News

The government says it could leverage existing power grid infrastructure to quickly provide coverage across the nation

This week, local media reports from Montenegro suggest that the government are considering forming a state telecoms operator.

According to Montenegrin news service Mina, the government is considering using the 530km electricity grid owned by Crnogorski Elektrodistributivni Sistem (CEDIS) to form the basis of a new telecoms company.

Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic has suggested that a working group be formed to formally investigate the possibility of such a move, including taking inventory of existing infrastructure, examining potential costs, and estimating coverage.

He suggested that such a venture could be highly profitable for the government, whether through direct sales to customers or leasing the infrastructure to the wider industry.

“If we see that it makes sense, we can go one step further, and if not – no harm’s done,” he said.

The concept is also supported by Montenegro’s Finance Minister, Aleksandar Damjanovic, who noted the increased importance that EU governments have placed on nationally controlled critical infrastructure in recent years, given the geopolitical climate.

“This is a good idea and we are going to ensure that in the key EU countries and beyond, these services are, among other things, under the state’s control,” he said.

Montenegro’s fixed broadband industry is currently served by just two national operators: Crnogorski Telekom, a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, and MTEL, a joint venture between Telekom Srbija and Telekom Srpske.

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Press Release

Three-year agreement extends plans to co-innovate and accelerate deployment of flexible, reliable, and secure LTE and 5G private wireless connectivity services and Industry 4.0 solutions

Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, and Nokia, the leader in state-of-the-art networking technology, today announced a three-year extension and expansion of their global network and edge computing partnership, with a focus on developing and delivering industry-leading LTE and 5G private wireless services and Industry 4.0 solutions to customers worldwide.

Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022. The partnership has since grown exponentially, with more than 100 active engagements with global enterprises, from advisory or testing, to piloting, to full implementation, across 24 countries. With a shared vision and commitment to help enterprise and mission critical infrastructure customers accelerate their digital transformations with leading-edge LTE and 5G private wireless networking, 90% of the current engagements are enterprises in the industrial manufacturing sector – including multinational petrochemical, mining and timber and utilities/energy companies.

“As enterprises seek to accelerate and deliver on their journeys towards Industry 4.0 and digitalisation, the effective integration and deployment of advanced LTE and 5G private wireless networking technologies becomes instrumental to integrate all enterprise operations in a seamless, reliable, efficient and built in a secure manner,” says Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of Telco and Mobility Research at IDC. “This expanding, powerful relationship between Nokia and Kyndryl is a unique combination of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and offers IT, OT and business leaders access to the innovation, tools, and expert resources they need to digitally transform their operations. The partnership offers a compelling shared vision and execution that will enable customers across all industries and geographies to access the ingredients they need to deliver against the promise of digital acceleration, powered by network and edge computing.”

The expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryl’s achievement of Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) Advanced accreditation status, which helps ensure that enterprise customers benefit from an expanded lineup of expert resources and skilled practitioners who have extensive training and deep understanding of Nokia products and solutions. In addition, customers will gain access to Kyndryl’s accelerated network deployment capabilities and support of Nokia cellular radio expertise in selected markets.

To meet the growing convergence and demands of IT and OT for enterprises, Kyndryl, Nokia, and Palo Alto Networks, a global cybersecurity leader, will launch a joint lab in Raleigh, North Carolina to bring reliable, and auditable wireless connectivity with advanced security capabilities to industrial networks. Through the collaboration, a multi-factor zero trust model for industrial networking is enabled at both the IT and OT sides of the network using the best tools and resources from each of the companies. Kyndryl’s network experts are developing an integrated system starting from the foundations of a typical Modbus process control network and extending access and security beyond the typical shop floor. Using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, private cellular connectivity will enable high mobility and extended reach of the network.

“Our partnership with Nokia has been focused on co-innovating and co-creating for customers to digitally transform their workspaces and operations,” said Paul Savill, global practice leader of Network and Edge computing for Kyndryl. “The success we have seen in deploying private wireless for customers like Dow Chemical over the past 12-months, along with the global expansion of our collaboration, is a testament to our belief that we can jointly help companies drive Industry 4.0 transformation across all industries, with speed and scale.”

“Kyndryl and Nokia have a shared vision for digital transformation, and as leaders in our respective industries we are driven to grow this market together. We are excited to build upon our existing success and strengthen our alliance targeting more enterprise customers across multiple industries,” said Chris Johnson, head of Nokia‘s Global Enterprise Business. “The two companies are currently exploring and developing new, integrated solutions and services for Edge, Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core and Network Operations software technologies, which can address the growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking.”

To date, Kyndryl and Nokia have successfully implemented a private wireless network with edge computing for Dow Chemical, at their petrochemical processing plant in Freeport, TX. The modernisation of the Dow Chemical plant with advanced connectivity has increased worker safety, and enabled remote audio and video collaboration, and real time smart procedures.

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A new biannual update from Point Topic has revealed how the top and bottom 10 UK local authorities have changed to December 2022, at least with respect to their coverage of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks. In addition, more than 1.3 million premises can now choose between at least three independent fibre ISPs. Just to recap. […]

Sky’s (Sky Broadband) ISP sibling for small business customers, Sky Connect, has today moved to keep up with competitors by launching a new WiFi 6 capable Hub (broadband router) and 4G Dongle (i.e. mobile data as an automatic backup) with new capabilities, such as better security and guest Wi-Fi. Sadly, we don’t get a lot […]

Broadband ISP Hyperoptic has today confirmed that their “full fibre” (FTTP/B) network now covers 1.15 million UK homes, which will need to almost double in order to hit their goal of 2 million by the end of 2023. The provider has also launched a TV campaign to criticise ISPs that adopt “misleading” mid-contract price hikes. […]

News

Orange is the first operator in Spain to launch 5G standalone (SA) in Spain, a move it hopes will give it a competitive edge over rivals

Today, Orange has announced the launch of its commercial 5G SA network in Spain, dubbing the new service 5G+.

Orange’s 5G+ service (not to be confused with AT&T’s 5G service of the same name, which is not 5G SA) will initially be available only in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Seville, with further locations expected to be added later this year.

In these initial four cities, coverage exceeds 90%.

Customers will not face any additional charges for using the 5G+ service but will require a compatible device.

According to Orange, 5G+ will come with numerous benefits for customers, including improved indoor coverage (due to the use of native 5G bands), lower latency, longer device battery life, and improved security.

In addition, the technology will also enable network slicing capabilities for the first time, allowing the operator to create virtual ‘slices’ of spectrum for customers, which can be modified to meet their needs.

Despite the enormous hype generated by the mobile industry around the advent of 5G, the technology has thus far proved difficult to monetise for telcos.

This has been largely related to the type of network being deployed, with initial 5G deployments being deployed over non-standalone (NSA) architecture, coupling 5G RAN equipment with an LTE core. While this offers a considerable increase in speed and capacity compared to existing 4G services, it lacks the ability to deliver the ultra-low latency and high-capacity connectivity needed for some of 5G’s most highly anticipated use cases, like extended reality (XR) and autonomous driving.

Without these exciting new capabilities, consumers have proven reluctant to pay a premium for a 5G service they largely view as little more than a speed boost.

5G SA, on the other hand, replaces the LTE core with a 5G core (in Orange’s case, using technology from Ericsson, Nokia, and Oracle Communications), delivering the major improvements to latency and capacity required to unlock some of these more exciting use cases.

As such, 5G SA has been marketed by some in the industry as ‘real 5G’, finally delivering on the promised hype. Indeed, in its press release, Orange itself suggests that its 5G+ network will allow for the ‘full exploitation of all 5G capabilities’.

The operator hopes that these more advanced capabilities will naturally allow for novel 5G monetisation opportunities in both the consumer and enterprise segments, helping to enable everything from industrial XR to cloud gaming.

But despite the hopes pinned upon 5G SA to deliver ‘real 5G’, the wider telecoms industry has been slow to make the switch to the new technology. While many operators hoped to have the transition completed in 2022, recent research from Dell’Oro Group showed that only 39 operators worldwide have so far deployed 5G SA.

So why the delay?

The answer is both technical and economic in nature. The move from NSA to SA 5G architecture is incredibly complex – seemingly more so than initially anticipated by operators around the world. In the UK, for example, BT’s CTO Howard Watson described the shift as a “sea change in the underlying architecture” late last year, telling journalists the company would take their time to ensure a smooth transition.

Meanwhile, the global economic situation is making network rollouts more expensive and reducing customer spending, leaving operators unsure if they will be able to get a quick return on investment.

As a result, we are left with a mobile industry in no major hurry to upgrade to 5G SA, but is instead happy to bide its time and wait to learn lessons from early adopters ­– including Orange.

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Cable broadband giant Liberty Global has today acquired 1.335 million shares in Vodafone Group PLC, which represents 4.92% of the outstanding share capital (excluding treasury shares). But the operator confirmed that “it is not considering an offer” for the UK based mobile operator and will not seek board representation. The transaction is said to have […]

The Welsh Government (WG) has today announced that the Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet CIC (Community Interest Company), which a few years ago deployed a 1Gbps full fibre (FTTP) network to reach 240 premises in a rural village between Cardiff and Newport, has been extended into neighbouring communities. Just to recap. The original scheme, which was funded by […]

News

The joint venture (JV) would potentially threaten the advertising hegemony of existing tech giants like Google and Meta

On Friday, European antitrust regulators gave unconditional approval for Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone to create a new advertising JV.

In a statement, the European Commission said that the deal “would not significantly reduce competition in French, German, Italian and Spanish markets”.

Each of the four operators will hold a 25% stake in the business, which will be headquartered in Belgium and run by an independent management team.

The deal marks the first major attempt from the telecoms industry to curtail the dominance of Big Tech in the advertising sphere.

The telcos first announced their intention to the form the JV at the start of the year, saying they would offer “a privacy-led, digital identification solution to support the digital marketing and advertising activities of brands and publishers”.

The platform works by creating a unique digital tag that tracks the app and browser usage for each of the operators’ subscribers. This tag can then be shared with advertisers and publishers, leaving the customer themselves ‘pseudo-anonymous’.

Users must opt-in to the sharing of their tag with each individual third party, thereby giving them increased control over which companies have access to their data.

“Users will have access to a user-friendly privacy portal. They can review which brands and publishers they have given consent to, and withdraw their consent,” explained the telcos in a statement.

The operators say that this JV will be entirely compliant with European privacy regulations, including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy directive.

A trial of the platform has already been initiated in Germany, with additional tests expected to take place in France and Spain as the platform develops.

Ultimately, the operators hope to make their advertising platform available to any operator in Europe.

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

Also in the news:
China Mobile and China Telecom withdraw from Sea-Me-We 6 project
CityFibre’s network up and running in Inverness
KDDI selects Samsung for its 5G Standalone core

British technology and telecoms start-up Avealto, which is developing a High Altitude Platform (HAPs) that could be used in place of satellites to deliver broadband / data and voice connectivity, has got into a legal trademark spat with Airbus after the latter changed the name of their alternative Zephyr programme to Aalto. The Zephyr programme, […]