Neos Networks has today announced that they’ve completed the latest phase of work to boost their full fibre, last mile, metro network expansion by delivering three new regional Metro Access Networks in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester, along with phase one of its ongoing deployment in London. The major multi-million pound Metro Network Expansion programme, which […]

Customers of UK broadband ISP BT (including EE) look set to benefit from improved protection against SPAM and fraud calls, which reflects the fact that they’ve just become the first major telecoms provider in the country to adopt Hiya’s AI-based voice security solutions – Hiya Protect – in conjunction with Ericsson. Until now, the Seattle-based […]

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With customers complaining of unreliable service, Rakuten Mobile has seen subscribers slipping away over the past year

This week, Japan’s newest mobile network operator, Rakuten Mobile has announced that it will close 261 retail stores across the country, bringing its total retail footprint down to 1,000 locations.

Exactly how many jobs will be affected by these cuts is unclear.

The move comes as the latest in a string of cost cutting measures taken by the operator, with the company struggling to reach profitability targets by the end of its financial year in March.

Rakuten Mobile first burst onto the Japanese telecoms market back in 2020, launching consumer mobile services via its greenfield Open RAN-based network. At the time, the company claimed that Open RAN architecture would allow make the network 40% cheaper than traditional telecoms infrastructure, a fact that was reflected in their aggressive subscriber acquisition strategy, which included offering three million customers free unlimited data for a year.

Since then, the company’s network has grown to cover 98% of the Japanese population, with subscriber numbers climbing to a peak of around six million.

But despite this rapid growth, it has not all been sunshine and cherry blossoms for the newcomer, with many customers complaining of poor and unreliable service.

The root of this problem – at least according to Rakuten itself – is not the company’s network, but its lack of spectrum. Rakuten only has around a quarter of the 4G spectrum owned by its competitors, as well as no low-band spectrum at all.

For over a year, the operator has been calling for various spectrum bands to be refarmed and unassigned spectrum to be allocated, though the Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communications has been dragging its feet. A decision is finally expected to be announced by the ministry later this spring.

Rakuten Mobile CEO Tareq Amin said late last year that the company hopes to begin using what Japan calls ‘platinum band’ spectrum (800/900MHz) in 2024.

Having been forced to work with only relatively meagre spectrum holdings has left the operator largely reliant on a roaming agreement with KDDI to serve its customers. This had not only driven up the company’s cost-per-gigabyte significantly, but also undermined Rakuten’s attractiveness for customers, with the roaming data carried on KDDI’s network capped at just 5GB.

Now, however, with Rakuten having rapidly deployed more base stations greatly increasing its own infrastructure coverage, the issue of roaming costs has been largely alleviated. The lack of spectrum, on the other hand, remains a major challenge.

With customer acquisition and retention proving disappointing, the first nine months of 2022 saw Rakuten Mobile report losses of around $2 billion, with subscriber numbers down almost half a million in the period between April and September.

Rakuten now says that it will aim to bolster its subscriber base through means beyond its retail outlets, particularly by increasing points of contact with consumers and encouraging them to sign up online.

In related news, alongside these cost cutting measures, Rakuten continues to attempt to raise additional funding through the issuance of additional ‘Rakuten Mobile Bonds’. The latest band of bonds, issued two weeks ago, aims to raise $1.8 billion, with the funds raised to be used as working capital.

This builds upon the roughly $1.65 billion the company raised through issuing two similar sets of bonds last year.

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Press Release

The 2Africa cable has landed at the Vodacom facility in Gqeberha (previously Port Elizabeth), South Africa, to provide a gateway to direct international connectivity for faster, more reliable internet services

The 2Africa subsea cable, the largest subsea cable system in the world, has landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa. This is the first submarine cable landing in the Eastern Cape region, promising greater internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province and supporting South Africa’s growing digital economy.

The 2Africa Consortium includes eight international partners, China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC, who have partnered to build 2Africa. Launched in May 2022, the subsea cable project aims to significantly increase the capacity, quality, and availability of internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world.

The Gqeberha landing is the 2Africa project’s third on the coast of South Africa, following two recent landings in the Western Cape by MTN GlobalConnect, Vodacom is the designated landing partner, providing facilities for the cable’s installation at an existing site in the Summerstrand area.

“This latest 2Africa cable landing affirms Vodacom’s commitment to driving digital inclusion in Africa by increasing access to quality internet services and investing in the network infrastructure to support this goal. We cannot achieve this alone, and collaboration between other industry stakeholders and the public sector is critical in enabling more citizens across the continent to be connected,” says Diego Gutierrez, Vodacom Group Chief Officer: International Markets.

Through the 2Africa landing at Gqeberha, service providers will be able to obtain capacity on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem. Direct international connectivity can then be provided to data centres, enterprise, and wholesale customers. Once the fibre cable system has been deployed, businesses and consumers will benefit from improved quality, reliability, and lower latency for internet services, including telecommuting, high-definition video streaming and advanced multimedia and mobile video applications.

The cable system’s landing in the Eastern Cape will also offer the potential for much-needed regional job creation in sectors that rely on direct international connectivity, such as data centres, call centres and software development. This employment opportunity can help contribute to local and national socio-economic development.

The 2Africa project underpins further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access by providing improved connectivity to underserved and rural areas; and network resilience from the Eastern Cape to the rest of South Africa. As a gateway to international connectivity, the cable’s landing at Gqeberha will help to develop telecommunications networks in the Eastern Cape and surrounding provinces.

Submarine cable systems, which provide the international networks between continents and countries, form an integral part of the connectivity value chain and increase internet capacity to meet the current and future demands of growing digitalisation in Africa, while catalysing economic growth. In an RTI study, 2Africa is predicted to spur economic impact worth US$26.2 billion to US$36.9 billion, equivalent to 0.42-0.58% of Africa’s GDP, within two to three years of becoming operational.

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is responsible for manufacturing and deploying the 2Africa cable, due for completion in 2024. The cable system, measuring 45 000 kilometres in length with a design capacity of 180 Tbps, will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia) and Africa. Essentially, 2Africa will connect 19 countries in Africa and 33 countries in total. The system has four landings in South Africa and two each in Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Egypt, so a total of 27 landings in Africa and 46 landings in total.

Delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, 2Africa will provide much-needed internet capacity and reliability across much of the Middle East, India, Pakistan and Africa, supporting the growth of 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband access for hundreds of millions of people. The 2Africa East cable system, of which the Gqeberha branch is part of, will go live by and be ready for service by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Gutierrez adds, “Vodacom Group is pleased to be working with our partners in the 2Africa project to bring faster, more reliable internet to local businesses and consumers while helping to build an inclusive digital society on the continent and around the world. The subsea cable system enables more communities to access transformative online resources, from education and healthcare to jobs and financial services, and experience seamless connectivity’s economic and social benefits.”

What impact will the 2Africa cable have on the international submarine cable industry? Join the experts in discussion at the upcoming Submarine Networks EMEA event

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Telecoms data analysts at global market intelligence firm ThinkCX have published a new update that forecasts how increasing consolidation in the United Kingdom’s overcrowded market for alternative broadband network (altnet) providers could play out during 2023. Needless to say, the new update holds few surprises. As we’ve said more than a few times over the […]

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The solar-powered Zephyr drone will serve as a flying base station, delivering mobile connectivity to customers in hard-to-reach areas

Today, aviation giant Airbus has revealed that is seeking external investment as it prepares to scale up, spin-off, and commercially launch its Zephyr drone connectivity business.

Flying around 21km above the surface of the Earth, high above weather and commercial aircraft, Airbus’s Zephyr drone will act as a High-Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), beaming down connectivity to customers too difficult or expensive to reach with terrestrially technology.

The solar-powered drone can remain airborne for months at a time and be piloted directly to in-need locations, whether remote areas lacking in traditional connectivity or areas with high temporary demand, such as those struck by natural disasters.

In addition to Zephyr’s connectivity capabilities, the device’s payload is also modular, allowing it to carry cameras and other sensors for observational purposes.

Airbus has been working alongside Japanese operator NTT and other partners to develop this technology for some years now, with the device having already racked up over 3,000 flight hours by the end of 2021.

By last summer, Zephyr had made significant technical advances, recording a single continuous flight for 26 days, breaking the record for the longest flight by an unmanned aircraft.

When complete, Airbus said it hopes each Zephyr drone will be able to fly continuously for up to six months using the latest solar and battery technologies.

Airbus officially launched its own HAPS Services Business unit last year, aiming to further develop Zephyr technology and target the 3.7 billion people current severely underserved by existing connectivity infrastructure.

Now, however, it seems that Airbus feels the unit will function better as an independent business, with the aviation giant having hired Morgan Stanley to help find and onboard new investors to help rapidly grow the fledging business.

This new unit will be called Aalto.

“Airbus is not a company that offers telecom services,” Samer Halawi, the CEO of Airbus’s HAPS business, told the Financial Times. “The idea of the carve-out is to bring like-minded partners to the equation and to be able to scale this business.”

According to reports, Airbus intends to retain majority control of the business, with talks with various customers and commercial partners already underway.

Halawi says that Zephyr is now “at the final design stage”, with commercial services expected to launch before the end of the year.

As part of the commercialisation process, Aalto expects to set up five or six ‘Aalto ports’ in locations including the US and the Middle East, each of which will serve as a base of operation for Zephyr drones.

How is the rise of non-terrestrial connectivity solutions impacting the traditional telecoms sector? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Connected America conference

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Infracapital-backed Network builder and broadband ISP Ogi, which is investing £200m to roll-out a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 150,000 premises in rural parts of Wales by 2025, has this morning announced a list of the next 23 towns and villages to benefit from their deployment. The provider, which has so far covered 42,000 premises […]