The Scottish Government has published a new Public Review (PR) consultation for Scotland, which reveals that some 447,170 premises might need state aid help under the UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme in order to access 1Gbps speeds (rising to 1,281,434 if including ‘Under Review‘ premises). The project, which is targeted at upgrading […]

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the $61 billion deal could see server prices increase, potentially warranting a more thorough investigation

The CMA is considering launch an in-depth investigation into US semiconductor specialist Broadcom’s acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware, suggesting that such a move could directly harm server competition.

Broadcom announced their takeover intentions in May last year, suggesting that the move would help them diversify the business, as well as generating approximately $8.5 billion of pro forma EBITDA within three years.

Antitrust regulators, however, were immediately suspicious that the deal would result in a loss of market competition, particularly driving up server prices for customers.

Now, the CMA have formally aired this concerns, telling Broadcom that it fears the deal will directly result in higher prices for UK businesses.

“Servers are a vital building block, functioning largely thanks to hardware products made by firms like Broadcom, working in unison with virtualisation software from firms like VMware,” said CMA Executive Director David Stewart. “We are concerned this deal could allow Broadcom to cut out competitors from the supply of hardware components to the server market and lead to less innovation at a time when most firms want fast, responsive, and affordable IT systems.”

The CMA said it was also concerned that Broadcom could obtain commercially sensitive information from rival companies that have a pre-existing relationship with VMware.

The regulator has given Broadcom until Monday 27 March to assuage its concerns, or else it will launch an in-depth investigation.

Broadcom says it is cooperating with the CMA to address these concerns, arguing that the deal will offer customers “increased quality, innovation, and choice”.

This is not the first time Broadcom may become stuck in a regulatory quagmire over a potential acquisition. Back in 2017, the company was attempting to purchase rival chip player Qualcomm in a deal that would have been worth $117 billion, before it was blocked by an executive order from President Donald Trump in 2018.

What impact would this deal have on the wider US telecoms industry? Join the experts in discussion at next week’s Connected America conference live in Dallas, Texas

Also in the news:
Fibre overtakes cable in the Netherlands
Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage the connectivity for Lyft e-bikes and scooters
Spring Equinox? It seems Ofcom aren’t certain of the balance

Connected America: Keynote Preview

With less than a week to go until Total Telecom’s inaugural Connected America conference, here’s a taster of what to expect from the opening CXO Keynote Panel: Progress and Potential in 5G and Fixed Networks

With the US now entering the fourth year of its 5G era, now is great time to take stock of the journey so far. Is 5G living up to the hype?

In the opening keynote session at Connected America, The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Mascall will guide a panel of experts as they discuss the state of the US telecoms industry as it is today and the key challenges that still need to be overcome.

The panel will also consider the next steps in the country’s network evolution, including transitioning to cloud architecture, rolling out 5G standalone, and maximising the value of the mobile edge computing.

Finally, the session will explore the macroeconomic factors at play within the indstury today, from the impact of the global economic crisis to the surge of private equity investment in telco infrastructure.

“It’s an exceptionally challenging time for this industry and I’m eager to learn and hear directly how this is impacting organisations, the shifts we’re seeing, and the trends we can expect to see in the future,” said moderator Sara Mascall in a recent interview.

Meet the panel

(Moderator) Sara Mascall, SVP of TMT, The Wall Street Journal|Barron’s Group
Christopher Sambar, President – AT&T Network, AT&T
Prayson Pate, Solutions Marketing, Adtran
Elad Nafshi, Chief Network Officer and EVP, Comcast

It’s not to late to join us in Dallas! Get your ticket for Connected America and join your peers in the US’s most important connectivity event

Also in the news:
Fibre overtakes cable in the Netherlands
Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage the connectivity for Lyft e-bikes and scooters
Spring Equinox? It seems Ofcom aren’t certain of the balance

UK ISP and digital network builder Connexin, which is investing £80m from Whitehelm Capital (now PATRIZIA) to deploy a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Hull and Yorkshire (here and here), has today opened its new HQ in Hull’s K3 Business Park on Clough Road. The move is necessary because the provider “doubled […]

UK ISP BT and the West London Alliance (WLA), which represents the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon, have today announced a new £3.9 million partnership that aims to provide up to 15,000 “homes, schools and businesses with access to ultra-fast broadband” using full fibre technology. The project is being part-funded by […]

The West Sussex County Council (WSCC) in England has launched a new voucher scheme to help local “businesses suffering from the slowest broadband speeds“, which will provide funding to help them connect via an alternative 4G-based mobile broadband solution. The new 4G Mobile Broadband Voucher Scheme typically offers up to £1,250 per qualifying business to […]

Rochdale-based UK ISP Zen Internet has today announced somewhat of a reverse after the provider’s current CEO, Paul Stobart, announced his intention to retire at the end of March 2023, after five years in the role. Replacing him will be the company’s original CEO, and current Founder and Chairman, Richard Tang. Stobart has overseen a […]

CityFibre has today announced the completion of their £25m “primary build” in the West Midlands (England) town of Solihull, which has expanded their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 44,000 premises (around 85% of residential properties), including most businesses. The town-wide deployment – delivered via civil engineering firm Callan Connect – originally began […]

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The Finnish vendor will be providing private wireless connectivity, network edge equipment, and analytics to support The Ocean Cleanup’s conservation operations

Pollution of the world’s oceans, particularly with discarded plastic, has been a growing problem for over half a century.

The scale of this challenge cannot be underestimated. UNESCO suggests that plastic waste comprises 80% of all marine pollution, with 8–10 metric tons of plastic arriving in the world’s oceans each year. Indeed, a recent study suggested that 82 and 358 trillion plastic particles, weighing between 2.4–10.8 billion pounds, are floating across the world.

Indeed, nowhere is the challenge of oceanic plastic pollution more obvious than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – roughly 1.6 million square kilometres of plastic waste floating at the heart of the Pacific.

Now, Nokia has partnered with environmental non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup, aiming to lend their technological expertise to tackling this growing ecological crisis.

As part of the partnership, Nokia and MCS, its partner for Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) distribution in the Benelux, have already deployed a Nokia DAC private wireless solution for The Ocean Cleanup’s operations in the North Pacific.

This will provide the organisation with “a high-performance, end-to-end private wireless networking and edge computing platform” for The Ocean Cleanup’s two ships involved in the clean-up operation.

Nokia will also provide support in the form of their MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) and analytics, which will be used for applications including high-end video connectivity over 4G technology, which can be used to help scout future areas for clean-up.

“Through our subsea optical fibre networks, innovations such as acoustic sensing technology, remote environmental monitoring, or private wireless, Nokia can – and will – continue to play an important role in the marine environment,” explained Subho Mukherjee, Head of Sustainability at Nokia. “We are proud to support and collaborate with The Ocean Cleanup, and look forward to see how our technology can genuinely drive sustainable change and help protect critical natural resources and habitats.”

Nokia says that additional solutions will be developed and deployed in future, in line with the company’s new ESG strategy announced last year.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox

Also in the news:
Fibre overtakes cable in the Netherlands
Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage the connectivity for Lyft e-bikes and scooters
Spring Equinox? It seems Ofcom aren’t certain of the balance

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Streetwave creates mobile network performance maps to continuously monitor and check the quality of the UK’s 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks

Tell us about your start up?

Streetwave is the market leader in providing independent mobile coverage surveys. They set themselves apart by focusing on user experience and ensuring that their online web application (digital map & analytics) is incredibly easy to use, ensuring everyone can understand the information presented e.g. identifying if a user can HD video stream or browse the internet in their location. These real-life use cases give users of the platform, such as local authority customers, the ability to effortlessly assess the coverage and quality of the mobile networks that they depend on both professionally and personally.

Streetwave has a strong capacity for surveys, giving clients maximum flexibility on how data is collected whether on roads, rail, foot, buses or ferries. Clients can even permanently install Streetwave’s autonomous data collection equipment on their own vehicles, giving daily updates on user experience of the mobile networks from wherever the vehicles have been.
The comprehensive nature of Streetwave’s data collection ensures that more technical customers (digital leads, mobile network operators, tower companies, consultancies) can also benefit from the unique platform.

For local authority customers, insights from the data can drive decision making when selecting which mobile network to procure for service provision and employee connectivity. Benchmarking coverage enhances economic development plans, regeneration efforts, and highlights where digital divides are located. These are all strategic considerations for local governments who are working to unlock the digital economy.

Why did you establish the business?

Streetwave was established to tackle the significant issues that arise when government, businesses and individuals don’t understand the coverage quality of the mobile networks that they depend upon.

Everyone understands the importance of the mobile networks. Smart phones are essential to modern living – allowing us to do banking, shopping, socialising, working and navigating all while on the move. However, this is only made possible when users are well connected where they are located. Unfortunately, around 9% of mobile customers in the UK remain unhappy with their mobile contracts. Many of these consumers commit to long-term contracts without accurate insights into the quality of the mobile network that they are signing up for, only to bring their phones back to the places that they live and work to find they can’t get signal. With the average cost of a 12-month mobile contract being £566.40 in 2021, this represents a very real financial burden to millions of people across the UK when they are not receiving mobile connectivity from their network.

This is also a problem for businesses that depend on the mobile networks for some aspect of their service delivery. For example, electric car charging stations are essential infrastructure for the government’s plans to replace petrol/diesel cars by 2030. However, many require users to connect to an app to pay digitally before charging. When these sites are built in areas with poor connectivity, people are unable to make the payments required to charge their vehicles. Understanding connectivity at charging sites is therefore a vital prerequisite before building begins.

Furthermore, this issue affects government. Poor coverage data will make it difficult for the UK Home Office to assess whether the new Emergency Services Network has the necessary coverage to consistently keep first responders connected before its Airwave TETRA network is switch off.

Streetwave established itself to be the leading provider of independent mobile coverage surveys so that consumers, businesses, governments, and operators could understand how users experience the mobile networks no matter where they are in a country.

What are your USP’s?

Unparalleled insight into user experience of mobile networks.
Extensive capacity for mobile surveys, giving clients maximum flexibility on how and where data is collected.
Exceptional presentation of survey results, making it easy to communicate with all stakeholders.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
We work directly with tower companies, collecting data to improve their site selection. We also work with MVNOs to help them better understand which operator to lease infrastructure from. Our data can also be used by MNOs for their marketing and by regulators to check coverage claims.

How have you got to your current stage of development?
As a team we were fortunate to have been hosted by an incubator called the Alacrity Foundation for the first 15 months of building up Streetwave. The Alacrity Foundation is a Newport based charity that is actively building the next generation of UK communications and cyber start-ups. The Foundation brings together business and computer science graduates and presents them with real industry problems that need solving.

Our team were presented with the challenge of building a solution that democratises access to high fidelity mobile coverage intelligence for people and businesses. Each co-founder received a stipend during the programme that allowed us to focus fully on developing Streetwave. Alacrity also supported us in meeting investors as the 15-month programme ended.

Recognising the significance of the challenge Streetwave is solving, we were able to attract a seed investment round led by the Wesley Clover investment group. Wesley Clover also support Streetwave through more than just capital investment. They have given us free office space, access to an experienced designer and used their international presence to help us enter the North American market. The team is further complemented by two successful industry veterans who have joined our board as Non-Exec Directors.

Who inspired you?
Something that has surprised us as a team is just how generous people in the industry have been in lending us time and advice. If we were to list all of the people who have gone out of their way to support us, we would probably have a list that is 100 names long! These people continue to inspire us through both the intelligence they have earned through past successes and the modesty they retain in their willingness to give back to others.

What does the future hold for your business?
Streetwave continues to grow its client base and the locations surveys are carried, with recent expansion into the North American and European markets. The company will not waiver from achieving its mission – to create the world’s most detailed mobile coverage map.

HEADQUARTERS: Newport – Wales
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 5
LAST FUNDING TYPE: Seed Funding
WEBSITE URL: https://streetwave.co/
FOUNDERS
Angus Hay – CEO and Co-Founder
George Gibson – Operations Director and Co-Founder
Dylan Hampton – Product Director and Co-Founder
Nick Broom – Technical Director and Co-Founder

You can meet Streetwave in the Startup Village at Connected North: 17 – 18 April 2023 | Manchester Central. Register at www.totaltele.com/connectednorth