NEWS

The Distribution Partnership Agreement will see OneWeb provide connectivity services to government and enterprise customers across parts of Africa

Today, OneWeb has announced a new distribution deal with Airtel Africa, giving the telco access to their growing low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to provide connectivity to customers.

The strategic agreement focusses on using the LEO satellites to deliver connectivity to government and enterprise customers, especially those in hard-to-reach areas. Agricultural sites, schools, hotels, hospitals, and the energy and mining sectors are also noted as targets for the satellite service.

OneWeb is set to begin trialling its low latency communications services in South Africa in September 2023, with the long-term goal to rollout the service across Airtel Africa’s entire continental footprint, comprising 14 countries in East, Central, and West Africa.

“At OneWeb, we believe that connection everywhere changes everything, so we are excited to be working with Airtel Africa to enhance OneWeb’s connectivity solutions across the African continent,” said Ben Griffin, VP Mobility and AMEA at OneWeb. “This is a strategic fit, given our shared commitment to resiliency and excellence in communications services and the partnership represents another exciting milestone on our path to delivering global connectivity. We look forward to delivering high-performance service across Africa, even in the hardest to reach places.”

For the time being, however, OneWeb’s potential African customers will need to wait before they can receive connectivity services; the company currently has 462 satellites in orbit, allowing it to only offer commercial services above the 50th Parallel North – essentially, Northern Europe and Canada.

OneWeb says they will need 648 satellites to offer global coverage, including across Africa, with the company suggesting that this will take four more launches. The full constellation is expected to be operational in 2023.

Alongside this deal with Airtel Africa, OneWeb has today also announced a similar partnership with Middle Eastern satellite player Azyan Telecom, allowing them to satellite connectivity throughout Oman.

These are the latest in a long string of telco partnerships that OneWeb has struck over the past year, including with giants such as AT&T in the US and BT in the UK.

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BT warns of further job losses as soaring bills force bigger cost-cutting drive

NEWS

The Lebanese telecoms group has been unveiled as the buyer of MTN’s Afghan unit, three months after the deal was struck

MTN Group has announced that the buyer of their Afghanistan unit is M1 New Ventures, with deal being valued at $35 million.

MTN announced it would be exiting the Middle East back in 2020, saying that the company would focus instead on its core markets in Africa. Since then, the operator group has gradually withdrawn from its holdings in the region, including Syria and Yemen last year.

Selling its Afghanistan business proved more difficult, with potential buyers wary of becoming involved in a country currently undergoing major upheaval, including a new government led by the Taliban.

However, a deal was finally announced back in August, with the buyer left unnamed.

That the buyer should now be revealed to be M1 Group should not come as much of a surprise. Historically, M1 has shown little reticence for working in country’s dominated by authoritarian regimes; indeed, M1 recently agreed to buy Telenor’s beleaguered Myanmar unit, which was under major pressure to impose service blackouts by the military junta.

For MTN, the sale of its Afghanistan unit will be the penultimate step its Middle Eastern exodus, with the Group still holding a 49% stake in the Iranian operator, Irancell.

After some speculation as to the unit’s future, earlier this year MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita described Irancell as the company’s most stable investment in the Middle East, saying the company would not be looking to divest of its stake.

Whether this will remain Mupita’s stance on the matter for long, however, remains to be seen. Ongoing protests in Iran, trigged by the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab back in September, have greatly destabilised the country and its economy.

With the government already responding to these protests by demanding internet blackout and widespread restrictions on social media, MTN’s future with Irancell could soon be up for debate once more.

Also in the news:
Remaining competitive in an evolving telco landscape
Wi-Fly: Could AFC improve rural connectivity?
BT warns of further job losses as soaring bills force bigger cost-cutting drive

A few interesting items from late last week worth nothing: … [visit site to read more]

NEWS

In 2020 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to open up the 1.2GHz of spectrum covering the 6GHz band (5.925–7.125GHz) for unlicensed use. This promised the potential to help improve rural connectivity, by enabling Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 standards to deliver better (gigabit-plus) speeds, more simultaneous connections, and better security.

However, this same spectrum is already used by other applications in the US, supporting utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul services.

The FCC’s work around was to treat standard power and low power Wi-Fi differently. Standard home or office low power could use the entire 6GHz band as it was unlikely to cause interference, whilst standard power – used for example in outdoor applications – needed a way to ensure it didn’t interfere with existing microwave systems.

Now the FCC has conditionally approved thirteen automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems to manage spectrum access for unlicensed devices in the 6GHz band.

Essentially standard-power applications use an AFC system to consult a database of existing 6GHz users, their location, frequencies used, and signal coverage to ensure there is no clash with existing systems before transmitting.

The proposed suppliers are: Broadcom; Google; Comsearch; Sony Group; Kyrio; Key Bridge Wireless; Nokia Innovations; Federated Wireless; Wireless Broadband Alliance; Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA); Qualcomm; Plume Design; and RED Technologies. Each will be required to conduct lab and public testing to assess the AFC system’s functionality.

FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel commented: ‘American businesses and households rely on Wi-Fi for work, school, access to healthcare, and connecting with friends and family. We are moving forward on our plan to open doors for next generation, faster, better Wi-Fi – including Wi-Fi 6E and laying the groundwork for Wi-Fi 7. This is good news and real progress.’

The use of blended technologies for rural connectivity will be discussed at Connected America. Join us in Dallas on the 28-29 March 2023

NEWS

BT blames 18% fall in profits on need for additional savings after large increase in energy bills and soaring inflation

BT has warned of further job cuts after it was forced to find an additional £500m in additional savings due to rapidly rising inflation and energy bills. The telecoms giant, which has reported an 18% slump on pre-tax profits from £1bn to £831m year-on-year in the six months to the end of September, has stated that its energy bill will be £200m higher this year. The company’s last official plan for job cuts under previous CEO Gavin Patterson, saw 13,000 jobs cut over three years from 2018.

As a result, BT has said that it has been forced to raise its cost-savings target from £2.5bn to £3bn by the end of its financial year in 2025, in response to inflation hitting a 40-year high and the surge in energy costs.

As reported in The Guardian, “We are leaving no stone unturned to make sure BT can be the most-efficient organisation it can be,” said Philip Jansen, the chief executive at BT.

“Inevitably it means some jobs will not exist in the future but that has been true of the last few years too. We will use natural attrition as much as we can. In these difficult conditions we know we have to double down on our costs. There are no specific numbers in mind. This [cost-cutting programme] is up until the end of 2025. Everyone has to share the pain – all 100,000 people at BT – to get to this £3bn on cost savings.”

Jansen also reiterated plans to push-through higher than inflation price rises, which could see bills rise by 14% for customers, a move which has seen BT and other operators criticised, as Ofcom has indicated that nearly 8 million households have experienced difficulty paying their bills, having told operators to “think hard” about making further price hikes in the current climate.

BT indicated that the slump was due to higher costs across its business as well as costs incurred in the £15bn rollout of next-gen full-fibre broadband across the UK. BT, which has been hit by ongoing strike action by tens of thousands of its near 60,000 frontline workforce, said that the industrial action had affected the rollout of broadband to new customers, with 40,000 homes missing out on new connections due to the strike action.

Openreach, BT’s broadband network subsidiary, has also stated that its customer base fell by 89,000 in the company’s second quarter compared with a 29,000 increase in the same period last year.

With strike action set to continue, and energy prices likely to remain high, BT’s difficult year looks set to continue into the next.

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