News

Smartphone technology

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Apple and Home Office agree to drop legal claim over encryption backdoor

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal rules that Apple’s appeal against the Home Office will no longer proceed because of a ‘change in circumstances’

• October 09, 2025 09 Oct'25

  Chat Control encryption plans delayed after EU states fail to agree

  Plans to require technology companies across Europe to monitor the contents of encrypted messages and emails have been delayed after European Union member states were unable to reach agreement following German objections

• October 06, 2025 06 Oct'25

  Police ordered to give reasons in closed court for seizing phone of UK Hamas lawyer

  London court orders police to disclose reasons for seizing and copying the contents of a phone belonging to a UK lawyer who represented Hamas, but refuses an injunction to prevent police from reviewing the phone until after judicial review

• October 03, 2025 03 Oct'25

  BT reveals plan for 99% 5G standalone coverage by 2030

  UK’s leading comms provider rebrands 5G standalone into 5G+ while revealing ambition to deliver almost universal population coverage over mobile standard by 2030, taking huge leap compared with rival UK MNOs

• October 02, 2025 02 Oct'25

  PSNI appoints legal counsel to report on police conduct after McCullough surveillance review

  The Police Service of Northern Ireland has commissioned a senior lawyer to report back on whether there was any misconduct by police officers following the McCullough Review into the surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs

• October 01, 2025 01 Oct'25

  Home Office issues new ‘backdoor’ order over Apple encryption

  A second Home Office technical capability notice requires Apple to provide access to encrypted data and messages of British users stored on its iCloud service

• October 01, 2025 01 Oct'25

  Over half of UK adults use mobile wallets

  Cash accounted for less than 10% of payments in the UK in 2024, according to UK Finance figures

• September 30, 2025 30 Sep'25

  Apple’s first iOS 26 security update fixes memory corruption flaw

  Apple issues an update for its brand new iOS 26 mobile operating system, fixing a potentially dangerous vulnerability affecting iPhones, iPads and other Mac devices

• September 24, 2025 24 Sep'25

  McCullough Review finds PSNI failures but no ‘systemic’ surveillance of journalists

  A review by Angus McCullough KC reveals that Northern Ireland police failed to comply with the law but that there was no ‘widespread and systemic’ surveillance of journalists, lawyers and NGOs

• September 17, 2025 17 Sep'25

  Hamas lawyer challenges police after they seized legal files from phone in Schedule 7 stop

  A UK solicitor hired by Hamas to challenge its proscription in the UK as a terrorist organisation argues police acted unlawfully by seizing a phone containing confidential legally privileged material about his clients

• September 17, 2025 17 Sep'25

  GSA: NTN operator–satellite partnerships now in 80 territories

  Study shows Starlink leading the satellite landscape with 44 partnerships, followed by AST SpaceMobile and Lynk, while in spectrum Ka-band remains most widely used frequency range, supporting both feeder and service links

• September 11, 2025 11 Sep'25

  Chat Control: EU to decide on requirement for tech firms to scan encrypted messages

  Law enforcement and police experts meet on Friday to decide on proposals to require technology companies to scan encrypted messages for possible child abuse images amid growing opposition from security experts

• September 11, 2025 11 Sep'25

  EE claims 5G world-first with advanced RAN coordination

  UK’s leading operator becomes first company to launch Advanced RAN Coordination technology in distributed network to deliver more reliable 5G connectivity and 20% faster download speeds, with standalone network offering biggest boost

• September 10, 2025 10 Sep'25

  UK contactless card payment limits could be unlimited

  The UK Financial Conduct Authority says contactless payment technology and fraud protections have advanced enough for firms to adjust the limit

• September 09, 2025 09 Sep'25

  Nokia readies for comms AI super cycle with R&D facility

  Research centre in Oulu to address comms industry on verge of next generation of mobile, as well as global marketplace in flux

• September 05, 2025 05 Sep'25

  Q2 2025 strongest second quarter on record for smartphone trade-ins

  Quarterly investigation of US phone trade-in market shows record value

• September 01, 2025 01 Sep'25

  Enterprise 5G set for ‘potentially intensive’ growth over next five years

  Whitepaper notes rise of enterprise 5G use cases through AI, the cloud and 5G Standalone/5G Advanced with the support of key stakeholders such as regulators, governments, CSPs and connectivity ecosystem

• August 29, 2025 29 Aug'25

  Home Office ‘backdoor’ seeks worldwide access to Apple iCloud users’ data, court documents confirm

  A court filing states that a government order against Apple would give it the capability to access communications and metadata of customers using the iCloud service anywhere in the world

• August 21, 2025 21 Aug'25

  Apple iOS update fixes new iPhone zero-day flaw

  Latest Apple zero-day found in the ImageIO framework opens the door for targeted zero-click attacks on iPhone users

• August 19, 2025 19 Aug'25

  US says UK has agreed to drop encryption ‘backdoor’ demands against Apple

  US and UK end diplomatic row over UK encryption ‘backdoor’ order against Apple, but it remains unclear whether Apple will restore advanced encryption services to UK users

• August 19, 2025 19 Aug'25

  Concierge now on call 24/7 for Zoom Phone

  AI-first work platform provider unveils integration of virtual agent with phone platform to deliver concierge experience for organisations that ‘goes beyond’ basic call answering services or auto-attendants

• August 18, 2025 18 Aug'25

  China Unicom 5G-A network powers world’s first humanoid robot games

  Leading Chinese telco offers robot showcase next-gen 5G network that supports embodied AI realising seamless connectivity for both spectators and robots even during peak usage

• August 18, 2025 18 Aug'25

  EE continues UK mobile leadership in first half of 2025

  Study of UK mobile market reveals ‘measurable’ performance differences between operators, with median 5G download speeds varying by more than 140Mbps between the fastest and slowest networks in some cities

• August 11, 2025 11 Aug'25

  Arqit to join Vodafone network and ecosystem innovation centre

  Innovation centre for leading-edge technologies welcomes encryption software service to scale its quantum-safe technology across operator’s ecosystem

• July 30, 2025 30 Jul'25

  Apple pushes almost 30 security fixes in mobile update

  Apple pushes what will likely be the last major security update to its current iPhone and iPad operating systems, fixing 29 vulnerabilities in its mobile ecosystem

• July 29, 2025 29 Jul'25

  Austrian government faces likely legal challenge over state spyware

  Civil society groups are talking to opposition MPs about bringing a legal challenge to the Austrian constitutional court over ‘state trojan’ law

• July 24, 2025 24 Jul'25

  UK loses second spot in global fintech to UAE

  The UK has been pushed into third spot on global fintech market size data for the first half of this year

• July 22, 2025 22 Jul'25

  EE 5G standalone network ready to scale for mass usage

  UK’s leading mobile comms provider reveals latest evolution of 5G network has passed a tipping point after reaching over half of the UK population

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  UK may be seeking to pull back from Apple encryption row with US

  UK government officials say that attempts by the Home Office to require Apple to introduce ‘backdoors’ to its secure encrypted storage service will cross US red lines

• July 17, 2025 17 Jul'25

  UK government-funded mobile mast upgrades mark milestone in Wales

  Latest development in £1.3bn mobile upgrade scheme sees upgrade of existing mobile masts which previously only connected EE customers and anyone making 999 calls

• July 15, 2025 15 Jul'25

  SailGP unfurls private, public 5G connectivity across UK event sites

  Leading UK operator and comms tech provider forge partnership with global racing championship that will see its 5G Standalone network slicing capabilities deliver real-time communications, telemetry and live video

• July 09, 2025 09 Jul'25

  Mini gets into gear with Transatel to drive connected car services

  NTT subsidiary teams up with BMW Group division to enable connected car services for vehicles across 27 countries in Europe and deliver a more connected automotive ecosystem

• July 08, 2025 08 Jul'25

  UK among worst performers in Europe for fundamental 5G metrics

  Study from mobile network testing firm uncovers gaps in UK 5G performance compared with European leaders, with ‘significant’ disparity between theoretical population coverage and the daily reality for millions of users

• July 08, 2025 08 Jul'25

  Vodafone sees Glastonbury mobile data traffic usage rise 25%

  Official connectivity partner of the UK’s leading music festival reveals massive year-on-year uptick in mobile data traffic, and strong demand for official app and embedded subscriber identity module offer

• July 04, 2025 04 Jul'25

  O2 boosts 4G, 5G network capacity

  Ahead of the forthcoming holiday rush this summer, leading UK operator announces mobile upgrades in over 13,000 Scottish postcodes

• July 04, 2025 04 Jul'25

  Orange France, Samsung establish vRAN, Open RAN first pilot

  Samsung and Orange France partner to progress open radio access network tech from lab to field, further exploring the performance maturity and operational effectiveness of open, virtualised RAN

• July 03, 2025 03 Jul'25

  Glastonbury hits higher note for mobile performance

  Data from mobile network performance analyst shows mobile quality at UK’s leading music festival rising across the board each year, but with much variance between individual operators

• July 03, 2025 03 Jul'25

  VodafoneThree and Currys ink exclusive multiyear partnership

  Newly merged telco seals exclusive multiyear partnership with UK omnichannel retailer of technology products and services to become its sole mobile network operator and expand mobile broadband

• July 03, 2025 03 Jul'25

  Space comms reaches commercialisation inflection point

  Study finds satellite communications industry gaining altitude with commercialisation increasing apace, especially in enterprise IoT

• July 02, 2025 02 Jul'25

  Digital Catapult claims milestone in UK advanced connectivity landscape

  Deep tech innovation organisation awarded accreditation as the UK’s only European Open Testing and Integration Centre.

• July 02, 2025 02 Jul'25

  Ericsson recommits to UK 6G research programme

  Global tech provider offers commitment to UK government in driving research and playing an active role in shaping the technologies and standards that will define 6G

• July 02, 2025 02 Jul'25

  Virgin Media O2 boosts mobile network through Vodafone spectrum acquisition

  Details released of spectrum transfer agreement between leading UK telcos, which is expected to materially enhance Virgin Media O2’s network position and improve connectivity experience of businesses across the country

• June 26, 2025 26 Jun'25

  Sky ECC distributor released from French custody pending trial

  Canadian businessman accused of distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones has been released on bail after over four years in custody without a trial

• June 26, 2025 26 Jun'25

  UK rail network gets on track for enhanced connectivity

  Partnership between UK rail infrastructure provider and communications firm aims to boost 4G/5G connectivity on trains and in stations, tackle signal blackspots in tunnels, and pave the way for train performance improvements across Britain

• June 24, 2025 24 Jun'25

  FWA flies with global 5G subs set to near three billion by end of 2025

  This year’s edition of analysis of mobile communications sector highlights a significant shift in how service providers are monetising 5G, particularly through fixed wireless access, and points to a dramatic increase in 5G traffic over the next five...

• June 24, 2025 24 Jun'25

  Zopa Bank launches current account earlier than expected

  Zopa launches its UK current account, five years after reinventing itself as a challenger bank

• June 19, 2025 19 Jun'25

  Nokia launches autonomous network fabric

  Nokia’s platform aims to accelerate full network automation in an open, cloud-native, multi-supplier environment including telco-trained models, integrated security, and AI apps for automation workflows

• June 16, 2025 16 Jun'25

  Digital Catapult explores quantum innovation for advanced connectivity

  Deep tech innovation organisation highlights how quantum networking innovation is being embedded across UK industries such as telecoms, aerospace, automotive and ports to address real-world operational challenges

• June 16, 2025 16 Jun'25

  Nokia private wireless flies at Leonardo as Elisa extends for 5G advanced

  Comms tech provider works with global aerospace and defence firm to deliver integrated mission-critical services over private wireless networks for public safety and critical infrastructure, and wins long-term extension with key telco

• June 13, 2025 13 Jun'25

  VodafoneThree begins operation with 5G SA, broadband push

  UK’s largest communications company comes to life backed by £11bn infrastructure investment with push on 5G Standalone networks and partnerships with full-fibre fixed broadband providers