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Mobile and broadband operator Sure has today started the process of switching off their old copper line telecoms (phone and broadband) network on the English Channel Island of Guernsey, which comes as the network operator’s roll-out of a new gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network on the island nears imminent completion.

Just to recap. Sure is working alongside the States of Guernsey on a joint £37.5m project (£12.5m of public investment) to build a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the whole of Guernsey (30,000+ premises) by the end of 2026 (i.e. end of 2025 for build completion and 2026 for copper retirement).

The latest update reveals that 93% of homes on the island are now covered by the new full fibre network and 67.7% of properties have already connected to this network (over 20,000 homes), which is up from coverage of 75% and take-up by 15,000 homes at the end of 2024.

As a result, Sure has this week begun the next phase, which involves switching off their old copper line phone and broadband network in stages (this will continue throughout 2026).

Cyrille Joffre, Leader of the Fibre Rollout, said:

“Customers can now enjoy the power of fibre broadband – from working efficiently at home to supporting children’s online learning and streaming their favourite entertainment. Fibre delivers consistently fast, reliable speeds up to 2Gbps, so there are options to suit every home and lifestyle.

The team has worked tremendously hard to deliver a world-class fibre network to the island on time and on budget, and we’re now on the home straight – which is fantastic for Guernsey’s connectivity and customers’ increasingly digital lives.

Switching to fibre is quick and seamless. The old copper network is being retired, so it’s vital that everyone – even landline-only customers – switches to fibre to stay connected.”

Anyone who has not yet switched and is in an area where the copper network is due to be switched-off will receive up to three visits with contact information left if no one is at home. This is closely followed by three letters communicating the imminent copper service cease, the third and final letter being hand-delivered.

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Network operator Openreach (BT) has issued a progress update on their ongoing roll-out of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network in rural parts of Staffordshire and Lancashire (England), which forms part of their Project Gigabit contracts with the government (these entered the construction phase earlier this year).

We’ll start with the usual recap. Over the past 1-2 years Openreach has been selected to deliver all of Project Gigabit’s Cross-Regional (Type C) procurements (here, here and here) via a Single Supplier Framework agreement (here) – currently reflecting £745m in total public subsidy to help upgrade 297,000 premises to full fibre technology in some of the hardest to reach parts of rural England, Scotland and Wales (i.e. premises with no prior access to gigabit connectivity).

The areas covered by these Type C contracts typically reflect locations where no or no appropriate market interest had previously been expressed before to the Government’s umbrella Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, or areas that have been de-scoped or terminated from a prior plan. Areas like the ones above are often skipped due to being too expensive (difficult) for smaller suppliers. All the other Project Gigabit contracts have gone to smaller alternative networks (altnets).

Openreach actually entered the build phase for their related contracts in Wales, Lancashire, Devon, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Staffordshire a few months ago (here). But the operator has today issued a couple of progress updates, which revealed the next batches of locations to be targeted by their ongoing deployment in Staffordshire and Lancashire.

Openreach’s Project Gigabit Progress (Next Locations)

Staffordshire

Openreach engineers are expected to reach more properties in and around Wolseley Bridge, Acton Trussell, Acton Gate, Bednall, Bednall Head, Brocton, Dunston, Dunston Heath, Penkridge, Rodbaston, Stretton, Hatherton, Cannock, Rugeley and Calf Heath.

Lancashire

Openreach engineers are expected to reach more properties in and around Newchurch-in-Pendle, Roughlee, Fence, Barnoldswick, Oswaldtwistle, Great Harwood, Pendleton, West Bradford, Waddington, Twiston, Rimington, Gisburn, Whalley, Trawden, Foulridge, Barrowford, Bracewell, Blackrod, Simonswood, Bickerstaffe, Scarisbrick, Cockerham, Barton, Scorton, Eagland Hill, Woodplumpton, Greenhalgh, Longton, Little Hoole, Hoghton, Bamber Bridge, Chorley, Heath Charnock, Anglezarke, Appley Bridge, Wrightington, Dalton, Skelmersdale and Lathom.

In total, Openreach’s Full Fibre network now reaches more than 340,000 properties across Staffordshire and more than 570,000 properties across Lancashire, although these totals also include their existing commercial deployments and coverage.

Telecoms Minister, Liz Lloyd, said:

“Whether it’s families streaming together, farmers being able to use new technology, or businesses reaching more customers online, this upgrade creates real opportunities for communities across Staffordshire.

By delivering infrastructure that will serve these communities for decades to come, we’re making sure everyone can benefit from the digital world, no matter where they live.”

Kasam Hussain, Openreach Partnership Director, said:

“We’re bringing faster, more reliable broadband to some of the most rural properties in the region and letting local people know what to expect. This is a major infrastructure upgrade, so there will be more engineering teams, equipment and vans around town, and we’re working hard to keep disruption to a minimum.

Wherever possible, we’ll use our existing network of ducts and poles to avoid roadworks, new street furniture and disturbance. But there may be places where we need to install new poles, underground ducts and fibre cables because it’s the only way to make sure households get included in the upgrade.

Openreach is committed to building the best full fibre network, and doing it sustainably is crucial for our business, the communities we serve, and the environment we all share. As part of our ‘Let’s Reach Zero’ strategy, we aim to lower our carbon emissions, use less and waste less material, and protect nature wherever we operate.”

The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some providers have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Partner Article 

The solution provides data centre operators a more holistic approach to their entire portfolio, providing unified security and network optimisation

The global data centre (DC) industry is experiencing a surge in investment and expansion, driven by escalating demand for cloud services, AI workloads, and edge computing. Once dominated by vast, centralised hyperscale facilities, the market is now shifting toward a more distributed model that places smaller, strategically located DCs closer to the end user. This strategic shift provides numerous benefits to the customer, providing enabling lower latency, improved resilience, and greater flexibility, but it is not without its challenges.

Running numerous DCs across different regions, each built using equipment from different vendors, is operationally complex. From network optimisation across sites to cybersecurity, managing distributed DCs is costly, and difficult to deploy and maintain.

At the Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF), jointly organised by Huawei and the United Nations Broadband Commission, Huawei showcased its answer to these challenges: Xinghe AI Fabric 2.0.

Building for the AI era

Huawei launched its first iteration of AI Fabric back in 2018 – a time when few could have imagined the speed with which the ‘AI era’ was to arrive. Nonetheless, this first release anticipated much of the pressure that AI’s widespread development and deployment would place on the DC industry, focussing on delivering zero packet loss, lower latency, and higher throughput. This provided a strong foundation for AI training, distributed storage, and high-performance computing (HPC).

In 2025, however, simply improving the traditional network is no longer enough. Date centre operators today are looking to AI to help alleviate their biggest pain points: slow deployment, manual operations, and network unreliability.

Solving these problems has been the primary focus of Huawei’s Xinghe AI Fabric 2.0, which combines a variety of AI-powered solutions to improve network security, reliability, and operations and maintenance (O&M).

From fault detection to network optimisation

First among these solutions is Huawei’s StarryWing Digital Map, which is coupled with AI to automate the notoriously complex process of cross-DC network and security provisioning. By integrating security data, this platform dynamically generates a security access matrix, which then automatically recommends policy solutions with 100% accuracy within two minutes. This replaces a previously manual scripting process that would take a typical team two days to complete.

The second element is the introduction of its AI agent, NetMaster. This platform combines four systems – unified detection, network automation, O&M management platform, and traffic visualisation – using over 45 APIs. This allows for natural language orchestration, enabling the automated resolution of 80% of fault tickets and reducing average resolution time by over 90%. This is supported by the AI Eagle Eye Engine, which uses Huawei’s proprietary IFIT (In-situ Flow Information Telemetry) technology to detect and localise faults in seconds, compared to the hours that has long been the norm.

Finally, the Xinghe AI Fabric 2.0 is aiming to dramatically reduce the impact of network outages for DC network operators. It’s Data Plane Crossing Faults (DPCF) technology uses intelligent identification and automatic switching to reduce network fault recovery time from hours to minutes, while its Dynamic Path Fast Recovery (DPFR) technology resolves local failures in just 1ms. Finally, its M-LAG technology focuses on the link itself, using optical module channel protection to improve its reliability ten-fold. Combined, this three-layer approach to outages adds significant resilience, ensuring maximum uptime across deployments.

An automation philosophy: Using AI to support AI

By incorporating AI throughout the platform’s design, DC operators’ networks are increasingly optimised, but also flexible, able to respond quickly and accurately to network faults or cybersecurity incidents without manual oversight. With service demands from enterprise customers, latency-sensitive applications, and AI workloads increasing in prominence, the ability for networks to self-deploy, self-heal, and self-optimise will soon become a necessity.

Ultimately, Xinghe AI Fabric 2.0 is the natural evolution of DC network architecture, representing the latest example of Huawei’s prevailing design philosophy of leveraging AI to support AI, here called ‘AI for Fabric and Fabric for AI’. Huawei is rapidly embracing AI throughout its portfolio, building systems that can self-evolve to meet the changing needs of a rapidly changing AI world.

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Viewpoint

Germany stands at a decisive inflection point in its digital infrastructure journey. Fibre rollout is now officially deemed of overriding public interest until 2030 — yet the country’s deployment remains uneven, delayed by fragmented execution, overlapping jurisdictions, and competing incentives.

While billions have been committed and technology keeps improving, progress is constrained by a deeper paradox: the fibre challenge is no longer technical — it’s relational.

This whitepaper argues that Germany’s digital acceleration depends on a new generation of radically interoperable partnerships — where Telco’s, utilities, municipalities, and innovators move beyond competition to build shared value ecosystems.

Drawing from cross-sector case studies, economic modelling, and policy analysis, this paper proposes a “Partnership Compact for Germany 2030”, outlining how collaborative infrastructure can deliver faster rollout, smarter investment, and stronger digital sovereignty. The path forward demands a mind-set shift: from trenching faster to partnering smarter.

The State of Fibre in Germany
Germany’s Fibre Landscape 2025: Progress and Patchwork
Germany’s digital ambitions are clear. The federal government has declared fibre-optic network
expansion to be of overriding public interest until 2030, signalling an unprecedented policy
commitment to closing the connectivity gap. Yet despite this clarity of intent, the reality on the
ground tells a more complicated story.

As of early 2025, only approximately 40% of German households have access to fibre-to-the
home (FTTH) connections. This figure masks significant disparities: while major urban centres
see competitive offerings from multiple providers, rural and semi-rural regions continue to struggle with inadequate coverage. The digital divide is not merely a matter of geography — it reflects deeper structural challenges in how infrastructure is planned, financed, and deployed.

Germany’s telecommunications landscape is uniquely fragmented. Dozens of operators, represented by associations including BREKO (Federal Association of Broadband and Telecommunications), BUGLAS (Federal Association of Carriers and Services), and VATM (Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers), are simultaneously building networks across overlapping territories. While this competitive energy has driven innovation and investment, it has also led to inefficiencies: parallel trenching in profitable areas, underinvestment in challenging terrain, and coordination failures that delay projects and inflate costs.

The Partnership Paradox
Here lies the central tension: everyone agrees that cooperation is essential, yet meaningful collaboration remains scarce. Industry roundtables produce consensus statements. Policy forums emphasize coordination. Yet on the ground, competitive instincts, regulatory complexity, and misaligned incentives keep stakeholders working in parallel rather than in partnership.

The irony is stark. Germany has no shortage of capital — public funding schemes, private investment vehicles, and European recovery funds have mobilized billions for digital infrastructure. The technology is mature and proven. The regulatory framework has been clarified. What remains missing is the connective tissue between actors: the trust mechanisms, governance structures, and economic incentives that would enable true collaborative infrastructure at scale.
The real constraint is coordination — not capital or technology.

Research Question
This whitepaper addresses a fundamental challenge: How can Germany unlock collaborative infrastructure models that balance competition, efficiency, and public good? The answer requires moving beyond traditional dichotomies of public versus private, or competition versus monopoly. It demands exploring a third way: structured co-opetition, where operators compete on services while cooperating on infrastructure; where municipalities act as neutral conveners rather than competitors; where data and governance become shared assets that accelerate deployment without compromising commercial differentiation.

The following sections examine the economic rationale for collaboration, draw lessons from adjacent sectors that have navigated similar transitions, propose governance frameworks for shared digital infrastructure, and outline a concrete policy pathway toward a Partnership Compact for Germany 2030.

Download the whitepaper: The Partnership Paradox_Final draft

Join the discussion about Germany’s fibre future in Munich on the 18 – 19 November 2025. Get your ticket here: Connected Germany 2025 | München

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Eastbourne-based broadband ISP Lightning Fibre, which is building a new multi-gigabit speed full fibre (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Sussex and Kent in England (they also hold a partnership to harness CityFibre’s network around the South Coast – here), has today launched a range of early Black Friday sales on their packages.

Customers covered by the service can now take their entry-level 150Mbps (symmetric speed) package for just £22 per month (reduced from £26) on a 24-month term, while 300Mbps has been reduced to £24 (£28), 500Mbps is now just £26 (£32), 900Mbps is £29 (£36) and their top 2000Mbps package has been slashed to just £35 (£44). All of these include free setup, unlimited data and a wireless router (you get a higher end device on their 900Mbps+ plans).

The company also offers an accessible Social Tariff for households in receipt of means tested benefits and pension credits, providing 50Mbps upload and download, guaranteed at the modem, for £15 per month on a rolling 30-day agreement with no credit checks.

The provider’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Rob Reaks, said: “Our Winter Sale is the perfect time for new customers to switch and for existing ones to upgrade at a fantastic price. It runs from 1st November until 31st December.”

The same announcement notes that their sale “coincides with a significant network expansion” via their wholesale agreement with CityFibre, although for some reason they don’t mention precisely what this network expansion covers. The original partnership merely announced expanded coverage across additional premises in Polegate, Eastbourne and Hastings.

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The parent(s) of mobile network operator giffgaff, which is controlled by Virgin Media and O2, have today announced that outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ash Schofield, who announced he was stepping down back in July 2025 (here), is to be replaced by Kate Dohaney.

Giffgaff has come a long way since Ash first took it on in 2018 and recently expanded beyond their O2 based virtual operator (mvno) offerings to include a full fibre broadband service (here), which is currently based off nexfibre’s growing FTTP network; but this will eventually be expanded to harness Virgin Media’s existing network too.

Meanwhile, in her early career, Kate held senior leadership roles at News Corp and Dow Jones, before becoming CEO of Orb Group in March 2024, where throughout her tenure she led the modernisation of a global technology platform, securing multi-million-dollar investment and driving triple-digit growth in shareholder value. But the telecoms game is a different kettle of fish, and it will be interesting to see what direction she takes with it.

Kate Dohaney said:

“Being appointed to lead such a dynamic and bold organisation within the UK telecoms sector is a real privilege. giffgaff is known for doing things differently – something I passionately believe in – and I’m excited to get started, driving the next chapter of growth for the business.”

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Abingdon-based rural broadband ISP Gigaclear, which covers 612,000 premises (c.160,000 customers) across parts of England via their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has launched a range of new Black Friday discounts that look set to be available for new customers to order until 2nd December 2025.

The discounted prices now start at £17 per month on an 18-month term for symmetric speeds of 200Mbps, which rises to £19 per month for 469Mbps and £29 for 900Mbps. All packages include a wireless router and free installation, although only their top 469Mbps and 900Mbps tiers also bundle a Smart WiFi Mesh device.

However, new customers should be aware that Gigaclear’s out-of-contract prices will eventually return to £43.50 for 200Mbps, £57 for 500Mbps and £85 for 900Mbps, although discounts can often be agreed for those who may seek to re-contract with the provider at the end of their term.

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The current CEO of alternative rural broadband provider Quickline, Sean Royce, has today announced that he’s retiring after nearly 5 years leading the business and is to be replaced by their Chief Transformation Officer, Mark Bowden. At the same time, the provider has promoted Martin Cook to Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Just to recap. Quickline’s full fibre (FTTP) network rollout is currently aiming to extend gigabit-capable broadband to a further 360,000 UK premises across thousands of rural communities (roughly 170k via publicly funded projects and almost 200k from commercial builds), albeit mostly across rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England (3-Year Rollout Plan). The provider hopes to end 2025 with a total of 200,000 premises passed.

In terms of the latest leadership changes. Sean, who was previously KCOM’s boss and has led Quickline since its acquisition by Northleaf Capital Partners in 2021, informed the Board of his intention to retire earlier this year, allowing time for a well-planned succession. Sean’s replacement, Mark Bowden, joined the ISP earlier in 2025 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), before taking on wider responsibilities as Chief Transformation Officer.

Mark is said to bring extensive experience in finance, leadership, and business transformation, having previously held senior roles at Vodafone, O2 and as CFO for giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and private equity backed Checkatrade. Finally, the company has also confirmed the promotion of Martin Cook to CFO. Martin has been with Quickline for approaching four years, most recently as Director of Strategic Finance.

Sean Royce, Outgoing CEO, said:

“It has been an honour to lead Quickline and see the business evolve into one of the UK’s most ambitious rural broadband providers.

We remain on track with our full fibre rollout, having secured four large BDUK Project Gigabit contracts, and are one of the few ISPs that are fully funded, having completed a major debt financing deal in 2024.

We’ve built strong foundations and a team passionate about connecting rural communities. With Mark and Martin stepping into their new roles, Quickline is in excellent hands for the next stage of its journey.”

However, Sean will continue to support Quickline in a new capacity as Strategic Board Advisor, providing ongoing guidance on future growth and other opportunities.

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The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has opened a new compliance programme to assess whether regulated UK phone providers are meeting their obligations concerning the need to ensure access to emergency calls (e.g. 999 and 112). The move comes after a string of broadband and VoIP providers, including BT, Gigaclear and Vonage, were fined over various related failings (here, here and here).

The regulator’s existing General Conditions rules (e.g. General Condition A3.2 and sections 105A, 105C and 105K of the Communications Act 2003) require every communications provider to “ensure the fullest possible availability of public communications services at all times, including in the event of a disaster or catastrophic network failure, and uninterrupted access to emergency organisations.”

Naturally, any failure of such systems, particularly to the emergency services, is extremely serious and could result in a loss of life. This is particularly relevant now that broadband ISPs are increasingly switching away from traditional landline phone services and on to IP-based digital phone alternatives (inc. VoIP), which may be more exposed to connectivity problems, power cuts and complexities around location reporting etc.

However, the recent string of problems has now caused Ofcom to write a new Open Letter to the industry, which reminds them of their “obligations as a telecoms provider to ensure your customers are able to contact emergency services and that accurate information about a caller’s location is provided to the emergency service“. It also notifies providers of their new compliance programme.

George Lusty, Ofcom’s Enforcement Director, said (Open Letter):

“We are launching an own-initiative compliance programme to assess whether providers are meeting their obligations regarding emergency calls.

We will use our formal powers to gather information from a range of providers to investigate whether they have appropriate measures in place to meet their obligations. We will then consider the responses to determine whether further action is required.

Ofcom can investigate providers who may not be complying with their obligations under the GCs and, if they are found to be in breach, can impose penalties of up to 10% of their relevant turnover.

You should take this opportunity to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of the GCs regarding emergency calls.

Providers who we will be assessing as part of our compliance programme will be contacted by Ofcom directly. All providers should take notice of our action in this area, including the outcomes of enforcement investigations and compliance programmes.

The move, which reflects somewhat of a early warning shot across the industry’s bow, could also be seen as indirectly supporting Ofcom’s wider efforts to improve the resilience of the UK’s broadband and mobile networks.

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Homes covered by Quickline’s new gigabit full fibre (FTTP) broadband network, which by the end of 2025 will have covered 200,000 premises across rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (up from 65,000 premises in Nov 2023), may like to know that they’ve discounted the price of their top 1Gbps tier from £49 to just £32 per month.

New customers of the service can expect to get a 24-month minimum contract term, free installation, an included wireless router, a promise of no mid-contract price rises and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The provider also offers a contract buyout of up to £300 to help cover your early termination charges, if you decide to leave your existing provider while still within contract.

Quickline has also introduced some other price changes across their packages and tweaked the periods of free service they offer, but their headline 1Gbps tier is the main change today.