Press Release

Orange Business today announced that it has been selected by Lucid Motors, the American electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, to be the preferred European partner for its next-generation in-vehicle connectivity and digital expertise. Guided by its focus on innovation, Lucid plans to sell its all-electric Lucid vehicles direct to consumers as it expands its operations in Europe, offering infotainment and telematics connectivity from Orange Business.

In addition to Orange Business providing seamless pan-European IoT and Internet connectivity for Lucid’s software-defined vehicles, Orange has helped Lucid orchestrate the customer journey in Europe, simplifying and navigating complex regulatory requirements. Furthermore, Orange is now directly integrated into Lucid’s manufacturing supply chain and helped them adapt connectivity test procedures for vehicles delivered into Europe. In terms of end-user benefits, services by Orange enable infotainment and Internet-enabled content, including navigation, security and communication tools, diagnostics, and streaming audio. Additionally, over-the-air updates are pushed to vehicles to ensure the most up-to-date software to deliver a premium Lucid customer experience.

“Lucid is not only building sleek and luxurious EVs for sustainable mobility, but they are keenly focused on delivering a premium user experience. Providing a personalized customer experience that creates value is exactly how Orange Business wants to support its customers. We are proud to have the application development, data analytics, network and integration experience, and assets to help American automotive companies like Lucid expand operations in Europe,” said Scott Williams, Senior Vice President of the Americas, Orange Business.

Orange is a licensed and experienced Electronic Communication Services (ECS) provider for both IoT and Internet Access services. This provides significant support for OEMs looking to navigate the complexity of the European regulatory environment with both EU requirements and individual country provisions. When it comes to expertise in the IoT market, Orange Business is once again positioned as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Managed IoT Connectivity Services, Worldwide – the sixth consecutive time that the company’s Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute have been recognized.

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News

Almost three years on since the peak of the ‘untrusted vendors’ debate, Germany may move to place more direct sanctions on Huawei and ZTE

This week, reports from German media site Die Zeit suggest that the country is currently planning to ban the nation’s mobile operators from using 5G equipment made by the Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.

Exactly what types of equipment would be included in such a ban is currently unclear, but may include a number of key components already built into existing networks.

If this does turn out to be the case, it would present the German operators with an expensive and long-winded process of removing and replacing this equipment from their existing networks.

Back in 2020, fuelled in part by geopolitical tensions between the US and China as well as upcoming 5G rollouts across the continent, European governments were heavily scrutinising telecoms network equipment providers on security grounds.

At the time, the US government was arguing that Huawei and ZTE’s role in national network infrastructure represented a national security risk, potentially giving the Chinese state access to sensitive European data. The Chinese vendors, on the other hand, said that they were being unfairly discriminated against, noting that their equipment had undergone the prerequisite security checks, just like any other potential vendor.

By the end of the year, the UK and Sweden had banned Huawei and ZTE from their networks outright, ordering their operators to remove gradually existing equipment from these vendors over the coming years. Other European nations, however, took a more tentative approach, conducting their own investigations into the matter and refusing to issue an outright ban.

Germany was in the latter camp, with the government repeatedly delaying a formal decision and rejecting calls for a ban.

It was around this time that the EU released its ‘5G security toolbox’, which aimed to provide guidelines for 5G network security. Alongside following these recommendations, Germany itself passed a new IT security law in 2021, that would allow the government to intervene in telecoms contracts related to ‘untrusted vendors’ and issues of national security. Taken together, it was posited that these measures would represent a de facto ban on telecoms operators signing new contracts with the likes of Huawei and ZTE.

In reality, however, it seems that this new law has posed little challenge to Huawei and ZTE, with the new law’s special mechanism having rarely been exercised, and never at scale.

By the end of last year, a report from consulting firm Strand Consult was announced showing the extent of the role that Huawei in particular still played in German networks, with estimates suggesting the vendor’s equipment now accounts for 59% of Germany’s 5G RAN and 57% of its 4G RAN.

Now, it would seem that this report, coupled with changing attitudes within the relatively new administration under Olal Scholz, are forcing the government to re-examine the issue.

According to the report from Die Zeit, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security and the Federal Ministry of the Interior are currently conducting tests on 5G equipment currently deployed in the nation’s networks. While these tests will not formally be completed until the summer, the report suggests the existing results are already ‘clear’ enough for the government to begin planning a ban.

It is perhaps no coincidence that this news comes just a day after China’s premier XI Jinping officially began an unprecedented third term as the head of state. In various speeches at the annual political meeting, Xi said the country must strive for greater self-reliance and a dominant market position when it comes to science and technology.

Germany remains China’s biggest trading partner, with a particular reliance on the Asian nation for the import of rare earth metals and other raw materials.

What impact would a ban on Huawei and ZTE network equipment have on the German telecoms industry? Join the operators in discussion about this and other key issues at Total Telecom’s Connected Germany conference live in Munich

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Network builder and broadband ISP Jurassic Fibre, which is rolling out a 1Gbps+ Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the South West of England, has today celebrated a 209% rise in the number of women in its workforce in just two years (now accounting for 30% of the company’s total). At present Jurassic Fibre is being backed […]

SpaceX’s Starlink ISP, which uses thousands of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver low latency ultrafast broadband speeds to homes, has launched a new option for UK customers that enables you to avoid paying one big setup fee for the hardware (dish, router etc.) via an additional monthly rental. Customers in the […]

The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley (Buckinghamshire, England) is to open a new Gallery Exhibition on 11th March 2023 – ‘Flowers to Fibre’, which as the name suggests will aim to tell the “hidden story” of Britain’s telecommunications journey all the way through the copper and fibre optic broadband age. The new exhibition reflects […]

The Local Government Association, which represents councils across England and Wales, has warned that traffic lights, cash machines and vital telecare equipment used by almost 2 million vulnerable people may “cease to operate” when analogue copper phone services are withdrawn in 2025 – unless more support is provided. As a reminder, there are two different, […]

News

The shares will reportedly be made available to both foreign and domestic investors

This week, sources speaking to Reuters report that the government is looking to offload a 10% of its 80% stake national network operator Telecom Egypt.

At its currently share price, this stake would be worth around $150 million.

According to the report, the government will be open to both domestic and foreign investors.

The news of a stake sale should come as no real surprise. The Egyptian government is going through something of a financial crisis, having become an indirect victim of the Russian invasion of Ukraine when investors quickly withdrawing around $20 billion in foreign capital at the start of the conflict. The resulting dollar scarcity left the government on shaky financial footing, resulting in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of $3 billion late last year.

In part due to these financial troubles, the Egyptian government has placed a renewed focus on monetising state-held assets, aiming to raise $10 billion annually for the next four years through various sales.

Back in October, it appeared likely that one such sale would be to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), having initiated talks to purchase 20% of Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt. As the year drew to a close, these discussions had evolved to encompass a bigger stake purchase, rising first to 25% and finally to the full 45% stake held by Telecom Egypt.

By last month, however, these discussions had reached something of an impasse, with the Egyptian government seeking to sell at the share’s improved price, while the QIA was insistent on moving forward with the company’s earlier valuation.

These discussions are still ongoing.

In related news, Vodafone Group itself transferred ownership of its 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt to Vodacom Group at the end of 2022.

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Also in the news:
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VIEWPOINT

During MWC 2023 held in Barcelona, Richard Jin, President of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, launched the FTTR OptiXstar F30 product in the Huawei 2023 ICT solution and product launch event. It is the first product in the industry to support both GPON and XGS-PON Combo upstream transmission at 2000 Mbps, enabling ultra-gigabit coverage and a premium digital home experience.

Richard Jin, President of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, is launching the FTTR OptiXstar F30 product

Since Huawei launched the FTTR solution in 2020, FTTR has been developing rapidly. Currently, Huawei FTTR has been commercially deployed by 87 provincial operators in China and 15 operators outside China. FTTR not only solves the pain point of poor home Wi-Fi experience, but also brings business success to operators. For example, after an operator in Beijing deploys FTTR, the ARPU increased by 30%, gigabit broadband users increased by 130%, Wi-Fi complaints reduced by 60%, and the Wi-Fi speed fulfillment rate reached 100%. This greatly improves the broadband experience and enables users to enjoy a digital life.

As homes shift from HD video-based entertainment centers to diversified digital application centers such as online education, online office, immersive XR experience, and whole-house intelligence, many homes require premium Wi-Fi networks with superior performance in rate, coverage, latency, and concurrent connections. Against this backdrop, the home broadband market is calling for products that support higher bandwidth and better experience. To address this need, Huawei has developed the next-generation FTTR OptiXstar F30. Based on users’ feedback on previous-generation FTTR products, F30 has upgrades in six dimensions thanks to innovations in aesthetics and technology.

Huawei FTTR OptiXstar F30 product

Aesthetic upgrade: Designed by the Huawei Aesthetics Research Center in France, the product has a brand-new appearance and four colors to blend with modern residence layout. In addition, it has a small footprint and can be flexibly installed on a desktop, wall, or junction box.
Rate upgrade: The product supports GPON and XGS-PON combo upstream transmission, achieving smooth network evolution. Based on innovative hardware and algorithms, the product delivers a whole-house 2000 Mbps rate, enabling users to download an 8 GB 4K movie in merely 30 seconds.
Coverage upgrade: The product is equipped with multi-beam dual-polarized antennas, greatly improving the coverage by 30%. In addition, the patented signal source positioning algorithm enables Wi-Fi signals to follow users, realizing whole-house coverage without blind spots.
Roaming upgrade: The unique imperceptible roaming technology reduces the handover latency to less than 20 ms, allowing users to make video calls or play mobile games while on the move.
Concurrency upgrade: The unique multi-AP collaborative concurrency assurance technology minimizes Wi-Fi interference, and provides a guaranteed bandwidth for up to 128 concurrent smart devices in the whole house.
Service upgrade: Huawei provides the one-stop 5A service capabilities, including accurate planning, agile installation, all-in acceptance, active assurance, and attentive care, to help operators build premium service capabilities throughout the process of planning, construction, acceptance, maintenance, and optimization.

Thanks to the preceding six upgrades, Huawei FTTR OptiXstar F30 enables users to enjoy ultra-gigabit experience in the whole house, makes digital life and entertainment activities such as 4K, 8K, and VR more enjoyable, and opens up new opportunities worth of billions of dollars in the home broadband market, helping operators to shift from bandwidth monetization to experience monetization. FTTR is also an ideal entrance for operators in the smart home field. Through this entrance, operators can build an integrated smart home solution and ecosystem. Huawei will continue to make innovations and work closely with global customers and industry partners to achieve high-quality development of the all-optical home industry. Together, we will build ubiquitous fiber connections and light up the digital life of every home.