MARKET REPORT 2020 and beyond
“Early next year we will see the launch of SoGEA from Openreach. Following the announcement of the end of life
of WLR from 2025, this is the first major step towards moving customers from WLR to IP-only lines.”
Stephen Warburton, Managing Director of Wholesale Partners at Zen
ESIM – ANTON LE SAUX, HEAD OF IOT, ZEST4
IoT providers, such as Zest4, will be rolling out a full EUICC (eSIM) solutions
that will open up the global IoT marketplace, and in particular the ability to
add connectivity at the point of manufacture.
eSIM stands for embedded SIM (or electronic SIM) and both eSIM and SIM
are compatible with the GSMA remote provisioning standards.
The capability that this solution will allow enterprises to change and
activate the SIM profi le embedded in IoT devices remotely, or over the
air (OTA). In layman’s terms this means a SIM installed at the point of
manufacture does not need to have a mobile network assigned to it.
The Network can be decided at a later stage when the device has been
shipped and activated. This means you can ship worldwide without having
to worry about the cost or ability for the SIM to get a connection.
reliability and speed, not just the
bandwidth bearer.”
Stephen Warburton,
Managing Director of
Wholesale Partners at Zen
said “ Early next year we will
see the launch of SoGEA from
Openreach. Following the
announcement of the end of
life of WLR from 2025, this
is the rst major step towards
moving customers from WLR
to IP-only lines. e key bene t
to Channel partners is they will
only need to order one service,
SoGEA, from their connectivity
provider rather than requiring
a separate order for WLR and
ADSL or FTTC. It also creates
the opportunity to upsell IP
voice services, whether that be
SIP or Hosted Voice.”
Paul Heritage-Redpath,
Head of Products, Entanet
said “Over the last few years
we’ve seen a real change in
attitude from the top down
towards full bre and a deeper
understanding of how this
future proof infrastructure can
truly bene t the UK economy.
is, in turn, has led to a
greater acceptance and adoption
of the technology amongst
regulators, Government and of
course our channel. is will
only continue to grow over the
next year, especially as full bre
infrastructure builders led by
CityFibre continue to expand
their networks and make full
bre more readily available
throughout the whole of the
UK. Our network investment
plan continues apace. Our £2.5
billion investment is enabling
us to reach 5 million premises by
2025, bringing ever increasing
numbers into the Gigabit City
Club to reach our target of 60
(covering 20% of the UK) in
order to satisfy British business’
ever growing demand for faster
full bre connectivity, and in
turn from our wholesale channel
partners seeking to serve them.”
ED SAYS…
The outlook for the market looks positive,
although there are some pretty hefty
obstacles to overcome. Firstly a general
election which could result in the
nationalisation of Openreach, secondly the
entirely unpredictable impact of Brexit which
may, or may not, happen in January. Given
the timetable to date we could still be writing
about it this time next year.
customers.
“More customers are moving
to e Cloud which means that
reliable and fast connectivity
is critical to doing business.
Because of this, service
reliability will become even
more important and the need
for resilience circuits.
“10Gb bearers, 100Gb NNIs,
increased backhaul capacity
and a strong nationwide
network are the key enablers to
wholesale growth moving into
2020 and beyond. We need to
Myles Leach, MD of NFON
be innovative in how we split
up our network bandwidth.
O ering partners, a scalable
upgrade path so they don’t ‘over
procure bandwidth and end up
paying for capacity they don’t
need is really important.
“Another increasing trend is
dealing with the perception of
connectivity as a commodity
and dealing with rising price
pressures. Because of the
increased critical need for
connectivity it should be viewed
as a service and valued for
TERRY MCKEEVER, MD OF TEKTON BILLING
“Obviously, 2020 is going to be dominated by the adoption of 5G.
Whilst end-user consumer demand may be low, businesses are in
a position to reimagine their connectivity. Not only will it provide
businesses with greater speeds and reliability, as well as the
fl exibility to work faster when on-the-move, but it will also open new
market segments, like remote surgery. Also, in the modern UX-led
age of apps and digital simplifi cation, end-users have developed a
discerning eye for which portals are intended for ‘internal use’ and
those truly designed to be customer-facing. A platform’s usability and
appearance combined are as crucial to its success, as the technology
behind it.
“Business is becoming more dynamic too. Remote working & SaaS,
mobile usage and IoT are all going to increase traffi c signifi cantly.
Gartner estimates that there will be over 625 million IoT devices in the
UK by 2023 and all that data will need billing!”
26 | Comms Business Magazine | December 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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