The parent company of UK retail energy and broadband provider Shell Energy has announced their intention to sell the company, which follows a major “strategic review” of the business that was launched in January 2023 due to “tough market conditions“. Reports claim that Ovo and Octopus Energy may have already placed bids. Firstly, it should […]

News

The operator has signed an agreement with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite player Lynk Global aiming to trial direct-to-device satellite mobile services by the end of the year

This week, Spark has announced a new partnership with LEO satellite operator Lynk, becoming the last of New Zealand’s mobile operators to see their connectivity take to the stars.

The partnership will see Spark trial Lynk’s direct-to-consumer mobile connectivity by the end of the year, with some of their customers able to opt-in to participate for free.

Founded in 2017, Lynk Global is one of the world’s first satellite operators to target direct-to-mobile connectivity. Since then, the company has launched three initial satellites, testing the technology successfully in 21 countries.

Lynk expects to launch a number of additional satellites by the end of this year, a move that should allow it to begin offering limited commercial services.

However, this is just a small fraction of Lynk’s overall ambition, with the company suggesting they will need around 1,000 devices in orbit to provide continuous global broadband services – something they aim to achieve by 2025. In future, this total could swell to around 5,000 to help support global demand for connectivity.

Due to Lynk’s relatively limited initial deployment, the newly announced trial with Spark will only enable text messaging at certain times of day. However, as more satellites are deployed over the next two years, availability of service will improve, and voice and data services will be introduced.

Ultimately, Spark hopes to use Lynk’s constellation to provide near-universal coverage across New Zealand, ensuring customers are connected wherever they travel.

“While satellites can’t provide 100 percent coverage – as you need a clear line of sight to the sky to get connected – it certainly adds an additional layer of resilience, particularly now, as we face increasingly severe and frequent weather events due to climate change,” said Spark’s product director Tessa Tierney. “And once there are more satellites launched and the service is available more broadly, it will allow our mobile customers to start to use their phones in more areas that aren’t reached by traditional mobile coverage.”

The move comes as part of Spark’s recently announced three-year strategy, which also includes a focus on data centre investment and new connectivity technologies, including satellites.

Spark is the last of the country’s mobile operators to strike a satellite connectivity partnership. 2degrees announced a similar deal with Lynk back in April, with trials reportedly already underway. Meanwhile, Vodafone New Zealand – recently rebranded as One New Zealand – has signed up to use SpaceX’s Starlink constellation from late 2024.

How will satellite connectivity impact the international telecoms sector? Join the discussion with the operators at this year’s Total Telecom Congress

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

RWG Mobile, which describes itself as being the nation’s only “dedicated, all-Wales mobile network provider”, has today announced that they’ve finally made 5G based mobile broadband connectivity available to all of their consumer and business customers, “at no extra cost“. Most other operators did this a while ago. The Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), which […]

VIEWPOINT

The subscriber dynamic has shifted tremendously over the last few years, and savvy altnets in the U.K. are seizing the moment to compete on more than just speed and price.

It’s all about the subscriber experience you provide through the Wi-Fi services that you offer, as David Green of Calix shares at Connected North 2023. The cloud platform from Calix, Revenue EDGE, delivers an exceptional subscriber experience along with critical insights for altnets to make informed decisions. Even more, SmartBiz™, part of the Calix SmartLife portfolio, is a service designed for small businesses.

With enhanced Wi-Fi security and an innovative mobile app, adoption of SmartBiz™ can enhance any altnet’s core offering by going beyond just the consumer play. This continuous innovation is just one of many reasons why Calix is the preferred partner of altnets in the U.K. market.

 

For more information on SmartBiz™ and Revenue EDGE, please feel free to reach out to David directly at david.green@calix.com

You can also meet Calix at Connected Britain (20-21st September) on stand 76. 

Exeter-based broadband ISP and network builder Jurassic Fibre, which is deploying a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset in England, appears to have recently cut an unspecified number of jobs – mostly impacting those in their civil engineering division. The operator, which is being supported by an investment of £250m […]

The Building Digital UK agency and Department for the Economy (DfE) have published a new Public Review (PR) consultation for Northern Ireland, which reveals that some 85,504 premises might need state aid help under the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme in order to access 1Gbps speeds. The project, which is targeted at upgrading areas […]

Some customers of SpaceX’s popular Starlink broadband ISP in the UK have started reporting that their download speeds are being throttled, often to around 50Mbps, when they hit a certain threshold. So it’s perhaps no coincidence that they’ve also launched a ‘PRIORITY – 1TB‘ plan for £180. Customers in the UK typically pay from £75 […]

The UK Government will today launch a new £7 million fund as one part of their wider Unleashing Rural Opportunity strategy, which will be used to “test out new ways” of bringing together satellite, wireless (FWA and mobile) and fixed line broadband ISP solutions to help “support farmers and tourism businesses” in rural areas. The […]

Infracapital-backed network builder and ISP Ogi, which is investing £200m on the deployment of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across 150,000 premises in Wales by 2025 (47,500 premises covered by March 2023), has revealed that they’ve awarded £36,750 to community groups within their patch. The news follows last year’s development, which saw the provider […]

Interview

We spoke to Ciena’s VP Global Submarine Solutions, Thomas Soerensen, at this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA event to discuss how the company is navigating the challenging global market, from geopolitics to supply chain issues

At this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA conference, there was undoubtedly an elephant in the room: geopolitics. With political tensions rising in numerous theatres around the world, governments are becoming increasingly interventionist in the submarine cable space, posing a major challenge to new subsea cable projects.

“We can’t help but talk about geopolitics,” explained Soerensen, noting the issue’s prevalence in Asia and the Indian Ocean, as well as in Europe. “We’re seeing more and more focus from local authorities and governments on the security of subsea cables as critical infrastructure.”

Against this volatile geopolitical backdrop, demand for connectivity services continues to boom, requiring the submarine cable industry to innovate. Indeed, numerous exciting technologies are coming to the fore to help meet the ever-increasing demand, from new types of fibre to new dry plant and submarine line terminal equipment.

“Right now, multicore fibre (MCF) is exciting and we’re seeing the first cable being deployed with that technology,” said Soerensen. “However, MCF itself is probably not the next technical revolution that we really need to take the industry forward – that might be hollow core fibre, it’s too early to tell!”

To hear more from Ciena’s Thomas Soerensen on the challenges and opportunities facing the submarine cable industry, check out the full interiew below.

Want to keep up with all of the latest developments in the submarine cable sector? Join the ecosystem in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA 2024

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