NEWS

OneWeb, the satellite operator, which was rescued from bankruptcy by the UK Government, who remain a part-owner has successfully launched satellites via new partner SpaceX.

Previously OneWeb used Russia’s Soyuz rockets for launches, but their programme was thrown into jeopardy by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, forcing them to seek new partners.

On Thursday, at 5:27 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched the OneWeb 1 mission with a Falcon9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida (USA) with 40 of OneWeb’s compact Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband satellites aboard

The mission represents the next step in OneWeb’s plan to provide global broadband coverage via a constellation of 648 small LEO satellites. Prior to the launch 462 of the 150kg satellites had been launched, each orbiting at an altitude of 1,200km above the Earth. The aim is to complete the constellation by late 2023.

OneWeb CEO, Neil Masterson said “We are thankful for the support of other leaders in the space industry allowing us to quickly restart our launch campaign and we are delighted to work with SpaceX today for our first-ever launch from Florida, the home where our satellites are manufactured.

As we look to our final ‘Three to Global Reality’ launches in the first half of 2023, we are thrilled to see our connectivity footprint dramatically expand from today, and to soon activate our network globally to reach remote and under-served areas of the world.”

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OneWeb chief commercial officer Stephen Beynon explained that it will take about 100 days for the satellites to reach their intended destinations and begin services, expanding the operator’s constellation into the southern hemisphere while improving the density of coverage to the north. This will enable coverage across “a substantial part” of North America, according to Beynon, where OneWeb has a distribution agreement with AT&T.

As well as SpaceX who also operates rival LEO network, Starlink, OneWeb also agreed a launch partnership with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) – the commercial arm of India’s space agency – who may be utilised for 2023 launches.

Related content:
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OneWeb to launch satellites from India in new deal

NEWS

American Rescue Plan Funds to Increase access to affordable, high-speed internet have been awarded to Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Utah, taking the total number of states benefiting to 22, with 700,000 locations reached and nearly $3 billion awarded by the Capital Projects Fund (CPF)

The latest announcement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury approves broadband projects in the six states to connect around 180,000 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet.

The Capital Projects Fund provides $10 billion to states, territories, freely associated states, and Tribal governments to fund critical capital projects that enable work, education, and health monitoring in response to the public health emergency. Many states supplement this investment with money from the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to further assist in achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s mission of connecting every American household to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.

In each case the awards fund projects to provide an internet service with speeds of 100/100 Mbps symmetrical to households and businesses.

The latest investments include:

$248 million in Florida, funding the Florida’s Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP) for infrastructure to connect 48,400 households and expand last mile broadband access to homes and businesses in rural areas of the state. This represents around 10% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access.

Georgia will get $250 million for broadband infrastructure, funding the Georgia Capital Projects Fund, connecting an estimated 70,000 households and businesses.

The Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Program will benefit from $152.2 million for broadband infrastructure, which the state estimates will connect 16% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access – around 18,972 households and businesses.

In Minnesota, two separate programmes will benefit from $44 million in funding.

• Minnesota’s Line Extension Program for individuals where the cost of the last mile connection is a barrier, despite being close to infrastructure for a high-quality broadband service.
• Low-Density Pilot Program, that provides investment for new and existing providers to build broadband infrastructure in low-density areas of the state that currently lack high-speed internet.

An estimated 37,979 households and businesses will be connected in Missouri, via a $196.7 million investment to fund the Missouri Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program, and about 5% of locations still lacking high-speed internet access in Utah will be connected via a $10 million award for the Broadband Infrastructure Gap Networks Grant Program (Gap Networks Grant Program).

With funding coming thick and fast there has never been a better time to explore how you can play your part in building a better Connected America. Join us on the 28-29 March 2023 at the Irving Convention Center, Dallas. Find out more at www.totaltele.com/connectedamerica

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NEWS

BT Group have struck a deal with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to manage the decommissioning of over 70% of the Digital Units legacy technology estate, with an aim of delivering annualised savings of £65 million by end of FY25.

The deal forms part of BT’s modernisation and simplification programme and will play its part in achieving £3bn in gross annualised savings by the end of FY25.

The programme should speed Digital’s transition to a new technology architecture whilst reducing the risks associated with transition from legacy systems. Around 400 BT Group employees worldwide may join TCS during the transition.

Harmeen Mehta, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, BT Group said of the partnership “It removes complexity and intensifies our strategic focus on delivering the leading-edge tech to meet our customers’ needs and drive growth.”

Whilst Debashis Ghosh, President, Business Transformation Group, TCS highlighted that “This is a truly innovative and ground-breaking deal that presents a replicable model for other large enterprises seeking to pivot into the new, while mitigating operational risks.”

Press Release

Total Access Communication PLC (dtac) has entered into a strategic partnership with Telenor and Google Cloud to help Thai businesses accelerate digital transformation. Together, the organizations have developed and launched dtac B-LAB – a one-stop solutions platform – to help businesses connect, learn, and grow. dtac B-LAB is designed to empower local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to fully digitalize their businesses and achieve profitable growth, by providing access to a knowledge hub and tailored software as a service (SaaS) and mobile connectivity solutions.

How B-LAB began

B-LAB is the brainchild of dtac, Telenor, and Google Cloud, as a part of their shared commitment toward holistically addressing businesses’ dynamic needs in today’s digital-first landscape. What started as a joint internal transformation project quickly evolved into a new vision for better serving and supporting Thai SMEs. The combined expertise of Google Cloud teams across Europe and Asia, Telenor teams in Norway and Poland, and the full dtac business team in Thailand was required to bring this project to life.

Research by dtac revealed that one of the biggest barriers holding back businesses’ digital adoption is the shortage of relevant competencies and skills. The three organizations have therefore built a rich community ecosystem on dtac B-LAB that offers educational content, certification courses, and seminars focusing on digital skills, emerging business trends, and future readiness. To further enable digital transformation powered by best-in-class cloud and connectivity technologies, a wide range of tailored solutions have also been made available on the platform’s digital marketplace.

Mr. Sadat Ibne Zaman, Chief Business Officer, Total Access Communication PLC, said: “dtac Business’ vision is to go beyond mobile connectivity, by working with world-class technology providers to curate the right products and services for businesses to thrive in today’s digital era. A deep understanding of our customers’ pain points has helped us develop solutions that are easily accessible, user friendly, and customer-centric. For instance, what we’re hearing from startups is they need new options to reduce costs, improve team collaboration and data storage security, and insights to help them stay ahead of current and future market trends.

B-LAB can be leveraged by single proprietorships like online retailers, freelancers, content creators, lawyers, accountants, or consultants. It’s great for businesses that work in teams, such as media agencies, health clinics, or car dealerships with several branches. It meets the needs of businesses large or small in any industry, regardless of whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer.”

Ms. April Srivikorn, Country Manager, Thailand, Google Cloud, said: “Efforts that support the growth of small and medium businesses will be an essential driver of Thailand’s future economic development. SME owners have also been seeking three things that are essential for growth: tools to establish or reinforce their online presence, capabilities to deliver personalized engagement to digital-first users, and the right skills to put these tools and capabilities to effective use. This is why we have been collaborating very closely with dtac and Telenor to build and bring to market B-LAB, an all-in-one platform that provides the necessary data-powered capabilities, employee communication and collaboration tools, and digital skills for SMEs in metro and non-metro areas to become tomorrow’s established enterprises – at a scale only made possible by combining market-leading cloud and connectivity technologies.”

B-LAB’s Three Key Pillars:

1. Connect SME owners and enable them to share their experiences and best practices for operating a business more efficiently and successfully.
2. Learn from resources that deliver knowledge and insights into digital skills, business trends, and future readiness.
3. Grow using best-in-class SaaS, cloud, and mobile connectivity solutions, including Google Workspace and the full dtac product suite.

Built on Google Cloud’s industry-leading cloud-native communication and collaboration platform, Google Workspace brings together the applications people know and love – like Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Chat, Meet, and more – into a single, integrated workspace, with built-in enterprise-grade access management, device management, data protection, and data encryption, to establish a secure remote working environment from anywhere, on any device.

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Press Release

Australia’s National Broadband Network Co’s (NBN Co) fixed wireless access (FWA) footprint is set to grow by up to 50 percent nationally by the end of 2024 under an exclusive ten-year partnership extension with Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to deploy 4G and next- generation 5G connectivity.

NBN Co (nbn) is a publicly owned corporation of the Australian Government, tasked to design, build and operate Australia’s digital backbone as a wholesale broadband access network provider.

The deployment is a significant move in addressing the geographical challenge of bringing improved service to communities and businesses across Australia – one of the largest countries in the world with huge variations in population density.

FWA currently covers more than 650,000 premises across Australia. Under the new partnership, Ericsson will supply the next-generation technology critical to 5G-enable many existing towers across the nbn Fixed Wireless network.

The additional capacity and reach of the upgraded network will provide up to 120,000 homes and businesses in nbn’s satellite footprint access to fixed wireless for the first time.

Jason Ashton, NBN Executive General Manager for Fixed Wireless and Satellite, says: “Our network is the digital backbone of Australia, and it is constantly evolving as we help keep communities, businesses and all areas of society connected, and our nation productive. Investing in 5G mmWave is a part of our commitment to evolve the nbn Fixed Wireless network for future needs and continually enhance customer experience. We’re committed to maximizing the performance of both our fixed wireless and satellite networks, and our work with Ericsson will help us push the boundaries of its capabilities to the benefit of the more than one million homes and businesses covered by these networks across Australia.”

Emilio Romeo, Head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, says: “NBN Co’s Fixed Wireless and Satellite Upgrade Program is an important part of Australia’s digital evolution. After working with nbn for more than a decade, I’m pleased that Ericsson’s technology continues to play a pivotal role in supporting the program to deliver better broadband services to people in regional Australia. With the extended range innovation showcased in Ericsson’s industry-leading radio access and microwave transport solutions, more Australians will have access to faster fixed wireless broadband in more places around the country.”

THE TECH

The partnership sees Ericsson become the sole supplier of 4G and 5G radio access and microwave transport solutions. Deployed solutions will include Ericsson’s 4G and 5G antenna-integrated radios across nbn’s current and future spectrum bands, and the latest Massive MIMO solutions providing best-in-class performance and energy efficiency in a lightweight small footprint form factor.

Also being deployed are Ericsson’s latest high-powered 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) solutions, the latest RAN Processor for 4G and 5G, and MINI-LINK microwave transport solutions such as dual carrier solutions in traditional frequency bands, all outdoor E-band, and long-haul.

Ericsson’s extended-range innovation will enable NBN Co to expand its Fixed Wireless network cell range from 14 km to 29 km.

By utilizing the latest 4G and 5G solutions, including 5G in nbn’s mmWave spectrum band, the upgrade program aims to support higher speeds in the fixed wireless network and deliver improved customer experiences. Importantly, the new infrastructure will also support a future upgrade from 4G to 5G for nbn’s existing spectrum bands.

News

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that they deny a permit for the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) to connect to Cuba

This week, the US DoJ’s special purpose committee known as ‘Team Telecom’ has urged the FCC to reject an application that would see a submarine cable route link the USA directly with Cuba for the first time.

The ARCOS-1 spans roughly 8,400km in a ring across the Caribbean Sea, connecting 15 countries in the region, but notably not Cuba.

The system has been in service since 2001 and it is only in the last few years that an extension linking to Cuba has been considered.

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the US government banned its citizens from doing business with Cuba. Since then, these restrictions have been gradually reduced, with the FCC removing the last barrier to a US–Cuba cable in 2016.

As a result, the ARCOS-1 consortium proposed adding a Cuban branch to the system in 2018, officially filing for specific permission from the FCC last year.

While this link to ARCOS-1 would be the first commercial subsea link between the two countries, it is worth noting that there is already a non-commercial subsea cable system that connects the USA to Cuba: the GTMO-1 cable, linking Florida to the infamous US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The GTMO-PR system also links the base directly to Puerto Rico.

However, these two cables are fully owned and operated by the US, which circumvents Team Telecom’s main misgivings about the new ARCOS-1 link.

The issue stems from the fact that Cuba’s state-run operator Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (Etecsa) would manage the cable’s Cuban landing station, therefore potentially giving the Cuban government access to sensitive US data.

“As long as the Government of Cuba continues to be a counterintelligence threat to the United States and is allied with others who are the same, the risks to our infrastructure are simply too great,” said Deputy Homeland Security Attorney Matthew G. Olsen in a statement.

The FCC’s decision on the matter is expected next year.

Want to learn of the latest news from the submarine cable industry? Join the key players in discussion around the hottest topics at the upcoming Submarine Networks EMEA event

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Interview

In this interview, CTO of Giganet, Matthew Skipsey discusses the UK’s rapidly accelerating fibre rollout, as well as the company’s strategic shift to become a consumer ISP

In recent years, the UK fibre industry has been hard at work, transforming the country from one of Europe’s worst fibre performers to one in a far more competitive position. This has been facilitated, in no small part, by the enormous amount of funding pouring into the industry.

“I believe [the UK fibre industry] now has funding committed to cover 84 million premises, which is obviously far in excess of the number of properties we have in the UK. But this will give consumers real choice when it comes to their provider,” explained Skipsey.

In fact, Giganet themselves have pivoted to take advantage of this vibrant funding landscape, transitioning to deploy their own network and sell services directly to consumers. Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength, last year receiving £250 million in funding from Fern Trading to further their rollout.

Giganet is now in the process of expanding its full fibre network to quarter of a million homes in the south of the UK.

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But despite the positive investment landscape, the global economic climate is beginning to ask questions of the UK telecoms industry.

“We’re experiencing a complete storm of factors here, with interest rates being hiked, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, political challenges – there are a lot of headwinds here,” said Skipsey. “But the reassuring thing for consumers is that, as Ofcom have been tracking, if you look at broadband and fixed connectivity, it has mostly stayed flat or even decreased in terms of the pricing.”

This kind of pricing stability has not been seen with other utilities, with commodities like water, electricity, and housing seeing huge jumps in price, particularly over the last year.

But this is not to suggest that the telecoms industry is immune to these macroeconomic pressures, with the telecoms supply chain being hugely impacted by the economic climate.

“We’re doing as much as we can to insulate our customers from those factors,” said Skipsey.

To watch the full interview, please use the link above

How is the rapid rollout of full fibre infrastructure impacting the North of the UK? Join the telecoms industry in discussion in Manchester next year for the second edition of our Connected North conference

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News

The Federal Supreme Court has rejected Swisscom’s appeal, leaving the operators fibre expansion

At the end of 2020, the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) announced the launch of an investigation into Swisscom’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) expansion using point-to-multipoint (P2MP), suggesting that this topology was a risk to market competition.

P2MP topology involves building on the existing network, with a single fibre line running from the exchange to the local cable duct before branching off to serve multiple customers.

This is opposed to point-to-point (P2P) topology, where each customer is connected to the exchange directly with their own fibre line.

Swisscom argues that this P2MP topology is very efficient and less complex, allowing them to rollout networks more economically, even in remote regions. They note that P2MP topology has “gained international acceptance in recent years” and is “only criticised in Switzerland, which we cannot understand”.

COMCO, on the other hand, holds that Swisscom’s rollout strategy centring on P2MP will make it difficult for smaller providers without their own network to compete effectively.

As a result, COMCO prohibited Swisscom from marketing its P2MP connections until the investigation is complete. This has effectively frozen the roughly 500,000 P2MP access lines the operator currently has installed – a figure that has been increasing by roughly 70,000 each quarter.

Swisscom challenged this decision in court, having their first appeal rejected by the Federal Administrative Court last year.

Since then, the company has escalated its complaints to Switzerland’s highest court, but this week they too have rejected the appeal.

“The Federal Supreme Court rejects Swisscom’s appeal in connection with the precautionary measure imposed by the Competition Commission (WEKO) for the expansion of the fibre-optic network. The decision of the Federal Administrative Court, in which it confirmed the provisional WEKO ban, is not arbitrary,” said the court in a statement.

In a statement, Swisscom says they accept the ruling, noting that they had already begun reassessing their fibre network expansion strategy to reduce their reliance on P2MP topology.

Following this strategi shift, Swisscom has subsequently lowered its targets for FTTH coverage to 50–55% of homes by 2025 and 70–80% by 2030.

Rollout capex will remain unchanged.

The final ruling by COMCO on the legality of Swisscom’s use of P2MP topology is expected to be announced early next year.

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Contributed Article

At the 25th AfricaCom (AfricaCom 2022) themed “Driving Inclusive, Sustainable Growth Through Tech Investment”, Openserve and Huawei jointly unveiled the new home networking solution — fiber to the room (FTTR). In addition, Openserve outlined its plan to put FTTR products into commercial use in the near future, aiming to provide optimal fiber broadband experience for users across South Africa.

As a subsidiary of Telkom SA, Openserve is the largest fixed network operator in South Africa, and is committed to providing premium broadband networks for home and enterprise users. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, home office, online learning, and entertainment activities have surged, placing greater demands on bandwidth and online experience. Openserve believes that the FTTR solution can give them a competitive edge in the broadband market and significantly improve end users’ home network experience.

During the AfricaCom exhibition, Motlalepula Ramaisa, Executive of Commercial Products & Innovation of Openserve, spoke with Matthew Reed, Chief Analyst of Omdia, and described the commercial FTTR pilot projects carried out by Openserve and Huawei in South Africa. He noted how well the FTTR network was received by pilot users. According to one user: “Even in a large house, I can enjoy an optimal Internet access experience with high-speed Wi-Fi coverage at every corner.”

FTTR consists of one master FTTR unit and several slave FTTR units connected by optical fibers, realizing indoor all-optical networking. The Master and Slave communicate with each other through optical fibers, which avoiding Wi-Fi signal interference and attenuation in distant rooms. In this way, full Wi-Fi signal coverage and seamless roaming can be achieved throughout the house, providing consistent Wi-Fi access and premium service experience anywhere in the home. Compare with Wi-Fi Mesh (Wi-Fi cascading to expand network coverage) solution, which Internet access rate may be impacted due to attenuation and interference when signals penetrate walls, but it is still an alternative way of Wi-Fi connection.

Moreover, the FTTR solution lets users manage the network themselves. Users can use a mobile app to easily manage their home networks anytime and anywhere, including checking the network status, device connection status, and Wi-Fi signal coverage, as well as performing a speed test, parental control, and one-click optimization or rectification of common network faults.

The FTTR solution was well received in the pilot projects. Owing to the high-speed Wi-Fi coverage, seamless roaming handover, and intelligent and visualized home network management, it provides users with an ultimate Wi-Fi experience. Building on the success of the cooperation with Huawei, Openserve plans to launch commercial FTTR products in 2023 to provide an optimal home broadband service experience across South Africa.