Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: OneWeb hooks up with Panasonic Avionics; Hyperoptic poaches BT bigwig; Nokia reaches AI maturity.
(Source: Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo)
Telefónica has hired Radisys to "disaggregate" (an approach that essentially separates the hardware from the software) its broadband network. Lab testing of the Radisys box of tricks has already taken place, and the plan is to deploy the technology in a live commercial network serving both residential and business customers in 2023. The revamp is intended to give Telefónica the ability to migrate network control and management functions to the cloud, saving money in the long run. So-called white boxes and software-defined networking will be involved.
OneWeb, the low-Earth orbit satellite connectivity company co-owned by the UK government and Bharti Global, has signed an agreement with Panasonic Avionics that allows Panasonic Avionics to market, sell and support OneWeb's in-flight broadband service to commercial airlines worldwide. The service will be offered either as a standalone product or paired with Panasonic Avionics' GEO product, which covers 99.6% of the world's flight routes. Downlink speeds approaching 200 Mbit/s and uplink speeds of up to 32 Mbit/s will be available.
Hyperoptic, one of the UK's seemingly ever-growing band of alternative network providers, has poached former BT bigwig Jo-Anne Dunning to be its new business development director. Her focus will be on the expansion of Hyperoptic's presence in the new-build homes market. All of the new-build homes Hyperoptic currently connect come equipped with a router and a three-month trial, which means new homeowners can immediately connect to Hyperoptic's full-fiber broadband service and give it a whirl before they have even unpacked their kettle.
Nokia has launched an AI-driven software tool that, the vendor says, allows an operator to assess where it stands in relation to its competitors in different markets and helps it make decisions on its future use of AI. The AI Maturity Assessment tool is ultimately meant to reduce network congestion, improve network quality and, in that marketeers' go-to phrase, "enhance the customer experience."
BT's digital unit has given Ab Initio the job of improving its data management. According to BT, Ab Initio will support the automation of rules, policies, frameworks and connections between its core data, its applications and the processes and people who rely on the data. BT's "data estate" apparently stands at 29 petabytes, which sounds big. For anyone wondering, "ab initio" is Latin, and it means something like "from first principles." Fun fact.
TalkTalk, the UK landline, broadband and pay-TV provider, has launched what it claims is a first among UK broadband providers: a "full service" TV hub powered by the Android TV platform. The hub is available to customers on full-fiber packages, offering more than 70 live TV channels as well as the usual catch-up services. The hub's hardware has been developed in partnership with Vantiva, formerly known as Technicolor, and YouView TV.
A1 Telekom Austria Group's international business unit has hired Hungary's Invitech to carry out a backbone upgrade and install a new connection between Vienna and Budapest. Invitech's existing network spans more than 11,000km, mainly running alongside Hungary's principal railway lines.
UK communications regulator Ofcom has published its latest customer complaints league table, and it's fair to say there are no major surprises. Minnow player Shell Energy is still far and away the most complained-about landline and broadband provider, Virgin Media is still in the pay-TV sin-bin and as far as mobile is concerned no single company is outstandingly terrible but BT Mobile comes out bottom of the pile (though strangely, its sister company, EE, does pretty well).
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
