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Vodafone, Meta optimise short-form videos for better network efficiency

Annie Turner
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Vodafone, Meta optimise short-form videos for better network efficiency

The tech has been deployed in 11 European markets and the two are looking to share their approach with other players in the ecosystem

Vodafone and Meta have collaborated to free up network capacity for all mobile customers, including allowing them to view more high-quality short videos. This network optimisation has been applied in 11 European markets since the start of June this year.

In an initial three-week test conducted in the UK in April 2024, the companies recorded “a meaningful reduction” in network traffic for Meta applications across Vodafone’s mobile network. In particular, Vodafone freed up network resources on some of its most popular 4G/5G sites benefiting all of the network’s users at these busy locations, such as shopping centres and transport hubs.

The two companies are open to working with “all players in the ecosystem to improve the efficient use of network resources”.

Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone, said, “Meta’s willingness to optimise the delivery of video for its applications leads the way for a more efficient use of existing network resources. Vodafone and Meta have implemented these optimisations across Vodafone’s European markets and intend to continue collaborating to foster additional efficiencies.”

Meta intends to build on efforts to improve optimisation and efficiency through improvements in video engineering and deployment of infrastructure, to boost users’ experience and the efficiency of video applications.

Gaya Nagarajan, Vice-President of Network Engineering at Meta, stated, “Our relationship with Vodafone is a long-term partnership, and collaboration on video optimisation is an opportunity to drive innovation and shape the future of the internet. We are committed to continuing our collaboration with innovative partners like Vodafone, device manufacturers, equipment vendors and the wider digital ecosystem, to push the boundaries of video optimisation.”

EE offers Scam Guard to consumer customers for £1 a month

Annie Turner
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EE offers Scam Guard to consumer customers for £1 a month

Last year 16% of UK consumers lost money through a phone scam, costing an average of £632 – now EE is leveraging Hiya’s AI to examine every aspect of every incoming call  

From today, EE’s pay monthly customers can subscribe to a new service, Scam Guard for a £1 a month. It is designed to protect its consumer customers from scams and online threats. This includes against potentially fraudulent calls, data and online activity.

EE is the most biggest network provider in the UK, with over 22% of consumers, according to U-switch. The mobile operator’s website says, “EE is one of the UK’s largest subscription businesses, serving 25 million customers, backed by the UK’s fastest mobile network, and offering superfast connections in more places than any other mobile provider.”

All generations are potential targets. EE blocks around 15 million suspicious calls and texts every month and blocked more than 84 million attempted scams in the first six months of 2024, twice the number in the same period last year.

Scam Guard labels possible spam and scams as just that (see above) using AI from Hiya that analyses all aspects of every call in real time to identify those that are suspicious. An early(ish) example of AI providing new revenue streams for operators?

Some 40% of crimes committed in the UK are fraud based and 96% of all phone users regularly suffer nuisance calls. A study from Hiya found that 16% of UK consumers reported losing money to a phone scam in the last year, with those who were scammed losing £632 on average.

Scam Guard also monitors the dark web and alerts subscribers if their personal information, like bank card details and email login info, is found and provides details of breaches and tips for securing personal info. 

The subscription offers free Cyber Security Duo from Norton for three months for those signing up now which provides real-time protection for up to two devices against viruses, malware, online threats and provides tools for stronger password creation and social media security.

It identifies unsafe texts with links, personal information monitoring on the dark web and protection of social media accounts. On average Norton blocks nearly 250,000 attacks every day in the UK.  

Norton found that 72% of UK adults don’t understand how the dark web works, and 40% have never heard of a dark web monitoring service to see if their personal information is on the dark web. Hence Scam Guard seeks to educate as well eliminate threats.

Helen Burrows, Policy Director for BT said: “Our investment in Scam Guard is something we are all incredibly proud of. We truly believe it will make a significant contribution to the prevention of scams and fraudsters.

“EE was a founding member of Stop Scams UK, and part of a cross-industry alliance to share intelligence on scams. We also employ security experts and network-level security to safeguard our network and customers from cyber-attacks. This is something we take seriously, and while we already block an impressive number of scams, there is always more that we can do. Scam Guard covers all bases so customers can feel safer on our network.” 

Scam Guard is now available to all EE pay monthly mobile customers and will be available to purchase as an add on. Dark Web Monitoring and access to free Cyber Security Duo for three months can only be activated by the account holder. For more information go to https://ee.co.uk/security/scam-guard. 

Google Fiber trials 50G PON with Nokia 

Simon Dux
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Google Fiber trials 50G PON with Nokia 

Trial builds on previously announced 25G PON deployment, giving GFiber the flexibility to add future 50Gbps broadband services using the same fibre

GFiber Labs has successfully tested 50Gbps broadband speeds over its live fibre network in Kansas City. The operator has already upgraded its network to XGS-PON wherever possible, enabling 8Gbps speeds and above in all its cities and is working to deploy Nokia 25G PON in all of our markets by the end of the year, so that the operator can extend access to GFiber Lab’s 20 Gig plan. 

“We already have customers putting this new level of service to the test in North Carolina’s Triangle, and we’re adding new customers to the early access program in select markets,” said Google Fiber senior director, product & billing Liz Hsu (above). “50G PON has the advantage of co-existing with XGS-PON and 25G PON to make the technology transition easier, which may make it the solution for the future.” 

“We have committed to pursuing speeds of 100G and beyond,” she said. “Today is a step in that direction, in close collaboration with Nokia, we are, for the first time in the United States, testing 50G on our live network in Kansas City…There are plenty of other areas that we are looking at including the in-home experience or advanced content experiences, as well as using AI to identify and solve problems in our network before they even occur.” 

This live network demonstration of 50G PON technology shows how operators can use Nokia’s Lightspan MF fibre access platform to upgrade their fibre networks to meet growing demand. Nokia points out there are more than 12 operators around the world who are already gaining the benefits of 25G PON, and the ecosystem is maturing with more than 5 ONT vendors bringing 25G PON solutions to the market.  

Some operators currently deploying 25G PON include Google Fiber, EPB, Vodafone Qatar and OGI. The vendor believes the ecosystem for 25G PON is mature, with more than 60 operators, system vendors, chipset, and optical suppliers part of an MSA focused on standardizing and accelerating the technology. 

In April, Nokia worked with Australian government-owned wholesaler NBN Co to demonstrate 10G, 25G, 50G and 100G broadband speeds over its existing fibre network. The trial showed how operators can enhance 10G PON to symmetrical 25G PON and eventually evolve to 50G PON or 100G using the same passive and active fibre components. Nokia points out it is a key contributor to 50G PON industry standard and introduced the industry’s first true 50G platform in 2020 with the Lightspan MF platform. Once the 50G PON industry matures, the step to 100G is “straightforward”, according to the company. 

“Service providers need to be able to select the right technology, based on their needs and business case,” said Nokia vice president of broadband networks Geert Heyninck. “It is why we already offer 10G and 25G today, are trialing 50G, and developing 100G – ultimately leading to a full range of PON technologies that can be mixed and matched on the same platform and the same fibre. Our expansive toolkit of fibre solutions allows Google Fiber to future-proof their network and flexibly address their evolving network demands.”  

Leveraging Nokia’s fibre solution, Google Fiber was able to simultaneously run 10/25G PON along with 25/50G PON broadband service over its fibre network. “This test with Nokia builds on the 25G PON deployment we announced together last year, paving the way for future improvements to our network that enhance customer experience in terms of speed, reliability, innovation and support for future business cases that have yet to be defined,” said Hsu.  

Portugal: Regulator blocks Vodafone acquiring Nowo; stc pulls out of MEO bid

Annie Turner
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Portugal: Regulator blocks Vodafone acquiring Nowo; stc pulls out of MEO bid

The watchdog fears price rises if Vodafone acquires minnow Nowo while stc has been unable to agree terms with Altice Group on deal to buy incumbent MEO for €8bn

Vodafone Portugal’s desire to expand by acquiring Nowo Communications for a modest €150 million has been blocked by the country’s regulator, the Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC).

Nowo Communications, formerly known as Cabovisao, is the country’s fourth-largest operator. The AdC ruled against its acquisition by Vodafone after a protracted investigation. Vodafone announced its plans to acquire Nowo in 2022.

The regulator’s long report on why the acquisition would have been a bad thing boils down the finding that the combined entity would impede competition and harm consumers. Apparently Nowo acts as a brake on price increases by its three larger rivals – Vodafone, Nos and MEO, part of the beleaguered Altice Group (see below).

AdC attached particular importance to this during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Vodafone combined with Nowo would still have been the second largest operator behind the incumbent MEO, formerly Portugal Telecom.

Vodafone isn’t the only one having a hard time getting a deal done in Portugal. Patrick Drahi, who controls the Altice Group, has been trying to sell MEO for more than a year to help pay off the group’s €60 billion or so debt, acquired when Drahi was building his empire and money was cheap.

It has been reported that the Saudi operator group stc and Xavier Niel’s Iliad Group were the last two potential bidders, with stc seen as the frontrunner, reportedly prepared to stump up €8 billion. However local media suggests that stc has pulled out of the bid as the two parties could not agree on terms.

Earlier this week, MEO signed a deal with Nokia to upgrade its RAN infrastructure.

GSMA Foundry: bridging the innovation gap through industry collaboration

admin
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GSMA Foundry: bridging the innovation gap through industry collaboration

Partner content: The most impactful innovations in connectivity enhance and expedite our lives and businesses, helping us to perform our everyday needs and presenting us with new opportunity

These innovations emerge through collaboration, where shared technology, ideas and expertise yield mutual economic benefits and societal advancement.

However, many innovation efforts in the telecoms industry are hindered by siloed approaches, fragmentation and duplication. In addition, investment in innovation projects remains flat as the spend in other technology sectors soars.

The GSMA Foundry helps to address the widening innovation gap by providing a consolidated home of telco innovation – the go-to place to collaborate to develop commercially viable ideas at scale and pace with the key players in the industry. 

Launched in 2021, the GSMA Foundry brings together organisations of all sizes to foster collaboration and innovation. Our mission is to pioneer new approaches and make lasting contributions to society, connecting everyone and everything to a better future. We aim to create a hub for cross-industry collaboration, welcoming all players to develop fresh solutions to industry challenges and unlock new use cases through commercial trials. The GSMA Foundry supports projects at all stages of development, from brand-new concepts to proven solutions needing regional or global scaling.

This first edition of the GSMA Foundry Mobile Innovation Report celebrates the successes to date – from transformative projects to strategic partnerships and how to get involved.

Collaboration in Practice

The GSMA Foundry has already demonstrated the power of collaborative innovation with several industry firsts. One notable project is the ‘5G – Enabling Enterprise Drones to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS)‘ initiative. This collaboration between Ericsson Drone Mobility, TDC NET and other ecosystem partners in Denmark developed a 5G-enabled communication infrastructure for UAS. This infrastructure ensures drones can stay consistently and securely connected to the TDC NET mobile network, enabling applications such as environmental inspections, precision farming and lifesaving supply deliveries.

Another example is the ‘Smart Agri – 5G Automated Farming Solutions‘ project by ZTE and China Mobile. They used 5G connectivity to automate rice production on 12,000 acres of marginal land near Da’an City, Jilin Province. The 5G-enabled farm management solution optimises the use of water, fertiliser, fuel and seeds, significantly reducing labour costs. The project has already yielded economic benefits of 3.3 million yuan (€450,000) through a 10% increase in output and savings in materials and labour costs, while the smart irrigation system uses 40% less water than conventional systems.

Encouraging Future Collaboration

We are currently supporting dozens of new projects, including ‘5G New Calling,’ set to revolutionise traditional voice and video call services with capabilities like Ultra HD, Intelligent, and Interactive video calling. This collaboration involves over ten members, including Ericsson, Huawei and Vivo.

Additionally, the GSMA Foundry and the European Space Agency (ESA) have partnered to enhance collaboration between mobile and satellite industries, accelerating innovation in integrating satellite communications with 5G and future 6G networks.

We encourage more companies to collaborate with the mobile community and contribute to the next wave of mobile innovations. For the remainder of 2024, we will focus on projects in 5G, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Artificial Intelligence (AI), efficiency and monetisation. We invite anyone developing a relevant project to join us.

Submit your projects to the GSMA Foundry here.

Portugal’s MEO signs multi-year 5G RAN contract with Nokia

Annie Turner
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Portugal’s MEO signs multi-year 5G RAN contract with Nokia

The deal includes replacing 2G and 4G infrastructure and upgrading 5G capabilities

MEO, part of the Altice Group and formerly Portugal Telecom, has signed a multi-year contract with Nokia to modernise operator’s RAN infrastructure and upgrade its 5G.

Under the contract, Nokia will supply equipment from its 5G AirScale portfolio which is based on its energy-efficient ReefShark System-on-Chip technology. This includes Massive MIMO, baseband and remote radio head solutions for both indoors and outdoors.

MEO will also deploy Nokia’s MantaRay self-organising network (SON) for optimisation and network assurance.

MEO will rely on Nokia’s Global Delivery Centre in Portugal for project delivery and support services. This collaboration will tap into the vendor’s talent pool, tools and operational capabilities. Nokia also has a 5G R&D facility in Portugal which the vendor says will benefit MEO.

José Pedro Nascimento, Chief Technology Officer at MEO, said, “As a market leader, we are committed to continuously improving our network and always providing the best experience for our customers…This modernisation will enable us to bring in exciting possibilities and generate new value for both individuals and businesses.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, added, “MEO is a leading telecommunications operator in Portugal…Together, we aim to unlock the potential of 5G to support the digital transformation of industries and redefine customer experiences.”

Vodafone UK’s new 2.2Gbps synch broadband goes live

Annie Turner
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Vodafone UK’s new 2.2Gbps synch broadband goes live

The UK’s fastest broadband is offered by Vodafone but runs exclusively on CityFibre’s network, part of the government’s Project Gigabit programme for underserved areas

CityFibre, the UK’s biggest fibre altnet provider, has connected the first customer to its new network in Cambridgeshire, rolled-out as part of the government’s Project Gigabit programme.

The programme provides subsidy to extend full fibre rollouts to hard-to-reach rural homes and businesses across the UK in areas that might otherwise miss out on upgrades to next-generation speeds. 

The first person to connect to the CityFibre network for the new, synchronous (same upload and download speed) 2.2Gbps service is a Vodafone customer in the village of Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. The new speed tier is available exclusively on CityFibre’s national network.

The customer is Josh Newman, from Grantchester. He said “I’m a filmmaker and a film lecturer, so I deal with quite large files. But my upload speed at the moment tops out at 18Mbps. It just means that uploading cuts, uploading rushes, takes a really long time. And it really throttles the internet for everyone in the house and there’s four of us.

“My wife is working for the NHS, doing a lot of video conferences, dealing with research in public health. So her internet connection is vital for what she does. My children obviously are using the Internet for entertainment and also for school work. So we’re a fairly high-usage family. It will be really significant for us to have faster internet.  I’m looking forward to the benefits it will bring us.”

The connection marks an important milestone for CityFibre, which is rolling out its 10Gbps-capable full fibre networks to almost 465,000 hard-to-reach homes through the Project Gigabit programme. 

Rob Winterschladen, Consumer Director, at Vodafone UK, said, “Project Gigabit is a game-changer for rural communities, who can now enjoy the same full fibre benefits of gigabit speeds and improved reliability as those living in cities. Whether it’s for work, education, entertainment or socialising, our customers can do more of what they love online, with no limits.”

Simon Holden, Group Chief Operations Officer at CityFibre, said: “We’re thrilled to see the first customer connected on our Project Gigabit rollout and to welcome Vodafone’s launch of its fastest home broadband service exclusively over our network. This is an important milestone for CityFibre and for the hundreds of thousands of hard-to-reach homes and businesses left stranded on legacy copper networks. We look forward to working with government and our partners to bring the benefits of full fibre and multi-gig services to rural premises nationwide.”

Ericsson announces another, $1.1 bn write-down on Vonage

Annie Turner
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Ericsson announces another, $1.1 bn write-down on Vonage

This reduces the value of Vonage to about a third of what Ericsson paid for it in July 2022 – revenue from network APIs are clearly not coming in fast enough

Ericsson is to include a non-cash impairment charge of $1.1 billion in its next financial results, largely resulting from its acquisition of Vonage, the Communication Platform-as-a-Service platform (CPaaS), in 2022 for $6.2 billion.

The acquisition surprised the industry at the time and many pundits thought it ill-advised. In October 2023, less than two years after the deal, the Swedish firm devalued the acquisition by almost half, writing down $2.94 billion in a non-cash charge in the third quarter.

Now, nine months later, the Swedish equipment manufacturer said this second write-down was due to the deteriorating market environment and values the CPaaS at about a third of what it paid.

What has brought this about? In May, Gartner Research published insights into why the CPaaS sector is struggling. In short, the CPaaS market grew on the back of offerings like SMS and voice calls, but these first-generation services are commoditised and income from them is falling.

Gartner says that although CPaaS vendors have developed “substantial capabilities in areas such as advanced security, messaging, conversations, artificial intelligence (AI) and video”, end-users’ adoption has been limited.

Commenting on research released in October 2023 by Synergy Research Group, Fazil Balkaya, its Principal Analyst, said, “We are at a pivotal point of the CPaaS market where usage and API based interactions can prove further value during the current macroeconomic conditions. The CPaaS market maintains a strong double-digit growth and the market is poised to exceed $10 billion run rate in 2025.”

The long and the short of it is that network APIs are yet enough to justify the monetary value of the Vonage deal. This is despite much fanfare over recent deals such as Telstra’s last month when it announced it is working with Vonage and will add its network APIs to the platform to spur growth in the operator’s enterprise sector.

In May, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier (DTGC) announced a new portfolio to meet the needs of its wholesale customers and their enterprise clients and the first such offer in Europe. It enables wholesalers to manage wholesale services for their customers and configure the ready-to-go white label section to suit their brands and needs via a portal, provided by Vonage.

You can read a fuller analysis of the Communication Platform-as-a-Service market here.

BT, Nokia and Qualcomm succeed in 5GSA carrier aggregation test

Annie Turner
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BT, Nokia and Qualcomm succeed in 5GSA carrier aggregation test

The tech is designed to boost capacity and enable faster downlink speeds in areas of dense population

BT Group, Nokia and Qualcomm have carried out what they say is the first test of 5G carrier aggregation using five components in Europe. Carrier aggregation is designed to increase capacity and downlink speeds in areas of high demand.

The trial took place at BT’s R&D base, Adastral Park in the east of England (pictured), on live spectrum with a Qualcomm Snapdragon modem and Nokia’s 5G AirScale portfolio equipment. BT said the test is part of its preparations for launching its standalone 5G network later this year, under its EE brand.

The test’s downlink speeds hit a high of 1.85Gbps by aggregating three frequency-division duplexing (FDD) carriers with two time-division multiplexing (TDD) carriers which had a combined bandwidth of 150MHz.

The FDD carriers were NR2600 (30MHz), NR2100 (20MHz), NR1800 (20MHz) and the MDD were both NR3600 (40+40MHz).

Carrier aggregation can combine all available mid-band radio spectrum to provide 5G Standalone devices with a reliable high-speed connection when required.

EE’s 5G Standalone network will also be able to use a “low frequency sixth carrier to provide a superior experience in more places, including indoors”, apparently.

The operator’s Chief Networks Officer, Greg McCall, has publicly stated that BT would not launch 5G Standalone until it was satisfied that the services it support differentiates the operator in the market.

In the statement announcing the successful trial, McCall said BT intended to “further…the benefits of carrier aggregation in delivering greater throughput and speeds to customers. This is particularly important as more and more devices come to market with 5CC [five carrier component] CA [carrier aggregation] capabilities.

“We are focused on maximising our spectrum assets to deliver the very best experience to our customers with that in mind.”

Last August, BT with partners Ericsson and MediaTek, successfully trialled a wideband frequency division duplex (FDD) radio carrier for 5G services, over 20MHz, in EE’s 2.6GHz spectrum.  

Last year, BT Group and Nokia also successfully demonstrated 4CC CA in 5G SA downlink with concurrent 2CC CA in 5G SA uplink.

VMO2, Vodafone extend network sharing and agree spectrum deal

Annie Turner
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0
VMO2, Vodafone extend network sharing and agree spectrum deal

The proposed spectrum deal strengthens Three UK and Vodafone’s case for their proposed merger, under investigation by the competition authority

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) and Vodafone UK have agreed to extend their long-established network sharing agreement into the mid 2030s. No further details were available. They will also enter into a spectrum deal that addresses some of the concerns regarding Vodafone’s proposed merger with Three UK, if the merger goes through. Again, details were not forthcoming.

Under the terms of the proposal VMO2 will acquire spectrum from the merged entity at market value. The deal is currently under scrutiny by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

In a statement, the would-be mergees claim this spectrum deal with VMO2 would address “the current imbalances in spectrum holding” and allow both the merged entity and VMO2 to provide greater capacity, speed and coverage.

According to a joint statement from VMO2 and Vodafone UK, the spectrum deal after the merger would create “three scaled mobile network operators, each with better alignment of spectrum holding”.

The two also say that their merger would result in better “mobile connectivity, choice and competition”. The merged entity has committed to investing £11 billion in its infrastructure over the next 10 years, plus VMO2’s planned annual investment of £2 billion in its networks and services.

This will benefit consumers and business customers, they add, including MVNOs who will have “a choice of three high-quality, scaled wholesale competitors…supporting an already thriving MVNO segment in the UK”.

“The proposed merger, together with this agreement, will boost competition by establishing a strong third player in the UK mobile market and will improve the balance of spectrum holdings, levelling the playing field between the UK’s mobile operators,” said Ahmed Essam, Vodafone CEO for European Markets. According to VMO2’s CEO, Lutz Schüler, the agreement “addresses the issues we have voiced and the CMA outlined in its initial decision, and will now continue our engagement with the regulator in this spirit.”

EE, owned by incumbent BT, has the UK’s largest mobile network and has opposed the Vodafone and Three merger in its response the CMA’s consultation.

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