EXA Infrastructure Launch Managed Fibre Network Covering 31 Countries
London-registered network operator EXA Infrastructure has today launched its new Managed Fibre Network (MFN) service to “address market demands for increased connectivity and shorter service delivery times“, which is also said to provide the “benefits of dark fibre and equipment ownership“, albeit without the usual costs of in-house delivery. The new service will take advantage of the company’s existing reach – covering over 155,000 kilometres of fibre across 37 countries, as well as more than...
UK ISP TalkTalk’s Chances of a Takeover Reduce After Auditor Quits
Debt-troubled broadband ISP TalkTalk, which was recently saved from the immediate risk of a default by a refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here), may now find it even harder to find a buyer after their auditor of 22 years – Deloitte – resigned and was replaced by RSM. The refinancing agreement came after the Group had already spent much of the past few years wrestling with some suffocating debts, which in 2023 culminated in a plan to demerge the group into three separate...
Gov Publishes Evaluation of the UK Fibre in Water Broadband Project
The UK Government (DSIT) has published an evaluation report into the c.£6.2 million “Fibre in Water” trial (Project TAWCO), which tested the deployment of fibre optic (FTTP) cables through a live water mains (used for drinking water) but, as we previously reported (here), ended up being stalled due to several issues. Just to recap. The FiW project consisted of three phases (phase two was the physical build and phase three would have been live operation), with phase one – supported by a...
Broadband ISP Ogi Help Amazon Add Welsh Language to Eero Routers
Infracapital-backed network builder and UK ISP Ogi, which is deploying a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales, has today announced that they’ve “worked closely” with Amazon to launch a bespoke Welsh language service that now comes built-in to the latest eero WiFi router software.. Customers of Ogi’s network, which is currently available to 100,000 ‘Ready for Service’ premises in Wales (20,000 customers have already joined), are currently able to get Amazon’s...
Progress Update on CityFibre’s UK Rollout of 10Gbps XGS-PON Broadband
Network operator CityFibre has given ISPreview an update on the effort to upgrade their GPON based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network for ISPs to XGS-PON, which can handle broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second). However, not much progress seems to have been made since the end of 2023, but it is still moving forward. In case anybody has forgotten, CityFibre started their upgrade in the spring of 2023 (here). The operator’s network previously used Calix’s GPON (Gigabit Passive...
More O2 UK Mobile Customers Spot Hints of Future IPv6 Deployment
A small but growing number of O2 UK’s (Virgin Media) mobile customers have reported that the operator has assigned an Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) address to their connections, although in most cases the IP address itself is not fully functional (certainly doesn’t work on data / mobile broadband connections). At this point we’ve long since given up chasing the industry’s remaining IPv6 laggards, such as Virgin Media and O2, to find out when they’ll get around to actually deploying it – this is...
Singtel becomes latest telco to launch AI cloud services
News The service claims to make AI adoption easier and more affordable for businesses Singaporean telco Singtel has launched RE:AI, a new cloud-based service designed to make artificial intelligence (AI) easier for businesses and public sector organisations to access and use. Launched yesterday, the service provides affordable AI solutions without the need for companies to invest in expensive infrastructure or specialist skills. The AI cloud solution offers customers access to...
South Korean telcos accused of collusion, may face fines of $4bn
News SK Telecom (SKT), KT, and LG Uplus allegedly coordinated to keep their sales incentives at the same level This week, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a preliminary decision to impose fines of up to $4.1 billion on the nation’s three telco giants. SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus are accused of sharing internal information with each other between 2015 and 2022, allegedly to align their sales incentives paid to mobile phone retailers. According to local media, if the...
F5.5G 10Gbps all-optical broadband ushers in the intelligent era: Huawei successfully holds the all-optical access innovation forum
Viewpoint [Paris, France, October 9, 2024] During Network X 2024 — Broadband World Forum (BBWF), Huawei teamed up with carriers and Informa to hold the All-Optical Access Innovation Summit, bringing together heavyweight analysts, carrier customers, and Huawei experts. They discussed a range of frontier topics such as the launch of 50G PON for 10Gbps, 10G PON true gigabit experience, FTTR scale-up, Wi-Fi 7 2+2 industry generation guidance, network construction with optimal TCO, and premium...
Virgin Media UK Sees Take-up of Smart Support Reach 200,000 Customers
Broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has issued a brief update on the gradual roll-out of “Smart Support”, which is a new service that aims to boost the reliability of internet connections by proactively identifying and tackling issues remotely at no extra cost. Some 200,000 customers have now benefitted from this (up from 50k in July), with 150k more to join by the end of 2024. Just to recap. The Smart Support service is built on technology from Cisco’s ThousandEyes (formerly SamKnows) platform...