News

Telecoms networks and broadband communications

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  Lloyds offers mortgage advice via video

  Lloyds Bank launches a video-based mortgage advice service for customers who are unable to visit a branch

• March 23, 2016 23 Mar'16

  University of Hull installs Avaya unified comms network

  The University of Hull is to deploy an Avaya telephone and unified communications environment to reduce costs as part of a digital transformation project

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  Akamai report raises questions over UK broadband stats

  Akamai’s latest 'State of the internet' report claims UK average broadband speeds may not be rising as fast as hoped or claimed

• March 22, 2016 22 Mar'16

  Ofcom forces BT Openreach to cut wholesale leased line prices

  Ofcom forces BT Openreach to cut its wholesale prices for leased lines and imposes stricter services standards

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Gigaclear hits 10,000 Oxfordshire properties with ultrafast broadband

  Home FTTP broadband network builder Gigaclear’s commercial roll-out in Oxforshire approaches a major milestone with the connection of its 10,000th property

• March 21, 2016 21 Mar'16

  Southend Council to connect key sites with dark fibre network

  Southend-on-Sea Borough Council selects CityFibre to supply a 50km dark fibre network across 120 public sector sites in the town

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Budget 2016: Osborne commits to timescale for 5G planning

  In a technology-light Budget, chancellor George Osborne made new commitments to future 5G mobile networks

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Huawei and Samsung trial connected city lighting

  Networking suppliers both announce internet of things lighting solutions for smart cities

• March 16, 2016 16 Mar'16

  Salford Council puts gigabit fibre into public housing

  Salford Council in Greater Manchester is to deploy fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband across its council housing portfolio

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Internet of things needs more innovative business models

  At a government event on IoT policy, speakers call for more innovative business models and joined up thinking to enable the IoT to live up to its potential

• March 15, 2016 15 Mar'16

  Leaked documents foretold problems with Australia's national broadband strategy

  External and internal documents suggest Australia's national broadband network (NBN) roll-out is likely to waste A$29bn

• March 14, 2016 14 Mar'16

  New UK law will criminalise failure to hack on demand

  MPs have been given only two weeks to read 1,200 pages of documents which disclose new powers to require technology companies to install secret surveillance capabilities in software, computer equipment or networks

• March 11, 2016 11 Mar'16

  RTÉ leans on satellite broadband to cover Irish general election

  Irish TV network RTÉ turned to satellite ISP Europasat to support its coverage of the country’s general election

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Innovate UK and UKTI lead Asean smart city mission

  Smart city technology developers are heading to Malaysia and Singapore on a government-led trade mission

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Openreach to build FTTP networks for free on new housing estates

  Openreach announces a major expansion of fibre broadband and will provide free FTTP networks to housing developments with more than 250 properties

• March 10, 2016 10 Mar'16

  Startup trials autonomous delivery robots in Greenwich

  Estonian robotics startup Starship Technologies secures permission to trial self-driving delivery robots in Greenwich, south-east London

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  BT CEO hints at change of direction on FTTP broadband

  BT boss Gavin Patterson tells a conference he is working to enable Openreach to accelerate deployment of FTTP

• March 09, 2016 09 Mar'16

  CityFibre opens network to public sector supplier Updata

  Urban fibre infrastructure supplier CityFibre signs a national agreement to allow Updata to offer services over its ultrafast network

• March 08, 2016 08 Mar'16

  Virgin supplies Ethernet connectivity to Met Office supercomputer

  The Met Office has awarded the contract to provide Ethernet connectivity for its next-generation supercomputer to Virgin Media Business

• March 08, 2016 08 Mar'16

  Broadband will reach 40% of Vietnam households by 2020, claims government

  The Vietnamese government announces plans to increase access to broadband networks for its citizens, proposing a figure of 40% in four years

• March 08, 2016 08 Mar'16

  Satellite data links to bring European air traffic management up to date

  The European Space Agency awards Inmarsat a contract to develop a satellite-based data link communications system for air traffic management

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Legal spears fly at Privacy Shield

  Police Scotland is investigating the implications of the end of Safe Harbour. Service providers must comply with UK law, regardless of where they are based

• March 04, 2016 04 Mar'16

  Miserden has most miserly broadband speed, report claims

  Speed tests carried out by Cable.co.uk have located the slowest average broadband speeds in the UK, in the village of Miserden in Gloucestershire

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  Telecoms firms launch Stem mentoring scheme for girls

  BT joins Ericsson, O2 and Vodafone to create a mentoring scheme encouraging girls into science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) careers

• March 03, 2016 03 Mar'16

  Ofcom badly wrong on Openreach separation, MPs told

  The decision not to separate BT and Openreach has not solved any regulatory issues and will not address the problems at the heart of broadband roll-out, a Select Committee hears

• February 29, 2016 29 Feb'16

  Mobile Infrastructure Project was a failure, admits Vaizey

  At a Westminster Hall debate, digital economy minister Ed Vaizey conceded the £150m Mobile Infrastructure Project to address "not-spots" was largely unsuccessful

• February 26, 2016 26 Feb'16

  After BT's Openreach reprieve, what now for the UK broadband roll-out?

  After Ofcom's decision to leave Openreach in BT, what happens next – and how will the UK reap the benefits of superfast broadband?

• February 25, 2016 25 Feb'16

  Openreach reformed, but remains part of BT as Ofcom aims to open up fibre broadband market

  Telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to stimulate building of fibre broadband direct to homes and premises, but will not split up BT - yet

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  Government launches probe into business broadband access

  Business secretary Sajid Javid announces a review to improve business access to affordable, high-speed broadband

• February 24, 2016 24 Feb'16

  Mapping technology turning Depok in Indonesia into smart city

  Depok in Indonesia is using mapping technology to support its smart city ambitions

• February 23, 2016 23 Feb'16

  Tech leaders back David Cameron's pro-EU campaign

  The CEOs of BT Group, Cisco, IBM and Vodafone put their names to the prime minister’s campaign to stay in Europe

• February 23, 2016 23 Feb'16

  MWC16: GSMA and operators renew commitment to connected women

  At Mobile World Congress, the GSMA has partnered with a number of operators to connect millions more women in emerging economies

• February 22, 2016 22 Feb'16

  MWC16: Ford expands connected vehicle ecosystem

  At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, auto supplier Ford expands its Smart Mobility programme and launches a connected vehicle

• February 22, 2016 22 Feb'16

  MWC16: 4G connections pass one billion worldwide, says GSMA

  The number of 4G mobile connections worldwide has passed the one billion mark, according to the GSMA

• February 19, 2016 19 Feb'16

  Single departmental plans affirm commitment to GaaP

  All government departments have set out their delivery plans for the next five years, showing commitment to government as a platform

• February 18, 2016 18 Feb'16

  Surrey University 5GIC project explores rural not-spots

  A whitepaper published by the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre reveals how 5G could work in tandem with existing technology to meet the needs of rural users

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  Middle East telecoms operators face up to IoT smart city challenges

  As smart city initiatives spring up in the Middle East, telecoms operators contend with the strain of the internet of things (IoT) on networks

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  New optical receiver technology could slash the cost of FTTP

  A team of researchers at University College London has developed a new design of optical receiver that they claim could dramatically reduce the costs of deploying FTTP broadband

• February 17, 2016 17 Feb'16

  Half of UK businesses looking for internet of things lead roles

  Research suggests enterprises are looking to recruit chief internet of things officers (CIoTOs) to lead their forays into the hyper-connected world

• February 16, 2016 16 Feb'16

  Vodafone and Liberty Global to merge in Netherlands

  Vodafone and Liberty Global confirm that they are to merge their Dutch businesses

• February 15, 2016 15 Feb'16

  Telstra is transforming Australian IT infrastructure

  Telco is transforming its IT operation to make better use of the cloud, data and application programming interfaces

• February 15, 2016 15 Feb'16

  Three home broadband service targets students and renters

  Mobile network operator Three offers customers in Northern Ireland the chance to trial a mobile home broadband service as an alternative to fixed operators

• February 15, 2016 15 Feb'16

  AT&T to test first 5G wireless systems this year

  Network operator announces plans to test 5G technology to provide wireless connectivity before the end of 2016

• February 12, 2016 12 Feb'16

  Telstra outage fires warning to corporate Australia

  Mobile network interruption shows how dependent Australian organisations are on national supplier

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  CIOs must start planning for 5G today, says 451 Research

  A report from analysts at 451 Research urges businesses to start preparing their technology for 5G mobile networks ahead of deployment

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Misgivings rise as EU-US agreement unravels under scrutiny

  Privacy Shield, the proposed replacement for Safe Harbour, looks increasingly like a PR exercise, rather than a genuine solution

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  TechUK calls on government to take reports on spy laws seriously

  Government must address the fundamental concerns raised by expert witnesses, MPs and Lords about the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, says TechUK

• February 11, 2016 11 Feb'16

  Estonian telco deploys 100Gbps core on national network

  Telia Eesti selects Adva Optical Networking technology to sit at the core of its national backbone network

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  Smart cities pointless without universal superfast broadband

  Smart city deployments will not get very far, or realise effective socioeconomic benefits, if more attention is not paid to the underlying infrastructure

• February 10, 2016 10 Feb'16

  London Mayoral candidates go head-to-head on technology policy

  From abolishing tuition fees for STEM subjects to recognising broadband as a “core utility” and using the tech sector to prevent terrorist attacks, the five London mayoral candidates set out their policies for the tech industry

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  ISC calls for more clarity in planned surveillance bill

  Parliamentary committee overseeing the UK intelligence community wants greater clarity on intrusive powers granted by the draft Investigatory Powers Bill

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  BT uses G.fast to deliver mobile backhaul over copper

  One of BT’s ongoing trials successfully delivers a cloud radio access network cell service over copper lines

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  Flexible working good for profit, productivity and reputation, says Vodafone

  A report conducted for mobile operator Vodafone indicates the scale of acceptance of flexible and mobile working practices

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  Chiltern Railways tests enhanced trackside Wi-Fi

  Chiltern Railways, part of the Arriva network, tests out an enhanced trackside Wi-Fi network to improve connectivity for passengers on its trains

• February 09, 2016 09 Feb'16

  BCS calls for criminalisation of reckless data disclosure

  The BCS believes criminalising reckless disclosure would reassure the public in how data is managed under planned surveillance laws

• February 05, 2016 05 Feb'16

  Agreement struck to put superfast broadband in new-build homes

  The government has struck a deal with Openreach and the Home Builders Federation to supply superfast broadband connectivity to new homes

• February 04, 2016 04 Feb'16

  How to survive a broadband service failure

  With BT yet again forced to apologise to consumer and business broadband customers after another technical fault, how can businesses reliant on one telco prepare themselves for the inevitable?

• February 04, 2016 04 Feb'16

  Global mobile traffic to hit 31 exabytes a month by 2020

  The boom in global mobile data traffic shows absolutely no signs of slowing, according to Cisco’s latest Visual Networking Index report

• February 04, 2016 04 Feb'16

  VoLTE calls not yet as reliable as 2G or 3G, says report

  Research by customer experience solutions supplier Amdocs claims VoLTE call drops are four to five times higher than on traditional mobile networks

• February 04, 2016 04 Feb'16

  Three chairman promises five-year price freeze after O2 merger

  Three chairman Canning Fok pledges a price freeze and a £5bn network investment if the acquisition of O2 is allowed to go ahead

• February 03, 2016 03 Feb'16

  Government admits altnets can compete against BT in rural areas

  A series of pilot schemes has proved that small broadband suppliers can effectively compete against BT Openreach in rural areas

• February 02, 2016 02 Feb'16

  BT broadband network suffers technical fault

  A technical fault on the BT network left users around the country unable to access broadband and phone services

• February 02, 2016 02 Feb'16

  TalkTalk loses 100,000 customers in cyber attack

  Communications service provider says it lost 101,000 customers after last year’s data breach, but claims half a million took up its free upgrade offer

• February 01, 2016 01 Feb'16

  Boeing plugs ViaSat into new AH-64E Apache helicopters

  Boeing awards satellite broadband supplier ViaSat a contract to supply connectivity for its AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters

• February 01, 2016 01 Feb'16

  Malaysia builds smart traffic system in its Silicon Valley equivalent

  Malaysia is testing out a traffic management system in the town of Cyberjaya, which is a test bed for smart city innovation

• February 01, 2016 01 Feb'16

  EE to retain brand, network and shops, says BT

  BT has announced a new organisational structure to come into effect in April, following its acquisition of mobile operator EE

• February 01, 2016 01 Feb'16

  UK surveillance bill could hurt tech sector, warn MPs

  Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee says government's planned surveillance bill is too vague and needs to be redrafted to avoid economic damage

• January 29, 2016 29 Jan'16

  Government adds wireless to BDUK consumer voucher scheme

  The government has extended the BDUK consumer broadband voucher programme to cover wireless systems in a few locations, in addition to satellite

• January 29, 2016 29 Jan'16

  BT completes EE acquisition on schedule

  BT has completed its £12.5bn acquisition of EE on schedule, with the mobile operator set to become a new business unit in the wider group

• January 28, 2016 28 Jan'16

  BBC awards broadcast network contract to BT

  BT is awarded a seven-year, £100m plus contract to supply networking services to the BBC

• January 28, 2016 28 Jan'16

  EE emerges as top performing network at London airports

  RootMetrics’ analysis of mobile broadband connectivity at London’s City, Gatwick and Heathrow airports reveals EE is far outpacing its rivals in terms of performance

• January 27, 2016 27 Jan'16

  Government may consider state-owned broadband provider

  A public sector-owned broadband infrastructure provider is one option on the table as DCMS consults on the future of the £1.7bn BDUK scheme

• January 26, 2016 26 Jan'16

  Could Sweden become the first cashless society?

  Sweden is fast becoming a country where cash is on the periphery of payments, and some think it might be the first to become cashless

• January 26, 2016 26 Jan'16

  Ofcom to let SMEs ditch broadband contracts due to slow speeds

  Ofcom announces protections and rights for SMEs buying standard broadband products

• January 26, 2016 26 Jan'16

  Nokia FastMile enhances LTE networks to boost rural broadband

  Nokia launches a long term evolution radio service called FastMile, which will allow operators to boost mobile broadband services in rural areas

• January 25, 2016 25 Jan'16

  Consumers wasting £156 a year on expired broadband offers

  Research by altnet Relish reveals that BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin customers are locked into overpriced broadband deals

• January 25, 2016 25 Jan'16

  MPs’ broadband report renews row over Openreach future

  MPs have again called for BT and Openreach to be split up, but have been heavily criticised for including misleading statistics in their evidence

• January 22, 2016 22 Jan'16

  BT Mobile MVNO deploys agile NFV-based billing

  BT deploys an NFV-ready customer billing platform from BSS supplier Openet to give mobile customers more control of their service

• January 21, 2016 21 Jan'16

  Norfolk County Council embarks on £20m network and mobile upgrade

  Norfolk County Council has awarded Capita-owned public services network supplier Updata a £20m framework agreement to upgrade its network infrastructure

• January 21, 2016 21 Jan'16

  More telcos turning to NFV to cut costs and provision services

  Global telcos are increasingly deploying network functions virtualisation in their business, reports the OpenStack Foundation

• January 21, 2016 21 Jan'16

  Consumers misled by advertised broadband prices

  The ASA and Ofcom have produced a joint report warning that the current approach to presenting pricing in fixed broadband ads is frequently confusing and misleading

• January 19, 2016 19 Jan'16

  Digital Single Market must be adopted without delay, says EU parliament

  MEPs pass resolution urging the EU to adopt Digital Single Market proposals and enact new protections for consumers as soon as possible

• January 19, 2016 19 Jan'16

  Canary Wharf Group brings 4G network coverage inside its properties

  Arqiva deploys an in-building network to enable 4G browsing in the underground shopping centres at Canary Wharf

• January 19, 2016 19 Jan'16

  BT names global IT architect Howard Watson as CIO

  BT chief architect and managing director of global IT platforms, Howard Watson, is to replace Clive Selley as the telecoms firm's CIO

• January 19, 2016 19 Jan'16

  BT brings 1,000 customer service jobs back to UK

  BT is to create 1,000 jobs as part of its commitment to answer the majority of its consumer-facing service calls in the UK

• January 18, 2016 18 Jan'16

  Still no consensus on need for FTTP, argues government

  In its response to a European consultation on broadband speed and quality, the UK government sticks to its guns, advocates for a mix of delivery technologies and insists there is no consensus on the need for FTTP

• January 15, 2016 15 Jan'16

  BT and EE to merge in weeks after deal gets final approval

  Acquisition of mobile network operator is expected to conclude at the end of January after Competition and Markets Authority gives go-ahead

• January 14, 2016 14 Jan'16

  Gigaclear gets European funding boost for further expansion

  Rural broadband provider secures £18m loan from the European Investment Bank

• January 14, 2016 14 Jan'16

  TalkTalk users report vanishing dial tone

  TalkTalk users say they have been unable to place calls from landline telephone lines and the dial tone has disappeared

• January 14, 2016 14 Jan'16

  Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent celebrate honeymoon

  Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent officially complete their merger and celebrate their first day of combined operations

• January 14, 2016 14 Jan'16

  Enterprise IoT projects will be costly, lengthy and vulnerable, says Gartner

  By 2020, half of new business processes and systems will incorporate elements of the internet of things, but will be expensive, liable to overrun and extremely vulnerable

• January 14, 2016 14 Jan'16

  CityFibre readies KCOM gigabit fibre network in Bristol

  After taking over KCOM’s national fibre assets at the end of 2015, CityFibre has begun commercialising an 82km network in Bristol

• January 13, 2016 13 Jan'16

  Valve deploys 100Gbps ports to support Steam gaming growth

  Gaming firm Valve upgrades its network infrastructure with Level 3 to support the growth of its social entertainment and gaming platform Steam

• January 13, 2016 13 Jan'16

  Polish city builds network to manage smart public transport systems

  The city of Rzeszow in Poland is building a microwave data transmission platform to manage transport systems in a smart city project

• January 13, 2016 13 Jan'16

  Scottish Power picks Vodafone to manage smart electricity grid

  Four-year contract will see mobile operator manage performance monitoring and fault identification systems as energy supplier transitions to smart grid technologies

• January 12, 2016 12 Jan'16

  Used smartphones worth $17bn to global economy, say accountants

  Deloitte’s technology, media and telecoms practice suggests there is now a vast market for used smartphones

• January 12, 2016 12 Jan'16

  New rules to clamp down on nuisance calls

  Government sets out plans to force direct marketing companies to proactively identify themselves as part of a drive to end nuisance calls

• January 12, 2016 12 Jan'16

  EE and O2 mobile networks hit by mystery outage

  Operators struggle to account for fault that left customers unable to place calls to landline numbers

• January 11, 2016 11 Jan'16

  Most Britons back mass internet surveillance, claims survey

  The recent spate of terror attacks may have flipped public opinion in favour of the Investigatory Powers Bill, claims Broadband Genie

• January 11, 2016 11 Jan'16

  BT picks insider Clive Selley to run Openreach

  BT has announced CIO Clive Selley will take charge of the organisation's Openreach infrastructure division