Alternative broadband network builders Freedom Fibre and Zzoomm, both of which have been rolling out 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks across different parts of the country, are reportedly holding “detailed discussions” about a possible future merger, which could create a network that covers over 500,000 premises.

At present Zzoomm’s network, which is home to over 30,000 customers (15%+ take-up) and covers 202,000 premises (RFS), is currently available across parts of around 29 market towns and small urban communities in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire. The provider is primarily a vertically integrated operator, which acts as both the network operator and a retail ISP.

The operator originally planned to cover 1 million premises, yet the difficulties of raising fresh capital recently forced their roll-out to stop (here and here) and they’ve instead been focusing on growing take-up. But growth via mergers and acquisitions are something that Zzoomm’s CEO, Matthew Hare, is known to have been actively exploring (here).

Meanwhile, Freedom Fibre, which is backed by InfraBridge (DigitalBridge) and Equitix, is a wholesale-only network that primarily covers 315,000 premises across parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Shropshire in England. The operator previously aspired to cover 2 million premises and also holds the Government’s Project Gigabit contracts for 12,000 premises in rural parts of Shropshire (here), as well as 15,000 in Cheshire (here). But recently they also appeared to be focusing more on growing take-up (commercialisation) than network builds (here).

According to a new report on Sky News (credits to Nick for spotting), merger talks between Zzoomm and Freedom Fibre are said to have “progressed to a detailed stage,” although officially Zzoomm would only confirm that they were in negotiations with “numerous” parties and declined to comment specifically on Freedom Fibre (the latter has yet to comment).

Regular readers will know that a growing number of network operators, both big and small alike, have over the past couple of years moved to slow their network deployments (resulting in job losses) and switched their focus toward growing take-up to ensure some future stability. Such moves are a prudent course of action in the current climate of rising build costs and high interest rates, which makes it harder to raise fresh investment.

One other way to tackle these challenges is through consolidation, which is something that we’ve already seen happening quite a bit. But getting such deals and network integrations right can be a costly and expensive process. In this case there’s very little network overlap between Freedom Fibre and Zzoomm, except perhaps around Northwich where some overbuild does exist, yet otherwise a deal between the pair does look plausible.

Such a merger might well value the combined company at around £500m, although there’s currently no certainty that the pair will actually be able to reach a final agreement. Time will tell. We should point out that merger agreements like this take a long time to go through the motions, so we might not learn the outcome for a few more months.

UPDATE 15th Nov 2024 @ 7am

One curious aspect of Sky’s coverage is that they name Freedom Fibre’s investor as Basalt (aka – Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP), which had us scratching our heads because Basalt backs FullFibre Limited (Fibre Heroes) and not Freedom Fibre. So it’s possible Sky may have confused either their investors or the operators themselves. But we can’t blame Sky, there are now so many providers with “fibre” in the name that it can be brain melting.

FullFibre Ltd covers 380,000 UK premises and has zero overbuild with Zzoomm. Both operators also have a similar sort of approach to build and might actually be a better fit.

BT Wholesale, which supplies a number of UK ISPs with broadband services, has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re investigating an issue with consumer switching between providers via the One Touch Switching (OTS) process that appears to have been introduced on Monday and is disrupting some ISP switches and internet connections.

According to one of the ISPs that reported it to ISPreview earlier in the week: “Basically any order going in, regardless of any dates that are selected for the transfer, are ignored, and they become ceased records within hours as they are basically expecting it to complete the next day. We have said to them, if a customer wants next day, great, lovely improvement, but if a customer wants to move in 30 days, they need to honour that.”

Naturally, some consumers like to elect a future switching date in order to work around contract end-dates and other real-life challenges, although Ofcom’s OTS rules generally require ISPs to try and switch consumers within 1 working day (“if technically possible“). This may help to explain BTW’s change, but their approach is causing problems. “We have a load of inbound transfers where now the old connection is ceased, but the new dates have all not been honoured, so customers are not connected with either provider,” said the ISP.

At the time of writing, we don’t know how many consumers and ISPs are being impacted by this problem, but one of the affected customers (David) told ISPreview today: “I now no longer have an internet connection. The BTW fix has effectively ceased my FTTP service.” The problems have also been picked up by Thinkbroadband.

A BT spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We are aware of an issue with One Touch Switching and are looking into this as an urgent priority.”

The hope is that a solution can be found to this sooner, rather than later, as consumers affected by it seem to have been left in limbo. But we’ve currently only seen a very tiny number of reports.

A new report from the Digital Connectivity Forum (DCF), which is an industry think-tank for the Government, has summarised how much progress the UK telecoms (broadband, mobile etc.) market has made with respect to sustainability and Net Zero (i.e. the goal of an organisation to remove as many carbon emissions as they produce) – with nearly all of the major operators having set targets.

The report, which surveyed 12 major telecoms companies during May 2024 (e.g. network operators, ISPs and vendors), revealed that 11 out of 12 have set some form of Net Zero target and 75% are using validated science-based targets. This level of target setting was found to be both a “positive signal of the continued commitment to net zero and a sign that the telecoms sector is recognising and responding to climate concerns“.

Other key findings included:

➤ 70% identified renewable energy transition as the largest driver for operational emissions decrease to date.
➤ 5 out of 11 identified fleet transition as a potential large-scale driver for scope 1 & 2 reductions.
➤ 50% have fleet transition targets.
➤ 90% identified green skills gaps as a barrier.

The report also highlights interesting areas such as the potential for certain drivers to decrease overall emissions, including fleet transition, renewable energy switching, fluorinated gas reduction from networks and data centres, and the use of data analytics to focus sustainability strategy. But unfortunately, we only get small bits and pieces of data from the report, and it doesn’t compare the progress of each company, which would have been useful.

Will Ennett, Chair of the DCF’s Climate & Sustainability Work Group, said:

“The members of the Digital Connectivity Forum Climate and Sustainability Working Group have recognised the urgency of climate change. As we face a world that is rapidly changing, many companies are already taking impressive action to curb their environmental impact and make a difference. I want to take this opportunity to thank all members for their enthusiastic collaboration, and to the Digital Connectivity Forum team for their tremendous dedication in creating this report.”

The full report will shortly be available at this link (PDF).

The UK telecoms regulator has warned that they are “prepared to take action” against broadband ISPs that have failed to adopt the new One Touch Switching (OTS) process, which went live on 12th Sept 2024 and aims to make it easier and quicker for consumers to change provider. But not every ISP has joined, which is causing some consumers to struggle with switching.

Implementation of OTS is being handled by the industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which acts as a sort of centralised messaging platform that all ISPs must use in order to properly harness the new process. But despite OTS being a mandatory requirement for all broadband and phone providers, some ISPs are continuing to lag behind on adoption, which can make it difficult for customers on those providers to switch.

Initially this wasn’t such a problem because, due to teething problems with TOTSCo’s matching process (i.e. ensuring that customer details are correctly verified and migrated between providers), Ofcom briefly allowed ISPs to retain the old NoT+ (Notification of Transfer) migration process – until 24th October 2024 – to act as a fallback. The loss of that fallback thus put everything on TOTSCo’s still imperfect system. But imperfect or not, none of that matters when an ISP hasn’t even managed to go live on the platform yet.

“We don’t know how to handle transfers from these providers. Today alone, we have had 3 orders for [redacted] that we can’t transfer, which is making us look like idiots. All we are doing is referring everyone to check the live TOTSCo list as proof,” said one provider to ISPreview, after becoming frustrated with ISPs that have yet to implement the new process.

An Ofcom spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We’re aware of certain companies that are not signed up to the One Touch Switch process, and we’ll be raising this with them. Providers have had more than enough time to implement this, and we’re prepared to take action against those that don’t comply.”

At least one ISP is known to have lodged a formal complaint with the regulator about the absence of certain providers from OTS (this mostly reflects smaller ISPs), which Ofcom will no doubt be looking at as part of their wider enforcement programme. Ofcom does have the power to impose significant financial penalties upon communication providers that break their rules.

According to TOTSCo, as of 11th November 2024 some 280 brands (e.g. ISPs, mobile operators and others) are now live in their public production directory, although it only takes a quick scan to realise that some names are absent from this list (e.g. Yayzi, Uno/XILO, Brillband, Pulse8, Rocket Fibre and others). We know that some of those are in the process of going live, often via a Managed Access Provider (MAP), but others remain uncertain.

Interestingly, some of the laggards in the OTS process don’t appear to have an Ofcom Reseller Identification (RID) code, which is a unique three-letter and three-number code that identifies a company that resells telecom services and telephone numbers in the UK.

Meanwhile, the latest data from TOTSCo (here) shows that the switch match success rate is still hovering slightly above the 60% mark. This reflects the number of delivered match success messages as a percentage of match request messages. But the customer experience will be better than this, as some of these messages are repeat attempts to match the same customer between providers.

Alternative broadband operator Spring Fibre, which began attempting to deploy a new 10Gbps capable wholesale full fibre (FTTP) network for ISPs to use in 2021 – starting in Lincolnshire (here), has been sold by their administrators to Leeds-based Harmony Networks for £1.5m after only having passed 12,000 UK premises (RFS).

The operator, which was initially backed by Kingsley Capital Partners and telecoms specialist Graphite Strategy, is known to have originally secured an investment (loan) of “up to” £155m from R&M’s (River and Mercantile) infrastructure business to support their original aspiration of covering 1 million premises in England (here).

However, in the years since 2021, we’ve seen very few updates on their build progress and no sign of any retail ISP availability. The operator did appear to start building in Lincoln, as well as the small towns of Mablethorpe and Louth during early 2023 (here), while some of our readers also claimed to have spotted their contractors, SCD, working in or around locations like Garforth/Kippax, as well as the village of Great Preston.

The problems at Spring Fibre started to become more evident in September 2024 with the publication of their annual accounts (here), which revealed that their principal investor would “not continue to fund its network construction plan“ or meet their continued operational expenditure (finding a new investor in today’s environment of high interest rates and competitive network build is a challenging prospect).

Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the altnet told ISPreview, perhaps rather over optimistically, that Spring Fibre was still “in a strong position as they continue to build network in the East and Northeast of England, with supportive investors, having gone live with Customers in recent months.” But shortly after that they moved to appoint an administrator (here) and Fti Consulting later secured the role.

Outcome of Administration

Fti Consulting have now published their statement of proposals, which lifts the lid on the reality of Spring Fibre’s situation and confirms that, following their appointment, the joint administrators “completed a sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets to Harmony Networks Limited for £1.5m“. This asset purchase comprises intellectual property rights; plant and machinery; work in progress (“WIP”); business information; IT; stock; office equipment; and certain contracts.

The document, which has been seen by ISPreview, reveals that “despite ongoing investment and successfully growing its network to 12,000 ready-for-service premises, the Company has not reached the stage where it was generating revenue, cash or profits and so has been dependent on the support of its shareholders and the Secured Creditor to fund the Company.”

The administrator’s report notes that, by July 2023, the Company had already utilised c.£15m of its Loan Agreement and, despite later attempts to reduce the “cash burn”, the Company continued to require funding in the region of c.£1.5m per month.

Extract from Administrator’s Report

However, the Company faced challenges from rising build costs in a highly competitive market, resulting in the abandonment of certain build projects, with overbuild threats materialising at a faster pace than anticipated, procurement challenges as well as the ongoing operating cost outflow given the pre-revenue nature of the asset.

In September 2023, the investors brought in a new CEO to re-invigorate the business, establish a new management team and undertake an operational restructuring of the Company. The new management team identified £5.1m of impairments to the build projects undertaken to date.

In May 2024, Fiera Infrastructure took over from RMI (the fund manager responsible for overseeing the investment into the Company). Representatives from Fiera subsequently replaced the directors appointed by the former fund manager.

The Company continued to incur losses (c.9.0m EBITDA loss in FY23 and a £2.8m EBITDA loss in the year to June 2024) and to draw down further on the Term Loan to fund the ongoing fibre roll-out.

The Company was also unable to meet its cash pay interest due to the Secured Creditor on 30 June 2024 or 30 September 2024 amounting to c.£664k and c.£619k respectively. The Secured Creditor is said to have reserved their rights in respect of the non-payment which constituted an Event of Default.

As we already known, Spring Fibre ultimately failed to find a new source of investment, although it is revealed that they initially received a non-binding offer from one unnamed operator to buy the business before it fell into administration. But following more engagements, the offer was withdrawn and it was later deemed that “no solvent solution could be found“, which is when the administrator was appointed.

“During the week commencing 21 October 2024, the Company recommenced an accelerated sale process and contacted 16 parties (14 of which had been contacted during the initial M&A process). The parties were informed that the Directors had filed an NOI, and that the business and/or its assets were still available for sale. A bid deadline of 28 October 2024 was set, and three offers were received, including an offer for the Company’s assets from Harmony Networks Limited (the “Purchaser”),” added Fti’s report.

The offer received from Harmony Networks is said to have “represented the best return to the creditors as a whole” (i.e. as opposed to letting it all fail), although at £1.5m (c. £125 per premises) it’s obviously a price that falls well below the amount of money that has already been blown (creditors won’t be getting much of their money back). Just for context, the Secured Creditor’s lending to the Company as at the date of Administration was c. £33.5m.

We don’t know much about Harmony Networks itself, but the SCD Group (Spring’s contractor) is stated to be an entity under the same person of significant control as the Purchaser. Quite what SCD plans to do with the network they’ve just purchased is unclear, but we do note that their engineers have helped to build some other fibre networks too, such as for Connexin.

News 

The addition plays a key role in enhancing the team’s ability to respond to emergencies, especially in areas previously lacking coverage

EE has teamed up with Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team (LMRT) to improve the connectivity and support search and rescue operations on Ben Nevis. Using existing 35-meter mast site located in Glen Nevis, this collaboration aims to enhance safety in one of the UK’s most popular yet challenging outdoor destinations. 

The mast, which has been providing 4G connectivity to EE customers and 999 coverage to all visitors, is also part of the UK Home Office’s Emergency Services Network (ESN) – a critical communications system for emergency services. The site’s strategic location in Glen Nevis, a popular area that attracts over 400,000 visitors annually, is crucial for addressing coverage gaps, particularly in ‘shadowed’ areas where the natural terrain had previously blocked signals. 

EE and LMRT worked together to install a single antenna and cable to the mast, which has significantly expanded the network’s range and improved communication capabilities for rescue teams. Since the installation of LMRT’s equipment just under two months ago, the team has responded to 17 callouts. Notably, two of these were in areas with no coverage before, and nine were in parts of Ben Nevis where coverage has been greatly improved.  

“Communications play a vital role in all of our rescue operations. We primarily use VHF radios to communicate with our base and other team members on the hill. We have had communication challenges in Glen Nevis and some aspects of Ben Nevis for many years, and the opportunity to locate a ‘repeater’ on this tower, with the support of BT Group, will make our operations safer and more efficient,” said Ian Pooleman, Secretary and Medical Officer at LMRT in a press release. 

“This is a simple yet effective example of how we can diversify the use of our portfolio of physical assets, many of which are in remote locations, to support the UK’s broader digital needs and connect more people for good, both now and into the future,” echoed David McKean, BT Group’s Tower Division Director. 

Join us at next year’s Connected North, 23-24 April in Manchester. Get hugely discounted tickets here for a limited time only! 

Also in the news:
Verizon extends US defence contract in $98m deal
Top 5 stories from Broadband Communities last week
UScellular sells spectrum to AT&T for $1 billion

News 

The statement adds further fuel to the US–China geopolitical fire 

The US government’s ongoing investigation into cyber threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has uncovered a wide-reaching espionage campaign targeting commercial telecommunications networks, according to a joint statement released this week from the FBI and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency). 

The findings have revealed that Chinese affiliated hackers have breached networks across multiple telecommunications companies in a “broad and significant cyber espionage campaign,” allowing unauthorised access to sensitive data and private communications. 

Specifically, the hackers have been able to access and steal customer call records, including information about individuals involved in political and government activities. In some instances, they also intercepted communications tied to US law enforcement requests under court orders, raising serious concerns about the integrity of confidential information and data privacy within US commercial networks. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported the attack last month, and suggested that both telcos and broadband providers, including AT&T, Verizon and Lumen were among the targets, although the most recent has not named specific companies. At the time, the Chinese Embassy in Washington has denied the claims, calling them a “a distortion of fact” and a political attempt to “smear” China.  

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are working together to support affected companies, share information to prevent further attacks, and improve cybersecurity across the telecom sector. Organisations concerned about breaches have been encouraged to contact their local FBI office or reach out to CISA for assistance. 

In recent years, US–China tensions have grown over tech and telecom security, driven by concerns around control of critical infrastructure like 5G and semiconductors. The US has placed restrictions on Chinese telecom companies, including Huawei, and imposed export limits on advanced technology, citing national security risks. Alleged cyber intrusions by Chinese hackers into US telecom networks and privacy concerns over apps like TikTok have added to these strains, fueling a push for self-reliance and competition over key technologies. 

Join us at next year’s Connected America, 11-12 March in Dallas. Get Discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
VMO2 launches UK’s first 5G standalone small cells in Birmingham
BT says Labour’s budget will cost company £100m
Vodafone Spain and Telefonica complete FibreCo deal 

News

Over 60 percent of Frontier Communications stockholders have approved a merger agreement proposal with Verizon

This article was originally published Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publicationBroadband Communities

Approximately 63 percent of Frontier Communications stockholders have voted to approve a merger agreement proposal.

Frontier, which announced the news following a Nov. 13 special meeting, also reported that ten of the company’s top 12 stockholders voted in favour of the transaction.

In the deal, subject to regulatory approval, Verizon would acquire Frontier in an all-cash transaction worth $20 billion.

Currently, Frontier serves over 2.2 million fiber subscribers across 25 states. If approved, the deal would give Verizon over 25 million fibre passings across 31 states.

Nick Jeffery, Frontier’s CEO, said the Nov. 13 vote “demonstrates the strong value of the fiber business we have built over the past four years.”

“We look forward to closing this transaction by the first quarter of 2026 and beginning to deliver our premium fiber offering to millions more customers across our combined network,” he said, according to Frontier’s announcement.

According to Frontier, the firm’s shareholders will receive $38.50 per share in cash.

The value represents a 37 percent premium of Frontier’s Sept. 3 share price, Frontier’s announcement stated.

Over the past several years, Frontier has invested over $4 billion into network upgrades and fiber expansions, with planned build outs to 2.8 million fibre locations by 2027.

Verizon’s CEO previously said the deal would enhance Verizon’s ability to deliver premium offerings to millions more customers across a combined fibre network.

Join us at next year’s Connected America, 11-12 March in Dallas. Get discounted tickets here!

Also in the news:
Nokia acquires Rapid in API boost
Swisscom–Vodafone Italia deal gets green light from Italian authorities
Vorboss and Neos Networks sign networks deal 

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has done something rather crafty by creating a “human-like” AI (Artificial Intelligence) ‘Granny’ called Daisy, which is designed to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters and then keep them on the phone and away from customers for as long as possible – wasting them time and money.

Most of the United Kingdom’s major broadband, phone and mobile network providers have already implemented various technical measures to tackle Nuisance Calls and Scam Calls. But rarely do we see systems that are designed to actually retaliate against such calls.

Fraudsters typically robotically call masses of numbers but will only commit any actual human resources toward the tiny minority of people who might actually fall for one of their scams. Suffice to say that if you can waste the time of the human scammers, then that’s another actual human that they won’t be able to engage while their time is being wasted.

This is where Daisy comes into play, which combines various AI models that work together to listen and respond to fraudulent calls instantaneously and is said to be so lifelike that it has successfully kept numerous fraudsters on calls for 40 minutes at a time.

The AI Scambaiter has thus far told frustrated scammers meandering stories of her family, talked at length about her passion for knitting and provided exasperated callers with false personal information including made-up bank details. By tricking the criminals into thinking they were defrauding a real person and playing on scammers biases about older people, Daisy has prevented them from targeting real victims.

Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud at VMO2, said:

“We’re committed to playing our part in stopping the scammers, investing in everything from firewall technology to block out scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to keep our customers safe.

The newest member of our fraud-prevention team, Daisy, is turning the tables on scammers – outsmarting and outmanoeuvring them at their own cruel game simply by keeping them on the line.

But crucially, Daisy is also a reminder that no matter how persuasive someone on the other end of the phone may be, they aren’t always who you think they are. With scammers operating fulltime call centres specifically to target Brits, we’re urging everyone to remain vigilant and help play their part in stopping fraud by forwarding on dodgy calls and texts to 7726 for free.”

The press release doesn’t completely clarify how Daisy decides which calls to answer and whether it has its own number, or if it instead responds to known scammers that are trying to call customers numbers (i.e. essentially, impersonating the customer). But we have asked about this and hope to report back later.

As part of this, Influencer and reality TV star, Amy Hart, has worked with Daisy to produce a new video that shows how she’s taking on phoney fraudsters like the one who targeted her. After receiving a call from someone who said they were calling from her bank on the morning of her friend’s wedding, Amy fell victim to a scam which saw more than £5,000 drained from her bank account in a matter of minutes.

UPDATE 9:30am

VMO2 has informed ISPreview that Daisy has her own number, and they worked with one of the UK’s biggest scambaiters, Jim Browning, to help them attract scam calls to the AI. “Working with Jim and using a range of tactics including something known as number seeding, we were able to get Daisy’s phone number added to a list of online ‘mugs lists’ used by scammers targeting UK consumers,” said the operator.

Ofcom has published their latest Q2 2024 study of UK consumer complaints, which names and shames NOW Broadband (NOW TV) for being the worst provider by attracting the most complaints about broadband, while EE did the same for landline phone and O2 took most flak mobile. Finally, both EE and Virgin Media were jointly on the naughty step for Pay TV.

Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.

Otherwise, the results below reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) due to limited data.

Take note that the proportion of people who were satisfied with their communications services in 2023 was 77% (unchanged from last year) for landline services, 82% (down from 83%) for broadband and 87% (down from 91%) for all mobile services. We don’t yet have any figures for 2024.

Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints

NOW Broadband (NOW TV) attracted the most broadband moans in Q2 2024, with customers’ complaints, perhaps ironically, mainly being driven by how their complaints were handled. On the flip side, Sky Broadband once again attracted the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.

Fixed Line Phone Complaints

EE attracted the most complaints for fixed line phone services, with their customer complaints being mainly due to issues with faults, services and provisioning. By comparison, Utility Warehouse attracted the fewest complaints after only recently entering the table (they appear to have had zero gripes this quarter).

Mobile Complaints

Mobile operators generally enjoy lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but O2 continued to attract the most gripes during the quarter, with issues around complaints handling driving most of it. By comparison, Tesco Mobile attracted the fewest gripes.

Pay TV Complaints

Finally, both EE and Virgin Media jointly attracted the most complaints for Pay TV, while Sky received the fewest complaints.

Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q2 2024
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints