Openreach adds 67 locations to its Fibre Cities programme
BYTES... OPENREACH HAS EXPANDED its
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COMMS NEWS
October 2020 | Comms Business Magazine | 5
TELENT BUILDS FIBRE
Telent has been awarded a contract by
Openreach to build new infrastructure
for its new FTTP broadband network.
Telent will be responsible for
construction tasks such as: surveying,
building, and testing. The company will
build new infrastructure for Openreach
in 12 locations including Coventry, Derby
and Huddersfield.
ARROW CERTIFICATIONS
Arrow Electronics has extended its
collaboration with Amazon Web Services
(AWS) by significantly increasing
AWS Certifications and introducing
a training programme. Arrow has
integrated AWS into its ArrowSphere
cloud platform in 19 European countries,
and now has certifications across all
major categories, including architect,
operations, developer and security.
Fibre Cities programme to an
additional 67 locations. The plan
outlines areas where the
company will build its new,
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP)
broadband technology. Work
will begin in March 2021 and is
scheduled to take place over
two years.
The new locations stretch
across the country – from
Alloway, in Ayrshire; to Helsby,
in Cheshire; and Ivybridge, in
South Devon – and bring the
programme to over 560 towns,
cities, boroughs, villages and
hamlets. The £12 billion project
aims to bring ‘full fibre’
technology to 20 million
premises across the UK by the
mid-to-late 2020s, assuming
the right regulatory and political
fibre enablers are in place.
Clive Selley, CEO of
Openreach, said, “Despite the
challenges of the pandemic
we’re continuing to make great
strides towards our goal to build
ultrafast, ultra-reliable
broadband to 20 million homes
UNION STREET & AURORA BUY EBILLZ
NEWLY MERGED Union Street
Technologies and Aurora have
announced the acquisition of
Shaftesbury Systems,
developers of the ‘ebillz’ billing
platform.
Established in 1995,
Shaftesbury Systems was an
early entrant into the billing
software market. The company
was acquired by Chess in 2010
and, at that time, over 150
communication providers were
using its ebillz platform.
The news comes soon after
Union Street’s merger with
fellow billing provider Aurora.
Vincent Disneur, newly
appointed managing director of
Union Street, explained to
Comms Business what the
merger with Aurora meant for
the channel. He said, “Just like
Union Street, Aurora has a
proven track record of product
innovation and providing quality
service. Most importantly,
Aurora shares our passion for
developing software that
empowers channel resellers to
grow and thrive. Combining our
collective resources and
and businesses.
“For homes, shops, GP
surgeries and schools across
the country it will mean fewer
broadband faults, faster
connections, and a consistent
reliable network that will serve
them for decades to come.”
Openreach publishes details
of its build plans on a quarterly
basis to update on where FTTP
is currently being built, has
already been built, or where
building will start within the
next three months. This allows
stakeholders – like
Communications Providers (CP),
end-customers and council
planners – to make informed
decisions on their FTTP
investments and sales efforts,
helping to encourage more
people to adopt and take
advantage of the new service
when it arrives.
Since the build programme
began in February 2018,
Openreach engineers have
deployed around 2.6 million
kilometres of fibre – reaching
more than three million
premises across the UK.
expertise will ultimately lead to
even greater benefits for our
partners.”
Disneur explained that, over
time, Aurora and Union Street
will look to take the best
elements of both systems and
create a best of breed solution
for channel partners.
This more recent acquisition
of ebillz will add to that
long-term plan. Disneur
commented, “The significance
of this consolidation and the
beneficial impact it will have for
the channel cannot be
overstated. By combining the
great resources and talents of
these billing businesses, we
can provide unparalleled levels
of service and support for our
partners. In addition, the
significant new investment and
expertise will help us to
significantly ramp up the R&D of
our solutions. This will very
quickly enable our partners to
leverage even greater benefits
from our solutions, whilst
allowing them to capitalise on
the many opportunities in the
channel.”
Following this acquisition,
Union Street will now provide
software services to over 900
partners that collectively bill in
excess of £2bn per annum.
Disneur added, “If the
unprecedented events of the
2020 have taught us anything,
it’s that sourcing a businesscritical
service such as billing
from an under-resourced
supplier puts comms providers
in an inherently vulnerable
position. Throughout the crisis,
Union Street has maintained its
support services, development
operations and adhered to its
SLAs without any disruption.
Our partners can be assured
that no matter what the future
holds in store, they can depend
on us completely to provide this
valuable service.”
Knight Corporate Finance
advised the shareholders of
Union Street Technologies on
the merger with Aurora,
including a dry run diligence
process to ensure the business
was ready for a transaction.
Aurora emerged as the most
appropriate buyer. The deal
team comprised Adam Zoldan,
David Middleton and Tom Jones.
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