Sustainability was undeniably one of the hottest topics at this year’s Mobile World Congress, with operators and equipment vendors alike keen to show off their ever-improving green credentials.  But while the telecoms industry is making a largely concerted effort to reduce their carbon emissions and, indeed, to help their customers and partners do the same, there is still much work to be done.  
Orange, like many of the world’s largest network operators, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, BT, and Telefonica, has set the ambitious goal of reaching carbon neutrality throughout their entire value chain by 2040. To achieve this, the Orange has been implementing Group-wide changes over the past two years, including appointing Hervé Suquet as the Group’s dedicated VP of Energy to oversee these changes. 
Speaking to Suquet at this year’s MWC, it became clear that Orange’s strategy towards going green and reaching their net-zero carbon emissions goals revolves around three key focuses…

Sustainability was undeniably one of the hottest topics at this year’s Mobile World Congress, with operators and equipment vendors alike keen to show off their ever-improving green credentials.  But while the telecoms industry is making a largely concerted effort to reduce their carbon emissions and, indeed, to help their customers and partners do the same, there is still much work to be done.  

Orange, like many of the world’s largest network operators, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, BT, and Telefonica, has set the ambitious goal of reaching carbon neutrality throughout their entire value chain by 2040. To achieve this, the Orange has been implementing Group-wide changes over the past two years, including appointing Hervé Suquet as the Group’s dedicated VP of Energy to oversee these changes. 

Speaking to Suquet at this year’s MWC, it became clear that Orange’s strategy towards going green and reaching their net-zero carbon emissions goals revolves around three key focuses: set specific goals, create accurate key performance indicators (KPIs), and work with partners to deliver a broader impact. 

Start at the beginning: Energy consumption 

Achieving carbon neutrality across organisations as big and as varied as Orange is no simple task and is a goal that can only be achieve incrementally. 

As such, Orange has set intermediary goals for 2025, including reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (i.e., emissions produced by the company directly and those produced when creating the energy that the company uses, respectively) by 30% compared to 2015 levels. The Group is also aiming to ensure that 50% of the Group’s electricity comes from renewables. 

Like all telcos, the vast majority of Orange’s energy consumption comes directly from the network usage itself – roughly 80% of their usage, according to Suquet – hence this is the largest immediate challenge they will need to address.  

“If nothing is done, Network and IT energy usage tend to be roughly proportional to the traffic… which is growing over 30% per year. Hence, it’s easy to understand that letting things go without action is not an option!” explained Suquet. “As such, the first key element is to ensure we constantly improve in our energy efficiency: Less energy for same usage.” 

For Suquet and Orange, meeting the challenge of network energy consumption has a three-fold solution. Firstly, the networks themselves need to be made more energy efficient, using the latest technologies to consume less energy while delivering the same results.  

Secondly, the type of energy used is of the utmost importance, with renewable energy greatly reducing the resulting CO2 emissions.  

Finally, telcos need to start to think differently about energy, switching to a more dynamic sourcing strategy that makes use of long-term renewable energy purchase agreements, as well as mid-to-short term market tools. 

Transparency is also important throughout this process. While climate change and environmental responsibility is becoming more important year after year in industries around the world, the reality is that a lot of what is celebrated is greenwashing, with far less environmental impact than advertised. 

This is, at least in part, why clear KPIs are needed, giving both Orange themselves and its customers, a clearer view of the progress being made. 

“A complete frame of audited financial and usage energy data points has been set, so as to ensure that we are able to pilot our action, but also report transparently and rigorously on it,” explained Suquet. “All this has to be done in such a way that we cannot be suspected of green washing, both on our energy action plan and deliveries.”

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Setting meaningful KPIs 

Orange has created four key KPIs to give a broad overview of its sustainable progress to date. 

– Economic Efficiency: Defined as the ratio of IT and network energy costs to revenue.  

– RAN kWh/Gb: This is typically the leading contributor to company energy usage and is a metric easily comparable across the Group’s international operations and with GSMA standards.  

– Power usage effectiveness (PUE): The ratio of total energy used by a computer data centre to the energy delivered to computing equipment. Once again, this is easily benchmarked against international standards.   

– Renewable energy ratio: A simple metric comparing renewable energy usage to non-renewable usage.   

Tracking these four KPIs throughout the Group’s various markets alongside quarterly reviews has proved invaluable, not only for outlining progress, but ensuring that successful ideas and strategies are disseminated throughout the business. As such, significant progress was made on energy efficiency in 2021. 

“From all this work done across the Group, I am quite proud of the results achieved by the Orange teams in 2021, where we succeed in Europe to break the curve, meaning reaching a flat energy usage while sustaining over a 30% traffic increase,” said Suquet. “Thanks to a wise energy sourcing strategy, we were also able to strongly limit the energy cost increase impact; a challenge that will clearly be more difficult in 2022.” 

Building partnerships to tackle Scope 3  

With traffic continuing to increase almost exponentially each year, the challenge of flattening the energy curve is far from over. Further innovation will be required to create more energy efficient network solutions, from data centres to RAN equipment, but perhaps even more challenging is looking beyond 2025 and targeting Scope 3 emissions. 

Scope 3 emissions are those created by a company’s entire value chain, from its suppliers to its customers. Since these emissions are caused far more indirectly, it can be challenging for a company to impact these emissions effectively.  

In a sense, however, telcos are in somewhat of a privileged position in this regard. By providing crucial connectivity, telcos are gatekeepers to what the GSMA calls the ‘enablement effect’ – enabling downstream digital transformation, thereby helping customers and partners to better achieve their own sustainability goals. According to the GSMA’s Enablement Effect report, the total emissions produced by the mobile sector are roughly 220 MtCO2e, around 0.4% of global emissions. In contrast, the level of avoided emissions that mobile communication enables is roughly 10 times this amount, primarily from reductions in electricity, gas, and fuel consumption, meaning the mobile industry as a whole has a tenfold positive impact on global sustainability efforts. 

But while this is indeed impressive, more work needs to be done to assist partners and customers to achieve carbon emission neutrality. For Orange, this has meant creating a new range of sustainable solutions, particularly focussed on creating greener IT. 

“In addition, by teaming up with technology partners (small or established), we are building a ‘solutions for green’ portfolio – a set of solutions with demonstrable positive impact on the environment,” explained Suquet.  

These solutions include virtualisation services, hosted in best-of-breed data centres; the application of green coding methodologies; management of mobile device lifecycles; smart building solutions to improve energy efficiency; and smart metering of energy and water to reduce consumption. 

Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscriber to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here

Also in the news: 
Crafting the perfect digital foundation: DE-CIX and the importance of regional expansion
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N0r5ke Fibre will be joining Submarine Networks EMEA in London for the first time next month. Ahead of the event, Total Telecom caught up with Anders Vik, Co-Founder of N0r5ke Fibre to learn more about the growth of the Nordics as a connectivity hub as well as to hear about the N0r5ke Viking Cable project.
N0r5ke Fibre secured funding for its N0r5ke Viking cable project last autumn. Please can you tell us more about the system??
Yes, it was a busy autumn for us last year. Firstly, we raised NOK 40m from management and existing investors during the summer. Then, we initiated a process with Arctic Securities where we structured a financing package for new investors consisting of a NOK 150m Nordic bond and a NOK 40m equity issue to fully finance the project…

N0r5ke Fibre will be joining Submarine Networks EMEA in London for the first time next month. Ahead of the event, Total Telecom caught up with Anders Vik, Co-Founder of N0r5ke Fibre to learn more about the growth of the Nordics as a connectivity hub as well as to hear about the N0r5ke Viking Cable project.

N0r5ke Fibre secured funding for its N0r5ke Viking cable project last autumn. Please can you tell us more about the system??
Yes, it was a busy autumn for us last year. Firstly, we raised NOK 40m from management and existing investors during the summer. Then, we initiated a process with Arctic Securities where we structured a financing package for new investors consisting of a NOK 150m Nordic bond and a NOK 40m equity issue to fully finance the project. The equity was committed subject to a signed customer contract (serving as a proof-of-concept for the prospective investors), and once that was signed we launched the bond issue which was substantially oversubscribed with very strong support from institutional investors in the Nordics, UK, Continental Europe and USA.?

The structure of the financing is based on pre-funding both a debt service account for interest payments during the construction phase and a construction account that will be used to finance the project capex. We are allowed to draw on the construction account to pay invoices for construction-related costs and an agreed budget with a third-party consultant to finance the project, which has worked well for us so far. This way we were able to give the bond investors the required comfort on their investment, while not putting too many unnecessary restrictions on our day-to-day operations to complete the project (on budget and in time for onboarding the first customer in December this year).? ?

The Nordics have become a hub of activity for the global submarine cable market. What will the N0r5ke Viking cable mean for connectivity in the region?
Indeed, much of this activity can be linked to the growing interest in establishing green data centers and submarine networks, which are key for connectivity. Even though Norway has abundant production and supply of cheap hydro power, the data center build-out has been significantly slower than our neighbours’, mainly due to the lack of available and diverse connectivity. We expect this to change as several new submarine cables are now RFS connecting Norway directly to Denmark, UK, Ireland and the US. The N0r5ke Viking cable provides significantly improved diversity and is the missing link in a national fiber network ring with a new direct connection between the 2nd and 3rd largest cities Bergen and Trondheim. Along the cable route we have landing sites and ILA huts in areas with hydropower production output of combined 50 Twh.?

In the current market, what are the biggest challenges that a cable owner needs to overcome in order to launch a new project??
Apart from all the detailed planning and permitting needed, we would say that there needs to be a real commercial interest justifying the capex. For most companies this translates into the actual signing of an IRU type customer contract prior to initiation of the build out.? ?

What are your predictions for the submarine cable market in the next 12-18 months?
We expect continued good activity in terms of new submarine cable projects. There are basically four factors that we think will drive these investments:?
1. Low fibre count cables built during the early internet days reaching end of life, some of these will need replacement.?
2. The low interest rate environment and continued expanding digital economy has fuelled a tremendous increase in the allocation of institutional money to digital infrastructure funds, cementing digital infrastructure as an asset class of its own. Submarine cable networks characterised by long stable cash flows, low opex and strong underlying demand for data transport, provide an attractive investment for these funds. With generally high levels of dry powder available combined with a strong focus on ESG, we believe digital infrastructure funds will take a larger portion of the needed capex.?
3. ESG targets set by investors in the form of reducing digital infrastructure related emissions and improve diverse connectivity to areas with high and stable production output of cheap green energy e.g. Norwegian hydropower.?
4. Strengthen submarine cable network diversity and interconnectivity.? ?Recent developments and escalation in geopolitical tensions, if not reversed, could become a relevant source for rethinking the business rational for new subsea networks that would have made sense to build only a few years ago. This could favour cable projects a more decentralized model business cases as globalisation and cross continental interconnectivity. 

What are you most looking forward to about attending Submarine Networks EMEA in May??
This is our first time at Submarine Networks EMEA, so we’re looking forward to meet, interact and present details of our 810km submarine cable build-out along the Norwegian coast to the international submarine cable community.

Submarine Networks EMEA, the region’s leading subsea conference, will return to London on 17th and 18th May. For more information on how to join N0r5ke Fibre and 600 more industry leaders, head to the event website.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February was met with immediate condemnation by the international community, swiftly followed by weighty economic sanctions. As a result of this global pressure, many international firms quickly paused their operations in Russia to align with these new policies.
Swedish vendor Ericsson announced that it would cease equipment deliveries to Russia in early March, with rival Nokia doing likewise.
Now, it seems that the Ericsson is preparing to take the next step, announcing that it has suspended its business indefinitely…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February was met with immediate condemnation by the international community, swiftly followed by weighty economic sanctions. As a result of this global pressure, many international firms quickly paused their operations in Russia to align with these new policies.

Swedish vendor Ericsson announced that it would cease equipment deliveries to Russia in early March, with rival Nokia doing likewise.

Now, it seems that the Ericsson is preparing to take the next step, announcing that it has suspended its business indefinitely.

“Ericsson is engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension of the affected business. The priority is to focus on the safety and well-being of Ericsson employees in Russia and they will be placed on paid leave,” said the company in a statement.

The company reportedly has around 600 staff working in Russia. 

While not explicit as to what this means, the announcement appears to imply the closure of Ericsson’s Russian offices, indicating that they are preparing for long-term closure.

The move will not affect Ericsson’s ability to manufacture equipment in Europe, since its European factories are instead located in Estonia and Poland.

Ericsson says it expects to record a $95 million provision in Q1 2022 for the impairment of assets and other exceptional costs. This total does not include staff redundancy costs.

Whilst this is no small sum, it should be noted that Ericsson’s operations in Russia and Ukraine account for below 2% of the company’s global sales, and falling foul of international sanctions against Russia, intentionally or otherwise, would have far greater financial impact.

For the Russian operators, however, this news will be a cause for consternation. With no new equipment arriving from either Nokia or Ericsson for the foreseeable future, network maintenance and expansion will rapidly become a major challenge – one that could warrant shifting to a new equipment supplier entirely.

Indeed, many have suggested that these sanctions could represent a major opportunity for China’s Huawei and ZTE, two vendors that are already market leaders within Russia. These companies, much like China’s broader stance on the invasion of Ukraine, have refused to follow Western sanctions against Russia while also avoiding lending the country overt aid. 

Around a month ago, two of Huawei UK’s non-executive directors, Sir Andrew Cahn and Sir Ken Olisa, both resigned from their position citing Huawei’s refusal to officially condemn the Russian invasion. Two weeks later, Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in her first public appearance since being released from house arrest in Canada, said that the company was still evaluating the complexities of government sanctions being put in place against Russia.

Both Huawei and ZTE comfortably have the scale and expertise to exploit the market opportunity presented by the temporary or even long-term departure of Ericsson and Nokia, but to do so would not be without risk. The US, for example, has made it clear that those companies seeking to circumvent sanctions against Russia could face sanctions of their own. 

With China’s telecoms sector, including Huawei and ZTE, already suffering under the weight of US sanctions put in place over the last three years, the threat of additional measures will not be taken lightly. 

In fact, reports suggest that Huawei may itself be preparing to reduce its business in Russia for fear of impinging on international prohibitions. Last week, Forbes reported that Huawei had sent part of its Russian staff on holiday for a month and had stopped entering into new supply contracts with Russian operators.

Huawei currently accounts for more than a third of all network equipment installed in Russian telecoms network.  

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Also in the news: 
Crafting the perfect digital foundation: DE-CIX and the importance of regional expansion
TIM starts formal talks with CDP for building Italian single network
Connecting Germany: Building the fibre that underpins 5G

US private equity firm KKR first made a non-binding bid to take control of Italian operator TIM last year, offering €10.8 billion. 
At the time, TIM was in something of a vulnerable position, with then-CEO Luigi Gubitosi coming under fire from shareholders for failing to provide the financial uplift that had been promised. The bid from KKR hasted Gubitosi’s departure, with TIM Brasil’s CEO, Pietro Labriola, taking over as Group CEO at the start of 2022…

US private equity firm KKR first made a non-binding bid to take control of Italian operator TIM last year, offering €10.8 billion. 

At the time, TIM was in something of a vulnerable position, with then-CEO Luigi Gubitosi coming under fire from shareholders for failing to provide the financial uplift that had been promised. The bid from KKR hasted Gubitosi’s departure, with TIM Brasil’s CEO, Pietro Labriola, taking over as Group CEO at the start of 2022. 

Labriola brought with him a plan to restructure the business, including separating its wholesale network and service arms into separate units. This radical change aimed at harnessing what TIM has described as the business’s ‘untapped value’, opening the door for fresh investment from external players. 

Furthermore, the split would free the company’s infrastructure unit for a potential merger with rival Open Fiber, creating a single national fibre network across Italy that had long been sought by elements of the Italian government. 

Throughout this process, which has now lasted over fourth months, KKR has been left waiting for a formal answer to its takeover proposition. 

Formal discussions between TIM and KKR finally began late last month, with KKR reiterating its interest in submitting a takeover bid. However, the company said that it was unable to confirm its non-binding offer without conducting due diligence of TIM’s finances, noting that the global economic environment had changed dramatically since their bid was first submitted.  

Now, TIM has declined to give KKR the information it requested, saying that « it would not be appropriate at this time to grant KKR access to due diligence ».

The operator said that it would reconsider this decision if KKR were to submit a formal offer. 

« Should KKR submit a deliverable, complete and attractive offer … TIM Board of Directors would be open to reconsidering its decision in the interest of all shareholders, » said the company.

With the two companies seemingly reaching an impasse, it seems likely that this signals the end of KKR’s formal takeover ambitions. 

However, there could yet be other avenues through which KKR can capitalise on TIM’s restructure. The US firm already owns a 38% of TIM’s ‘last-mile’ network, Fibercop, and additional investment in TIM’s infrastructure unit could see them play a key role in the proposed merger with Open Fiber 

« KKR ultimately confirmed its interest in exploring any other transactions in the interest of the company, its shareholders and Italy, » said a statement from TIM.

Meanwhile, in related news, TIM has already been approached by UK-based private equity fund CVC, looking to purchase a 49% stake in TIM’s separated service business. 

According to analysts, TIM’s enterprise business could be worth around €10.5 billion. 

Other private equity funds, including Apax Partners and Apollo Global Management, are also reportedly interested in bidding for TIM’s service unit.

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Also in the news: 
Crafting the perfect digital foundation: DE-CIX and the importance of regional expansion
TIM starts formal talks with CDP for building Italian single network
Connecting Germany: Building the fibre that underpins 5G

According to reports, Sky and Vodafone are among a number of suitors having approached UK broadband ISP TalkTalk regarding a potential acquisition. 
The reports note that TalkTalk have appointed investment bank Lazard to review their options…

According to reports, Sky and Vodafone are among a number of suitors having approached UK broadband ISP TalkTalk regarding a potential acquisition. 

The reports note that TalkTalk have appointed investment bank Lazard to review their options.

TalkTalk was taken private in a £1.1 billion purchase by Toscafund back in 2020, valuing the business at around £2 billion. Since then, despite difficult years during the pandemic, the company has seemingly grown in value, with TalkTalk founder and chairman Charles Dunstone reportedly suggesting that the business is now worth “at least” £3 billion.

In 2021, TalkTalk reported having around 4 million broadband subscribers.  

Vodafone has long been interested in purchasing TalkTalk, with discussions having taken place numerous times over the past couple of years but always fizzling out for unknown reasons. Vodafone itself has just under a million broadband subscribers, so the addition of TalkTalk’s subscriber baser would see their position in the fixed market hugely enhanced.

Sky, meanwhile, already has roughly 6.7 million broadband customers, but this does not mean their acquisition of TalkTalk would be any less ground-breaking. The move would immediately make them the UK’s largest broadband provider, exceeding current market leader BT’s tally of roughly 9.2 million subscribers as of January 2022.

TalkTalk has yet to receive a formal offer from either company.

How would the acquisition of TalkTalk reshare the UK’s connectivity landscape? Find out from the experts at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

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Spectrum Coordination Act set to smooth collaboration between FCC and NTIA

Earlier this week, the US government voted to approve the Spectrum Coordination Act, a bill obligating the FCC and NTIA to update their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over spectrum coordination for the first time since 2003. 
It would seem, however, that this bill is something of a formality, with formal work to increase collaboration between the two governing bodies already underway. 
The FCC and NTIA held their first meeting last week as part of a joint Spectrum Coordination Initiative they launched they back in February…

Earlier this week, the US government voted to approve the Spectrum Coordination Act, a bill obligating the FCC and NTIA to update their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over spectrum coordination for the first time since 2003. 

It would seem, however, that this bill is something of a formality, with formal work to increase collaboration between the two governing bodies already underway. 

The FCC and NTIA held their first meeting last week as part of a joint Spectrum Coordination Initiative they launched they back in February, aiming to smooth collaboration between the two organisations over national spectrum policy. Following the meeting, the pair announced the creation of a new joint task force, set to focus on ironing out the details of a new MoU.

“Congress has been clear about NTIA’s statutory role as manager of the Federal government’s use of spectrum and the FCC as the independent agency responsible for non-federal spectrum policy. Our agencies have a long history of working together to ensure that spectrum policy decisions foster economic growth, ensure our national and homeland security, maintain U.S. global leadership, and advance other vital U.S. needs. That will only continue and grow as we build this new agreement,” said a joint statement from FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson. 

As part of the update to the companies’ MoU, the organisations pledged to improve communication, coordination, and joint research, as well as holding regular formal meetings about joint spectrum planning.

The at times dysfunctional relationship between these two organisations has been recognised for some time.

The NTIA is the manager of the government’s spectrum usage, while the FCC oversees non-federal usage, meaning there is plenty of opportunity for miscommunication and controversy. In recent years, disputes between the organisations have focussed largely on the FCC’s opening up of certain spectrum bands already in use by services like weather and global positioning systems (GPS) to telecoms operators, thereby potentially threatening interference for these existing services.

However, perhaps the largest and most public clash took place around the start of this year, when the FCC found itself embroiled in a clash between mobile operators and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the deployment of 5G. 

The FCC had auctioned 5G C-band spectrum in February last year, raising over $80 billion in a highly competitive auction process. Verizon and AT&T quickly rushed to deploy the new spectrum, planning to activate it at the start of this year. However, the FAA raised high-profile objections to the launch of these services, arguing that they would interfere with crucial flight instrumentation.

The FCC disagreed, saying that their research showed that the C-band spectrum would not cause disruption to aviation operations; this spectrum band had already been deployed in numerous markets around the world with no recorded disturbance to the aviation industry. Nonetheless, the operators granted delays to their launch of new services using this spectrum and airlines ultimately became 5G buffer zones to minimise perceived disruption.

As this saga showed, a lack of coordination between the FCC, the NTIA, and other government organisations over spectrum policy can cause significant and costly setbacks for telecoms operators and other services that rely on this crucial connectivity. Better collaboration between the organisations offers some very tangible benefits, especially as additional spectrum bands continue to be released to telecoms operators.

The FCC is currently planning another 5G auction, this time offering spectrum in the 2.5GHz band, which will take place later this summer. 
 

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Also in the news: 
Crafting the perfect digital foundation: DE-CIX and the importance of regional expansion
TIM starts formal talks with CDP for building Italian single network
Connecting Germany: Building the fibre that underpins 5G

Telenet has announced that it has selected to deploy Netcracker Technology’s Online Charging System (OCS) as part of its ongoing digital transformation programme. Netcracker’s Digital BSS solution, of which OCS is a part, will offer Telenet converged single…

Telenet has announced that it has selected to deploy Netcracker Technology’s Online Charging System (OCS) as part of its ongoing digital transformation programme. Netcracker’s Digital BSS solution, of which OCS is a part, will offer Telenet converged single-stack support for both fixed and wireless services.

By integrating multiple IT stacks and upgrading to OCS, the Belgian operator will be able to improve its time to market, offer an omnichannel experience for its customers and reduce overall costs.

Micha Berger, CTO at Telenet commented: “Integrating our customers onto a single BSS platform is a big challenge, but with Netcracker as our strategic partner, we’ve been able to manage all the steps very well and realize business benefits, including lower costs. Netcracker’s converged BSS stack, including OCS, has given us the flexibility and capabilities to support our customers with an optimized digital experience.”

Ari Banerjee, Vice President of Strategy added: “This is the most recent phase in a long-term, trusted partnership with Telenet, which has undergone numerous mergers and acquisitions and other business changes that have presented challenges and complexities with their IT systems. Our work with Telenet keeps the focus on how to quickly realize business benefits, such as lower total cost of ownership and a simplified deployment, while continuing to provide a stellar customer experience and the flexibility and agility to adapt to future requirements.”
 

 Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscriber to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here

Also in the news: 
Crafting the perfect digital foundation: DE-CIX and the importance of regional expansion
TIM starts formal talks with CDP for building Italian single network
Connecting Germany: Building the fibre that underpins 5G

In the run up to Submarine Networks EMEA 2022 next month, we caught up with Lynsey Thomas from Subsea Networks to hear her take on the biggest topics in the global submarine cable market.  
In your view, what is the most exciting thing happening in the industry right now?
It is really great to see all the projects that have been in the planning, financing and design phases starting to come to fruition. LinkedIn is scattered with images of new shore end landings and final splice deployments, all across the globe. Seeing the teams who have worked so hard to deliver these projects, especially in the recent challenging times, is very uplifting.  
 
Similarly, we are seeing an increase in the deployment of SDM systems, and learning how to address the new issues faced by high fibre count designs is interesting; how and what should be tested at acceptance being a particularly important question, especially for multi-landing designs with numerous discrete fibre pair owners…

In the run up to Submarine Networks EMEA 2022 next month, we caught up with Lynsey Thomas from Subsea Networks to hear her take on the biggest topics in the global submarine cable market.  

In your view, what is the most exciting thing happening in the industry right now?

It is really great to see all the projects that have been in the planning, financing and design phases starting to come to fruition. LinkedIn is scattered with images of new shore end landings and final splice deployments, all across the globe. Seeing the teams who have worked so hard to deliver these projects, especially in the recent challenging times, is very uplifting.  

Similarly, we are seeing an increase in the deployment of SDM systems, and learning how to address the new issues faced by high fibre count designs is interesting; how and what should be tested at acceptance being a particularly important question, especially for multi-landing designs with numerous discrete fibre pair owners.  Creating a new ‘norm’ is always a challenge but the subsea industry can collaborate effectively when it is required for the greater good.

NO-UK Shore End Landing in Seaton Sluice, UK

Sustainability is a key priority at the moment. What does a “sustainable” submarine cable market look like to you?

In recent years the effects of global climate change and environmental degradation have become clear to all of us. The 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs) developed by the United Nations address this, alongside a much wider spectrum of areas affecting sustainability, such as poverty, gender equality, consumption & production and economic growth.  In our industry in particular we need address sustainability within the supply chain, from materials and manufacturing to recycling, from alternative types of vessel fuel to use of renewable energy. Owners also need to employ the same concepts within their operations – from Data Centre to office block – sustainable working practices should now be commonplace.

We are looking at this subject further as part of SubOptic 2022 where Elena Badiola and myself are co-chairing the topic area “Clean Green Submarine – connecting and protecting people and the planet”, which aims to address the environmental and social responsibility of the subsea community. This encompasses subjects such as the use of renewable energy in telecoms networks, development and implementation of sensor technology, ocean observatories, SMART cables and green initiatives for marine survey, installation & operations.  On a similar theme, submarine cable decommissioning, recovery, recycling and redeployment also falls within this topic. From a citizenship perspective aspect, we hope to address areas such as harmony amongst seabed users, meeting requirements of environment agencies, educating governments, communities and the public at large about subsea systems. As we all know, creating the next generation of subsea work force and ensuring diversity and inclusion within organizations are also crucial for creating a sustainable community. 

What are your predictions for the subsea industry over the next 12-18 months? 

I think we can expect to see the on-going construction and implementation of the many new planned and funded projects that have been discussed over the last few years. What will be very interesting is to see where and how new routes start to develop, if and when they do. There has been a lot of trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific focus of late, and developments in Europe and the Middle East are in full swing. Where will the market drive new subsea builds next, and will there be the same level of momentum to deliver multiple diverse SDM systems along similar routes? 

Supply limitations and increased demand has driven price increases throughout the supply chain, and in some cases been the cause of delay. It is perhaps time to take stock on where new connectivity is actually required, assess the real scale of the capacity that is needed and develop projects based on realistic delivery timescales;  after all nobody likes a signed contract that never comes into force, or a plan of work that cannot be met.

There is still a lot of important work to be performed by the subsea cable industry to educate, communicate and collaborate with governments, permitting & environmental agencies and other seabed users to ensure that systems can continue to be successfully deployed and operated without risk or delay. We have all seen how issues within these areas can affect cable projects, and we all have a duty of care to act in the best interests of our community, as well as the global community at large.

From a technological standpoint there have been great strides made in the last five years from ROADM BUs to SDM to Aluminium cable, and as much as I long to see what’s next, the cautious part of me would like to see all these new technologies bedded down before we take our next leap forwards. It has been great to see the system suppliers challenged by the hyperscalers to develop more innovative technologies, and I am pleased that all of the main turnkey vendors have risen to the challenge.

You’ll be joining a panel at Submarine Networks EMEA 2022 in May on “Weathering the storm: successfully managing projects from contract to completion”. Can you share a preview of what key challenges you’ll be looking to unpack during the discussion?

There are certainly a lot of challenges to be discussed; from contracting, project funding, construction, permitting and regulation, to design and geopolitics. I am looking forward to hearing from experts, all of whom are currently engaged in large-scale construction projects across the globe. It’s always interesting to hear about the specific issues faced in particular regions, from North Sea cable crossings to congested landing points, and between Maja Summers, Katherine Edwards, Cynthia Perret and Alice Shelton, I think we will be able to cover a lot of different aspects of the project lifecycle.

What are you looking forward to most about attending Submarine Networks EMEA 2022?

I’m especially looking forward to meeting up with people I have been collaborating closely, albeit virtually, with over the last two years. Project managing system builds remotely has been proved to be possible, but it certainly lacks the thrill of being on-site to witness the fruits of your labour. It will be great to get together with all the people who have worked so hard on projects recently and to celebrate their success.

Having been involved with the subsea telecommunications industry since 1995 Lynsey’s previous roles include VP Global Sales for Xtera, Director of Operations for Apollo SCS Ltd and Department Head for the Cable & Wireless Submarine Systems Engineering team. During her time at C&W Lynsey worked on the Europe India Gateway system, leading the Commercial Working Group and co-chairing the Purchaser Group from conception through to contract. Having worked worldwide as a supplier, customer, operator and consultant, she has an extensive knowledge of the telecoms market. Lynsey has served as a trustee in the renewables sector and is a freelance writer and previous columnist for The Guardian.

Submarine Networks EMEA 2022 will be taking place at the Business Design Centre in London on 17th and 18th May. Join Lynsey and 600 other industry leaders at the EMEA region’s leading subsea conference to discuss the latest updates and developments from the industry. Head to the event website for more information on how to get involved.

It is well established that the coronavirus pandemic has served as a catalyst for enormous digitalisation all over the world, leaving enterprises, governments, and individuals more reliant on connectivity than ever before. 
Underpinning this vital global connectivity are internet exchange points (IXPs), physical locations containing network switches that route traffic between different internet service providers’ networks. Currently, even the most advanced markets in the world rely on a small number of these IXPs…

It is well established that the coronavirus pandemic has served as a catalyst for enormous digitalisation all over the world, leaving enterprises, governments, and individuals more reliant on connectivity than ever before. 

Underpinning this vital global connectivity are internet exchange points (IXPs), physical locations containing network switches that route traffic between different internet service providers’ networks. Currently, even the most advanced markets in the world rely on a small number of these IXPs, typically based in metropolitan areas, which handle terabits of data every second.

However, as demand continues to increase and delay in data transit becomes even more problematic for enterprise applications, this reliance on a relatively small number of IXPs is becoming a growing challenge.

For DE-CIX, one of the largest IXP players in the world, meeting this challenge has led to a growth strategy that is not only international but also local, gradually increasing their IXP presence in all their key markets in recent years. In the company’s home market of Germany, this regional expansion is almost complete. 

“We’re happy to announce that DE-CIX Leipzig is coming soon and will be operation in late summer. This is basically the last region where no exchange or even local interconnection platform was available,” explained Andreas Sturm, Chief Business Development Officer at DE-CIX. “After the past two years of growth, we are nearly present in all 11 metro regions.”

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You can watch our full interview with Andreas Sturm from the link above.

Explaining the company’s motivation for this regional focus, Sturm noted the improved reliability and customer experience that local IXPs can bring to customers, giving businesses the digital foundations they need to compete on a global level.

“The reason behind expanding more regionally is that we believe traffic needs to be exchanged more locally. When traffic is exchanged more locally, the customer experience is better and service is more reliable. People are moving their digital lives onto the internet, so having more reliable local exchange points is a true benefit,” he explained.

“In Germany, the challenge is that we are not known as a very digital society. But our businesses compete on a global scale and in order to do that they need to become fully digital. This requires the perfect digital foundation.”

Indeed, as companies continued to become more reliant on the cloud and the edge, existing infrastructure in many cases will not be sufficient to deliver the high-quality connectivity businesses require. This will become particularly apparent in the coming years, as more and more enterprises look to AI and automation to enhance and streamline their operations. 

“The missing piece for them – and for us – is to link the data silos with each other, to have a seamless workflow,” he explained. “The next thing that will happen after cloudification is artificial intelligence, which will rely on very high data quality. In order to use this effectively, we need to make sure that all applications are interconnected and that the data is delivered smoothly from one end to the other,” said Sturm.

“For us, now is the time to bring the pieces together. We’ve built the core, we do offerings for cloud, and now we need to link this to give people easy access to everything they need to be more competitive in the digital domain, » he concluded.
 

To hear more from Andreas and DE-CIX on the topic of Germany’s changing digital landscape, join us for our live Connected Germany conference TODAY, 5–6 April, in Mainz. Register here.

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Can you introduce yourself and your role? 
My name is Norbert Westfal, and I am the president of BREKO, the leading German Broadband Association, since November 2014 and the managing director of EWE Tel since 2011. I have previously worked for companies such as Mannesmann, Arcor, and Vodafone in various capacities.
In my role as BREKO president, I represent over 410 member companies (including over 225 network operators) which are responsible for 80 % of the competitive fibre deployment (FTTB/H) in Germany…

Can you introduce yourself and your role? 

My name is Norbert Westfal, and I am the president of BREKO, the leading German Broadband Association, since November 2014 and the managing director of EWE Tel since 2011. I have previously worked for companies such as Mannesmann, Arcor, and Vodafone in various capacities.

In my role as BREKO president, I represent over 410 member companies (including over 225 network operators) which are responsible for 80 % of the competitive fibre deployment (FTTB/H) in Germany. In 2020 alone, BREKO members invested around €2.9 billion, thus making a significant contribution to the nationwide roll-out of fibre and to achieving the broadband targets of the German government.

How do you think Germany’s broadband landscape will evolve in the next year or so?

The outlook for Germany’s broadband landscape, especially regarding fibre deployment, is very promising. For the first time ever, the German government included a real fibre goal in their coalition agreement. This strong political commitment is mirrored by the efforts of our alternative network operators that are deploying future-proof fibre networks on a daily basis. 

Thanks to a great amount of economically viable deployment, combined with funding in those areas where it is absolutely necessary, we are constantly moving towards our infrastructure goal of bringing fibre to at least every building in Germany. Additionally, we are also connecting more and more mobile sites to fibre networks, which shows that Germany is on the right way for achieving its future connectivity.

Where do you see the role of alternative network operators for fibre deployment in Germany?

Even more than in other European countries, alternative network operators consisting of nationwide as well as regional carriers and municipal utilities among others, are indispensable for a fast, comprehensive and sustainable fibre deployment in Germany. Three quarters of current fibre deployment is being done by alternative network operators, mostly through privately financed deployment.

To keep up this momentum, we need the right political and regulatory framework. Above all, public funding programmes must focus on areas where economically viable deployment cannot be foreseen for the next years. Furthermore, we need faster and more efficient granting procedures. And we should support those companies who offer Open Access to their newly built fibre network. They should not be forced to allow co-deployment and overbuild. 

What are you most looking forward to about Connected Germany? 

I am mostly looking forward to making new connections and having exciting discussions about Germany’s future fibre deployment during one of the first big events for over two years. I am also thrilled to share our, the alternative network operator’s view on current fibre roll-out during my opening speech of day 2 and its subsequent panel discussion and to get in touch with BREKO’s numerous member companies that will be present during Connected Germany.

FTTH/B expansion is a huge topic at this year’s Connected Germany, with sessions covering everything from network deployment and optimisation to the rapdily evolving investment and regulatory landscapes. You can hear from Norbert and the rest of our incredible speaker line-up by following the link and registering your place for Mainz next week!