News

Wholesale connectivity provider, Netomnia, has announced further growth plans for its full fibre network in Avon and North Wales.

In a series of news releases the company, who builds infrastructure to enable ISP’s to provide their broadband services, has revealed an initial investment of £47.7 million in Bristol and up to £12 million in Wrexam and the surrounding area.

In Bristol Netomnia is targeting 159,000 premises starting in the suburb of Downend before extending into the communities of Kingswood and Filton, whilst in Wrexam 40,000 premises are targeted via a partnership with GForce.

Wrexham, which will receive city status on 1st September 2022 as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is Netomnia’s third location in Wales, following on from 29,000 premises in Barry and 55,000 premises in Bridgend.

CEO, Jeremy Chelot, said “Marking our third location in Wales, we know that our network will provide real benefits to the area for generations to come and we look forward to continuing our expansion across the UK.”

The group, YouFibre and Netomnia, have secured £418 million in funding since 2020. The majority – £295 million – has been raised via a funding round led by DigitalBridge Investment Management (DigitalBridge). Earlier this year, DigitalBridge principal Manjari Govada said of “We have been highly impressed with the growth of the business and the best-in-class team he [Jeremy Chelot] has assembled.”

Jeremy Chelot will join a panel discussion on building future-ready 5G and advanced FTTH networks in the UK at Connected Britain on the 20 September. To secure your seat visit the website totaltele.com/connectedbritain

The post Go West, young man – Netomnia announces growth plans first appeared on Total Telecom.

Press Release

All of Viettel’s companies in Asian markets (Metfone, Unitel, Mytel, Telemor) still maintain the No. 1 market share in terms of subscribers, in which Mytel has the highest service revenue growth among markets (nearly 80%).

Companies in Africa markets (Halotel, Lumitel, Movitel…) continue to develop e-wallet subscribers. Movitel is the company with the highest service revenue growth in the African markets, 38.6%, thanks to strong growth in terms of 4G subscribers and new services.

In Americas, Natcom maintained double-digit growth for 5 consecutive years and enjoyed the highest growth rate in 9 years from 2014, reaching: 28.6%. Bitel’s Super app (Mi Bitel) reached 1 million users and ranked No. 1 among the apps developed by network providers in Peru. Viettel’s telecommunications sector in foreign market reached the total revenue in the first 6 months of 2022 to 755.5 million USD, up 9.7% over the same period.

Currently, markets with a high rate of 4G subscribers (over 75%) have planned and implemented projects to turn off 3G stations. All markets promote the development of e-wallet subscribers (to date, Viettel owns 7.4 million e-wallet subscribers in foreign markets). The strategy of developing digital transformation solutions to meet the needs of e-government, digital economy and digital culture is promoted by Viettel on a global scale.

 

The post Viettel posts two-digit growth in many overseas markets first appeared on Total Telecom.

NEWS

The Singaporean operator says it will sell a 3.3% direct stake in the Indian telco to Bharti Telecom, a joint venture (JV) between Bharti Enterprises and Singtel

This week, Singtel have announced that it is selling a 3.3% direct stake in Bharti Airtel, raising $1.6 billion.

The sale to Bharti Telecom will take place through Singtel’s subsidiaries, Pastel Ltd and Viridian Ltd, leaving Singtel with a 29.7% total stake in Airtel, 19.2% of which is indirect via Bharti Telecom.

Bharti Telecom is co-owned by both Bharti Enterprises and Singtel, which own 50.56% and 49.44%, respectively. In turn, Bharti Telecom holds a 35.8% stake in Bharti Airtel.

“Bharti Enterprises and Singtel have agreed to work towards equalising their effective stake in Airtel over time,” noted Sunil Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises.

Singtel says the funds raised will be used to reduce the Group’s debt, as well as further enhance their 5G rollout.

“As long-term strategic investors and partners, the value of our stakes in our regional associates has risen substantially over the years but has not been properly reflected in our share price,” said Singtel’s Group CFO, Arthur Lang. “This sale in Airtel will be our first ever and seeks to address this gap by illuminating the sizeable value of our holdings in Airtel. It is also part of our capital management approach to take monetisation opportunities that allow us to increase our return on invested capital and enhance total shareholder returns.”

The stake sale is expected to close in the next three months.

Singtel has been divesting of numerous assets in recent months, seeking to streamline its operations and focus on new revenue streams. Late last year, Singtel announced they would sell a majority stake in the tower unit of their Australian operator subsidiary, Optus, raising $1.3 billion. More recently, the company has sold its underperforming digital marketing company Amobee for $239 million, with rumours last week suggesting that Singtel’s cybersecurity unit Trustwave could soon follow.

In contrast, however, the company is still investing heavily in the next generation of telecoms technology, earlier this month pumping a fresh $100 million into its tech start-up investment arm, Innov8, a company that has already produced four ‘unicorns’ in the past decade.

The post Singtel offload 3.3% Bharti Airtel stake for $1.6 billion first appeared on Total Telecom.

Broadband ISP Truespeed, which is building a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of South West England and beyond, has today announced that they’re adopting ADTRAN’s XGS-PON hardware to power their ongoing deployments. The technology is capable of delivering symmetric speeds up to 10Gbps. The provider, which has so far covered 40,000 rural premises […]

SpaceX’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based Starlink ultrafast broadband satellite service has been in the news a few times this week as they tweak their packages across the world, and today it’s the UK’s turn. Residential customers have been informed of a significant price cut from £89 to £75 per month. But there’s more. The […]

In a small but interesting update, Openreach (BT) has revealed that – as part of their partnership with Apple – over 30,000 of their engineers now have the “latest” iPhone, which through more than 40 custom apps has enabled them to complete 3,000 more jobs a month than usual (recorded over the last 6 months). […]

Fibre builder and UK ISP Swish Fibre, which until now has been busy deploying their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 250,000 premises across the Home Counties of England, has begun to extend their plans into Yorkshire by establishing a new subsidiary – Swish Fibre Yorkshire. The operator, which is being backed by an […]

Full Fibre operator Netomnia (supported by UK ISP YouFibre) has today begun their first two deployments of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network under their latest rollout plan to 2023, which has started in the Welsh town of Wrexham and the city of Bristol in South West England. The company, which aims to cover […]

Shrewsbury-based ISP SWS Broadband (aka RBBS – Rural Broadband Solutions Plc), which until recently only served premises in rural parts of Shropshire (England) and Wales with a fixed wireless access network, has announced that the first two locations under their full fibre rollout are now live in Shropshire. In case anybody has forgotten, RBBS revealed […]

Press Release

A new study from Mobile UK suggests that closing the digital divide could help make adult social care more efficient and effective, as well as saving councils money and reducing stress on the NHS

Mobile UK, the voice of the UK’s main mobile network operators, has published a report entitled Connected Care: How mobile connectivity can help councils overcome the challenges of delivering adult social care. This report highlights the enormous potential that connectivity can offer to the challenges that councils face in delivering adult social care.

While innovation in emerging technologies is forging ahead, and other industries and sectors are taking advantage of mobile connectivity, this new report finds that social care providers and councils are not currently set up to take advantage of improved efficiencies – with only 40% of social care providers currently ‘digitised’.

With councils struggling, both financially and in terms or resources, the opportunities that digital connectivity can offer should be better understood.

New digital devices offer adults in need of in-home living support provision the chance to live independently for longer. For every additional week not in residential care councils can save £648 per person – or £33,700 per year. Additionally, remote monitoring to ensure medication is taken can potentially reduce hospital admissions by 60% – crucial at a time when the NHS is facing its biggest ever challenge. [Government Transformation, 2021].

Digital solutions could also have a material impact on alleviating the social care staffing crisis by supporting better working conditions, easier reporting capabilities, enhanced recruitment processes and upskilling. One example, highlighted in the report in East London, showcased where the training of staff in the use of digital technologies provided opportunities for care workers to access new skills, and resulted in improved job satisfaction and enabled staff to reach their career goals.

This report finds that there is enormous potential for councils to do more to adopt new applications and to ensure the highest quality mobile connectivity is available to them. Local authorities must therefore put infrastructure at the heart of policy making, recognising its foundational status in enabling councils to do more with less while reducing the challenge of adult social care delivery. Mobile UK is advocating for centrally funded Digital Champions to help coordinate and take ownership of these plans

Commenting on the Connected Care report, Chief Executive for Mobile UK, Hamish MacLeod said:

“With the pressure on councils more pronounced than ever and social care one of the biggest challenges they face it is important that the role of digital connectivity and the opportunities it offers are better understood.

“Our report highlights many of these opportunities both to the council and those in need, calling for mobile connectivity to be more heavily integrated into council policy and planning.”

Commenting further, Cancer surgeon and Vodafone Connected Health Ambassador, Professor Shafi Ahmed said:

“Connectivity is key to deliver better, faster care to patients in every part of the health and social care services. Technology can – and I firmly believe, will – completely transform health care across the UK and beyond, making it more equitable, accessible and affordable. But there’s still considerable reluctance to embrace these changes, which is why reports like this are so vital.

“By setting out clearly where the opportunities are, Mobile UK has made it much easier for councils and care providers to understand the impact technology can have on the delivery and quality of social care.”

The full report which contains a foreword by Central London Forward’s Digital Champion Nicola Egan, can be viewed and downloaded here.

Are the UK’s mobile operators doing enough to support vulnerable customers and close the digital divide? Find out more from the operators at this year’s live Connected Britain conference 

Also in the news:
Singtel mulling the sale of cybersecurity firm Trustwave
CityFibre undergoes colourful rebrand
Vodafone offloads Hungarian unit for €1.8bn

The post Connected Care: Digitalisation to transform adult social care first appeared on Total Telecom.