Mobile network operator SMARTY, which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) on Three UK’s platform, has introduced a new SIM Only deal that gives new customers 60GB of mobile broadband data for just £10 per month “with the guarantee of NO price rises.” The plan, which normally only comes with 30GB of data for […]

VIEWPOINT

The service providers have already started harvesting the fruits of 5G investments across the world and this has created a `certainty effect’, said Peter Song, President of Huawei’s ICT Strategy and Marketing, Huawei, at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 recently.

“There are more than 240 5G networks commercially launched, almost twice the number of 4G networks in the first three years. There were one billion 5G subscribers by the end of 2022. To compare, it took 4G more than five years to achieve that number, and more than 800 5G smartphones are available, and the great news is a solid financial impact that the leading 5G operators are getting as we speak,” said Peng Song. Huawei recently convened 5G Business Success Summit at Mobile World Congress 2023 at Barcelona, Spain.

The Road to 5G Monetization

However, the service providers need to adopt innovative strategies to monetize 5G. Huawei’s analysis revealed that the fast migration of 5G users and traffic is the key to successful 5G monetization. Peng Song mentioned that if an operator migrated 30% of traffic to 5G eMBB in three years, it would take less than four years to see Return on Investment (RoI). This time period can be further shortened if the operator deployed Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and ToB services.

He further elaborated on the energy efficiency aspect of 5G networks. “5G has the higher energy efficiency than 4G. In the initial phase of 5G user migration, the overall power consumption still increases. However, as the 5G traffic ratio exceeds 30%, we have found that the power consumption of high-traffic sites even started to decrease,” said Peng Song.

Several Paths to Ensure Compelling 5G Experience and Faster Monetization

5G networks come with several new-age capabilities to help service providers deliver a superior experience. For instance, operators can provide a guaranteed downlink and uplink speed for VIP users.

Another emerging capability that is helping service providers accelerate monetization is 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services. Nearly 95 operators had commercially introduced 5G FWA services for more than 10 million home users by the end of 2022.

Elaborating on the FWA opportunities for the service providers, Peng Song said, “We can identify two potential markets for 5G FWA. Copper Sunset in developed markets and the high-speed broadband access in emerging markets. While in Europe, rural areas, a large number of copper users cannot upgrade to 100 mega-BPS. Replacing copper with 5G FWA benefits those consumers getting better experiences and operators, of course, lowering their expense.”

“On the other hand, in emerging markets, the fibre penetration is still quite low. 5G FWA has become the first choice for 100 mega-BPA’s home browned access in those markets. Because of fast time to market, plug and play, and the less cost in medium and the load density household areas,” he added.

Leveraging 5G Private Networks Opportunity

Another key 5G monetization opportunity for telcos is 5G private networks. “The key is to open the door to a comprehensive enterprise DICT business, and therefore, besides 5G toB connection, operators can leverage cloud, edge computing and value-added service as a business to provide real holistic business partnerships to the enterprise,” said Peng Song. He mentioned that China Mobile believes 5G private network business can facilitate three to ten times revenue in enterprise DICT business.

“We are pleased to see that in just one year, outside of China the number of 5G private networks deployed by carriers has doubled, and the top industry companies have started to embrace 5G private networks, and this market will continue to grow very rapidly,” said Peng Song.

5G is unlike any previous technology and is not just about economic value to the operators but also brings massive social benefits. It not only helps the telcos in reducing their carbon footprint but can also bring down the digital divide.

He urged the industry to use Huawei’s G.U.I.D.E. business blueprint to maximize the potential of 5G and to move from `5Good to 5Great’. “5G networks bring experiences to mobile users and fiber-like experiences to households. That’s `G’. Second, this powerful network ability of 5G can support uranium experiences-based monetization in not only downlink but also uplink. That’s `D.’ Third, of course faster user and traffic migration is the foundation of 5G business success, which shortened the ROI and achieve greener network. That’s `E.’ In addition, 5G private network together of other technologies can facilitate three to ten times revenue enterprise DICT business segment which opened a new blue ocean market, and that’s `I.’ Lastly, simplified 5G networks management together with value baed intelligent operation is another successful dimension, and that’s `U’,” said Peng Song while explaining the G.U.I.D.E. principle. From 2024 to 2030, 5G will continues to accelerate the service providers’ 5G monetization with G.U.I.D.E strategy.

 

 

Press Release

Adtran, the leading provider of next-generation open and disaggregated networking solutions, today announced that it successfully completed a field trial of 800Gbit/s single-carrier transport, achieving error-free transmission over a record distance of 2,220km in NYSERNet’s production network. The test route passed through 14 route-and-select flexgrid ROADMs comprising a total of 28 wavelength-selective switches. Leveraging 140GBd digital signal processing (DSP) technology from Acacia, an industry leader for silicon-based high-speed optical interconnect products, this result was made possible by Adtran’s use of continuous symbol rate tuning and probabilistic constellation shaping offered by Acacia’s Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8). The trial showcases an opportunity for network operators to increase capacity and efficiency while minimizing complexity and cost.

“We’ve taken single-carrier 800Gbit/s data transmission further than ever before. And we’ve achieved it not in a lab but in a real-world network also carrying live traffic. What’s more, we succeeded without any optimization to the line system, maintaining the same amplifier settings used before the field trial. We’ve demonstrated that the highest capacity and reach can now be accomplished even over deployed fiber comprising a mix of standard G.652 and G.655 and including multiple network nodes and flexgrid ROADMs,” said Sorin Tibuleac, director of system architecture at Optical Networks, Adtran. “Building on the success of our TeraFlex™ CoreChannel™ technology, these results represent the next milestone in the development of high-speed optical networks. The potential to enhance throughput while minimizing opex and operational complexity is immense.”

Adtran’s trial marks the longest distance ever achieved for 800Gbit/s data transport using a single optical carrier with real-time DSP. To realize this, it utilized Acacia’s CIM 8 transceiver technology, which increases baud rates up to 140Gbd to generate 800Gbit/s signals. By achieving long-distance transmission with single-carrier optics, the demo helps operators reduce footprint and energy consumption. The trial used Adtran’s FSP 3000 open line system (OLS), which provided the necessary flexibility to configure the wider required bandwidth and perform testing. Featuring a modular architecture, multiple amplification and multiplexing options, and different chassis sizes, this truly open OLS enables operators to deploy customized and future-proof solutions.

“We’re pleased to play a key role in this trial and proud of our record-breaking network. Alongside our partners, we’re showing that the highest speeds are now possible over extremely long distances, even in intricate and heterogeneous network environments. This demo reveals a way to address complexity and cost while eliminating the need for expensive and unnecessary infrastructure expansion,” commented Bill Owens, chief network architect at NYSERNet. “The success of this trial offers a major boost to the research and education institutions we support. By working with global leaders like Adtran and Acacia, we’re ensuring that our network can benefit from the latest innovation and keep our academic community at the forefront of scientific research.”

“Our field trial sets a new standard for long-haul, single-carrier data transmission over an existing network with live customer traffic. It shows the full potential of our technology to increase capacity and efficiency while reducing power consumption and expense,” noted Christian Rasmussen, VP of DSP and optics engineering at Acacia. “Our CIM 8 coherent optical module was instrumental in enabling this achievement. Featuring our 8th generation DSP and advanced silicon photonics, the CIM 8 module offers baud rate adjustment up to 140GBd and continuous modulation, which optimizes the use of available spectrum. This gives service providers complete transmission flexibility to match their network’s architecture, improve fiber utilization and simplify deployments.”

Adtran are Title Sponsor for the Total Telecom Connected America event, taking place in Dallas on March 28-29, 2023. Join Adtran’s Prayson Pate as he discusses progress and potential in 5G and fixed networks with Christopher Sambar, President – AT&T Network, AT&T, and Elad Nafshi, Chief Network Officer and EVP, Comcast on a panel moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Mascall FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE

 

News

Announcements today from ISP Grain, Bath based Truespeed, and B Corp Zen reinforces the sense that there is still plenty going on with the UK’s ambitious smaller telco’s.

Rochdale based broadband provider, Zen, continued to show commitment to its B Corporation certification and Carbon Neutral status, announcing installation of 675 solar panels to the roof of its headquarters office building. This is only stage one, with another 500 panels to follow which should see solar power generate 330 MWh of electricity for the company.

Paul Stobart, CEO at Zen, commented “One way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels is to invest in solar, which is exactly what we are doing at Zen.”

Heading further north, Cumbria-based ISP Grain has secured more funding to assist with plans to roll out fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) across the North of England. Existing shareholders Equitix, Albion Capital and Pinnacle Group have been joined by funding from Landesbank Nord/LB to take the total capital invested in the business to £200 million.

German Landesbank Nord/LB has committed £110 million, whilst the existing shareholders have are investing an additional £21 million of equity. CFO Roland Barzegar, said ‘This further investment in Grain will see us accelerate the rollout already underway across the country. We have proven that our model of providing fast, reliable and great value broadband is working, and customers are happy that they have more choice outside of the national broadband providers.’

Finally, at the other end of the country, Bath based Truespeed expects progress to come from transformation of internal systems, and to achieve this have looked to BT’s talent pool, hiring Robert Purdy as Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining Truespeed Robert was Director of Consumer IT, responsible for delivering the BT, EE and Plusnet brands across broadband, mobile and television services. He says he was drawn to Truespeed by “how successfully it has grown and how well it’s situated in its current scale-up phase.”

Another well funded business, Truespeed were founded in 2014 and are supported by Aviva Investors who have so far invested £175 million firm, most recently in January 2022.

Richard Tang, Founder and Chairman of Zen Internet will be one of the speakers at the Total Telecom Connected North event, taking place on 17 – 18 April 2023 at Manchester Central.

Bath-based broadband ISP Truespeed, which is building a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of South West England, has appointed a former BT Director – Robert Purdy – to be their new Chief Information Officer (CIO) and support the rapid scale-up of their build. The operator, which already covers 60,000 premises […]

Business broadband ISP Commsworld has signed yet another agreement with Northumberland County Council in England, which is worth £22m and will see them replace the council’s ageing Wide Area Network (WAN) with modern full-fibre infrastructure. Local businesses and homes could also see improved connectivity. The agreement, which follows closely behind last year’s contract to roll […]

CityFibre have today confirmed that they aim to complete the expansion of their existing Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP network in the North Yorkshire (England) city of York, which is currently moving into the Clifton Moor, Fulford, parts of Huntington and City Centre areas, during 2024. In case anybody has forgotten, most of CityFibre’s […]

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today provisionally approved the merger of two major global satellite communication and broadband operators – Viasat (USA) and Inmarsat (UK), which they previously warned could have resulted in airlines facing “higher prices for on-board wifi” due to the loss of a key competitor. The two operators originally […]

CityFibre has announced that they’ve started the construction phase of their £17 million project to rollout a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover “almost every home and business” in the Leicestershire (England) market town of Loughborough. The first street works, which are being conducted by civil engineering contractor Granemore Group, are occurring […]

Consumer website Expert Reviews has published the winners of their annual “Best Broadband Awards 2023” event, which has surveyed UK consumers in an effort to identify the best Internet Service Providers (ISP) across a range of categories. Much like last year, the overall winner was named as Plusnet, again. As per usual, the results were […]