Sky UK (Sky Glass, Sky Stream etc.) has today announced the expected launch of their new Sky Sports+ service, which will become available nationwide from Thursday 8th August 2024. Sky Sports+ is to be included with Sky Sports “at no extra cost” and brings a bunch of new features and content.

Sky Sports+ is expressed as giving customers more choice with new live streams and a dedicated channel (live pause and rewind available on all new live streams), as well as an updated User Interface (UI) and live scores from concurrent events will also be displayed on match tiles. This will simply drop into the existing Sky experience across Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Q and NOW TV, so customers don’t need to do anything extra to benefit.

Sky noted that the launch has come just in time for the EFL opening weekend, with every game from across the Championship, League One and League Two streamed live, which is said to be “a first in broadcasting history“.

The provider has also launched a special offer for new customers to get Sky Sports (inc. Sky Sports+) and Sky TV in Ultra HD, plus Netflix (standard with adverts) included for the price of £43 per month. But the small print notes that this requires Sky Stream or Sky Glass TV (from £14 extra pm) and the offer price will end on 21st August 2024.

Sky Sports+ Content for August

• Watch your EFL team over 20 times a season, live
• Enjoy over 1,000 live EFL games, including every Carabao Cup fixture
• Watch every match from the men’s Rugby Super League
• Over 100 tournaments across the US Open, ATP and WTA tours
• Offers the capability to show up to 100 events concurrently
• Available on Sky TV, the streaming service Now TV, and on the revamped Sky Sports mobile app

Sky Sports+ will also give customers exclusive access to Sky’s sports documentaries “at least two weeks before anyone else“. In addition, Mobile users will get new personalisation options to follow their favourite teams and competitions, as well as improved navigation and access to all Sky Sports+ live streams via event centres.

Jonathan Licht, MD at Sky Sports, said:

“Sky Sports+ is here, taking sports viewing to the next level by offering unmatched access and choice through numerous live streams and our new dedicated channel. We’re showing up for football fans like never before this season, showing every EFL team more than 20 times a season, and this weekend, our viewers can look forward to seeing every EFL game live. We’re thrilled to offer this to customers at no extra cost, ensuring they can enjoy even more of the sport they love this summer.”

Sky Sports+ can be found on linear channel number 410 for Sky Glass customers, 412 for Sky Q customers and 416 for ROI.

News

Reports suggest that Macquarie will walk away from the £450 million deal to buy a stake in TalkTalk’s wholesale division, PlatformX Communications (PXC)

According to reports over the weekend, discussions between TalkTalk and Macquarie regarding a stake sale in PXC have reached an impasse.

Macquarie was reportedly looking to spend up to £450 million on buying a 40% stake in the business, valuing PXC at £1.2 billion.

Reasons for the breakdown of negotiations were not revealed, though reports suggest Macquarie could reopen negotiations if TalkTalk’s financial situation improves.

TalkTalk had been struggling under the weight of immense debt for several years now, with the current total standing at over £1 billion. With the company failing to significantly improve its balance sheet by traditional means, TalkTalk announced it would carve up the business into three separate units – its B2B Wholesale Platform (now rebranded as PXC), TalkTalk Consumer, and TalkTalk Business Direct – in September last year.

Since then, the various business unit have been the focus of much investor attention. Just one month after the announcement, TalkTalk confirmed the sale of its business unit to a group of its own shareholders for £95 million under a special purpose vehicle called TFP Telecoms.

Some months later, in February, Virgin Media O2 was tipped to be in discussions for TalkTalk’s consumer division, though a deal has yet to materialise.

This left the prospective sale of PXC to Macquarie as a major financial lifeline for TalkTalk, with the company desperately need a cash injection ahead of looming debt deadlines. The company is due to repay £685 million in bonds in February, while a revolving credit facility of £330 million is set to be refinanced in November.

The company’s founder, Sir Chales Dunstone, and other major shareholders are currently in discussions with TalkTalk over a potential investment of over £180 million to help keep the company solvent.

“Funding proposals to refinance the group’s balance sheet are under active discussion,” said James Smith, TalkTalk’s chief financial officer. “We are making constructive progress and are confident of a near term agreement which will ensure the group is well capitalised going forward.”

Join the UK’s connectivity industry in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get your tickets here!

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News

Nowo Communications is Portugal’s fourth largest mobile operator 

Romanian telco Digi has agreed to acquire Nowo Communications from Spain’s Masmovil for €150 million. 

According to the announcement’s press release, Nowo has approximately 270,000 mobile users and 130,000 fixed clients. It also holds spectrum licenses in 1800 Mhz, 2600 MHz and 3600 MHz frequency bands.  

The acquisition comes a month after the Portuguese competition authority, Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), rejected Vodafone Portugal’s attempt to acquire Nowo.  

Vodafone announced its intention to acquire Nowo in October 2022, but it quickly became clear that the AdC viewed the merger as potentially creating significant barriers to effective competition. Despite Vodafone submitting remedies to address these concerns, the AdC ultimately blocked the merger earlier this year.  

Luís Lopes, Executive President of Vodafone Portugal, called the decision “bewildering”, noting that Nowo holds just a 2% market share. 

Nonetheless, the AdC said “Nowo exerts considerable competitive pressure on the other market operators”, arguing that the merger would lead to reduced pressure and higher prices for customers. 

There should be no such regulatory concerns facing Digi Portugal’s new bid for Nowo, however, with Digi being a relative newcomer to the Portuguese market. The operator is currently in the initial phases of its 5G network rollout, having won 5G spectrum licenses in 2021. 

 A merger with Nowo should allow Digi to compete more effectively with the existing market leaders – NOS, Altice (MEO), and Vodafone Portugal – therefore making it an attractive prospect for AdC.  

The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval.  

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

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News

The regulator said it needed more time to assess all the evidence, given the inquiry’s ‘very wide scope’  

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has delayed its investigation deadline into the £15 billion Vodafone–Three merger that was announced last June. The new deadline is now 7 December this year, eight weeks later than expected. 

The regulator said the “very wide scope of this inquiry and the technical and regulatory complexity of the sector” were key factors in the deadline extension. 

“The Inquiry Group now considers that it will not be possible to complete the investigation and to publish its final report within the revised reference period. The Inquiry Group aims to complete the inquiry as soon as possible,” said the CMA in a statement. 

“It is not unusual for the CMA to exercise its right to extend its reference period in cases such as this,” said Vodafone in response to the announcement. 

“We appreciate the additional time it is taking to assess the extensive evidence submitted, which sets out how this transaction will significantly benefit over 50 million mobile customers, enhance competition and help transform the UK’s digital infrastructure. We will continue to work closely with the Inquiry Group as it finalises its report.” 

In May, the UK government released a “Publication of Notice of Final Order” that provisionally approved the Vodafone–Three merger, subject to certain conditions. The following month, the CMA published ten responses to the merger, commenting on issues and possible remedies to the move.  

Unsurprisingly, the UK incumbent BT released a 40-page report condemning the merger, saying its completion would be “to the detriment of UK customers.” 

If the deal is given the green light, Vodafone has pledged to invest £11 billion over ten years to create one of Europe’s best 5G standalone networks, which every school and hospital will have access to by 2030. 

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

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News 

The new government has reevaluated the conservative party’s AI plans as it settles into office 

The newly formed Labour government has scrapped the £1.3 billion AI investment pledged by the Conservatives, despite newly appointed Science Secretary Peter Kyle promising to put “AI at the heart of the government’s agenda to boost growth and improve our public services” just last week. 

The investments included £800 million to build a supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh, which would be able to complete one billion calculations each second, and £500 million to set up an AI Research Resource, which helps to fund computing power for AI. 

However, these AI funding commitments by the Conservative government were “unfunded”, meaning that they were promised without any funds being formally allocated in the budget. 

“The government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments,” said the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). “This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth.” 

New Shadow Science Secretary Andrew Griffith has condemned the decision, saying “it is a terrible blow to the UK tech sector and could be just the start of Labour cuts”.  

“During the election, Labour refused to commit to growing the amount the UK spends on research, yet that’s a core part of growing a modern economy. If DSIT can’t get the funds from the Treasury, this means university research can expect to be hit, too,” he continued. 

The government has recently launched its new AI Opportunities Action Plan, which will seek ways to accelerate the use of AI to better everyday people’s lives. It will also help the UK’s burgeoning AI sector to “compete on the global stage”. 

Speaking to Total Telecom, Lee Myall, CEO of UK telecoms provider Neos Networks, emphasised that the new government must “prioritise these investments to solidify its position as a global hub for AI technology and services, or risk losing ground to other more ambitious nations.” 

Join the conversation around UK AI at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get your tickets now!  

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Customers of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2), specifically those who take their Pay TV services (i.e. TV 360, STREAM or v6 box platforms), may like to know that the provider is offering TV customers who don’t currently subscribe to Premier Sports “free access to the channels for the whole of August”.

Eligible customers will see the premium sports channels, which normally cost an extra £12.99 per month, added to their TV line-up, offering them the chance to enjoy an “abundance of sporting action this August across LALIGA, Motorsport, MMA, Scottish Premiership, Premier Sports Cup and more“.

Customers who wish to subscribe to Premier Sports after the 31st August 2024 can do so directly via their Virgin TV box by heading to the Apps area and subscribing. In addition, Virgin Media Stream customers can pocket 10% credit on their Premier Sport subscription when they sign up via Virgin TV.

David Bouchier, Chief TV and Entertainment Officer at VMO2, said: “Throughout August, we’re offering our customers even more value with the addition of free access to Premier Sports. Our customers can extend the summer of sport with football, rugby, motorsport and more, including upcoming games such as Real Madrid v Chelsea, Rangers v St Johnstone, Celtic v Hibernian and Dundee FC v Hearts.”

A new survey of over 1,000 adults across the UK, which was conducted by research and consulting firm Cavell, claims to have found that the majority of UK consumers (71%) still find the process of changing broadband ISP to be frustrating, complicated or intimidating. Just 28% said they found it “easy“.

According to Cavell’s 2024 UK Consumer Broadband Report, younger adults aged 18-24 were the ones who, perhaps conversely, found the switching process most complicated, with 33% highlighting frustrations. But on the flip side, the majority of consumers are now engaged with their broadband contract and know when it is up for renewal (87%), with just 13% unaware when their existing contract ends.

When it comes to broadband speed and understanding of what you pay for vs what you receive from your ISP, there are generational differences too. For example, awareness is very high (80%) amongst adults under 34 years old but drops quite steeply in the 55+ age bracket, with just 57% of respondents saying they knew if they are getting what they are paying for.

Additional Findings

➤ BT has the second-largest percentage of “positive sentiment” (42%) amongst national ISPs; only behind Sky (48%) and marginally ahead of Virgin Media (39%). TalkTalk meanwhile, which is reported to be facing an uncertain future due to debt pressures, fares less favourably in perceptions, with more UK consumers feeling negative (29%) towards the provider than positive (23%).

➤ Just 52% of respondents predict an increase in their internet usage over the next three years.

➤ Demand for streaming TV services (65%) comes out as the primary use of the internet, significantly above those who rely on it for working from home (37%).

➤ 64% said they have not been impacted by disruption in terms of roadworks to improve internet facilities in the last three years.

Furthermore, the research reveals that one in four consumers (25%) will seek a new contract immediately when their previous one ends.

Finbarr Begley, Senior Analyst at Cavell, said:

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that while there is friction with some elements like switching providers, and perceptions of individual providers might not be positive, many consumers are happy with their internet. It is fast enough, it is letting them do everything they want with it, and they think that will continue.

Of course, this poses a challenge to the broadband industry in the UK who want to keep selling faster, better, and more competitive services. There is yet to be a clear use case for mass adoption of hyperfast next-generation broadband across the country. You don’t need it if you just stream video every night.”

In fairness, switching ISP is something that Ofcom and the industry have been trying to improve for some considerable time, particularly now that the market is no longer as dominated by two major physical networks (Openreach and Virgin Media). The new One Touch Switch (OTS) migration system for easier and faster consumer broadband ISP switching is finally due to launch next month (after a lot of delays), but it may initially be a bit buggy.

The issue of encouraging people on to “hyperfast” connections is of course very well known (we’ll assume they mean gigabit-capable), although often the focus on top speeds does tend to overlook the fact that you can still benefit from the advantages of newer full fibre / gigabit networks (e.g. greater reliability and often lower pricing) via slower speed packages too. In any case, the eventual retirement of older copper and hybrid-fibre lines will perhaps make this somewhat of a moot point.

Mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics (Ookla) has today published their H1 2024 study of UK mobile networks (calls, texts etc.) and mobile broadband performance, which once again sees EE (BT) come top against rivals at Vodafone, Three UK and O2 (Virgin Media). EE also “edged past” Three UK to deliver the “best 5G experience“.

As usual, the new study made use of the “latest” 5G Samsung smartphones (model not disclosed) – purchased off the shelf from operator stores – to test both 4G and 5G performance across all four primary operators in 16 of the UK’s most populated metro cities. The team then conducted a total of 625,047 tests, including at hundreds of different locations (795 of which were indoor) and while driving a total of 22,909 miles during the day and night.

The results shown below have then been split into several categories (network reliability, speed, data, call and text quality etc.) and each is assigned a score out of 100 (higher numbers = better). In terms of the UK-wide results, EE came top in every single category, followed by Three UK. By comparison, O2 (Virgin Media) were typically sat at the bottom of most categories, which is sadly where we tend to find them in most such studies.

Sadly, every single mobile operator suffered a small decline in their overall scores, at least when compared with the last report six months ago. The biggest fall was seen by Vodafone (from 90.1 to 79.1), which is a big part of the reason why Three UK was able to take second place despite also suffering a modest fall.

Overall Scores for H1 2024 (vs H2 2023)
1. EE – 91.5 (down from 94.2)
2. Three UK – 83.2 (down from 89.3)
3. Vodafone – 79.1 (down sharply from 90.1)
4. O2 – 75.3 (down from 86.4)

In terms of the average (median) UK download speeds on both 4G and 5G networks combined – EE delivered the strongest data speeds of 79.8Mbps (up strongly from 68.6Mbps at the last report), while Three UK delivered 44.5Mbps (up from 32.3Mbps), Vodafone grew to 42.8Mbps (up from 34.5Mbps) and O2 improved but still scored bottom with 23.3Mbps (up from 19.9Mbps). But the picture does differ a bit between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However, the situation starts to change when we look specifically at 5G networks, where EE and Three UK are much closer in terms of mobile broadband speed. Overall, EE scored an average media download of 207.5Mbps (up from 174.1Mbps), while Three UK delivered 210.3Mbps (up from 165.7Mbps), Vodafone was a little bit behind on 184.9Mbps (up from 158.3Mbps) and sadly O2 put in a poor result of 79.7Mbps (up from 68.7Mbps).

In terms of 5G availability, EE and Three UK topped 60% 5G availability during UK-wide testing, while O2 and Vodafone weren’t far behind at 55.9% and 47.2%, respectively. The table at the bottom shows where each operator made its biggest increase to 5G availability during testing in major cities in the UK in 1H 2024. But we note that they’ve removed the results from Southampton, since they didn’t test that market in 2H 2023.

Just for a quick comparison. At the last report in H2 2023, RootMetrics reported that all of EE (52.3%), Three UK (57.6%), and O2 (54.5%) each posted 5G availability above 52% during their UK-wide testing, while Vodafone lagged behind with 5G availability of 41.9%.

The RootMetrics’ report only provides bits and pieces of selected information, while we would have preferred to see a bit more detail (e.g. upload performance and latency). The data also seems to be dominated by an urban focus, which gives little weighting for poorer performance in rural areas. But that is often the caveat with this type of scientific, albeit very manual, testing – there’s not enough data to give a full UK picture.

RootMetrics UK Mobile Performance Review H1 2024
https://rootmetrics.com/uk-mobile-performance-review-h1-2024

UPDATE 9:39am

We’ve had a comment from EE.

Marc Allera, Chief Executive Officer at EE, said:

“The average internet user in the UK spends more than six hours every day online, using multiple connected devices. This makes having reliable connectivity at home and on the move more important than ever. This research gives every person in the UK a trusted source of insight into the performance of all mobile operators, including in the busiest cities where we all compete every day to provide the most reliable experience.

With that in mind, for EE to be crowned the UK’s best mobile network for eleven years in a row is a remarkable achievement. We’ve worked tirelessly to deliver the fastest and most reliable mobile network in the UK and we will continue to put network quality at the heart of our customer experience.”

Rural focused alternative UK broadband network B4RN, which is a community benefit ISP that has rolled out a 10Gbps speed full fibre network to 25,000 premises (inc. 13,000+ customers), has joined the government’s charter for protecting vulnerable people from harm during the upgrade to digital (IP / VoIP based) phone lines.

Just to recap. At the end of 2023 the government and several major broadband ISPs launched a new charter (here), which set out the “new measures” they would all agree to adopt in order to protect vulnerable customers when upgrading phone lines from the old analogue (PSTN / WLR) to newer digital phone networks.

The charter essentially commits signatory providers to “concrete measures to protect vulnerable households“, particularly those using personal alarms, known as telecare, which offer remote support to elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people – with many located in rural and isolated areas, where mobile signals may also be poor. This is needed because the older telecare systems aren’t always compatible with digital phone networks (mostly due to the fault of telecare providers).

The old phone networks were originally supposed to be completely switched off by the end of 2025, although vulnerable users were recently given more time as the deadline for migration in related households has since been extended to 31st Jan 2027 (here and here).

Key Charter Commitments

➤ All providers have agreed to not forcibly move customers onto the new network unless they are fully confident they will be protected.

➤ Providers will conduct additional checks on customers who have already been forcibly migrated to ensure they do not have telecare devices the provider was unaware of, and if they do, to ensure suitable support is provided.

➤ No telecare users will be migrated to digital landline services without the provider, customer, or telecare company confirming they have a compatible and functioning telecare solution in place.

➤ Providers will be required to work to provide back-up solutions [battery systems] that go beyond regulator Ofcom’s minimum of one hour of continued, uninterrupted access to emergency services in the event of a power outage.

➤ They will collectively work with Ofcom and the UK government to agree a shared definition of ‘vulnerable people’ for this transition, so it is no longer dependent on the company and establishes an industry wide standard.

➤ Government will also continue to work with the telecare sector to reduce risk for users during the digital transition.

At launch the charter was only supported by BT, Virgin Media O2, Sky (Sky Broadband), TalkTalk, Vodafone, Shell Energy and KCOM. But in Feb 2024 they were joined by Zen Internet, then Ogi in May 2024 and now B4RN has become the latest to sign the charter.

We should add that a related charter was also signed and supported by network operators more on the wholesale side of things (here), which launched in March 2024 and included support from Openreach, CityFibre, AllPoints Fibre (Swish Fibre, Giganet, Jurassic Fibre and Cuckoo), CommunityFibre, Ogi, KCOM and WightFibre.

New customers looking to take one of Three UK’s unlimited 5G or 4G based Home Broadband packages may like to know that the operator has just discounted them from £24 to £22 per month on a 24-month term. In addition, you can also get the first six months of service at half price for just £11 (oddly, this only shows up when going to the checkout).

The package includes Three’s latest 5G Hub MC888 router (or a 4G router if you aren’t covered by their 5G network), although it should be noted that Three UK hasn’t made their home broadband service available to every UK postcode yet. In addition, the operator will increase your monthly price each April by the previous December’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate published in January, plus 3.9%.

As usual, you’ll need to click the affiliate links above to get these discounts.