Press Release

This week, Air Canada and Bell have announced a multi-year partnership that will make it even easier to stay connected — both on the ground and in the skies. The partnership delivers on Air Canada and Bell’s longstanding commitments to elevating the customer experience, while focusing on added benefits for newcomers and visitors to Canada, preparing them to connect to Canada’s best network as soon as they land.

Starting May 15, Air Canada and Bell will offer free messaging for all Aeroplan members worldwide on all Wi-Fi equipped aircraft across Air Canada’s fleet, including Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express flights. This offering will enable customers to send and receive text-based messages via onboard Wi-Fi using popular messaging apps including Apple’s iMessage, Meta’s WhatsApp and Messenger, Rakuten’s Viber, and Messages by Google.  Also, this benefit will be available to strategic partner airline loyalty members, including customers of United MileagePlus, Lufthansa Group Miles & More and Emirates Skywards when their account numbers are associated with an Air Canada booking.

Additionally, with this new partnership, newcomers and visitors to Canada will gain easy and immediate ways to stay connected as they arrive in Canada. With complimentary mobile SIM cards on select inbound international flights, newcomers and visitors can activate in flight, allowing them to walk off the plane and be connected.

In keeping with Air Canada and Bell’s commitment to its customers, this partnership will enable additional areas of collaboration and customer benefit, including the development and offering of Aeroplan promotional rewards, as well as building upon Air Canada’s award-winning in-flight entertainment offering with the expansion of Live TV service on flights to the U.S., expected later this summer.

“Canadians are at the centre of this exciting new partnership. We’re so proud to join with an iconic brand to deliver real value to customers across the country, and, importantly, to those new to our country. This multi-faceted partnership with Bell will allow Air Canada customers to keep in touch with friends, family, or colleagues wherever they travel. What’s more, we’re elated that Bell will be joining as the latest Aeroplan partner, creating another way for members to travel more, and travel better,” said Mark Nasr, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Digital, and President of Aeroplan at Air Canada.

“We’re excited to partner with Air Canada, and innovate on delivering enhanced experiences for our customers. For those new to Canada or visiting, we recognize how important it is to stay connected with family and friends, and the new opportunities being connected can bring. Many are already familiar with Bell and know we offer the best network, and we’re thrilled to be making it even easier for them to connect when they arrive in Canada,” said Claire Gillies, Executive Vice President, Marketing and President Consumer at Bell.

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Interview

Speaking at Connected North, Steve Doddington, Director of Telecoms at Netceed, formerly Comtec, discusses what the changing market means for them and their customers, while also touching on how the rebrand and continuous growth of the group can benefit all

Netceed, formerly Comtec, have had a busy year with their transition as well as servicing Tier 1 customers and trading with over 90 altnets and 230 contractors.

With the transition well underway, Netceed has come together in 14 countries with 1,200 employees. But what does this mean for their customers?

“Our customers benefit in lots of ways. We leverage our group ability to offer products to our customers, so through the wide product portfolio we have, we give our customers the options so we can truly offer them a one-stop-shop solution,” explained Doddington.

“And then, we take that leveraging a step further where we buy very well because we have group volume and we can pass that on to our customers and be very competitive with prices. So, the benefits our customers see are real and what we can also do with that is by implementing our supply chain method, we can add forecasting and inventory management, we hold £20m worth of stock here in the UK and then we can put logistics and value-added services around that as well.”

“So ultimately, we provide a full package that allows our customers to really concentrate on what they are good at, which is building networks and hooking up customers, and allow us to do the rest for them.”

You can watch the full interview from the link below

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Is the UK on track to reach its full fibre ambitions? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

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Press Release

Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation have partnered to launch a new apprenticeship programme where successful candidates will gain professional qualifications alongside undertaking critical work to increase digital inclusion across the UK.

The telecommunications firm has gifted around £200,000 to fund the ‘Good Things Foundation Future Skills Academy’ which will be delivered by EdTech provider Multiverse with the schemes ranging from Level 3 (the equivalent of A Level) right through to Level 6 (undergraduate degree level).

The analytical apprenticeship schemes delivered by Multiverse will help successful candidates develop business critical skills such as data analysis and project management.

As part of their schemes, the apprentices will split their time between working for organisations in Good Things Foundation’s National Digital Inclusion Network and working towards their fully funded apprenticeship qualification, which would not be possible without support from Virgin Media O2.

The skills candidates will learn through their apprenticeship will help them to digitally transform their organisation. It is envisioned this will free up their time and reduce costs, enabling them to provide even greater support to people who are digitally excluded in their communities.

In June 2021, Virgin Media O2 committed to hiring more than 1,000 apprentices, and earlier this year announced plans to hire more than 350 apprentices into the business in 2023.

Karen Handley, Head of Future Careers at Virgin Media O2, said: “As one of the UK’s largest apprenticeship providers, we know the real difference that apprentices can make to an organisation which is why we’re proud to help fund the Good Things Foundation’s Future Skills Academy.

“Through their apprenticeship schemes candidates will learn the skills that will help them tackle digital exclusion in their communities.”

“We’re committed to helping eradicate data poverty in the UK, and through our work in partnership with Good Things Foundation, we’re getting more people online and connected than ever before.”

Helen Milner OBE, Group Chief Executive, Good Things Foundation said “Data literacy and business transformation skills are becoming increasingly vital to help future-proof organisations.  These are the skills of the future that will help organisations adapt and respond to rapid technological development.

“Through partnering with Virgin Media O2 and Multiverse, we are offering members of our National Digital Inclusion Network access to fully funded professional development in business-critical skills. This opportunity will help build organisation resilience for members of our network so that they can continue to provide vital services to fix the digital divide in local communities.”

Jeremy Duggan, President of Multiverse said: “The pace of technological change is leaving far too many people behind without access to the skills and tools they need to thrive. Addressing this problem is an objective that unites Multiverse, Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation.

Through our partnership, we’ll empower individuals with the data and digital skills that not only open up their own careers, but also support the essential work of the organisations they belong to. Apprenticeships are simply the best way to deliver those skills, because the future of learning is working; applying skills everyday, in real-world settings.”

As well as working together on the Good Things Foundation’s Future Skills Academy, Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation founded the National Databank in July 2021, where people in need can access 20GB of free O2 data – enough for around 220 hours of internet browsing – per month.

Since the National Databank was launched, Virgin Media O2 has provided more than 70,000 free O2 SIM cards and 50,000 free O2 data vouchers and has committed more than 61 million GB of free O2 data to the initiative by the end of 2025.

How are the UK’s network operators helping to nurture the next generation of telecoms professionals? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

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News

The combined entity would control around two-thirds of the Sri Lankan mobile market

This week, Dialog Axiata and Bharti Airtel have announced their intention to merge their respective Sri Lankan units.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the announcement notes that Airtel will receive new shares in Dialog as part of the deal.

Dialog is already the current mobile market leader in Sri Lanka, with its roughly 18 million customers representing around 60% of the total market. Airtel Lanka, meanwhile, is the country’s second largest mobile player, with roughly 5 million subscribers.

Thus, if combined, the resulting entity would serve around 23 million customers, almost two thirds of the country’s 36.18 million mobile connections in 2023.

The merger still requires shareholder approval from both companies and will be subject to the typical regulatory oversight.

Hutch and SLT-Mobitel fill out Sri Lanka’s mobile tetrarchy, with Hutch having acquired the market’s fourth place player, Etisalat Sri Lanka, back in 2018.

This is not the first time that Dialog and Airtel have looked to join forces in Sri Lanka. The pair first entered merger discussions back in 2016. At the time, Airtel was a much smaller player in the Sri Lankan market, with the deal expected to carry a price tag of only around $100 million. Ultimately, however, a deal could not be reached.

The merger comes at an interesting time for Sri Lanka on a macroeconomic level. The country has been facing an economic imbalance for many years, with imports far outweighing exports and draining the nation’s foreign currency reserves. In recent years, coupled with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the situation has frown to a full-blown crisis, with soaring inflation driving public protests to overthrow the civilian government last year.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest international telecoms news? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter straight to your inbox

Also in the news:
ECTA calls on the European Commission to think again
Research claims FTTH reduces internet CO2 emissions by a third
Fibre will underpin our 5G future, says ITS Technology Group at Connected North

A few new IXs, some partnership expansions, and a new market: … [visit site to read more]