Grid Telecom, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece and Quadrivium Digital, are joining forces to create a new world-class Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Chania, on the northern coast of Crete.

This CLS will be hosted within Quadrivium’s 20MW Interconnection Data Centre (DC) campus and will act as a new node to anchor international subsea cable systems from Asia and Africa crossing the Eastern Mediterranean. It will connect Greece and the broader Balkan – Mediterranean region with Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, all GCC countries, and other East, South, and West destinations.

Grid Telecom and Quadrivium Digital will offer state-of-the-art infrastructure for the secure landing and operation of subsea optical fibre cable systems in Crete, including services for housing the power feeding and subsea line terminating equipment, as well as other mission-critical equipment for interconnection and peering of optical, Ethernet and IP data traffic. Quadrivium’s facility in Chania combines world-class landing infrastructure with a Tier III+ DC, providing a “CLS-within-a-DC” total solution.

A buried borepipe into the sea with eight ducts will provide a cutting-edge solution, compliant with international specifications. Multiple Beach Manholes (BMH) will land subsea cables and connect directly via secure fronthaul into Quadrivium’s Tier III+ DC. As part of this development, Grid Telecom will provide diverse and highly reliable backhaul network to all existing and new DCs on the island of Crete, the Greek mainland, as well as in neighboring countries, leveraging its capabilities to interconnect securely through its terrestrial and subsea networks.

The strategic partnership between Grid Telecom and Quadrivium Digital will bring advanced data transport solutions to the market, creating a new telecommunications corridor between Europe and the Middle East. Leveraging the strategic position of Crete, it will create a new super hub through alternative low latency paths to most destinations in South Eastern Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus, Israel, and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Chairman of Grid Telecom, Mr. Kostas Agathakis, said:

“We are continually looking for ways to strategically expand our services to partners and customers. In this framework, our plans to partner with Quadrivium Digital in building a new CLS in Crete will significantly support the implementation of new, international alternative routes. Moreover, it will enhance the strategic role of Crete as a crucial open access interconnection node in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans”.

The CEO of Quadrivium, Aditya Ayyagari, said:

Chania is the Eastern-most location where international networks can peer within the European Union’s regulatory and commercial framework, with 10-15 ms latencies into Greece, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Israel and GCC countries – cutting latencies into Marseille by half. This strategic partnership with IPTO and Grid Telecom creates a combined landing and interconnection solution which helps subsea cable consortiums completely eliminate costly and time-consuming permitting processes and landing infrastructure construction. Furthermore, the ability to directly cross-connect with other subsea cables, backhaul carriers and digital platforms within Quadrivium’s Interconnection Data Centre creates a rich ecosystem that brings digital transformation to Greece, Crete, and the Municipality of Chania.

The Chairman and CEO of IPTO, Manos Manousakis, stated:

“IPTO is building critical infrastructure for tomorrow’s electricity and telecommunications backbone networks throughout Greece and beyond, contributing to Greece’s transformation into a critical energy and data hub of high geopolitical value at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia. Neutral Data Centers and open-access cable landing stations create synergies and add value, which is why we highly value the strategic cooperation between IPTO’s subsidiary, Grid Telecom and Quadrivium. In this framework, leveraging on the strategic geographical position of Crete, creates win-win business opportunities and brings innovative total telecommunications solutions, enhancing the strategic role of Greece as a neutral open-access connectivity node in the broader Balkans – Mediterranean region.”

– End-

About IPTO:

The Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) is responsible for the operation, monitoring, maintenance, and development of the “Hellenic Electricity Transmission System”, aiming to ensure safe and undisrupted power supply across the country. IPTO’s “Ten Year Network Development Plan” provides for the electrical interconnection of major Greek islands in the High Voltage System by 2029, the strengthening and modernization of the continental power grid as well as the facilitation of Greece’s transition towards a cleaner energy mix. IPTO’s investment program, includes the Crete-Attica power link, supplemented with dual optical fiber cables, the completion of Cyclades as well as the interconnections of the Dodecanese and the NE Aegean islands. IPTO is also developing new international interconnections to Italy, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey, and supports new subsea electricity interconnectors which are being are promoted, to Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia with Greece as the main hub.

For more information, contact:

Email: pressoffice@admie.gr

About Grid Telecom:

Grid Telecom was established in 2019 as a wholly owned subsidiary company of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece and acts as its telecommunications vehicle for providing wholesale services and total solutions to national and international operators and large enterprise customers. Grid Telecom’s optical fiber terrestrial and subsea network exceeds 4,000 km throughout Greece and will soon exceed 6,000 km connecting most Greek islands with the core network, offering dark fiber and spectrum, achieving the shortest possible routes, network diversity, maximum security, and very low latency. Grid Telecom is developing a growing international optical fiber network that is supported by a state-of-the-art proprietary DWDM optical network, providing ultra-fast capacity services, as well as collocation services within protected areas in IPTO’s substation sites across Greece.

For more information, contact:

Email: pressoffice@grid-telecom.com

About Quadrivium Digital:

Quadrivium Digital is an infrastructure platform founded in 2022 by a team with decades of experience in the Data Centre industry. The Quadrivium Digital team have expertise in creating network-dense interconnection hubs that become major transit and exchange nodes in the world’s internet architecture. Quadrivium Digital’s portfolio of interconnection Data Centres, established with the termination of subsea cables across multiple EMEA locations, is attractive to subsea cable consortiums, telecom carriers, content providers and digital platforms. Our customers and partners benefit from better network resilience and latency, lower platform costs and accelerated revenue generation.

For more information, contact:

Email: info@quadrivium.digital

News 

The move comes as Microsoft ramps up its data centre investments worldwide 

Microsoft and asset management company Brookfield have agreed a renewable energy deal whereby Microsoft will invest an estimated $10 billion in energy projects that will be developed by Brookfield and its renewable company arm. 

The deal will see Brookfield Renewable Partners provide 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity between 2026 and 2030 in the U.S. and Europe, which will be added to the grid that Microsoft data centres draw electricity from. Microsoft, in return, will gain access to a pipeline of new renewable energy capacity, supporting the increasing demand for cloud services both domestically and globally. The scope of the deal may widen at a later date to include Asia-Pacific, India, and Latin America. 

No explicit financial details of the deal were disclosed, although the Financial Times estimated that adding the new capacity would cost over $10 billion, citing “recent industry trends.” 

“This first of its kind agreement, which is almost eight times larger than the largest single corporate PPA ever signed, is a testament to our ability to reliably deliver clean power solutions at scale to our corporate partners and accelerate the energy transition,” said Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Renewable and President of Brookfield Asset Management in a press release. 

The deal is an extension of a pre-existing collaboration between the two corporations. Prior to this agreement, nearly one gigawatt of renewable capacity had already been contracted. As well as making use of wind and solar energy, the partnership will explore new carbon free energy generation technologies, contributing to both companies’ goals to decarbonise global energy supplies and reduce carbon emissions, including Microsoft’s sustainability goals of having all of its electricity consumption matched by zero carbon energy purchases by 2030. 

The USA is home to a third of the world’s data centres, and Microsoft has ramped up its investment in both its domestic and foreign markets in order to gain a competitive edge over rivals such as AWS. Last month the company unveiled an AI hub in London, following Microsoft’s 2023 pledge to invest £2.5 billion over the next three years to expand its UK data centre infrastructure. 

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the investment “a  for the future of AI infrastructure and development in the UK,” in government statement.   

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Also in the news:
Celebrating innovation: nominate your telco AI champion today!
AT&T launches Turbo boost
South Korea’s newest operator Stage X strikes partnership with Rakuten

News

In our fast-paced telco world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant future—it’s here, transforming the way we connect, communicate, and collaborate. At Total Telecom, we recognise the pioneering spirits driving this change. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our exciting competition: Telco AI Champions! 

We’re on the hunt for the unsung heroes of Telco AI, those forward-thinkers who are redefining the boundaries of what’s possible in our industry. Whether they’re innovating behind the scenes or leading from the front, their impact is undeniable—and it’s time their contributions were celebrated. 

Do you know someone who fits the bill? Perhaps a colleague who’s spearheading AI initiatives, or an industry contact whose insights are shaping the future of telecoms? Here’s your chance to give them the recognition they deserve. We’re looking to showcase the Top 20 Most Influential Voices in the Telco AI Space, and your nomination could shine a spotlight on a deserving individual. 

To nominate your Telco AI Champion, simply click here and fill out a quick Google Form. It’s a fantastic opportunity to honour the innovators and thinkers who are making a significant impact in telecommunications through the power of AI. 

Don’t miss out on this chance to celebrate excellence in our field. Nominate your Telco AI Champion today! 

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Vodafone has today confirmed their commitment to deploy 5G Standalone (5G SA / mobile broadband) technology to rural Wales as part of its proposed merger with Three UK, while adding that the merger “could” also result in 4G being delivered to more than 93% of the Welsh landmass by 2027, which would then lead to an upgrade to 5G by 2034.

Most existing 5G networks in the UK are Non-Standalone (NSA) based, which in simple terms means they partly rely on older 4G infrastructure. By comparison, 5GSA reflects a pure end-to-end 5G network that can also deliver improvements such as ultra-low latency times (fast), better mobile broadband upload speeds, network slicing capabilities, better support for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, increased reliability and security.

Last year Vodafone became the first UK operator to launch a 5GSA network with their new “5G Ultra” package for consumers (here), although its coverage was initially limited to parts of London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff, with more being added. But in February 2024 they were joined by O2 (VMO2), which has initially gone live in parts of 14 cities and their service comes at “no extra” cost to customers (here).

However, Vodafone, as part of their proposed mega-merger with Three UK (here), have pledged to reach more than 99% of the UK’s “population” with their 5GSA network by 2034 and to push fixed wireless access (home broadband) to 82% of households by 2030.

Naturally, this will include Wales, although the press release doesn’t appear to clarify a specific target. Both 5G and 5G SA are currently already available in some areas across Wales, including Cardiff, as well as parts of both Newport and Swansea. The commitment follows research showing that 50% of premises in Wales’ rural constituencies are currently 5G not-spots.

Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone UK, said:

“We know that access to connectivity is important for everyone, but this research reveals the extent to which rural Wales is experiencing digital exclusion, showing exactly why we need to accelerate the roll out of 5G infrastructure. Through our proposed merger with Three UK, we would be able to help close the rural digital divide in Wales, helping these communities to take advantage of 5G and enjoy the same benefits it brings to their urban neighbours.”

All of this is clearly designed to drum up more support for their merger, while also supporting the Government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy (WIS), which last year set out an ambition for “all populated areas to be covered by ‘standalone’ 5G (5G-plus) by 2030” (here). But it’s worth noting that Vodafone’s 5GSA targets aren’t legally binding.

The little known and rather generically named Altnet ISP UK Fibre Networks, which since 2019 has operated a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the centre of York (England), appears to be preparing to expand their fibre and fixed wireless network into new areas of the city, as well as Bath, Harrogate, Chester, and rural villages.

The plan was revealed as part of the company’s application for Code Powers from Ofcom. Such powers are typically sought to help speed-up deployments of new fibre and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licenses needed for street works. The powers can also help with supporting access to run new fibre via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles (PIA), which is something UKFN have indicated they may harness.

The operator is predominantly self-funded, albeit with some investment also being obtained via Digital Enterprise Grants, and they hold an ambition to potentially harness some of the Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) grants in the future (most likely as part of their plans for some rural builds, further down the line). But it appears as if their network is predominantly overhead (poles), which tends to rub some people up the wrong way.

Extract from the Code Powers Application

The Applicant [UKFN] sells broadband and VOIP services; its packages offer broadband speeds starting at 150mbps up to 900Mbps for all customers. Furthermore, UK Fibre Networks offers its full-fibre services via overhead cables, rather than the typical underground cables, which results in less disruption to customers and less disruption for the public. The speeds offered are much faster than average speeds today and much better than the variable speeds experienced on copper lines that many other providers offer. In contrast to its fibre competitors, UK Fibre Networks aims to deliver its wireless services within – ten (10) days of an accepted order.

The Applicant does not currently own any ducting, nor does it currently undertake any civil works. Currently, it leases backhaul services from Tier 1 carriers under wholesale contracts. In the future, it may expand its network by using Openreach’s PIA to install its own ducting and poles, whether on private land or public highway btu currently overhead cables are the default installation position.

The Applicant has applied for Code Powers because experience shows that without Code Powers, they will have to pay extortionate associated costs to freeholders, should any further wayleave agreements need to be entered into. Moreover, there may be unreasonable terms proposed by any freeholders, such as unfair termination rights, if Code Powers were not granted.

After a bit of digging, we discovered a local news article on York Mix (not a source we’d pick up on) from earlier this year, which quotes UKFN’s Director, Pete Evans, as stating that the “plan” is to “roll out superfast broadband to all 8,000 premises within the city walls during 2024″. We assume he means gigabit broadband, since “superfast” (usually meaning 30Mbps+) hasn’t been a performance target on new network builds for a while.

The network expansion began in the Gillygate area of York during January 2024 (Phase 1) – including High Petergate, Bootham, Marygate, Lord Mayor’s Walk and Claremont Terrace – and should now be starting to expand into the Micklegate area (Phase 2), with Walmgate (Phase 3) getting underway in July and Goodramgate / Stonebow (Phase 4) following in September or late 2024.

News

AT&T Turbo will offer customers the opportunity to purchase enhanced mobile data.

Beginning May 2, AT&T will launch AT&T Turbo, a new service that will enhance wireless connectivity, for $7 per month.

In a press release, the operator stated that the service “allows users the choice to optimize their network when they want by adding additional network resources to their mobile data connection”.

The service is touted as ideal for mobile applications such as gaming, video broadcasting and video conferencing. When every millisecond counts, the new Turbo service can offer less freezing and lower latency.

The Turbo add-on will increase a customer’s level of “priority” on the network. Networks offer various “Quality of Service Class Identifiers” (QCIs)  which determine which users get priority access and faster speeds. A lower number is a better QCI.

With AT&T Turbo, the operator will exercise their ability to adjust a user’s QCI and bump Turbo customers’ service up a notch. Turbo customers will get QCI 7, while other plans sit at QCI 8. An AT&T official noted that “setting QCI levels is not like changing a radio channel. It includes advanced and complex technologies”.

AT&T customers can easily enable or remove the add-on. By using the company’s app or online, customers can add Turbo to eligible plans and remove it when they don’t want it. Once Turbo is enabled, the higher priority service will be available immediately. The service will not use standalone (SA) 5G technology, but will require users to have a 5G-capable phone.

The press release announcing the Turbo launch made explicit reference to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newly re-instated net neutrality rules. The statement specifies that “consistent with open Internet principles, once turned on the boost applies to a customer’s data regardless of the Internet content, applications and services being used”.

AT&T has gone further to clarify that Turbo will not run afoul of net neutrality rules. A spokesperson stated that network slicing is not involved. Ahead of the FCC’s net neutrality vote, AT&T and other wireless providers had requested the agency to avoid rules that might prevent services like network slicing.

Network slicing allows operators to offer varied service tiers over dedicated portions of their networks. This requires SA 5G technology and is in the early stages of being rolled out by some operators. In the FCC’s final net neutrality rules, there was no specific mention of network slicing.

Despite the lack of clarity about the future of network slicing, AT&T has already hinted that it has big plans for enhancing customer experience. While this may not necessarily involve network slicing, the operator stated that it plans to “continue to advance and evolve AT&T Turbo”.

Cox Communications had launched a similar  “Elite Gamer” service in 2020. This add-on also cost $7 per month and offered customers the opportunity to improve the connection between their home internet service and video game servers by up to 32%. Cox discontinued the service in late 2023, citing lower than expected demand.

Given the potential for changes to internet regulation after the 2024 presidential election, and the failure of Cox’s service booster add-on, there is some uncertainty about AT&T Turbo’s future.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter.

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News

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Stage X collaborate with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony with regards to technology and strategy

This week, the newest mobile network operators in Japan and South Korea, Rakuten Mobile and Stage X, respectively, have agreed a strategic partnership alongside Rakuten Symphony that will see the trio collaborate on everything from network strategy to 6G technology.

The MoU aims to establish a framework for strategic collaboration between the three companies, encompassing the sharing of industry knowledge from Rakuten Mobile and telecoms technology from Rakuten Symphony.

“Rakuten Mobile and Stage X are the latest mobile network operators representing their respective countries, and together with Rakuten Symphony we wish to continue broad cooperation,” said Sangwon Seo, CEO of Stage X. “Rakuten Mobile built and deployed the world’s first fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network with a modern infrastructure that ensures stable telecommunication services as the newest mobile network operator in Japan. As Stage X builds out its infrastructure to provide 5G services in the 28 GHz spectrum, we look forward to working with Rakuten and learning from their experience across a wide range of areas.”

Stage X, owned by a consortium led by tech giant Kakao Corp., is South Korea’s newest mobile operator, having won 28GHz (also known as mmWave) 5G spectrum at auction earlier this year.

South Korea itself has had a tumultuous time with mmWave spectrum. Whilst the nation’s 5G telecoms market is itself is one of the most advanced, the country’s three national operators – SK Telecom, KT, ad LG Uplus – have struggled to find a path to monetisation for the high-band spectrum, which they first won at auction in 2018.

By the end of 2022, an audit by the Ministry of Science and IT (MSIT) had discovered that all three of the operators were woefully behind their mmWave deployment targets. As a result, KT and LG Uplus had their mmWave licences revoked, with SK Telecom’s licence also revoked less than a year later.

With mmWave spectrum once again in the hands of the government, MSIT quickly devised a new plan to reauction the spectrum, with a tranche specifically set aside for a new market entrance. This spectrum was ultimately won by Stage X in February for $322.1 million.

The licence comes with significant rollout obligations, including deploying 6,000 base stations nationwide over the next three years.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

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News

The deal, expected to value the combined entity at over £1 billion, could be announced as soon as this week 

Mark Riley, the CEO behind Daisy Group – one of the UK’s largest privately-held IT services companies – is close to securing a merger with Wavenet, a UK based communication and technology solutions provider, according to a report from Sky News. 

Anonymous sources say the merger would see Daisy’s Corporate Service Business carved out and absorbed into Wavenet, which is majority owned by Australian financial services group Macquarie. 

The resulting combined entity, which would still be known as Wavenet, would have an enterprise value of over £1 billion.  

The newly merged Wavenet will employ more than 2,000 people under the leadership of executive chairman Bill Dawson with Riley joining the company’s board as a non-executive director. It will serve over 20,000 enterprise customers across the UK including the NHS and Transport for London. 

“This deal brings together two prolific consolidators, making Wavenet the largest independent Managed Service & Security Provider for large SME & corporate customers,” Wavenet CEO Philip Grannum told Sky News. 

“It provides both Daisy and Wavenet customers greater access to enterprise grade solutions combined with the very best customer service and gives fantastic career opportunities for our employees.” 

It’s understood that Macquarie will retain its position as the largest individual stakeholder in the new Wavenet, with additional support from debt financing provided by Ares. 

Daisy has been on something of a dealmaking spree recently, having last month closed a deal to acquire 4Com, a Bournemouth– based communications, IT, and broadband provider for £215 million.  

Riley was reportedly attracted to 4Com because of its cloud communications product HiHi, a business phone with in-built video calling technology, and its accompanying software platform. 

In fact, Daisy’s expansion in recent years has cemented its position as the second-largest player in the UK’s SME telecommunications market, behind only BT. 

Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, Daisy transitioned to private ownership in 2014 with backing from Toscafund Asset Management. 

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
T-Mobile and EQT form JV to buy Lumos
Korean Air shows off comprehensive urban air mobility system backed by 5G
Virgin Media O2 reaches plastic waste milestone

The latest Q1 2024 results have today been released for Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2), which reveals that they’re now home to 5,722,900 broadband customers (up by just 5.3k in Q1 2024 vs 9.5k in Q4 2023) and built another 194,000 full fibre (FTTP) premises via nexfibre (down from c.300k last quarter).

Just to recap. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners setup a new £4.5bn joint venture called nexfibre in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access full fibre (FTTP) network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises. But Virgin Media, which shares some of the same parentage, is currently the only ISP on this network (here).

At the same time, Virgin Media’s Project Mustang programme is also upgrading their older Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC1) and FTTP based Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG) network – covering over 16 million premises – to harness the same XGS-PON based FTTP technology as nexfibre. But this process isn’t due to complete until 2028, although it will eventually mean that VMO2 and nexfibre cover 23 million premises with full fibre.

According to the latest results, the combined VMO2 and nexfibre network currently reaches 17,193,700 million Homes Serviceable (up from 16.99m in Q4 2023) and the vast majority of that new build is from nexfibre. The nexfibre network alone accounts for c.1 million premises passed of this total (here) and they aim to add another million over the next year.

Nexfibre Rollout Progress
Q1 2024 = 194,000 Premises
Q4 2023 = c.299,000 Premises
Q3 2023 = 250,800 Premises
Q2 2023 = 175,500 Premises
Q1 2023 = 107,800 Premises
Q4 2022 = 24,000 Premises

NOTE: Roughly 4.2 million VMO2 and nexfibre premises are now covered by FTTP (XGS-PON and RFOG), which is up from 4m in Q4 2023. But a tiny portion of the above figures include a small bit of infill build for Virgin Media itself (separate to nexfibre). The c.175,000 premises passed by Upp, which was acquired by nexfibre last year, have yet to be integrated into the total.

The operator’s mobile base has also grown during Q4, although sadly Virgin Media has stopped giving any solid figures for their Pay TV (video) base and that often happens when a base is in decline.

VMO2 Q1 2024 UK Customer (Connection) Figures – Q1 2024
5,722,900 Fixed Broadband – (up from 5,717,600 in Q4)
45,083,300 Mobile inc. Wholesale – (up from 44,861,200)

At this point it’s worth noting that VMO2’s mobile contract base actually declined by -74,500 connections / customers in Q1 “due a slower handset market, seasonality and expected disconnections due to the decommissioning of a legacy IT system“. So the positive growth of +222,100 mobile connections above is actually coming from their IoT and wholesale (MVNO) base, which includes Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile etc.

The latest results also revealed that 5G coverage is now available to more than 50% of the UK population, which gives us no indication of change from the 50% they reported last quarter. On the financial front, VMO2 reported total revenue of £2,588.8m in Q1 2024 (-0.5% YoY), although we aren’t going to reference the previous quarter’s figure for comparison because VMO2 changed how they report revenue in Q1.

Lutz Schüler, CEO of VMO2, said:

“While there is much to do in the remainder of the year, we are gathering momentum in accelerating fibre build and marketing the nexfibre footprint, launching new services to enhance and improve customer experience, and progressing wider IT efficiency programmes as we continue our digital transformation.

Ahead of price rise implementation, we delivered improved service revenue growth across both mobile and consumer fixed. Our teams also continue to innovate as shown by the targeted launch of 5G Standalone and a new 2Gbps broadband service on the nexfibre network in Q1, highlighting the future evolution of our networks as demand rises and new technologies emerge.

Our performance in Q1 sets the foundations for our full year guidance as we make key investments to support future growth.”

Despite the positive language above, it’s clear that VMO2 are struggling a bit to add new broadband customers, which isn’t surprising when you consider how much pressure they’re under from Openreach and the many rival alternative networks that now exist in the same space.

In the past, Virgin Media has always tried to position itself as the premium option, but that’s a hard position to maintain in today’s competitive market and the recent price hikes certainly won’t be helping. The impact of the latter will feed into the next results too, as well as the ending of any student contracts (these factors could make for a difficult Q2).

Speaking of pricing, this is an issue that feeds into both the wholesale side of nexfibre, including VMO2’s plans to open their network up to wholesale in the near future. After all, they’ll need to be aggressively competitive to compete, while also being able to attract other ISPs to their platform with favourable and fair terms. Not an easy task.

Finally, the average Virgin Media broadband speed in Q1 was 368Mbps, increasing 17% YoY. The recent launch of their new symmetric speeds add-on and a 2Gbps package won’t be having much of an impact yet, but it will be helping as the year goes on.

UK ISP BT has today published the latest biannual progress update on their delivery of Ofcom’s flaky 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband. The internet provider has so far helped to build a USO connection to over 7,954 premises (up from 7,681 in Oct 2023), with 265 further builds in-progress (up from 185).

The USO, in case anybody has forgotten, is a legally-binding and industry-funded obligation that falls on BT across the UK, as well as KCOM in Hull. In short, people living in areas where they can’t yet receive a 10Mbps or faster download speed, and aren’t expected to be covered by such a network in the next 12-months, can request a service capable of 10Mbps+ downloads (1Mbps upload) from the aforementioned providers.

A cost sharing model also applies here, which means that the providers will “calculate the total excess cost of the build and divide that between the eligible premises. If that amount is below £5,000 per premises (on top of the £3,400), we’ll automatically split the costs“. But some areas can still end up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, even up to £1-2m, and would thus find the USO route to be unviable (here and here).

Ofcom states that 57,000 UK premises (0.2%) currently fall into the USO gap (i.e. those outside of suitable fixed line, fixed wireless and 4G mobile coverage), which falls to around 400,000 premises if you exclude wireless solutions. But the regulator expects this to fall to around 50k by September 2024, mostly as a result of upgrades via publicly funded schemes (connection vouchers, project gigabit contracts etc.).

Just to be clear about this. Many of those who pursue the USO option via BT say they were offered 4G (mobile broadband) connections via EE, but those actually considered to have been delivered under the USO itself usually get Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP). Commercial builds of the latter have also helped to shrink the USO gap.

The gap will continue to shrink as commercial builds expand and the government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme starts to make progress. The government are currently also exploring how best to reach those who live in “Very Hard to Reach” areas – roughly equating to the same sort of area as the USO is focused upon – and at the same time they’re preparing to review the USO itself (here), which could lead to changes.

BT’s April 2024 USO Report

The latest statistics continued to show that the delivery of USO connections is slow (e.g. over a year ago there were 2,000 builds in progress, which fell to 800 in Apr 2023, then 185 in Oct 2023 and increase a bit to 265 now). We suspect this may be a combination of factors, such as a lack of consumer familiarity with the USO (apply for it here) and the fact that the policy may also be starting to run into the limitations of economically viable deliverability.