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The contract will see BT provide managed Wi-Fi services across 162 new military sites

This week, UK operator BT has announced a multi-million-pound deal with the British Army to deliver managed Wi-Fi services, dubbed MOD Wi-FI, to 162 sites across the UK.

The five-year contract will see the MOD Wi-Fi services deployed across every building at the respective sites, including offices, hangars, training facilities, technological accommodation and workshops. The Wi-Fi services will also cover recreational spaces.

Beyond providing improved connectivity to these areas, the deal will also bolster site security with the service’s built-in firewall.

BT also suggests that the increased digitalisation of these sites will also help maximise building occupancy for more efficient energy consumption.

In future, BT’s partnership could be expanded to other areas of the military, including the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.

“This is another critical delivery under the ambitious British Army Digital Transformation Initiative – Programme THEIA,” said Major General John Collyer, the Army’s Director of Information. “We are thrilled to partner with BT for the Army Estate Wide Internet work – which will deliver ubiquitous internet access across our estate – for business use, research, leisure, gaming, innovation, trials and more. Another leap forward, and I thank the staff of BT and in Army HQ for their Herculean work getting us to this stage. It will make a huge difference for our people and our outputs.”

BT’s Defence team already manages connectivity at 200 sites in the UK, Cyrus, and Germany on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and have been exploring the creation of ‘smart bases’ for some time. Indeed, the operator is already working to build a ‘smart base’ in Larkhill, Wiltshire that incorporates both fibre and private 5G, aiming to facilitate various new technologies such as smart security cameras and sensors, facial recognition, smart building entry and management, digital signage, and secure printing.

How is the UK’s telecoms industry transforming in 2023? Join the operators and the wider connectivity ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain event

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A new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was commissioned by Uswitch, has claimed that British people have had to fork out approximately £539m in “unexpected roaming” costs over the past 12 months since most mobile operators reintroduced EU roaming charges. The survey noted that 32% of respondents are planning to use their mobiles […]

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Youfone is the third largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the Netherlands with around 540,000 customers

This week, KPN has announced the acquisition of Youfone’s local MVNO business for roughly €200 million.

Youfone is the third largest MVNO in the Netherlands. It has roughly 540,000 customers, around 10% of which are fixed broadband customers.

The company already provides mobile services to customers using KPN’s network, hence there should be little disruption to existing customers, with KPN noting that they will retain the Youfone mobile brand.

Following the acquisition, Youfone’s customers will be added to KPN’s existing subscriber base, which includes over 3.5 million mobile customers and nearly 3 million mobile customers. According to retail customer data reported earlier this month, these additional subscribers will make KPN the largest mobile operator in the Netherlands, topping previous leader T-Mobile Netherlands.

As always, the deal requires regulatory approval.

In related news, earlier this week KPN announced that it was acquiring the Dutch fibre assets of Primevest. The deal increases KPN’s fibre coverage by around 127,000 premises, primarily located in Rotterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven.

KPN is aiming to cover 80% of the Netherlands with full fibre by 2026. The operator’s fibre footprint currently covers over four million premises.

How is the Dutch telecoms market shifting in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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Network operator CityFibre has today announced that they’ve secured enough legal UK land and property access agreements (wayleaves) to connect over 1 million homes owned by local authorities and housing associations to their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. CityFibre has worked closely with major housing associations including Places for People, Thirteen Group, and […]

Network builder and UK ISP toob, which aspires to cover 1 million premises across the South of England by 2027 with their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, has today revealed that their coverage is being expanded along the Dorset coastline to include Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Just to recap. The operator, which was […]

Budget broadband provider Plusnet has today discounted the prices on their ultrafast and gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) powered packages again for new residential customers covered by Openreach’s national network, which will be available to order until 7th July 2023. As usual, all of their full fibre packages include unlimited usage, a new Hub Two wireless router […]

More bad news for alternative networks today. Swedish provider VXFIBER, which alongside subsidiary and ISP LilaConnect had recently been busy rolling out several new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP networks in the UK, has confirmed to ISPreview that they’ve paused the rollout. Until now the operator had been building their full fibre network across several […]

Sky has today finally taken the wrapping off their new dedicated 4K HDR smart camera add-on for the Sky Glass TV product, which otherwise uses your broadband ISP and Wi-Fi connection to stream their on-demand video content and live TV channels directly to Sky’s own brand TV sets (without a satellite dish). The new Sky […]

The state aid supported Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme in England has today issued a progress update on their £6m Fibre Extension Programme (FEP) contract with Openreach (BT), which was originally due to cover 2,000 rural premises with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband by the end of 2021. The contract, which mostly harnesses public investment that […]

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Read will serve as EXA’s new chairman, aiming to deliver significant growth for the business and expand its global infrastructure portfolio

Today, global fibre infrastructure firm EXA Infrastructure has announced that ex-Vodafone CEO Nick Read will be taking on the role of company chairman.

EXA currently owns 125,000km of fibre network across 34 countries, as well as a number of major submarine cable systems, including a trio of transatlantic cables. Since its formation from the backbone assets of GTT bac in 2021 by I Squared Capital, the company has been expanding rapidly, making numerous acquisitions and strategic partnerships around the world to bolster its global portfolio.

This rapid growth environment will be something of a stark contrast for Read, who resigned from his position as CEO of Vodafone at the end of last year after facing increasing pressure from investors to improve the Group’s sluggish performance. He had served in the role for four years, during which time he championed consolidation in the company’s most competitive markets, the majority of which did not ultimately materialise.

At the time of his resignation, Vodafone’s share prices had almost halved.

In this new position, however, Read should find growth comes much easier – at least for now.

“It is a privilege to be appointed Chair of EXA Infrastructure, particularly at a pivotal time for the telecoms industry where we are seeing significant investment in digital infrastructure and market growth,” said Read. “I look forward to working with the EXA leadership team who have a clear focus and commitment to customers, network excellence and continual investment to provide the most compelling experiences to clients and end users.”

EXA’s management was jubilant at the appointment, saying that Read would help lead the company’s “strategic network expansion plans, commercial growth and ongoing operational excellence efforts”

“Nick is a titan in our industry and I am convinced that his extensive leadership and technology experience will be invaluable to execute our ambitious growth strategy,” said EXA Infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer, Martijn Blanken. “His track record in business performance and transformation will be a welcome addition to guide EXA’s executive team. I am delighted to see Nick join us and I look forward to working closely with him.”

In related news, last week EXA Infrastructure announced they had acquired Croatian telco Unitel, expanding their existing infrastructure footprint in the Balkans. Unitel owns a 515km fibre backbone network that spans the country, including border crossings to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

How is Europe’s data centre ecosystem evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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