BT to offer AWS Wavelength to UK business customers

BT will offer AWS Wavelength services to its UK business customers in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

EE’s national mobile network with AWS Wavelength will bring the power of AWS to the network edge for more business and public sector customers across the UK – opening up faster, secure and high-bandwidth connectivity on the move for use cases like policing, crowd management, healthcare and security.

AWS Wavelength embeds AWS compute and storage services within 5G and 4G networks, providing mobile edge computing infrastructure for ultra-low-latency applications. Hosting services directly at the edge of EE’s UK network reduces lag, as application traffic can reach application servers running in the AWS Wavelength Zone without leaving BT’s network. This opens up mobile edge computing infrastructure for businesses to develop, deploy, and scale mobile Internet of Things (IoT) applications over BT’s existing 5G network securely.

BT’s Wholesale unit has worked with AWS on the initial trials in Manchester. After the planned national rollout, the service will be available to all BT business customers in the UK – from small businesses to large enterprise and public sector organisations.

Alex Tempest, Managing Director for BT Wholesale said: “As we continue to build best-in-class 5G infrastructure for the UK, launching the AWS Wavelength service for our business and wholesale customers is a hugely important step on our journey – bringing the power of the cloud to the UK’s best network*. It’s set to unlock use cases like IoT cameras to help first responders keep communities safe: a real-life example of using tech to connect for good.

“By building cloud edge services into our 5G and 4G EE network, we can accelerate innovation across industries, and bring fast, secure data processing closer to where our customers need it most. Ultimately, we want to give businesses and public sector organisations all the power of edge computing, wherever they are.”

https://btwholesale.com/wavelength

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BT trials C-RAN in Leeds

BT announced a trial of cloud RAN technology in Leeds.

The pilot scheme led by BT Wholesale, part of the company’s Enterprise unit, will enhance coverage and connectivity for those visiting, working or living in Leeds and serve as a proof of concept for future developments.The project has seen the first units installed at key locations in Leeds city centre and will allow BT to track how the infrastructure improves access in the area. The infrastructure is currently being used by the EE and Three networks for the trial.

C-RAN technology uses specialist software which has the potential to be used in smaller, more compact units including existing street furniture.  

Alex Tempest, Managing Director, BT Wholesale, said: “The introduction of this new technology highlights BT’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions that benefit residents, businesses, and visitors, whilst also supporting economic growth across Leeds and the wider UK.

 https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-trials-state-of-the-art-5g-technology-in-leeds/

EE deploys Ericsson’s Massive MIMO radios at key UK sites

Sunday, October 30, 2022  EE, Ericsson  

EE, part of the BT Group, has begun deployment of Ericsson’s ultra-lightweight radios  to deliver improved 5G energy efficiency and network performance across the UK.EE’s first deployments of the equipment are in London, with sites in Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Belfast to follow this year. The improved technology will be expanded to more urban and suburban areas in the future, where Ericsson is a key partner for EE. Operating within EE’s...

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BT and Ericsson enter private 5G partnership

Tuesday, May 31, 2022  BT, Ericsson, Private 5G  

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BT to combine Enterprise and Global units to create BT Business

 BT Group  will be combining its Global and Enterprise units into a single B2B unit, BT Business. The combined business unit would have generated FY22 pro-forma revenues of approximately £8.5 billion and EBITDA of over £2 billion, and it is expected to deliver at least £100m of gross annualised savings by the end of FY25. 

BT Business will be led by Bas Burger the current CEO of BT’s Global unit. Bas joined BT Group in 2008 and prior to the Global role was responsible for BT Americas. Before joining BT Group, Bas was executive president and a member of the management committee of Getronics NV, where he ran global sales, channels and partnerships, developing the company’s international business. He was also CEO and managing director of KPN Entercom Solutions.

BT said the reorganistion will create a simpler corporate structure with three customer facing units: Consumer supporting UK consumers; BT Business supporting business and public sector customers; and Openreach delivering UK nationwide fixed access infrastructure. 

BT Group Chief Executive Philip Jansen said:

“BT Group is a leading provider of B2B connectivity and related services to UK and multinational corporations, government and public sector organisations worldwide, as well as UK SMEs1 and SoHos2. BT Enterprise is the market leader in the UK, with a market share of 30% underpinned by BT Group’s fixed and mobile network leadership, the strength of the BT brand, and national sales, service and distribution. BT Global serves many of the world’s largest companies and is consistently rated as a leader for its networking and security services and has ambition to be the leading provider of secure multi-cloud connectivity.”

“By combining the two units, BT Business will bring the Group’s combined assets, products, capabilities and brand to the service of all of our 1.2m business customers who will benefit  from faster innovation and delivery. Bas is an excellent leader and I’m confident he will build on the plans already underway and drive the combined business back to growth.”

“Throughout the past two very challenging years, Bas and Rob have provided outstanding leadership. Covid accelerated a shift in the market as people and businesses changed the way they worked, whilst macro-economic factors have disrupted supply chains and put pressure on businesses and the public sector globally. Despite this, we’ve made progress and our customer satisfaction scores have improved, in some cases to an all time high. I am grateful to Bas and Rob for laying the foundations that enable us to take this next step in BT Group’s transformation.” 

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-to-combine-enterprise-and-global-units-to-create--bt-business/

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BT award 5-year contract to Nokia for analytics software

BT awarded a five-year contract to Nokia for its AVA Analytics software for fixed networks. The project aims to help BT strengthen its network monitoring through AI and machine learning, and improve its subscriber experience.

The deal enhances Nokia’s dashboard solution (“Homeview”) for BT to give its call center agents a real-time, full view of the operator’s network, from individual subscribers to devices, in order to quickly correct access and in home issues, and provide the best service across all its phone and digital channels.

Nokia’s AVA Analytics will provide BT with the use of automated workflows with deep analytics to deliver operational efficiency improvements and boost BT’s net promoter scores (NPS). NPS is a barometer of how likely a customer would recommend a provider or service to another user.

Along with AVA Analytics, Nokia’s Home Device Manager and Service Management Platform enables BT’s roughly 6,000 care agents to remotely manage over 10 million WiFi connections, with more than 100 million actions taken each day to optimize the home broadband experience for BT’s customers.

Nick Lane, Managing Director for Consumer Customer Services at BT, said: “Our expanded partnership with Nokia is another demonstration of our commitment to providing the best customer experience by investing in AI, analytics, and other state-of the-art technology. Our partnership will help BT’s customer service agents provide the best service across all phone and digital channels and continue to make BT the only network to answer 100% of customer calls in the UK.”

Hamdy Farid, Senior Vice President, Business Applications at Nokia, said: “Nokia AVA Fixed Network Insights is a critical component to helping operators improve network diagnosis and troubleshooting processes, while reducing unnecessary manual fixes. We are very pleased to be taking our partnership with BT to the next level with this agreement.”

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BT agrees to Cost of Living Pay Rise

BT Group announced a UK Cost of Living Pay Rise to all but the highest paid staff. 

The decision comes as the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Prospect are now recommending agreement to their members.

Details of the Cost of Living Pay Rise are:

• £1,500 pay rise for all UK colleagues who currently earn £50,000 or less from 1 Jan 2023
• Consolidated salary increase, not one-off payment
• Covers 100% of frontline staff (and others at ‘Team Member’ grade), and 51% of managers in the UK. In total, 85% of UK-based BT Group colleagues
• Highly competitive pay award when combined with the increase made in April, bringing the total percentage pay rise for the lowest paid to over 15% since this time last year
• Includes Openreach

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-makes-cost-of-living-pay-rise-as-union-recommends-end-to-strikes/

BT faces further strikes on August 30 and 31

Monday, August 15, 2022  BT, UK  

The Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents BT Group employees, served notice of pending industrial action on August 30th and 31st, directly after the August bank holiday weekend.  As part of their ongoing campaign to seek higher wages and benefits, the union already held strikes on 29th July and 1st August, 2022.CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr states “There’s no doubt that we were as solid as we could have been in the first...

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BT lands contract win with ScottishPower

BT has been awarded a multi-million pound contract by ScottishPower to strengthen the connectivity throughout their network of windfarms and offices.

Under the contract, BT will provide integrated and bespoke telecommunications services to approximately 100 locations across the UK, France, and Germany.

BT said its connectivity will aid ScottishPower’s operational technology on its windfarms allowing controllers to monitor areas like turbine temperature, operating efficiency and the amount of electricity being produced by the site, helping manage the windfarm and the assets on it more efficiently. The company’s ambitious growth plans include expansion of its existing onshore wind portfolio, investment in new, large-scale solar projects and innovative battery storage systems.

BT Group buys 100% of its energy from renewable resources including Scottish wind farms. It also plans to accelerate responsible, inclusive and sustainable growth over the next decade as part of its Manifesto to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2030.

Allan Ferguson, UK Director of Infrastructure, Operations and Communications at ScottishPower, said: “ScottishPower is at the forefront of the delivery of the UK’s Net Zero targets and the transition to a more sustainable future. As we grow our renewable energy generation, investing in more windfarms, battery storage and green hydrogen production facilities, IT needs to ensure it supports the business growth and BT is helping us achieve that by helping to future-proof the IT network. I look forward to working with BT in delivering this strategic award.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-multi-million-pound-contract-win-with-scottishpower/

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BT faces further strikes on August 30 and 31

The Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents BT Group employees, served notice of pending industrial action on August 30th and 31st, directly after the August bank holiday weekend.  As part of their ongoing campaign to seek higher wages and benefits, the union already held strikes on 29th July and 1st August, 2022.

CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr states “There’s no doubt that we were as solid as we could have been in the first industrial action – and I have no doubt that will be repeated on August 30th and 31st. We’re still hoping to get BT back round the table for serious negotiations , but as things stand it has sadly become clear that simply isn’t going to happen unless we take further action…so that’s precisely what we’re going to do.”

A BT Group spokesperson commented “We know that our colleagues are dealing with the impacts of high inflation and, although we’re disappointed, we respect their decision to strike. We have made the best pay award we could and we are in constant discussions with the CWU to find a way forward from here. In the meantime, we will continue to work to minimise any disruption and keep our customers and the country connected”.

https://www.cwu.org/news/notice-served-for-second-round-of-national-bt-group-strike-action/

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-response-to-notification-by-the-cwu-of-industrial-action-in-august/

BT braces for nationwide strike on July 29 and August 1

Friday, July 15, 2022  BT, UK  

In the wake of a vote by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), BT confirmed that it will not raise the pay increase it implemented in April and will instead brace itself for industrial action.At a press conference today (30th June), the CWU – the union for all BT Group employees – announced that on a 74.8% turnout, the union’s 30,000 Openreach engineers have voted by 95.8% to take strike action. This number was followed by workers in BT, approximately...

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BT tests 5G carrier aggregation with Nokia

by James E. Carroll

BT is testing the aggregation of four carrier components (4CC) in a 5G Standalone (SA) live network in collaboration with Nokia. 

BT’s Networks team have successfully combined four low-band and mid-band radio channels, (2.1, 2.6, 3.4, 3.6 GHz), using Nokia’s 5G Radio Access Network technology in EE’s live network spectrum.

The trial was conducted in two stages; it was first performed in BT’s Radio Lab in Bristol, and then moved outdoors, onto a radio mast at BT’s Adastral Park in Suffolk, where the team successfully achieved 4CC on 5G SA radiating in EE’s regular radio spectrum. Not only is it the first time in Europe that a network operator has achieved 4CC on 5G SA using commercial spectrum, but it is also the first time it has been achieved outside of a lab in Europe.

Greg McCall, Managing Director Service Platforms BT, commented: “Our trial with Nokia is another demonstration of building the most advanced network for our customers. 5G Standalone, coupled with edge compute, will unlock new opportunities for customers looking to develop new services. Furthermore, this technology showcases what’s possible for devices in the future in terms of supporting carrier aggregation, which is an important part of customer experience.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-and-nokia-claim-european-first-by-combining-four-channels-of-spectrum-on-a-5g-standalone-network/

BT conducts Open RAN trial with Nokia

Wednesday, January 26, 2022  BT, Nokia, O-RAN  

BT will install Nokia’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) for Open RAN, across a number of sites, to optimise network performance for customers of its mobile network, EE. The Open RAN trial is taking place in the city of Hull. BT said it is supporting Open RAN, with its vendor partners, to ensure it becomes a viable, mature, scale option for network optimisation as soon as possible. In addition to this trial, BT will also open a dedicated Open...

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BT trials new hyper-sensitive quantum radio receiver

Sunday, May 22, 2022  BT  

BT is testing a new hyper-sensitive quantum antenna technology uses ‘excited atoms’ to deliver over 100x greater sensitivity than traditional receivers.BT says Atomic Radio Frequency (RF) receiver technology represents a revolutionary new way of detecting radio waves that could find much weaker signals than conventional receivers. The receiver works by using a quantum effect called “electromagnetically induced transparency” to form a highly sensitive...

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Openreach rolls out ADVA’s next-gen edge for Ethernet services

Openreach, has deployed ADVA's next generation of edge technology to support Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) services to customers throughout the UK. 

Openreach’s new infrastructure features the ADVA FSP 150-XG100Pro Series, a MEF 3.0-certified, 10Gbit/s programmable demarcation and aggregation platform. It enables Openreach to offer Carrier Ethernet and IP services with a range of bandwidth options from 100Mbit/s to 10Gbit/s. The new technology supports highly precise synchronization with hardware-based SyncE and PTP. It is managed by the Ensemble Controller suite, enabling integration into Openreach’s existing network. Openreach also offers optical spectrum services exceeding 10Gbit/s to allow movement of large amounts of data around the UK.

The rollout extends a longstanding relationship with ADVA. Over 250,000 Openreach circuits are deployed using the ADVA FSP 150.

“We’re continuing our close relationship with ADVA as we roll out the next generation of our Ethernet services. Over the past 10 years, ADVA’s technology has played a major part in the success of our EAD portfolio. It’s enabled service providers across the country to bring new offerings to the market while helping us establish the finest reputation for quality and reliability,” said Mark Logan, director of products at Openreach. “Through working with ADVA, we can enable our customers with flexible high-bandwidth point-to-point connectivity.”

“Openreach has gone from strength to strength in recent years, enabling many service providers to expand their UK networks and bring high-quality connectivity to millions of customers. We’re proud of our close connection with the Openreach team and are excited that they’ve chosen to continue our partnership,” commented Hartmut Müller-Leitloff, SVP of sales EMEA at ADVA. “Even in a time of global supply chain challenges and component shortages, our customers know that no one else does more than ADVA to make sure we deliver. We’ll carry on supporting Openreach every step of the way throughout its next decade of success.”

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20220719-openreach-rolls-out-adv-as-next-gen-edge-devices-as-part-of-its-ethernet-services

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BT braces for nationwide strike on July 29 and August 1

In the wake of a vote by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), BT confirmed that it will not raise the pay increase it implemented in April and will instead brace itself for industrial action.

At a press conference today (30th June), the CWU – the union for all BT Group employees – announced that on a 74.8% turnout, the union’s 30,000 Openreach engineers have voted by 95.8% to take strike action. This number was followed by workers in BT, approximately 9,000 of whom are call centre workers, who have voted by 91.5% on a 58.2% turnout for strike action.

The vote by EE members fell short.

BT issued the following statement: “We have confirmed to the CWU that we won’t be re-opening the 2022 pay review, having already made the best award we could. We’re balancing the complex and competing demands of our stakeholders and that includes making once-in-a-generation investments to upgrade the country’s broadband and mobile networks, vital for the UK economy and for BT Group’s future – including our people.  While we respect the choice of our colleagues who are CWU members to strike, we will work to minimise any disruption and keep our customers and the country connected. We have tried and tested processes for large scale colleague absences to minimise any disruption for our customers and these were proved during the pandemic.”

BT Group awarded a fully consolidated pay increase to its Team Member and frontline colleagues of £1,500. This represents a pay rise of around 5% on average and 8% for the lowest paid and it was effective from 1 April 2022. 

CWU argues that that in the context of RPI inflation levels hitting 11.7% last month, this is a dramatic real-terms pay cut. It is also in the context of the company making £1.3 billion in annual profit, with the company’s CEO, Philip Jansen, gaining a £3.5 million pay package – a 32% increase.

CWU has notified BT management that they will be holding two days of industrial action for its BT and Openreach members on the 29th July and 1st August, 2022.

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-group-response-to-notification-by-the-cwu-of-industrial-action/

https://www.cwu.org/press_release/call-centre-workers-and-30k-openreach-engineers-vote-for-historic-national-strike-against-insulting-real-terms-pay-cut/

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BT to test Nokia’s FP5 IP routing silicon and 800G interfaces

BT has agreed to test Nokia's next generation FP5 network processing silicon, including its 800G interfaces. 

FP5 is the new heart of Nokia’s IP service routing platforms capable of supporting high density 800G routing interfaces. FP5 will also enable flow-based encryption capabilities, while promising a 75% reduction in power consumption.

BT operates the largest IP network in the UK with peak rates above 25Tbps, powered by Nokia’s 77xx family of routers. With this trial, BT is the first in the UK to test the 800G interfaces on IP routers, helping to ensure the most cost-efficient scale and capacity where its future UK customer traffic demands.

Neil McRae, Managing Director and Chief Architect at BT, said: “With FP5, Nokia continues to innovate to ensure IP networks have the scale, flexibility and features to help us manage increasing demand from our residential, mobile and business customers. We’re eager to trial its capabilities as we grow our network capacity – part of our Best Network strategy for meeting our customers’ future needs.”

Rafa de Fermin, VP Network Infrastructure at Nokia, said: “This FP5 trial is an extension of the strong partnership and collaboration between BT and Nokia to build the multiservice network that runs the UK now and in the future. Key to this trial will be FP5’s capability to support high-density standards based QSFP-DD 800 ports, which are immediately available with the FP5 and a real differentiator for Nokia.”

https://www.nokia.com/networks/technologies/fp5/

Nokia launches its FP5 network processing silicon

Tuesday, September 21, 2021  Nokia, Silicon, Terabit  

Nokia unveiled its fifth-generation FP5 IP routing silicon capable of powering 800GE routing interfaces in service provider networks. Nokia promises a 75% reduction in power consumption and new embedded line rate, flow-based encryption capabilities.  FP5-based platforms will be available starting in the first half of 2022.

Nokia's FP5 is a fully programmable network processor (NPU) for Nokia’s IP service routing platforms. The company says the FP5 is the first ASIC on the market to deliver up to 48 ports of QSFP-DD 800 without further hardware or fabric upgrades. Some highlights:

Security: With the current generation FP4 silicon, Nokia transformed volumetric DDoS defense with router-based detection and mitigation. With FP5, Nokia brings an additional layer of network protection with the introduction of ‘ANYsec’ - a new line rate, flow-based encryption capability integrated directly into the chipset. ANYsec supports the delivery of secure IP services including MPLS and segment routing, on-demand and at scale without impacting performance or power efficiency. Service providers can now ensure the integrity and confidentiality of all data flowing through their networks.

Network Capacity. Nokia service router platforms are the first to support high-density 800GE and 1.6 Tbps clear channel routing interfaces for applications including mobile transport, IP core, peering, BNG and provider edge. New FP5-based line cards will support 14.4 Tbps (19.2 Tbps with Nokia’s intelligent aggregation capability.) A new series of fixed form factor 7750 Service Router-1 platforms enable the benefits of FP5 to also be realized in smaller network locations.

Energy Efficiency: Nokia’s FP5 network processors drive down power consumption per bit by 75%. As FP5 is backwards compatible with FP4 and fully integrated into the latest versions of Nokia’s Service Router Operating System (SR OS), all existing features are supported from day one on the new hardware. 

Some specs:

• 4.8 Tbps
• delivered with a 2.5D system-in-package (SiP) construct
• First NPU to support 100G SERDES
• Largest device in the industry using line rate memories everywhere, for both buffering and tables, in a completely deterministic configuration
• First NPU with embedded line-rate network encryption for L2, L2.5 and L3
• First to support multiple 1.6 Tbps clear channel flows
• Support for 400G ZR/ZR+, 800G and 1.6 Tbps speeds
• External MAC ASIC with QoS pre-processing, pre-classification, pre-buffering and first level DDoS protection and encryption

Federico Guillén, President of Network Infrastructure, Nokia, said: “Of all the things that are surprising about human beings, perhaps the most surprising is our ability to be surprised. Our customers require their networks to be robust, agile and adaptable enough to handle everything life throws at them – from disruptive security threats to a global pandemic. FP5 is a significant step forward in performance, security and efficiency and – in combination with our software excellence and investment in network automation and tools – it opens the next chapter in Nokia’s long-standing leadership in IP networking and IP silicon innovation.”

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BT and Ericsson enter private 5G partnership

BT and Ericsson announced a multi-million-pound new partnership to provide commercial 5G private networks for the UK market.

Under a multi-year contract, BT will sell Ericsson's mobile network technology products to businesses and organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, defense, education, retail, healthcare, transport and logistics.

Marc Overton, Managing Director of BT’s Division X, part of its Enterprise business, said: “This UK-first deal we have signed with Ericsson is a huge milestone and will play a major role in enabling businesses’ transformation, ushering in a new era of hyper-connected spaces.

“We have combined our skill and expertise at building converged fixed and mobile networks with Ericsson’s leading, sustainable and secure 5G network equipment, to offer a pioneering new proposition that will be attractive to many industries. 5G private networks will also support smart factory processes and the advancement of Industry 4.0 which can realize significant cost savings and efficiencies for manufacturers.

Katherine Ainley, CEO Ericsson UK & Ireland said: “This ground-breaking agreement with BT means we are together taking a leading role in ensuring 5G has a transformative impact for the UK. The high quality, fast and secure connectivity provided by Ericsson Private 5G can help organizations make all-important efficiency gains that can create safer, more productive, and sustainable business operations and help the country build global leaders in the industries and technologies of the future.”

https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/3/2022/bt-and-ericsson-sign-major-partnership-to-boost-growth-of-5g-private-networks

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BT boosts ADSL speed with 4G aggregation

BT began offering a Hybrid Speed Boost capability that will boost the fixed broadband speeds of small business customer currently being served via ADSL over copper lines. 

Hybrid Speed Boost combines the copper infrastructure with EE’s 4G network to provide an automatic uplift in speeds to 20 Mbps downlink and 10 Mbps uplinlk on average.

Hybrid Speed Boost from BT is underpinned by MultiPath TCP (MPTCP) technology from Tessares. MultiPath TCP is an enhancement to TCP, and enables the efficient, selective combining of existing network assets. It takes TCP based traffic and is able to split the traffic over multiple paths (such as fixed and mobile networks) to deliver increased speeds to customers.

Hybrid Speed Boost is included at no extra cost for new BT business broadband customers taking ADSL broadband plans. 

Chris Sims, BT’s MD for its SoHo (Single/Small Office, Home Office) unit, said: “Using cutting-edge technology, we’re launching the first product in the UK to fuse fixed and mobile connections together to bring faster speeds to small firms which might be struggling on slower copper lines. While the Openreach full fibre network is expanding at pace, week on week, we understand the frustration of small firms who risk being stuck behind as they wait to hear when ultrafast full fibre broadband will come to them. Fast, reliable broadband is vital for the smooth, day to day running of a business, so we’ve taken action today to boost speeds for business taking copper broadband – at no extra cost.

www.tessares.net

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-cranks-up-broadband-speeds-for-thousands-of-small-businesses-on-copper-lines/

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BT trials new hyper-sensitive quantum radio receiver

BT is testing a new hyper-sensitive quantum antenna technology uses ‘excited atoms’ to deliver over 100x greater sensitivity than traditional receivers.

BT says Atomic Radio Frequency (RF) receiver technology represents a revolutionary new way of detecting radio waves that could find much weaker signals than conventional receivers. The receiver works by using a quantum effect called “electromagnetically induced transparency” to form a highly sensitive electric field detector. BT’s trial represents the first time a digitally-encoded message has been received on a 3.6GHz (5G) carrier frequency. Previously, simple audio has been received using much higher frequencies but this trial is the first industrial demonstration using digital modulation within one of EE’s main commercial 5G frequency ranges.

Researchers at BT Labs in Martlesham are now working to miniaturise the equipment and find the optimum RF modulation and signal processing for potential use in future generations of radio networks. BT has secured a number of patents related to the implementation of the atomic RF receiver and is the first company to make use of the technology to send a message at 3.6GHz. Earlier this year, BT also had its first external publication on its atomic RF Receivers accepted for publication in the prestigious Journal of Lightwave Technology. 

Howard Watson, Chief Technology Officer of BT said: “BT’s investment in cutting edge R&D plays a central role in ensuring the UK remains a network technology leader. Our programme has huge potential to boost the performance of our next generation EE network and deliver an even better service to our customers. Although it’s early days for the technology, we’re proud to be playing an instrumental role in developing cutting edge science”.

BT tests Quantum Key Distribution over hollow core fibre 

Monday, September 13, 2021  BT, Hollowcore, Quantum  

 BT has conducted a trial of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) over hollow core fibre cable developed by Lumenisity, a spin out from Southampton University.Testing of Nested Anti-Resonant Nodeless Fibre (NANF) hollow core fibre kicked off this summer at the BT Labs in Ipswich.BT researchers operated a state-of-the-art QKD system using commercial equipment over a 6-kilometre-long Lumenisity CoreSmart cable with a hollow, air-filled centre, revealing...

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BT revenue dips 2% but sees growth in Openreach

BT Group plc published the following results for the full year to 31 March 2022:

• Revenue £20.9bn, down 2%, reflecting revenue decline in Enterprise and Global offset by growth in Openreach, with Consumer flat for the year and returning to growth in Q4; adjusted revenue down 2%
• Adjusted EBITDA £7.6bn, up 2%, with revenue decline more than offset by lower costs from  modernisation programmes, tight cost management, and lower indirect commissions

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said

“BT Group has again delivered a strong operational performance thanks to the efforts of our colleagues across the business. Openreach continues to build like fury, having now passed 7.2m premises with 1.8m connections; a strong and growing early take-up rate of 25%. Meanwhile, our 5G network now covers more than 50% of the UK population. We have the best networks in the UK and we’re continuing to invest at an unprecedented pace to provide unrivalled connectivity for our customers. At the same time we’re seeing record customer satisfaction scores across the business.

“Our modernisation continues at pace and we are extending our cost savings target of £2bn by end FY24 to £2.5bn by end FY25. We delivered EBITDA growth of 2% this year as strong savings from our modernisation programme more than offset weaker revenues from our enterprise businesses due to well-known market challenges.

“While the economic outlook remains challenging, we’re continuing to invest for the future and I am confident that BT Group is on the right track. As a result, we are today reconfirming our FY23 outlook for revenue growth, EBITDA of at least £7.9bn and also the reinstatement of our full year FY22 dividend, as promised, at 7.7 pence per share.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/results-for-the-full-year-to-31-march-2022/

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BT signs 5-year preferred cloud deal with AWS

BT’s Digital unit announced a five-year deal naming Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud as it transforms legacy infrastructure and internal applications to a new cloud-first architecture. 

Over the next five years, BT intends to continue to make significant investments and use of AWS technology to accelerate its digital transformation with a particular focus on application workloads via containers and serverless technologies.

“We have a big opportunity when it comes to modernising our infrastructure, and our collaboration with AWS is a key one for us as we deliver the transformation needed to accelerate BT,” comments Thomas Dücke, Chief Operating Officer, BT Digital.

Adolfo Hernandez, Vice President and General Manager, Telecom Global Industry Business Unit, AWS, says: “BT’s move to cloud-first applications can help reduce IT maintenance costs, streamline operations and help it better adapt to evolving customer needs. Plus, the AWS pay-as-you-go model offers flexibility so BT only pays for the IT needed.”

https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-signs-five-year-agreement-with-aws-as-preferred-cloud-provider-for-internal-applications-to-accelerate-its-digital-transformation/

BT and Google Cloud form strategic partnership

Thursday, March 10, 2022  BT, Cloud, Google Cloud  

Google Cloud and BT announced a strategic, five-year partnership to accelerate BT’s company-wide digital transformation. The collaboration will involve BT using a suite of Google Cloud products and services—including cloud infrastructure, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, security, and API management—to deliver superior customer experiences, reduce costs and risk, and build new revenue streams. The companies...

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BT to implement Rackspace Fabric for multi-cloud services

Thursday, January 20, 2022  BT, Rackspace  

BT and Rackspace Technology announced a partnership focused on multicloud management and optimization. Under the terms of the agreement, BT hybrid cloud services will be based on Rackspace Technology’s solutions, including its Rackspace Fabric management layer.Rackspace supports four primary technology stacks: AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and VMware. Rackspace Fabric is a single platform for consistent, automated cloud services,...

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BT confirms Ericsson for 5G core

Wednesday, April 15, 2020  BT, Ericsson, UK  

BT signed a deal to deploy Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core (Evolved Packet Core and 5G Core), a fully container-based, cloud native Mobile Packet Core for 4G, 5G Non-standalone and 5G Standalone services as a single fully integrated core. The solution, delivered on BT’s Network Cloud, will form a key component in BT’s move to a single converged IP network. It will incorporate network orchestration and automation, including continuous delivery and integration...

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BT picks Juniper for virtualized telco cloud

Monday, June 03, 2019  BT, Juniper  

BT has selected Juniper Networks to power its Network Cloud roll-out and enable a more flexible, virtualized network infrastructure. The Network Cloud will enable BT to combine a range of currently discrete network functions and deploy them on a cloud infrastructure that is built to a common framework and shared across the organization, throughout the UK and globally. These include services across BT’s voice, mobile core and radio/access, global...

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BT picks Ciena's Blue Planet for automation software

Tuesday, November 17, 2020    

 BT has selected Ciena's Blue Planet automation software as part of its drive to deliver market-leading user experience for its multinational enterprise customers. Blue Planet software automates the design and activation of end-to-end network connectivity, helping BT to offer superior digital experience for its customers. Deployed in BT’s cloud, Blue Planet eliminates the need for manual processes to help optimize operations, reduce costs and...

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