Press Release

Fern Trading Limited today announced that it is consolidating Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, Giganet and AllPoints Fibre into a single Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) operating entity to accelerate full-fibre delivery in the UK.

The combined group’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) brands will accelerate delivery of a ‘fast and fair’ full fibre offering for retail customers across the enlarged network.

The businesses will combine their regional operations and create a national wholesale network during the course of 2023.

The industry has seen considerable investment and growth in recent years as operators build market momentum and value. The unification of the four businesses will enable them to combine their resources, knowledge and expertise to hasten and grow full fibre network access across the UK.

Jarlath Finnegan, currently CEO of Giganet, will lead the combined group moving forward. He said: “All four companies are excited to build upon the solid foundations they have built over the last few years as a combined force. Together, we will become even stronger through exceptional customer service, combined with a relentless focus on technology and product. We’re looking forward to expanding our presence across the country and providing even more customers with access to full fibre connectivity”.

John Browett, chairman of Fern Trading’s fibre division, said: “In the coming years, the UK fibre market is going to experience exponential change, driven by the massive need to ensure homes and businesses in every part of the UK have access to a fast and fairly priced internet service. We expect to see continued consolidation within the industry, and by combining these successful businesses now, we will be in a fantastic position to take advantage of those market opportunities as they unfold. Our ambitions have always been high, but today represents the start of even bolder aspirations for our place in the UK fibre sector”.

How is the UK’s altnet landscape changing in 2023? Join the discussion with the operators themselves at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester

Also in the news:
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In a major development, investment firm Fern Trading has just announced that several of their full fibre broadband ISPs and networks (i.e. those where they hold a majority stake) – including Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, Giganet (Cuckoo) and AllPoints Fibre – are to be consolidated into a single Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) operating entity. Regular readers might […]

London-focused broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which is building a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 2.2 million UK premises by the end of 2024, has launched a new promotion that’s specifically targeted at Virgin Media’s customers in the city (e.g. 920Mbps for £27/month with 1 month free). The provider, which currently covers over 720,000 premises in the […]

News

The Dutch operator group has finally agreed to exit the Russian market via a sale of the unit to its executive leadership team

Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Veon has found itself in the unenviable position of owning mobile operators on both sides of the conflict.

In Russia, the Dutch company wholly owns Vimpelcom, Russia’s third-largest operator, which accounts for around half of Veon’s total revenues. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, it owns Kyivstar, the country’s largest operator.

Naturally, this convoluted situation has created a litany of challenges for Veon over the past year, with the company having seen its share price plunge by around 60% since the war began.

But while Veon indicated relatively early on in the conflict that it would like to follow numerous other firms in exiting the Russian market, doing so has proved problematic.

It was only after many months of debate, in November last year, that Veon announced it had struck a deal with a group of Vimpelcom’s executive leadership team, agreeing to sell the business to them for around $1.83 billion.

The group, lead by current Vimpelcom CEO Aleksander Torbakhov, said that they had presented Veon with the “most balanced offer” in what they called the “competitive process of selling the asset”. However, it should be noted here that Veon had previously valued the business at roughly $5 billion, hence the purchase represents a significant discount.

Nonetheless, Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu at the time commented that the deal was the “optimal solution” for the company.

The Russian government, however, seemingly disagreed, with reports late last month suggesting that the buyout was opposed by the Russian finance ministry, economy ministry, and the central bank. According to sources, initial drafts of the deal had been rejected and sent back to involved parties for renegotiation.

Now, Veon has announced that it has obtained approval from required regulators, with the deal expected to close this summer.

“We are pleased to have reached this significant milestone in the transaction, which is expected to be accretive to equity, reduce VEON’s debt, and improve its credit profile,” said Terzioglu.

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Also in the news:
Comcast signs deals worth $50m with State of Indiana for rural fibre expansion
Verizon records 5G upload speeds of over 1Gbps
Yorkshire Water partners with BT for smart water project

Little-known ISP Open Fibre, which for the past few years has been selling broadband packages in Hull via MS3′s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network, has extended their agreement so that they can now serve those being covered by the latest network expansion across the North East of England. MS3 started rolling out their […]

CityFibre has announced that their £46m project to deploy a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based UK broadband ISP network across Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough in North Yorkshire has now gone live for “thousands of premises“, including in Bilton, Woodlands, Rossett Green, Pannal, Valley Gardens and New Park. The rollout in Harrogate is currently expected to “reach […]

News

With revenue growth slowing and profits falling, Zoom says it is taking proactive measures to ensure the future viability of the business

This week, video conferencing company Zoom has become the latest in a string of major tech firms to announce major job cuts, citing the pressure of the global economy post-pandemic.

Zoom is laying off around 15% of its staff – roughly 1,300 people – as part of a wider restructure aimed designed at eliminating duplicative roles.

“As the world transitions to life post-pandemic, we are seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom,” CEO Eric Yuan wrote in a message to staff. “But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision.”

Yuan said that the company has “worked tirelessly” but admits that it had made “mistakes”, particularly with regards to scaling up sustainably.

He announced he would take a pay cut of 98% for the next fiscal year and forgo his bonus.

Bloomberg suggests that Yuan’s base salary for the last financial year was $301,731, though his total compensation was reportedly closer to $1.1 million.

Other executive staff will also take a 20% pay cut and lose bonuses.

The covid pandemic jettisoned Zoom into the public zeitgeist back in 2020, with the rapid shift to home working quickly making the brand a household name. That year, the company saw its revenues triple, further increasing in 2021 by an additional 55%. Over this period, the company’s workforce also increased three-fold to meet the soaring demand.

By 2022, however, the pandemic was rapidly becoming a thing of the past for many markets around the world and work habits were reverting accordingly. Zoom saw its revenue growth slow to a single-digit crawl, with profits falling by 38%.

With share prices having similarly fallen around 80% from their mid-pandemic high, it should come as no surprise that the company is taking drastic measures to restructure.

It should be noted, however, that Zoom is not the only company looking to streamline its operations in recent months in the wake of the economic downturn. According to tracking data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, over 100,000 tech workers have been laid off this year, with Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Salesforce

Indeed, earlier this week Dell announced that it was following suit, revealing plans to lay off around 5% of its global workforce, around 6,650 people.

How is the global economic downturn affecting the US telecoms industry? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s live Connected America conference

Also in the news:
Comcast signs deals worth $50m with State of Indiana for rural fibre expansion
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The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, yesterday initiated yet another cabinet reshuffle and this time there was another significant change. Responsibility for digital infrastructure (e.g. broadband and mobile) has now shifted to the newly formed Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Until yesterday the Building Digital UK (BDKU) executive agency, as well as the […]

Press release

WIOCC, Africa’s digital backbone, has landed 2Africa – the world’s largest subsea cable system – into world-class, carrier-neutral data centre OADC Durban, owned and operated by WIOCC Group company, Open Access Data Centres (OADC), in KZN, South Africa. This offers the province and country a huge increase in international capacity and the promise of more reliable internet and other connectivity services.

WIOCC Group Chief Executive Officer, Chris Wood, commented: “This latest major international cable landing is another example of WIOCC Group playing a key role in building Africa’s digital infrastructure and accelerating the continent’s digital transformation through the delivery of converged open digital infrastructure.

“We are pleased to be working with our partners in the 2Africa project, bringing faster, more reliable internet to local businesses and consumers, and making an enduring contribution to communications in Africa. The subsea cable system is enabling more communities to access transformative online resources, from education and healthcare to jobs and financial services, and experience the economic and social benefits of seamless connectivity.”

Economic benefits

The 2Africa cable project was launched in May 2020 to significantly increase the capacity, quality and availability of internet connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world, and a recent study by RTI International predicts that within two to three years of becoming operational, 2Africa will spur economic impact worth US$26.2 billion to US$36.9 billion, equivalent to 0.42-0.58% of Africa’s GDP.

The arrival of the 45,000km, 180 Terabits per second (Tbps) 2Africa cable system in Amanzimtoti, 25km south of Durban, will bring much-needed additional international capacity for internet and other services, support high-speed internet delivery and provide greater diversity, which will benefit businesses and individuals throughout South Africa.

Benefits of Amanzimtoti landing

This landing, into OADC’s 4MW-capable open access OADC Durban facility in Amanzimtoti, is 2Africa’s fourth on the coast of South Africa – two in the Western Cape (Yzerfontein and Duynefontein) and one in the Eastern Cape (Gqeberha).

Service uptime can be maximised by utilising this new OADC Durban-2Africa route for international traffic because, apart from the METISS system, no other international cable lands in Amanzimtoti.
Organisations can quickly and easily access 2Africa’s international connectivity to extend their operations in KZN and elsewhere in South Africa, as OADC Durban is open access and carrier-neutral.
The cable system’s landing in Amanzimtoti also offers the potential for increased regional job creation in sectors that rely on direct international connectivity, such as data centres, call centres and software development, which can help contribute to both local and national socio-economic development.

OADC Durban went live in April 2022 and will ultimately deliver 4,200m2 of flexible space, supporting 2,000m² of IT white space, as well as A-Grade tech park office space. It delivers the location, scale and client focus required to maximise opportunities for carriers, content providers, fixed and mobile network operators, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to host their equipment and applications, and to increase the speed and reliability of the connectivity and services they provide to their customers.

Landing 2Africa into carrier-neutral OADC Durban ensures that service providers are able to access international capacity and onward, domestic and intra-Africa connectivity on a fair and equitable basis, which will encourage and support the development of a healthy internet ecosystem. Once the system has been fully 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 2Africa project underpins further growth of 4G, the continued roll-out of 5G and fixed broadband access, by providing improved connectivity to underserved and rural areas; and network resilience between KZN and the rest of South Africa. As a gateway to international connectivity, the cable’s landing in Amanzimtoti will also help to drive the upgrade and expansion of telecommunications networks in KZN and surrounding provinces.

Wood concluded: “As a fibre pair investor in the 2Africa systems, we are greatly expanding and diversifying WIOCC’s capacity inventory to ensure that we continue to serve the evolving needs of our content provider and cloud operator clients, as well as those of the wider wholesale community.”

WIOCC’s CMO Mike Last will be speaking at Submarine Networks EMEA 2023 on May 31st. Mike will join a panel on “Strategies for accelerating digital infrastructure development in Africa”. Head to the event website for more information on how to join Mike and 800 senior attendees from the subsea cable market.

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 […]