Customers of UK ISP TalkTalk have in the last week or so started to receive notification emails that confirm the provider’s intention to hike their broadband and phone prices by 9.1% (average) from 1st April 2022, which is something that we first predicted back in January (here) due to the surging levels of inflation. Often […]
SpaceX Hikes Prices for Starlink LEO Satellite Broadband Service
Bad news folks, SpaceX has just hiked the price of everything from rocket launches to their already expensive Starlink constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband ISP satellites, the latter of which due to increase in price by 11.11% per month (20% for the hardware) in order to “keep pace with rising inflation.” […]
Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom fill 2,000 German 4G grey spots
Back in 2019, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Deutschland, and Telefonica Deutschland signed a joint agreement to tackle areas of Germany with no 4G coverage at all, known as ‘white spots’. This encompassed the building and sharing of around 6,000 new mobile sites around the country, though only the sites&rsquo…
Ethiopia puts the brakes on Ethio Telecom stake sale
The road to liberalising Ethiopia’s telecoms sector – until recently one of the last remaining telecoms monopolies in the world – has been a bumpy one.
While the wider liberalisation of Ethiopia’s economy had been discussed for many years, it was Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who first set the ball rolling in earnest in June 2019, announcing plans to make two new operating licences available for foreign operators to win at auction…
Gov Commits Gigabit Broadband for All England Schools by 2025
The Government’s Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi MP, has today made a new commitment for “every school across the country” to be able to access “high speed internet” by 2025, which is said to complement the wider £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout programme. Funding will also be provided for related WiFi upgrades. On top of this, […]
Three ways for your ISP to tackle UK broadband compensation for cost-effective customer care
Although coronavirus lightened some regulations, Ofcom is now getting back to business as usual and even more focused on ensuring Telco compensation. As the pandemic proved, broadband connection is a must-have in our lives. Over 90% of UK Telco customers are part of the scheme with major Telcos joining like BT, Virgin Media, Sky, EE, Hyperoptic, TalkTalk, Vodafone (Openreach customers only), Utility Warehouse, and Zen Internet.
Together with the rising international cry for broadband consumer rights, compensation is fast becoming a necessity. Subscribers demand payment for loss of service, slow repairs, delayed installations and missed technician appointments. To meet regulations, ISPs must automatically pay broadband customers when things go wrong. It’s thus crucial to ensure your ISP is ready for the inevitable change. Let&rsquo…
Vodafone Explains Why Some FTTP Areas Only Offered 200Mbps
Some of Vodafone’s potential UK broadband ISP customers, specifically those trying to order one of their Openreach powered Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) plans, have run into an unusual problem that limits their choice of package to a top speed of 200Mbps (instead of 900Mbps+). But don’t worry, it’s only a temporary measure. Historically, there can be a […]
Telstra prepares trio of Australian teleports for OneWeb
Australian telco Telstra has announced a new ten-year deal with UK-based satellite player OneWeb, promising to build and manage three new ground stations and help expand
The three teleports will be built in Darwin (Northern Territory), Charlton (Queensland), and Perth (Western Australia); in effect, this will put OneWeb gateways on the West, North, and East coasts of Australia. The Darwin site will be completed first, scheduled to begin operations in July.
The news builds on a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the company at t0he start of this month…
'Fiber connectivity is the main driver for a digital society'
Can you introduce yourself and your current role?
My name is Christian Humpert and I have been Managing Director of DB broadband since March 2021. Initially responsible for Operations (COO), before taking over as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in August 2021.
Before joining Deutsche Bahn, I spent over 20 years in the Telco industry, more than 12 years in various management positions at Vodafone in Germany and abroad.
Where does DB broadband fit into Germany’s connectivity ecosystem?
DB broadband is a 100% subsidiary of DB Netz AG and markets free dark fiber capacities from Deutsche Bahn’s fiber network to telecommunications companies…
The submarine cable market according to Hexatronic
This week Total Telecom caught up with Anders Ljung, Business Manager for Submarine Cable Solutions at Hexatronic, to learn about the company’s progress and applaud the Swedish supplier for putting sustainability at the forefront of its agenda.
Welcome Anders. What do you consider to be the most exciting markets for the submarine cable industry right now?
Across the globe the subsea cable business is booming; entering 2022 the demand for capacity is as insistent as it was in preceding years. We’ve seen advances in technology for the repeatered market facilitating higher fiber count systems, ROADM technology and in some cases Aluminium cables. Unrepeatered technology continues to be the strong sibling to the active side of the business – already well developed technically, with high fiber count (192) cables in existence for several years now, and a robust mechanical design that is well qualified.
Different countries and regions require different submarine cable system designs, with festoons and interlinks typically leaning towards more economic passive solutions. This means that in certain regions, such as within Europe, the Caribbean or the Pacific Islands, we see a lot of activity on our side of the business, whilst trans-oceanic demand continues to preoccupy suppliers of repeatered systems…