Trade body Mobile UK, which represents network operators Three UK, EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone, has today published a new report that warns “widespread adoption of 5G [is] at risk of being missed” unless the government makes changes to help deliver 5G (mobile broadband) upgrades.

Regular readers will note that this isn’t the first time Mobile UK have pleaded for the Government to do more to support their network upgrades. In fact, they said much the same thing just before this month’s Spring Budget 2024 announcement (here), which appears to have fallen on deaf ears (judging by the lack of positive support in the budget).

According to the new and somewhat high-level report – ‘Rebalancing Act: Unlocking the potential of the UK’s Mobile Industry‘ – mobile technology is estimated to generate £5 of value for every £1 invested by mobile operators, while 5G networks have the potential to provide a £159bn boost to the UK economy by 2030.

However, the report also warns that government targets, like the goal of reaching “all populated areas [with] ‘standalone’ 5G (5G-plus) [technology] by 2030” (here) are at potential risk of not being met. 5GSA is the next evolution of 5G mobile technology, which is a true end-to-end 5G network that can deliver improvements such as ultra-low latency times (faster), greater energy efficiency, faster upload speeds, network slicing capabilities, improved support for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, increased reliability and better security.

The Digital Connectivity Forum (here) has previously also identified a related £25bn investment gap, which operators are trying to fill.

Hamish MacLeod, CEO of Mobile UK, said:

“It’s clear the industry is delivering strong value through the generation of £5 return to the wider economy for every £1 invested by the operators, and so enabling a positive investment environment for the sector must be the clear priority of government,” said Hamish MacLeod, CEO of Mobile UK.

As a country we are not making enough progress to meet the objectives of the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy which acknowledges the power of mobile technology and the ambition to be a leader in 5G.

Reductions in spectrum licence fees, reforming traffic management regulations and Business Rate holidays for new mobile infrastructure would incentivise investment. In addition, adequately funding the planning system and appointing digital champions in local authorities would help streamline network rollout and get the UK back on track to achieve its targets.”

Naturally the report, which suggests that the UK is currently far from being a leader in 5G (various network performance and coverage studies do tend to indicate that the country is a 5G laggard), proposes a series of recommendations to help address the problem.

The Recommendations

• Recommendation 1: At a minimum, following through on policies and actions outlined in the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy – such as reducing annual licence spectrum fees to stimulate investment, reforming the traffic management regulations and driving demand in the public sector.

• Recommendation 2: Explore further policy actions designed to remove barriers to network rollout – including adequate funding of the planning system, the implementation of Digital Champions within local authorities to promote the rollout and adoption of digital technologies, and further reform of permitted development rights.

• Recommendation 3: Implement fiscal measures that will have a direct and immediate impact on improving MNO investment outlook – including Business Rates holidays for new mobile infrastructure.

• Recommendation 4: Consider further actions that can be taken to support private capital being deployed in the UK by mobile operators – taking into consideration significant interventions in other territories (such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and the Resilience and Reconstruction Fund in the EU) and the need for operators to offer competitive returns to investors.

Sadly, we can see some potential problems with these ideas. Firstly, both the government and Ofcom have traditionally been reluctant to slash licence fees, particularly at a time when they’re already having to deal with a significant strain on public finances. Predictably, we can also observe the usual attempt to weaken the Net Neutrality protections for internet access, which was recently tackled by Ofcom (here) – any bigger changes would require tedious new Government legislation.

As for softer planning rules, we’ve already seen some positive developments on this front, such as changes to support taller masts and making it easier to upgrade existing sites via Permitted Development (PD) rights. But one difficultly for the government is that they have to balance such demands against issues of public opinion (i.e. new mobile masts and poles often attract complaints), which is much more relevant in an election year.

The idea of a business rates holiday on new mobile infrastructure is another fairly familiar call, although it tends to be a complicated solution (the Valuation Office Agency is not the easiest of organisations to deal with) and there may thus be better approaches that could be taken to help incentivise a similar outcome.

The reality here is that the Government might prefer to wait until after both the Vodafone and Three UK merger (assuming it’s approved and that’s not guaranteed), as well as the next round of 5G friendly spectrum auctions, have gone through before considering what other changes may be needed. The catch is that we may well have a very different government by then, which may be either more or less receptive to the operators’ demands.

Rehovot, Israel and Berlin, Germany (April 10, 2024) – Salvador Technologies, the pioneering cyber-attack recovery platform provider for critical infrastructures and industrial organizations, today announced that the company has secured investment from Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications provider in the European Union.

Deutsche Telekom executed this investment in Salvador Technologies through its hubraum Fund, the  company’s early stage investment arm. hubraum helps its portfolio companies connect with the fund’s global network of business and technology ecosystem partners and provides the opportunity to tap into Deutsche Telekom’s customer base.

Salvador Technologies will use the proceeds from this investment to accelerate the expansion of the company’s sales distribution network for its cyber-attack recovery platform. The company is currently focusing on engaging sales channel and technology ecosystem partners in the DACH region and Poland in Europe as well as in the United States.

Salvador Technologies has developed a patented security failover technology to prevent downtime damage and ensure ongoing operational continuity for Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS). The company’s cyber-attack recovery platform consists of hardware connected to the HMI or SCADA, an agent software and a monitoring system, enabling full visibility of the operations. The platform bypasses standard recovery protocols and allows critical infrastructure operators and industrial enterprises to recover from cyber-attacks and any malfunction within only 30 seconds.

The company distributes its cyber-attack recovery platform through channel partners, including managed security service providers (MSSPs), system integration (SIs) firms and value-added resellers (VARs). These channel partners are using Salvador Technology’s air-gapped platform to offer new and improved managed cybersecurity services to ensure the operational continuity of their critical infrastructure and industrial enterprise customers.

“Deutsche Telekoms is committed to ensuring business continuity, especially in light of the spike in cyberattacks against critical infrastructure and operational technology systems over the past few years and we recognize the significant potential of Salvador Technology’s recovery solution for critical systems,” said Tamar Shlimak, Investor at Deutsche Telekom’s hubraum Fund. “OT/ICS security has become increasingly important to industrial enterprises, so we are excited to have the opportunity to work with Salvador Technologies’ team and contribute to the company’s positive impact.”

“We are tremendously pleased with our strategic efforts with Deutsche Telekom both as an investor and a potentially valuable business partner,” said Alex Yevtushenko, Co-Founder and CEO of Salvador Technologies. “The proposed collaboration could offer significant advantages through leveraging Deutsche Telekom’s global network to potentially expand our business presence in Europe and the United States.”

About Salvador Technologies

Founded in 2020, Salvador Technologies provides security failover technology for cyber-attack recovery and downtime prevention in Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technology (OT) organizations. Its innovative solution bypasses standard cyber-attack recovery protocols and forensics measures, minimizing downtime, and regains operations within an astonishing 30-second timeframe. The company’s platform is used by some of the world’s most secure critical infrastructure organizations, including manufacturing, aerospace, maritime, energy and water companies.

For more information, please visit www.salvador-tech.com.

About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s largest integrated telecommunications companies with 245 million mobile customers and 25 million fixed-network lines spread across more than 50 countries. The company offers consumers broadband, fixed-network, mobile, Internet, and IPTV services, as well as business and corporate ICT solutions, with the goal of becoming the world’s leading digital telco.

The Hubraum Fund, Deutsche Telekom’s early-stage venture capital arm, invests in disruptive technologies in Europe, Israel and the United States in areas including 5G, IoT, Cybersecurity, Connectivity, Future of Work, Artificial Intelligence, and Media. For more information, please visit hubraum Fund.  

Press Contact

Tony Miller
+972 544 870 808
tony@noteya.com

News

The new contracts cover areas including Cornwall, the Peak District, and the Forest of Dean 

Today, the UK government has released its Spring update for Project Gigabit, its £5 billion plan to upgrade digital connectivity in hard-to-reach areas across the country.  

The update revealed that gigabit broadband coverage in the UK has reached 81% of all premises, a remarkable increase from 6% in 2019, which the government claims places the nation on track to achieve its goals 85% coverage by 2025 and the whole of the UK (roughly 99%) by 2030. 

One of the key milestones reached was the awarding of over £1 billion in contracts under the project, with 15 multi-million-pound contracts signed this year. These contracts will extend coverage to more than 370,000 homes and businesses across various regions including Kent, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, and Yorkshire. 

Of those 15 contracts, six have been announced today:. 

Wholesale network provider FullFibre has secured two contracts worth £33 million for broadband expansion in Derbyshire and Herefordshire to reach a total of 30,000 hard-to-connect homes.
Quickline has been awarded £44 million to extend their fibre network by 32,100 in South Yorkshire
Wessex Internet has secured £33.5 million to connect 21,400 premises in Dorset and South Somerset, which is expected to commence at the end of this year.
Wildanet has been awarded £41.2 million to connect 16,800 premises in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, with installation beginning in the Autumn
Voneus has been awarded £12 million to connect 6,000 premises in Shropshire. The first properties under this contract are expected to have Gigabit access next year.

In total, 31 Project Gigabit contracts have been signed so far, with a combined value of over £1.3 billion and aiming to bring gigabit speeds to nearly 800,000 rural homes.  

The government also noted the impact that existing contacts were already having on local communities. Since the December 2023 project update, for example, Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the East Midlands have seen a 3–4% increase in gigabit-capable connectivity. Notably, the period from August 2023 to May 2024 brought more growth in gigabit connectivity for Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands than the entire year from August 2022 to August 2023. 

But not every infrastructure deployment contract has progressed smoothly. In Worcestershire, for example, a contract worth £39.4 million for 18,400 premises has fallen through for uncited reasons (most likely the rising cost of deployment), with the government “currently exploring alternative options for this procurement”. 

Catch up with the Northern based broadband providers at this year’s Connected North event – 22-23 April in Manchester. Secure your last minute tickets now!

Also in the news:
Digi Spain sells 6m FTTH accesses to Onivia
Vodafone’s 5G standalone network now connects around half the German population
Broadband poles no problem for Brits says new study

News 

The investment, revealed during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to the US, is Microsoft’s largest financial commitment to Japan to date 

Microsoft has unveiled plans to invest $2.9 billion over the next two years in Japan, focusing on expanding its cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.  

The commitment is part of Microsoft’s effort to support Japan’s digital transformation objectives and enhance its capabilities in AI adoption and cybersecurity. 

The investment will reportedly allow Microsoft to provide more advanced cloud computing resources in Japan, including the deployment of graphics processing units essential for AI applications.  

Exactly how much additional capacity and where this infrastructure will be located within Japan was not announced.  

In addition to infrastructure investment, Microsoft is set to invest in upskilling initiatives to train over three million people in AI technologies over the next three years. These programs will target diverse groups, including women, developers, and students, aiming to equip Japan’s workforce with key digital skills.  

The company will also establish a Research Asia Lab in Tokyo, which will focus on areas such as embodied AI and robotics, societal AI and wellbeing, and other R&D goals.  

It is hoped that the move will tackle the country’s deflation and “stimulate the economy by expanding the infrastructure, skilled talent, and security required to accelerate Japan’s digital transformation and adoption of AI”, read the press release. 

This comes just days after Microsoft announced plans to establish an AI hub in London, to advance R&D in the UK. 

“As economic activities in the digital space increase, it is important for the Japanese industry as a whole to work with global companies like Microsoft that are equipped with a set of digital infrastructure,” said Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister in a statement. 

Microsoft is far from the only company investing in Japan’s cloud infrastructure. Back in January, AWS announced its plan to invest 2.3 trillion yen ($15.24 billion) in the country’s cloud computing infrastructure by 2027. The investment is in addition to the 1.51 trillion yen ($10.20 billion) already spent on increasing cloud capacity in Japan and will go towards the expansion and strengthening of facilities in Tokyo and Osaka to meet growing customer demand.   

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

Also in the news:
Digi Spain sells 6m FTTH accesses to Onivia
Vodafone’s 5G standalone network now connects around half the German population
Broadband poles no problem for Brits says new study

News

The FCC requirements are intended to increase transparency and help close the digital divide.

Beginning today, April 10, most ISPs will be required to publish ‘nutrition’ style consumer labels for fixed and wireless broadband plans. Under new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, these labels must include easy-to-read information about monthly pricing, upload and download speeds and links to privacy policies and network management practices.

ISPs with over 100,000 subscribers are required to display labels from April 10, while providers under this subscriber threshold will have until October 10. The labels must be available at points of sale, including ISP websites and any physical storefronts.

Providers who offer fixed and wireless plans must have a label for each service plan they offer. This poses a significant administrative challenge to ISPs, particularly those with a large number of physical stores. If there are any changes to a plan – such as price or speed – the ISP is required to update consumer labels online and in-store.

Bryan Darr, VP of Government Affairs at Ookla, told Fierce Network that Ookla plans to provide ISPs the option to use its data to validate the claims they make on speeds and latency.

Darr also mentioned a further “complication” in the FCC requirements. ISPs have to publish their “typical” upload/download speeds and latency figures, but the FCC has provided no definition of typical. The speed and latency people experience on their connected devices can often be significantly different to what is delivered to their address, which Darr claims poses a considerable risk to operators.

It seems that the greatest benefit will likely be to consumers who are not happy with their service. Due to significant switching costs, the new labels are unlikely to create a large uptick in churn in the market.

However, the provision of transparent data is a key part of closing the digital divide. It is essential for consumers to understand how affordable service actually is – the labels require providers to disclose clearly whether the rate advertised is an introductory rate and, if so, how much the price will increase after the introductory period.

The labels are also crucial for researchers to assess broadband offerings and for state officials to work with operators and comply with federal affordability targets.

If a provider fails to display labels or provides inaccurate information, consumers can file a complaint with the FCC.

Want to be at the forefront of key connectivity conversations? Learn more about Connected America 2025.

News

The South African mobile operator is battling daily power outages caused by load shedding, as well as an increase in theft and vandalism at its mobile base stations

South Africa has been battling with an energy crisis for well over a decade now, the exact causes of which are myriad – a convoluted tale of corruption, sabotage, mismanagement, and overreliance on a fading coal industry.

The national grid operator, Eskom’s, solution to demand surpassing supply has been the introduction of load shedding, or pre-planned regional blackouts, which began back in 2007 and have grown longer and more severe ever since.

Naturally, operating a telecoms network under such conditions is no easy feat. The country’s mobile operators have introduced various special measures to build additional energy resilience into their network, from upgrading their back-up batteries to installing solar panels on the base stations themselves. In 2022, MTN even began crowdsourcing generators to support their network’s power needs.

But even these measures are proving insufficient in the face of increasingly severe load shedding. In 2023, blackouts took place on a record 280 days of the year, some of which lasted up to 10 hours at a time.

Despite this, the South African government – notably gearing up for an election next month – says it is aiming to put an end to load shedding this year, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying that “the end of load shedding is finally within sight” in a speech earlier this year.

The government has been trying to transition the country’s largely coal-based energy supply to more renewable sources for a number of years now, backed by an $8.5 billion international support package agreed during COP26 in 2022.

MTN, however, thinks the government is being too optimistic. The operator says it has already spent roughly $140 million on generators to support its mobile base stations, and will spend $101 million more by the midpoint of the year to further shore up the network.

“As we look at our business in South Africa, the key thing is to get beyond the load shedding. Our view is that load shedding will be with us for at least another three years, which is why we’ve pre-emptively invested in the resilience of our network,” MTN CEO Ralph Mupita told the Financial Times.

This additional power generation will not only help MTN provide more reliable services to customers during power cuts but could also represent a new revenue stream through the generation of excess energy.

“If load shedding improves, then we have the opportunity to actually sell some of the excess power back into the grid. It’s an opportunity that could come out of this crisis,” said Mupita.

MTN recently released its latest financial report, noting that net profit had fallen 83% year-on-year. While this was largely caused by the devaluation of the Nigerian naira wreaking havoc on MTN Nigeria’s finances, the challenging operating conditions in South Africa were also noted as a major factor.

Last year, rival operator Telkom also blamed load shedding for its profits falling over 76%.

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

Also in the news:
Digi Spain sells 6m FTTH accesses to Onivia
Vodafone’s 5G standalone network now connects around half the German population
Broadband poles no problem for Brits says new study

News

The new Reduced Capability (RedCap) technology could open the door for a greater integration of IoT devices with existing 5G networks

Telefonica Deutschland has revealed it has successfully trialled 5G RedCap devices in its commercial 5G network in Munich.

RedCap, a key part of standardisation body 3GPP’s Release 17, is aimed at supporting the IoT over mobile networks.

It has three major advantages over existing IoT connectivity technologies (such as 4G LTE or NB-IoT):

higher peak data rates, able to support data hungry IoT devices like video surveillance cameras or smart grid monitoring;
lower latency, perfect for IoT devices that need near-real-time data transmission;
and improving the battery life of devices thanks to improved efficiency and reduced complexity.

To access this benefits, IoT devices will need to be equipped with 5G RedCap-compatible radio module. The 5G network itself, on the other hand, will not need any modification – thought 5G standalone (SA) architecture will be required.

Telefonica itself launched 5G SA in Germany in October last year, saying the upgraded 5G network already covers 90% of the German population.

“5G RedCap can bring new momentum to the Internet of Things. The technology closes a gap between the previous 4G network and high-performance 5G applications in the IoT sector,” explained Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer of Telefonica Deutschland.

“O2 Telefónica has successfully trialled the integration of 5G RedCap devices in the network. With our network, we are creating the technical prerequisites for connecting millions of devices efficiently and cost-effectively. It will be crucial to see how the market, the product world and digital applications develop.”

Telefonica says that it is already working with device and module manufacturers to help accelerate the development of the 5G RedCap-capable IoT device ecosystem. These devices are expected to be commercially available in 2025.

Will 5G RedCap prove a catalyst for growth in the German IoT industry? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Connected Germany event live in Germany

Also in the news:
Digi Spain sells 6m FTTH accesses to Onivia
Vodafone’s 5G standalone network now connects around half the German population
Broadband poles no problem for Brits says new study

Insight 

At this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, we caught up with Ahmet Fethi Ayhan, Türk Telekom, Network Director, and Barry Hou, Huawei’s President of 5G Wireless Marketing & Solution Sales to discuss Türk Telekom’s winning position in Umlaut’s 2023 Crowdsourcing, their network strategy in the 5G era and how partnership has helped the company achieve 5G success. 

The discussion began by highlighting that Türk Telekom achieved number one in Istanbul in Umlaut Crowdsourcing in 2023. But how did they achieve this?  

“With 26.1 million mobile subscribers. It’s always the primary responsibility of Türk Telekom to provide good network experience for the subscribers,” said Ayhan. 

“In recent years, Türk Telekom has been committed to wireless network investments and constructions… We continue to build LTE low band sites, improve LTE wide coverage and deep coverage, and develop VoLTE services.  

We work with Huawei network optimisation team to analyse and gain insights, and implement hierarchical capacity expansion policies for key cities and areas. According to Umlaut Test results, I think Huawei’s 4T4R equipment is a very important reason in these key cities. It not only improves the network capacity and user experience, but also saves energy consumption.” 

Discussing Türk Telekom’s target network strategy in the 5G era, the company noted that spectrum is the most important resource for wireless networks. “The target network in the 5G era is the spectrum evolution strategy for Türk Telekom,” said Ayhan. Optimising the spectrum is also essential. 

“In the 5G era, energy efficiency is vital. We cannot sacrifice network performance for energy saving. We have to consider more intelligence solutions to achieve both best in the performance and energy saving. Huawei’s new equipment, MetaAAU, ultra-wideband RRU and green antenna, will not only bring energy saving benefits, but also further simplify sites,” he said. 

Barry Hou explains how Huawei can help operators be successful in the 5G era in two ways. “Firstly, as a global leading telecom provider, we can provide that help to our operators to build the most efficient 5G network. This is thanks to our high-intensity R&D investment of more than 10% of our annual revenue, invested to our 5G solution and equipment.” 

Secondly, he continued, “Huawei could facilitate operator on the 5G monetisation.” 5G monetisation can be categorised into three phases: the first (phase) is traffic monetisation, helping operators to migrate 4G users to 5G network very quickly. Secondly, 5G FWA, which is a common choice for over half of operators as it helps operators to increase both application and home penetration. Thirdly, 5G to businesses, which is now hugely popular in China. Huawei can bring the system integrator, the experience and 5GtoB solutions from China to overseas. As a result, Huawei can help Türk Telekom to develop their 5GtoB business. 

Türk Telekom had a successful experience in 4.5G. Should they copy this with 5.5G? In short, yes. “I think we will directly launch 5.5G by referring to the successful experience in the 4G era. Türk Telekom will provide the best 5.5G network experience to end users and cooperate with Huawei to carry out some key toB services and build 5.5G smart city in Türkiye,” Barry Hou concurred. 

The UK government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme has today awarded the £44m (state aid) regional contract for South Yorkshire (Lot 20) in England to ISP Quickline, which will aim to extend their 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) network to as many as 32,100 additional premises in hard to reach rural areas.

The wider project aims to help extend 1Gbps (download) capable networks to reach at least 85% of UK premises by the end of 2025, before aiming to achieve “nationwide” coverage (c. 99%) by 2030 (here). Commercial investment is expected to deliver more than 80% of this, which leaves the government’s scheme to focus on tackling the final 20% (mostly rural and some sub-urban areas), where the private sector alone often fails. The project is technology neutral, but Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks are strongly favoured.

The project uses a number of different methods to tackle this challenge (e.g. vouches and investment in dark fibre builds), but the largest part of the scheme involves a gap-funded subsidy approach – the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS). This is where smaller local, larger regional or major cross-regional contracts are awarded to network operators who can help to build their gigabit-capable infrastructure into the most challenging areas (final 20%).

The £44m South Yorkshire (Lot 20) rollout contract being announced today is expected to reach “up to” 32,100 premises, which will also extend into some rural parts of East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire. The announcement follows only a few weeks after Quickline was also awarded a £60m Project Gigabit contract covering 29,000 rural premises in West Yorkshire and parts of North and East Yorkshire (here).

The new contract will see the connection of outlying communities situated around Barnsley, Doncaster, Epworth, Goole, Maltby, Penistone, Rotherham, Sheffield and Worksop. The announcement also states that, as part of complementary work, Quickline will now “connect a further 29,000 homes and businesses as part of its commercial network build“, albeit without saying precisely where.

Sean Royce, CEO at Quickline, said:

“We are incredibly proud to have been awarded a second Project Gigabit contract and one that is again in a very important area for us.

Our roots are in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and as a broadband provider we have a very strong regional focus. We employ people from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, we deliver broadband to the people of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and we want to play our part in the growth and economic development of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Winning the contract for South Yorkshire, on the back of the one for West Yorkshire, reinforces the important role Quickline is playing in connecting hard-to-reach communities across the region, and our role in supporting the government in achieving its ambitions.”

Julia Lopez, Digital Infrastructure Minister, said:

“Thanks to Project Gigabit, thousands of rural homes and businesses across South Yorkshire will soon be able to access the fastest broadband speeds on the market. Today marks an important milestone in our drive to tackle poor connectivity in Yorkshire. From Barnsley to Doncaster, patchy connectivity will soon be a thing of the past and lightning-fast broadband will open up new opportunities, driving employment and economic growth.”

Quickline itself is currently being supported by funding of around £500m from Northleaf Capital Partners. The provider holds an aspiration to cover 500,000 premises in rural and semi-rural areas across North East England with “ultrafast broadband” via both FTTP and their 5G based fixed wireless technology “by 2025” (here).

Including its associated commercial fibre build and its current coverage, Quickline states that its full fibre footprint will now ensure over 200,000 deep rural premises are “taken out of broadband poverty” (as of November 2023, they’ve already covered 65,000 UK premises). This is said to be “in addition to another 200,000 rural premises able to connect to its next generation fixed wireless network“, which is a little odd as they’ve previously given a figure of 300,000 for their wireless network coverage

Residential customers reached by their new full fibre network are typically charged from £29 per month on a 24-month term for 100Mbps (50Mbps upload) speeds with free installation, and that goes up to £49 for their top 900Mbps (450Mbps upload) tier. The first 3 months of service are also free.

Project Gigabit GIS Contract Awards History
➤ Wessex Internet for North Dorset (Lot 14.01) in August 2022 (here)
➤ GoFibre for Teesdale (Lot 4.01) in September 2022 (here)
➤ GoFibre for North Northumberland (Lot 34.01) in October 2022 (here)
➤ Fibrus for Cumbria (Lot 28) in November 2022 (here)
➤ Wildanet for Central Cornwall (Lot 32.03) and South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02) in January 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Cambridgeshire (Lot 5) in March 2023 (here)
➤ Wessex Internet for the New Forest (Lot 27.01) in April 2023 (here)
➤ Freedom Fibre for North Shropshire (Lot 25.02) in May 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Norfolk (Lot 7), Suffolk (Lot 2) and Hampshire (Lot 27) in July 2023 (here)
➤ Gigaclear for South Oxfordshire (Lot 13.01) and North Oxfordshire (Lot 13.02) in Nov 2023 (here)
➤ Connect Fibre for North East Staffordshire (Lot 19.01) in Nov 2023 (here)
➤ Connect Fibre for Derbyshire (Lot 3) in Dec 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire & East Berkshire (Lot 26), Leicestershire & Warwickshire (Lot 11), West & East Sussex (Lot 16 & 1), Kent (Lot 29) and Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes (Lot 12) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Connexin for Nottinghamshire & West Lincolnshire (Lot 10) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Quickline for West Yorkshire and York Area (Lot 8) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Gigaclear for East Gloucestershire (Lot 18) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Wessex Internet for South Wiltshire (Lot 30) in Mar 2024 (here)
➤ Quickline for South Yorkshire (Lot 20) in Apr 2024

The Government has this morning announced a mass of additional contract awards under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout programme, which includes builds for West Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean, the Peak District, Dorset and South Somerset, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and finally, Mid West Shropshire.

The above announcements are in addition to Quickline’s success in securing the £44m Project Gigabit contract to deploy a full fibre network across 32,100 additional premises in hard to reach rural areas of South Yorkshire (Lot 20), which was also announced this morning (here). We got an earlier press release on that one, so it was covered separately.

Just to recap. The project itself aims to help extend 1Gbps (download) capable broadband networks to reach at least 85% of UK premises by the end of 2025, before aiming to achieve “nationwide” coverage (c. 99%) by 2030 (here). Commercial investment is expected to deliver more than 80% of this, which leaves the government’s scheme to focus on helping to tackle some of the final 20% (mostly rural and some sub-urban areas), where the private sector alone often fails. The project is technology neutral, but Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) is strongly favoured.

The project uses a number of different methods to tackle this challenge (e.g. vouches and investment in dark fibre builds), but the largest part of the scheme involves a gap-funded subsidy approach – the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS). This is where smaller local, larger regional or major cross-regional contracts are awarded to network operators who can help to build their gigabit-capable infrastructure into the most challenging areas (final 20%).

At this point, we’d normally do detailed individual summaries of each announcement, but that simply isn’t practical with so many contract awards being announced on the same day. Instead, we’ve summarised today’s headline developments below.

The New Project Gigabit Contract Awards

➤ West Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean (Lot 15)

FullFibre awarded £23.4 million to connect 7,900 premises

➤ Peak District (Lot 3.01)

FullFibre awarded £10.7 million to connect 4,400 premises

➤ Dorset and South Somerset (Lot 14)

Wessex Internet awarded £33.5 million to connect 21,400 premises

➤ Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Lot 32)

Wildanet awarded £41.2 million to connect 16,800 premises

➤ Mid West Shropshire (Lot 25.01)

Voneus awarded £12 million to connect 6,000 premises.

In total, the six new contracts being announced today will cover around 88,600 rural premises – reflecting a combined public investment of £165 million – pushing total investment across all of Project Gigabit’s UK build contracts to £1.3bn (£714m of that has been invested in the last year alone, equating to 380,000 premises).

Over 1 million rural premises and public buildings have already been upgraded to gigabit-capable networks thanks to UK Government investment, but this is only if you include FTTP deployments that also occurred under the prior “Superfast Broadband” (SFBB) programmes. By comparison, most of Project Gigabit’s early contracts have only recently entered the build phase and thus still account for the minority of this total.

Julia Lopez, Minister for Data and Digital, said:

“Connectivity has never been more important for people and businesses. It is increasingly becoming the enabler for so many services that we rely on every day, from using maps to doing business.

The figures published today demonstrate how rapidly we are delivering higher quality gigabit broadband to every part of the country – even some of the most remote rural areas.

Whether that be for a business on the coast of Cornwall or the hills of the Peak District, patchy and poor connection should never be a barrier to economic growth or somebody’s life chances.”

At the time of writing, we currently only have a very basic government summary of the new contracts and their targets (except for Quickline’s South Yorkshire win). But later this morning we’ll add extra details for each one above as they’re made public, such as which initial locations they’ll target and any related build timescales etc.

Project Gigabit GIS Contract Awards History
➤ Wessex Internet for North Dorset (Lot 14.01) in August 2022 (here)
➤ GoFibre for Teesdale (Lot 4.01) in September 2022 (here)
➤ GoFibre for North Northumberland (Lot 34.01) in October 2022 (here)
➤ Fibrus for Cumbria (Lot 28) in November 2022 (here)
➤ Wildanet for Central Cornwall (Lot 32.03) and South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02) in January 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Cambridgeshire (Lot 5) in March 2023 (here)
➤ Wessex Internet for the New Forest (Lot 27.01) in April 2023 (here)
➤ Freedom Fibre for North Shropshire (Lot 25.02) in May 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Norfolk (Lot 7), Suffolk (Lot 2) and Hampshire (Lot 27) in July 2023 (here)
➤ Gigaclear for South Oxfordshire (Lot 13.01) and North Oxfordshire (Lot 13.02) in Nov 2023 (here)
➤ Connect Fibre for North East Staffordshire (Lot 19.01) in Nov 2023 (here)
➤ Connect Fibre for Derbyshire (Lot 3) in Dec 2023 (here)
➤ CityFibre for Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire & East Berkshire (Lot 26), Leicestershire & Warwickshire (Lot 11), West & East Sussex (Lot 16 & 1), Kent (Lot 29) and Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes (Lot 12) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Connexin for Nottinghamshire & West Lincolnshire (Lot 10) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Quickline for West Yorkshire and York Area (Lot 8) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Gigaclear for East Gloucestershire (Lot 18) in Feb 2024 (here)
➤ Wessex Internet for South Wiltshire (Lot 30) in Mar 2024 (here)
➤ Quickline for South Yorkshire (Lot 20) in Apr 2024 (here)
➤ FullFibre for West Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean (Lot 15) in Apr 2024
➤ FullFibre for Peak District (Lot 3.01) in Apr 2024
➤ Wessex Internet for Dorset and South Somerset (Lot 14) in Apr 2024
➤ Wildanet for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Lot 32) in Apr 2024
➤ Voneus for Mid West Shropshire (Lot 25.01) in Apr 2024