Telecoms

Macquarie delivers eight successive years of EBITDA growth

Macquarie Telecom Group has announced its results for the full year, which ended 30 June 2022, and what is at the top end of prior guidance. Chairman, Peter James, says, “The 2022 full year results delivered the eighth consecutive year of EBITDA growth, underpinned by our strategy of investing in data centres, cloud, cyber security and telecoms. It is very pleasing to see that EBITDA has grown year on year in every segment.” Key points: • Eight consecutive years of EBITDA growth. • Full year revenue of $309.3 million, an increase of 8.5% compared to $285.1 million for FY21. • Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $88.4 million, an increase of 19.8% from prior year, at the top end of June’s guidance. • The company has completed work on the fit-out of Intellicentre 3 East data centre development ('IC3') and has commenced billing of its hyperscale customer. • Net profit after tax (NPAT) of $8.5 million, reflecting the increase in depreciation and amortisation flowing from the significantly higher levels of capital expenditure since FY20. • Capital expenditure for FY22 was $98.5 million, driven by Growth Capex of $64.5 million primarily relating to fit out of IC3 East in Macquarie Park. Customer related Capex was $24.5 million. Maintenance Capex was $9.5 million. Chief Executive, David Tudehope says, “Macquarie Telecom Group is a sovereign digital infrastructure business at scale. We continue to grow because we pair the best technology with the best customer service, and that recipe hasn’t changed since the company was founded in 1992. Macquarie Telecom Group continues to see strong growth in data centres, cloud computing, cyber security and our core telecom business.” www.macquarietelecom.com

Altnets wins the Hustle Awards’ Top Performing Team of the year

Altnets has been awarded Top Performing Team at the prestigious Hustle Awards. Organised annually by Startups Magazine, the Hustle Awards celebrate the best in business innovation and achievement amongst start-ups from across the UK. Altnets were shortlisted from a record number of entries and went on to win the top prize at the awards evening in London. Altnets was launched in late 2020 by Co-Founders Paul Britnell and Sam Bangle to support the needs of the UK telecoms market as the nation upgrades to full fibre broadband networks. The company partners with manufacturers from across the world to support independent internet service providers with all their supply chain requirements, offering all the build materials they need for network infrastructure, from fibre cables, ducts and nodes to access chambers. The Altnets team assists the company’s customers through their entire telecoms build journey and are at the heart of the business, providing outstanding service from beginning to end. Between February 2021 and April 2022, the team’s success led to an incredible 700% growth in Altnets’ turnover, 100% client retention and successful on-boarding of over 80% of the total client base. The Hustle Awards are judged by professionals at the forefront of their industries, chosen for their knowledge, experience and integrity. This ensures winners are picked on the merit of their entries and nothing else.  Sam Bangle, Co-Founder and Director of Altnets, comments: “We are thrilled to see our hard-working team recognised at the Hustle Awards. Being a young company, we have experienced exponential growth over the past 18 months, despite many challenges within the supply chain industry, and that is 100% down to our talented team. “The team’s top-notch knowledge of the telecoms industry and strong relationships with our manufacturing partners means they can fully support customers through the whole procurement process; save them time and money; and solve any problems arising in the supply chain.” The judges’ comments on Altnets’ entry reflects the strength of the team’s performance over the past year: “This is a company that lives by its values. Not only is there clear evidence of Altnets’ strong customer retention and business growth, its entry also demonstrated the challenges that the company faced in achieving this success. “All the while it continued to go the extra mile to deliver great service to its clients. The judges loved the humanity of this entry.” A spokesperson from Startups Magazine says: “Winning a Hustle Award is an extraordinary achievement and it’s one the team is marking with the publication of the first edition of the winners’ guide. The talent and innovation found in the award submissions seriously impressed the judges and we believe it is important to champion these triumphs long after the event is over.”

Macquarie Telecom Group joins the VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative

Macquarie Telecom Group has become a member of the VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative, a reflection of the company’s decade-long commitment to sovereign IT capability. The growing importance of data sovereignty, scrutiny of data access and control, and increasing geo-political friction is leading governments and regulated industries to closely analyse their cloud strategies and evaluate who may have access to their data. The VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative helps customers identify and engage with trusted national or regional cloud service providers to meet their unique sovereign cloud requirements. VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative participants offer sovereign cloud solutions to customers in highly regulated industries, such as banking and finance, healthcare, energy, government services, the public sector, and telecommunications. Macquarie’s designation as a VMware Sovereign Cloud provider follows the company’s own rigorous assessment of its data centres and cloud services in accordance with the VMware Sovereign Cloud framework. These include protecting critical data for both private and public sector organisations with audited security controls, ensuring compliance with data privacy laws, improving control of data by providing both data residency and data sovereignty and delivering national capability for the digital economy. Mike Reddie, Senior Director of Cloud for VMware, says, “We’re very pleased Macquarie Telecom has joined the VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative. The added value of data sovereignty, jurisdictional control, data security and compliance means that Macquarie Telecom customers are preparing for changing regulations, increased security threats and geopolitical uncertainty - all of which are growing challenges.” Becoming a member of VMware’s Sovereign Cloud initiative is the latest in a string of sovereign credentials for Macquarie Telecom Group. In August 2021 it became one of the first data centre providers to be Certified Strategic by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA). Last year Macquarie also surpassed the 200-mark for staff with the AGSVA NV1 security clearance - a key requirement for managing classified government data - with an increase of more than 66% of staff with this clearance between July-August 2021 alone. Managing Director of Macquarie Telecom Group, Aidan Tudehope, says that the certification from VMware is an important validation of the sovereign message that his company has been championing for more than a decade. “Becoming a VMware Sovereign Cloud Provider is further validation of Macquarie’s long-term position on the importance of sovereign capability at a time when national resilience is more important than ever in Australia,” he says. “In the lead up to the election, the Albanese government announced its commitment to building sovereign, domestic IT capability to cultivate local industry and keep our data safe. “Increasing geo-political friction has elevated this conversation, with government and regulated industries casting a closer eye over their cloud strategies and who has access to their data. “We’ve walked the talk with data sovereignty for a long time, providing customers with not just data residency through our suite of onshore data centres, but complete sovereignty, with data managed onshore and safeguarded from the whims of foreign jurisdictions.”

Telecom veterans to drive PowerHouse Data Centers’ growth

PowerHouse Data Centers has announced two noteworthy additions to expand its leadership team. PowerHouse has appointed Luke Kipfer as Vice President of Data Centre Development and Construction and Jarrett Appleby to Data Centre Strategy Consultant and Senior Advisor. The pair will be a pivotal force behind AREP’s PowerHouse Data Centers deployment of next-generation data centres in Northern Virginia. Luke brings more than 15 years of exceptional mission-critical experience leading multi-million dollar data centre design and construction. Before joining AREP, he was Regional Director at Direct Line Global where he oversaw project management and operations for several of the world’s largest hyperscale data centre sites. Luke was also Director of Construction at Markley Group where he managed all aspects of design and construction for New England’s largest colocation, mission-critical telecommunications and data centre facility. Jarrett has successfully led strategic operational change and accelerated the profitability of some of the world’s leading digital infrastructure companies over the past 30 years. He has held a number of senior executive positions including Chief Operating Officer of Digital Realty and Coresite Realty and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Equinix. Currently, he is the CEO of Appleby Strategy Group, a digital infrastructure advisory group that works with leading private equity and technology companies. He has also served as the Senior Advisor to the Blackstone Group for the last four years. “We are thrilled to welcome Luke and Jarrett to the PowerHouse Data Centers team, their expertise is a central differentiator from our competition,” says Doug Fleit, Co-Founder and CEO of AREP. “This is an exciting time for PowerHouse. We intentionally brought them on at the beginning stages to be part of developing and establishing our custom solutions that empower hyperscalers with accelerated speed to market, robust connectivity and dedicated power while bypassing limited land and leasing challenges in Data Centre Alley.”

EDGNEX breaks ground on data centre facility in Riyadh, KSA

EDGNEX has identified Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as the next location for its collection of data centre facilities. EDGNEX’s data centre will support the KSA’s Vision for 2030 by providing a foundation for local and regional digital transformation and innovation, while aiming to attract global multi-nationals to the country.   The data centre will be located at Industrial City 2 which is just 19km from the city centre and 47km from the airport. The facility’s close proximity to Riyadh’s city centre will provide low-latency access to the entire KSA market, and customers will benefit from high-fibre density and connectivity options. The new data centre will have a maximum IT load of 20 Megawatts (MW) and sit on a 17,720sqm plot. The facility will be ready to go live in Q3 2023. “The KSA is one of the most exciting and dynamic ICT markets in the MENA region. The government of the KSA has demonstrated its commitment to innovation and we are proud to be supporting its long-term vision for digital adoption. We want to help attract hyperscalers and innovators from around the world and give them a foundation for growth,” says Niall McLoughlin, Senior Vice President of parent company DAMAC Group. “This is a tremendous opportunity to serve growing local demand while offering world-class facilities to players from across the globe. We look forward to growing together with partners and customers in the KSA.” EDGNEX is a digital infrastructure provider that identifies and invests in the next digital hubs. It identifies markets where new investment in digital infrastructure can have maximum impact on local economies, enterprises and end users.  “The KSA is one of the most connected countries in the MENA region and Riyadh offers an ideal hub for connecting Asia, Africa, the GCC and Europe. We see it as a hyperconnected crossroads and one of the most strategic locations for data centre investment in the region. As we grow our footprint locally in MENA and across the globe, we remain committed to developing digital infrastructure in the KSA and enabling the growth of Riyadh as an ICT hub for the region,” adds Niall.  With an estimated population of 33.4 million and over half of those being under 30, the KSA has a growing number of everyday tech users who demand high connectivity performance at all times.  This scalable colocation facility will be ready to serve local customers, hyperscalers and other wholesale colocation requirements to eliminate the need for their own facilities. The KSA national fibre network offers terrestrial connectivity to all major Gulf markets and acts as a gateway to key regional submarine cable landing stations.  

CityFibre celebrates latest milestone in Portsmouth full fibre rollout

Internet users across the south of Portsmouth are now able to connect their homes and businesses to the fastest and most reliable broadband infrastructure available, thanks to progress made by CityFibre. CityFibre has now made the majority of homes in the Southsea, Fratton, Milton, Eastney, Copnor and Burrfields areas of the city ‘ready for service’, which means residents can choose to connect to the full fibre broadband services on offer in their area. Customers can sign up to UK launch partner Vodafone, TalkTalk, IDNet, Digital Homes and Giganet, with other providers expected to join the network soon. The rollout is now progressing into new areas in the north of the city with construction well underway in Hilsea and Anchorage Park. Last year, CityFibre laid 315km of full fibre digital infrastructure beneath the streets of Portsmouth, enough to go round Portsea Island 15 times. Once the rollout reaches completion, almost every home and business locally will have access to full fibre services from a choice of internet service providers. Jon Russell, CityFibre’s City Manager for Portsmouth says: “CityFibre is making great progress in Portsmouth. Residents, businesses, and community groups I’ve spoken to have been amazed at just how much fibre we've put down in the last few months. Reaching this latest milestone means residents can now start to benefit from this digital investment that will future-proof their connectivity for decades to come.” Unlike copper-based ‘fibre broadband’ and co-axil cable services available today, full fibre networks use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at lightning speed all the way to and from the home and the point of connection. This gives users consistently faster speeds for upload and download (up to 1,000 Mbps), with near limitless bandwidth so everyone at home can work, study, stream or game simultaneously, while providing connectivity users can depend on. Construction is being delivered by CNN Communications on behalf of CityFibre. The team is using a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Portsmouth City Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while managing potential disruption.

Magdalene has been selected as a supplier for SSEN

Magdalene have recently been awarded a framework contract to provide design and project delivery services linked with the ongoing upgrade of SSEN’s Transmission and Distribution telecommunications network infrastructure which extends across North of Scotland, Scottish Islands, as well as central southern England. Magdalene will undertake a range of activities linked with the delivery of SSEN’s Operational Telecommunication capital build programme which will encompass design, multi-vendor equipment supply, fibre and cabling infrastructure renewal works and communications network implementation. The framework contract will support SSEN Transmission’s RIIO-T2 planned communication upgrade programme. In addition, the contract will be supporting the remaining RIIO-ED1 investment period as well as the forthcoming RIIO-ED2 investment period for SSEN’s two distribution businesses in the north of Scotland and central southern England. SSEN’s Gavin McBain, SSEN OT Fixed Link & Data Network Manager says: “Operational telecommunications is fundamental to the effective and efficient operation of our electricity network and increasingly, will be key to enabling net zero and a green recovery.” Magdalene Managing Director Mark Turner adds: “We are delighted to be a framework partner to SSEN. This contract award underpins our future growth and demonstrates further advancement of our strategy in the utilities sector. Furthermore, it reinforces the continued trust that customers have in Magdalene and our recognised ability in delivering key Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) based telecom services in the UK utility space. “This is also a significant contract win for the wider M Group Services’ Telecom Division strategy, while the delivery will be led by Magdalene, it will also draw upon the operational capability of the wider Division and be further supported by the Group’s experience and expertise within the UK utility sector.”

CityFibre partners with Deepomatic for Visual Automation Technology

CityFibre has partnered with Deepomatic to deploy its Visual Automation Technology across CityFibre’s national network by the end of 2022.   The industry-leading image recognition and AI technology supports CityFibre’s engineers by automating field-based quality-assurance capabilities at scale. This will help ensure CityFibre’s build, maintenance and installation work continues to meet the highest quality standards as it accelerates to serve 8 million homes by 2025.   For CityFibre’s service provider partners, the completed deployment of this technology from Fibre Exchange to secondary node, will bring further assurance that when a broadband service is ordered, the end-to-end network is verified as fully operational. The result will be a fast and friction-free end-customer install experience while further improving CityFibre’s industry-leading ‘Right First Time’ service installation rates. CityFibre’s engineers use the app-based interface to upload images of network build, upgrade or maintenance-related work prior to closing a job. The images are then analysed in real time to either validate the work as complete or highlight issues that need addressing before leaving the site. The visual record and any associated notes are then stored to provide a searchable history of build information and maintenance activities that can be accessed on-demand by CityFibre’s network management and quality assurance teams. Deepomatic’s technology is the only Visual Automation solution specifically designed for the telecommunication industry. By implementing it throughout its end-to-end build operations, CityFibre will achieve the deepest integration of the technology across any UK network. Beyond this, CityFibre is evaluating the potential for its use during the final installation of services to customer premises. An initial pilot enabled CityFibre to implement the platform, test its live use and gather the feedback needed to deploy in the most efficient way. Nationwide rollout is now underway, with the technology already used across CityFibre’s Midland and Southern regions.   David Tomalin, Group Chief Technology Officer at CityFibre, says: “Deepomatic’s Visual Automation Technology is a key part of the Better By Design approach to deliver a world class network and service experience for our partners and their customers. It is helping us ensure quality standards are consistently met, reducing human error while empowering our people, and minimising repeat engineer visits. As well as delivering operational efficiencies and customer benefits from day one, it will enrich our network asset and records management over time, support predictive analysis work and inform our future network upgrade decisions.”  Augustin Marty, CEO at Deepomatic, comments: "CityFibre is currently at the forefront of providing the new generation of Full Fibre infrastructure for the UK. We are delighted to support their visionary team in scaling quality and reliability to new heights. Thanks to visual automation, CityFibre will roll out fibre technology in a much faster way, grasping all the insights it needs to deliver an operationally premium network.”

Mobilise will showcase digital offering at Mobile World Congress 2022

Mobilise will be showcasing its extensive expertise in digital telco propositions at the 2022 edition of Mobile World Congress (MWC). Taking place on February 28, 2022 to March 3, 2022 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain and will play host to many of the world’s mobile operators, device manufacturers and technology experts. With a theme of “discover connectivity unleashed” for 2022, this year’s MWC will centre around the digital technologies shaping the telecommunication industry, including the Internet of Everything, advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and the implementation of 5G. There’s never been a more pertinent time to discuss such topics; 5G networks will cover one-third of the world’s population by 2025, while investment in AI is set to top £170 billion by the same year. Right now, 40 billion devices are connected to the internet. But where there is opportunity, there are challenges. Despite the burgeoning growth of our digital world, many telco operators are still facing difficulties when embarking on their digital transformations. Pressures to deliver enhanced customer service with a greater degree of personalisation mean more is being demanded from telcos than ever before. Both traditional players and new digital native entrants must address this shift in requirements if they’re to claim their stake in an increasingly digital world. Mobilise, which specialises in providing digital solutions to the telecoms industry, has developed several services that address these challenges. Its white-labelled platform, HERO, is a fully customisable platform that equips telecom companies with an opportunity to create a highly unique user experience. Packed with features that allow telcos to create truly digital-first brands, the modular architecture of HERO allows operators to implement self-care, payment, e-commerce and several other features quickly and with minimal cost. One feature of HERO is eSIM-as-a-service, which facilitates in-app eSIM activation for consumers without the need for a physical SIM card, or even a QR code, to activate new subscriptions. “Telecoms customer expectations are changing — users, more than ever, are looking for personalised, simple, intuitive experience that allows them to manage their subscriptions entirely through digital channels,” says Hamish White, founder and CEO of Mobilise. “Widespread adoption of digital services such as eSIM is inevitable. Already, we’re seeing telco customer expectations rise and demand a more digital service, with consumers seeking faster services that are better catered to their needs. “Megatrends such as AI and the adoption of 5G will pave the way for a digital future. However, without the correct infrastructure in place to help operators really get to know and meet the demands of their customers, the ability to offer these technologies is almost meaningless. At MWC 2022, we hope to advise players from across the telco industry on how to build a digital-first strategy that allows them to connect with their audience and get digitalisation right.”

Perle expands IOLAN SCG Console Servers to support Dual Feed 48vDC

Perle Systems has extended its line of IOLAN SCG Console Servers with models that support Dual Feed 48vDC for telecommunications facilities. “Telco environments rely heavily on low voltage equipment,” comments John Feeney, COO at Perle Systems. “They also need a reliable out-of-band management solution to critical IT assets like routers, switches, firewalls, servers, power, storage, and other telecom appliances to ensure 24/7 uptime of their network. The IOLAN SCG Console Servers with support for an input voltage range of 24-60vDC is that solution.” Perle provides the most comprehensive range of reliable and secure Console Servers with up to 50 Console Management ports supporting RS232, RS422, RS485, and USB interfaces. The modular design of the IOAN SCG allows the user to swap, upgrade, and scale to any combination of 16-port module cards to support all types of admin ports in one Console Management solution. The optionally integrated LTE, Wi-Fi, or v.92 modem, provides multiple alternate access methods to manage, maintain and troubleshoot critical network devices, as well as transmit data from mission-critical equipment over LTE and wireless LAN networks. With functionality that includes full routing capabilities with support for RIP, OSPF, and BGP protocols, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP), two-factor authentication (2FA), integrated firewall, advanced failover to multiple networks, advanced network security features, recognized authentication schemes, and leading-edge data encryption tools, the IOLAN SCG Console Servers provide a robust solution to keep telecommunications networks operating around the world. All Perle IOLAN Console Servers only use high-end components to ensure product reliability. Perle backs this up with a Lifetime Warranty to guarantee user satisfaction.