Company snapshot
| Category | BT (British Telecom) | MediaNova |
|---|---|---|
| Status | active | active |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
| Website | — | — |
| Docs | — | — |
Overview
BT (British Telecom), founded in 1846, is a major UK telecommunications provider offering CDN services through its edge infrastructure. It leverages the Streaming Video Alliance’s Open Caching technology, developed with Cisco and Qwilt, to deliver content for 8K video and AR/VR applications. The service targets enterprise customers, particularly those needing high-capacity video delivery. BT operates under its EE brand for mobile services and Openreach for broadband infrastructure. Its CDN is designed to handle modern streaming demands, serving media companies and large-scale businesses.
MediaNova is a content delivery network (CDN) and cloud security provider founded in 2005, headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. It offers services like web acceleration, video streaming, and API caching, with a focus on the EMEA region. The company serves industries such as media, e-commerce, and telecommunications, with notable customers including Turkcell, Vodafone, and Hepsiburada. MediaNova’s platform includes advanced security features and real-time analytics. It received significant investment from Turkven in November 2024, strengthening its market position.
Network & Architecture
BT’s CDN uses a global network with points of presence (PoPs) integrated into its extensive telecom infrastructure, though specific PoP counts are not publicly disclosed. It employs Open Caching to turn existing telecom infrastructure into a federated CDN, optimized for low-latency delivery of high-bandwidth content like 8K video. The network benefits from BT’s EE mobile coverage, reaching over 99% of the UK population, and Openreach’s fibre backbone. It has strong regional presence in EMEA, particularly the UK, with peering optimized for European traffic. Coverage in APAC, LATAM, or other regions is less emphasized.
MediaNova operates over 50 points of presence (PoPs) across 21 countries, with a strong presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Its global Anycast DNS network routes user requests to the nearest server, optimizing latency and resilience. The CDN is optimized for EMEA, offering direct access to major carriers and ISPs. However, its smaller PoP count compared to competitors like Akamai or Amazon CloudFront may limit global reach outside EMEA.
Feature comparison
| Feature | BT (British Telecom) | MediaNova |
|---|---|---|
waf | ✗ | ✓ |
bot_mitigation | ✗ | ✓ |
ddos | ✗ | ✓ |
rate_limit | ✗ | ✓ |
http3_quic | ✓ | ✓ |
tls13 | ✗ | ✓ |
tiered_cache | ✗ | ✗ |
origin_shield | ✗ | ✓ |
instant_purge | ✗ | ✓ |
stale_while_revalidate | ✗ | ✗ |
stale_if_error | ✗ | ✗ |
image_optimization | ✗ | ✓ |
video_vod | ✓ | ✓ |
video_live | ✗ | ✓ |
drm | ✗ | ✗ |
hls_dash_packaging | ✗ | ✗ |
websockets | ✗ | ✓ |
signed_urls | ✗ | ✗ |
edge_compute | ✗ | ✓ |
functions | ✗ | ✗ |
kv_storage | ✗ | ✗ |
api_first | ✓ | ✓ |
realtime_logs | ✓ | ✓ |
log_push | ✗ | ✗ |
terraform | ✗ | ✗ |
Legend: ✓ = Supported, ✗ = Not supported, — = Not listed
Pricing
BT’s CDN pricing is enterprise-focused, typically requiring custom contracts rather than pay-as-you-go or public per-GB rates. No free tier or public pricing details are available. Interested parties must contact BT’s sales team for quotes, as pricing is tailored to large-scale deployments.
MediaNova uses a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model with pricing based on data transfer and additional features. Estimated costs include $0.04–$0.20 per GB for data transfer and $0.006 per 10,000 HTTP/HTTPS requests. WAF, DDoS protection, and edge computing may incur extra charges. No free tier is publicly documented, and pricing is enterprise-focused. Full details are available at https://www.medianova.com/pricing/.
Integrations & DevEx
BT provides an API-first interface for managing CDN configurations and accessing real-time logs. Documentation is available at https://www.bt.com/about/developers. There is no public mention of Terraform support, SDKs, or specific CI/CD integrations. The focus is on enterprise integrations for media delivery, with limited emphasis on developer-centric tools or migration utilities.
MediaNova offers an API-first Cloud Panel for configuration, analytics, and management of CDN resources. Real-time logs and analytics provide granular insights into traffic and performance. No Terraform or SDK support is documented. The platform supports custom cache rules, image optimization, and security configurations, but lacks explicit CI/CD or migration tools.
When it fits
- Enterprises needing high-capacity video delivery, especially for 8K or AR/VR content, leveraging BT’s telecom infrastructure.
- UK-based businesses requiring strong regional performance with EE and Openreach integration.
- Organizations seeking custom enterprise CDN solutions with direct support from a legacy telecom provider.
- Businesses targeting the EMEA region, particularly MENA, benefit from MediaNova’s optimized regional PoPs and low latency.
- Enterprises needing robust security features like WAF, DDoS protection, and bot management for web and API traffic.
- Media and e-commerce companies requiring video streaming and image optimization for fast content delivery.
When it doesn’t
- Small to medium businesses looking for pay-as-you-go or transparent pricing models.
- Developers needing extensive edge compute, serverless functions, or advanced security features like WAF or DDoS protection.
- Companies prioritizing global coverage outside EMEA, as BT’s network focus is heavily UK and Europe-centric.
- Organizations needing extensive global coverage may find MediaNova’s 50+ PoPs insufficient compared to larger providers like Cloudflare.
- Developers seeking advanced edge compute features or Terraform integration may need more robust platforms.
- Small businesses or startups looking for a free tier or low-cost entry may find MediaNova’s enterprise focus less accessible.
History & Notes
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