Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

The partnership will enhance urban connectivity across three major cities in the UK this year, with Oxford as the first city of deployment, enabled by Dense Air’s neutral host platform

London, United Kingdom – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has partnered with Cornerstone, the UK’s leading mobile infrastructure services company, and Dense Air, a leading neutral host platform-as-a-service provider, to transform street lighting infrastructure into a platform of scalable multi-operator connectivity.

This first-of-its-kind partnership will launch in Oxford, creating a shared network for mobile operators that leverage existing light points to seamlessly expand wireless coverage and capacity, enabling instant connectivity in dense urban areas.

Using street lighting, Signify’s BrightSites solution provides connectivity for 4G and 5G, IoT applications such as CCTV cameras, Internet services via Wi-Fi, and other high bandwidth applications, eliminating the need for additional infrastructure and resetting the economic model on how mobile operators deliver service.

Dense Air’s multi-operator cellShare® platform enables Cornerstone to provide neutral host services to UK mobile network operators, adhering to Joint Operator Technical Specifications (JOTS). The technology optimizes network capacity by leveraging small cell technology specifically designed for public spaces.

Khalid Aziz, SVP and Managing Director of BrightSites by Signify: “By harnessing the power of 5G and IoT through our lighting technology, we not only illuminate streets but also pave the way for a more connected and sustainable future. In partnership with Cornerstone and Dense Air, Signify will enable our partners to tap into existing lighting infrastructure as a wireless network, bringing a new era of smart city solutions.”

Martin Reeves, Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “These new small cells offer an excellent connectivity solution, and it’s exciting to see a sustainable option that works in both urban and rural areas. Enhanced digital infrastructure supports the council’s strategic objectives by providing environmental, economic, and social benefits. Small cells, being only the size of a shoebox, minimise street clutter and seamlessly integrate into our surroundings.”

Miranda van Gestel, Chief Customer Officer at Cornerstone: “At Cornerstone, we are leading the way in transforming the UK’s digital landscape with innovative solutions such as our Small Cell Coverage Solution. By integrating state-of-the-art technology into existing infrastructure, we’re not only addressing the growing demand for seamless connectivity but also empowering local authorities, MNOs, and communities to thrive in the digital age. Our approach ensures faster, more sustainable deployments that enhance everyday life, drive economic growth, and set the standard for smart city innovation.”

As the world leader in lighting, Signify is well-placed to transform existing light points into city-wide wireless network grids, enabling seamless connectivity at scale. Starting in Oxford, the project will later deploy across three major cities in 2025, setting the foundation for future expansion and innovation across the UK in the field of smart city infrastructure.

Learn more about BrightSites by Signify at https://www.signify.com/global/innovation/brightsites

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

New research from Broadband Genie has analysed 348,000 internet speed tests across 1,302 locations in order to identify the top slowest and fastest UK locations for broadband. The slowest location was found to be Lostwithiel in Cornwall (average downloads of 2Mbps and uploads of 1Mbps), while the fastest was South Hetton in County Durham (526Mbps down and 448Mbps up).

According to Thinkbroadband’s latest data, some 87.3% of UK premises are currently within reach of a gigabit-capable fixed broadband network (1000Mbps+), which primary reflects the combination of full fibre (FTTP/B) and hybrid fibre coax (HFC) lines. Similarly, some 98.3% of premises should be within reach of a fixed “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) network.

However, the new study is based on consumer speedtests, which are useful but tend not to accurately reflect the underlying availability of faster broadband networks and are thus more a reflection of consumer take-up (i.e. people on slower networks/packages may weight against those on faster ones).

For example, many homes in Lostwithiel, the slowest location, should still have access to FTTC connections via Openreach’s network, which can locally go a lot faster than 2Mbps (often exceeding 25Mbps). Suffice to say that the test sample may be weighted more in favour of older ADSL users or outlying premises, rather than those on more modern FTTC connections within the town.

In other cases, consumers may be aware that a faster service exists, but they have simply chosen not to upgrade due to various issues, such as the potentially higher price, lack of support for the new network by their existing ISP, fear of switching, being stuck in a long contract term or a simple lack of need or desire for anything faster.

Speedtest-based studies like this can also be influenced by other factors, such as poor home wiring, the user’s choice of package (e.g. 1Gbps could be available, but people may pick a slower tier), local (home) network congestion and slow home WiFi etc.

Fastest Broadband Speeds by Home Nations

The report also notes that London is ranked 587th for broadband speed in the UK (other large cities also struggled – Manchester (291st), Leeds (422nd), Glasgow (510th) and Birmingham (824th)). Apparently, locals of the capital recorded broadband speeds of 82Mbps, which is deemed “unremarkable for a hub of finance, commerce, and education“, while 20% experienced broadband speeds lower than 10Mbps and 4% failed to reach 3Mbps. But the report doesn’t seem to make a weighted table available that shows this (there’s only an unweighted dataset that doesn’t follow the same ranking).

In short, take these results with a pinch of salt and remember, the slowest locations are the ones that cannot get a viable broadband service and thus won’t appear in these studies. Similarly, the fastest areas are those covered by the handful of providers capable of offering them speeds in the 7-10Gbps range, such as B4RN, Youfibre (Netomnia) and a few others.

Fastest Broadband Speeds by UK County

Fastest 10 UK Locations by Broadband Speed

Slowest 10 UK Locations by Broadband Speed

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network analyst firm Streetwave, which is using bin lorries to help map the coverage and performance of 4G and 5G mobile (broadband) networks across 113 UK councils, has revealed how much the £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project has helped to improve mobile coverage across mid-Wales over the past 9 months – O2 saw the strongest improvement.

Just to recap. Streetwave has spent the past couple of years harnessing waste (bin / refuse) collection trucks to map mobile network coverage and performance across various parts of the UK (e.g. here, here, here, here and here). In this setup, bin lorries are installed with several off-the-shelf Smartphones using software from Streetwave, which run continuous network tests as the vehicles go around their routes (once every 20 metres in rural areas and 5m in urban areas).

The data they collect can then be used by local authorities to help identify areas that may require additional intervention in order to improve local mobile coverage or network capacity. In addition, members of the public have also been given access to some of this data via address-based coverage checkers and interactive maps, although this isn’t yet available for every location they study.

In this case, Streetwave has examined how mobile coverage has changed in the very rural mid-Wales region. Much of this change has been fuelled by the SRN project – supported by £501m of public funding and £532m from operators. This involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators (MNO).

The target of the SRN is to extend geographic 4G coverage (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025, which falls to 84% when only considering the areas where you’ll be able to take 4G from all providers. Streetwave thus set the coverage threshold for this survey as locations where a user receives at least 2Mbps download speeds (mobile broadband), which is also Ofcom’s minimum threshold for SRN compliance.

Results – Streetwave Study of Mobile Coverage in Mid Wales

Coverage levels in June 2024:
1. EE – 85%
2. Vodafone – 71%
3. Three UK – 70%
4. O2 – 62%

Coverage levels in March 2025:
1. EE – 85%
2. Vodafone – 78%
3. Three UK – 74%
4. O2 – 72%

This represents the following improvements:
1. O2 +10% coverage
2. Vodafone +7% coverage
3. Three UK +4% coverage
4. EE No change (but remains the strongest performer)

Clearly, the majority of mobile operators have improved their mobile coverage during the most recent 9-month period, with O2 and Vodafone seeing the biggest improvements. No doubt the impact would be much bigger if Streetwave’s data stretched all the way back to the start of the SRN scheme. By comparison, EE has remained largely static, but that’s because they’d already delivered superior mobile rural coverage in prior years and everybody else is still playing catch-up.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A new study from comparison site Go.Compare has claimed that broadband users who have a landline phone service included in their package could save as much as a combined £61.1m each month by switching to a non-landline deal (roughly £4.1 per month per user). But it’s not always quite so simple.

The study, which uses internal comparison data on the cost of packages (from January 2020 to February 2025), as well as data from the ONS and a recent (Feb 2025) survey of 2,000 UK residents conducted by YouGov, claims to reveal that around 21.4 million UK adults have a landline today (roughly 41% of the UK) and the majority (92%) of these are included in a broadband package. But only 24% of these users say they use their home phone regularly.

Currently, Go.Compare states that Brits can expect to pay approximately £27 per month for their broadband (average), yet the average standalone broadband package without a landline costs almost £50 less per year (c.£4 per month). This is also roughly about how much it costs to add a phone service to one of BT’s broadband-only packages (£5 per month extra).

Put another way, the survey suggests that UK adults who don’t regularly use their landlines spend £611.8m each month on broadband packages that include their home phone line. But by switching to a package without a landline, they could save £61.16m in total each month. That is said to work out to around £49.27 per person every year, or c.£4.1 per month.

However, only 2.7 million adults state that they plan to cancel their landline in the next year, which equates to roughly 13% of residents with a home phone line. But to be fair, many people retain a landline, even if they don’t use it much, for a variety of different reasons.

For example, some people like to keep continuity with historic contact records or intend for it to act as a backup – complementing mobile services. Some vulnerable users also retain it for telecare purposes and, in other locations, there may be few alternatives (e.g. no mobile signal or a lack of user familiarity with VoIP/internet messaging etc.). Equally, some users do still adopt landlines as their primary phone service.

For the more technically minded user and infrequent landline user, it may also be possible to use the switch to FTTP broadband as an opportunity to split your previous copped-based broadband and phone bundle into a broadband and independent VoIP solution. For example, you could order FTTP as a new service and then port your phone number on the copper line to a separate, and hopefully cheaper, VoIP platform. This would cancel the old copper broadband service too, but that won’t matter if you’ve already got FTTP installed.

In the end, this is a matter of individual consumer choice, and the savings per user are often quite small.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Delays to BEAD forced a Louisiana broadband construction firm to layoff 80% of subcontractors, according to the organisation’s co-owner

This article was originally published by Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publication, Broadband Communities

A broadband construction firm in rural Louisiana has been forced into layoffs due to BEAD delays, according to Josh Etheridge, the co-owner of EPC.

Etheridge, who founded EPC with his brother eight years ago, is the latest Louisiana business leader to sound the alarm on delays to BEAD, the nation’s massive $42.45 billion effort to deploy broadband to all Americans.

In a new letter, addressed to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Etheridge said EPC was ready to put boots on the ground to begin BEAD deployments on January 25.

Read Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick here

“But now? The market is frozen,” Etheridge wrote. “I’ve had to release 80% of our subcontractors. We’ve paused philanthropic giving, scaled back our chamber memberships, and sadly begun to make layoffs of our full-time employees.”

Since it was founded, EPC has grown to include more than 160 full time employees, Etheridge wrote. Additionally, he said the company had built a network of more than 150 subcontractors.

Now, Etheridge says even North Louisiana-based EPC’s at-risk capital builds are “pulling back.”

“We were poised for 300% growth,” he wrote. “We prepared accordingly. And now—we wait.”

Etheridge’s letter, given to Broadband Communities on Monday, calls on the administration not to let “bureaucracy unravel everything we’ve built.”

“If this continues, you will have effectively weaponized a great ambition—meant to lift up and transform rural America—against the very people who believe in this administration,” his letter continued. “We supported our newly elected leaders— with our money, our words, and our votes — believing you would support us in return.”

‘And now? We hear nothing’

Louisiana has been highly impacted by an ongoing review to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program called by Lutnick.

In 2024, Louisiana notably became the first to award BEAD funds through a state program called GUMBO 2.0 (Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities).

It was also the first state to gain approval for their initial BEAD proposal.

Now, Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick is the latest from a Louisiana executive that warns about dire impacts from Lutnick’s BEAD delay.

With the letter, Etheridge now joins the CEO of Louisiana-based SkyRider Communications and David Herring, the founder and CEO of ClearPath Fiber, as the latest company leaders sounding the alarm.

According to Etheridge, if the silence continues “it will say what no words ever could.”

“That we were never truly understood, that our sacrifice was never truly valued, and that our votes and voices mattered only when it was time to count them — not when it came time to honor them,” he wrote.

Like Herring’s letter last week, Etheridge stresses that Louisiana “did it right.”

He said his company “followed the rules and “ran a clean process.”

“No DEI mandates. Forty percent under budget. Tech-neutral. No labor strings,” he said.

Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick ends with the EPC co-founder telling Lutnick that “it’s not too late.”

He calls on Lutnick to “let Louisiana move forward.”

“Let EPC build. Let our people work,” he wrote. “Don’t let another generation lose faith in the promises we were raised to believe in. We are still ready. We are still willing.”

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Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

Dr. Karsten Wildberger, CEO of consumer electronics retailer Ceconomy, will head up the newly created Ministry for Digitalisation 

Following the federal elections in February this year, Germany’s new government is a ‘grand coalition’ between the centre right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre left Social Democratic Party (SPD). CDU leader Friedrich Merz will be sworn in as Chancellor early next month.  

One of the new government’s priorities is a more unified approach to digital transformation across the country, hence the creation of a dedicated Ministry for Digitalisation. 

As the country’s first Digital Minister, Wildberger will be charged with making Germany a “digitally sovereign country – in the economy, state and society. The establishment of the new ministry is a milestone for Germany, and its design will be crucial in determining whether it becomes a true driver of digitalization in Germany.” said Bitkom, a German digital industry association.Wildberger will step down from his role as CEO of Ceconomy in order to take up the role in Merz’s government. 

“Now more than ever, we must become competitive, innovative, and digitally capable: to boost the economy, strengthen social cohesion, improve security, including in cyberspace, and bring the state up to date,” emphasised Ralf Wintergerst, head of Germany’s digital association. 

Wildberger has previously served on the boards of telcos Telstra, Vodafone, and Deutsche Telekom.  

“We believe he is ideally equipped, both personally and professionally, to fulfil the high expectations associated with this special office,” said Wolfgang Steiger, of the CDU-aligned Economic Council. 

“I am honored by the trust that Friedrich Merz has placed in me and the opportunity to become the new Minister for Digital Affairs. Digitalization and technology have been defining themes throughout my professional career, and the new ministry will play a crucial role in the modernization of our country,” said Wildberger in a statement. 

Join us at Connected Germany, 18-19 November in Munich – get tickets here!

Also in the news:
Cellcard’s transition from telco to techo in the Cambodian market
BT opens new flagship Manchester office
Vehicle connectivity is crucial as half of consumers worry about car hacking

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

BT has announced the opening of its new multi-million-pound office in the heart of Manchester. The opening of Four New Bailey is the final step in BT Group’s five year, UK-wide ‘Better Workplace’ transformation programme, which set out to consolidate the company’s office spaces from around 300 to closer to 30 key locations.

Four New Bailey will house up to 2,000 colleagues from across BT Group and has been fitted with state-of-the-art technology. It also boasts a rooftop terrace offering panoramic views of the city’s skyline. Sitting on the banks of the River Irwell, it replaces BT’s former office site in Deansgate and adds to the company’s other North West locations in Liverpool, Accrington and Warrington.

Manchester joins other locations including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee and the London HQ in opening its doors to a newly built BT hub. Multi-million-pound refurbishments have also been carried out at other locations, including Belfast, Doncaster, Glasgow and Newcastle.

As well as marking the completion of the Better Workplace Programme, today also saw the company publish an independent report by Hatch, highlighting the knock-on economic benefits from the company’s spend with suppliers and spending by employees.

Visiting Manchester to mark the opening of the office, Allison Kirkby, BT Group Chief Executive, said: “The opening of our new Manchester office is a significant milestone on the journey to transform BT and our office spaces around the UK.

“We’ve invested heavily to provide best-in-class office spaces for our people across the country, reflecting how critical we are to every region of the UK. The broader economic effect from our offices, our people and our spend with UK suppliers is worth £23bn to the nation’s economy and beyond our own people we support around 212,000 jobs in the wider UK economy. And this is in addition to the economic contribution from the full fibre broadband network we are building, calculated to be worth £72bn to the UK’s economy by 2030*.

“As I’ve met colleagues from across the company at our new and refurbished locations, I’m impressed and proud of the vital work they do in their local communities, and of the role BT plays nationwide.”

The independent report by Hatch highlights BT Group’s role in the UK as an employer and investor. It shows that the company directly employs more than 69,700 people and 15,500 contractors in the UK, including engineers building networks, teams in offices supporting customers, and people working in our retail stores. More broadly, the company supports around 212,000 jobs and spends £9.6 billion with UK suppliers and subcontractors, many of which are small businesses.

Sue Glew, BT Group’s Better Workplace programme director, said: “We began our Better Workplace Programme in 2019 to make sure our people had better equipped and more modern offices to call home, to attract the best talent and help us give the best service to our customers.

“Despite facing external challenges such as Covid and global supply chain issues, we’ve given our colleagues multiple new or refurbished workspaces, from Plymouth to Dundee, including a brand-new HQ in London and new regional hubs. More than two million square feet of amazing offices have been created for our people. I’m immensely proud of what our teams and partners have achieved, transforming often tired and dated former buildings into worldclass environments where people can collaborate and learn from each other for many years to come.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Interview 

At the WinWin studio, Total Telecom were joined by Asitha De Costa, Division CIO of Cellcard, Ezecom, Telcotech, and Telemobile and John Zhuang, Director of Huawei’s 5G Operation and Digital Service, to discuss the digital transformation of Cellcard Telecom in Cambodia

Mr. Asitha began by outlining Cellcard’s brand and business strategy, emphasising its role as one of Cambodia’s largest telecom providers: “In terms of the business strategy, Cellcard is positioning itself to be a digital telco rather than just a legacy mobile player, where we are targeting the youth mainly in the country to enable them digitally. So that’s purely the business strategy moving forward for the business,” said Mr. Asitha. 

The journey from telco to techco so far has been years in the making. The transformation extends beyond introducing digital solutions, it involves a complete overhaul of operations, from legacy technologies to advanced automation and AI-driven networks.  

However, the company faces  numerous changes in Cambodia’s competitive market. Tense pricing competition, frequent regulatory changes, and the need for robust Business Support Systems (BSS) and charging systems pose ongoing  requirements. To stay ahead, the company is focused on ensuring its operational infrastructure can support fast product launches and ever-changing consumer demands. 

One of the most critical aspects of this transformation is future-proofing for 5G and AI. Cambodia is a late entrant to the 5G space, but Cellcard is preparing for its launch this year. In a supporting role, Huawei has had a 24-year presence in Cambodia, and has invested many resources, especially over the last three year, supplying BSS solutions, strategic expertise, and digital tools. 

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Telecoms and broadband giant BT today claims to have achieved the final step in their 5-year long “Better Workplace” transformation programme, which has involved modernising and consolidating the number of offices they have (going from around 300 and down to nearly 30 key locations), by opening a new office – the ‘Four New Bailey’ building – in Manchester.

Four New Bailey will house up to 2,000 colleagues from across BT Group and has been fitted with the latest technology. It also boasts a rooftop terrace offering panoramic views of the city’s skyline. Sitting on the banks of the River Irwell, it replaces BT’s former office site in Deansgate and adds to the company’s other North West locations in Liverpool, Accrington and Warrington.

Manchester joins other locations including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee and the London HQ in opening its doors to a newly built BT hub. Multi-million-pound refurbishments have also been carried out at other locations, including Belfast, Doncaster, Glasgow and Newcastle.

Admittedly, all of this does rather gloss over the impact on jobs, which in some areas has resulted in redundancies because not everybody will have been able to migrate into the new sites. But for BT, there have also been cost savings and efficiency improvements.

Allison Kirkby, BT Group CEO, said:

“The opening of our new Manchester office is a significant milestone on the journey to transform BT and our office spaces around the UK.

We’ve invested heavily to provide best-in-class office spaces for our people across the country, reflecting how critical we are to every region of the UK. The broader economic effect from our offices, our people and our spend with UK suppliers is worth £23bn to the nation’s economy and beyond our own people we support around 212,000 jobs in the wider UK economy. And this is in addition to the economic contribution from the full fibre broadband network we are building, calculated to be worth £72bn to the UK’s economy by 2030.

As I’ve met colleagues from across the company at our new and refurbished locations, I’m impressed and proud of the vital work they do in their local communities, and of the role BT plays nationwide.”

Allison highlights a new “independent report” by Hatch (here), which covers BT Group’s role in the UK as an employer and investor. It shows that the company directly employs more than 69,700 people and 15,500 contractors in the UK, including engineers building networks, teams in offices supporting customers, and people working in our retail stores.

More broadly, the company is said to support around 212,000 jobs and spends £9.6 billion with UK suppliers and subcontractors, many of which are small businesses. Speaking of which, Openreach’s up to £15bn investment into rolling out a full fibre (FTTP) broadband network is also said to be worth £72bn to the UK’s economy by 2030.

However, it’s always wise to take such forecasts with a pinch of salt, as accurately gauging the economic impact of faster broadband technologies is notoriously difficult, not least because most users won’t be starting from a point of zero connectivity.

The list of brand-new buildings to BT include: (BT Group HQ) One Braham, London; Three Snowhill, Birmingham; Assembly, Bristol; New Bailey, Manchester; Capital Quarter, Cardiff; Stanford House, Warrington; West Marketgait, Dundee; Endeavour, Sheffield; Plazza, Liverpool and (Openreach HQ) Gracechurch Street, London.

The list of refurbished offices include: Bangor, Plymouth, Glasgow, North Tyneside, Belfast, Doncaster and Newcastle (Gosforth).

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The Houthi’s say the satellite internet service is a threat to national security

This week, Houthi authorities in Yemen have ordered residents to hand over their Starlink satellite internet equipment, describing the kit as a US instrument for conducting “war on Yemen”.

The order, issued by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Sanaa, mandated citizens to surrender the equipment to the nearest telecommunications office, with failure to do so resulting in investigation by security forces.

The statement describes the services as a “direct threat to national security” and a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty by the USA.

Since the onset of the Yemeni civil war almost a decade ago, the Houthis have controlled a large part of western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. The internationally recognised Yemeni government currently resides in Aden, on the south coast.

As a result of the conflict, telecommunications services throughout the country have been heavily impacted, leaving millions without access to the internet amid a humanitarian crisis.

To address this challenge, in September last year, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX’s Starlink services had been made available in Yemen, becoming the first country in the Middle East to make use of the technology.

Starlink available in Yemen! https://t.co/JC1abSA6F8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2024

The Yemen government in Aden welcomed the announcement, saying it would not only help provide much needed connectivity across the country but also reduce reliance on the Houthi-controlled internet provider Yemen Net.

The Houthi’s monopoly on internet provision in the occupied region has been a key factor in surveillance and dissent repression, as well as a significant revenue generator for the regime.

As such, it should come as little surprise that the Houthi regime decried the launch, saying it jeopardised citizens data security and promoted US influence in the country.

According to reports, a “senior Yemeni official” acknowledged Starlink’s widespread usage since the service’s launch.

Also in the news:
Diversifying the UK’s data centre landscape: a path to economic growth
Connected North: Thoughts from the show floor
Connected America 2025: Is there a US–China 5G rollout race?