Broadband ISP Wildanet, which is building a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Cornwall and Devon in South West England (here), has confirmed that they will be working with AssetHUB to make their infrastructure and services available on a “fair and neutral wholesale basis” for other ISPs. The operator, which is […]

The question of what is and is not a marketing communication cropped up again after the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned an Instagram post and story linked to mobile and broadband provider Vodafone, which is despite the operator claiming they did not believe that the posts were advertorials. Both the post and story, as […]

News

The move will see the operator take aim at Indiana’s digital divide, seeking to connect some of the state’s most remote communities with fibre broadband

This week, Comcast has announced that it has signed a number of contracts with Indiana’s Office of Community & Rural Affairs (OCRA), aiming to deliver fibre services to rural locations throughout the state.

The deals are part of Indiana’s Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program, with Comcast partnering with both state and local governments to deploy around 1,200 miles of fibre. These fibre deployments will impact over 10,000 homes and businesses in 19 counties within Indiana.

In total, the deals are worth roughly $50 million, with Comcast investing $36 million and the state of Indiana investing $13.6 million.

“Next Level Connections is used as a model by other states to deliver the best tech infrastructure to rural areas,” explained Indiana’s lieutenant governor Suzanne Crouch, who also serves as Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “The investments made by Comcast and other partners will not only benefit residents and businesses but also contribute to Indiana’s rural economic engine.”

According to Comcast, the network expansion will be completed within two years.

Comcast notes that it has already invested around $500 million in Indiana over the past three years to expand and upgrade its existing broadband networks.

Are US operators doing enough to reach rural customers with high-quality connectivity? Join the discussion at this year’s Connected America conference

Also in the news:
Bouygues Telecom lays out 2G and 3G sunsetting plans
Ofcom leans towards permitting Openreach’s Equinox 2 price cuts
Nokia: The new Metaverse and our 2030 Vision

Press Release

Verizon engineers continue to drive the evolution of 5G Ultra Wideband technology achieving 1.26 Gbps in upload speed. With uploading data becoming increasingly important for video chats, uploading large files or live streaming video, this significant accomplishment is yet another milestone in Verizon’s commitment to provide a genuinely differentiated service for customers.

“We have achieved remarkable speed in downloading using various combinations of spectrum in our world-class spectrum portfolio,” said Adam Koeppe, Senior Vice President of Technology Planning at Verizon. “This new achievement indicates how much additional performance we can unleash for our customers on the uplink as we aggregate different combinations of spectrum.”

The lab work and trials in the field focused on optimizing the customer experience, and used 20 MHz of LTE spectrum and 400 MHz of mmWave spectrum from the 28 GHz band. The trials used devices currently commercially available and were completed in a live network test environment.

Past trials have shown extraordinary download speeds with various combinations of spectrum reaching a remarkable 4.3 Gbps download speeds by aggregating Verizon’s mid-band C-band spectrum with high band mmWave spectrum. As more C-band spectrum becomes available and deployed, customers will continue to see increases in both download and upload speeds.

Integrating C-band

Verizon won C-Band licenses for between 140-200 MHz in all available markets, and began in the first 46 areas deploying up to 60 MHz, quickly expanding to an additional 30 markets deploying up to 100 MHz in many of those. Over the next few years, as additional spectrum is cleared by satellite companies, Verizon will be able to deploy 5G Ultra Wideband on all available bandwidth that it has licensed, up to 200 MHz. Every piece of equipment being deployed today is capable of using the full 200 MHz of bandwidth.

When the full breadth of spectrum is accessed, customers can expect peak download speeds to reach 2.4 gigabits per second, up from the 900 megabits per second experienced with 60 megahertz deployed, all while supporting far more users and applications. At the same time, the 5G stand-alone core is being deployed. So by the end of the year, customers should see a network with incredible speeds, both downlink and uplink.

Best spectrum position, best spectrum efficiency

With the recent acquisition of C-band spectrum, Verizon now leads the industry with the strongest spectrum portfolio across low, mid and high band spectrum. Verizon holds a total of 2,035 MHz of spectrum – 294 MHz in Sub 6 GHz spectrum (low and mid band) and 1,741 MHz of mmWave spectrum (high band).

Low band: Verizon’s low band spectrum (nationwide 700 MHz licenses and 850 MHz spectrum) continues to provide the best 4G LTE experience in the industry and now also supports nationwide 5G service, giving customers in over 2,700 markets access to 5G. Low band signals travel great distances and penetrate through walls and dense foliage very effectively.

High band: Verizon’s mmWave build is a critical differentiator and the company continues to expand its mmWave footprint to deliver game changing experiences for the densest parts of the network. mmWave brings the benefits of highly predictable signal waves leading to greater efficiency and less interference for customers, and also boasts huge capacity. mmWave service is ideal to deliver 5G service in high-usage areas like cities, venues, and stadiums for years to come.

Mid-band: Verizon’s mid-band spectrum assets include AWS, PCS, CBRS and C-band spectrum. C-band provides a valuable middle ground between capacity and coverage for 5G networks, and is enabling greater speeds than 5G on low band spectrum and greater coverage than mmWave spectrum for both mobility and home broadband solutions. The addition of C-band spectrum paves the way for Verizon to provide its differentiated service of 5G Ultra Wideband service to millions of customers, now covering more than 175 million and growing quickly.

Verizon’s strong spectrum position is a result of multi-year strategic planning and investment. Having access to the strongest spectrum portfolio in the market is only half the battle, though. For many years, Verizon has been innovative and creative in its network build to use the spectrum in its portfolio in the most efficient way possible, providing the best experience for customers while carefully controlling deployment and operational costs and maximizing advanced technologies to maximizes every possible speed and capacity benefit from its spectrum resources.

Is the dust beginning to settle in the battle for 5G supremacy? Join the operators in discussion about the future of 5G at this year’s live Connected America conference 

Also in the news:
Bouygues Telecom lays out 2G and 3G sunsetting plans
Ofcom leans towards permitting Openreach’s Equinox 2 price cuts
Nokia: The new Metaverse and our 2030 Vision

News

A new 4G mast has been installed to not only help facilitate smart sensors deployed around the Scar House Reservoir but also to provide mobile coverage to around 1,000 local residents

This week, water utility firm Yorkshire Water have announced a new partnership with BT aiming to remotely monitor water quality using smart sensors.

The partnership has seen the duo deploy numerous IoT sensors on water courses feeding Scar House Reservoir in Upper Nidderdale, North Yorkshire.

These sensors will provide various measurements related to the water’s quality, including the temperature, weather, and condition of the surrounding moorland, all of which can impact the amount of peat in the water.

The data will be carried to Yorkshire Water via a purpose-built 4G mobile mast that BT has deployed for this purpose.

The mobile site will also provide mobile connectivity to around 1,000 residents, holiday homes, and local businesses.

The data collected will help direct Yorkshire Water to the best possible water sources to transfer to its water treatment plant. Higher quality water will require less processing, which Yorkshire Water notes is not only more efficient for the company but also produces less carbon emissions.

“Water coming out of customers taps will continue to be the high quality that it always has been – the key change here is that the water coming into the treatment works will be of higher quality, and therefore require less treatment,” explained Ted Rycroft, Yorkshire Water’s product and process manager. “That helps us to keep costs down for our customers and our operational emissions to a minimum, while maintaining our high standards of water quality.”

BT suggests that the sensors will also reduce the need for Yorkshire Water to deploy engineers to perform water testing, thereby freeing them up to perform other tasks.

How is the latest connectivity technologies transforming utility companies in the UK? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s Connected North conference in Manchester

Also in the news:
Bouygues Telecom lays out 2G and 3G sunsetting plans
Ofcom leans towards permitting Openreach’s Equinox 2 price cuts
Nokia: The new Metaverse and our 2030 Vision

BT (EE) has suspended doorstep selling on the Isle of Wight, which was being conducted on their behalf by a third-party firm ‘Money Expert‘, after rival broadband ISP WightFibre complained that the sellers had allegedly been making some very dishonest claims about the operator. Admittedly, most of us already know to avoid engaging with doorstep […]

Last month we reported that TalkTalk had become the latest UK ISP to adopt Strategic Imperatives’ new Fibre Café connectivity aggregation platform (here), and today BT Wholesale has also been added to the growing list of providers available via the platform. The platform is essentially designed to tackle the significant integration and automation challenges for […]

A new BT (EE) trial, which deployed new mobile network infrastructure in order to help Yorkshire Water connect with smart IoT sensors to remotely monitor the water courses that feed Scar House reservoir, has also helped up to 1,000 homes, businesses and visitors in Nidderdale to access a 4G based mobile broadband network. The project […]

Kent-based broadband ISP Trooli, which aims to deploy a full fibre (FTTP) network to 1 million UK premises by the end of 2024 (in August they reported 275,000 completed), has attracted fresh rumours of a possible sale after they reportedly appointed a business sale and restructuring specialist, David Duggins, to their Board. At present the […]

The CEO of network operator Upp, Drew Ritchie, which is deploying a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the East of England, has told ISPreview.co.uk that discussions over the forced sale of their business by the Government are “progressing well” and that in the meantime their “build is continuing at pace.” Just to recap. Upp […]