All articles by Alex Birkhead
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Network & InfraWildanet joins fibreco multiplay push with TiVo
Open access: Latest UK challenger to broaden proposition in competition dogfight. TiVo/Freely UK-first advances natural evolution from broadband provider to multi-service operator. “Expect more from us”, commercial chief Simon Hughes tells TelcoTitans…
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Network & InfraAfrica’s fibre boom needs a commercial operating model — not just more network
Open-access analysis: Building fibre across Africa is only the first hurdle; monetising capacity is the commercial test. From prepaid township offers to carrier-neutral wholesale platforms, operators need scalable operating models to turn network investment into services and returns. Draws on market evidence and ZIRA Group’s fibre and wholesale experience…
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Network & InfraTrusted agentic AI: DT and Vodafone automate identity management for sovereign-ready network compliance
Translating dense legal jargon into network access rules with telco-grade IAM (identity and access management) traditionally takes weeks of manual engineering with error risk. Explore how Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone are applying ‘governed intelligence’ and a “Legal LLM” to shrink this critical infrastructure compliance latency to hours, with zero trust and human-in-the-loop, unlocking efficiencies and new high-value sovereign revenue streams.
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Special ReportBeyond fibre Special Report: the MVNO multiplay opportunity for UK altnets
Sponsored access: For fibre broadband challengers, mobile is no longer a capital-intensive distraction: it’s a multi-billion market opportunity now accessible without the old £1m+ capex barrier. This free-to-read analysis and primer includes exclusive insights from Community Fibre, Gamma and Graystone Strategy…
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OperationsBT says 75% of legacy fixed OSS retired after decade-long SRIMS overhaul
Now advanced on fixed-network inventory, data and process unification and simplification, digital OSS chief Ravi Ramachandran has set out how the operator’s graph-based SRIMS platform is intended to underpin automation/AI, digital twins, and NaaS revenue.
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Products & ServicesEurope 5G SA go-to-market strategies: OTE differentiating with Priority Pass slicing
Analysis: with 5G standalone networks expanding, European operators face a strategic crossroads: bundle as standard or charge a premium? Explore how Greece’s OTE is leveraging slicing to offer guaranteed consumer bandwidth and also FWA success, plus how its strategy compares nationally and across the continent (top-five markets analysed)…
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Products & ServicesUK fibre: TiVo’s Freely momentum unlocks altnet multiplay
Interview: As customer retention becomes paramount, UK fibre service providers are re-evaluating the strategic value of multiplay. Several altnets are at contract stage with streaming TV platform provider TiVo as sell-out success of the Freely-enabled Aero puck helps make the case for convergence…
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Network & InfraVirgin Media O2 pivots telco cloud to Red Hat and Wind River
Virgin Media O2 is overhauling its telco cloud strategy, pivoting away from VMware to adopt a Kubernetes-based horizontal infrastructure with Red Hat and Wind River. With managing a multi-vendor telco cloud like “herding wildcats”, discover how the operator plans to manage its complex vendor ecosystem and drive true cloud-native transformation.
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M&Anexfibre’s Datta: ‘corner shop fibre’ is dead, the UK needs an infra megamart
Interview: proposed £2bn acquisition of Netomnia is sparking fierce debate across the UK broadband sector. With industry heavyweights trading blows over duopoly fears and infrastructure overlap, discover why CEO Rajiv Datta believes this consolidation is crucial to challenging Openreach.
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Strategy & ChangeFrom danger zone to digital powerhouse: Kearney maps Europe’s path to telecom recovery
Analysis: Europe’s telecoms sector has built extensively but failed to monetise, risking stagnation without urgent structural intervention. Kearney’s comprehensive diagnostic guides on how regionalisation, network resilience, strategic private finance partnerships, and other remedies can revitalise the sector’s finances and the continent’s digital economy.
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Network & InfraUK: CityFibre and BDUK massively renegotiate Project Gigabit subsidies, to reflect market realities
As CityFibre cancels or shrinks its Project Gigabit commitments, halving the covered premises while increasing the per-property subsidy, BT/Openreach emerges as the dominant beneficiary of government subsidies.
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Financial & PerformanceThree cheers for London: Community Fibre achieves cash-positivity, returns to rollout, adds mobile multiplay
FY25/Analyst Briefing: upbeat and staunchly local altnet resumes build-out and ups ambitions, now partly self-funding as possibly first UK-fibreco to turn cash-positive following strong FY25. Also debuting highly-competitive mobile bolt-on bolstering fixed-mobile convergence challenge…
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Network & InfraTelco cloud blueprint: DT’s HTC takes control of network stack, sets terms for vendors
Deep dive: after quietly rebuilding its network core from the ground up on its own terms, Deutsche Telekom is now asking the rest of the industry to follow its Horizontal TelCo Cloud lead. But with rivals pursuing their own visions, the question of who truly leads the field is far from settled.
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Financial & PerformanceUK fibre: lenders seize control of Gigaclear following debt restructure, Infracapital wipeout
In depth: rural provider handed over to lenders in sweeping recapitalisation, following £0.5bn+ debt and equity write-down, with cashflow inflection point said to be on the horizon. Investors zeroed out, following abandoned trade sale, with spotlight also on National Wealth Fund sector exposure…
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Strategy & ChangeAge of outcomes: Gamma empowering SPs with global expansion, portfolio diversification
As turn-of-the-decade markets mature, communications platform provider Gamma is charting a new course for its service provider partners, leveraging strategic expansion into Asia-Pacific and promoting portfolio diversification to differentiate and unlock new revenue streams.
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InterviewIrrational and anti-competitive: CityFibre CEO urges CMA scrutiny of nexfibre-Netomnia-VM O2 consolidation play
Exclusive: In his first interview as CEO, Simon Holden unpacks Ofcom’s TAR framework and why the Competition and Markets Authority must intervene in the contentious £2bn nexfibre–Netomnia merger to protect infrastructure competition and prevent re-emergence of duopoly stagnation.
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InterviewBattle scars and skin in the game: VOIS breaks out from Vodafone’s captive shared services
Deep dive: by stepping out of the shadow, the once-captive telco shared services business is rewriting the playbook for commercial enterprise ‘shared intelligence’ as a standalone powerhouse. With Accenture on side, and tapping Vodafone Business and others for go-to-market, leaders Gary Adey and Chris Meads tell TelcoTitans that VOIS is an increasingly ‘big lever’ for its parent to pull…
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AnalysisAI, edge and colo: Nokia’s Neutral Host Index redraws telecom’s $200bn shared-infra map
Market analysis: Nokia argues that ‘neutral host’ has outgrown its tower-and-RAN shorthand, setting out a broader, investment-led definition also spanning fibre, data centre, and network builders. The prize: a fast-rising revenue pool, increasingly amplified by AI’s infrastructure pull.
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M&ALondon fibre shake-up: ‘aggressive’ ex Macquarie investors swoop on distressed G.Network
In-depth: £500m later, lender patience exhausted, and investors sidestepped — London altnet falls into hands of FitzWalter. As ‘ruthless’ distressed asset specialist swoops on unloved fibre builder, TelcoTitans considers whether bold move signals long-awaited reality check for UK fibre valuations and consolidation…
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PeoplewatchCityFibre hiring Neil McRae as CTIO — why?
In-depth: Former BT Chief Architect looks set to unexpectedly return to UK broadband. Is the largest fibre specialist looking to tap strategist’s deep understanding of incumbent and networks, or more recent experience in cloud and FWA?