Italy-based Prysmian, which specialises in the global manufacture and supply of fibre optic cables (inc. related kit), has won $96.5 million (£74m) in a trade-secrets lawsuit that took place in South Carolina (USA) against India’s rival Sterlite Technologies (STL). But STL plans to appeal the verdict.

The case originally began in June 2021 after Prysmian filed a lawsuit claiming that one of its former executives, Stephen Szymanski, who left in August 2020, had taken trade-secrets from his time within the company and shared them with his new employer STL. At trial, Prysmian were able to prove that STL had taken “thousands and thousands of pages” of their confidential information and trade secrets.

The materials found to be in STL’s possession included information about Prysmian’s customers, its newest products and plans for the expansion of their manufacturing plants. Much of the information was found in the possession of not just Szymanski and STL, but also in the possession of executives at Sterlite’s global headquarters in Pune, India.

The jury found that STL was “unjustly enriched by taking Prysmian’s trade secrets” and awarded $96.5m in damages against STL. In addition, the jury found that Stephen Szymanski had been unjustly enriched by misappropriating Prysmian’s trade secrets and awarded $200,000 (£154,000) against Mr. Szymanski, personally.

Andrea Pirondini, Prysmian North America CEO, said:

“This case came down to the basic principle of right versus wrong, and we are pleased that the jury came to this decision. It was clear that we had a solid case, and the jury decision confirms how America looks at the protection of trade secrets. It also demonstrates we will not stand still when it comes to defending our confidential information and trade secrets, competing fairly in the marketplace, and doing right by our customers.”

However, STL has already indicated that it will appeal, with the company stating its belief that the “verdict is not supported by the evidence and testimony in the case, and the case was filed for anti-competitive purposes only.” STL added that, during the long-running lawsuit, the court had dismissed all but two of Prysmian’s causes of action.

“We believe the verdict is not supported by the testimony and evidence presented at the trial and intend to appeal and vigorously pursue all available post-trial remedies,” concluded STL’s regulatory filing.

Consumers looking to join UK internet provider File Sanctuary, which until now only sold broadband packages via Openreach’s national network, may like to know that the ISP has just become the latest to launch a new range of packages based off CityFibre’s national Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.

The two new CityFibre FTTP plans are available in two tiers – 160Mbps and 1000Mbps, both with symmetric download and upload speeds. The new plans are available with free installation on a 12-month contract term, or paid installation (£66) on a 1-month rolling contract.

File Sanctuary are offering both residential and business plans with pricing as follows:

FTTP CF 160 Residential: £38/month inc VAT

FTTP CF 1000 Residential: £42/month inc VAT

FTTP CF 160 Business: £34/month ex-VAT

FTTP CF 1000 Business: £38/month ex-VAT

All of their FTTP plans come with IPv4 and IPv6 support, UK support and optional static IPs. “We also allow customers a choice of choosing one of our great FRITZ!Box routers, or bringing their own,” said a spokesperson for the ISP. More information on the new packages can be found at https://www.filesanctuary.net/broadband/fttp/cityfibre/ and this link can also be used to place orders, starting today.

Rochdale-base broadband ISP Zen Internet today claims to have beaten BT (EE) to become the “first major provider” to launch a WiFi 7 (802.11be) capable router for customers on their full fibre (FTTP) packages, which reflects the outcome of their partnership with Amazon. The provider also confirmed that their first “up to” 2Gbps plans will launch this autumn.

Sadly, there’s a bit of a catch in the aforementioned claim. Zen’s new “gigabit-plus” (i.e. speeds of “up to” 2Gbps) broadband package(s) will actually come with Amazon’s eero Pro 6E router as standard, while the eero Max 7 will only be offered as an “upgrade option” on all its Full Fibre Max packages “supporting fast, reliable whole-home connectivity.”

Customers can get “priority first access” to this router by pre-registering (here), which will also unlock eero secure as a free add-on (usually £3 per month) as well as entry to a “prize draw for a free upgrade” to eero Max 7, retailing at circa £600. Zen’s website further clarifies that Full Fibre Max broadband will launch sometime in September 2024.

The announcement also claims that Zen’s new “Full Fibre Max packages … will initially be available at all full fibre-enabled postcodes“, which risks causing some confusion as Zen currently only supports three of the UK’s full fibre broadband networks – Openreach, CityFibre and Trooli.

David Barber, Zen’s Strategy Director, said:

“Anyone familiar with Zen will know we have always stayed at the forefront of technology and so we are massively excited to be the first major provider to launch WiFi 7, the UK’s fastest WiFi technology, over our multi-gigabit full fibre services.

What some may not realise is that the internet speeds advertised are at the point of entry into the home. As the WiFi signals travel around the home, varying factors can interfere, and slow things down. That is why the underlying devices that feed connectivity around the home are crucial. With speeds of up to 2Gbps and the eero Pro 6E device included as standard, our Full Fibre Max packages are set to revolutionise the home internet experience. Does everyone need these speeds? Certainly not, but they will undoubtedly appreciate and notice the difference.”

At the time of writing, Zen hasn’t yet released any other details or pricing for their future gigabit-plus packages, although we strongly suspect that it will only be selling speeds of 2Gbps via the CityFibre and Trooli side of their network agreements. By comparison, those covered by Openreach’s slower FTTP network may be offered a fallback to c.1.6Gbps.

Otherwise, the eero Max 7 features 2 x 10Gbps LAN and 2 x 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN Ethernet ports, theoretical tri-band wireless (WiFi) speeds of up to 4.3Gbps, WPA3 encryption, support for ‘Alexa’ smart speakers/AI, 4GB flash storage and the eero TrueMesh technology (add more units to improve the wireless coverage). But be aware that Amazon’s kit doesn’t have any ports for analogue phone or USB storage devices.

News

The new partnership will see Singtel’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) service launched in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia

Earlier this year, Singtel announced a new partnership with NVIDIA focussed on developing AI infrastructure services, all of which will be hosted by Singtel’s regional data centre business, Nxera.

At the time, the CEO of Nxera and Singtel’s Digital InfraCo Bill Chang described the deal as “democratising access for enterprises, startups, government agencies and research organisations to leverage the power of AI sustainably within our purpose-built AI data centres”.

In short, it would allow for GPUs hosted within Nxera to be offered to customers on an as-a-service basis – GPUaaS.

Now, six months later, a new partnership with Bridge Alliance will see these GPUaaS offerings rolled out in southeast Asia. These services will initially be offered to customers via AIS in Thailand, Maxis in Malaysia, and Telkomsel in Indonesia, all of which are members of the Bridge Alliance.

“We are very heartened to see such a strong interest from AIS, Maxis, and Telkomsel to partner with us in our GPUaaS offerings. Our collaboration with Bridge Alliance and telcos in the region will help democratize and accelerate the use of AI by enterprises across all industries, giving them the tools to achieve greater productivity and business value with our next-generation digital infrastructure and solutions,” said Chang. “This reinforces our goal of being a catalyst for innovation and supporting the digital transformation of Southeast Asia’s digital economies.”

Singtel’s commercial GPUaaS offerings are expected to launch in these three markets – and Singtel’s home market of Singapore – in mid-2025.

This focus on AI infrastructure has been a major part of Singtel’s strategic plan in recent years, with the company scaling its regional data centre presence. This includes the creation of a new AI data centre, DC Tuas, in Singapore, set to be the largest data centre in the country.

Construction on DC Tuas began in August 2023 and will begin commercial operations in 2025, when it will play a key role in supporting the company’s GPUaaS ambitions.

Also in the news:
NTT to launch new AI company ‘NTT AI-CIX’
Thousands of kms of fibre could be left underutilised warns asset reuse specialist
IOH launches Southeast Asia’s largest digital intelligence operations centre

Retail ISP and specialist broadband provider, LilaConnect has announced it has surpassed 15,000 connected customers.

The milestone is another step forward in its vision, and commitment, to providing UK homes and businesses with best-in-class full fibre internet connectivity. This is in line with the UK government’s target to have full-fibre technology available nationwide by 2030.

Unlike other regular broadband connections, or ADSL, that use copper wires to transmit data, all LilaConnect services offer highly competitive internet speeds thanks to the ISP’s full Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) set up. FTTP will also help future-proof homes ahead of the nationwide copper switch off.

Over the past year, the retail ISP has increased new orders by 90 per cent and witnessed a 300 per cent growth in Active Subscribers. LilaConnect prides itself on its customer service –  with a customer-focused culture based on an authentic, collaborative and friendly approach to solve customer issues.

LilaConnect will not rest on its laurels, it has a razor sharp focus on further expanding its territory, made possible by the recent merger of VX UK and the Freedom Fibre Group. It will allow the retail ISP to tap into the alternative network provider’s innovative FTTP network that uses state-of-the-art XGS-PON technology. Alongside this LilaConnect will continue to commercialise its current footprint across Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol, Colchester, Wivenhoe, Crewe, Nantwich, Leek and Uttoxeter.

Jan Lange, Managing Director at LilaConnect commented: “At LilaConnect we understand the important part we play in helping to eliminate the digital divide by ensuring everyone in the community has access to fit for purpose and future proof connectivity. We’re proud to have hit the impressive milestone of our 15,000th customer.

He added: “Our work is certainly not done – the next step is to get even more homes and businesses across the UK connected to this essential full fibre network. Added to this, faster connectivity speeds are on the horizon to align with ever-evolving technological innovation and the exponentially increasing number of connected devices.”

Residents and businesses interested in connecting to the LilaConnect full fibre network can register their interest at www.lilaconnect.co.uk.

News 

In a new study by UK broadband comparison site Broadband Genie, the city of Lichfield in Staffordshire has been crowned the UK’s fastest for broadband in 2024. Canterbury, Kent, remains the slowest for the second year running

For the study, Broadband Genie conducted 149,187 home speed tests in cities across the country over a 12-month period. In order for a city to be counted, it needed a minimum of 150 speed tests in the area from residential connections. 

Broadband winners and losers 

Lichfield took the lead with an average broadband speed of 359Mbps, more than doubling the speed of its nearest competitor, Newry in Northern Ireland, which recorded an average of 138Mbps. Its strong performance is largely attributed to Lichfield’s widespread access to full fibre broadband from Openreach and Virgin Media, and other smaller altnets, over the latter of which cover 19% of the city. 

Joining Lichfield and Newry in the top five are Ely in Cambridgeshire (118Mbps), Dundee in Angus (100Mbps), and Lisburn in County Antrim  (99Mbps).  

All of these speeds are significantly higher than the median average download speed, which Ofcom found to be 69.4Mbps as of March 2023. 

Canterbury’s struggles continue 

At the other end of the rankings, Canterbury has again been identified as the UK’s slowest city, with an average broadband speed of just 22Mbps. This is well below the minimum speeds typically associated with basic superfast broadband packages. Canterbury’s performance is partly due to a lack of coverage by Virgin Media and limited full fibre access, leaving residents with fewer options for faster internet. 

Ripon in North Yorkshire (28Mbps), Perth in Perthshire (37Mbps), Norwich in Norfolk (38Mbps), and Winchester in Hampshire (40Mbps) also ranked among the slowest cities. 

In the capital cities, Edinburgh emerged as the fastest, with average speeds of 78Mb, surpassing both London and Cardiff, which placed 38th and 56th respectively. Last year’s speed leader, Belfast, fell to 15th place in the latest rankings. 

The UK’s current broadband landscape 

Despite the challenges faced by some cities, the UK’s overall broadband landscape is positive. According to the study, 18.7 million homes (62%) have access to full fibre broadband, and gigabit broadband is available to 85% of households.  

The government has set the target for nationwide gigabit coverage by 2030, aiming to close the country’s digital divide. 

Join the conversation around the UK’s broadband landscape at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here! 

Also in the news:
LG and KT partner for 6G research
EE’s first 5G small cells go live, masts now deployed at 1,000+ locations across the UK
Optus clashes with AustralianSuper over slow tower build

News 

The company has been in Ericsson’s portfolio for over a decade 

Ericsson has announced it will sell its US subsidiary, iconectiv, to Koch Equity Development, for SEK 10.6 billion ($1 billion). 

The sale is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval. 

Ericsson expects to see a one-time gain of around SEK 8.8 billion ($800,000) in its earnings once the transaction has completed. 

Based in New Jersey, USA, iconectiv specialises in network number portability solutions and data exchange services. The company is the leading number portability administrator in 10 countries, including the United States. 

Ericsson acquired telecom software specialist iconective (then Telcordia) in 2011 for $1.15 billion. The company’s primary service was managing the system that allows users to keep their phone numbers when switching carriers.  

Part of Ericsson’s Enterprise branch, iconective generated about $1 billion to Ericsson’s net income in 2023. However, while profitable, iconectiv’s focus on services like number portability and data exchange does not align closely with Ericsson’s main business areas. 

According to Ericsson, it is this lack of synergy with the rest of the company’s portfolio that is the main driven behind the sale.  

iconectiv has “over 5,000 customers across various sectors” has been co-owned by Francisco Partners since 2017. Under Koch Equity Development’s ownership, iconectiv is expected to continue growing and expanding its market presence. 

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

Also in the news:
LG and KT partner for 6G research
EE’s first 5G small cells go live, masts now deployed at 1,000+ locations across the UK
Optus clashes with AustralianSuper over slow tower build

News

The new Labour government has told telcos they must be more mindful of community concerns when deploying infrastructure or else laws may be changed to protect the public interest

The UK technology minister Chris Bryant has penned an open letter to the UK’s network operators reiterating the government’s commitment to nationwide gigabit-capable broadband but encouraging operators to avoid deploying poles wherever possible.

The letter says that industry players must work more collaboratively with each other and the with local authorities to ensure minimal disruption, particularly with regards to overhead infrastructure.

In recent years, public complaints about telegraph poles have been on the rise, with detractors not only bemoaning their ugliness but also highlighting their vulnerability during storms. This had led to a growing movement seeking to revoke poles’ Permitted Development (PD) rights, which enable telecoms operators to erect poles at relatively short notice with minimal red tape.

In response to these complaints, the previous Conservative government said in March that they would revise the existing Code of Practice around deploying poles to ensure telcos engage more closely with local communities before deploying overhead infrastructure.

This week’s open letter suggests that the government continue this work to revise the Code of Practice without revoking PD rights.

“I am acutely aware of public concerns surrounding the deployment of telegraph poles. Many people are calling for the Government to remove permitted development rights for poles. I do not, at this stage, believe that this is the right move. I want to ensure that my Department does everything it can to support fast-paced rollout of digital infrastructure across the UK to meet the Government’s objectives,” said telecoms minister Chris Bryant in an open letter to network operators. “However, at the same time, we must look to address the concerns that people across this country have expressed and recognise that unnecessary pole deployment is immensely frustrating for them.”

“It is my hope that a revised Code of Practice can set out examples of considerations that should be taken into account before new poles are deployed; and that it can be brought into effect this autumn to ensure that community voices can be taken into account,” he added.

The government will hold a roundtable to discuss these issues with the industry in September.

In the conclusion of his letter, Bryant said that telcos must do more to engage with local communities and legislative measures could be taken if these dialogues do not notably improve.

“I will not hesitate to consider changing existing regulations or wider legislative options to ensure that communities’ concerns are taken into account when deploying infrastructure,” he said.

Join the conversation around the UK’s broadband infrastructure at Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
NTT to launch new AI company ‘NTT AI-CIX’
Thousands of kms of fibre could be left underutilised warns asset reuse specialist
IOH launches Southeast Asia’s largest digital intelligence operations centre

Customers of UK broadband ISP BT and EE, specifically those who also take their internet-connected pay TV service and use the Pro Box in ‘Internet Mode‘ (i.e. streaming live channels rather than using an aerial), will find that they face new limitations on their ability to record and re-watch BBC content from 21st August 2024.

Until now those with ‘Internet Mode’ enabled on the related set-top-box could still record TV content directly to local storage on their Pro Box from the streamed BBC channels, much like you can when watching via a regular aerial connection. This was then available to replay at your leisure, which made it quite handy.

However, Cord Busters and various posters on the operator(s) official community forums (e.g. here and here) have picked up on a recent customer notification, which signals a significant change in this approach. Not that you’d know it from a quick glance.

Extract from EE’s Customer Email

As you’re watching EE TV in Internet Mode (without an aerial), the way you watch your BBC recordings will change.

From 21st August, your BBC recordings will launch through the BBC iPlayer app. There’s no change to how you’ll record a programme, or where it will be stored.

Put another way, the recordings may oddly still be stored on the box, but your access to record and re-watch related content is going to be limited by iPlayer’s policies. For example, much of iPlayer’s content is only made available for 30 days after broadcast (sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) and downloaded programmes are generally available for the same amount of time. But not everything gets added to iPlayer and content does expire, which will also impact your recordings (i.e. you won’t be able to watch what isn’t available).

The move echoes what we saw last year when a similar change was introduced for streamed ITV content. No doubt some customers will now revert to using ‘Broadcast Mode‘ (i.e. using their aerial to watch and record TV channels instead of streaming them), although it’s worth remembering that terrestrial TV transmissions are often said to be on the slow path to retirement by around 2030 (here).

A new survey of over 1,000 adults conducted by industry trade body Mobile UK, which represents mobile operators Three UK, EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone, has claimed that 51% of respondents are not bothered or would welcome a new mobile mast on their street to help improve service performance and reliability.

The How Connected Are You? (PDF) survey, which attempts to gauge both the public perceptions of mobile connectivity and attitudes towards mobile infrastructure in the UK, found that 79% of respondents view their mobile as being important, or very important, to them and 81% would find the loss of signal “problematic to their lives” (28% said they can’t live without it).

The survey also revealed that the public understanding of mobile technology is “surprisingly limited“, particularly when you consider that just 14% of people felt confident in their knowledge of mobile connectivity, with 42% admitting to no understanding at all.

Speaking of which, when shown images of common network infrastructure, 45% couldn’t identify a rooftop installation and 35% failed to recognise a mobile phone mast. The confusion became more pronounced in real-world settings: 79% of people couldn’t identify a phone mast in plain sight, and 35% couldn’t recognise any mobile infrastructure at all. Misidentification was also prevalent, with 42% mistaking a TV transmitter for mobile infrastructure and 40% identifying a radio tower.

When questioned about proximity of masts, the results appear to “counter assumptions made about objections to masts“. A clear majority of people – 84%, said they feel it is important to have a mast within range of their home or business. Similarly, 92% understand that a better signal is achieved the closer you are to where it is broadcast from, and 51% said they would not be bothered or would welcome a mast on their street.

Lastly, the survey quizzed respondents who would not like a mast at the end of their road to find out the reasons why. Some 26% said they would not like it on the grounds of aesthetics (even though many had trouble identifying a mobile mast) and only 16% mentioned health concerns.

Gareth Elliott, Director of Policy and Communications for Mobile UK, said:

“What this survey has uncovered is that perceptions and attitudes towards mobile infrastructure have shifted and there is greater awareness of the need for it. These results call into question whether the planning system continues to imbalance its weighting away from the social and economic benefits of connectivity and into the hands of local minorities, of whom often base their objections on false perceptions and limited awareness.”

The results are interesting, and the full survey also covers a lot of other areas (e.g. what we do with our mobile devices), although we do still have to take all of this with a pinch of salt because the sample size was quite small and anything that comes from Mobile UK will inevitably carry a strong air of vested interest.

The study also reminds us a bit of the recent ISPA survey, which similarly found that 75% of respondents “clearly recognise the benefits of having access to faster and more reliable broadband even if that is delivered via poles” (here) – poles being an issue that both the past and present UK government have had to tackle (here). But the larger sample size of the ISPA’s study did lend it more credibility.

Finally, the survey ends by including a series of very familiar recommendations (here, here, here and here), which once again calls for more flexible planning rules and resources to help the deployment of new masts, as well as the appointment of digital champions to help local authorities engage with network operators etc. The new government are looking to reform planning policy (here and here), but the specifics remain unclear.

Recommendations

1. Understanding is crucial to connectivity
Leadership from national and a local authorities and in conjunction with the industry is needed. Better education will safeguard the future of the UK’s connected society.

2. Digital Champions
Dedicated roles are needed in every local authority area to help coordinate and prioritise digital connectivity and address digital exclusion.

According to Farrpoint 49% of local authorities do not have a digital connectivity strategy that is less than three years old. 47% of authorities have a digital champion but this is part of another role. Only 23% have invested in a dedicated role.

3. Better resourcing in planning
Increasing consumer demand, especially for data, requires mobile operators to invest continually in network coverage and capacity.

The planning regimes across the United Kingdom were set down in legislation that pre-dates the move to 5G technologies. Planning regulations and the advice that goes with them must be urgently updated to enable mobile operators to deploy their networks to meet rapidly growing demand. Without this people and businesses will not have access to wider network coverage and the latest technologies.

4. Local leadership
It’s clear while awareness of what constitutes mobile infrastructure is low, the majority of people are somewhat comfortable with new infrastructure. What they are not indifferent to is a scenario where they are unable to access the networks they rely on.

More work needs to be done in areas needing new or upgraded infrastructure to convey the facts and debunk myths. Stronger public awareness and engaging in an honest debate with citizens about the benefits and importance of this infrastructure will lead to greater support to facilitate vital infrastructure to safeguard future connectivity.