What’s up with… BT, Huawei, Community Fibre

• BT hits sustainability landmark
• Huawei fights back in Europe
• Community Fibre offers 3Gbit/s broadband in London

BT’s ongoing efforts to be a responsible global citizen and signs that Huawei will not retreat from Europe without a scrap are at the top of this heap of industry news snippets.

In a significant sustainability landmark, BT says its network, offices and shops worldwide are now powered with 100% renewable electricity. The UK operator says its “transition to renewable electricity has been delivered through supporting the development of local renewable energy markets, with 16% of its electricity supplied through corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and the remainder from high quality green tariffs or in a small number of markets, renewable certificates.” For more details, see this press release. 

Huawei is fighting back in Europe, where it is slowly being squeezed out of multiple markets, including the UK and Sweden. According to Politico, it has warned European officials that the authorities in Poland and Romania risk violating European Union laws with 5G network-related security rulings. 

Community Fibre, which is investing in a fibre access broadband network in London, has become the first service provider to offer a 3 Gbit/s broadband service in the UK capital. “We have launched 3 Gigabit home broadband today and expect to go well beyond this in the future,” stated CEO Graeme Oxby. “We believe that multi-gigabit speed will be an essential need for homes and businesses, proving vital to the UK’s global competitiveness. By using 100% full fibre instead of outdated copper or hybrid cables, Community Fibre becomes the first to make multi-gigabit speed a reality in London, ensuring the capital’s communities are ready to cope with the increased broadband demands for years to come.” See this announcement for further details.   

Enea says it’s created the industry’s first 5G standalone 3GPP Release 16 Interface, enabling Tier One operators to bring together all their network and subscriber data across 4G and 5G networks. It points out that Release 16, due to be launched later this year, places great emphasis on the interoperability between 4G and 5G, providing a bridge between network generations. Using Release 16-compliant software, operators will be able to manage subscriptions and session data across multiple cellular access networks. Enea says it already has a North American Tier One operator deploying its solution. For more details, see this press release.

There’ll be 34.4 million connected building automation systems in North America and Europe by 2024, according to Berg Insight. These are Internet-connected systems that control and monitor buildings and their heating, air conditioning, power consumption, security systems, elevators and more, and generally automate processes. There are currently around 20.5 million of them in Europe and North America and the market is growing at about 10.4% CAGR. There’s nothing new about building automation, but Berg Insight suggests there is a new urgency to get them installed and updated to ensure buildings can meet energy conservation goals and green construction mandates. 

Ericsson has landed a 5G network deal with telia in Lithuania to add to its existing 5G engagement with the Nordic giant. See this press release for more details. 

- The staff, TelecomTV