The UK media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today revealed more details about their proposed plan to auction off a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency across the 26GHz and 40GHz bands, which will be used by mobile operators to deliver even faster 5G (mobile broadband) services in urban areas. At present […]

News 

From March, CEO Tristia Harrison will become a non-executive director of the new independent wholesale platform 

The CEO of TalkTalk, Tristia Harrison, is stepping down from her role as the firm prepares for its demerger. 

Last week, the Broadband ISP informed staff of their plan to demerge the business into three separate entities: consumer, business and wholesale. 

Harrison, who has been in the role since 2017, will oversee the group’s breakup, before handing over leadership of the wholesale unit to Tom O’Hagan, the consumer unit to Adam Dunlop and former Managing Director of TalkTalk Direct, and for now, it appears that Ruth Kennedy with continue to run the business arm. 

The separation is expected to be effective from 1st November this year, with the legal demerger is aiming to be completed by 1st March next year. 

“The demerger will allow each company to focus on meeting the needs of their distinctive customer bases, eliminate operational complexity, and support balance sheet refinancing and investment on a standalone basis,” said the company in a press release. 

For some time, TalkTalk have mulled the break-up of the group as debt pressure has grown, which now stands at over £1.1 billion. The deadlines to service these debts are quickly approaching, with TalkTalk carrying a £330 million revolving credit facility that matures next November, as well as £685 million of debt that matures in February 2025. 

The cost of refinancing these debts have pushed the firm to reconsider its options. 

Last year, there was chatter around a proposed £3 billion takeover by VMO2, which could have solved TalkTalks’s problems, but this did not materialise. The firm is hoping to fetch £150 million from its business arm, for which Daisy Group is currently the frontrunner, after talks with Sky collapsed.  

How will the TalkTalk demerger affect the UK broadband market? Find out at Connected North 2024 – book your tickets now! 

Also in the news:
Vodafone’s Andrea Dona: The UK has fallen behind on 5G, but not lost the race
BT outlines timetable for analogue landline switch-off 
Connected Britain 2023: the award winners   

News

The UK’s Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which supports analog landline services, is planned for closure by 2025

This week, BT has shared more details about the way in which it will gradually shut down the nation’s PSTN and rollout its replacement Internet Protocol (IP)-based Digital Voice service.

Having successfully completed shutdown trials earlier this year in the East Midlands, Yorkshire, and Northern Ireland, BT says it is now ready to continue the process in a phased manner, region by region, aiming for a nationwide shutdown of the PSTN in 2025.

BT’s Digital Voice Rollout plan:

Autumn 2023

North West
London

Spring 2024

West Midlands
South East
Wales
East Anglia

Summer 2024

North East
Scotland
South West

The UK’s PSTN is best understood as BT’s old copper network that facilitates analogue landline phone calls throughout the country, though it can also support some other older technologies too, such as CCTV and alarm systems.

In recent years, however, this network is increasing becoming obsolete, as more customers prefer communicating via mobile services, messaging apps, and internet calls. All of these services far outclass those delivered via PSTN, being more reliable, more flexible, and even mor energy efficient than their copper counterpart.

As a result, PTSN closures are currently taking place in developed markets all over the world, with markets like the Netherlands, Germany, and Estonia having already completed the process of shifting to digital voice.

Indeed, BT itself had been planning this phase out for a number of years and, in fact, had originally initiated the process on a nationwide basis last year. However, these plans were halted in March when Storm Eunice caused power cuts for some customers, temporarily leaving them unable to contact emergency services over their new IP-based voice service.

With the newly announced schedule, BT is restarting this process, but is being notably more cautious in its planning, noting that it will not proactively switch customers to digital voice in cases where it believes additional support will be needed.

This includes customers with a healthcare pendant that may currently operate on the PSTN, customers who only use landlines, those with no mobile signal, those over 70 years of age, and those that have disclosed any additional requirements.

The operator is also holding events around the country and taking out numerous ads to highlight that the shift is taking place, encouraging customers to get in touch if they are concerned about what the switch off may mean for them.

“Through the work with our Digital Voice Advisory Group and our regional engagement, we’ve held 40 events, placed local radio and newspaper ads and met over 4,000 customers in person,” said Lucy Baker MBE, All-IP Director, BT Consumer.

“We understand that any change can be unsettling, and we’re here to support our customers every step of the way. First-hand experience shows that once people have the facts and have spoken to one of our advisors, they feel confident to make the switch.”

For vast majority of customers, however, the shift to digital voice will be relatively painless, simply meaning they will plug their phone handset into their broadband router rather than the traditional wall socket.

How will the PSTN shutdown affect customrs across the UK? Join the UK’s telecoms ecosystem in discussion at Connected North 2024

Also in the news:
Vodafone’s Andrea Dona: The UK has fallen behind on 5G, but not lost the race
Zegona in talks to buy Vodafone Spain
Connected Britain 2023: the award winners  

Customers of BT’s national UK network of free and premium public WiFi hotspots, which are currently branded as BT Wi-Fi, have noted that the operator recently started to inform users that the service is shortly going to be rebranded under the EE WiFi name. The move is part of BT’s wider branding shake-up, which was […]

The Zayo Group, which runs a large metro and long-haul fibre optic network that delivers global reach, has just announced that their network capacity across the United Kingdom and Europe has been “supercharged” by becoming fully 400G (Gbps) enabled. Next stop.. 800G! Zayo’s European network is currently built on 5 diverse subsea cables, 3 of […]

News

The mergers come alongside a new cash injection of £250 million from Macquarie Capital, Israel Infrastructure Fund (IIF), and Tiger Infrastructure Partners

This week, Macquarie Capital, IIF, and Tiger Infrastructure Partners have jointly announced that Broadway Partners, Cadence Networks, and SWS Broadband will all be merged into Voneus, effective immediately.

The deal will also see the trio of investors inject up to £250 million into Voneus, with the debt fund raise led by Macquarie.

Voneus primarily focusses on serving rural customers in the UK with superfast broadband via fixed wireless access (FWA) and fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), having identified roughly 200,000 rural premises that could benefit from a technology upgrade. These lofty goals, alongside the company’s participation in the UK government’s Project Gigabit, have helped Voneus to attract significant investment in recent years, most notably from Macquarie in 2019 (further increased in 2021) and IIF 2021.

But despite the scale of the company’s ambitions, Voneus currently only covers roughly 10,000 premises in England and Wales.

Now, the company is set to receive a much-needed boost via a merger with Cadence Networks and SWS Broadband, two broadband providers both owned by Rural Broadband Solutions Holdings, which, in turn, is majority owned by Tiger Infrastructure Partners.

As a result of the deal, Tiger Infrastructure will become a major shareholder in Voneus.

Alongside directly absorbing SWS and Cadence Networks, Voneus will also merge with Broadband Partners, a fibre altnet that Tiger Infrastructure and Macquarie have now rescued from administration.

Launched in 2016, Broadway Partners is fibre altnet that once intended to connect up to 250,000 homes and businesses by 2025, focussing mainly on rural areas in Scotland and Wales. However, against the economic background of rising costs and soaring interest rates, the company has struggled to remain afloat in recent years, finally entering administration in May.

Two weeks ago, rumours began to circulate that Macquarie and Tiger Infrastructure Partners were seeking to acquire Broadway – rumours that now appear to have come true.

Exactly how many customers this trio of mergers will add to Voneus’ national footprint remains unclear, though Broadway Partners administration filing suggested they currently covered around 11,000 premises.

The scale of the mergers can be somewhat inferred, however, by Voneus’ new rollout goals, with the company now aiming to serve around 350,000 premises across the UK via both FTTP and FWA.

“This is a very exciting time for Voneus, and for our new partners, shareholders, and the communities we serve,” said Christopher Traggio, CEO of Voneus Broadband. “We have the backing of our shareholders to accelerate our roll-out plan, which we know will make a positive impact as we all share the same focus to deliver innovative broadband solutions to communities across the UK.”

“Welcoming SWS Broadband, Cadence Networks and Broadway Partners into Voneus provides us with even more opportunities to support businesses, individuals, and communities to thrive – fostering economic development, education, and communication to help improve the overall quality of life no matter where they are from,” he added.

In recent years, spurred by on by favourable regulation and government subsidies, the UK’s fibre market has grown rapidly, spawning over 100 altnets across the country. More recently, however, the strained economy has seen investment slow and costs rise, inevitably steering the industry towards consolidation. This combination from Voneus is one of the first significant tie-ups in this regard, but it is unlikely to be the last.

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:
Vodafone’s Andrea Dona: The UK has fallen behind on 5G, but not lost the race
Zegona in talks to buy Vodafone Spain
Connected Britain 2023: the award winners  

News

400G connectivity is increasingly becoming the standard for businesses worldwide 

 

Zayo Group, a leading global communications infrastructure provider, has announced that its network in Europe is fully 400G enabled. 

The upgraded network will allow businesses, carriers, datacentres, and hyperscalers to gain access to high bandwidth, low latency connectivity throughout Europe.  

Zayo’s European network is connected to five subsea cables. Three of these are owned and operated by Zayo, powering 2,500 on-net buildings, 125 core points-of-presence , and 16 metro fibre markets. 

“Our customers are increasingly taking advantage of bandwidth-intensive applications to keep up with the competition – from AI and IoT to advanced analytics – which require significantly higher bandwidth and low latency connectivity,” said Zayo’s European managing director Yannick Leboyer in a statement. 

“Our ultimate goal is to ensure our global clients can remain on the cutting edge. That’s why we’re committed to the continued enhancement and modernization of our network to provide the fastest, most reliable connectivity.” 

Research from Omdia, in partnership with Ciena, showed that companies are increasingly shifting to 400G services, with 74% relying on high-capacity services like 400G connect with enterprise locations or cloud providers, and 58% rely on it for data centre-to-data centre communication. 

“Customers are now starting to buy 400G wave services across Europe, turning this from a niche to a real market,” said Will Rhodes, CMS Consultant at Ciena. 

“They are looking to achieve the highest capacity to support their business outcomes whilst delivering on their sustainability goals. 400G will support the ever-increasing data demand driven by new applications such AI and the aggregation of Machine-to-Machine connectivity.” 

Zayo’s North American network is scheduled to be fully 400G enabled by the end of next year. 

Earlier this year, Zayo’s Operations Vice President James Ovel spoke with Total Telecom following the installation of its new subsea cable, Zeus, connecting the UK to mainland Europe. Zayo claims Zeus to be the most secure subsea cable in the world, with the company noting its interesting deployment process, which included detonating a number of discovered sea mines from World War II. 

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:
Orange launches new subsea cable vessel
Sweden raises $380m in latest spectrum auction
Vodafone’s Andrea Dona: The UK has fallen behind on 5G, but not lost the race 

UK ISP Home Telecom, which is a subsidiary of the wider Telecom Acquisitions (TAL) group (TalkTalk holds a controlling stake in them), has today announced two further interesting acquisitions by welcoming customers from local operators Bloomtel and OpenFibre to the business – all for an undisclosed sum. Open Fibre is currently focused on serving customers […]

The NGMN Alliance (Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance), which is an open forum founded by mobile operators from across the world (e.g. BT, Vodafone, Tele2 etc.), has today taken a more “proactive” stance on influencing the development of future 6G mobile broadband tech by pushing for a more “graceful evolution“. At present it’s fairly normal […]

News

The ship is set to replace a vessel that has been in service since 1983 

Orange Marine, the subsidiary of French telco group Orange that specialises in submarine cable operations, is launching a new ship dedicated to the maintenance and repair of critical subsea cables.  

The ship, named the ‘Sophie Germain’, is 100 metres in length and includes a 450 kW ROV (remotely operated vehicle) that is used to cut, inspect, and bury the fibre optic cable that is stored on board. 

Orange claim that their new “state-of-the-art” ship will bring a “new era of sustainability in the subsea cable and broader network industry”, using less fuel than previous models I and emitting 20% less carbon dioxide and82% less nitrogen oxide. 

“It is with great pride that we inaugurate today the Sophie Germain, a new generation cable ship,” said Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange, in a press release. 

“Through this launch, the Orange group reaffirms its central role in the laying and maintenance of submarine cables, a little-known industry and yet an essential base for the development of connectivity around the world. At the cutting-edge of technology and thanks to a reduced environmental footprint, the Sophie Germain contributes to the Group’s sustainable innovation approach to respond to the major challenges of our time.” 

Orange is a major player in the subsea cable industry, with its ships having installed 257,000 km of submarine fibre optic cables and made over 800 repairs, as of the end of 2023. 

The launch of new cable ships in the subsea industry is a rarity. There are only around 60 cable ships in the world designed for the deployment and maintenance of subsea cables. 

There were only five new vessels launched since 2004, and 19 of the ships currently in use are over 30 years old. New ships can often cost over $100 million to develop, with many operators choosing to repurpose older vessels to save costs. 

Before the deployment of the ‘Sophie Germain’, Orange Marine’s last new ship was the Pierre de Fermat in 2014.

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:
Vodafone’s Andrea Dona: The UK has fallen behind on 5G, but not lost the race
Zegona in talks to buy Vodafone Spain
Connected Britain 2023: the award winners