Tag: Network

Tech News : Openreach Warns Businesses as PSTN Switch-Off Nears

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Openreach has warned that more than half a million UK business lines remain on legacy copper infrastructure and will face steep price rises as the Public Switched Telephone Network approaches its January 2027 switch-off.

A Century Old Network Reaches Its End

The Public Switched Telephone Network, known as the PSTN, has carried most UK phone calls for more than a century. Built on copper wiring and analogue switching systems, it has supported traditional landlines, fax machines, card terminals, alarm systems and lift emergency lines across the country.

BT Group, Openreach’s parent company, has confirmed that the PSTN will be fully retired by 31 January 2027. As part of that programme, Openreach is withdrawing products that depend on it, including Wholesale Line Rental services used by communications providers to deliver fixed line connectivity to homes and businesses.

In a statement published on its website, Openreach said the PSTN analogue network is obsolete, becoming harder to maintain and significantly more expensive to run. The company has stated that skills and spare parts are increasingly difficult to source, while digital services such as Voice over IP, where calls are transmitted over broadband rather than traditional phone lines, have become the industry standard.

Half A Million Business Lines Still To Migrate

Openreach’s latest figures show that around 2.8 million lines in total remain on the PSTN network, with more than half a million of those serving business premises.

James Lilley, Director of All IP at Openreach, said: “There’s no time left to stall. We’ve spent the last year ensuring telecare customers can be migrated safely through our ‘Prove Telecare’ service, removing the final barrier to the switch-off. Now, the reality is simple. The PSTN analogue network is obsolete, becoming harder to maintain and significantly more expensive to run. We are passing those costs on to providers who continue to sell legacy products.”

He added: “If your business is still on this copper service, you will start to pay a premium for a service that will be switched off in 12 months. Most major Communications Providers moved their customers to digital long ago. If your provider hasn’t contacted you, you need to ask why.”

The switch-off date has been fixed, and Openreach has stated that all technical barriers to migration, including protections for vulnerable telecare users, have now been addressed through its Prove Telecare service.

Price Increases On Legacy Services

Openreach has confirmed a staged series of wholesale price increases for legacy Wholesale Line Rental products during 2026. From 1 April 2026 prices will rise by 20 per cent. From 1 July 2026 they will increase by a further 40 per cent. From 1 October 2026 a final 40 per cent rise will apply, effectively doubling the rental cost of legacy lines compared with 2025 rates.

The wholesale price increases apply to legacy WLR products and are clearly intended to encourage the final migration to digital All IP services. Openreach has also previously confirmed a special pricing offer on migrations to SOGEA, a broadband product that does not require a traditional analogue phone line. In some cases, it is already cheaper to move to newer digital services than remain on older copper-based products.

Openreach has stated that the rising costs reflect the increasing expense of maintaining a shrinking analogue network as the industry moves towards fibre and IP-based connectivity.

Impact Beyond Traditional Phones

The implications extend beyond desk telephones. In fact, the PSTN underpins a wide range of connected systems in commercial and public buildings, and Openreach has highlighted how critical hardware including fire alarms, burglar alarms and payment terminals may still rely on copper lines.

The company’s latest data indicates that more than 12,000 lift lines and around 500 lines serving CCTV networks still require upgrades. Services such as ISDN, ADSL and FTTC broadband are also affected because they depend on the underlying copper infrastructure that supports the PSTN.

Organisations may, therefore, need to review not only voice services but also embedded systems that have operated for years without change.

Role Of Communications Providers

While many major communications providers have already migrated much of their customer base, Openreach has stated that some smaller or specialist providers have been slower to act. Businesses that remain with those providers should note that they may face increased risk as the deadline approaches, particularly if legacy equipment becomes harder to maintain.

Openreach has advised businesses not to assume they are unaffected and to contact their service provider if they are uncertain about their current arrangements.

Review Test Switch Process

Openreach is encouraging businesses to follow a three-stage process of review, test and switch. Businesses should begin by reviewing their connectivity estate to identify any equipment still relying on PSTN services. If there is uncertainty, they are advised to contact their service provider rather than assume migration has already taken place.

Testing can be carried out at Openreach’s test laboratories, where equipment can be checked for compatibility with All IP networks, and the company says that this service is available free of charge to help ensure devices will function correctly once migrated.

Businesses are, therefore, being urged to move to a suitable digital solution as soon as possible, and Openreach says it can offer resources to support the transition, including assistance for more complex or edge case scenarios where temporary solutions may be required.

Resilience And Power Cut Concerns

One of the key challenges associated with the transition relates to power resilience. For example, traditional copper phone lines can be powered from the exchange, meaning they may continue to function during local power cuts. However, digital voice services delivered over broadband require electricity at the customer’s premises. This means that, in the event of a power outage, access to phone services, including emergency calls, could be disrupted unless backup power is available. Communications providers are, therefore, issuing battery backup units to vulnerable customers, typically providing at least one hour of standby power.

This aspect of the transition has drawn some scrutiny from regulators and consumer groups, particularly following severe weather events in recent years that have disrupted power supplies. Industry guidance has emphasised the need to protect vulnerable users during migration to digital services.

Implications

For UK businesses, the remaining 12 months represent a critical planning period. The staged wholesale price increases create a direct financial impact for organisations that delay migration. Companies operating multiple sites or maintaining complex estates may require time to identify dependent systems and coordinate upgrades.

The retirement of the PSTN forms part of a broader national move towards digital, fibre-based connectivity. Openreach has made clear that the January 2027 deadline will not be extended and that the focus is now on completing the final phase of migration away from copper-based services.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The timeline is fixed and the cost signals are clear, which means inaction now carries both financial and operational risk. Businesses that fail to identify and migrate remaining copper-dependent services will face rising wholesale charges during 2026 and the possibility of service disruption as the withdrawal progresses. For organisations with critical systems such as alarms, payment infrastructure or lift lines, the issue is not simply about telephony but about continuity, compliance and safety.

For communications providers, particularly smaller or specialist firms, the final year before switch-off will test their ability to complete migrations at pace while maintaining service stability. Delays or poor communication could expose them to reputational damage and customer loss. At the same time, regulators and consumer bodies will continue to scrutinise resilience arrangements, especially around power cuts and protection for vulnerable users.

For UK businesses more broadly, the remaining 12 months represent a narrowing window to audit estates, budget for upgrades and ensure that digital alternatives are fully tested. The retirement of the PSTN marks the end of a long-standing infrastructure platform and the completion of a national move to All IP connectivity. The practical consequences now depend largely on how quickly organisations act to remove their dependence on copper and prepare for a fully digital network environment.

Tech News : Blue Origin Unveils 6 Tbps Enterprise Satellite Network

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Blue Origin has announced TeraWave, a space-based communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second worldwide, positioning the company as a serious new contender in high-capacity global connectivity for businesses and governments.

Who Blue Origin Is and What It Does

Blue Origin is the privately owned aerospace and space technology company founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who remains its sole owner. Headquartered in Kent, Washington, the company develops and operates rocket engines, reusable launch vehicles, lunar landers and satellite systems, with a long-term goal of supporting sustained human activity in space.

Blue Origin is perhaps best known for its widely publicised commercial human spaceflight missions using the reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket. Since 2021, these short space tourism flights have carried a mix of company figures, paying passengers and high-profile public figures. For example, well-kown passengers have included Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos himself, pop star Katy Perry, film producer Kerianne Flynn and journalist and pilot Lauren Sánchez, who helped organise the company’s widely publicised all-female NS-31 mission in 2025. These flights have given Blue Origin significant public visibility, even though its real longer-term focus is on making launch vehicles, lunar systems and, now, satellite infrastructure.

What Blue Origin Is Introducing?

On 21 January 2026, Blue Origin announced TeraWave, describing it as “a satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth”. The company said the system is purpose-built for enterprise, data centre and government customers that require high-capacity, resilient connectivity for critical operations rather than consumer broadband.

Deployment of the TeraWave constellation is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. Once operational, it is intended to serve tens of thousands of customers globally, particularly in locations where traditional fibre connectivity is expensive, slow to deploy or technically impractical.

How TeraWave Works

TeraWave uses a large, multi-orbit satellite architecture that combines low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit spacecraft. In total, the planned constellation will consist of 5,408 satellites, including 5,280 in LEO and 128 in MEO, all optically interconnected using laser links.

This design allows data to be routed through space at very high speeds rather than relying solely on ground-based networks. According to Blue Origin, globally distributed customers will be able to access speeds of up to 144 Gbps via Q and V-band radio frequency links from the LEO constellation, while aggregate throughput of up to 6 Tbps will be available through optical links from the MEO layer.

Another Layer of Connectivity to Add to Existing Networks

Blue Origin says TeraWave “adds a space-based layer to your existing network infrastructure”, allowing enterprises to integrate satellite connectivity with existing fibre and cloud networks. The company says its enterprise-grade user and gateway terminals are designed to be rapidly deployable worldwide and to interface directly with high-capacity infrastructure such as data centres and cloud hubs.

Who Is TeraWave Actually For?

Unlike many high-profile satellite internet projects, TeraWave is not aimed at individual consumers. Blue Origin has been explicit that the network is optimised for enterprise, data centre and government users.

For example, typical use cases include connecting distributed data centres, providing resilient backhaul for cloud services, supporting critical infrastructure operators, and offering secure connectivity for defence and public sector organisations. Blue Origin highlights the ability to deliver symmetrical upload and download speeds as a key differentiator, noting that enterprises often need to move large volumes of data in both directions rather than simply consuming content.

Also A Resilience Tool

The company also positions TeraWave as a resilience tool. For example, it says the network can help “keep critical services running during fibre outages, natural disasters, cyber incidents, or maintenance events”, offering an alternative path when terrestrial networks fail.

Why Blue Origin Is Building It

Blue Origin argues that existing connectivity options leave a gap for customers that need extreme throughput, rapid scalability and geographic flexibility. Fibre remains the gold standard for capacity and latency, but deploying diverse fibre routes can be prohibitively expensive or slow, particularly outside major urban centres.

Designed To Complement Rather Than Replace Fibre

TeraWave, therefore, is intended to complement, rather than replace, fibre by providing additional route diversity and on-demand capacity. Blue Origin says the network addresses “the unmet needs of customers who are seeking higher throughput, symmetrical upload and download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability”.

Comparison With Starlink and Others

The most obvious comparison is with Starlink, operated by SpaceX. For example, Elon Musk’s Starlink currently dominates the satellite internet market with thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit and millions of users worldwide. However, Starlink is primarily focused on consumer and small business broadband rather than the high-capacity enterprise connectivity needed to link data centres and critical systems.

Also, Starlink’s typical user speeds are measured in hundreds of megabits per second rather than tens or hundreds of gigabits, and its service is not designed to offer terabit-scale point-to-point connectivity. TeraWave’s emphasis on symmetrical throughput, optical inter-satellite links and enterprise gateways places it in a different category.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper is another relevant competitor. For example, while Jeff Bezos remains Amazon’s executive chairman, Kuiper is actually a very separate venture from Blue Origin. Kuiper is also focused on global broadband access, with plans for more than 3,000 satellites, but like Starlink it targets consumers and small organisations rather than large enterprises and governments.

Traditional satellite operators and terrestrial network providers may also see TeraWave as a disruptive entrant. For example, by offering space-based links capable of moving massive volumes of data between hubs, TeraWave could compete with some long-haul fibre routes for specific use cases, particularly where latency requirements are less stringent than cost and resilience concerns.

Benefits for Businesses and Other Stakeholders

For large organisations, the potential benefits are clear. TeraWave could provide rapid deployment of high-capacity connectivity in new locations, reduce dependence on single fibre routes, and support disaster recovery planning. Data-intensive industries such as cloud services, media distribution, scientific research and defence may find the ability to scale capacity on demand particularly attractive.

Governments may also value the sovereign and security implications of a network designed for critical operations, especially if it offers alternatives to existing commercial satellite providers.

Drawbacks

Despite its promise, TeraWave faces several challenges. For example, building and launching more than 5,400 satellites is capital-intensive, and Blue Origin has not disclosed the total cost of the project or its pricing model for customers. Enterprises will want clarity on latency, reliability under heavy load, and how seamlessly the service integrates with existing network management tools.

There are also regulatory and environmental considerations here. Large constellations raise concerns about orbital congestion, space debris and astronomical interference. Blue Origin will need to demonstrate responsible satellite operations and coordination with other operators.

Critics may also question whether demand for multi-terabit satellite connectivity will actually materialise at the scale Blue Origin anticipates, particularly as terrestrial fibre continues to expand in many regions.

Criticisms and Industry Skepticism

Some analysts have suggested that satellite networks, regardless of throughput, can’t fully match fibre for latency-sensitive applications. Others point to the risk of overcapacity if multiple mega-constellations target overlapping markets.

There is also competitive pressure from established players. For example, SpaceX continues to expand and improve Starlink’s capabilities at pace, while traditional telecom providers are investing heavily in terrestrial and subsea infrastructure.

That said, TeraWave represents quite a significant strategic move for Blue Origin. By targeting enterprise and government users with extreme throughput and resilience, the company is trying to carve out a distinct position in the evolving global connectivity landscape, one that could reshape how large organisations think about network architecture in the years ahead.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

TeraWave sits somewhere between ambition and execution, with its real impact depending on whether Blue Origin can translate a technically impressive design into a reliable, commercially viable service. If it does, it would give large organisations a new way to think about global connectivity, one that treats space not as a last resort but as an integrated part of core network architecture. That change matters because it challenges long-held assumptions about where capacity, resilience and scale must come from.

For UK businesses in particular, organisations with distributed operations, international data flows or growing reliance on cloud and data centre infrastructure may see value in an additional high-capacity route that is not tied to physical cables or single geographic corridors. TeraWave could appeal to sectors such as finance, research, media, logistics and critical infrastructure, where downtime and congestion carry real operational and financial risk. At the same time, cost, regulatory alignment and performance guarantees will determine whether it becomes a practical option rather than a theoretical one.

Governments may also weigh the resilience and security benefits of TeraWave against regulatory and environmental concerns. Telecom providers are also likely to be looking at whether space-based capacity of this scale alters the economics of long-distance connectivity. Competing satellite operators will now face some pressure to clarify their own enterprise strategies as expectations around throughput and symmetry continue to rise.

What is clear is that Blue Origin is signalling a broader intent to play a long-term role in global infrastructure, not just launch services or spaceflight milestones. TeraWave does not replace fibre, nor does it make existing networks obsolete, but it does introduce a credible alternative layer that could reshape how capacity is planned and protected. Whether that promise holds will only become clear once satellites are in orbit and customers begin to test its limits in real-world conditions.

Tech News : Google Waives Exit Fees for Cloud Data Transfers

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Google has announced that Google Cloud customers who want to switch and migrate their network data to another cloud provider and/or on-premises will no longer be charged a transfer fee to do so.

How? 

The process for the free transfer away from Google involves contacting the Google Cloud account team (if one has been assigned), and completing and submitting an online form, after which there is a 60-day window for the user to transfer the data before terminating their Google Cloud agreement.

Who and When? 

The Google Cloud Exit free data transfers are available to Premium Tier Network Service Tier customers globally. Google says the change is effective immediately.

Why? 

As many tech commentators have noted, the charging of egress fees by cloud providers, such as Google, has come in for criticism by regulators, other public cloud providers, and customers. Egress fees, a lucrative source of revenue, are charges that cloud service providers impose when data is transferred out of their cloud infrastructure to another location, such as to a different cloud provider or to an on-premises data-centre. These fees can vary based on the amount of data being transferred, the destination of the data, and the specific policies of the cloud provider. Cloud providers claim that the purpose of egress fees is to cover the costs associated with data transfer and bandwidth usage.

Waiving the fees is therefore a way for Google to gain an advantage over competitors like Amazon (AWS) and Microsoft and put pressure on them in the highly competitive cloud market, and to escape further regulator criticism.

Swipe At Competitors 

In its announcement about stopping the fees, Google also took a swipe at its cloud provider competitors saying that the main issue stopping customers from working with their preferred cloud provider in the first place is “restrictive and unfair licensing practices.” Google explained that “Certain legacy providers leverage their on-premises software monopolies to create cloud monopolies, using restrictive licensing practices that lock in customers and warp competition.”  

Google gave examples of this among its competitors, highlighting how some may be using licensing restrictions to pick and choose their customers, charge then “5x the cost” if they want to use other competitors’ cloud, and “limiting interoperability of must-have software with competitors’ cloud infrastructure”.  It also claims that “these and other restrictions have no technical basis and may impose a 300% cost increase to customers”, and that, in contrast, “the cost for customers to migrate data out of a cloud provider is minimal.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Egress fees (and licensing restrictions) are a major source of pain for many businesses that would like to switch their cloud provider. For example, a Global Market Intelligence report showed that more than a third of enterprises said that their use of cloud storage had been affected by egress fees, i.e. leading to them repatriating data on-premises or shifting to a provider who doesn’t charge for egress. Google’s move to waive egress fees will likely make it easier for enterprise cloud customers to switch and save themselves significant costs (egress fees can make up 6 per cent of cloud storage costs – IDC).

For Google, not charging egress fees and casting themselves as the ‘good guys’ who believe that “When customers’ business needs evolve, the cloud should be flexible enough to accommodate those changes,” the move could give them a competitive advantage and enable them to pick up users from other cloud providers. However, the move may put pressure on other providers to also stop or reduce their fees, making Google’s advantage temporary. In fact, it’s been reported that AWS claims that since 2021, over 90% of its customers haven’t been paying to transfer data out. Also, it could be the case that Google is simply preempting inevitable and impending regulations, such as the European Data Act which will require cloud providers to share certain data and lead to providers deciding to only charge cost for transfers anyway.