Alternative network provider Freedom Fibre, which are busy rolling out a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks across different parts of England (North West and Midlands), has today announced that they’ve become the latest operator to sign the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC).

The AFC broadly reflects a pledge to recognise the contribution of serving personnel, both regular and reservists, veterans and military families – often as part of recruitment (i.e. ensuring they are treated fairly and not disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives). A number of other broadband operators (e.g. BT, Sky Broadband, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, CityFibre, Virgin Media, G.Network, Wildanet and many more) are also signatories.

Nathan Vautier, Freedom Fibre’s CEO, said: “Freedom Fibre is proud to have signed the Armed Forces Covenant as we recognise the value and unique skills, qualifications and experience that people who have trained and served in the Armed Forces bring to complex infrastructure projects delivering gigabit fibre to Britain. As part of our commitment, we actively encourage flexibility, mobilisation and understanding within the business and we look forward to building our work force with former members of the Armed Forces, continuing to support initiatives that highlight the opportunities and recognition they deserve from our country.”

Ogi – Wales’s home-grown full service telco has today completed work on a multimillion-pound programme to connect Cardiff’s city centre economic gateway to its 10 Gigabit-capable high-capacity full fibre network.

After an extensive programme of work to connect business in the city’s Ocean Way industrial zone, the next phase of Ogi’s work focuses on the Central Square enterprise zone and surrounding area, including St Mary Street.

Connecting to the company’s ‘dark network’ traveling along the M4 corridor and across the Prince of Wales bridge, this new connection brings much needed resilience, network diversity and wholesale capacity into a zone that’s already proving an attractive base for major UK financial, legal and creative sector businesses.

Ogi’s investment in Cardiff is part of its ongoing commitment to revitalising urban centres and supporting communities with reliable, high-capacity broadband technology. This latest phase in its city centre rollout, equips the business, retail and residential zone for the digital demands of the 21st century.

This latest city centre milestone forms part of the company’s broader plans across Cardiff, bringing state-of-the-art connectivity to businesses, and visitors alike – including work to upgrade the connectivity at Cardiff’s iconic Market as part of the £6.5m restoration.

The network operator with its suite of Ogi Pro managed services is already unlocking new opportunities for local businesses, enhancing their ability to innovate and grow in an increasingly digital economy – offering unparalleled speed and stability, and supporting people to stay connected, work remotely, and access cutting-edge technology.

Commenting on the work, Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allwright, said: “Our capital city is home to some of the UK’s leading businesses, and many are Wales’s largest home-grown organisations as well as public sector, educational institutions, cultural and historic sites and key new developments.

“These businesses are typically bandwidth hungry and tech savvy – and deserve cutting-edge, enterprise-grade services. As a leading Welsh telco, we’re working hard to support their operations, growth and productivity, enabling next-generation tech such as AI in a bid to help drive the Welsh economy forward – and make Cardiff one of the best-connected cities in the UK.”

The latest upgrade forms part of Ogi’s multimillion pound rollout across south Wales, transforming urban, suburban and rural communities with the next-generation telecoms technology they need for today and the future.

[ends]

The UK Government and Openreach (BT) have today confirmed their latest four UK contract awards – valued at £289m+ – under the Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme, which we leaked last week (here). Some 131,000 premises in rural parts of North and Southwest Wales, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Devon, Somerset, Essex, North East England and Worcestershire will benefit.

Just to recap. The development forms part of Openreach’s earlier Single Supplier Framework agreement (here), which saw them being chosen to deliver all of Project Gigabit’s Cross-Regional (Type C) procurements – reflecting “up to” £800m in total state aid to help upgrade 312,000 premises in rural areas of England, Scotland and Wales (the previous Type A [local] and Type B [regional] contracts have all gone to smaller providers).

However, until recently the Government had only awarded the first two Call-Off contracts for this, which covered various parts of Lancashire, North Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire, West and Mid-Surrey, Staffordshire, West Berkshire. Hertfordshire, Devon and Wales. Both of those contracts – worth a combined £288m – aimed to connect c. 96,600 premises in poorly served areas to the operator’s new full fibre (FTTP) network.

Today’s official announcement adds four additional Type C contracts to Openreach’s belt (see below), reflecting a total public investment of more than £289m and an aim to reach a further 131,000 premises. This means that, across all six Type C contracts awarded since August 2024, a total of around £577m in public investment has been allocated to reach a further 228,000 premises. This leaves one Type C contract, for Scotland, yet to be awarded (due April 2025).

Openreach’s Type C Project Gigabit Contract Awards (Jan 2025)

Type C (Call Off 3): East and South Shropshire, North Herefordshire, North Wales, and South West Wales
Est. Premises: 55,900
Final Value: £108.94m

Type C (Call Off 4): Mid Devon, North Somerset, and South Devon
Est.Premises: 41,500
Final Value: £77.05m

Type C (Call Off 5): Essex and North East England
Est.Premises: 27,200
Final Value: £61.31m

Type C (Call Off 7): Worcestershire
Est.Premises: 23,800
Final Value: £41.92m

NOTE: The above contracts were all formally awarded on 18th December 2024, but the official press release has only come out today. We will update the ‘Estimated Premises’ figure with the final details and contract links later this morning, as they usually follow a bit later.

The areas covered by the new Type C contracts typically reflect locations where no or no appropriate market interest had previously been expressed before to the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, or areas that have been descoped or terminated from a prior procurement (i.e. there was a lack of market interest in upgrading them). Such areas are often skipped due to being too expensive (difficult) for smaller suppliers to tackle.

Openreach CEO, Clive Selley, said:

“Our new Full Fibre broadband network now reaches more than half of all properties in the UK, and we’re confident we can reach as many as 30 million premises by the end of the decade, assuming the right regulatory and investment conditions exist. This is a British infrastructure success story which experts say will boost productivity by £73 billion and bring a raft of social and environmental benefits for the country.

We believe that everyone deserves access to fast and reliable broadband, and we’re proud that this partnership will help extend our ultrafast, ultra-reliable network to areas that would otherwise be left behind by the private sector.”

Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle MP, said:

“We are determined to deliver the infrastructure this country needs to thrive, and I am thrilled to see so many homes and businesses in all areas of the country getting access to the fastest broadband speeds on the market through Project Gigabit.

With today’s £289 million investment, we are not only boosting connectivity, but making it easier to access remote healthcare, online education, shopping online. work, learn, shop and stay in touch with loved ones online.

As part of this Government’s Plan for Change, we will plug digital divides, helping to make the UK a more equal society where everyone is given a fair shot in life.”

Take note that Openreach have previously confirmed that “selected” Type C areas would also be the first in the UK to gain access to their forthcoming 1Gbps symmetric speed FTTP package from April 2025 (here). But the exact details of which locations will benefit from this and how much those tiers will cost have yet to be revealed (the initial launch is expected to be quite limited).

The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some providers have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

As for Project Gigabit itself, it is now in the process of delivering gigabit broadband connectivity to over 1.1 million hard-to-reach premises. Dozens of related Type A, B and C contracts – representing more than £2.2 billion of public investment – have now been signed with over 10 different suppliers to deliver the upgrades, including many smaller, independent broadband providers. But it will take several years to complete these deployments, and they won’t cover 100% of premises in every single location they reach.

Infracapital-backed network builder and UK ISP Ogi, which is rolling out a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales (100,000 premises are already covered / RFS), has today announced the completion of their network expansion to connect businesses in Cardiff’s city centre economic gateway.

The central Cardiff build began in early 2023 (here) and was focused on serving “parts of the city that have seen significant growth in recent years.” But the original announcement also made clear that their aim was to support the “city’s vibrant business districts” and “without the need for expensive leased lines.” Cardiff is also home to Ogi’s HQ.

Now, after an extensive programme of work to connect businesses in the city’s Ocean Way industrial zone, the next phase of Ogi’s work focuses on the Central Square enterprise zone and surrounding area, including St Mary Street. This is partly being supported by Ogi’s new 70km long Dark Fibre network (here), which spans the South Wales trunk road into England.

This latest city centre milestone is said to form part of the company’s broader plans across Cardiff, bringing state-of-the-art connectivity to businesses, and visitors alike – including work to upgrade the connectivity at Cardiff’s iconic Market as part of the £6.5m restoration.

Ben Allwright, Ogi’s Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Our capital city is home to some of the UK’s leading businesses, and many are Wales’s largest home-grown organisations as well as public sector, educational institutions, cultural and historic sites and key new developments.

These businesses are typically bandwidth hungry and tech savvy – and deserve cutting-edge, enterprise-grade services. As a leading Welsh telco, we’re working hard to support their operations, growth and productivity, enabling next-generation tech such as AI in a bid to help drive the Welsh economy forward – and make Cardiff one of the best-connected cities in the UK.”

We should point out that the vast majority of Cardiff and surrounding areas are already covered by gigabit-capable broadband networks, mostly via Hybrid Fibre Coax (Virgin Media) solutions and Full Fibre (FTTP) infrastructure from the likes of Openreach, Hyperoptic, FibreNest (Persimmon Homes) and the community orientated Michaelston-y-Fedw CIC project. But Ogi now have a growing presence in that central industrial / business area around the coast.

The Group behind mobile operator Lyca Mobile, which in the UK is a virtual operator (mvno) on EE’s network, has this morning announced a “strategic reorganisation” that it says aims to “drive efficiency and foster global growth“. This will include, among other things, “plans” for global expansion into Spain and the USA during early 2025.

Over the past couple of years’, the operator has certainly faced plenty of challenges, particularly in the UK. For example, there was the 2023 cyberattack (here), as well as the conviction of Lyca’s French entities for money laundering and VAT fraud (the operator is appealing against that), and a Tax Tribunal recently ruled in HMRC’s favour over a £51m (aggregate) dispute related to the VAT treatment of customer “bundles” (here). Not to mention issues with the auditing of their accounts (here) and the recent announcement of significant UK job losses (here).

The latest announcement will see the Lyca Group “streamlining certain business units and operations, enhancing digital capabilities, and positioning the company for sustainable growth in a competitive and challenging global market“. As part of this they will continue to invest in their mobile operator operations in Africa (e.g. Uganda) and intend to expand into new countries as soon as Q1 2025, including the launch of new digital brands in Spain and the USA.

“The proposed transformation forms part of Lyca’s long-term strategy to expand its global business services and support operations into its established service centres as well as new service hubs to be located in territories which have strategic importance while transforming country-specific operations into leaner, sales-focused organisations. The move is expected to deliver significant operational efficiencies, boost speed to market, improve customer experience,” said the announcement.

Premananthan Sivasamy, Deputy Chairman of Lyca Group, said:

“Lyca’s strategic reorganisation is a bold step forward, ensuring we remain a leader in delivering affordable, high-quality telecom solutions to our customers globally. This paradigm change not only enhances our efficiency but also strengthens our ability to adapt to a rapidly changing industry, ultimately benefiting our customers, partners, and employees globally.”

Despite this, Lyca said they “remain committed” to supporting their employees during this transformation. “A smaller, more specialised team will remain in London to manage certain limited advisory, compliance and financial functions that require a UK presence,” added the operator, which seems to be spoken in the context of recent job cuts.

Meanwhile, other roles will be handled either from their existing service centres or at hubs to be established in order to leverage cost efficiencies and expertise (i.e. outsourcing), “enabling the business to reinvest resources in innovation and strengthen our business“.

“Lyca is engaging in a thorough consultation process with employees and will work closely with partners to ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption to the high standards of service and collaboration they have come to expect from Lyca,” added the announcement.

Lyca’s “Vision for the Future” (PR Extract)

In response to intensifying competition and rising costs across the telecom sector, Lyca has undertaken a comprehensive review of its operations and business areas to identify opportunities for growth and efficiency. By leveraging its well-established service centres Lyca aims to:

➤ Enhance its digital capabilities, enabling faster delivery of innovative products and services.

➤ Streamline operations by consolidating functions, reducing overlaps, and automating processes.

➤ Achieve substantial cost savings, which will be reinvested in market expansion and customer-focused initiatives.

This strategic shift reflects Lyca’s unwavering commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. By aligning its operational model with future market demands, Lyca is reinforcing its position as a trusted partner and an industry leader dedicated to connecting people and communities around the globe.

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today announced that they’ve completed a project to upgrade the capacity of their 4G and 5G mobile services across “over” 1,500 postcodes in the East Midlands city of Nottingham (Nottinghamshire, England), which should mean “faster” mobile broadband speeds and greater reliability.

The work, which began at the start of 2024 (the press release actually says “since the beginning of the year“, but we suspect they mean 2024 rather than 2025), forms part of O2’s ongoing effort to invest £2m a day into their mobile network, which enables them to deploy new technologies and keep up with increasing customer demand. All mobile operators have to conduct similar work. This comes against a backdrop of rising demand, with the amount of mobile data consumed by O2 customers seeing a 9% uplift over the past year (here).

Steven Verigotta, Director of Mobile Delivery at VMO2, said: “With customers using more data than ever before, the improvements we’ve made at over 1500 postcodes in Nottingham will ensure local people and businesses can access reliable connectivity that is so essential in the modern world. We are continuing to invest in our network with future upgrades planned to ensure that we can continue to support our customers both now and in future.”

Edinburgh-based UK alternative network ISP GoFibre has today announced that they’ve begun to expand their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband network into the rural village of Ovington in County Durham, which forms part of their state aid supported Project Gigabit contract with the government (this also includes nearby villages such as Hutton Magna and Gainford).

Just to recap. The Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme is currently working to extend 1Gbps download speeds (200Mbps+ uploads) to reach “nationwide” coverage (c. 99%) by around 2030. As part of that, GoFibre secured two smaller local deployment contracts for Teesdale (Lot 4.01) and North Northumberland (Lot 34.01) in North England.

The contract for Teesdale is currently worth £6.98m (state aid) and aims to help extend GoFibre’s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to an additional 4,441 premises in hard-to-reach areas. Once the latest build is complete, 69 properties across Ovington Lane and Clifford’s View – as well as local areas around the village green and the road leading to Clifford Farm – will have the opportunity to experience significantly faster and more reliable connections. GoFibre currently has more than 5,000 premises ready for service across Durham and Teesdale, which includes their commercial builds.

GoFibre will be hosting two events locally. The first will take place on Wednesday, 15th January from 6pm to 8pm at Hutton Magna Village Hall, and the second event will be on Tuesday, 4th February from 6pm to 8pm at Ovington Village Hall. Representatives from the government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency and Durham County Council’s Digital Durham team will also be in attendance to support the event.

Andy Hepburn, Chief Operating Officer at GoFibre, said:

“We’ve heard loud and clear from the community that better broadband is a top priority, and we’re excited to bring our full-fibre network to the people of Ovington.

We know the transformative impact that reliable high-speed broadband brings for communities that haven’t traditionally had access to such a service so we’re looking forward to seeing the build complete and building positive relationships with local people along the way.

I’d encourage everyone to come along to one of our Ovington events so we can say hello, answer your questions, and help you get started with GoFibre.”

Cllr Susan McDonnell, Durham County Council, said:

“It’s fantastic that even more homes and businesses in rural parts of County Durham will soon be experiencing the many benefits of full-fibre broadband.

Having access to a fast and stable broadband connection can make such a positive difference to our lives, supporting people to work from home, shop, study and run a business. It also helps people to stay connected with friends and family, which can be especially important for those living in more isolated locations. We would encourage residents to come along to the events to find out more.”

The village’s build actually started in mid-December 2024 and the aim is to start connecting their first customers to the new network by February 2025, with the entire project slated for completion by March 2025. While most works are non-intrusive, traffic management will be in place as GoFibre installs a new duct from Hutton Magna to Ovington, potentially causing some road disruption.

Customers of the new service can expect to pay from £25 per month for a 150Mbps (30Mbps upload) package on a 24-month term with an included wireless router, which rises to £39.50 for their top 1000Mbps (100Mbps upload) plan. The latter also comes with a bonus Wi-Fi extender (this can optionally be taken on other plans at extra cost).

News 

A commercial launch would put the company in direct competition with satellite giant Starlink 

Jeff Bezos is preparing to launch a satellite broadband service in the UK to rival Elon Musk’s Starklink, according to an article published by the Telegraph over the weekend. 

Through its Project Kuiper satellite division, Amazon is gearing up to offer satellite broadband in the UK.  

The Project, though heavily delayed, ultimately aims to launch more than more than 3,200 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which will deliver high-speed broadband to underserved areas around the world.  

In a regulatory filing, Amazon revealed it is preparing to launch its commercial satellite service as early as this year, beginning targeting businesses and government contracts.  

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is currently evaluating Amazon’s application for an Earth Station Network licence. Amazon is also seeking increased access to UK radio waves and exploring ground-based hubs, or “gateways,” to enhance its satellite network. 

Aside from the regulator, Amazon has also already entered talks with the UK government – specifically the Ministry of Defence, having already performed a study on behalf of the UK Space Command. 

Through its cloud service platform AWS, Amazon is already a large-scale supplier to the British government.  

Amazon has positioned Kuiper as a competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink, which already serves 87,000 customers in the UK (according to the Telegraph). While Starlink has surged ahead with nearly 7,000 satellites in orbit, Kuiper’s rollout has faced delays, with both due to regulatory permissions and satellite launches. Despite this, Amazon told Ofcom its system is uniquely suited to reaching hard-to-serve areas, a claim backed by partnerships with telecom operators like Vodafone and engagement with UK defense officials. 

Amazon officially applied for a license to operate its Project Kuiper satellite network through Ofcom in September. The company applied for permission to use the Ka-band frequencies for its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system, which promises faster and more reliable broadband services compared to traditional satellite technology. 

Ofcom allowed for public feedback on the proposal, which closed in mid-October. The regulator is now reviewing the responses before making a final decision on whether to approve the license, while Amazon is progressing with its plans. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter  

Also in the news:
US court blocks reinstatement of net neutrality
Zegona and MasOrange partner to create Spain’s largest fibre network
NTT Docomo hit by DDoS attack

News 

The funding will help expand the company’s data centre portfolio to meet the growing demand for cloud and AI infrastructure across Asia 

Digital Edge, a developer and operator of data centres cross Asia, has successfully raised over $1.6 billion in new funding.  

The capital, which includes both equity and debt financing, will fuel the company’s next phase of growth as it works to meet the increasing demand for cloud and AI services across the region. 

This funding round is made up of $640 million in equity contributions from a mix of current and new investors, alongside $1 billion in debt financing. 

These funds will be used to support the expansion of multiple campuses, including at Navi Mumbai, India, and Incheon, South Korea, according to anonymous sources.  

Since its establishment by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in 2020, Digital Edge has grown its operations to encompass 21 data centres across several key markets in Asia, including Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  

Digital Edge launched its third data centre in South Korea, the 36MW SEL2 facility, in October last year. Located within the 100MW Incheon campus, this new facility marks a significant step in the company’s expansion to meet the soaring service demand in the country. Earlier in 2024, Digital Edge also opened the EDGE2 data centre in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributing an additional 23MW of capacity to its Southeast Asian portfolio. 

The company’s latest data centre projects also include its planned deployment of its 300MW Navi Mumbai campus in mid-2025. as well as a new hyperscale edge facility in downtown Tokyo, Japan. 

“The level of interest received from existing and new investors is testament to Digital Edge’s proven track record, expansion capacity, and relentless focus on delivering for our customers across the Asia Pacific region,” said Andrew Thomas, Chairman of Digital Edge and a Senior Managing Director at Stonepeak in a press release. “Since making the founding investment in Digital Edge in 2020, Stonepeak has been proud to support the platform’s expansion into six countries and a truly pan-APAC footprint.” 

The data centre industry has been booming for the past two years in line with increasing digital demand and the meteoric rise of AI services. Asia – particularly Southeast Asia – has been a major hotspot in this regard, seeing billions of dollars invested in new data centre projects from the likes of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.  

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter  

Also in the news:
VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Finnish court rejects calls to release tanker suspected of subsea cable damage
NTT Docomo hit by DDoS attack

Rural focused alternative UK ISP Quickline, which is building a gigabit-capable broadband network (full fibre and wireless) across parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has collaborated with the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology (LIoT) to help support 500 students through a bursary scheme (i.e. money will help with study, travel and additional childcare costs).

The bursary is intended to be used to support students from “underrepresented groups“, including mature students, parents, people from low-income families, people with a disability and people who were previously in care. Students who meet these criteria and are enrolled on level 4 and 5 courses will be eligible for the funds.

The bursary support for LIoT forms part of the social value commitment made by Quickline as part of its Project Gigabit contracts, one of which is their £118.9m roll-out contract for the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (Lot 23) area (here) – this will see their network reach 72,000 additional premises in hard-to-reach areas.

Quickline Communications joins LIoT’s two other employment partners, Bakkavor and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

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

“We’re very excited to be joining the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology and can’t wait to get stuck in with some exciting new projects.

Our whole ethos as a business revolves around accessibility – we connect rural communities that have been left behind by other providers and are on a mission to ensure that everyone has access to decent broadband, wherever they live.

Now, we’re channelling this focus on accessibility and inclusivity into our work with the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology, ensuring everyone has access to the education they need to thrive in a STEM career.”

Mick Lochran, Director of the LIoT, said:

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Quickline Communications to the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology and it’s fantastic to see the business’s commitment to making STEM education more accessible.

The bursary will help us to remove the barriers underrepresented groups face when enrolling for, attending and achieving higher-level technical qualifications and moving into employment.”

LIoT is a partnership between employers and nine education partners across the county – the University of Lincoln, University Campus North Lincolnshire, University Centre Grimsby, Boston College, Grantham College & University Centre, Lincoln College, Riseholme College, Lincoln UTC and Stamford College.

It is part of a national network of 21 IoTs, made up of experienced education providers and leading employers across England. Backed by £290 million of government investment, each IoT focuses on specialisms to suit their location, with the aim to fill immediate skills gaps while building a pipeline of talent for the future.