News 

The deal includes a pledge for Vodafone to sell spectrum to Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) in order to ease regulatory fears over its merger with Three UK 

UK mobile operators Vodafone and VMO2 have agreed to extend and enhance an existing network sharing agreement for the next decade, a deal they say will boost the quality of network coverage across the UK. 

The agreement will mean that the two companies share certain aspects of their network infrastructure, allowing for enhanced service offerings while reducing costs related to overbuilding.  

According to the operators, this network sharing agreement will allow the two companies to compete more effectively with market leader BT (EE), by improving their network reach and service quality without proportionally increasing costs.  

The deal expands on an existing sharing agreement the two operators first struck back in 2012. 

But perhaps more interesting than the extension and expansion of this existing partnership is the deal’s implications for the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK.  

The £15 billion merger is currently under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is exploring whether the deal will hinder competition and drive up prices for consumers. One of the major roadblocks is the disproportionate share of spectrum that the newly merged entity will have versus its competitors.  

As part of today’s deal, VMO2 says it will agree to purchase spectrum from Vodafone to balance the scales, if the merger goes ahead. The exact amount of spectrum that would change hands – or the price that would be paid for it – was not specified. Nonetheless, VMO2 says the purchase should help them compete effectively in a tripartite mobile market and should help ease the competition concerns of the CMA. 

“With this agreement and our merger with Three, we will transform the mobile experience for over 50 million customers in the UK for the long-term, providing significant network improvements including more choice, better quality and greater coverage across the country,” said Ahmed Essam, CEO of European Markets at Vodafone in a press release. 

“The proposed merger, together with this agreement, will boost competition by establishing a strong third player in the UK mobile market and will improve the balance of spectrum holdings, levelling the playing field between the UK’s mobile operators,” he continued. 

“We are extending and bolstering elements of our existing network sharing arrangement, while also ensuring there is a robust, balanced and functional structure in place for the long-term should Vodafone and Three’s proposed merger gain consent. We believe that this new agreement addresses the issues we have voiced and the CMA outlined in its initial decision, and will now continue our engagement with the regulator in this spirit,” echoed Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2. 

Whether a spectrum sale would, in fact, help create a totally balanced spectrum environment remains unclear. For example, following the merger, Vodafone–Three and VMO2 combined would control roughly 80% of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band crucial for providing 5G services. BT, with only the remaining 20%, could therefore find itself at a significant disadvantage versus competitors when it comes to 5G capacity.The CMA will publish a final report into its probe on 12 October. 

If the merger is ultimately approved, the MergeCo says it will spend £11 billion over the next ten years on network improvements.  

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

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Network provider Openreach (BT) has informed ISPs that they’re launching a new ‘Prove Telecare’ trial (SVR – Site Visit Reason), which is designed to help UK consumers with old analogue based phone (PSTN / WLR) and Telecare systems to safely migrate to modern broadband (FTTP and FTTC / SOGEA) connections with IP phone (VoIP) services.

In case anybody overlooked it. BT and Openreach recently delayed their planned switch-off of copper-based analogue line services (PSTN phones and WLR) from the end of December 2025 to 31st January 2027 (here and here) in order to give broadband ISPs, Telecare providers and vulnerable users time to adapt.

The delay to the industry-led migration had been expected (here), due primarily to the fact that it was deemed to be putting a lot of Telecare users at risk (i.e. vital health / medical monitoring services for vulnerable and seriously ill people). The main problem being that a lot of the older systems aren’t compatible with modern Internet Protocol (IP / VoIP) based phone services. Not to mention that, without battery backup, they may cease to function during a power outage.

The issue of poor telecare support is largely the fault of telecare and alarm providers (i.e. failing to upgrade their systems), but this doesn’t change the reality that nearly 2 million people use these vital systems in the UK. Often such users exist in rural and isolated areas, where mobile services may also go down during power cuts. Ofcom are separately reviewing mobile resilience, but that’s another matter.

Network operators, ISPs and telecare providers are now working more closely together to introduce solutions to help tackle the issue, one of which is reflected in Openreach’s new Prove Telecare Trial. The small volume field engineering trial, which is due to start on 30th July and run until 22nd October 2024, is designed to support ISPs and customers to “safely migrate” their fixed line telecare devices to SOGEA (FTTC) and FTTP (full fibre) broadband lines with IP voice services.

Openreach Statement

The trial will test the systems, engineering training, on the day processes and procedures associated with moving end customers’ fixed voice telecare device(s) safely to new IP broadband and VoIP services.

To participate in the trial, a CP must confirm that it has agreements in place with telecare providers in the trial areas of Cardiff, North Yorkshire and Lambeth & Southwark to ensure that the telecare provider can arrange for a telecare engineer to be present with an Openreach engineer at the migration appointment. This will ensure that the end customer is always left with a working telecare service.

The trial service will attract an extra charge of £34 +vat, although it remains to be seen whether this is something that retail broadband and phone providers will pass on to related customers. But otherwise, this is a very positive approach and one that will no doubt help to tackle the issue, provided there are enough resources available to deliver it at scale, nationally.

As above, the trial is currently very small and only covering a few limited parts of England and Wales, but in the future it could be expanded. Time will tell. Openreach and BT are separately also piloting a new SOTAP for Analogue product (here), which is a phone line service that does NOT require broadband to work and can harness modern networks to function like the older analogue service.

After some false starts earlier in the year, at least some residents and businesses in the Leicestershire (England) market town of Loughborough should finally be able to connect to CityFibre’s new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network in the area after it started to go fully live.

At the start of 2024 we were told that Loughborough was one of CityFibre’s locations with ‘Ready for Service’ (RFS) premises (here). Similarly, some locals noted to ISPreview that CityFibre’s website had been reporting positive service availability for several months, but they then struggled to confirm this via any actual ISPs (this is a known problem with some of CF’s builds, which causes consumer confusion).

The operator eventually informed us that their £17m build in Loughborough was one of a “small number of locations” where services were now expected to be available to residents by the “summer” (2024). The good news today is that CityFibre appears to have held to that revised target, as confirmed by the latest analysis from Thinkbroadband.

The local coverage is currently still quite limited, but it is now live in certain areas, albeit currently only orderable via TalkTalk. In addition, parts of their build in Halifax have also just gone live and via a wider selection of ISPs.

The work supports CityFibre’s wider ambition of covering up to 8 million UK premises (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK subsidy) – across over 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK), although it’s unclear precisely when they will achieve that (the original goal was for the end of 2025, but their current build + M&A plan may only get them to c.6m). The operator currently covers 3.6 million UK premises (3.3m RFS).

The boss of UK ISP Zen Internet, Richard Tang, has given an interesting new interview in which he’s quizzed by the CEO of Freedom Fibre, Neil McArthur, on the state of the market for alternative networks and what such operators need to do in order to attract more ISPs to their platforms.

Just for some context. Freedom Fibre is itself an alternative network, which, after recently merging with VX FIBER (here), has now covered 300,000 premises (27th Mar 2024) across the United Kingdom with their full fibre (FTTP) network. Richard Tang actually interviewed the operator’s CEO, Neil McArthur, almost a year ago (here) and the latest interview reverses that position, with Neil being the one asking the questions.

The full interview doesn’t offer up much in the way of surprises, but it is quite interesting to watch and confirms that Zen are in “discussions” with a number of operators about onboarding their networks. “We’re having discussions, including with [Freedom Fibre], about possibilities, and I think that’s the right thing to do,” said Richard.

However, Richard also remarked upon the difficulty of choosing who to onboard, particularly while the market is going through a period of consolidation. “Let’s say we’ve integrated with 3, 4 or 5 altnets in that time. Where does it leave us. You know, have we backed the right horses, have we backed four horses that end up.. after doing all that work, now we’re just going to switch off the network because actually it’s now a combined integration,” mused Richard.

The situation could be a costly problem for a retail ISP, but Richard also sees the sunny side as, in the above scenario, they’d now be in the best position to adapt to that change through pre-existing integration. On this point, Richard suggests that waiting until a later date, after all the consolidation has already happened (i.e. pick the winning horse), could instead mean missing out on all that earlier opportunity to grow.

Neil then asks Richard what alternative broadband networks should do in order to attract more retail ISPs to their wholesale platforms, which causes Richard to highlight two key points – 1) Create a “compelling set of commercials” (pricing etc.), and 2) “Just make the integration as easy as possible” (e.g. copy a standard API like the one Openreach or CityFibre uses, thus making it easier for ISPs to adopt).

In addition, Richard confirms that Zen has expressed an interest to CityFibre, albeit not the only retail provider to do so, in acquiring the customer base of Lit Fibre after the altnet has finished integrating the new network. CityFibre recently acquired Lit Fibre’s UK FTTP network (here), but as a wholesale-only provider they have already acknowledged that, in the future, they may need to divest the retail base to avoid a conflict.

Speaking of consolidation, Freedom Fibre’s CEO noted how consolidation can be a slow and complex process to deliver effectively. “It’s going to take us 12 months to make that network [Freedom Fibre and VX FIBER] look like one and deliver the entire suit of products seamlessly,” said Neil.

Finally, Neil touches on Ofcom’s One Touch Switch (OTS) system, which is supposed to make it easier and quicker for consumers to switch between UK broadband ISPs on different network platforms, but it has suffered from significant delays (i.e. it was originally planned to launch in April 2023 and now won’t go live until 12th September 2024, which is still somewhat of a tentative target).

“It’s been massive within Zen,” said Richard. “[OTS] used up multiple teams of software developers, multiple months for us to get ready for that [original] March 2024 [launch] deadline. Then just as it was approaching, it got moved back to September. In terms of impact upon the business, I think it will be beneficial for Zen because on the whole customers like our service, so if they can switch to it more easily from competitors then that will be more of a benefit than the downside of customers who want to switch away from Zen.”

The full interview goes on to cover many more areas, such as the PSTN / WLR switch-off, and is available to view here. We’ll also embed it directly below once it goes fully live.

The latest update from Transport for London (TfL) has revealed that 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) signals have now been extended to cover the first tunnel sections on the Elizabeth line (running approximately 5 miles). Further tunnelled sections to Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Woolwich will be connected this summer.

Just to recap. Boldyn Networks (formerly BAI), using kit from Nokia and others, currently holds a 20-year concession deal with TfL, which was signed in June 2021 (here) and allows them to build the new 4G and 5G “Ready” (mobile broadband) infrastructure across the whole Tube (London Underground), DLR and Elizabeth line network.

This new network can then be made available via wholesale for Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to harness. The goal of this is to cover the entire London Underground by the end of 2024 (ticket halls, platforms and tunnels), as well as Highbury and Islington and New Cross on the London Overground network.

In terms of the Elizabeth line, all of its stations have already been enabled, and they’ve now started to introduce coverage within the tunnels themselves – starting with the 5-mile section that runs from the Royal Oak portal to the west of Paddington to Liverpool Street station. Further tunnelled sections of the Elizabeth line, towards Whitechapel, will be connected in the coming weeks – the whole line should be done by the end of this summer.

The service also continues to be introduced across the Tube network in Central London, with the Hyde Park Corner and Russell Square stations on the Piccadilly line now receiving coverage. Further sections of the Northern line, Bakerloo line, Piccadilly line and Victoria line are also anticipated to go live in the “coming month“.

As well as all eight ‘underground’ Elizabeth line stations, across London, 36 Tube stations have started to offer mobile coverage to customers in the ticket halls, platform areas and interchanges, with many more, including the southern end of the Northern line, expected to go live by the end of the summer.

London’s Transport Commissioner, Andy Lord, said:

“It’s wonderful to see our programme to introduce high-speed mobile coverage now benefitting customers on the Elizabeth line, the newest part of London’s historic underground network of stations and tunnels.

This key step in bringing better connectivity to London’s underground stations and tunnels will allow more people travelling around the capital to keep in touch, share photos and make the most of the city, especially as we start to enjoy the summer.”

Around 500 people are currently working overnight across the Tube network to install the new mobile equipment, with all works needed to be tidied away before the network opens for customers every morning. Once fully delivered, more than 2,000km of fibre optic cabling, as well as thousands of radios (base stations, small cells etc.), are expected to be installed within tunnels and stations – fitted outside of operational hours.

Overall, nearly 70% of all stations on the Tube network have now started to get mobile coverage, and the project appears to be holding to its completion target.

Alternative broadband ISP Fibrus has today put out a second announcement, which reveals that they’ve just put their new multi-gigabit speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network live for 1,100 premises in the Cumbria (England) town of Longtown. The deployment follows similar builds in towns like Workington, Wigton and Ambleside.

Chris Collins, Fibrus’ Head of Network Build, said: “We’re delighted to be able to bring the benefits of our Full Fibre network to even more communities in Cumbria. At Fibrus, we use a full-fibre optic cable all the way to the premises creating a quality and reliability that cannot be achieved any other way. This will make a big difference to local businesses and families in Longtown, allowing them to access more reliable broadband rather than having to rely on slow copper wires for their internet.”

However, despite the usual remarks about locals in Longtown previously “having to rely on slow copper wires for their internet“, it’s worth pointing out Voneus has also recently covered the same location with access to their new gigabit-capable full fibre network. But people could be forgiven for not knowing about this because Voneus rarely does much to promote their builds and future plans.

Otherwise, Fibrus’ new network has, as of 31st March 2024, already been expanded to cover 354,000 premises (337k RFS) across parts of England and Northern Ireland, which is up from 339,000 premises on 31st January 2024 (321,000 RFS). In addition, the operator recently grew their customer base to over 80,000.

Residential customers can expect to pay from £24.99 £21.99 per month for download speeds of 159Mbps (average) and uploads of 34Mbps on a 24-month term (£39.99 thereafter), which rises to £44.99 £39.99 for their top 982Mbps (310Mbps) tier (£59.99 thereafter). The packages also include an Amazon Eero 6+ router (or routers), UK support, free setup and the pledge of “no mid-contract price hikes“. Prices may differ in areas of subsidised build.

News  

The partnership is set to improve the notoriously difficult indoor connectivity problem

This week, Freshwave has announced the fruits of a partnership with infrastructure vendor CommScope, reportedly achieving a “world-first” by combining 4G connectivity from all four of the UK mobile network operators (MNOs) in a  single small cell solution. 

Freshwave’s Omni Network approach uses CommScope’s ONECELL technology, a small cell solution built to provide strong and reliable LTE and 5G services from multiple MNOs indoors. 

Indoor connectivity remains a major challenge for mobile operators, with 4G and particularly 5G signals delivered from macrosites outside the building being severely attenuated when passing through walls and even windows. Deploying small cells within in-building, in a fashion similar to typical Wi-Fi deployments, can alleviate much of this issue.   

In this case, neutral host operator Freshwave will deploy, maintain, and operate the small cells, charging customers a monthly managed service fee. 

This approach, Freshwave says, requires less equipment, cabling, and installation than previous alternatives, and can reduce costs by up to 65% compared to a normal distributed antenna system (DAS). It also reportedly consumes 60% less energy than traditional DAS. 

Crucially, Omni Network will allow all four UK MNOs – EE (BT), Vodafone, Three UK, and Virgin Media O2 – to provide services from the same small cell, reducing the need for overlapping deployments among the operators. This, says EE’s Director of Mobile Radio Access Networks James Hope, says “provides a clear benefit for sharing costs” in a competitive mobile market. 

 Though currently providing 4G connectivity, the announcement’s press release states that 5G connectivity will be brought to the solution in the next few months. 

“Omni Network extends in-building mobile connectivity to a wider range of organisations than ever before thanks to our team’s technical innovation,” said Freshwave CEO Simon Frumkin. 

“As the only company in the UK able to offer omni network, we’re looking forward to the benefits it will bring to our customers across the public and private sector. We’re grateful to all the UK mobile operators for their collaboration which made omni network possible,” he continued. 

Join the conversation around the neutral host connectivity solution at this year’s Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here!  

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Belfast-based alternative UK network builder and broadband ISP Fibrus, which is backed by investment from Infracapital, has today announced that they’ll be issuing grants worth a total of £60,000 to 30 community groups across Northern Ireland, which are being supported as part of their 2024 Community Fund.

So far Fibrus have already allocated £175k to local groups in Northern Ireland since launching the fund in 2021, with a further £120,000 allocated to Cumbria. The grants, which are worth up to £2,000 for each organisation selected, typically focus on organisations or projects that help to address issues like digital poverty or fostering inclusivity within local communities.

Delivered in partnership with The Community Foundation Northern Ireland, the Fibrus Community Fund has now provided grants to over 100 community groups across the region. Some of the latest in N.Ireland to be supported from the 2024 Fund include The Tuesday Club in Cookstown, Tempo Community Playgroup in Enniskillen and Friends of St Mary’s Primary School in Craigavon.

In addition, Fibrus are separately supporting grassroots sports clubs in Northern Ireland and Cumbria – for a second year – through ‘Fibrus Play it Forward‘, a £50,000 funding pot.

Linda McMillan, Chief People Officer at Fibrus, said:

“One of our primary goals is to enhance people’s lives by improving digital literacy and connectivity, and this is what the Fund seeks to achieve.

We believe every person deserves access to essential services in Northern Ireland and beyond and The Fibrus Community Fund is a vital part of our mission to foster a more digitally inclusive society.

This year, we received some fantastic applications from organisations working hard to support those in need in their community and we are honoured to play a part in their journey.

We eagerly anticipate seeing these groups grow and develop in the coming months.”

Meanwhile, the network operator’s gigabit broadband network has, as of 31st March 2024, already been expanded to cover 354,000 premises (337k RFS) across parts of England and N.Ireland, which is up from 339,000 premises on 31st January 2024 (321,000 RFS). In addition, the operator recently grew their customer base to over 80,000.

Residential customers can expect to pay from £24.99 £21.99 per month for download speeds of 159Mbps (average) and uploads of 34Mbps on a 24-month term (£39.99 thereafter), which rises to £44.99 £39.99 for their top 982Mbps (310Mbps) tier (£59.99 thereafter). The packages also include an Amazon Eero 6+ router (or routers), UK support, free setup and the pledge of “no mid-contract price hikes“. Prices may differ in areas of subsidised build.

News

The new deal will see Nokia’s radio solutions enhance Solis’ private wireless offering, helping farms to maximise the value of real-time data insights and the latest agritech solutions

This week, Nokia has announced a new partnership with Brazilian infrastructure specialist Solis Tower Telecom do Brasil, aimed at deploying private networks for the agricultural sector.

The deal will see Solis incorporate a wide variety of Nokia products into their private wireless service offering, including Nokia’s AirScale radio solutions encompassing small cells, baseband units, radio heads, and Flexi Zone base stations.

This, the companies say, will allow Solis to offer improved private LTE and NB-IoT networks to agricultural customers, connecting machines, people, and sensors and providing detailed real-time information that can support farming operations.

“Bringing reliable connectivity and accelerating the digitalization of these rural communities is essential. It will help businesses and workers collaborate and innovate, becoming more productive and efficient, while enabling easier communications with co-workers and families. Through our industry-leading technology, we help our customer Solis bridge the digital divide and connect the unconnected,” explained Renato Bueno, Enterprise Sales Director for Nokia Mobile Networks in Latin America.

Deploying private networks for the agricultural sector has been a growing focus for wireless infrastructure vendors for a number of years now. Nokia’s rival Ericsson, for example, signed a deal with AgriBusiness Connect in Australia last year to explore the value of private 5G for farming operations.

But despite the clear value that improved connectivity can provide to farming operations, wireless service providers dedicated solely to the sector are few and far between.

Indeed, Solis itself is something of a newcomer, having been found in early 2023. Since then, the private network operator has deployed 150 towers and related wireless infrastructure to connect 2.1 million hectares of farmland as part of 76 separate projects.

Solis says it plans to increase this total to 350 4G mobile towers on farms by 2025.

“Our mission is to enter the planted forest sector now, but we also want to enter the coffee sector. We will unlock the segments according to the level of technological adoption of each group,” said company co-founder Felippe Antonelle.

The scale of the opportunity here should not be underestimated. Of all of Brazil’s viable farmland, only 19% currently has access to 4G or 5G connectivity, leaving the majority of farms unable to make use of new technologies like robots, drones, or autonomous vehicles.

“This important project will have a transformative impact on farming communities across Brazil giving them access to critical communications and internet access. It will drive greater efficiencies and increases in productivity. We are delighted to partner with Nokia on this and look forward to seeing how it will develop in the future,” said Antonelle.

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

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Network operator MS3, which is building a new 10Gbps capable open access (wholesale) full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network across 30 locations in the UK (mostly East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has signed a new partnership that will enable them to serve tenants of the Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP).

The master wayleave agreement (i.e. a legal land / property access deal) is expected to benefit over 450 residents (social housing tenants) living in LHP’s low and medium-rise apartments in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas. The expansion with LHP will take the total number of Lincolnshire premises that can access MS3’s full fibre broadband to over 60,000, including a completed Scunthorpe build covering 37,000 premises.

The partnership with LHP comes shortly after MS3 was granted similar permission to install its full fibre network in low and mid-rise homes owned by Hull City Council in East Yorkshire (England).

Jo Fleming, Corporate Partnerships Manager at MS3, said:

“Digital exclusion caused by a lack of fast and reliable broadband is a problem that particularly affects social housing residents. In North East Lincolnshire, around one in eight households live in socially rented housing, so our partnership with LHP allows us to improve socialisation, education and job opportunities for residents.

But digital inclusion goes further than simply providing access to the infrastructure needed to get online, it’s about affordability. Due to our network of wholesale partners, residents will be able to choose a broadband option that suits their usage and budget needs, with an average annual saving of £200.”

The Asterion-backed operator currently aims to cover 535,000 UK premises by the end of 2025 – they’ve already covered 200,000 premises (171,814 Ready for Service). A big chunk of that has been happening in Hull, where the operator – based in the same city – has now seen its network rollout reach 113,000 premises passed (93,000 RFS) and local customers top 10,000. The gap between their Built and RFS figure partly reflects issues with gaining access to Multi-Dwelling Units (MDU).