News

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

The policy director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation has been nominated to serve as an FCC commissioner.

Olivia Trusty’s nomination was first announced by now-President Donald Trump on Truth Social last week, a social-media platform owned by Trump Media.

“She has fought tirelessly to grow the economy, empower innovation, and reignite the American Dream,” Trump’s Jan. 16 post stated.

He said Trusty would work with Brendan Carr, the newly named FCC chairman, “to cut regulations at a record pace.”

Trump also said they’d “protect free speech, and ensure every American has access to affordable and fast internet.”

Trump also made mention of Trusty’s academic background, which includes Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Her nomination is pending Senate approval.

In the meantime, the FCC’s remaining Democratic commissioners reacted to the news.

Ana M. Gomez released a statement congratulating Trusty.

“She is widely respected, a consummate professional, and has a strong background on communications policy,” Gomez stated. “I welcome the opportunity to work with her.”

Additionally, Geoffrey Starks, the other Democrat on the FCC, also congratulated her.

“She is a committed public servant with extensive knowledge of the communications sector,” the statement from Starks read. “As clearly exhibited
by her work in the Senate, she is an effective policy-maker, which will benefit the agency and the American people going forward.”

Meanwhile, in the days since Trusty’s nomination, Jessica Rosenworcel, the former FCC chair, has departed the commission.

Replacing her as chair is Brendan Carr, who was named the FCC’s chair with an official order signed by Trump on Inauguration Day.

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Press Release

Telehouse launches educational initiative featuring character ‘DC’ to enhance public understanding of data centres and their impact on digital lives

Half of UK consumers (51%) have never heard of the term ‘data centre,’ highlighting a significant lack of awareness about their critical role in powering daily digital life. New research from Telehouse reveals how, despite the increasing reliance on digital services and their recent categorisation by the government as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), 67% of UK consumers admit they do not know what a data centre is or does.

The survey, which involved over 2,000 UK consumers, identifies a significant gap in public understanding. While 48% of respondents believe data centres positively impact the digital services they use at home and work, such as video streaming and online shopping, there remains a substantial knowledge gap about the scale and scope of data centre operations. Nearly half (43%) of the respondents are unaware of the vast number of people, applications, and data supported by these facilities.

Telehouse’s findings also highlight a mixed perception of data centres’ importance in the context of remote working, a trend that has surged in recent years. While 59% see data centres as critical to enabling remote work, 19% are unsure how these facilities support such activities, and 15% consider them not very critical or not critical at all.

The study underscores the public’s partial understanding of data centres, with misconceptions about their roles. In an effort to bridge this knowledge gap, Telehouse has launched an educational initiative featuring a character named ‘DC.’ Through an engaging video, DC aims to demystify data centres, explaining their functions and significance in everyday technology use.

Mark Pestridge, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Telehouse Europe, commented on the initiative: “We realise there’s a significant knowledge gap regarding data centres and their impact on digital lives. By introducing ‘DC,’ we hope to educate people about the critical work done in data centres and inspire our future generations to consider careers in this field. We also hope that bridging this knowledge divide may be key to increasing trust in the digital infrastructure that underpins our connected lives.”

Telehouse’s commitment extends to supporting education and career development in the technology sector, offering apprenticeships and work experience opportunities to young people. The company also advocates for more educational programs focused on data centre technologies in schools and universities.

For more information on the crucial role of data centres and to watch Telehouse’s educational video featuring the ‘DC’ character, visit their website.

How is the growing data centre ecosystem impacting the UK economy? Join the discussion at Connected North live in Manchester   

Also in the news:
EXA Infrastructure enters into agreement to acquire Aqua Comms
“European competitiveness has one foot in the morgue,” warns Nokia CEO
BT quietly scraps EV charging pilot 

News 

The new rules are designed to make pricing easier for customers to understand 

Starting today, UK telecom providers must clearly display any future price increases in plain monetary terms at the point of sale, following new regulations introduced by Ofcom.  

The rules are designed to eliminate confusion around mid-contract price hikes, and help customers make better-informed choices. 

In the past, telecom companies often linked price rises in their contracts to inflation rates, leaving customers uncertain about their bills. The lack of clarity made it difficult for consumers to compare deals and calculate long-term costs.  

Now, providers are required to present any planned price increases in pounds and pence and make this information prominent at the time of purchase. Providers must also inform customers of when price changes will occur. 

“More than ever, households want and need to plan their budgets. Our new rules mean there will be no nasty surprises, and customers will know how much they will be paying and when, through clear labelling,” said Natalie Black CBE, Ofcom’s Group Director for Networks and Communications in a press release. 

The updated rules aim to encourage competition and provide consumers with a wider range of contract options. Some providers now offer fixed-price agreements, while others include clauses for price increases. For contracts with unclear hikes, telecom companies must provide at least 30 days’ notice and allow customers to cancel penalty-free.  

Ofcom also highlighted the increased availability of social tariffs, which cater to low-income households. These affordable packages do not include mid-contract price hikes and are available to those receiving some benefits. Over half a million customers are already using social tariffs, though Ofcom suggests that millions of eligible households are still missing out on social tariffs as public awareness around thr packages are low 

The push for greater transparency comes just after of a series of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rulings against major UK telecom providers, including BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, and O2. Last year, the ASA found that these companies’ ads failed to adequately inform customers about potential mid-contract price rises, violating stricter guidance introduced in late 2024. The watchdog’s rulings criticised the use of small print and vague language, which obscured key pricing details, misleading consumers. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter   

Also in the news:
EXA Infrastructure enters into agreement to acquire Aqua Comms
“European competitiveness has one foot in the morgue,” warns Nokia CEO
BT quietly scraps EV charging pilot 

Press Release

EXA Infrastructure has announced today that it has signed binding agreements to acquire Aqua Comms – a specialist operator of Transatlantic and intra-European subsea infrastructure.

EXA Infrastructure, a London based portfolio company of I Squared Capital – a leading independent global infrastructure investment manager, operates over 150,000km of digital infrastructure across 37 countries, including 20 cable landing stations that provide critical connectivity to subsea systems.

Aqua Comms is an Ireland-based service provider specialising in operating submarine cable systems and supplying fibre pairs, spectrum and wholesale network capacity to the global content, cloud, carrier & enterprise markets.  It is the owner/operator of America Europe Connect-1 (AEC-1), America Europe Connect-2 (AEC-2), CeltixConnect-1 (CC-1) and CeltixConnect-2 (CC-2) and is part of a consortium that owns/operates the Amitié cable system (AEC-3).

“The acquisition of Aqua Comms demonstrates EXA Infrastructure’s commitment to build a modern and diverse Transatlantic platform to fully serve AI, Cloud and Content demand, now and in the future. The combination will offer our customers more routes, more capacity and increased diversity, all on a scaled platform” said Jim Fagan, chief executive of EXA Infrastructure.

The planned transaction is expected to complete in approximately 12 months, subject to customary closing conditions.

Akur Capital and RBC Capital Markets are acting as financial advisors to EXA Infrastructure in connection with the transaction and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is serving as legal M&A advisor to EXA Infrastructure. Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor to D9 in connection with the transaction and Shoosmiths is serving as legal advisor to D9.

How is the submarine cable industry evolving in 2025? Join the industry in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s largest submarine cable event

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News

In a summit today, the CEOs of both Nokia and Ericsson called for greater investments into network technology to support European innovation

In a rare display of unity, today the CEOs of telecoms tech rivals Nokia and Ericsson both took to the stage at the New Industrial Ambition for Europe summit in Brussels, arguing that Europe needed major reform to ensure competitiveness on the global stage.

The event saw Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia, and Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, argue that European authorities need to make sweeping changes to regulations and align more closely on strategy to create a more digital single market.

“European competitiveness already has one foot in the morgue,” said Lundmark. “Our real GDP is 30% less than the U.S.’s, the EU’s share of the Fortune Global 500 is still falling and our digital future looks less certain than ever. The good news is that we can still turn this tanker around. Europe must create an environment in which businesses want to invest, especially on technologies such as AI, cloud and advanced connectivity. This cannot be a decade-long endeavour. Europe must act right now on issues like the 5G Toolbox and telco mergers. If Europe gets this right, it’s a massive opportunity. Draghi and Letta already provided the framework. So, let’s act.”

The crux of the group’s message was clear: Europe needs to increase its innovation and R&D spend to be more competitive – something the continent’s technology sector cannot do effectively with an oppressive regulatory regime.

The group called for a rethink and increase in scale of public spending around European “disruptive innovation”, a softer regulatory approach to market consolidation, and a greater focus on developing the digital infrastructure (i.e., networks) needed to support the tech sector.

The summit built upon the contents of the Draghi economic report published in September last year. The report, penned by ex-prime minister of Italy and previous president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, paints a picture of Europe severely lagging behind its global rival in terms of technology and economic growth.

A major problem, the report points out, is the sheer scale of the US tech giants, whose R&D budgets dwarf their Europea would-be rivals. According to a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, European companies trail in R&D and capital formation by an €450 billion in tech alone, with US companies investing around 60% more than their European counterparts in R&D.

It is worth noting here that Europe has not created a company with a market capitalisation over €100 billion in the past fifty years. This can be partially explained by the fact that successful European tech companies are typically acquired or otherwise relocated to the US, where they can scale more rapidly. According to the report, between 2008 and 2021, around 30% of the European startup unicorns (i.e., start-ups that went on the be valued at over $1 billion), relocated their headquarters abroad.

In this sense, both the Draghi and the CEOs of Nokia and Ericsson all agree that Europe must do more to make itself a welcoming – and permanent – home for tech innovation.

“Companies like Ericsson already invest disproportionally more in R&D in Europe. If other regions continue to race ahead this model cannot survive,” said Ekholm. “Those regions are embracing opportunity through investment, policy, and regulatory support. Europe is not. Yet the solution is well known. The EU must implement the Draghi and Letta Report recommendations to enable the technology sector to play our part in delivering future European prosperity.”

The summit was notably attended by a number of high-profile European stakeholders, including Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty; Dariusz Standerski, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs for Poland; and former Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta.

Virkkunen was appointed Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy in December last year as part of the cohort of European Commissioners.

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter 

Also in the news:
Adani Group’s ‘foray into industrial 5G’ is a complete failure
Sparkle signs deal to recycle 22,000km of submarine cable
Nokia bags deal to connect new offshore wind farms

16 JANUARY 2025 – High-speed broadband provider LightSpeed has joined forces with Neos Networks, one of the UK’s foremost business connectivity providers, to expand its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and wholesale services. This collaboration highlights LightSpeed’s commitment to delivering Gigabit broadband to underserved communities while bolstering its network infrastructure.

LightSpeed sets high standards for Ethernet performance with its existing 10Gbps XGS-PON technology, ensuring high bandwidth and capacity services are available across its network. Greater availability of these services is now being developed utilising Neos Networks’ extensive UK-wide network, providing its wholesale customers greater access and choice when purchasing connectivity.

The LightSpeed Group operates through two entities: LightSpeed Networks, which builds and manages the infrastructure for its retail and growing wholesale services, and LightSpeed Broadband, which provides Gigabit-speed connectivity directly to homes and businesses across the Midlands and East of England.

Neos Networks is providing LightSpeed with high-performance connectivity solutions, including dark fibre, 100Gbps and 10Gbps optical links, and backhaul services. This partnership enables LightSpeed Networks to expand into new regions like North Staffordshire and connect to critical data centres in London, Manchester, and Birmingham. As a result, LightSpeed can offer bespoke wholesale services and managed solutions to other service providers, delivering alternatives to incumbent providers.

Additionally, Neos Networks supports LightSpeed Broadband’s ability to deliver FTTH services to a broader customer base. By quickly and efficiently extending connectivity into new areas, LightSpeed Broadband can bolster pre-sales, street cabinet deployments, and customer sign-ups, accelerating its rollout of high-speed broadband.

This partnership represents an important step in both LightSpeed and Neos Networks’ missions to bridge the digital divide, offering gigabit broadband to communities in need and cementing their positions as key players in the UK’s connectivity markets.

“Partnering with Neos Networks allows us to bring faster, more reliable connectivity to homes and businesses in the East Midlands and beyond,” said Chris Tagg, Chief Technology and Information Officer at The LightSpeed Group. “This collaboration equips us with the flexibility and scalability to expand rapidly into new markets while staying true to our commitment to exceptional service delivery – especially in areas where traditional options like Openreach are unavailable.”

“Our collaboration with LightSpeed is a prime example of how advanced network infrastructure can support providers in reaching underserved areas,” said Lee Myall, CEO at Neos Networks. “By delivering tailored connectivity solutions, we’re enabling LightSpeed to expand their footprint and bring high-quality broadband to more communities and businesses.”

ENDS

About Neos Networks 

Neos Networks has the UK’s largest business-dedicated network. With over 600 points of presence and 90 data centres nationwide, Neos provides high capacity critical connectivity for businesses, from telecoms and energy to banking and emergency services.

Agile and customer-focused with almost limitless scale, Neos enables emerging technologies like AI, 5G and IoT, making connectivity work for Britain. 

For more information please visit: https://neosnetworks.com

About LightSpeed

LightSpeed is an independent, full fibre broadband network that offers industry-leading speeds of up to 2,000 Mbps. As the East and West Midlands’ leading and most trusted broadband provider, it’s bringing the power of Gigabit to parts of the UK that other providers have overlooked, with plans to connect 150,000 new premises in these regions and a target of 400,000 total homes & businesses by 2027.   

Backed by investment partner Kompass Kapital, the brand is focused on building a portfolio of value-added services powered by its ultra-fast broadband, designed to enhance customers’ in-home experiences, from security to smart home technologies.   

For more information please visit: www.lightspeed.co.uk

News

Two and a half years after acquiring the spectrum at auction, the Indian conglomerate has yet to make use of its airwaves

Reports this week suggest that Adani Group is considering surrendering it 5G mmWave spectrum after failing to turn its dream of deploying private 5G networks into reality.

According to the reports, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sent multiple requests to the company asking how it intends to use the currently idle spectrum, as well as penalising it for failing to meet minimum rollout targets.

Adani Group purchased the spectrum for $27 million at India’s first 5G auction back in 2022. At the time, Adani said it would use the 400MHz of 26GH (also known as mmWave) spectrum to deploy private 5G networks for its own digital subsidiaries, as well as offering it to enterprise and industrial customers.

As part of the deal, Adani was obligated to begin offering commercial services using the spectrum within a year.

“The Adani Group’s foray into the industrial 5G space will allow our portfolio companies to offer a set of new add on services that capitalises on all the other digital segments we are building,” said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, after acquiring the spectrum.

Adani Group’s participation in the spectrum auction initially caused concern in some corners of the Indian telecoms sector, with onlookers speculating that success with private networks could lead to Adani’s entry into the consumer mobile space.

The reality, however, appears to have been quite different, with Adani Group having failed to make a single deployment using the mmWave 5G spectrum.

Adani has reportedly told the DoT that the spectrum’s deployment across its own industrial operations – including ports, airports, power stations, and logistics – had proven commercially unviable.

If the company continues to fail to meet rollout obligations, the company will be forced to pay fines to the DoT. As such, Adani is considering returning the spectrum licences to the DoT.

It is also worth noting that Adani did not participate in India’s latest 5G spectrum auction, which took place in summer last year and generated a lukewarm response from the country’s mobile network operators. The acquisition of additional spectrum could have made the company’s private 5G network offering more attractive and would likely have allowed them to also offer 5G fixed wireless access services, for which mmWave spectrum is typically well suited.

Failures to meaningfully commercialise mmWave spectrum is nothing new for the mobile industry. While offering considerably lower latency and capacity than typical mid-band spectrum 5G services, mmWave’s shorter range limits often limits its viability and increases deployment costs.

Indeed, even in South Korea, typically viewed as one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world, the country’s mobile operators had failed to make mmWave commercially viable at scale. After four years of lacklustre deployments, all of the nation’s operators ultimately had their mmWave licences revoked by the government.

Keep up to date with all the latest global telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
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News

The list sanctions companies assessed as posing a potential threat to US national security or operating adversely to US foreign policy interests

On January 6, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the latest wave of companies to be added the so-called ‘Entity List’.

US companies seeking to export to companies on the Entity List must first receive a specific. licence to do-so from the US government, most of which are reviewed with the ‘presumption of denial’.

This latest update saw BIS revise the Export Administration Regulations to include 13 new entities: 11 from China, 1 from Myanmar, and 1 from Pakistan. The list of companies added can be found here, while the full ‘Entity List’ can be accessed here.

The companies added are, for the most part, unsurprising. Chinese companies have made up the lion’s share of entrants to the Entity List for many years now – a symptom of the deeper of the technological tensions between the country and successive US governments. Here, the majority of the Chinese entrants are tech firms accused of supporting the Chinese military, alongside a handful of research institutes designated as working on ‘hypersonic weapons’.

The sole Pakistani entrant, Emerging Future Solutions Private Limited, was similarly added based on military connections adverse to US interests, including supporting Pakistan’s ballistic missile research efforts.

But perhaps the most interesting of the new additions is Myanmar’s Mytel, which has been accused of helping the ruling military junta prepetrate human rights abuses by assisting with surveillance and financial support.

Mytel was founded as a joint venture between the Burmese military and Vietnamese telco Viettel (itself owned by Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence) in 2016.

The company’s military links have been a source of controversy since the company’s inception, with Mytel having been accused of corruption, cronyism, and carrying out government disinformation campaigns.

The company initially faced a broad wave of economic sanctions from various Western countries following the military coup in 2021, but the US was notably absent. Since then, the company has been accused of further misdeeds, including using Mytel SIMs to track soldiers’ movements and conversations, aiming to root out defectors.

However, exactly how effective these new sanctions from the US will be remains to be seen. The efficacy of the Entity List has been repeatedly called into question, with detractors arguing that many licences were still being issued. In 2023, for example, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul notably complained that BIS had approved more than $23 billion in tech licences to blacklisted companies in just a three month period in Jan–March 2022.

Keep up to date with all the latest global telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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News 

Vodafone has announced today that it has sold its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers Limited, a 3% stake in the company 

The sale raised INR 28 billion ($330 million), according to a recent stock market filing. Vodafone used $105 million of this to repay loans tied to its Indian assets and cover transaction costs.  

The remaining $225 million was invested in its Indian mobile subsidiary Vodafone Idea (Vi), increasing the company’s stake in the operator from 22.56% to 24.39%. Vi will use these funds to settle outstanding payments to Indus Towers, thereby completing Vodafone’s financial commitments to the company. 

Vodafone has gradually been divesting of its Indus Towers stake since 2022, gradually reducing its stake from 28% to 21.5% last year. In June, the company announced it was looking to sell a further 10% in the company, but a surge of interest saw them reconsider the scale of the stake sale. 

Vodafone sold an 18% stake worth $1.8 billion to a variety of buyers, including SBI Mutual Fund, Kotak Securities, and rival telco (and Indus Towers shareholder) Bharti Airtel. Airtel is now the company’s largest stakeholder, owning 49% of the business. 

Vi has faced significant challenges in the Indian market, struggling to stay afloat amid intense competition from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for many years. Despite securing funding earlier this year, the company continues to steadily lose subscribers to its rivals. 

The company lags behind competitors in 4G deployment and has yet to roll out 5G services at scale, unlike Jio and Airtel, both of whom launched 5G in 2022 and millions of users. Cash-strapped Vi is taking a more cautious approach, primarily focusing on expanding its 4G network to cover 90% of India’s population by mid-2025. 

In October last year, Vi announced the launch of commercial 5G services by March this year, starting with Delhi and Mumbai, and expanding to other major cities across 17 regions.  

This follows recent multi-billion dollar deals with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung to upgrade 75,000 existing 4G sites over the next three years.  

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter  

Also in the news: 

VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m

News 

Nokia has been selected by Openreach to deliver its One Network Platform, an open-access fibre network designed to connect millions of homes and businesses across the UK 

The project will see Nokia deploy a wide range of technology upgrades across Openreach’s network, aiming to boost efficiencies and simplify further fibre rollouts.  

Using Nokia’s Altiplano and NSP controllers, Openreach will be able to automate its fibre services across various technologies, which they say will simplify operations and reduce network complexity by 85%. The system also includes real-time monitoring tools to give Openreach better insights into how the network is performing. 

Openreach’s network provides wholesale broadband to around 300 service providers, ranging from cities down to remote rural areas. Nokia’s technology will make the new platform flexible, efficient, and scalable to meet customer needs. It will also reduce the number of exchange buildings required to cover the UK, making the network more streamlined. 

The new system is built with a modular design, helping Openreach create a large-scale network while cutting power and the space required by over 50% at Ethernet exchange sites. T 

“This is the next step in our plans to build a future-proof, multi-service, one network platform – that supports both full FTTP and future Ethernet products. Introducing Nokia’s Altiplano and NSP network domain controllers and 7250 IXR data centre routers will boost automation, network visibility and control, and product flexibility for our Communication Provider customers and their end-user customers,” said Trevor Linney, Director of Network Technology at Openreach in a press release. 

“Ultimately, this is about making our network easier to manage, more efficient and reliable, for example, through quicker identification of faults via automation, and helping to cut operational costs,” he continued.the project will expand Openreach’s full fibre network from 17 million properties today to 25 million by the end of 2026, meeting the rising demand for faster broadband. 

How is the UK fibre market evolving in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected North live in Manchester 

Also in the news: 

VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m