The latest data from Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net service, has revealed that mobile network operator (MNO) Three UK is still beating rivals at Vodafone, O2 (VMO2) and EE (BT) for average median 5G broadband download speeds – scoring 275.85Mbps (Megabits / sec) in Q1 2023. Roughly double their nearest rival. The operator’s 5G […]

A new Censuswide survey of 1,004 UK contract customers on Vodafone, O2 (VMO2), EE (BT) and Three UK, which was commissioned by Lyca Mobile, has found that 24% of respondents said they would be “embarrassed” to reveal that they get their mobile contract from an alternative operator. The survey found that 52% of respondents cited […]

Several of Virgin Media’s (VMO2) UK broadband ISP customers, both on their business and residential connections, have reported that the provider appears to be blocking or incorrectly routing calls to load the popular jQuery library (code.jquery.com) – this is used by many websites, including this one, for some processes. The issue appears to be sporadic […]

Sometimes the UK rollout of a new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network in an area can be a bit of a roller coaster, which is something we’ve touched on a few times before (example). But today it’s the turn of Openreach, which recently seemed to suffer an almost comical level of difficult with deciding […]

Ofcom has today begun seeking feedback from the industry on the potential future adoption of Calling Line Identification (CLI) authentication, which – once the UK has fully transitioned to digital landlines – could be adopted as a new approach to detecting and blocking “spoofed” (fake) phone numbers. The regulator has already taken some big steps […]

News

The global Sustainability Survey, conducted by the FTTH Council Global Alliance (FCGA) has examined environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies amongst network operators, service providers, and vendors across five geographical regions, Europe, Latin America (LATAM), North America and Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Asia Pacific.

It found that 81% of European respondents already have an ESG / CSR strategy, followed by LATAM (45%), North America and MENA (both at 16%), and Asia Pacific (15%).

The survey referenced a Boston Consulting Group report that estimated that the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is responsible for up to 4% of all global emissions—twice the levels of the aviation industry.

Research conducted for the sustainability survey by market research firm RVA, LLC and the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) find that fibre consumes less energy than other broadband technologies and as a result Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity directly reduces carbon output, leading to a 34% reduction in internet CO2 emissions.

Gary Bolton, President of the Fiber Broadband Association said of this finding, “Fibre is the only way to simultaneously deliver high-speed, reliable internet services and support ESG and CSR goals, green energy, less waste, and the greater good of society.”

Other findings of the sustainability survey include:

Supporting customer Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction programs through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology enables businesses to identify sustainability enhancements and develop GHG impact estimates for early-stage innovation programs.
Most companies are working on plans to achieve at least a 40% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, with long-term goals of net zero by 2040.

The FTTH Council Global Alliance comprises six regional FTTH Councils with the common goal to accelerate fibre broadband adoption. The councils include the Digital Council Africa, Fibre Broadband Association, Fibre Broadband Association LATAM Chapter, Fibre Connect Council MENA, FTTH Council Asia Pacific, and FTTH Council Europe.

Kholoud Aldorgham, Director General for the Fibre Connect Council MENA said “The telecommunications sector has a significant role to play in reducing carbon emissions and achieving sustainability goals. Fibre optic technology is one of the most sustainable broadband technologies available today. Not only does it consume less energy, but it also has a longer lifespan than other technologies, which reduces the amount of waste generated.” He added that the MENA region had work to do on developing sustainable practices in telecoms but that investment in the deployment of fibre optic networks would be a step in the right direction.

CEO of the FTTH Council Africa, Juanita Clark, is a judge for the annual World Communication Awards which include a sustainability category which will be looking for CSP’s own sustainability initiatives and how they are enabling customers to reduce carbon emissions. Download the categories brochure to find out more.

News

The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ecta) instructed law firm Jones Day to look into the Draft Recommendation on the regulatory promotion of Gigabit connectivity released by the European Commission on 23 February 2023 and finds the analysis supports ecta’s warning that it violates the provisions and principles in the European Electronic Communications Code.

The analysis provided by Jones Day concluded that it:

restricts the discretionary powers of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to impose price control obligations, in favour of wholesale price flexibility for SMP ( significant market power) operators,
restricts the discretionary powers of NRAs in deciding to impose other remedies than access to civil engineering infrastructure, in a way which provides a higher priority to access to civil engineering infrastructure over other remedies compared to what is foreseen by Art. 72 and Art. 73 of the EECC,
encourages the non-imposition of regulated wholesale price control obligations in low-populated areas, and
promotes wholesale price increases in the context of copper switch-off.

In light of the findings ecta calls on the Commission to consider repealing the 2010 NGA and 2013 NDCM Recommendations and withdrawing the Draft Recommendation.

ecta Director General Luc Hindryckx is quoted as saying “The EECC has determined the framework, and the experience of the NRAs is suitable and sufficient to address the objectively different situations existing within the different Member States. It is therefore no longer necessary to issue a Recommendation.”

The full legal analysis is available here.

VIEWPOINT

Communications service providers across the world are adopting strategies to grow revenue from the enterprise segment as they play a crucial role in the digital transformation of enterprises. The ever-increasing 5G ecosystem helps them provide reliable and ultra-high-speed networks while allowing them to offer innovative use cases to businesses to improve productivity, operational efficiency and customer experience.

China Mobile International (CMI), one of the leading information service providers in the world, is at the forefront of providing a superior experience for the B2B digital service. It has already built more than one million 5G base stations and its number of 5G users has ranked top in China. In addition, the service provider has also built a large number of 5G industry applications to address the needs of enterprises from different business verticals.

“CMI will establish a new information service system of “5G + computing network + capability service” to provide quality services of “Intelligent Global Connectivity” to global customers. CMI will also transfer its excellent experience in China to global markets to promote 5G+ capabilities, including 5G industry solutions (smart factories and smart ports), 5G application capabilities such as OneCyber, 5G platform services and 5G consulting, and information services,” explains Harley Tan, general manager of the Product Management Department of China Mobile International.

 

Further, with respect to the computing network, cloud and network integration will be the key investment direction in the next two to three years. “Global traffic will become decentralized, and CMI’s global network will evolve towards computing network, achieving leapfrog development. For example, we will continue to expand terrestrial cable resources, build global data centers, improve core data center capabilities, and continuously cultivate potentials to optimize the overall computing network,” added Harley Tan.

CMI is also planning to build cloud-network integration service capabilities, further promote 5G+ cooperation, develop ecosystems, and build capabilities such as big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and security to support the intelligent digital transformation of the whole society.

Differentiated network capabilities of CMI 

As digital pervasiveness continues to grow, there is an urgent need to build an advanced ICT infrastructure. As a global digital player, CMI will build an ultra-broadband all-optical high-speed network over the next ten years. This network will cover 87 countries and regions around the world, enabling fast access to 138 cities and 230 PoPs.

“CMI is capable of providing an experience featuring ultra-large capacity, ultra-low latency, and high security and reliability for industry digital connections around the world, enabling every region, enterprise, and individual to enjoy the dividends of digital economy development,” says Harley Tan.

The growing consumption of digital services coupled with the popularity of several high-bandwidth consuming applications means that service providers are constantly under pressure to increase the network capacity. CMI has built a future-oriented ultra-broadband network in the Southeast Asia region as the traffic in the region touched 467 Tbps, with a growth rate of over 40%. It will use the ultra-high-speed 400G technology, with the single fiber capability reaching 100 Tbps, to meet the future requirements of massive cross-border data transfer.

Apart from this, large, medium and small businesses can benefit from the networks with ultra-low latency. “CMI is dedicated to building low-latency connections, providing better service experience for enterprises moving to the cloud, and building high-quality networks. CMI adopts the advanced OXC all-optical networks, which allow flexible selection between different routes and enable end-to-end latency visibility, meeting the ultra-low latency connection requirements of the region,” adds Harley Tan.

The third key area is ensuring security and reliability for businesses during their digital transformation process and migration to the cloud. “More than 90% of the banking, finance, government, and manufacturing customers regard high security and reliability as the primary indicators of private data lines. CMI uses advanced network protection mechanisms and disaster recovery and backup policies to protect enterprises’ core data,” says Harley Tan.

In Conclusion

As the digital transformation picks up in all geographies, the enterprise market offers massive growth opportunities to the CSPs. The service providers will do well to adopt strategies used by CMI in addressing the needs of the businesses.

Interview

At this year’s Connected North conference in Manchester, we caught up with Mark Weller, Director and Head of Infrastructure at ITS Technology Group, to discuss why fibre will play a key role in the UK’s ongoing 5G rollout

The UK’s 5G rollout is well underway, but as networks begin to densify new connectivity challenges will begin to emerge.

“The big challenge with 5G densification and making it work is fibre – it’s the backhaul,” explained Weller. “5G coverage will need to be at street level because the old masts sat on top of buildings are covering too much area. So, you’re looking at traffic lights, street furniture, shop fronts – and all of these will need fibre.”

Similar challenges can also be found with the advent of mobile edge computing; as new edge data centres begin to spring up closer to the customers needs, these too will require a fibre connection to deliver

“We heard in the keynote session this morning just how much the hyperscalers are driving demand for data centre connectivity,” he said. “We’re already deploying a lot of fibre to data centres in city clusters and this will only grow as more and more of our data sits in the cloud.”

You can watch the full interview from the link above.

Also in the news:
Connected North 2023: The story in pictures
China Mobile mulls HKBN acquisition as it closes in on 1 billion subscribers
Smart lighting: Vodafone leans on IoT for energy savings

Fibre builder Netomnia – supported by UK ISP YouFibre – have today added 5 new locations to their rollout of a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which will ultimately expand their coverage to a further 218,000 premises in England and at an additional cost of £66 million. The new locations are spread out across England […]