PRESS RELEASE

Nearly 90% of federal agencies are planning to adopt 5G, according to a new study released by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics. But agencies also face several challenges, including budget and cybersecurity concerns.

The research study, Enterprise to the Edge: Agency Guide to 5G, surveyed 500 officials from civilian, defense and intelligence agencies to analyze the progress the federal government is making to deploy 5G capabilities, the benefits and challenges agencies are expecting, and what mission impacts it will have. Of the 500 officials surveyed, 40% work at federal civilian agencies, 40% at defense agencies, and 20% at intelligence and homeland security agencies.

According to the research study, most federal agencies have begun their 5G journeys and understand its impact.

89% are planning to adopt 5G, with 44% already piloting or deploying 5G.
As agencies establish 5G mission objectives, 23% expect that 5G will be highly impactful to their strategies in 2023, with that impact tripling within five years to 69%.
More than half are making 5G an investment priority in 2023.

Digging deeper, the research found that federal agencies plan to use 5G in two general categories: networking and connectivity, and mission-enabling applications.

In the near term, 77% of respondents said they planned to adopt 5G technology for improved network capability. Platform connectivity – connecting internet of things (IoT) devices to the enterprise – is second at 61%. Smart infrastructure – enabling intelligent decisions at the edge – ranks third at 50%.
Over the long term, agencies are planning mission-enablement use cases. Command and control – taking an action quickly with low-latency data processing – ranks at the top (41%). Logistics and manufacturing – managing supply chain processes – is second at 28%.

“Many agencies are still developing use cases and identifying the enabling technology that will make 5G transformative for them,” said Ben Gianni, GDIT’s senior vice president and chief technology officer. “But they know their 5G future is coming. Agencies that identify their primary mission outcomes and relevant 5G uses cases will be better positioned to deploy the optimal 5G solution cost-efficiently and with minimal risk.”

The data also showed that agencies are anticipating myriad challenges with implementing and managing 5G technology.

91% cite costs and budget as a top concern.
87% are concerned about increased cybersecurity risks due to an expanded attack surface from more remote devices.
83% identify integrating 5G capabilities into the rest of the organization as a challenge.

While budget remains a concern, agencies are starting to make 5G a priority. Overall, 58% say 5G will be an investment priority in the next 12 months, with that number growing to 79% in the next 3 years.

“The move to 5G is significant with enormous potential, and it is crucial to keep the bigger picture in mind,” said Shuaib Porjosh, director for advanced wireless at GDIT. “Investing in 5G is not only an imperative for today, as previous networks like 3G are decommissioned, but it is also an investment in the technology of the future. 6G is not far behind 5G, and the sooner agencies can position themselves to take advantage of those opportunities, the more effective they will be at driving value from the technology.”

General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defence company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and generated $38.5 billion in revenue in 2021. More information about General Dynamics Information Technology is available at www.gdit.com. More information about General Dynamics is available at www.gd.com.

5G progress and potential will form a keynote discussion at Connected America next March in Dallas. To join in the discussion, visit the website www.totaltele.com/connectedamerica

The post Nearly 90% of federal agencies are planning 5G adoption first appeared on Total Telecom.

NEWS

Kevin would be so pleased – apologies for the obscure reference to Home Alone! The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have ruled that broadband providers should display simple point of sale labels s to help consumers to compare broadband services.

The labels which will resemble nutrition signage on food with prices, speeds, fees, data allowances and other important information.

“Broadband is an essential service, for everyone, everywhere. Because of this, consumers need to know what they are paying for, and how it compares with other service offerings,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “For over 25 years, consumers have enjoyed the convenience of nutrition labels on food products. We’re now requiring internet service providers to display broadband labels for both wireless and wired services. Consumers deserve to get accurate information about price, speed, data allowances, and other terms of service up front.”

The label must be visible before purchase and must also be easily accessible on the customer’s online account portal and be quickly produced if required. The labels must be machine-readable so that third parties can easily utilise data for comparison-shopping tools. A date for implementation is still yet to be set.

The FCC was tasked to require providers to display consumer-friendly labels relating to broadband services by The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and supersedes the previous voluntary labelling in place since 2016.

The FCC states that the move is vital to helping “consumers make informed choices and is central to a well-functioning marketplace that encourages competition, innovation, low prices, and high-quality service.”

Provision of competitively priced broadband for all is at the heart of the Connected America event. Join us in Dallas in March 2023. North American telecom operators & public sector can attend for free. Register at totaltele.com/connectedamerica

 

The post Bless this highly nutritious broadband and the people who sold it first appeared on Total Telecom.

Rural broadband ISP Gigaclear, which covers 300,000 premises in remote parts of England with their 1Gbps full fibre (FTTP) network, will this morning introduce their “lowest ever priced deal” that discounts the 100Mbps (symmetric) package to just £15 a month for the first 18-months of service (£35 thereafter). The package, which is limited to the […]

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) saw its “busiest day ever on record for data consumption” (for gaming) on 16th Nov 2022 – trigged by the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which pushed downstream internet traffic to a peak of 21Tbps (21 Terabits per second) and a massive 138 petabytes (PB) of data […]

New customers of UK ISP BT will, from later this morning, be able to take one of their ADSL, FTTC, G.fast and FTTP based broadband packages or TV bundles at half price for the first 6 months of service on a 24-month minimum term, including free setup. On top of that, their Full Fibre packages […]

News

Optus had suggested to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that they would make a better sharing partner for TPG

Back in February, TPG and Telstra struck a major network sharing agreement, set to provide both parties with key mobile assets they are currently missing; Telstra will allow TPG access to roughly 3,700 of its mobile towers in various parts of the country, with TPG in turn allowing Telstra to share 4G and 5G spectrum.

The operators heralded the deal as a boon for customers, with Telstra able to provide its customers with greater speeds and capacity, while expanding TPG’s 4G coverage from 96% to 98.8% of the country.

Not all of the market agreed, however, with the duo’s local rival Optus arguing that the move disincentivise them to invest in the more rural parts of Australia.

“This arrangement is not a sharing arrangement,” said Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin earlier this summer. “It is an arrangement where TPG withdraws from rural Australia and gets access to a network owned and operated by Telstra, paying Telstra for every customer it onboards to Telstra’s network.”

Optus countered by proposing to the ACCC that they should be the preferred partner a potential network sharing agreement with TPG, suggesting that this would provide better value for customer and maintain market competition.

Last month, Optus said that a network sharing deal with TPG was a “real commercial likelihood” if the ACCC were to reject the TPG–Telstra deal.

The ACCC regulator has proved relatively receptive to these arguments, leading TPG and Telstra to propose some concessions in earlier this month – most notably reducing the length of the sharing deal from ten years to eight.

This week, however, TPG has kyboshed the suggests of teaming up with Optus instead, saying in a letter to the ACCC that Optus was simply outcompeted by Telstra in this regard and was now seeking to force a less favourable deal upon TPG.

“Now, having had the benefit of seeing the proposed transaction and its terms, Optus wishes to use the authorisation process to remove Telstra as a competitor in relation to network sharing and leave it free to impose a less attractive, alternative transaction on TPG,” read the letter, which noted that Optus had been in the process of formulating its own network sharing proposal with TPG when the Telstra deal was announced.

“In light of the above evidence, it would be a perverse outcome and dangerous precedent for a competitor in the position of Optus to ultimately be successful in having the ACCC reject an otherwise pro-competitive transaction by threatening to withdraw their investment in the face of increased competition.”

A decision by the ACCC is expected to be made by the end of the year.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post TPG rejects suggestion of network sharing deal with Optus first appeared on Total Telecom.

The Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) Consortium, which is made up of 10 councils outside Belfast and the Business Services Organisation (BSO), has confirmed the completion of their project to rollout a new full fibre broadband network to connect 887 public sector sites. The network itself was built by UK ISP Fibrus. Overall, the project, […]

Network builder F&W Networks – supported by UK ISP Hey!Broadband – has today signed a 1-year supply deal with equipment distributor Cable & Things worth £1.3 million, which will provide the operator with underground and PIA ultralightweight overhead fibre optic cables, distribution and joint boxes etc. The Hammersmith-based F&W, which holds an aspiration to cover […]

The UK Government’s latest Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has today used his Autumn Statement 2022 to, among other things, allay fears that he might cut funding for major national gigabit broadband and mobile infrastructure projects by committing to ensure that such projects remain “funded as promised“. The Chancellor further emphasised that, despite the current climate, the […]

News 

According to Finance Minister Ahmed Shide, the Ethiopian government is once again opening its doors to the international telecoms community in the search for a third national operator

This week, Ethiopian media sources report that the government is resuming its hunt for a third national telecoms operator, as well as a buyer for a 40% stake in state-owned telco Ethio Telecom.

The move comes as part of the long-awaited liberalisation of the country’s telecoms sector, a process that has been making stuttering progress since its inception by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed back in 2020.

At the time, Ethio Telecom represented one of the last remaining telecoms monopolies in the world, making Ethiopia – with its population of over 110 million – a highly enticing market for foreign telcos.

After delays related to the coronavirus and the ongoing civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the liberalisation process was started last year with two new national telecoms licences being made available at auction.

In May 2021, the first of the new telco licences was won by a Safaricom-led consortium, having placed a bid of roughly $850 million, The second licence, however, went unsold, with the regulator deeming MTN’s $600 million bid too low.

The search for a second new operator was initially resumed in September 2021, but the tender process was later suspended in December, with the government citing the unfavourable global economic situation.

Alongside the introduction of new operators, the Ethiopian government also announced in 2021 that it would sell a 40% stake in Ethio Telecom, with the process initiated in June.

By March 2022, however, this too was suspended, with the global economy once again listed as a key factor, though the ongoing Tigray War was likely a greater consideration.

Two weeks ago, however, the Ethiopian government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front signed a truce, with Abiy reiterating just yesterday his intention “to implement honestly” the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

It would seem that this forecasted national stability has been enough to once again get the wheels turning on the telecoms liberalisation process, with Finance Minister Ahmed Shide announcing that the country is once again looking for bidders for the second telco licence and the 40% stake in Ethio Telecom.

It should be noted that Ethiopia’s newest telco, now named Safaricom Ethiopia, has gone from strength to strength in the past months.

The company was officially launched last month, switching on its 2G, 3G, and 4G networks in 11 cities across the country, including the capital, Addis Ababa.

Safaricom is aiming to increase coverage 25 cities by April 2023, thereby meeting its licencing obligations of covering 25% of the country’s population by this deadline.

Uptake for the company’s mobile services has been rapid. Just a week ago, when discussing its H1 financial results, Safaricom said the company had reached 740,000 subscribers by the end of October, less than a month after launching commercial services.

Since then, the company appears to have gained a further 260,000 subscribers, announcing just yesterday that they had reached the major milestone of one million subscribers.

Also in the news:
Vestager: Restricting “high-risk” vendors a “matter of urgency” for EU
UKRI selects BT consortium for intelligent drone project
IRIS cable set to link Iceland and Ireland

The post Ethiopian govt restarts telecoms liberalisation process first appeared on Total Telecom.