Computer scientist and CEO of full fibre network builder Netomnia (inc. sibling ISP YouFibre), Jeremy Chelot, has today talked to ISPreview about why he’s pushing the boundaries of UK broadband performance, while also touching on the topics of market consolidation, wholesale and the possibility of launching a mobile service.

Netomnia currently (Feb 2024) covers over 850,000 premises (up from 730k in Nov 2023), in parts of over 70 towns across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network. The operator’s immediate ambition is to reach 1 million premises during “early 2024” (coverage plan – plus additions here, here and here), but they may go beyond that.

The operator, like a few other alternative networks in this market, tends to adopt a Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) centric build model, which means they can keep their build costs low and rollout quite rapidly by running new fibre via Openreach’s existing cable ducts and poles. Not to mention harnessing rack space inside BT’s existing exchanges, rather than building their own Fibre Exchanges (FEX).

Netomnia is also somewhat vertically integrated by virtue of operating their own ISP via the increasingly popular YouFibre brand, which last year became one of only a handful of retail providers to launch an 8Gbps capable broadband package for residential consumers (here) and they’re looking to go even faster (here). As of February 2024, the provider is home to 80,000 customers (up from 65k on 13th Dec 2023)

Overall, progress has been good and the seeds of that growth can be largely attributed to the company’s boss, Jeremy Chelot, who was previously the CEO of another fairly successful AltNet, London-focused operator CommunityFibre. Prior to that he was also the IP Core Network Solutions Manager/IP Architect for Three UK (H3G) and has now been in the fibre industry for the last 10 years.

Naturally, we wanted to know more about what drove Jeremy to start the new company, its progress, future plans and why he’s so keen to push broadband performance well beyond what many other operators are currently doing.

The Netomnia Interview

1. Firstly, can you share with us a quick general update on the progress of your network coverage (e.g. premises passed, total customers, take-up levels and areas of deployment), your future targets and how much total investment Netomnia has so far managed to attract?

Jeremy said:

Since October 2020, Netomnia and YouFibre have raised £345m in equity from Advencap, Soho Square Capital, and Digital Bridge, and, £450.5m in debt from Avenue Capital and a group of nine banks (Alpha Bank, Barclays, HSBC, ING, NIBC, Nord/LB, RBC, Standard Charter, and UKIB).

As of the end of February 2024, we have 850,000 premises on the Netomnia network ready for service (RFS), and 80,000 YouFibre customers.

We expect to reach our target of 1 million premises passed by Q2 this year. Our new target will be to achieve 2 million premises passed by the end of 2025.

2. As most people reading this will probably know, before starting Netomnia and YouFibre you were actually the CEO of another fairly well-known AltNet in London, CommunityFibre. I’m curious to know what made you want to start your current business after having done something similar before and, perhaps more importantly, what learnings you carried over from your previous role to help grow the new business?

Jeremy said:

I enjoyed my time as CEO at Community Fibre but I always knew I wanted to build a national fibre network across the UK and was convinced that I could replicate what I had done at Community Fibre on a national scale.

When I was young, I had access to a 512kbps cable connection when all my friends were still on a 56kbps modem. Having access to faster speeds meant I could learn faster than anyone else I knew at my age and without this, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

With Netomnia and YouFibre, I wanted to create a network infrastructure and an Internet Service Provider that could deliver a faster, better, cheaper Internet connection to as many people as possible, to give everyone the same access and opportunities.

3. Naturally, we can’t talk about the current market without also considering the seemingly growing likelihood that a fair number of alternative networks, under pressure from rising costs, competition and the need to generate good take-up by consumers, may shortly find themselves being either consolidated or becoming consolidators in their own right.

We sometimes fear that all this talk of consolidation may overlook the challenges of actually merging two networks together, particularly as different operators can have different approaches to build (e.g. Netomnia’s low cost / PIA approach vs a greater proportion of trench building). Not to mention any differences in technology and network design, which will later need to be aligned, adding costs.

However, Netomnia seems to be bucking some of the industry’s more negative trends, and currently shows no signs of slowing down. What makes your approach different, and do you anticipate being a consolidator yourself in the future (as opposed to being consolidated)?

Jeremy said:

Netomnia’s approach is different because we are one of the most capital-efficient altnets in the UK.

I believe altnets have proven they can build at scale and together will achieve more than 10 million premises RFS by the end of this year. I also believe that altnets have proven that they can achieve a high level of take-up with most companies having delivered more than 30 per cent take-up in mature developments. For example, YouFibre has 33 per cent take-up in its oldest cohort (2020).

Where altnets differ significantly is the capital they spend to get premises RFS and to acquire customers. By the end of February 2024, Netomnia and YouFibre have only consumed £170m of debt. That works out to £200 of debt for each premises RFS – the larger altnets in the UK have consumed up to five times more debt than us for each premises they make RFS. And it’s the same story with equity.

Because of our key difference (capital efficiency), it makes consolidation in the UK very hard. We are so capital efficient that almost every deal will cost us more than organic growth and we have an addressable market in front of us of several millions. Therefore, while we would love to be a consolidator, it makes it difficult. We have not built the business to be consolidated. We focus on delivering for our customers and becoming the third network in the United Kingdom and that’s what drives me!

4. Quite a few of the other AltNets that I’ve spoken with often tell me that they see going wholesale as the best way to help grow take-up longer-term, particularly if they can attract bigger ISPs, much as CityFibre has done (i.e. getting big brand names on board can make a world of difference, but it’s not easy).

However, Netomnia currently remains more vertically integrated, given that you primarily still sell consumer broadband packages via YouFibre, which is also run by yourself. On the flip side, as an operator, you’ve often described your network as being open to wholesale, so I’m just wondering where you are with that approach today and how you see that side of the business (excluding YouFibre) progressing?

Jeremy said:

We are keen on wholesale. I don’t believe that we will get BT or Virgin Media (but happy to get a call from them) and Sky is only working with Openreach so far – so TalkTalk and Vodafone are our main options for scaled ISPs but, as we know, both companies are quite busy at the moment with a merger (3 and Vodafone) and a restructure (TalkTalk split into three companies).

I am convinced that the future is bright because it makes sense for us to work together and let’s be fair, 12 months ago Netomnia only had 350,000 premises RFS, and now we have 850,000 and soon 1 million, therefore, we are only just becoming interesting. We will win together but our business plans have been built with YouFibre only so if it happens great, if it does not, not a big deal.

5. YouFibre and Netomnia made a few headlines last year by becoming one of only a tiny number of providers to launch an 8-10Gbps class product. By comparison, the CEO of your former haunt at CommunityFibre, Graeme Oxby, said they could do the same but have chosen to stick with a 3Gbps maximum because he felt that consumers would struggle to harness more than that in the real-world.

Not to mention the difficulties that such speeds can cause for customer support departments and speed testing (i.e. very few devices and online services are capable of even remotely close to such speeds). Is it all a game of bragging rights for marketing purposes, or is there more to this strategy?

Jeremy said:

There is more to it. Since I started rolling out fibre and providing Internet connectivity, I promised myself that I would always push the limits and drive others to do the same. We have hundreds of 8,000 Mbps customers and I am looking forward to 50G-PON. The reason the UK was behind with its full fibre availability is because operators were satisfied with FTTC (DOCSIS or VDSL) whereas they should have pushed the limit sooner…I will push them.

6. Naturally, one risk with an 8Gbps product is that it might only take a few people to join, in the same area, to stress local network capacity during certain periods. Granted, the probability of this would seem to be quite low, and each user would really have to be hammering those links constantly to cause a problem. But edge cases do sometimes emerge and if such an issue did occur then how would you resolve it or at what point does it become something that needs a specific solution (ordering extra backhaul bandwidth etc.)?

Jeremy said:

Our backhaul is not a constraint. Our infrastructure runs from BT exchanges, and we use either Dark Fibre or 100-Gbps and are in the process of upgrading to 400-Gbps. Bandwidth consumption is increasing but it’s a lot slower than our ability to scale our backhaul, so we’re not concerned by this. We have many “power” users on that network and capacity, even with 80,000 customers, is far from being a constraint.

7. Speaking of insanely good connectivity speeds, we’ve already seen the odd UK network playing around with 25G-PON technology, while a provider in Qatar recently went as far as to launch a 50Gbps package for homes using 50G-PON technology. In terms of future network platforms, what do you expect Netomnia to adopt after XGS-PON and why?

Jeremy said:

I always considered 25G-PON to be dead before it was born because of the technology cycle and roadmap (especially from China to drive volume). A little bit like NG-PON2 when Verizon or CityFibre were considering it. It was obvious (to me at least) that it would not go anywhere. The next step for us is 50G-PON because it’s fully compatible with XGS-PON and because we only have XGS-PON on the network it is easy to use combo optics to have XGS-PON and 50G-PON at the same time on the network.

The interview continues on Page 2..

A new newspaper report has claimed that the ongoing work to withdraw BT and Openreach’s old copper-based analogue line services (PSTN phones and WLR), which was due to complete by December 2025, could be facing a delay of up to two years. But the delay may only apply to vulnerable users who remain dependent upon old telecare devices, which often haven’t been updated to function with IP-based digital alternatives.

Most people should hopefully be aware that Openreach and BT, much like other operators across Europe with a legacy of older copper phone infrastructure, are in the process of upgrading all of their old analogue phone services on to a fully digital (Internet Protocol-based) network (the national stop sell began last September). KCOM are doing something similar in Hull, which aims to finish by the end of 2024, but all ISPs that offer analogue phone services are affected.

The above change is an industry, not government, led programme that is partly driven by the looming retirement of copper lines in favour of full fibre (FTTP). Not to mention that modern mobile and IP-based communication services have largely taken over from traditional home phones, which no longer see much use.

However, this change is NOT to be confused with the physical removal of copper and aluminium lines, which in many areas will continue to deliver broadband and IP-based digital phone solutions for some years to come, until FTTP has become available and customers migrated (this is a related, but separate process).

In place of PSTN/WLR, many ISPs are introducing Internet Protocol (IP) based digital phone / voice services, which require a broadband connection in order to work (either via copper or full fibre). Put another way, you plug your existing handset into the back of a broadband router (assuming it has a phone port) or Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA), rather than the old wall socket.

Caveats of the change

The problem is that the new generation of IP based digital phone solutions do have the odd caveat, aside from being a little bit more complex to setup. For example, the new services are not remotely powered (i.e. if there’s a power cut, they go down, but ISPs can often provide very limited battery backup solutions upon request) and often don’t work properly with older alarm or telecare monitoring systems.

The issue of poor telecare support is the fault of telecare and alarm providers (i.e. failing to upgrade their systems), but this doesn’t change the reality that nearly 2 million people use these vital telecare systems in the UK (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people). Often these exist in rural and isolated areas, where mobile services may also go down during power cuts. Ofcom are separately reviewing mobile resilience, but complex issues of cost and wayleaves may create some barriers.

According to The Telegraph’s (paywall) sources, the high risk that the digital phone switch-over could put a significant number of vulnerable people’s lives at risk may result in the December 2025 completion target being pushed back by up to another 2 years. But the new report appears to state that this delay would only apply to vulnerable people, such as those who make use of telecare systems.

A BT spokesman said:

“We’re working closely with the Government and Ofcom as we continue the important programme to move customers onto digital landlines.

Our priority remains doing this safely, supporting our vulnerable customers and those with additional needs in particular, and we’re working with key organisations that represent these groups to achieve that.

This includes encouraging more local authorities and telecare providers to make us aware of telecare users so we can make sure they get the right support at the right time.

The current pause will have an impact on the timing of the overall programme – but we are working to minimise any delays, as the switch to digital landlines is a necessity given the increasing fragility of the analogue landline network.”

A spokesman for the government (DSIT) said:

“The decision to switch off the analogue landline network has been taken by the telecoms industry, and the UK Government has no formal role in administering the switchover. Deciding timelines for its completion is a matter for providers, but we continue to engage with the industry to ensure vulnerable customers are protected throughout this process.”

The reality is that keeping the old analogue services going would not only be extremely expensive, but is also proving difficult as manufacturers stop producing related kit and services for a declining and increasingly ancient technology. At the same time, telecare providers seem unlikely to up their game in time for the 2025 deadline. All told, this increasingly suggests that some delay may be unavoidable.

On the other hand, the Telegraph’s piece seems to overlook that Openreach and BT are about to pilot a new SOTAP for Analogue product from 1st May 2024 (here), which is a phone line service that does NOT require broadband to work and can harness modern networks to function similarly to the older analogue service.

The solution, once introduced, would not be available for new service provisions (only existing / vulnerable customers) and is intended to be a temporary product (possibly running until around 2030 or as long as it takes). In theory, this would allow more time for people and networks to adapt, but it won’t be launched until later in 2024 at the earliest and is arriving quite late to the party, which might help to explain today’s talk about a delay.

Broadband providers across the UK are rushing to adopt a new solution for resolving complex customer network faults. Known as KO (Kick Off), the new solution is designed to save ISPs time and money in the process of finding and fixing complex faults, while also avoiding big payments under Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme.

The way the new system works is simple enough. Customers who report a fault will, at first, be put through a long phone queue, before later being passed between multiple different departments. Then – after about 3 hours of the same – it will eventually report that their fault has been logged and is being investigated, which is considerably more efficient than today’s systems.

After this, a post-action customer survey will be emailed through to assess the effectiveness of the system, with only one mandatory option being offered in response – the selection of “Yes” for “It was great!”. At this point, the KO algorithm will fully kick-in by employing the very latest AI technologies to determine how much time and cost may be needed to resolve the fault.

During this period, the ISP will continue to issue constructive updates on the status of the fault investigation, such as by promising to have it resolved the next day and then automatically delaying it by another day each time that target isn’t met. The number of days to continue this cycle can be set by the ISP, up to a limit of 365 (applicable to providers that don’t support automatic compensation), unless the end-user switches or passes away first – whichever comes sooner.

However, if the system determines that the fix would be very costly to resolve, then it will automatically issue a final notice to resolve the fault: “We’re pleased to report that your line has been successfully ceased. The fault is therefore resolved. Thank you for using our service.” Customers in this boat will also be required to pay off the remainder of their contract, due to having chosen to exit their term early by reporting a fault (as “transparently” set out in small print).

At present, KO is still only in the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage, although a number of major ISPs are believed to have been trialling the system, or something very.. similar, for at least the past few years. The good news is that the initial system feedback is already pointing to a customer satisfaction rate of 100%.

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APRIL FOOLS! or is it..?

We are today publishing our 2024 summary of the top full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network operators with the greatest share of the UK new build homes market, which is naturally a table that ends up being topped by the market’s largest network access provider – Openreach (BT). But they’re not the only player.

At present over 98% of new build homes are already being constructed with support for Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure (here), which hasn’t changed much in the past couple of years but does compare well with the figure of over 60% in 2017 (here). Just for comparison, more than 60% of all UK premises (new builds and existing properties) can access an FTTP network (Jan 2024 data) and that rises to 80% for gigabit-capable broadband (FTTP and Hybrid Fibre Coax combined).

Suffice to say that a lot of progress has been made over the past few years and England now mandates gigabit-capable broadband for almost all new build homes (here), albeit with a few exceptions. Both Wales (here) and Scotland (here) are also following by this same example.

However, we also find it informative to do an annual check to see which full fibre operators are having the most impact on new build homes, which involves an analysis of information extracted from Thinkbroadband‘s excellent database of coverage.

As usual, we’ve split this into two tables below, one of which looks at developments over the past year (Nov 2022 to Oct 2023), while a second table summarises the total delivery since January 2018 (i.e. reflecting the period when full fibre started to become the primary roll-out focus for UK operators).

In addition, we’ve included an entry for Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network for context. Readers may note that Virgin still delivered a few HFC connections to new build sites in 2023, which is largely reflective of legacy contracts that have existed with property developers since before they switched to focus on FTTP (including via nexfibre).

Top UK Full Fibre Operators for New Build Homes in 2024

As before, there are some caveats with this data. For example, some very recent builds may be too new to have been spotted. This is because it takes a lot of time and effort to identify everything, thus the latest data may sometimes lag a few months behind the reality.

In addition, some tiny or individual developments may also be missed (e.g. personal projects or property conversions) and the availability of new postcode data can cause a further lag. On top of that, Thinkbroadband will only identify live / RFS services (i.e. completed builds where the service is available from an ISP). But otherwise the table below should, broadly, provide a reasonable reflection of the current new build homes market.

Should any operators want to ensure that all of their new build home sites are being included in this data, then please contact Andrew at Thinkbroadband to help fill in any blanks

Top 13 Full Fibre Operators for New Build Homes (2024)

Network Operator
New Build Premises (Nov 2022 to Oct 2023)

Openreach (BT)
126,439

Hyperoptic
28,028

OFNL
7,483

FibreNest (Persimmon Homes)
2,163

Virgin Media Cable (HFC)
2,026

Virgin Media FTTP (RFoG)
603

Grain Connect
454

CommunityFibre
391

4th Utility
286

Glide
238

CityFibre
224

Brsk
157

YouFibre (Netomnia)
132

Openreach is naturally top of the table as the UK’s largest network operator, followed by Hyperoptic, with other players in the market – even major networks like Virgin Media – all sitting some way behind. The historic totals below tell a similar story, although we note that Virgin’s influence was much more significant in the past.

We should also add that Virgin Media holds an expanded network partnership with Open Fibre Networks Limited (here), which isn’t reflected in this data. But this does mean that consumers can often take Virgin Media’s broadband services on many, but not all, of OFNLs sites.

The data also reveals that a shade over 28% of the new builds added last year were being covered by alternative network providers, even if that is dominated by Hyperoptic and, to a lesser extent, OFNL.

Finally, for a bit of extra context, we’ll summarise how the table splits down when we look over a much wider range of data – gathered for new builds between 2018 to October 2023.

Top 20 Full Fibre Operators for New Build Homes (Since 2018)

Network Operator
New Build Premises (2018 to Oct 2023)

Openreach (BT)
956,999

Hyperoptic
179,778

Virgin Media (HFC)
105,859

OFNL
89,931

Virgin Media FTTP (RFoG)
50,166

FibreNest (Persimmon Homes)
36,774

YouFibre (Netomnia)
22,778

Nexfibre – Virgin Media (FTTP XGS-PON) *
11,781

CityFibre
6,700

Zzoomm
6,613

FullFibre Limited
6,371

Trooli
5,888

CommunityFibre
5,583

KCOM
5,521

4th Utility
5,241

Grain Connect
4,782

Swish Fibre
3,714

Fibrus
3,206

Gigaclear
2,765

The observant among you might notice the oddity of including nexfibre in the table directly above, but not in the top table for the past year, particularly given that nexfibre’s network only went live in 2023. Part of this is down to the fact that they were building out for a while before the network went live, as well as some quirks of the postcode data and the age of the new build homes sites.

Otherwise, it’s no huge surprise to find that builds linked to Openreach, Hyperoptic, Virgin Media and OFNL remain some of the most dominant when it comes to provision for new build homes. All four of those players have always had a strong focus on such developments. FibreNest has also grown into this quite a bit in recent years.

A new study from the charity Age UK has claimed that around 4.7 million people aged 65 and over in the United Kingdom are unable to complete all eight of the most fundamental tasks required to use the internet, while 2.3 million of those in the same age group do not use the internet at all (48% of these people are aged 75+).

The “fundamental tasks” mentioned above include being able to turn-on devices and enter account logins, use settings and controls on the device, open applications, set up connection to WiFi, open internet browsers, keep passwords secure and change passwords when prompted to do so. All fairly second nature to most of us, but not if you’ve had very little experience of computers or the internet in your daily life.

However, for those older people who have got over the barriers of using the internet, further analysis by Age UK shows that among those over 65s who are online, around 2.5 million are “unable to complete tasks required to thrive in a digital society in day-to-day life“. These key skills include being able to communicate, to store and access information and content, carry out transactions, search for information and be safe online.

The charity is clearly concerned about so many people “being left behind“, although it also correctly recognises that it “will never be possible to get everyone online and trying to force the issue poses a real risk to older people’s health, finances and ability to participate in society.” This is something that the government’s ongoing drive for everybody to go digital often overlooks.

Caroline Abrahams CBE, Charity Director at Age UK, said:

“Many public as well as private service providers seem hell-bent on shifting their activities online but, as our new report shows, it’s clear that in doing so they are leaving fully one in three of the older population behind. In fact, the inconvenient truth is that many millions of people of all ages, especially older ones, are neither confident nor adept at using the internet, and want and need to continue to be able to transact their business in more traditional ways.

The Government should step in and ensure that we can all choose to access and use public services offline – by phone, letter or face to face as appropriate – rather than forcing everyone down a digital route many of us are struggling to navigate, and some of us are unable to navigate at all.

Older people who are not internet users or digitally savvy tell us how cross and upset they are when the main access to crucial services like GP appointments and Blue Badge applications, moves to being online. As our new report shows, this often leaves them feeling disregarded and disempowered, and the consequences can be serious, severing them from the support they need to stay fit, well and independent.

Age UK supports older people who want to go online to do so through a number of excellent digital programmes run by our local Age UKs, but the fact is that for a variety of reasons not everyone is able or willing to use the internet – particularly for more sophisticated tasks – and this will always be the case. Policy makers should stop fantasising about a digital-only world, come back down to earth and make sure older people can continue to access the services to which they are entitled – whether they use the internet or not.”

As we always say, not everybody wants to use the internet and nobody should force it on to those who don’t want or need it, but equally support should always exist for those who wish to give it a try. Admittedly, this philosophy will become increasingly strained as the Government continues to extend its digital-by-default strategy. Finally, Age UK has some recommendations.

Age UK Recommends:

➤ All public services, including the NHS, council services and other nationally provided public services, must offer and promote an affordable, easy to access, offline way of reaching and using them.

➤ The Government must make sure local government receives enough funding to provide offline services.

➤ There needs to be much more funding and support to enable people who are not internet users, but who would like to be, to get online.

➤ The Government should lead on the development of a long-term, fully-funded national Digital Inclusion Strategy, to support people of all ages who want to go online to do so (the last such strategy was produced in 2014).

➤ The Government should change the law to require banks to maintain face-to-face services.

➤ Banks must accelerate the roll-out of shared Banking Hubs to meet the high and continuing demand for face-to-face banking services.

Some years ago we examined the electricity costs of running a modern Home Broadband connection (here), which largely reflected the price of keeping your wireless internet router (or modem) switched-on around the clock. Given the issue of energy costs, we thought it might be worth seeing how this has changed.

Back in 2017 people were paying around 12 to 20 pence per 1 kWh (1,000 Watts per hour) consumed (daytime) and some setups also applied a cheaper nighttime rate, but to save time our estimates were based on the roughly middling rate of 15.5p (pence) per 1kWh of usage. We also opted to exclude the daily standing charge (currently c.53.35 pence per day), since it wasn’t directly connected to the amount of energy consumed by a router.

Since then, the cost of electricity has surged upwards at a shocking pace, although – mercifully – it has started to come down from the 2022 peak, due to a number of reasons that we aren’t going to explore today. The result is that many people have found themselves stuck on standard variable tariffs, which for the sake of argument – and based largely on the January 2024 energy price cap – will charge you around 28.62p per kWh of electricity used (varying between different regions, operators and plans).

The following thus represents somewhat of an updated view of the current costs, which looks at the consumption of the latest router models – those supplied by the biggest broadband ISPs – and also considers the impact of Optical Network Terminals (ONT or UNO), which are currently being installed as part of modern Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) connections.

At this point it’s worth noting that some consumers may feel a desire to switch-off their routers at night to save power. But we’d generally caution against this due to the number of inter-dependent network devices that may be connected to a modern home network (e.g. security alarms, cameras, solar PV systems, mobile phones etc.).

In addition, most people still connect via broadband connections that involve some old copper wiring, such as ADSL, VDSL2 (FTTC / SOGEA) and G.fast. As a general rule, you should avoid switching these on and off a lot because the network operator’s Dynamic Line Management (DLM) system may detect it as a fault, which could drop your line speeds as the connection attempts to find more stability.

Router Features vs Performance

Hopefully it goes without saying that the amount of power a router draws will vary and is dependent upon both the device specification (chipset used, CPU performance etc.) and how much it’s being used at any given time (across WiFi, Ethernet links, firewalls etc.). For example, the WiFi service alone on your router may gobble anything from a few hundred milliwatts and up to 2-3 Watts at peak.

This is why most router manufacturers tend to specify figures for both IDLE consumption (i.e. when the device is operating but not doing much, such as when you’re asleep at night) and LOAD (i.e. when multiple devices are active on your network and moving data at fast speeds). The way manufactures define IDLE and LOAD figures can vary a bit (i.e. different methodologies for testing), but they’re still a reasonable guide.

Some people also use the Power Supply Unit (PSU) figures for routers as a gauge for understanding usage, but this is unwise as PSUs are designed to be able to cope with significantly more electricity than the device itself would typically use (plenty of overhead). In other words, don’t put too much stock in the old Volts x Amps = Watts calculation as a reflection of the router’s real-world consumption.

In addition, a router will only run so fast before you can’t do much more, and it ends up throttling the CPU (impacting your performance) or simply overheating, which may occur before the device itself reaches the max PSU rating. Supply and demand decisions can also impact the manufacturer’s PSU choice, which further divorces this part from actual device consumption.

In our summary we’ve opted to use official IDLE and LOAD figures, but where we couldn’t uncover the correct data we’ve used feedback from end-users to determine the likely consumption. All of these should be considered as estimates because we all use our networks in different ways.

Comparing Power Usage on Major ISP Routers

Before we get started, it’s important to consider the change in broadband value and thus efficiency. Modern routers have to cope with much more powerful and significantly faster WiFi, Ethernet and broadband connections (e.g. FTTC vs FTTP), but at the same time the chipsets and CPUs being used inside these devices have become much more energy efficient. Not to mention that the broadband connections themselves are also more efficient.

The above helps to explain, at least in part, why upgrading to a ten times faster internet connection than you had before doesn’t mean you’ll use ten times more electricity. In fact, even if the latest routers do use a bit more power than the models from 2017, you might still find that your overall electricity usage falls via other devices (e.g. computers) because you won’t have to leave them switched-on as long to conduct big downloads etc.

For example, TalkTalk’s old “Super Router” (HG635) from 2017 gobbled 6 Watts at IDLE and 10 Watts at LOAD. By comparison, the provider’s latest “Wi-Fi Hub 2” (Sagemcom F@st 5464) router consumes 7.29W at IDLE and 10.6W at LOAD, which is despite the fact that the latest model is much more capable than the older kit and is often used with faster broadband connections.

Click over to read page 2 and see the power and cost figures..

News 

US-based Keysight Technologies has out bid rival Viavi Solutions on the purchase of Spirent Communications, offering £1.16 billion for the company this week 

Earlier this month, US technology company Viavi Solutions made a £1 billion takeover bid for UK-based telecoms testing group Spirent Communications.  

At the time, Viavi CEO Oleg Khaykin said that the deal would “deliver enhanced product solutions and applications, accelerate growth in new markets and strengthen innovation through expanded engineering and design capabilities”. 

Now, however, facing a higher offer from Keysight, Spirent has withdrawn its non-binding agreement with Viavi. 

“Following my discussions with the Keysight management team, I am excited about the broader reach and expanded long-term prospects for Spirent arising from the combination with Keysight,” Spirent CEO Eric Updyke said in a statement to Reuters. 

Spirent is a leading provider of automated testing for networks, with a portfolio that includes 5G, cloud, and autonomous vehicle services. 

In a statement on the London Stock Exchange, Spirent directors said that “combining with the Keysight Group will allow the business to better serve customer needs, with increased resources and a broader product offering.”  

“The Spirent Directors also consider that the Acquisition provides an exciting opportunity to better deal with the complexity customers are seeing in today’s world with the Combined Group’s broader capabilities, operational and financial power, and investment in research and development,” the statement continued. 

“Our superior Offer recognizes the value of Spirent’s achievements to-date, and the exciting prospects of the combination of our complementary product portfolios to provide end-to-end solutions for customers across their lifecycle needs,” said Satish Dhanasekaran, President & Chief Executive Officer of Keysight in a press release. 

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

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BT wins £26m contract to connect UK schools
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News 

Founded in 2021 by former Open AI executives, Anthropic is now one of the most well-funded AI firms in the world 

Amazon has announced an investment of $2.75 billion in San Francisco-based AI startup Anthropic, as it looks to compete with AI rivals such as Google and Microsoft through its AI chatbot Claude. 

The move is Amazon’s largest external investment since it was founded in 1994. 

As part of the deal, Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary cloud provider, as well as using AWS’s Trainium and Inferentia chips to build, train, and deploy AI models. 

Back in September, Amazon announced that it would invest an initial $1.25 billion in Anthropic in exchange for a minority stake in the business, with the possibility that the investment could reach up to $4 billion. With this week’s investment, that  milestone has now been hit. 

“Generative AI is poised to be the most transformational technology of our time, and we believe our strategic collaboration with Anthropic will further improve our customers’ experiences, and look forward to what’s next,” said Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of Data and AI at AWS in Amazon’s press release. 

Interest in Anthropic is growing at a meteoric pace, having received around $7.3 billion in funding over the past year alone. 

Part of this backing has come from South Korea’s SK Telecom (SKT), which invested $100 million in the company in an effort to develop a multilingual large language model (LLM) customised for global telcos.  

SKT currently has ambitions of becoming a world leader in AI, with Chief Financial Officer Kim Jin Won saying on an earnings call last year that the company was “stepping up efforts on all fronts to transform itself into an AI company”. 

In related news, this month AWS, Anthropic, and Accenture joined forces to help organisations in highly regulated industries – such as healthcare, banking and insurance – to adopt and scale generative AI solutions so that their organisations can improve innovation and productivity.  

“By combining Anthropic’s focus on model performance and safety, AWS’s approach to security and reliability, and Accenture’s deep domain expertise with technical know-how, we aim to build tailored solutions that enable key use cases,” said Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei in a statement. 

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

Also in the news:
VEON exits Kyrgyzstan to focus on key markets
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News

A US judge ruled this week that T-Mobile can appeal a pending class action lawsuit that is seeking damages related to T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint

This week, Illinois U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin has ruled that T-Mobile can proceed with an appeal of a class action lawsuit that could cost the company billions of dollars in compensation.

The class action lawsuit, which is being brough by seven subscribers of AT&T or Verizon, argues that the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile reduced competition in the wireless market to such an extent that it forced AT&T and Verizon to increase their prices. This, they say, saw tens to hundreds of millions of consumers paying more for their wireless services than they would have otherwise.

The plaintiffs are seeking monetary compensation as well as other remedies, which could even include the reversal of the Sprint–T-Mobile merger entirely.

Back in November, courts declined to dismiss the lawsuit at T-Mobile’s request, saying that AT&T and Verizon’s price increases could “plausibly” be linked to the merger.

T-Mobile immediately signalled their intention to appeal the decision, saying that the case’s “expansive conception of antitrust standing is unprecedented”.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers, on the other hand, argued that a length appeal process would delay potential compensation and could make dissolving the merger more difficult. They subsequently argued that the case should be put before a jury before an appeal was presented.

Now, Judge Durkin has confirmed that T-Mobile will be allowed to proceed with their appeal, with the operator arguing the plaintiffs’ have not sufficiently alleged antitrust standing.

Antitrust lawyers will be watching the proceedings of the case closely. Federal antitrust law allows consumers to bring private challenges against mergers and acquisitions, but cases arguing that a company’s M&A activity had negatively affected a rival’s customers are very rare.

If the case is ultimately allowed to proceed, it could significantly expand the scope of future antitrust proceedings.

Has the Sprint–T-Mobile merger negatively affected the US mobile landscape? Join the discussion live Houston, Texas, at this year’s Broadband Communities Summit

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Network access provider Openreach (BT Group) is preparing to launch a new service for broadband ISPs, which will optionally allow their customers to choose a Multiport Optical Network Terminal (ONT) device instead of the normal single port unit that is deployed during home installs. But some installs will get it by default.

The ONT or optical modem device is usually installed inside your home or office (wall hung), near to where the fibre optic cable physically enters your property, and its primary job is simply to take the optical signal and convert it into an electrical one that can be connected to your broadband router via a Local Area Network (Ethernet) port. The standard ONT is usually a very small single port device.

The operator has supplied 4 port ONTs in the past (i.e. 1 optical input and 4 LAN outputs), which in the early years was actually the default. Openreach also trialled a 4 port ONT from Nokia (G-040G-B – GPON Multiport 4+0 ONT) back in 2021 (here), albeit only for specific order journeys, such as to replace an existing ONT upon request. The new service appears to be using the same Nokia device, albeit no longer as a trial.

However, Openreach have now launched a new optional Multiport ONT service for FTTP, which will become available from 1st May 2024. But the new service will attract a cost (pricing). For example, a standard FTTP install charge (like the one you might have in a normal home)for a Multiport ONT will cost £120.05 +vat for packages at a speed of less than 500Mbps, which rises to £500 for speeds of 500Mbps or more (we’re not entirely sure why the latter is that expensive).

Customers who merely want to replace (Box Swap) their existing / older ONT for a new Multiport ONT will be charged £90 +vat for sub-500Mbps packages and £500 for 500Mbps or faster tiers. Existing “Equinox” connection discounts on standard installs, where applicable, will also apply to Multiport ONT first installs.

Openreach Statement

Multiport ONT is capable of supporting up to 4x FTTP services, each with a maximum download speed of 1000 Mbit/s, using a single fibre lead-in. The Multiport ONT is available as an optional add-on at the point of install when ordering a first Openreach FTTP service to an end customer, and will also serve as the default ONT for a specific list of premises types.

For second line installs where a single port ONT is present with an active Openreach FTTP service, Openreach will carry out a Box Swap to replace the single port ONT with a Multiport ONT to host both FTTP services.

The mention of Multiport being the default ONT for “specific” premises is largely intended to cover installs for locations such as education sites, libraries, post offices, petrol stations, hotels and more. But ISPs will also gain the option to override the use of a Multiport ONT on Box Swaps via the Restrict Swap functionality, but Openreach has yet to fully implement this feature.

One obvious catch above is that, for some reason, Openreach are launching this without support for their fastest 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps FTTP broadband tiers. We hope to have some pictures of the new kit soon, but given that it’s the day before Good Friday, then it may be after the long weekend before we hear back.