News

The funds will be awarded to projects related to 5G and European backbone networks

This week, the European Commission has announced the start of the second phase of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme, which will provide €865 million in funding to various digital infrastructure projects from 2024 to 2027.

This latest round of funding will be awarded to projects focusing on the further deployment of 5G and backbone networks – including quantum communication networks and submarine cables – across Europe. It also seeks to deploy digital platforms that will integrate with existing data, cloud and edge computing, and connectivity infrastructure to make them more energy efficient.

“Improving our connectivity is of strategic importance in the EU. And with this second work programme we aim to connect more citizens and businesses and launch more innovative connectivity infrastructure,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age. “The Digital Work Programme will invest around €865 million to support actions in deployment of advanced gigabit and 5G infrastructures, as well as backbone cable projects.”

The CEF was first introduced back in 2021, committing €33.7 billion to trans-European digital, transport, and energy networks until 2027.CEF Digital sits within this wider programme, with a budget of €2 billion for digital infrastructure projects.

In the first two funding rounds, CEF Digital has already supported 65 projects, including 30 backbone connectivity projects for the Digital Global Gateways, 17 projects promoting 5G for Smart Communities, and 18 projects in the area of 5G cross-border corridors.

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership 

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has launched an investigation into rural broadband ISP Gigaclear over a possible failure to “provide accurate and reliable caller location information to emergency organisations“, which could have made it more difficult for the police, fire and ambulances to find callers.

The network operator, which is principally owned by Infracapital (together with Equitix and Railpen), has so far built a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 500,000 rural premises (RFS) in England (inc. 100,000 customers) and they hold an ambition to cover “over” 1 million premises by 2027.

Gigaclear also offers a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based Home Phone service from £3 per month, although the small print on their website states that they “do not recommend you purchase home phone if you are reliant on your landline due to disability or accessibility requirements and do not have alternative means to contact emergency services in the event of a power outage.”

However, under Ofcom’s rules (General Conditions A3.5 (GC A3.5) and A3.6(a) (GC A3.6(a))), when someone calls 112 or 999 using a landline with a VoIP connection, their telecoms provider must – to the extent it is technically feasible – make accurate and reliable information about the caller’s location available to the emergency organisation handling the call, at the time it is answered. But Gigaclear may not have been doing this correctly.

Ofcom’s Statement (CW/01287/09/24)

Gigaclear notified Ofcom of various issues with its caller location information between January 2022 and 11th March 2024.

At this stage, we are not aware of any harm to members of the public that arose as a result. However, we take compliance with these requirements extremely seriously, due to the potential harm that may occur.

Our investigation will seek to establish the facts surrounding this matter and examine whether Gigaclear failed to comply with its regulatory obligations.

Investigations like this often take quite a while to run their course, and so it will probably be sometime later in 2025 before the outcome is known. The outcome will depend upon the severity of the issue, although a modest financial penalty is always a possibility with things like this (Gigaclear are not a huge provider of home phone services).

UPDATE 11:48am

We’ve had a statement from Gigaclear on this.

GIGACLEAR STATEMENT ON OFCOM INVESTIGATION

Ofcom’s announcement of a formal investigation is related to a historic issue with the configuration of Gigaclear’s VoIP service and the resulting accuracy of caller location information (CLI) provided to emergency organisations. This follows Gigaclear self-reporting to Ofcom in April 2024.

In our notification we reassured Ofcom that the configuration issue was swiftly fixed, and that at all times before and after the fix, all emergency calls placed by our VoIP customers were successfully connected. We have had no notification of, nor are we aware of, any consequences or harm resulting from this incident. We have also assured Ofcom that a robust system of ongoing monitoring and testing is in place to ensure it will not arise again.

Having received notification from Ofcom of its intention to open a formal investigation, we intend to cooperate fully with this, and as a result will not comment further at this stage.

Rural broadband ISP Voneus has today announced the completion of their effort to roll-out a new “Gigabit Wireless Broadband” (FWA) network across 4,700 homes on Walney Island in Cumbria (England), which they say took only 12-weeks to complete and is thus the “fastest ever deployed worldwide.”

The new network, which involved the deployment of Voneus’ kit on top of local council-owned lighting columns (i.e. avoiding disruptive street works), is said to be capable of 1Gbps (symmetric) speeds and is also set to be Cambium Networks’ largest 60GHz cnWave (Terragraph) wireless network in the world. But all that talk about it being the “fastest ever deployed worldwide” is probably a reference to this specific product, rather than wireless networks more generally (either way, there’s no substantiation included to help verify).

Voneus also states that they’re on track to connect 1,000 homes (customers) by late October, which is pretty good going considering the short roll-out. Customers of the new network can expect to pay from £29.99 per month (normally £38.99) for speeds of 250Mbps (inc. free router and installation), which rises to £59.99 for 900Mbps (normally £74.99). The first month of service is being offered for free and the provider pledges no mid-contract price rises during their 24-month term.

Pat McPhilimey, Voneus Head of Wireless Build and Maintenance, said:

“I feel incredibly proud with a huge sense of achievement to have been part of what is a truly game changing deployment of ultrafast broadband across Walney Island.

By connecting so many customers at such an incredible pace means that our better broadband is already helping, supporting and changing the lives of people working from home, families, community groups and school children.”

Dan McCarthy, Cambium Networks’ UK Regional Sales Manager, said:

“Walney Island has experienced the fastest rollout in terms of homes passed ever seen anywhere and it is now the largest Cambium cnWave network in Europe. Now available to over 10,000 residents means Voneus’ has deployed the largest Cambium cnWave network in the world.”

Until recently Voneus was being backed by up to £250m from investors including Macquarie Capital, IIF, Tiger Infrastructure Partners and bank lenders. But they’ve since secured a further £25m investment boost from Global Connectivity PLC (G-CON) in January 2024 and then an injection of £18m (capital) from Rural Broadband Solutions Holdings Limited (RBSHL) in June 2024 (here).

The G-CON and RBSHL investments are closely connected because G-CON holds a sizeable stake in RBSHL (RBSHL now has a 41% stake in Voneus). G-CON has also previously signalled that they would “appeal to strategic buyers within the next 12-18 month” and are planning to take the RBSHL ownership to “at least 44%” in the not-too-distant future.

Broadband, TV and phone provider Virgin Media (O2) this morning claims to have become the first major UK telecoms provider to enable digital payment systems, Apple Pay and Google Pay, for recurring contract payments. The hope is that this will provide a “convenient alternative to traditional direct debits“.

The provider is known to have been conducting trials of this for a little while, but at launch it’s currently only available to new customers who sign-up for their service. Virgin Media said they’re “working on expanding the availability of Apple Pay and Google Pay to existing customers in 2025“, alongside a number of other digital initiatives designed to enhance customers’ experience. But a specific date is not yet known.

Virgin states that these new payment methods should provide a quicker and more efficient customer journey, while also ensuring “fully secure transactions, with both Apple Pay and Google Pay requiring biometric authorisation such as Face ID or Touch ID to verify the customer’s identity“.

Christian Hindennach, Chief Commercial Officer at VMO2, said:

“We are always looking at new and innovative ways we can make our customers’ lives easier and provide unmatched capabilities that enhance the customer experience in our digital channels. Through this rollout, it is now quicker and more convenient than ever for a new customer to sign up to our services, with the availability of digital payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay removing the need to enter direct debit details and significantly streamlining both the sign-up process and how future monthly bills are paid.

While we will continue to support direct debits, it’s vital that we evolve and utilise the technology available to give our customers greater flexibility. They can now pay for their broadband, TV or landline contract in the same way they’d buy a cup of coffee or order clothes online.

This is one of many exciting plans we’ll be announcing over the coming months aimed at improving our customers’ experience with us.”

The ISP also revealed that they’re “exploring use cases is open banking“, with new features and functionality set to be introduced in the “coming months“. For example, open banking could enable new customers, who still wish to pay via direct debit, to sign in to their online banking during the sign-up journey and have their direct debit details automatically populated in a fast and biometrically secure way – providing a more seamless and automated checkout process and reducing the risk of typing errors.

A recent trial found that 60% of customers utilised this technology in the sign-up process, and Virgin Media is now working to deploy the solution on a permanent basis in future.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which were investigating the recent theft of copper broadband and phone cables from Openreach (BT) that was said to be worth “six figures“, have just arrested three men (aged 36, 38 and 60) on suspicion of related theft and criminal damage.

Over the past few weeks’ there have been a number of cable thefts on Openreach’s network from locations in Armagh and Dungannon, which are known to have disrupted the operator’s internet and phone services around those areas. Sadly, the perpetrators of such crimes never have any regard for the harm they cause to locals, some of which are dependent upon the related services.

The good news is that, following today’s earlier report of similar but unrelated arrests taking place in England this week (here), the PSNI yesterday carried out a proactive search and arrest operation in relation to the aforementioned thefts in Armagh and Dungannon.

A total of five separate properties were searched, with the assistance of Tactical Support Group (TSG) officers, which resulted in three men aged 36, 38 and 60 being arrested on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.

Detective Inspector Handley, who led the operation, said:

“The thefts targeted 20 locations between December 2022 and August 2024 and are being treated as an attack on Northern Ireland’s national infrastructure by what we believe to be an organised criminal group.

We’ve been working closely with the Openreach Security Team and this has culminated in this morning’s operation. The cost of the cable stolen from Openreach over the past 18 months and the damage caused in its removal, runs into six figures, and has disrupted the telephone and internet services of several thousand households, mainly in rural areas.”

Crimes like this have become increasingly common in recent years, driven in part by the high price of copper and the rising cost of living that has pushed more people into poverty. But over the past couple of years’ we have seen a rise in the number of UK-wide arrests (example), often followed by some convictions, which is starting to dent the activity.

Openreach has also reported a 30% reduction in cable theft over the past year, not least after introducing a new forensic liquid marker (SelectaDNA) to help track and protect their network (here). But that takes time to deploy and can’t be added to cables that are already in the ground.

The ongoing deployment of full fibre (FTTP) lines should, eventually, help to reduce such thefts as fibre has no value to thieves. But this won’t completely stop the problem from occurring because fibre and copper cables often share some of the same ducts, and thieves sometimes confuse the two. BT and Openreach will eventually remove their copper cables too, but that’s a much longer process.

Openreach also has a partnership with Crimestoppers, which sometimes offers rewards for information given anonymously to the charity about cable thefts, if it leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible – you can contact them 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111 or use their anonymous online form. You can also contact Openreach’s security team direct or report via the local police (101), or if you see a crime in progress, then call the police on 999.

The Kent Police’s Rural Task Force arrested four suspects on Monday – three men aged between 37 – 57 and a 14-year-old boy, in connection with the theft of batteries from “telecoms boxes” (i.e. street cabinets using by broadband providers) and a large number of cables from across the South East of England.

A number of network operators put batteries in street cabinets, such as those used to house copper based broadband services (e.g. Openreach’s hybrid fibre FTTC service), which can cost around £500 each and usually kick-in during power outages. Unfortunately, such equipment, along with valuable copper telecoms cables, is often targetted by criminal gangs.

However, the perpetrators of such crimes don’t always get away with it, particularly if they keep returning to the same area. In addition, networks operators like Openreach and Virgin Media are now coating more of their cables and network equipment with an “invisible” synthetic DNA and UV liquid tracer, called SelectaDNA, which makes finding and arresting those linked to such thefts a bit easier (here).

In this case, officers from Kent Police’s Rural Task Force traced a vehicle suspected to be linked to the theft of batteries from telecoms boxes around the South East to a location near Gillingham on Monday 7th October 2024. The investigation ultimately recovered more than 100 batteries, along with a lot of cables, the vehicle itself, a trailer, a vehicle engine and several heavy power tools. The police are currently in the process of trying to determine the origin of all the materials, and hopefully we’ll help a bit by publishing some of the pictures.

Four people have thus been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal and bailed while enquiries continue. Anyone who has information regarding the theft of telecoms batteries or cables and has yet to report it to police is urged to call Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting reference 46/168070/24. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or complete the online form on their website.

Infracapital-backed network builder and UK ISP Ogi, which is investing £245m into the deployment of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales, has confirmed that they’ve opened up their “Cefnogi” local community support fund for an 8th round of projects.

The operator has so far covered a total of 100,000 premises RFS (4th Jan 2024) with their full fibre (FTTP) broadband network – most of them residential – in Wales up to the end of 2023. In addition, they’re home to over 20,000 customers (13th May 2024), which is up from 10,000 on 4th Jan 2024. But build progress through 2024 has slowed down a fair bit.

As part of this, they’ve also been running a community support fund (“Cefnogi”) in some of their deployment areas, which offers grants worth up to £500 and volunteering hours to local grassroots community groups to help them “explore innovative approaches for promoting technology“. This has now opened up to invite applications for an 8th round of funding, and projects have until 11.59pm on 25th October to apply.

Louise Clement, Ogi’s Community Engagement Manager, said:

“Technology plays a big part in all our lives today. From keeping up with the latest news, to booking an appointment at the GP – it’s making a difference all around us.

Through Cefnogi, we want to make sure everyone in the community has the confidence to use all kinds of tech; helping to connect and build more resilient communities.

We’re asking groups to think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to use and showcase the best of technology to the widest possible audience.”

Since its launch back in 2022, the Cefnogi programme has given tens of thousands of pounds to local groups, charities and schools, with staff also volunteering over 3,000 hours in the community taking part in everything from litter picks to community garden builds.

A rather basic new study, which was conducted by tech refurbishment firm Back Market, has analysed the number of nuisance call reports coming from 752 area codes across the UK – as reported on who-called.co.uk – to see which ones receive the highest percentage of reports nationally. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its size, London was found to be the area most exploited by cold callers.

The researchers also analysed the most recent comments left while making these reports to determine what people had to say about the most common scams nationally. Overall, London took the top spot for the area where the most nuisance calls originate from in the UK. A total of 3.58 million reports of nuisance phone numbers have been made against 020 area code numbers on who-called.co.uk, making up 20.14% of the UK’s 17.77 million reports.

Naturally, Manchester was the second-hardest hit by nuisance callers, with 3.44% of all reports filed nationally against 0161 area code numbers. In total, Manchester numbers have had 611,150 nuisance caller reports. But this is where things take an unexpected turn, with the relatively small market town of Blandford Forum in Dorset somehow managing to come third in the table (2.86%).

The 01258 area code for Blandford Forum received 508,653 nuisance call reports in total, which is very unusual for a location with a population of just 11,796. But it also received significantly fewer look-ups (1,218,237) by visitors of the related website, which suggests to us that the data should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt (they also fail to specify what time period the data covers)

The study also found that scammers routinely impersonate trusted institutions like banks, Amazon, and broadband ISPs such as BT. Banks were the most frequent institution scammers impersonated, with 587 out of 1,168 reports (50%) they looked at mentioning matters relating to bank accounts.

Top UK Area Codes Used by Nuisance Callers (% of National Reports)

Rank
Area
Number of lookups
Number of reports
% of all reports nationally
Area Code

1.
London
183,210,617
3,580,172
20.14%
020

2.
Manchester
66,412,481
611,150
3.44%
0161

3.
Blandford Forum, Dorset
1,218,237
508,653
2.86%
01258

4.
Liverpool
17,387,057
439,605
2.47%
0151

5.
Leicester
9,161,592
435,501
2.45%
0116

6.
Leeds
17,447,710
373,659
2.1%
0113

7.
Birmingham
23,944,561
351,554
1.98%
0121

8.
Sheffield
10,502,984
318,806
1.79%
0114

9.
Glasgow
20,548,882
254,500
1.43%
0141

10.
Bristol
8,143,248
220,745
1.24%
0117

11.
Edinburgh
10,642,047
163,620
0.92%
0131

12.
Cambridge
2,970,310
147,966
0.83%
01223

13.
Nottingham
7,569,825
113,324
0.64%
0115

14.
Cardiff
7,053,157
103,702
0.58%
029

15.
Derby
3,001,531
92,505
0.52%
01332

16.
Bolton
4,301,011
88,437
0.5%
01204

17.
Canterbury
1,608,814
84,502
0.48%
01227

18.
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
2,538,671
84,267
0.47%
01246

19.
Coventry
4,083,190
83,583
0.47%
024

20.
Reading
4,669,455
78,319
0.44%
0118

21.
Bedford
1,967,428
77,387
0.44%
01234

22.
Chester
2,281,775
77,368
0.44%
01244

23.
Bradford
2,670,263
77,200
0.43%
01274

24.
Bournemouth
4,756,179
71,482
0.4%
01202

25.
Luton
1,940,656
69,062
0.39%
01582

26.
Portsmouth
3,147,378
65,543
0.37%
0239

27.
Southampton
3,363,666
65,381
0.37%
0238

28.
Barnsley
1,261,532
64,352
0.36%
01226

29.
Abingdon-on-Thames (Abingdon), Oxfordshire
1,329,425
63,586
0.36%
01235

30.
Brighton
5,071,656
63,571
0.36%
01273

31.
Chelmsford, Essex
1,634,247
62,604
0.35%
01245

32.
Peterborough
1,994,176
56,981
0.32%
01733

33.
Chichester, West Sussex
1,024,375
54,525
0.31%
01243

34.
Dursley, Gloucestershire
1,216,036
54,245
0.31%
01453

35.
Aberdeen
2,958,114
54,121
0.3%
01224

36.
Aldershot, Hampshire
1,762,630
51,986
0.29%
01252

37.
Stoke-on-Trent
2,646,218
51,743
0.29%
01782

38.
Norwich
3,132,089
51,252
0.29%
01603

39.
Bewdley, Worcestershire
1,153,514
50,983
0.29%
01299

40.
Ashford, Kent
1,555,070
50,807
0.29%
01233

41.
Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire
861,089
49,899
0.28%
01283

42.
Cromer, Norfolk
465,207
49,550
0.28%
01263

43.
Wolverhampton
1,814,840
48,971
0.28%
01902

44.
Basildon, Essex
1,467,884
48,594
0.27%
01268

45.
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
751,854
48,380
0.27%
01285

46.
Guisborough, North Yorkshire
980,329
48,132
0.27%
01287

47.
Blackburn
2,824,518
47,386
0.27%
01254

48.
Hull
3,316,562
47,251
0.27%
01482

49.
Middlesbrough
1,649,923
46,554
0.26%
01642

50.
Brentwood, Essex
863,113
46,299
0.26%
01277

Most of the United Kingdom’s major broadband, phone and mobile network providers have already implemented various technical measures to tackle Nuisance Calls and Scam Calls. But these aren’t always 100% effective, although the industry and Ofcom are constantly working to improve the situation (here).

News

The new 5G standalone network is the first of its kind in the country, and covers key urban centres

Today, Nokia have announced the launch of the first 5G standalone (SA) network in Costa Rica in partnership with Radiografica Costarricense (RACSA).

RACSA, the mobile unit of Costa Rica’s state-owned utilities/telecoms group ICE, says they have already rolled out the new technology in of 30 sites in major cities, including San Jose, Cartago, and Limon, with 170 additional sites due later this year.

In total, 500 sites are planned for deployment in both urban and rural areas as part of the project.

“The utilization of Nokia technology represents a pivotal step in Costa Rica’s digital transformation which RACSA has been playing a key role in for the last 103 years. By deploying the first 5G network in the country, we are not only improving connectivity for businesses and government entities but also enhancing the quality of life for our citizens,” said Mauricio Barrantes, General Manager of RACSA. “The high-speed, reliable network will support innovative applications that contribute to the country’s overall economic and social development.”

Costa Rica journey towards rolling out 5G has been a bumpy one. Plans for initial 5G spectrum auctions have been repeatedly delayed by clashes between the telcos and state regulatory authority Sutel. The issues raised have been myriad, with operators complaining about everything from spectrum pricing to infrastructure sharing obligations and competition concerns.

The country’s latest attempt at the tender process was officially initiated at the start of August this year but was cancelled later the same month due to renewed complaints from the telcos.

Without this spectrum auction, 5G activity in Costa Rica has been very limited, with most of the operators only able to offer small-scale private trials.

RACSA, however, is something of an outlier among the Costa Rican telcos, owning 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum, which is ideal for 5G services. As a result, RACSA was able to launch 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services back in April this year.

It is also presumably this spectrum that is being used to support RACSA’s new 5G standalone network with Nokia.

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership 

Global satellite provider SES, which operates a network of nearly 70 satellites that can deliver video and data services to 99% of the world’s population, has today announced an extension of their existing partnership with Sky that will see them continuing to provide capacity to support the Sky Q TV service in the UK and Ireland until the end of 2029.

Sky UK has spent the past couple of years putting a lot more effort into pushing their new internet-based streaming platforms, Sky Glass (Sky integrated streaming TV set) and Sky Stream (streaming set-top-box), which are standalone products that use your home broadband ISP and WiFi connection to stream Sky’s on-demand video content and live TV channels – without the need for a satellite dish.

However, Sky have long been expected to continue supporting existing customers of their satellite-based TV products, such as Sky Q, until around 2030 and the new deal with SES supports that strategy. The agreement reflects a multi-year contract renewal for satellite capacity and back-up services from SES’s prime video neighbourhood of 28.2/28.5 degrees East.

SES will extend the capacity for multiple transponders, although interestingly, their complementary back-up services contract with Sky will only run until the end of 2027.

Nick Herm, Chief Business Officer at Sky, said:

“We’re pleased to continue our long-standing collaboration with SES, reinforcing our commitment to providing the best viewing experience to all customers – whether they’re watching on our much-loved Sky Q satellite platform, or over our IP products, Glass and Stream.

This contract renewal provides us with the reliability we need to continue to deliver our market-leading TV offer and broad mix of channels to Sky Q customers across the UK and Ireland.”

Norbert Hölzle, Global Head of Media at SES, added:

“This important contract renewal with Sky reflects our ongoing commitment to deliver the highest levels of performance, service reliability and reach to our customers. As one of Europe’s leading media and entertainment companies, Sky trusts our satellite network to provide its viewers with a premium TV experience. This extension underscores the value satellites continue to deliver in the evolving media landscape to broadcasters and audiences alike.”

SES’s satellites at the 28.2/28.5 degrees East orbital position currently deliver a wide range of Sky TV channels to more than 17 million households in the UK and Ireland. The deal is also good for Freesat, which uses the same satellites as Sky to deliver their free-to-air service in the UK.