Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Orange Cyberdefense, the cybersecurity subsidiary of Orange, has acquired 100% of ensec, a Swiss cybersecurity company based in Zurich, known for its expertise in consulting, IT security integration, managed security services and tailored support for a wide-ranging portfolio of products from leading cybersecurity providers. This targeted acquisition, which was finalized on 23 July, will reinforce Orange Cyberdefense’s existing presence in Switzerland.

In a fast-growing Swiss market characterized by increased regulatory requirements and strong demand for local expertise, the acquisition of ensec will expand Orange Cyberdefense’s presence in German-speaking Switzerland, complementing its existing footprint in the French-speaking part of the country.

Orange Cyberdefense has been present in Switzerland since 2022 and enjoys a solid reputation, particularly in offensive security solutions. With over 100 highly skilled cybersecurity experts in the country, Orange already works closely with customers from both the public and private sectors, ranging from SMBs to large multi-nationals in collaboration with Orange Business.

The acquisition of ensec will build on this presence, bringing considerable value in terms of expertise and customer proximity in the Germanic regions of Switzerland. The company counts around 40 highly trained experts and a distinct customer portfolio of over 130 clients operating in sensitive fields such as finance, retail and energy, as well as customers from the public sector.

This operation constitutes an opportunity to capitalize on complementary strengths: on the one hand, leveraging synergies with Orange Business and Orange Cyberdefense’s global sales forces; and on the other, benefiting from the technical expertise and local presence of ensec in the Germanic regions of Switzerland and in neighboring areas. This move strengthens Orange Cyberdefense’s position in Europe as a leading cybersecurity player and reinforces its ambition to be the trusted cybersecurity partner of choice in Switzerland and beyond.

This new milestone is fully aligned with Orange Cyberdefense’s unique positioning as a global cybersecurity player, combining local presence with scalable expertise and services, as well as deep-threat intelligence. It also reflects the Orange group’s broader ambition to deliver sustainable growth and digital trust through expert-led and territorially anchored cybersecurity services.

Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense, commented: “The acquisition of ensec marks a significant milestone in our European development, enabling us to better serve our customers with comprehensive, high-impact cybersecurity solutions. This move not only strengthens our market position among Germanic customers in Switzerland but also underscores our commitment to build a safer digital society for our clients and partners. We are delighted to welcome ensec’s teams into the Orange Cyberdefense family.”

Nicolas Lutz, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense Switzerland, added: “We strongly believe that the combination of our respective activities in Switzerland makes sense for our customers by providing increased proximity and the ability to respond rapidly irrespective of language-related constraints. In addition, ensec’s recognized expertise in consulting and cybersecurity integration makes for a perfect match that will build on our existing capabilities to create a dynamic Swiss cyber champion.”

Mike Schuler, CEO of ensec, concluded: “Joining Orange Cyberdefense marks an exciting new chapter for ensec. This step enables us to scale our impact, expand our footprint, and bring even more value to our clients — while staying true to our core: deep technical expertise, a strong local presence, and trusted partnerships. With access to Orange Cyberdefense’s extensive portfolio of services and products, we are ideally positioned to deliver end-to-end cybersecurity solutions tailored to the Swiss market. This evolution also opens up new opportunities for our employees to grow within a global leader and for our partners to benefit from an even broader ecosystem. Together, we will shape the future of cybersecurity in Switzerland and beyond”.

The financial details of this acquisition remain confidential.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Rome/Algiers, 24 July 2025

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, and Algérie Télécom, the leading national telecommunications operator in Algeria, which offers a wide range of fixed-line, Internet, and enterprise solutions, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of a new subsea cable linking Italy and Algeria.

The agreement was announced during the 6^th Italy-Algeria Business Forum held yesterday in Rome, in the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and of the President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

As part of the MoU, Sparkle will realise with Algérie Télécom a submarine cable linking Italy and Algeria and provide related value-added services on cybersecurity and cloud computing, technical support for data center development, training across key technical topics as well as a point of presence in Europe fully dedicated to Algérie Télécom, all aimed at supporting Algeria’s digital transformation.

The new, dedicated submarine cable will provide a high-capacity route to Europe, delivering enhanced performance, ultra-low latency, and full redundancy compared to existing infrastructures. By doing so, it will also support the growing demand for internet services and digital content, offering an outstanding connectivity experience for both consumers and businesses.

“This agreement marks a significant step in strengthening digital ties between Europe and North Africa,” said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “We are proud to contribute to Algeria’s digital future by delivering modern infrastructure as well as innovative and secure solutions for fast and resilient international connectivity.”

“The strategic partnership with Sparkle confirms the long-standing relationship between our two companies and reflects our shared commitment to innovation and excellence,” said Adel Bentoumi, CEO of Algérie Télécom. “We believe that this project will play a key role in diversifying our international routes and in meeting the increasing needs of our customers across Algeria.”

The Italy-Algeria Business Forum aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries in strategic sectors such as energy, innovation, education, agriculture, and culture. It forms part of the Mattei Plan for Africa, through which Italy seeks to build balanced partnerships based on mutual respect and shared benefits.

About Sparkle

Sparkle is TIM Group’s global operator, first international service provider in Italy and among the top worldwide, offering a full range of infrastructure and global connectivity services – capacity, IP, SD-WAN, colocation, IoT connectivity, roaming and voice – to national and international Carriers, OTTs, ISPs, Media/Content Providers, and multinational enterprises. As a leading player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber stretching across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia. Sparkle’s sales team has a global presence, with representatives in 32 countries.

Find out more about Sparkle following its X and LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website tisparkle.com

 About Algérie Télécom

Algérie Télécom is the incumbent telecommunications operator in Algeria with a presence across the country. The company provides a range of services, including fixed telephony, high speed and ultra-high-speed Internet access, and advanced connectivity solutions for individuals, businesses, and institutions.

At the forefront of Algeria’s digital transformation, Algérie Télécom continually invests in modernizing its infrastructure, particularly through the development of its fiber optic network and the implementation of innovative technologies.

This commitment enables the company to provide inclusive, reliable, and high-performance connectivity, playing a strategic role in Algeria’s digital economy.

Sparkle Media Contacts:

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

Algérie Télécom Media Contacts:

Email: contact@at.dz

Tél : +213 (021) 82 38 38

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A recent study by telecom analyst firm Tarifica, which examined the change in fixed broadband ISP pricing between 2023 and 2025 across six major European countries (Italy, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands), has found that prices fell in every country except the UK where they rose by 7.86%.

In fairness, when viewed across a much larger country sample, past studies have tended to indicate that the UK normally does pretty well when it comes to the issue of broadband pricing and affordability. This is often a reflection of our highly competitive market, particularly since the introduction of alternative networks that have driven down pricing to steal market share away from the incumbents of Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media.

The new study claims to have checked the residential packages of “every broadband provider” in each country – those able to offer plans with download speeds of at least 100Mbps with unlimited usage. The results were then sorted into four consumer profiles, separated by download speed – 100Mbps+, 250Mbps+, 500Mbps+ and 1000Mbps+.

The results show that almost all the countries, except the UK, saw a fall in their prices, with Spain, the Netherlands, and France all seeing double-digit drops in their average price (these reductions were seen across every user type). By comparison, the UK was already the third most expensive market in 2023, but with its average price increasing and the declines in price from Germany and the Netherlands, the country ended up ranked as the most expensive for consumer broadband service by Q1 2025.

The increase in the UK is said to have been “driven exclusively by the rise in cost for 1000+Mbps plans“, where the country’s average price is said to have increased by “more than 50%“. For its other offer types, the country did see modest price declines, just “not enough to offset the price increase for these super users“.

The results are somewhat questionable and lead us to suspect that the study may not have actually included the results from “every” ISP as claimed (there are around 200 domestic-focused ISPs in the UK). ISPreview similarly conducted a study of 1Gbps package prices earlier this year (here), which looked at the change from 2022 to 2025 and found that monthly pricing had broadly fallen due to competition; we also made our data public.

In addition, there are a few caveats to consider above, such as with the fact that Tarifica seems to be lending too much weight in their overall average to the perceived increase in 1Gbps pricing. This is an issue because only a small portion of users will actually be adopting 1Gbps tiers, thus the study should ideally be weighting such tiers to have a lower impact on the general average.

The study also noted that only 38% of the UK ISPs sampled actually offered 1Gbps packages (in 2023 this figure was just 25%), which they say compares with c.80-100% in the other countries (where full fibre (FTTP) networks have been around at scale for several years longer). However, the figure of 38% for 2025 is questionable, as most of the ISPs we monitor have already introduced such a tier. We’d be curious to see Tarifica’s data for this.

The other catch is that the study is only considering the prices offered to new customers, which will always benefit from temporary first term discounts and special offers. But since most consumers do tend to remain with their ISP post-contract, at least for a few years, then to get the full picture we’d probably need to examine the higher prices that loyal customers pay too (not an easy thing to do as many ISPs are not transparent about this).

Overall, it’s an interesting piece of research, but one that should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. Pricing is a notoriously difficult thing to pin down and correctly reflect.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The debt strained TalkTalk Group, which has recently been going through another turbulent time due to payment disputes with suppliers and reports of a possible sale (here, here and here), has reportedly secured an additional £100m funding deal from existing shareholder Ares Management. This may be enough to reduce some of the financial pressures.

The group previously secured a crucial refinancing package worth c. £400m in September 2024 (here and here), which saved it from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (extended debt maturities to September 2027). But as well as the aforementioned challenges, it’s since also suffered another round of redundancies (here) and then there’s the continued shrinking of its customer base from 3.6 to 3.2 million (here).

Suffice to say that the group is still not out of the woods and has continued to hunt for a buyer for different parts of their business (here), while also recently migrating another batch of their legacy broadband and phone customers (here) over to the Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus). The strain is evident and reports suggest that there’s now been a major development.

According to the City Editor of Sky News, Mark Kleinman (credits to Ionide on our forum for spotting), the provider has just “agreed a £100m funding deal with existing backer Ares Management that will alleviate financial pressure on the company founded by Sir Charles Dunstone. An announcement could come as soon as today“. The full story hasn’t yet been published on Sky News, but it should be live any minute.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The VP of Engineering at satellite broadband operator Starlink (SpaceX), Michael Nicolls, has revealed that last night’s 2.5 hour long network outage of their mega constellation – impacting all terminals (business and residential) – was caused by a “failure of key internal software services” in their core network.

The outage, which appears to have begun at just after 8pm last night (British Summer Time), is not the first such disruption that has hit Starlink during its life, but it was one of the biggest. The network-wide issue was then marked as being fully resolved just before 11pm (often it can take time for some terminals to come back, even after a core issue has been resolved). Starlink’s official website also experience a wobble during this period, which may have been caused by the surge of global interest.

According to Michael Nicolls (X): “Starlink has now mostly recovered from the network outage, which lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network. We apologize for the temporary disruption in our service; we are deeply committed to providing a highly reliable network, and will fully root cause this issue and ensure it does not occur again.”

At present Starlink has around 8,000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.4,300 are v2 / V2 Mini) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and they’ll add thousands more by the end of 2027. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £75 a month, plus £299 for hardware (currently free for most areas) on the ‘Standard’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which promises UK latency times of 28-36ms, downloads of 103-258Mbps and uploads of 15-26Mbps. Cheaper and more restrictive options also exist for roaming users.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Some customers of mobile operator EE (BT), as well as those on other networks who might be trying to contact them, are currently experiencing a partial service outage that is disrupting their ability to make calls (others complain they also can’t receive calls). The operator has declared this to be a priority 1 incident. The issue also seems to be impacting some landline calls.

The sporadic problem, which doesn’t seem to affect everybody, appears to have started at around 11am and will have also been felt by those on EE’s virtual (MVNO) operators (Spusu, Lyca Mobile etc.). The issue does not appear to be impacting Wi-Fi Calling, text messaging (SMS) or 4G and 5G data (mobile broadband) connections.

A spokesperson for EE said: “We’re currently addressing an issue impacting our services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused; we’re working urgently to fix this issue and will provide a further update as soon as possible.”

Calling problems on mobile operators can often be complex due to how call routing is handled and the issue of who actually controls your number – hint: it’s not always your current mobile operator (try a network lookup).

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Podcasts

Adlane Fellah, of Maravedis, joined Beyond the Cable to discuss why MDU connectivity has become attractive for market disruptors.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Speaking to Beyond the Cable at Broadband Communities Summit last month in Houston, Maravedis’ chief researcher, Adlane Fellah, says he sees a big opportunity for MDU brownfield deployments in the coming months and years.

According to Fellah, there remains a large stock of multifamily dwelling unit (MDU) facilities with outdated infrastructure where “deploying fiber is not really practical.”

Strategically, he said Maravedis, a boutique research firm that provides insight on the evolution of wireless infrastructure, is also keenly interested the potential for conversions between fixed wireless services and mobile services.

Fellah watching development of MVNO/MSP collaborations

He said collaboration between mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and managed service providers (MSPs) are something we could see more of in the future.

MVNOs, as Fellah pointed out, typically lease capacity from larger mobile network operators “to provide a very specific mobile service offering targeted to a segment.”

He said MVNOs exist for segments like the Latin community, along with price-sensitive consumers.

Additionally, he called MVNOs a “super segmentation of mobile services.”

Also, in his appearance on the podcast, Fellah stressed the need for research when it comes to strategic decision-making regarding MDU connectivity.

“The main themes that I hear a lot is the need for education,” he said.

Fellah also said there are a lot of misconceptions about the differences that exist between bulk and managed Wi-Fi.

He continued, saying the financials for successful managed Wi-Fi business models can be embedded within in-depth research.

As such, Fellah also said a clear understanding of that data can lead to improvements in net operating income.

Furthermore, he said a clear understanding of data can help technology vendors “speak the property owner’s language,” translating to enhanced outcomes for all parties.

To listen to the full interview with Fellah on Spotify, click here.

Get content like this delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Residents in the tiny rural Gwynedd (Wales) village of Llangwnnadl have been left without access to fixed broadband and phone services for several weeks. Local news reports claim that the situation began after a telecoms pole replacement was carried out by Openreach, which is unusual as normally such work is carried out to fix and not cause a fault.

According to the BBC News, the situation, which impacts around 40 homes across the small community, started on 4th July and is currently ongoing. Outdoor mobile coverage in the area appears to be quite variable, so it’s likely that some people may not be able to rely upon that as an alternative (experiences will vary between mobile providers and locations).

Openreach has acknowledged how “frustrating” the issue is and said that their “engineers are working to get everyone back up and running as quickly as possible“, albeit seemingly without providing any further details. ISPreview has also contacted the network operator in the hope of clarifying the unusual cause.

Openreach has previously informed ISPreview that it can take around 20 days to fix damaged poles, such as after a major storm. But over the years we’ve seen examples where, in rare cases of extreme damage, rural areas have been left to wait for several months before repairs (here, here and here). Such long waits can stem from a variety of issues, such as with the need to seek prior permission for traffic management, safety considerations and limited local resources etc.

Resolving such problems in urban areas is normally a lot quicker and a downed pole can often be corrected within only a matter of hours or a few short days, but even these may be dependent upon some of the aforementioned caveats. We will update again once Openreach has responded.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The direct-to-device (D2D) satellite service is powered by SpaceX’s Starlink constellation

This week, T-Mobile has concluded the open beta phase of its D2D satellite service, officially launching it under the name ‘T-Satellite’.

The service, powered by 650 next-generation low Earth orbit satellites from Starlink, provides coverage across the continental US, Hawaii, parts of southern Alaska, and Puerto Rico, theoretically eliminating ‘not spots’ in most of the country.

For now, Starlink’s D2D capabilities are limited to text and location services, with data services set to be added in October. Voice and video services will need to wait for later generations of the Starlink satellites.

T-Mobile launched the open beta phase of the service in February, inviting not only its own customers to try it out but also those of AT&T and Verizon. Since then, the service has attracted over 1.8 million users, including thousands from the company’s rivals.

The service is curretly supported by around 60 commercial smartphones, with customers on eligible devices automatically shifted to the satellite network when they enter an area with no terrestrial coverage.

For a ‘limited time’, ‘T-Satellite’ is being offered for an additional $10 a month, with prices expected to then increase to $15 per month. In addition, the service is included by default in a number of T-Mobile’s premium plans, such as Go5G Next and Go5G Business Next. Previous announcements suggest the service will also be available to AT&T and Verizon customers from $20 a month.

An infographic on the company’s website (see below) compares its satellite service to that of rivals AT&T and Verizon, describing them as “scrambling to catch up”. The graphic says customers are “still searching the skies for signs of life” from AT&T’s satellite service, while Verizon customers will be “waving [their] device in the air like a magic wand”.

Image by T-Mobile

Verizon launched its own free satellite service with Skylo earlier this year. Skylo does not own its own satellites, but rather partners with multiple existing satellite operators to provide D2D satellite services using its proprietary technology. Verizon is also partnering directly with AST SpaceMobile for similar services, with the AST having launched five commercial ‘BlueBird’ satellites in September last year.

AT&T is similarly betting on AST, having announced the results of its latest satellite tests with the satellite operator shortly after the T-Mobile announcement. An official timeline for of the launch of commercial services, however, has not yet been released.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Government’s (DSIT) Building Digital UK agency has today published their first 2025 progress report on the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which covers the April to December 2024 period. The data reveals that some 1,188,400 UK premises have received gigabit-capable broadband coverage by BDUK’s gigabit programmes since their inception.

At present around 88% of UK premises can already access a gigabit-capable network (here) and Ofcom separately forecasts that this could hit around 97% by May 2027 (here). Most of this has been delivered by commercial deployments (predominantly focused on urban and semi-urban areas), but there are some areas in the final 10-20% of premises that are simply too expensive for commercial providers to tackle.

Project Gigabit itself was originally established in 2021 to help extend broadband ISP networks capable of delivering download speeds of at least 1000Mbps (1Gbps), and uploads of at least 200Mbps, to achieve “nationwide” coverage (c.99%) by 2030 2032 (here) – focusing on the commercially unviable areas (usually rural and semi-rural locations). The project has already committed most of its budget up to 2030, but there are still some contracts yet to be awarded and others that have failed or been scaled-back (here, here and here).

The project primarily consists of several support schemes, including the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (£210m), funding to extend Dark Fibre around the public sector (£110m) and gap-funded deployments with suppliers (mostly the rest of funding) – known as the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) programme.

However, the progress reports on this scheme have, over the past year or so, become gradually less and less detailed (they also used to be published on a quarterly basis). The latest one follows this trend, but we do get a fair bit of detail in the spreadsheet, even if there seem to be no updates on Project Gigabit’s future contract pipeline.

What’s New in the July 2025 Update

Overall, BDUK sestimate that their interventions delivered 113,700 premises with gigabit-capable broadband coverage between 1st April 2024 and 31st December 2024. In total this means that a cumulative estimate of 1,188,400 premises have received gigabit-capable coverage via BDUK’s gigabit programmes since their inception.

Of the premises delivered by BDUK between 1 April 2024 and 31 December 2024:

• 38% (43,400) were delivered under the Government Infrastructure Subsidy scheme (GIS, Gigabit contracts)
• 38% (42,900) were delivered by Vouchers (gigabit broadband voucher scheme)
• 24% (27,500) were delivered by “Superfast & Hubs”

Take note that BDUK count both directly subsidised premises as well as uncommercial premises that were not directly funded but received connections as a result of nearby BDUK funded projects. “As a result, all premises passed figures are estimates based on a combination of raw supplier data and modelled estimates,” said BDUK.

The spreadsheets also include some additional data and a regional breakdown of the figures, as well as by each contract, which we’ve included below. One key thing to note below is that Project Gigabit itself has still only delivered a relatively small amount of gigabit coverage, with the earlier ‘Superfast Broadband Programme‘ (SFBB) still holding the lion’s share.

BDUK – Gigabit Premises Passed by Year, Country and Region

Premises Passed by Year and BDUK Intervention Type

Premises Contracted and Passed by GIS Contracts (Progress to Dec 2024)

Project Gigabit / BDUK Delivery Performance
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/bduk-delivery-performance-quarterly-april-2024-to-december-2024