News

Hot on the heels of BT announcing an apprentice recruitment drive last week, Virgin Media O2 have revealed that their next generation apprenticeship scheme will create around 350 roles in 2023.

This news comes ahead of National Apprenticeship Week (February 6-12) alongside which VMO2 have commissioned some market research that reveals a lack of understanding from workers about what apprenticeships are and who they are suitable for.

It seems that whilst most people think apprenticeships are a great way to learn new skills whilst getting paid (88%) many are concerned that the roles will be temporary, lacking in job security or only available to the young.

The new roles being offered by Virgin Media O2 are a great example of how this is not the case, offering competitive salaries, the job security of a permanent position and no upper age limit.

As the cost-of-living crisis bights, the research reveals thoughts of retraining are front of mind for many people with as many as 6.5 million workers feeling they are not paid enough in their current role to cover higher bills due to the rise in the cost-of-living. However many are put off by concerns of not having time to retain (28%) as well as the cost (23%).

Head of Future Careers at Virgin Media O2, Karen Handley, commented:
“A retrain revolution is sweeping the UK in these tough times as millions of people across the country worry about their finances and are looking at how they can learn more to earn more and have greater job security but, at the same time, are concerned that training will take too much time or money.”

A quick search on the internet suggests BT and VMO2 are far from being alone in supporting apprenticeship schemes. Companies like CityFibre, Vodafone and many more prominently promoting schemes on their websites, however with a continuing skills crunch holding back technology innovation and deployment in the UK, there is clearly room to do more. The subject will be debated at the Total Telecom Connected North event in Manchester in April, with organisations like the Good Things Foundation and WM5G, UK Telecoms Innovation Network joining the discussion.

The VMO2 research was conducted for them by 3Gem Media Group Ltd and was based on around 2,000 members of the UK Workforce and 250 UK Students.

Total Telecom are proud to support the industry’s development by giving young people the opportunity to meet and engage with the industry. Find out more about this for forthcoming events, Connected North and Submarine Networks EMEA.

The BT Group has today published their latest Q3 FY23 results to December 2022, which saw the coverage of Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network reach 9.57 million premises (up by 810k in the quarter vs 805k last quarter) and EE increase their 5G customer based to 8.5 million (up from 8.157m). As usual, it’s […]

CityFibre has reportedly begun a new restructuring process that could result in the loss of up to 400 jobs out of their 2,000 strong workforce. The operator has blamed this on the UK’s “struggling” economy (i.e. causing rising costs for their business) and the desire to keep their rollout of full fibre gigabit broadband on […]

Broadband ISP, pay TV and mobile operator Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has this morning announced that they will create “around” a further 350 new apprenticeship roles across the United Kingdom in 2023, which is up from a commitment of 200 last year. The new positions are being created to cover a variety of different […]

News

The recent wholesale deal with Telenet may help pave the way for the regulatory greenlight

Orange first agreed to acquire a 75% stake minus one share in Belgian operator VOO at the end of 2021, primarily motivated by the integration of the latter’s extensive fibre networks in Wallonia and parts of Brussels.

By mid-2022, however, the pair were still struggling to convince European regulators that the deal would not harm market competition, with regulators launching an official investigation in July.

The acquisition’s prospects were markedly improved in October, when Orange announced it had entered discussions with rival Telenet about a potential wholesale partnership.

This deal would give Telenet access to VOO and Brutélé networks in Wallonia following their acquisition by Orange, potentially alleviating some of the regulators competition concerns. As such, the regulator agreed to pause their investigation while the terms of a potential deal were hammered out.

After months of negotiations, Orange and Telenet finally signed a 15-year wholesale deal earlier this week. The agreement will give Orange access to hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network in Flanders and Brussels, as well as the company’s future fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. Telenet, on the other hand, would gain access to VOO and Brutele’s HFC network and future FTTH networks.

Xavier Pichon, CEO of Orange Belgium, heralded the deal as a “major step” towards the VOO acquisition, noting that the deal would allow Telenet to grow into a nationwide fixed line competitor.

Now, the European Commission has announced that it will continue its acquisition investigation, taking into consideration the wholesale deal with Telenet and other concessions made by the operators.

A decision is now expected to be made by April 11 this year.

Also in the news:
Telia preps to cut 1,500 jobs as Q4 results disappoint
BT announces apprentice recruitment drive despite looming cost cuts
Colt connects to Barcelona Cable Landing Station

Alternative network builder and UK ISP Zzoomm has today announced that their multi-gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has now covered 100,000 premises across 29 locations. The figure is double the 50,000 they reported in July 2022 and ten times more than the 10,000 they had in December 2021. The operator, which aims to reach […]

News

The operator’s latest results show service revenue down in Germany, Italy, and Spain, with the UK the company’s only major growth market

This week, beleaguered operator group Vodafone has announced its latest financial results, the first under the stewardship of interim CEO Margherita Della Valle.

As expected, they company continues to struggle in some of its largest markets, with revenues falling in Germany, Italy, and Spain by 1.8%, 8.7%, and 3.3%, respectively.

These three markets remain highly competitive, with Vodafone’s fibre business in Germany losing subscribers to rivals, and mobile price wars in Spain and Italy driving down revenues.

The UK was the only large market in which Vodafone’s service revenues had increased, rising 5.3%, largely as a result of inflation-linked price rises.

Vodafone is currently seeking to merge its UK operations with those of CK Hutchison’s Three UK, with Della Valle confirming that talks are ongoing between the two companies.

In total, these Q3 results showed total revenues of €11.64 billion, 0.4% lower than those reported for the same time last year.

Nonetheless, Della Valle said the company would not alter its forecasts for the year, still targeting full year EBITDA of €15–15.2 billion.

“Although we’re continuing to target our financial guidance for the year, the recent decline in revenue in Europe shows we can do better. We need to do more for our customers by delivering quality connectivity in an easy way,” said Vodafone’s interim CEO Margherita Della Valle.

Vodafone has been struggling to find growth for numerous years now, with key shareholders – notably activist investor Cevian capital –increasingly calling for an organisational shakeup.

Previous CEO Nick Read, who stepped down from the role after four years at the end of 2022, had long argued for market consolidation as the key to returning the organisation to growth, but very few deals at scale were ultimately struck during his tenure. Meanwhile, the company’s share value declined by around 40% during this period.

Della Valle took over as interim CEO at the start of this year, with the search for a permanent replacement still ongoing.

Now, Vodafone is pursuing a number of new strategies in order to reduce costs, having announced last year that it would seek to save €1 billion by 2026.

According to Della Valle, initiatives aimed at generating around €500 million in cost savings are already underway.

“We’ve already taken action, including simplifying our structure to give local markets full autonomy and accountability to make the best commercial decisions for their customers. In addition, we now have initiatives underway to generate around half of our €1 billion cost savings target. There is more to do and our focus is to provide a better service to our customers, become a simpler business and deliver growth,” said Della Valle.

It should be noted that this cost cutting plan includes the loss of at least several hundred jobs across the business, with the first batch of job cuts announced earlier this year. The company’s London office is expected to account for the lion’s share of the losses.

Vodafone is not alone in making job cuts in the UK, with BT also notably announcing a reduction in staff earlier this month.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest changes in the UK telecoms sector? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s live Connected North conference in Manchester

Also in the news:
Telia preps to cut 1,500 jobs as Q4 results disappoint
BT announces apprentice recruitment drive despite looming cost cuts
Colt connects to Barcelona Cable Landing Station

Civil engineering firm Light Source, which works with a number of UK operators to deploy Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP infrastructure (e.g. Upp, Netomnia, Virgin Media, Airband and KCOM), appears to be experiencing problems after engineers reported being laid off and a manager said they had “entered administration“. At the time of writing, we haven’t […]

Rural broadband ISP Quickline, which is deploying a mix of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks across parts of Lincolnshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire in England, has today revealed that their full fibre build has now covered 10,000 premises across multiple locations and rising. The FTTP side of their network roll-out is still in […]

Kenosha, Wisconsin is probably not a place that immediately springs to mind when you think about American cities, but now the city on the shore of Lake Michigan has become the sixth US city to get open access, city wide, fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) rollout due to a partnership between infrastructure investor PATRIZIA and privately owned telecom company, SiFi Networks.

Originally named Kenozia, or “place of the Pike” by Native Americans, Kenosha is today best know as corporate HQ of Snap-on Tools and underwear company Jockey International. Beyond that it’s a tourist town and major hub for Amazon.

It is now the sixth city in the US and the largest investment yet from PATRIZIA’s Smart Cities Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) bringing their total investment in FiberCity® networks to more than EUR 600 million.

Kenosha has a population of roughly 100,000 people so the scheme which will provide 40,000 residents and businesses with 10 gigabit per second internet via 700 miles of fibre and 56 cabinets is reaching a significant proportion of the population. The network is expected to be completed by November 2025.

Nearly half the population of Kenosha are under 35 years of age, so high-speed internet is seen as vital for supporting future jobs and making it a smart city of the future.

Ben Bawtree-Jobson, Chief Executive at SiFi Networks, which counts PATRIZIA as a shareholder, said: “SiFi Networks have been busy at work in Kenosha for months and we are delighted with the experience to date and the opportunity to bring our FiberCity® solution to residents and businesses in the city.”

Phoebe Smith, Senior Director at PATRIZIA Infrastructure, said: “Having already invested in four cities in California and one in Massachusetts, we are firmly committed to delivering open access, high-speed networks to millions of people across America. With the need to digitalise our economies only accelerating, enabling the development of smarter cities through innovative digital infrastructure is absolutely essential if we are to meet the future demands of our communities.”

Californian cities already covered by the investments include Fullerton, Placentia, Simi Valley and Rancho Cordova, totalling more than 150,000 units currently under construction, whilst Salem in Massachusetts is the first East Coast investment. Amongst future plans, SiFi are inviting expressions of interest for proposed 172,000 units for Arlington in Texas.

German PATRIZIA was founded in the Bavarian city of Augsburg and established their Smart Cities Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) in November 2018. SCIF is managed by PATRIZIA and funded by Dutch pension fund manager APG. It invests in smart city infrastructure solutions, allowing cities to more efficiently allocate resources and improve the lived environment. As well as its investment in the United States, it previously made investments in Europe, creating a EUR 180 million portfolio of Italian smart streetlighting companies.

Shawn Parker, Vice President Government Affairs & Business Development at SiFi Network will be speaking at Connected America, our new event at the Irving Convention Center, Dallas on March 28-29, 2023. Find out more at www.totaltele.com/connectedamerica