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Telekom Srbija to deploy national public IoT infra

Annie Turner
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Telekom Srbija to deploy national public IoT infra

A new platform will manage both the LoRaWAN and NB-IoT networks

Telecom Srbija, with partners Teri Engineering and Actility, is to deploy a “carrier-grade” LoRaWAN. Customers are expected to include both commercial and public sector organisations include industrial firms, energy suppliers, municipalities, retail and facility management.

They will be able to leverage “thevast ecosystem of LoraWAN and NB IoT devices,” according to a press statement.

As well as smart city and industrial applications, the IoT will carry telemetry data from heat, water, gas and electricity meters.

Tech-agnostic platform

Telekom Srbija, the country’s largest operator, selected Actility’s technology-agnostic LPWAN service management platform, ThingPark Wireless, to operate LoRaWAN and NB-IoT public networks in Serbia.

The modular platform provides unified management interfaces for both kinds of networks, covering unlicensed and licensed spectrum technologies, and supports the latest specifications from LoRa Alliance.

Telekom Srbija says its 360° IoT strategy can tailor IoT for every use case, including the ones that require 10 to 15 years of operation on battery power, like water or gas metering.

The plan is that this move will speed the adoption of IoT solutions at scale across multiple industries. The management platform provides a multi-tenant LPWAN model, which is key to an operators’ go-to market in IoT as it allows to delegate some parts of the network to specific stakeholders.

The model is shown in the schematic below.

Natali Delić, CSO, CDO (Chief Strategy and Digital Officer) at Telekom Srbija, commented, I am very pleased that we can make another new technology – NB-IoT – available to our technological partners and business customers in Serbia.”

“The manufacturers of smart devices and software solutions, in addition to the LoRa technology, will now have the opportunity, by using the mts IoT platform, to develop and test the business solutions based on NB-IoT technology that works over the 4G mobile network.,” she added.

AWS opens Local Zone in Lagos

Annie Turner
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AWS opens Local Zone in Lagos

The hyperscaler has 32 such zones globally and plans to build 24 more

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched a new AWS Local Zone in Lagos, Nigeria, having opened its first office in the city last November.

AWS has 32 AWS Local Zones worldwide and intends to build 24 more: they are designed to enable businesses within countries to shift more workloads to cloud. They do this by providing “a hybrid cloud migration strategy and simplifying IT processes”.

Customers can deploy applications to end users or on-site data centres that take 1 millisecond or less. Customers can also connect to their other workloads running in AWS regions while running low latency workloads on AWS Local Zones with high bandwidth private networks.

Speeding digitalisation

The Lagos launch was welcomed by AWS customers and partners Terragon Group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Lagos State Government.

Hakeem Popoola Fahm, Honourable Commissioner of Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology, said, “The launch of the AWS Local Zone location in Lagos is a significant milestone for our regional enterprises and digital transformation agenda.

“The services available with AWS Local Zones will promote and accelerate the introduction of new digital solutions at our technology and engineering location in the heart of Lagos.”

Orange Belgium and Telenet to share fibre networks

Nick Booth
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Orange Belgium and Telenet to share fibre networks

Orange Walloon with a 74% Voo

Telenet and Orange Belgium (OB) have signed two fixed wholesale agreements, subject to the latter’s completion of the VOO fixed cable network. The 15-year pacts between OB and Telenet cover both current hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) and future fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services in both network areas. Telenet can now access for the first time the VOO cable network in Wallonia and the remaining one-third of Brussels, covering around 1.8 million homes passed today.

The agreements will include access to future FTTH deployments. Combined with Telenet’s existing nationwide mobile network and its fixed network in Flanders, parts of Brussels and the boot of Hainaut in Wallonia, Telenet will be able to provide fixed-mobile converged services in the whole of Belgium.

“With the acquisition of VOO, we have an ambitious investment plan to upgrade the network and to provide multi-gigabit connectivity to our customers,” said Xavier Pichon, CEO of Orange Belgium. “The agreement on the Telenet network, will improve our capacity for providing Hybrid Fiber Coaxial and Fiber to the Home multi-gigabit connectivity value proposition to our customers wherever they live.” Telent will also become a wholesale customer.

Since 2016, Orange Belgium has provided fixed internet and TV services on Telenet’s HFC network through the regulated open access model. Orange Belgium will become a wholesale customer on Telenet’s future FTTH network at pre-agreed terms, increasing network penetration and improving the return on investment on Telenet’s investments in fiber.

“Through the agreements, we now have a clear path to wholesale access in the south of Belgium, complementing our existing fixed footprint in Flanders, parts of Brussels and the boot of Hainaut in Wallonia in addition to our nationwide mobile network coverage,” said Telenet CEO John Porter.

Is Big Tech putting 5Gs in subjugation – Bild report

Nick Booth
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Is Big Tech putting 5Gs in subjugation – Bild report

Will clandestine conference with Clegg be nixed?

The freedom of mobile information could be under threat as German government officials and representatives of US tech corporations are allegedly meeting to discuss the censorship of ‘misinformation’ over the Internet, Germany’s Bild newspaper has revealed. The discussions were promoted by the German administration’s desire to control public perception following the spread of what it felt was the wrong type of Covid coverage. According to privacy activist Reclaim the Net the meeting sought to “clarify how the challenge can be met in principle”. The “challenge” was, as the name given to the gathering explains, “The coronavirus pandemic and the spread of misinformation, false information and disinformation that can be observed in this context.”

Now German politician Wolfgang Kubicki, VP of the Bundestag from the FDP party, is demanding “clarification” of the events, recalling free speech-related Article 5 of the German Constitution. Kubicki has asked that German citizens be informed whether the former government, led by Angela Merkel, violated one of the country’s most venerated legal tenets. Germany has a provision in its Constitution that is promises to guarantee free speech for its citizens: Article 5 states that “every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures, and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources.”

The alleged Big Tech speech suppression summit was organised at Germany’s Interior (police) Ministry, with participation of officials from other ministries including healthcare and foreign affairs. The government was represented by Steffen Seibert, a close of the German chancellor at the time, Angela Merkel.

According to Bild, lobbyists for the US corporations were in attendance too. While it did not deny Bild’s story, the German government reportedly said the meeting came to no resolutions. “Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that there was a possible influence on Twitter and co. not only in the US, but also in this country,” Kubicki said.

Will BNetzA bite this time over lags in coverage obligations?

Annie Turner
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Will BNetzA bite this time over lags in coverage obligations?

The German watchdog is assessing operators’ excuses regarding committments from the 2019 spectrum auction

Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), Germany’s telecoms regulator, announced it has received progress reports from Telefónica Germany, Telekom Deutschland, Vodafone Germany and 1&1 Mobilfunk concerning coverage obligations from the 2019 auction.

It has been reported that the operators could be fined up to €50,000 per location. The regulator has made known its frustration at the slow progress in some places, and especially areas of no coverage.The last official bulletin was in October last year [here, in German].

Klaus Müller, President of BNetzA, said in a statement: “We are checking the reports very closely and will also be conducting measurements in the field to determine whether the coverage notified is actually available. If the coverage requirements have not been met, we will impose any sanctions at our disposal”.

The statement also noted that in recent months the network operators have made “noticeable efforts to meet the obligations, and significant improvements in mobile broadband coverage have been reported”.

In some locations temporary mobile sites have been erected which will be replaced by mobile masts in future, some gaps or white spots remain.

Operators’ versions

According to their own statements, Telefónica, Telekom and Vodafone have met the requirement to provide coverage of at least 100 Mbps to 98% of households in each federal state and 100 Mbps coverage for nearly all transport routes in compliance with the requirement.

Also, the obligation to implement 1,000 5G base stations was largely fulfilled.

In addition to checking the operators’ stated coverage progress, BNetA will also assess the reasons given for failing to meet obligations, as coverage is lacking in some locations, notably on transport routes and especially in tunnels, with the operators claiming it was not possible to meet the deadline due to a combination of:

• outstanding approvals

• the necessary inclusion of third parties

• public resistance to mobile sites or

• nature conservation concerns at odds with the expansion of mobile coverage.

Newbie in trouble too

The new entrant, 1&1 managed to activate a 5G mobile network for use by the public by December 2022, as per its obligations, but did not have 1,000 5G base stations into operation by the deadline. 1&1 has explained this failure, the BNetzA said, and that it intends to meet the objective this year.

The reckoning

In 2022, the radio monitoring and inspection service already conducted random checks on the network operators’ mobile coverage in an area totalling around 15,000 square kilometres and a driving distance of around 50,000 kilometres. Measurements of mobile coverage were also made along both directions of the A7 motorway totalling around 2,000 kilometres.

The review is due to be completed in March. There is skepticism about whether in fact the regulator will hand out fines, given all the bluster when O2 failed to meet its obligations after the 2015 licence awards came to naught –its bark was worse than its bite. Still, that was then and this is now, with a different President at the helm.

Amdocs offers mobile operators share of box office

Nick Booth
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Amdocs offers mobile operators share of box office

Shop that turn MNOs into CSPs

Software writer Amdocs has created an online Subscription Marketplace that promises to help mobile network operators to sell more comms services. Telcos are not brilliant at selling services so MarketPlace, the latest addition to the Admdocs MarketONE portfolio, aims to help MNOs to be more CSP. The new ‘box office’ application promises to help MNO-cum-CSPs to sell more subscriptions to everything from movies and games to business productivity.

The key to this transformation is to simplify the selling of complex bundles of digital services, said Amdocs. Virgin Media O2 is one of the ‘top tier’ CSPs that have cracked this challenge, says Amdocs. As a triple play (cable/telco/MNO) VMO2 uses this marketplace with pre-integrated top tier partners beyond media, including gaming, business applications and storage to provide ‘in-demand experiences’ for its customers.

Demand for richer experiences is growing, said Amdocs, which claimed that 62% of gamers plan to use popular cloud gaming services like GamePass this year. Its US-based research says 78% would pay at least $10 per month for a combined 5G connection and gaming subscription. Hybrid work and at-home business needs are on the rise too. At the same time, the current subscription landscape is changing.

The stumbling block for CSPs is that subscription fatigue has set in, according to independent expert Guillermo Escofet, Omdia’s principal analyst on entertainment. Worse still, Amazon and Apple are making conditions harder for pureplay providers of paid digital services, said Escofet, so there is a strong case for services from a trustworthy one stop shop of subscription services. 

The public are becoming wary of subscriptions shysters. This means anyone who can offer both an easy log in and, more importantly, a simple exit could win and retain customers. That’s where the money is, according to Andrew Davies, CEO of RWG Mobile, a Welsh MVNO that was aims to improve its ARPU through better customer retention. “Operators who hide what they are really offering, or who aren’t upfront about Ts and Cs, tend to be a lot more focused on acquisition of customers rather than retention, perhaps because that is where management and business operations are rewarded,” said Davies. 

CSPs need to find new ways to make it easier for consumers and enterprises to manage new offerings, said Anthony Goonetilleke, Amdocs Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy. “Marketplace ensures CSPs are ready for a wide array of experiences consumers and enterprises demand, allowing them to offer new, best-of-breed experiences quickly and easily.”

1&1 Versatel to buy BT’s fibre net in four German cities, advances in Berlin

Annie Turner
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1&1 Versatel to buy BT’s fibre net in four German cities, advances in Berlin

British operator continues to sell off overseas assets

BT is to sell its fibre structure in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart to Versatel 1&1 – subject to approval by the cities’ authorities.

Versatel is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Internet, which also owns the unit formerly known as 1&1 Drillisch, which is in the throes of building out a national 5G network in Germany. United Internet was founded by billionaire Ralf Dommermuth, who is its chair and CEO.

Rapid expansion

The BT lines are to be absorbed into Versatel’s network but the deal includes a leaseback agreement for their use and will retain a 6,000km backbone in Germany that links major cities, plus a security centre in Frankfurt.

Versatel’s fibre network, before the BT assets are added, is about 52,000 km, covering 300 German cities, and is looking to expand further.

It has just announced it will expand its footprint in Berlin using Vattenfall Eurofiber’s infrastructure. Last week it announced winning a contract to provide fibre connections to the city’s new research and business Park, Berlin TXL – an €8 billion project to turn the former Tegel Airport into a residential smart city, university campus and innovation hub for businesses.

Rapid reduction

For its part, BT Global (formerly BT Global Services, renamed after the Italian accounting scandal from which BT’s share price has never recovered) has been steadily selling off assets on mainland Europe and elsewhere. Its focus is on serving multinationals globally, rather than running local operations. To this end, it still has operations in 26 countries.

In December, BT announced it would fold BT Global and its ailing Enterprise unit into BT Business.

Mafab makes late entry to Nigerian 5G market

Nick Booth
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Mafab makes late entry to Nigerian 5G market

Competition starts here

Mafab Communications has officially launched its fifth-generation (5G) mobile network services in Nigeria, after an initial delay due to the absence of a telecom operating license. However, it now rivals MTN Nigeria in the ultra-broadband segment and plans to roll out its services in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, and Kaduna before expanding to other cities, reported the Ecofin Agency this week. Mafab acquired its 5G license in December 2021 during the first 5G auction organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The company had been awarded 100 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band for $273.6 million, along with rival MTN. However, it was unable to launch operations on time for the regulator because it lacked a unified operating license (UASL). It was then given an additional five months to prepare for the launch.

Meanwhile, MTN launched commercial 5G in Nigeria in September 2022 after conducting a pilot phase from August 24 in line with the NCC’s timetable. Earlier this month, Airtel Nigeria acquired additional spectrum, including for 5G, as part of a process initiated by NCC last October to auction off the remaining two 5G spectrum allocations. The company is expected to launch its ultrafast broadband services soon. The launch of Mafab Communications’ 5G service will spur competition in the ultra-broadband segment which is controlled by MTN Nigeria. The NCC hopes that consumers receive quality services at lower costs in a context marked by growing demand for high-speed Internet services and the emergence of new digital consumption patterns.

The Nigerian government’s digital transformation ambitions, outlined in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, stress the need for consumer choice and market dynamics to stimulate better services to be offered. Digital Minister Isa Ali Pantami had expressed hopes that the 5G rollout carried out by Mafab and MTN would stimulate the country’s economic and social development and subsequently generate approximately 3.6 million to 4.8 million jobs over the next ten years. “The 5G technology is not just a mobile network but represents a new culture, in a new era of connectivity where billions of devices exchange data and instil intelligence in our everyday life. It creates new, intelligent systems; and it can help to develop new advanced manufacturing models,” said Musbahu Bashir, chairman of Mafab Communications.

Nokia nicks market share as sales surge 16%

Nick Booth
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Nokia nicks market share as sales surge 16%

Looking good for Private 5G boom

Nokia has claimed that its quarterly operating profit surpassed even its own expectations and it has revised its forecast higher sales in 2023. The Finnish equipment maker has defied the global recession by improving its market share and benefitting from 5G roll-out in major markets such as India. Nokia shares opened up 5.8 per cent in Helsinki, Reuters reported. Nokia’s fourth-quarter comparable operating profit rose to €1.15 billion ($1.26 billion) from €908 million last year, beating the €924.6 million forecast by 10 analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Nokia chief executive Pekka Lundmark urged caution however. While Nokia sales teams are keenly anticipating 2023, they are “mindful of the uncertain economic outlook,” said a statement. However, there is an optimism that “demand remains robust”. Nokia forecast full-year net sales of between €24.9 billion and €26.5 billion, which implies between two and eight per cent growth, if other factors such as currency remain constant. Analysts expect €25.5 billion. The 16% growth in net sales swelled the coffers to €7.45 billion, soaring above the cautious estimates of €7.11 billion.

The upbeat figures are a contrast to the more downbeat projections for its peer Ericsson, which this week warned that its network profit margins would continue to fall, which it attributed to “near-term macroeconomic headwinds”. There seem to be no such economic headwinds for Nokia which, surging demand from business aside, benefited from substantial contract awards from Indian telecom operators when 5G was launched in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Even the constraints on chip supplies had eased, according to Lundmark. “We are taking market share now,” Lundmark told Reuters, adding the growth was broad-based and calling India “the highlight of this story”.

Lundmark said Nokia saw another year of growth ahead in 2023, but this came at the expense of its Swedish rival Ericsson, which has reported lower than expected fourth-quarter core earnings. Ericsson expects a fall in its margin in its networks business to persist through the first half of 2023, citing weak sales of 5G equipment in markets such as the United States. “I guess the reason [for Nokia’s comparative fortune] is that we have a more optimistic view on the size of the Indian market,” Lundmark said.

According to Lundmark, the growth has come from creating private networks. Nokia has successfully diversified its customer base from network service providers to industrial customers who set up their own private 5G networks at power plants, utilities and mines. Only a third of the world is digitised and the real growth potential lies in private networks for enterprise business, Lundmark said. It is in that rich seam that Nokia has opened up its lead. 

Ovzon receives first SATCOM-as-a-Service order from Spanish partner

Wayne Darroch
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Ovzon receives first SATCOM-as-a-Service order from Spanish partner

There will be an initial test and validation phase

Aicox Solutions, which has worked with Ovzon since 2021, has ordered a SATCOM-as-a-Service Plus solution. It includes an integrated solution with satellite bandwidth, Ovzon T6 mobile satellite terminals, commercial internet, gateway access, terrestrial backbone connectivity, and 24/7 customer service and support.

Aicox Solutions offers technical and satellite solutions for defence, civil protection and emergency services in Spain and Portugal.

The order is for an initial test and validation phase for a customer in the civil protection sector.

Jose Carlos Laborda, CEO of Aicox Solutions, explains “Our Spanish government customer needed a solution enabling them to quickly deploy multiple high-bandwidth applications with guaranteed connectivity, resilience, and mobility. This is a key factor for the success of mission-critical operations in life-critical environments.”

Ovzon offers mobile satellite communications services, SATCOM-as-a-Service, to customers across the globe that combine high speed connectivity and mobility. Ovzon was founded in 2006 and has offices in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herndon and Tampa in the US.

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