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The new facility will house test labs, warehouses, production lines, and offices, providing customers and partners the ideal location for the co-creation of new mobile solutions

This week, Ericsson has announced plans to create of a new manufacturing and research facility in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

Situated in the Ulemiste City business park, alongside the company’s existing supply factory, the €155 million investment will see the creation of a new 50,000 square metre tech hub, featuring various offices, laboratories, and testing grounds.

Ericsson says that the site will provide their partners and customers with a dedicated space for co-developing new technologies and production techniques, helping to deliver a global impact on industrialisation for volume production.

According to Ericsson, the move will create a “symbiotic relationship” between the company’s R&D efforts in their home market of Sweden and its manufacturing assets in Estonia.

“This move is in line with Ericsson’s long-term strategy for a more resilient and sustainable supply chain, significantly reducing our carbon footprint and harnessing the power of 5G for smart manufacturing,” explained Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson.

The new site will consolidate all of the company’s existing Estonian operations, providing a focal point for the company’s roughly 2,200 staff in the country.

Beyond improving R&D efforts and intercompany collaboration, the new hub will also be more sustainable than the company’s existing Estonian operations, with Ericsson suggesting it will produce 70% less carbon emissions than the company’s four current sites in Tallinn.

“This smart hub will be powered 100 percent by renewable electricity and built with optimal efficiency through AI, machine learning, robotics, and other advanced Industry 4.0 technologies,” added Jejdling.

The new site is expected to be operational in early 2026.

Ericsson’s focus on Estonia has been increasing in recent months, with the vendor having announced back in May that it was working with local mobile operator Telia to deploy a private 5G network at its existing supply site. The site is currently responsible for nearly half of Ericsson’s new product introductions – i.e., the process of turning R&D projects into viable, scalable commercial products – and plays a significant strategic role in expanding the company’s 5G portfolio.

How is the telecoms ecosystem evolving in 2023? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam 

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Battersea power station is now benefitting from fast 4G speeds provided by Vodafone, recently named London’s most reliable network.

Vodafone customers visiting, working or residing in the newly opened Battersea Power station can now benefit from fast 4G connections and more reliable calls, following the launch of a new in-building cellular network.

The improvements have been introduced by in-building connectivity specialist Exchange Communications, ensuring that those visiting and working in the Grade II listed building’s bars, restaurants, shops and office spaces have access to a dependable Vodafone 4G signal. The coverage also extends to the Power Station’s Lift 109, a state-of-the-art glass elevator that offers 360-degree panoramic views of London, therefore allowing visitors to share their visit on social media quickly and easily.

“The vision for Battersea Power Station was to create a highly integrated and interactive space where people can live, work, and socialise, all within this new riverside neighbourhood for London,” said Tom Sime, CEO of Exchange Communications. “As a UK business, it has been a real honour and we are proud to be delivering something of this scale and significance for the UK.

“Battersea Power Station, as a result, has become one of the most connected sites in the country and is an exemplar of how connectivity, can bring spaces to life and into the future for the people who use it.”

“Battersea Power Station is an iconic London landmark, so to have played a part in its regeneration is fantastic,” added Andrea Dona, Vodafone’s UK Chief Network Officer. “Our connectivity will support the Battersea Power Station development by supplying the connectivity it needs to support its residents, businesses, and visitors. This will also ensure the Power Station fulfils its ambition of being a leading London landmark, subsequently boosting the local and wider UK economy.”

Vodafone claims its 4G network already covers 99% of the UK population, hence the company’s primary focus is now on expanding the reach and quality of its 5G network. But despite 4G being nearly ubiquitous in the UK, there are still numerous rural locations lacking in this basic connectivity.

Many of these areas are being targeted by the £1.3 billion Shared Rural Network programme – a joint effort from the UK’s four national mobile network operators to tackle hard-to-reach ‘not-spots’ – with Vodafone itself announcing that it has deployed 4G infrastructure for 57 such communities earlier this year.

Want to hear all of the latest updates from Vodafone on UK 5G rollout? Join the operators in discussion at the UK’s largest digital economy event Connected Britain

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In a not unsurprising move, BT has confirmed that their legacy Line Rental Saver (LRS) discount is to finally be “withdrawn from sale” on 21st July 2023. The service gave a special discount to home broadband customers who separately pre-paid for their phone line rental a year in advance. The LRS product is a legacy […]

News

The altnet aims to expand its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to over 3,750 hard-to-reach premises in the region using funding from the UK government

Last year, Scottish altnet Borderlink (trading as GoFibre) was awarded a £7.3 million contract to deploy FTTP in North Northumberland as part of the UK government’s Project Gigabit scheme. Now, following roughly six months of surveying and planning, the company has announced that it is ready to begin deployment, aiming to cover 3,750 premises.

The initial deployments will cover parts of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Seahouses, Wooler, Belford and neighbouring communities, with customers able to access commercial services from as early as autumn this year.

The full build process, however, will not be completed until 2025.

GoFibre says the fibre deployments will provide a major lift to the local economy in these rural areas, allowing businesses to digitalise and creating employment opportunities.

“These communities are at real risk of being left behind and so we are thrilled to be addressing the rural digital divide head-on with our North Northumberland build officially underway,” said Neil Conaghan, CEO of GoFibre. “By way of our partnership with the UK government and Northumberland County Council, we are implementing a future-proof network which will equip these locations with the tools required to drive innovation and success.”

This is the second rollout project GoFibre is undertaking as part of Project Gigabit, having already won the £6.6 million contract to deploy fibre in Teesdale in September last year. This deployment project entered the build phase in April this year and is aiming to cover roughly 4,000 premises with fibre by 2025.

Event excluding these government-supported rollout projects, GoFibre has been accelerating its fibre deployments significantly over the past year, having received a investment of £164 million from the Gresham House Investment Fund at the start of 2022. This has allowed the company to significantly increase its FTTP rollout target to 500,000 premises by the end of 2025.

Just last month, GoFibre confirmed plans to expand its rollout to a further 32 towns and villages in Scotland and the North of England, aiming to cover 82,000 premises by the start of 2024.

In related news, yesterday the UK government announced its latest batch of Project Gigabit contracts, all three of which went to CityFibre and totalled £318 million.

Is the UK deploying fibre fast enough to reach the government’s ambitious gigabit rollout targets? Join the ecosystem in discussion at the UK’s largest digital economy event, Connected Britain

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Foresight Group-backed UK ISP Connect Fibre (Fibre Assets), which aspires to cover 100,000 premises across the East of England with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has today become the latest alternative network to launch their own pay TV product powered by Netgem’s IPTV platform. Netgem has already been adopted by a number of UK AltNets. […]

The once popular managed UK service provider Easynet, which finally became defunct in 2015 after the last bits of their business were sold off to Interoute (GTT) for an enterprise value of £402m (here), has begun informing long-time users of their legacy email platform (running since the 1990s) that the service is due to close. […]

A complaint by Sky (Sky Mobile) has resulted in the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banning a multitude of Vodafone’s adverts for misleadingly claiming to offer the “UK’s only Phone Buy-Back Guarantee“, which is despite the fact that they are not the only UK company to guarantee to buy back the phones they sold. The mobile […]

Independent UK rural broadband ISP GoFibre (BorderLink) has this morning announced that they’ve begun the building phase of their £7.3m state-aid supported Project Gigabit broadband rollout contract for North Northumberland (England), which will aim to upgrade over 3,750 hard-to-reach premises. After spending over six months planning and surveying for the build phase (here), Edinburgh-based GoFibre […]

News

The company will target the roughly 20% of Indian mobile subscribers still using 2G feature phones

This week, Reliance Industries, parent company of Indian mobile operator Reliance Jio, has announced the launch of a 4G-enabled phone costing just Rs 999 ($12).

The new 4G phone, named Jio Bharat, runs on Reliance Jio’s proprietary operating system and comes with a suite of home-grown applications, including the video streaming app JioCinema, music app JioSaavn, and mobile finance app JioPay.

Jio says Jio Bharat is the cheapest 4G-enabled phone in the country, a fact which they hope will entice some of the roughly 250 million Indian customers currently only capable of using 2G connectivity to make the purchase.

“There are still 250mn mobile phone users in India who remain ‘trapped’ in the 2G era, unable to tap into basic features of the internet at a time when the world stands at the cusp of a 5G revolution,” said Reliance Jio chair Mukesh Ambani.

“Six years ago, when Jio was launched, we made it clear that Jio will leave no stone unturned to democratize internet and pass the benefits of technology to every Indian. Technology will no longer remain a privilege for a select few,” he added.

Jio’s initial beta trial is the sale of one million devices – no small feat, but still only a tiny dent in market that contains nearly 1.5 billion people. Nonetheless, if successful, the move could further consolidate Jio’s position as the frontrunner of the Indian mobile market and pile pressure onto its rivals, particularly the struggling Vodafone Idea (Vi).

Some analysts suggest that the introduction of the new phone model with its accompanying cheap data plans could represent a significant threat the competitiveness of Jio’s rival Bharti Airtel, which has been vying for the country’s top spot for over a year now.

“We believe with this phone Jio can take market share at the lower end of the market. This also puts Bharti at risk as it can see increased churn from its recent 2G price action of increasing the Rs 99 plan to Rs 155 plan,” said JP Morgan in a note. “We believe this is negative for Bharti as any hopes of a tariff hike should be diluted over the next 12–18 months.”

Others, however, say Airtel could be less concerned. Brokerage firm BNP Paribas argues that the customers Jio is targeting with this new phone already had a chance to jump to Jio’s now discontinued smartphone, Jio Phone, in previous years and refused to do so. Airtel argues that Jio Phone had numerous additional features and advantages compared Jio Bharat, and could even be attained for a cheaper price, but this was not enough to lure customers away.

The exact impact of Jio Bharat’s launch remains to be seen but, given Jio’s intense track record when it comes to aggressive marketing strategies, this latest entrance into the mobile phone market has every reason to turn heads.

Will the launch of Jio Bharat help Jio to extend its subscriber lead over its rivals? Join the operators in discussion around market disruption at this year’s Total Telecom Congress

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Are telcos doing enough to ensure their businesses and networks are sustainable? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress

Also in the news:
SK Telecom overhauls AI service ‘A.’ using ChatGPT
Leveraging 5G to develop new value and unlock digital dividends
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