Network operator CityFibre, which earlier this year announced the acquisition of Lit Fibre’s full fibre network (here), has today resolved the problem of what to do with that provider’s customer base by agreeing to sell the retail ISP side of the business to the company’s co-founders, Tom Williams and Ben Bresler.

CityFibre is typically both a network builder and wholesale operator, which naturally prefers to steer clear of delivering the retail side in order to keep their many ISPs happy (i.e. avoiding a competitive conflict of interest). By comparison, Lit Fibre was a more vertically integrated operator, which both built their own gigabit broadband network and also sold related packages directly to homes and businesses.

Suffice to say that CityFibre’s main interest in Lit Fibre was their FTTP network of over 220,000 premises (expanding up to 300,000 by completion of Lit’s remaining builds), and not the customer base of over 10,000 users. The new deal solves this by splitting Lit Fibre’s network from its retail ISP.

The deal means Lit Fibre’s existing customers across Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex and Suffolk, will continue to receive services from Lit Fibre, albeit now owned by Lit’s original co-founders. Lit Fibre is also now fully onboarded to CityFibre’s national FTTP network, enabling it to offer symmetrical speeds of up to 2.5Gbps over that network too.

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said:

“Our strategy has always been to be the wholesale provider of choice, building a nationwide, full fibre network that enables all of our partners to access market-leading products, pricing and service and gives consumers a greater choice of full fibre ISPs. We are really pleased to see Lit Fibre continue with its co-founders, who are passionate about the business, and we look forward to continuing to partner with Lit Fibre across our network.

As the nation’s third digital infrastructure platform, we continue to evaluate potential acquisition opportunities alongside accelerating CityFibre’s build to reach at least 8 million premises across the UK.”

Tom Williams and Ben Bresler, Co-Founders of Lit Fibre, said:

“Lit Fibre has built an enviable reputation for providing excellent service and support and we are delighted that we will be able to continue delivering that for our customers into the future, along with our partners at CityFibre.

The landscape for internet services is changing where the in-home experience is becoming more important. We believe consumers should expect more from their internet provider and Lit Fibre has an exciting roadmap of product improvements including improved WiFi coverage and enhanced security and protection for all connected devices to meet these higher expectations.”

The deal will support CityFibre’s aspiration toward covering up to 8 million UK premises with their new 2.2Gbps speed network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. So far, they’ve covered around 3.8m premises and have connected 400,000 customers (8th May 2024).

CityFibre’s wholesale network is otherwise supported by various UK ISPs such as Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet, Sky Broadband (later in 2025) and many others, but they aren’t all live or available in every location yet (mix of technical reasons and exclusivity deals).

The Essex Police, which had been investigating thefts of copper broadband and phone cables from Openreach (BT) across several counties in England, have announced that a gang of four men have been jailed for a combined total of 14 years. The men were responsible for stealing almost £1m worth of the operator’s telecoms cables.

The Essex Police are understood to have deployed their Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to identify those responsible for a spate of related thefts of cable and plant material in rural locations across Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and in Wrexham. The group would travel in 4×4 vehicles which displayed false registration plates, access manhole covers containing cable, cut it and winch it to the vehicle.

The cabling, which ran for several miles underground, would then be dragged out using the vehicle. The serious and costly network damage this caused frequently resulted in local broadband and phone services being disconnected for a protracted period, although the perpetrators of such crimes never have any regard for the harm they cause to people, some of whom were dependent upon the services as a vital lifeline.

The offending meant a loss to BT and other victims of more than £750,000, with wider costs to home and business customers never fully being known due to the significant outages caused as a result. But police got a break when, during one offence in Earith, Cambridgeshire, they arrived to find a 4×4 vehicle in a field with evidence of stolen cable around it.

The investigation that followed ultimately lead to the police being able to identify four gang members – Billy Lee Junior, Levi Lee, Samuel Sheady-Jones and Ashley Byford. The gang ended up being linked to 31 offences over a nine-month period.

Detective Inspector Frazer Low said:

“This group caused widespread disruption, across a number of areas in England and Wales over a nine-month period.

There was a significant impact on Openreach as a business totalling more than £650,000, which includes the cost of replacement of copper cable, materials, labour and any traffic management and civil engineering costs.

There was also an indirect financial cost to the business and its customers, with 16,000 customer lines disrupted and I have absolutely no doubt that the offences caused vulnerable people to be cut off from family, friends and assistance in an emergency.

This group may have thought they were acting under the radar and weren’t going to get caught. But unfortunately for them, we were able to piece together their movements and their actions and ultimately prove unequivocally that they were responsible.

The evidence and information which Openreach was able to supply played a large part in helping us build our case against the group and I’d like to thank them for working so hard alongside us. Ultimately, this work has resulted in a group of people being brought to justice.”

Emma Sandison, Openreach Security Director, said:

“Cable thefts are hugely disruptive. The loss of phone and broadband is not only inconvenient but can put vulnerable people at risk. Repair work also pulls our engineers away from other work, can take weeks to finish, and costs thousands of pounds.

We take the security of our network seriously and have a wide range of crime prevention tools to prevent thefts and catch those responsible. Our dedicated security team investigates all attacks and our network is alarmed and monitored 24/7 by our control centre.

We’re pleased to have worked with Essex Police and others in a multi-agency approach which has had a positive outcome.”

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 (examples here and here), 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. Credits to Thinkbroadband for spotting this news.

Broadband, communications and managed service provider (MSP) Wavenet has indicated to ISPreview that they’re expecting to make some redundancies as part of their merger with Daisy Corporate Services (here), which aims to create the UK’s “largest independent IT managed service provider”. But the figure should be “substantially less” than 400.

The merger was officially announced in May 2024 and aims to create a £500m revenue company that supports over 22,000 business and public sector organisations, not least by delivering various cloud, cybersecurity and connectivity solutions.

However, sources recently told ISPreview that the merger was allegedly also going to result in several hundred redundancies from employees within DCS, although Wavenet has stressed that they are yet to determine the exact numbers who may soon find themselves out of work.

Philip Grannum, CEO Wavenet, told ISPreview:

“As we integrate Wavenet and Daisy Corporate Services (DCS), part of this process has identified where we have duplication of roles. We do anticipate an element of restructuring within some areas of the business which may impact Wavenet and DCS employees. With reference to the source cited by ISPreview.co.uk suggesting 400+ DCS only employees, we are yet to determine the numbers, but can confirm it will be substantially less. During this transition, we will fully support any colleagues who are affected.”

The news will naturally be distressing to those impacted, particularly as it will occur right before Christmas.

The Scottish Government (SG) has launched a new Digital Connectivity website, which is now directly integrated into the main government website and appears to replace the old Digital Scotland (Superfast Scotland) site. The new site continues to cover the SG’s various broadband (e.g. R100), mobile, IoT and green data centre projects.

The new site hasn’t yet been able to integrate the old broadband availability checker (this still redirects you to the old site), but it does include some useful new details. For example, we particularly like the Data Insights page that displays much more detail – at a more localised level – on the progress of their Reaching 100% (R100) roll-out of gigabit broadband services via Openreach (BT).

The R100 scheme aims to reach over 110,000 premises – split across three contracts – in areas that lack access to “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) by March 2028. LOT 1 (North Scotland and the Highlands) is expected to cover 60,764 premises (100% via FTTP) by 2027/28, while LOT 2 (Central Scotland) will reach 32,216 (95.6% via FTTP and the rest FTTC) by 2023/24 and LOT 3 (Southern Scotland) targets 21,889 (100% via FTTP) by 2024/25.

According to the Data Insights page, the latest R100 data to September 2024 looks like this (more localised info. can be found at the link).

News  

The upgrade will allow business customers a better understanding of the emissions related to individual apps and workloads 

BT has rolled out new features for its Carbon Network Dashboard, which will provide businesses with detailed insights into electricity usage and carbon emissions linked to their networks and data centres.  

The enhancements aim to help companies effectively manage the increased energy demands associated with deploying AI technologies, according to BT. 

AI applications can lead to unexpected spikes in network and data centre activity, which differ from the more predictable patterns of traditional software. These can overload infrastructure, resulting in higher energy consumption and inefficiencies. The upgraded Dashboard now allows businesses to track energy usage for individual applications, including those related to AI, enabling them to optimise their systems for better performance and lower emissions. 

The Dashboard has also broadened its compatibility, now incorporating data from a wider array of networking equipment, such as SD-WAN devices and other components.  

New energy-saving concepts include management tools for wireless access points, automation for powering down devices not in use, and advice on replacing older equipment with more energy-efficient options. 

“AI has incredible potential but if not deployed thoughtfully could place unpredictable demands on customers’ digital infrastructure causing surges in electricity use and carbon emissions,” said Sarwar Khan, sustainability director at BT in a press release. 

“BT is committed to helping customers innovate to achieve sustainable growth. With our Carbon Network Dashboard, we can help them adopt AI at scale while optimising their infrastructure to achieve their decarbonisation goals. It’s a great example of how BT has their back,” he continued. 

Join BT at next year’s Connected North 23-24 April in Manchester. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news: 
Nokia and Lenovo forge partnership to drive AI and automation in data centers
UK govt announces £22m investment in ‘smart data’
“We’re on track to close the loop”: Adtran talks data, AI, and network automation at Connected Britain 

News

The funding will focus on 6G innovation and sustainable network development 

At the 5G-Techritory event this week, Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) has announced the recipients of €127 million in funding set aside for 6G research in Europe. 

The SNS JU was set up in 2021 with the aim of developing industrial leadership in 5G and 6G networks and services. 

Sixteen projects have been chosen to drive forward Europe’s 6G development, with a focus on sustainable, AI-driven, and secure communication networks. 

This year’s SNS JU call had 1,874 applications from 33 European countries requesting a combined €863 million, far surpassing the available funding.  

The winning 16 projects involve 301 organisations across 25 countries. 

Among the winners were the following projects: 

• FLECON-6G, which aims to create a flexible, secure “Network of Networks” for 6G. 

• UNITY-6G, which will develop an AI-driven architecture for a sustainable 6G network. 

• AMBIENT-6G, which focuses on energy-harvesting technology for long-lasting IoT devices. 

• 6G MIRAI and 6G ARROW, which represent international collaborations with Japan and South Korea, exploring seamless connectivity across networks. 

“The projects selected highlight the diversity of 6G development happening across Europe, from infrastructure to applications to security. SNS JU is proud to support these efforts to ensure Europe remains at the forefront of 6G research and innovation and help realise its potential to transform lives and society,” said Erzsébet Fitori, Executive Director of SNS JU in a press release. 

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

Also in the news:
Nokia and Lenovo forge partnership to drive AI and automation in data centers
UK govt announces £22m investment in ‘smart data’
“We’re on track to close the loop”: Adtran talks data, AI, and network automation at Connected Britain 

Press Release

Juniper Networks, a leader in secure, AI-Native Networking, today announced that Thai Airways has modernized the network infrastructure of its headquarters in Thailand, by deploying Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform to deliver the right data, the right real-time response and the right infrastructure for reliable, measurable and secure wired and wireless services. With the upgrades, Thai Airways can now achieve better simplicity, productivity and consistent performance at scale to deliver exceptional end-to-end operator and end-user experiences.

With a vision to implement better processes for improved operations and workflow while also enhancing the customer experience when researching, booking and managing flights online, the airline embarked on a digital transformation. It selected Juniper to overhaul and upgrade its network solutions – becoming the first organization in Thailand to deploy Wi-Fi 6E through the use of Juniper AP45 access points, alongside Juniper EX Series Ethernet switches for its core, distribution and access networks. 

“Slow, unreliable Wi-Fi was previously hampering productivity and efficiency at our Bangkok head offices, but the upgrades have turned networking complaints into compliments. With the Juniper solution, we are now also able to unify management of our wired and wireless networks through an industry-leading, cloud-native solution purpose-built to leverage AIOps. Enabled by Juniper, we are excited to continually uplift the user experiences of our operators and customers alike, as Thai Airways continues to grow and soar into the skies internationally going forward,” said Tana Kantipan, Team Lead, Network and Cybersecurity, Thai Airways.

The deployment is driven by Mist AI™, which leverages purpose-built AIOps trained on nine years of insights and data science development, to deliver rich insights into user experiences and proactive fault resolutions that can reduce network-related trouble tickets by up to 90%. In unifying the end-to-end management of Thai Airways’ wired and wireless networks, Juniper Mist Wired and Wireless Assurance cloud services were implemented to enable efficient operations of its business-critical systems, requiring minimal human intervention while ensuring every connection is reliable, measurable and secure for every device, user, application and asset. 

In addition, the Marvis Virtual Network Assistant allows the airline’s IT team to detect and resolve networking issues through a seamless conversational interface, determining the root cause of issues, providing proactive insights and suggesting prescriptive actions. This has resulted in a significant decrease in issues and user complaints since the upgrades, ultimately reducing the overall time required for network operations by Thai Airways, enabling it to focus efforts on delivering stronger value, services and outcomes for its customers. 

Thai Airways’ Network: Strategic for Business Growth

As Thailand’s national carrier and a strategically located flight hub and gateway to Asia, Thai Airways is regularly ranked amongst the world’s top airlines, renowned for its hospitality and services across an extensive global network. To maintain its reputation while meeting surging demand for post-pandemic travel, the airline recognized its corporate network as a key strategic component of its planned business growth.

The new network from Juniper empowers Thai Airways’ IT team to continue delivering exceptional end-to-end operator and user experiences across all its stakeholders – especially as it explores further extending the roll-out of Juniper’s solutions to its hubs at Thailand’s two major international airports, deployments which could potentially surpass the scale of the current deployment at its head office.

Also in the news:
Nokia and Lenovo forge partnership to drive AI and automation in data centers
UK govt announces £22m investment in ‘smart data’
“We’re on track to close the loop”: Adtran talks data, AI, and network automation at Connected Britain

The state-aid supported Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme has suffered yet another problem with one of their rural broadband contracts, which occurred today after they announced that their full fibre roll-out deal with Worcestershire-based Airband was being “scaled back” following its underperformance.

In case anybody has forgotten, CDS is a local government-led partnership that has spent many years helping to deliver faster internet infrastructure to areas where the market had failed to invest (usually rural locations). The scheme has already helped over 326,000 poorly served premises to access “superfast broadband” speeds (usually 30Mbps+), which mostly occurred via deployments by Openreach (FTTC + FTTP), as well as some smaller alternative networks.

On the flip side, CDS has also suffered from plenty of big bumps and delays along the way, which often related to the inability of contracted operators – usually smaller players – to deliver on their deployment plans without suffering big delays. For example, there was the scrapping of Gigaclear’s contract in 2019 (here), then the decision to terminate Truespeed’s deal in 2022 (here) and both of those followed after CDS rejected BT’s original Phase 2 build proposal in 2015 (here).

The latest problem child of this programme appears to be Airband. CDS contracted with the provider, initially in 2016 to deliver fixed wireless infrastructure, and additionally in late 2020 to rollout fibre broadband networks to communities across Devon and Somerset, with four contracts originally due to conclude at the end of 2024.

In total, Airband is contracted to deliver 55,493 premises (examples here and here), but to date the operator has only delivered 18,794 premises in collaboration with CDS. Much of this work was originally due to complete by the end of 2024, but it hasn’t escaped our notice that there haven’t been any progress updates from CDS on this since last year.

Similarly, back in June 2024, we reported on some very public complaints by local councillors, which highlighted how “hundreds of homes and businesses” were being affected by slow broadband speeds and delays in work to install new fibre cables (here). This followed earlier news of Airband’s restructuring, which included some job losses and a slow-down in their deployment plans (here); the operator has since focused more on growing take-up.

What’s happened now?

The CDS announcement highlights that Airband, following its earlier restructuring and reduction in their build plans, can “no longer complete its contracted build for CDS in full” and has thus sought a change to its contract. After detailed discussions between CDS, the Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency and Airband, the provider has now committed to provide full fibre access to 8,377 more premises covered by the contracts

The new agreement will see Airband providing FTTP broadband to a total of 27,171 out of the 55,493 premises it was originally contracted to deliver (we understand this will now be completed by Sept 2027). This additional build will further unlock fibre delivery by Airband to 10,997 non-contracted premises along the network build routes, giving an overall commitment to connect a further 19,834 premises in Devon and Somerset.

Rufus Gilbert, CDS Board Member and Devon County Councillor, said:

“Sadly we’re in a position where we have little choice other than to scale back these contracts with Airband. The company is unable to fulfil its contractual obligations, which is deeply disappointing for us and the communities that have been waiting for a decent broadband connection. A lot of work has gone into coming to an agreement on what they can now complete, and we’re urging BDUK to work with us to find solutions to the communities that are missing out.”

Mike Rigby, CDS Board Member and Somerset Council Lead Member for Planning, said:

“Naturally we’re disappointed that many local residents who should have been receiving access to fibre broadband will no longer benefit from these contracts. There’s no escaping the fact these are not easy times for the industry as many alternative network providers have slowed their build. If it was easy and profitable to build fibre broadband networks in rural areas, it would have done commercially by now. But it’s challenging.

When it became apparent that Airband would have to scale back its build for CDS, following the company’s restructure, our teams have worked behind the scenes to come to an agreement with Airband over what could still be delivered. That has ensured that nearly 8,400 homes and businesses will still be provided with access to full fibre, but for those not included in Airband’s ongoing delivery, CDS will do everything it can to help communities get a connection as we know how vital it is for rural communities to have decent broadband.”

Kash Rahman, MD of Airband, said:

“We’ve had to make tough decisions on our build activity this year and we are sorry if this news comes as a disappointment to residents who are left waiting for better connectivity. We have come to an agreement with CDS and will continue building the fibre network, albeit scaled back from the original contracted number. The region is an important part of our network, we have worked hard to deliver against engineering challenges, and we will continue to deliver better broadband for people who need it. I’m really proud of the team for the work done to date.”

The CDS team said they were now urging BDUK to “re-enable rural [gigabit broadband] voucher applications to open promptly in communities where Airband will no longer be delivering“, which could offer those communities a potential alternative. CDS is also seeking confirmation of the Devon and Somerset premises that will be connected under the nationally led contracts awarded to Openreach (BT) as part of the Government’s separate Project Gigabit programme (here).

Meanwhile, the CDS contract with rural ISP Wessex Internet, covering South Somerset, remains in place and to date has connected 3,006 homes with a further 302 going live by December 2024. The contract is on track to complete in June 2025. CDS adds that superfast broadband coverage in Devon and Somerset currently stands at around 93% of premises, which is said to be above the 86% average for UK rural areas. Public take up of CDS-funded broadband connections is also claimed to be above the national average.

The Airband situation is clearly embarrassing for CDS, given their many similar challenges over the past few years, and probably won’t help Airband’s reputation all that much either.

News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says the operator’s sales staff had acted “unconscionably” towards hundreds of vulnerable customers

This week, Australia consumer watchdog the ACCC has launched a legal suit against telco giant Optus, alleging that 429 customers had been affected by ‘misconduct’ from Optus’ sales staff over a two-year period up to June 2023.

The suit alleges that sales staff used aggressive tactics to pressure customers to buy expensive and unnecessary mobile products, many of which they could not afford. Some were even sold mobile products despite being from remote parts of the Northern Territory currently without mobile coverage.

These actions disproportionately affected vulnerable customers, some of which were even chased by debt collectors following these purchases.

“We allege Optus’ conduct disproportionately impacted consumers experiencing vulnerability and/or disadvantage, and that these practices were incentivised by the commission-based remuneration for sales staff,” the ACCC’s chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb. “In some cases, we allege Optus took steps to protect its own financial interests by clawing back commissions to sales staff but failed to remediate affected consumers.”

The ACCC is asking the court to issue financial penalties to the operator, order them to renumerate and implement a compliance programme.

According to Optus, the salespeople responsible for the misconduct have already been reprimanded.

“We have taken disciplinary action (including terminations) against staff whom we determined were responsible for this misconduct involving vulnerable customers,” Optus Interim CEO Michael Venter told Reuters via email.

He also noted that the company has already begun remediating affected customers through refunds, waiving outstanding debts, and enabling them to keep devices.

Also in the news:
Nokia and Lenovo forge partnership to drive AI and automation in data centers
UK govt announces £22m investment in ‘smart data’
“We’re on track to close the loop”: Adtran talks data, AI, and network automation at Connected Britain

10/29/24