News

The UK’s largest altnet has secured £318 million in government to rollout fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) to areas of Hampshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk

The UK government has announced its latest allocations for its flagship broadband funding initiative Project Gigabit, awarding CityFibre £318 million to roll out FTTP to rural areas in Hampshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk.

Coupled with £171 million in private investment, this funding will allow CityFibre to expand its full fibre network to 218,000 additional homes and businesses across the regions, focusing heavily on rural and hard-to reach areas.

“Securing three further Project Gigabit contracts firmly establishes CityFibre as an integral delivery partner to the Government for rural connectivity,” said CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch. “Our growing participation is central to our strategy, optimising our commercial rollout plan alongside the programme to provide our ISP customers with unrivalled network density in regions throughout the country.”

Survey work for the affected areas is expected to begin immediately, with the first installations set to be completed by early 2024. Customers should be able to access services over the infrastructure from the second half of that year.

Alongside these fibre deployments, CityFibre has announced various supporting projects in the local areas, including internships in Norfolk and six months of free internet access for 30 community centres in Suffolk.

Project Gigabit was first launched back in 2021, with the government set to allocate £5 billion in public funding to expand access to gigabit-capable broadband across the UK. At the time of its inception, the goal of the project was to ‘full fibre for all by 2025’ – at least according to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson – but this target has since been downgraded to 85% coverage of gigabit-capable broadband by 2025.

The government now aims to extend these speeds to “as close to 100% [of the population] as possible” by 2030.

With this latest batch of contract allocations, CityFibre is the largest active partner of Project Gigabit, having already been awarded a contract to cover Cambridgeshire back in March.

The altnet is currently planning to rollout full fibre to 8 million UK homes in total by 2025, having passed roughly 2.8 million UK premises at the most recent count. This goal reportedly includes half a million premises in the affected counties of Hampshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, hence the company will need to pass 283 million additional premises with FTTP without supporting funding from the government.

But while CityFibre celebrates its successful partnership with the government, it is worth noting that Project Gigabit is only just beginning. Prior to awarding these CityFibre contracts, the government had only allocated around £270 million to various broadband projects. Combine this with funding for additional schemes supported by Project Gigabit – such as dark fibre funding for the public sector and the gigabit voucher scheme – and the government still has over £3.5 billion left to divvy up.

With just under 18 months to go until 2025, the remaining funding will need to be allocated soon if it is to have a meaningful impact towards helping the broadband sector reach its target of 85% coverage.

Want to hear more from CityFibre and their role in building Gigabit Britain? Join the operator in discussion at the upcoming Connected Britain conference

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Sky’s standalone Sky Stream TV product, which uses your broadband ISP and Wi-Fi connection to stream their on-demand video content and live channels directly to your existing TV set (without a satellite dish), can now be purchased in 285 Currys stores nationwide after the media giant signed an exclusive retail partnership. The partnership between Currys […]

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Press Release

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), Elettra Tlc, Medusa and Orange are pleased to announce the coming into force of the construction contract for the Medusa Submarine Cable System. This milestone marks the start of an ambitious project that will boost connectivity across the Mediterranean.

Medusa will establish crucial connections between Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt. The subsystem named Via Tunisia, part of the Medusa Cable, linking France and Tunisia, is cofunded by the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, as already announced by Orange.When complete, Medusa will span an impressive distance of over 8,700 kilometers, making it the longest cable in the Mediterranean Sea and providing enhanced North-South and East-West connectivity.

The construction has been awarded to industry leaders ASN and Elettra Tlc. The Medusa system is built on stateof-the-art 24-pair fiber optic Open Cable technology to meet increasing broadband requirements in the region, with 20Tb/s minimum capacity per fiber pair.

Elettra Tlc will promptly engage survey operations, while equipment manufacturing and installation are planned to span over 2024 and 2025. Orange will provide landing infrastructures in France, Tunisia and Morocco.

By connecting North Africa and Southern Europe, as well as several of the Mediterranean islands to the mainland, including Sicily, Crete and Cyprus, the Medusa submarine cable system will create unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, innovation and economic development. It will also provide an effective bridge between the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions, facilitating increased communication and cooperation across all these areas.

Medusa is committed to reducing the digital divide and this construction is an important step towards achieving this goal.

The construction of Medusa is funded by AFR-IX Telecom, Orange and the European Union though CEF (Connecting Europe Facilities) grants.

This collaboration highlights the commitment of industry leaders and governmental organizations to contribute to a more connected and prosperous future for the Mediterranean region.

Norman Albi, CEO of Medusa, highlights the strategic value of Medusa to improve connectivity in the Mediterranean: “We have been working for more than 3 years to reach this point and we are tremendously grateful to all those who, from early stages, supported Medusa: collaborating companies and European institutions. Thanks to the support of North African Operators, financial institutions and leading companies such as ASN, Elettra Tlc, Orange and AFR-IX Telecom, Medusa will be in service the 4th quarter of 2025”

Paul Gabla, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of ASN said “The Medusa submarine cable system marks a major step forward in telecommunications infrastructure. ASN is honored to be at the forefront of this ambitious project, which will bring high-speed Internet connectivity and seamless communication to the region, unlocking a world of opportunities for businesses, communities and individuals throughout the Mediterranean region.”

Didier Dillard, President and CEO of Elettra Tlc said “We are very happy to be in charge of the marine works for the first phase of the MEDUSA project, the marine survey and the installation. Elettra Tlc is a true Mediterranean company that has installed and repaired a very large number of cables in this area, and we are excited to contribute to the construction of this future telecommunications backbone of the Mediterranean Sea.”

“Orange is delighted to put its leadership and industry expertise in the construction of this new system that will foster digital exchanges between Europe and North Africa and to welcome Medusa into its carrier neutral infrastructures in Marseille” said Aurélien Vigano, Vice President International Transmission Networks at Orange.

The submarine cable ecosystem is evolving. Join the cable operators and the wider connectivity industry in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA 2024

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Rural broadband ISP Wildanet, which deploying a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Cornwall and Devon in South West England, has today announced that existing investor Gresham House will pump another £50 million into the provider to help support their UK expansion. Just to recap. Wildanet secured their first £50m from the […]

News

The deal will see the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation provide fixed broadband and voice services to consumers and businesses across the country

This week, Australian telecoms giant Telstra has unveiled a new partnership with SpaceX’s LEO satellite constellation Starlink, aiming to deliver home phone and broadband services for remote customers.

Telstra says the satellite connectivity services will expand the connectivity options available for hard-to-reach businesses and consumers, in some cases providing them broadband access for the first time.

For the operator, many of these areas are considered economically unviable when it comes to rolling out traditional, terrestrial connectivity solutions.

“Telstra is always looking to invest in new and better connectivity options for our customers. We know that collaborating with the right partners is one of the best ways to help unlock a digital future, in this case for people in rural and remote Australia looking for an improved voice or broadband service,” said Telstra CEO Vicki Brady. “Our teams have been out across the country testing and trialling Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology to ensure we understand where it’s the best solution for our consumer and business customers.

Telstra says these satellite packages will provide faster speeds than existing Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line broadband technology and can delivered alongside “local tech support and the option of professional installation” to ease the transition to the new services.

According to a company blog post, these services using Starlink are expected to launch “towards the end of 2023”.

SpaceX has currently launched over 4,000 satellites into orbit, with the ultimate goal of deploying around 12,000 devices. The company has launched commercially in numerous markets over the last few years, recording major deals with operators such as T-Mobile, BT, and KDDI.

However, some markets remain problematic for the Elon Musk company, most notably India, where SpaceX is currently battling the government for an operating licence.

It should also be noted that while Starlink is by far the largest LEO satellite operator right now, the sector is rapidly growing more competitive. Rival satellite operators like OneWeb and Telesat are continuing to expand their constellations, while major upcoming satellite projects like the European Union’s IRIS2 and Amazon’s Project Kuiper will offer further challenge to SpaceX’s dominance.

Indeed, just last month, Telstra themselves struck a mobile backhaul deal with OneWeb, aiming to transfer the capacity from hundreds of remote base stations onto the growing constellation over the coming year.

How is the growth of the LEO satellite industry impacting the global telecoms sector? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam

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Full fibre broadband ISP LilaConnect (VX FIBER), which recently paused its rollout of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in England and revealed their plan for job cuts (here), has today followed all that by announcing a price increase on some of their current packages. The announcement didn’t spell out precisely what prices have changed, although […]

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News

The deal will see Telenor’s Finnish subsidiary DNA supplied with 85 GWh/year of renewable energy from Statkraft’s new wind farm

This week, Telenor has struck a new 10-year onshore wind power purchase agreement (PPA) with Europe’s largest renewable energy generator Statkraft.

The deal will provide Telenor’s Finnish subsidiary DNA with 85 GWh/year of renewable energy, provisioning roughly 80% of the company’s annual energy consumption.

The power will be provided by Statkraft’s new wind farm, Palokangas, which is currently under development in Finland’s westernmost region, Ostrobothnia. The site will feature 12 wind turbines, which parent company Exilion Tuuli suggesting will be ready for service at the end of 2024.

“Telenor wants to support the construction of new renewable power plants in the markets we operate, and this agreement provides a solid contribution to the decarbonization of the electricity supply, as well as new capacity to hedge against volatile energy prices,” says Jannicke Hilland, Executive Vice President for Telenor Infrastructure at Telenor Group.

The financial details of the deal were not revealed.

Telenor says this deal marks another significant step in its goal towards reducing its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 57% between 2019 and 2030.

The Group aims for its Nordic businesses to be entirely carbon neutral by 2030, while its Asian businesses have slightly less ambitious targets, aiming simply for a 50% reduction in emissions in 2030 from a 2019 baseline.

Is the telecoms industry moving fast enough when it comes to renewable energy and sustainability? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam

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