News

The 2021 American Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has a stated goal of reaching 100% of US households with fast, affordable internet service. To many this means fibre for all.

Now a new cost estimation model from next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) provider, Tarana Wireless highlights that, based on a study of 132 previous projects, a fibre-only approach to ensuring all un- or underserved households are connected could cost around five-times the $42.45 billion allocated to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD) – the broadband component of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Tarana model sets out to recognise that whilst fibre broadband maybe an ideal outcome for all, it isn’t always cost-effective or fast to deploy, nor are costs always clear, which has serious implications for states abilities to deliver on their broadband plans.

The study behind the model is based on publicly available data from 132 projects funded by state broadband offices in Alabama, California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Virginia since early 2019. The projects were selected to give a cross section of household densities and terrain conditions and challenges across the US and averaged out at $13,900 per household, which would equate to over $200 billion to connect around 16 million households identified as un-or underserved by the FCC’s current broadband re-mapping.

Tarana highlighted this study as an indication that utilising multiple technologies — beyond just fibre — is essential to delivering on the US ambitions for a Connected America, with VP of Government Affairs, Carl Guardino, commenting that “A fiber-only diet isn’t healthy for people, and it’s equally unhealthy for fulfilment of America’s aspirations to provide universal access to high-capacity, reliable home broadband.”

Nextlink Internet who specialise in connecting rural communities are one of the companies who believe fixed wireless technologies have their place. Chief Strategy Officer, Claude Aiken, who spoke on a panel Is Fiber the Future at Connected America last month said “Fiber is a fantastic tool for connecting communities, but we need an all-of-the-above approach to get affordable broadband to everyone.”

Claude shared the limelight with Kimberly McKinley of UTOPIA Fiber, Allison Ellis of Frontier Communications and Katie Espeseth of the FBA. Tarana Wireless were sponsors of the event, which returns in 2024.

A fiber network expansion and three vendor portfolio expansions: … [visit site to read more]

Press release

To meet the growing connectivity needs of the Orange Vélodrome, TOTEM, Orange’s European Tower Company, has deployed a next generation 5G network at the stadium. This makes the Orange Vélodrome the first French stadium to benefit from this level of 5G connectivity. This is particularly important to meet the high expectations of fans, organizers, and the media ahead of major sports events such as the next Olympique de Marseille (OM) matches and international competitions.

To achieve this, TOTEM has deployed a DAS (Distributed Antenna System) infrastructure with next-generation antennas designed specifically for venues with high mobile phone usage to provide consistent, high-quality network coverage and high levels of energy efficiency. This network of private pooled antennas is made available to all operators to provide all their mobile services simultaneously, while ensuring that Orange Vélodrome teams have a single, neutral point of contact. Through this pooling, TOTEM meets the expectations of the Orange Vélodrome in terms of optimizing the equipment footprint and allows operators to consume less energy.

The four French operators, Bouygues Télécom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR, connected today their equipment to the antenna infrastructure deployed by TOTEM and can now offer 5G to their end customers within the Orange Vélodrome. As a Tower Company, TOTEM ensures that all its operator customers have access to the infrastructure, allowing them to operate their respective networks in the best conditions.

“Connecting an indoor environment to the latest generation of 5G, which can be used by almost 68,000 people at the same time, is a real technical challenge. To connect the Orange Vélodrome, TOTEM has built the first network of its kind in France, capable of meeting the connectivity needs of the biggest sports events. The equipment deployed by TOTEM is the same successfully deployed solution at major competitions in the US and will make the Orange Vélodrome the first stadium in France to have such advanced 5G connectivity,” says Thierry Papin, CEO of TOTEM France.

About TOTEM:

TOTEM is Orange’s European TowerCo subsidiary. Operating in France and Spain as of November 1, 2021, TOTEM manages over 27,000 tower sites, flat roofs and other sites in these two countries. TOTEM aims to become a leader on the TowerCo market in Europe.

As a neutral player, TOTEM offers connectivity and hosting solutions enabling operators to go further in their coverage projects wherever and whenever sharing infrastructures makes sense. As the industrial partner of operators, regional authorities, lessors and business, connectivity for everyone and everywhere is a major priority for TOTEM.

To find out more got to: https://www.totemtowers.com/

NEWS

Nearly 700 small and mid-sized independent cable operators will now be able to offer mobile services without building their own mobile networks

The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) has signed a deal making AT&T the exclusive mobile carrier for members’ MVNO offerings. CEO Lou Borrelli said that NCTC chose AT&T for the partnership for a number of reasons but emphasised the importance of AT&T’s “current network availability and performance’.

The announcement comes about six weeks after NCTC finalised a partnership with Reach to provide a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that will support the mobile program.

This is AT&T’s first major MVNO deal with the US cable industry. Borrelli told Fierce Wireless that “the fact that AT&T hasn’t done this with any of the other cable guys is something pretty significant”.

A “core group of members” have been involved in the research and negotiation process and these 50 members are expected to launch their mobile offerings as early as June. An additional group of 60-80 member companies have indicated an interest in launching MVNOs, although it is too early to be sure whether they will do so.

NCTC has indicated that there will be a range of onboarding options for members depending on their size, resources and degree of risk they are willing to shoulder. The simplest onboarding option could see MVNOs set up within a matter of weeks.

Members will be able to choose from a variety of pre-determined rate plans, but also have the flexibility to price their own products and bundle mobile and broadband offerings.