Viewpoint

The world’s largest service provider in terms of network scale, number of subscribers and revenues, China Mobile has taken a leadership position in the evolving 5G-A (abbreviation of 5G-Advanced) space. It plans to focus on a three-pronged strategy to accelerate the development of the 5G-A ecosystem.

The first part of the three-pronged strategy is to work on 5G-A innovation to develop cutting-edge technology. Second, to jointly promote a mature 5G-A industry value chain to encourage collaboration. Lastly, to jointly create innovative 5G-A business models to fast-track commercial success. China Mobile’s Executive Vice President, Gao Tongqing, elaborated on the service provider’s strategy during a recent event.

The service provider is all set to emerge as the first service provider to launch commercial 5G-A services and aims to bring the services to 300 cities by the end of this year. By accelerating the development of the 5G-A ecosystem, China Mobile will play a crucial role in the country’s efforts to build a Digital China.

China Mobile’s commitment to 5G-A is sure to inspire other telcos to adopt and promote the technology. The service provider announced plans to develop over 20 million 5G-A device users and more than 20 million phone models this year. China Mobile also plans to create 100 benchmark 5G-A industry applications within a year to speed up the development and deployment of 5G-A.

It will also offer 5G-A users improved speeds, tiered experience assurance, and multi-metric charging models. China Mobile’s commitment to 5G-A will play a critical role in building global momentum for the technology.

Compelling features of 5G-A

China Mobile’s thrust on 5G-A is based on the advanced features of the technology. 5G-A is a critical phase in 5G’s evolution towards 6G, which provides better speeds, more connections, and significantly lower latency than 5G.

By incorporating new-age technologies like integrated communications, computing, and intelligence, and space-air-ground integration, 5G-A expands the boundaries of 5G capabilities to take our digital lives to the next level and enables the intelligent digital transformation of enterprises.

There are some crucial features of 5G-A that make it a compelling technology for the telcos:

Greater Speeds: 5G-A offers improved peak rates of 10 times more than that of 5G.
Improved Services: With 5G-A, the end users will have access to tiered key service assurance that meets the communication service requirements of specific forms or customer groups.
Innovative Products: 5G-A enables accelerated real-time 3D rendering, game loading and cloud collaboration, which is known to improve the performance of 5G New Calling, cloud phones and cloud computers.
Massive Connections: Passive IoT technology enables a transformation from single-point communications to ultra-long-distance and ultra-large-scale passive connections of things, meeting customers’ requirements for efficient management of modern assets.
Improved Control: 5G-A’s deterministic networks ensure highly reliable and low-latency transmission of key data, meeting customer needs for superior network performance that supports precision control and collaborative operations.

These capabilities make it imperative for the telcos across all geographies to fast-track their plans to deploy 5G-A so they are able to delight their enterprise and retail customers by bringing innovative use cases.

China Mobile’s strategies to accelerate the 5G-A ecosystem

China Mobile has emerged as a global technology leader and innovator. The operator has taken several initiatives to boost innovation in 5G-A, including leading the formulation of 60 international 5G-A standards.

A crucial component of the development of 5G-A is to collaborate with several partners to build a vibrant ecosystem. To this end, the service provider is partnering with several industry partners. It has established the 5G-A Innovation Industry Alliance and Glasses-free 3D Industry Alliance. These collaborations have led to the development of several glasses-free 3D devices, including mobile phones, tablets, car screens, laptop PCs, and monitors, as well as many more achievements in content applications, technical platforms, and ecosystem capabilities. The service provider plans to focus on many more such collaborations to develop innovative 5G-A applications and services.

To enhance the adoption of 5G-A, China Mobile has created showcase service centers where end users can experience innovative 5G-A applications and use cases. The service provider is also offering exciting value propositions to the users to explore 5G-A. For instance, China Mobile’s customers can apply for commercial 5G-A gift packages free of charge through its app to join the experience program. Around 10,000 users can experience 5G-A as part of this initiative.

In closing

The last two to three years have seen China Mobile transform into a true technology leader. Over the coming years, China Mobile will continue to maintain its momentum and take several significant and crucial steps to advance the development of the 5G-A ecosystem in China and other geographies.

Remaining customers of full fibre broadband ISP Upp (i.e. those who have not yet agreed to migrate to Virgin Media), which was last year acquired by UK network builder nexfibre from investment firm LetterOne (here), will shortly start to receive “final termination of service notices” ahead of the service ending on 1st June 2024.

The deal – as agreed in September 2023 – should help to expand the reach of nexfibre’s own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which is currently in the process of building its wholesale network to cover “up to” 7 million additional UK homes – staring with 5m by 2026 (i.e. those homes not currently served by Virgin Media’s own network). Virgin Media are currently the only retail ISP on this network.

Under the deal, nexfibre acquired Upp’s existing network assets, which reflects a full fibre infrastructure that covers around 175,000 premises in the East of England and includes roughly 4,000 customers. Nexfibre’s own network currently covers 1 million premises and rising fast (here), although they’ve yet to merge Upp’s network into that total. But nexfibre aren’t a retail provider, thus the customer base ended up going to Virgin Media.

Readers may recall that Virgin Media began – in January 2024 (here) – notifying Upp’s existing customers of their intention to withdraw the old service “sometime this year” (no firm date was set). At the same time they also started encouraging them to migrate to Virgin’s packages (this will require an engineer visit to replace some of the existing kit, albeit at no extra cost).

Just to be clear, Virgin Media are still harnessing Upp’s underlying network infrastructure (via new owner nexfibre) and are offering new packages that are “equivalent to their current Upp service“, which was made a lot easier with Virgin’s recent launch of symmetric speeds (here).

The latest developments

Over the past week we’ve begun to hear from a small number of Upp’s remaining customers, specifically those who have, thus far, chosen not to migrate their service to Virgin Media. The feedback notes that Virgin are now being more proactive in contacting those that remain on the old service. Such customers are at risk of disconnection if they don’t migrate before the service is closed, which we’re told is due to occur on 1st June 2024.

Some of those have also claimed that Virgin Media’s customer service staff have called them to warn that they may be liable to pay early termination charges if they don’t migrate in time, but this is not correct. Even the T&Cs update from earlier this year made clear that existing customers will be able to “cancel your services with Upp without any financial penalty by giving 30 days’ notice“.

A Spokesperson for VMO2 told ISPreview:

“Upp customers will not receive an early termination charge if they chose not to take a Virgin Media service. Every customer has been invited to join Virgin Media and notified that their Upp service will end.

We will shortly be serving final termination of service notices to remaining customers and are currently calling and door-knocking on customers we’ve yet to hear from. Upp services will end on 1 June and customers that wish to remain on the network should pre-order a service by 30 April.”

Some readers might be wondering why a few of Upp’s remaining customers are choosing not to migrate. As one of those who complained said: “I told them I was not interested in joint VM due to poor customer service in the past.” But there may be others who, for one reason or another, are genuinely not aware of the looming service termination and hence why Virgin Media are now putting in the extra effort to reduce the risk of an unexpected disconnection.

Broadband ISP and mobile operator Virgin Media O2 has this morning announced that, since 2021, they’ve managed to remove 65 tonnes of single-use plastic from its operations and products. The move forms part of the company’s sustainability strategy (Better Connections Plan) and its goal of achieving zero waste operations and products by the end of 2025.

The figure includes 18 tonnes of single use plastic that has been removed from the equipment and tools used by engineers (e.g. cables, batteries, splitters, and wall outlets), while working with Technetix. In addition, they’ve also cut 48 tonnes from the packing of products sent to customers (e.g. routers and TV set-top boxes), in partnership with GXO – that’s a reduction of 94%.

Virgin Media O2 and GXO have also reduced the amount of single-use plastic used in the delivery of TV and broadband products between distribution centres, and created plastic-free packaging for customers to return unwanted kit, with the latter preventing around 22 tonnes of single-use plastic each year.

Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Virgin Media O2, said:

“As a leading UK business, Virgin Media O2 is committed to minimising its impact on the planet.

That’s why we’re always looking at where we can remove waste and single-use plastic from our operations and products, and use materials which can be easily recycled.

It’s all part of our sustainability strategy, the Better Connections Plan, and our aim to become a zero-waste business by the end of 2025.”

All removed single-use plastic is recycled, reused or repurposed. The work is intended to complement their goal of achieving Net Zero Carbon (i.e. removing as many emissions as they produce) across their operations, products and supply chain by 2040.

News 

Three out of the UK’s four MNOs requested the deadline extension back in October 

The UK government has denied a request from three of the UK’s mobile operators (Three, Vodafone and Virgin Media O2) pleading for a deadline extension of the first phase of the Shared Rural Network (SRN). 

Dean Creamer, the head of Building Digital UK (the government body overseeing the project) confirmed this week that the authority has denied a request by the three MNOs to delay the first phase deadline by 18 months. 

“That wasn’t accepted and we haven’t agreed that and we’ve said that Ofcom will make that assessment as expected,” Creamer said to MPs this week. 

The SRN aims to deploy 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025. The £1 billion scheme is a partnership between the UK’s four mobile operators (EE, Three, Vodafone, and Virgin Media O2), jointly funded by themselves and the government. 

To complete the first phase of the project, operators have to get rid of coverage ‘partial not-spots’ by extending the reach of their 4G networks. ‘Partial not-spots’ are defined as areas that receive coverage from at least one operator, but not all of them.  

EE became the first operator to complete the first phase in January. Despite the achievement, as the country’s largest operator, they were able to reach the deadline by upgrading existing sites, whereas rivals are having to build more sites from scratch.  

The project’s second and final phase (the deadline of which is in 2027) involves the development of shared masts to bring 4G coverage to areas that currently have none at all. 

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

Also in the news:
“We’ve out innovated China”: US Commerce Secretary slams Huawei chip tech
Uzbekistan’s Perfectum partners with Nokia for 5G
Meta shares tumble after Zuckerberg reveals AI spending increase  

Network operator Openreach (BT) has told ISPreview that they’ve seen a 30% fall in the theft of their copper phone and broadband cables (Metal Theft) over the last year, which is being partly attributed to the deployment of a new “invisible” forensic liquid marker that can be sprayed directly onto cables and equipment.

The technology works by leaving a unique DNA trace on people and vehicles that have contact with it. The tagging formula uses synthetically-manufactured DNA particles to create a unique ID code, so if the operator’s kit is stolen and the police recover it, it can be linked back very precisely to the exact location it was stolen from.

Sadly, crimes like cable theft have become increasingly common in recent years, driven in part by the high price of copper, although a series of UK-wide arrests toward the end of 2022 (example) – followed by some convictions – did seem to put a limited dent in the activity. But there are still plenty of organised criminal gangs that seem to engage in the same activity.

The perpetrators of such crimes never have any regard for the harm they cause to locals, some of which are dependent upon the related services. But Openreach are hoping the new technology will help to make a further dent in such crime, and indeed there’s mounting evidence that it’s working. For example, the method recently helped to secure three convictions in Lincolnshire, including a 16-month prison sentence for attempted theft.

Metal theft remains a serious problem, not just for Openreach, but for the UK. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) inquiry earlier this year found that over the past 10 years, metal theft has cost the UK economy an estimated £4.3 billion.

Openreach have already coated miles of underground cables with the synthetic DNA and UV tracer, called SelectaDNA (see bottom of article for a video).

Richard Ginnaw from Openreach, said:

“Cable thefts are hugely disruptive. The loss of phone and broadband is not only inconvenient but can put vulnerable people at risk. Repair work also pulls our engineers away from other work, can take weeks to finish, and costs thousands of pounds.

We take the security of our network seriously and have a wide range of crime prevention tools to prevent thefts and catch those responsible. Our dedicated security team investigates all attacks and our network is alarmed and monitored 24/7 by our control centre.

SelectaDNA is proving to be one of the best. We can put it on equipment throughout the Openreach network and it works by leaving a unique DNA trace on people and vehicles that have contact with it.

We really hope criminals will take note of this new crime-fighting tool and continue to think twice before deciding to target Openreach’s network.”

James Brown from SelectaDNA said:

“The benefits of using SelectaDNA are twofold. Not only does it help prevent and reduce crime, it also helps the police by providing irrefutable evidence to link offenders to crime scenes. Openreach’s approach to tackling crime is very proactive and innovative, and results like this demonstrate how well their tactics are working.”

One catch here is that Openreach can’t simply go around coating all the copper cables that they already have in the ground. But it’s not uncommon to see a spate of attacks hit the same area before starting to subside as the gang(s) move on – often as a result of increased public awareness, police activity and other security enhancements (e.g. CCTV cameras, drones). Suffice to say, careful targetting of such areas with this new method may produce the best results.

The rollout of full fibre (FTTP) lines should also, eventually, help to reduce such thefts as fibre has no value to thieves. But this won’t completely stop the problem from occurring because fibre and copper cables often share some of the same ducts, and thieves sometimes confuse the two. Not to mention that thieves don’t only steal copper cable, but also go after other equipment (e.g. batteries in street cabinets) that may now also be protected with the new method.

At this point, those of you who have been around in this industry for a while may recall that a similar approach was in fact tried some 14 years ago (here). Back then a “sophisticated forensic marking liquid“, called SmartWater, was used to mark the outer shell and inner core of the operator’s cables, along with tools and other equipment. But it’s unclear what happened to that.

News

Verizon is gearing up for the NFL Draft in Detroit

Verizon has ramped up its connectivity capacity in Detroit in anticipation of the NFL Draft. Mayor Mike Duggan predicted at least 300,000 visitors will descend on the city for draft events from 25 – 27 April.

To handle the increased network demand, Verizon has spent approximately $25 million on upgrading infrastructure in the city. Scott Hubble, manager of business development and strategic planning with Verizon, told Detroit Free Press that the company “started this preparation roughly two years ago” and that 98% of the deployed street furniture will remain in the city.

As soon as the 2024 draft location was announced, Verizon began permitting and building new infrastructure, including a significant fiber build. The operator has upgraded 30 existing small cells and installed 20 additional small cells downtown. Hubble also noted that Verizon has “built five macro towers for coverage in and around downtown”.

In addition, two temporary cell-on-wheels (COWs) have been deployed in two key locations – Cadillac Square and Hart Plaza. The COWs are connected through fiber infrastructure and each can handle up to 30,000 users at a time.

The individual sites are linked by fiber and Verizon’s Frontline team has built backup generators in case of a system failure or an emergency. For emergent needs, the Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response (THOR) will be on hand. The vehicle provides 4G and 5G in the case of a disaster.

Verizon said the upgrades to speed and capacity are key to enhancing the NFL fan experience. Social media use is continually increasing and demand surges when crowds gather for events like the draft. Verizon is confident that its upgrades will ensure users can get “three to four gig speeds” in key areas of the city.

On 23 April, Verizon announced a partnership with the Detroit Lions, becoming the “Official 5G Network of the Detroit Lions”. Verizon will be the presenting sponsor of the halftime performance at the Lions’ annual Thanksgiving game.

Detroit Lions Chief Operating Officer Mike Disner said the team is “excited to continue and grow our partnership with Verizon at Ford Field” to elevate the fan experience. High-speed, reliable connectivity in the stadium is key for fans, media, and staff.

As the team’s exclusive 5G and wireless services partner, Verizon will provide “reliable connectivity designed to improve venue operations and enhance the fan and stadium experience for the next three years”.

The operator has made a number of network and stadium improvements to Ford Field to handle the rapid uptick in data usage during games and entertainment events. Updates include Verizon’s Distributed Antenna System, a wireless network of antennas distributed throughout the venue.

Additionally, Verizon has deployed its 5G Edge Cashierless Checkout technology in two food and beverage locations in the stadium. These stores use Verizon’s network and AI technology from AiFi to facilitate a quick and easy way to purchase refreshments.

As fans eagerly await the Lions’ draft picks, the city is already a clear winner with lasting connectivity upgrades which will benefit residents and visitors long after the draft ends.

Insight

In the 21st century, access to connectivity is not a luxury, it’s a basic essential service. However, to be a world-class digital economy we need more than the basics; we need digital infrastructure that provides higher speeds, greater resilience and better quality, right across the UK.

Demands on our digital infrastructure are rapidly increasing as future technologies, such as multimodal AI and cloud gaming, require ever greater data capacity. The market must be able to adapt to support the needs of today’s digital economy, while also ensuring there is a platform in place to help meet future demands. To achieve this we need investment in digital infrastructure that is resilient and able to scale as requirements inevitably evolve and increase, including in the North of England – where cities are becoming increasingly dynamic and communities demand high-quality broadband connections.

nexfibre is on a mission to deliver its network to 5 million premises by 2026. We have just passed 1 million premises faster than any other altnet provider and are set to deliver our network to more premises than any other provider this year, apart from Openreach. This, in partnership with our build partner Virgin Media O2, will make us the UK’s second largest alternative network provider in only our second year of operation and demonstrates that our rollout is helping to transform the market by boosting choice, service quality, and injecting much needed competition.

Our network is fit for the future

nexfibre is the only provider of its scale to be building its network exclusively using XGS-PON technology, capable of symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 10 Gbps. We have taken the decision to invest in next generation technology to future-proof our network, because there is no room for complacency when building a fibre network. This cutting-edge fibre technology is able to be continuously upgraded to accommodate the UK’s future data needs, eliminating the need to rebuild our network once demand surpasses our infrastructure’s capability.

Commitment to quality and resilience

As a wholesale-only provider, we are able to focus on ensuring the quality and resilience of our network is not compromised as we scale at pace. We take great pride in our build quality and our in-house audit team carry out rigorous testing and visit every build to ensure our service quality is of the highest standards.

Besides ensuring a high-quality infrastructure build, we are committed to providing a superb service to our network users. We are dedicated to continuously enhancing our capabilities that bolster our resilience, allowing us to swiftly identify and address even minor service disruptions — a critical area where operators have often struggled historically. We also understand the importance of seamless integration for ISPs. That’s why we are developing our own Application Programming Interface, which will further streamline our integration process and enable even more ISPs to make the most of our network.

Empowering northern communities

We are delivering our high-quality, resilient network to communities across the North of England that have previously been underserved. By boosting access to fast broadband, including through onboarding high-quality, growth focused ISPs onto our network, we are enabling these local communities to access the tools they need to participate and thrive in a modern, digital society and stoking growth in the local economy.

nexfibre is a platform for progress, bringing greater levels of choice, quality, and innovation to the market and using our technology to deliver better outcomes. Since starting operations we have already made exceptional progress. In 2024 we are excited to continue strengthening our technological capabilities while also accelerating our delivery of essential digital infrastructure, in fact around 60% of our activity will be in  communities in the North.

For all these reasons and others, we are proud of the work that we are doing at nexfibre and are excited about taking our network construction to the next milestone.  As we continue to build a national scale platform, we want to continue to set a new benchmark for quality and service for all our customers that will enable them to take full advantage of the benefits of the latest digital technology.

Network operator CityFibre has revealed that their £50m project to deploy a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the West Midland’s city of Wolverhampton, which began all the way back in July 2020 (here), has now covered over 90,000 premises (homes and businesses).

The announcement states that the operator has “completed its rollout across several areas of the city“, where homes and businesses have been designated ‘Ready For Service’, although it seems to shy aware from mentioning which areas will be the next to benefit and by when. In fairness, they have now covered most of the city, albeit missing out the most central area inside the ring road and a large area to the south of that.

The work supports the operator’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) – or around 30% of the UK – by the end of 2025 (here). CityFibre’s network currently covers 3.5 million UK premises (3.2m Ready for Service) and they’re aiming to grow their network coverage by another 1 million premises in 2024, albeit via a mix of new build fibre and acquisitions (M&A activity alone could theoretically add up to 1.5-3 million extra premises).

Bashir Ahmed, CityFibre’s Partnership Manager for Wolverhampton, said:

“We’re thrilled to have over 90,000 premises in Wolverhampton Ready For Service, offering people across the city all the benefits of full fibre connectivity. We would also like to thank residents for their patience as we have rolled out this essential digital infrastructure and we hope to see more people in the area unlock seamless homeworking, streaming and gaming. Our investment in Wolverhampton’s digital foundations is set to benefit the local community for years to come.”

CityFibre’s main gigabit-capable competitors in the city are Openreach and Virgin Media (VMO2), although some smaller networks like Grain and Hyperoptic have also deployed their full fibre infrastructure into a few specific areas.

Internet provider Cuckoo has today announced the appointment of Sarah Howells as Managing Director (MD) of the business. The newly created role will oversee all of the ISP’s customer-facing activities across Sales, Customer Service, User Experience, Digital, Brand, Marketing and Product.

Sarah was previously the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) of Jurassic Fibre, until 2023, where she is said to have helped to triple the customer base within nine months. She’s also had a distinguished career in customer service, having worked in the field for nearly 30 years and holding senior positions at NTL, Vodafone New Zealand and 2degrees Mobile etc.

Cuckoo is currently deep into the process of becoming the main retail broadband ISP outlet for Fern Trading’s (Octopus Investments) consolidated UK full fibre networks (Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, Giganet and AllPoints Fibre).

Paul Hellings, CEO of Cuckoo, said:

“Sarah is one of the UK’s leading figures in broadband – she’s customer obsessed and her knowledge and passion for the customer experience is something rarely seen in the sector.

With Sarah as Managing Director, and her three decades of expertise, I’m confident we can accelerate customer growth and provide unrivalled customer service at the lowest cost to serve.”

News 

The trial is set to begin later this year 

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Metrology Institute, has partnered with Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL) in New Zealand to carry out earthquake detection tests through subsea cables in the Pacific Ocean.  

The duo will carry out the tests in a 3,876km-long section of the Southern Cross NEXT cable (a subsea cable that connects Aukland, Sydney and Los Angeles), that sits on the floor of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. The area has been chosen as it is highly seismically active –meaning it is vulnerable to earthquakes– which the NPL say is “an ideal test bed for advancing the technology and demonstrating its full potential.” 

As part of the trial, scientists will turn the cable section into various sensors for earthquakes and ocean currents, by performing ultra-sensitive optical measurements. It will not need any new hardware or infrastructure, only the cable itself. This technique, which was created NPL in 2021, will mean the cable can gather continuous, real-time environmental data from the ocean floor. This will act as an early warning system for coastal communities in the event of a tsunami. If the trial is successful, the concept could be turned into a worldwide monitoring system. 

“This technology, pioneered at NPL, is the perfect example of how our science can create impact, delivering tangible benefits for society which will simultaneously improve our understanding of the world,” said Dr Peter Thompson, CEO of NPL in a press release. 

UK Science Minister Andrew Griffith echoed this sentiment, adding that “bringing the UK and New Zealand’s brightest minds together, to overhaul how we give advance warning of tsunamis, could save scores of lives. This work proves the value of breakthrough technologies like quantum, as well as the international teamwork that’s crucial to harnessing them.” 

Join us at Submarine Networks EMEA, 29-30 May in London. Get your last minute tickets now!

Also in the news:
“We’ve out innovated China”: US Commerce Secretary slams Huawei chip tech
Uzbekistan’s Perfectum partners with Nokia for 5G
Meta shares tumble after Zuckerberg reveals AI spending increase