Download a guide to the knowledge objectives of the Telecoms Field Operative standard with details of supporting PTT courses

The telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom continues to undergo rapid changes. With communications providers needing to build and maintain networks fit for the future, a skilled workforce is a necessity.

The Level 2 Telecoms Field Operative apprenticeship standard is an attractive prospect for both small and large businesses looking to recruit the next generation of field engineers. Apprentices studying this standard will be given the knowledge and skills necessary to enable them to maintain, repair, upgrade, protect and install telecoms services within the UK’s National Telecom Access Network.

PTT supports many of the knowledge objectives in this standard through its catalogue of online courses. By completing PTT courses, apprentices can demonstrate they have the required theoretical knowledge necessary to guide them within their job roles.

To view the knowledge objectives and PTT courses supporting the Telecoms Field Operative apprenticeship standard, you can download a helpful guide here.

Whether you are an apprenticeship provider looking to improve your delivery of the Telecoms Field Operative standard while reducing costs, or an employer looking to provide your staff with necessary knowledge and skills, please contact PTT to discuss how our online courses can benefit you.

The recent reports of damage to a submarine telecommunications cable linking Finland and Estonia have focussed attention on the vulnerability of under-sea cables to damage both accidental and deliberate.

Over 400 optical fibre cables span the globe carrying over 99% of international telecommunications.

The effect of damage to these cables was demonstrated in 2008 when two cables (FLAG and SEA-ME-WE-4) were severed off the Egyptian coast. This resulted in severe disruption of data connectivity between Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian sub-continent. The severity of this event was exacerbated by the break in two cables so removing an alternative route. It has been reported that the damage was caused by the dragging of a ship’s anchor.

This was not an isolated incident: 100-150 submarine cables are severed each year, the majority due to fishing gear, or dragging anchors. Because of the frequency of cable disruption, a fleet of cable ships is kept on standby around the world to carry out repairs.

The possibility of the sabotage of maritime infrastructure has come to the fore due to recent events such as the damage to the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany with the finger of blame pointed at Russia. It has been reported that both Chinese and Russia ships were in the area when the damage to the Estonia-Finland cable occurred.

The incidents of damage to a nation’s submarine cable by another nation are not new. In fact, Britain pioneered cable cutting at the outbreak of World War 1 when the British ship Alert deliberately severed German submarine telegraph cables cutting off almost all of Germany’s communications with the outside world. This led to the Germans having to use Britain’s extensive global network which of course was monitored by the nefarious British.

More recent suspicions of sabotage have led to countries considering how to combat such activities. There are two main ways of achieving resilience: Providing more diverse routes with more cables and monitoring activities around existing cables.

The European Union executive has recommended that its members devise a “Secured Subsea Infrastructure for Europe” strategy. This could include a “EuroRing” of cables as a backbone for Europe’s own internet traffic.

The United Kingdom has commissioned two Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) ships which will have the role of safeguarding critical undersea infrastructure. The first, RFA Proteus, entered into service this year.

PTT’s online “Telecommunications networks” course includes information about submarine cable systems. PTT’s “Telecommunications system security” course discusses the types of threat to telecoms networks and the measures that should be taken to protect them.

5G not only promises faster access to the Internet for mobile users but also other benefits for businesses. For example, factory automation, robotic delivery systems, and communications with agricultural devices such as smart tractors could use private 5G wireless networks.
Achieving the highest possible speeds requires the wide bandwidths available at extremely high frequencies (EHF). The range of these millimetre wavelength (mmWave) signals is limited. But mmWave operation is ideal for mobile services in areas with high populations densities and for localised private networks in, for example, factories.

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator in the UK, has recently announced their plans for the allocation of bandwidth at 26 GHz and 40 GHz for 5G provision in both high density and low density areas.
Licence provision is complicated by the need to avoid interference with existing applications using EHF including microwave point to point connections. However, licences in the UK for 26 GHz fixed link services in and around high-density areas will be withdrawn in the next five years.

Two types of 5G licence will be available: 15 year term licences for city and town wide provision of 5G mobile services will be auctioned while licences for more localised services in both high and low density areas will be offered on a first come, first served basis at a fixed fee. There is a limit on the number of transmitters and power constraints for localised services especially in or near high density areas.
Regulators in the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are also issuing or planning to issue licences for localised, private services at lower frequency bands such as 3.7 GHz.

You can learn more about 5G services and operation by studying PTT online courses such as Introduction to mobile systems, 4G and 5G radio access networks, and Advanced mobile systems.
Or, for a complete picture, why not take advantage of our special offer to celebrate PTT’s 30 years of learning provision and study all of the PTT courses covering mobile communications.