Interview

Interest in private networks is growing around the world, particularly for the manufacturing sector. But with each industry having such diverse requirements, CSPs must carefully tailor their service offerings – without jeopardising network security.

At Connected Britain 2024, we caught up with Quest Global’s Sanjay Krishnaa to discuss the latest trends in the UK’ fixed and mobile markets, and why private networks remain a key growth area for CSPs.

Check out our full interview below!

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 Cooperative Network Infrastructure scheme in Tameside, Blackpool, Manchester and Sussex (England), which helps to enable the commercial re-use of existing local authority owned cable ducts and fibre to aid the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband, has made it easier to share related assets (fibre, street furniture etc.) via a new partnership with AssetHUB.

Asset reuse specialist AssetHUB states that this means its platform, which acts a bit like an open access “‘shop window’ of digital assets“, can now be used by all of CNI’s 50 members (e.g. Virgin Media, Zayo, CityFibre, ITS Technology, F&W Networks and others) to manage incoming enquiries regarding their fibre and other infrastructure assets.

Both organisations have also been jointly working with the Independent Network Cooperative Association (INCA) to encourage alternative networks to share physical infrastructure, such as in locations where Openreach’s own cable ducts and poles might not be available. A related trial is directly available for all INCA members in the Infrastructure Sharing Group (ISG) for pole, duct and cabinet space sharing.

CNI Chair, Tony Doyle, said:

“Sharing infrastructure is critical, otherwise Altnets will have to lay more fibre or add new poles, resulting in more customer disruption, wasted investment, unnecessary carbon emissions and expenditure. AssetHUB is providing a marketplace platform for CNI to share assets between members more easily, while also serving as a mechanism to attract more members and encourage the sharing of more assets.”

The partnership underscores our continued dedication in bridging the gap between operators and public sector organisations and helping provide communities across the UK with full-fibre connectivity,” Doyle continued.

The Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority (CURA) for the Isle of Man, which is a British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, has fined dominant broadband and telecoms operator Manx Telecom £100,000 for failing to correctly handle Sure’s request for an interconnection with BT’s subsea fibre cable.

The first thing to understand in all this is that the responsibility for ensuring that the related request and interconnection agreement was appropriately negotiated and concluded (in compliance with licence conditions and other regulatory obligations) rests with Manx Telecom. No other operator could have provided the access that is required to interconnect with BT.

However, following an initial request in 2023 by Sure for interconnection with BT’s sub-sea cable via the 21CN Optical Core Node and related discussions for just such an agreement, Manx Telecom then withdrew options previously presented to BT and Sure “without any objective justification” (these were said to be the most efficient and cost-effective options from Sure’s perspective).

The investigation by CURA ultimately found that this meant Manx Telecom had breached its regulatory obligations and hence the £100k fine to discourage a repeat of the same behaviour.

CURE Statement

The Authority held that the withdrawal of the options for solutions at the two sites where BT has its Points of Presence on the Island was not reasonable. In order to take the actions that Manx Telecom did there needs to be solid, tangible plans in place that predate the request. As nothing was forthcoming in this regard the Authority sees no grounds to change its view that Manx Telecom breached Condition 1 of its Licence as set out in the Notice of Contravention.

To that end, the Authority is satisfied that, having taken into account all information before it, the proposed penalty remains appropriate.

The BBC News also covered this story and included a statement from Manx Telecom, which said they’re now working to “enhance” their processes and will be “implementing new policies to improve future interconnection procedures“, which they claim is “demonstrating a strong commitment to collaboration and innovation“.

A spokesperson for Sure welcomed the decision and the “subsequent fulfilment of our access request, which directly supports the delivery of our services to customers“.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today banned a series of website-based adverts for major broadband ISPs and mobile network operators, including BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media, after the way they all presented their annual mid-contract price hikes was found to be “misleading“.

The rulings relate to the ASA’s enforcement of their new guidance for how UK telecoms operators should communicate mid-contract prices hikes to consumers (here), which came into force during December 2023 and was designed to make such pricing policies clearer and more transparent to consumers.

In addition, it also touches on Ofcom’s recent (here), albeit not yet enforced, decision to effectively ban mid-contract price hikes that are linked to inflation and percentage changes (this won’t start until 17th January 2025). The regulator said that it would now expect telecoms and pay TV providers that apply in-contract price rises to “set these out clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up“.

However, regardless of whether or not a particular provider is still using the inflation-linked (CPI/RPI + X%) method for mid-contract price hikes, or has already begun expressing future hikes using “pounds and pence“, they must all still keep within the ASA’s recently revised guidance for related promotions.

Key Principles of the ASA’s Guidance

The new guidance makes clear that ads are less likely to mislead consumers when:

➤ They do not state or imply that a price will apply for the full minimum term of the contract, if that is not the case – for example, claims such as “£X for X months” or “fixed for X months” are unlikely to be acceptable if the price is due to rise and any subsequent qualifying information is likely to contradict rather than clarify the claim.

➤ Price claims are qualified with equally prominent information alerting consumers to the presence or possibility of a mid-contract price increase.

➤ The details of what the increase will be based on are featured prominently relative to the price.

➤ Inflation terminology is presented in a way that is clear and simple to understand.

➤ They include the full amount the consumer will pay after the increase, once the relevant rate is known.

➤ They make clear where terminating a variable contract due to a price increase will impact other linked services.

In short, the ASA found that BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media had not been adhering to the above guidance, although it is a little bit difficult to summarise so many rulings without this article becoming too laborious to read. Instead, we’re going to highlight some of the general points that were made against most of the providers in the ASA’s rulings, although you can still read each ruling via the links at the bottom of this article for the full context.

What did the ASA find?

➤ Most of the providers presented their package prices in big text and then, in small text underneath, often stated things like this: “Prices rise each year on 31 March by £3” or “The monthly price for your broadband plan will increase each year from April 2025 by the rate of inflation (the Consumer Price Index rate, published in January each year) plus 3.7%.”

The ASA noted that the price rise information was often in considerably smaller text and not always directly beneath the headline claims. It also found that the placement and size of the price rise information was likely to be overlooked by consumers, who would want to scroll down the page to engage with the details of the individual broadband packages on offer.

➤ The ASA found that the listings of the broadband and / or mobile packages often didn’t provide information explaining the nature of the increase, which they considered to be material information.

➤ Situations where the qualification for the price hike was explained at the bottom of the page, and not included within the listings for each broadband package, made the details of the increase unclear, as well as being too easy for consumers to overlook.

Broadly speaking, it’s not so much a problem with the method being adopted for the price hikes, but rather the lack of a clear presentation and description of those methods alongside the main package prices. Simply saying the prices will rise on X date is not enough, providers also need to clearly put the details of that increase alongside and not hide them further down the page or under a drop-down selection etc.

In all cases the ASA banned the adverts in their current form and told the providers to “ensure that they made sufficiently clear that their broadband contracts would be subject to mid-contract price increases“, and that “information about the nature of such price increases was presented prominently.” The complaints related to website adverts seen between April and May 2024, thus some of the providers will have already corrected for this.

Summary of the Rulings

➤ A24-1244734 British Telecommunications plc

➤ A24-1244738 EE Ltd

➤ A24-1244740 Plusnet plc

➤ A24-1244730 TalkTalk Telecom Ltd

➤ A24-1244736 Telefonica UK Ltd

➤ A24-1244733 Virgin Media Ltd

News

Ninety-nine percent of German railway passengers on ‘main routes’ can now access speeds of at least 200 Mbps

Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned railway company, have made significant improvements to mobile reception on trains in Germany over the past three years, according to a press release published by the companies last week.

Back in 2021, the two companies first began cooperating on this deal, with the goal of significantly improving mobile reception along Germany’s railway network, and specifically, to provide the entire line’s network with high-performance mobile coverage by the end 2026. The partnership aimed to tackle the challenges of providing high quality mobile connectivity under the difficult environmental conditions along the railway routes, such as within tunnels and nature reserves.

Since the collaboration started, the companies have jointly invested ‘a three-digit million amount’ to build and modernise the network’s infrastructure. This included installing over 470 new mobile towers and upgrading approximately 1,900 sites along rail routes.

A key focus was ensuring that 99% of the country’s 7,800km of main routes now offer at least 200 Mbps data speeds, with 95% sections reaching 300 Mbps or more. The companies also made progress on 13,800km of secondary routes (>2,000 passengers per day), increasing availability of 200 Mbps from 73% in 2021 to 94% in 2024.

Further improvements are being planned by 2026.

“The cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bahn shows that Germany is making progress in digitisation!” said Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn in a translated press release.

“Together we have managed to ensure that rail passengers can surf and make calls almost anywhere without interruption in the Telekom network. Telekom has strengthened its network for this purpose, and we at DB have equipped our vehicles. Now more and more trains are being added to our fleet with mobile phone-transparent windows. Uninterrupted mobile phone reception is a basic need for our customers,” he continued.

“We built a new mast every two and a half days. We significantly increased data rates. And we saw that network expansion only works when we work together,” said Timotheus Höttges, CEO of DT.

“We need usable space for our locations and faster approval processes. Providing coverage on challenging routes through national parks, mountains, wooded valleys or tunnels requires a lot of patience. We will not let up here either. We have achieved a lot and people are noticing that. But we have not yet reached our goal and must take further steps together.”

In an additional investment, DB is spending €50 million to install over 70,000 train windows that are more easily penetrated by mobile signals. This technology uses a laser to etch a fine pattern into the ultra-thin metal layer that shields the train windows from sunlight, thereby allowing better signal penetration.

These mobile signal-permeable windows are gradually replacing the older repeater systems currently installed on the trains, which used external antennas to transmit signals inside the carriages.

Join us at next month’s Connected Germany 5-6 November in Munich. Get discounted tickets here!

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 

Interview

At this year’s Connected Britain, we caught up with Nokia’s Head of Cloud Infrastructure Business, Europe, Paul Alexander to discuss how AI is driving investment in the cloud and data centre sectors, how security requirements are evolving, and how regulators are doing their best to keep up!

You can watch our full interview from the link below.

Also in the news:
Vodafone and Three defend merger amid CMA warnings
Verizon offloads mobile towers to Vertical Bridge for $3.3bn
Korea Telecom and Microsoft sign multibillion-dollar AI partnership

The Government has announced that their new National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), which is a digital UK map of underground pipes and cables (broadband, water etc.) that is partly designed to help reduce accidental damage, will finally be made available as a public beta service by spring 2025.

Both the past and present governments see huge potential for such maps to help improve the way that national infrastructure is planned, built and managed (e.g. future full fibre broadband and 5G mobile networks). The map could also cut the amount of accidental damage that occurs to existing infrastructure (one estimate suggested this costs up to £2.4bn each year) and boost economic growth by “at least £400m” per year due to increased efficiency, fewer asset strikes and reduced disruptions.

The NUAR – developed alongside Ordnance Survey (OS) and Atkins – is the solution they came up with, which has so far only launched in the form of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), where use is constrained to testing and feedback. But the big news today is that the government plan to push this into a “public beta service by spring“.

From that point the NUAR will be able to be used in real-life situations by any eligible asset owners, their contractors and accredited surveyors to help ensure safe digging and excavation. In addition, the government has announced that Ordnance Survey (OS) will be the future operator of the NUAR; this won’t come as a huge surprise, given their prior involvement.

Otherwise, the Geospatial Commission will retain long-term policy and performance oversight of the service.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (DSIT), said:

“We are committed to unlocking the power of data to reduce disruptions to the public and help deliver economic growth across the UK. From spring, NUAR will minimise the chance of accidental damage to the pipes and cables beneath our feet, protecting the supply of gas, water and electricity to our homes and businesses.

By harnessing the Ordnance Survey’s centuries of expertise in managing critical national geographic data, we will ensure this service can deliver for the public and industry from Newcastle to Newport and Brighton to Belfast.”

Admittedly, all of the positivity around the NUAR does rather ignore the fact that alternative platforms, such as the LSBUD (Line Search Before You Dig) service, already exist to provide a roughly similar facility (although NUAR seems to be aiming to go further).

In addition, the UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has previously warned the government against putting the NUAR on a statutory footing before it’s truly “fit for purpose, proportionate and can fully deliver on expectations“. Clearly the move to a public beta represents progress, but it will be vitally important that it doesn’t exit that phase before it’s ready.

News

A new report from network service provider RETN says the cable cuts impacted up to 70% of Europe–Asia data traffic – far greater than the 25% previously estimated

In October last year, the Red Sea became a hotbed of paramilitary activity, with Yemeni Houthis beginning to attack commercial shipping, ostensibly as a result the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

By February this year, the ‘Red Sea crisis’ had escalated to become a major issue for the international telecoms community, with submarine cables in the region being badly damaged, severely disrupting data traffic in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Whether the damage to these cables was caused deliberately or not remains unclear, with one prominent theory suggesting that a ship being attacked by rebels hastily deployed its anchor, which then severed the cables.

To make matters worse, efforts to repair the affected cables were heavily delayed, both due to the militarised nature of the area, as well as by legal challenges related to the Yemeni government.

The impact of this lengthy saga on data transport in the region has been difficult to measure, but initial estimates suggested around 25% of data traffic had been affected.

Today, however, a new whitepaper from RETN suggests that this figure has been drastically underestimated, with their own metrics putting the amount of traffic disrupted at up to 70%.

This figure is based on the company’s own network diagnostics and feedback from customers, including major consumer ISPs in Southeast Asia.

RETN uses this data as a springboard to discuss the wider issue of submarine cable system resiliency, calling for the creation of additional data routes to avoid ‘single points of failure’.

Alongside the cable incidents in the Red Sea, the paper also points at damage to the SEA-ME-WE 5 cable in the Strait of Malacca – another submarine cable bottleneck – in April this year. This damage was particularly damaging to connectivity in Bangladesh, where SMW-5 is one of just two subsea cables connecting the country. According to the report, the damage to the cable reduced Bangladesh’s internet capacity by a third.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, smaller and less economically developed countries are less likely to be supported by a wider range of data transport routes, making them particularly vulnerable to largescale disruption.

“We are at a pivotal moment in network connectivity, and to be fully transparent, the industry is not equipped to meet current demands,” said RETN’s CEO Tony O’Sullivan. “With geopolitical events, natural disasters, cable cuts, design flaws, cybersecurity attacks and a shortage of new cables, we’re really not too far away from entire countries becoming digitally inaccessible when the one or two cables that connect them go down.”

The paper argues that the process of building the new systems is moving too slowly, hampered by geopolitical tensions, regulatory issues, and ongoing supply chain shortages.

RETN, therefore, is calling on industry to redouble its efforts in creating new data routes, calling for “at least 4 routes for any geography, preferably 5+” to ensure lasting resiliency.

“Having the global infrastructure in place to overcome these challenges requires industry-wide investment, but that means a wide-reaching movement of prioritising customers over short-term gains. Undoubtedly, there are some key players with the power that can take actionable steps immediately to make a difference,” said O’Sullivan.

Is the submarine cable industry doing enough to ensure the stability of global data routes? Join the discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA 2025

Also in the news:
Vodafone and Three defend merger amid CMA warnings
Verizon offloads mobile towers to Vertical Bridge for $3.3bn
Korea Telecom and Microsoft sign multibillion-dollar AI partnership

News 

The deal will see Google’s generative AI models enhance Vodafone’s mobile, fixed broadband, and TV offerings  

Vodafone and Google have agreed to expand their existing partnership for the next ten years, in a move that aims bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to millions of Vodafone customers across Europe and Africa.  

This expanded partnership is focused on leveraging Google Cloud and the company’s generative AI models known as Gemini to enhance customer experiences, providing additional storage, security, and AI assistance. 

The deal will benefit customers in all 15 markets in which Vodafone operators, as well as impacting partners in 45 total markets around the world.  

“Together, Vodafone and Google will put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands of millions of more consumers. Using these services, our customers can discover new ways to learn, create and communicate, as well as consume TV, on a scale we haven’t seen before,” said Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle in a press release. 

“Our expanded partnership with Vodafone will help bring our most advanced AI products and services, including our Gemini models, to more people across Europe and Africa,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.   

Vodafone will offer Google’s YouTube and Google One subscription services, including storage and AI tools, alongside devices like Pixel phones. Vodafone TV, powered by Android TV, will also benefit from AI enhancements like improved content discovery and ad management. A deeper integration with YouTube is in development. 

The two companies already work together on a data system that securely stores Vodafone’s data using Google Cloud. Now, Vodafone will use Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform to create and expand AI-powered applications more quickly across its markets. 

Vodafone also plans to launch a new cloud-based cybersecurity solution for business customers using Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform, it said. This will include advanced tools for managing security threats.  

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

Also in the news:
From GIS to computer vision: Building a unified platform for fibre deployment
US telcos targeted by Chinese hackers in national security breach 
Vodafone Idea expands Ericsson 5G partnership 

Viewpoint

Die deutsche Sprachversion folgt weiter unten

Ahead of Connected Germany, we spoke to Kerstin Larsson-Knetsch, Chief Commercial Officer at Fiber Experts Germany. Fiber Experts’ digital construction platform brings together network operators and construction companies, digitising the entire fibre construction process 

Ms Larsson-Knetsch, what is the status of digitalisation in fibre construction and how does it affect the efficiency of projects? 

The fibre roll-out process is highly complex, but the industry is lagging behind when it comes to digitalisation: according to Bitkom, less than 20% of construction processes are digitalised. In practice, this often leads to delays and inefficiencies.  

Network operators need to deploy hundreds of thousands of fibre connections every year. To do this, they need partners who can deliver projects transparently, efficiently, and with high quality. As Germany’s leading construction platform, we take a digital approach to network expansion from start to finish. We connect network operators and construction companies, optimise processes, and create greater efficiency and transparency. 

How does this work in practice? 

We collect all project data centrally and enrich it continuously. This starts with area planning, where we work with precise environmental data and scan surfaces and roads in a similar way to Google Street View. This data flows directly into our planning systems for high- and low-level design. Our digital analysis is so accurate that we can offer our clients turnkey construction at a fixed price. Our construction partners have direct access to the plans, allowing them to efficiently plan construction preparation and execution.  

How does digitalisation support the construction process itself? 

Digitalisation is a real game changer on the construction site. All progress is documented in real time – from the first metres of civil engineering to the installation of the network distributor and the fibre connection in the end customer’s home.  

Our contractors use tablets and smartphones to report the status of their work and upload photos to our system. Our customers can follow the progress live and do not have to wait for documentation. This gives us maximum control and transparency.  

AI will also help us monitor quality in the future. 

What are the benefits for construction partners? 

It makes work much easier for the construction partners. They have all the information at their fingertips, can see exactly what needs to be done next, and can concentrate fully on the site. There’s no more paperwork, everything is systematic, digital, and fast. Payment processes to our construction partners are also automated. Our goal is to make the expansion of fibre optic networks in Germany simpler, more efficient, and more transparent through complete digitalisation. 

Glasfaserausbau 2.0: Wie Digitalisierung den Netzausbau schneller, smarter und transparenter macht 

Im Vorfeld der Connected Germany sprachen wir mit Kerstin Larsson-Knetsch, Chief Commercial Officer bei Fiber Experts Deutschland. Die digitale Bau-Plattform von Fiber Experts bringt Netzbetreiber und Bauunternehmen zusammen und digitalisiert den gesamten Glasfaser-Bauprozess.    

Frau Larsson-Knetsch, wie steht es um die Digitalisierung im Glasfaserausbau, und wie wirkt sich das auf die Effizienz der Projekte aus? 

Der Glasfaserausbau ist hochkomplex, doch die Branche hängt in Sachen Digitalisierung hinterher: Laut Bitkom sind weniger als 20 % der Bauprozesse digitalisiert. Das führt in der Praxis oft zu Verzögerungen und Ineffizienz. Netzbetreiber müssen jedoch jedes Jahr Hunderttausende von Glasfaseranschlüssen realisieren.  Dafür benötigen sie Partner, die Projekte transparent, effizient und in hoher Qualität umsetzen können. Genau hier kommen wir ins Spiel: Als Deutschlands führende Bauplattform denken wir den Netzausbau von Anfang bis Ende digital. Wir vernetzen Netzbetreiber und Bauunternehmen, optimieren die Abläufe und schaffen mehr Effizienz und Transparenz. 

Wie sieht das konkret in der Praxis aus? 

Wir erfassen alle Projektdaten zentral und reichern sie kontinuierlich an. Das fängt schon mit der Gebietsplanung an, hier arbeiten wir mit präzisen Umgebungsdaten, scannen ähnlich wie Google Street View Oberflächen und Straßen. Diese Daten fließen direkt in unsere Planungssysteme für das High- und Low Level Design. Unsere digitalen Analysen sind so präzise, dass wir unseren Kunden den Gebietsausbau schlüsselfertig zum Festpreis anbieten können. Unsere Baupartner greifen direkt auf die Pläne zu und können so effizient die Bauvorbereitung und -durchführung planen.  

Wie unterstützt die Digitalisierung den Bauprozess selbst? 

Auf der Baustelle ist die Digitalisierung ein echter Gamechanger. Jeder Fortschritt wird in Echtzeit dokumentiert – von den ersten Tiefbau-Metern über die Installation des Netzverteilers bis hin zum Glasfaseranschluss in der Wohnung des Endkunden. Unsere Baupartner arbeiten mit Tablets und Smartphones, um den Status ihrer Aufgaben zu melden und laden Fotos in unser System. Unsere Kunden können den Fortschritt live verfolgen und müssen nicht auf eine Abschluss-Dokumentation warten. So haben wir maximale Kontrolle und Transparenz. Bei der Qualitäts-Überwachung hilft uns künftig auch KI.  

Welchen Vorteil bringt das für die Baupartner? 

Für die Baupartner wird die Arbeit deutlich einfacher. Sie haben alle Informationen sofort zur Hand, sehen genau, was als nächstes zu tun ist, und können sich voll auf die Baustelle konzentrieren. Es gibt keine Zettelwirtschaft mehr, alles läuft systematisch, digital und schnell. Auch die Abrechnung für unsere Baupartner erfolgt automatisch. Unser Ziel ist es, den Glasfaserausbau in Deutschland durch vollständige Digitalisierung einfacher, effizienter und transparenter zu machen.