Locals living near to the Shandon Place and Ashley Terrace bridge in Edinburgh (Scotland), which passes over a former railway line, have vented fury at CityFibre after the operator’s rollout of a new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network broke the bridge during unauthorised work – leaving it closed since January. Just to recap. CityFibre […]

The Chancellor of the UK Government, Jeremy Hunt, has today announced the Spring 2023 Budget, which sadly made no mention of any extra support for gigabit broadband or 5G mobile deployments. But the new “full expensing” measure could help to bring down the cost of some related plant and machinery (capital expenses). Firstly, we weren’t […]

UK ISP Virgin Media Business (VMO2) has launched a new promotion that offers 3 months of free ‘Voom Fibre‘ business broadband for small businesses on both new and existing contracts – applicable to all Solus, Bundle and Volt packages on a minimum 24-month term (existing users will need 3 months or less left on their […]

Online shopping giant Amazon has just revealed the first solid details of both the customer hardware (terminals) and targeted ultrafast broadband speeds for Project Kuiper, which represents their own plan to launch a global mega-constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver affordable internet connectivity. The idea of using LEOs is that they […]

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has published the results of their latest quarterly Rolling National Open Market Review (NOMR) process, which reveals that 2,866,478 premises across England are currently classed as being unlikely to get a gigabit-capable broadband ISP network within the next 3 years. Just to recap. The Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband […]

Network operator LilaConnect, which is a subsidiary of Swedish provider VXFIBER that is busy deploying a new “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband network across several cities and towns in England, has today launched several business packages for those in areas where they’ve been deploying. The two new business packages available will include speeds of 500Mbps at […]

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Zzoomm is reportedly through to the second round of bidding to acquire its fellow altnet, which has also drawn attention from the likes of Virgin Media O2 (VMO2)

With the glut of investment in the UK fibre market finally beginning to dry up due to challenging economic conditions, consolidation appears to be on the horizon for the country’s altnet community.

Last month, reports suggested that altnet Trooli, which covers over 275,000 UK homes with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), was being put up for sale.

It did not take long for the move to draw the attention of some of the market’s biggest players, with VMO2 being named in media reports.

Now, further reports from Sky News suggest that one of Trooli’s altnet peers, Zzoomm, could be interested in a merger. According to sources, Zzoomm has made it through to the second round of an auction being conducted by bankers at Lazard.

Zzoomm currently has roughly 100,000 premises passed by its own fibre network and has ambitions of expanding this total to one million.

Any deal for Trooli is likely to be valued at over £100 million.

In related news, last month we saw altnet consolidation already underway, with Fern Trading Limited, owner of Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, Giganet, and AllPoints Fibre, merging the four networks into a single FTTH player.

How is the UK fibre landscape evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s live Connected North conference

Also in the news:
Viasat–Inmarsat merger gets provisional greenlight from CMA
Verizon shuffles executive team in search of growth
Ericsson to pay DoJ $206.7m over bribery scandal

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The purchase of the communications equipment maker will help expand Jio’s 5G and broadband service offerings

This week, Jio Platforms, parent company of India’s largest mobile operator Reliance Jio, has announced the purchase of US-based telecoms equipment maker Mimosa Networks for $60 million.

The deal will take place via Jio’s wholly owned subsidiary Radisys Corp make the purchase from Mimosa’s parent company, Airspan Networks Holdings Inc, on a debt free, cash free basis.

Mimosa’s product portfolio focusses primarily on point-to-point and point-to-multi-point products based on WiFi 5 and the WiFi 6E technologies, which will provide a significant boost to Jio’s fixed wireless access and backhaul capabilities.

“Acquisition of Mimosa will further accelerate Jio’s innovation and leadership in the production of telecom network products that deliver value to consumers and enterprises across the globe with cost-effective, rapidly deployable fixed and mobile broadband,” said Mathew Oommen, President at Reliance Jio, who also sits on the board at Airspan Networks, in which Jio is a shareholder.

Following the purchase, Mimosa’s product development, manufacturing, and sales teams of 56 employees will continue to work with Mimosa.

How is the US telecoms market evolving in 2023? Join the discussion at this year’s live Connected America conference in Dallas, Texas later this month

Also in the news:
Viasat–Inmarsat merger gets provisional greenlight from CMA
Verizon shuffles executive team in search of growth
Ericsson to pay DoJ $206.7m over bribery scandal

News

Dish Wireless will conduct 5G tests using spectrum in the 800MHz band before making a decision on whether to purchase the spectrum from T-Mobile later this year

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given formal permission for Dish Wireless to begin 5G tests using a portion of T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum.

The spectrum in question comprises 13.5 MHz of airwaves in the 817–824 MHz and 862–869 MHz bands, which Dish has the option to purchase from the magenta giant later this year if it so chooses.

The tests themselves will take place in Yuma, Arizona, with the FCC authorising a test period from March 5 to September 30.

Dish’s option to purchase the spectrum from T-Mobile exists as a result of the merger between the latter and Sprint back in 2020, with the FCC ordering T-Mobile to divest of the spectrum as part of the approval process. More specifically, these T-Mobile is required give Dish the option to buy the spectrum for $3.59 billion by April 1 this year, exactly three years since the merger closed.

If Dish prefers not to make this purchase, it will be required to pay T-Mobile $72 million, as well as $360 million to the US government, though the operator could avoid the latter payment if it meets certain deployment parameters.

Over the past couple of years, with Dish rapidly rolling out its greenfield 5G network, there has been much speculation about whether the company would move forward with this purchase or not.

One the one hand, the operator already makes heavy use of 600MHz spectrum for its 5G services, which offers similar coverage and latency to the 850MHz band, potentially making the purchase somewhat redundant.

On the other, spectrum is an inherently scare and ergo valuable resource and the price is potentially attractive. In a recent earnings call, the company has hinted that it could be leaning towards the purchase after all, with CFO Paul Orban saying that “the probability that we would exercise [the purchase option] has increased.”

Some analysts speculate that Dish may be in discussions with a third-party that could help fund the spectrum acquisition.

Can Dish rise to the challenge of becoming the fourth nationwide wireless operator in the US? Join the telecoms industry in discussion at this year’s live Connected America conference in Dallas, Texas later this month

Also in the news:
Viasat–Inmarsat merger gets provisional greenlight from CMA
Verizon shuffles executive team in search of growth
Ericsson to pay DoJ $206.7m over bribery scandal

CityFibre has today announced the completion of their £5m “primary build” in the Cambridgeshire (England) town of March, which has extended their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 8,500 premises (around 80% of the town’s residential properties), including most businesses. The build, which was conducted by civil engineering contractor Granemore Group, began around […]