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The three-year partnership will see Nokia provide the operator with its latest RAN solutions, as well as the potential for Open RAN and Cloud RAN pilots

This week, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) have announced that they will expand their partnership with Finnish vendor Nokia in a new three-year deal.

The agreement covers various parts of Nokia’s Airspan portfolio, which allows a single base station to deliver 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G services simultaneously.

More specifically, Nokia will supply VMO2 with its latest Habrok Massive MIMO radios and AirScale Baseband and Interleaved Passive Active Antennas (IPAA). This will deliver improved 5G performance to customers, as well as a 30% reduction in power consumption and 40% weight and volume reduction compared to existing solutions, thanks to its energy efficient ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) technology.

Naturally, Nokia will also provide various optimisation and technical support alongside the solutions themselves.

The deal itself is regional, spanning southern parts of the UK, including London.

“We continue to invest in our network upgrading and expanding our 4G and 5G networks to customers across the country. This is delivering superior connected experiences and supporting the UK’s digital transformation that will drive long-term growth. Continuing our partnership with Nokia will help us to deliver even better 5G with higher speeds and lower latency, as well as ensuring we are set up for future growth in line with our customers’ ever-evolving demands and needs,” said VMO2’s Chief Technology Officer, Jeanie York.

In addition to Nokia’s Single RAN and massive MIMO solutions, the deal will also allow VMO2 to launch pilots with Nokia’s 5G Cloud RAN and commercial RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) technology.

VMO2 first launched an Open RAN pilot in August last year in partnership with Rakuten Symphony and has since announced a significant Open RAN partnership with Mavenir earlier this year. The scope of this partnership has yet to be revealed, but Neil Geary, the VMO2’s director of technical strategy and architecture, says the move encompasses the company’s “biggest Open RAN deployment to date”.

But while commercial Open RAN deployments across the UK remain few and far between, conventional 5G deployments are continuing to accelerate rapidly. Earlier this year, VMO2 said that they had achieved 50% outdoor population coverage in 2,100 towns and cities and were now aiming for 50% of the whole of the UK by the end of 2023.

Is the UK’s 5G rollout progressing fast enough? Will Open RAN live up to the hype? Answer these questions and more at this year’s Connected Britain conference

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VIEWPOINT

The declaration of Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE as high-risk vendors (HRV) is revealing a split between EU member states. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Markets made the announcement at a recent news conference on 15 June. Several telecom executives and government ministers in Germany and Austria are questioning the EU’s conclusions regarding cybersecurity risks and have publicly voiced their opposition to the restrictions. This could have far reaching implications for the future of 5G development and international relations.

Huawei, in its official statement, “strongly opposes and disagrees” with the European Commission’s decision, asserting the move lacks a “verified, transparent, objective and technical assessment of 5G networks.” The tech giant warns that such restrictions could “pose serious economic and social risks,” possibly stifling innovation and distorting the EU market. Huawei also argued that the ‘High-Risk Vendor’ designation goes against free trade principles. They cite an Oxford Economics report that suggests excluding Huawei could inflate 5G investment costs by billions of euros, an expense that they say will end up being borne by European consumers.

Huawei says cybersecurity is a top priority and to assuage concerns about its products, once again invited customers and independent third-party testing organizations to its Cyber Security Transparency Centre in Brussels. Here customers and government standards bodies can perform security tests on all its equipment and code for verification against industry-recognized cyber security standards and best practices.

While the European Commission’s decision resonates with some, others have publicly rejected the security concerns raised about Huawei. Stephan Broszio, a spokesperson for Deutsche Telekom, asserts that China can’t shut down the 5G network, refuting the claim that manufacturers have remote access. Broszio states that “no update will be installed in live systems that have not previously been extensively tested for functionality and security.” He clarified that “The systems for network management are completely separated from the Internet and Deutsche Telekom’s office communication networks in their own high-security network. Access to this network is only available to a few specially checked employees, remote access for manufacturers is not possible.”

Research by Denmark’s Strand Consult showed that as much as 50% of 4G and 5G equipment in Germany is supplied by Huawei. This could run to as many as 46,000 sites across the country. According to a research note prepared by Barclays and seen by Lightreading, Deutsche Telekom could face a bill of around $1.2 billion, with Telefonica and Vodafone having to spend at least $750,000 each to remove their network equipment supplied by Huawei.

Similar support came from Austria, where Klaus M. Steinmaurer, the Managing Director of the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR), expressed no security concerns regarding Chinese telecom firms. He sees “no reason for this (naming them as high-risk vendors).”

Austrian Digitization State Secretary Florian Tursky also confirmed that EU network security guidelines had already been implemented in the country, but since there is still no formal ban network operators are still free to use components from Huawei or ZTE for 5G network expansion.

It’s not just industry insiders; Chinese officials too have thrown their weight behind Huawei. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted the European Commission’s claims of security risks, urging the EU to abide by “international economic and trade rules.” Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, echoed these sentiments, stating that the ban violates WTO rules and could seriously impact the business communities in both regions.

While the European Commission is trying to shut Chinese vendors out of European markets, China appears to be moving in the opposite direction. European network operators Nokia and Ericsson were recently awarded around 16 percent of a large China Mobile contract. This is double the previous market share held by European telecoms operators in China.

The future of 5G development in Europe hangs in the balance, as does the EU’s trade and political relations with China. It’s a scenario that stakeholders around the world will be monitoring closely.

News

The deal will add 127,000 premises to KPN’s fibre footprint, bringing the operator closer to its goal of covering 80% of the Netherlands with fibre by 2026

This week, Dutch telecoms giant KPN has announced the acquisition of a local fibre access network from investment firm Primevest Capital Partners.

Primevest, then known as Bouwfonds, first announced its fibre ambitions in 2017. Since then, the firm has launched numerous fibre projects around Europe, with networks currently expanding in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria.

In the Netherlands specifically, Primevest began rolling out fibre in partnership with T-Mobile Netherlands at the end of 2020. Today, this network spans roughly 127,000 premises in three major cities: Rotterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven.

These premises will be added to KPN’s existing full fibre rollout, which reportedly totals around four million households. KPN aims to cover 80% of the Netherlands with full fibre by 2026.

“The acquisition of Primevest’s fibre network is a welcome addition to our existing fibre footprint, which totals four million households. We’ve been making strong progress with our fibre rollout, which is at the heart of our strategy. In the next few years, we will be fully focused to complete this project,” explained Wouter Stammeijer, Chief Technology & Digital Officer at KPN.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Financial details of the deal have not been announced.

How is the European fibre landscape changing in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam

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Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has confirmed that they’ve signed a new 3-year extended supplier agreement with Nokia, which will see them continue deploying and upgrading their UK 5G network using Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment (Airscale) from the Finnish company – focused on delivering “increased reliability, performance, and capacity.” The deal will cover 2G, 3G, […]

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News

The funding will allow the deployment of over 12,000 miles of additional fibre across the country

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced the allocation of $930 million in government funding for fibre projects across the US.

The funding, part of the $1 billion Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, will support projects in 35 states and Puerto Rico, allowing for the deployment of roughly 12,000 miles of fibre.

The grants range in size from $88.9 million to $2.7 million, the largest of which is the Nome to Homer Express Route in Alaska, aiming to expand the state’s fibre network to some of its most remote locations.

All funded projects are expected to be completed within five years.

“The Middle Mile program is a force multiplier in our efforts to connect everyone in America,” said Commerce Assistant Secretary Alan Davidson. “These grants will help build the foundation of networks that will in turn connect every home in the country to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.”

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), written into law at the end of 2021, set aside roughly $1.2 trillion for various infrastructure projects across the country, from roads to electricity. Around $65 billion of this total was earmarked for improving broadband connectivity, including $1 billion for the Middle Mile programme.

Thus, around $70 million of the Middle Mile funding remains unallocated, with the NTIA suggesting that these funds will be made available at a later date on a rolling basis.

It is worth noting, however, as is commonplace with government subsidy programmes, the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program was hugely oversubscribed. The NTIA reportedly received 260 applications for grants, collectively seeking $7.47 billion, over seven times the available funding.

The majority of the IIJA’s broadband funding – roughly $42.5 billion – will ultimately be distributed as part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programme, aiming to address broadband access in underserved areas. The allocation of this funding is expected to be announced later this month.

Is government funding going to transform broadband access for rural America? Join the operators in discussion at Connected America live in Dallas, Texas

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