The company has invested £500,000 in the new service including a £350,000 CRM system and £150,000 in specialist engineering staff to manage the installations of its landline and IT solutions. Clients get a single bill regardless of the number of networks they have been connected to

Barclay Bounce allows the customer to choose which networks they wish to use, O2, Vodafone, EE or Three and ‘bounce’ between them. An online portal allows customers to control their contracts, switch SIMs between networks or amend data packages. Client Account Managers are also available to handle any queries or issues clients may have.

“Barclay Bounce evolved from listening to our customer’s feedback and conducting research within the B2B market” explained Barclay Communications founder Britt Megahey (main pic).

“If the past 27 years in telecoms has taught us anything, it’s that one size doesn’t necessarily fit all. It’s seldom that we engage with companies where one network is right for everyone. We recognised that lack of flexibility was a massive frustration for businesses and developed a solution that tackled the issue.

“Flexibility isn’t a word closely associated with telecoms. Barclay Bounce is aiming to change that”

“Flexibility isn’t a word closely associated with telecoms. Barclay Bounce is aiming to change that. Imagine having the ability to move between two or three different networks We believed we could use the strong relationships we have with all the UK networks to create a valuable solution for our customers. For example, a business will be able to have 20 per cent of SIMs on Vodafone, 20 per cent on EE and 60 per cent on O2.

“Barclay Communications negotiated with the different networks to get a strong, competitive price point. If someone requires roaming data, then a network they can change to the best roaming network if they’re on the Barclay Bounce plan. It will appeal to micro businesses as well as operations with hundreds of connections, including public sector organisations. Clients are already telling Barclay Bounce is a game-changer because of its flexibility.”

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/barclay-comms-invests-500k-flexible-bounce-network-swap-service/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/telecoms-software-provider-pipcall-appoints-former-orange-vp-duncan-ward-new-ceo/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/telecoms-software-provider-pipcall-appoints-former-orange-vp-duncan-ward-new-ceo/#respond Tue, 15 Aug 2023 17:50:30 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/telecoms-software-provider-pipcall-appoints-former-orange-vp-duncan-ward-new-ceo/ Telecom software solutions provider PiPcall has appointed former Orange senior VP Duncan Ward, as its new CEO.

Telecom software solutions provider PiPcall has appointed former Orange senior VP Duncan Ward, as its new CEO.

Ward joins PiPcall from cloud telephony provider Enreach where he was CEO ND takes over from PiPcall founder Simon Hochhauser who becomes executive chairman.

Ward has more than 30 years of experience in telecoms and will work on growing sales of PiPcall’s unified comms product, Mobile+ with recently joined marketing director Chris Benchley.

Ward said: “My goal is for Mobile+ to become the go-to mobile product for large and small-to-medium-sized enterprises. We’ll be enhancing communication, and product quality and attracting talented individuals to join PiPcall’s team”.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/telecoms-software-provider-pipcall-appoints-former-orange-vp-duncan-ward-new-ceo/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/analysis/article/satellites-esims-can-help-close-digital-divide-least-developed-countries/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/analysis/article/satellites-esims-can-help-close-digital-divide-least-developed-countries/#respond Tue, 16 May 2023 13:03:28 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/satellites-esims-can-help-close-digital-divide-least-developed-countries/ Around a 64 per cent of people in the world’s least developed countries (LDC) are still offline in least developed countries writes Hamish White, CEO of SaaS solutions provider Mobilise This equates to 720 million people , or 27 per cent of the global offline population, even though the these countries population makes up just 14

]]> Around a 64 per cent of people in the world’s least developed countries (LDC) are still offline in least developed countries writes Hamish White, CEO of SaaS solutions provider Mobilise

This equates to 720 million people , or 27 per cent of the global offline population, even though the these countries population makes up just 14 per cent of the world’s population. The UN classifies 46 countries tas least developed. Of these, 33 are in Africa, nine are in Asia, one is in the Caribbean and three are located in the Pacific, he writes.

According to ITU data, 58 per cent of people in these countries owned a mobile phone in 2022. This is close to the global average, which sits at 73 per cent. Data for mobile cellular subscriptions paints a similar picture. The average of 79 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants isn’t too far from to the world average of 108. Where we really see a gap, however, is with mobile broadband with 42 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the LDCs compared with 87 for the world. In part, this is because the necessary infrastructure to access a mobile broadband network is missing.

The internet can be accessed via fixed broadband and mobile access. Mobile access provides deployment and coverage flexibility that cannot be matched using fixed broadband, which is typically unaffordable or completely unavailable in rural areas. Therefore, mobile connectivity is the only feasible pathway to internet access. However, simply having a mobile phone is no good if the area has no network coverage, and this is where the problem with rural connectivity lies.

The benefits of connectivity

As a society, we should help close the digital divide because it’s the right thing to do. But additionally, there are several other benefits to bridging the divide that impact both LDCs and the wider, global society.

The digital economy makes up over 15 per cent of global GDP, growing two and a half times faster than total GDP over the past 15 years. It is considered one of the most important drivers of innovation, growth and job creation in today’s society. Closing the gap, therefore, will add significant value. According to research from the UN, a 10 per cent increase in the penetration of mobile broadband services increases GDP by 1.5 per cent.

It’s widely cited that 92 per cent of jobs today require some form of digital competency. In an increasingly digital world, access to the internet means access to opportunity. Implementing a digital economy creates opportunities for nations to increase productivity, promote innovation and participate in global trade. The entire world experienced a reliance on digital tools during the pandemic. In a post-pandemic world, we can see how the increase in digitalisation has driven a permanent shift in behaviour as individuals with internet access make use of digital services widening the gap for those that do not.

Closing the gap

But why hasn’t the digital divide been fixed yet? Solving it is a complex, layered challenge as telcos work to expand coverage in a profitable way while navigating a challenging regulatory environment.

Areas with little coverage, such as those in rural areas, tend to lack the infrastructure required to build a network in the first place, making expansion difficult for mobile operators. Tough terrain, like areas with dense forest and vast mountain ranges, can add further implications. Additionally, when we consider the number of people living in their areas, it’s easy to see why operators struggle to see a return on investment from such an expansion.

A big challenge lies in backhaul connectivity, which refers to the portion of the network that links a base station to the core network. Traditional backhaul connectivity is achieved through microwave technology or physical full fibre cables, but in rural areas, where there may just be a handful of people, the distance, terrain and cost of implementation make these strategies unviable.

Mobile operators also have the obstacles of hampering regulation. Many regulatory policies are actually negatively impacting the growth of the telecoms market, such as spectrum auctions where governments sell parts of the spectrum to the highest bidding operator.

Spectrum auctions hinder innovation. Since operators heavily invest in their spectrum, they are more likely to implement a protectionist strategy to safeguard profits, rather than opting for a riskier but more innovative strategy that could promote greater levels of rural connectivity.

But regulations don’t have to act as blockades. Throughout the pandemic, we saw the positive effects that more supportive regulations can have on the telecoms landscape. For example, in Ghana and Jordan network operators were granted temporary access to spectrum and in Tunisia spectrum bands were made technology neutral, which helped to maintain 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity while also rolling out 5G.

Connecting with Low Eerth Orbit satellotes

With regulatory and economic barriers in mind, operators must consider other ways of reaching LDCs and other areas without sufficient connectivity. Rather than relying on traditional backhaul connectivity methods, the solution could lie in a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network.

Instead of connecting each individual small village with microwave or fibre, a LEO satellite network allows blanket global coverage for backhaul purposes. LEO satellites consist of many thousands of satellites orbiting at altitudes between 160 and 1,600 kilometres above Earth, which allows them to offer bandwidth and latency that can compete with existing fixed broadband technologies like fibreoptic cables, in certain environments.

In recent years, we’ve seen companies around the world compete in the LEO “space race”. In fact, Space X’s Starlink is already functional and offering internet service. Amazon’s Project Kuiper also plans to make connectivity possible for underserved communities in the next few years, with its first set of satellites planned to launch in 2024.

Enter eSIM

It’s also worth considering how digital tools can in turn support rural connectivity with LEO. Onboarding remote customers is not a simple task — going to a store to collect a device and SIM card, or even arranging delivery isn’t always viable. However, an eSIM solution enables service providers to establish a remote onboarding process to connect their customers without the need for any physical interactions.

eSIMs are growing in popularity, particularly following the launch of the eSIM-only iPhone 14 in the US in 2022. Rumours are already swirling that the iPhone 15, due to launch in September, will be eSIM-only across the globe and, while the iPhone is a premium device, the shift will certainly set a precedent for more widely affordable handset manufacturers to produce eSIM-compatible devices.

Mobile connectivity is becoming available to more and more people every day. However, in a world increasingly dependent on digital technologies, enabling connectivity across LDCs has become a pressing issue. We are all responsible.

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Unified comms and mobile services convergence provider Tango Networks must pay an ex-account director a total of £71,441 in damages and compensation for unfair dismissal

Mark Jones (61) won his Industrial Tribunal cases against Tango Networks and is to receive a basic award (£1,614), a compensatory award (£27,193.05) , compensation for breach of contract (£1,578.52), injury to feelings (£20,000), interest on injury to feelings award (£3,295,45), grossing up for tax payable on the award (£17,869,34).

Jones worked for Tango for two years from January 2019 as a channel account director with three main clients (Telco Switch, AVC1 and Redcentric). Had he sold 13,000 SIMs he would have earned £40,000 commission. But he did not earn any commission during his time with Tango

Tribunal heard Jones had not sold enough SIMs to make any commission and was poor at forecasting how many SIM sales a partner seller would make. There was a lack of structured account planning and evidence of day-to -day business.

Tango wanted to appoint another salesperson and located a middle-aged candidate through LinkedIn. The Tribunal heard manager Philip Hesketh “wanted someone younger for the role” and “who was ideally female”.

Hesketh told colleagues he had two new candidates and wanted to make an offer to each “on the provision we move Mark on very early in Jan 2021”

Hesketh said in evidence:

‘A lot of the candidates we were interviewing were a mirror image of me, white middle-aged men and that it was a shame that we did not attract more diversity into the application process”.

The Tribunal heard that Hesketh told colleagues he didn’t want a team of ’50 odd year old balding men and ideally a woman’.

The Tribunal, led by Employment Judge Miller, concluded

“We find that there was a firm plan to dismiss the claimant and to replace him with another candidate. The respondent planned to do this before the claimant had two year’s service so they could do it quickly”.

Onecom will be able to sell cloud technology services for Unified Communications, MS Teams Voice and Contact Centres at pre-negotiated rates through the Government G-Cloud framework without having to tender.

Central and local government, health and education bodies, blue light services and charities can now use Onecom’s consultative experts and cloud-based services without having to go through procurement red tape.

Onecom has been approved as a supplier of Cloud telephony solutions (softphones, handsets and smartphones, Connect4Teams (a cloud solution for direct routing, PBX integration, secure voice recording and contact centre capabilities within Microsoft Teams), Contact Centre as a Service ( engagement over the Cloud with performance reporting and analytics)

Suppliers must meet a set of minimum standards. Only those suppliers who state that they meet these minimum standards in the supplier declaration are considered. There are around 31.000 services included in the G-Cloud framework divided into Cloud Hosting, Cloud Software, and Cloud Support. 

“This appointment cements Onecom’s position as a trusted supplier to the public sector, reflecting our commitment to helping UK organisations of all kinds to realise their potential through transformative communications and customer experience technology”, said Onceom CEO Martin Flick.

“We look forward to building new partnerships through this framework, enabling public sector organisations to succeed using the power of our expertise and technology and helping to drive ongoing digital transformation to support a public sector that is agile, efficient and sustainable.”

Onecom claims to be the UK’s leading business telecoms and cloud communications provider, operating from 14 regional offices and supplying over 70,000 business customers with over a million services.

Lancashire, ICT managed services provider Elite Group has been promoted to chief executive officer Adam Turton who joined the company 20 years ago as a  graduate trainee.  He moves to the top job from his position as a chief revenue officer and takes over from Rob Sims who becomes a board advisor.

Turton started his business career at Elite and progressed in roles within all departments.He has experience with organic growth strategies and has been involved in more than 15 mergers and acquisitions. These include a mix of share and asset purchases. He has held a number of senior management, Board and C Level positions. Turton will now plan the long-term strategic direction for the company with a priority on customer experience, product market fit and growth.

“I’m humbled and privileged for the opportunity to lead this business and team of people and the growth of the business, I have ambitious growth plans and am really excited about the future”, he said.

Elite Group founder and chairman Matt Newing said:
said: “Adam’s appointment is something we’ve been working towards for some time and forms part of an agreed succession plan with outgoing CEO, Rob Sims. With close to 20 years of experience in the sector working exclusively for Elite Group and associated group companies), Adam’s appointment is the culmination of all his hard work and dedication to the company. The appointment reflects positively on Elite as an employer that nurtures talent and rewards loyalty, commitment and hard work.”

Rob Sims commented: “I’m delighted to be handing over responsibilities to Adam. He has the leadership qualities and key attributes required to be a successful CEO and is the perfect person to lead Elite Group”.

CityFibre and Vodafone have has successfully completed a trial of 2Gbps residential services in York over the recent upgrade of its York network to the faster XGS-PON access technology.

This is twice the speed of the fastest services widely available on CityFibre’s network. The 2Gbps service is a forerunner to residential and business services at speeds of up to 10Gbps across its entire footprint in the future.

The new services were delivered via Vodafone’s Pro II Broadband service and Vodafone Ultra Hub and Super WiFi6E Booster bundle.

The XGS-PON upgrade improves network performance by almost 10 times the capability of the current G-PON architecture.

Michael Greening, Product Director at CityFibre, said: “We’re a major step closer to bringing multi-gig full-fibre services to millions of homes and businesses across the country. But at 2Gbps, we’re barely scratching the surface of our network’s capabilities. Our XGS-PON upgrade programme will offer symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps.”

Max Taylor, Chief Commercial Officer of Vodafone UK, said: “Vodafone is the biggest Full Fibre broadband provider in the UK. Recording our fastest home WiFi speed showcases the true capability of our Pro II Broadband, the UK’s fastest router”.

CityFibre owns, operates and maintains fibre-to-the-building infrastructure in at least 60 cities in the United Kingdom. As of 21 March 2022, 1.5 million premises were connected to the CityFibre network

Union Street Technologies has introduced an automated billing data removal tool to help resellers comply with GDPR legislation. Under Article 17 of GDPR laws, “individuals have the right to have personal data erased.” This is also known as the ‘right to be forgotten.

The Data Removal Tool for its Affinity Billing Platform automates removing obsolete data to assist with GDPR compliance by purging sites and associated data where customers have not been billed for seven years,

“Over time, it’s easy for communication providers to accumulate large amounts of billing data which serve very little use after a certain point. In response to demand from Affinity’s user community, the Data Removal Tool has been developed to periodically purge legacy data according to a user-defined set of criteria. It can be configured to purge data for any time period the user chooses” said Samantha Dennahy, Affinity Product Owner

“Reducing the amount of legacy data held by Affinity can help to preserve and often improve the platform’s performance while enhancing the experience of using the system. Removing legacy data from Affinity will also make it easier for users to find what they need, and help communication providers to comply with GDPR directives that specify not to store data ‘just in case’. To help boost user productivity, the Data Removal Tool can run outside of working hours so that the process won’t interfere with tasks performed by billing personnel.

“t’s possible to cleanse data manually but, it’s one of those jobs that’s easy to forget to do, We designed the Data Removal Tool to make life easier on billing managers.”

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Fixed Broadband Project Group has introduced the Open Fixed Access Networks sub-group in collaboration with major operators including Telefonica, TIM and Vodafone. 

The sub-group aims to address the specific challenges that are most important when building the access networks to meet consumer needs.

The work will focus on improving interoperability and diversity in the access network, speeding up innovation through modernisation of operations and deployment architectures, and boosting capacity by transitioning to a network with higher bandwidth.

The objective is to drive the deployment of open, disaggregated and interoperable access technologies which enables operators to mix and match supplier solutions and improve operating efficiencies.

Bruno Cornaglia, Fixed Access Senior Manager at Vodafone said: “In Vodafone, we see that openness and disaggregation are key principles that allow us to build the flexible and agile network we need to support our evolving customer needs. Our work in this area complements similar work elsewhere in the network, for example with OOPT and OpenRAN, and we’re excited that this project will help realise these same benefits in the fixed access network.”

Jose Torrijos Gijon, Technology Expert, Telefonica GCTIO said: “At Telefonica, we fully support this new project as the next step towards the commercialisation and deployment of technologies based on robust and mature industry standards. Ultimately we believe the Open Fixed Access Networks project will play a critical role in the adoption of new technologies and new services as we prepare for the next stage of evolution in our access networks.”

Telecommunications specialist A1 Comms has partnered with refurbished handset supplier Mobile Reborn to launch a new trade-in offer for customers called Ka-Ching.

Ka-Ching is powered by Frift provides an option for customers to sell their old devices for cash, and the brand claims to offer the best prices on the market.

The brand was created to provide a greener way to dispose of old handsets and enables customers to sell their phones to Ka-Ching and are then recycled or refurbished.

Mobile Reborn will refurbish Ka-Ching’s trade-in devices, they are returned toA1 Comms’ range of refurbished handsets which reduces wastes, prolongs the lifetime of phones and customers can buy them through brands such as Affordable Mobiles and Buymobiles.

A1 Comms purchasing director Pete O’Connell said: “We’re delighted to have launched Ka-Ching, in partnership with Mobile Reborn.

“It’s a great way for our customers to get a fantastic price for their existing handsets and will allow us to further increase our range of refurbished mobiles on Affordable Mobiles and Buymobiles, our online retail stores.

“Not to mention the significant environmental benefits that recycling tech brings.”