News

Q probably won’t be deploying any exploding umbrellas, but in this case a trenching machine would be much more useful. M Group Services, the UK infrastructure services company, has just added to it’s 10,500 employees through the acquisition of part of Light Source Design.

Nottingham based Light Source had employed 220 people but entered administration on the 31 January 2023 with RSM UK Restructuring Advisory LLP tasked with trying to find a buyer for the business. The company had been growing steadily with a client based that included Openreach, Netomnia and Airband, but had struggled with bad debt and drops in customer budgeted spend.

Now 83 jobs have been secured and will transfer to Morrison Telecom Services, a part of M Group Services’ Telecom Division – which also includes Magdalene, Avonline Networks and Waldon. The sale was described by Tom Straw a Partner at RSM as ‘partial’ and includes the right to use the Light Source name and brand.

Additional roles should be safeguarded as Morrison’s have said they will work with Light Source Design Ltd sub-contractor partners to maximise employment opportunities. The key outcome of the agreement is that it enables Morrison Telecom Services to extend provision of fibre network build and other services for Openreach.

Mark Turner, Managing Director of the Telecom Division, said: “We are proud to be delivering solutions for the future of UK telecommunications infrastructure. This agreement further strengthens the long-standing relationship between Morrison Telecom Services and Openreach.”

The challenges of building out fibre networks will be examined in the Project Rollout track at Connected North in Manchester. Find out how you can get involved here.

A collaboration between operators O2 UK (VMO2) and Vodafone, the Scottish Government’s £28.75m 4G Infill Programme (S4GI) and the UK government’s £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project has enabled two rural Scottish communities – Traquair (Peeblesshire) and Balmacara (Ross-shire) – to be covered by a 4G signal. Just to recap. The industry-led SRN programme aims […]

Network builder and UK ISP Zzoomm has today launched a new range of packages and prices on their multi-gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, which appears to make gaining access to faster speeds on their service even more affordable than before. The operator, which aims to reach 1 million premises across 85 UK towns by […]

Internet provider Plusnet has today sweetened the offers on their existing range of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) powered home ultrafast broadband packages – provided via Openreach’s national network, which sees the provider shaving another few pounds off each of their plans for new customers. The packages all include unlimited data usage, a new Hub Two wireless router […]

Network builder and ISP Ogi, which is investing £200m to deploy a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across 150,000 premises in rural parts of Wales by 2025, has today made the business decision to “buck the industry trend” by not increasing prices for customers this year. The provider, which already reduced its overall package prices by […]

News

The Finnish government has allocated Elisa €3.9 million to roll out the operator’s Distributed Energy Storage (DES) solution across its network

One of the major challenges associated with renewable energy sources like wind and solar is their intermittent nature. The sun is not always shining (especially in Finland) and the wind is not always blowing, potentially putting strain on the energy grid at times of high demand.

As such, the growing (and undeniably vital) use of renewable energy worldwide can represent an enormous management challenge for transmission system operators (TSOs), those companies entrusted with balancing the electrical grid and ensuring that supply meets demand.

Now, Finnish operator Elisa thinks it can be part of this solution using their newly developed DES solution.

The DES technology leverages AI and machine learning to intelligently charge and discharge the energy storage batteries located at mobile sites across the country. The system optimises the timing of electricity purchases to coincide with times when renewable energy is available, ensuring that the mobile network runs on as green energy as possible and reducing procurement costs.

But beyond delivering more cost-effective renewable energy for the mobile network itself, this solution can also provide significant support to the local TSO.

When balancing the electricity grid, TSOs send requests for power every few seconds. In response, the DES can dynamically adjusting the power consumption of Elisa’s base station across the country in real time.

Trials of the technology have already been completed at 200 base stations on Elisa’s network last year, with the technology already receiving the approval of Fingrid, the national TSO.

Once DES tech is completely rolled out across its network, Elisa says its network will have an expected capacity of around 150MWh, making it the largest virtual power plant in Europe.

“Achieving a fully carbon neutral economy in Europe is a tremendous challenge. DES helps to facilitate the further deployment of intermittent renewable sources of energy, such as wind power. Exponential growth is expected in renewable deployment in the coming years, but the intermittent and unpredictable nature of the source requires intelligent storage and management solutions such as DES to support and maximise their impact.  We believe that telecommunications industry can make a gigawatt hour-scale contribution with solutions like DES for accelerating the transition,” said Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita, Vice President of AI and Special Projects at Elisa.

“By building out storage capacity in our network and managing it in a smart way, Elisa has not only improved network resilience but also saved energy costs and contributed to the zero-carbon energy transition by facilitating storage from renewable sources. It’s good for the network, good for business and good for the planet,” he added.

The Finnish government is helping to fund the rollout with a contribution of €3.9 million as part of the country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is focussed on promoting the use of renewable energy.

Are operators doing enough to support the use of renewable energy throughout society? Keep up to date with the latest sustainability news from the telecoms sector with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
China Mobile and China Telecom withdraw from Sea-Me-We 6 project
CityFibre’s network up and running in Inverness
KDDI selects Samsung for its 5G Standalone core

News

The fibre operator has entered into exclusive discussions for the infrastructure upgrade contract that could be worth around £1 billion

Network Rail’s Project Reach was first announced back in 2021, with the rail network operator seeking £1 billion in private sector investment to upgrade its existing connectivity infrastructure.

The company’s connectivity infrastructure currently spans around 16,000km, carrying operation-critical information including CCTV, trackside sensors, signalling, and high-speed broadband provision for offices, depots and trains.

This upgrade would include a broad shift from its existing copper networks to gigabit fibre, as well as deploying roughly 250 additional mobile masts to deliver 5G connectivity to customers.

Interestingly, this upgrade is expected to leave the network with excess capacity, which Network Rail suggests could then be utilised by an operator partner. This could theoretically help an operator provide cost-effective coverage in hard-to-reach areas that the railway passes through – areas that would otherwise not economically feasible to reach.

Just how often this would be the case, however, is up for debate; by its very nature, the railway network travels primarily between urban hubs that are already well served by connectivity providers.

Last year, suitors for the contract had been reduced to two consortia, one led by Neos Networks and Cellnex, the other by Virgin Media, with Nokia and Jacobs.

Now, Neos Networks has been named as the preferred partner for Project Reach, having entered into exclusive discussions with Network Rail for the contract.

“This new network will deliver a step-change in connectivity and available capacity, which, in turn will help to transform UK rail for the passengers and neighbouring communities it serves,” said Colin Sempill, CEO at Neos Networks. “We look forward to working with Network Rail to finalise the contract and start mobilising this project which will see the creation of numerous jobs in different geographies. This is critical for us as we continue to support UK businesses and service providers with the high-capacity connectivity services essential for innovation and help deliver on the government’s plans to improve the availability of high-quality broadband across the UK.”

Network Rail’s formal decision is expected to be announced in the coming months.

To what extent will improved railway connectivity benefit rural communities? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Connected North

Also in the news:
China Mobile and China Telecom withdraw from Sea-Me-We 6 project
CityFibre’s network up and running in Inverness
KDDI selects Samsung for its 5G Standalone core

Ookla, which operates the popular internet Speedtest.net service, has warned that median 5G performance (mobile broadband download speeds) are declining in many early launch markets like the United Kingdom, where speeds fell by -38.26Mbps (Megabits per second) year-on-year. The fact that download speeds have fallen in many of the countries that were first to adopt […]

Network operator Neos Networks has today been named as the preferred bidder for Network Rail’s Project Reach, which among other things could see them invest in the design and build of a new trackside fibre optic communications network. This could also help to improve UK gigabit broadband and 5G mobile coverage. Just to recap. We […]

A new study has attempted to forecast which ten UK local authorities will see the most significant increase in their coverage of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP networks over the next two years. Topping the table were North East Lincolnshire, Oxford and Stevenage. First things first. This study has been put together by Uswitch.com, but […]