News

Orange is the first operator in Spain to launch 5G standalone (SA) in Spain, a move it hopes will give it a competitive edge over rivals

Today, Orange has announced the launch of its commercial 5G SA network in Spain, dubbing the new service 5G+.

Orange’s 5G+ service (not to be confused with AT&T’s 5G service of the same name, which is not 5G SA) will initially be available only in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Seville, with further locations expected to be added later this year.

In these initial four cities, coverage exceeds 90%.

Customers will not face any additional charges for using the 5G+ service but will require a compatible device.

According to Orange, 5G+ will come with numerous benefits for customers, including improved indoor coverage (due to the use of native 5G bands), lower latency, longer device battery life, and improved security.

In addition, the technology will also enable network slicing capabilities for the first time, allowing the operator to create virtual ‘slices’ of spectrum for customers, which can be modified to meet their needs.

Despite the enormous hype generated by the mobile industry around the advent of 5G, the technology has thus far proved difficult to monetise for telcos.

This has been largely related to the type of network being deployed, with initial 5G deployments being deployed over non-standalone (NSA) architecture, coupling 5G RAN equipment with an LTE core. While this offers a considerable increase in speed and capacity compared to existing 4G services, it lacks the ability to deliver the ultra-low latency and high-capacity connectivity needed for some of 5G’s most highly anticipated use cases, like extended reality (XR) and autonomous driving.

Without these exciting new capabilities, consumers have proven reluctant to pay a premium for a 5G service they largely view as little more than a speed boost.

5G SA, on the other hand, replaces the LTE core with a 5G core (in Orange’s case, using technology from Ericsson, Nokia, and Oracle Communications), delivering the major improvements to latency and capacity required to unlock some of these more exciting use cases.

As such, 5G SA has been marketed by some in the industry as ‘real 5G’, finally delivering on the promised hype. Indeed, in its press release, Orange itself suggests that its 5G+ network will allow for the ‘full exploitation of all 5G capabilities’.

The operator hopes that these more advanced capabilities will naturally allow for novel 5G monetisation opportunities in both the consumer and enterprise segments, helping to enable everything from industrial XR to cloud gaming.

But despite the hopes pinned upon 5G SA to deliver ‘real 5G’, the wider telecoms industry has been slow to make the switch to the new technology. While many operators hoped to have the transition completed in 2022, recent research from Dell’Oro Group showed that only 39 operators worldwide have so far deployed 5G SA.

So why the delay?

The answer is both technical and economic in nature. The move from NSA to SA 5G architecture is incredibly complex – seemingly more so than initially anticipated by operators around the world. In the UK, for example, BT’s CTO Howard Watson described the shift as a “sea change in the underlying architecture” late last year, telling journalists the company would take their time to ensure a smooth transition.

Meanwhile, the global economic situation is making network rollouts more expensive and reducing customer spending, leaving operators unsure if they will be able to get a quick return on investment.

As a result, we are left with a mobile industry in no major hurry to upgrade to 5G SA, but is instead happy to bide its time and wait to learn lessons from early adopters ­– including Orange.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest news from the international telecoms sector? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox

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

Cable broadband giant Liberty Global has today acquired 1.335 million shares in Vodafone Group PLC, which represents 4.92% of the outstanding share capital (excluding treasury shares). But the operator confirmed that “it is not considering an offer” for the UK based mobile operator and will not seek board representation. The transaction is said to have […]

The Welsh Government (WG) has today announced that the Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet CIC (Community Interest Company), which a few years ago deployed a 1Gbps full fibre (FTTP) network to reach 240 premises in a rural village between Cardiff and Newport, has been extended into neighbouring communities. Just to recap. The original scheme, which was funded by […]

News

The joint venture (JV) would potentially threaten the advertising hegemony of existing tech giants like Google and Meta

On Friday, European antitrust regulators gave unconditional approval for Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone to create a new advertising JV.

In a statement, the European Commission said that the deal “would not significantly reduce competition in French, German, Italian and Spanish markets”.

Each of the four operators will hold a 25% stake in the business, which will be headquartered in Belgium and run by an independent management team.

The deal marks the first major attempt from the telecoms industry to curtail the dominance of Big Tech in the advertising sphere.

The telcos first announced their intention to the form the JV at the start of the year, saying they would offer “a privacy-led, digital identification solution to support the digital marketing and advertising activities of brands and publishers”.

The platform works by creating a unique digital tag that tracks the app and browser usage for each of the operators’ subscribers. This tag can then be shared with advertisers and publishers, leaving the customer themselves ‘pseudo-anonymous’.

Users must opt-in to the sharing of their tag with each individual third party, thereby giving them increased control over which companies have access to their data.

“Users will have access to a user-friendly privacy portal. They can review which brands and publishers they have given consent to, and withdraw their consent,” explained the telcos in a statement.

The operators say that this JV will be entirely compliant with European privacy regulations, including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy directive.

A trial of the platform has already been initiated in Germany, with additional tests expected to take place in France and Spain as the platform develops.

Ultimately, the operators hope to make their advertising platform available to any operator in Europe.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest news from the international telecoms sector? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox

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

British technology and telecoms start-up Avealto, which is developing a High Altitude Platform (HAPs) that could be used in place of satellites to deliver broadband / data and voice connectivity, has got into a legal trademark spat with Airbus after the latter changed the name of their alternative Zephyr programme to Aalto. The Zephyr programme, […]

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) has today informed us that existing customers of their pay TV service can now add “Sky Sports Ultra HD” (4K) to their package for £7 extra per month, which also includes support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture quality (assuming your TV can support this). The new Sky Sports Ultra […]

Rural focused UK ISP Quickline, which is deploying a mix of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband networks, has today announced that their rollout will expand speeds of up to 1Gbps to “more than 55,000 rural homes and businesses” in 96 places across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in 2023. The FTTP side of their […]

News

With President Biden doubling down on the need for the private sector to purchase equipment domestically, rolling out broadband in the US could be more costly than anticipated

Back in 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law, providing for $1.2 trillion in spending on infrastructure projects, from roads to rural broadband.

Within the IIJA, around $42.5 billion was set aside for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programme, which seeks to subsidise planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programmes for high-speed broadband across the nation.

The BEAD programme, overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is currently taking industry applications for funding, with allocations expected to be made by June 30.

Naturally, this programme has been seen as a huge boon to the US fibre industry, with the funding potentially making it far more cost effective to deploy network infrastructure to underserved areas and thereby shrink the digital divide.

However, actually being allocated the funds may not be as smooth sailing as previously thought, with President Biden last week doubling down on his insistence that companies ‘Buy American’ when using federal funding.

“Buy American has been the law since 1933, but for too long past administrations, Democrat and Republican, have fought to get around it. Not anymore. Tonight, I’m announcing new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America. Lumber, glass, drywall, fibre optic cable,” said President Biden in his State of the Union address on Thursday.

The speech was followed by the release of a new update to the Build America, Buy America Act provisions within the IIJA, tightening restrictions on which products can be purchased with government funding.

The IIJA currently requires at least 55% of the products purchased using government subsidies to be made domestically – a measure that has proven somewhat painful for fibre optic companies, who claim they can purchase the products from foreign firms at a cheaper rate. As such, many of these companies have been applying for exemptions to these ‘Buy American’ requirements.

The NTIA has already demonstrated a willingness to acquiesce to similar requests for other programmes, with waivers already in place for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program. They are also considering allowing waivers for the $1 billion Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program.

Now, however, following President Biden’s speech, the NTIA has reaffirmed their commitment to enforce the ‘Buy American’ stipulations for BEAD, arguing that the US fibre industry has the time necessary to scale their operations to meet the programme’s needs.

“NTIA has done considerable research and does not currently see any need for waivers for fibre optic glass or cable. Our expectation is that industry will be able to produce enough quantity [of fibre] to satisfy the demand from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program over the coming years,” said the NTIA in a statement.

“The BEAD Program has different requirements, and manufacturers have time to re-shore or expand their operations. Moving forward, NTIA will work with these businesses to ensure that they can produce the relevant products for the BEAD program domestically,” it added.

At a time when the global economy is already strained and supply chain crises are rife, the NTIA’s insistence that US companies buy fibre and equipment domestically will surely be a blow to the nation’s fixed line operators.

How will the US government’s insistence that the private sector ‘Buy American’ impact the provision of telecoms services? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s live Connected America conference

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

Existing customers Virgin Media Business UK (VMO2), specifically those who take their Voom 600Mbps, 800Mbps and 1Gps service tiers, may be pleased to learn that the provider has today officially confirmed that they’re getting a boost to upload speeds – reflecting a ’10:1 Download to Upload’ speed ratio across all Voom packages. The move won’t […]

A growing number of ISPs have introduced cheaper Social Tariffs over the past year – aimed at those on benefits who are most exposed to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. As part of this, some providers have called on Openreach to launch social tariff products at wholesale to support them, but there’s so far no indication […]