Opensignal has published their latest biannual Mobile Network Experience Report for H2 2023, which benchmarks the 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) services from all four primary UK mobile operators – EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three UK – to find which ones deliver the best performance. Overall, EE and Three UK seem to fair the best. […]

The European Commission has published their annual ‘Broadband Coverage in Europe’ study, which reveals how the EU’s fixed broadband and 5G mobile networks compare across all of its 27 countries, plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. We take a closer look to see how the UK is fairing. The EU’s main goal for […]

European satellite operator Eutelsat has today announced the completion of their all-share combination with London-based broadband satellite operator OneWeb, which had been partly owned by the UK Government but will now become a subsidiary of the Paris-based operator. Just to recap. OneWeb has already launched 634 of their small (c.150kg) first generation (GEN1) Low Earth […]

Broadband ISP and network builder Gigaclear, which currently covers 500,000 premises (430k Ready for Service) across 25 counties in England with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has today announced that they’re investing £10m to expand their fibre into rural parts of Norfolk. The first engineering work in the county technically began this summer when the […]

News

Werner will become Managing Director of Business Customers, taking over from previous MD Hagen Rickmann

This week, Telekom Deutschland has announced a shift of is management structure, with current chief financial officer Klaus Werner set to take the reins of the company’s enterprise business unit.

The unit’s current head, Hagen Rickmann, is leaving the role after almost 15 years to pursue ‘new professional challenges’, according to the company press release. In a statement thanking his team, Rickmann explained that it was time for him to “take a new direction” and that he was “looking forward to new challenges”.

The unit’s new head, Werner, has been part of Telekom Group for almost 30 years, beginning his career as a controller and progressing to numerous executive roles within various business units, including the Telekom Shop and T-Systems International.

He has served as the CFO of Telekom Deutschland since 2014.

“Hagen Rickmann has done a lot for the group over 15 years and most recently for Telekom’s business customer division in Germany. I would like to thank him for his commitment, especially in the digitalization of medium-sized businesses. During his time as Managing Director, Hagen brought his area of ​​responsibility to the forefront of European B2B telecommunications companies and was able to ensure annual growth,” said Telekom Germany boss Srini Gopalan. “At the same time, I am pleased that Klaus Werner has chosen this new role. Klaus has been part of our management team for many years and knows the challenges well. This will ensure a smooth transition.”

The enterprise unit reportedly has sales of around €9 billion and 10,500 employees.

Werner will take over the role on October 14.

How is the German telecoms market evolving in 2023? Join the industry in discussion at this year’s Connected Germany conference live in Munich

Also in the news:
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Broadway Partners, Cadence Networks, and SWS Broadband folded into Voneus

A new analysis of 265,572 consumer broadband ISP speed tests claims to have revealed the top fastest and slowest five areas, as well as five cities, across the United Kingdom. For example, the village of Halkirk in the Highlands of Scotland was named as the slowest area (2.8Mbps), while Canterbury came out as the slowest […]

News

The investment aims to push France to forefront of the AI advancement race 

Xavier Niel, the founder and CEO of telecoms group Iliad, is set to invest €200 million in AI projects in an effort to ensure that Europe remains competitive against US and China in the field. 

“We want – and we can – create a European AI champion. It’s a question of sovereignty: to protect our data, we need platforms established on our territory,” said Niel. 

The investment includes the purchase of an NVIDA supercomputer, said to be the most advanced supercomputing platform in the world; the establishment of a research centre in Paris; the creation of an annual AI conference; and providing funding for startups. 

“To influence the AI market, you need computing power. To have computing power, you need supercomputers. And to have supercomputers, you have to invest massively,” Niel continued. 

In this regard, Iliad has also been pushing to scale up its cloud subsidiary Scaleway, attempting to develop a European cloud system that can act a as an alternative to those offered by US tech companies, like Microsoft and Google. 

However, Niel and Europe at large have an uphill battle on their hands when it comes to AI. Major US tech firms like Google, Microsoft and Meta, are already investing billions on AI R&D, seemingly giving the country a significant lead when it comes to the new technology. China, while somewhat lagging behind in this initial AI frenzy, has plans to massively scale up its AI investments over the coming years, with some industry reports suggesting it will exceed $38 billion in 2027. 

Combined, the North America and Asia Pacific regions are leading the global AI market, according to analysts at GlobalData, with a 63% market share, compared to France and Western Europe’s 19%. 

Nonetheless, Europe racing to close the gap, with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announcing a new initiative earlier this month to give fast-track access to AI startups to high-performance computers to train their models.  

“Europe has now become a leader in supercomputing, with three out of the five most powerful supercomputers in the world. We need to capitalise on that,” von der Laden said in a speech to MEPs. 

Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscriber to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here   

Also in the news: 
TalkTalk CEO steps down as de-merger continues 
BT outlines timetable for analogue landline switch-off 
Broadway Partners, Cadence Networks, and SWS Broadband folded into Voneus 

Interview

At this year’s Connected Britain, we had the pleasure of speaking to Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, to discuss the enormous acceleration of the UK broadband market in recent years and the current chatter around market consolidation 

“Some level of consolidation is inevitable,” explained Selley. “I see well over 100 altnets out there and that possibly is not what we are going to see in five years’ time. Some of the bigger altnets sound like they are interested in being consolidators. Some level of consolidation is likely and healthy, so I look forward to the developments in that space – but it’s highly unlikely to involve Openreach!” 

In the interview, Selley went on to describe the current state of the UK broadband market as “super healthy”, touching on the importance of Equinox 2 pricing offer and the growing focus on public education to promote the take-up of fibre services.    

“Let’s celebrate achievements of the industry over the last few years,” concluded Selley. “How far we have come in the last few years is incredible.”  

 You can watch the full Connected Britain interview from the link below: 

Openreach were a Gold Sponsor at this year’s Connected Connected Britain. To hear more about the UK’s broadband market, join us at Connected North in April next year – book your tickets now!

Also in the news:
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TalkTalk CEO steps down as de-merger continues
Broadway Partners, Cadence Networks, and SWS Broadband folded into Voneus

News

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel (pictured) is set to reopen the ‘open internet’ debate later this week

Earlier this month, Democrat Anna Gomez was finally confirmed as the new FCC Commissioner, ending the deadlock over the agency’s vacant fifth seat that had been immovable for the last two years.

Upon taking office in November 2021, President Joe Biden had quickly indicated his preferred candidate to fill the vacant fifth seat on the FCC as lawyer Gigi Sohn. However, Sohn quickly found herself facing fierce opposition from Republicans within the Senate, with some arguing she “lacked the impartiality to sit on the FCC”.

Now, with the seemingly less objectionable Gomez confirmed to be taking on the position on the FCC, the Democrats once again have a three-to-two majority within the agency, potentially opening the door for a number of reforms.

One such topic that appears likely to be up for debate once again is the matter of net neutrality, with FCC chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel set to release a full proposal on the matter for public comment tomorrow. After a three-week period, the proposal will then be brought to a vote within the FCC itself, which, if successful, would begin the lengthy process of drafting new regulatory rules.

These draft rules would then face further public scrutiny, as well as a final vote by the FCC, before being signed into law.

Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally by the internet service provider regardless of content. The concept was a key feature of the Obama administration but was overturned under the Trump government in 2018.

The proposal itself reportedly seeks to reclassify broadband services under Title II of the Telecommunication Act, designating them as a utility and therefore bringing them under the FCC’s regulatory control, just like existing telephony services. This would give the FCC the power it needs to regulate service providers effectively and enforce net neutrality.

However, Rosenworcel says the FCC will also use a “light touch” approach similar to that introduced in 2015, which would make broadband providers exempt from around 700 regulations typically enforced on companies subject to Title II of the Telecommunication Act. These measures, it is hoped, will make the net neutrality proposition more palatable for the concept’s detractors.

“In the wake of the pandemic and the generational investment in internet access, we have a window to update our policies to make sure that the internet is not only open, but fast and fair, safe and secure,” she said. “Now is the time for our rules of the road for internet service providers to reflect the reality that internet access is a necessity for daily life.”

None the less, the proposition is still likely to face significant lobbying from the US broadband industry, which lobbied hard in 2017 and 2018 to see net neutrality rules repealed.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest US telecoms news? Join the industry in discussion at Connected America 2024 live in Texas

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Press Release

After many years of regulatory, standardization and technical implementation activities, the United States’ dynamic, three-tiered, hierarchical framework to coordinate shared use of 150 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) band has finally become a commercial success. Although the shared spectrum arrangement is access technology neutral, the 3GPP cellular wireless ecosystem is at the forefront of CBRS adoption, with more than half of all active CBSDs (Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices) based on LTE and 5G NR air interface technologies.

LTE-based CBRS network deployments have gained considerable momentum in recent years and encompass hundreds of thousands of cell sites – operating in both GAA (General Authorized Access) and PAL (Priority Access License) spectrum tiers – to support use cases as diverse as mobile network densification, FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) in rural communities, MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) offload, neutral host small cells for in-building coverage enhancement, and private cellular networks in support of IIoT (Industrial IoT), enterprise connectivity, distance learning and smart city initiatives. 

Commercial rollouts of 5G NR network equipment operating in the CBRS band have also begun, which are laying the foundation for advanced application scenarios that have more demanding performance requirements in terms of throughput, latency, reliability, availability and connection density – for example, Industry 4.0 applications such as connected production machinery, mobile robotics, AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) and AR (Augmented Reality)-assisted troubleshooting.

Examples of 5G NR-based CBRS network installations range from luxury automaker BMW Group’s industrial-grade 5G network for autonomous logistics at its Spartanburg plant in South Carolina and the U.S. Navy’s standalone private 5G network at NAS (Naval Air Station) Whidbey Island to mobile operator Verizon’s planned activation of 5G NR-equipped CBRS small cells to supplement its existing 5G service deployment over C-band and mmWave (Millimeter Wave) spectrum.

SNS Telecom & IT’s report forecasts that annual investments in LTE and 5G NR-based CBRS RAN, mobile core and transport network infrastructure will account for nearly $900 Million by the end of 2023. Complemented by an expanding selection of 3GPP Band 48/n48-compatible end user devices, the market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 20% between 2023 and 2026 to surpass $1.5 Billion in annual spending by 2026. Much of this growth will be driven by private cellular, neutral host and fixed wireless broadband network deployments, as well as 5G buildouts aimed at improving the economics of the cable operators’ MVNO services.