News

Smartphone technology

• 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

• June 11, 2025 11 Jun'25

  West Brom Building Society project to meet customers’ digital demands

  Calls from customers for a choice of digital channels drove West Brom Building Society’s digital transformation project

• June 09, 2025 09 Jun'25

  US lawmakers say UK has ‘gone too far’ by attacking Apple’s encryption

  US politicians are calling for Congress to rewrite the US Cloud Act to prevent the UK issuing orders to require US tech companies to introduce ‘backdoors’ in end-to-end encrypted messaging and storage

• June 02, 2025 02 Jun'25

  Roig Arena to open with 6GHz Wi-Fi network and advanced analytics

  State-of-the-art sports and events arena set to open in Valencia in September 2025 reveals connectivity set up to guarantee expected fan experience with high-speed connectivity plus optimised venue operations

• May 30, 2025 30 May'25

  Tech adaptability helps Zopa unwrap current account and test generative AI

  Zopa Bank’s current account, already used by thousands of existing customers, will be made available to the wider public before end of 2025

• May 29, 2025 29 May'25

  Value of mobile device trade-ins up 40% in US

  Analysis for first quarter of 2025 sees value of turned-in mobile handsets reach $1.24bn, with trend towards newer models even as average device age rises

• May 22, 2025 22 May'25

  Virgin Media O2 Business offers Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile

  UK operator’s business division looks to offer companies seamless, secure collaboration to support flexible working and gain enhanced productivity

• May 15, 2025 15 May'25

  Lancashire Police extends use of Pronto tech for faster, more effective response

  Northwest of England force unveils next-gen approach to policing with voice-activated systems in vehicles and livestream body cameras that give the control room real-time visibility of incidents

• May 13, 2025 13 May'25

  Surrey Search & Rescue taps Ericsson and UK Connect for critical connectivity

  Advanced connectivity solution that includes vehicle router and ruggedised devices deployed under SARNET initiative helps search and rescue teams respond faster, improving survival outcomes

• May 12, 2025 12 May'25

  Wi-Fi 7 trials show ‘significant’ performance gains in enterprise environments

  Wireless technology consortium reveals industry trials of latest Wi-Fi standard in enterprise scenarios revealing increased throughput, lower latency and enhanced efficiency for high-demand applications

• May 08, 2025 08 May'25

  UK government websites to replace passwords with secure passkeys

  Government websites are to replace difficult-to-remember passwords with highly secure passkeys that will protect against phishing and cyber attackers

• May 07, 2025 07 May'25

  Meta awarded $167m in court battle with spyware mercenaries

  WhatsApp owner Meta is awarded millions of dollars in damages and compensation after its service was exploited by users of mercenary spyware developer NSO’s infamous Pegasus mobile malware

• May 07, 2025 07 May'25

  Schools pilot exam results app that could save £30m

  Exam results and certificates will be provided digitally in a pilot the government hopes will lead to huge financial savings

• May 01, 2025 01 May'25

  Thomas Herdman’s legal battle over Sky ECC encrypted phone distribution set to enter fifth year

  Computer Weekly speaks to Julie Kawai Herdman, daughter of Thomas Herdman, the only person in custody for distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones

• April 29, 2025 29 Apr'25

  Three Business launches business eSIM trial

  Business arm of UK mobile operator unveils what it says is the UK’s first large-scale embedded subscriber identity module trial for business in two of the country’s largest cities to allow customers to test network capabilities before possible switch

• April 24, 2025 24 Apr'25

  ASEAN telcos going beyond the 5G hype

  Telcos from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are moving beyond the 5G hype as they focus on driving enterprise 5G and AI adoption to drive value for customers

• April 23, 2025 23 Apr'25

  Telenor IoT unveils ‘future-proof’ eSIM solution

  Internet of things division of leading Nordic telco becomes latest in glut of providers to launch solution in flourishing embedded subscriber identity module market with standardised SGP.32 product

• April 23, 2025 23 Apr'25

  Vodafone, A1, Ericsson unveil first 5G Standalone international roaming

  Global comms tech provider teams with operators in Germany and Bulgaria to confirm feasibility of cross-border 5G SA roaming to enhance responsiveness and reliability of services

• April 22, 2025 22 Apr'25

  Virgin Media O2 cuts carbon emissions 56% against its 2020 baseline

  Virgin Media O2 reveals that it is on track to achieve net zero across its operations, products and supply chain by the end of 2040, 10 years ahead of UK’s net-zero goal

• April 09, 2025 09 Apr'25

  GSA forms 5G RedCap interest group

  Global mobile ecosystem trade association launches working group to track, report and promote status of deployments, devices and service launches based on low-load next-generation mobile wireless standard

• April 08, 2025 08 Apr'25

  NCSC issues warning over Chinese Moonshine and BadBazaar spyware

  Two spyware variants are being used to target the mobile devices of persons of interest to Chinese intelligence, including individuals in the Taiwanese, Tibetan and Uyghur communities

• April 07, 2025 07 Apr'25

  Court rejects Home Office bid for blanket secrecy in hearings over Apple encryption case

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal rejects Home Office arguments that identifying the ‘bare details’ of legal action by Apple would damage national security, leaving open possibility of future open court hearings

• March 25, 2025 25 Mar'25

  UK regulator consults on enabling direct satellite to mobile comms

  UK to be first country in Europe to move ahead with plans to enable satellite calls to be made from standard smartphones, with people and businesses in hard-to-reach areas set to benefit most

• March 19, 2025 19 Mar'25

  EE makes 5G standalone upgrade for more than 28 million people

  UK’s leading mobile provider claims major milestone in its mission to deliver standalone mobile connectivity across the UK for smoother video calls, better video streaming and improved browsing experiences

• March 17, 2025 17 Mar'25

  Online Safety Act measures come into effect

  Regulator Ofcom is now able to take enforcement action against platforms under the Online Safety Act if they fail to proactively safeguard against content such as terrorist or child sexual abuse material

• March 14, 2025 14 Mar'25

  Apple encryption legal challenge heard behind closed doors despite calls for public hearing

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing held behind closed doors as press and civil society groups argue for open hearings

• March 12, 2025 12 Mar'25

  iPhone, iPad update fixes critical WebKit flaw

  iPhone and iPad users are advised to update their devices as Apple addresses an out-of-bounds write issue in the WebKit browser engine that appears to have been exploited in targeted cyber attacks

• March 06, 2025 06 Mar'25

  UK cyber security damaged by ‘clumsy Home Office political censorship’

  Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre secretly censors computer security guidance and drops references to encryption

• March 05, 2025 05 Mar'25

  Apple IPT appeal against backdoor encryption order is test case for bigger targets

  The Home Office decision to target Apple with an order requiring access to users’ encrypted data is widely seen as a ‘stalking horse’ for attacks against encrypted messaging services WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal

• March 05, 2025 05 Mar'25

  MWC 2025: Smartphone users upgrade devices faster as AI cranks up

  Latest quarterly analysis from business services company finds decreasing age of trade-in devices in second half of 2024 coincides with launch of next-gen AI-enabled devices

• March 04, 2025 04 Mar'25

  Canadian businessman remains in French jail, accused of distributing Sky ECC cryptophones

  Canadian businessman Thomas Herdman has been held in pre-trial detention without trial for nearly four years – he has once again been refused bail

• March 03, 2025 03 Mar'25

  MWC 2025: NTT Docomo preps for beyond 5G future

  Leading Japanese operator unveils slew of announcements to boost advanced communications across domestic territory and Africa, encompassing the new era of 6G and aircraft-based systems

• March 03, 2025 03 Mar'25

  MWC 2025: Operators account for 85% of mobile infrastructure investments

  Research from global mobile trade association reveals operators alone contribute $109bn to infrastructure investments, far exceeding that made by content and application providers and cloud service providers

• March 03, 2025 03 Mar'25

  MWC 2025: AI is the new mobile UI for Qualcomm

  Connected processor and artificial intelligence company unveils AI-first modems for 5G networks, IoT and fixed wired access as artificial intelligence scales rapidly at the network edge to drive key business benefits

• February 27, 2025 27 Feb'25

  Verizon claims to ‘shatter’ US 5G upload speed record

  Leading comms provider reveals 5G trial results with record-breaking uplink speed through use of technologies including TDD carrier component aggregation with C-band spectrum and uplink MIMO

• February 26, 2025 26 Feb'25

  US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard probes UK demand for Apple’s encrypted data

  A secret order issued by the UK against Apple would be a ‘clear and egregious violation’ if it provides back door access to Americans’ encrypted data, says US director of national intelligence

• February 21, 2025 21 Feb'25

  Apple withdraws encrypted iCloud storage from UK after government demands ‘backdoor’ access

  After the Home Office issued a secret order for Apple to open up a backdoor in its encrypted storage, the tech company has instead chosen to withdraw the service from the UK

• February 14, 2025 14 Feb'25

  Top cryptography experts join calls for UK to drop plans to snoop on Apple’s encrypted data

  Some of the world’s leading computer science experts have signed an open letter calling for home secretary Yvette Cooper to drop a controversial secret order to require Apple to provide access to people’s encrypted data

• February 13, 2025 13 Feb'25

  UK accused of political ‘foreign cyber attack’ on US after serving secret snooping order on Apple

  US administration asked to kick UK out of 65-year-old UK-US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement after secret order to access encrypted data of Apple users

• February 13, 2025 13 Feb'25

  Interview: Why Samsung put a UK startup centre stage

  The launch of the flagship Galaxy S25 smartphone from Samsung showcased AI innovation from a company spun out of Oxford University

• February 10, 2025 10 Feb'25

  Apple: British techies to advise on ‘devastating’ UK global crypto power grab

  A hitherto unknown British organisation – which even the government may have forgotten about – is about to be drawn into a global technical and financial battle, facing threats from Apple to pull out of the UK

• February 10, 2025 10 Feb'25

  Unionised drivers to stage ride-hailing app strike

  Drivers employed by Uber, Bolt and Addison Lee are set to log off for six hours on 14 February 2025 in long-running disputes over poor pay, work conditions and algorithmic transparency

• January 31, 2025 31 Jan'25

  Police swoop on Sky ECC cryptophone distributors in Spain and Holland

  Dutch and Spanish police have arrested four people accused of making millions of euros by distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones to criminal organisations