Page 37 - SAMENA Trends - February-March 2021

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

country’s economic recovery post-Covid.” Ireland last year, more than 34 million calls employees (including contractors)
Employees from across BT Group, which have been handled. Tim Fanning, Director • £10.1 billion spend with suppliers based
includes Openreach, EE and Plusnet, have at Hatch, said: “Our analysis underlines in the UK
played a key role in keeping the country how vast BT Group’s contribution is to • £24 billion total GVA impact associated
connected during the pandemic. The the UK economy as a whole as well as to with BT Group activities (including
company has provided critical support individual communities in the nations and indirect and induced effects)
to the NHS, SMEs via its Small Business regions. Its presence across the country • BT Group directly employed 1 in every
Support Scheme and school children generates significant further activity and 230 employees in the private sector
by providing unlimited broadband and investment, supporting many thousands across the UK, and 1 in every 12 in the
mobile data, free and mobile data, free BT of jobs.” IT and Communications sector
Wi-Fi vouchers and zero rating access to Summary of results for year 2019/20: • BT Group directly created £1 in every
two of the most popular online education • 82,800 employees directly working £165 of GVA in the UK
sites. BT’s Consumer contact centers now for BT Group in the UK, and 10,600 • As a result of the full economic impact
handle 100% of customer calls in the UK, contractors (Full Time Equivalent – FTE) of BT Group, the firm supported £1 in
at centers from Dundee to Plymouth. Since • 300,000 total FTE jobs supported every £75 of GVA in the UK economy
customer service for BT, EE and Plusnet (including indirect and induced effects) and 1 in every 90 employees working in
customers was brought back to the UK and • £3.4 billion total income of BT Group the UK economy

BT Confirms Plans to Reach 20 Million Premises with FTTP By Late-2020s

Following UK telecom regulator OFCOM to earn a fair return on its GBP12 billion Jansen said: ‘This is good news for all
setting out plans for its regulation of fixed [USD16.7 billion) FTTP investment’. As fiber providers in the UK. For us, it is the
access services for the five years from 1 such, the telco has confirmed its intention greenlight we’ve been waiting for to get
April 2021 yesterday (18 March), BT has to roll out FTTP technology to a total of on and build like fury.’ Meanwhile, Clive
moved to confirm its fiber-to-the-premises 20 million premises by the mid- to late- Selley, chief executive at BT’s network unit
(FTTP) investment plans. With the telco 2020s. It noted, however, that further Openreach, added: ‘We’ve now passed
noting that a major focus of the watchdog’s details of the telco’s deployment plan will almost 4.5 million premises [with FTTP]
statement related to how it would stimulate be announced once it has undertaken a and are building faster, at lower cost and
investment in full fiber services across the full review of OFCOM’s ‘Wholesale Fixed higher quality than anyone else in the UK.
UK, BT has said that, based on its initial Telecoms Market Review’ statement Today’s regulation will allow us to ramp up
assessment, it believes OFCOM’s plans are and it has a better understanding of any to three million premises per year providing
‘broadly in line with the expectations laid further government support which is vital next generation connectivity for
out at [BT’s] Q3 2020/21 financial results available to aid the industry’s rollout of homes and business right across the UK.’
and, when taken as a whole, will allow BT FTTP. Commenting, BT Group CEO Philip

China Mobile, Huawei Pilot 5G Indoor Distributed
Massive MIMO

Huawei and China Mobile Guangdong for smart manufacturing applications, applications in vertical industries and to
have launched a pilot 5G indoor distributed with 5G opening up new opportunities enable the exploration of new business
Massive MIMO network using 2.6GHz inter- for factories to implement smart, flexible, models, and in April 2020 China Unicom
frequency (80MHz+80MHz) networking in and transparent manufacturing based on and Huawei announced the launch of a 5G
Huawei’s Southern Factory in Dongguan, wireless technologies, while such pilots indoor distributed Massive MIMO solution
an industrial city in China’s Pearl River provide carriers with new options for to be integrated into LampSite. February
Delta, reporting 1.2Gbps peak cell uplink emerging industrial services such as video 2021 saw China Mobile Shanghai and
throughput – quadrupled compared with transfer and AGV operations, expanding Huawei deploy a LampSite Massive MIMO
traditional 4T4R cells. The pilot uses 5G to airports, ports, power grids, indoor stadium network at the Shanghai
LampSite, Huawei’s 5G digital indoor transportation, security, and many other New International Expo Centre (the venue
network product supporting up to 64T64R industrial markets. As previously reported for Mobile World Congress Shanghai),
channels and pooling beamforming, MU- by CommsUpdate, in March 2020 the aggregating bandwidth of 200MHz in the
MIMO and other technologies. The vendor Chinese government issued instructions 2.6GHz and 4.9GHz bands with a peak rate
said that the results show that the solution to 5G network operators to provide wider exceeding 3Gbps.
ensures end-to-end high-quality uplink indoor coverage, greater support for

37 FEB-MAR 2021