Internet video streaming provider Disney+ has, following earlier hints and a new subscriber agreement, finally joined Netflix by cracking down on password sharing through the introduction of a new ‘Paid Sharing‘ (Extra Member) service, which is indirectly intended to make it more difficult to share your account with people outside your household.

In the past, streaming providers often tolerated password sharing and saw it as a way of helping to drum up publicity / support for their service. But Netflix has since shown that it’s more lucrative to restrict the practice and instead offer those who do it a paid alternative to achieve the same outcome, albeit often without needing to pay full whack for a subscription.

The new ‘Paid Sharing’ features and capabilities are now said to be available in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region after launching in select markets over the summer. But at the time of writing, we couldn’t see this is active on their UK service (we have queried this), but it’s no doubt imminent given that the UK is a part of Europe and has the same terms.

Disney+ states that a subscription to their service is “meant to be used within your Household, which is a collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside there“. But if you want to add people outside of your household, then the newly sanctioned way to do that – short of having them pay for their own subscription – will be by adding an ‘Extra Member‘ to your account.

The new Extra Member service naturally attracts an additional monthly charge, which according to details on their website will cost £3.99 extra for Disney+ Standard with Ads or £4.99 extra for either Disney+ Standard or Premium. But one key point here is that the Extra Member feature is NOT available for Disney Bundle subscribers or for subscribers billed through their partners at this time (i.e. if you’ve got Disney+ billed and bundled via a broadband ISP or mobile operator plan, then you can’t yet take advantage of this).

Customers will also still be able to watch Disney+ if they’re away from home (e.g. holiday, commuting etc.). In that scenario you’ll now see the message: “This TV doesn’t seem to be part of the Household for this account”, you can then mark yourself as I’M AWAY FROM HOME, or select UPDATE HOUSEHOLD if you’ve recently moved and need to reset the Household location for your subscription. But these selections will require a one-time passcode that’s sent to the email address associated with the account.

Disney+ will also allow password sharing users from outside your “household” to sign-up for their own subscription by allowing the ability to transfer an eligible profile to a new subscription or Extra Member to keep that profile’s Disney+ watch history and settings. But certain profiles – including primary profiles (account holders), minors’ profiles, and those set to Junior Mode – cannot currently be transferred.

Mobile network operator Three UK has decided to catch up with some of their rivals by launching three new initiatives (i.e. ‘Like New‘, ‘Trade-In‘ and ‘Connect Together’) for consumers to help them reuse and recycle older Smartphones, while also rewarding households for adding more connections, if they so choose.

We’ll start with ‘Connect Together‘ because it’s a bit of a different proposition from the other two initiatives. Under this scheme, customers will be able to receive a 20% discount on “additional lines” or 4G/5G based Home Broadband and will be rewarded every time they add another line to their account.

Just to be clear, additional lines could be a new SIM, device + airtime or even Home Broadband or Mobile Broadband contract. Connect Together also simplifies account management by allowing customers to handle all accounts in one place, making it easier than ever to add products and services as needed.

At the same time Three UK has also moved to enhance their support for device refurbishment and recycling via their ‘Like New‘ and ‘Trade-In‘ initiatives. Check out the official blurb below, although we’ve already seen similar things from their rivals.

Like New

All part of the evolution of our ‘Three Your Way’ proposition, customers are now able to choose a “Like New” device. Like New allows customers to save money on the latest tech by choosing a refurbished device. We’ll also offer a 36-month Extended Warranty for extra peace of mind.

By choosing a Like New device, customers can feel great about doing their bit to protect the environment, while saving money. Purchasing a refurbished phone has a lower carbon footprint than buying a new one and gives a useful device a new lease of life, preventing it from going to waste.

Trade-In

In addition to “Like New”, our new Trade-In proposition enables customers to trade in their old devices – whether it’s a phone, tablet, or smartwatch – to receive either a discount on new tech or money sent straight to their bank accounts. It underpins Three’s sustainability commitment to reduce electronic waste and will provide customers with access to more affordable tech choices.

At this point it’s worth noting that customers can also donate their old phones with the ‘Reconnected‘ programme, which helps disadvantaged people get connected with six months of unlimited data, calls, and texts. Over 16,000 phones have been donated to date.

Andy Foy, New Product Propositions & Insight Director at Three UK, said:

“We’re excited to launch these new initiatives which demonstrate our commitment to improving customer experience and continue to deliver on our sustainability strategy. Both Like New and Trade-In not only deliver better value for our customers, but also reduce electronic waste, while Connect Together is all about recognising and rewarding our customers’ loyalty. By offering discounts on additional lines and making account management easier, we’re ensuring that our customers get the best possible experience across all touchpoints.”

Naturally, consumers could of course just buy a refurbished device from a different service or sell their old kit via eBay or other auction sites, which might result in a better return for your pocket. But there is something to be said for taking an approach that benefits from having the support and guarantees of a big mobile operator behind it.

A new survey of 4,101 nationally representative UK adults, which was conducted by Which? in May 2024, has estimated that 950,000 consumers were £89m worse off over the last year due to giving up contacting their broadband provider after a poor experience. The magazine previously named Virgin Media as being the worst ISP for customer service (here and here).

The survey, which claims that an estimated 9.2 million broadband consumers also experienced emotional harm as a result of poor customer service, found that 14% who contacted their ISP said they gave up seeking a resolution due to problems they experienced with the customer service and 29% said that this left them financially worse off (on average they estimated they were £93 worse off as a result, which is quite anecdotal).

A small proportion of consumers (c.2%) said they did not even contact their broadband provider due to previous bad experiences with their customer service, which the consumer magazine said added an additional £6m to consumers being worse off due to poor customer service in the broadband sector.

Summary of Further Survey Findings

➤ Some 36% of people who contacted their broadband provider reported having at least one problem that wasted their time (e.g. not being able to reach customer service, phone calls being disconnected, being passed between departments and long call waits).

➤ On average, Which? estimates those who experienced time-wasting customer service issues lost 1 hour 38 minutes of their time due to broadband customer service problems.

➤ Which? estimates that consumers experienced time harm in 18.3 million customer service problems with their broadband provider in the past year.

➤ In total, broadband customers spent an estimated 13.4 million hours in a year on customer service issues.

➤ Some 57% of respondents that experienced at least one broadband related customer service problem reported feeling frustrated, while 29% said they felt angry and 19% reported feeling helpless.

➤ More than one in ten of those who had experienced a customer service problem reported feeling upset or distressed. Feelings of helplessness and “upsetness” were most commonly reported amongst customers who did not receive a response to their email (43% feeling helpless and 41% upset) or spoke to an unhelpful or dismissive advisor (38% helpless and 33% upset).

Clearly, there’s a general need for broadband providers to improve their customer support. Such firms must ideally be providing a range of easily accessible contact methods, while problems should be resolved in a timely and efficient way, and customers should be treated with empathy and care. But it’s clear that many businesses are failing to deliver against this most basic of criteria.

However, experiences do tend to vary quite a lot between different ISPs, which is something that the consumer magazine has previously covered (here and here). Earlier this year Which? named Virgin Media, Scottish Power and British Gas as the worst energy and broadband firms for customer service. Both British Gas and Virgin Media responded to that by saying they were making improvements, but Which? highlights how their research shows many of their customers remain dissatisfied.

Alternative network operator and ISP Quickline has today announced that the first 4,500 premises under their £60m state aid supported gigabit broadband roll-out contract for North and West Yorkshire, including the remote areas surrounding York, have been covered by the new network. The goal is to reach 28,000 premises in hard-to-reach rural areas.

The West Yorkshire and York Area (Lot 8) contract, which was awarded back in February 2024 as part of the government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme (here), has initially covered homes and businesses in the areas of Escrick, Crofton, Elvington, Sutton upon Derwent and Wheldrake.

Project Gigabit aims to help extend 1Gbps (download) capable networks to reach at least 85% of UK premises by 2025 (we’re currently at around 84%), before aiming to achieve “nationwide” coverage (c. 99%) by 2030. Commercial investment will deliver more than 80% of this, which leaves the government’s scheme to focus on tackling the final 20% (mostly rural and some sub-urban areas), where the private sector alone often fails. The project is technology neutral, but Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks are strongly favoured.

Quickline’s Lot 8 contract is also expected to tackle the rural areas surrounding Selby, York, Bradford, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield, Harrogate, Skipton and Ripon, Keighley, Calder Valley, Stamford Bridge and Pocklington.

Sir Chris Bryant, UK Telecoms Minister, said:

“Thousands of rural households, businesses and students in this region can now enjoy better connectivity without having to battle for bandwidth with neighbours or other family members to stream video and music or download big files crucial for work and education.

The digital divide affecting a region as bursting in opportunities as Yorkshire is unacceptable. Since my appointment, I have made it one of my highest priorities to plug digital gaps, and the government and I have vowed to achieve nationwide gigabit coverage by 2030.

It is fantastic to mark a new step towards this journey and start delivering the connectivity the region deserves to thrive and compete.”

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

“We’re proud to be delivering gigabit capable broadband to rural communities in the York area as part of the government’s Project Gigabit programme. Our goal is to make an impact quickly and light up these areas as soon as possible.

Everyone deserves access to reliable broadband and we’re committed to helping our customers to thrive in the digital world.”

Quickline typically deploys gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband networks, although we believe their Project Gigabit contracts mostly focus upon full fibre technologies. Customers of this service currently pay from £14.50 per month for 200Mbps symmetric speeds (£29 after 12 months) on a 24-month term with free installation, which goes up to £24.50 for their top 900Mbps tier (£49 after 12 months).

Interview

At this year’s Connected Britain, Total Telecom caught up with Rajiv Datta, CEO of Nexfibre, to discuss the company’s fibre rollout progress since hitting 1 million premises, investor tensions around market consolidation, and what a competitive broadband market will ultimately look like. 

Check out the full interview here! 

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe

Press Release

Dell Technologies today announced Dell AI for Telecom, a program designed to simplify and accelerate AI deployments for communications service providers (CSPs). 
 
A recent MeriTalk study, commissioned by Dell Technologies, found that 48% of telecom executives see AI as the industry’s most transformative technology in the next five years, yet 68% feel their organisation is struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies and customer needs.  
 
The Dell AI for Telecom program, part of the Dell AI Factory, addresses these challenges by bringing together Dell’s AI expertise, infrastructure and services with software and silicon from across the AI ecosystem. The program will develop and deploy on-premises AI solutions that CSPs can use to enhance network performance, improve customer service and provide greater value at the enterprise edge. 
 
“Capitalising on the multiple opportunities presented by AI has become the most compelling driver of network cloud transformation,” said Dennis Hoffman, senior vice president and general manager, Telecom Systems Business, Dell Technologies. “Dell AI for Telecom brings together Dell’s AI expertise and infrastructure, with partners across the ecosystem, to help network operators implement AI solutions in and on the network that reduce OPEX, improve performance and create new edge revenue opportunities.” 

Dell collaborates with NVIDIA to transform telecom networks with AI solutions 
 
Dell extends its collaboration with NVIDIA to: 

Co-create and validate telecom AI solutions for CSPs, built upon and validated with the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA. Using Dell PowerEdge servers, NVIDIA GPUs and enterprise-grade AI software, the solutions help CSPs use AI to: 

– Enhance customer care and improve network maintenance with the Amdocs amAIz platform.  

– Automate call center scripts and customer care operations with Iternal. 

– Conduct network troubleshooting and analysis with Kinetica SQL-GPT. 

– Develop digital twins for networks and perform predictive network maintenance with Synthefy. 

Facilitate AI deployments at the edge of the telecom network with the PowerEdge XR8000 server, now available with NVIDIA L4 Tensor Core GPUs. Designed for telecom and edge use cases, the PowerEdge XR8000 servers are available in compact form factors with a scalable, modular design that simplify deployment and maintenance.
Help CSPs design and deploy GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) offerings, so they can provide on-demand NVIDIA GPU capacity for enterprise customers. With infrastructure solutions optimised for enterprise AI workloads, CSPs can unlock new revenue opportunities and use their networks to deliver carrier-grade, low latency AI inference and training closer to data. Enterprises can scale AI deployments and resources as needed, while maintaining data ownership and governance.  

Dell Professional Services help CSPs with their strategy, implementation and operation of AI solutions for telecom use cases. 
 
Collaborating with network operators to speed AI adoption and innovation 
 
Dell is already partnering with CSPs in the Dell Telecom Open Ecosystem Labs to develop AI solutions with Dell AI Factory infrastructure and ecosystem partners to enhance customer experiences and improve network performance. 

Lintasarta, an Indonesian information and communication technology solutions company, is offering GPU Merdeka, a GPUaaS, to provide AI infrastructure, including NVIDIA GPUs with Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers, for national businesses. 
SK Telecom, Dell, and other partners are collaborating to develop an AI chat agent for communications service providers. By creating the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) AI Platform, the team aims to integrate AI into existing business support systems (BSS) to enhance telecom business operations, drive revenue growth and quickly address and solve customer problems.  

“As part of our collaboration with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, Lintasarta will provide GPU-as-a-Service (Deka GPU) with Dell AI infrastructure and NVIDIA GPUs for national businesses, providing them access to the latest AI capabilities tailored for high-demand computing tasks,” said Gidion Suranta Barus, Chief Cloud Officer, Lintasarta. 
 
“The creation of the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) AI Platform signifies a pivotal step in integrating AI into existing business support systems (BSS). This innovation aims to not only enhance our telecom business operations, but also drive revenue growth and resolve customer issues with unprecedented speed and efficiency by minimising legacy burdens and standardising so that LLMs can easily understand MNO products, supporting well-organised API calls necessary for problem-solving. Through our collaboration with Dell Technologies, we aim to accelerate AI adoption and innovation to deliver superior service and value to our customers,” said Haisung Kwon, Head of MNO AI Platforms, SK Telecom. 

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe
 

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has called on the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA) to help fix some of the remaining problems (i.e. the matching process) with the new One Touch Switching (OTS) system, which aims to make it easier for consumers to change broadband ISPs, and the related processes adopted by the One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo).

Just to recap. The long-awaited introduction of OTS, which has faced many delays but aims to make it both quicker and easier for consumers to switch between broadband and phone providers on physically separate UK networks (e.g. migrating from a CityFibre based ISP to Virgin Media etc.), was finally introduced on 12th September 2024.

However, the launch also acknowledged that TOTSCo’s industry-led messaging platform still needed to improve the success rate of its “matching process” (i.e. ensuring that customer switches are correctly verified and migrated between providers), which caused Ofcom to temporarily retain the old migration process (Notification of Transfer / NoT+) – until 24th October 2024 – to act as a fallback for any OTS failures.

Ofcom has now written a new open letter to the OTA, which confirms how they would like the adjudicator to work with ISPs and other relevant stakeholders to “coordinate and facilitate industry effort on matching improvement in the run up to … the end of the six-week transition period.” This work will include the following.

OTA’s Required Work on OTS

• investigating the implementation of industry best practice and identifying causes of matching failure;

• scrutinising the matching approach for both losing and gaining journeys of providers to improve all matching rates; and

• producing a report of key observations and recommendations that can be implemented by communications providers, including as appropriate by amendment to industry best practice.

The OTA will now be expected “urgently to survey and meet with stakeholders who have been closely involved with recent matching review activities” and any insights must then be shared with the full community. Ofcom’s Director of Telecoms Consumer Protection, Cristina Luna-Esteban, added that they “expect providers to cooperate promptly, openly and positively with the OTA2 in this matter to ensure that OTS can be fully adopted with the greatest urgency, and by the planned withdrawal of NoT+.”

For its part, TOTSCo recently reported that, during the first week of OTS, they’d seen over 40 brands (e.g. ISPs like BT, CommunityFibre etc.) place some 26,000 OTS switch orders, albeit with only 3,500 successful completions. Currently, 251 brands are listed in the live directory, of which most are using a Full Management Managed Access Provider (MAP) to engage with TOTSCo. Clearly early adoption is still a bit of a work-in-progress, and you can find the latest stats below.

“While we are all delighted with this strong start, we recognise that significant work remains for the entire industry to achieve 100% of switches processed using OTS. Two key areas of focus are improving match success rates and addressing the remaining CP-side system defects. We are actively supporting industry in their performance-improvement initiatives,” said TOTSCo’s CEO, Paul Bradbury, last week.

Interview

At Connected Britain 2024, we caught up with Dean Giles, FAE Manager at Commscope, to discuss the company’s latest R&D efforts and how the company’s latest product line is is prioritising ease of installation and sustainability.

Check out the full interview here!

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe

News

The company made the announcement at Fibre Optic Partner Day in Bonn, Germany 

This week, German incumbent telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom has joined the German Federal Association for Fiber Optic Connections (BUGLAS), an industry association focussed on promoting and expanding fibre infrastructure throughout Germany.  

While this move may seem outwardly benign, it has been met with trepidation by much of the German fibre industry, with BUGLAS having historically represented the interests of smaller fibre players and municipalities fighting against Deutsche Telekom’s market dominance.  

Deutsche Telekom itself says that its membership will be beneficial for the country, helping them to cooperate more closely with rivals to ensure efficient national coverage.  

“Deutsche Telekom and BUGLAS share a long-term investment horizon for fiber optic expansion,” said Srini Gopalan, who is responsible for business in Germany on the Telekom board in a press release. 

“We want to further intensify our collaboration with regional providers and enter into even more FTTH partnerships for future-proof digitisation. In this way, we are accelerating fiber optic expansion together with our partners. And we are doing this with open networks that offer all customers a wide range of providers,” he continued. 

Thilo Höllen, Telekom’s Head of Fibre Optic Cooperation, added that the company will use its membership to help jointly campaign around industry-wide issues. 

“[We are] continuing to campaign for faster approvals and alternative installation methods,” he said. “These issues affect our entire industry and we see significant potential for improvement here.” 

But while Deutsche Telekom argues that its membership is beneficial to the wider fibre industry, not all of the market agrees.  

German telecoms industry group VATM has notably criticised BUGLAS for accepting Deutche Telekom as a member, with Managing Director Dr. Frederic Ufer released a statement saying the move would “slow down” the nation’s fibre rollout.  

“It sounds good – to jointly drive forward the expansion of fiber optics, use cooperations and negotiate on an equal footing. The reality is much more sober and it is not surprising that Telekom has chosen small regional partners who are rarely sufficiently viable on their own in the long term,” he said, in the translated letter. 

“The large investors in Germany are clearly to be further weakened by the continued strategic over-arching and the widespread refusal to purchase higher-quality wholesale products via bitstream. Of the small cooperation partners, Telekom generally only uses fiber optics, preferring to manage operations itself and thus strategically depriving the market of the added value that investors need for large-scale expansion.” 

He added that Deutsche Telekom uses construction workers paid for by local municipalities to save money on its fibre expansion, and uses this money to reinvest in the American market (via T-Mobile) where returns are higher. Furthermore, the investors in the Germany market will be weakened by the “strategic over-arching and the widespread refusal to purchase higher-quality wholesale products via bitstream,” he concluded. 

BUGLAS itself had previously been a long-term critic of Deutsche Telekom’s approach to network expansion –particularly overbuild – and had  written letters to the German government on the topic as recently as last year. 

Dr. Frederic Ufer is speaking at this year’s Connected Germany, 5-6 November in Munich. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe

The Broadband Forum has launched a new project that is seeking to lower the energy consumption of fibre optic broadband networks when accessing the internet. This will build on the ITU-T’s recommendations and guidelines on power-saving in fibre equipment, while adopting some of the forum’s own standards.

First things first. Modern fibre optic networks are already highly energy efficient, particularly when compared with older copper-line technologies at similar speeds. But this sort of comparison will only get you so far because full fibre networks typically deliver significant faster speeds than those older technologies. Nevertheless, there’s always room for more improvement.

The project – ‘Energy Power Saving Requirements, Test Plan, and Data Model‘ – will see a number of the Broadband Forum’s standards and specifications incorporate these new energy saving requirements for the industry to adhere to. This builds on the ITU-T Supplement 45 (G series), which published recommendations and guidelines on power-saving in Passive Optical Networks (PON) equipment.

The main focus here will be on making improvements to Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and the more familiar Optical Network Units (ONU / ONTs), which are the optical modems that FTTP broadband consumers often have to get installed inside their homes. For example, future ONUs will probably see more power shedding (i.e. reducing power to non-essential functions without breaking the optical link) and add watchful speed modes to ensure that only the relevant hardware is consuming power.

Hugues Le Bras, Network Engineer (Orange) and Project Editor, said:

“Energy efficiency in fixed broadband equipment is essential for reducing power costs and CO2 emissions for operators and their customers. As the demand for high-speed connectivity continues to rise, it becomes crucial that FTTH networks operate sustainably, ensuring connectivity empowers the end user as well as nurturing the planet. To achieve this, the new project outlines power saving requirements, power measurement monitoring and testing methods that are needed to unlock greater energy efficiency.

We need service providers to commit to lower energy consumption, equipment and component vendors to comply to these targets, and test labs to test the interoperability and functionality of protocol specific power saving methodologies once agreed on.”

Assuming all goes to plan, the project will aim to publish its specification during Summer 2025. The focus will then switch to encouraging the development of technologies that satisfy the new power-saving requirements.