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Network analyst firm Streetwave has today shared the results from a recent survey they conducted inside St Mary’s Hospital in London, which examined the signal coverage and data performance of 4G and 5G mobile (broadband) networks – including EE, Three UK, Vodafone and O2.

Streetwave is understood to have taken their portable data collection equipment around the hospital, focusing on the QEQM Building at 12:33pm on 17th June 2025. Only publicly accessible walkways were surveyed. The results below should thus be considered quite anecdotal, albeit still interesting.

All four of the UK’s mobile operators were measured and their “Acceptable Coverage” scores are listed below. Streetwave typically defines this as reflecting locations where the network provides users with download speeds of at least 5Mbps, uploads of at least 2Mbps and below 40ms latency times (i.e. just about covering most of the common internet use cases / needs).

In addition, Streetwave also measured the “Essential Coverage” scores, which is said to be reflective of locations where a network can provide users with mobile broadband speeds of above 1Mbps download, 0.5Mbps upload, and below 100ms (milliseconds) of latency (i.e. covering or allowing only the most very basic of use cases / needs).

Overall, O2 (Virgin Media) and EE (BT) jointly delivered the strongest Acceptable Coverage, albeit at just 21%. By comparison, Vodafone returned a slightly lower score at 17% and Three UK only managed 7%. As for Essential Coverage, the results were O2 – 66%, Three UK – 60%, Vodafone – 43% and EE – 42%.

Most hospitals do of course offer a public WiFi network, but some of these can be expensive and don’t always deliver particularly good performance either. Suffice to say that mobile broadband can provide an alternative, but indoor coverage is a much bigger challenge and some hospitals might see that as being competitive with their paid WiFi solutions (i.e. a disincentive to invest in better indoor mobile signals).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today revealed that – over the past 12-months – they’ve completed a project to upgrade the capacity of their 4G and 5G mobile services across “over” 3,000 postcodes in the city of Glasgow (Scotland), which should bring “faster” mobile broadband speeds and greater reliability to the area.

The work forms part of O2’s Mobile Transformation Plan to invest around £700m this year into their mobile network – “ensuring it is fit for the future and can keep up with increasing customer demand“. All mobile operators have to conduct similar work, so this is not unusual and comes against a backdrop of rising demand (i.e. the amount of mobile data traffic more than doubling in the past 5 years). Not to mention the need to withdraw their old 3G network.

Dr Robert Joyce, O2’s Director of Mobile Access Engineering, said: “With customers using more data than ever before, the improvements we’ve made at over 3,000 postcodes in Glasgow will ensure local people and businesses can access reliable connectivity that is so essential in powering our customers’ digital lifestyles. As part of our Mobile Transformation Plan, we are continuing to invest in our network with future upgrades planned to ensure that we can continue to support our customers both now and in future.“

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A new report from pipeline safety organisation Linewatch, which raises awareness of oil and gas pipelines around the UK and encourages safe practices when digging around them, has warned that 19% of workers have been reported for digging too close to underground high-pressure fuel pipelines while carrying out utility works (electricity, water, broadband etc.).

The latest Linewatch Infringement Report shows that of the 284 incidents recorded, utility companies were directly responsible for 7%. Whilst still a significant portion, it is a 15% decrease from the previous year. In contrast, local authorities were responsible for just 4% of incidents, while highways agencies and the water industry were responsible for 2% and 0.7% respectively.

In 2024, excavation to install or access underground utilities was the biggest cause of pipeline infringements across the UK, accounting for 24% of all reports. But excavation isn’t the only dangerous activity taking place by utilities companies and their contractors, with the report indicating that roadworks (6%) also pose a “serious threat“.

When it comes to the timings of infringements, there is a pattern, with incidents much higher in Q1 and Q3. March sees the highest peak in incidents across the year with 39 infringements, and October the lowest with 11. This directly correlates with seasonal work and businesses increasing workload to use up budgets before the start of the new financial year.

Murray Peat, Manager at Linewatch, said:

“Whilst utilities works are integral to the UK’s infrastructure, it’s concerning that it persists as one of the biggest risks to pipeline integrity. Especially considering the threat to life is so significant. We know how critical our utility networks are to the UK, so we want to protect them as much as possible.”

The report recommends that utilities firms and their contractors ensure they’re using services like those provided by the LSBUD (Line Search Before You Dig) organisation, which offers an online asset search facility to UK civil engineering firms for underground pipes and cables. The UK Government has also built the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) to provide a digital map of underground pipes and cables (broadband, power etc.).

However, the report noted how having prior awareness alone doesn’t always help, since over half (55%) of all pipeline infringements in 2024 occurred despite the person digging knowing a pipeline was present. “This highlights a concerning trend of complacency amongst those working near high-pressure underground pipelines,” said the report.

We should point out that Linewatch’s report doesn’t really break the category of “utility companies” down, which means we don’t get to see how many such infringements were specifically caused by telecommunications related works (mobile, broadband, Ethernet etc.). But we suspect it would not be very big as such infrastructure is usually done to a depth of 350mm, while fuel pipelines tend to be found at 600mm to 1000mm – depending on various factors. We also haven’t had to write about many such incidents over the years.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Some customers of Three UK’s mobile network have, over the past hour, begun reporting to ISPreview (example) that they’re suffering a partial outage of the operator’s Voicemail (123) service. The issue does not appear to affect regular calls and is being reported from users in different parts of the country.

The problem, which is hopefully only a short incident, manifest when you call 123 and the service picks up. But instead of hearing the usual automated voice and options, the call continues in complete silence. The issue appears to be sporadic and does not affect everybody, but it does impact both domestic and business customers.

In addition, no messages can be left on the service from other phones. Some customers who have contacted Three UK’s support about the problem were initially told that the fault was with their handset(s), rather than Three UK, which appears to be incorrect as it was working fine before.

UPDATE 11:53am

Customers who remain connected to the Voicemail service for longer than 90 seconds get an automated message, which says: “It looks like there’s a technical issue, try again later.” The same issue is also known to be impacting MVNO users, such as those on iD Mobile etc.

UPDATE 12:35pm

We just tested Voicemail again and it now seems to be working again, or at least the automated system did respond.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative broadband operator All Points Fibre Networks (APFN), which is owned by Fern Fibre (Fern Trading), has today announced that their long-running internal consolidation – bringing together their own-built FTTP networks and retail ISPs into a single group (Giganet, Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, the original AllPoints Fibre, and Cuckoo) – has now completed.

The complex process was first announced all the way back in February 2023 (here) and has resulted in two primary operations – APFN for the wholesale (network) business and Cuckoo as the retail ISP, which both operate as self-standing companies, albeit owned by Fern Fibre.

The completion of this process has also prompted some leadership changes today. Ronan Kelly, previously APFN CTO, has now been appointed APFN Managing Director. Nisreen El-Kaloush, previously Commercial Director, has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer to lead on developing long-term commercial frameworks.

Finally, as “leadership of the business at group level is no longer required” with the consolidation and relaunch complete, Jarlath Finnegan, Group CEO, and Graham McGregor, Group CFO, are said to be departing. Meanwhile Ronan, along with Sarah Howells, MD of Cuckoo, will report to Fern Fibre’s new Executive Chair, Adam Dunlop, who joined the Fern Fibre Trading Limited Board in May 2025. Adam was recently serving as CEO of TalkTalk, but he has also held leadership positions at iD Mobile, Dixons Carphone and Cable & Wireless.

Ronan Kelly said:

“It’s an honour to take APFN into its next phase of trading now that the consolidation plan is complete. Since we launched aquila, we have had a fast start and we have huge interest from potential partners, and I am excited to connect more of them to the platform in the months ahead.”

I want to express my warm thanks to Jarlath and Graham, who successfully transformed the five companies into the two we have now. They leave those companies in great shape as we continue to shake up the connectivity market.”

Adam Dunlop said:

“I am coming into my role as Executive Chair at a very exciting time. I am already working with Ronan and Sarah so we can ensure that APFN and Cuckoo accelerate the great progress already made.

My sincere thanks to Jarlath and Graham. It is down to their hard work and dedication that both APFN and Cuckoo have got to where they are today. To build and successfully launch aquila in such a short time is a remarkable achievement whilst also bringing all our retail operations onto one platform with no legacy systems. On behalf of everyone at both companies, I want to send them our warm wishes for the future.”

However, it’s probably not unfair to say that the consolidation did cause some problems and confusion for customers of Giganet, Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, although APFN will be hoping that it can now finally put those days behind it and move on into the future. But we have also seen plenty of people complaining that they still can’t order packages on APFN’s own network, often only getting choices for Openreach or Cityfibre instead (i.e. the consolidation doesn’t seem 100% complete to us, until they fully integrate the retail side).

Despite this, the network operator has yet to announce any firm expansion plans for their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, although the completion of their internal consolidation might also open the gates to an external consolidation by another operator (Cityfibre has recently been in the frame, despite APFN saying its “not for sale“). But in the meantime, their focus seems to be on the wholesale side.

Finally, it’s not mentioned in the announcement, but APFN do also own retail broadband ISP Brillband (here).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Shropshire-based UK broadband ISP Aquiss has announced that they’ve launched an additional range of internet access packages based off Freedom Fibre’s network. This has so far deployed a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 350,000 premises across parts of England and Wales (aspiration to reach 1 million premises by 2030).

The internet provider, which already supplies services via Openreach, CityFibre and FullFibre Ltd’s FTTP networks, appears to be offering two residential packages via Freedom Fibre that start from just £36 a month for speeds of 500Mbps (average) on a 12-month minimum contract term (discounted to £16pm for the first 2 months). The second package then charges £42 (£22pm for the first 2 months) for their top 900Mbps tier.

All packages include symmetric service speeds, unlimited usage, a 12-month minimum contract term, a pledge of no mid-contract price rises, a static IPv4 address and static IPv6 addresses (/56). But new customers will be expected to supply their own broadband router and the 500Mbps package attaches a £60 one-off activation fee, which rises to £120 for 900Mbps.

Aquiss added that they can now also offer business customers lightning-fast broadband speeds of up to 8Gbps via Freedom Fibre’s network, although this will set you back £475 +vat per month (plus £500 one-off activation) on a 12-month term. This is quite pricey for regular FTTP lines and we couldn’t see a strong Service Level Agreement (SLA).

“We are delighted to partner with Freedom Fibre to bring unparalleled broadband speeds and reliability to our business customers,” said Martin Pitt, MD of Aquiss. “This collaboration allows us to deliver up to 8Gbps connectivity, enabling businesses in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and North Shropshire to unlock new opportunities, enhance productivity, and stay ahead in a competitive market.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The annual Broadband Genie 2025 Awards survey has this morning named UK ISP Plusnet as the “Best Broadband Provider” of the year, while a variety of other internet service providers also scooped various other awards across several different categories.

The results are partly based off a OnePoll survey of 3,997 broadband bill payers (conducted between 4th July 2024 and 15th November 2024), as well as an analysis of 291,467 broadband speed tests that were run over a 12-month period. The Best Social Tariff award was separately chosen by a team of Broadband Genie’s judges.

However, it’s worth noting that ISPs could only qualify for these awards if they met certain criteria, including having 50%+ nationwide coverage across the UK (this excludes a lot of alternative networks), being listed on price comparison websites and with a minimum of 20+ customers being interviewed.

Speaking of which, we also noted that the “Best Altnet” award has been removed from this year’s listing and there’s no longer a general “Fastest Provider” award, only “Fastest Widely Available Provider” and “Fastest Wireless Provider“.

Winners of the Broadband Genie 2025 Awards

Best Provider

Winner: Plusnet (79% of users rated them the best)

Vodafone 78%
Zen Internet 77%
Sky Broadband 77%
BT 75%
Virgin Media 75%
TalkTalk 73%
Direct Save Telecom 71%
Three Broadband (Three UK) 71%
NOW Broadband (NOW TV) 70%

Fastest Widely Available Provider

Winner: Virgin Media 188Mbps (average download)

iDNet 177Mbps
Zen Internet 112Mbps
Cuckoo 99Mbps
Vodafone 95Mbps
Andrew & Arnold 72Mb
BT 71Mb
Sky Broadband 60Mb
Three 55Mbps
EE 51Mbps
Plusnet 50Mbps
uno Communications 45Mbps
TalkTalk 35Mbps
Onestream 32Mbps
O2 31Mbps
NOW 30Mbps
EE Mobile 30Mbps
Vodafone Mobile Broadband 29Mbps
SSE 23Mbps

Fastest Wireless Provider

Three UK

Best Value for Money

Vodafone

Best provider for Speed Satisfaction

Virgin Media

Most Reliable Provider

Plusnet

Best Customer Service

NOW Broadband

Best Social Tariff

Vodafone

Best Provider for Home Working

Virgin Media

Best Provider for Online Gaming

Virgin Media

Best Provider for Streaming

Virgin Media

Most User Friendly

Plusnet

The survey also revealed some areas where improvements need to be made. For example, customers were overall least satisfied with their provider’s customer service. The category has the lowest scores of any, with Direct Save Telecom (58%) and – surprisingly – Zen Internet (64%) being significantly below the average in this area. This is unusual, as Zen usually ranks above the biggest ISPs in a lot of other consumer surveys.

Bill payers also felt they should be getting better value for money; with this category having the second-lowest average score. Virgin Media (64%), BT (64%), TalkTalk (67%) and Sky Broadband (68%), which together form the majority of the broadband market, were well off the pace of the front-runners.

Table: How do broadband provider compare for customer service and value for money?

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

At TM Forum’s DTW 2025 (Digital Transformation Summit), Huawei partnered with TM Forum and 10 global leading CSPs to officially launch the New Generation Intelligent Operations White Paper 3.0. This event drew participation from more than 130 representatives across global operators, industry organizations, analyst firms, and media outlets, all converging to examine the latest trends and share practical insights in intelligent operations transformation.

Lucas Lu, president of Huawei ICT assurance and operation services domain, stated at the launch: “White Paper 3.0 marks a significant breakthrough in the field of ‘service-centric intelligent operations transformation’. By applying innovative technologies such as Agentic AI and Network Digital Twin (DTN), we are redefining the operations model for CSPs.”

Technology Evolution: A Three-Stage Leap from Incremental Change to Qualitative Transformation
White Paper 1.0 phase (September 2023) established the “service-centric” transformation foundation, proposing the “3P+1T” framework – a systematic reconstruction focusing on People, Process, Platform, and Technology.

White Paper 2.0 phase (June 2024) achieved a critical breakthrough: the integrated application of Digital Twin Network (DTN) and LLM technology enabled operations systems to begin possessing semantic understanding capabilities, marking a new phase in human-machine collaboration.

The newly released White Paper 3.0 brings fundamental change: Agentic AI-based closed-loop automation capabilities drive the transformation of the operations model from “human-machine collaboration” to “a new era of intelligent operations model”. This transformation is not a simple overlay of technology, but a reconstruction of operational philosophy – where agents can autonomously identify high-value scenarios, dynamically decompose operations tasks, and achieve autonomous closed-loop through the “Think-Act-Verify” cycle.

Reshaping the Operations Model: From Automation Tools Assistance to a New Era of Intelligent Operations Model

As network architectures and service scenarios grow increasingly complex, traditional operations models face severe challenges. Operations engineers need to concurrently operate multiple system tools, perform cross-dimensional data queries, and conduct manual analyses. Over the last 12 months, Huawei, based on Digital Twin Network (DTN), Large Language Model (LLM), and Agentic AI technologies, has successfully built several innovative application scenarios. These technologies enable the operations system to autonomously identify anomalies, diagnose faults, prioritize high-value service scenarios, and achieve closed-loop automation for network anomalies.

Agentic AI is fundamentally changing the operations model, and the shift from “automation tools assist human” to “humans-AI collaboration” will propel the operations system towards true autonomous evolution.

Continuous Innovation: Building an Intelligent Operations Ecosystem Together
Digital transformation is not only about technology—it’s a systematic shift in ways of working. White Paper 3.0 not only provides a clear evolution roadmap but also compiles practical cases from global leading CSPs. Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to deepen cooperation with TM Forum and industry partners to accelerate the translation of technological innovation into operational capabilities, jointly building an open and collaborative intelligent operations ecosystem.

Lucas Lu, president of Huawei ICT assurance and operation services domain, interpreting White Paper 3.0

Official download link for the New Generation Intelligent Operations White Paper 3.0

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Ekinops, a leading optical transport and network access specialist, today announced that Global Caribbean Network (GCN), a provider of wholesale capacity to telcos in the Caribbean region, has upgraded its existing subsea cable network using the Ekinops360 WDM platform with FlexRate™ technology.

GCN operates a cable system in the Guadeloupe region of the Caribbean consisting of critical routes unserved by other cables. With service areas separated by long spans that have challenging optical requirements, GCN needed a solution that could support services from 10G to 100G on extended links over 350Km. Using the 400FRS04-SF module, ROADMs and low noise amplifiers from Ekinops, GCN is now able to deliver the bandwidth needed for the local service providers throughout the region to offer high bandwidth internet services to the local populations.

GCN built its original cable system as part of a public service delegation contract with the regional council of Guadeloupe. By its nature, the contract requires control of the cable be returned to the regional government after a fixed period of time. As a pre-requisite GCN needed to modernize the infrastructure with a future-proof network capable of supporting higher capacities. Recognizing Ekinops’ ability to deliver the solution, services and support it needed within a tight schedule, GCN selected the Ekinops360 even after comparing it to purpose-built submarine systems.

“We were very impressed with Ekinops ability to not just meet our requirements but also their willingness to work with us in finding the best solution,” commented Axel Adenet, Chief Operations Officer at GCN. “We made it our mission to upgrade the network with cutting-edge equipment and technology, as we wanted to ensure that the cable system may continue in operation for many years and Ekinops proved to be the best partner for doing that. Being able to use a French technology company has also been a key factor in our choice since national sovereignty stakes are high for these strategic data flows.”

“The platform flexibility of the Ekinops360 makes it highly efficient for a wide range of applications, including subsea deployment,” said Frank Dedobbeleer, Chief Revenue Officer, EMEA & APAC at Ekinops: “Ekinops origins are actually in the submarine world, so we are able to leverage our deep expertise in this area to address the needs of customers like GCN.”

Featured Event
Submarine Networks EMEA is the largest annual subsea connectivity event, bringing together 1,000 senior leaders from the global subsea market –  www.totaltele.com/subnets

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Speaking at DTW in Copenhagen, Vikram Sinha, CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH), called on operators to go ‘all in’ on AI transformation

As was to be expected, the topic of AI dominated discussions on the opening day of DTW this year. Numerous operators took to the stage to exhort the technologies potential to transform the telecoms world and help telcos return to growth. Chief among these AI cheerleaders was IOH CEO Vikram Sinha, who said telcos should be embracing the new technology as much as possible.

“AI is not the metaverse – it’s real today,” said Sinha. “We have to go all in. We have to get serious. We need to see how we can make 12-15% growth the norm for telcos,” he said.

Sinha explained how IOH’s AI strategy revolved around turning the network and its wealth of data into a ‘product factory’ for consumer AI use cases.

“We want to solve customer problems and we want to be with them on that journey,” he said, adding that IOH was targeting use cases across the consumer value chain.

“AI has to be for all. It cannot be only for high end customers,” he said. “We have been working on creating a product on SMS – this would touch everyone. Similarly, you can have an [AI] personal tutor. Everyone can have a personal nurse, and farmers and have AI support. If our customers start seeing a product which is helping their daily life better, that is solving their problem, the respect for you will go up. Your ARPU will really go up.”

In-house AI capabilities

IOH has been positioning itself as an AI company for a number of years now, seeing the emerging technology as a key driver of revenue growth on their journey from telco to techco. Earlier this year, the company launched a Sovereign AI Factory, powered by Sahabat-AI, a 70-billion parameter large language model that operates in Indonesian and five additional local languages. This, IOH says, will allow GenAI services to be delivered to all Indonesians, not only those that speak English. This large language model (LLM) will form the basis of numerous IOH products, expanding on their ability to create AI use cases in-house.

With digital sovereignty of ever increasing importance, being able to create these products independently and with local partners is a growing focus.

“We have created a vertical Chief Product Officer,” said Sinha. “Telco never had a product team[…] but in three years time you’ll need to have product capabilities to make sure that you don’t outsource everything.”

But while many of AI-driven use cases are already in development, both by IOH and other telcos, few are currently commercially available at scale. For Sinha, part of the challenge lies in how telcos frame these AI use cases in discussions with customers.

“Don’t talk about POC [Proof of Concept], talk about Proof of Value,” said Sinha. “Once customers talk about value, we’ll have a flywheel effect.”

“Progress is better than perfect,” he added.

A platform for AI innovation

Speaking on stage alongside Sinha, Danish telco Nuuday’s CEO Christian Thrane took a different approach to AI use cases, noting that a telcos size and the size of its target market would impact its ability to develop AI use cases alone.

“For us, it’s a lot more about creating the platform and working with partners,” he said. “I always say to partners, we’re a small market, one of the most advanced markets globally, so come and test it out.”

Perhaps more importantly, Thrane highlighted the importance of collaboration across the telco industry, working together to create solutions that only telcos can provide.

“It’s almost impossible to think about the role of AI and not be a bit nervous at times right? I think the purpose is right there, staring in our face. It’s about stepping into it and not trying to outsmart each other as an industry […] really leaning into what can we do together quickly and to make sure that AI models rely on trusted, reliable data for the customers in a private way.”

“Five years from now, if we haven’t done this right. We’re toast,” Thrane concluded.

Also in the news:
SWR deploys Europe’s first ’Rail-5G’ Wi-Fi  
BT accelerates fibre rollout amid cost cuts
AT&T agrees $5.75 billion deal for Lumen’s consumer fibre asset