Cumbria-based network builder and broadband ISP Grain (Grain Connect) has today announced that they’ve secured an additional £130 million of funding to help “accelerate” their ongoing rollout of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the United Kingdom. The provider has so far announced full fibre broadband deployments across nearly 50 towns and cities, including […]

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which forms part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has today secured £6 million of funding to help with the research and development of future communication systems including 6G (mobile broadband), faster internet access and cloud computing etc. Jane Nicholson, EPSRC’s Director for Research Base, said: “Digital […]

VIEWPOINT

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (Indosat) CEO Vikram Sinha told journalists the merger was a case of being ‘at the right place at the right time’.

Vikram Sinha, President Director & CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson

When Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison 3 Indonesia first announced their $6 billion merger back in September 2021, the news was met some scepticism by analysts, who noted the challenges the two companies would face when it came to integrating their networks creating a unified company culture.

Now, however, one year on from the merger’s competition, and these doubts have been silenced, with Indosat going from strength to strength.

In the last year, Indosat has seen its subscriber base increase by six million people, generating an increase in its organic net profit of 76.2% year-on-year.

Speaking to journalists at this year’s MWC, the company CEO Vikram Sinha explained that the merger had given the company the scale it needed to reach millions of additional customers, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas that were previously not economically viable.

In fact, over the next four years, Indosat is reportedly aiming to connect 21 million customers that have never been connected to the internet before, focussing on largely underserved areas like Papua.

But beyond reaching new customers, Sinha notes that a key growth component for the company will be its engagement with the millions of micro- and small enterprises that make up the backbone of the Indonesian economy.

When asked how  Indosat planned to engage with these businesses, Sinha made clear that the challenge lay not only in providing coverage to these businesses, but in encouraging them to join the digital economy.

“Connecting is the first step, but we must help them to enter and grow in the digital marketplace,” he said, noting access to money lending and digital banking services. “Once they can make $10, they will be more than happy to give us $1 for connectivity services.”

Naturally, a large part of connecting these new customers and businesses will centre around the rollout of existing technologies, like 4G and fixed wireless access (FWA), but the eventual rollout of 5G is also set to play a key role in  Indosat’s future growth.

Currently, the company has around 400 commercial 5G sites live in six cities across the country, with Sinha noting that the company was fully prepared for C-band spectrum to become available in the upcoming auction before it expands in earnest.

The date for such an auction has yet to be announced by the Indonesian regulator.

Sinha said that the company would benefit from studying the 5G developments currently taking place in neighbouring countries like India and the Philippines, allowing them to be better prepared when the time comes.

He also made clear, however, that  Indosat was not waiting for the advent of 5G when it comes to ushering in the era of Industry 4.0. Sinha explained that the operator was already in discussions with various vertical industries, including mines and ports, to better understand their technology needs.

“We need to get the ecosystem involved right now,” he said. “The key message is: there is a lot of opportunity here.”

For Sinha, the merger has been a resounding success, presenting a clear path to future growth for years to come. The main challenge moving forward – as is always the case for Indonesia’s telecoms sector – is the nation’s geography. With a population spread across around 18,000 islands spanning an area the size of Europe, achieving widespread coverage is difficult, even more so when trying to do so in a cost-effective and profitable manner.

This is perhaps why Sinha closed his press conference with the phrase ‘Gotong Royong’, an idea central to Indonesian culture that focusses on communal work for communal success.

“We need successful partnerships to bring the major benefits to customers and to enterprises,” said Sinha. “We have to build consumer trust and bring them simple and transparent products. For this, we need partners that share our vision.”

To learn more about Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, please click here.

VIEWPOINT

Huawei hosted the European Carrier Executive Roundtable on February 28, including 12 carriers and industry organizations, during MWC2023. Zhou Yu, Huawei’s network consulting and system integration domain president, discussed Huawei’s value proposition and innovative practices in the green target network domain. He engaged in in-depth communication and lively discussions with the participating carriers on how to build a green, efficient, robust, and ultimate experience ICT infrastructure. The insights and contributions highlighted Huawei’s commitment to green technology and sustainable development.

In today’s world, where decarbonization and digitalization trends are prevalent, operators face increasing pressure to improve network energy efficiency while reducing operating costs. However, operators also grapple with multiple challenges, including complex networks, rapid service changes, and weak business growth. Operators and analysts attending the meeting agreed that the green standard system still requires joint efforts from the industry to build and improve. In practice, operators have observed that the risks associated with green reconstruction cannot be ignored due to the complexity of network architecture and services. Failed reconstruction projects often adversely affect the network’s stable operation and negatively impact operators. Green reconstruction should focus on not only the site side, but also the reconstruction and utilization of central office buildings.

Considering these challenges, Zhou Yu highlighted Huawei’s efforts in working with carriers in joint innovation over the past three years. He said, “Huawei has provided strategic consulting, planning, design, and implementation of green target networks, garnering experience and extracting methodologies in the process. This has enabled Huawei to build all-scenario solution capabilities and improve the assessment system, thereby contributing to the development of green standards.”

The Huawei Green and Efficient Integration Solution is based on the Dual-E (Energy & Experience) Driven concept, prioritizing both network energy efficiency and user experience. Leveraging Huawei’s professional service capabilities, such as the leading network digital twin, Huawei provides network-level consulting and planning services for green target network evolution.

Huawei also offers an end-to-end network reconstruction solution from sites to aggregation and core equipment rooms. For mobile network energy-saving reconstruction, spectrum redeployment and baseband relocation based on five-level network restoration are used to increase asset utilization by more than 10% and achieve energy saving and emission reduction by more than 10%. In terms of all-optical network reconstruction, Huawei employs multiple technical capabilities, including invalid service clearing, legacy service migration, and automatic cutover, to save up to 60% of energy on the network without service loss. Moreover, Huawei utilizes advanced intelligent cabinets, blade power supply, and PV backup solutions to simplify site reconstruction through digital delivery, reducing carbon emissions by more than 35%. These energy-efficient solutions offered by Huawei are at the forefront of industry-leading technology, providing an effective and sustainable means to reduce carbon footprint while improving network performance.

As of 2022, Huawei’s green and efficient integration solution has been successfully deployed in over 30 countries, delivering more than 500,000 sites and over 100 networks. These efforts have saved 300 million kWh of electricity, reduced 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide, and contributed to the equivalent planting of 5.5 million trees.

Zhou Yu said, “Huawei is committed to high-quality, fast delivery, and stable network operation. In line with decarbonization and digitalization trends, Huawei will continue to build an end-to-end (E2E) green target network, covering sites and the entire network through professional integration services based on the Dual-E Driven concept. By doing so, Huawei aims to contribute key values to operators and enable them to achieve green and decarbonization goals and foster sustainable development.”

 

News

The GSMA’s Open Gateway programme is backed by 21 operator groups, thereby allowing software developers to build apps with the potential to reach almost half of the world’s mobile connections

At Mobile World Congress this week, the GSMA has announced the creation of a new industry-wide initiative called Open Gateway, aimed at providing software developers a universal framework for network Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs).

APIs, essentially the software that allows two computer programmes to communicate, are currently very diverse in the telecoms space, with each operator typically using different APIs to handle tasks such as billing and roaming. This typically leaves software operators relatively handcuffed when it comes to developing new services, needing to create new code for each individual operator.

This is something that the GSMA is now seeking to change. The organisation’s Open Gateway programme aims to harmonise the industry’s open API ecosystem, allowing developers to create new services that can be easily integrated into numerous operator networks.

“GSMA Open Gateway will enable single points of access to ultra-broadband networks and provide a catalyst for immersive technologies and Web3 – giving them the ability to fulfil their potential and reach critical mass,” explained José María Álvarez-Pallete López, GSMA Board Chairman and Chairman & CEO of Telefónica. “Telcos have come a long way in developing a global platform to connect everyone and everything. And now, by federating open network APIs and applying the roaming concept of interoperability, mobile operators and cloud services will be truly integrated to enable a new world of opportunity. Collaboration amongst telecom operators and cloud providers is crucial in this new digital ecosystem.”

At the time of announcement, eight APIs for have been so far included in this project, which is backed by Camara, a Linux Foundation project that handles the standardisation of telco APIs.

These are: SIM Swap, QoD, Device Status (Connected or Roaming Status), Number Verify, Edge Site Selection and Routing, Number Verification (SMS 2FA), Carrier Billing – Check Out and Device Location (Verify Location).

More APIs are expected to follow later in the year.

In total, 21 major operators are already part of the project, as well as a number of major players in the cloud and IT space, including AWS and Microsoft.

According to Henry Calvert, the head of networks for the GSMA, this means the networks currently included in the Open Gateway project encompass roughly 45% of the world’s mobile connections, which will only increase as more operators are brought into the programme later this year.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
AT&T signs up to use Frontier’s fibre to connect mobile towers
UScellular urges customers to put down their phones in latest initiative
VMO2 and Vodafone give rural Scotland a 4G boost

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has announced that their ongoing broadband ISP pilot of faster Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) download speeds – 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps (both offer 120Mbps upstream) – has been extended to run for several more months and is also being expanded into more exchanges. The original pilot started on 1st December 2022 (here) and […]

VIEWPOINT

For telecoms to create new revenue streams, enhance customer experiences, and lead their digital transformation, Huawei launches future-oriented IT infrastructure architecture. It is an evolution journey from CT to ICT

There has been a massive change in the way businesses and customers interact over the last few years. Due to the increased use of digital services, carriers’ networks have experienced extremely high traffic levels. According to IDC, investments in IT infrastructure would expand at a 14.5% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2021 and 2026. Between 2021 and 2025, according to IDC, carriers’ digital transformation will accelerate and their spending on it will rise at a CAGR of 17%.

Predictions indicate that IT infrastructure will rank as the second-largest area of investment for international telecom operators. However, for telcos to fully benefit from their digital transformation projects, they must have a future-oriented IT infrastructure that is cloud-native, 5G and IoT ready, secure, and equipped with AI and automation capabilities.

The modern consumer demands a top-notch network with unique services. It’s also an opportunity for telcos to expand on the transformation of their primary line of business, connectivity. As a result, it has become crucial for them to have strong capabilities that can support the delivery of innovative services, expansion into new industries, reduction of costs, and augmentation of revenues.

Presenting the future-oriented IT infrastructure architecture

There is an old saying in Chinese that “to get rich, build roads first”. IT infrastructure paves the way for digital transformation. Developing a future-oriented IT infrastructure design is the only way to build new revenue streams beyond connectivity and provide a superior user experience, even though telecom operators have been pursuing digitization and cost transformation for years.

At MWC 2023, Huawei focuses on the theme of “+IT, Grow Together” and unveils its future-oriented IT infrastructure design for carriers for the first time, recognizing the necessity and filling up the critical gaps. The solution enables carriers to transition from CT to ICT by acting as the IT basis for that change. The strategy is based on the premise that IT infrastructure is at the foundation of telco digital transformation. Huawei has developed intelligent, reliable, efficient and collaborative IT infrastructure to accelerate the digital transformation of the carriers, so both Huawei and its customers can grow together.

So, what is the future-oriented IT infrastructure architecture need of carriers?

Data, Networks, and Applications (DNA) are the three main telecom assets that carriers have. A future-oriented, unified IT infrastructure design based on the carriers’ core asset DNA must be created to optimize its value in order to support carriers’ digital transformation. It should help them achieve orchestration, cloud-network synergy, and cloud-edge synergy.

Data (D): In the modern world, data is regarded as the new growth point for all businesses. Data is being produced at an exponential rate since there is so much happening online at a pace never previously witnessed. Effective data management is essential for telcos because it allows them to channel their resources by creating smart predictions and analyses, meet network latency, boost customer retention, and ensure great user experiences. Data management needs to be efficient, adaptable, and secure. Sensitive data must be stored locally, not in the cloud or network. Storage resource management and provisioning must be carried out efficiently and swiftly. This can be achieved through solutions such as Huawei OneStorage unified storage resource pool, which can improve resource utilization efficiency and accelerate resource provisioning.

Network (N): In order to facilitate accelerated investment monetization, differentiated network experiences, flexible resource scheduling, and rapid service supply, carriers need a new transformative IT infrastructure. The need is for a network that supports quick intelligence and multi-cloud, strengthens agility, and speeds up innovation while also making their services more dependable. Huawei has business in both cloud services and networks. Huawei Cloud and Huawei transport network are pre-integrated. NCE supports unified scheduling of cloud and network resources and allows for one-stop provisioning of cloud network premium package (with unified cloud-network end-to-end SLA assurance), helping carriers monetize their network assets.

Application (A): There are distinct considerations when moving common services to the cloud than when moving critical telecom applications. Most core telecom applications are steady-state, locally deployable, low-latency, and highly reliable, with carriers having complete control over such programmes. Agile apps tend to be new services and do not have high-reliability requirements. However, they require fast rollout, quick iteration, and elastic scaling. Therefore, deployment on the public cloud is the best choice. Huawei’s distributed cloud supports flexible deployment of telecom services on and off the cloud, meeting carriers’ deployment requirements for different applications.

The future-oriented IT architecture design must be implemented using the synergies between CT and IT, on-premises and online, and software and hardware. IT infrastructure investments employ networking to hasten value recovery.

The Huawei distributed cloud is considered the best option for carriers regarding internal business transformation and ToB business expansion. The key services are put in place on-premises for increased security and dependability, while non-critical services are implemented on public clouds. The most senior cloud services are available on-premises with Huawei Cloud Stack, which is also the only cloud that reuses installed base storage. The most significant data infrastructure foundation for carriers is OneStorage which offers multi-clouds integration, enhanced security, reliability, and sustainability.

Huawei, the only ICT company in the world with business in cloud, storage, and diversified computing power, has taken a giant stride by building system-level competitiveness on the customer interface with seemingly standalone products.

 Click here to learn more about the future-oriented IT Infrastructure architecture for carriers

Hammersmith-based F&W Networks, which aims to cover 1 million UK premises with their new gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband network by 2025, has now expanded their coverage to 250,000 premises (up from 185k in October 2022) and they’ve also added another ISP in the shape of Octaplus (Octaplus Supercharged). At present, F&W Networks is currently […]

VIEWPOINT

Huawei has convened the 5G Business Success Summit at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC). Peng Song, President of Huawei’s ICT Strategy & Marketing, delivered a keynote speech titled “Diverse Paths to 5G Monetization, Accelerating 5G Business Success”. In his speech, he noted that the achievements made by 5G in its first three years are equivalent to those that 4G made in its first five years, and that leading operators are already celebrating the success of the first round of 5G development, which has instilled a sense of certainty and confidence in the industry. 5G will thus sustain this success if its value can be further unleashed in ToC, ToH, and ToB sectors.

Mr. Peng giving a keynote speech at the Business Success Summit for MWC 2023

During his speech, Mr. Peng noted that the global user penetration rate of 5G in its first three years amounts to that of 4G in its first five years. Operators reporting over 20% 5G user penetration during the first round of deployment have seen significant growth in mobile revenue. In the meantime, devices, content, experience, and business models are diversifying as more operators and partners embrace 5G. This is evidence of a market shift from risk-based to revenue-based decision-making for even more assurance of business success. Huawei found that fast migration of 5G users and traffic is the key: if an operator migrated 30% of traffic to 5G eMBB in three years, it would take less than four years to see ROI. This duration would be even shorter if the operator also deployed FWA and ToB services.

ToC: Differentiating Experience Is A New Paradigm of Network Monetization

5G networks use powerful capabilities to provide differentiated experience for different users. For example, operators can provide guaranteed downlink bit rates for VIP users and a good experience for uplink services. Operators in China have already begun to explore this new paradigm.

ToH: 5G FWA Is a Real Quick-Win Home Broadband Service with Fiber-Like Experience

By the end of 2022, 95 operators had commercially launched 5G FWA services for more than 10 million home users. With its fast deployment, good experience, low cost, and high energy efficiency, 5G FWA sunsets old copper lines in developed markets and enables home broadband access in emerging markets. Operators in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have reported outstanding results.

ToB: 5G Private Networks Are Key to Exploring the Enterprise Digital Blue Ocean

Mr. Peng believes that operators can set up extensive service connections with enterprises through 5G private networks, creating a market space for enterprise digital transformation that is three to ten times larger than the market for private networks themselves. This will also drive the sales of cloud, data center, F5G, and other value-added services. The current 5G ToB private network market outside China is developing rapidly. In 2022 alone, the total number of networks built doubled. This future potential is even bigger.

Mr. Peng concluded his speech by adding that 5G is not just about economic value to operators, but also huge social value. Huawei calls on global operators and industry partners to join its GUIDE business blueprint and further unleash the potential of 5G networks from “5Good to 5Great”.

Data support: According to the latest GSMA and GSA statistics, by December 2022, more than 240 5G networks had been put into commercial use worldwide, over 1,700 different types of 5G terminals had been released, and the number of 5G users had exceeded 1 billion. In addition, the ARPU of the world’s top 20 operators had increased by 10%, which is 1% higher than the global baseline.

MWC Barcelona 2023 runs from February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei showcases its products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1. Together with global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, we dive into topics such as 5G business success, 5.5G opportunities, green development, digital transformation, and our vision of using the GUIDE business blueprint to lay the foundation for 5.5G and build on the success of 5G for even greater prosperity.

For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2023.

Press Release

Samsung Electronics and Vodafone have announced their plans to accelerate 5G Open RAN expansion across Europe, beginning new open network initiatives in Germany and Spain, while enhancing Vodafone’s 5G network in the U.K.

This builds upon the two companies’ initial network collaboration, including Vodafone UK’s successful launch of the first 5G Open RAN site in Bath, U.K. in January 2022, using Samsung’s virtualized RAN (vRAN) solution. Vodafone and Samsung are proving stable performance and capacity in Vodafone UK’s commercial network, exceeding targeted performance level and power savings in its strategic Open RAN sites (also known as its ‘Golden Cluster’), located in Exmouth and Torquay, England.

“As we grow and scale our network, we are excited to jointly drive collaborative Open RAN innovation and continue our groundbreaking work together with Samsung,” said Santiago Tenorio, Director of Network Architecture for Vodafone. “We look forward to continue bringing fundamental improvements to our wide-scale next-generation network, to further accelerate our open network approach for 5G expansion across Europe.”

New Europe 5G Initiatives

Building on their collaborative advancements, the two companies continue to grow their Open RAN footprint in Europe. New developments and projects include:

In the U.K.: The companies implemented Samsung’s O-RAN compliant Massive MIMO radios in Vodafone UK’s commercial network, efficiently expanding 5G coverage in the U.K. With this, Samsung’s 64T64R Massive MIMO radios are now successfully integrated with 5G vRAN, carrying commercial data traffic. Recently, the companies also completed a data call using Samsung’s vRAN and NEC’s Massive MIMO radio, demonstrating multi-vendor interoperability for Vodafone’s commercial network. This illustrates how Open RAN technology can enable multi-vendor integration of vRAN, not only with single-band radios but also with more complex Massive MIMO radios.
In Germany: Vodafone will carry out comprehensive pilot projects for Open RAN using Samsung’s 2G/4G vRAN and O-RAN compliant radio solutions. In these commercial pilots announced in October 2022, Vodafone will use Samsung’s mature solutions — proven in large-scale commercial networks — to demonstrate outstanding performance, stability and reliability.
In Spain: Samsung joined Vodafone’s testbed in Ciudad Real, which was created to benchmark mature RAN providers and compare performance across both traditional and Open RAN. Samsung will deploy its Massive MIMO radios and 4G/5G vRAN in CREATE (Ciudad Real España Advanced Testing Environment) to evaluate and verify their performance in Spain’s urban environment.

“Samsung’s virtualized Open RAN solutions are successfully running in Vodafone’s commercial network in the U.K., delivering performance on par with traditional mobile radio networks and providing Vodafone with an agile network on which to deploy new services and features,” said Thomas Riedel, Head of Samsung Networks Europe. “Vodafone has been a pioneer in the Open RAN space and they continue to break new grounds. We are excited to deepen our collaboration with Vodafone by extending our capabilities across Europe, and taking vRAN innovation to the next level.”

Continuing to claim deployment milestones, the two companies remain as strong partners in leading 5G Open vRAN innovation. Vodafone and Samsung are collaborating with other Open RAN leaders, to drive acceleration of Open RAN with wider diversity and multi-vendor, open architecture.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
AT&T signs up to use Frontier’s fibre to connect mobile towers
UScellular urges customers to put down their phones in latest initiative
VMO2 and Vodafone give rural Scotland a 4G boost