Network builder and UK ISP FACTCO has today announced that their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has finally started to go live in the rural Northumberland (England) town of Rothbury, which comes almost three years after the project (here) was first announced. At present the local deployment, which has been partly or fully funded […]

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The UK altnet says its full fibre rollout is accelerating at an “exponential” pace, aiming to reach one million premises passed by the end of the year 

The announcement means that over 500,000 homes and businesses will now have access to speeds of up to 10Gbps on its XGS PON fibre infrastructure. The company already provides services to roughly 40,000 customers via its sister company YouFibre. 

The milestone is a significant progression towards the company’s growth targets to pass one million homes by early 2024. Netomnia passed over 125,000 premises in Q2 of 2023, with the company now operating at a building rate of 500,000 homes and businesses a year 

“Reaching half a million premises and already providing service to 40,000 of them is a significant achievement and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team. Especially when you consider we only started out two and a half years ago, and we are now the sixth-largest network in the UK, have the third-fastest build rate and are building in all four UK countries,” said CEO Jeremy Chelot.  

“I am particularly pleased about the speed at which we are now building. We truly understand the need for a future-proofed network like ours, so we are working as hard as we can to bring it to as many people as possible”. 

The rollout of the full-fibre broadband network aims to bring competition to areas with existing connections, whilst introducing fast and reliable speeds to rural and under resourced areas in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. 

To hear more from the altnets, join the ecosystem in discussion at the UK’s largest digital economy event, Connected Britain 

 

Also in the news: 

What’s in a name? Trials and tribulations of being an altnet 

GoFibre kicks off fibre build in rural Northumberland 

CityFibre wins trio of Project Gigabit contracts worth £318m 

The CEO of mobile operator Vodafone, Ahmed Essam, has indirectly warned regulators that a decision to block its attempted merger with Three UK (CK Hutchison) would result in them cutting their investment in digital infrastructure (5G broadband etc.) and being unable to deliver on the Government’s goals. Last month saw the operators reveal that they’d […]

Network builder Digital Infrastructure – supported by broadband ISP BeFibre – has today announced that their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure has added another five locations to their rollout plan for the United Kingdom and this time they’re all in South Yorkshire (England). The operator, which began its rollout in 2021 and aims to cover […]

Telecoms analysts at global market intelligence firm ThinkCX have today released the results from their latest market share report on the UK’s broadband ISP market, which claims to show that providers “with the biggest price hikes lost the most ground to rivals“. But the shifts are fairly small, and it may not be telling the […]

Broadband and phone giant BT Group (inc. Openreach, Plusnet and EE) has this morning announced that the operator’s current CEO, Philip Jansen, is to leave the business “at an appropriate moment over the next 12 months“. Since taking on the role in February 2019, the operator’s share price has fallen from around 230p to 122p. […]

An unspecified number of homes and businesses in the Worcestershire (England) town of Malvern have been hit by major disruption to their broadband ISP and phone connectivity, which has lasted for several days, after five of Openreach’s local cables were damaged. This has required extensive engineering work to fully repair. According to the Malvern Observer, […]

Business focused UK ISP Cerberus Networks has recently become the latest provider to increase the pricing of their broadband packages, which has seen a number of their more consumer grade and Openreach based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) tiers going up in price by around £3-£4 per month. For example, the provider’s 115Mbps “Cerberus FTTP Plus” package has […]

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Telefónica has sold a 54% stake in its Peruvian network to US-based investment firm KKR and 10% to Entel Peru, retaining a 36% share  

In an effort to reduce debt and fund investment to build 5G mobile networks, Telefónica, one of Spanish America’s largest telecommunications firms, has recently made a sequence of asset sales in order to focus on its core businesses in Spain, the UK, Germany, and Brazil. As part of this move, in 2021 The El Salvador unit was sold to General International Telecom for $144 million, followed by Liberty Latin America’s acquisition of the Costa Rican unit. 

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, although Telefónica noted that it would cut the company’s debt by €200 million. A close banking source to the deal estimated that, including debt, the transaction valued 100% of the unit at around €550 million. 

As part of a wider deal, KKR has also purchased majority interest in PangeaCo and the existing fibre optic networks of Entel Peru, combing their fibre assets with those of Telefónica Peru to build the country’s first nationwide open access wholesale fibre company, ‘ON*NET Fibra de Perú’.  

KKR will own a controlling 54% stake in the business, Telefónica Hispanoamérica will own 36%, and Entel Perú will own 10%. Telefónica and Entel will serve as anchor tenants of the new network. 

KKR added that they plan to invest an additional $200 million to grow Peru’s digital infrastructure to more than double the size of the existing fibre optic networks, to which currently less than 35% of the population have access, to reach 5.2 million homes passed by the end of 2026. 

As always, the transaction will be subject to the typical regulatory approvals.  

The creation of ON*NET Fibra de Perú follows the pattern of similar model to that KKR has employed with Telefónica and Entel in other markets in recent years. In 2021, KKR acquired and combined the assets of both operators in Chile and Colombia – creating ON*NET Fibra de Chile and ON*NET Fibra de Colombia, respectively – and has expanded these wholesale networks significantly over the past two years. 

Meanwhile, in Europe, KKR is deeply embroiled in the ongoing battle with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti  and Macquarie Group over who will be allowed to purchase TIM’s fixed broadband network, which analysts suggest could be worth up to €23 billion. 

How is the European fibre landscape changing in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam 

Also in the news:
TIM to enter exclusivity negotiations with KKR
Cellnex snaps up Iliad’s stake in OnTower Poland
KPN buys Primevest’s Dutch fibre network 

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According to findings from global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, the non-terrestrial networks (NTN)–Mobile segment could exceed 200 million connections by 2031 

Last year saw the completion of 3GPP’s Release-17, contained within which were various new specifications allowing NTN (primarily satellites) to serve both handheld mobile devices and the IoT. Since then, numerous firms like Apple, Huawei, ZTE, Qualcomm, Motorola, MediaTek, Bullitt, Globalstar, Inmarsat, and Iridium have all entered strategic partnerships within the satellite and mobile industries, seeking to capitalise on the emerging NTN–mobile market. 

For the mobile network operators (MNOs), meanwhile, the growing prominence of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations represents a major opportunity to their coverage beyond the reach of their traditional, terrestrial networks. T-Mobile, for instance, has joined forces with Starlink (SpaceX) to supply satellite-to-mobile connectivity. Similar partnerships from satellite operators such as Lynk and AST SpaceMobile, have been struck with major MNOs including Vodafone, Rakuten Mobile, AT&T, Bell Canada, MTN Group, Orange, Zain KSA, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), and Telefónica.  

“The emergence of satellite-enabled mobile devices from major consumer smartphone manufacturers and chipset makers like Apple, Qualcomm, Motorola, MediaTek, Huawei, and ZTE indicates the upcoming introduction of satellite communications into the mainstream consumer market,” said Victor Xu, Satellite Communications Research Analyst at ABI Research.  

However, whilst the advancements in satellite-to-cellular communications are exciting, it should be remembered that the majority of satellite services will initially target the IoT, low data rate communications, and emergency service communications, not the consumer segment. As the technology and standards mature in the following years, however, more advanced 5G-based New Radio (NR)–NTN will be incorporated, which will increase the capabilities of the network, allowing for more users.  

This introduction of NR–NTN satellite services, expected in 2026, will likely be the key driver for the large projected growth in the sector, with ABI projecting a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 59% from 2024 to 2031. According to the company’sThe Role of Satellite in 5G: Non-Terrestrial Networks Mobile application analysis report, the market could reach a value of over $18 billion by 2031, with up to 200 million NTN connections. 

 

How is the NTN-mobile market changing in 2023? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam