NEWS

The Italian incumbent has received two new bids for its fixed assets from investment firm KKR and a consortium of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and Macquarie

TIM confirmed receipt of two new non-binding bids yesterday, meeting the deadline it had set for interested parties to improve their bids for the operators fixed network business and assets. Reports in Reuters indicated that the bids were from both KKR and the CDP-Macquarie consortium, both of which originally bid earlier this year.

The new bids, would add around €1bn-€2bn to their offers, with the Italian financial press reporting that the CDP/Macquarie consortium had raised its offer to €19.3 billion, from its original bid of around €18 billion, while KKR has added about €1 billion to its bid, taking it to €19 billion plus €2 billion in earn-outs in the event of a TIM/Open Fiber network merger.

As noted in both Reuters and reports in Italy, TIM’s share price dropped from €0.31 to €0.30 at the news, with the market seemingly underwhelmed by the new offers – both of which are still far below the €31bn valuation of Vivendi, TIM’s largest shareholder.

TIM has been looking to sell its largest asset to tackle its debt which stood at €25.4bn at the end of last year, with further plans to sell of its wholesale division Sparkle part of a broader restructuring. With TIM indicating that a decision (if any) won’t be made until early May, this announcement adds to the sense that a resolution is still out of reach.

News

The 2021 American Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has a stated goal of reaching 100% of US households with fast, affordable internet service. To many this means fibre for all.

Now a new cost estimation model from next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) provider, Tarana Wireless highlights that, based on a study of 132 previous projects, a fibre-only approach to ensuring all un- or underserved households are connected could cost around five-times the $42.45 billion allocated to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD) – the broadband component of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Tarana model sets out to recognise that whilst fibre broadband maybe an ideal outcome for all, it isn’t always cost-effective or fast to deploy, no are costs always clear, which has serious implications for states abilities to deliver on their broadband plans.

The study behind the model is based on publicly available data from132 projects funded by stae broadband offices in Alabama, California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Virginia since early 2019. The projects were selected to give a cross section of household densities and terrain conditions and challenges across the US and averaged out at $13,900 per household, which would equate to over $200 billion to connect around 16 million households identified as un-or underserved by the FCC’s current broadband re-mapping.

Tarana highlighted this study as an indication that utilising multiple technologies — beyond just fibre — is essential to delivering on the US ambitions for a Connected America, with VP of Government Affairs, Carl Guardino, commenting that “A fiber-only diet isn’t healthy for people, and it’s equally unhealthy for fulfillment of America’s aspirations to provide universal access to high-capacity, reliable home broadband.”

Nextlink Internet who specialise in connecting rural communities are one of the companies who believe fixed wireless technologies have thier place. Chief Strategy Officer, Claude Aiken, who spoke on a panel Is Fiber the Future at Connected America last month said “Fiber is a fantastic tool for connecting communities, but we need an all-of-the-above approach to get affordable broadband to everyone.”

Claude shared the limelight with Kimberly McKinley of UTOPIA Fiber, Allison Ellis of Frontier Communications and Katie Espeseth of the FBA. Tarana Wireless were sponsors of the event, which returns in 2024.

News

The Loch Ness Monster might be pleased to see the latest upgrades from EE, but Loch Ness is just one of the locations to benefit from expansion of the company’s 4G network to 1,500 rural communicates across the UK, making the benefits to rural communities far from mythical.

EE claims to be the first UK MNO to build or upgrade 1,500 remote sites under the UK government’s Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme, the £1 billion scheme aimed at delivering reliable mobile broadband to 95% of the UK by bringing 4G coverage to the areas that need it most.

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive of BT Group, commented: “From farming and fishing to hospitality and tourism, Britain’s countryside communities are vital to the success of the wider economy and BT Group’s huge investment into our mobile network infrastructure is delivering the connectivity boost local people and businesses need.”

Since signing up to the SRN deal in March 2020, EE has delivered more than 2,000 square miles of additional 4G connectivity to rural areas across the UK and claims their 4G network is the biggest and fastest in the UK, covering more than 99 percent of the population – claims supported by Rootmetrics UK Mobile Performance Review.

The tourist hotspot of Loch Ness in Scotland and surrounding villages along the River Moriston are the 1,500th site upgrade benefitting both residents and tourists alike. It is EE’s largest single SRN upgrade to date.

Julia Lopez, UK Government Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure, said: “The improved connectivity being delivered by the Shared Rural Network is transforming countryside communities, boosting productivity and giving people reliable and fast mobile connectivity wherever they live.”

EE are not the only MNO developing the Shared Rural Network with other initiatives including the Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone initiatives in Peeblesshire and Rossshire, covered recently by Total Telecom, whilst more localised projects received a funding boost earlier this month with the Government announcement of the Rural England Prosperity Fund. Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said that driving investment in rural areas is a vital part of our vision for levelling up the country.

Although the SRN scheme involves only the UK’s four mobile network operators (MNOs) – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone, they are far from the only players looking to enhance rural connectivity. Only yesterday at the Connected North conference in Manchester, Sean Royce, CEO of rural connectivity specialists Quickline Communications took to the stage in a fireside chat with Zen Internets Richard Tang and Spring Fibre’s Ros Singleton to debate the issues around connecting Northern Communities. Royce highlighted that he didn’t see the issue as a North South divide but rather as an urban rural divide.

To discuss the subject of rural communities and eliminating partial not-spots further, join Total Telecom for Connected Britain in London this September.

Network operator and UK ISP Connexin, which is investing £80m from Whitehelm Capital (PATRIZIA) to roll out a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Hull and Yorkshire (here), has today launched a new SmartHome app for all new customers (it can be downloaded immediately after installation). The application is said to be “packed […]

Broadband and mobile operator EE (BT) has today revealed that, as part of their commitment under the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, they’ve expanded (built or upgraded) their “fast and reliable” 4G mobile network to over 1,500 remote sites across the United Kingdom (up from 500 in Dec 2022). The SRN is an […]

The FTTH Council Europe‘s annual conference in Vienna (Austria) has today announced the winners of their 2023 awards, which among other things saw national UK network operator Openreach being named as the winner of their ‘FTTH Operator Award‘. The award is typically given to an operator company that has made a clear decision in favour […]

Press Release

 As part of the next phase of MS3’s expansion, Mexborough, Conisborough and Denaby, Swinton and Kilnhurst, Thurnscoe, Askern, Campsall, Woodlands, Adwick, Skellow, Carcroft and Norton will all take advantage of synchronous broadband speeds of up to one Gigabit per second (Gbps). Shortly afterwards, the additional areas of Brigg, Broughton, Hibaldstow, Scawby, Harworth, Bawtry, Tickhill, Hatfield, Stainforth, Thorne, Moorends, Driffield and Nafferton will also receive coverage. In total, over 80,000 residential and business properties will benefit from the rollout.

As a wholesale-only provider, MS3 supplies fibre to the premise (FTTP) connectivity to consumers through its partnerships with multiple internet service providers (ISPs) across the area. Many premises are already benefitting from the rollout across the Hull and East Riding area, with MS3 adding the North Lincolnshire towns of Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Cleethorpes to its network in 2022.

The latest build phases come at an exciting time for MS3, as the company celebrates passing 100,000 premises on its full fibre network. As a result of this expansion, businesses and homes across the area now have access to an unrivalled broadband connection, with speeds far greater than the currently more common fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) connectivity. FTTC connections may reach 80 megabits per second (Mbps), while full fibre facilitates Gigabit speeds and is capable of ten Gbps connectivity in the future, making it a future-proofed alternative.

However, speed is not the only advantage MS3’s network brings to the local area. For decades, areas across the Humber region have suffered from what many industry experts refer to as a “broadband monopoly” and have lacked choice in provider. A lack of competition has driven up broadband costs, with residents feeling like they have little-to-no other option.

“Hull and its surrounding areas have notoriously suffered from poor broadband choice due to a monopolised market that was challenging and expensive for new ISPs to enter,” said Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Networks. “We’ve been working hard to turn that tide for the past few years, aiming to cover 500,000 premises by the end of 2025. Reaching 100,000 premises last month has been an important milestone for our team and demonstrates the impact our network is having on the local area.

“100,000 local homes and businesses can now benefit from greater broadband choice that delivers better quality at more competitive prices. We know that the internet is a vital utility for residents, professionally, socially and for their education. We’re continuing our work to bring greater broadband choice across the UK, and our next build phases are a commitment to that growth.”

MS3 will be exhibiting at the Connected Britain event in London on 20-21 September 2023. Get your ticket by visiting the website totaltele.com/connectedbritain 

Cable breaks and damage happen all the time on UK broadband networks the size of Openreach’s, and they’re usually caused by accidents, such as third-party contractors ramming their diggers into the wrong patch of ground. But only very rarely do we see damage as bad as the one caused by a landslip in Kent this […]

The debate over whether or not Openreach’s proposed “Equinox 2” discount scheme for their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP products is anticompetitive has just been well summarised by the bosses of broadband ISP Zen Internet and Quickline, which in a new video argue from different sides of the fence. At the end of last year […]

Telecoms analysts at global market intelligence firm ThinkCX have published a new Altnet Investment Scorecard, which attempts to identify the “winners and losers” in the UK’s rollout of full fibre broadband ISP networks by identifying the accomplishments of alternative networks in signing up actual new customers. As we’ve said before (see here, here and here), […]