News

Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Press Secretary, Paloma Perez, highlighted the progress of a trio of key initiatives: the Affordable Connectivity Programme (ACP), the Broadband Maps, and closing the Homework Gap

Speaking at the first ever edition of Total Telecom’s Connected America conference in Dallas, Texas, FCC Press Secretary Paloma Perez took to the stage for the morning keynote address, shedding light on some of the Commission’s key initiatives for bringing connectivity to every US citizen.

The Affordable Connectivity Programme

In November 2021, the US government signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act) into law, setting aside $65 billion to provide affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet across the country.

For Perez, the IIJA was “a major plot twist” in US broadband history, providing a once in a lifetime opportunity to help ensure that connectivity can reach ‘everyone, everywhere’ in the US.

As part of the IIJA, the government ordered the FCC to create the ACP, helping to subsidise broadband costs for those citizens that need it most. The programme devised by the FCC allows eligible low-income households to receive discounts of up to $30 a month for broadband services, which can increase to $75 if the household is on Tribal lands. In addition, eligible homes may also be able to receive up to $100 dollars to go towards purchasing a computer or tablet.

The ACP has been running since New Year’s Day 2022, with 17 million households having already enrolled nationwide.

“In Texas alone, it’s almost 1.3 million households,” explained Perez. “That’s 1.3 million Texas homes with connections they need for work, school or anything else. That’s 1.3 million Texas homes finding it a little easier to make ends meet each month.”

Perez noted that there are millions more households that are eligible for ACP support and have yet to sign up.

“Earlier this month, we made announcements for the first round of grants, with just about every state and territory receiving funds to support these outreach efforts. And we anticipate having a second, more targeted outreach grant funding opportunity available later this year,” she added.

The FCC’s Broadband Maps

In November 2022, the FCC released new broadband maps, providing a snapshot of infrastructure deployment across the US. Since then, these broadband maps have been open to challenge by stakeholders, allowing the FCC to create a more accurate as more deployment data is assimilated.

“To date, stakeholders – primarily state governments – have stepped up to provide more than 6—bulk challenges covering provider reported availability at several million locations,” explained Perez. “In the past four months, our mapping team has processed challenges to availability data for over four million locations. In other words, we are addressing availability challenges to tens of thousands of locations every single day.”

The broadband maps are currently updated every fortnight to incorporate resolved challenges.

In addition to incorporating these latest updates into their broadband map, the FCC is also in the process of updating their version of the Fabric, the Commission’s term for their locations dataset.

Initially developed on more than 200 public and commercial data sources, the first version of the Fabric identified over 113 million locations where fixed broadband could be installed. Now, the second version of the Fabric is almost complete, bringing with it a net increase of 1.04 million serviceable locations.

This net gain is comprised of 2.96 million additional serviceable locations, with major increases recorded in Alaska, US territories, and on Tribal lands, as well as the removal of 1.92 million locations, like garages and sheds, that had been included erroneously.

According to Perez, the FCC is now on track to release the new and improved maps later this Spring.

“And we’ll do it again and again, every six months, constantly strengthening this foundation for smarter broadband policymaking for years to come,” said Perez.

Ending the Homework Gap

Finally, Perez touched on the progress being made in the US to shrink the Homework Gap, a term related to those children who do not have access to broadband connectivity at home, which has become closely associated with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in recent years.

The Emergency Connectivity Fund, launched in June 2021, set aside $7.17 billion to help provide schools and libraries with the connectivity tools and services their communities require to facilitate an remote learning and an improved education. Since then, the programme has connected over 12.5 million students with broadband connections and equipment, having provided over 10 million devices and 5 million broadband connections.

“It’s not just a piece of equipment and a Wi-Fi connection,” said Perez. “It’s a piece of hope. It’s knowing your family now has a much fairer shot at achieving their goals and building a better future for themselves.”

Connected America is taking place right now! Keep up to date with all the latest news from the event using the hashtag #ConnectedAmerica

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Press Release

BT Group’s Digital Unit and Amazon Web Services (AWS) today announce a new, wide-ranging strategic collaboration agreement, building on the existing partnership between the companies that already sees AWS play a key role in supporting the Group’s modernisation.

The new partnership covers a few core areas:

·       An agreement to collaborate on new Internet of Things (IoT) industry solutions that help UK and global customers take advantage of the efficiency and innovation benefits next generation connectivity offers

·       BT becomes a Channel Partner for AWS Marketplace, providing a single source for managed solutions to its customers

·       New 5G edge computing services for BT’s UK business customers powered by AWS Wavelength

Collectively, the collaboration agreement targets a $500m revenue opportunity for BT across the spectrum of connectivity and digital solutions and services, in the UK and worldwide, over the next five years.

Connected industry

BT Group’s IoT platform is already built on AWS, delivering connected device capabilities across healthcare, smart places, ports, manufacturing and transport and logistics, including work at Belfast Harbour and the Association of British Ports in Ipswich.  As part of this agreement, the two companies will work together to advance BT’s  existing IoT services and create new ones that combine AWS services with BT’s leading network and service delivery expertise to solve problems for customers across a variety of vertical industries. The new solutions and services that will be explored through the partnership are focussed on delivering value and opportunity for BT’s customers in the UK and globally as they tackle a wide range of challenges.

Reseller partnership

BT becoming an AWS Marketplace Channel Partner allows the company to offer additional enhanced managed security and third party Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to its customers globally. BT has already started offering customers the opportunity to buy software elements of managed service agreements through the AWS Marketplace. This allows BT customers to benefit from improved simplicity when purchasing via AWS Marketplace, allowing them to retire their annual spend commitments and make use of available AWS programme incentives, while retaining the value of working with BT as a managed service partner to deliver the solution end-to-end.

“AWS and BT Group have shared ambitions at the intersection of cloud and connectivity, and we’re delighted that we have this partnership to frame how we will work together to accelerate these outcomes, for our customers and for the Group,” explains Thomas Duecke, Chief Operating Officer, Digital, at BT Group.

“Moving from a connectivity provider to a digital services provider is a strategic shift to help communication service providers unlock growth,” said Adolfo Hernandez, Vice President and General Manager, Telecom Global Industry Business Unit, AWS. “This new agreement with AWS helps BT accelerate that journey and deliver greater value to its customers.”

For more information on AWS & BT’s partnership for 5G edge computing services, see here. More information on the companies’ collaboration on cloud networking will be released later in the year.

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NEWS

Accessibility is taking a step forward for Jurassic Fibre users as they announce that deaf customers who use British Sign Language (BSL) are now able to use a video link interpreter when they contact the customer service centre.

The UK home broadband provider is one of the fastest growing companies in the South West appears to be poised for further growth with a fresh injection of £250m in capital investment from Fern Trading, advised by Octopus Investments.

The provision of BSL interpreter services for deaf customers is more common in large organisations, so this is a positive step for Jurassic Fibre to make their customer service more accessible and inclusive.

Sarah Howells, Chief Customer Officer from Jurassic Fibre, said: “People are at the heart of everything we do at Jurassic Fibre. Our business is to connect communities, and we need to make sure we include customers who need or want to communicate with us using any method they choose. So, we’re really excited to be able to offer this service for Deaf people who communicate using BSL.

“Our Deaf customers have already told us that they value the fast, reliable broadband that we install in their homes to connect them to the many online communications platforms they benefit from in day-to-day life. But for those that use BSL, contacting our customer service centre needs to be just as smooth. Major organisations including the NHS offer this service, but it’s fairly unusual with a company our size. We want to go above and beyond to connect all our customers not only to the outside world but to our customer support.”

The plan is being made possible with the help of Sign Solutions, who specialise in solutions to aid communication between deaf and hearing people.

Sophie Kang, Customer Development Manager with Sign Solutions, said: “Sign Solutions are delighted to be providing Jurassic Fibre with our on-demand service InterpretersLive!. InterpretersLive! enables Deaf customers to contact Jurassic Fibre in British Sign Language through a secure link on their website. The link connects Deaf callers to one of Sign Solutions National Register of Communications Professionals working with Deaf/Deaf-Blind People (NRCPD)-registered interpreters, who then makes an onward audio call to the team at Jurassic Fibre. Providing this service to customers will ensure equal access to services and further breaks down the barriers in communication that the Deaf community so often face.”

This will hopefully be good news for customers of the Exeter based ISP, who have been who have been developing a custom-build full fibre broadband network to rural communities in Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Dorset.

News

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio continue to exchange the 5G rollout lead, leaving Vodafone Idea (Vi) and state-run BSNL trailing far behind

This week, Indian mobile network operator Bharti Airtel has announced that its 5G network has reached its next milestone, now being accessible in 500 cities.

“We have already covered 500 cities and are adding 30 to 40 cities every single day. By September of 2023, we expect to expand our 5G footprint to all of urban India,” said Randeep Sekhon, Bharti Airtel’s CTO.

This news puts the operator’s rollout one step ahead of its largest rival, Reliance Jio, which reported its own 5G network as covering ‘over 400 cities’ according to a company statement earlier this week.

After much delays, India finally concluded its 5G spectrum auction in August last year, with Jio and Airtel both launching their commercial 5G networks at the start of October. Since then, the two operators have been racing to complete their rollout across the country’s major cities, with Airtel now having stolen back the lead after Jio’s early lead.

Jio is aiming to have its nationwide 5G rollout completed by the end of the year, while Airtel says its rollout will be finished in March 2024.

India’s other major operators, Vi and BSNL, however, continue to struggle. Vi’s financial chaos has meant that, despite acquiring 5G spectrum in the national auction, the company has yet to begin its rollout.

The operator has yet to announce a formal timeline for its rollout, though the company was reported to have entered into 5G equipment discussions with Nokia earlier this month.

State-run BSNL, meanwhile, is still rolling out 4G, and having set its sights on launching 5G in 2024.

Nonetheless, despite this very lopsided 5G race, the Indian government remains very positive about the country’s 5G future – so much so that PM Narendra Modi said earlier this week that the country is already taking an early lead in the development of 6G.

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Press Release

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) today announced that eir evo, the largest managed cloud services provider in Ireland, has selected the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform to enhance the cloud services offering for its private cloud platform, Digital Planet. HPE GreenLake will enable Digital Planet to meet increasing demand, accelerate deployment of new services and improve overall customer experience for its private cloud offering.

Eir evo has operations and data centers located in Dublin as well as the UK and US and is one of two HPE Platinum Partners in Ireland. The managed services provider offers an extensive portfolio of services to help customers embrace new technologies across cloud, cybersecurity, networking, infrastructure, connectivity, and more. This portfolio leverages the full range of HPE GreenLake cloud services, making eir evo a leading HPE service provider partner.

“As a HPE Platinum Partner we have a deep understanding of deploying a technology and business platform, therefore it was clear that HPE GreenLake would be the optimal fit to futureproof our Digital Planet solution,” said Martin Wells, managing director, eir evo. “In recent years sustainability has come into sharp focus for us and our customers. A key advantage is the modern cloud experience of HPE GreenLake that delivers service flexibility and choice, and the pay-per-use as-a-service model. These features help us manage costs and carbon footprint as they prevent overprovisioning and provide insights into energy consumption, which, in times of soaring energy costs and the global climate crisis, is critical.”

As a leader in the provision of cloud services, eir evo constantly strives to provide the highest levels of service quality while continuing to innovate. Its Digital Planet platform offers secure and compliant enterprise-class cloud hosting and IT managed services, and as more and more customers join the platform eir evo must modernize the infrastructure and software it is built upon. The system upgrade to HPE GreenLake facilitates the anticipated increase in workloads and data as well as performance growth, while allowing the team to implement changes more quickly to satisfy customer needs.

Providing a wide range of security solutions and complying with strict data privacy regulations, that are important in the European Union like GDPR, requires eir evo to prioritize developing its services on systems with the highest standards of security. HPE GreenLake is a zero-trust enabled architecture that delivers embedded security technologies and verifies the integrity of data infrastructures, more easily ensuring security and compliance. To guarantee minimum data loss and downtime for the platform, eir evo combines these capabilities with HPE Zerto, a solution for journal-based continuous data protection and recovery, delivering high-end security orchestration for all its cloud services.

“It is terrific to see one of our leading HPE partners include HPE GreenLake and deploy it in their own private cloud environment at the same time,” said Ray McGann, Ireland managing director, HPE. “With this modernization eir evo will have a highly flexible cloud platform that enables them to scale as they grow. This, together with a fixed pricing model, will allow the Digital Planet team to match their costs to revenue, providing improved predictability, visibility, and control, while investing more in the continued development of new solutions and services for their customers.”

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Startup Stories

Tell us about your start up

Mapsd is an innovative Fibre Design and Planning firm that provides cutting-edge solutions for FTTx, enterprise, rural community, and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) planning to suit the ever-increasing demands of Internet service providers. We offer technical consulting services to help with ITTs, procedures, and standards related to the construction and deployment of fibre optic networks.

What is your USP?

We have a firm grasp of the telecoms business due to our team’s years of experience in every facet of fibre, from construction to design. The development of solid working connections with our partners and the capacity to efficiently absorb architecture needs are key to our efforts, as are the delivery of timely, distinctive, and dependable results to our partners.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?

Because of the strong relationships we’ve established within the telecoms industry, our staff is able to provide expert advice on which products will best meet the requirements of each individual client. From our inception, we’ve collaborated with some forward-thinking alternative networks to bring first-rate services to people all around Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Why did you establish the business?

Mapsd was established to compete with industry heavyweights, which were having trouble meeting customer demand due to long delivery timeframes, and to spur creative solutions that would yield high-quality, easily digestible final products. Our research shows that many alternative networks, particularly the smaller ones, are not given sufficient design priority by industry frontrunners when they attempt to make the leap from the fixed wireless access to full fibre ISP model.

What does the future hold for your business?

Mapsd has a bright future ahead of it as plans are underway to leverage decades of experience in building fibre networks by assembling a specialised team of surveyors, cablers, fibre jointers, and civils engineers. This will allow us to expand into a full-turnkey partner and provide our full capabilities to clients all over Scotland and the United Kingdom. To further assure our clients receive reduced prices and faster outputs, we plan to invest heavily in the automation of our planning and design processes. By forming strategic alliances with multiple ISPs and ensuring that our values and commitments are congruent with theirs, Mapsd plans to play a significant role in the next year in the rollout of fibre to those who need it most and in reducing the digital divide in rural communities in the United Kingdom.

Comany CV

Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Number of employees: 4

Last funding type: Self-funded

Website URL: https://www.mapsd.co.uk/

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mapsd-ltd/

Founders: Callum McNair, Carl Puno, George Smith, and Ryan Dickson

You can join the Mapsd team at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester on 17-18 April

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News

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the $61 billion deal could see server prices increase, potentially warranting a more thorough investigation

The CMA is considering launch an in-depth investigation into US semiconductor specialist Broadcom’s acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware, suggesting that such a move could directly harm server competition.

Broadcom announced their takeover intentions in May last year, suggesting that the move would help them diversify the business, as well as generating approximately $8.5 billion of pro forma EBITDA within three years.

Antitrust regulators, however, were immediately suspicious that the deal would result in a loss of market competition, particularly driving up server prices for customers.

Now, the CMA have formally aired this concerns, telling Broadcom that it fears the deal will directly result in higher prices for UK businesses.

“Servers are a vital building block, functioning largely thanks to hardware products made by firms like Broadcom, working in unison with virtualisation software from firms like VMware,” said CMA Executive Director David Stewart. “We are concerned this deal could allow Broadcom to cut out competitors from the supply of hardware components to the server market and lead to less innovation at a time when most firms want fast, responsive, and affordable IT systems.”

The CMA said it was also concerned that Broadcom could obtain commercially sensitive information from rival companies that have a pre-existing relationship with VMware.

The regulator has given Broadcom until Monday 27 March to assuage its concerns, or else it will launch an in-depth investigation.

Broadcom says it is cooperating with the CMA to address these concerns, arguing that the deal will offer customers “increased quality, innovation, and choice”.

This is not the first time Broadcom may become stuck in a regulatory quagmire over a potential acquisition. Back in 2017, the company was attempting to purchase rival chip player Qualcomm in a deal that would have been worth $117 billion, before it was blocked by an executive order from President Donald Trump in 2018.

What impact would this deal have on the wider US telecoms industry? Join the experts in discussion at next week’s Connected America conference live in Dallas, Texas

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News

The Italian operator has reportedly reached an agreement with unions that 2,000 staff will take voluntary early retirement as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures

At the start of last year, Italian incumbent operator TIM announced that the company would seek to save €1 billion by 2024 through various cost-saving measures, including cutting jobs.

At the time, reports suggested that the operator was looking to reduce its domestic workforce of roughly 42,500 staff by up to 20% by 2030.

By the summer, the first outlines of the job cutting process were becoming clear, with the operator reaching an agreement with unions to cut 1,200 jobs by the end of 2022 via a voluntary retirement scheme.

However, this was quickly revealed to be just the first round of cuts, with TIM soon back at the negotiating table with unions to cut a further 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024.

This week, nearly half a year on, an agreement has finally been reached, with unions agreeing to a new voluntary early retirement scheme encompassing 2,000 Italian employees.

In total, this will mean TIM will have cut around 3,200 of its domestic staff through early retirement by the end of the year.

In related news, TIM recently launched a bidding process for the sale of NetCo, its network unit that comprises its access network as well as its wholesale submarine cable unit Sparkle.

TIM received an offer for NetCo from US investment firm KKR back in February, which was followed up by a counter offer earlier this month from state bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Australia’s Macquarie Group.

KKR now has the option to increase its bid.

Want to keep up with all the latest international telecoms news? Sign up now to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox

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News

The magenta giant has pledged to ‘supercharge’ the Mint Mobile brand while retaining the marketing bite of celebrity owner Ryan Reynolds

T-Mobile is set to purchase Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of prepaid mobile virtual network operator Mint Mobile.

The Uncarrier will pay up to $1.35 billion for the company, with final amount varying based on Ka’ena’s performance during certain periods both before and after the deal closes. The sum will be paid in a combination of cash and shares.

The deal also includes the Ultra Mobile, a brand focussed on enabling cost-effective international  calls, and the wireless wholesaler Plum.

“Mint has built an incredibly successful digital direct-to-consumer business that continues to deliver for customers on the Un-carrier’s leading 5G network and now we are excited to use our scale and owners’ economics to help supercharge it – and Ultra Mobile – into the future,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “Over the long-term, we’ll also benefit from applying the marketing formula Mint has become famous for across more parts of T-Mobile. We think customers are really going to win with a more competitive and expansive Mint and Ultra.”

Following the acquisition, T-Mobile says that Mint will continue to operate largely as an independent business, headed up by Mint co-founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim. T-Mobile also says it will retain the company’s $15 per month price point.

Mint Mobile was formally put up for sale back in 2021, at which time it was rumoured to be worth between $600 million and $800 million. Numerous companies were hinted at as potential suitors, perhaps most notably Altice USA.

However, reports that T-Mobile was interested in acquiring the company, only surfaced at the start of the year.

Mint has seen a meteoric rise to prominence in recent years, helped in no small part by the advertising prowess of movie star owner Ryan Reynolds, who took a 20–25% stake in Mint back in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.

Since then, he has starred in numerous adverts for the company, something that will presumably continue under the company’s new ownership.

“We are so happy T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds as we believe the excellence of their 5G network will provide a better strategic fit than my mom’s slightly-above-average mahjong skills,” said Reynolds in a statement.

The deal is expected to close later this year following the typical regulatory oversight.

How is the US connectivity landscape changing in 2023? Join the debate next week at the Connected America conference live in Dallas!

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