Vodafone fully offloads remaining Indus Towers stake
News Vodafone has announced today that it has sold its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers Limited, a 3% stake in the company The sale raised INR 28 billion ($330 million), according to a recent stock market filing. Vodafone used $105 million of this to repay loans tied to its Indian assets and cover transaction costs. The remaining $225 million was invested in its Indian mobile subsidiary Vodafone Idea (Vi), increasing the company’s stake in the operator from 22.56% to 24.39%....
Swansea Bay City Deal Seeks Support for Better Broadband Infill Project
The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Digital Infrastructure Programme has launched a new Prior Information Notice (PIN), which is seeking feedback from suppliers that might be interested in helping to provide “affordable” gigabit broadband to poorly served premises in the Swansea Bay City Region (Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, and Neath Port Talbot). Just to recap. The UK and Welsh Governments gave their approval for a £55m digital infrastructure investment under the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City...
Three UK Discounts Unlimited 5G Home Broadband Service to £19
Mobile operator Three UK has introduced a new discount this week that cuts the monthly price of their 5G powered unlimited Three Home Broadband package to just £19 per month on a 24-month minimum term, rising to £28 if you only take a 1-month term or £21 for the equivalent 4G service on a 24-month term. As usual, Three’s Home Broadband packages all include a mobile router (their website currently depicts a ZTE device for 5G), while also promising “average download speeds of 150Mbps” (this will...
TOTSCo Updates on Development of UK Business Broadband ISP Switching
The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which is the industry-led company that is helping to implement Ofcom’s solution (One Touch Switching) for easier and quicker UK consumer switching between broadband and phone providers, has now started to consult on contract changes to enable business switching. The current OTS system is a Gaining Provider Led (GPL) process, where the customer contacts their new (“gaining“) ISP to start and manage the process on their behalf. But the new process is,...
Future Evolution of ODN Technologies
Contributed Article The optical distribution network (ODN) is a point-to-multipoint passive optical network (PON), as shown in FIG. 2-1. The ODN is an optical transmission channel from an optical line terminal (OLT) in a central office (CO) to multiple optical network units (ONUs) on the user side. In traditional ODN construction, the feeder optical cables, distribution optical cables, and drop cables are stripped or terminated onsite for fiber connection. In both OSP and ISP scenarios, cable...
Customers Report Problems with Vodafone’s Roaming Service
Some customers of mobile network operator Vodafone UK, specifically those who are currently abroad in a variety of countries and using the operator’s roaming services, have for the past few hours been complaining about connectivity problems (e.g. they’re unable to make any calls and find that mobile broadband / data isn’t working). Diagnosing problems with roaming can be very difficult, not least because they’re usually more likely to be caused by the remote network operator, rather than your...
Telstra International Appoints New Global Head of Wholesale
Based in Singapore, Sarah’s extensive expertise in international digital infrastructure will continue Telstra International’s leadership in the Wholesale market. With 25 years’ industry experience, Sarah previously served as Chief Revenue Officer for Neos Networks, a UK infrastructure business managing both Enterprise and Wholesale and held the position of Business Development Director for Telefonica Global Solutions, overseeing sales, commercial, and solution design teams across LatAm, EMEA,...
Telstra and Starlink to test direct-to-cell capabilities in Australia
News The deal is the latest in a string of deals for Starlink Telstra has announced a new partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink to introduce Satellite-to-Mobile text messaging in Australia. The service, the partner say, will help to address the gaps in mobile coverage, especially in remote areas where terrestrial network infrastructure is limited. “The collaboration will initially focus on testing and refining a Satellite-to-Mobile text messaging capability for Australian conditions, ahead...
Submarine Networks EMEA: Over 1,000 people to attend world’s largest subsea cable event
Press Release London, UK – Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s largest annual subsea connectivity event, is returning to London this February for its seventh annual event. Hosted by communications media and events specialist Total Telecom, this year’s event will bring together over 1,000 global industry leaders and key stakeholders, 120 speakers, and 50 exhibitors to explore the challenges and opportunities shaping submarine networks across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Nine...
Nexfibre’s network passes 2m premises
News The operator claims the move makes it “the UK’s second largest alternative network” Today, fibre network wholesaler nexfibre has announced it has passed 2 million premises with its fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) network. The milestone, the company says, makes it the second largest alternative fibre network in the UK – although this will depend on whether you still classify CityFibre (over 4 million premises passed) as an altnet. “This is an outstanding achievement in just two years of...