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Alternative ISP Highland Broadband (Lothian Broadband), which is building a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network across rural parts of the Scottish Highlands, has confirmed that they’ve worked with network partner ADTRAN to cover the Caithness village of Halkirk.

The community, which is home to a population of almost 1,000, previously didn’t have access to any gigabit-capable broadband networks, until Highland Broadband completed the extension of its network into the area.

According to the announcement, locals originally only had access to super slow speeds of 2.8Mbps. But so far as we can tell most of the local premises could already access speeds of much faster than that via Openreach’s 40-80Mbps capable FTTC (VDSL2) network.

Colin Woodward, MD of Highland Broadband, said:

“At Highland Broadband, we’re committed to delivering world-class connectivity to Scotland’s furthest away communities. Halkirk’s transformation proves that no town is too small or too far away to benefit from full-fiber broadband. Leveraging Adtran’s technology and the support of its team, we’ve built a network that provides Gigabit speeds and ensures long-term, high-quality internet access.

This deployment expands opportunities for residents and businesses, enabling education, commerce and digital services that were previously out of reach. It demonstrates that high-speed fiber can succeed even in the most challenging locations, setting a blueprint for future rural broadband expansion.”

Residential customers of the service can expect to pay from £34.99 per month (discounted to £29.99) for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric) service on a 24-month term, which rises up to £89.99 (discounted to £54.99) for their top 2Gbps tier! Various phone, pay TV and mesh WiFi solutions can also be added at an extra cost.

The local village deployment features Adtran’s 631 ONTs for connectivity, along with 8733 Wi-Fi 7 residential gateways that provide whole-home coverage. HB also harnesses Adtran’s AI-driven insights from Mosaic One, which allows them to remotely monitor and optimize network performance, reducing costly truck rolls.

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Consultancy firm FarrPoint has today published the results of a new study, which saw them working with the Orkney Islands Council to investigate 4G mobile coverage and network performance (mobile broadband) across Orkney. Vodafone and O2 were found to have the best coverage in the main areas surveyed, while Three UK and EE have the “worse coverage overall“.

The Orkney study also looked at the impact on local businesses from increased numbers of people using mobile (particularly when cruise ships come), which involved a survey of 39 local businesses – the majority being based in Kirkwall and Stromness.

Overall, FarrPoint’s economic assessment suggested that poor mobile coverage may lead to mobile access issues for tourists and the local community. But the same impact is not being felt by local businesses, who mostly use fixed (broadband) connectivity.

The study also found opportunities for improving mobile connectivity across Orkney, however, it concluded that any improvements “would not have an economic impact on businesses” when there are increased tourist numbers from cruise ships.

Stage 1: Coverage Results

Conclusions

• EE – Overall coverage is relatively poor in Kirkwall and across the barriers to St Margaret’s Hope, with slightly better coverage in the Stromness area.

• Vodafone – Coverage is generally good in all areas except the main road to the northwest, which has poor coverage to the north.

• O2 – Coverage is good in Stromness and in some parts of Kirkwall. However, the road to the northwest and across the barriers, plus St Margaret’s Hope, has more mixed coverage.

• Three UK – Coverage is poor in most areas, with Finstown having almost no coverage. Stromness is the exception from Three, which has good coverage.

Overall:

• Vodafone and O2 have the best coverage in the main areas surveyed. Three and EE have poorer coverage overall. EE and Three best serve the road heading to the northwest of the mainland.

• However, it is important to recognise that user experience is affected by both coverage and capacity. Where the data suggests reasonable coverage, if user issues remain, then capacity could be an issue that would require the operators to take action.

• Our survey recorded 4G coverage from all four operators, plus Ofcom indicates that O2 has some 5G coverage in Orkney.

This will be non-standalone 5G, meaning that a sufficient 4G service is still required to enable access to the 5G network and potentially higher throughputs. Looking ahead, mobile networks will remain on 4G for a significant period of time and it is expected additional operators will deploy 5G in Orkney as networks are refreshed. 5G Standalone coverage will increase in urban areas, but may need further intervention if it was required in more rural areas.

Ewan Kennedy, Council Graduate Trainee (Digital Engagement & Enterprise), said:

“Access to reliable mobile coverage is increasingly essential to all and whilst Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) publish their coverage maps, these are based on modelled (predicted) coverage and don’t necessarily reflect the real, on the ground experience of users.

Mobile phone coverage in Kirkwall and Stromness varies depending on the network provider and officers have had anecdotal evidence from residents and businesses that the coverage is not always as good as a mobile operator information may suggest.

Gaps in coverage remain and some are being addressed by intervention programmes such as S4GI and Shared Rural Network, but not all.

Through this data gathering exercise we now have a much better understanding of the ‘lived experience’ of users in Kirkwall and Stromness and can identify coverage gaps and areas needing improvement and enhanced mobile coverage.

The data from this project will directly feed into development of projects to improve connectivity in the area.

Anecdotally, it has been suggested that mobile performance is affected when there is an influx of visitors to the county using the local mobile networks resulting in the inability of local businesses to fully function, e.g. take card payments.

The survey findings found this was not the case – in fact out of 39 business respondents, only one, who was reliant on a mobile signal, gave a negative response to their business during high visitor density days. All other businesses reported only positive responses.”

The report recommends that improvements should be focused on mobile coverage and capacity where there is a demonstrated need. A review of overall resilience to ensure high availability of service is also advised.

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Some customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media, specifically those with one of their legacy addresses that use the ntlworld.com domain, are having trouble sending and receiving email today. The issue appears to be rooted in the fact that the domain has stopped resolving. But the provider is working on a fix.

According to Thinkbroadband, which spotted the issue, the registry whois information for ntlworld.com indicates that the domain is currently in a “clientHold” status, which usually means the registrar (Network Solutions) has put the domain on hold, and it is not published in the Domain Name System (DNS).

Quite why this is occurring remains unclear, although it doesn’t appear to be a domain expiry issue (often the cause of problems, when people forget to renew an old domain). A spokesperson for Virgin Media said: “We’re aware that customers with ntlworld email addresses are currently unable to send or receive emails. Our teams are working to fully restore services as soon as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

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Network operator Openreach (BT) has informed ISPs that they’ll be able to take advantage of free (connection charge) “Proactive FTTP Upgrades” for migrations to Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband speeds of 80Mbps (20Mbps upload) and above from 7th May 2025. This may or may not get passed on to related consumers.

As Openreach told us in 2023 (here): “Proactive migrations arise where a Communications Provider [ISP] proposes an upgrade to FTTP to its own ADSL/VDSL/GFast broadband customers, at the same time booking an appointment for an Openreach engineer to carry out the upgrade. The end customer is able to confirm, reject or select a different appointment.”

According to the related briefing, the special offer only applies to ‘Standard’ provisions (migrations) and does NOT apply to ‘Premium’ or ‘Advanced’ connections for Proactive FTTP Upgrades. The latter two will be charged at the prevailing rate as set out in the Price List, minus the standard connection charge (currently £30 and £175 +vat respectively).

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Business focused broadband ISP and IT solutions provider Focus Group has today announced that they’ve acquired Rossendale-based managed IT and telecoms solutions provider Matrix247 for an undisclosed sum. The latter was originally setup by Stephen Pritchard and Geoff Wright in 1991!

Under the agreement, Matrix247 will continue to operate under its existing brand name in the immediate term, albeit with integration plans to be announced in the future.

Neil Hall, CEO of the Focus Group, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome the Matrix247 team on board. The team’s technical and service capabilities have resulted in an excellent rate of growth for the business, and they have an enviable ability to attract and convert new customers, while confidently delivering and supporting new implementations. We’re eager to continue building upon this success and the partnership will further enhance our CCaaS and Managed IT offering for the wider group.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

Deutsche Telekom has renewed its strategic partnership with Google Cloud through to 2030, as the operator continues to modernise its IT infrastructure and simplify its business processes 

The long-term agreement builds on an existing deal between the two companies and positions Google Cloud as Telekom’s preferred cloud partner.  

A central focus of the deal is the SAP2SKY initiative, Deutsche Telekom’s internal plan to migrate its entire SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) landscape to the cloud. This large-scale transformation is designed to improve scalability, flexibility, and efficiency across the operator’s European operations.  

Another key pillar of the partnership is the development of a One Data Ecosystem (ODE), a consolidated, cloud-based platform that enables more efficient data processing and ensures compliance with local regulations. Announced at MWC Barcelona this year, the platform is central to the company’s plan to streamline its data infrastructure. 

The partnership will also see further enhancements to its customer-facing platforms, including the customer app, MeinMagenta. New features enabled by Google Cloud infrastructure aim to provide real-time support, better integration across services, and a more personalised experience for users. 

“Telekom is evolving into an AI-centric company and improving its agility through the use of data and AI. We are optimising digital solutions across all our business units, in software engineering, and at the interface with our customers to provide them with an outstanding experience,” said Stefan Schloter, CIO Europe at Deutsche Telekom in a press release.  

“Our collaboration with Google Cloud supports this and promotes innovation and efficiency. The migration of Telekom’s SAP core systems to GCP and the MeinMagenta app with Google’s Gemini Multimodal Live API are just two examples of the power of our partnership. We look forward to further expanding our collaboration,” he continued. 

Last year, Deutsche Telekom became a founding member of the Global Telco AI Alliance, along with SK Telecom, e&, Singtel, and SoftBank. The joint venture aims to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) that are specifically designed to meet telco needs, in areas such as improving customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. The LLMs will be tailored to the needs of the five companies in their respective markets, allowing them to reach a combined customer base of around 1.3 billion people in 50 countries.  

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Also in the news:
Legacy tech hindering UK’s AI drive
Ciena survey reveals AI’s strain on data centre connectivity
Wildanet details full fibre rollout strategy with Xantaro in Cornwall

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Hampshire-based ISP toob, which has deployed their own gigabit speed full fibre (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Southern England, have today announced that they’ve expanded the availability of their services – under their complementary partnership with CityFibre – to another 23 cities and towns across the UK.

The alternative network provider is currently being financed through equity from funds managed and advised by the Amber Infrastructure Group, as well as a large amount of debt financing provided by Ares Management’s Infrastructure Debt (here). At the end of 2023 this mix of equity and debt reflected a total commitment of £395m.

However, toob both builds their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure and also holds a network partnership with CityFibre, with the latter helping to expand their coverage well beyond what they’ve already built (CF also gained reciprocal access to toob’s network). As a result of today’s development, toob’s packages can now be purchased in many towns and cities across a total of 23 additional UK locations.

The latest additions to their coverage include Bath, Radstock, Gloucester, Cheltenham & Charlton Kings, Redditch, Evesham, Wolverhampton, Swindon, Chippenham, Warminster, Melksham, Westbury, Chelmsford, Solihull & Yardley, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington & Old Oscott, Harpenden, Newark on Trent, Hinckley, Bishop’s Stortford, Welwyn Garden City, Potters Bar, St Albans, and Watford.

Nick Parbutt, toob CEO, said:

“I’m thrilled toob is expanding its reach to bring full-fibre broadband to Bath, Radstock, Gloucester, Cheltenham & Charlton Kings, Redditch, Evesham, Wolverhampton, Swindon, Chippenham, Warminster, Melksham, Westbury, Chelmsford, Solihull & Yardley, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington & Old Oscott, Harpenden, Newark on Trent, Hinckley, Bishop’s Stortford, Welwyn Garden City, Potters Bar, St Albans, and Watford.

For far too long, broadband providers have let customers down with poor service and unjustified price hikes. At toob, we’re changing that by focusing on what truly matters—offering fast and reliable broadband at an affordable price.

With ultrafast speeds of 900 Mbps priced currently at just £25 a month, we’re delivering incredible value. This is all made possible through our partnership with CityFibre which uses the latest and most dependable full-fibre technology available.”

Customers of the service currently pay just £25 per month on an 18-month minimum contract term (or £37 if you want a monthly term) to receive symmetric speeds of 900Mbps+ (average advertised speed) from toob, which includes free installation, a wireless router, unlimited usage, a pledge of no mid-contract price hikes and UK-based support (currently they’re also throwing in a £50 Amazon Gift Card).

In addition, it’s worth mentioning that toob also offers a cheaper 150Mbps entry-level tier for just £22 per month on an 18-month term, as well as a separate 50Mbps Social Tariff (‘toob essentials’) for those on state benefits. The latter has no fixed contract term and costs just £20 per month.

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Customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2), specifically those still using some of the provider’s oldest routers (i.e. Hub 2 AC, Hub 2 and Hub 1), have recently become the latest group to receive a letter inviting them to upgrade to the HUB 4.0 (ARRIS TG3492LG-VMB) “at not extra” cost. This is because the old hardware no longer receives security updates.

The provider has long been running various Hub upgrade programmes, often for different reasons. In this case, the latest upgrade effort reflects a combination of changes that were introduced under both the recent Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PSTI) and the Telecoms (Security) Act (TSA).

The PSTI requires, among other things, that manufacturers and retailers must be “open with consumers on the minimum time they can expect to receive important security updates” for their smart / connected devices. Virgin Media setup a page for this last year (here), although it only goes up to their Hub 3 and made no mention of the few remaining users on much older kit.

The TSA similarly sets out complementary expectations for how telecoms providers should monitor and reduce the risks of security compromises relating to older devices (e.g. routers), such as those that no longer receive security updates. Some of this came into force at the end of March 2025 and many ISPs have already responded by running upgrade programmes for customers still using unsupported kit (example).

All of the above helps to give context for why some Virgin Media customers, often those who haven’t previously been contacted, are now receiving the following letter. Since you really don’t want to be stuck using a device that is no longer receiving patches or support for the latest security vulnerabilities. 

Virgin Media Customer Letter to Users of Ancient Hubs

The upgrade also brings other benefits than those mentioned above, since the Hub 4 was also the first of Virgin Media’s broadband routers to support the DOCSIS 3.1 standard on their older Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network. The router thus makes more efficient use of Virgin’s HFC network and can deliver faster broadband speeds (e.g. 1Gbps).

One catch with all this is that, since the latest upgrade phase began, we have seen the odd user complain about being charged a £35 installation fee plus £5 delivery charge for the “free” Hub replacement (example). This is obviously a mistake and Virgin Media’s support department will rectify that if it occurs. Just keep an eye on your next bill post-upgrade.

Finally, we should mention that upgrade programmes like this tend to run in phases, which helps to manage demand. So if you haven’t had an upgrade letter, then you will do in the future (or try contacting Virgin Media directly instead). Virgin Media will often also reissue such letters to those who don’t respond the first time, although we can’t speak as to the time intervals involved.

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Infracapital-backed network operator Fibrus, which is building a full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network across rural parts of Cumbria (England) and Northern Ireland, has today announced a new 5-year agreement to deploy Nokia’s Deepfield solution across their UK network. This is a network monitoring, management and security solution.

Fibrus has already conducted trials of the new Deepfield platform, which ingests data from many different sources within an operator’s network and uses that to help monitor, as well as optimise, what’s going on in real-time. As part of that, it can also provide better protection against sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks and other cyberattacks.

The operator intends to use the new technology to help proactively manage the growth of its network, which is being “driven by a 50% take-up rate of FTTH services, including 2Gbps products“. Fibrus’ UK network currently reaches over 400,000 UK premises and has connected 100,000 customers.

Shane Haslem, COO at Fibrus, said:

“Our commitment to guarantee exceptional service for our customers means that we’re always looking for ways to innovate and improve our network. The Deepfield solution from Nokia gives us the tools to understand our traffic better, protect against potential threats, and reduce operational costs. This partnership allows us to futureproof the digital infrastructure in the areas we serve, maintaining the highest level of service and security for our 100,000-strong customer base.”

The move appears to be a logical one, not least because Fibrus has been working with Nokia to deploy their full fibre network since as far back as 2020.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Feature Week

One month on from Mobile World Congress, we highlight a trio of key AI-related themes from the show with major promise

AI was undoubtedly the unifying theme of MWC 2025, with the term appearing in a myriad of forms, from AI-powered kitchens to automated agents handling telco network operations.

While some of these developments are undoubtedly overhyped by marketers trying to capitalise on the buzz word of the week, some of these concepts have the genuine potential to upend the traditional telco business model.

Below, we recap three AI themes from MWC with the potential to be hugely disruptive – if they live up to the hype.

AI-embedded smartphones

For anyone that has used ChatGPT on their mobile, the idea of generative AI on a mobile device may seem like nothing new. But what if the AI assistant on your phone had access to your apps, could airbrush your photos, and manage your calendar, all through natural language interactions? This is the new reality that embedding AI chips in smartphones could offer in the near future and the smartphone makers are understandably excited about it.

With benefits including everything from better optimised battery management to real-time translation, could an all-encompassing AI assistant be the ‘super app’ the telecoms industry as been waiting for so long, or even the end of apps altogether?

Here are some of the biggest AI stories from the smartphone players (and would-be smartphone players!):

• Deutsche Telekom targets ‘AI phone’ launch in 2026
• Honor Device Pledges $10 Billion for AI in Bid to Be More Than a Phone Maker
• OPPO Announces Enhanced AI Strategy to Deliver Next-level Mobile AI Experiences at OPPO AI Tech Summit during MWC25
• Samsung Solidifies Its Mobile AI Leadership at MWC 2025: From Galaxy AI to Software-Centric Networks

Agentic AI

The term ‘agentic AI’ refers to AI systems that can make decisions and perform tasks autonomously, with no or minimal human intervention. For telcos, embedding AI agents within their own operations will boost the efficiency of numerous complex processes, from network management and billing to customer experience and cybersecurity. But perhaps even more exciting is how these agents will impact fields adjacent to telecoms, such as robotics, healthcare, and autonomous driving.

Here are some of the key agentic AI discussions that took place at MWC:

• Nokia adds new Agentic-AI capabilities across its autonomous networks portfolio #MWC25
• What’s Next for AI in Telecom? Insights from MWC 2025
• Deutsche Telekom and Google Cloud team up on AI agent for RAN operations
• Qualcomm Unveils Leading Innovations in Connectivity and AI at MWC Barcelona 2025

AI RAN

AI RAN – the concept of incorporating AI capabilities directly into RAN infrastructure through embedded AI chips – is one of the latest hot topics to hit the mobile industry. The ultimate goal of this technology is to deploy an AI algorithm within the RAN that learns and manages network processes, allowing for improved radio resource efficiency and reduced power consumption.

For now, this technology remains in its infancy, but steady progress means the advent of AI RAN could be not too far away.

Here are some of the biggest AI RAN storis from this year’s MWC:

• AI-RAN Alliance membership grows
• Advancing AI-RAN at Mobile World Congress 2025
• MWC: SoftBank says this AI-RAN thing is beyond a PowerPoint
• MWC: Nokia powers up for AI-RAN push, military-grade 5G as Lundmark bows out

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