The UK Government’s (DSIT) c.£6.2 million “Fibre in Water” trial (Project TAWCO), which aimed to test the deployment of fibre optic (FTTP) broadband cables through a live water mains (used for drinking water), has still not progressed to Phase 2 after a decision was taken to “stop the live build trial” due to several key obstacles.

The original trial (details), which started in 2022 and was due to run for 2-3 years, planned to run fibre through 17km of live drinking water mains between Barnsley and Penistone (Yorkshire). In theory, this could then be used to help monitor the network for leakages, provide capacity to nearby 5G mobile masts and spread the coverage of gigabit broadband to an estimated 8,500 rural premises along the route (i.e. without costly street works).

The first phase of Project TAWCO – supported by a consortium of Yorkshire Water, Commsworld, Arcadis and the University of Strathclyde – completed in 2023 and was broadly focused on researching the legal and safety aspects of the plan, as well as some survey work.

Phase One developed a potentially workable commercial model between the two industries, but its survey work also found that a relatively high number of private landowners along the route needed to be negotiated with and compensated for access. Due to this, and other issues, TAWCO ended up proposing a more direct route with only 8km of Fibre in Water. This reduced the risk and cost, but the number of premises expected to benefit was also cut to 7,000.

Summary of Project TAWCO’s Original Phases

● Phase 1 – Research and Investigation
To carry out Research and Investigation into the viability of deploying Fibre in Water Technology. This phase would include reviewing the technology, understanding the operational risk of employing the technology, security risk assessment, agreement of design, ownership and maintenance principles, route design, commercial understanding and benefits of Fibre in Water, cost modelling, technical, operational and commercial viability assessments.

● Phase 2 – Detailed Design and Build
Delivery of a FiW pilot to explore the challenges and demonstrate the benefits to all stakeholders. This would cover the 17km between Barnsley and Penistone and connection via PIA to the Exchange. A private 5G shared spectrum standalone network would be installed at two remote locations demonstrating neutral hosting. FiW would be used for back-haul connectivity to a 5G core and the internet.

● Phase 3 – Operation and Evaluation
Benefits of the FiW solution would be evaluated and winners of the ‘5G in water’ competition would be commissioned.

However, since we posted the last update in May 2023 – a guest editorial from DSIT (here), ISPreview hasn’t been sent any further progress updates. Upon researching this we discovered that a final progress report had been quietly published in March 2024, which confirmed that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) had been unable to progress the project to build (Phase Two).

The decision to stop the trial appears to centre around three key issues – uncertainty around the best commercial model to adopt, the financial risk that only one small start-up has the capability of installing the cables and the somewhat crucial lack of Reg 31 approval.

Summary of the Key Challenges

Combining two industries meant there was a lack of clarity when it came to industry approved standards which meant certification became a challenge. An important aspect of using the clean water network is that anything installed within the network first needs Regulation 31 (Reg 31) approval from the DWI. For this project, approvals were needed for the installation method and the finished installed product. At the time of writing, almost 2 years after the TAWCO project was awarded funding, approval for the finished product remains outstanding and subsequently there is a barrier to adoption until this issue is resolved.

In addition to the enabling technology, alignment of the operational processes of two very disparate industries – from design and construction to ownership and operation, including ‘break-fix’ – presented a significant challenge. TAWCO successfully defined aligned processes and as such has created a useful template that can be adopted once the technology approval process is resolved.

The decision was made to stop the live build trial for project TAWCO. Despite the obvious benefits to interested parties, there remains uncertainty around the best commercial model to adopt to make a viable solution. There is also a financial risk that only one small start-up has the capability of installing the cables using their yet to be approved technology. When combined with the lack of Reg 31 approval, the project was unable to continue under the originally agreed scope, timescales, and financing.

Should the Fibre in Water technology receive Reg 31 approval, the commercial models, business processes and detailed designs produced by project TAWCO could still be used to implement the Fibre in Water solution at either the planned location, or elsewhere with some additional effort to translate the designs. Yorkshire Water remains in contact with other members of the consortium and will consider the opportunity for Fibre in Water implementation in the event that the regulatory barrier is overcome.

In addition, the Barnsley – Penistone route had originally been chosen because Penistone village appeared to be at risk of not having access to gigabit broadband services as the boundaries of “Lot 21” (the Project Gigabit procurement lot for the South Yorkshire area) evolved in response to successive Open Market Reviews (OMR).

The aforementioned uncertainty impacted CommsWorld’s valuation to the point where TAWCO failed to meet the Commsworld investment gate threshold. The “current situation is that Penistone is outside of Lot 21 boundaries and the commercial operator who had said they were going to build in the village has now withdrawn“, leaving Penistone once again without committed Gigabit delivery.

In short, the work done so far found “there is merit” in what they were trying to do and all of the participants had an incentive to find solutions for making it viable, but for now the project appears to be stuck on the shelf until Regulation 31 (Reg 31) approval can be secured.

Part of the problem here is that, at the time of the DSIT Fibre in Water competition, the technology to safely and efficiently install a fibre optic cable inside drinking water mains was considered to be largely a proven one. In 2019, a provider had achieved the all-important ‘Reg 31’ approval for the first iteration of their solution. This in theory meant that a solution was ready to deploy, but that approval was unfortunately later found to be “not applicable to the intended TAWCO FiW design and has since been withdrawn“.

In the meantime, Yorkshire Water said they remain in contact with other members of the consortium and will “consider the opportunity for Fibre in Water implementation” in the event that the regulatory barrier is overcome.

Mobile operator Tesco Mobile has once again extended their Home From Home (HFH) EU roaming offer for another year, until 2026. Customers can thus continue to tap into their UK minutes, texts and data (mobile broadband) allowances, at no extra cost, when travelling around 48 destinations in the EU and beyond.

The move isn’t surprising as the provider is a virtual operator (MVNO) on O2’s (Virgin Media) network, which has long opted to retain free EU roaming. But Tesco Mobile goes a bit further and doesn’t appear to apply a strict cap on data when roaming around the EU, although they do still have a somewhat ambiguous Fair Usage Policy (FUP).

A study of 1,000 adults across the UK, commissioned by Tesco Mobile, found that staying connected whilst travelling is crucial to families. Respondents revealed it’s important to have access to online maps / directions (53%), network access (52%) and the ability to search for local activities and restaurant ideas (57%).

Jonathan Taylor, CEO of Tesco Mobile, said:

“As well as benefiting from great savings and frozen prices, we’re delighted to confirm that customers on a Clubcard Prices deal (including both new & mid-contract customers) will now also enjoy EU roaming for no extra cost for the length of their minimum contract period. This extension to 2026 and its introduction to the Clubcard Price proposition is a testament to our commitment to providing exceptional value and convenience to our customers.”

News 

The companies say that the deal will “accelerate future-ready fibre broadband growth” across the US 

Nokia has signed a multi-year deal with AT&T to help upgrade and expand its fibre network. 

Over the next five years, Nokia will supply AT&T with fixed broadband equipment to improve its current infrastructure and support future network growth. Nokia’s solutions will also help automate AT&T’s network operations. 

“Fibre plays a crucial role in providing the foundation for the services we offer to our customers. This expansion will not only enhance broadband access for millions of customers but also sets the stage for the next wave of digital innovation, including Industry 4.0, smart cities, IoT applications, and ultra-high-definition streaming,” said Chris Sambar, Head of Network at AT&T in the announcement. 

“Our fibre solution opens the door to a full range of PON technologies available on the same platform and fibre,” said Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia.  

“This includes 10/25G PON today and eventually 50/100G PON in the future. Ultimately this can help operators like AT&T make the most of their existing fibre broadband networks today and in the future. Together, we’re paving the way for a more connected and responsible future,” she continued. 

Just nine months ago, Nokia lost out to rival equipment maker Ericsson when AT&T selected the latter as their Open RAN equipment supplier.  The $14 billion deal will result in Nokia equipment in AT&T’s network being replaced with Ericsson tech in certain areas, with the new Open RAN gear aiming to carry 70% of AT&T’s wireless traffic by the end of 2026..  

This major loss contributed to recent rumours that Nokia was considering selling or spinning off its mobile networks business, which could be valued at around $10 billion, with Samsung mentioned as a potential buyer. Speaking to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter said the interest has come “amid increasing pressure to find new growth in the troubled telecom equipment sector.”  

Nokia has been quick to quash these rumours, saying that its mobile network business remains a core part of its overall strategy.
Join Nokia at next week’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get last minute discounted tickets here. 

Also in the news:
Coastguard’s emergency network gets an upgrade from Telent
AT&T fined nearly $1m over 911 failings
How will the CityFibre–Sky deal really affect BT?
 

News 

The company has cut 455 jobs this year already 

Swedish telco Telia is set to cut 15% of its workforce, around 3,000 jobs, in an effort to cut annual costs by $253 million.  

The company currently employs around 18,000 people across five markets. 

The move, according to Telia, is part of its strategy to streamline decision-making processes, improve commercial execution, and better align its operations with local market needs. 

“This is a tough decision, but one that is necessary to ensure the long-term success of Telia,” CEO Patrik Hofbauer in the announcement.  

“We need to be much more simpler in the way we operate, faster on decision making, and also when it comes to commercial execution, and we need to create more margin,” he added in an interview with Reuters. “We are changing the operating model … we are putting much more responsibility and accountability into the countries, because there we meet our customers.” 

The job cuts will take place across all five of the company’s operating markets, with the lion’s share (around 1,400 jobs) being cut from the company’s home market of Sweden. The layoffs are expected to be completed by early December. 

The restructuring will cost Telia around SEK 1.4 billion ($135 million) in the second half of this year, but this will not affect its overall annual financial goals, according to the company. 

The cuts are subject to union negotiations, with further details to be disclosed following the completion of these discussions.  

Telia had approximately 19,370 employees and external consultants as of December 31, 2023, and has already reduced its workforce by 455 positions this year. 

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

Also in the news:
Ogi received £45m funding to aid expansion
Eutelsat and Softbank sign multi-year satellite deal for Japan
Carlos Slim buys another £175m slice of BT

The Growing Mid Wales (GMW) programme and network analyst firm Streetwave have today launched a “groundbreaking coverage checker” for 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks in the region, which uses the data they’ve been collecting on mobile broadband coverage and speeds by harnessing waste collection vehicles (bin lorries).

The use of bin collections to map mobile network coverage and data performance recently became quite popular (here, here, here, here and here). In this setup, refuse collection vehicles are installed with four off-the-shelf Smartphones using software from Streetwave on top, which run continuous network tests (once every 20 metres in rural areas and 5m in urban areas) as the vehicles go about their routes.

One of the first schemes to harness this approach was the Growing Mid Wales programme, which focuses on the Powys and Ceredigion areas of Wales. The results from this mapping work have now been made available to the public via a new coverage checker, which they say should “assist residents and businesses to make informed choices about their mobile connectivity options.”

“It is important to note that the data in our mobile coverage checker is not definitive and should only be used as an additional tool alongside other sources of information. The data is updated monthly when the waste collection vehicles repeat their services to ensure the latest throughput speeds are shown,” said the announcement.

Councillors James Gibson-Watt and Bryan Davies said:

“This initiative demonstrates our commitment to enhancing digital connectivity across our region. By providing residents and businesses with real mobile coverage data results, we empower them to make informed decisions and improve their access to reliable network services.”

Residents can use the checker to see the exact download and upload speeds that EE, Vodafone, Three UK, and O2 offer within a 30-metre radius outside their homes or businesses. Residents need only enter their postcode and select their address to see results. Use the mobile coverage checker here: www.growingmid.wales/Coverage.

The catch is that this can only tell you how fast the mobile broadband download and upload speeds are outside your property (note: you have to scroll down and click around a bit to find the upload results on their checker), but there’s no visual map that would allow you to easily see nearby results without having to manually go through lots of addresses. Sadly, there are no other statistics available on signal quality, latency etc.

The local authorities plan to use this data to help them work with mobile operators in order to deliver service improvements to the locations that need it the most.

News 

The deal will see Eutelsat’s OneWeb constellation provide satellite communications for Japanese businesses and government agencies 

Eutelsat and Softbank have signed a multi-year partnership to enable Softbank to use Eutelsat’s OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity services in its communications offering.  

Eutelsat’s OneWeb currently has 634 satellites in orbit around the Earth, providing global coverage of low latency satellite services. 

The deal will allow Softbank to leverage this constellation across Japan, providing reliable bandwidth and guaranteed communication speed services to its customers, including corporations and government entities. The service will be directly integrated with SoftBank’s secure “SmartVPN” network, enhancing its communication security.   

Initially focusing on the Japanese market, the partnership also holds potential for expansion to Japanese customers in other regions. 

“By using the OneWeb low Earth orbit constellation it becomes possible to use high-quality, highly secure satellite communications services in places such as maritime and mountainous areas where connectivity is difficult to provide with terrestrial mobile networks,” said Masakatsu Kawahara, SoftBank’s Vice President, Head of Communication Service Division in a press release. 

“This will enable us to promote digital transformation in various industries and for local governments, heralding a new era in secure, ubiquitous connectivity services,” he continued. 

“Our partnership with SoftBank is a significant milestone in our mission to deliver innovative connectivity solutions globally. We are delighted to rely on SoftBank as our partner to enter the Japanese market, and we look forward to cementing and expanding our collaboration in the years to come,” echoed Cyril Dujardin, Co-President of Eutelsat’s Connectivity Business Unit. 

Last month, Eutelsat also signed a partnership with Bayobab, a subsidiary of MTN Group, to use its LEO satellites to improve digital connectivity across Africa. 

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

Also in the news:
Coastguard’s emergency network gets an upgrade from Telent
AT&T fined nearly $1m over 911 failings
How will the CityFibre–Sky deal really affect BT?

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published the third edition of their forecast for Planned Network Deployments, which predicts that full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP lines are on course to cover 95-96% of all UK properties by May 2027 (29 million premises) – rising to 97-98% for “gigabit-capable” networks (i.e. FTTP and Cable).

According to the regulator’s latest data to January 2024 (here), some 62% (18.7m) of UK homes are currently within reach of a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (up from 48% in Jan 2023) and this rises to 80% for gigabit-capable networks (up from 73%). The latter is being driven by both FTTP from multiple operators and Virgin Media’s older cable DOCSIS 3.1 network (there’s a lot of overbuild between these in urban areas).

The new report goes further and, based on the stated deployment plans of network operators as of May 2024 (looking up to 3 years in advance), attempts to predict how much coverage will be achieved by May 2027. These plans include those that are privately funded as well as any plans that are supported through public funds/intervention.

The vast majority of this FTTP and gigabit-capable broadband coverage tends to come from commercial builds – mostly in urban areas, although rural areas will also see substantial network upgrades. The UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme is specifically focused on the final 10-20% of hardest to reach premises (i.e. aiming to extend gigabit coverage to at least 85% of UK premises by the end of 2025 and then around 99% “nationwide” by 2030).

If all of the planned deployments are realised, Ofcom’s report forecasts that gigabit-capable networks in urban areas could increase from 22 million premises (85%) today to 25.6m (99%) in 2027 and from 2.1m (49%) to 3.8m (88%) in rural areas. But this picture varies a fair bit across the different regions and local authorities.

The following forecast splits the figures down across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Ofcom also gives an additional “High Confidence” forecast, which gives a forecast for coverage from plans that have reached both the Low Level Design stage and for which funding has actually been committed (this excludes a lot of highly likely, but not yet 100% committed, build plans).

In addition, Ofcom’s new data also has a look at overbuild between rival networks and estimates that up to 81% of UK properties will be able to take gigabit-capable services from two or more providers by 2027. Finally, the regulator also anticipates an expansion of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks offering speeds of 100Mbit/s+. “Our data reports that, over the planned period, around 4,300 further FWA masts are being planned or upgraded across the UK, in addition to around 28,500 existing ones, that may be capable of offering high speed broadband,” although they acknowledged that mapper the actual reach and performance of such networks was difficult.

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today acknowledge that their already much delayed new One Touch Switch (OTS) system for faster consumer broadband ISP migrations won’t be 100% ready for launch on 12th September 2024. But rather than delay it, again, they’ve instead ordered providers to retain the old system for a further 6 weeks.

Just to recap. The new approach expands the existing Gaining Provider Led (GPL) migration system to work across alternative networks (the old system was mostly only focused on Openreach based providers) and to action switches within just 1 day instead of 10 days “where technically possible“. But that has required masses of internet providers to work together, and the development process has been a bit.. bumpy (here, here, here, here and here).

The industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which is responsible for implementing the regulator’s OTS migration system, had most recently been expected to fully introduce the new system from 12th September 2024 (here), which is over a year past its original launch date of April 2023. But Ofcom has today recognised that the testing process for this still needs a bit more time.

However, rather than suffer the embarrassment of having to delay the launch again, the regulator has instead ordered ISPs to retain the old migration process for an additional six weeks.

Ofcom’s Letter to Communication Providers

One Touch Switch implementation – Extension of NoT+ consumer protections

I am writing to update you on Ofcom’s position regarding the enhanced Notification of Transfer (NoT+) functionality in light of the progress of the continuing One Touch Switch (OTS) industry trials.
The OTS Hub was made available by The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo) for live customer switches in July 2024. This has enabled a programme of live customer trials of OTS to be undertaken by communications providers with the goal of steadily increasing volumes of OTS customer switches towards full launch, with 20 brands already participating. This ramp up plan is essential to ensure that the OTS process is working effectively and reliably for customers before NoT+ is turned off.

The most recent information we have received from communications providers and TOTSCo indicates that although there are large and increasing volumes of customers being switched successfully using OTS, these volumes have not yet reached a level to provide sufficient confidence that all customer switches will be able to follow the OTS process by the planned industry launch date of 12 September 2024. I understand emerging evidence from the trials has indicated a need for providers to carry out further analysis and improvements to ensure the matching process achieves a sufficiently high success rate to effectively support all customer switching journeys, but these improvements may not be fully implemented by the planned launch date.

We expect all communications providers in scope of OTS to do everything possible to accelerate the full adoption of OTS for all customer switches, and for OTS to be the main switching mechanism from 12 September 2024.

However, in light of the progress to date, we consider that it would be appropriate to retain the existing NoT+ functionality, for a limited period beyond 12 September 2024. This would enable customers to be switched using the existing NoT+ process as a back-up option, and only in those circumstances where communications providers, having started the switching process via OTS, find that it is not possible to technically proceed. To this end, I am today writing to Openreach, KCOM and wholesalers who operate NoT+ to ask that they delay its removal for a six-week period. We will review progress during this time including requesting information from communications providers on the number of switches concluded via OTS, and those which may have had to be put through the NOT+ process and the reasons for this.

To be clear, we expect providers to use OTS in the first instance for all switches and only to consider the back-up NoT+ process when it is not technically possible to proceed with the switch through OTS, for example, if it is not possible to resolve a matching failure. This is to help protect consumers and ensure they receive the necessary information about their decision to switch. It is imperative that providers continue to make urgent progress with implementing improvements to the OTS process and we therefore expect any need for use of the NoT+ process as a back-up option to rapidly reduce over this period. Notwithstanding the extension of NoT+, providers must not use Cancel Other functionality for any OTS switch.

We understand that all communications providers who are to date participating in the OTS ramp up are fully committed to supporting 100 percent of customer switching journeys as a losing provider. Therefore, this should enable other providers to continue with existing plans to sign up with TOTSCo to use the OTS Hub and start gaining customers using the OTS process from 12 September 2024. Any provider which currently uses NoT+ should be aware that, for this 6-week transition period, they may need to support a proportion of losing customer journeys within the existing NoT+ process as well as via OTS.

Ofcom will continue to monitor the implementation of OTS closely. I expect communications providers to cooperate positively including with TOTSCo, network operators and wholesalers to ensure that customers continue to be able to switch services smoothly during this transition and that OTS can be fully adopted with the greatest urgency. In particular, it is important to share any insights from analysis of the matching process. I have asked the Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator to continue to work closely with industry to ensure a smooth and speedy transition. As previously announced, our ongoing enforcement programme will review the conduct of all industry participants since our statement in 2021 in order to determine whether it is appropriate to open investigations into individual providers after launch.

Yours sincerely,

Cristina Luna-Esteban

News

The move sees the billionaire’s total stake in the UK incumbent rise to 4.3%

This week, a regulatory filing has revealed that Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim has upped his stake in BT by 1.1% to 4.3%.

The £150 million investment comes via Slim’s family business Inbursa and related subsidiaries.

Slim first acquired a stake in BT back in June, spending around £400 million to buy a 3.2% stake.

At the time, analysts viewed the investment as a vote of confidence in BT’s new CEO Allison Kirkby, who had implemented a raft of cost-saving measures in the business since her inauguration in February.

The move supports analysts assessments that BT is undervalued, presenting an appetising investment opportunity to oversees firms.

In related news, last month Altice UK agreed to sell its 24.5% stake in BT to Indian telco giant Bharti Airtel.

Financial details of the move were not disclosed, but estimates suggest the deal is worth around £4 billion.

So far, a 10% stake has been transferred to Airtel, with the remainder to follow pending regulatory approval.

Altice had been notably struggling under the weight of almost $60 billion of debt and, with pending dept repayment deadlines, was in need of restructuring.

As a result of these deals and existing investments, more than 40% of BT is now owned by foreign investors.

Join the conversation on the UK connectivity market at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here! 

Also in the news:
Vodafone deploys 5G private network at Czech nuclear power plant
Ogi received £45m funding to aid expansion
Musk’s Brazilian bust up sees Starlink accounts frozen

Global network operator Netmore has signed a contract with Yorkshire Water in England that aims to upgrade and connect 1.3 million water meters across the Yorkshire region (i.e. those that are reaching the end of their operation life) to their Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN).

Fixed wireless LoRa networks harness only a small slice of lower frequency radio spectrum (usually in one of the sub-1GHz bands like 868MHz or 915MHz) in order to support relatively slow, but extremely low power, data connections over a wide coverage area. Such networks tend to run at sub-Megabit speeds (often under 0.05Mbps, but some variants can handle several Megabits), which makes them ideal for linking Internet of Things (IoT) style sensors.

The new Netmore contract, which is still subject to Ofwat’s final determination (due in December 2024), will run for an initial term of 5 years, plus data services for the meters installed up to 2045 (this includes the delivery, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of connected smart meters).

This new program will run concurrently with smart meter deployments that began in 2022 when Netmore was awarded AMI frameworks by Yorkshire Water for the delivery of LoRaWAN network services and provisioning of meters for up to 360k households, including new developments and Domestic Metered Optants.

Adam Smith, Manager of Smart Networks and Metering Transformation, YWS, said:

“The initial smart metering program with Netmore launched in 2022 has helped Yorkshire Water deliver the first 500,000 litres of leakage reduction, by identifying water leakage on customers pipes. It has also helped us to better understand water demand patterns in our initial 25,000 Netmore smart meters and target water efficiency activity, all while delivering both operational value and the long-term perspective needed for the expansion of our [advanced meter infrastructure] initiatives.

Following a rigorous evaluation process and procurement analysis, we are confident in the choice of Netmore and its partners for our meter exchange program, as they collectively have the ability to help us deliver our ambitious goals and success criteria related to leakage, water efficiency, customer experience, and operational carbon emissions.”

Morrison Water Services, under contract with Netmore, will now plan, schedule and work with household and non-household customers to deliver the exchange of the meter. The program is expected to begin in South Yorkshire in 2025.

Broadband ISP Connexin has separately won a number of similar contracts to hook up water meters in various regions to their own LoRA wireless network, one of which is also Yorkshire Water.