In a record-breaking flurry of innovation submissions, the Connected Britain Awards are turning the spotlight on frontrunners shaping the UK’s digital frontier. The anticipation builds as the official shortlist for 2023 announces contenders across 15 award categories.
EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure has partnered with Zayo to enhance connectivity at its Santa Clara data center. Meanwhile, a US-led operation dismantled the Qakbot malware network, preventing further infections and seizing $8.6 million in cryptocurrency. Global roaming fraud is projected to cost $8 billion by 2028. KDDI and SpaceX plan to launch satellite-to-cellular services in Japan by 2024, bridging connectivity gaps in remote areas beyond 5G and 4G coverage.
Huawei plans a comeback in the smartphone market with new 5G devices using domestic chip supplies. Concerns persist about the quality of these chips and Huawei’s absence from the Android Play Store. CityFibre challenges Openreach with a faster wholesale FTTH service, while Optus collaborates with SpaceX’s Starlink to expand mobile coverage in Australia’s remote areas. Ofcom investigates O2 Virgin Media over customer complaints, and the European Court of Justice rejects a ruling on the Three-O2 merger, adding to the uncertainty in the telecommunications regulatory landscape.
Virgin Media O2 Plans Job Cuts Virgin Media O2 is reportedly planning job cuts, with anywhere between 800 and 2,000 jobs at risk of elimination. The company has rescheduled an imminent pay rise for staff to avoid including it in redundancy packages. This news disappoints staff who were led to believe they would have the opportunity to transfer to different departments, but anonymous sources suggest suitable alternative roles may not be available. The job cuts are part of the ongoing integration process between O2 and Virgin Media, following their merger in 2021, and are expected due to real estate consolidation and eliminating overlapping roles, common methods in mergers. Read the full article T-Mobile and Bellevue Pilot Road Safety Tech T-Mobile US and the city of Bellevue, Washington, are partnering to pilot Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology, aimed at enhancing road and pedestrian safety through real-time information. T-Mobile will provide 5G connectivity,…
Spark reveals plans to trial satellite-to-mobile services, offering additional coverage and network resilience. Working with satellite provider Lynk, the initial trial focuses on text messaging before expanding to voice and data services, assessing the technology’s potential impact on telecommunications.
Spark’s partnership with Lynk Global marks a major milestone in mobile connectivity for New Zealand, testing direct-to-consumer satellite services to enhance network coverage and combat challenges posed by climate change.
The European Commission clears Inmarsat’s acquisition by Viasat, assuring competition in the in-flight broadband landscape. While the market anticipates increased opportunities for current players and new entrants, upcoming deals like SES/Intelsat and Eutelsat/OneWeb may pose complex challenges for regulators.
AT&T challenges T-Mobile’s plan to harness SpaceX’s satellite services for improved mobile network coverage, citing potential interference and spectrum allocation violations. This rivalry intensifies the race to offer extensive coverage in hard-to-reach areas.
In order to extend mobile service to isolated rural regions, the Belgian communications operator BICS has inked a deal with the satellite-direct-to-phone telecoms business Lynk. This agreement will make it possible for mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide services to subscribers in rural areas in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, South-East Asia, and a number of rural African regions. BICS focuses on cloud, mobility and IoT, while offering digital communications on a worldwide scale. The company also collaborates with MNOs and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). This collaboration aims to solve the problem of remote locations that currently lack any form of mobile connectivity. BICS will use its network to connect the cell carriers with the Lynk satellite constellation. Lynk’s solution enables conventional roaming partner integration without requiring that the mobile operators’ networks undergo hardware or software upgrades, thereby expanding coverage to outlying regions, islands, and…
Starlink experienced a worldwide outage On August 30, the Starlink broadband satellite service experienced a three-hour disruption before returning to operation. Users in the United States, New Zealand, Mexico, and the Netherlands rushed to Twitter and Reddit to complain about service failures and interruptions. The satellite company made no comments on the reason for the outage and service delays. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yv7zk2yc Ameren will use Ericsson to power its private communications network Ericsson has stated that it will provide its Radio Access Network (RAN) and help power Ameren’s private communications network. This is the outcome of a recent infrastructure and service collaboration deal between Ericsson and Ameren that was signed for a period of ten years. As there won’t be any more external suppliers looking after the data and information on the network, Ameren will also have a higher degree of cybersecurity. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2s3vs4jd Sony reveals new…
