This week, the UK Government finally published its long-awaited Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy that highlighted ‘building ships in Scotland’, and a commitment to move away from a previous policy of ‘‘competition by default’.

The document also revealed new details about a planned new Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship for the Royal Navy and reaffirmed prior plans to develop a new class of Type 32 Frigates as well new Fleet Solid Support Ships. 

The IR said the new Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship would demonstrate the UK’s ‘more integrated approach in practice’ with the vessel being tasked with protecting critical national infrastructure at sea such as undersea cables and ‘improving our knowledge of the maritime environment.’

The document also said: “The Royal Navy’s Offshore Patrol Vessels, alongside the UK Border Force, will continue to support border surveillance, shipping safety, maritime environmental protection, fishery activity control, search and rescue operations and customs enforcement.”

The document also said spending would ‘deliver’ the UK’s plans for eight new Type 26 Frigates being built by BAE Systems and five new Type 31 Frigates that are to be built by Babcock. 

In a statement, Babcock – makers of the Type 31 Frigate – told Naval Technology: “We welcome the themes of the Integrated Review, including the recognition of a shift to a more technology and innovation-based defence strategy. 

“It’s also good to see that there is a clear aim to build on the UK’s relationships with key partners such as France, Australia, Canada and New Zealand; all countries in which Babcock has defence operations today.”

The IR also promised to implement a new defence and security industrial strategy – set to be aligned with the Government’s plans for growth. On this, the document reads: “It will constitute a more strategic approach to our core industrial base, from building ships in Scotland and armoured vehicles in Wales to manufacturing aircraft in England and satellites in Northern Ireland.”

Unions respond

The document also said the UK would move away from the 2012 ‘competition by default’ policy to prioritise ‘UK industrial capability’ where necessary for national security or operational reasons. 

Read more here.

Virgin Media is trialling Infinera’s XR Optics technology with the possibility of using it to deliver multi-gigabit speeds to customers.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Virgin Media, said:

“Our next-generation network already offers gigabit connectivity to more than seven million homes, but with data use and demand for hyperfast speeds surging, we’re continually investing in our network to prepare for whatever the future brings.

Innovations like this ensure our customers continue to benefit from the UK’s fastest widely available speeds, pave the way for future network upgrades and help support the rollout of multi-gigabit broadband and mobile services.”

XR Optics claims to “break the inherent limitations of traditional point-to-point optical transmission solutions” with improved coherent optical subcarrier aggregation and a pluggable and software-enabled architecture designed to reduce the cost of deploying and operating optical networks.

Traditional network transceivers are replaced with cutting-edge versions which split a single fibre optic cable into multiple connections:

The upgraded transceivers use standard passive fibre optic access network (PON) technology which means they can be remotely configured and enable the network operator to make changes in the future.

Virgin Media installed Infinera’s technology in Reading and found the equipment – which can be plugged into the existing network – was able to reach transfer rates of up to 400Gbps in a single fibre.

Dave Welch, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Infinera, commented:

“The trial with Virgin Media provides a solid proof point that Infinera’s XR optics technology can be seamlessly applied to existing networks.

This represents a radical shift in the way networks can be built, promising a more flexible and sustainable way to meet the ever-increasing need to transmit more data at higher speeds.”

The latest trial follows on from one Virgin Media conducted in 2019 where it achieved 10Gbps symmetric broadband in Papworth, Cambridgeshire. Virgin Media’s latest trial blows that away by proving its PON network can achieve 400Gbps.

With data consumption rapidly increasing, a trend which is only expected to gain further pace as more 5G traffic is carried to-and-from masts, trials such as this one will be vital to support growing demand.

A year after it was announced, the Shared Rural Network programme took one step closer to actually happening with the publication of a transparency notice.

Leaving aside questions about why it took a year to draft, you may also be wondering why a such a thing is a prerequisite at all. The answer lies in the UK’s new trading relationship with the EU, following its departure from the bloc. This kind of state aid would previously have required a green light from the European Commission and, while that’s not longer the case, we are still bound by the terms of our new trade agreement.

One of a cornerstones of global trade is that countries shouldn’t favour their own companies over foreign ones in commercial matters and that, in principle, public money shouldn’t be used to give companies an unfair trading advantage. Of course everyone tries to bend those rules, some more flagrantly than others (cough, China, cough), but that’s tough to do with such a high profile bit of state subsidy as this.

Which brings us to the Shared Rural Network (SRN) – transparency commitment publication. “The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is publishing information in relation to the SRN programme, as required by Article 3.7 of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA),” opens the document. “This transparency notice provides information on how the programme meets subsidy principles set out in Article 3.4 of the TCA…”

There follows a bunch of very dull bureaucratic legalese, which the European Commission will presumably pore over to see if it can find anything to moan about. “The programme will pursue better coverage to remedy market failures in a proportionate way, and how the subsidy will mitigate any negative effects to EU–UK trade and investment,” concludes the press release in anticipation of EC meddling.

“The Shared Rural Network is a key part of the government’s infrastructure revolution to level up and unlock new economic opportunities in every corner of the UK,” said Minister for Digital Infrastructure Matt Warman. “Mobile firms are making great progress boosting 4G services in countryside communities as part of their side of this landmark agreement. With the publication of this notice, we shall now push on with making patchy or poor coverage a thing of the past as we build back better from the pandemic.”

Hopefully. It’s not clear whether or not we need to wait for the EC to respond to this publication before going ahead with the subsidy, but that could take years. Beyond telecoms, the way this is handled on both sides of the Channel will set a precedent for the new trading relationship. Let’s hope the EC does a better job than its abject performance over the matter of Covid vaccines.

CityFibre has identified 216 additional towns and villages that are to benefit from FTTP rollout, completing the list of locations in its £4 billion nationwide investment programme.

The locations selected will see CityFibre extend its networks to much smaller conurbations, bringing FTTP to communities outside the UK’s major towns and cities. These new rollouts will reach in excess of 3 million homes and represent more than…

Read the full story on Total Tele.

Industry will pick up the rest of bill… yep, this old chestnut again

The UK government is set to release £500m of funding for the Shared Rural Network to improve mobile access in far-flung areas by adding new infrastructure and convincing operators to share their antennas with rivals.

Formally announced in March 2020, the deal also includes the UK’s four mobile providers – EE, Three, O2, and Vodafone – investing in a network of new and existing masts that is administered by a new jointly owned company called Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited. The providers are expected to chip in around £530m of their own money to facilitate this.

The aim of the project is to reduce the number of cellular “dead spots”, extending 4G LTE coverage to 95 per cent of the nation by the end of 2025, with Northern Ireland and Scotland expected to benefit the most. Work commenced in mid-2020, with Devauden in Wales the first rural settlement to receive a mobile upgrade. This was followed by Longnor, a Peak District village on the outskirts of leafy spa town Buxton.

Read the full story here.

Work to bring full fibre connectivity to communities across the Thames Valley has taken a significant step forward with CityFibre set to break ground on two new town-wide infrastructure roll-outs in Bracknell and Maidenhead. The project marks a major milestone in future-proofing the digital needs of residents and businesses today, and for generations to come.

Construction of Bracknell’s £20m full fibre network is set to commence in less than two weeks’ time, with work on Maidenhead’s £14m infrastructure roll-out on track to begin in mid-April.

VolkerSmart Technologies, which is already undertaking work in Slough and Swindon on behalf of CityFibre, will be constructing the town-wide infrastructure in both Bracknell and Maidenhead. The Jennett’s Park area will be the first location in Bracknell where construction work will take place, with Kidwells Park chosen as the location for the first build site in Maidenhead.

The team will use a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with local communities, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council and Bracknell Forrest Council to deliver a fast rollout, while minimising potential disruption. Each area will usually take a few weeks to complete; however, construction teams will typically only be outside each home for two to three days. Meanwhile, CityFibre will be in touch by mail ahead of any work starting.

The roll-outs in both locations are expected to reach completion in 2024 but services will go live as areas are completed, enabling people to take advantage of enhanced digital connectivity much sooner.

CityFibre is constructing in many locations across the Thames Valley, including Swindon and Slough where construction began in October 2020. The build is progressing well, with work now underway in the Stratton and Haydon Wick areas of Swindon and in Slough, work is ongoing across the Britwell area, heading west on Farnham Road.

Meanwhile, construction of Reading’s full fibre network kicked off shortly afterwards in January this year in the Norcot and Battle areas, with Instalcom delivering the build programme on CityFibre’s behalf.

As the network is completed in each neighbourhood, internet service providers (ISPs) will ‘light them up’ with some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available in the country. Residents interested in giving their home broadband a boost can find out more about the build and pre-register their interest at www.cityfibre.com/residential.

Speaking of the project, Stacey King, CityFibre’s City Manager for the Thames Valley, said: I’m immensely excited that work is ready to begin in Bracknell and Maidenhead, as well as proud to see the progress that is being made across the region. This is the start of an exciting new chapter for the Thames Valley as it gets ready to thrive in the digital age.

“It’s important to remember that any short-term disruption will pay off tremendously in the long-term – once the network’s built, it will serve the community’s connectivity needs for decades to come.”

Full fibre networks, unlike many of the copper-based ‘fibre broadband’ services available today, use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection. This gives users speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps for upload and download, near limitless bandwidth and connectivity users can depend on.

A full fibre connection also goes far beyond simply enabling access to the latest entertainment at lightning speed. As an essential digital utility, full fibre boosts households and businesses alike, with experts saying it will drive a range of economic benefits, such as making us more productive and innovative.

Cllr Paul Bettison, Leader at Bracknell Forest Council, said: “It is fantastic that CityFibre is now ready to start delivering this major digital infrastructure investment programme in Bracknell. This will support the regeneration activity we have started within Bracknell and will be vital as our key sectors such as retail look to rebuild.”

Cllr Andrew Johnson, Leader at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, said: “CityFibre’s investment in Maidenhead and the wider region is crucial at a time when connectivity has never been so important. This once in a generation upgrade will deliver a town-wide network that will benefit residents, businesses and services. Providing opportunities for new skills and ways of working which will ensure Maidenhead and the wider region remains at the forefront of economic growth as we look to the future.”

CityFibre is bringing full fibre connectivity within reach of up to 8 million homes in towns and cities across the UK as part of its up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme.

Originally reported by City Fibre.

As France’s supreme court rejects the national operators’ challenge against the so-called ‘anti-Huawei law’, Germany’s apparent refusal to legislate a ban individual suppliers could yet mean hope for Huawei.

Under mounting pressure from the US and concerns about national security, throughout 2020 Huawei’s prospects in Europe dwindled considerably. From blanket bans on the use of their equipment in upcoming 5G networks, to more subtle measures designed to wean operators from the Chinese equipment, the die has been cast for Huawei in many of its European markets.  But each European market is different and some are yet to close the door entirely. In France, Huawei had been looking to improve their prospects when they last month announced plans to build a 5G equipment manufacturing plant in the Alsace region of France &ndash…

Read the full story here.

CityFibre and Virtual1 have jointly announced a collaborative partnership to serve the UK connectivity channel with full fibre business services. 

Virtual1 partners will be able to access CityFibre’s business Ethernet infrastructure in its full fibre towns and cities across the UK from February; while CityFibre will use Virtual1’s national network to deliver fibre options beyond its own full fibre footprint to provide ‘off-net’ choice to its partners.

Virtual1’s interconnection with CityFibre will enable over 600 channel partners to serve their business customers with a portfolio of 100Mbps to 1Gbps full fibre Ethernet products in 28 cities. That will expand further as CityFibre continues its UK wide rollout. 

Founder and CEO of Virtual1, Tom Hagan, explained, “Our partnership with CityFibre is compelling news for Virtual1’s partners, combining CityFibre’s rapidly growing UK coverage and highly competitive commercials with the flexibility and empowerment of Virtual1’s Software Defined Network to deliver the best of both worlds. It brings together two of the UK’s most exciting connectivity providers in a way that makes sense for Virtual1, CityFibre, and most importantly the Channel.”

Andy Wilson, head of wholesale, CityFibre, added, “Announcing our partnership with Virtual1 is an exciting moment. It marks the expansion of diversified Ethernet product choice for channel partners across the UK and is fantastic news for businesses who are looking eagerly for a compelling and competitively priced full fibre solution.”

Pricing options for CityFibre connectivity are available through Virtual1’s 1Portal platform. Similarly, Virtual1 pricing can be viewed in CityFibre’s portal Ethernet quoting tool.

Originally reported on CommsBusiness.co.uk

Stephen Warburton, managing director and member of the executive committee at broadband provider Zen Internet, discusses the opportunities that lie ahead for the channel.

What really stood out the most from an industry perspective last year was the surge in the internet consumption of our customers, and in turn, the increase in traffic on our network. Following the dynamics of Moore’s Law, a surge in traffic, year on year is to be expected – we typically see our network grow by circa 20 to 30 per cent annually.

What we actually experienced in 2020 was significantly higher with a 72 per cent surge! While much of this was driven by Covid-19 we are also seeing the continuation of a trend with consumers doing so much more online each year.

The majority of providers were ready for this increase in usage, although some have found it more challenging. Fortunately we were well positioned to absorb it thanks to how we run our network coupled with our network investment programme which was already in flight when the pandemic struck.

Embracing irreversible trends

The move to remote working is a big step change that has signalled an irreversible trend. Moving forward employers will be expected to support a balance of office and home working to attract and retain their most valuable asset, their people. Another change, that I don’t think will be easily reversed, is the accelerating shift to online shopping. Consumers are now accustomed to ordering their commodities and trying them out in the comfort of their home. All these activities need to be underpinned by reliable connectivity.

The other significant shift from last year was the massive change that came about in customer expectations. What that means for our sector is that tolerance for down time has lowered considerably thanks to the shift to remote working and a dependency on a fast, reliable connection. Levels of expectation are now different with consumers and businesses seeking out a provider they can trust. The impact of downtime or unreliable performance is very significant, people simply cannot go about their daily lives without a reliable connection.

Meeting these expectations and delivering a great customer experience will be one of the most important challenges for the channel this decade.

Grabbing opportunities

Ultrafast or FTTP connectivity presents a tremendous opportunity for the channel. There are 26 million broadband lines in the UK and in five years’ time we are going to have about 20 million of those that could go to full fibre. This is a massive sector change comparable to when broadband launched back in 2000 and when FTTC was introduced five or six years later. This is the next big shift from a technology point of view. There’s a relatively small number of providers promoting ultrafast today so the opportunity for the channel to go out there and grab market share now is enormous.

And it’s not just about the opportunity, but the risk of getting left behind. June 2021 marks the start of the stop sell of copper services in 117 exchanges and with a further 51 exchanges recently announced, there are 1.8m premises which will only be able to be provided with FTTP or SoGEA. There is a significant risk the channel will underestimate this change. We are working closely with our partners to make sure they are well prepared.

To put this into context – we are seeing FTTP customers stick with us for an average of 6.5 years, whereas the average tenure of ADSL or FTTC customers is more like 2.5 years. Once installed, full fibre is very reliable and you get great performance, simply put, it just works. So why would you then shift supplier? This is certainly going to result in a reduction in the switchers market.

Most of us have experienced connectivity challenges over Covid-19 with buffering video, poor voice quality, the dreaded spinning wheel, people dropping out of Zoom or Teams calls, but full fibre addresses these challenges. Any channel player not ready to offer this from the outset risks losing customers for a very long time.

The other great thing about full fibre that the channel can really get behind is that it can be a catalyst for offering other services and growing business via your installed base. Winning the connectivity business invariably opens other opportunities around telephony, the cloud and security and this is where the channel can really add value. The channel plays a key role in stitching all of the IT together presenting immense opportunity for those willing.

Is your partner provider ready to help you ride this next technological wave?

Originally reported on Comms Business.

Record-breaking 30 Tb/s Trans-Atlantic Capacity – First Trans-Atlantic 700 Gb/s Wavelength

Over the past few weeks, Infinera has had the opportunity to perform a submarine network field trial over the MAREA trans-Atlantic cable with our ICE6 optical engine, which already leads the industry in terrestrial reach at its headline data rate of 800 Gb/s over terrestrial network routes.

MAREA is essentially the benchmark for trans-Atlantic cable systems, as it was specifically designed for high-performance coherent transmission – it is the cable system on which every submarine network vendor’s implementations will be measured.

Read the full story here.