News

News  The acquisition was first announced last January  The UK Competition and Markets Authority has opened an inquiry to investigate whether Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s commencing acquisition of Juniper Networks for $14 billion would cause competition concerns in the market.  The CMA “is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002...

The mobile operator division of supermarket chain ASDA, which is powered by a virtual operator (MVNO) agreement with Vodafone, has just introduced a new promotion that cuts the price of their 10GB and 25GB Pay As You Go (PAYG) mobile plans in half for the first 6 months of service. But only if you set it to auto-renew. The move means that new customers of their 10GB’s (mobile broadband data) plan will now pay just £8 £4 per month, while their 25GB plan is £15 £7.50. Both plans include...

Early adopters of SpaceX’s ultrafast and low-latency Starlink broadband service, which is powered by a mega constellation of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), are starting to be invited to help test out the internet provider’s new WiFi integrate Mini Dish (terminal) hardware and Mini Roaming service add-on. But the kit doesn’t come cheap. The operator currently has 6,171 LEO satellites in orbit around the Earth (altitudes of c.500-600km) and they’re in the process of adding thousands...

News  A Memorandum of Understanding to form the JV was signed last year  The founding partners of the Global Telco AI Alliance, Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom, e&, Singtel and SoftBank have this week signed a joint venture for telco AI development.  Specifically, the five companies have agreed to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) that are specifically designed to meet telco needs, in areas such as improving customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. The LLMs will be...

Press Release [Copenhagen, Denmark, June 18, 2024] During the TM Forum Digital Transformation World (DTW) 2024 summit convened in Copenhagen, Denmark, China Mobile and Huawei were awarded the “People and Planet” Excellence Award in recognition of their outstanding innovation and implementation of a Zero Carbon Ocean 5G Coverage and Ocean Care. The awarded project demonstrates how China Mobile and Huawei have deeply integrated 5G, AI, IoT and other technologies with the marine industry, driving...

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a Phase 1 investigation into the recently announced deal by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to acquire Juniper Networks for an all-cash transaction for $40.00 per share (here), which represented an equity value of approximately $14 billion (£11bn). Network operators across the United Kingdom, and elsewhere around the world, have been watching the agreement very closely to see how the change might impact the vital kit and services...

Shropshire-based UK ISP Aquiss has this morning announced a number of “summer specials” (discounts) on their various Openreach (FTTC / SOGEA) and CityFibre (FTTP) based broadband packages, which are due to run until July 14th 2024. All packages include unlimited usage, a 12-month minimum contract term, a pledge of no mid-contract price rises, free activation, a static IPv4 address and static IPv6 addresses (/56). The only issue is that new customers are expected to supply their own broadband...

Network operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), has today announced that they expect to cover 13,000 premises across the Kent (England) city of Canterbury via their new wholesale accessible 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. The Canterbury deployment represents an interesting development, not least because Virgin Media hasn’t previously had any significant presence in the city. At present, the main...

Low-cost UK mobile operator iD Mobile (Currys), which harnesses Three UK’s national 4G and 5G network via a virtual operator (MVNO) agreement, has announced that they’re offering sports fans heading to the Euros in Germany, and the Olympics in Paris, unlimited free roaming data (mobile broadband) for the duration of the events this summer. The operator’s announcement estimates that some 49,000 of the Football fans travelling to Euro 2024 could be unknowingly incurring roaming costs, which they...

A relatively new alternative broadband network and ISP called Pulse Fibre, which is focused upon tackling UK new build homes, has revealed that they’re aiming to complete over 250,000 unique “full fibre” (FTTP) connections into new build dwellings. As part of this, they’ve just joined the Fibre Cafe connectivity aggregation platform. Fibre Cafe’s platform is essentially designed to tackle the significant integration and automation challenges for broadband ISPs when onboarding new networks...