The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, will tomorrow begin enforcing new rules that will only allow broadband ISPs to use terms like “fibre” and “full-fibre” on their websites, and in contracts, if their network brings the fibre optic cables all the way to your home (i.e. FTTP, FTTH and also FTTB).

Many ISPs have historically tended to use “fibre” terminology to describe a wide range of internet connection technologies, including hybrid or part-fibre solutions that could involve either some copper wiring (e.g. FTTC) or even wireless connectivity over the final drop into homes. Such technologies can be significantly slower and less reliable than modern full fibre (FTTP) services, which take an optical fibre cable all the way to your home.

The situation has long created arguments between network operators, ISPs and consumers, which has only grown over the past few years as the roll out of multi-Gigabit speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines have gathered pace. Put another way, if you think you’ve already got “fibre”, even if it’s only via a significantly slower FTTC (VDSL2) line, then you may be less likely to contemplate an upgrade to FTTP).

In the past, there have been numerous attempts to correct this, such as via an ineffective review from the Advertising Standards Authority (here) and a failed court challenge by CityFibre (here). But in 2021 the Gigabit Take-Up Advisory Group (GigaTAG) proposed several changes (here), including clearer labelling of broadband packages to help consumers understand the differences between technologies, which Ofcom finally sought to adopt at the end of 2023.

The regulator’s new guidelines for residential and small business services are now finally due to be formally introduced and enforced from tomorrow (16th September 2024), which is good news, even if they are arriving more than a decade too late. But it should be noted that they DO NOT COVER ADVERTISING, which is still under the remit of the ASA.

Ofcom’s New Guidelines on Fibre Terminology

We have decided to issue the following guidance under General Conditions C1 and C2. In summary:

➤  Providers should give a short description of the underlying technology of each broadband product offered at point of sale on the website, in Contract Information and in the Contract Summary, using one or two terms that are clear and unambiguous, such as ‘cable’, ‘full-fibre’, ‘copper’ or ‘part-fibre’;

➤  The use of the word ‘fibre’ on its own for describing the underlying technology is ambiguous, and therefore should not be used to describe the underlying technology; and,

➤  Providers should give a more detailed explanation of the underlying technology (for example through a link) so that consumers can understand what it means for them. It should also be given in a form that is accessible and easily understood.

Underlying technology information should be given to consumers irrespective of how they sign up for a service. Under our new guidance, those signing up online will be given this information on the broadband provider’s website. Those purchasing a service over the phone or face-to-face will be provided with this information in the Contract Summary and in the contract itself. A Contract Summary with key information on the service must be provided before the customer confirms the purchase.

We have concluded that this is the most proportionate approach to ensure appropriate information is provided to consumers and reduce customer confusion, while limiting the costs of implementation.

A sizeable chunk of the industry, particularly alternative full fibre networks, have already welcomed the change. But a question mark remains over how much of a positive impact this will actually have, not least because it’s trying to change a perception that has long since become established in the consumer subconscious, where the meaning of “fibre” has been diluted over many years of misuse.

Lest we forget that most consumers typically pay more attention to things like service speed and price than industry jargon and technology acronyms. Otherwise, we’ve already seen some signs of ISPs adjusting their approach.

For example, Sky Broadband said last week that they’d now be “describing broadband technologies as Copper, Part Fibre or Full Fibre” (Copper being ADSL, Part Fibre being FTTC/G.fast and Full Fibre being FTTP) – Sky’s packages have been re-labelled accordingly.

Broadband provider iDNET has just become one of the first ISPs to introduce both a 1.8Gbps (advertised as 1.6Gbps) and 2.3Gbps (2Gbps) symmetric speed package via FullFibre Limited‘s (Fibre Heroes) new network, which currently covers 380,000 UK premises across parts of 170 towns.

Just to recap. FullFibre Ltd introduced the faster tiers at wholesale last month (here). The operator’s FTTP lines can be found in various locations across Derbyshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire in England.

One of the first ISPs to start selling the faster FTTP plans at wholesale has just become iDNET, which also sells similar tiers via both Openreach and CityFibre’s national networks. The residential packages cost from £72 per month for 1.6Gbps and £75 for 2Gbps, which on a 24-month contract term will come with both an included X6000 WiFi6 Router and free installation.

The provider also offers some even more expensive “Gamer” variants of these packages, which bundle a more powerful router and support for features like LACP Lan Aggregation (not that you really need either of those things for exceptional gaming on an FTTP line). Shorter 12-month and 30-day terms are also available, albeit with fewer freebies. Credits to one of our readers (Blake) for spotting all this.

City-focused broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which has so far built their full fibre (FTTP/B) network to cover “more than” 1.73 million homes and 340,000 customers in parts of 64 UK towns and cities, has launched a Managed Wi-Fi service that aims to deliver “uninterrupted, high-speed internet” across larger residential developments / blocks of flats (MDUs).

The new service appears to be targeted at building owners and comes with a dedicated portal for simplifying onboarding for both residents and guests. The service also includes tailored account management, 24/7 support, and “future-proof hardware” to ensure secure, up-to-date technology. One of the advantages of this is the ability to get new residents connected as soon as they move in.

Jo-Anne Dunning, Business Development Director at Hyperoptic, stated: “We’re excited to launch our Managed Wi-Fi service, offering an advanced, reliable solution tailored to the needs of modern residential developments. Our Whitepaper highlights the industry’s growing readiness for tech innovations, and Hyperoptic is proud to set a new standard for high-speed connectivity.”

Oxfordshire-based alternative full fibre operator Zzoomm, which has built their 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 202,000 premises (RFS) in England, has today reported that they’ve achieved 20% take-up in Northallerton on a network that has been available for “19 months“.

At present Zzoomm’s network, which is home to 30,000 customers (c.15% take-up), is available across around 29 market towns and small urban communities in parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire. But the provider originally aspired to cover 1 million premises across 85 UK towns by the end of 2025, before the difficulties of raising fresh capital forced their build to stop (here and here), although they’re still considering growth via mergers (here).

The deployment in Northallerton (North Yorkshire), which has a population of around 16,000, was actually announced back in July 2021 (here) – after Zzoomm had already begun to build across the neighbouring towns of Thirsk and Easingworld.

Matthew Hare, CEO of Zzoomm, said:

“We continue to see new customers taking up our high value offer at market leading rates in market towns like Northallerton. To have secured a 20% market share is a testament to our premier service and our marketing and sales team.

Despite not adding any new properties (RFS) to our build footprint we are now adding 1,500 new customers each month, up from 1,100 per month in 2023. We have a leading position on customer uptake of over 15% on a network which has only been in operation for an average of 17 months.

We are continuing to develop our market leading products and invest in our customer service operation to deliver great levels of service for our customers.”

Customers who take their residential service typically pay from £29.95 per month for an unlimited 150Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 12-month term with an included router, which goes up to £54.95 (normally £64.95) if you want their top 2Gbps tier or £29.95 (usually £39.95) for 1Gbps.

ISP BT and partner Toshiba have today announced that they’ve worked with Equinix to achieve the UK’s “first data centre to data centre connection” using their new quantum-secured metro fibre optic network, which they claim will provide businesses that use these facilities with the ability to “protect their data against future sophisticated quantum attacks“.

Just to recap. BT and Toshiba have spent years developing a quantum-secure network that can even harness Openreach’s “standard” fibre optic infrastructure. Such connections are intended to ensure that, should such a communication be intercepted along the way, the sender will be able to tell that the link has been tampered with, and the stolen photons cannot then be used as part of the key, thus rendering the data stream itself incomprehensible to a hacker.

The latest development is that the pair are now providing their quantum secure connectivity at two prime colocation Equinix data centres, located in London’s Canary Wharf and Slough. Customers using the Equinix data centres will thus be able to connect to BT and Toshiba’s quantum-secured metro network and trial the transmission of data, protected using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group, said:

“Our partnership with Toshiba has already seen us build the world’s first commercial trial of a quantum-secured metro network in London and today marks an important milestone in our journey towards accelerating the commercialisation of quantum-secure connectivity. With quantum technologies moving at an incredible speed, we continue to explore and test the practical technologies emerging from this highly innovative field to secure the UK’s digital infrastructure against future quantum threats”.

Bruce Owen, Managing Director UK at Equinix, said:

“Equinix is committed to making investments in futureproof secure connectivity and hosting, for our customers today and well into the future. We understand just how complex today’s digital challenges can be, which is why we are pioneering the democratisation of quantum secure communications, making it accessible as a service to thousands of businesses worldwide. This collaboration with BT Group and Toshiba is a welcome opportunity to enhance our customers’ access to innovation that will build resiliency in the quantum computing era.”

The UK Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, yesterday held a round table meeting with a small selection of network operators in an effort to try and drive home the need for greater “infrastructure sharing” in order to “end the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles” when rolling out new gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks.

Just to recap. The UK has long been home to several million poles (i.e. they’re a common sight in many areas), which are often around 9 metres high and used for delivering everything from telecoms (broadband, phone etc.) to electricity cables (most are wood, but some are metal).

Network operators like these because they’re quick and cost-effective to build, can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access to safely put new underground cables, are less disruptive (avoiding the noise, access restrictions and damage to pavements of street works) and can be built under Permitted Development (PD) rights with only minimal prior notice.

Suffice to say that the use of poles has been continuing to expand as part of both the commercial and publicly funded roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband networks. The previous government even facilitated this by cutting red tape to help make such deployments as easy as possible.

However, over the last few years there’s been a notable rise in complaints about new poles, particularly from parts of East Yorkshire and Greater Manchester that have only ever known underground cables. Such gripes typically highlight their negative visual appearance, poor positioning, concerns about exposure to damage from major storms, the lack of effective prior consultation, the duplication of existing infrastructure or engineers that fail to follow safety rules etc.

The new Labour-led government, much like the old Conservative-led one, recently responded to this by calling on broadband operators to “end the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles” (here), to “share existing infrastructure when installing broadband cables as the default approach” and reiterating a pledged to “revise” the existing Code of Practice (as linked above). The latter will most likely result in greater pre-build consultation with communities.

Sir Chris Bryant also warned that he would “not shy away from changing the law, should companies fail to listen to communities” (i.e. a reference to the possibility of hardening or removing PD rights on poles). Last month the minister said that he planned to meet representatives from Openreach (BT), Virgin Media (O2) and smaller networks (e.g. KCOM, CityFibre, MS3, Brsk and IX Wireless) on 12th September 2024 to discuss how they can better “put residents’ concerns at the forefront of their plans” via a revised Code of Practice.

The meeting took place yesterday and we’ve since been sent a brief summary of the key bullet points, which I’ve opted to paste below as they don’t say anything that we haven’t already heard before.

DSIT (Gov) Summary of Key Meeting Points

Meeting with 15 telecommunication operators this afternoon, Minister Bryant voiced the concerns of Britons that have telegraph poles lodged outside their home, often without being told beforehand.
The Minister shared that many poles are installed in a way that is “not considerate to anyone’s way of life”.
He shared that these poles are often placed very close together and carry remarkably similar equipment, that companies could share if they worked better together.
Speaking at the meeting, Ofcom also raised concerns that too many residents are surprised to see poles installed outside their homes, with many not being informed beforehand.
Telecommunications operators committed to finding ways to collaborate and share infrastructure including poles more effectively, as well as looking at ways to consult residents more consistently and effectively.
Chris Bryant called for “urgency” in delivering on these issues.

At this point it’s worth reiterating that most network operators already do everything possible to share existing poles and ducts (e.g. Openreach’s network is widely re-used by rivals), since that’s a lot more cost-efficient than building new stuff. But this isn’t available to every location and sometimes local restrictions, as well as any limitations (commercial or practical) imposed by existing operators, mean that it’s not always possible (i.e. sometimes no viable underground alternatives exist to poles).

The existing Access to Infrastructure (ATI) Regulations 2016, which applies to all operators, already includes provisions on the exchange of information about existing infrastructure, and the right to access that infrastructure on fair and reasonable commercial terms etc. But this doesn’t matter much if a commercially viable deal cannot be reached. The recent efforts between Connexin and KCOM in Hull suggest that, with enough of a push, solutions can sometimes still be found (here).

The previous government attempted to correct the ATI regulations, but some smaller and more vulnerable alternative networks (altnets) said they were concerned about the risk of “unintended consequences” if changes to those rules ended up undermining their investment case for new networks (here). Such operators also expressed “limited interest in using non-Openreach or non-telecoms infrastructure” (i.e. it’s hard to beat Openreach’s regulated product).

We should highlight that some alternative networks (altnets), working via the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), have already setup an Infrastructure Sharing Group (ISG) to ensure that the rollout of full fibre (FTTP) is “not held back by inconsistencies in the availability of Openreach physical infrastructure“ (here). But the practice of herding cats in order to work out the often complex practical and commercial details of greater infrastructure sharing is neither a quick nor easy process.

The Competition and Markets Authority has this morning revealed their provisional view on the outcome of their in-depth Phase 2 investigation into the proposed merger between mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone. This warns that it will only be able to approve the deal if the pair agree to key concessions that protect consumer prices and network competition.

Under the originally proposed deal (here), Vodafone would retain a 51% slice of the business and CK Hutchison (Three UK) are to hold 49%. The agreement was promoted as something that would be “great for customers, great for the country and great for competition,” while also resulting in a major £11bn investment to upgrade the UK’s 5G mobile (broadband) infrastructure and network coverage.

However, some regulators, MPs and consumer groups promptly sounded a note of caution, particularly given the concerns over any potentially negative impacts upon competition (at retail and wholesale / MVNO) and consumer prices, which may result from having fewer primary network operators (three instead of four).

Some fears over job losses and national security (i.e. Three UK’s owner is often perceived as being closely tied to China) were also raised, although the government has since cleared the deal of any national security concerns (here) and job losses aren’t a matter for the relevant regulators. The CMA is thus solely focused on the competition side of things.

Recapping Phase 1

The CMA’s initial Phase 1 probe, which reported its findings in March 2024 (here), warned that the merger “could lead to mobile customers facing higher prices and reduced quality“. On top of that, the authority was also concerned that the deal “may make it difficult” for smaller mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) to negotiate good deals for their customers, by reducing the number of network operators capable of hosting them.

In addition, the CMA questioned some of the data and network commitments provided by the parties. For example, the authority said it “does not believe that there is detailed and verifiable evidence demonstrating that any customer benefits from any accelerated roll out of 5G SA would be timely, likely to materialise or sufficient to outweigh the Significant Lessening of Competition.”

Finally, and somewhat contrary to previous statements made by Vodafone and Three UK about being “sub-scale, unable to cover their cost of capital, and constrained in their ability to invest and compete effectively“, the CMA found that both operators were in fact “viable and competitive businesses and that they would continue to invest in their networks absent the Merger“. The CMA therefore believes that if the merger did not go ahead, both would in fact “continue to compete with each other, as well as with other mobile operators, in a broadly similar way as today.”

In the past, regulators have often opposed such deals, but in recent years both the government and regulators have softened their stance, which is partly due to a 2020 ruling by the European Court of Justice (here) – this found that having only 3 operators still made for a competitive market. But crucially, that judgment was recently over-turned on appeal to the EU’s highest court (here) and a final conclusion has yet to be reached.

Provisional Outcome of Phase 2

Suffice to say that everybody with an interest in this sector has been waiting patiently, with bated breath, for the CMA to conclude their in-depth Phase 2 investigation of the deal, and today we finally got at least part of the answer (these are provisional findings).

Overall, the CMA broadly echoed their conclusions to Phase 1, which highlighted concerns about the lessening of competition and risk of consumers paying higher prices. But they also acknowledged that integrating the Vodafone and Three UK networks could “improve the quality of mobile networks and bring forward the deployment of next generation 5G networks and services“.

However, the regulator similarly still “considers that these claims are overstated, and that the merged firm would not necessarily have the incentive to follow through on its proposed investment programme after the merger“. In short, the CMA has provisionally concluded that the “merger would lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the UK” – in both retail and wholesale mobile markets.

Stuart McIntosh, Chair of the Inquiry Group, said:

“We’ve taken a thorough, considered approach to investigating this merger, weighing up the investment the companies say they will make in enhancing network quality and boosting 5G connectivity against the significant costs to customers and rival virtual networks.

We will now consider how Vodafone and Three might address our concerns about the likely impact of the merger on retail and wholesale customers while securing the potential longer-term benefits of the merger, including by guaranteeing future network investments.”

The outcome was perhaps expected, since you can’t shrink the number of primary network operators from 4 to 3 without raising difficult competition concerns, but the attention will now switch to consulting on these findings and “potential solutions” to its competition concerns.

Several potential solutions have today also been set out in the CMA’s remedies notice. These include legally binding investment commitments overseen by Ofcom, and measures to protect both retail customers and customers in the wholesale market. But the CMA said it would “retain the option to prohibit the merger should it conclude that other remedy options will not address its competition concerns effectively“.

The desired approach seems to be one of a “partial divestiture remedy“, requiring the divestiture of or access to certain mobile network assets and radio spectrum (from either Vodafone or Three) in the UK. The aim of this remedy would be to enhance the competitive capability of an existing MVNO (i.e. virtual operators like iD Mobile etc.) or provide sufficient assets to enable a new provider to enter the market as an MNO and compete across all parameters of competition including network quality. Such a remedy “would likely also require a national roaming agreement” and ongoing support from the Merged Entity at a minimum.

The bar being set by the CMA today is high, particularly in terms of expecting Three UK and Vodafone to make their network coverage commitments legally binding, but these are by no means insurmountable obstacles. Likewise, it was widely expected that the merged company might have to divest some of their spectrum ownership to rivals to avoid holding a dominant position.

Breaking news.. more to follow..

After a long period of silence, the state aid funded Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme has finally issued a new progress update on their contract with UK broadband ISP Wessex Internet, which has been tasked with rolling out a new gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network across some rural parts of the region.

Just to recap. The Phase 2 CDS contract, which was awarded at the end of 2020 (here) and initially supported by £4.7m of public investment (partly from the Building Digital UK agency), committed Wessex Internet to spending 3 years on a build to expand their full fibre network to cover 3,618 premises in remote rural parts of South Somerset. This was extended in 2022 (here), with an extra £1.7m of public funding, to reach a further 1,110 premises (total of around 4,700).

Some of the locations that have already benefitted from this roll-out include Alford, Ashington, Babcary, Cary Fitzpaine, Charlton Mackrell, Closworth, Corton Denham, Hadspen, Hardington Mandeville, Limington, Lovington, Marston Magna, Milborne Wick, Mudford Sock, North and South Barrow, Sutton Montis, Woolston, and Yeovil Marsh.

The latest update notes that the provider has now covered more than 3,000 premises in South Somerset and appears to be aiming to reach the slightly lower target of 4,400+ premises (over time build contracts can sometimes shrink, such as due to expanded commercial projects by rivals and other changes). Work is now focused on parts of Chilthorne Domer, East Coker and Wyke Champflower.

Hector Gibson Fleming, CEO at Wessex Internet, said:

“After winter weather challenges, including severe flooding in the lowlands of Somerset, we’re pleased with our rapid recent progress, having completed nearly three-quarters of our ‘Connecting Devon and Somerset’ network build, with planning for all other communities also finished.

Marston Magna is one of the many villages now enjoying ultrafast, reliable broadband, which people often think isn’t possible in their rural communities. We have also provided the village hall with our subsidised £1 per month internet package, so that it remains a future-proofed focal point for local people and all the groups using it.

Building in rural areas is vastly more costly and time consuming than in higher population towns, which is why many villages are overlooked by bigger providers. At Wessex Internet, we always feel a sense of achievement when connecting countryside communities, knowing that we’ve brought local people an internet service they can count on.”

Councillor Richard Wilkins, CDS Board member, said:

“For our rural communities in Somerset, getting connected to fast broadband is vital. CDS is trying to take on the more isolated areas. Wessex Internet and CDS are well on their way to getting rural areas in South Somerset connected and we look forward to the contract being completed.”

Prices for their full fibre packages start at £29 per month for a 100Mbps (15Mbps upload) tier on a 12-month term, but this only comes with a meagre 100GB data allowance (£44 for unlimited), and you’ll have to pay £49 (one-off) for activation. By comparison, their top unlimited usage plan will give 900Mbps (450Mbps upload) for £79 per month, which isn’t cheap but then they’re often the only FTTP choice in a lot of their locations (rural areas cost a lot more to serve too).

The annual Connected Britain Awards 2024 (Total Telecom) have once again taken place this week, which among other things saw full fibre and fixed wireless ISP Wildanet scoop he coveted “Broadband Provider of the Year” award, while Brsk won the “Full Fibre ISP Innovation Award” and CityFibre was named for the “Project Rollout Award“.

All of the organisations that entered – spanning across various different categories – were assessed by a large panel of judges, which included key figures from various analyst firms, consultants, network operators, universities and various other companies or organisations with industry links.

The final list doesn’t currently include a useful description of why each winner was chosen, although our regular readers should be able to guess most of them.

Winners of the Connected Britain Awards 2024

Startup of the Year

WINNER: Connected

Finalists:
Appella AI
EV Mobiliti
Halleyx
Lumilinks
Polaris Safety
Qomodo
Thinking Machine
yWe Media
Zim Connections

B2B Service Provider of the Year Award

WINNER: PlatformX Communications (PXC)

Finalists:
CovertSwarm
Evolve B G Limited
NETS International
Texaport
ZAYO – Fibre Backhaul

Broadband Provider of the Year Award

WINNER: Wildanet

Finalists:
Brsk
Fibrus Broadband
Lightning Fibre
Truespeed Communications
Wessex Internet
Zzoomm

Digital Council Award

WINNER: Coventry City Council

Finalists:
Cornwall Council
Glasgow City Council
Kent County Council
Norfolk County Council

Digital Skills Award

WINNER: Wigan Council – TechMate digital skills initiative

Finalists:

Kent County Council – Digital Kent
Norfolk County Council – Tech Skills for Life
Three UK & Three Discovery – Power up the Possibilities
Trafford Council
We Are Group & Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Enterprise Solution of the Year

WINNER: SONALAKE, pivOTS

Finalists:
Calix – Broadband Platform
Colt – Intent-based Networking Optimisation
Deepomatic – First Time Right Automation platform
Digitalnauts & HoloPlan
Evolve B G Limited
SuLe – SuLe Hub Limited

Project Rollout Award

WINNER: CityFibre

Finalists:
4 Fibre Limited
Freedom Fibre Ltd
NETS International
Openreach -Fibre Build plan
Virgin Media O2 & Deloitte – Smart Planning tool

The Access Innovation Award

WINNER: Boldyn Networks

Finalists:
ACOME Group – Nanomodule ultra lightweight (ULW) fibre cable
The AssetHUB Ltd
Network on Wheels via the The One Word Project – Partnership between Worcestershire County Council, Virtuser and Telet
Nokia – Corteca
Openreach – Scotland’s Fair Isle
Pangea Connected – Global cellular IoT connectivity solutions

The Barrier Removal Award

WINNER: Glasgow City Council Telecoms Unit

Finalists:
4 Fibre Limited
Dalcour Maclaren – High Level Design review/ Land Rights Assessment
Freedom Fibre Ltd
MapAll – MapAll Blockages
Swansea, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Neath Port Talbot Councils – Digital Champions teams & Swansea Bay City Deal Digital Infrastructure Programme

The Community Improvement Award

WINNER: Sunderland City Council – Digital Inclusion Programme supported by Boldyn Networks

Finalists:
BeFibre
Cefnogi’ community engagement programme
Coventry City Council – #CovConnects
Commsworld and SmartSTEMs: Inspiring The Next Generation
Fibrus

The Full Fibre ISP Innovation Award

WINNER: Brsk

Finalists:
Grayshott Gigabit Limited – Gigabit IQ
ITS Technology Group
Ogi – Ogi Pro
Wifinity
Zzoomm

The Industrial Innovation Award

WINNER: Blackline Safety

Finalists:
aql
INNO Instrument
M Group Services Telecom Division

The Wireless Innovation Award

WINNER: Blackspot Networks Ltd

Finalists:
Iris-iot Solutions Ltd
AWTG Ltd. – Mobile Private Network

The Rising Star Award

WINNER: Sophie Dunstan, Openreach

Finalists:
Alan Cutler, Home Unity
Jamie Sandles, V4 Cloud
James Armstrong, National Grid
Natalie Rowley, Truespeed Communications
Ramona McGarry, Coventry City Council

The Sustainability Award

WINNER: Openreach – Carbon Reduction Programme

Finalists:
Cable and Things – Sustainable Draw Rope
M Group Services’ Telecom Division
PlatformX Communications (PXC)
STL – EcoLabelled Methodology in OFC manufacturing
Technetix, in partnership with Virgin Media O2
TXO
Wildanet

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published its first report on the progress of the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network project (i.e. extending 4G mobile (broadband) to cover 95% of the UK by the end of 2025), which confirms that Three UK is the only mobile operator to miss the first coverage target for Partial Not-Spot (PNS) areas.

Just to recap. The SRN – supported by £501m of public funding and £532m from operators – involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators (MNO). The target is to extend geographic 4G coverage (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025, which falls to 84% when only considering the areas where you’ll be able to take 4G from all providers.

The SRN includes two key targets. The first involves the delivery of industry funded coverage improvements in Partial Not-Spot (PNS) areas (i.e. areas that receive coverage from at least one operator, but not all), which needed to be achieved by June 2024 – at this point 4G (mobile broadband) must cover 88% of the UK’s landmass (EE, Vodafone and O2 all claim to have achieved this, but Three UK was known to be lagging behind).

The second target involves Total Not-Spot (TNS) areas by early 2027. Just to be clear, Ofcom’s licence obligations commit each individual operator to increase its 4G coverage to 88% of the UK’s landmass by the end of June 2024 – rising to 90% by 31st January 2027 – with these individual obligations supporting the overall target of 95% by December 2025.

Ofcom has spent the summer reviewing the progress of the SRN scheme, which follows some earlier criticism of the programme by both the National Audit Office (here) and Public Accounts Committee (here). But at least some of the concerns over progress have recently been tackled (here and here) and the regulator’s progress report confirms that EE (BT), Vodafone and O2 (Virgin Media) did achieve the first PNS target. But it’s not mixed news for Three UK.

Summary of Ofcom’s key findings:

On the basis of our analysis, we found that:

• BT EE, VMO2 and Vodafone have met the 88% UK-wide threshold and their individual thresholds for each UK nation.

• Three had not met the 88% UK-wide threshold and its individual threshold in Scotland (72%) at the point these obligations fell due.

We also found that the coverage increases delivered because of the SRN programme have significantly reduced the scale of “partial not spots”, and consequently increased the areas where all MNOs provide coverage. These common or “full” coverage areas have increased from 66% of the UK landmass at the start of 2020 to over 78% of the UK landmass today.

The good news is that Three UK has since informed Ofcom “that it believes it had met their obligations by 22nd August 2024“, although the regulator said that it would take them a few more months of analysis before they could verify that claim (i.e. a further update on this will follow latter).

However, Ofcom does acknowledge that “there remain locations where good quality coverage is still not present“, and that their methodology for analysing coverage won’t always be able to reflect real-world experiences on the ground (i.e. accurately mapping variable mobile signals remains a notoriously difficult thing to do).

“We will continue to monitor MNOs compliance with these commitments in the coming years. Ofcom is also continuing work to explore whether other forms of information about mobile coverage can be used to improve the accuracy of information made available to consumers,” said Ofcom’s report. The regulator is not currently expected to take any punitive action against Three UK for falling slightly behind the first target.