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GlobalData names Telefónica as global leader in IoT industrial services

Annie Turner
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GlobalData names Telefónica as global leader in IoT industrial services

Telefónica came out on top in GlobalData’s annual analysis of the global IoT industrial services market.

Telefónica’s rise is apparently due to its portfolio which integrates IoT services with AI, analytics and security, which has helped it gain “solid traction in the sector,” with more than 10,000 corporate customers and over 35 million IoT connections worldwide.

It was also cited for its strong experience in deploying solutions for large and small customers.

Moving  up

Of the seven areas evaluated, Telefónica maintained its position in five and improved in two, which are also considered by GlobalData as key in its considerations for potential IoT service customers. Specifically, it has improved in the areas of value services (capabilities in professional services, consulting, security and data analytics) and partnerships, where it was upgraded from strong to very strong.
 
Its commercial partners include its Partnership Programme for the resale channel and application partners – such as Geotab, edge solutions with Microsoft Azure, and its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), among others.
 
GlobalData is keen on Telefónica’s vision of AI of Things, uniting ecosystems and capabilities to offer real end to end services that bring additonal value.

Telefónica was also upgraded for its progress in Industry 4.0, for working with specialist partners to offer services for complex use cases beyond connectivity.

Recognition

“We are very proud that GlobalData has evaluated us so positively and improved our position in its global benchmarking of industrial IoT services,” said Gonzalo Martín-Villa, CEO of IoT & Big Data at Telefónica Tech.

“It recognises our market vision, leadership within our broad footprint and the ability to adapt to what our customers expect from a company like Telefónica, regardless of their size, sector or previous technological capabilities thanks to a deep portfolio of IoT and Big Data solutions”.

Spain’s 700MHz auction for 5G concluded in a single day

Annie Turner
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Spain’s 700MHz auction for 5G concluded in a single day

Masmovil was a no-show; Vodafone, Telefónica (Movistar) and Orange, collectively paid just over €1 billion.

After 18 months’ delay, the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (MINECO)’s auction of 700 MHz spectrum for 5G services was concluded in just one day.

The auction was due to take place in early 2020, but suffered a series of delays blamed on the pandemic, the need to ‘clean’ the band, which until last October was used for terrestrial digital TV service, and spats between the government and mobile operators regarding terms and conditions of the licences.

Lack of enthusiasm

The auction for spectrum in 3.4-3.6 GHz frequency range took place in February 2021 and had a lacklustre response. The government responded by dropping the reserve price by 15% and no longer insisting that operators would be obliged to share the spectrum they bid for. In return, they had to promise faster roll-outs.

Even so, there were no takers for the three blocks of 5MHz that were avaialble for downstream traffic only and Masmovil did not participate – it is busy with its acquisition of regional service provider Euskaltel.

Masmovil and other smaller mobile service providers have complained of discrimination via Spain’s National Association of Local Telecommunications Operators, claiming that the auction excluded alternative operators and to the detriment of certain sections of the population.

For now at least Masmovil will have to rely solely on its 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G services: Spain is planning its third and final 5G spectrum auction for spectrum in the 26GHz band (for mmWave services), before the end of the year.

What they got

Vodafone and Orange each paid €350 million for two blocks of 10MHz of spectrum, while Telefónica (Movistar) paid €310 million for its two blocks of 10 MHz of capacity.

The spectrum has initial holding rights until 2041, with an automatic renewal with no additional fees for a further 20 years (until 2061), subject to the licensees meeting their licence obligations.

Orange said it has consolidated its position as having the most spectrum in “the priority frequencies” for 5G, claiming this enables it to offer the fastest 5G services.

 

 

 

 

BT invests ‘multi-million pounds’ in Silicon Valley cyber security firm

Annie Turner
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BT invests ‘multi-million pounds’ in Silicon Valley cyber security firm

The UK’s incumbent operator looks to enterprise cyber security as a new source of global revenues and products.

BT has announced a multi-million pound investment in Safe Security, a cyber risk management firm with headquartered in Silicon Valley. Clearly, it sees security as good bet to generate new revenues.

The UK operator did not specify how much it had invested, but it led a funding round that raised a raised $33 million (€28 million). Some existing investors, including John Chambers, former CEO and Chair of Cisco Systems, participated too.

Riding the soonicorn…

Safe Security’s Co-founder and CEO Saket Modi quipped that the company would soon be a “soonicorn” according to the YourStory website.

Safe Security runs the Safe Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises (SAFE) platform designed to let organisations assess their defences and understand their likelihood of suffering a major cyber attack.

Industry analysis estimates that the cost of global cyber crime reached over US$1 trillion in 2020, as criminals exploited the big changes to everyday life, brought about by the pandemic, to target individuals and organisations of all sizes.

Recent attacks have affected energy infrastructure and medical care.

In the mix

BT will combine the SAFE platform with its managed security services to provide customers with a real-time view of how safe they are against an incredibly fast-moving cyber threat landscape.

BT claims that SAFE “is unique in calculating a financial cost to customers’ risks and giving actionable insight on the steps that can be taken to address them.

The platform ultimately enables organisations to surgically target gaps in their defences, and already protects multiple Fortune 500 companies and governments around the world.”

As part of this investment, BT will have exclusive rights to use and sell SAFE to businesses and public sector bodies in the UK, and will incorporate the platform within its wider global portfolio.

BT will also be designated as the recommended global partner for improving a customer’s SAFE score and will collaborative with Safe Security to develop products.

BT’s ambitions

Philip Jansen, CEO of BT, said, “Adding SAFE to BT’s proactive, predictive security services will give customers an enhanced view of their threat level, and rapidly pinpoint specific actions needed to strengthen their defences.

“Already one of the world’s leading providers in a highly fragmented security market, this investment is a clear sign of BT’s ambition to grow further.”

Nokia and Xantaro look to speed spread of fibre in GB with altnets

Annie Turner
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Nokia and Xantaro look to speed spread of fibre in GB with altnets

The two are to work with alternative fibre network providers (altnets) to provide connectivity of up to 10Gpbs to 2 million homes.

Nokia has expanded it relationship with Xantaro which is supplying more than 10 alternative service providers (AltNets). Their build-outs range from the south-west and north of England, to parts of London and Scotland and Wales.

Alternative service providers (AltNets) are building their businesses on full fiber deployments in areas with slow or no broadband availability, in urban and rural environments.

Nokia’s aim is to improve broadband speed and fibre penetration by offering GPON, XGS-PON and 25G PON in a single unit.

Case-by-case tech

This enables service providers to choose the most appropriate deployment model in each use case and provides protection of long-term investment. Xantaro also has access to Nokia’s IP and optical solutions, and devices for consumers and enterprises, delivering Wi-Fi 6 and mesh Wi-Fi coverage inside buildings.
 
Rob Hamnett, Sales Director at Xantaro, said, “Working with Nokia, we can offer AltNets the same leading technology that big nation-wide telcos around the globe are buiding their infrastructure on.

“While subscribers benefit from a reliable Gigabit broadband service, the AltNets get a solution which grows with demand and provides a clear path towards future evolution of their fiber network, from 1 Gigabit up to 25 Gigabit speed.”

Great Britain is lagging much of the rest of Europe in terms of fibre penetration, but altnets are attracting big investors, and the speed of deployment is also lagging behind France, Germany and Italy, according to the FTTH Council Europe’s figures.

In other words, there’s plenty to go for.
 

SAP rising as its cloud strategy pays off

Annie Turner
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SAP rising as its cloud strategy pays off

The firm has upped its outlook twice this year after launching a strategic push to help customers move IT to the cloud.

The German software SAP lifted its outlook for the second time this year as its strategy to help customers move IT operations to the cloud propelled the company in Q2.

Indeed demand is rising so fast that a report from UBS said the lack of the right skills in helping companies move to the cloud could eventually jeopardise the growth of the Big Three cloud companies.

Sid Nag, Gartner’s Deputy said about 40% of companies moving to the cloud turned to specialist firms for help. SAP offers software to run finance, human resources and supply-chains.

Strength to strength

Jefferies analyst Julian Serafini noted the strength in SAP’s subscription-based services and the cloud version of its S/4HANA database.

SAP’s value rose 2.8% as it met the demand from enterprises that are increasingly turning to cloud to support new ways of working, such as from home, due to the pandemic.

SAP says it now expects cloud revenue to grow by 15% to 18% this year, driving its total cloud and software revenue up by 2%to 3%. Even so, the firm’s forecast concerning its operating profit is unchanged – down 4% for 2021 as a whole.

CEO Christian Klein said, “We’re seeing strong adoption of our cloud portfolio as customers select SAP for their business transformation. Our strategy is working”.

Subscriptions beat up-front fees

Last October Klein hitched the company’s fortunes to cloud services’ subscription model, that pays revenue regular recurring revenue in preference to its former model of software licences with heavy up-front fees.

Rise with SAP is a complete digital transformation package, launched the start of this year. Its success a helped drive 20% growth in the current cloud backlog, which is also an encouraging measure of a healthy pipeline.

The S/4HANA cloud backlog was up 48%, confirming progress on Rise with SAP. The company said it was seeing momentum, particularly in the US, where it predicted an acceleration in cloud revenue growth in the second half.

More information here.
 

 

 

Vodafone and Nokia develop ML to pick up mobile net anomalies

Annie Turner
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Vodafone and Nokia develop ML to pick up mobile net anomalies

The machine learning algorithm (ML) will be applied to Vodafone’s pan-European networks.

Vodafone, in partnership with Nokia, is introducing a new ML algorithm to its pan-European mobile networks to detect and correct anomalies before they impact customers.
 
This is part of Vodafone’s strategy to deliver customers a ‘best on Vodafone’ experience through the introduction of new, more reliable and energy efficient digital technologies. Earlier this month, Vodafone switched its entire pan-European fixed and mobile networks over to electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Anomalies autonomously

Based on Nokia Bell Labs’ technology, the Anomaly Detection Service autonomously detects any mobile cell that shows unusual behaviour which, if undetected for an extended period, could impact the customers’ quality of service.

Vodafone engineers can address issues faster, such as congestion at a mobile site, interference, unexpected latency, difficulty in handing calls between different cells or call setup failures.
 
The algorithm also identifies patterns of change to allow Vodafone’s operating companies to address issues before they impact the customer. Once active, Vodafone expects the new service to support its ambition to automatically detect and address 80% of all anomalous mobile network issues and capacity demands.

Test and roll-out

With support from Vodafone, Nokia’s Bell Labs algorithm has been tested on the live network to demonstrate its accuracy and to ensure that it works with equipment from all network vendors.

Following the initial deployment in Italy on more than 60,000 4G cells, Vodafone will extend the service to all its European markets by early 2022.
 
Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer for Vodafone (pictured), said, “We are building an automated and programmable network that can respond quickly to our customers’ needs. As we extend 5G across Europe, it is important to match the speed and responsiveness of this new technology with a great service.

“With machine learning, we can ensure a consistently high-quality performance that is as smart as the technology behind it.”
 
Nokia’s Anomaly Detection Service is being deployed on Vodafone’s Cloud platform to enable engineers to make fast and informed decisions based on secure and reliable data analytics, such as being able to boost capacity where customers need it most.
 
Raghav Sahgal, Nokia’s President of Cloud and Network Services, said: “We are pleased to celebrate the first commercial deployment of our solution with Vodafone, running on the public cloud. By analyzing network data our machine-learning algorithms can detect anomalies impacting network operations and performance, helping Vodafone engineers to pre-empt and rapidly resolve issues.”
 

Telefónica awards Ericsson and Nokia equal deals for 5G SA in Spain

Annie Turner
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Telefónica awards Ericsson and Nokia equal deals for 5G SA in Spain

Both vendors have five-year contracts and will provide the tech for roll-outs in the 3.5GHz and 700MHz bands.

Telefónica said it chose the two European suppliers to ensure continuity with its 3G and 4G network deployments, and the two would deploy in areas where their equipment is installed already.

Continuity is king

In a press statement (in Spanish), the operator said that Spain had adopted “the same strategy followed in other countries in the group like Germany, the UK and Brazil [its other main markets], which have been maintained by the 4G providers”.

The statement went on, “So in Brazil, Huawei has 65% of Vivo’s 4G network, while Ericsson has the rest. In Germany, Nokia and Huawei share 50% of the O2 network and in the UK, as in Spain, the networks are 50% between Nokia and Ericsson”.

3.5GHz provides high performance and capacity for urban areas while 700MHz is suited to less densely populated areas and indoor coverage. Spain’s auction for 700MHz spectrum is due to kick off imminently.

The operator said it chose the two European suppliers to ensure continuity from its 3G and 4G rollouts and that they would provide the equipment in areas where their kit is already deployed across Spain.

Existing coverage

Telefónica offers 5G coverage to 80% of the population and has the largest mobile network in Spain with 22,000 base stations Madrid alone.

Joaquín Mata, General Director of Operations, Network and IT at Telefónica Spain, commented, “It is a long-term award, which is the most appropriate scenario for Telefónica since we maintain 4G providers and provide us with stability for the deployment and development of 5G”.

He also added that “both Ericsson and Nokia have responded outstandingly in radio deployments in Telefónica’s 2G, 3G and 4G networks in Spain. In 5G, all suppliers have also proven to be well prepared technically so that we feel very comfortable with having the best technological partners that will help us develop 5G at the highest level of quality”.

For this reason, Telefónica Spain’s 5G network already combines the 5G NSA and dynamic spectrum sharing.

Telefónica said it will take advantage of the modularity and flexibility of the new generation of products from both European suppliers – Ericsson Radio System and Nokia AirScale – to evolve the 5G access network, in urban and rural areas, always minimizing power consumption.

Telstra teams up with Aussie government in bid to keep China out of Pacific

Annie Turner
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Telstra teams up with Aussie government in bid to keep China out of Pacific

Another potentially dangerous front opens up for telcos in the escalating trade war with China.

Telstra and the Australian government are considering a bid for the Pacific operations of Digicel Group. The debt-laden mobile operator is controlled by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien.

The possible move is seen as being motivated by a desire to keep China from acquiring the telecoms operator. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that the Telstra was preparing to bid A$2 billion (€1.247 billion).

In response, Telstra said it had been approached initially by the government for technical advice about Digicel Pacific which operates in Papua New Guinea, Fiji (pictured), Nauru, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. It added that if it proceeded with a bid, then it would have “risk management support” from the Australian government.

Loggerheads with China

The Australian government has been at loggerheads with China over a number of issues for some time and it was one of the first to ban Huawei kit from telecoms networks due to concerns about state-backed espionage.

The Canberra-based government has a history of keeping China out of its sphere of influence where it can: in 2018, the government stumped up A$137m to help fund the construction of a 4,000km telecoms cable to the Solomon Islands and block Huawei’s involvement.

In Telstra’s interests?

Telstra’s strategy is to simplify its operations and while the financial implications of the possible Digicel Pacific deal are not of great consequence, becoming an instrument of government policy is a path fraught with dangers for a commercial operation.

Ericsson, the telecom equipment vendor, is already paying the price of the Swedish regulator’s decision to ban Huawei from its 5G infrastructure after direct threats from the Chinese government about retribution if the Swedish authorities did not reverse their decision.

Digicel Pacific generated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of US$235m (€199.21 million) in the 12 months to December.

Digicel Pacific is part of Digicel Group Holdings, founded in 2001 by O’Brien, which is operational in 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific and is facing pressure to reduce its $5.4 billion gross debt, which is was forced to restructure last year.

 

Talent shortage threatens growth of Big Three cloud cos

Annie Turner
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0
Talent shortage threatens growth of Big Three cloud cos

UBS reports highlights something of a reversal from the usual worry that telcos can’t attract the talent they need to transform.

In its annual study, the Swiss bank UBS has reported that the cloud businesses of Amazon, Microsoft and Google are threatened by a lack of IT talent.

This shortage, reported on the German website Business Insider, is exacerbated by the increased demand for cloud usage, which surged during the pandemic and is expected to continue to grow rapidly.

Rising competition

Analysts at UBS Bank describe the overall risk as “moderate”, while others warn of strengthening competition for talent.

UBS analysts spoke to 15 of the so-called Big Three’s enterprise clients and cloud partners and reported that the second quarter of 2021 was the first time they have heard “consistent remarks” about concerns about a shortage of IT talent.

The analysts say this risk is “moderate” for the moment, but stress that the situation should nevertheless be monitored more closely. The major cloud providers rely on managed service providers and IT partners that facilitate about 40% of their customers’ switch to cloud, according to Sid Nag, Deputy MD at Gartner.

As use of the cloud grows, so does the demand for these skills which has reached record-breaking levels that it could soon exceed supply. This would have a great impact on the cloud business as a whole.

Questionable value

Nag said those companies that rely on specialists to get them set up on cloud only reap the benefits of cloud once the implementation is complete.

In his interview with Business Insider, he went to so far as to question the usage and value of cloud when significant delays occur.

Some cloud customers told USB analysts that some of their transition projects have been running late for months as their IT partners work through a backlog.

The corresponding competencies for cloud use are also in demand among customers, especially those that do not have their own IT specialists or who are not yet trained to use the cloud.

Alarm bells

Apparently the lack of cloud experts is ringing the alarm bells at the Big Three and smaller IT providers well as customers wanting or starting to move to cloud computing.

A corporate client who was interviewed by UBS on the subject said, “The battle for talent and experts among the big cloud infrastructure partners is crazy. Both clients and IT companies cannot hire quickly enough.”

Another UBS interviewee stated that some of the largest IT partners had even tried to take over smaller, specialized companies to acquire skilled workers quickly. “We are now being approached regularly by global IT companies,” he said.

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