Home Blog Page 59

O-RAN ALLIANCE specs to be added to ATIS standards

Annie Turner
-
0
O-RAN ALLIANCE specs to be added to ATIS standards

ATIS’ members are in North America and the parties hope this will encourage the take-up of Open RAN

ATIS and the O-RAN ALLIANCE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that “enables the transposition of O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications to ATIS standards”. 

The MoU has put in place a process to identify O-RAN specifications for adoption by ATIS. They say this “transposition is a major step toward advancing the adoption of Open Radio Access Network (RAN) in North America, by giving O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications the benefit of recognition by ATIS, an accredited standards body with broad membership from North American industry”.

The intention is to “advance the industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualized and global standards-compliant mobile networks”. Today’s agreement announced builds on an earlier MoU to cooperate on Open RAN issues, including security and stakeholders’ requirements for Open RAN.

Weight of two organisations

ATIS’ President and CEO, Susan Miller, commented in a statement, “ATIS members both from industry and government sectors are highly aligned on the importance of Open RAN in creating an ecosystem of trusted suppliers that can deliver capable and cost-effective mobile network platforms.

“The MoU with O-RAN ALLIANCE gives the combined weight of both organizations to a common technical basis for interoperability in the Open RAN market. It complements the ATIS work on the Open RAN Minimum Viable Profile to create comprehensive and recognized Open RAN standards and best practices for the North American market.”

Abdurazak Mudesir, Chair of the Board of O-RAN ALLIANCE and Group CTO of Deutsche Telekom, added, “O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications set the global foundation for open, intelligent, virtualized and interoperable Radio Access Networks, building on common RAN standards.

T-Mobile US breaks the 100m postpaid barrier and closes in on larger rivals

Annie Turner
-
0
T-Mobile US breaks the 100m postpaid barrier and closes in on larger rivals

Deutsche Telekom’s US subsidiary added 1.3 million customers during the quarter and had a churn rate of 0.8%

T-Mobile US has published its Q2 figures which include its churn rate was 0.8% while its nett additions were 1.3 million. This means it now has more than 100 million postpaid customers and has raised it expectations regarding new customers this financial year. It now predicts that it will attract between 5.4 million and 5.7 million (up by 200,000 at the bottom end).

For comparison, AT&T had about 115.47 million mobile subscribers at the end of Q2 this year and Verizon 114.8 million subscribers at the end of March.

During Q2, T-Mobile’s service revenues were up by 4% on the same period last year, helped by its first subscriber price increases in a decade. Service revenues rose to $16.4 billion (€15.1836 billion) beating analysts’ forecasts of $16.3 billion.

Peter Osvaldik, CFO at T-Mobile, said that new subscribers came from rural areas and densely populated conurbations. He said the numbers do not include customers adding a second line: “These are high-quality customers that are flocking to this network and are actually willing to pay for it.”

Refreshing change

In May, T-Mobile gained 3.5 million subscribers after finally completing the $1.35bn acquisition of no-frills provider Mint Mobile after gaining approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). As regulators always do, the FCC had had concerns about the effect the acquisition might have on competition in the market.

To allay these concerns, T-Mobile has agreed to allow Mint customers to change providers, without financial penalty during the 60 days after the acquisition won approval. It also committed to uphold Mint’s popular prepaid service that costs $15 a month for existing and new customers “for the foreseeable future”.

Fixed expectations

The operator also added 406,000 to its fixed wireless access customer base in Q2, which T-Mobile US says consistently leads Ookla’s speed tests to and is hailed as the best provider by consumers, Opensignal finds that T-Mobile has the best US network experience overall.

And while polishing its own trumpet, T-Mobile US also took the opportunity to point out its “total 5G and ultra-capacity 5G coverage area continues to far exceed that of the next closest competitor. The company’s unique multi-layer approach to 5G, with dedicated standalone 5G deployed nationwide across 600MHz, 1.9GHz, and 2.5GHz, delivers customers a consistently strong experience and 87% of 5G traffic is on sites with all three spectrum bands deployed.”

Vodafone adds LTE-M to its IoT service portfolio 

Simon Dux
-
0
Vodafone adds LTE-M to its IoT service portfolio 

The operator moved its IoT business into a separate company in April 2024, essentially turning it into an MVNO so adding LTE-M will broaden its potential customer base

Vodafone has announced it is adding Long Term Evolution for Machines (LTE-M or LTE Cat-M1) to its IoT services portfolio, joining NB-IoT, 4G and 5G IoT connectivity for customers. LTE-M is specifically designed for IoT applications that usually do not have a constant power supply and only transmit small amounts of data.  

LTE-M is optimised for low power consumption, which makes it suitable for battery-powered devices. It works best in scenarios which involve infrequent, small bursts of data transmission making it ideal for sensors for telemetry or status updates. It also provides extended coverage and better signal penetration. Like NB-IoT, LTE-M is a Low Powered, Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology. LPWAN technology can allow IoT devices to operate reliably for up to 10 years on a single battery charge. 

“When you have a data-led business, decisions are driven by insight not by assumption. IoT has the potential to revolutionise business, but we must make it accessible to all,” said Vodafone UK business director Nick Gliddon. “The power of LTE-M is the ability to choose the right tools for the right job. 5G might be the right choice for some IoT use cases, whereas LTE-M might be better for others. By enabling LTE-M to sit alongside 4G, 5G and NB-IoT, we are providing a technology-agnostic solution for customers. This is about picking the right solution, at the right price point.” 

He clarified by adding that while 4G and 5G solutions are available for IoT use cases that require high data throughput, constant connectivity and low latency to respond in micro- or milliseconds, LTE-M and NB-IoT are designed for low data throughput and non-time sensitive use cases. LTE-M can provide continuous connectivity and low latency services in some scenarios, but only to facilitate small data batches.  

LTE-M and NB-IoT differ in their typical download/upload speeds (300kbps and 20kbps respectively). NB-IoT is better for difficult to reach locations and batch data upload (such as underground water pipes or smart meters in basements), while LTE-M is optimised for mobility (such as asset tracking and wearable devices) and event-based connectivity.  

Managed connectivity 

All Vodafone IoT customers also gain access to Vodafone’s own Managed IoT Connectivity Platform to provide intelligence into how devices are performing with service diagnostic and analytics tools to manage operations in real-time, as well as a range of APIs to integrate with customer backend IT systems. 

Customers can also take advantage of Vodafone’s global network presence, and its relationships with roaming and technology providers to create a single interface to the world of IoT connectivity. With 1,400 dedicated IoT professionals across five continents, supporting 160 million IoT connections, Vodafone reckons it can support all use cases from local to multi-national.  

Global possibilities 

When Vodafone spun off its IoT unit the move was linked to its broader strategic partnership with Microsoft, announced in January 2024 given that this also saw Microsoft playing a key role in scaling Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform. The partnership meant the telco could use Azure to help expand its service offerings but more importantly, its market footprint.  

The rollout of LTE-M has seen varying progress across different regions globally. As of early 2024, there were 61 operators that had deployed or commercially launched LTE-M networks worldwide, with 20 operators planning, piloting, or trialling the technology, according to industry body GSA. 

Europe has been relatively proactive in adopting LTE-M and you could argue that Vodafone is a late arrival. For example, Deutsche Telekom completed its LTE-M network rollout in Germany in 2020, providing enhanced connectivity for IoT applications. The region’s significant demand for industrial automation and investments in enhanced manufacturing operations has driven this growth.  

Telefónica’s H1 net profit up by 29% to just under €1bn

Annie Turner
-
0
Telefónica’s H1 net profit up by 29% to just under €1bn

This is on revenues up by 1.2% to €10.255bn in Q2 pushing H1 revenues to €20.395bn and the operator is on target to meet financial guidance

Telefónica has released its earnings for the first half of 2024 for which it recorded a net income of €979 million, an increase of 28.9% compared to the same period last year. The operator says it continued to accelerate revenue growth, profitability, and sustainability in line with the three pillars of its Growth, Profitability and Sustainability (GPS) strategic plan announced last November. The company confirms the financial targets set for the full year. 

Telefónica reported solid revenue growth in the first half of the year, which accelerated in the second quarter. Between April and June, revenue increased by 1.2% to €10,255 million, driven by service revenues, which rose by 2.2%. For the half year, revenues grew by 1.1% to €20,395 million.

Source of revenues

Also in line with the first quarter, between April and June 61% of revenues came from the residential market (B2C), 22% from the business segment (B2B) and the remaining 18% from the wholesale business, partners and other revenues.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the second quarter increased in all geographic areas to €3,219 million (+1.8%). In the first six months of the year, it grew by 1.9% to a total of €6,424 million.

CapEx amounted to €2.299 billion in the first half, 3.9% less than in the same period of 2023, after falling 8.9% to €1.243 billion in the second quarter. These figures put the ratio of investment to revenues at 11.3%, consistent with the objective of ending the year below 13% and show that Telefónica continues to roll out its network and “defend the leadership of its infrastructures through controlled investment”.

In line with more efficient growth and greater profitability, operating cash flow (EBITDaL-Capex) rose 3.1% in the first half to €2.748 billion, after accelerating 11.5% in the second quarter.

Free cash flow amounted to €205 million in the second quarter. Excluding extraordinary items, it would have reached €484 million, a progression compared to the first quarter that will continue in the second half of the year to meet the announced target of growth of more than 10% by 2024.

Active management of tech cycles

The operator says the degree of virtualisation in its infrastructure has enabled it to accelerate the development of fibre and 5G technology, as well as the switch-off of retail copper service in Spain. The company “maintained its position as the global leader in fibre”, with 177 million ultrafast broadband premises passed, up 4%, of which a total of 78.9 million were FTTH (+13%), including 23 million UUII from the Group’s various fibre vehicles. In the second quarter alone, the number of FTTH premises increased by 2.3 million, 51% of which were deployed by Telefónica’s fibre vehicles. 

No rain in Spain

Telefónica Spain has also just signed a non-binding fibre JV with Vodafone Spain. The two are looking for an investment partner and expect Telefonica to be the major stakeholder.

With a strong performance in the Spanish market, Telefonica looks to be in a strong position to withstand the reshaped market, which includes Zegona Communications acquiring Vodafone Spain and MasMovil and Orange merging.

The favorable performance in the first half of the year and the acceleration in the second quarter were specially reflected at Telefónica España. In the second quarter accesses grew in all the main segments: fixed broadband, mobile contract, television and convergent accesses.

As a result, quarterly revenues rose 1% to €3,127 million and EBITDA increased 0.6% to €1,114 million. For the first half, revenues were up 1% to €6,245 million and EBITDA rose 0.4% to €2,231 million.

5G coverage

In 5G, Spain maintains 89% population coverage, Germany 96%, Brazil 50% and 65% in the UK. Moreover, 5G Standalone has been launched commercially launched in those four major markets and is already generating revenues from network slicing.

José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman of Telefónica, said, “Revenues are growing, EBITDA is up and the customer base is larger and more satisfied with the service we provide. Telefónica is a more profitable and sustainable company, meeting the pillars of its GPS strategic plan, confirming all its financial targets for 2024 and reaffirming its attractive shareholder remuneration.”

More details here

Vodafone Spain, Telefonica to form a JV fibreco and want an investor partner

Annie Turner
-
0
Vodafone Spain, Telefonica to form a JV fibreco and want an investor partner

This is the same model as Vodafone’s fibreco with MasOrange announced last week: the two JV aim to pass a total of 15m premises

Vodafone Spain and Telefonica de Espana have signed a confidential, non-binding agreement that sets out the key terms to create a new fibre network company. The announcement was made by Zegona Communications which owns Vodafone Spain. The fibreco will cover about 3.5 million premises and will provide fibre access services to both companies within this footprint.

The combination of this new fibreco plus the deal Zegona announced last week with MasOrange will bring the total number of homes Vodafone Spain and partners will pass to 15 million. Zegona says they will give Vodafone Spain cost efficient access to extensive all-fibre networks across Spain”.

Initial ownership

The initial ownership split of the fibre with Telefonica de Espana will be based on their customer numbers within the footprint. The parties intend to bring a third-party financial investor into the share capital of the new company. At that point, they expect Telefonica to retain majority ownership and Zegona to retain 10%.

This is a similar model to that Vodafone Spain is adopting with MasOrange.

Eamonn O’Hare, Chairman and CEO of Zegona, commented “Creating a new FibreCo in partnership with Telefonica is another key milestone in our plan to transform Vodafone Spain.

This transaction fully complements the MasOrange FibreCo we announced last week and gives Vodafone Spain guaranteed access to future-proof networks with attractive economics. Moving Vodafone Spain to these new FibreCo structures is expected to create significant incremental value for all Zegona stakeholders.”

Saudi to build more sustainable data centres as part of cloud-first strategy

Annie Turner
-
0
Saudi to build more sustainable data centres as part of cloud-first strategy

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has not said how many will be built or their total capacity

SDAIA’s President, Dr Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, launched several infrastructure expansion projects and new data centres in Riyadh which apparently “are the first of their kind” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom also has a Cloud First strategy as part of its digitalisation programme, Saudi Vision 2030.

It has already attracted substantial investments by AWS, Oracle, Google, Microsoft, Huawei and others. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to launch an AWS infrastructure region in Saudi Arabia in 2026. It has committed to invest more than $5.3 billion in the country.

The newly announced projects are intended to increase the capacity and operational efficiency of data centres. The programme is part of SDAIA’s strategy to develop sustainable data centres built to the best global practices and standards set by the UPTIME Institute, the global authority on data centre evaluation and classification.

They will have electrical capacity of up to 65 kilowatts per cabin but the exact number of new data centres and the total new capacity under development is unknown.

Mordor Intelligence estimated the country’s capacity was 345.31 MegaWatts (MW) in 2024, and is expected to reach 854.81MW by 2029, at a CAGR of 19.88% between those years.

Vodafone Spain wins contracts worth €406m from Catalan government

Annie Turner
-
0
Vodafone Spain wins contracts worth €406m from Catalan government

The operator, now owned by Zegona Communications, will provide a range of telecoms services

Zegona Communications has won four out of five tenders to provide various telecoms services to the Catalan government (Generalitat – picture shows Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya in the Old City of Barcelona). Zegona operates under the Vodafone brand having acquired its Spanish business earlier this year for €5 billion.

The Catalan contracts are reportedly worth about €406 million in total.  

Nigeria’s 9Mobile changes hands for undisclosed sum

Annie Turner
-
0
Nigeria’s 9Mobile changes hands for undisclosed sum

It is the smallest of the country’s four main operators and shrinking; the deal has been approved by regulators

Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS) which operates under the 9Mobile brand has a new owner, according to local media. The deal has gained approvals from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

It has also been approved by the African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM), which is the main lender to EMTS, which is not having the best of times.

The new owner, LH Telecoms Ltd, is registered in the UK. It has acquired a 95.5% stake in exchange for capital investment. No financial details have been made public. The new owner has appointed an experienced new board with Obafemi Banigbe, a veteran of the African mobile market with 24-year track record, as the new CEO.

9Mobile was formerly part of the Etisalat group, but the group exited Nigeria seven years ago and the operator evolved to become 9Mobile. According to Reuters, the Nigerian regulators intervened back in 2017 to save Etisalat Nigeria from collapse after it failed to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan. It remains the smallest of the main four operators in the country, having failed to make much ground on its bigger rivals – MTN Nigeria (the biggest with more than 83 million subscribers), Airtel and Glo Mobile.

Its new owners will have their work cut out. In recent months, it is thought that 9Mobile has shrunk further, falling from a market share of about 6% with 13.7 million customers at the end of last September. According to 9Mobile is the smallest operator in Nigeria with around 11.3 million mobile users at the end of June 2024, according to Omdia, this has since fallen to about 11.7 million now.

Telenor Denmark chooses CSG’s SaaS to ‘seize new revenues’

Annie Turner
-
0
Telenor Denmark chooses CSG’s SaaS to ‘seize new revenues’

For consumers the plan is to improve digital experience including omnichannel; for business customers to bundle solutions including elements provided by partners

Telenor Danmark has chosen CSG’s cloud-native, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms to help monetise interactions with B2C and B2B customers.

Telenor Denmark is Denmark’s second-largest mobile operator with 1.7 million customers. It is to deploy CSG Ascendon’s AWS revenue management platform, based on AWS infrastructure.

The solution for the Danish operator comes integrated with CSG Xponent, a unified platform designed “to bridges the gap between customer insights and action”.  According to CSG, it analyses customers’ journeys to uncover hidden patterns, uses real-time data and decisioning to personalise experiences and manage communication across all channels.

Seize new revenues

Telenor Denmark’s plan is to deliver better digital experiences across all touchpoints and to improve omnichannel support for all business segments and “seize new revenue opportunities”.

With the vendor’s configure, price, quote functions, the operator will be able to bundle offers that can include partners’ products to create tailored solutions for business customers quickly.

Lars Thomsen, CEO, Telenor Denmark, said, “At Telenor Denmark, we make it easy for our 1.7 million customers to connect with the people and services that matter most to them. This is how we earned the industry’s highest customer satisfaction in 2023.

“As we look to the future, we must adapt to meet fluctuating demands and continue to offer new, innovative solutions to our customers. CSG has the proven track record, industry depth and cloud expertise we need to embrace end-to-end digitalisation that will further strengthen our ability to deliver excellent customer service and inspire our customers.”

INWIT uses towers to help detect forest fires 

Simon Dux
-
0
INWIT uses towers to help detect forest fires 

Not only working with IoT sensors and smart cameras, the towerco is adding artificial intelligence to the fight to protect Italy’s forests

Italian towerco INWIT has extended its partnership with civil defence organisation Legambiente to monitor and prevent forest fires, one of the main threats to Italian forests. The two have already been collaborating on monitoring air quality but have now stepped up their activities around Abruzzo.  

The first territories involved in this new phase are the Abruzzo municipalities of Pescasseroli (AQ), within the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, and Pettorano sul Gizio (AQ), in the Monte Genzana Alto Gizio Regional Nature Reserve, where the technology has been installed. This will be followed, within the month of August, by installing fire monitoring in the Lecceta di Torino di Sangro Regional Nature Reserve (CH), the Bosco Don Venanzio Nature Reserve in Pollutri (CH) and the Municipality of Civitella Roveto (AQ) to monitor the Longagna area. 

INWIT’s five towers in these territories will be equipped with five gateways and nine smart cameras, integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) software capable of detecting fires at an early stage. Their location at the top of the towers is also the best position to observe large areas. 

The maximum distance the cameras can cover varies according to the orographic characteristics of the site and the relative size of the fire plume. The observation radius is on average 2km around the location point, but in certain cases it can extend to 5km, covering a maximum area of around 80 square kilometres. The equipment is also capable of operating in adverse environmental conditions and, thanks to AI, distinguishing chimney smoke from that of fires. 

“The implementation of these activities confirms the value for the territory and the role of our digital and shared infrastructures which, in addition to enabling operators’ 4G and 5G, can also host different technologies, offering more integrated and innovative services which are also capable of making an active contribution to the protection of the environment and biodiversity,” said INWIT head of external relations, communication and sustainability Michelangelo Suigo.  

He added: “The solid partnership with Legambiente, after monitoring the environment and air pollution in the Parks, has been strengthened and relaunched with the monitoring and prevention of fires thanks to our towers, sentinels supporting the great work of the institutions in charge, and artificial intelligence.” 

“Over the years, there has been a rise in the activities in which new technological frontiers combined with the development of digital and artificial intelligence provide increasingly strategic support. The environmental and fire monitoring projects, which we have initiated with INWIT after those on air quality, follow this very direction and focus on a delicate issue with heavy repercussions for the territories,” said Legambiente general manager Giorgio Zampetti.  

In July 2023, INWIT and Legambiente initiated the project that would evolve the role of digital and shared infrastructure by installing IoT sensors, smart cameras and gateways on INWIT towers for monitoring and fire prevention. Air pollution monitoring was set up in four natural areas in the central Apennines: the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, the Maiella National Park, the Zompo lo Schioppo Nature Reserve and, lastly, the Monte Genzana Alto Gizio Nature Reserve.  

1...585960...1,636Page 59 of 1,636
- Advertisement -

Subscribe to Our Daily Newsletter

It takes just one minute to register for the leading daily B2B newsletter for the telecoms industry, and it's free.

SIGN UP

Subscribe to Our Daily Newsletter

It takes just one minute to register for the leading daily B2B newsletter for the telecoms industry, and it's free.

SIGN UP
DOWNLOAD OUR NEW REPORT

5G Advanced

Will 5G’s second wave deliver value?

DOWNLOAD REPORT