News

According to the government, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is aiming to launch a commercial 5G network in 2024

This week, India’s Minister for Railways, Communication and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has indicated that state-run telco BSNL will be ready to launch 5G services in 2024.

Speaking to reporters at an event in the Indian state of Odisha earlier this week, Vaishnaw noted that BSNL’s 4G network was set to launch later this month and would aim to have nationwide coverage with by the end of the year.

The company’s 4G network will initially prioritise 45,180 villages across the country that are not already covered by any other 4G network.

Moreover, Vaishnaw also emphasised that the greenfield nature of BSNL’s mobile network would allow them to upgrade sites to 5G quickly, without having to overcome the challenge of legacy equipment.

“The complete roll out of 4G service by BSNL across the country is expected by the end of this year. Since BSNL does not have legacy network, the 4G towers can be upgraded to 5G very fast. There will be no issues in faster roll out of 5G service by BSNL in India,” explained Vaishnaw.

Interestingly, BSNL will use homegrown mobile networking equipment provided by a consortium of local companies, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).

However, it is worth noting that even if BSNL begins launching 5G services next year, just one year after its greenfield 4G network launch, it will still be playing catchup with its local rivals. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are already in the process of rolling out their 5G network across the country, with Jio already serving almost 50 cities.

In addition, Airtel and Jio may not be the only company’s BSNL has to face in the 5G arena, with Adani Group recently purchasing 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz band at the latest spectrum auction. However, it seems that the newcomer has little interest in offering 5G services directly to consumers but will rather use the spectrum to craft private 5G network offerings for enterprise customers.

BSNL’s journey as a burgeoning mobile operator is sure to be a difficult one, with the company set to lean heavily on government support for the foreseeable future. As a fixed line operator, the company had been losing ground to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio for years, being overtaken by Jio as the country’s largest fixed broadband provider for the first time at the start of 2022.

As a result, last summer, the Indian government green lit a $20.5 billion relief package for BSNL, aiming to give the struggling telco a much-needed boost as it continues to lose market share to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. At the time, Vaishnaw told BSNL employees to “perform or perish”, saying that major improvements were needed, or else jobs would be at risk.

Around the same time, it was also announced that BSNL will be merged with Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), the special purpose vehicle created to operate the planned nationwide mobile network BharatNet.

BharatNet had repeatedly failed to meet implementation targets, with the government hoping that the merger will serve to improve project coordination, contain costs, and accelerate outcomes.

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VIEWPOINT

CSPs seeking to generate more value beyond connectivity increasingly see anonymized customer data as a high-value asset to be monetized, providing significant benefits to its enterprise customers and partners

Since 2006, when the mathematician declared that “Data is the new oil”, companies started caring more about the data they collected and generated. Telcos have been no exception, but due to a higher focus on the consumer segment, Telcos are not yet using data in B2B as they are in B2C.

Nevertheless, the investments made in B2C digital transformation can drive opportunities to sell that experience to B2B clients. Further to that, data collected from the network and business and operation systems creates the potential for new business models and revenue generation with data monetization.

Compared to Internet companies such as Meta with 1.8 billion users, and Google at 1 billion users, CSPs worldwide have aggregate access to 5-8x of user data information with their service subscribers. Not only every smartphone runs on a CSP network, but also a significant part of IoT devices, making CSPs an important source of data, complementary to or for some localized use cases better than such high-scale competitors.

CSP’s first-party data, enriched with open data, can provide ready value for enterprise customers on personalized marketing, credit scoring use cases and help with insights into population, economics, consumption patterns, and mobility flows.

Evolving from the current 50m location accuracy of 4G, it is expected that 5G shall be capable of enabling a mobile positioning accuracy down to below 10 meters, when leveraging dense deployments in urban areas. For specific use cases such as factory automation, 5G developments target an accuracy of below 30cm. As per BCG’s survey , location data is considered of high importance by most companies in financial services, retail and e-commerce, logistics and delivery, real estate, and travel and tourism. Nevertheless, the value of location-based insights Telcos can produce and provide can bring benefits to almost any industry.

Examples of anonymized, aggregated geo-located insights Telcos can already provide to business customers:

Geographical origin of people passing by a store area, based on correlated data through cell-towers
Average time spent by people in an area, based on mobile up-time in those areas
Social and digital profile of people in the area, based on devices and usage of connectivity services, open data, and Telco’s information about customers
Enriched use cases about users’ digital behaviour by layering information extracted from mobile devices when Telcos’ self-care apps or Telcos’ partners’ apps are used.

Beyond direct monetization, data can become a new feature or module of existing CSPs’ products, increasing their value. For example, a unified communications service platform managed by the CSP could report to an enterprise customer not only on their key performance indicators, such as average call handling times, but also on how their company compares to others.

Above all, data represents a real opportunity in a growing digital ecosystem. CSPs need to seize the opportunity to unleash the value of data, further leveraging location intelligence over the mobile network, which will ultimately provide significant benefits to their partners and customers.

This viewpint was written by Miguel Raposo of Celfocus. Celfocus are a sponsor of the Total Telecom Congress that tis year will take place in Amsterdam on the 21-22 November 2023

Infracapital-backed broadband ISP Fibrus, which is currently rolling out a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks across both Northern Ireland and the North of England (Scotland will follow), has revealed that it now aims to reach a total of 1 million premises over the next 3 years (by Q1 2026). At present the provider has already […]

News

Supply chain issues resulted in Germany’s newest mobile network operator only narrowly meeting its goal of launching 5G services in 2022

This week, new German mobile operator 1&1 has announced the expansion of its 5G coverage with the activation of 50 additional 5G sites in Hamburg, Essen, Düsseldorf, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Munich, and Freiburg. These new sites will be used to make 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services available to customers in those locations.

These new sites join the three already activated in Frankfurt am Main and Karlsruhe in the final days of December last year – three sites which crucially allowed 1&1 to claim to have met its goal of launching commercial 5G services by the end of 2022.

Mobile 5G services, however, will have to wait until later in the year, with 1&1 in fact lagging significantly behind its initial 5G rollout plans.

1&1 was originally aiming to have rolled out 1,000 5G mobile sites by the end of the 2022, as per its regulatory obligations, but in September the company moved to rein in these expectations, blaming a then-unnamed partner for delays that could take up to six months to resolve.

The partner in question was subsequently revealed to be Vodafone’s recently spun-off mobile tower company Vantage Towers.

As a result, in an update this week, the company said that just 235 sites are currently under construction, though CEO Ralph Dommermuth said he was confident that the company could still reach its obligated coverage target of 50% of all households ahead of its 2030 deadline.

Achieving such targets will reportedly require “around 12,600 radio masts and over 500 regional datacentres,” according to Dommermuth.

In the nearer term, 1&1 is required to have passed 25% of the German households by the end of 2025.

It is worth noting here that 1&1 is one of the few operators in the world building a network entirely on Open RAN architecture, with its network being build and managed by Open RAN specialist Rakuten Symphony.

Other vendors involved in various parts of the network include Dell, Supermicro, Cisco, Mavenir, Altiostar, NEC, and Communications Components (CCI).

As such, the performance of 1&1’s network will be closely scrutinised by the international telecoms community, with Open RAN advocates surely hoping it will prove something of a European trailblazer for the burgeoning technology.

How is the German telecoms industry evolving in 2023? Join us at this year’s Connected Germany conference to hear the experts discussing the industry’s hottest topics

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PRESS RELEASE

Wyyerd Fiber, a fiber-to-the-premise Internet Service Provider (ISP), has completed agreements to expand its 100% fiber network to serve residents and businesses across more than 15 municipalities in the greater Phoenix area. Engineering and construction is underway.

“For years, residents and city leaders have been asking fiber companies to deliver permanent, high-quality infrastructure solutions to enable access to the internet,” said Wyyerd CEO John Scarano. “Our approach is straightforward – to install the best and longest-lasting technology available and to support our customers with local teams who are also members of the communities we serve.”

Wyyerd acquired Zona Communications in 2019, serving Peoria, Buckeye and areas of Maricopa County, and has since expanded rapidly throughout the West Valley, recently opening a new regional headquarters in Surprise. Wyyerd’s near-term plans include launching service in the East Valley in early 2023.

Wyyerd offers a full suite of services for residences, businesses, enterprises, carriers, and non-profit partners, including government and education entities. The experience of serving communities such as Vistancia, Sun City Festival, Festival Foothills, Sun City Grand and Surprise Farms has demonstrated the value customers see in a fiber-based product combined with exceptional customer service.

“Our motto is to do the right thing every time, and that means taking care of our customers like they are family, ” said Travis Nance, Wyyerd President/General Manager in Arizona. “Customers tell us they don’t like things like installation fees, gimmicks, surprises on their bill, and data caps. We don’t like them either, that’s why we don’t have them.”

About Wyyerd

Wyyerd Fiber, via its local operating entities, delivers fast, affordable, fiber-based internet access and related services. At Wyyerd, we believe that each region is unique and should be supported by an equally unique, locally managed organization, led by a local team. Wyyerd’s vision is to become the cornerstone partner for internet connectivity, fiber and facilities interconnection, smart community enablement and sustainable development, one community at a time. Visit wyyerd.com for more information.

Starting a new alternative network provider in today’s overly crowded UK broadband market carries a lot of risk, yet that hasn’t deterred new player Giggle from establishing itself alongside a £100m investment plan to build a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the city of Glasgow in Scotland. At present, Giggle (aka – Giggle Broadband and […]

Press Release

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has successfully completed a trial of 2Gbps residential services in York with its launch partner Vodafone. The trial was made possible by CityFibre’s recent upgrade of its York network to XGS-PON access technology, due to be rolled out as standard across its network from April 2023. The 2Gbps service paves the way for the introduction of residential and business services at symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps across its entire footprint in the future.

Working closely with Vodafone, the trial saw selected end-customers in York enjoy symmetrical speeds of up to 2Gbps, twice the speed of the fastest services widely available on CityFibre’s network. The new services were delivered using the Vodafone Pro II Broadband service and the new Vodafone Ultra Hub and Super WiFi6E Booster bundle, highlighting the futureproof technology customers can take advantage of today.

Earlier this summer, CityFibre successfully upgraded its first city network from G-PON to XGS-PON technology. The XGS-PON upgrade radically improves CityFibre’s network performance and service offering, enabling almost ten times the capability of its current G-PON based architecture. XGS-PON also enables CityFibre to continually upgrade its network while also supporting more customers on each OLT port, creating substantial cost savings, optimising power consumption, and improving the efficiency of CityFibre’s network expansion.

Michael Greening, Product Director at CityFibre, said: “After a successful trial, we’re a major step closer to bringing multi-gig full fibre services to millions of homes and business across the country. But at 2Gbps, we’re barely scratching the surface of our network’s capabilities. Thanks to our XGS-PON upgrade programme, we’ll be able to offer symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps in the future, further evidence that not all full fibre networks are created equal.”

Max Taylor, Chief Commercial Officer Vodafone UK, said: “We’re the biggest Full Fibre broadband provider in the UK and recording our fastest ever home WiFi speed showcases the true capability of the technology and our Pro II Broadband. With the UK’s fastest router, we’re all set to handle the next exciting developments, so our customers always get the fastest broadband speeds possible, in all corners of their home at a great price.”

How is the UK telecoms landscape changing in 2023? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s upcoming Connected North conference live in Manchester

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News

The Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) will check telco records for illegal surveillance requests made by Greek secret services

Last summer, Greece was rocked by a surveillance scandal, alleging that numerous journalists and politicians had been illegally spied upon by the government.

The issue first came to light when financial journalist Thanasis Koukakis reported that his phone had been hacked using Predator spyware.

Predator spyware requires the target to click a phishing link on their mobile phone, after which all calls, messages, photos, and video can be accessed by the spying party.

Soon afterwards, the issue grew to receive national coverage, as Nikos Androulakis, leader of the PASOK-KINAL opposition party and MEP, announced in June that he too had been a victim of a Predator spyware attack.

Since then, the scandal’s scope has grown ever broader, with a report in November suggesting that up to 33 journalists and politicians may have also been spied upon.

The Greek government has acknowledged a number of these surveillance operations, though insists that they were conducted legally, citing national security. They also deny purchasing Predator spyware.

Now, it seems that Greek telecoms operators are set to be probed in relation to the scandal, with local media reporting that ADAE are set to scrutinise telco records for surveillance requests from Greek intelligence agencies.

ADAE is set to put together a specific taskforce to oversee the investigation, using powers granted to it by the Greek Constitution to inspect the private data.

The ADAE has asked numerous politicians from opposition parties to provide phone numbers that will then be cross-referenced with telco records.

It is unclear when the results of this investigation will be announced but, with a legislative election set for July this year, the timing could not be worse for the incumbent New Democracy party.

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News

Government-run 5G wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) says it has exceeded its original plan to cover 40% of the country’s populated areas with 5G

On Monday, DNB kicked off the New Year with an announcement that it’s growing 5G network now covers just under half (47.1%) of Malaysia’s populated areas. The state-operated 5G wholesaler said that it had 3,900 sites operational across the country by the end of last year, serving roughly 15 million people.

This puts DNB somewhat ahead of schedule, having only originally planned to reach 40% coverage by the end of last year.

However, today this claim is being challenged by the Malaysian Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who noted that these figures had yet to be independently verified by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

I think @DNB_Official must explain how they arrived at these figures.@MCMC_RASMI has not yet verified this info.

Next time I don’t think DNB should publish prior to verification. https://t.co/JHjCipq6LJ

— Fahmi Fadzil 🇲🇾 (@fahmi_fadzil) January 3, 2023

Indeed, these figures from DNB do seem somewhat strange. Last year the company said it was aiming to deploy 4,018 5G sites to attain its original target of 40%. However, by December the company said that supply chain issues and difficulties in attaining approvals from local councils meant that it would not be able to deploy all of the planned sites by the end-of-year deadline.

Instead, DNB explained that it would reallocate equipment to other locations originally planned for deployment in 2023, saying they were confident they could still reach their 40% target using 500 fewer 5G sites than originally planned.

Based on the figures DNB announced this week, it would seem that they have managed to achieve 47.1% coverage using over 1,000 fewer sites than anticipated.

DNB says its next target is to expand its 5G coverage to 80% of the country’s populated areas by the end of 2024.

The news comes at a time when DNB is facing significant scrutiny from the new government under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was sworn in in November and immediately announced a plan to review the country’s single 5G network model.

The creation of DNB has always been deeply controversial in Malaysia. The country’s mobile operators had long argued that they would be able to rollout their own 5G networks more efficiently than the government wholesaler, which, they say, would make the 5G market competitive and create better value for customers.

They also complained about the business’s lack of transparency, bemoaning possible government corruption.

The government, on the other hand, disagreed, arguing that the single network model would prevent overbuild and allow more rapid deployment.

Over a year after the company’s official launch, none of the country’s mobile operators had signed up for DNB’s 5G services, with the government even threatening to offer its 5G services to foreign companies if the domestic players refused to play ball.

After much negotiating about the prospective ownership structure of DNB, all of Malaysia’s mobile operators – except Maxis – finally agreed to take a stake in DNB in August last year.

Maxis is awaiting shareholder approval for the 5G Access Agreement with DNB, which is expected to be granted later this month.

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Openreach (BT) has revealed that broadband usage across their UK network of ISPs increased by around 2.5% during 2022 to 64,364 PetaBytes (PB) of data, which is up from 62,700 PB being downloaded in 2021, 50,000 PB in 2020 and 22,000 PB in 2019. The latest figures actually represent somewhat of a revision to the […]