A crowdfunded mobile operator called Honest Mobile, which has some very interesting features (e.g. bills that go down), are preparing to launch a new ‘Smart Signal SIM‘ that will enable users to do something we haven’t seen before – the ability to boost coverage by harnessing all of Three UK, EE (BT), Vodafone and O2 […]

Gigabit broadband ISP YouFibre, which sells plans via Netomnia and Cityfibre’s respective Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks across different parts of the United Kingdom, has today reported that they now have a total customer base of 30,000 (up from 22,000 at the start of 2023). At present YouFibre’s main network supplier is still Netomnia, which currently claims […]

Press release

To meet the growing connectivity needs of the Orange Vélodrome, TOTEM, Orange’s European Tower Company, has deployed a next generation 5G network at the stadium. This makes the Orange Vélodrome the first French stadium to benefit from this level of 5G connectivity. This is particularly important to meet the high expectations of fans, organizers, and the media ahead of major sports events such as the next Olympique de Marseille (OM) matches and international competitions.

To achieve this, TOTEM has deployed a DAS (Distributed Antenna System) infrastructure with next-generation antennas designed specifically for venues with high mobile phone usage to provide consistent, high-quality network coverage and high levels of energy efficiency. This network of private pooled antennas is made available to all operators to provide all their mobile services simultaneously, while ensuring that Orange Vélodrome teams have a single, neutral point of contact. Through this pooling, TOTEM meets the expectations of the Orange Vélodrome in terms of optimizing the equipment footprint and allows operators to consume less energy.

The four French operators, Bouygues Télécom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR, connected today their equipment to the antenna infrastructure deployed by TOTEM and can now offer 5G to their end customers within the Orange Vélodrome. As a Tower Company, TOTEM ensures that all its operator customers have access to the infrastructure, allowing them to operate their respective networks in the best conditions.

“Connecting an indoor environment to the latest generation of 5G, which can be used by almost 68,000 people at the same time, is a real technical challenge. To connect the Orange Vélodrome, TOTEM has built the first network of its kind in France, capable of meeting the connectivity needs of the biggest sports events. The equipment deployed by TOTEM is the same successfully deployed solution at major competitions in the US and will make the Orange Vélodrome the first stadium in France to have such advanced 5G connectivity,” says Thierry Papin, CEO of TOTEM France.

About TOTEM:

TOTEM is Orange’s European TowerCo subsidiary. Operating in France and Spain as of November 1, 2021, TOTEM manages over 27,000 tower sites, flat roofs and other sites in these two countries. TOTEM aims to become a leader on the TowerCo market in Europe.

As a neutral player, TOTEM offers connectivity and hosting solutions enabling operators to go further in their coverage projects wherever and whenever sharing infrastructures makes sense. As the industrial partner of operators, regional authorities, lessors and business, connectivity for everyone and everywhere is a major priority for TOTEM.

To find out more got to: https://www.totemtowers.com/

NEWS

Nearly 700 small and mid-sized independent cable operators will now be able to offer mobile services without building their own mobile networks

The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) has signed a deal making AT&T the exclusive mobile carrier for members’ MVNO offerings. CEO Lou Borrelli said that NCTC chose AT&T for the partnership for a number of reasons but emphasised the importance of AT&T’s “current network availability and performance’.

The announcement comes about six weeks after NCTC finalised a partnership with Reach to provide a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that will support the mobile program.

This is AT&T’s first major MVNO deal with the US cable industry. Borrelli told Fierce Wireless that “the fact that AT&T hasn’t done this with any of the other cable guys is something pretty significant”.

A “core group of members” have been involved in the research and negotiation process and these 50 members are expected to launch their mobile offerings as early as June. An additional group of 60-80 member companies have indicated an interest in launching MVNOs, although it is too early to be sure whether they will do so.

NCTC has indicated that there will be a range of onboarding options for members depending on their size, resources and degree of risk they are willing to shoulder. The simplest onboarding option could see MVNOs set up within a matter of weeks.

Members will be able to choose from a variety of pre-determined rate plans, but also have the flexibility to price their own products and bundle mobile and broadband offerings.

NEWS

The Canadian space startup has raised $92 million in Series C funding to expand the capabilities of its growing deployment of small satellites in low Earth orbit that deliver the internet to other objects circling the planet

The firm has raised $200 million in equity since 2016, and the latest round of funding is earmarked for the launch of optical data relay infrastructure next year, broadening the company’s existing radio frequency infrastructure.

The broader project aims to deliver data to and from spacecraft in real time, with plans to launch two Pathfinder satellites this Autumn that will test and  validate optical communications technology that would enable higher-speed data relays to weather satellites and even the International Space Station.

It plans to then launch an optical data relay infrastructure and bring optical services to customers by early 2025, launching more satellites to increase service levels and handle higher data volumes, in a statement from CEO Mina Mistry.

While Kepler’s project is more focused on enabling constant connectivity for orbiting craft and satellites, the announcement marks the latest development in the broader satellite connectivity industry, with OneWeb recently completing its planned constellation through the launch 36 satellites, while Inmarsat recently expanded its partnership with Taiwanese chip manufacturer MediaTek to deliver commercial direct-to-satellite solutions.

 

Startup Stories

Tell us about your start up
Poutanet is the forerunner of small consumerized private mobile networks. We have our roots in the Nokia Kuha project where we turned an LTE small cell base station into a consumer product. After founding Poutanet 2020 we have taken that approach to the next level and turned the whole LTE network into a solution that can be easily deployed and operated by non telco people. Today we are a clear leader in temporary networks powering commerce at festivals in Finland and in Western Europe.

At MWS the Cumucore-Poutanet-Helppari Point-of-sales solution was recently listed as one of the best mobile innovations for connected economy.

What is your USP?
4G and 5G solutions that can be set up in minutes instead of months and cost a fraction of what it takes to run a traditional telco project are game changers that allow regular IT players to build on connectivity that looks like Wifi on steroids – without the cumbersome hassle with numerous access points. The local core and Sunshine (no cloud) OSS allow operation without or with an intermittent Internet connection. This makes the Poutanet solution optimal for digitalization projects in developing economies and for enterprises with strict security policies.

Poutanet likes also to work with hub partners that add their vertical know-how and applications to bring complete solutions to the market.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
Poutanet is focused on private mobile networks. So, we have a vested interest in making spectrum available to players beyond the traditional telcos and in opposing network whitelisting by device manufacturers as well as other obstacles for network innovation.

Poutanet together with its partners is actively working for accelerating the liberalization of the telecom regulations – especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. We believe Social ISPs using the 3GPP ecosystem for providing Internet access and local data services are key for providing Internet access for the the next billion people.

Poutanet is also an active contributor to industry standardization and consortia. We’ve co-innovated to IEEE social ISP concept and recently were invited to join Oulu university led Eware 6G project shaping the future energy aware 6G networks

How have you got to your current stage of development?
The initial well motivated request for simplifying the way mobile networks are built we got from a social media company in 2015. The requirements and obstacles for community hosted networks we learned at Nokia the hard way. After field trials, RAN-core integration projects and the discovery that infrastructure running in the cloud may become quite complex we moved to a model where a fully local core is the heart of every deployment.

Until the company has been bootstrapped and works together with a number of small partners. External funding for accelerating R&D as well as reaching out to new markets has been considered and we are always open for discussions.

Why did you establish the business?
When Nokia decided not to continue working on community hosted network, we felt that a startup should. Consequently, we founded Poutanet.

Who inspired you?
When we started Poutanet, close to four billion people were not connected to the Internet. When schools were closed in Namibia because of the pandemic, only 2% of the students were able to participate in remote learning. When some of our clients were working on private LTE projects, the price tags had five figure Euro amounts. There was clearly work to be done.

What does the future hold for your business?
Telco liberalization, ICT decentralization and the need to provide connectivity for supporting digitalization are unstoppable global trends that pave the way for Poutanet growth.

Instead of becoming yet another massive telco vendor Poutanet focuses on growing its global hub partner ecosystem as well as solution development and marketing. We are looking to partner with best of the breed digitalization experts to jointly help connect the world and support industries in upgrading their capabilities.

You can meet Poutanet in the Startup Village at Total Telecom Congress – find out more here

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New customers who take one of Shell Energy’s full fibre (FTTP) broadband plans, which are based off Openreach’s UK network, may like to know that the ISP has just cut another £5 off the monthly price for their first 18 month minimum contract term. The new promotion is expected to be available to order until […]