Global tech company Dotlines has today launched into the UK (Dotlines UK) with a plan to offer a variety of business and household solutions, from digital security to connectivity. A quick look at the company’s website shows that one of their brands will be a new broadband ISP called Carnival Internet UK.

The chances are reasonably good that most of our readers won’t have heard of Dotlines before, which is because they’ve tended to focus more on South and Southeast Asia. The company, which in the UK is being led by Jaki Chowdhury, a former Product Director at TalkTalk, now aims to replicate their model over this side of the world.

Speaking of which, if you Google (UK site) “Carnival Internet” today, then the top result is currently still their outlet in Dhaka (Bangladesh), rather than the UK (here). But that’s not surprising because most of the brands under Dotlines UK aren’t yet due to be fully launched until sometime in “early 2025” and the website for Carnival Internet UK is currently just an uninformative pre-registration page.

Speaking of brands, Dotlines UK will separately sell their business internet security services via Audra, while telecoms operators should also be able to improve staff satisfaction and productivity by taking services from Purplecube 360 (i.e. designed to improve customer services / systems etc.).

Jaki Chowdhury, CEO of Dotlines UK, said:

“We believe it’s time for a change. The telecoms industry has long grappled with issues such as legacy infrastructure and the need for more efficient, accessible services. With a focus on simplicity and user-centric design, our solutions aim to streamline operations, bridge connectivity gaps, and provide robust security measures for businesses and consumers alike.

Dotlines UK isn’t just about selling products, it’s about building meaningful connections between people, processes and technology, with a focus on delivering simplicity through tech solutions. Our goal is to help businesses grow efficiently, in turn, allowing them to deliver value to their users.”

The company adds that a portion of its profits will be directed toward charitable and environmental initiatives, including tree planting, carbon offsetting and not for profit partnerships, ensuring that the company’s success directly benefits communities and supports sustainability efforts.

Gigabit broadband ISP YouFibre, which sells packages via Netomnia (inc. Brsk) and Cityfibre’s respective 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks – across different parts of the United Kingdom, has today announced that they’ve more than doubled their customer base in just 10 months to total 150,000.

At present Netomnia’s full fibre network currently covers over 1.8 million premises (over 90 cities and towns). But the operator is aiming to reach 2 million UK premises (homes and businesses) and 235,000 customers by the end of 2024, before then rising to 3 million premises by 2025 (inc. 1 million customers by 2028). However, these figures also include the impact from their Brsk merger, while today’s figure of 150,000 is just for Youfibre.

Ryan Battle, Youfibre’s Managing Director, said: “We’re so proud to have connected over 150,000 customers in our first few years in business. But we’re not going to stop there. Our growth plans for 2025 are even more ambitious as we continue to work towards our vision of fast and fair internet for everyone.”

Speaking of growth, Youfibre recently launched a series of Black Friday discounts across their broadband packages, which, for example, slashes the price of their 500Mbps (symmetric) speed package to just £27.99 per month and 900Mbps to £29.99 per month.

News

The governments of Germany and Finland fear the damage is the result of deliberate sabotage

A pair of submarine cables in the Baltic sea were severed this week in a move European governments fear is the result of deliberate sabotage by malicious actors.

On Sunday morning, the 218km BCS East-West Interlink cable, which connects Gotland, Sweden, and Lithuania, was damaged and taken offline.

A spokesperson for Arelion, which owns and operates the BCS East-West Interlink, described the damage to as “not partial damage, it’s full damage”.

The following day, the 1,200km C-lion-1 cable between Helsinki, Finland, and Rostock, Germany, was also severed. This cable represents the only direct data connection between Finland and Central Europe.

German and Finnish governments quickly released a joint statement on the damage, saying it must be treated as suspicious.

“We are deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea. The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times,” said the foreign ministers of both countries in a joint statement.

Russia, while not specifically blamed by any of government spokespeople, is the prime suspect for the attack, given the ongoing war in Ukraine and its attempts to destabilise Europe.

“Our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies,” continued the joint statement.

“We have to say, without knowing exactly who it came from, that this is a hybrid action. We also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it was sabotage,” added German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters today.

According to Finland’s cyber security and telecoms firm Cinia, repairs on the cables should be completed within 15 days

The incident harkens back to 2022, when the Nord Stream gas pipelines were destroyed around the onset of the Russia–Ukraine war. Investigations are ongoing, but deliberate sabotage is strongly suspected.

However, while submarine cables are no doubt increasingly enticing targets for asymmetrical warfare, it should be remembered that the vast majority of submarine cable incidents are accidental or environmental in nature.

Last year, two cables and a pipeline in the Gulf of Finland were cut, sparking similar rumours of Russian sabotage. However, the damage was quickly linked to a Chinese merchant vessel in the area that had (intentionally or not) dragged its anchor through the impacted cables. Similarly, a pair of submarine cables in the Red Sea were damaged early this year, with blame initially pointed at Yemeni Houthi rebels that were attacking local shipping routes; today the mostly likely explanation appears to be more indirect, with the leading theory suggesting that the cables were cut by the trailing anchor of the Rubymar, a ship that had been hit by a Houthi missile.

Regardless of the cause of the damage to these cable routes, the potential impact on the surrounding data landscape has the potential to be severe. In areas served by multiple subsea cables, data traffic is typically rerouted quickly and with minimal impact to the end user. For countries that rely on only a single cable, however, cable damage can leave the entire nation cut off from the global data backbone, leaving them reliant on satellites to communicat. This is often the case for smaller island nations, for example Tonga, which had its only submarine cable cut off by a volcanic eruptuion in 2022.

As a result, it should come as no surprise that the submarine cable community is using this most recent incident of cable damage to promote the deployment of additional subsea routes, highlighting the growing need for alternative data traffic in an increasingly volatile geopolitical world.

“There have been many stories of high-profile cable cuts this year, highlighting the need for greater network redundancy. We are so reliant on these vital pathways to transport data, that more investment into alternative paths is needed to ensure that when a cable is down, whatever the reason, traffic isn’t impacted,” said Steve Roberts, SVP Network Investment at EXA Infrastructure. “We are seeing governments and regulators starting to take the security of subsea cables more seriously, and this, coupled with continued investment into new projects, will mean that the impact of outages can be lessened in future.”

Join the submarine cable community in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA 2025

Also in the news:
VMO2 launches UK’s first 5G standalone small cells in Birmingham
BT says Labour’s budget will cost company £100m
Vodafone Spain and Telefonica complete FibreCo deal

A new survey conducted by business ISP bOnline, which interviewed 407 small business owners during October 2024, has claimed that 74% of respondents are not sure if an alternative broadband network (altnet) is available in their area, and amongst those that believe there is, the majority (65%) have not yet tried to access them.

The top reasons for not giving an altnet a try appear to range from a belief that there will be no real price advantage (35%), to too much hassle to switch (30%), with 11% simply “not trusting them”. Trust and reputation is naturally something that grows organically with time (i.e. it’s always an issue for new entrants in any sector), although switching is now much easier with OTS and there usually is a price advantage to altnets (often a big one).

Summary of Additional Findings:

➤ 58% are unaware that there are now over 20 independent full-fibre altnets across the country

➤ 53% understand that major broadband service providers such as Sky Broadband and TalkTalk are not building out their own full-fibre networks, but providing their services via other network operators such as Openreach, Virgin Media and CityFibre (among others). The remainder either did not know (38%) or did not care (9%).

➤ 51% of all respondents also expressed concern over the reported levels of debt taken on by the altnets to build out their respective networks.

➤ 43% were not convinced that the level of choice being provided by the UK’s approach to introducing FTTP will be helpful, with half of those (52%) thinking the roll-out is “way too complicated”, while 10% felt that all the services will end up similarly priced and 7% are concerned that “many won’t survive”.

At present over 98% of UK premises are within reach of a 30Mbps+ capable “superfast” broadband service, which drops to over 85% for gigabit-capable (1000Mbps+) lines (mix of full fibre FTTP and hybrid fibre coax HFC). The vast majority of premises are served by ISPs that use Openreach’s (OR) network, while over half (17m+) can also access Virgin Media’s and nexfibre’s combined network (mostly in urban areas).

On top of that, there’s a huge and rapidly growing market for altnets, which often overbuild the incumbents. Some of the biggest are CityFibre (c.4 million premises), Hyperoptic (1.73 million with FTTP/B) and Netomnia (1.82 million), but there are many more (c.80 in total) and they now have a sizeable impact upon the market (covering c.35-40% of premises). See our Summary of Full Fibre Build Progress for more.

Anthony Karibian, CEO and founder of bOnline, said:

“Britain’s small and micro businesses deserve better and the country’s patchwork approach to building out its FTTP network is not helping. SME’s require solutions today that both enable them to compete on an equal footing with corporates and bring down their costs given the imminent squeeze on margins from the National Insurance increase. That is what bOnline is in the market doing – unlike the incumbents who continue to gouge their long tail of smaller customers with twice yearly price increases and the altnets whose primary focus is on the residential market.

Failure to properly mobilise the UK’s SMEs will only further hold back the country’s growth.”

Naturally, bOnline has its own vested interests here, which means that we have to take their survey with a pinch of salt. But the study does still manage to raise some relevant points about trust, familiarity and a lack of awareness about today’s market that remains very difficult to tackle. Not to mention that the more altnets and ISPs this market produces, the more complex and confusing it becomes for end-users, be they SMEs or consumers.

Some of this may be ironed out by natural market consolidation, but that will take time, and meanwhile altnets might be wise to increase their focus and marketing budgets toward growing more business customers.

Customers of Virgin Media and O2’s various broadband, mobile, phone and TV packages may like to know that their ‘Priority’ app, which rewards existing subscribers with various special offers and discounts, is now allowing access to AI-powered tool ‘Perplexity Pro‘ at no extra cost for one year (normally £150 per year).

The AI-powered research and search assistant is said to enable users to harness technology to make their life and work a little easier. But whereas a normal search will just share a list of links to different websites, Perplexity provides clearer answers with trusted, in-line citations and uses modern AI models to provide detailed answers.

Perplexity Pro also allows consumers to choose between the latest advanced AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, OpenAI’s GPT-4 Omni, and Perplexity’s Sonar model (built on Meta’s LlaMa 3.1). But you’ll only be able to get this free service between now and May 2025.

Lisa Johnstone, VMO2’s Director of Priority, Loyalty & Reward, said: “With more and more of us embracing AI to improve the way we work, shop and travel, the technology is becoming helpful in everyday digital life and we’re here to help our members navigate it with confidence. Whether our members want to plan a holiday or save money on their weekly shopping list, our new Perplexity Pro reward is like having an expert in your pocket to find the best deals and manage day-to-day needs. And save members over £150 in the process.”

Broadband ISP and mobile operator Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today announced that they’ve switched on their new “next generation” Converged Interconnect Network (CIN), which brings together its fixed line (FTTP, DOCSIS) and mobile networks (4G, 5G etc.) in a way that will make them more efficient, resilient, scalable and flexible.

The CIN effectively takes the core deeper into VMO2’s network, with IP routed networks deployed in the access network. This allows different services to coexist on the network and be managed more easily, with the end customer moving closer to an optimised, scalable and high-capacity network (i.e. data is aggregated closer to the end user before routing it back to the core network).

Consumers could also benefit from new products in the future, although they will initially see benefits from this via “improved latency, faster response times and a superior network performance“. Additionally, the architecture of the new CIN means there is no single point of failure, which VMO2 hopes will “reduce the likelihood of disruptive network outages and ensure greater reliability” across broadband and mobile services.

The CIN architecture also supports VM Business Wholesale’s 10Gbps services and allows wholesale partners to scale their operations quickly and easily with high-bandwidth, ultra-reliable connectivity.

Jeanie York, VMO2’s Chief Technology Officer, said:

“The switch on of our Converged Interconnect Network is a critical moment in our long-term strategy and evolution as we combine the power of our two scaled networks to give customers an unrivalled experience. This new network architecture brings together two separate networks for the first time, enabling more efficient, scalable and resilient data movement. It enables us to deliver next generation services to our broadband and mobile customers across the country, ensuring we’re ready to keep on meeting their needs both now and in future.”

Virginie Hollebecque, VP and Leader of EMEA at Ciena, said:

“Virgin Media O2’s new CIN marks a significant milestone in the operator’s network evolution by joining together its fixed and mobile networks to create a more sustainable, streamlined, and scalable infrastructure. Leveraging Ciena’s advanced networking solution, the CIN architecture optimises efficiency, improves network resiliency, and enhances service delivery to keep pace with the evolving needs of Virgin Media O2’s customers.”

The goal of producing a truly converged network is something that Virgin Media and O2 have been working toward ever since their merger several years ago, which is not dissimilar to the approach that BT and EE have already taken. But it still took BT and EE a long time to fully realise the benefits of this, which some might say is still an ongoing effort (i.e. getting the network side in place is one thing, but developing new products and services around it also takes a long time).

In theory, this could open up the way for VMO2 to treat end-user connectivity on fixed broadband and mobile as one seamless connection (e.g. BT’s HALO solution and 4G/5G backup systems), although such ambitions often struggle when operators start charging large premiums in order to access those benefits. Time will tell whether VMO2 goes down the same route or opts to just keep all of this in the background.

Abingdon-based rural ISP and full fibre network builder Gigaclear has today announced that they’ve finally appointed a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Hugo Eales, which comes after the surprise termination of both their former CEO, Gareth Williams, and CFO, Ian Wade, earlier in 2024 (here).

The network operator has so far built a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 560,000 rural premises (RFS) across various parts of England (inc. 130,000 customers) and they hold an ambition to cover “over” 1 million premises by 2027. But the operator recently announced some job cuts and appeared to slow their roll-out (here).

Suffice to say that having a good CFO is very important for any business in this climate and Gigaclear states that Hugo Eales, who has long worked in the ISP and technology sectors, has previously held various CFO roles and responsibilities at world leading firms (e.g. DXC Technology, Colt Technologies, BT Global Services etc.).

Gigaclear’s Chief Executive Officer, Nathan Rundle, said:

“I am delighted that someone of Hugo’s calibre and with his significant industry experience has joined Gigaclear, and I look forward to working closely with him as we look to cement our position as the best rural provider in the country.

Hugo has 20 years of experience operating at board level in a variety of executive roles for large, complex, global organisations both in the UK and overseas, and his insight and tenacity will be invaluable to us as we push on with our mission to generate economic and social value for the communities and customers we serve.”

The operator’s current interim CFO, Paul Hooper-Keeley, will remain at Gigaclear in the short term to assist in the transition and close the financial year.

Mobile network operators (e.g. EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three UK) appear to be increasingly raising concerns over the impact that leasing firm AP Wireless is having on their already sluggish deployment of 5G based mobile broadband technology. This is said to be pushing up their build costs and thus allegedly threatening the viability of future deployments.

In the past it wasn’t uncommon for landowners to extract highly lucrative rental agreements in return for allowing telecoms operators to lease their land in order to deploy new infrastructure (e.g. mobile masts, trenches for optical fibre etc.). But this often made it too expensive for mobile operators to expand their coverage as much as they would have liked, which inhibited the roll-out of new services, particularly in less lucrative rural areas.

The government started to correct this in 2017 by revising the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) to make it easier and cheaper for operators to access public or private land (here). But that initially swung the problem back in the other direction (here and here) and resulted in some providers, particularly mobile operators, trying to force the adoption of dramatically lower rents (e.g. slashing some rents to just a few tens of pounds).

However, over the past few years we’ve seen a number of tribunal rulings and wider political efforts, which have helped to produce a fairer balance (e.g. here and here). At the same time, the new Government has signalled that they want to make a “renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030.” But now mobile operators are raising concerns over a new problem that, they warn, could disrupt such plans.

The issue appears to stem from how AP Wireless, and its affiliated Icon Tower company, are behaving. Mobile operators have historically tended to lease their land directly from landowners, but more recently APW has been stepping in to buy mast leases from existing landowners and then charging mobile operators a premium to use the same sites. APW has also won some tribunal cases that have raised the rentals for certain sites (example).

According to a new report on the Telegraph (paywall), APW’s sister company, Icon Tower, has recently been constructing brand new mobile masts, often close to its existing sites. “These new masts are not subject to rent protections owing to a loophole in the ECC regulations. Operators have accused the infrastructure group of attempting to force them on to these new masts when existing leases expire – a move they say will pave the way for sharp rent increases,” said the newspaper.

Mobile operators complain that Icon Tower is planning to build many more sites in this way, which has them worried enough that Cornerstone (the mast sharing joint venture between Vodafone and O2) is now locked in a legal battle with APW over the issue and an 8-day court hearing is taking place this month. This is to say nothing of prior tribunal cases, with one network operator claiming to ISPreview that up to 80% of tribunal cases (estimate) now concern APW directly.

An industry spokesman said:

“The land aggregator’s business model, whereby they appear to be seeking to force operators off an existing mast which has legal protections, to a replacement one that doesn’t, is a cynical ploy to bypass the code to solicit higher rents off the mobile operators.

Far from assisting the deployment of critical national infrastructure, land aggregators are hindering rollout and in some cases actively duplicating existing masts simply to force operators off perfectly good ones impacting on the existing coverage and capacity vital to the people they serve.”

The mobile operators argue that the only ones who really benefit from this are “the land aggregators themselves“. But a spokesperson for APW disputes this and claims that the entry of Icon Tower into the market will “lead to lower costs for mobile phone users by increasing competition” (this is fairly debatable). “This litigation is an attempt to shut out competition in the market for mobile telephone infrastructure and protect a monopolistic position,” said APW. But some might argue that APW’s approach is not much better.

On the flip side, APW claims that their approach is about fighting for fairness over rents, which is perhaps one of the reasons why they’re often opposed to further reform of the ECC (i.e. this may threaten the premiums they charge by making it easier or cheaper for operators to build/upgrade mast sites) and established the Protect & Connect campaign a few years ago.

Finding the right balance between landowners and mobile operators has never been an easy or simple task, but this area now appears to be getting much more complex for all involved. The mobile operators would naturally like the Government to take more of an interest in all this, particularly given their efforts to foster 5G deployments. But government’s also have a nasty tendency to do things in a retrospective way, and operators are worried that by then it may be too late.

The Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) in Scotland has joined forces with network analyst firm Streetwave and the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) to conduct the “first county-wide mobile coverage survey” in Scotland, which will mirror similar studies that are already being conducted across other parts of the UK.

Just to recap. Streetwave have been harnessing waste (bin / refuse) collection lorries to map mobile network / broadband coverage and speeds in various parts of the UK, particularly Wales (here, here, here, here and here). In this setup, refuse trucks are installed with four off-the-shelf Smartphones using software from Streetwave on top, which run continuous network tests (once every 20 metres in rural areas and 5m in urban areas) as the vehicles go about their routes.

However, as well as providing a general performance map, the data can also be used to see how mobile broadband performance changes over time in specific areas and generally provides a more accurate report than the operators themselves are usually able to produce.

This latest initiative will thus gather detailed data on mobile network performance across the region’s diverse landscapes, from the mainland to over 20 islands. In total, mobile coverage data will be surveyed across more than 2,500 kilometres of road network within Argyll and Bute. Volunteers will also use portable data collection units to help measure connectivity in more remote areas, where bin lorries are unable to venture.

Councillor Math Campbell-Sturgess said:

“This is a ground-breaking initiative that will be of huge benefit to our communities. A reliable mobile phone signal is vital, especially in some of our more remote locations. By gathering precise data on mobile network performance, we can better address digital exclusion and push for essential coverage improvements, ensuring connectivity for all our residents and businesses, no matter their location.”

The results of this study, which will also be made available to residents and businesses. All of this should help the local authority and mobile network operators to identify locations that may be in need of further intervention to improve local 4G and 5G coverage.

Alternative network operator and UK ISP Quickline has today issued another small progress update on their £60m state aid supported gigabit broadband roll-out contract for North and West Yorkshire (Lot 8 – here), which ultimately aims to reach 28,000 additional premises in hard-to-reach rural areas.

Back in September 2024 we reported that the first 4,500 premises under this contract (note: 1,725 were via state aid, with the rest from complementary commercial build), including in areas such as Escrick, Crofton, Elvington, Sutton upon Derwent and Wheldrake, had been reached by the new FTTP network (here).

By comparison, today’s update reveals that the operator has since added c. 600 premises in villages like Streethouse, New Sharlston, Emley and Upper Cumberworth – a further 1,100 premises have also gained access via Quickline’s commercial build (58,000 premises in the area will ultimately be reached via their complementary commercial builds).

Julian Chalk, Head of Network Engagement and Enablement at Quickline, said:

“We’re proud to be delivering gigabit capable broadband to rural communities in West Yorkshire as part of the government’s Project Gigabit programme. Our goal is to make an impact quickly, connect these areas as soon as possible and make a meaningful impact to those living and working there.

Reliable broadband is essential and we’re committed to helping our customers to thrive in the digital world.”

Project Gigabit aims to help extend 1Gbps (download) capable networks to reach “nationwide” coverage (c. 99%) by 2030 (currently over 85%). Commercial investment has already delivered more than 80% of this, which leaves the government’s scheme to focus on tackling the final 20% (mostly rural and some suburban areas), where the private sector alone often fails. The project is technology neutral, but Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks are strongly favoured.