Category: Network

Network covers data communication and access technology and services, as well as provides guidance on the issues business technologists face when working with service and solution providers.

Project Waterworth: Meta’s New Cable Will Bring Disruption to the Wholesale Telecom Market

by Brendan Swan, posted in Network
B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

  • Meta has announced it will build a 50,000km subsea cable connecting five major continents, including the United States, Brazil, South Africa, and India.
  • Project Waterworth is likely to cause further disruption for wholesale operators as the company looks to dominate global internet connectivity.

Meta announced it will build the world’s longest and highest capacity subsea cable system spanning over 50,000km (31,000 miles), connecting Brazil, India, the US, South Africa and other regions. The new venture, dubbed Project Waterworth, is expected to enhance global connectivity and bring Meta significant opportunities in the AI space, particularly in the Indian market, along with new economic growth for the countries associated with the project. The proposed network will use 24 fiber pairs, which will boost data capacity and internet speed across connected regions and will be laid at depths of up to 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) to avoid damage from ship anchors and other hazards, while evading any high-risk geopolitical regions. This announcement from Meta could also play a role in the expansion of cloud computing, data centers, and other emerging AI-driven advancements. Project Waterworth is likely to cause further disruption for wholesale operators as the company looks to dominate global connectivity.

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TIM Offloads Sparkle as the Italian Government Looks to Keep Ownership in a 70% “Strategic” Stake

by Brendan Swan, posted in Network
B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

• Telecom Italia has divested Sparkle, its international infrastructure and services unit, in an EUR700 million ($733 million) deal as the carrier looks to reduce debt and focus on its core business.

• Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) will have majority control of the business with 70% of the company, with the remaining 30% share owned by Retelit, a subsidiary of Spanish infrastructure fund Asterion.

Telecom Italia has finally offloaded its international infrastructure and services unit Sparkle to the Italian MEF in an EUR700 million ($733 million) partnership deal with Retelit, a fiber-optic operator controlled by Spanish Infrastructure fund Asterion. Sparkle operates more than 600,000 km of cables that connect countries across Europe and the Americas. Telecom Italia’s board unanimously approved the deal, which was first put forward as a non-binding offer in October 2024 but was rejected by the board. The sale is expected to be completed within Q1 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

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Small Business Saturday – An Opportunity for UK Telcos

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, IT Leader, Network, Secure
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

  • Held on the first Saturday in December, ‘Small Business Saturday’ in the UK encourages small businesses to promote themselves and attract customer attention.
  • Following Black Friday offers, UK telcos should use this event to target SMBs and SOHOs – acquiring customers is more profitable than slashing margins.

Having started in the US in 2010, ‘Small Business Saturday’ has found its way to the UK and celebrated its 12th anniversary this side of the Atlantic on December 7, 2024 – an estimated GBP669 million was spent on Small Business Saturday in the UK in 2023.

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Colt Technology Services Expands Network Reach in Sydney but it Needs to Tell a Better Story

by Brendan Swan, posted in Network

B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

• Colt will expand its network in Sydney connecting approximately 250 commercial buildings and over 20 data centers with services to commence in March 2025.

• Colt must continue to highlight its network capabilities and global reach to rival other global carriers and NaaS providers.

Colt Technology Services announced that it plans to expand its optical network in Sydney, Australia with direct access to approximately 250 commercial buildings and more than 20 data centers as the carrier looks to promote services from early December with services to commence in March 2025. This announcement from Colt is part of the company’s push in Asia-Pacific and will complement its Asian expansion strategy as the company looks to capture the strong B2B network services market growth in the region., Colt anticipates that by 2028 it will extend services to approximately 300 local and global companies with offices in Sydney. While this announcement points to another international player choosing to focus on the Australian market for growth, Colt is not gaining much differentiation from this announcement.

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Vodafone Delivers Marketing Innovation With V-Hub

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, IT Leader, Network, Secure
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• V-Hub offers a range of online advice help from digital experts to help SMBs and SOHOs make the most of technology to optimize their businesses.

• Vodafone’s V-Hub is proving popular with small business customers and has helped improve its Net Promoter Score by 18 points, providing extra customer lifetime value.

Vodafone’s update on progress with its V-Hub business customer portal was very positive and should be seen as a rare telco success story when targeting the market for smaller business customers. For example, across the countries where V-Hub has been rolled out, Vodafone Business has seen an average NPS (Net Promoter Score) improvement of 18 points since launch.

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BT Seeks to Stand Out in the NaaS Space Through Global Fabric’s Reach and Sustainability Story

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in Network

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• BT is establishing how its Global Fabric Platform stands out in the NaaS marketplace with its extensive reach, focus on managed services and tooling and automation around routing and security.

• BT also has a very unusual proposition to stand out with its sustainability features, including its Carbon Network Dashboard

BT recently held an event in Sydney showcasing the latest updates to its Global Fabric Platform. Almost a year since the company announced its answer to the emerging network as a service market, BT’s positioning and differentiation in an increasingly crowded landscape is starting to crystalize.

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Small Businesses Buy Differently to Corporates

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, Network, Secure
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• With 47% of small businesses using WhatsApp, telecoms service providers can become disintermediated from their customers as anything other than a connectivity provider.

• Service providers must understand the complex nature of the market and target value-added solutions selectively to meet changing needs of small businesses as they evolve.

Small businesses are the focus of many telecoms service providers for growth as the corporate, MNC, and public sector markets suffer from hyper-competition and as solutions providers keep winning managed services contracts. The problem is that the dynamics, needs, and go-to-market strategies are not the same for small businesses as for corporates. Most importantly, small businesses are tending less and less to see the traditional portfolios of carriers as relevant to their needs.

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UK Business Bodies Call for Automatic Compensation for Broadband Outages

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, Network, Secure
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Leading UK business associations have asked Ofcom to establish an automatic compensation scheme for companies affected by broadband outages as connectivity is lifeblood of modern enterprise.

• Major broadband providers have backup options and enhanced service levels available, which they use in part to justify the premium they charge to business customers.

Leading British business associations have called on UK regulator Ofcom to establish an automatic compensation scheme for enterprises affected by broadband outages.

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Colt and Proximus’s Wholesale API Trial Highlights the Importance of Industry Standards Bodies in Achieving Automation

by Gary Barton, posted in IT Leader, Network

Gary Barton – Analyst, Business Network and IT Services

Summary Bullets:
• Colt and Proximus partner for a proof of concept (PoC) focusing on API collaboration based on the MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration Sonata designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation.
• GlobalData expects wholesale providers to embrace API technology to enhance and automate inter-network functionality with the end target of delivering automated end-to-end services across multi-vendor networks.

Colt Technology Services and Proximus recently announced they have collaborated to trial a new PoC designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation. The collaboration was the first of its kind between the two providers and focused on provisioning network services between the UK and Belgium. The crucial aspect of the trial is that it was able to support Proximus’ Wholesale E-Access service and Colt’s On Demand Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform across both networks on an end-to-end basis.

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Operators Face Multiple Hurdles Before 5G Network Slicing Can Be Offered Commercially

by John Marcus, posted in Internet of Things, Mobilize, Network
John Marcus – Senior Principal Analyst, Enterprise IoT, Mobility, Private Networks, and Service Innovations.

Summary Bullets:

• In January 2024, GlobalData predicted that the business services units of mobile operators would begin promoting 5G network slicing in 2024, educating enterprise customers about the technology being enabled by their rollouts of 5G standalone (SA) technology.

• Even with some progress on 5G SA rollouts around the world (and a handful of commercial trials), it’s already clear that this prediction was premature.

The potential with slicing to create multiple virtual networks within a single physical infrastructure – each tailored to specific needs – is still very much there, but a number of challenges must yet be addressed before operators can successfully launch 5G network slicing solutions for enterprises.

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