Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today continued with their effort to boost 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) capacity across the UK, not least by expanding their ongoing roll-out of small cells into the central part of Reading (town) in Berkshire – supported by Ontix.

Small cells are like mini shoebox sized mobile (radio) base stations, which have been designed to deliver limited coverage (usually up to around 80-120 metres) and thus tend to be more focused on busy urban areas and specific sites – it’s not uncommon to find these sitting on top of lampposts, CCTV poles or old payphone cubicles (i.e. they can be more cost-effective than building new street assets or trying to secure wayleaves on buildings etc.).

In this case the new small cells have been deployed in some of the busiest areas across the town, including at Reading Station, Reading College, Reading Museum, the Abbey Ruins, and the Oracle Shopping Centre. With over 20 million people passing through Reading Station and over 1 million through the Oracle Shopping Centre each year, the small cells will provide a crucial boost to network capacity for these high-footfall areas.

Steven Verigotta, Director of Radio & Mobile Backhaul Delivery at VMO2, said:

“Small cells are an effective way of increasing local network bandwidth in busy areas and play an important role in allowing us to keep up with customer demand.

With upgrade programmes underway right across our network, we’re working hard to ensure our customers consistently receive an exceptional network experience wherever they are and even at the busiest times.”

VMO2 has previously also worked closely with Ontix to deploy small cells in high-demand areas including London, Birmingham and the South East of England, as well as a recent deployment in Skegness. Not to mention their similar efforts alongside Freshwave and other partners.

As a side note, it’s worth reminding readers that Virgin Media and O2 recently used small cells as part of a trial with parent Liberty Global, which deployed 4G and 5G capable “smart poles” on top of their existing fibre broadband cabinets to help boost mobile network coverage and capacity (here). But there’s no mention of that playing a role in this deployment.

Press Release

Visitors, residents, businesses and students in Reading town centre will begin to benefit from an improved mobile experience and faster speeds after the first Virgin Media O2 small cells are deployed across the Borough.

Virgin Media O2 and Ontix partnered to bring small cells to Reading where the innovative technology is already boosting mobile capacity and reducing network traffic in major destinations at busy times.

The small cells have been deployed in some of the busiest areas across the town, including at Reading Station, Reading College, Reading Museum, the Abbey Ruins, and the Oracle Shopping Centre. With over 20 million[1] people passing through Reading Station and over a million[2] through the Oracle Shopping Centre each year, the small cells will provide a crucial boost to network capacity for these high-footfall areas, helping both residents and visitors.

By using small cells, which are quicker and easier to deploy, Virgin Media O2 customers are benefiting from improved coverage faster than would otherwise be possible. The operator is working with Ontix on a rollout across the country.

Previously, Virgin Media O2 and Ontix have closely worked together to deploy small cells in high-demand areas including London, Birmingham and the South East of England, as well as a recent deployment in Skegness. Small cells continue to bring value as a cost-effective solution to improving network capacity in dense urban environments, commercial centres and visitor hotspots.

Richard Williams, Director of Acquisition at Ontix, said: “We’re proud to be the first Neutral Host company bringing small cells to Reading. Working closely with Virgin Media O2, we ensured the delivery of this project was speedy, cost-effective and power-efficient. From local businesses, commuters and university students to shoppers and tourists seeking cultural hotspots, small cells provide faster network speeds and reduced network congestion for all, and we’re excited to see the results of this across Reading.”

Steven Verigotta, Director of Radio & Mobile Backhaul Delivery at Virgin Media O2, said: “Small cells are an effective way of increasing local network bandwidth in busy areas and play an important role in allowing us to keep up with customer demand.”

“With upgrade programmes underway right across our network, we’re working hard to ensure our customers consistently receive an exceptional network experience wherever they are and even at the busiest times.”

How is the UK’s connectivity landscape changing in 2024? Join the idustry in discussion at Connected Britain 2024, taking place on Wednesday! Get your tickets today

A new report from the UK Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (UKWISPA), which was put together by Intelligens Consulting, has claimed that fostering greater use and acceptance of the latest innovations in fixed wireless broadband networks by the government could deliver £4bn of “quantifiable impact” in the UK.

The government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency and its £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out programme have, thus far, tended to prefer network solutions that adopt full fibre (FTTP) technologies, particularly when it comes to build contracts awarded under their main Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) scheme.

Full fibre lines are generally regarded as being more future-proof and less prone to issues like interference over distance (this is not an issue at all in the local Access network). But we have seen some gigabit wireless networks being built into rural areas using the government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) too, albeit usually to a much smaller scale.

The new report (PDF) thus attempts to highlight how encouraging a greater focus on fixed wireless networks, albeit as a “complement” and “synergistic counterpart” to gigabit fibre technologies, “can deliver policy objectives more quickly and more cheaply, potentially saving taxpayers GBP 1 billion, while helping consumers benefit by over GBP 3 billion by advancing high speed broadband services to rural areas.”

The figure of £3bn+ above appears to partly stem from a model that uses wireless networks to more rapidly “advance gigabit” broadband services to cover 1.8 million homes (mostly in rural areas) by an average of 3 years (vs building via FTTP), although the calculation for this seems very simplistic and appears to focus on cost vs take-up.

The report states that the economic impact “depends on the assumed value of fast connectivity and the level of takeup“. According to the report, consumers will typically pay around £35 per month (for a service offering 100Mbps), which is used as a “guide as to the minimum consumers value it“.

Some, like those working from home or relying a lot on the internet due to a disability, may find it much more valuable, perhaps averaging at around £50 a month, said the report. The assumed take-up is 60% (i.e. similar to the BDUK’s original SFBB “superfast broadband” programme with mostly FTTC). But that was admittedly mostly achieved via a well-recognised network with hundreds of ISPs in support, which may be harder for Wireless ISPs to pull off.

“Combining these assumptions suggests that 60% of the 3 million relevant premises (being the 10% of the UK total expected to see no firm date for connection by 2025) could see benefit, of around £1,800 each, in total over the three years before fibre arrives. This is a total benefit, to consumers, of GBP 3.24 billion,” said the report.

The report also presents five recommendations for policymakers, which it says would be needed in order for them to “recognise the significant role of wireless technologies as part of the technology mix needed to support the Government to deliver its gigabit ambition.” This covers the need for streamlined procedures and regulatory processes that accommodate smaller wireless operators, among other things.

David Burns, Chairman of UKWISPA, said:

“This report highlights the huge role of FWA alongside fibre in achieving the UK’s ambitions to provide comprehensive access to gigabit broadband connectivity. Not only can roll-out be accelerated, but both urban and rural locations can get their enhanced connectivity sooner, and at less cost.

UK Infrastructure Investors, the DSIT, Ofcom and BDUK are all slowly realising the untapped potential that FWA has in accelerating gigabit internet rollout, and the advantages when built alongside fibre networks. This report sets out key areas and policy directions that can maximise this opportunity for the UK.”

As we always say when it comes to predictive studies like this – trying to accurately gauge the economic impact of deploying a faster broadband technology is notoriously difficult, not least since most premises won’t be starting from a point of zero connectivity (i.e. 30Mbps+ capable broadband is now available to 98% of UK premises and gigabit speeds will soon cross the 85% line, but this does fall when only looking at rural areas).

However, we do agree that wireless broadband solutions have always had a useful role to play, which could definitely be expanded upon to help service some of the remotest locations. But at the same time, a lot of the supporting ISPs aren’t exactly household names and real-world consumer experiences have tended to vary quite a lot between different providers and wireless technologies.

Fixed wireless providers also have competition from the ever-expanding reach of 4G and 5G based mobile broadband networks, as well as SpaceX’s Starlink network and the others that are due to launch into the same LEO satellite space.

One other challenge is that Project Gigabit has already awarded most of its GIS contracts and those that remain continue to focus on FTTP solutions, which suggests that UKWISPAs call for a greater focus on fixed wireless may be at risk of arriving too late to the party.

Nevertheless, the government has long recognised that homes in very hard to reach areas may not get FTTP due to the extreme build costs involved (here). But the alternative solutions discussed for those have tended to focus on the final 0.3% of the country (i.e. under 100,000 premises) – quite a bit less than the 1.8 million being talked about earlier.

A Silicon Valley company called Airvine has developed a rather unique network bridge that can extend a Local Area Network (LAN) running at multi-Gigabit speeds, seemingly using only WiFi style wireless signals via the 2.4GHz and 6GHz bands, through “up to” 30cm (12″) of solid concrete walls – it can even bend around 90-degree solid concrete corners.

As somewhat of a general rule, wireless networking signals don’t usually like going through solid walls and the thicker they are, the more trouble you’ll have. Suffice to say that 30cm of solid concrete would normally be a bit of a problem and any signals that do get through (usually indirectly) will run at extremely slow data speeds.

However, instead of solving this problem by using cables and a powerful drill, Airvine has developed a new type of point-to-point layer 2 network bridge – called the WaveCore 1000-RH. Stick one of these on either side of the wall and it creates a “bridge” for your network to expand onto the other side of the wall. In testing it is claimed to have delivered speeds just shy of 4Gbps through 30cm of concrete (officially, the device only claims speeds of “over” 2.5Gbps through 20.3cm of concrete).

Concrete walls average 20 cm (8″) or more in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) buildings around the world. These types of walls can form a building’s perimeter, serve as interior load bearing walls and as protection for spaces such as fire control or network server rooms.

Vivek Ragavan, CEO of Airvine, said:

“We have proven with customers for more than a year now that the WaveTunnel provides cost-effective Gigabit-speed connectivity in MDUs, factories, warehouses, conference centers and other similarly large properties.

However, we could not achieve the company’s founding vision of providing pervasive indoor wireless connectivity because we literally kept running into concrete barriers. The WaveCore system surmounts these obstacles and enables us to connect wirelessly any building with any floor plan anywhere.”

The performance of this setup (we want to call it Concrete-Fi) will probably vary a bit depending upon the type of concrete (cement and aggregate combinations, not to mention any steel supports), although it’s a fascinating solution that we haven’t really seen done quite like this before. But how much the kit actually costs is currently unclear, although the fact it’s aimed at higher end users (businesses etc.) suggests it probably isn’t cheap.

One other problem, at least from the UK perspective, is that it seems like the WaveCore uses both the lower and upper parts of the 6GHz spectrum band. Doing that is fine in the USA, but in the UK Ofcom is still procrastinating over what to do about the upper 6GHz (6425 to 7125MHz) band (here); it’s unclear how their desire for a hybrid approach that shares this band with mobile operators may impact this kit.

Some customers of mobile network operator Three UK, specifically those who are taking one of their 4G and 5G powered unlimited Three Home Broadband packages, have – for the best part of a year – been complaining about an intermittent connectivity problem that is sporadically disrupting their use of various internet services.

The issue, which has in recent months been experienced by members of ISPreview’s forum and is also covered via a 41-page thread on Three’s forum (here), first surfaced in late 2023 and has thus far proven tricky for the operator to identify and resolve. Part of the reason for this may be because mobile connectivity is inherently quite variable and this can make it difficult to spot something more specific, particularly if it’s intermittent.

The problem itself appears as if it could be some sort of fault within Three’s network routing/peering or internet-filtering system that causes sporadic problems for some users on active connections. For example, in some cases it throws up “Secure Connection Failed” (SSL / HTTPS) notices when loading certain websites (similar to if an SSL certificate had expired) or will pause the loading of a website mid-page, which usually goes away after a few refreshes.

In other cases the issue may cause problems when attempting to login to certain online services, such as Xbox Live, PSN, Battlenet, various banking apps and so forth (several attempts may be needed before the login process succeeds). Customers affected by the issue have also reported stuttering while streaming videos via Disney+ and some other platforms, as well as connection drops during online multiplayer games etc.

The problem doesn’t appear to be related to a specific mobile router (Hub), as it occurs in the same way on several of the operator’s supplied devices (e.g. ZTE MC801A, Zyxel NR5103EV2 etc.) – irrespective of whether you’re connected to it via wires (LAN) or WiFi (WLAN). Changing the operator’s APN profile or trying different DNS servers also has no impact.

Example Customer Complaint 1

“I am experiencing it all the time, especially in the evening when I am using the internet at home most. Sometimes I need to force the refresh 3,4 times before the page loads up correctly.”

Example Customer Complaint 2

“I have had the same issues related here. It started happening a few months ago, it was fine for a year or so and I contacted support. They’ve swapped me from a Huawei hub to a Zytel hub, got a replacement SIM and it’s all still happening. Connection is good with fast speeds but often get the connection failed error when loading websites or checking out. Reloading the page will fix it. It happens on all devices, when people come to visit it happens on their devices too. Happens on my ethernet cable connected devices too.”

Example Customer Complaint 3

“I was seeing this issue months and months ago but (maybe coincidentally) by introducing a mesh network in the house, it went away. It’s back with a vengeance now though – I’m seeing the same PS Networking issues this last 2 days to the point where I’m nearly banned for the season from Overwatch due to the number of dropped connections on game start.”

Example Customer Complaint 4

“I also see that all the issues reported over the last 6 months or so by various users are now hitting me at once: really high latency when making a connection, inability to use banking apps reliably, stuttering when streaming from Disney+, SSL errors when using github,com and as mention above, connection drops when connecting to online games. I’m seeing that roughly 7 out of 10 Overwatch games disconnect when attempting to connect to the server which means I’m now banned until the end of the season (mid October). Great, I’m obviously less than impressed.”

However, customers affected by the issue did find that using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) usually resolved the problem, although VPNs are not a complete solution and won’t work well for every single situation and service. But if you are suffering from this then using a VPN is at least a temporary way to avoid the annoyance. One free option that some people use is Cloudflare WARP.

A Three spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We are aware of some connectivity issues affecting a small number of home broadband users. We are investigating these and will update customers as soon as possible. We continue to encourage our customers to report issues so that we can optimise the home broadband service.”

We should point out that this is by no means the first time that we’ve heard about such issues occurring on Three’s network, particularly the SSL error, which has periodically occurred in the past too. Quite why it crops up we don’t yet know, but the operator is actively analysing data from a number of live traces in order to identify the root cause.

The latest issue did appear to crop up during part of the operator’s IPv6 rollout, which initially disrupted some VPN clients and device connectivity to their Hub, but we don’t currently believe this to be the cause of the above problem (although it can’t yet be ruled out).

Finally, one of Three UK’s customers has just been told that Three’s “Major Incidents” team is now working with Nokia on this problem, “who in turn are working with Microsoft“. Make of that what you will. Meanwhile, the long.. wait for a solution continues.

Business broadband ISP and managed service provider Equity Networks has recently become the latest company in a growing list to irritate some of their UK customers, which it did by automatically adding a paid (£12.99 a month) internet security feature – ‘SafeWeb’ – to their accounts, without first getting explicit consent.

Over the past few weeks’ we’ve reported on how both Onetsream (here) and Daisy Communications (here) have managed to attract the ire of their customers by adding an extra paid service to their accounts without first gaining express consent. Consumer laws expressly forbid this behaviour (e.g. “inertia selling“), but it can be a bit more of a grey area when it comes to businesses (B2B doesn’t enjoy the same protections).

Nevertheless, basic business ethics usually helps to ensure that companies play fair with each other, although that isn’t always the case. In the latest example, Equity Networks’ small business customers recently received an email to let them know that they’d partnered up with SafeWeb to “provide you with enhanced protection and data loss prevention capabilities“. Sounds good, except of course there’s a catch.

The service came in an “active” state as part of a 30-day free trial, but “after your trial the service will automatically continue for just £12.99 per domain, per month” and to avoid this you’d have to manually email the provider to request an opt-out. So it’s hard luck if you innocently overlooked the email, assuming it to be just another one of those disposable and unsolicited promotional spams that are so common these days.

Copy of the Equity Networks Email

One of the those affected by this appears to be taking a consumer-grade FTTC broadband line to supply their small business connection, but as this is still a B2B relationship then there aren’t many direct protections in place to prevent the behaviour. A spokesperson for Ofcom told ISPreview: “In these circumstances, the customer would need to raise their concerns directly with the company” (or a court of law, but hopefully no disputes go that far).

Generally speaking, business customers are highly unlikely to appreciate having extra paid services tacked on to their package without first gaining their consent and will probably, when the time comes, respond by voting with their feet. We did email Equity Networks on Wednesday to ask for their thoughts on this kind of offer, but the provider hasn’t responded.

None of this is to say that SafeWeb itself is a bad service, in fact it could be brilliant, but this is perhaps not the best way of introducing it.

Customers of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2), specifically those who take their pay TV service via one of the operator’s TV 360 or Stream platforms, may like to know that the Rakuten TV App is now available on their service at no extra cost – offering an array of content (8,000+ titles on demand, including new releases to rent and buy, 150+ FAST channels and more).

Access to the Rakuten TV app is said to be direct, with no subscription necessary. Virgin TV customers simply need to head to the app section on Virgin TV360 or Stream to access the app, whereby they can access three distinct services. These include:

No Extra Cost: a wide array of content at no extra cost, supported by advertisements. A vast library of movies and TV shows without any subscription fees.
Live TV: a variety of live TV channels at no extra cost, supported by advertisements. This includes a mix of popular channels and exclusive content.
Store: Virgin TV customers are able to buy or rent the latest movie releases via the app by simply registering an account, offering the flexibility to watch premium content.

David Bouchier, Chief TV and Entertainment Officer at VMO2, said: “Virgin TV is the home of great entertainment with a host of must-have apps, on demand shows and popular channels. The addition of the Rakuten TV app to our platform gives our customers access to even more unmissable content and fan-favourite films at the click of a button.”

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today set out how they intend to update their guidance on network resilience in order to give broadband ISPs, mobile operators and other digital network providers greater clarity on how they can “reduce the risk of network outages“. But proposals to improve battery backup on mobile networks will come later.

Communications providers in the UK currently have a legal obligation to identify, prepare for and reduce the risk of anything that compromises the availability, performance or functionality of their networks. But such networks are highly complex and outages can still occur, with Ofcom warning that the consequences of these are “likely to become more severe as society becomes increasingly dependent on them to function.”

In response, the regulator plans to update their existing resilience guidance to provide greater clarity on how providers of public electronic communications networks and services (PECN and PECS) can comply with their security duties under a new framework for security and resilience, which originally came into force in October 2022.

Network providers are now expected to have regard to the New Network and Service Resilience Guidance when considering their resilience-related security duties. The hope is that this may reduce the chances of serious and protracted network outages occurring (e.g. last year’s BT outage of 999 services) or make them quicker to resolve. But modern networks are complex beasts that can fail due to all sorts of reasons (it’s often the ones you don’t foresee or expect that bite the hardest).

What Ofcom have decided – in brief

We are introducing an updated version of our resilience guidance for providers of PECN/S, which sets out measures we expect them to take in relation to the resilience of their networks and services as part of their security duties imposed by and under s105A-D of the Communications Act 2003.

These measures include:

• ensuring that networks are designed to avoid or reduce single points of failure;

• ensuring that key infrastructure points have automatic failover functionality built in so that when equipment fails, network traffic is immediately diverted to another device or site that can maintain end user connectivity;

• setting out the processes, tools, and training that should be considered to support the requirements on resilience.

The issue of power backup was also considered, although for now Ofcom has only chosen to recommend that electrical power provision at each “core site” should include the following: “Battery backup and fuel-powered electricity generators. These sites are expected to be able to survive power loss for a minimum of 5 days, with permanent electricity generators on site which can be refuelled while in operation.”

The regulator had also considered the potential for requiring a 4-hour power backup in active cabinets on fixed line broadband networks (some operators already target 3-4 hours), but the final guidance noted significant concerns over the “nature and scale of costs needed to retrospectively upgrade active street cabinets.”

Ofcom Statement on Power Backup (Active Cabinets)

Assessing the capability of existing networks to meet the proposed 4-hour minimum requirement may be challenging and may vary significantly between providers. This uncertainty extends to the potential cost implications for providers of retrospectively upgrading their active cabinets to achieve this specific target. Based on the evidence now available, we cannot be confident that including such a specific measure, a minimum 4-hour backup power supply that extends to all existing powered active components in street cabinets, would be a proportionate measure within the guidance.

However, the final guidance does still include a soft recommendation, rather than a hard requirement: “Based on the factors above, we would consider power backup of approximately four hours to be good practice for active fixed access equipment in cabinets at the point of installation. In areas that suffer longer power outages more frequently, we would expect CPs to increase the duration of power backup as appropriate.”

The original consultation on all of this was also accompanied by a separate Call for Input (CFI) on the potential for improving power backup for mobile radio access networks (RAN), such as at the mast sites operated by Three UK, EE, Vodafone and O2. But we recently reported on how many mobile operators had balked at the costs of deploying national battery backup (here).

For example, their CFI asked questions about the feasibility of mobile operators installing a minimum 1 hour of battery backup on RAN sites. But Ofcom’s own illustrative example suggested that to install this on RAN sites, where power backup is likely to be feasible, could cost in the region of £0.9 – £1.8bn (this would end up being passed on to consumers as higher prices). Due to this, the regulator didn’t consider it “proportionate” to include such a measure in their future guidance “at this stage“, but they did seem to be hinting at a move in that direction.

Ofcom’s Response to the CFI (Battery Backup)

While the feedback showed strong interest in mobile resilience, some highlighted the need for a broader approach to power backup beyond the telecoms sector. Additionally, responses offered valuable insights into potential harms from power outages, such as the effect on emergency services and communication difficulties, particularly in rural areas where communities could be more vulnerable to the impacts of outages.

Over the coming months, we will further analyse the information gathered to determine if additional resilience measures are needed for the mobile RAN. This analysis will consider a range of solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, and we plan to work with government and industry to identify the most suitable way forward.

Suffice to say that we’ll have to wait a bit longer before Ofcom decides on its position with respect to battery backup at mobile sites, although they’ve already largely ruled out imposing a strict time requirement. The expectation we have is that the regulator will end up taking a more targeted and mixed-solutions approach (e.g. a focus on rural sites), which may also need support from other sectors (e.g. energy) in order to be effective.

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their 2024 Mobile Matters report, which uses Opensignal’s crowdsourced data (collected between October 2023 and March 2024) to benchmark the performance of UK mobile broadband networks by both technology (2G to 5G), nation and operator choice – including Three UK, O2, Vodafone and EE.

The results hold few surprises, but they do still reveal some interesting details. For example, 78% of cellular network connections were to 4G networks over the 6-month period they looked at, with just 19.6% of connections being on 5G. Where a 5G network was available from their mobile network operator, mobile users were able to access data services on a 5G network on 98.4% of occasions (compared to 97.2% over 4G and 85.0% over 3G).

The proportion of mobile connections that were on 5G was also found to be twice as high in urban areas (20.9%) than in rural areas of the UK (10.4%). In rural areas, the proportion of connections on 4G (85.6%) and 3G (3.8%) networks were higher than in urban areas (76.9% and 2.1% respectively). But this splits down a little differently by each nation:

Naturally, 5G networks were also found to offer faster downstream connectivity than 4G and 3G. Some 47% of 5G connections had an average download speed of 100Mbit/s or higher (vs 11% on 4G and 4% on 3G) and just 1% had an average speed of under 2Mbit/s (vs 5% on 4G and 22% on 3G).

Speaking of which, Three UK had the highest share of 5G download speeds at 100Mbit/s or higher (60%), while the proportion of O2 connections with a 100Mbit/s+ download speed over both 5G (32%) and 4G (3%) was much lower than the other operators (MNOs) – O2 also had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements that were under 10Mbit/s.

In addition, Three UK had the fastest average response time (latency) over 5G of 16.3 milliseconds. Over 4G, EE had the fastest average response time (18.3ms), while O2 customers had the slowest average response time on 5G (21.4ms) and Vodafone had the slowest response time on 4G (23.7ms)

Ofcom’s Mobile Matters 2024 Results

Share of cellular network connections

• 5G and 4G accounted for 97.6% of cellular network connections. Our analysis shows that 78.0% of cellular network connections were to 4G networks over the 6-month period we looked at, with 19.6% of connections being on 5G networks, 2.3% over 3G and just 0.1% were on 2G.

Comparison of cellular technologies

• The proportion of cellular data connections that were successful was highest on 5G. Where a 5G network was available from their mobile network operator, mobile users were able to access data services on a 5G network on 98.4% of occasions. This compared to 97.2% over 4G and 85.0% over 3G.

• The time taken to download a 2MB file was much longer over 3G than 4G and 5G. Downloading a smaller (2MB) file can be representative of many typical activities undertaken on mobile devices, for example downloading photos or short low-resolution video clips in messaging apps or social media usage. On average, it took 4.3s to download a 2MB file over 3G, compared to 0.8s on 4G and 0.3s over 5G.

• Larger file downloads highlight the benefit of 5G over 4G. While 2MB downloads took an average of 56% less time over 5G than 4G, 5MB downloads took 65% less time on 5G than over 4G.

• Upload times for 1MB files were shortest on 5G. On average, it took 0.5s to upload a 1MB file over 5G, a significantly shorter amount of time than the 0.8s average over 4G and the 3.8s average recorded on 3G.

• 5G networks offer faster downstream connectivity than 4G and 3G. We analysed data connection speeds using tests that consume as much data as possible over the duration of the test. The results of these show that 47% of 5G connections had an average download speed of 100 Mbit/s or higher (vs 11% on 4G and 4% on 3G) and 1% had an average speed of under 2 Mbit/s (vs 5% on 4G and 22% on 3G).

• The same is true for upload connection speeds over 5G. The results of similar timed upload tests show that 29% of 5G uploads had an average speed of 20 Mbit/s or higher (compared to 15% on 4G and 3% on 3G) and 11% were less than 1 Mbit/s (compared to 20% on 4G and 44% on 3G).

• Response times on 3G are around double those on 4G and 5G. Average response times (latency) recorded over 3G connections (42.3ms) were around twice of those on 4G (21.9ms) and 5G (18.9ms).

MNO comparison

• Three customers had the highest proportion of cellular network connections that were on 5G. Over the period we looked at, 21.4% of Three cellular network connections were on 5G. Vodafone had the lowest proportion of connections that were on 5G (15.0%) and the highest average share of connections on 4G, at 82.7 %. O2 customers had the lowest 4G proportion, at 73.9%.

• EE had the highest average data connection success rates over both 4G and 5G. However, the differences observed between the MNOs’ 5G and 4G data connection success rates were very small (with there being less than 0.5 percentage points between the lowest and highest recorded values for each technology).

• File downloads took longer on O2 than on the other MNOs’ networks. This was true of 2MB, 5MB and 10MB file downloads over both 4G and 5G mobile networks.

• Three had the fastest average response time (latency) over 5G. Over 4G, EE had the fastest average response time (18.3ms), while O2 customers had the slowest average response time on 5G (21.4ms) and Vodafone had the slowest response time on 4G (23.7ms).

• Three had the highest share of 5G download speeds at 100 Mbit/s or higher (60%). The proportion of O2 connections with a 100 Mbit/s+ download speed over both 5G (32%) and 4G (3%) was much lower than the other MNOs and O2 also had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements that were under 10 Mbit/s.

• EE had the highest proportion of 5G and 4G upload speed tests that were 20 Mbit/s or higher. EE also had the lowest proportion of upload speeds under 1Mbit/s over 5G, while Vodafone customers had the lowest proportion under 1 Mbit/s on 4G. O2 had the lowest proportion of 5G and 4G speed tests at 20Mbit/s or higher, and the highest proportion under 1Mbit/s over both cellular technologies.

Comparison by nation and rurality

• The share of cellular network connections that were on 5G was twice as high in urban areas than in rural areas. In urban areas of the UK, 20.9% of cellular network connections were on 5G, compared to 10.4% in rural areas. In rural areas, the proportions of connections on 4G and 3G were higher than in urban areas.

• Differences in 5G and 4G data connection success rates across the UK nations were only small. Our analysis showed bigger differences over 3G, with Northern Ireland having the highest and Wales the lowest average success rates. Connection success rates were higher in urban areas than in rural areas at a UK level over 3G, while the opposite was true for 4G and 5G (although the differences were small).

• There was minor variation in 2MB file download times over 5G and 4G across the UK nations. The observed differences were larger over 3G, with England recording shorter average time to download a 2MB file (4.3s) than Northern Ireland and Wales (4.8s and 4.6s respectively). The average time to download a 2MB file was longer in rural areas than in urban areas over all three cellular technologies at a UK level.

• Northern Ireland had a lower-than-average proportion of 5G and 4G download speed measurements of 100 Mbit/s or higher and a higher proportion under 10 Mbit/s. Urban connections had a higher proportion of faster connections and a lower proportion of slower connections than in rural areas over all three cellular technologies at a UK level.

• Northern Ireland also had the lowest proportion of 5G upload speeds at 20 Mbit/s or higher (25%) and the highest proportion under 1 Mbit/s. Over 4G, Northern Ireland and Wales had a lower-than-average proportion of upload speed tests with speeds of 20 Mbit/s or higher, and a higher-than-average proportion under 1 Mbit/s. The proportion of upload speed tests at 20 Mbit/s or more was higher (and the proportion under 1 Mbit/s lower) in urban areas than in rural areas across all three cellular technologies.

The CEO of Openreach (BT), Clive Selley, has today set out their position with respect to Ofcom’s forthcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), which amongst other things sees the UK operator call for the regulator and Government to push Virgin Media (O2) and others into opening up access to their cable ducts to help reduce the number of broadband poles being built.

The regulator’s Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) is a wide-ranging market study, which is typically only conducted every 5-years and will usually look to make changes that “promote competition and investment” in gigabit broadband and business connectivity. Such things are always easier said than done, with vested interests frequently clashing.

The outcome of the last review, which was published in March 2021 (here), introduced a variety of key changes, such as regulation of Openreach that varied by geography, a new Dark Fibre Access (DFA) product, measures to help retire legacy copper-based networks, restrictions on broadband discounts and new Quality of Service (QoS) standards.

Reviews like this have historically tended to expend most of their energy on demanding changes of the market incumbents (i.e. Openreach across the UK and KCOM in Hull), such as requiring them to open up access to their own cable ducts and poles (Physical Infrastructure Access) so that rivals could more easily deploy gigabit-capable broadband networks (usually via FTTP technology).

However, the last review was arguably a bit softer on Openreach in order to give them a “fair bet” in rolling out full fibre networks across the UK. The dramatic increase in competitive FTTP builds since 2021 may similarly have an impact on Ofcom’s thinking in the next review. So far we’ve already seen some of Openreach’s rivals calling for improvements to PIA and related pricing (here), but today it was Openreach’s turn to set out their stall.

Clive Selley said:

“Ofcom’s Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR), which took effect on 1 April 2021, delivered a five-year package of rules that the regulator said would endure for at least ten, assuming the outcomes were as expected. It also made clear that “full fibre must be a fair bet” for investors over the longer term.[2] This was crucial, given the risk and long paybacks involved in big infrastructure investments.

Fast-forward to today and more than 150 companies are now using our ducts and poles to build competing networks and we’ve made full fibre available to more than 15 million premises nationwide off our own back. We’re reaching a further one million properties every three months, and we’re on track with our ambition to reach 25 million by the end of 2026. In fact, Ofcom expects 96 per cent of the UK could have access to full fibre by 2027, compared with just two per cent in 2016.

In a nutshell: the WFTMR isn’t just working, it’s working better than expected for the UK. But the job’s not done yet. And investors are yet to see if their big bets will pay off.

Investment in full fibre needs to continue for the rest of the decade as the build extends to the more challenging and costly parts of the UK and the industry connects customers to the new networks. And for our part, we’re confident that we can reach 30 million premises by the end of 2030, assuming the right regulatory and investment environment exists.”

Selley goes on to state that Ofcom should “reject self-interested calls from some parts of the industry to restrict how Openreach competes … Because it’s clear that would lead to higher prices, weaker competition and a dilution of choice for consumers and businesses.”

Openreach’s boss also wants the regulator to address the “challenges of moving to a full fibre world“, such as by “supporting a drive for efficiency and enabling Openreach to retire legacy buildings and services where modern alternatives exist. Quality of Service (QoS) standards must also evolve to reflect the positive shift from copper to fibre.” But rivals will be hoping that “evolving” QoS standards doesn’t lead to weaker performance.

Openreach’s Ambitions for 2026 and Beyond (TAR)

✓ Maintaining certainty and stability on price regulation for at least the rest of the decade – as was envisaged back in 2021 – continuing to only set direct charge controls on legacy services, with caps kept flat in real terms, and with the same regulation applied across the country

✓ Sustaining an approach that allows us to compete fairly and introduce offers that support full fibre adoption

✓ Reducing regulation where entry has occurred, and competition is effective

✓ Supporting exchange exit and other efforts to improve long-term efficiency

✓ Evolving Quality of Service standards to reflect the changing mix of services used by customers

The operator’s full report also echoes the CEO of BT Group, Allison Kirkby, who called for various improvements to planning laws (something the government are looking at) and support for flexi-permits (i.e. a single permit can cover a wide geographical area instead of numerous separate street applications). But Selley’s most interesting remark is one of his last.

“Ofcom and Government should also require Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) and others to open up their duct and pole networks on the same transparent terms including price as Openreach’s duct and poles product,” said Openreach’s CEO, Clive Selley. Openreach argues that this would help to support the government’s current drive to increase infrastructure sharing and thus reduce the number of new poles being deployed (here).

Ofcom has previously rejected this idea, which is partly because Virgin Media’s closed network has largely stayed under the coverage level that would otherwise deem them to have Significant Market Power (they have over 16 million premises). This may be partly why some of the operator’s parents (Liberty Global and Telefonica) have sought to continue their network expansion, albeit via an open access model, under a new company – nexfibre.

Just to recap. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners originally setup the new £4.5bn nexfibre joint venture in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network. The two networks, combined, could thus conceivably end up covering 23m premises (nexfibre has so far reached 1.3m).

Virgin Media are of course due to split off their own network of 16m+ premises into a new NetCo next year, which will open it up to wholesale. Quite how Ofcom will view all of this is a complex matter, but at present we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the regulator chose to wait until the 2031 review to make a decision, rather than the one for 2026. But by then most of the fibre build will be done. Tricky.

Right now, there are still many unknowns with how the market and company structures may evolve, while nexfibre’s coverage is still low and semi-separate from Virgin Media. In addition, none of Openreach’s smaller rivals in the alternative network space are even close to having SMP. Forcing PIA upon smaller operators in a weaker and higher risk position, particularly in this climate, would not be without negative consequences.

As always, we expect a lively debate to flow around Ofcom’s major market review.

UPDATE 2:50pm

We’ve received a comment from Virgin Media, which notes that it’s already possible to use their ducts on a “commercial basis“, but making that attractive enough for wide adoption is often another matter entirely (Openreach above are talking more about a PIA style regulated solution).

A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said:

“The ability to use Virgin Media’s ducts on a commercial basis already exists, but Openreach has significant market power in the UK and a footprint that covers almost all of the country, so it is right that it remains appropriately regulated to ensure it cannot use its monopolistic muscle to constrain emerging competition.

Virgin Media O2 and others are building fibre to increase network choice in the UK and it’s important that Ofcom supports these investments so that truly scaled competition can be realised in future. Calling for regulatory intervention on others who are building alternative networks is a worrying and diversionary tactic that Openreach has used before with no success.”