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GSMA Intelligence predicts $400bn B2B market for telcos by 2030

Annie Turner
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GSMA Intelligence predicts $400bn B2B market for telcos by 2030

For first time, survey shows operators seeing enterprise connectivity and services as the primary goal of their B2B strategy, ahead of enterprise connectivity

GSMA Intelligence has launched a new report, The opportunity for operators in B2B technology services – sizing prospects for growth in financial services, manufacturing, automotive and aviation​. Its main message is that operators must look beyond connectivity-driven solutions and services to take advantage of the market.

Currently services like SD-WAN, unified communications and mobile voice and data acccount for 70% of operators’ B2B revenues, which equated to about $250 billion in 2023. GSMA Intelligence says such services only offer the opportunity of about 3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from now to 2030.

Conversely, enterprise spending on tech services beyond those core services – including cloud and datacentre, cybersecurity, IoT, analytics, AI, blockchain and network APIs – is around five times the spend on traditional communications. It was worth $1.16 trillion in 2023, with a CAGR of 14% expected up to 2030, growing to become a market worth $2.91 trillion.

Tim Hatt, Head of Research, GSMA Intelligence, said, “Telcos looking to monetise their investments in 5G need to look beyond consumer centric and basic connectivity driven use cases. Greater focus is needed on offering advanced network solutions such as network slicing and private networks in the short term and developing end-to-end solutions to support a variety of enterprise use cases combined with integration capabilities in the longer term. 

“Enterprises are increasingly looking for service providers to integrate a blend of technologies that fit their specific technology environments and business needs. Though the competition is fierce, telcos have assets and capabilities they can leverage to play in over one-third of this trillion-dollar market.” 

Manufacturing and financial services offer biggest opportunities

The report highlights four key verticals: financial services, manufacturing, automotive and aviation. In 2023, these sectors presented big addressable opportunities for telcos, valued at $59 billion, $61 billion, $22 billion and $16 billion respectively. Collectively, they accounted for 37% of the total addressable market, amounting to $159 billion. Projections indicate growth for these markets, with expected CAGR of 10.9%, 12.1%, 12.0%, and 8.4% from 2023 to 2030. 

Jo Gilbert, Technical Director and GSMA Connected Manufacturing and Production lead, said, “To bolster operational efficiency, resilience, agility, and flexibility, manufacturing companies are investing in advanced connectivity, IoT, edge, and AI technologies. These innovations are generating massive data volumes across factories, requiring stronger data management capabilities to unlock business value. Furthermore, the growing convergence of IT and OT systems has expanded cyberattack surfaces, making cybersecurity a key priority for manufacturers.”

The outstanding 63% of telcos’ addressable market comprises diverse sectors, from healthcare and the public sector, to retail, media, smart cities, energy and utilities, agriculture, oil & gas, transportation & logistics, professional services, personal & consumer services, mining and ports.

Be prepared to compete

To meet the demands of the market, operators face competition from their peers, equipment vendors and an array of other players, including hyperscalers and security firms. In the survey, 24% of operators view hyperscalers as formidable competitors in edge networking and cloud, while 41% identify security vendors as key competitors in that area.

The report says operators must invest in building new capabilities, enhancing offerings in areas like security and exploring partnerships in others such as cloud. By balancing internal investments with external partnerships, operators can remain competitive, optimise resources, and meet evolving demands. 

Beyond connectivity gains ground

The latest research tracks earlier findings from GSMA Intelligence’s Enterprise Opportunity 2024 survey, published in March 2024. It found that 36% of the operators surveyed said that market leadership in enterprise connectivity and services is the primary goal of their B2B strategy. Leadership leadership in enterprise connectivity was their second goal. In previous surveys, this has always been the other way round.

Th new survey is the first time operators have identified connectivity and services as their primary goal. Furthermore, 64% of participants said they have already launched 5G services beyond connectivity for enterprises such as 5G IoT, private networks and Mobile Edge Compute. This signals a shift towards services and the capability of bundling connectivity with services for enterprises.

French billionaire Niel reveals political ambitions, launches memoire

Annie Turner
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French billionaire Niel reveals political ambitions, launches memoire

In a busy week, the French telecoms tycoon has also moved to gain full ownership of Ireland’s Eir network which he says he will never sell

The French telecoms entrepreneur Xavier Niel owns telecoms businesses in 23 countries with more than 110 million subscribers. He is currently moving to become the sole owner of Ireland’s Eir, but it is his newly published memoire and the promotional interviews that are making the bigger headlines, including his political ambitions.

Niel said in an interview last week on the radio station FranceInter that his cherished dream is to become the next major of Paris. His memoire’s title, translated from French is “A sacred desire to f*** the brothel”. Note that ‘brothel’ (‘bordel’ in French) is often used in spoken French to mean a situation that is annoying, messy or chaotic. The memoire was co-written as a series of conversations between friends with the former deputy mayor of Paris, Jean-Louis Missika.

He said, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to do better [as mayor] than the others, but I’d love to use my money to help my city, like [Mike] Bloomberg, the businessman who became mayor of New York, did.” The next mayoral election for Paris is 2026. He also said thinks the city needs someone younger than him. He is 57.

No French word for enterpreneur

According to Politico, Niel’s fortune is estimated at €10 billion. France cannot boast many self-made billionaires. US President, George W Bush President allegedly remarked to the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, that “the trouble with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur”.

Although known best known in France for being the first ISP in country and for his Free no-frills fixed and mobile service, Niel is also a big investor in French media. He co-owns Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, and is an investor in Telegram, the messaging app, whose founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in Paris at the end of August.

In September, Niel joined the board of the Chinese group ByteDance, owner of TikTok.

Will keep Eir until he dies

At the end of last week, he moved towards full ownership of the Irish network owner Eir, buying up shares from two US hedge funds that are exiting ownership, according to the Irish Times. Niel also insisted that he will not join the long list of former owners of Eir, saying that, “It will not be for sale, until the day I die”.

He told the newspaper that he and his investment vehicles are starting to buy the shares: two of those investment vehicles, Iliad and NJJ, acquired 64.5 % of Eir in April 2018 which valued the operator at €3.5 billion.

That transaction saw New York hedge funds Anchorage Capital and Davidson Kempner, roll most of their shares into a combined 35.5% interest at the same time. The two were some of the company’s largest investors before Niel’s involvement.

The newspaper says, “It is understood that Davidson Kempner sold its 8.9 per cent holding in Eir over the summer to Anchorage Capital. Anchorage, in turn, recently began to gradually sell down the combined stake by participating in a share buyback by a holding company above Eir.”

A chequered past

The US funds were part of a group of investors that acquired shares in Eir after it emerged from examinership in 2012 following a debt restructuring in which about 40% of its then €4.1 billion debt were written off and senior lenders seized control.

Examinership in the Republic of Ireland permits a company to compromise with its creditors and propose a viable scheme of arrangement to the Court.

Since then, the two funds have shared in the more than €2 billion in dividends that Eir has paid to its owners since the 2018 takeover. The distributions equate to twice the €1 billion equity value of that deal.

Niel said in the interview with the Irish Times that, “We always invest as much as we [take] in dividends. Sometimes more. We share what we do between three. First, the company and the people working in the company. Second, the customers. And third, the shareholder. It’s always what we do in all our countries.”

He referenced the launch of Eir’s GoMo low-cost, Sim-only service five years ago as shaking up the market and how the company, which is spending €250 million a year on capital investment, now has 1.2 million homes and businesses connected to its fibre network. It targets reaching 1.9 million premises by the end of 2026.

O2 Telefónica hits 1.7Gbps download with 5GSA

Annie Turner
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O2 Telefónica hits 1.7Gbps download with 5GSA

The German operator bundled four frequency bands for the first time to achieve speeds almost twice as fast as the fastest commercial fibre broadband

O2 Telefónica, the Spanish operating group’s German subsidiary, has bundled four frequency bands in 5G Standalone mode to reach peak download speeds of more than 1.7Gbps. This bundling of frequencies is known as carrier aggregation. The company says this is almost twice as fast as the fastest commercial fibre connectivity available.

O2 Telefónica carried out the tests with Nokia in the Innovation Cluster in Potsdam using a Samsung S24 Ultra handset. These are several such locations in O2 Telefónica’s network where the two companies test the latest technologies and that are also open to customers.

For this test, O2 Telefónica used frequencies at 3.6GHz and 700MHz which are already used for 5G, plus 1800MHz and 2100MHz, which are normally used for 4G. The operator said that it could achieve speeds of 2Gbps in the lab using this combination of spectrum.

The 1.7GTbps measurements were taken during a live test on the O2 network in 5G SA mode, also known as 5G Plus. This has been available to customers on the entire O2 Telefónica 5G network since October 2023.

Matthias Sauder, Director Networks at O2 Telefónica, said, “The speeds achieved in the test illustrate the possibilities that 5G Standalone offers in practice. They are a taste of further technological developments and the network expansion of the future.”

NGMN’s new framework supports autonomous networks based on AI

Annie Turner
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NGMN’s new framework supports autonomous networks based on AI

NGMN publishes Automation and Autonomous system Architecture Framework – Phase 2

The NGMN has published Automation and Autonomous system Architecture Framework – Phase 2. It provides guidance and direction on the use cases, requirements and architectural principles to ease the adoption of autonomous networks. In particular, network environments that are interoperable, multi-vendor and standards-based and designed to manage the complex, still evolving 5G Advanced ecosystem. 

The framework outlines architectural considerations for using AI, including machine learning, to improve network operations by adding capabilities that are beyond human response times. The schematic above is taken from the paper and shows a view of machine learning-enabled operations or MLOps.

The paper also seeks to act as a guide for organisations that develop standards aimed at more customised, user-centric experiences.

Topics covered in the publication include: managing complexity; evolution of the network, services and devices; autonomous system management and orchestration and the role of large language models (LLMs); cooperative technologies and processes; use cases; security and privacy; and the role of industry standards.

The publication was developed with input from across the industry: NGMN’s membership comprises operators, vendors and research institutions.

Arash Ashouriha, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and SVP Group Technology at Deutsche Telekom, noted, “AI has huge potential to revolutionise the way we plan, build, operate and maintain networks, the services we offer and our ability to respond rapidly to customer needs.

“This publication provides a further foundation for the mobile industry to move forward together by developing and embracing a standards-based approach to autonomous networks.” 

Further information and all NGMN publications can be found on the website at ngmn.org.

INTRO, Oman Data Park to build $450m data centre in Suez Canal zone

Annie Turner
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INTRO, Oman Data Park to build $450m data centre in Suez Canal zone

The two have signed an MoU to build the Kemet Data Center in the Suez Canal Economic Zone

INTRO Technology and Oman Data Park have signed a strategic MoU to build the Kemet Data Center in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. INTRO is the technology arm of INTRO Holding and parent company of Advansys and Forte Cloud.

The value of the build is said to be $450 million and is the first strategic partnership between the two companies. It is intended to support cloud solutions, IoT and digital transformation for regional and international markets, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

The new data centre will span 80,000 square metres and will be developed in two phases. The parties say the by “Leveraging Egypt’s advanced infrastructure and its position as a key regional hub, the centre will provide a secure and efficient platform for businesses to manage both regional and global operations”.

Kemet will partially rely on solar energy: Oman Data Park will provide commercial services, overseeing the centre’s design, construction, and management.

Advansys will host the data centre’s staff and experts, handling legal procedures, equipment importation, and design through its Centre of Excellence to expedite the project.

Mamdouh Abbas, Chairman of INTRO Holding, emphasised the partnership’s importance in expanding INTRO Technology’s presence in the Middle East and Africa.

He also stressed the data centre’s role in advancing Egypt’s digital transformation goals as part of its 2030 vision.

Ericsson publishes “industry’s first dedicated rApp directory”

Annie Turner
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Ericsson publishes “industry’s first dedicated rApp directory”

Another example of the Swedish vendor striving to create ecosystems around its portfolio, this time for the RAN

Ericsson is introducing the rApp Directory to make rApps commercially available – both those created by Ericsson and by third parties. The rApps will be for use on Ericsson’s Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP), and Service Management and Orchestration platform.

The rApp Directory allows potential customers or other EIAP ecosystem members to explore functionalities of rApps. They are applications to automate RAN management and optimise use cases developed by Ericsson and third parties, like independent software vendors (ISVs) and operators.

Users can also connect directly with the creators and owners of the rApps, to understand more about how their application can help transform the automation performance of networks.

Soft launch

Apparently the rApp Directory has been available since the summer to those who joined the EIAP ecosystem early. At the moment it provides information about more than 20 rApps which can be used commercially on the EIAP. From now, it will be periodically updated as the number of rApps and community members increases.

Today, the EIAP ecosystem has 28 registered members – 18 ISVs and 10 operators (who can use and contribute their own rApps), plus more than 1,100 individual developers.

The EIAP ecosystem includes third-party software providers like Aira Technologies, Airhop, Aspire, Booz Allen, Domos, Future Connections, Fyra, Groundhog, HCL Software, Icebreaker, Infovista, Intel, Ookla, Snowflake, Tectwin, Viavi, Wipro and Zinkworks. Operator members include AT&T, Swisscom, Telstra and Vodafone and “a number of others” who are not disclosed.

Anders Vestergren, Head of Solution Area Network Management, Ericsson says, “Ericsson was recently recognised by independent analyst Omdia as having the fastest growing rApp ecosystem, and we’re confident the rApp directory will be a valuable asset to that community of independent developers, software developers, and CSPs as they seek to drive innovation and growth through RAN automation.”

Five areas of automation

The rApp Directory categorises the rApps into five RAN automation solutions areas:

  • Network evolution  which improves network planning, and network and service performance, and support new revenues through data-driven, intent-based insights and recommendations.
  • Network deployment  handles provisioning and life cycle management of complex networks with optimal costs and speed to market
  • Network optimisation offers intelligent, autonomous functions to optimise customer experience and return on investments
  • Network healing is designed to ensure service continuity and resolution of both basic and complex incidents, delivering high availability while keeping the operation costs at a minimum
  • Automation and AI Foundation is for faster time to market  and greater trust in AI and automation use cases.

Resources provided by Ericsson for those implementing the rApps include a Developer Portal, the Developers Community and training for rApp Developers.

Image courtesy of Ericsson.

Mobile operators find ‘more for more’ pricing less profitable

Simon Dux
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Mobile operators find ‘more for more’ pricing less profitable

Analysts Tefficient find that fewer operators globally have been able to turn rising data usage into ARPU increases

In 2023, 93% of operators experienced growth in data usage per subscription, with 71% of them successfully converting this into higher ARPU. This trend continued into the first half of 2024, where 95% of operators saw increased data usage, and 69% managed to translate this rise into ARPU growth. 

The figures were revealed in public analysis of 123 operators’ mobile data trends by analyst house Tefficient. Compared to last year’s analysis, a lower proportion of operators were able to turn rising data usage into ARPU increases, indicating a reduced ability to leverage pricing power.

Two thirds of operators now above 10GB per subscription per month. Tefficient reports that Zain Kuwait’s impressive 68.1GB per average SIM per month comfortably grants it the number one position of the world again. Zain launched 5G in June 2019 and claimed 100% population coverage by end of 2021. The high usage comes from Zain selling smartphone plans with large buckets – with unlimited as the ultimate tier. But Zain is also offering 5G fixed routers with 2TB or, if that’s not sufficient, unlimited data volume. Zain Kuwait had 13% usage growth (+8GB per month) in 2023.

Zain Saudi Arabia is second at 57.3GB per average SIM per month in 2023. Zain launched 5G in October 2019 and did earlier this year decide on an investment plan that would double the number of cities covered with 5G, adding 7,000 sites to cover 66% of the populated area with 5G. Like Zain Kuwait, the high usage comes from Zain selling smartphone plans with large buckets – with unlimited as the ultimate tier. Zain is also offering speed-tiered 5G home plans with unlimited data volume, whose popularity might explain some of the 26% usage growth (+11.7GB per month) Zain Saudi Arabia had in 2023.

With 55.4GB per month for the first half of 2024 (51.1GB per month in 2023), DNA from Finland finished third in Tefficient’s report. Unlimited, speed-tiered, plans – both for smartphones and data-only – form a key component of the Finnish market logic. DNA doesn’t report how large share of its customer base that has unlimited plans, but for Finland as a whole, that share was 86% of non-M2M subscriptions in December 2023. The Finnish operators all launched 5G in 2019 and DNA said that it had almost 98% 5G population coverage in June 2024.

“The data usage of DNA’s corporate Subscriptions has increased by over 25 percent compared to last year. Mobile data is increasingly becoming a more common and certainly Safer option than open Wi-Fi networks, both in Finland and abroad,” said Mari Eklund (above), VP of communication solutions for DNA’s corporate business. DNA sponsored the Tefficient report.

Nordics and Baltics best

In Europe, the number 3, 4, and 5 of the world, DNA, Elisa (both from Finland) and 3 Austria, form the European podium. LMT from Latvia is ranked as number four. Iceland’s Nova is number five. 3 Denmark is number six followed by Telia Lithuania. Telia Finland is number eight. Since Telia itself doesn’t report its mobile data traffic, Tefficient assigned the Finnish country residual to Telia (after having deducted Elisa’s and DNA’s reported traffic). Bite Lithuania and Telia Denmark finish the European top ten. 

The bottom five operators are from the low usage markets of Germany (Telekom incl. M2M, Vodafone), Portugal (MEO, NOS) and the Netherlands (KPN). Highest growth in Europe went to Telia Lithuania in the twelve months to June 20245 (+9.9GB) and Telia Denmark in 2023 (+9.1GB). However, if done as a percent for growth, Vodafone Greece saw 54% in the twelve months to June 2024 and 58% in 2023. 

At the other end, it was Vodafone UK that had the slowest absolute growth in the twelve months to June 2024, +0.2GB (+2%). BT UK (based on its reported postpaid B2C) had the slowest growth in percent, +1%. In 2023, Telenor Denmark experienced a decline in the average mobile data usage per subscription with 6% (-1.2GB) according to regulatory data.

Traffic growth

Tefficient also measures total data traffic which is skewed by the big-population countries – China Mobile surpassed 1 billion mobile subscribers in June 2024 (of which 51% are on its huge 5G network consisting of 2.29 million base stations) – and these take up the traffic top spots. In fact the highest ranked European operator is just number 24 in the global rankings. 

Italy’s Wind 3 is no longer reporting but based on Tefficient’s calculation, it is the number one in Europe. Italy has experienced an explosion in mobile data usage ever since the new fourth operator, Iliad, launched 30GB for 5.99 EUR in May 2018 – which all of competition copied. Vodafone Italy is ranked number three, Iliad is ranked number six and TIM number eleven. 

The new number two in Europe is O2 Germany. Europe’s largest operator in number of mobile subscriptions had 36% traffic growth in 2023 and 24% in the twelve months to June 2024 – on par with Vodafone Germany (ranked 12th) but significantly faster than Telekom’s 12% in 2023 (ranked 9th). French operator Bouygues is number four while its competitor Free is number eight. Orange, SFR and Free could have been high ranked as well but aren’t reporting data traffic or usage. Play from Poland is number five. Based on its reported usage per B2C postpaid customer, BT ranks as number seven. The top ten ends with 3 UK.

Based on its reported usage per B2C postpaid customer for Q1 2024, BT had the slowest traffic growth of all reporting European operators in the twelve months to June 2024 – a decline of 1%. If looking at the trend in 2023, it’s instead Telenor Denmark that, according to the regulatory data, had the worst data traffic development, -5%.

Who is making money?

Mature markets make voice and messaging allowances unlimited and included them in a flat fee. Maturing markets still rely on usage-based voice and messaging. Despite the latter suggesting more revenue, Tefficient did not find this to Bev the case. Mixed with operators from Sudan and Uganda are European and Asian operators with equally high revenue per GB: KPN, Telenor and Telia Norway, Singtel, Telekom and Vodafone UK.

In 2023 was 36x difference between the operator with the highest total service revenue per gigabyte (KPN Netherlands) and the operator with the lowest (Jio India). In the first half of 2024, the multiplier was 41x. These multipliers are essentially unchanged compared to last year’s analysis. 

Tefficient: operators with the highest total mobile service revenue per consumed gigabyte

Dutch, Norwegian, German, UK, and Portuguese operators play in the bottom of the Tefficient’s global graph – where the total service revenue per consumed gigabyte is high. In the other end of the scale – where the revenue per gigabyte is low – it found operators from Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Italy, and Austria. Four European operators had higher revenue per GB in 1H 2024 than in 2023: Vodafone Ziggo from the Netherlands, BT, 3 UK and 3 Austria.

The analysts combined revenue per GB with usage and found that the operators with the highest revenue per GB in 2023 are Zain Sudan, MTN Uganda, KPN and Telenor Norway. The operators with the lowest revenue per GB are Jio, MTN Irancell, Airtel India, Indosat, Vi, AIS and XL. The operator with the highest usage is Zain Kuwait. The operator with the lowest usage is Zain Sudan. 

Tefficient acknowledged that a criticism could be made for comparing the number of gigabyte with something that relates to it – the revenue per gigabyte. It therefore also compared the number of gigabyte with the revenue per subscription (ARPU). Of all the operators there are four – T-Mobile USA, Zain Kuwait, Telenor Norway and Telia Norway – that enjoy much higher ARPU than other operators. But in the case of Zain, the data consumption is also the highest in the world. T-Mobile’s customers use relatively much data, but neither Telenor nor Telia Norway’s customers are keen data users – yet the ARPU is high.

In the middle upper part overall group is a cluster of operators with very high average data usage but moderate ARPU between 13 and 25 EUR. Here the analysts found DNA and Elisa from Finland together with Drei (3) Austria, Zain Saudi Arabia, Nova from Iceland, LMT from Latvia, Ooredoo Kuwait, and Zain Bahrain. India’s Jio continues to be an outlier. Its ARPU isn’t the lowest – and it’s growing – but considering an average data usage of more than 25GB per month, Jio is still the affordability leader of the world.

Tefficient concluded that its data showed that operators with higher data usage tend to have higher ARPU. Conversely it is quite difficult to find national examples showing that operators with higher data usage enjoy higher ARPU. It’s typically the challenger operator that has the customers with the highest data usage and challenger operators tend to have lower ARPU than incumbents.

The winners of our CTO of the Year Awards 2024 are…

Annie Turner
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The winners of our CTO of the Year Awards 2024 are…

Mobile Europe is delighted to announce the CTOs (and their teams) recognised as this year’s Trailblazer and Gamechanger

The winners of Mobile Europe’s CTO of the Year Awards are Jose Pedro Nascimento, CTO at Altice Portugal in the Gamechanger category and Colin Bannon, CTO of BT Global in the Trailblazer category.

Obviously entries to the Awards are confidential but we’re not letting too many cats out of the bag by saying that Jose Pedro’s entry was chosen for his team’s innovation on both the IT (BSS/OSS) and Network sides.

BT’s Global Fabric is new type of infrastructure and configuration that takes leaps forward in terms of architecture, efficiency, sustainability and resilience – and is why Colin Bannon and his team were chosen.

The winners were announced by Oleg Volpin, Division President: Europe, Telefonica Global & Network Solutions WW at Amdocs, which kindly sponsored the Awards. The winners were chosen by an independent panel of judges.

The runners up were:

Alexander Jenbar, T-Mobile Polska

Andrius Šemeškevičius, Telia Lithuania

Ayman Amiri, Orange Egypt

Dejan Kastelic, Vodacom, (S Africa)

Howard Watson, BT Group (UK)

Ville Virtanen, DNA (Finland)

Yogesh Malik, Tele2 Group (Nordics)

Our congratulations to them all and to everyone who entered for contributing to the outstanding quality of the field and making these Awards as prestigious as ever, this, their eleventh year.

Starlink testing ITU satellite power limits in Romania

Simon Dux
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Starlink testing ITU satellite power limits in Romania

The test, if successful, will show that Starlink satellites can operate at up to eight times the capacity currently allowed by the ITU’s EPFD limit, while still protecting geostationary satellites

Romania’s National Authority for Communications Administration and Regulation (ANCOM), the country’s Ministry of National Defence and SpaceX have conducted the first real-world test to demonstrate whether Starlink’s non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) systems can operate without interfering with geostationary satellite (GSO) networks, even with relaxed equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits. 

Aggregate individual EPFD limits were developed and agreed 25 years ago. NGSO systems using certain frequency bands must meet EPFD limits to ensure that they do not cause unacceptable interference to GSO FSS and BSS networks. However, some observers suggest the limits are potentially arbitrary.

The Romanian regulator, decided to contribute to the ongoing EPFD studies – being carried out by the ITU – through a real-world test campaign to demonstrate the protection of GSO networks under more relaxed NGSO limits.

Ahead of the test, Romania reviewed the history of how EPFD limits were set 25 years ago. At that time, ANCOM said administrations agreed on an aggregate protection criterion of 10% for “increased unavailability” of GSO links. The concept of artificial “EPFD masks” was introduced. 

These masks are specific limits (in place today) but which introduce spectrum inefficiencies because they are not actually needed, says ANCOM, having been agreed on the basis of compromises made to ensure that they would work for the theoretical non-geostationary systems studied at the time but which never became operational. 

ANCOM instead considers that an appropriate protection framework for geostationary networks includes: a complete set of geostationary reference links representing existing modern GSO operations and not just theoretical ones; and protection criteria agreed between the operators of both systems.

With these two fundamental elements it is possible to test any non-geostationary system and check the protection of geostationary communication links.

The test

Based on these considerations, in July ANCOM installed equipment for an EPFD test in real conditions, the first of its kind in the world. The Ministry of National Defense provided the link-budget link characteristics and the C/N unavailability threshold of some of the most sensitive Ku-band communication links in the country. The protection criterion selected to ensure protection is the one agreed 25 years ago, namely a 10% aggregate increase in service unavailability. 

In addition, a 3% increase in individual service unavailability will also be tested. SpaceX performed precise computer simulations to extract the operational parameters needed to achieve the 10% and 3% protection margins. 

With the agreement of ANCOM and the Ministry of National Defense, SpaceX, has been authorised to exceed the current EPFD limits and reach the agreed operational parameters in a limited area around the test site for a minimum duration of six months. Signal, interference and/or noise level data is being collected through a spectrum analyser and will be shared “in a transparent manner” between the parties involved. 

The aim is to demonstrate that the NGSO Starlink satellite network can meet the 10% and 3% protection criteria for the satellite links provided by the Ministry of National Defense through geostationary satellite networks and therefore protect them while exceeding the current EPFD limits under surveillance. 

The test will simulate a potential increase in Starlink network capacity in the test area of about 8 times the current limits. “With more efficient limits, all NGSO systems will be able to provide a better service to Romanian citizens in the future while protecting important GSO services,” said ANCOM. The regulator will present the results of the test at ITU meetings at European and international level, as part of Romania’s contribution to the ongoing EPFD studies. 

Then back to the ITU

The ITU is the UN body which, through the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), is responsible for the analysis and, if necessary, revision of the Radio Regulations (RR), the international treaty governing the allocation of GSO and the use of the related radio spectrum and that allocated for NGSO.

The last WRC was held in Dubai at the end of 2023 and at the meeting the decision was made to invite: “ITU-R to conduct technical studies on the EPFD limits in RR Article 22, including the EPFD limits in RR Article 22.5K, while still ensuring the protection of FSS and BSS geostationary networks, and to present the results, without regulatory area implications, in 4 years time at WRC-27.”

Romania believes that bridging the digital divide and ensuring connectivity requires the joint use of geostationary and non-geostationary communication satellites. ANCOM said it is important for these steps to determine whether the EPFD limits provided for in RR Article 22 are adapted to the new growing allocation requirements, bearing in mind that a balanced and efficient use of orbital and spectrum resources must be ensured. 

“Equally important is the adoption of a regulatory framework in line with the new realities, which will continue to ensure the protection of geostationary networks, while at the same time allowing the full potential of non-geostationary networks to be harnessed,” said the regulator. 

Telia Company appoints Alexandra Fürst as CTIO

Annie Turner
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Telia Company appoints Alexandra Fürst as CTIO

She will take up the post from 31 March next year, joining the operator from Dustin Group

Telia has appointed Alexandra Fürst as CTIO. She will also head up the Technology unit. As part of its change programme announced on 4 September , what was the Common Products & Services (CPS) unit will be renamed Technology from 1 De It will “remain a key enabler for the company, with expertise in IT, networks and product management”. The idea is that Telia continues to benefit from economies of scale.

Fürst is described as “an experienced leader with business acumen from leadership roles within IT and technology, most recently as Chief Operating Officer at Dustin Group, and previously as Executive Vice President of IT & Digitalisation”.

Before that, she held several roles within the technology domain at, for example Länsförsäkringar and Tietoevry. She gained a Masters in Industrial Engineering and Management at Linköping University.

Patrik Hofbauer, Telia Company President and CEO, says, “I’m very pleased to welcome Alexandra to Telia as our new Chief Technology and Information Officer… we will work to simplify and modernise Telia’s IT operations, innovate, and challenge ourselves to do an even better job for our customers and all our other stakeholders.”

Fürst added, “I’m excited to join Telia during this period of change, with an opportunity to contribute to delivering great customer experiences in the Nordic and Baltic regions [and] position the company to adopt new technologies, increase customer satisfaction, and really stand out from the competition.”

CPS will be known as Technology from 1 December, when organisational changes are planned once ongoing union negotiations are concluded. One of the drivers of the change programme is for Telia to save €229 million in operating expenses, including reducing its workforce by 15%, which equates to about 3,000 jobs.

In the interim, Hein Müskens will continue as acting Head of the unit alongside his position as Chief Information Officer. He will report to Fürst when she joins Telia.

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