European satellite operator Eutelsat, which is also the parent of UK ISP Konnect and bigblu, has announced that it’s reached a deal to sell its European broadband retail activities to an experienced private operator. The move impacts their retail activities in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, and Greece. The move […]

Education technology provider RM Technology has completed a £1m upgrade of its network, which means that all links within their core network will be upgraded to support multi-100Gbps speeds with options to increase to 400Gbps capability in the future. The extra capacity is intended to support the growth of RMT’s broadband service over the next […]

News

EE has unveiled a new look for its flagship store, located in Westfield London, White City.

‘The EE Studio’ is a 4,230-square-foot retail space and is the first of EE’s new “Experience” stores. Three more ‘Experience’ stores will also be opening in the coming months in Cardiff, Manchester Trafford Centre, and Bluewater.

The launch of ‘The EE Studio’ is a key part of the company’s new retail strategy. Bridget Lea, Managing Director of Commercial, EE described the new store as the “antithesis of the traditional mobile store”.

The retail space includes experience zones including the Welcome Zone, a dynamic shopfront with a changeable digital window canvas; a Digital Spa, aimed to show customers how to better balance their technology use; a Gaming Zone; a Stage which will host events, pop-ups, and skills workshops; and a Tech area for showcasing new devices and products. There are also various room sets displaying technology applications in kitchen, children’s bedroom, and home office settings.

The store has been designed to be inclusive and “welcoming for all”, explained Lea. She also added that EE are working with partners to make the space accessible to the local community.

Speaking at the new store this morning, BT Group’s CEO Consumer, Marc Allera described the store as “a glimpse into the new world of EE” and the company’s renewed brand identity. EE’s new strategy will see the company focus on more than just delivering the best connectivity for customers and will see the brand focus on supporting customers to better understand how to navigate an increasingly complex digital world.

When asked about yesterday’s announcement of a planned merger between Vodafone and Three in the UK, Allera was confident about the strength of EE’s brand commenting: “We’re treading our own path and our own plan. The great thing is that we’re many years into an integration and they’re very hard things to execute. When you have big brands, big customer bases, IT, cultures, everything is different. What you’re starting to see now is the fruits of many years of hard work to pull those capabilities together to create something that’s stronger than when we were apart…Our belief is that we’re in a really strong position if you think of our assets; we’ve got the best fixed network, the best mobile network and when you think about the experiences you can create with bringing mobile and fixed networks together, we get really excited about that”.

 

 

Press Release

EXA Infrastructure, the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform connecting Europe and North America, today announced it has acquired Univerzalne Telekomunikacije d.o.o (Unitel), a leading provider of dedicated infrastructure services in Croatia. EXA continues to differentiate itself from its competitors by diversifying and growing its network routes to increase connectivity across Europe with a focus on expanding across the rapidly growing yet underinvested Balkan region.

Unitel is the chosen partner for many international backbones traversing across Croatia. Its network consists of 515km of duct and owned fibre optic cable extending from Zagreb in the north to Ilok in the south, including two border crossings to Serbia and one to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the duct is adjacent to the Adria oil pipeline, which increases reliability and lowers disturbance rates.

“The Unitel acquisition is the latest initiative in EXA’s continued commitment to providing its customers with innovative, reliable and diverse connectivity solutions available on the market,” said Martijn Blanken, Chief Executive of EXA Infrastructure. “Unitel boasts state of the art fibre and has a strong track record of being a reliable partner to some of the world’s largest companies aligns with EXA’s mission and values. I am delighted to welcome Unitel and its team to the EXA family.”

Now an EXA Infrastructure company, Unitel’s optical network has 80km located in Zagreb, connecting to all major data centres including InterXion.

Croatia is strategically located to connect into EXA’s European backbone by introducing a unique north-to-south route across the Balkans complimenting EXA’s Trans Adriatic Express (TAE) route which provides an east-to-west conduit. This strategic acquisition highlights EXA’s ongoing growth plans to become the undisputed pan European and transatlantic datacentre to datacentre connectivity business.

“Unitel is a key building block in our strategic expansion into the Balkans and continues to solidify EXA’s position as an industry leader,” said Samir Assaad, SVP of Strategy and Merger & Acquisition at EXA Infrastructure. “This strategy aims to solidify EXA’s leadership position by expanding our network reach into new, high-growth geographies, thereby facilitating our clients’ parallel expansion efforts.”

Earlier this month the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, proposed to stop publishing its annual summary of fixed home broadband ISP speeds (here). But they’ve today followed that by proposing to also reduce the frequency of their Comparing Customer Service (CCS) tracker surveys to every other year. Ofcom currently runs a number of regular, recurring tracker […]

Broadband ISP and mobile operator EE (BT) has today, as previously leaked (here), announced the soft launch of the UK’s first 1.6Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) package on Openreach’s network and the supporting introduction of a new Wi-Fi 6 capable Smart Hub Plus (Smart Hub 3) router and other kit. Just to recap. BT announced a major […]

One of Austria’s top mobile operators, spusu, has today announced that they’ve launched in the United Kingdom with the aim of challenging the likes of giffgaff, VOXI and SMARTY. As part of that they’re offering customers a discounted unlimited plan (calls, texts and 5G data / mobile broadband) from just £19.90 per month. The press […]

The UK Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) – sister bodies to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) – have today set out new guidance for how broadband ISPs and mobile operators should communicate mid-contract prices hikes to consumers, which will make such policies clearer and more transparent. In an ideal world, consumers who take […]

Manchester-based network operator and ISP Telcom Group (ClearFibre, WeFibre, HyperCity etc.), which via its sub-brands is building various 10Gbps capable “full fibre” broadband and Ethernet networks across the Midlands and North West of England, has chosen solutions from IP Fusion to help upgrade their network. The operator, which a few years ago secured a significant […]

News

Dutch-based United Group is working with US-based Parallel Wireless to trial Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology in Bulgaria on the Vivacom network.

Vivacom is a major MNO in Bulgaria and is one of eight countries in which United Group operates. Collectively the group services more than 15 million users and has nearly 15,000 employees.

The trial in Bulgaria is a combination of lab testing and field testing on Vivacom’s existing network and seeks to demonstrate successful implantation of ORAN networks in both urban and rural environments. The aim is to showcase that ORAN across 2G, 4G, and 5G can deliver equivalent or improved performance compared to traditional radio access networks (SRAN).

Vivacom CEO, Nikolay Andreev, flagged that “ORAN brings opportunities for greater vendor diversity and much-needed innovation in the mobile radio network sector,” and further commented “This technology will provide flexibility and competitiveness for operators, and improved services for customers. We hope this trial will be the first step in delivering ORAN technology to Bulgaria.”

Steve Papa, Founder & CEO of Parallel Wireless commented that “Bulgaria is a great place to showcase the benefits of ORAN demonstrating its flexibility and agility, allowing United Group & Vivacom the freedom to choose its vendors without being locked in with one specific vendor”

The Netherlands is not only HQ for United Group but is also the location of this years Total Telecom Congress. Join us for the Technology Congress on the 22 November for the panel discussion “Open RAN for network efficiency and better services”. Find out more at totaltele.com/congress