News

Telecoms networks and broadband communications

• March 23, 2021 23 Mar'21

  Northwest Australia to get digital boost

  A $1.5bn datacentre and connectivity project that links Perth and Darwin to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region is set to boost digital investments in northwest Australia

• March 22, 2021 22 Mar'21

  Big four make small impression in Which? UK broadband survey

  As remote working became the default during the UK lockdown, the importance of dependable and enterprise-acceptable home broadband was never more crucial, but Which? shows that the country’s largest providers have proved a let-down regarding ...

• March 22, 2021 22 Mar'21

  Nokia claims 5G throughput breakthrough and deploys first SE Asia 5G standalone RAN

  Finnish comms tech supplier marks the first 5G standalone RAN sharing network in Southeast Asia, enables M1-StarHub joint venture to gain Singapore-wide 5G coverage, and breaks a speed barrier

• March 22, 2021 22 Mar'21

  Altnet association warns of threat to UK full-fibre roll-out

  Independent Networks Co-operative Association warns that recent momentum in gigabit broadband implementation could be delayed if independent providers and their investors believe UK comms regulator is not willing to listen to their concerns

• March 22, 2021 22 Mar'21

  Singtel and Optus partner AWS on telco edge

  Singtel and Optus are supporting AWS Outposts in their telco edge platforms that will enable enterprises to use AWS services for on-premise 5G applications

• March 19, 2021 19 Mar'21

  Nokia inks AT&T C-band deal and sets out plan to surf the 5G long wave

  Leading comms tech provider outlines plans to speed up transformation to improve profitability, taking advantage of long wave of 5G contracts such as that from leading US operator

• March 19, 2021 19 Mar'21

  Avaya adds AI, advanced meeting capabilities to Spaces collaboration platform

  IP comms firm announces new capabilities for workstream collaboration platform, offering evolved unified communications capabilities via a user’s preferred device

• March 19, 2021 19 Mar'21

  UK online traffic soars during year in lockdown

  Research from leading UK ISP reveals online usage in the UK has increased by 78% year-on-year since the first lockdown

• March 19, 2021 19 Mar'21

  UK government aims to get national broadband project back on track with Project Gigabit

  First areas revealed in £5bn government scheme to deliver gigabit broadband connections to help recovery from the pandemic, achieve growth and levelling up

• March 19, 2021 19 Mar'21

  Employers face delicate balancing act as hybrid workforce emerges from lockdown

  Study from UK telco advises firms to prepare for the divided demands of the post-lockdown workforce

• March 18, 2021 18 Mar'21

  Ofcom revamps wholesale broadband rules to ramp up full-fibre roll-out

  UK comms regulator announces new guidelines for the UK wholesale telecoms market, with the principal aim to drive investment in fibre gigabit services and support the closure of the UK’s copper network

• March 18, 2021 18 Mar'21

  Liverpool health, social care and education 5G network expands

  Europe’s largest 5G health and social care network infrastructure deploys range of IT and entertainment technologies in hybrid setup to increase reach of independent public sector network

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Nokia accelerates Telenet cloud services with 5G core tech

  Comms and cloud tech giants to support public cloud deployment of Belgian operator’s mobile core, signalling the first step in its transformation towards cloud-based services

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Ofcom raises £1.356bn in principal stage of new 5G spectrum auction

  After announcing their plans to extend and improve basic 4G connectivity around the country, the UK’s mobile operators are celebrating their principal gains in the 5G arena with low-band and mid-band spectrum

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Viavi expands fibre network test and measurement portfolio

  Fibre optic testing and measurement portfolio designed to address businesses’ rapidly changing infrastructure needs

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Legacy tech integration issues impede telcos’ digitisation ambitions

  Research finds a worryingly large number of operators indicating that when it comes to digital transformation, integration with legacy technology is their largest gating factor, followed closely by data security concerns

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  5G economy to spur huge GDP, job growth across the US

  BCG study estimates large contribution to employment and GDP over the next decade, through the roll-out of next-generation mobile infrastructure

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Cinia cuts Ribbon deal for transport network upgrade

  Real-time communications software and network solutions firm sees OTN platforms deployed in upgrade of backbone transport network in Finland and Northern Europe

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Canada’s Rogers and Shaw announce $26bn merger

  Canadian telcos come together citing the belief that 5G is redefining the innovation landscape and that significant multibillion-dollar investments are needed to deliver the connectivity that communities, consumers and businesses require

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Nokia inks RAN collaboration with leading cloud providers

  Google, Microsoft Azure and AWS link up with comms tech giant to utilise cloud and open radio access network technology to develop new customer-focused 5G use cases

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Consortium makes big shift in autonomous vehicle research in the UK

  New SHIFT Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Report identifies the potential impact of deploying autonomous vehicle services across the UK with advanced traffic modelling helping to predict potential impact of autonomy on congestion, emissions, public ...

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha becomes Nokia FAN for green transport

  In its effort to improve environmental safety and quality with the latest class of gas-fuelled vessel, leading Japanese shipping line implements 4G/LTE field area network

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Cheltenham races as CityFibre extends gigabit fibre to more than 200 additional UK locations

  Former UK altnet announces new build and extensions to existing projects that will see it supply full-fibre infrastructure to nearly a third of the UK market

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Eseye looks to Verizon to enable IoT localisation

  Partnership aims to enable customers with global IoT deployments to localise devices over-the-air to operator’s network, avoiding permanent roaming issues and delivering global IoT connectivity

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Cisco, University of Strathclyde and Scotland 5G Centre announce 5G Cloud Core network

  Networking tech giant, leading university and national hub for accelerating deployment and adoption of 5G team up to create enterprise-grade cloud and core systems to deliver benefit to communities and businesses

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  UK government confirms financial support for Shared Rural Network programme

  UK government ponies up its share of £1bn infrastructure project, designed to reduce partial not-spots in UK locations

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Nokia, LG Uplus trial 5G business-to-business platform in Korea

  Test of 5G solution designed to go beyond traditional network connectivity and deliver enhanced service quality and creation of new B2B services

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Mavenir extends AI and analytics portfolio

  End-to-end cloud-native communications network software provider Mavenir deploys software and API-led connectivity, deep AI/ML knowledge and virtualised network expertise critical for 5G AI use cases

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Community Fibre scales up gigabit offerings for London businesses

  ISP pivots from home to business to provide new features tailored to SMEs’ needs and hires new head of business and wholesale to assist post-lockdown working environment

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  O2 Business aims to boost flexible working with digital workplace

  Operator strengthens digital workplace portfolio with two new propositions to help business owners get the latest devices and integrate voice services for Microsoft Teams

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Scotland launches digital strategy

  Updated strategy aims to equip Scotland for technological transformation post-coronavirus and focuses on building an ethical digital nation

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  CityFibre extends full-fibre network to Peterborough

  Former leading altnet to put a further £1.5m into its high-speed broadband connectivity project

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  KymiRing throttles up private 5G wireless network for motorsports circuit

  Largest motorsports and events venue in Northern Europe to implement industrial-grade private 5G network to fulfil international broadcasting needs and provide a secure testing environment for the automotive industry

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  LogMeIn refreshes GoToConnect to support permanent shift to flexible work

  Collaboration technology provider enhances core suite to empower customers to connect from anywhere and integrate with leading collaboration systems

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  Samsung and Spark light up 5G net in New Zealand

  Samsung switches on its first 5G in New Zealand, claiming to bring a new wave of rich and immersive services to users of the Spark network

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  AT&T adds managed SASE to portfolio

  Comms and IT provider AT&T teams with security specialist Fortinet to offer network solution based on SASE principles to support distributed workforces and solve associated challenges

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  Police crack world’s largest cryptophone network as criminals swap EncroChat for Sky ECC

  Belgian and Dutch police have breached the encryption of users of Sky ECC, the world’s largest cryptophone network. There are significant parallels with the international police operation against the EncroChat cryptophone network which led to ...

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  Nearly 30 million UK mobile users suffer in-home signal problems

  Study finds more than half of UK mobile users regularly suffer signal problems at home, including calls dropping out, but a similar percentage do not check network coverage maps before signing up to a service

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  Cibicom taps Nokia to supply mission-critical LTE network across Denmark

  Finnish comms provider inks deal with Danish operator to roll out new 450 MHz LTE infrastructure for mass volume IoT and mission critical data coverage

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  CityFibre embarks on £34m Thames Valley full-fibre project

  UK’s third-largest broadband provider announces plans to light up fibre in key area of southern England, addressing the current and future digital needs of residents and businesses in the region

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  Scottish consortium unveils new scheme to boost 4G, 5G connectivity

  Programme launched to help Scottish local authorities and public sector organisations reap the benefits from improved connectivity without overburdening their resources

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  UK’s first 5G-connected tram on track across West Midlands

  Leading next-generation network test lab announces latest project offering a showcase for what the future of connected transport could look like in its home region and beyond

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  UK government offers ‘inadequate’ response to broadband concerns

  DCMS Committee takes government to task for the second time in two months for lack of response in how it will ensure communications strategy is realised

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  DZS accelerates network process strategy with RIFT acquisition

  In its second recent strategic acquisition, transport and broadband access solutions provider swoops for automation firm to deliver and manage intelligent network and processing functions at the network edge

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  T-Mobile targets post-pandemic workplace with remote working suite

  Aiming to address a world of work in which Covid-19 brought a decade’s worth of progress in a year’s time,T-Mobile launches a collaborative solutions suite that it says will meet the challenges of remote working head on

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Connectivity the ‘unsung hero’ of the future of work

  Research finds that by stripping away bureaucracy, flattening hierarchies and streamlining processes, the response to Covid-19 has given an indication as to how work could and should change for the better, but there will be losers along with the ...

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Vodafone promises ‘unbreakable’ broadband without breaking the bank

  New hybrid Pro Broadband product aims to deliver Wi-Fi in every room through hybrid router that is claimed to deliver uninterrupted wireless connectivity

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Mobile business and productivity apps see 7.1 billion downloads in 2020

  App Annie research finds stay-at-home orders and lockdowns drive uptake of business productivity applications such as Zoom Cloud Meetings, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, growing 35% annually

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  UK network users burn through unprecedented data in lockdown 3

  Coinciding with the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone update, Virgin Media records its busiest day on record, with the average user downloading more than 20GB of data

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  AI, fibre investment sees Comcast ride out massive wave of network traffic in 2020

  Smart hardware and software technologies allow national US network provider to manage unprecedented traffic driven by major growth in online video and gaming

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Virgin Media trial demos multi-gigabit upgradeable bandwidth

  Virgin Media trials optical networking technology that could pave way to faster internet connectivity that is easier to upgrade

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Goldman Sachs CEO comments highlight need for home working balance

  The remote working revolution has been prominent in the banking sector and organisations have a balancing act to perform once the pandemic passes

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Openreach taps VIAVI to ensure network quality for UK full-fibre build-out

  Openreach opts for optical network monitoring system to address network quality, including validating new construction, performing pre-activation checks and monitoring ongoing services

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Cellular IoT connections to reach 3.5 billion by 2030

  Strategy Analytics survey finds that despite mass roll-out of next-gen networks, in the real world of the internet of things, 4G will continue as the dominant underlying platform, and 5G-based IoT growth will be gradual over the remaining part of ...

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  UK government pumps £4.5m into central Scotland gigabit connectivity plan

  Key Scottish population belt identified as the first territory for investment as part of UK government’s £5bn investment in next-generation broadband

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  Covid accelerates Bradford University remote working project

  Pandemic injected fuel into university’s existing project to introduce remote working

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  Only 12% of worldwide enterprises fully embrace SASE

  Global survey reveals that although many public and private sector organisations have elements of secure access service edge in their IT stack, few have a comprehensive architecture and a significant number do not embrace the philosophy at all

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  First Newcastle residents gain CityFibre gigabit access

  UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform provider claims Tyneside digital revolution is gathering pace as the first homes are connected to next-generation full-fibre network

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Three UK broadens 4G, 5G reach

  UK operator reveals the pace at which its 5G network is expanding according to an expansion plan announced at end of 2020 and gives visibility into its 4G net build

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  5G firms tune up for Sonic open networking scheme

  Project offers the opportunity to shape what the UK’s 5G supply chains of the future could look like

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Juniper adds WAN, Virtual Network Assistant technology to networks portfolio

  Artificial intelligence-driven networks provider builds on wired/wireless access leadership and record year for campus/branch switching with new AI-driven EX switch

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  HPE launches new comms tech group with ‘industry-first’ Open RAN Solution Stack

  Group will help telcos and enterprises take advantage of the huge 5G market opportunity with technology bringing the company’s IP across telco software, services and infrastructure

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  Community Fibre claims progress in London gigabit roll-out

  ISP doubles the number of London homes enabled with its full-fibre broadband to more than 200,000 and increases its customer base by 130% in a year

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  EE to extend mobile coverage in more than 500 UK areas in 2021

  As part of £1bn scheme to make sure acceptable mobile connectivity is spread among all UK communities, BT-owned telco reveals mass mobile roll-out plan

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  UK 5G offers faster speeds, but availability issues persist

  Research shows UK 5G speeds have increased since initial deployments and are likely to increase further, with London a particular bright spot, but availability remains an issue

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Mavenir, Red Hat claim mobile network infrastructure transformation

  Further development in software-defined mobile network technology as cloud-native network software and systems integration provider collaborates with open source operating system firm

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Demand for telcos to prioritise efficiency and sustainability in 5G nets

  Research reveals that embracing best practices and partnering with customers to amplify efficiency will be key for operators

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Wi-Fi Alliance improves quality of service for real-time Wi-Fi applications

  New certification programme for wireless broadband quality-of-service management is claimed to be able to bring robust service delivery and high-quality Wi-Fi experiences

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Australia’s Macquarie Telecom debuts SD-LAN service

  The software-defined local area networking service will make it easier for enterprises to manage Wi-Fi networks and regulate the density of people at a given location

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Huawei: World faces risk of K-shaped post-Covid economic recovery

  MWC keynote sees Huawei deputy chairman warn that innovation is not just about solving current challenges, but about ‘lighting up tomorrow’ with innovation to make businesses smarter and create a more inclusive world

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  GSMA: 5G drives recovery from Covid

  Research from global trade body for the mobile industry finds that, driven by China, adoption of next-generation networks will enable global economies to get back on track over the short to mid-term

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Bharti Airtel, Qualcomm team to advance 5G Open RAN in India

  Subcontinent’s premier communication systems provider announces partnership with leading provider of communications chips and chipsets to accelerate the adoption of next-generation networks in India

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  Malaysia government intervenes to drive 5G forward

  The government of Malaysia pledges to spend 15bn ringgit to set up an entity that would be granted spectrum and operational scope to manage 5G roll-outs

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  SES beams high-throughput loopback services to US DoD

  Government solutions division of Luxembourg-based satellite operator uses O3b medium earth orbit constellation to deliver mission-critical communications to the edge in Asia

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  Huawei: Mobile 5G and wireless home broadband set to triple in 2021

  Keynote by leading executive predicts booming 5G market set to rise in the next 12 months and reveals first use case for 5G business suite in industrial mobile

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  Ericsson accelerates 5G mid-band roll-outs with mMIMO, RAN Compute lines

  Swedish comms tech provider expands MIMO portfolio and radio access network solutions to enhance network performance with what it claims is optimised energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprint with new mid-band products, including 20kg flagship ...

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  5G network densification and mMIMO to drive mobile net spend to US$191bn by 2026

  Finding MIMO pivotal to driving massive uptake in cellular infrastructure expenditure over the next five years

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Orange aims for pole with Totem on back of ‘solid’ fiscal year

  Global telco claims to have defied Covid-19 with solid fiscal year and looks to the future with increased 5G penetration and new mobile tower business.

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Nokia wins multi-year 5G radio and core contract with A1 Austria

  Central European telco signs further deal with Finnish comms provider to begin commercial implementation of 4G and 5G network slicing following successful pilot

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Verizon Business, Cisco expand SD-WAN managed service offer

  US comms provider enhances software-defined wide area network portfolio with three new offers from network equipment and services firm to provide more options for building flexible and agile networking infrastructure

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Tech shortfalls erode company culture in mid-size businesses

  Nearly half of European office workers feel their company culture has suffered due to coronavirus restrictions, with companies faced with the difficult task of creating a supportive, digital-driven company culture that works for everyone

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  C Spire taps Amdocs for 5G wireless policy and charging

  US telco makes key 5G technology investment to be able to offer what it says will be the ‘most innovative’ 5G customer experience now and in the future

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  More than two-thirds of firms would invest in dedicated remote working connectivity

  Firms are faced with supporting more remote working for their businesses going forward, and a survey has shed light on what form this support will take and what firms believe they will need in the ‘new normal’

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  CSPs overlook SMEs as major source of 5G revenue

  Study finds communications service providers are failing to recognise the vast potential of the SME arena as a major source of B2B revenue, especially on 5G

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  NearForm secures investment to fuel rapid international expansion

  Creator of contact-tracing app for the island of Ireland, Scotland, the EU and north-eastern US states secures faster cash injection to build better software

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Altran, Qualcomm collaborate for 5G NR small cell software

  Altran and Qualcomm join forces to expedite development of high-speed, low-latency private and public 5G small cells

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  BT fibres up UK Covid-19 vaccination centres

  As NHS announces that 15 million people have received first dose of Covid-19 vaccine across UK, BT reveals its role in helping health service to achieve milestone by connecting more than 100 vaccination centres to high-speed connectivity and Wi-Fi

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Sun shines on first private cellular campus smart manufacturing network in Greece

  Supporting the digital transformation of Greek enterprises, comms tech provider implements connectivity system based on the deployment of a private cellular campus network at solar thermal products provider

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Zoom fatigue kicks in as working from home becomes working from phone

  Research from leading telecoms operator finds over a third of Brits working from home are increasingly switching to mobile data to stay online in lockdown

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Remote workers battle for home broadband

  Research reveals that maybe the real issue in the big broadband debate is to be found inside the home rather than outside, especially for remote workers

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Nokia furthers Open RAN push with CPQD partnership

  Collaboration between Nokia and CPQD set to explore Open RAN-compliant RIC platform to develop 5G use cases such as fixed wireless access smart cities and Industry 4.0

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Masergy, Cisco construct UCaaS collaboration solution

  SD-WAN provider teams with networking and collaboration technology giant to address distributed enterprises’ communications needs

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  More than $2bn returned to US consumers through mobile device trade-ins in 2020

  Market falls back, but old comms devices maintain value in 2020 despite Covid-19, with $786m returned to US consumers in Q4 2020 alone, representing a 38% rise from Q3 for the secondary device market

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Massive uptick in collaboration software usage in 2020

  US and Europe show differing directions of travel in remote working take-up but leading collaboration systems exhibit four-figure growth since February 2020, with usage levels set to remain high as the new normal of work establishes itself

• February 11, 2021 11 Feb'21

  Verizon Business, Deloitte gain retail edge with 5G

  Operator’s 5G and mobile edge compute technology, coupled with IT consultancy’s retail industry and solution engineering experience, aims to improve store operating efficiency and enhance the customer experience

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Truespeed and CityFibre accelerate UK fibre roll-out

  More fuel to fibre roll-out across the UK, with leading west of England ISP Truespeed propelling Bath into the gigabit era, while third national broadband provider CityFibre heads to Inverness with its gigabit net

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  First phase of Shared Rural Network set to bring £187m boost to UK rural businesses

  Operator-commissioned study claims first phase of scheme to reduce partial not-spots in the UK could mean rural communities contribute an added £58.9m to UK GDP each year

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Companies call for new breed of enterprise network operator for greater IoT control

  Survey finds almost half of those controlling decisions on the deployment of internet of things technology and services would like to own a dedicated network in-house

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Société Générale adopts work-from-home policy

  French bank formalises remote working policy after discussions with labour unions

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Vodafone UK adds Digitalk to MVNO portfolio

  UK telco taps global mobile virtual network enabler service provider, offering cloud-based real-time communications platforms, to assist in on-boarding partners to virtual network