Vodafone and Vilicom unveil 4G network for offshore wind farm


NEWS

The new Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm, situated off the Yorkshire coast, is the largest in the world

This week, Vilicom, a BAI Communications (BAI) company, announces the successful live deployment of a Vodafone 4G mobile network at the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation, Hornsea 2.

The windfarm itself, built by Danish firm Ørsted, became operational at the end of August and spans around 300 square miles of the North Sea, roughly 90km east of the Yorkshire coast. It will provide 1.3GW of renewable energy to the UK, enough to power over 1.4 million homes.

The wind farm’s LTE network will provide connectivity to the hundreds of staff that oversee the operation and maintenance of the wind farm, with the network coving not only the wind farm itself but also the route to and from port.

“Building a complete mobile infrastructure on an offshore wind farm is a technical challenge, but I’m delighted we’re able to provide the connectivity that Ørsted’s Hornsea 2 needs to connect to the outside world and be efficiently managed,” said Vodafone UK’s Business Director, Nick Gliddon. “It is testament to the great collaboration between us and Vilicom.”

The specific spectrum being used to operate the network has not been announced.

Vodafone and Vilicom have reportedly been working closely with the Ørsted team on the Hornsea 2 project for the past two years, including providing a temporary LTE solution throughout the project’s construction phase.

Offshore wind farms, naturally, present a difficult challenge when it comes to connectivity. Historically, offshore locations largely relied on very high frequency (VHF) radios or very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite technologies for their communications needs, but these carried inherent limitations when it came to bandwidth, latency, and reliability, particularly in rough weather.

More recently, however, it is mobile networks that are growing in popularity for offshore energy plants, being able to overcome their predecessors’ latency and bandwidth shortcomings.

Indeed, Ørsted itself appears particularly fond of using private mobile networks for their latest wind farm deployments, having worked with Chunghwa Telecom and Ericsson to deploy a private LTE network at their Greater Changhua 1 & 2a Offshore Wind Farms in the Taiwan Strait just last year. They also deployed a similar private LTE network in partnership with Norwegian connectivity specialist Tampnet for the Hornsea 1 wind farm, Hornsea 2’s smaller predecessor, earlier this year.

How is the telecoms industry stepping up to the sustainability challenge? How are connectivity choices for challenging geographies evolving? Join the experts in discussion on these topics and more at the upcoming Total Telecom Congress

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14
Oct, 2022

Stepping up automation, security, and monetization to make 5G a success for CSPs

Stepping up automation, security, and monetization to make 5G a success for CSPs

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Andy Burrell, Head of Portfolio Marketing, CNS Business Applications, Nokia

Before it was even available, Communication service providers (CSPs) crowned 5G as a game-changer for delivering a new network experience and new services to their customers. Praised for its ultra-low latency networks and high speeds, 5G would enable service providers to facilitate more than just connectivity. Some of the new services included offerings such as private wireless networks with industrial apps, dedicated 5G slices, new data insights and plug-and-play APIs — to name a few. … [visit site to read more]

13
Oct, 2022

MTN builds on relationship with NuRAN in Cote d’Ivoire

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Airtel Africa teams up with American Tower to expand sub-Saharan connectivity


Press Release

The companies say the multi-year strategic partnership will help expand mobile service availability across the continent

American Tower Corporation’s (American Tower) African operations (ATC Africa) and Airtel Africa plc (Airtel Africa, or the Group) today announced that they have entered into a multi-year, multi-product agreement, leveraging ATC Africa’s vast portfolio of communications sites and new site and product development capabilities across its footprint in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda in support of Airtel Africa’s network rollout. Through their combined efforts, the companies expect to substantially increase connectivity on the continent, extend digital inclusion to underserved communities and advance their mutual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction objectives.

All new site development under the agreement will comply with ATC Africa’s new green site specifications, which is expected to substantially reduce reliance on fossil fuels, while advancing American Tower’s progress toward achieving its science-based targets (SBTs). Furthermore, this strategic partnership is expected to reduce exposure to fuel price volatility for both ATC Africa and Airtel Africa. The parties have also committed to continue working together to convert existing telecommunications sites to ATC Africa’s green site specifications over time.

In addition, Airtel Africa and ATC Africa will partner to provide training around information and communications technology skills to underserved communities as part of their respective kiosks and Digital Communities programs. Under this partnership, it is expected that more than 200 Digital Communities will be deployed in these markets in the coming years.

“Over the last several years, ATC Africa has made forward-thinking investments to ensure we achieve tangible reductions in our on-site fossil fuel consumption in Africa,” Marek Busfy, SVP and CEO of ATC Africa stated.

To date, ATC Africa has invested approximately $300 million in energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy deployments and energy storage solutions to decrease on-site reliance on fossil fuels. The company has also earmarked additional investments to fund the implementation of future energy efficiencies.

“As we selectively extend the platform services we offer, we are demonstrating our commitment to introduce new and renewable sources of energy to power our sites, which protects the industry, our customers and consumers from ongoing and future volatility in fuel prices. Airtel Africa’s environmental goals are aligned with ours and, as we expand digital reach on the African continent, we remain committed to reducing GHG emissions in tandem with our growth.” Busfy adds, “Furthermore, through our Digital Communities program, we will be able to meaningfully improve quality of life in our markets through connectivity.”

Commenting on this landmark agreement, Segun Ogunsanya, CEO of Airtel Africa, said that “The company has once again demonstrated its commitment to creating value for customers and shareholders by subscribing to an environmentally sustainable growth model. Airtel Africa’s corporate citizenship requires us to extend coverage to increasingly remote areas – and meeting this obligation is necessary to establishing a sustainable partnership with a like-minded industry player. We continue to invest in infrastructure and distribution networks across the countries where we operate to support their economies and communities. Sustainability is at the core of our strategy, driven by our corporate purpose to transform lives across Africa and support people, businesses, and governments in getting access to better connectivity.”

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MTN Group joins the Telecom Infra Project’s Board of Directors

13
Oct, 2022

Happy CX Day 2022!

Happy CX Day 2022

According to the CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association) October 4th, 2022 marked the ten-year anniversary of celebrating Customer Experience Day. The association implemented the CX Day to shine a light on the CX Professionals and the significance of the work they do. It is usually celebrated by various webinars for the CX representatives, offering a space to share ideas. A decade-long tradition proves the importance of carefully designed CX programs within almost any business organization out there. Therefore, to this day, every year on the first Tuesday in October, CX professionals around the globe celebrate CX Day by sharing their success stories and promoting great customer experience as the future of thriving business strategies.

But What is CX Exactly?

Customer Experience (CX) refers to everything related to a business that affects the feelings and perception of its customers, or users of the service in a broader sense. Harvard Business Review, for example, defined CX as “the sum-totality of how customers engage with your company and brand, not just in a snapshot in time, but throughout the entire arc of being a customer.” A significant number of prosperous brands we know and enjoy today have discovered that making the shift from a traditional product-oriented strategy to a more customer-centric culture distinguishes a good brand from a great one. Having our customers in the center of all company activities will move the company closer to an improved customer experience and delivering value which is in demand on the market. This mindset resulted in creating a strategic framework known as customer-centricity, which is now one of the fundamental terms in the CX world.

Our CX Dream Team

Following the market trends, and with a desire to further improve our service, Bicom Systems established its CX team in 2020 within the Customer Operations Department. The team now consists of three ladies, all dedicated to improving the customer-centric culture in our company. As this is one of the first CX teams in the region, our CX representatives did a lot of research on their own, acquired a small library about the profession, and attended various online trainings, webinars, and master classes – all with one goal in mind; to come up with a strategy which will make our partners’ experiences intentional and positive.

To align with the ultimate goal, the team implemented the following changes in the company during its relatively short time of existence:

  • Implemented Survey Culture – after every Beta the team reaches out to its participants to give them a chance to comment and provide feedback regarding the product, documentation, and general experience.
  • CSAT surveys are now available after every closed support ticket. It is important to point out that the CX team follows up on every negative review, with the hope to improve the service.
  • A feedback channel is also available on the Support Portal, so partners can leave feedback whenever needed.
  • An escalation procedure has been introduced, to prioritize urgent issues.
  • The team also started working on the Customer Journey Map. This is one of the most important projects in the CX world. The map visually represents every interaction a customer has with the company, so these touch points can be improved over a period of time.
  • Last but not least, is the customer-centric culture to which we aspire. Changing the general mindset and the culture is a lengthy process and not an easy one. However, this is precisely why every company should have a team committed to implementing small and big changes which ultimately affect the experience, and shift every procedure to a more customer-centric side.

Hopefully, we have convinced you to prioritize CX in your own area of work and start celebrating it as well. Happy CX Day!

P.S: If you want to know more about CX Day, you can follow this link. 

13
Oct, 2022

Indian cyber security ruling deadline may be extended – again

The deadline for complying with the Indian government’s controversial new cybersecurity directives is likely to be extended, according to Indian media – though only for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)’s guidelines originally appeared in late April. They required all companies, intermediaries, data centres and government organisations to report any data breach to the government within six hours of becoming aware of it.

However, they also mandated virtual private network (VPN) service providers to maintain all the information they had gathered for five years and hand it over to the government as and when required. SMEs and MSMEs have to hold on to the data for three years.

As we have reported, citing security and privacy concerns, some VPN service providers such as ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NordVPN have announced plans to stop offering their services in India.

The Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told India’s Economic Times: “We will not make SMEs or MSMEs bear the burden of this additional compliance until they are ready.” However, the ministry itself seems not to have been ready for the disruption the new ruling might cause. 

In fact this is the second extension in the compliance deadline for SMEs and MSMEs by the ministry. There was an extension in late June to September 25, after representations from SMEs, MSMEs, data centres, VPS, VPN, and cloud service providers that they needed more time to “build capacity”.

It seems, however, that some SMEs and MSMEs still lack the cost-effective human resources needed to comply with the cybersecurity rules. And of course maintaining data will add to their operational costs.

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NTIA releases further $600m in grants for Tribal connectivity


NEWS

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded 23 new grants aimed at deploying broadband on tribal land and improving accessibility

Back in November 2021, President Joe Biden signed the far-reaching Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law, pledging to invest around $550 billion in federal funding to improve America’s physical and digital infrastructure, from roads to fibre networks.

Of this total, around $65 billion has been earmarked to help extend affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet access to everyone in America, with a particular focus on helping the most digitally underprivileged demographics in the country.

One such group, facing a disproportionate risk of digital exclusion – particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – are the Tribal communities within the US. While Federal Communications Commission data from 2019 showed that fixed broadband services were accessible for 95.6% of the US population, just 79.1% of people on Tribal lands had similar access. To make matters worse, only 46.5% of Tribal households with access to broadband services had adopted these services.

As a result, the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) was set up in 2021, aiming to help improve not only the availability of broadband infrastructure in these communities, but also the digital skills to fully benefit from the technology.

The TBCP was backed by an initial allocation of $980 million from the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, which was signed into law the same year. The aforementioned IIJA, which was codified a few months later, allocated a further $2 billion to the TBCP, bringing the total available funds to almost $3 billion.

Since then, the NTIA has been gradually releasing the funds to Tribal communities and organisations, following an application process (which was, ironically, criticised for being inaccessible due to lack of broadband availability).

This week, the NTIA has announced its latest batch of grants as part of TBCP, awarding 23 grants worth over $601.6 million.

Communities and organisations in fifteen states will benefit from the grants: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The largest grant, worth $52.5 million, was given to Calista Corporation, a Tribal organisation planning to help deploy fibre for 10 villages in Alaska.

“We are making an historic investment in Tribal communities to ensure reliable, affordable high-speed Internet for all,” explained Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “These grants – made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – underscore President Biden’s commitment to closing the digital divide in the United States, especially within Tribal lands. Today’s awards will not only build high-speed Internet capacity within Tribal Nations, but also bring digital opportunities for good-paying jobs, education, and healthcare.”

These latest grants bring the total of allocated funds to roughly $1.35 billion, with additional grants to be announced on a rolling basis over the coming months.

To what extent are Tribal lands at risk of falling below the digital divide? Join the discussion live in Texas at the upcoming Connected America conference

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