Companies news August 2016

Vodafone considers UK broadband network build: the Telegraph reported that Vodafone was considering investing in its own broadband network in the UK, based on a trial of delivery via BT’s network of ducts and poles (more background on this here and also see ISP Review): “It is understood that Vodafone’s six-week trial in King’s Lynn was recently completed, with findings fed back into a confidential industry working group. Sources familiar with the work said there were problems with blocked ducts, costs and the availability of maps of BT’s ducts.”

Openreach announced tests of Long Reach VDSL in the Hebrides, which offers the potential to significantly increase the broadband speeds achievable over the long telephone lines found in remote rural areas (again, see further technical analysis from ISP Review). Openreach also published its Dark Fibre Reference Offer designed to give other operators direct access to its fibre optic cables to provision their own services. This was called for by Ofcom earlier this year as one of the outcomes from its most recent Business Connectivity Market Review (more background here).

ISP Review also reported that Openreach is to roll-out fibre to the premise (FTTP) broadband services to around 3,000 homes and businesses in London’s Mayfair. It also reported that BT will enable IPv6 on its network from Autumn 2016, that Openreach has further reduced its 100Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s Ethernet prices and that BT, as part of its Community Fibre Partnerships initiative (more here), has dedicated £2m to award as grants to communities with an eligible school to “enable super-fast access in the classroom as well as at home and in the community”.

The debate over the future of Openreach continued this month: the Financial Times reported that Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT, wrote to Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk to complain that their ‘Fix Britain’s Internet’ campaign is misleading consumers and “talking down” Britain. The campaign (more details here) is seeking to drive responses to Ofcom’s current consultation (which closes on 4th October 2016) on how Openreach should operate in future (also see coverage from uSwitch). In the same article, the FT reported that BT will launch its own campaign in the coming weeks highlighting the strength of Britain’s broadband infrastructure. Cable reported on the coalition’s defence of their campaign, while BBC News and the Telegraph reported remarks by former business minister Anna Soubry MP that Openreach should be made a separate company from the rest of BT. The Telegraph also reported on criticism of BT’s spending on football broadcasting rights by TalkTalk, which regards the expenditure as detrimental to BT’s investment in infrastructure. BT disputed the claims.

Other companies news this month:

• The Telegraph reported that Virgin Media is considering further investment to increase the reach of its ongoing Project Lightning network expansion. Government Computing reported on the completion of a project to upgrade connectivity for 2,084 London schools by Virgin Media and the London Grid for Learning (LGfL).
• CityFibre announced partnerships with Pure Broadband to provision a next generation fibre network in Hull and with HighNet to offer services in Glasgow via a gigabit network that will commence construction later this year, with the first connections expected to go live in early 2017. CityFibre also reported that it is on track to complete the installation of Edinburgh’s new 150km ultra-fast network by the end of September this year, while ISP Review reported that CityFibre has partnered with Exa Networks to deliver services via its network in Sheffield.
• ITS Technology Group announced a multi-million pound 20-year concession agreement with Nottingham City Council to provision an open access network via the city’s telecommunications ducting installed as part of the NET tram extension.
• Finally the Telegraph reported on smaller broadband providers targeting small businesses, including Venus, Toople, Metronet (which launched a wholesale platform this month), Optimity and Warwicknet.