After meeting with ISPs, the Government has today launched a UK-wide public awareness campaign as part of its Help for Households programme, which aims to help people through the cost-of-living crisis and will also work to improve the uptake of cheaper social tariffs from broadband and mobile providers (available to those on benefits). As we’ve […]

Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has announced that it is supplying all Big Issue (magazine) vendors with free mobile SIMs and “data vouchers“, which represents an improvement from last year when they gave over 200 Big Issue vendors free data plans, enabling them to take contactless payments (52% of magazine sales are via contactless). The Big […]

UK ISP Voneus, which last year said they had a “near term” plan to cover 100,000 homes in rural areas with their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (here), has appointed Sky’s ex-Group Director, Trevor Legg, to be its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and an Executive Committee member. The operator recently stated that it delivers ultrafast and […]

Network builder and UK ISP Brsk, which is working to deploy a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands in England, has today revealed that they’ve now covered 100,000 premises (up from 70,000 in Sept 2022). The operator, which only recently secured a huge funding […]

City-focused full fibre (FTTP/B) broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which is working to extend their gigabit-speed network to 2 million UK homes by the end of 2023, has today announced that they’re permanently cutting the price of their fastest (150Mbps) “social tariff” (Fair Fibre Plan) for those on benefits, from £25 to £20 per month. The provider […]

Openreach, supported by funding from the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS), has completed the rollout of their gigabit-capable full fibre network to cover the tiny rural Dumfriesshire village of Mouswald – reflecting just 57 properties. It is the first and, surprisingly, “largest” of 7 community builds being delivered via a similar approach this year. The […]

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The ten-year wholesale deal will allow the Vodafone offer fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services over Glasfaser’s nationwide fibre network

This week, Vodafone Germany has signed a new wholesale agreement with Deutsche Glasfaser, giving the company wholesale access to the latter’s full fibre network for the next decade.

The deal, which will come into effect from autumn next year, could increase Vodafone’s FTTH footprint by up to six million homes.

Vodafone and Deutsche Glasfaser’s relationship dates back to 2017, with an agreement to supply a number of business parks in Dusseldorf with fibre. By 2020, the deal had expanded to encompass access to part of Glasfaser’s growing FTTH network.

This new deal further solidifies the partnership between the two companies in the longer term.

Deutsche Glasfaser is currently in the process of investing €7 billion into its national FTTH network, aiming to cover four million homes by the end of 2025.

Vodafone’s own hybrid fibre network in Germany, on the other hand, currently reaches around 24 million homes.

“We are pleased that Vodafone is relying on our fast-growing fibre optic network in rural and suburban areas. Everyone benefits from open access: fibre optic customers in rural areas have freedom of choice. And we as a company are getting closer to our goal with wholesale partnerships like this, to provide the regions with fibre optics quickly and comprehensively,” said Andreas Pfisterer, CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser.

This additional push for the German FTTH market seems much needed for the local Vodafone unit, which reported a drop in adjusted EBITDA of 7.4% to €2.68 billion in its most recent set of financial results. This was largely due to marked loss in fixed line subscribers.

But Vodafone is not only trying to rectify this issue through this new wholesale deal with Deutsche Glasfaser. In fact, last month, the operator announced that it was teaming up with Altice to launch a new 50:50 FTTH joint venture, FiberCo. The plan for the new business is to pass up to seven million homes over the next six years, around 80% of which will be via large housing associations already in Vodafone’s network footprint that are looking to upgrade. The remaining 20% will focus on neighbouring homes outside of Vodafone’s current network.

FiberCo will reportedly invest up to €7 billion to roll out the network, which will then be offered on a wholesale basis to other German operators. Vodafone, naturally, will serve as the network’s anchor tenant.

The creation of FiberCo is expected to be completed in H1 2023.

Want to learn all the latest news from the German fibre market? Join us next week in Mainz, Germany, to discuss all the hottest topics in the German telecoms industry at this year’s Connected Germany conference

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Vodacom launches National Relay Service to boost digital inclusion

The post Vodafone signs up to use Deutsche Glasfaser’s fibre network first appeared on Total Telecom.

The UK Government has confirmed the mess of confusing legislation that is the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which attempts to clampdown on “harmful” internet content (i.e. via fines, website blocks by broadband ISPs and other sanctions), will return to Parliament “next week” (5th Dec) with some key changes. At present, far too much harmful internet […]

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The fine relates to a data breach that took place in 2019 and may have affected over half a billion people

This week, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has issued Meta with another multi-million Euro fine, marking the latest in a series of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) woes to befall the US tech giant.

The €265 million fine comes in response to a data breach that Meta announced in April last year, which immediately sparked an investigation from DPC, the regulatory body in charge of overseeing Meta’s EU operations.

The breach itself took place back in 2019, with Meta reporting that the personal information of around 533 million people had been ‘scraped’ and made accessible on the internet.

The DPC investigation found that, during the period from the 25 May 2018 to September 2019, Meta had failed to live up to GDPR standards with regards to its Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer tools.

Other EU regulators were consulted before the DPC issued the formal fine. The DPC has also ordered Meta to update various systems so that they comply with GDPR law.

“There was a comprehensive inquiry process, including co-operation with all of the other data protection supervisory authorities within the EU,” said Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon. “The decision imposed a reprimand and an order requiring [Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd] to bring its processing into compliance by taking a range of specified remedial actions within a particular time frame. In addition, the decision has imposed administrative fines totalling €265 million on [Meta].”

This is the latest in a series of fines Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has imposed on Meta. Last October, the regulator fined Meta (then Facebook) €225 million over various violations related to its WhatsApp platform not fully informing users how it was using their data. More recently, Irish authorities fined the company €405 million after an investigation had found that teenagers had been allowed to set up business accounts displaying their phone number and email addresses on Meta’s subsidiary Instagram.

EU regulators have been cracking down on Big Tech in recent years, with Google, Apple, and Meta all facing fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars for breaches of GDPR and competition regulations.

How is the increasing role of hyperscale tech companies impacting the US telecoms industry? Join the experts in discussion at the upcoming Connected America conference

Also in the news:
SKT takes its Ifland metaverse platform global
CMA probes Apple and Google over browser “duopoly”
Vodacom launches National Relay Service to boost digital inclusion

The post EU hits Meta with €265m fine over GDPR breach first appeared on Total Telecom.

BT has this afternoon announced plans for a new “UK Cost of Living Pay Rise” to all but the highest paid staff, which it hopes will settle their pay dispute with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) – representing up to 38,000 employees – and thus avert any further strike action over Christmas. The original dispute […]