Spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and satellite communications company SpaceX has launched a new Indonesian communications satellite as part of an ambitious project called SATRIA.

The $550 million project aims to provide high-speed internet access to schools, medical centres and thousands of public and government facilities across the island nation.

The powerful satellite, which is intended to boost broadband access across thousands of islands in the country’s vast archipelago, launched on Sunday. As Reuters explains, roughly two-thirds of Indonesia’s 280 million population already use the internet, but connectivity is limited in the country’s far-flung, underdeveloped eastern islands.

The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space, which provides space-based systems, including satellites and ground segments, for multiple telecommunications and exploration-related purposes. It will use onboard ion thrusters to circularize its orbit at an altitude of about 35,888 kilometres above the equator at 126 degrees east longitude. 

The CBS news service explains that satellites at that geosynchronous altitude take 24 hours to complete one orbit, rotating in lockstep with the Earth to appear stationary in the sky. That allows the use of fixed antennas on the ground, greatly simplifying the infrastructure needed to send and receive data. The satellite is designed to operate for at least 15 years.

SATRIA is a public-private project between the government of Indonesia and a consortium led by satellite operator PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, or PSN.

The launch has received enormous press coverage already – and it’s not too surprising given the statistics involved. With a throughput of 150 gigabytes per second, SATRIA will connect some 94,000 schools, nearly 50,000 village offices, other government facilities and thousands of hospitals and medical facilities across the fourth most populous country in the world.

Before SATRIA, Indonesia relied on five domestic communications satellites and four ‘foreign’ relay stations with a combined 50 gigabytes of telecommunications bandwith. SATRIA can provide more than three times the combined national capacities that are currently in use,

Adi Rahman Adiwoso, chief executive officer of PSN, was quoted by SpaceTechAsia as saying « We are confident that SATRIA can be the solution to the digital gap that still exists in Indonesia. »

VIEWPOINT

The declaration of Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE as high-risk vendors (HRV) is revealing a split between EU member states. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Markets made the announcement at a recent news conference on 15 June. Several telecom executives and government ministers in Germany and Austria are questioning the EU’s conclusions regarding cybersecurity risks and have publicly voiced their opposition to the restrictions. This could have far reaching implications for the future of 5G development and international relations.

Huawei, in its official statement, “strongly opposes and disagrees” with the European Commission’s decision, asserting the move lacks a “verified, transparent, objective and technical assessment of 5G networks.” The tech giant warns that such restrictions could “pose serious economic and social risks,” possibly stifling innovation and distorting the EU market. Huawei also argued that the ‘High-Risk Vendor’ designation goes against free trade principles. They cite an Oxford Economics report that suggests excluding Huawei could inflate 5G investment costs by billions of euros, an expense that they say will end up being borne by European consumers.

Huawei says cybersecurity is a top priority and to assuage concerns about its products, once again invited customers and independent third-party testing organizations to its Cyber Security Transparency Centre in Brussels. Here customers and government standards bodies can perform security tests on all its equipment and code for verification against industry-recognized cyber security standards and best practices.

While the European Commission’s decision resonates with some, others have publicly rejected the security concerns raised about Huawei. Stephan Broszio, a spokesperson for Deutsche Telekom, asserts that China can’t shut down the 5G network, refuting the claim that manufacturers have remote access. Broszio states that “no update will be installed in live systems that have not previously been extensively tested for functionality and security.” He clarified that “The systems for network management are completely separated from the Internet and Deutsche Telekom’s office communication networks in their own high-security network. Access to this network is only available to a few specially checked employees, remote access for manufacturers is not possible.”

Research by Denmark’s Strand Consult showed that as much as 50% of 4G and 5G equipment in Germany is supplied by Huawei. This could run to as many as 46,000 sites across the country. According to a research note prepared by Barclays and seen by Lightreading, Deutsche Telekom could face a bill of around $1.2 billion, with Telefonica and Vodafone having to spend at least $750,000 each to remove their network equipment supplied by Huawei.

Similar support came from Austria, where Klaus M. Steinmaurer, the Managing Director of the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR), expressed no security concerns regarding Chinese telecom firms. He sees “no reason for this (naming them as high-risk vendors).”

Austrian Digitization State Secretary Florian Tursky also confirmed that EU network security guidelines had already been implemented in the country, but since there is still no formal ban network operators are still free to use components from Huawei or ZTE for 5G network expansion.

It’s not just industry insiders; Chinese officials too have thrown their weight behind Huawei. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted the European Commission’s claims of security risks, urging the EU to abide by “international economic and trade rules.” Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, echoed these sentiments, stating that the ban violates WTO rules and could seriously impact the business communities in both regions.

While the European Commission is trying to shut Chinese vendors out of European markets, China appears to be moving in the opposite direction. European network operators Nokia and Ericsson were recently awarded around 16 percent of a large China Mobile contract. This is double the previous market share held by European telecoms operators in China.

The future of 5G development in Europe hangs in the balance, as does the EU’s trade and political relations with China. It’s a scenario that stakeholders around the world will be monitoring closely.

In what could prove to be a highly significant development for mobile operators, a number of South Africa’s broadcasters have agreed to the newest deadline to vacate the so-called ‘digital dividend’ bands.

Communications minister Mondli Gungubele has said that the date to complete the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television is now 31 December 2024. Two previous deadlines were not met by his predecessor, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.

As the TechCentral website points out, this time the minister has the backing of a number of broadcasters.

Gungubele published a notice in the Government Gazette this week saying all analogue broadcasters using bands above 694MHz must vacate those frequencies by no later than 31 July.

This is important for mobile operators which, in theory, were given access to those frequency bands during last year’s spectrum auctions but still can’t make full use of the spectrum.

Those broadcasters occupying the bands above 694MHz must move to lower frequencies at the end of July. All remaining analogue broadcasting services should temporarily be accommodated in lower frequencies, which seems to be acceptable to big broadcasters SABC and e.tv. Digital broadcasting services operating above 694MHz must go to frequencies below 694MHz to free up the 694-862Mhz frequency bands.

All analogue signals are to be switched off no later than 31 December 2024, by which time, it is hoped, the millions of households now relying on analogue broadcasts will have converted to digital services.

As we mentioned in February 2021, like a number of countries in Africa, South Africa missed the original deadline set by the International Telecommunication Union for completion of the switchover process, which was meant to happen in June 2015.

State-owned service provider Angola Telecom has this week announced the launch of a new service called Conecta Angola, whose aim is to reach the most remote areas of the country where, previously, none of the country’s mobile operators had been active.

The Conecta Angola project was formally unveiled at the opening of Angotic 2023 in Luanda, a three-day event held from 12 to 14 June, which acts as a platform for discussing and addressing challenges related to ICT. It was attended by a number of top-level government officials.

The initiative has a strong social angle, notably targeting communities where schools, hospitals and municipal administrations have limited access to operators, to create more digital inclusion.

The sales director of Angola Telecom, Eusébio Santos, suggested that the first phase of the project would involve taking the service to previously internet-excluded populations. In a second phase of the project, he said, « we will be able to start thinking about how to integrate small and medium-sized companies » that operate in these areas.

He also noted that a pilot project is already underway in Bela Vista, in the province of Bié , where students and other users at the local Academic Centre of Excellence can use new internet facilities free of charge.

Conecta Angola developed from a partnership between Infrasat, a provider of satellite communications and backhauling solutions and owner of the only low-cost rural comunications network, and the country’s National Space Programme Management Office (GGPEN).

Indeed, according to TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, Angola Telecom has said that the aim of connecting some of the most remote areas of the country with free internet services will be supported by the Angosat-2 communications satellite. 

However, the cost of rollout, not to mention a timescale, do not appear to have been revealed.

News

The full fibre operator is the latest in a string of telecoms firms to announce job cuts against the backdrop of the UK’s struggling economy

Today, one of the UK’s leading fibre altnets, Hyperoptic, has revealed that it plans to lay off over 100 members of staff.

The majority of affected staff will be network engineers working in Scotland and North West England, regions in which Hyperoptic’s network build is largely complete.

Around 40 network build engineers could be redeployed to customer build and customer connections teams.

The operator will also remove a layer of management from its infrastructure division.

“In support of our continued growth at Hyperoptic, we have refocused around 40 employees on customer-facing engineering roles, and are proposing to make around 110 redundancies in the UK as we increase our focus on areas that offer us the greatest customer reach,” said CEO Dana Tobak. “Where necessary for the customer-centric roles, we will provide support and training to help keep our people in Hyperoptic – building on their skills, experience and expertise. For those employees that do move on from Hyperoptic, we will ensure the support they receive reflects the great work they have delivered for this company.”

Hyperoptic is not alone in the telecoms sector when it comes to announcing job cuts this year. Rival altnets Zzoomm and CitFibre have both revealed plans to lay off hundreds of workers, citing macroeconomic pressures. BT, meanwhile, says it plans to shrink its workforce by 40% – around 55,000 jobs – by the end of the decade, suggesting that many existing roles could be ultimately be performed AI.

In recent years, the UK’s fibre market has been flush with investment, creating a vibrant community of altnets battling with incumbent operator Openreach to deploy full fibre throughout the country. However, with Openreach’s rollout advancing faster than initially expected and the UK’s challenging economic environment over the last year, the bubble is beginning to burst and altnets are clearly beginning to feel the squeeze.

It appears consolidation will soon become unavoidable, but who, when, where, and how remains to be determined.

How is the UK’s altnet ecosystem evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain event

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
Mexico’s high 5G spectrum price could see Telcel the only bidder in latest auction

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News

At this year’s Submarine Networks EMEA event, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) showcased many of the projects funded by the first round of its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme, as well as sharing guidance on how potential applicants can apply for funding

First announced back in 2021, the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital Programme aims to leverage both private and public funding to support the digital infrastructure projects across the bloc.

CEF Digital will improve, secure, and nurture innovation via numerous connectivity infrastructure projects, spanning from gigabit-capable fixed networks to 5G mobile networks, and even submarine cable systems across Europe. These actions will receive more than €1 billion in funding between 2021 and 2023, with HaDEA managing more than €710 million.

The first set of calls for proposals was launched in January 2022 with a total budget of €258 million earmarked for five calls. Under the call on Backbone connectivity for Digital Global Gateways, HaDEA manages the following projects:

Works (Total EU contribution: €64.4 million)

Studies (Total EU contribution: €17.6 million)

The conference saw the European Commission’s Head of Unit, Investment in High-Capacity Networks, DG Connect, Franco Accordino explore some of these projects in a News in Brief session. He also later spoke on a panel session focussed on funding subsea infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

If you want to learn more about these projects and how to apply for EU funding, click here

Also in the news:
Tusass: Connecting Greenland’s remote communities
Watchdog hits Eir with €2.45m fine for overcharging customers
SENSE: Nokia and Citymesh launch national drone network in Belgium

News

The guidelines aim to provide more transparency for customers when they sign up to mobile or broadband contracts, making it clearer that prices could increase and by how much

At the start of this year, following the publication of Office of National Statistics inflation data, most of the UK’s mobile and broadband operators confirmed that they would be increasing their contract prices in line with inflation – at average of 14.4%.

This announcement sparked Ofcom to launch a review of inflation-linked mid-contract telecoms price rises, with the regulator’s initial studies showing that around a third of mobile and broadband customers were unaware that their provider could change the price of their contract.

In addition, the study showed that, even amongst those that knew prices could be increased, only around half understood how this would be calculated. Indeed, among all customers, less than half understood what metrics like CPI (Consumer Price Index) and RPI (Retail Price Index) actually measure.

Now, following its own consultation, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), part of the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), has published new guidance on the matter of pricing transparency, hoping to stop consumers being stung by these unanticipated and misunderstood price increases.

The primary focus of these guidelines is on the ways in which telcos communicate with their customers, calling on them to display the price increase information more clearly rather than burying it in the fine print.

More specifically, the guidelines call for ads to use plain language and to display the possibility of a price rise with equal prominence as the price claim. For example, using an asterisk to include this information more than one ‘step’ below the pricing claim, or linking to a separate web page to explain this possibility, is unlikely to comply with these new guidelines.

The full guidelines can be found here.

If service providers fall afoul of these guidelines, they could face legal ramifications from the ASA.

The new guidance will take affect from December 15 2023, allowing the service providers a six-month grace period to comply.

Most of the telecoms industry moved forward with the planned price hikes in April, with some notable exceptions such as Hyperoptic.

Are operators being transparent enough when it comes to consumer contract pricing? Join the telecoms ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain event

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
Mexico’s high 5G spectrum price could see Telcel the only bidder in latest auction