News

Reports suggest the ISP will take almost half a million customers under its wing, following Octopus Energy’s acquisition of them from Shell Energy UK

Today, a report from Sky News suggests that TalkTalk is set to purchase Shell Energy’s remaining telecoms customers from Octopus Energy Group.

The deal will see roughly 480,000 broadband customers change hands, though it should be noted that all of these customers are already served by TalkTalk via the latter’s wholesale platform.

The specifics of the deal are expected to be announced in the next few days.

This news follows closely on the heels of Octopus Energy’s acquisition of Shell Energy UK, which was announced back in September and completed less than two weeks ago.

For Shell’s energy customers, this sale would mean very little disruption at all. For the company’s broadband customers, however, the future was much more uncertain, since Octopus Energy is not an ISP.

As such, it makes total sense that Octopus Energy has quickly offloaded these customers to a willing buyer, with TalkTalk being a natural fit.

This is not the first time that TalkTalk has benefitted from a deal of this sort, having struck a similar agreement with Ovo Energy last year. Ovo had purchased SSE’s energy and broadband customers back in 2020.

Want to keep up with all the action in the UK telecoms market? Join the operators in discussion at next year’s Connected North conference

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News 

A Virgin Media online advertisement has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading customers regarding its Wi-Fi speeds 

The advert launched in September last year on Virgin Media’s website, in which the company claimed that they could provide the “UK’s Fastest Wi-Fi Guarantee” in “every room or money back”. 

The advert claimed that Virgin Media customers could get the “fastest Wi-Fi guarantee of any major provider”– a statement investigated by the ASA after a complaint was made by Virgin’s competitor Vodafone.  

The watchdog noted that the majority of customers would take the advertisement to mean that Virgin Media Wi-Fi was faster than competitors, which is not the case.  

It appears, then, that the advertisement was mostly a PR stunt;  if the advertised speeds were not available for customers, they would receive a one-off payment of £100. Although these details were provided to the customer, the ASA ruled that they were not sufficient enough to override the general customer assumption of the advertisement. There is a difference, albeit subtle, between guaranteeing the highest speed and offering a guarantee which promised action by the advertiser if a minimum speed is not met. 

Virgin Media have described the results as “baffling”, maintaining that they do provide a faster minimum speed than competitors. 

“The difference between guaranteeing the highest speed and offering a guarantee which promised action by the advertiser if a minimum speed was not met was a subtle one,” said the ASA in its decision. 

As a result of the decision, Virgin Media is not allowed to run the ad and has been told to ensure that future ads do not imply that they can guarantee the fastest Wi-Fi service of all major broadband providers if this is not the case. 

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News 

Romania based Digi Communications has confirmed on Tuesday that the company has concluded a spectrum transfer agreement with Spain’s Orange and Másmóvil, to acquire their spectrum assets 

In a press release, Digi, who also have operations in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium, confirmed that the acquisition relates to the following frequency blocks: 2 x 10 MHz in the 1,800 MHz band, 2 x 10 MHz in the 2,100 MHz band and 20 MHz in the 3,500 MHz band. 

It is noted in the company statement that the “transfer of the Spectrum Licenses and the grant of the Option are subject, among others, to the completion of the transaction between Orange and MasMovil, which requires the approval of the European Commission.” 

In March last year, Orange and Másmóvil decided to merger their businesses by singing a binding agreement, in a deal worth nearly €19 billion. If it passes regulatory approval, the deal will create a market leader in the mobile and fixed broadband areas, with 20.2 million and 7.2 million customers respectively. If the deal gets the green light, both companies would co-control the two entities in a 50-50 joint venture. 

The scale of the deal has drawn the attention of the European Commission, who launched an investigation into the effects on market competition in April. This has been paused by EU antitrust regulators this summer as regulators requested more information, which has sparked interest from companies such as Digi to be the beneficiary of any asset sales. 

Spain has a notably difficult telecoms market, due to laws forced upon operators that drive high levels of competition, which, in turn, had led to years of brutal price wars. 

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News 

According to a Reuters exclusive, Huawei is seeking to sell a stake in its four-year-old smart vehicle software and components to automobile manufacturers Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen’s Audi, partly to make it more resilient to US sanctions  

The news comes as the Chinese tech giant looks to expand its brand partnerships outside of China, after being the target of US sanctions over the last four years. 

The company’s Intelligent Automotive Solution (IAS) business unit is aiming to become the largest supplier of software and components for smart electric vehicles (EVs) and is worth $250 billion Yuan ($34.67 billion), according to the company. 

According to the article, Mercedes Benz were offered a 3–5% stake in the business, but preferred to retain control of its software instead of outsourcing it. 

Confidential sources also confirmed that although Audi’s interest could not be determined immediately, the two firms are planning a partnership to co-develop Audi’s autonomous driving technologies, which would be used in the Chinese market from 2025. 

In 2019, Huawei faced significant sanctions from US following an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump. Since then, many European countries such as Germany, UK, France, and Italy, have also imposed sanctions of various degrees on the company, forcing the Chinese firm to diversify into new markets, from automotive software to AI-powered pig farming solutions. 

As such, according to at least one of Reuters sources, it is hoped that attracting investment from the German automotive players will protect the firm from being embroiled in further geopolitical tension. 

A large proportion of Huawei’s revenue comes from patents, which last year stood at $560 million through almost 200 bilateral patent licenses. Both Mercedes-Benz and Audi are currently entered into patent agreements with the company. 

Both Mercedes and Audi declined to comment. 

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In the last few days billions of dollars of data centre development have been announced adding to an already bumper year which was recently estimated by Synergy Research Group as being up around 13% estimate from the previous year.

The most recent announcement is from Microsoft, pledging its largest ever investment in the UK, £2.5 billion to expand AI data centre infrastructure.

The money, which was welcomed by the UK government, will be invested over the next three years to expand its next generation AI data centre infrastructure in London and Cardiff and will occur alongside a huge commitment from Microsoft to train one million people with the skills they need to work with AI or move into a career in AI.

Microsoft vice chair and President Brad Smith said, “Microsoft is committed as a company to ensuring that the UK as a country has world-leading AI infrastructure, easy access to the skills people need, and broad protections for safety and security,”

Also, this week, the UK has seen Kao Data announce its first data centre in the north of England with a proposal to invest £350million on a data centre on a vacant industrial site in Stockport, Cheshire, whilst outside of the UK, Frankfurt, Paris, and Northern Virginia will benefit from a Digital Realty – Blackstone joint venture.

The $7 billion project will see the construction of 10 data centres with load capacity coming online through 2025 and 2026.

Finally, in China, the proposed Hainan Undersea Data Center is touting the environmental credentials of using seawater acts as a natural coolant and saving an estimated 122 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every year.

The approach is innovative, but not without precedent – Microsoft tried something similar back in 2016.

Data centres are one of the 9 key themes tackled by Submarine Networks EMEA which takes place in London on 29th – 30th May 2024. Find out more at totaltele.com/subnets

Press Release

BT Group has unveiled a pioneering new technology, designed to be a more reliable, quality-focused and sustainable way of delivering live content over the internet. Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery (MAUD) technology is aimed at improving viewer experiences and increasing the efficiency of the complex journey that content takes to reach them. Major broadcasters, including the BBC, will be involved in evaluating and potentially trialling the technology to support a range of live content.

Unlike traditional ‘unicast’ delivery, where each viewer watches the action via a dedicated, personal internet stream, MAUD technology uses ‘multicast’ to group those single streams into one shared one, directing it to those that want to watch the action. MAUD has a further significant advantage over ‘ordinary’ multicast streams, as its integration is made completely transparent to the player application. This means content service providers don’t need to modify their customer apps to take advantage of this technology – saving time and money.

Removing the need to select and serve millions of individual streams to viewers substantially increases the efficiency of content delivery, but also reduces environmental impact and overall costs for broadcasters, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and internet providers. MAUD technology uses up to 50% less bandwidth during peak events, reducing energy usage through the use of fewer caches. By freeing up internet capacity, it will help to deliver a higher quality of experience for both live and non-live content.

Howard Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group said: “MAUD is a major breakthrough in how we deliver content over the internet. Developed in our world leading labs at Adastral Park in Suffolk, MAUD could be a key solution to how we manage ever increasing traffic loads. By combining individual streams, MAUD delivers a more reliable, consistent picture, no matter whether customers are watching over Wi-Fi, fibre or mobile networks.”

Paolo Pescatore, Founder at PP Foresight, said: “Whether it’s the Euros or Eurovision, gaming over Twitch or gigs from Glastonbury, data shows that audiences still value the live experience even in the on-demand era. With live sports and events driving peak network demand to new heights, it’s great to see innovation ensuring that high-quality, premium live content can reach the widest possible audiences across multiple types of device, and to be possible in an increasingly environmentally sustainable manner.”

The launch of MAUD comes as BT Group publishes new research that shows the UK public’s appetite for watching live content is undiminished, despite the growing popularity of on-demand content services. A survey into the viewing habits and priorities of the British public found 90% still consume live content – primarily news and sport – via television, with more than half doing so at least once a day.

Those watching also prioritise their viewing experience; despite new service innovations, more than 9 in 10 viewers believe picture quality and reliability are paramount, outstripping interactive features, commentary and stream syncing by nearly 3.5 to 1. When it came to sport, viewers still preferred picture quality and reliability over latency – the time it takes for the live action to reach the screen.

MAUD was developed by the Content Delivery Research team at BT’s Research Labs, based at Adastral Park in Suffolk. The goal was to create a solution for efficient live streaming that was sensitive to the needs of the various organisations in the content delivery path. The MAUD solution was presented to broadcasters at the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam earlier this year with multicast described by an Analysys Mason paper from September – produced for Ofcom – to be, in principle, the most ‘technically efficient technology for IP-delivery of live content.’

Innovation in media will be a hot topic at the Total Telecom Connected North event in Manchester on the 22nd – 23rd April 2024. Find out more at totaltele.com/connectednorth

Press Release

Pioneer Consulting, the full-service submarine fiber optic telecommunications consulting and project management company, announces it has expanded its Core Team by hiring a rising industry leader in subsea telecommunications, Jonathan “Nathan” Javier, as Director of Client Solutions. As a new Core Team member, Javier will be pivotal in expanding Pioneer’s global footprint and addressing the needs of Pioneer’s growing customer base.

As the company’s first employee based in Asia and with over ten years of experience, Nathan is uniquely qualified to support Pioneer’s plans for the region. Most recently, he spent four years helping build out the Asian submarine cable portfolio for Meta, working on key projects such as SJC2 and BtoBE/CAP-1. Prior to Meta, he served at Globe Telecom in various engineering roles.

“The cable industry in Asia is expanding rapidly, and we are pleased to welcome regional industry expert Nathan Javier to the team. With boots on the ground in the Philippines, Pioneer is even better positioned to engage with current and future customers in the region,” said Gavin Tully, Managing Partner at Pioneer Consulting. “Nathan brings an impressive portfolio of experience and a fresh perspective to our organization, and the subsea telecom industry stands to benefit from adding young talent.”

“I am delighted to join the company to support the growth and development of critical infrastructure for subsea telecommunication systems,” said Nathan. “I look forward to helping continue the incredible work that the Pioneer team has already done and is positioned to accomplish over the coming months.”

Nathan will work from his office in the Philippines, where he will build and strengthen regional and global partnerships through business development and relationship management.

Submarine Networks EMEA, the leading annual subsea connectivity event will be back in London on 29th – 30th May 2024. GET INVOLVED

Press Release

Ekinops, a leading optical transport and network access specialist, today announced the selection of its Ekinops360 optical transport platform by Deutsche Glasfaser in a multi-year contract to modernize and unify its optical transport network infrastructure throughout Germany.

Deutsche Glasfaser (DG) is a leading competitive service provider in Germany, serving nearly 1,800 municipalities with over 1.2 million households and adding around 40,000 new homes passed per month. DG is expanding rapidly by organic growth. Recognizing the need for a unified network to simplify operations, DG sought a new flexible, modern optical transport infrastructure that could not only automate its service provisioning and speed its time-to-market, but also lower its capital and operational expenditures as it scaled.

After considering multiple competitive bids, DG selected Ekinops as a single vendor for deployment of the Ekinops360 portfolio across all tiers of its optical transport network including the Core, Aggregation, and Central Office (street cabinet). Ekinops’ FlexRate™ 100G to 400G coherent solutions are being introduced with its advanced colorless and gridless ROADM architecture. Enhanced by Celestis NMS management system to provide flexibility, ease-of-use and the seamless support of Alien wavelength services. Ekinops ETR (Extended Temperature Range) solutions are being deployed in central offices to extend capacity as close to the customer as possible and to support the deployment of 10Gbps XGS-PON access technology as standard across DG’s network.

“As pioneers of fiber rollout in Germany we have always sought to employ state-of-the-art technology in our network,” commented Pascal Koster, Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Glasfaser. “The Ekinops360 gives us the ability to streamline our operations with a single end-to-end system that meets our ambitions to be even more efficient and responsive.”

“Deutsche Glasfaser is an innovative, forward-thinking service provider that is heavily invested in expanding Germany’s digital capabilities, even into its smallest communities” said Frank Dedobbeleer, Chief Revenue Officer, EMEA & APAC at Ekinops: “The Ekinops360 provides both the technological and economical basis for DG to accomplish its project objectives and we are pleased, as a strategic partner, to support DG.”

Connected Germany is taking place right now! Keep up with all of the action from the German telecoms market with #ConnectedGermany

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News 

The move aims to increase the EU’s presence in the global cloud computing market 

The European Commission has this week agreed to provide €1.2 billion in state funding for cloud computing.  

The funding will support a European cloud computing project in an attempt to increase the EU’s presence in the global cloud computing ecosystem. Currently, the international cloud market is dominated by US firms, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. 

The project, which is named IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI CIS) has so far been backed by seven counties: France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. 

As part of the project, 19 companies including Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica Spain, Orange, and Telecom Italia will undertake 19 projects, working closely together to develop together the first EU-wide and interoperable multi-provider cloud edge continuum in Europe. 

“The participating Member States provide up to €1.2 billion in public funding, expected to unlock an additional €1.4 billion in private investments,” said Commissioner Didier Reynders (who is in charge of competition policy) in the European Commission’s statement. 

“The IPCEI will provide for highly ambitious research, necessary to enable the uptake of innovative data processing applications and services for European businesses, public administrations, and citizens,” he continued. 

The Commission stated that at least 1,000 jobs are set to be created during the research and development phase of the project, which will run between 2023 and 2031. The image below highlights the structure of the project. 

IPCEIs are designed to boost the economic growth and competitiveness of the EU by combining research, finances, and business acumen across member states. The European Commission has approved six IPCEIs since 2018, with the projects covering batteries, hydrogen, and microelectronics and communication technologies. 

The first results of the project are expected around 2027. 

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News

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has urged lawmakers to renew funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

Reach editor Brad Randall at brad.randall@totaltele.com.

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