Following a request from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the European Commission has referred the proposed merger of Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile with O2 to the CMA for investigation. Following the announcement of the deal in May 2020, the CMA publicly indicated that it would make a formal request to the European […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service is now in beta-test mode over North America and a few other ‘friends and family’ locations overseas. SpaceX is on record as saying that initially Starlink will focus very much on North America and would probably expand its service overseas via local agents and resellers. However, Musk says that […]
The news that Eutelsat is completely ending its already strained relationship with Viasat prompted one analyst to update clients on the position. Viasat will now own 100 per cent the Euro Broadband Infrastructure (EBI). Giles Thorne (media analyst at Jefferies) was blunt: “The curtain comes down on Viasat’s disastrous first steps into European broadband. Eutelsat […]
UK comms regulator Ofcom has published its annual monitoring report on the progress towards delivering a more independent Openreach, the digital infrastructure subsidiary of dominant telco BT. In 2017, BT notified Ofcom of its voluntary commitments to reform Openreach. This included Openreach becoming a legally separate entity with its own board, management and staff. In […]
Eutelsat is selling its majority share in its Euro-Broadband joint venture with Viasat. Eutelsat is reorganising its Ka-band broadband-by-satellite strategy over Europe. It owned a 51 per cent stake in Euro-Broadband with Viasat of California holding 49 per cent. Eutelsat will receive an “initial consideration” of €140 million for its stake. This sum could be […]
Northern Sky Research (NSR), in its latest study, says that the adoption of 5G will be transformational for many aspects of the Satcom ecosystem: from stimulating demand in many segments, seamlessly integrating Satcoms in the mainstream Telco ecosystem or becoming a tool for optimising Satellite Network design and operations. “In fact,” says NSR, “The waves […]
Viasat of California is in the final test stages of its antenna development programme for SES and its Middle Earth orbiting satellites. Prototypes should be delivered early in 2021. SES’ Stewart Sanders, EVP/O3b mPOWER Programme Lead at SES, in a statement said: “The flexibility designed into the Viasat phased array antenna will enable our current […]
Ultrafast broadband digital TV service provider Netgem has been selected by digital infrastructure specialist VX Fiber as one of the first entertainment and multi-streaming services providers on its Open Access Platform. VX Fiber’s core business is to partner with fibre owners and to operate these fibre networks on an Open Access basis. It provides the […]
The Network Intelligence Report from data-driven network intelligence and analytics specialist Nokia Deepfield, which examines service provider network traffic and consumption trends in 2020, reveals the networks were made to withstand the Internet’s rollercoaster year. The report examines overall changes in Internet traffic patterns in the last decade and in 2020, focusing on key application […]
Tougher competition in the Spanish FTTH market has seen the regulatory body CNMC lift Telefónica’s obligation to share its networks with third parties in 592 municipalities. Telefónica will be exempted from sharing its networks in those 592 municipalities (70 per cent of population). It will still need to give access in the initially approved 66 […]