Global Wireless Solutions has today published the results of a confusing new study that measured the network performance of operators that have combined their mobile and broadband ISP businesses. Overall, the study found that the fastest download speeds by a combined provider were seen by Virgin Media O2 (138Mbps average). The data for this unusual […]

Rural UK broadband ISP GoFibre (BorderLink), which is in the process of deploying a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Scotland and the North of England, has confirmed that it has “no plans for large-scale redundancies” after some workers were recently let go. The alternative network provider, which last year secured a […]

Interview

At this year’s Connected America conference, we caught up with with Chris Sambar, President of AT&T Network, after his fiery morning keynote session to discuss the latest trends in 5G and the company’s strategic approach to Fixed Wireless Access

America’s 5G journey

The US was one of the first countries in the world to launch 5G services back in 2019 and, since then, the country has raced to become a world leader in the new technology. Nonetheless, the journey to 5G maturity is far from over, with AT&T’s Chris Sambar noting that there is still huge potential for the 5G ecosystem to develop.

“LTE showed us what’s possible when the ecosystem develops together. 5G’s going to be very similar,” said Sambar. “It’s taking its time, but its also more complex than LTE […] We’re beginning to see it slowly come together, and the experiences are getting better and better.”

Part of this 5G evolution is the rollout of the more powerful standalone 5G architecture, a process which is already underway at AT&T.

“We’ve rolled out our standalone core at AT&T, we’re scaling it, and we’re starting to put some of those new services on there, like gaming, augmented reality and virtual reality,” said Sambar. “We’re pretty excited about the monetisation opportunities that these new services represent.”

The Fixed Wireless Access debate

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has become a major talking point in the US over the past year, proving to be an exciting and often profitable use case for 5G at a time when monetising the new technology is challenging.

But while Verizon and T-Mobile are placing major bets on expanding 5G FWA services, AT&T’s FWA strategy is notably more reserved.

“Our view’s a little different from the other two operators in the US,” explained Sambar. “We see the RAN as the point of congestion. It’s a simple physics equation: how much load or bandwidth can spectrum provide to the users? One of our peers quoted that they are seeing up to half a terabit a month of usage on their fixed wireless network – that’s a lot. It’s a lot of bandwidth to put on a wireless network and congest the air interface very quickly.”

As a result, FWA can only be reasonably offered to limited number of customers in each sector before mobile service quality begins to be impacted – a fact that is only exacerbated by the growing consumer demand for bandwidth year-on-year.

The primary solution to this challenge is simply to deploy more mobile infrastructure to meet demand, which is very expensive, particularly compared to the average cost of a fixed fibre connection.

“[FWA is] not a true replacement for broadband,” said Sambar. “We’re going to reach a time when we’re going to struggle to provide services if we deploy it too broadly and I think that’s what the other two operators in the US are going to struggle with.”

Instead, AT&T’s primary target for FWA will be to offer services to those customers currently using legacy copper networks, a move that will both offer these customers an increase in service quality as well as allowing AT&T to sunset these older networks.

Building the sustainable network of the future

Finally, one of the biggest themes at Connected America 2023 – and, indeed, in the telecoms world more generally – was sustainability. According to Sambar, AT&T not only has a moral imperative to help take better care of the planet, but also a major economic incentive.

“AT&T’s power bill is well over a billion dollars a year. The faster we can get consumers off the copper network, the faster we can shut down the infrastructure in the offices where the copper is running, and that saves a whole lot of money,” he said.

He noted that AT&T’s power consumption is actually decreasing year-on-year as a result of more efficient technologies and the sunsetting of legacy network infrastructure, despite the increase in data demand. This is not only due to the deployment of more energy efficient infrastructure, but also the incorporation of AI, automation, and machine learning. These novel technologies allow for far greater network optimisation, not just for daily network functions but also for logistics, like site maintenance.

“A machine can look at a tower that’s scheduled for three upgrades over a year and, instead of sending an engineer three times, combine them all into a single visit. It sounds like a simple thing, but a human has a really hard time doing that with tens of thousands of towers in the network. It’s going to save us a lot of money and it’s also going to help us with our carbon footprint.”

You can view our full interview with Chris Sambar from AT&T from the link below

Planning for Connected America 2024 is already underway! For more information about how to get involved, contact Maddie Hicks at Maddie.Hicks@totaltele.com

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Press Release

Viasat Inc., a global communications company, today announced it was selected by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) to provide on-orbit space relay connectivity for its ARBALEST program, which aims to support a future space-based demonstration of operational capabilities for the Department of Defense (DoD). The future AFRL mission will illustrate the advantages of enabling real-time, global connectivity between DoD low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft and commercial geostationary (GEO) satellites.

The ARBALEST program and expected AFRL-led mission will demonstrate the military utility of LEO space relay over commercial high throughput satellites in support of space mission resilience, real-time data dissemination, command and control (C2), as well as the rapid retasking of government space vehicles. Viasat’s space relay solution is key to enabling these capabilities and will leverage the upcoming ViaSat-3 constellation, which includes three Ka-band terabit-class GEO satellites, to provide continuous coverage for LEO spacecraft anywhere and at any time in their orbit.

Under the ARBALEST program, Viasat will provide AFRL with a Ka-band space relay payload for integration into a spacecraft for the future AFRL mission, as well as provide engineering analysis, integration and test support. Viasat will also support the on-orbit demonstration phase of the mission.

“Viasat is very excited to expand its partnership with AFRL and to accelerate the delivery of advanced commercial space-based communications for the DoD,” said Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government Systems. “This real-time space relay capability will offer an efficient method of moving LEO satellite data to the ground for operations. Most importantly, this technology will help increase resilience for future U.S. space missions and benefit warfighters with more direct, immediate access to information and data to improve the situational awareness and decisions supporting the safety of those on the front lines.”

Viasat’s on-orbit connectivity solutions are designed to reduce data latency, provide real-time tasking of on-orbit assets, and enhance resilience through multi-path networking schemes. The space relay service will be a new offering to help commercial and government LEO operators share time-sensitive data more effectively and remain in constant contact with their spacecraft, allowing them to send commands and receive data at any time – all through the high-capacity, resilient ViaSat-3 constellation. This future AFRL mission will be the first pathfinder demonstration of Viasat’s space relay service. The Viasat space relay service is expected to achieve initial operational capability in late 2025.

Visit the Viasat website for more information about intersatellite communications capabilities.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
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EXATEL talks expansion into subsea connectivity sector

News

Telenet shareholders able to tender their shares during an initial acceptance period between 8 June until 12 July at €22 per share

Today, Liberty Global has published its prospectus related to its voluntary and conditional public takeover bid for Belgium’s largest fixed broadband operator, Telenet.

The offer is for €22 per share, minus the €1 gross dividend approved by Telenet’s ordinary general meeting in April this year and subsequently paid in May. Shareholders will be able to accept the offer from tomorrow (8 July) until 12 July, with Liberty Global set to announce the results on 19 July.

Liberty Global’s offer to take Telenet private was first announced in March this year, with the bid totalling around €929 million.

The offer is conditional on Liberty Global ultimately owning at least 95% of the total shares in Telenet; if this is achieved and the deal goes ahead, Liberty Global will then begin the simplified squeeze-out process of acquiring the remaining shares.

Liberty Global currently owns 58.18% of Telenet, with minority shareholders holding 37.73%.

“We are pleased to announce the approval of our Offer prospectus. Telenet shareholders can start tendering their shares on June 8, 2023 at an attractive premium. We are committed to maintaining Telenet’s status as a leading and pioneering telecommunications and entertainment company in Belgium,” said Liberty CEO Mike Fries.

In an official response memorandum also published today, Telenet’s Board of Directors expressed unanimous support for the offer.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Liberty has tried to buyout Telenet’s minority shareholders. Back in 2012, the company made a takeover offer at the price of €35 per share, a sum that was ultimately deemed to undervalue the Belgian operator.

However, over the past year, high inflation and soaring energy costs have seen Telenet’s shareprice fall by around half, presenting Liberty Global with an attractive opportunity to take the business private.

In related news, Liberty Global is currently seeking to redomicile itself in Bermuda, a move which Fries claims is primarily motivated by better aligning the company with US regulations and the interest of US shareholders. The proposal has caused controversy, however, with stakeholders suggesting that it will present Fries and company chairman John Malone with disproportionate voting powers.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
More than two-thirds of U.S. commercial sites have no optical fibre access
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The Government (DEFRA & DSIT) has followed this week’s publication of its new Unleashing Rural Opportunity paper (here) by announcing that it has appointed the MP for Barrow and Furness in Cumbria, Simon Fell, to be the UK’s first “Rural Connectivity Champion” to support rural areas in accessing faster broadband etc. The brief suggests that […]

Business focused UK ISP and Managed Service Provider (MSP) Connectus has today announced that they’ve secured an unspecified amount of new funding from Time Finance, which has apparently provided a revolving credit facility to help fund their future expansion, additional staff hires and new acquisitions. The press release contains very little useful detail, so we’ll […]

The Welsh Government (WG) has released their Q1 2023 progress update on the £52.5m Phase 2 Superfast Cymru contract with Openreach (BT), which confirms that a total of 36,869 extra premises (up from 35,770 in Q4 2022) have now gained access to their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. The original plan consisted of […]

British registered space firm OneWeb, which is part-owned by the UK government, has today launched their 100Mbps+ “enterprise-grade flexible connectivity packages” for the maritime sector – delivered via the operator’s new global constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based broadband satellites. The company has so far launched 634 of their small c.150kg LEO based broadband […]

News

The Nasdaq-listed Liberty claims the move is to better align itself with the US regulations

According to reports, independent shareholders in Liberty Global are likely to vote against a proposal to domicile the company in Bermuda at an upcoming extraordinary general meeting.

Liberty Global, which has telecoms businesses interests in numerous markets across Europe, including Virgin Media O2 in the UK, first filed a preliminary statement with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the move back in April. The filing indicated that the company would be reincorporated in Bermuda, arguing that doing so would help simplify relations with the company’s predominantly US-based shareholders.

“Today, we are incorporated as an England and Wales company, listed on Nasdaq, and as a result there are cumbersome administrative processes,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries. “The proposed transaction will have no change to our listing on Nasdaq, our day-to-day operations or the tax residence of our operating companies. The principal objective of the change in jurisdiction of incorporation is to facilitate shareholder value creation by aligning the US style corporate law of Bermuda with our listing on Nasdaq and the expectations of our largely US shareholder base.”

He further highlighted that the move should streamline various business activities, such as M&A.

“Key components of our strategy to create shareholder value may include, among others, financing, cross-border M&A and investments, share buybacks, self-tender offers, spin-offs and split-offs, all of which are easier to execute as a Bermuda company,” he added in a note to shareholders.

But despite this purported boon in value, not all shareholders are likely to be happy with the move. The shift would reportedly lower the threshold for key shareholder votes from its 75% to just 50%, therefore delivering a disproportionate amount of voting power to Fries and Liberty Global’s chairman, billionaire John Malone.

Together the duo would control roughly 40% of votes, despite only holding 8% of the company’s shares.

This opposition comes at a troubling time for Liberty Global’s leadership, which is already facing backlash for its proposed changes to executive pay packages and governance practices.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
More than two-thirds of U.S. commercial sites have no optical fibre access
Viasat completes Inmarsat merger deal
EXATEL talks expansion into subsea connectivity sector