The Cambridgeshire Constabulary has appealed for information after they revealed that Openreach’s UK broadband and phone network in the county had been attacked eight times since May 2023 by criminal gangs, which typically target the theft of underground copper cables and often cause significant service outages. In this case the criminals are understood to have […]

News

The European Commission has responded to Orange and MásMóvil’s proposed 19,6 billion euro merger with a Statement of Objections. The preliminary view of the Commission is that the “proposed joint venture may reduce competition in the retail supply of mobile and fixed internet services” in Spain.

If approved, the tie-up would see Orange and MásMóvil, the second and fourth largest providers in Spain respectively, form a 50:50 joint venture. The combined operator would have approximately 7.1 million fixed customers and 20.2 million mobile users.

Plans for the merger were announced in March 2023 and the European Commission subsequently launched an investigation on 3 April. The investigation assessed whether the transaction would restrict competition in Spain for the retail supply of both mobile and fixed services and multiple-play bundles.

Following the investigation, the Commission has expressed its concern that the joint venture would reduce the number of network operators in Spain thus “eliminating a significant competitive constraint and innovative rival in the Spanish retail markets” for fixed and mobile telecommunications services, and potentially leading to “significant price increases for affected retail customers”.

So, what happens next? The ‘Statement of Objections’ is a formality within an investigation, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the final decision, which will come no later than 4 September 2023. Both companies now have the opportunity to respond to the Commission’s objections and can request a hearing.

Broadband ISPs that were planning to launch faster packages based off Openreach’s future Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) tiers, which push top download speeds to 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps (both offer 120Mbps upstream), may have to wait a little bit longer as the operator has extended their pilot test for another 3 months. The original pilot started on 1st […]

UK ISP Zen Internet recently announced that they’d begun making older “refurbished” versions of their EveryRoom mesh WiFi extender service and hardware (repeaters) available to broadband customers, which only cost £6 per month instead of the usual £9 per month for the new kit. Saving money and cutting electronic waste. The EveryRoom service, which effectively […]

News

The UK’s leading rural full fibre broadband alternative network provider has pledged to connect underserved and hard-to-reach communities as work begins to extend its network to more than 16,000 homes and businesses in Yorkshire.

Gigaclear’s full fibre network already extends across 23 counties in southern and central England and its move into Yorkshire is a continuation of its expansion northwards. Engineers will start working in Brayton this week, moving on to Cawood, Thorpe Willoughby and Hillam later in the summer.

A timetable is currently being drawn up to connect a further six communities in West and North Yorkshire with Gigaclear liaising with North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department and parish councils to help ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum during the roll-out.

Gigaclear Delivery Director Tony Smith said: “We’ve been planning our move into Yorkshire for many months so it’s great to actually get feet on the ground and begin the work. Gigaclear is committed to delivering fast and reliable broadband to rural communities across its network, many of whom would otherwise struggle to access ultrafast speeds.

““Reliable and fast broadband speeds are no longer luxuries but are necessary in order for many people to live their lives fully, whether it’s working from home, streaming home entertainment or accessing the many money-saving SMART gadgets and security systems.”

Mr Smith said the engineering work has been planned to utilise existing Openreach ducts and poles wherever possible in order to minimise disruption and speed up the roll-out. He added that the plan is for Gigaclear to start providing full fibre broadband to customers in Yorkshire by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, Gigaclear announced it had secured up to £420m equity investment from Equitix to support its long-term plan to provide service to more than one million premises by 2027.

Nick Rawlings of Gigaclear will be talking about strategies for addressing the fibre take-up challenge at Connected Britain. Join him there…

Oxfordshire-based full fibre network builder and UK ISP Zzoomm has today published a summary of their annual financial results, which among other things reveals that their FTTP broadband network now covers (RFS) over 140,000 properties (2022: 38,000) and they’re home to over 12,000 (2022 3,700) customers. The operator, which aims to cover 1 million premises […]

Press Release

Future Connections, the independent telco solutions provider and software developer with in-depth experience in network performance assurance, optimisation and automation and in telco managed services, and Budget Thuis, the first provider to combine energy, home internet, television and mobile services in the Netherlands aiming to provide reliable services at affordable prices, today announced the signing of a 3 year contract for the provision of Telecom Inhome Services across the country.

Since 2018, Future Connections has been the trusted partner of Budget Thuis (previously named NLEx) for all the installations and services related to their Telco Inhome Services offering to include connections onboarding and changes, service tickets, etc.

The new contract was signed in Amsterdam at the Budget Thuis office between the two parties: Wout Hut, COO and Mariska van Herwijnen, Operations Manager Customer Services for Budget Thuis, and Julien Beenakkers, CEO, and Henk Liebeton, Managed Telco Services Director for Future Connections. The new 3-year agreement replaces the annual renewal cadence, a clear sign of the partners’ strong trust in each other.

The already good quality installation services provided to the customers of Budget Thuis by the Future Connections’ team will be given a further boost thanks to the inclusion in the new agreement of the adoption of a new Field Service Automation solution, MAx, by Future Connections for the management of its operations. The implementation of the new tool will enable end-to-end zero-touch automation onboarding and operational management processes. Consumers will enjoy a more immediate control and flexibility when ordering a new installation or when requesting a change.

Wout Hut, COO at Budget Thuis, commented: “By signing the 3 year contract extension we wanted to acknowledge and solidify the real appreciation and deep trust that characterises our partnership with Future Connections. At the same time, we wanted to use their help to enhance further the quality of experience of our customers. The deep telecom knowledge, experience and set of tools offered by the team at Future Connections ticks all the boxes for us and for our customers”. Julien Beenakkers, CEO at Future Connections, added: “We are delighted to continue forging an even stronger partnership with Budget Thuis and to share our expertise further to the benefit of their customers. The use of also our field service automation solution and of our integration capabilities will enable the delivery of more immediate, customer-led field services”.

Total Telecom Congress takes place in Amsterdam on the 21-22 November 2023. Find out how you can participate at totaltele.com/congress 

Customers of UK mobile operator Lyca Mobile, which until now has long held a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement to harness O2’s (VMO2) national network, have over the past few days begun informing ISPreview that their service has been stealthily switched to an EE based platform. Normally, we’d expect a major change in MVNO […]

NEWS

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have announced how the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds will be divided among U.S. states and territories

President Biden, Vice President Harris and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the allocations at the White House on Monday June 26. “What this announcement means for people across the country is that if you don’t have access to quality, affordable high-speed Internet service now – you will, thanks to President Biden and his commitment to investing in America,” Raimondo said. Mitch Landrieu, Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Coordinator said, “simply put, high-speed Internet is a necessity in today’s society” and emphasized that the Biden-Harris administration is “committed to leaving no community behind”.

Drawing comparisons to President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 Rural Electrification Act, the Biden administration acknowledged that the goal of providing high-speed internet to all Americans is “bold” but by no means impossible. The BEAD program is part of President Biden’s sweeping Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and aims to close the digital divide.

The money allocated to each state was determined by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) national broadband availability maps. An initial version of the map was published in November and was followed by a challenge process. States, internet service providers, and other parties were able to officially challenge the accuracy of the FCC’s data. The second version of the map was released May 30 and the NTIA used this to determine how to divide BEAD funds.

A senior administration official reported that the maps show that 8.5 million locations in the U.S. and its territories – about 7% of the country – do not have access to high-speed internet. Once states receive formal notice of their allocation on June 30, they will have six months to submit initial proposals for how they will spend the funds.

State governments will coordinate with county and local governments to formulate spending plans and correct any additional errors in availability data. After the NTIA approves states’ initial plans, state authorities can access 20% of their allocated funds. The remaining 80% will be available after states submit their final plans in spring 2025.

Tyler Cooper, editor-in-chief of BroadbandNow, said that “there weren’t any shockers” in terms of allocation amounts. Texas won the largest allocation at $3.31 billion – unsurprising given the vast scale of the state and the number of rural areas outside of the main urban hubs. California is set to receive $1.86 billion, closely followed by Missouri ($1.74 billion), Michigan ($1.56 billion), and North Carolina ($1.53 billion). All 50 states, along with Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, will receive at least $100 million.

President Biden also stressed that the BEAD program will create new jobs for Americans as there are requirements for construction materials to be American-made. While the Build America, Buy America Act, part of IIJA, aims to stimulate the U.S. economy and create jobs, there are concerns that the requirement could delay broadband deployment efforts. Paul Atkinson, CEO of Optical Network Business at STL wrote on Telecoms.com that, as admirable as the intentions are behind Build America, Buy America, putting limitations on the production and supply of equipment will slow the rollout of American broadband networks, especially in the case of fiber optic networks.

You can hear more about investment in US broadband at next year’s Connected America which is being held in Dallas on March 12 & 13 2024 – secure your place here!

Ofcom has published their annual 2023 monitoring report into Openreach’s independence from BT, which found that the commitments made by the operator “have generally proved to be successful“. But the regulator warns against complacency and cautions BT’s CEO, Philip Jansen, against repeating some of his recent remarks. Just to recap. The annual report process was […]