also leads to churn.

As personal services become mobile, HD, and diversified, the requirements for gigabit network capabilities have expanded from hotspots to all scenarios, including subways, railway stations, airports, and stadiums. 5G gigabit capabilities with universal continuous coverage are required as the basis. 5G allows service providers to go beyond traditional voice and data services. The telcos must evolve from coverage orientation to experience orientation as the customer requirements evolve with 5G.

From adding module for more bands to adding bands without adding more modules

With the continuous development of MBB networks, global operators have obtained more and more spectrum resources. In addition, multiple spectrums make network construction difficult, and indoor scenarios face difficulties such as admission permission. Similar to outdoor scenarios, the simplified deployment of multi-RAT and multi-band integration must be considered to meet the ultimate experience of indoor users.

Even as the service providers acquire new capabilities to improve the indoor experience, to maximize the full potential of the spectrum resources, it is a good idea to deploy high integrated module with selected bands but not with all the bands. And of course, energy efficiency is also an important factor. The telcos must adopt more sustainable practices and transition from the conventional strategy of adding modules for more bands to adding bands without adding more modules.

From one network with one usage to one network for multi-services

The growing device diversity, including the growing number of IoT devices, further adds to the challenge. The indoor coverage now must meet the growing demand for massive Internet of Things, extreme reliability and availability besides high speed and low latency. The new use cases like warehouse management, smart parking and unmanned logistics have put more requirement on network and equipment.

“Positioning has become a rigid need for digital and intelligent transformation of the industry. Compared with traditional indoor positioning technology, 5G positioning has inherent advantages. In the practice of 5G fully connected factories, it can be seen that from the initial stage of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ultra-Wide Broadband multiple positioning overlay to 5G positioning. Multi-dimensional capabilities such as uplink experience, full-scenario positioning, and hundreds of billions of passive IoT brought by digital 5G networks will become the cornerstone of the development of the smart world, helping industries accelerate digitalization and releasing new 5G business opportunities.” says Eric Bao.

Digital Indoor System Innovating to Meet the Diversified Indoor 5G Requirements

“The development of indoor networks presents three major trends: gigabit experience, green and simple, and multi-function in one network. Digitalization has become an inevitable choice for 5G indoor network construction,” says Eric Bao, President of Huawei’s Digital Indoor System (DIS) Product Line.

Elaborating on these trends, Eric Bao says, “The industry has moved from a “community-centric” technology route to a “user-centric” ubiquitous gigabit technology route. Huawei’s Distributed Massive MIMO technology has brought a four-fold increase in network capacity, opened up a new direction for indoor 5G user perception and network capacity evolution, and has helped global operators deploy in various scenarios on a large scale, becoming the standard for ubiquitous gigabit experience.”

Huawei has been at the forefront of helping CSPs provide exceptional network experience to their customers. For instance, at the Saudi LEAP exhibition 2023, operator Zain through Huawei’s LampSite and Distributed Massive MIMO, demonstrated the ultimate experience of downlink 3Gbps speed based on 200MHz in the exhibition hall. Further, in 2022, the Queen Sirikit National Convention and Exhibition Center in Thailand demonstrated a 1.1Gbps ubiquitous gigabit experience based on 80MHz.

“Huawei LampSite continues to innovate and builds leading competitiveness. From the release of the industry’s first 4/5G integrated module to the LampSite 5.0 solution, 3G/4G/5G multi-band and multi-standard integration meets most mainstream frequency band demand scenarios. The highly integrated design achieves a 25% reduction in weight and volume; in terms of power consumption, with the help of hardware capabilities improvement and pRRU deep dormancy feature, the pRRU power consumption can drop from the original 10 watts to 1 watt, and the power consumption of the entire station is reduced by 40%.” says Eric Bao.

“For single-operator scenarios, Huawei LampSite Pro adopts a full-band and full-bandwidth design with the highest integration in the industry and supports Sub3G+C-Band. LampSite Sharing solution supports multi-operator co-building and sharing, and has the industry’s only 400M C-Band (3400~3800MHz) ultra-large bandwidth.

Further, to meet the diversified requirements of toB business scenarios, Huawei LampSite EE (Enterprise Edition) provides IoT, large uplink, and meter-level positioning capabilities. Further, Huawei DIS will also superimpose the 800MHz millimeter wave capability on the pRRU of 1.8G+C-Band. The domestic actual measurement can reach 10Gbps, supporting the future 5.5G 10 Gigabit experience.

A case in point is Jingzhou Midea’s 5G Fully Connected Factory, which won the GSMA GLOMO award in 2023 in the category of “5G Industry Challenge Award in collaboration with the GSMA 5G Hub,” a tripartite cooperation project between Midea Group, China Mobile and Huawei.

“It uses Huawei’s DIS solution to support the connection of 2,500 5G communication points, meeting the application of 15 types of scenarios in production, logistics and other links. Uplink bandwidth can reach Gbps level, the delay is stable below 30ms (99.99% scenarios), and the network reliability reaches 99.99%, and finally realizes a 17% increase in production capacity, which has been listed in “5G Network Construction and Application Guidelines in the home appliance industry in Hubei Province,” says Eric Bao.

The industry needs innovative products, like LampSite, to help CSPs provide a truly differentiated user experience and to help enterprise customers realize their digital transformation vision. It will play a crucial role in helping CSPs grow their revenue.

Network builder MS3 has today launched a new tool on their website, which allows users to compare and purchase broadband packages from its ISP partners. The provider is currently rolling out a new 10Gbps capable FTTP broadband network to cover 500,000 premises across the North of England by the end of 2025 (here). The operator, […]