INTERVIEW

We caught up with Plusnet CEO Ulrich Hoffmann ahead of next month’s Connected Germany, which is being held in Mainz on December 6-7 2022.

1.     Can you introduce yourself and your current role?

I am responsible for the business of Plusnet GmbH as CEO since 2021 – and part of the EnBW family since 2019, when I joined as COO of our sister company NetCom BW. As an expert in the technical and strategic development of modern gigabit networks, I have held management positions at various German telecommunications companies – most recently at Unity Media before joining the EnBW Group.

2.     How does Plusnet fit into Germany’s broadband ecosystem?

We are one of the leading telecommunications providers for business customers in the Ger- man market and part of the EnBW Group. Based on our own nationwide network infrastructure and our extensive experience in the operation of all broadband technologies, we provide more than 25,000 business customers in Germany with reliable and highly secure services – in the areas of internet, voice and corporate networks.

As part of our strategy, we are investing in our own fibre-optic expansion for business customers since 2021 and, in the future, also residential customers. Thanks to our B2B focus, our know-how in the sector of telco services and infrastructure, our nationwide positioning and our agility, we are a partner at eye level for municipalities, other players such as public utilities and the local economy – and thus a pacemaker for the digital future.

3.     What opportunities does open access offer operators, and will it enable greater fibre network expansion?

An important aspect of the rollout decision for operators is the question of network utilisation and thus long-term investment security. Open Access models therefore play an essential role when it comes to a rapid and sustainable fibre rollout in Germany. Only by opening up networks – also and especially in the case of self-sustained infrastructures – we can ensure security of investment and thus sustainable local competition in B2B and B2C markets.

By setting the right course on the subject of open access and the accompanying technical innovations – for example in network aggregation – new value can be created for operators as well as resellers and sales partners in the next few years.

4.     What are you most looking forward to at Connected Germany?

We are currently in an incredibly exciting phase in the German telco market – especially in the fixed network sector. Comparable to the time of market liberalisation more than 20 years ago. With the expansion of fibre optics, the course is now being set for the digital future in Germany. In the sense of a good future together, the exchange of knowledge and opinions in the industry is therefore particularly important. I am very much looking forward to this.

You can hear from Ulrich and the rest of our amazing speaker line-up at this year’s Connected Germany – follow the link to secure your place!

To read a German version of this interview please follow this link.

The post “Open Access models play an essential role in enabling rapid and sustainable fibre rollout in Germany” first appeared on Total Telecom.

INTERVIEW

Wir haben uns mit Ulrich Hoffmann, CEO von Plusnet, vor der Connected Germany im nächsten Monat getroffen, die vom 6. bis 7. Dezember 2022 in Mainz stattfindet.

1.     Können Sie sich kurz vorstellen und Ihre aktuelle Rolle?

Ich verantworte seit 2021 das Geschäft der Plusnet GmbH als CEO. Teil der EnBW-Familie bin ich bereits seit 2019, wo ich als COO unseres Schwesterunternehmens NetCom BW einstieg. Als Experte für die technische und strategische Entwicklung moderner Gigabit-Netze war ich in leitenden Funktionen bei verschiedenen deutschen TK-Unternehmen tätig – vor meinem Wechsel in den EnBW Konzern zuletzt bei Unity Media.

2.     Wie ist Plusnet im deutschen Breitbandmarkt positioniert?

Wir sind einer der führenden TK-Anbieter für Geschäftskunden im deutschen Markt und Teil des EnBW Konzerns. Auf Basis unserer eigenen bundesweiten Netzinfrastruktur sowie unserer umfassenden Erfahrung im Betrieb sämtlicher Breitband-Technologien stellen wir mehr als 25.000 Geschäftskunden in Deutschland zuverlässige und hochsichere Dienste zur Verfügung – im Bereich Internet, Voice sowie Vernetzung von Firmenstandorten.

Im Rahmen unserer Strategie investieren wir seit 2021 zudem in den eigenwirtschaftlichen Glasfaserausbau für Geschäfts- sowie perspektivisch auch Privatkunden. Durch unseren B2B-Fokus, unser Know-How im Dienste und Infrastrukturbereich, unsere bundesweite Aufstellung sowie unsere Agilität sind wir Partner auf Augenhöhe für Kommunen, Ausbauakteure wie Stadtwerke und die ansässige Wirtschaft – und damit Schrittmacher für die digitale Zukunft.

3.     Welche Möglichkeiten entstehen für Netzbetreiber durch Open Access? Und erhöhen sich dadurch Reichweite und Verfügbarkeit von Glasfaseranschlüssen?

Ein wichtiger Aspekt bei der Ausbauentscheidung ist für Betreiber die Frage nach der Auslastung ihrer Netze und damit einer langfristigen Investitionssicherheit. Open-Access-Modelle spielen deshalb eine wesentliche Rolle, wenn es um einen zügigen und nachhaltigen Glasfaser-Rollout in Deutschland geht. Denn nur durch die Netzöffnung – auch und gerade bei ei- genwirtschaftlich ausgebauten Infrastrukturen – entsteht Planungssicherheit und damit nachhaltiger lokaler Wettbewerb im Geschäfts- und Endkundenmarkt.

Durch die richtige Weichenstellung beim Thema Open Access und die einhergehenden tech- nischen Innvotationen – etwa bei der Aggregation von Netzen – können in den nächsten Jahren neue Wertschöpfungsmöglichkeiten für Netzbetreiber und Vermarkter entstehen.

4.     Worauf freuen Sie sich am meisten bei Connected Germany?

Wir befinden uns gerade in einer unheimlich spannenden Phase im deutschen TK-Markt – insbesondere im Festnetzbereich. Vergleichbar mit der Zeit der Marktliberalisierung vor mehr als 20 Jahren. Mit dem Glasfaserausbau werden jetzt die Weichen für die digitale Zukunft in Deutschland gestellt. Im Sinne einer gemeinsam guten Zukunft ist der Wissens- und Mei- nungsabgleich in der Branche deshalb gerade besonders wichtig. Darauf freue ich mich sehr.

Sie können von Ulrich und dem Rest unseres großartigen Redner-Line-Ups auf der diesjährigen Connected Germany hören – folgen Sie dem Link, um sich Ihren Platz zu sichern!

Um eine englische Version dieses Interviews zu lesen, folgen Sie bitte diesem Link.

The post “Open-Access-Modelle spielen eine wesentliche Rolle, um einen schnellen und nachhaltigen Glasfaserausbau in Deutschland zu ermöglichen” first appeared on Total Telecom.

UK ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) has today launched their early “Black Friday” sales, which for the next few weeks will offer big discounts to new customers who order any one of their selected broadband-only packages (e.g. 362Mbps standalone for £27 per month) or dual, triple and quad-play bundles with TV, phone or mobile. As usual, […]

The Welsh Government (WG) has responded to a series of recommendations on improving broadband and phone connectivity that were made by the Welsh Parliament’s Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) in August 2022 (here), albeit mostly only to parrot existing plans, positions and policies. According to Ofcom’s latest data (here), some 95% of Wales […]

Customers of Sky’s NOW (NOW TV / NOW Broadband) sub-brand in the UK, which offers an alternative TV and video streaming service to Sky’s own packages and live channels, may be pleased to learn that the app has now been made available on the latest models of Google’s TV devices and Chromecast sticks. Until now […]

Network operator and ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which is building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to 200,000 premises across the East of England by the end of 2022 (rising to 1 million by the end of 2025), has introduced a cheaper entry-level 100Mbps (symmetric) plan. Previously, the provider only offered a 1Gbps plan. The new 100Mbps […]

Ookla has announced that they’ve begun to integrate their Downdetector service, which identifies and monitors when various popular online sites (inc. UK mobile operators and broadband ISPs) are suffering from network problems, with their popular internet connection speed testing app – Speedtest.net. The update, which adds a Downdetector tab to the app with lots of […]

News

The mobile operator has reportedly hired Citigroup to help it find a commercial partner through which to fulfil its fibre ambitions

T-Mobile’s focus when it comes to home broadband has long centred around fixed wireless access (FWA) offerings, leveraging its 4G and 5G mobile networks to provide in-home connectivity. Indeed, much like its rival Verizon, T-Mobile has found growing success in this space since rolling out its 5G network, hitting the recording its 1 millionth home internet customer back in April, with over 40 million homes covered.

“A lot of our customers on home broadband are coming in suburban and even urban areas from cable, which is fascinating,” noted T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert on an investor call at the start of the year. “It’s not all just greenfield stuff where nobody has ever had an option before.”

T-Mobile now hopes to have seven million FWA subscribers by the end of 2025.

But while the rise of FWA has been impressive, the technology is not without its limitations, perhaps the largest of which is the strain it places on the local mobile network. A household using FWA for all its connectivity needs will require far more capacity than an individual mobile user, and the concurrent demand of multiple households can be significant. As such, an operator like T-Mobile can only afford to offer FWA services to a limited number of customers in each area, or else risk the performance of the local network for its more valuable mobile subscribers.

While additional spectrum could help alleviate this bottleneck in the short-term, the rapidly increasing data demand year-on-year means that the growth of FWA services will not be sustainable forever – at least, not in urban areas.

Gigabit-capable fibre, on the other hand, has no such limitations. Deploying a fibre network may be more expensive and time-consuming than deploying a FWA solution, it also offers customers improved reliability and performance, without applying additional pressure to the mobile network.

Last year, T-Mobile gave its first indications that it was considering entering the fibre market, launching a limited pilot program in New York City using an existing fibre player’s infrastructure.

While the success of this project has yet to be formally announced, the results presumably must be promising, with reports this week suggesting that T-Mobile has hired Citigroup to identify a potential partner for a fibre infrastructure joint venture (JV).

According to sources, the combined business could be worth up to $4 billion.

The details of T-Mobile’s fibre ambitions with this JV are not yet, including the structure and ownership of any joint business. The identity of potential partners have also yet to be revealed, though reports suggest that early discussions with potential investors are underway.

While this JV model has relatively little precedent in the US, investment in fibre infrastructure has been booming globally in recent years. In fact, the JV fibre model is proving especially popular in Europe, with new joint fibre efforts being launched earlier this year in the UK, Germany, and Belgium.

It is worth noting that T-Mobile’s largest rivals, AT&T and Verizon, already have fibre offerings of their own, recording roughly 6 million and 7.3 million subscribers, respectively, at the end of 2021.

In fact, AT&T was also reportedly last month as looking for a co-investor for a new fibre JV, with sources suggesting that the business could be worth $10–15 billion.

Want to learn all the latest about the US telecoms market? Join the experts in discussion at the upcoming Connected America conference

Also in the news:
Remaining competitive in an evolving telco landscape
Wi-Fly: Could AFC improve rural connectivity?
BT warns of further job losses as soaring bills force bigger cost-cutting drive

The post T-Mobile eyes US fibre market, wants $4bn joint venture first appeared on Total Telecom.

Press Release

IBM announced today at the IBM Quantum Summit 2022 that Vodafone Group is collaborating with IBM on quantum-safe cybersecurity, and also joining the IBM Quantum Network, which will give the company cloud access to IBM’s advanced quantum computing systems, as well as IBM’s industry-leading quantum expertise. The multinational telecommunications company will work with IBM to help validate and progress potential quantum use cases in telecommunications.

As part of this collaboration, Vodafone will explore quantum computing for a variety of telco use cases. The company will also advance their employees’ skills in quantum technology through iterative prototyping led by IBM, as well as actively recruit quantum computing experts, to build a dedicated capability within its ranks.

Throughout this engagement, Vodafone will explore how to apply IBM Quantum Safe cryptography technology across its entire and diverse network infrastructure and systems.  Future quantum computers will pose a threat to today’s standard security, such as public key encryption. Quantum-safe cryptography protocols not only exist today, and offer the capability to help protect classical data and systems from these future quantum computers’ potential decryption capabilities, but the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced that four algorithms — three of which IBM helped develop have been chosen to be part of a protocol for standardization by 2024. Vodafone’s exploration of these protocols marks an IBM Quantum Safe first in understanding and preparing for this risk in telecommunications.

“Partnering with IBM provides us with access to quantum technology which has the potential to provide incredible network optimization. It’s the sort of innovation that existing computers will never achieve alone, allowing us to save energy, reduce costs and give customer great connectivity in more places,” said Luke Ibbetson, head of group R&D at Vodafone Group. “Investing in quantum-safe cryptography, now, also gives us the peace of mind that our infrastructure and customer data will also always be secure as we explore the benefits of quantum computing.”

“Vodafone, as a leading mover in telco, is setting the example for their industry by exploring quantum computing applications for their business operations, as well as applying quantum-safe cryptography protocols to protect their long-term data and systems,” said Scott Crowder, Vice President, IBM Quantum Adoption and Business Development. “We’re excited to partner with Vodafone to help them simultaneously adopt quantum technology, and move to quantum-safe technology as they serve an entire ecosystem of operators, vendors, regulators, and open-source community.”

IBM and Vodafone are also among initial members of the recently announced GSMA Post-Quantum Telco Network Taskforce, whose mission is to help define policy, regulation and operator business processes for the enhanced protection of telecommunications in a future of advanced quantum computing.

Vodafone joins more than 200 members of the IBM Quantum Network, a global community of Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, academic institutions, and research labs working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications. Their engagement is designed to set them on a path to tap into this future of quantum advantage capabilities: when a computational task of business or scientific relevance can be performed more efficiently, cost-effectively, or accurately using a quantum computer than with classical computations alone.

For more information, visit: https://www.ibm.com/quantum/quantum-safe.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

The post IBM and Vodafone strike quantum tech partnership first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

The debt-laden telco issued three profit warnings last year and has continued to struggle in a price war against its local rivals

This week, sources speaking to Bloomberg suggest that the Italian government is weighing its options for how to reinvigorate national operator TIM, including a potential takeover to pave the way for a single Italian broadband network.

Last month, after months of turmoil all-too familiar to Italian politics, Giorgia Meloni, leader of the right-wing populist Fratelli d’Italia, was sworn in as the new Italian prime minister, replacing the outgoing Mario Draghi.

Since then, the new government has done little to calm the country’s turbulent telecoms sector, which is struggling under the weight of intense competition and stagnant returns. However, its approach to the creation of a controversial single national fibre network through the merger of TIM and Open Fiber’s fixed broadband assets is gradually becoming apparent, favouring a state-takeover of TIM to grease the deal’s wheels.

The concept of creating a single national fibre network in Italy has existed for years, with the Italian government claiming that it would greatly accelerate fibre availability throughout the country and reduce overbuild. Until recently, however, TIM has largely rejected this plan, arguing that it would need majority control of any combined fibre business.

Under the Draghi Cabinet, discussions around the single network had achieved significant progress, with state-run bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) – a stakeholder in both TIM and Open Fiber – suggesting that it would purchase TIM’s fibre network to facilitate the merger. Back in May, CDP, Open Fiber, TIM and additional stakeholders signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect, with a focus on integrating the two networks.

However, concerns over the network’s valuation, combined with the political uncertainty within Italy, has seen CDP delay making a binding offer for the fibre business. The deadline for such a bid, outlined in the MoU, was recently extended to the 30th of November with the exclusivity clause notably removed, potentially allowing for alternative offers with new players.

Now, reports suggest that the Meloni administration is in favour of CDP taking full control of TIM, building on comments Fratelli d’Italia had made before the general election began, when they described state control of any national network as ‘a priority’.

Any potential deal to takeover TIM by CDP would likely include US investment firm KKR, which took a stake in TIM’s last-mile grid back in 2020 and went on to present the operator with a €10.8 billion takeover bid in 2021. Despite this bid ultimately being rejected earlier this year after a long delay, sources suggest the firm’s interest in TIM remains considerable.

Similarly, Vivendi, TIM’s largest shareholder, could also be involved in a potential takeover offer by the government.

No formal decision by the Meloni administration has yet been made but, with the extended MoU deadline expiring at the end of this month, their plans will likely become clear later this month.

Also in the news:
Remaining competitive in an evolving telco landscape
Wi-Fly: Could AFC improve rural connectivity?
BT warns of further job losses as soaring bills force bigger cost-cutting drive

The post Italian govt mull TIM takeover to facilitate creation of single network first appeared on Total Telecom.