A few months ago Ofcom launched a new consultation that proposed to only allow broadband ISPs to use the terms “fibre” and “full-fibre” on their sites and in contracts “if their network uses fibre-optic cables all the way from the exchange to the home” (FTTP). But feedback suggests that the biggest providers are not supportive.

Over the years’ there have been various attempts to correct this, such as a review conducted by the ASA / Advertising Standards Authority (here) and a failed court challenge by CityFibre (here). Back in 2021 the Gigabit Take-Up Advisory Group (GigaTAG) also proposed several changes (here), including clearer labelling of broadband packages, but so far nothing has really succeeded.

The Regulator Takes a Stand

Back in May 2023 (here) the regulator, Ofcom, pointed out that pure Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines were due to become the dominant broadband delivery technology in the UK, and thus they felt it was finally time to address how the term “fibre” was still being “used inconsistently” by internet providers. The biggest ISPs, with a legacy of FTTC/HFC style solutions, have historically been the worst offenders on this front.

The regulator isn’t due to publish the outcome of this consultation until sometime in the coming Autumn, but they have recently published a summary of the responses they’ve had from various ISPs (credits to GreenLantern22 on our forum for spotting), which makes for interestingly reading.

Overall, the alternative networks (e.g. CityFibre, CommunityFibre, Gigaclear, Fern Group, Ogi and toob), most of which are building FTTP, were almost universally in favour of Ofcom’s proposals. The exception was Hyperoptic, which agreed with Ofcom’s push, but they also wanted it extended to include Fibre-to-the-Basement (FTTB) connections (they’ve built a lot of those) because, they said, such connections deliver “comparable services” (there’s usually only a little bit of Ethernet/LAN style cable involved); it will be interesting to see which way Ofcom goes on that one.

The debate over what should and should not be considered a “fibre” service has been going on for well over a decade. Hopefully by now most people should already know that fibre optic cables are made of glass (silica) or plastic, which allow information to be transmitted in the form of laser light. This makes them significantly more capable (speed, reliability etc.) than traditional metal (copper, aluminium etc.) based cables, which transmit data using electrical signs and are more prone to significant signal degradation over distance.

Despite this unavoidable fact, numerous ISPs have spent over a decade selling slower “part-fibre” or “hybrid-fibre” (e.g. FTTC / VDSL2, G.fast, Hybrid Fibre Coax) solutions as “fibre broadband” products, which is one of the reasons why so many people continue to be confused about the terminology today (i.e. if you think you’ve got a “fibre” service already, then you may be less likely to contemplate an upgrade to true FTTP).

Read the full story here.

Infinera and LightRiver have announced the successful completion of a multi-vendor interoperability technology demonstration. According to the joint statement, this collaboration showcases the capabilities of their respective solutions, focusing on coherent pluggable solutions, network orchestration, and automation.

Technology Demonstration

The demonstration involved Infinera, a company known for its intelligent coherent pluggable technology (ICE-X), and LightRiver, a provider of netFLEX Transport Domain Orchestration and Control Software.

The demonstration highlighted the successful integration of Infinera’s ICE-X coherent pluggable technology with LightRiver’s netFLEX software, showing how these technologies can work seamlessly together.

The demonstration includes Infinera’s ICE-X line of intelligent coherent pluggables deployed in third-party host devices, including routers from Juniper Networks operating over a Smartoptics open ROADM system and the leading FTTX PON solution, said the official release.

Network Efficiency

The main focus was on how network orchestration, combined with intelligent coherent pluggable solutions, can significantly enhance network efficiency. This includes improvements in operation, management, and capacity expansion.

The demonstration illustrated the ability of Infinera’s Intelligent Pluggables Manager (IPM) software to enable multi-vendor network automation. This allows different vendor solutions to work together harmoniously, potentially reducing operational complexities.

Read the full story here.

UK Regulator Ofcom has released its Summer 2023 Study, based on mobile coverage and fixed broadband availability in the UK, as of April and May this year 

According to the ‘Connected Nations’ report, “Full fibre” (FTTP) now reaches 52% of the UK, equalling 15.4 million households. This is up from 48% in January this year. The report notes that this growth has been predominately driven by deployments from larger fibre operators, but has been supported by a number of smaller altnets, serving individual regions and communities. 

However, the UK’s coverage of fixed “superfast broadband”, remains unchanged at 97%, but Northern Ireland saw an increase of 1%, up to 97%. The 3% unable to access this are likely to be in hard-to-reach areas. The study found that the ‘vast majority’ of the UK can access what is described as ‘decent broadband’, meaning download speeds of at least 10 Megabits per second (Mbit/s) and upload speeds of 1 Mbit/s. 

Gigabit-capable broadband availability has reached 75% of homes, or 22.4 million, up from 21.9 million (73%) in January this year, when their last report was published. 

Regarding mobile coverage, there were no notable increases since the January report, however coverage remains stable, with 93% of the UK predicted to have good outdoor 4G coverage from one operator at least.  

5G coverage continues to expand, with 85% of premises able to access outdoor 5G coverage. 

The usage of 3G continues to decline, with its switch off already underway. Virgin Media O2 confirmed this week that its 3G switch off will begin in 2025, becoming the final major UK operator to do so. 

Read the full story here.

UK-based full fibre broadband provider, Community Fibre, has announced that more than 1 million residential properties in London are now connected to its fibre broadband services. According to the official release, the company reported a 75 percent expansion of its network footprint in the last 12 months.

Symmetrical Broadband Packages

The Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers a range of symmetrical broadband packages, ranging from 150 Mbps to 3 Gbps. According to the company, these packages are up to 45.9 times faster than the UK’s average download speed and 193.5 times faster than the average upload speed.

Also Read: Virgin Media O2 Expands Broadband Services With XGS-PON Technology Across UK

Connecting London Businesses

Community Fibre said its network expansion also benefits businesses, with over 212,000 London-based enterprises now within 100 meters of its network footprint. These businesses can take advantage of up to 10 Gbps symmetrical speeds for their operations and growth.

Community Fibre expressed pride in the company’s role in providing faster, cheaper, and more reliable fibre broadband to over one million London properties.

The Internet Service Provider (ISP), owned by funds advised by Warburg Pincus LLC, DTCP, Railpen, and NDIF, also emphasized its commitment to offerings, such as setting new out-of-contract pricing standards capped at Euros 2 across all packages and providing easy access to the social tariff without requiring consumers to provide proof of eligibility criteria.

Read the full story here.

Adtran is the latest telecom equipment company to announce that it’s ramping up domestic manufacturing in order to meet “Buy America” rules for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The company on Wednesday said it will invest up to $5 million in its Hunstville, Alabama, facility, creating 300 jobs. The investment will allow Adtran to expand its US production of optical line termination (OLT) equipment and onshore the manufacturing of optical network terminals (ONTs).

“We of course expect to be BEAD-compliant,” Adtran CEO Tom Stanton said at an event hosted at the company’s 270,000-square-foot facility in Huntsville.

Adtran further said it will work to engage new hires by partnering with local schools for its high school apprenticeship program and developing a co-op program for college students.

The announcement from Adtran follows this month’s news that Nokia will partner with Sanmina Corporation to manufacture broadband network electronics products for BEAD at Sanmina’s facility in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, starting next year.

Additionally today, Nokia announced its partnership with optical supplier Fabrinet to domestically produce fiber broadband optical modules for BEAD. Production will start next year at Fabrinet’s facility in Santa Clara, California, “and brings additional high-tech jobs to the country,” said the company.

Jobs and manufacturing

Speaking at Wednesday’s event at Adtran’s Huntsville facility, NTIA Chief Alan Davidson thanked the company for its investment and noted that BEAD is “not just a connectivity program. It is a jobs and manufacturing program.”

Read the full story here.

BT and Ericsson have demonstrated the transmission of 5G services in a wideband frequency division duplex (FDD) radio carrier (over 20MHz) within a sub-3GHz spectrum band.

In what is a European first according to both, the breakthrough demonstrates the benefits of configuring a wide carrier bandwidth of 50MHz in EE’s 2.6GHz band and performing downlink aggregation with two TDD carrier in EE’s 3.5GHz band.

The trial also evaluated an intermediate carrier bandwidth of 30MHz.

“This breakthrough is the latest example of our commitment to maximising the full potential of 5G for our customers,” said Greg McCall, chief networks officer at BT.

“As network quality and accessibility improve, so too will innovation and the 5G services ecosystem. Demonstrating new network capabilities such as those announced today is critical to achieving this goal, and also paves the way to ensuring that 5G SA delivers new possibilities for our customers.”

Conducted on BT’s live network in Bristol and Potters Bar using existing Ericsson commercial hardware and by activating the software feature ‘Large Bandwidth Support Low-Band’, testing with MediaTek Dimensity powered handsets with integrated MediaTek M80 Release-16 modem, the trial has shown a capacity uplift of more than three times with a single FDD carrier.

This is significant for the uplink in 5G Standalone (SA) which is currently based on a single carrier.

5G SA will enable superior experiences, the companies said in a statement, adding that it will enable growing demand for data, driven by cloud gaming, VR and other emerging edge technologies.

Read the full story here.