BSNL finally passes halfway mark with 4G deployment
News The state-owned telco has reportedly deployed over 50,000 4G sites nationwide, Today, India’s Ministry of Communications has announced that state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has successfully deployed over 50,000 4G sites across the country, around 41,000 of which are currently operational. This represents half of the 100,000 sites that the company estimates will be required to achieve national coverage of its new network. The deployments have been completed using...
Broadband ISP Grain to Expand UK Full Fibre Network in Warrington
Alternative network operator Grain (Grain Connect), which has already built their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 220,000 UK premises RFS (21st May 2024) and connected 30,000 customers, has revealed that they’ve begun to expand their existing deployment in the Cheshire (England) town of Warrington. Just to recap. Back in 2023 Grain announced that they were going to build their FTTP network across “more than” 10,000 homes in Warrington (here). This...
VMO2 offloads another 8% stake in Cornerstone
News The divestment will reduce the operator’s stake in the towerco to around 25% Today, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has announced that it will sell an 8.33% stake in mobile towers company Cornerstone to infrastructure investor Equitix. The deal, which is facilitated by the sale of a 16.6% stake in a holding company, will see VMO2 receive £186 million upon completion. The stake sale is subject to typical regulatory approvals. Cornerstone is the UK’s largest tower company, formed in 2012 as a 50:50...
Autumn UK Budget 2024 Commits £500m to Broadband and Mobile Upgrades
The new Chancellor of the Labour Government, Rachel Reeves MP, has today announced her first Autumn 2024 Budget and confirmed that she would commit “over £500m of funding next year” for “improving reliable fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas“. Just to recap. The previous Government had two headline investment programmes for improving broadband and mobile. The first one was the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which aims to boost...
Kyocera plans to sell part of KDDI stake worth over $3bn
News The sale, taking place over the next five years, will help the company improve its cash flow Kyocera, a Japanese manufacturer of telecom equipment and semiconductor materials, is planning to sell up to a third its stake in KDDI, Japan’s second largest telco, according to a Bloomberg article published today. Kyocera currently holds a 15.3% stake in KDDI, which Bloomberg estimates to be worth roughly ¥1.6 trillion ($10.4 billion).Kyocera says it plans to sell a third of this stake over...
SICOM Looks to Expand UK Dark Fibre Network for Businesses
Knaresborough-based network operator SICOM, which often works in partnership with local authorities, private enterprises, national carriers, has revealed that they’re looking to expand their open access Dark Fibre network, which is currently primarily located in several major cities across England, Scotland and Wales. The plan was revealed as part of their applications for Code Powers from Ofcom, which are typically sought to help speed-up deployments of new fibre and cut costs, not least by...
EllaLink announces connection to Start Campus in Portugal
Press Release EllaLink, the first high-capacity submarine cable to directly connect Latin America with Europe, announces the expansion of its network to the Start Campus SINES DC, in Portugal. This strategic move strengthens EllaLink’s presence within the Sines Atlantic Hub, reinforcing the partnership with the largest Data Centre being rolled out in Europe. EllaLink’s new fibre route to Start Campus – through the 1.2 GW capacity SINES DC-, offers customers reaching the Iberian Peninsula...
Business ISP VoiceHost Joins ITS Technology’s UK Full Fibre Network
The ITS Technology Group, which operates wholesale full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks (“Faster Britain“) across urban parts of the UK, has today announced that business voice and data solutions provider, VoiceHost, has joined their network as part of a strategic partnership. The collaboration is intended to help broaden VoiceHost’s own wholesale connectivity portfolio, enabling them to offer their partners a more diverse range of business-grade connectivity solutions. ITS’ network is...
Cornwall UK ISP Wildanet Pilot Carbon Saving FTTP Broadband Build Process
Rural broadband ISP Wildanet, which is deploying a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Cornwall and Devon (England), has joined forces with build contractor Dynamic Fibre to help pilot a new cable-laying process that could “dramatically reduce the carbon footprint” of their deployment. The operator, which originally started life as a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband provider in the same area, has more recently been deploying gigabit-capable full fibre...
Nexfibre: Market consolidation ‘is both inevitable and necessary’
Contributed Article by Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre In today’s digital age, full-fibre broadband is much more than a faster way to browse the internet; it is the backbone of our modern lives and a critical driver for economic growth. Connectivity has become an essential that touches nearly every aspect of our daily routines. A robust fibre market fuels the broader economy by enhancing productivity, fostering innovation, and making the UK more competitive on the global stage. Any healthy and...