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November News, a DCF update on Government, Regulatory and Industry

As autumn begins to blend into winter, and we begin to turn our thoughts towards the festive season, it has remained a characteristically busy period for industry, Government and regulators across the telecoms space. 

In a period that saw a Halloween eve Autumn Budget, indications that an industry shakeup mega merger could get the green light , and the US elections, there is a lot to digest ahead of the Christmas break. The Digital Connectivity Forum has been hard at work, considering what these new changes mean for the industry, as well as championing new and ongoing work across a variety of other important sector specific challenges. 

During October, the Digital Connectivity Forum held two important workshops, focusing on local authorities as connectivity enablers and the resilience of networks. With topics ranging from how to improve communication and engagement, planning barriers, climate resilience, accidental damage, deliberate physical attack and future threats such as supply chain resilience, there was an abundance of fascinating conversation as we align on ways to drive industry progress and unlock the societal value of quality connectivity for everyone. 

The workshops both involved key stakeholders across industry, Government and Ofcom, as well as other workshop specific attendees, including local authorities and relevant trade associations. 

In addition to our focus on local authority engagement and resilience, work has been ongoing for the launch of our upcoming Diversity & Inclusion Working Group, which will be formally launched on 11 December. 

Diversity & Inclusion remains an important topic in telecoms. Following the release of our 2023 report, ‘Diversity in Telecoms’, which was commissioned at the request of DCMS, we saw that the report’s assessment of diversity across UK telecoms highlighted areas that need support. In addition to this, it highlighted data gaps and areas that need greater understanding. 

In response to this, we decided to launch a working group that is dedicated to tackling inclusion across all protected characteristics, as well as those which are not protected, and yet form a critical part of the diversity & inclusion picture, such as socio-economic background. 

Ensuring true, and universally embedded, inclusion across the sector is something the Digital Connectivity Forum is passionate about, and we cannot wait to get to work on these valuable and important areas. 

We are delighted to announce that Dame Melanie Dawes, CEO of Ofcom will be joining as the group’s patron, and we are delighted to work with her and the group members to bring you future updates on our activity as we raise the profile of diversity whilst building practical routes to inclusion success. 

Government News

The release of the Autumn Budget brought with it announcements that will impact telecoms and wider industries. It confirmed that the new Government will be investing over £500 million across 2025 to 2026 as part of the delivery of the ongoing Project Gigabit and Shared Rural Network programmes. This marked a continued commitment to ensuring connectivity to remote and underserved parts of the UK, and the upholding of the target for full gigabit broadband coverage by 2030. 

Rises to employer national insurance contributions will be a change that is felt not only across telecoms but wider business, as employers adapt to these significant changes to their tax burden. It remains to be seen how this will impact future spending and investment. 

On 23 October, Government released an update to its final stage impact assessment of the Online Safety Act, which was first published in 2022. The update comes as Ofcom recently released an update on its work to implement the Online Safety Act, including timeline updates on phased rollout between 2024 and 2026 and that, as of December 2024, services will need to act to comply with their duties as outlined by the Online Safety Act.  

The Government update reflects several major policy changes made during passage of the Online Safety Bill. 

Finally, on the 11 November, Government published an update to the projects selected for the Rural Connectivity Accelerator programme. The programme seeks to identify projects that will enhance overall understanding of the connectivity needs of businesses across rural and very hard to reach parts of the UK. 

To do this, pilot projects will consider various challenges and solutions, including the exploration of existing barriers to deployment and adoption, as well as connectivity solutions, such as alternative methods of delivery, including broadband, satellite and wireless. 

As the UK shifts to a more online consumption pattern, Government has published a report looking at the ‘Future of TV distribution’. The report examines areas including the changing habits of UK viewers, as well as their platform choices and how a changing society and digital shift is changing the way we consume our media. It looks to predict how these changes will look by 2040, including estimating that, based on current market dynamics, by this time 71% will rely exclusively on internet delivery for their TV. This increasing reliance on internet for TV consumption will in turn have effects on demand and the importance of quality connectivity availability and reliability. 

Regulatory News

Ofcom has announced its final draft auction regulations for a plan to auction off millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency across the 26GHz and 40GHz bands. This spectrum will be used by mobile operators in the delivery of faster 5G services. 

The auction process had originally been delayed as Ofcom waited for the result of the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three. It will see the awarding of several 15-year, fixed term licenses for high density areas across 68 UK major towns and cities, alongside some smaller low-density allocations within the cities through the Shared Access licensing framework. 

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has provided an indication that the merger of Vodafone and Three may be given the green light with the publication of its Remedies Working Paper.  

Following initial competition concerns identified by the CMA in September, the paper sets out the CMA’s provisional views on the subsequent remedy package proposed by Vodafone and Three.  

The commitments included: 

  • Agreeing to make their network coverage commitments legally binding with this being overseen and enforced by Ofcom 
  • Agreeing to sell spectrum to Virgin Media O2 upon approval 
  • Maintain tariffs at £10 or below for two years from the completion for social tariff customers 
  • Providing reference offers that encourages MVNOs to access additional network capacity 

The provisional indication from the CMA comes ahead of the 7 December deadline and suggests that the CMA believes that the proposed commitments “could solve competition concerns identified in September and allow the merger to go ahead.”. 

However, the Paper included several short-term protections proposed ‘to ensure that retail consumers and mobile virtual network operators can continue to secure good deals. These included proposals that would require Vodafone and Three to: 

  • Deliver their joint network plan as part of a legal obligation overseen by Ofcom and the CMA. 
  •  Commit to retain certain existing mobile tariffs and data plans for at least 3 years,  
  • Commit to pre-agreed prices and contract terms to ensure that Mobile Virtual Network Operators can obtain competitive wholesale deals. 

The deadline for a final decision remains set at the 7 December. 

As the December deadline approaches for the implementation of the Online Safety Act, Ofcom issued an update on the 26 October, highlighting its progress since the Online Safety Act became law. 

The update reminded companies of their obligation to comply from December 2024, as well as outlining further dates that form part of the phasic rollout of the Act. 

In addition, Ofcom published its first consultation covering fee setting and penalty regime as part of the enforcement of the Online Safety Act. The Act requires that Ofcom’s operating costs are covered by providers of the regulated services through a fee’s regime. It further stipulates that calculations of fees should be based on providers qualifying worldwide revenue. 

The consultation is open until January 9, 2025. 

Finally, Ofcom announced the appointment of Tamara Ingram OBE to their Board as Deputy Chair, alongside Lord Allan of Hallam who will join as a Non-Executive Director. Both Tamara and Allan have been appointed on four-year terms and will provide strategic direction to Ofcom and its executive. 

Industry News

EE announced in October the 16 new locations who will be receiving a major 5G standalone upgrade. The locations announced will be completed and live by the end of the year and will bring EE’s 5G standalone network to more than 30 major towns and cities across the UK. Areas with 5G Standalone will experience a 95% outdoor coverage rate, improving communications and opportunities across these locations. 

In November, VMO2 announced the launch of a new Small Business Partnerships initiative which brings together Virgin StartUp, GoDaddy, and egg. The Small Business Partnership aims to deliver exclusive offers to small business customers and drive SME growth across the UK by equipping them with the connectivity and technology they need to succeed and scale. 

Finally, BT seems to be moving closer toward selling their Global division, which is responsible for selling internet, phone and other business solutions to multinational corporate clients. Whilst industry analysts have suggested potential buyers include Verizon, Amazon and Microsoft, it could also remain that BT’s global division is apportioned and sold more geographically, with some reports suggesting companies such as Viatel and Telecom Italia have expressed an interest in geographically specific areas across Ireland and Italy. 

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Digital Connectivity Forum’s Climate & Sustainability Work Group endorses JAC supply chain emissions principles and releases results of recent telecoms sustainability survey

As part of the workstream surrounding common data standards, the Digital Connectivity Forum’s Climate & Sustainability Work Group (CSWG) has conducted a survey amongst members regarding the current state of sustainability within the telecoms industry. The results, published as part of techUK’s Climate Action at COP28 Campaign Week 2023, reveal interesting themes as well as clear long term goals.

In addition to conducting this survey, the CSWG will also be endorsing the JAC 10 best practice principles which were released as part of their Achieving Net Zero in the Telecoms Industry: Tackling Supply Chain Emissions report.

The group has chosen to endorse the JAC 10-point principles, which give suppliers to the UK telecoms industry aspirational goals as well as being aligned with other industry work on decarbonisation in the hope that this can be the beginning of dialogue between industry and suppliers towards sector wide decarbonisation.

In addition to their work around common data standards, the DCF Climate and Sustainability Working Group also acknowledges that many smaller suppliers may struggle with climate reporting, and has issued guidance earlier this month to help SMEs get started on net zero action.

You can read the 10 principles below as well as accessing the full report using the link above.

  1. Understand your Carbon Footprint – know how much of your emissions arise from your direct
    operations, energy usage and your wider value chain so that you can focus your action in the right
    areas
  2. Have a carbon reduction plan with a clear Net Zero Goal and interim targets with board level
    ownership
  3. Align your carbon reduction planning to the SBTi standard so that you have a valid science-based
    carbon reduction target across Scope 1, 2, and 3
  4. Where your supply chain emissions are a significant part of your carbon footprint, develop a supply
    chain hot spot analysis so that you know what areas of your supply chain to prioritise engagement
    with, to drive emissions reduction
  5. Maintain LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) for the products and services you offer so that you can
    identify and address the major opportunities to decarbonise the products you offer. Maintaining
    LCAs is important as your operator customers may ask for LCAs when assessing emissions arising
    from their purchasing of your products
  6. Measure and report your emissions reduction activities following recognised standards like the
    GHG protocol, and ensure you have independent external assurance and verification of your
    methodology and calculations
  7. Use green energy in line with its availability – this is the simplest thing any business can do to reduce
    its emissions
  8. Have goals to improve the power efficiency of the products you offer and your operations, with
    incentives for employees who drive the change
  9. Understand and support the Carbon reduction goals of your customers
  10. Engage with your supply chain to incentivise and help them to reduce their carbon emissions by
    requiring them to address points 1 through to 10

New PAC report on rural broadband programme

Today the Public Accounts Committee publishes another report on the government’s rural broadband programme.

This latest report from the PAC reinforces previous views it has articulated about the scheme. Namely the lack of competition in supply of services following the procurement process, the need for improvement in cost transparency, processes to ensure value for money and the need for further detail on roll-out plans. (more…)

New BSG report reveals SMEs are not capitalising on potential of broadband and technology

A new report published today by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) identifies that SMEs are not yet unlocking the commercial potential of online activity and new technologies.

The report entitled Capitalising on Connectivity: Realising the benefits of broadband for UK Small and Medium Sized Enterprises identifies that despite estimates that increasing the digital capabilities of the UK’s SMEs can unlock economic returns of £18.8 billion (ref 1) evidence tells us that SMEs are not capitalising as best they might on this lever for economic growth (ref 2).

This report considers current data on SME engagement with connectivity, policy initiatives to support SME use of broadband and technology, alongside new BSG research.

It makes five recommendations regarding how to better understand SME use of technology and incentivise further take-up and exploitation of connectivity: (more…)

CEO’s monthly update – infrastructure and usage looks longer-term

Pamela LearmonthThe beginning of February saw the Department of Culture, Media and Sport issue the Terms of Reference of their Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy, a piece due for full publication by the end of 2014 which will consider what steps need to be taken to ensure that the UK has the right infrastructure in place to meet the needs of users in 2025-30 and ensure that the UK remains a leading digital nation. We are pleased that our 2014 programme of work can play an important role in helping industry and government work together on assessing these longer term needs beyond the current BDUK rollout, so watch this space for further information and inputs on the strategy.

And that wasn’t the only piece of work looking at the longer-term picture in the UK, as the BSG took at trip to Speaker’s House for the launch of a report from the Tinder Foundation and Go ON UK, which costed a digitally included Britain for the first time. A Leading Digital Nation by 2020 estimated that national commitment to ensure basic online skills for everyone by 2020 would cost £875 million – an annual investment of £146 million over a 6-year period. These efforts in costing are to be welcomed as we consider how tackling digital inclusion can drive greater social and economic benefits from broadband-enabled use, an issue the BSG will continue to look at. (more…)

Tinder Foundation and Go ON UK publish report costing a digitally included Britain

Last week, the Tinder Foundation and Go ON published A Leading Digital Nation by 2020, providing for the first time an estimate for the investment needed to create a 100% digitally skilled nation.

A national commitment to ensure basic online skills for everyone by 2020 would cost some £875 million – an annual investment of £146 million over a 6-year period.

(more…)

BSG CEO on expert panel for Broadband Genie and PC Advisor Home Broadband Survey 2014

Our CEO Pamela Learmonth was amongst a number of industry experts for the Broadband Genie and PC Advisor Home Broadband Survey 2014.

On Monday, Plusnet, Virgin Media, Sky and Gigaclear were announced as the winners of the 2014 Home Broadband Survey, an examination of the state of UK broadband carried out by comparison site BroadbandGenie.co.uk and technology magazine PCAdvisor.co.uk. (more…)

Job vacancy at BSG: Policy Manager

The BSG is currently recruiting for a new Policy Manager. For full details please see the full advert on the techUK website.

Our current Policy Manager, Charlotte Holloway, will be taking on a newly created role with our partners at techUK as Head of Policy at the beginning of March.

DCMS publishes Terms of Reference for Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy to 2025

DCMS has today published the Terms of Reference of the Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy, as was announced in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers policy paper last July. This strategy will play an important role in ensuring that the UK has the right infrastructure in place to meet the needs of users in 2025-30 and ensure that the UK remains a leading digital nation.

The Terms of Reference cite BSG’s work on future domestic bandwidth requirements in the document, and the BSG will continue to work closely with DCMS on this area, as part of our 2014 work programme. DCMS has said it is keen to gather views on future demand for connectivity, the drivers for that demand, how this demand can be met and who needs to do what to ensure our infrastructure is capable of meeting user demand over the next 10-15 years. (more…)

CEO’s monthly update – 2014: a busy quarter ahead

Pamela Learmonth2014 promises much for those in the broadband industry, and it’s all eyes to the policy sphere to help smooth the way for rollout and take-up of connectivity to realise the social and economic gains for the UK.

The first quarter of 2014 alone promises much in the way of further detail on the Government’s Digital Communications Infrastructure Strategy, the £250m BDUK superfast extension programme and the £10m innovation fund. From DCMS, we can also expect the publication of the Spectrum Strategy, and from the GDS team in the Cabinet Office the forthcoming Digital Inclusion Strategy can be expected to have reverberations across government. In UK Parliament, the Consumer Rights Bill has been introduced and the Intellectual Property Bill is progressing, currently at amendments stage. In Europe, all eyes to Commissioner Kroes as the Connected Continent package has a limited amount of time to pass before election season. (more…)

Future bandwidth demand features at CES 2014

Another new year, another Consumer Electronics Show, where Las Vegas plays host to the latest developments in consumer technology. There’s been plenty of coverage on the weird and the wonderful in the press, but at the BSG we’ve been interested to note a growing conversation about bandwidth needs for the cutting edge products poised to dominate the market.

UHDTV or 4K video streaming has been a notable highlight. Firstly, Google showcased their low-bandwidth 4K YouTube streaming called VP9, and have been working closely with a range of the big electronics firms and device manufacturers on its implementation. Netflix also took to the stage to promote its 4K services, with CEO Reed Hastings stating will require 15Mb/s of bandwidth compressed using HEVC. Interestingly, Broadcom also announced 5G Wi-Fi chips for tripling bandwidth in wireless home networking. (more…)

CEO’s monthly update – innovation, vouchers and the UK’s future bandwidth needs

Pamela LearmonthIt’s been a non-stop 2013 for broadband and telecommunications policy, and the last month has been no exception. New money for innovative technologies for the hardest to connect areas of the UK was announced by Danny Alexander MP in the form of a £10m new fund – read our roundup of what the Autumn Statement and National Infrastructure Strategy announcements mean for the broadband community here.

(more…)

Vaizey hails urban vouchers as 'breaking new ground', as scheme rolls out in 22 cities

SCCThe Vouchers component of the Government’s Super Connected Cities programme (also known as the Urban Broadband Fund) launched across 22 cities as part of Small Business Saturday on Saturday 7 December. The voucher scheme represents up to £100 million of the £150 million being overseen by BDUK and managed by cities to provide a step change in connectivity for businesses in urban areas.

Today in a written statement to parliament, Communications Minister Ed Vaizey MP said that “the market tests in 5 cities over the summer have showed that suppliers and SMEs want to participate in the Scheme, with over 60 suppliers registered for the market tests and an increasing number now registering for the full scheme.??? (more…)

New money for innovative technologies as 2017 superfast broadband landscape becomes clearer

The Government has treated the broadband community to a new announcement and restatements of intent as part of this week’s Autumn Statement and National Infrastructure Plan.

The main new funding announcement from yesterday’s National Infrastructure Plan was the opening of a £10 million competitive fund in 2014 to market test innovative solutions, delivering superfast broadband services to the most difficult to reach areas of the UK. The BSG welcomes this fund; an intelligent blend of different technologies (including fixed, mobile and other solutions) will be crucial in reaching the government’s ambition for 99% access to superfast broadband by 2018. (more…)

UK Broadband Impact Study published

The DCMS-commissioned UK Broadband Impact Study by SQW was released yesterday morning, and was welcomed by Culture Secretary Maria Miller MP who said “What this report shows us is that as well as superfast broadband being good for economic growth it will make even more of a positive impact on the way we live, helping us work more productively and get online faster.”

The study estimates that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to UK GVA by 2024. This level of uplift contributes an average of 0.07 % to real annual GVA growth over this period.

The study estimates the following economic results relating to interventions made by the Government’s broadband programme: (more…)