Mobile network operator O2 (VMO2) appears to have launched a tariff refresh of their Pay Monthly (SIM-Only and Phone) plans today, which sees some prices rise (others stay the same), tweaks to data allowances and possibly a few additional changes that we’ve yet to fully identify. As usual, all of O2’s Pay Monthly plans continue […]

Press Release

Nationwide coverage now surpasses 2.91 million square miles, with tribal land coverage increasing by 40% over the past two years

From Fiber to 5G, AT&T* has hit significant network milestones that are aggressively expanding coverage, increasing capacity and strengthening network resiliency. Over the past 5 years (2018–2022), AT&T invested more than $140 billion primarily in our U.S. wireless and wireline networks, including capital investments and acquisitions of wireless spectrum. It’s helping us open the door to a world of possibility for people and businesses across the AT&T network and helping first responders save lives with mission-critical connectivity on the FirstNet® network. See how we’re doing it:

Setting the bar for network resiliency: We’re focused on becoming the best, biggest and most resilient network in America. Last year, we led the industry by establishing a 3rd “emergency” pathway to each mobility network hub (MTSO) to combat extreme weather and climate events as well as increasing instabilities in the commercial power infrastructure landscape. Thanks to this initiative, we’vereduced the likelihood of major outages by nearly 35%. And we’re undergoing the largest refresh of our power backup systems in the history of our network – investing millions of dollars in generators, batteries and systems to help keep our network up and running when there is a local power outage. In addition, using network digital twin, we’re able to simplify processes, model resiliency measures and forecast how to optimize our build. And we’ve been working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to model future climate impacts through our Climate Change Analysis Tool. These insights are helping us make data-driven decisions for how we prioritize resiliency investments for the future. And when Mother Nature does strike, we’re at the ready with one of the largest and most advanced disaster recovery programs of its kind.

Connecting people on the go: We have the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider. And with the largest wireless network in America, we now cover more than 2.91 million square miles. That’s an increase of about 100,000 square miles in 2022, or like covering the entire United Kingdom. And we’ve grown America’s Most Reliable 5G Network4 to reach 290 million people in nearly 24,000 cities and towns across the U.S.

We’ve also increased coverage by more than 40% on federally recognized tribal lands in the last 2 years (2020 – 2022) thanks to public-private partnerships like FirstNet and those created through the American Rescue Plan, as well as our own investment initiatives. This includes places like Cherokee Nation in Kenwood, Oklahoma where people previously had to drive more than 10 miles to get
mobile cell service.

Plus, as of the end of 2022, more than 150 million people could take advantage of our mid-band 5G spectrum – more than double our original end-of-year 2022 target. We also doubled the number of venues and airports with AT&T 5G+ last year to now bring super-fast speeds and increased connectivity to parts of more than 50 cities and nearly 70 venues and airports in the U.S.

Connecting first responders: As America’s public safety’s communications partner, we’re giving more of the public safety community access to their network. FirstNet already covers 99%+ of the U.S. population, covering more first responders than any network. And now public safety on FirstNet has access to 250,000+ more square miles than competing commercial network offerings. We’ve also surpassed 99%+ of our Band 14 coverage target with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), delivering more dedicated connectivity to federal, state, tribal, territorial, urban and rural first responders when they need it.

Building a network for tomorrow: Fiber is our foundation. In fact, we have so much fiber that you could stretch it to the moon and back 3 times. In 2022, we laid more than 60,000 miles of fiber in the U.S. alone. All that fiber helps carry more than 594 petabytes of data traffic on an average day, up 23% year-over-year (or the equivalent of streaming nearly 40 million 2-hour long movies in HD).

And as the nation’s largest fiber internet provider, we’re committed to providing more Americans with access to reliable, high-speed broadband. This is critical as people are consuming roughly 30 times more data in their own homes than on the go with smartphones. Currently, AT&T Fiber is available to more households than any other fiber internet service. And we’ve passed 24 million locations – including 4 million business locations – in 100+ U.S. metros – that’s on track to pass 30+ million locations by the end of 2025.

As much as we depend on connectivity today, we think this is only the beginning. It’s why we’re also testing and helping develop innovative, out-of-this-world satellite solutions for remote and challenging geographic locations. This includes our collaboration with AST SpaceMobile on testing the first-of-its-kind space-based cellular broadband network (i.e., voice, text and video) accessible directly by standard mobile phones – helping to one day keep you connected, anywhere.

“Society thrives on connection. And our people, resources and expertise are what’s making AT&T the best connectivity provider. These network milestones reinforce this, and we’ll continue to expand and fortify our infrastructure to give more communities – rural, urban and tribal – access to the connectivity we all rely on,” said Chris Sambar, Head of AT&T Network.

“There has been historical underinvestment in broadband infrastructure on Tribal Nations. FirstNet, Built with AT&T is helping tackle this problem by making buildout for Tribal communities a priority. With this expanded connectivity, Tribal first responders have new tools to help them communicate and coordinate their emergency operations to serve our tribal communities,” added Lynda Zambrano, Executive Director, National Tribal Emergency Management Council.

Chris Sambar will be speaking on the opening keynote session at this year’s Connected America conference, taking place in Dallas, Texas, next week! Get your tickets now

Also in the news:
Fibre overtakes cable in the Netherlands
Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage the connectivity for Lyft e-bikes and scooters
Spring Equinox? It seems Ofcom aren’t certain of the balance

News

The Italian operator has reportedly reached an agreement with unions that 2,000 staff will take voluntary early retirement as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures

At the start of last year, Italian incumbent operator TIM announced that the company would seek to save €1 billion by 2024 through various cost-saving measures, including cutting jobs.

At the time, reports suggested that the operator was looking to reduce its domestic workforce of roughly 42,500 staff by up to 20% by 2030.

By the summer, the first outlines of the job cutting process were becoming clear, with the operator reaching an agreement with unions to cut 1,200 jobs by the end of 2022 via a voluntary retirement scheme.

However, this was quickly revealed to be just the first round of cuts, with TIM soon back at the negotiating table with unions to cut a further 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024.

This week, nearly half a year on, an agreement has finally been reached, with unions agreeing to a new voluntary early retirement scheme encompassing 2,000 Italian employees.

In total, this will mean TIM will have cut around 3,200 of its domestic staff through early retirement by the end of the year.

In related news, TIM recently launched a bidding process for the sale of NetCo, its network unit that comprises its access network as well as its wholesale submarine cable unit Sparkle.

TIM received an offer for NetCo from US investment firm KKR back in February, which was followed up by a counter offer earlier this month from state bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Australia’s Macquarie Group.

KKR now has the option to increase its bid.

Want to keep up with all the latest international telecoms news? Sign up now to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox

Also in the news:
Fibre overtakes cable in the Netherlands
Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage the connectivity for Lyft e-bikes and scooters
Spring Equinox? It seems Ofcom aren’t certain of the balance

VIEWPOINT

[Barcelona, Spain, March 22, 2023] During the Mobile World Congress 2023 (MWC 2023), Oi SA, the second largest broadband service provider in Brazil with more than 4 million subscribers,  signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei on commercializing fiber to the room (FTTR) services after the two parties reached a strategic cooperation agreement on FTTR products and solutions. The MoU aims to help Oi to build fiber broadband and FTTR networks, shift from bandwidth monetization to experience monetization, provide premium broadband experience and digital services for individual and enterprise users, and boost the development of the digital economy in Brazil.

Rogerio Takayanagi (Chief Revenue Officer for Residential and SME at Oi, left) and Liu Shi (Director of Huawei Oi Account Dept, right) signing the cooperation MoU

Rogerio Takayanagi, Chief Revenue Officer for Residential and SME at Oi, and Liu Shi, Director of Huawei Oi Account Dept, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective parties. Daniel Hermeto (CPO at Oi), Caio Gusmon (CIO at Oi), Lu Libo (President of Huawei Carrier Network Marketing & Solutions Dept), and Feng Zhishan (President of Huawei Optical Access Product Line) witnessed the MoU signing ceremony.

According to the MoU, Oi and Huawei will cooperate in fiber to the home (FTTH), FTTR, and intelligent O&M of home networks in terms of technology research, showcase building, premium services, and marketing, and set up a joint team for innovation. Oi will speed up its “FIBRA X” strategy and accelerate FTTR construction, promote FTTR in the home broadband and small- and medium enterprise (SME) markets, and provide premium digital experience for Brazilian users. Huawei will provide full support for Oi in FTTR commercialization to help Oi succeed in the fixed broadband market.

Rogerio Takayanagi, said, “With the rapid development of digital smart home applications, users are in urgent need of ultra-fast and reliable broadband and broad Wi-Fi coverage. Oi will use FTTR, an advanced and differentiated solution, to provide Brazilian users with premium whole-house Wi-Fi experience, enrich digital home applications, and promote digital transformation of SMEs.”

Lu Libo, President of Huawei Carrier Network Marketing & Solutions Dept, said, “Based on the FTTR solution, Oi will provide Brazilian users with superior networks and premium services. We are honored to reach a strategic cooperation agreement with Oi to explore, innovate, and practice together and start a wonderful cooperation journey.”

Feng Zhishan, President of Huawei’s Optical Access Product Line, said, “FTTR is a leading-edge innovative home networking solution in the industry. We are glad to reach a strategic cooperation agreement with Oi on FTTR. Huawei will do its utmost in FTTR products and installation and maintenance services to build digital solutions for Oi to succeed in the market. Huawei believes that the cooperation between the two parties will bring remarkable success to Oi.”

Network builder FullFibre Limited, which is deploying a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP network that aims to cover “at least” 500,000 premises by 2025, has today launched a new Community Investment Fund to promote digital connectivity in over 80 of its build towns. The fund – APPLY HERE – will be open to […]

Network operator Openreach (BT) has officially confirmed that their £15bn rollout of gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP technology has today reached the milestone of 10 million premises passed (up from 9.57m in Dec 2022). Some 3 million customers have also been connected (up from 2.73 million). The milestone and strong take-up help to underline […]

Neos Networks has announced that their ongoing project to deploy a new gigabit-capable full fibre broadband network to over 175 public sector sites (councils, hospitals etc.) across Oxfordshire (England), many of which are in rural areas, is “on track” to complete by the end of 2023 – some 90 sites have already been reached. The […]

Consumers hoping to see significantly smaller increases in the UK price of their broadband ISP, phone and mobile services next year were given an unwelcome wake-up call today after inflation, which had been forecast to fall sharply in 2023, unexpectedly jumped from 10.1% (CPI) in January to 10.4% in February (RPI also went up). At […]

Rural UK ISP County Broadband, which aspires to cover 500,000 premises across the East of England with their new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by the end of 2027, has today confirmed that they’ve started to build across 9 more villages in Suffolk – supported by contractors AB Installs and Highway Workforce. The provider, which is […]

The Powys County Council in mid-Wales has expressed “concerns” about a change to the UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband subsidy programme, which they fear could result in hard-to-reach households and businesses in the county being “negatively impacted“. The statement doesn’t go into a lot of detail, except to highlight how the Building Digital UK […]