The Scottish Government (SG) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have today awarded BT (EE) with a contract worth up to £350m over the next 6-years, which will see the UK telecoms giant become the sole provider to deliver public sector connectivity across Scotland via the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN). The move will complement […]

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The deal comes as part of the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) programme and will impact over 6,000 public sector sites

Today, BT has secured a £350 million contract that will see the operator upgrade connectivity for schools, hospitals, and other public sector sites across Scotland as part of the SWAN programme.

Scotland’s SWAN project was first imagined back in 2012, with a partnership between Capita and Updata Infrastructure being awarded the contract to build and operate the network in 2014 after a contentious tender process.

Since then, SWAN has gradually grown to provide connectivity services and support to over 6,000 public sector sites, including schools, hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacists and local council offices. According to BT, this includes 22 NHS Scotland boards, 278 general and community hospitals, and more than 900 GP practices.

The new contract will see BT take over as the network’s sole provider, with the operator aiming to “accelerate the digital transformation of Scotland’s public sector including to some of the most rural areas across the country”.

“This major investment from the Scottish Government, and our public sector partners, will make sure that staff across our public services have access to rapid and reliable connections with a greater capacity and bandwidth,” said Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care. “The SWAN programme will drive benefits for communities across Scotland, making sure that no one is left behind and can access the benefits of technology.”

According to BT, the use of their fibre and wireless networks will help to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas, allowing for the provisioning of more remote services, like telemedicine, as well as supporting essential public health services.

BT will invest up to £350 million over the next six years to expand and upgrade SWAN.

How can improved connectivity solutions transform the public sector? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain conference

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Ofcom has today published their latest UK consumer affordability report, which finds the take-up of cheaper social broadband ISP and mobile tariffs for those on state benefits has increased to 220,000 households (up from 136,000 six months ago). But that still represents just 5.1% of households on Universal Credit (4.3 million). Consumer broadband, phone and […]

Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has, after analysing and blocking tens of millions of malicious and fraudulent text (SMS) messages targeting its UK customers, revealed the top five most common fraud texts blocked on their network (firewall) in March 2023. Topping the table were texts from criminals posing as someone’s mum or dad. Overall, the top […]

Bath-based alternative network ISP Truespeed, which is building a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of South West England, has today reported that their network is now home to 15,000 customer connections (up from 13k in February 2023). The operator, which holds an “ambitious” target to reach 500,000 properties by the […]

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This week saw the second edition of Connected North take place live in Manchester, bringing together the leading voices in local government, enterprise, and telecoms to discuss some of the biggest issues surrounding Northern connectivity.

Over 1,600 people took part in the event over two days, exploring topics big and small, from the ongoing controversy surrounding Equinox 2 to the neverending challenge of collaboration between the public and private sector.

Below you can see some of our highlights from the two days, including the vibrant keynote presentations, packed track rooms, and a bustling exhibition space.

We’re already preparing for Connected North 2024, so please check out the website and get in touch to join us next year in Manchester!

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The world’s largest mobile network operator is exploring a buyout of Hong Kong’s largest telecoms firms, HKBN, with experts saying the deal could be worth over $1 billion

This week, anonymous sources have told the media that China Mobile has sent a request for proposal to a small group of banks, seeking a partner to help oversee the acquisition of Hong Kong’s HKBN.

According to sources, China Mobile is currently receiving approaches from various investment banks and has yet to decide on a formal offer.

Any deal would likely carry a price tag of over $1 billion, with HKBN having been valued at around $1.7 billion last year.

HKBN, one of the Hong Kong’s largest fixed broadband providers with around 37% broadband market share, has been receiving takeover interest for some time now. Last year, the company received separate offers from a trio of private equity firms – KKR, PAG, and Stonepeak, all of whom have a growing presence in the international telecoms market.

Ultimately, however, no deal was ultimately struck as a result of unresolvable issues surrounding the stock’s valuation and the unstable nature of the global economy.

More recently, in March this year, infrastructure investor I Squared Asia Advisors submitted a non-binding letter of interest to the telco.

Thus, potential interest from China Mobile could spark something of a bidding war for HKBN, particularly if sources suggesting that PAG also remains interested in the operator at to be believed.

However, the veracity of these reports about China Mobile remain to be seen, with some Chinese media sources denying the operator is interested in purchasing HKBN.

In somewhat related news, China Mobile released its latest financial report this month, noting that its mobile subscriptions had now reached 983 million – just a stone’s throw away from making the operator the first in the world to reach the

The operator said its active 5G subscribers has reached 363 million, almost a third of its overall subscriber base.

The company’s first-quarter profit was up 9.5% to CNY 28.1 billion ($4.08 billion).

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Good news. Openreach has quietly re-opened their Fibre Community Partnership (FCP) scheme, which works with disadvantaged communities (e.g. rural villages) around England, Wales and Scotland to help co-fund the deployment of new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP networks. In case anybody has forgotten, the FCP scheme was paused in early 2022 after “soaring demand” put […]

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Ahead of Earth Day this year, Vodafone Business’s “Light as you Need” (LayN) initiative is aiming to make streetlights 30% more energy efficient using the IoT and big data analytics

This week, Vodafone Business has announced a partnership with service integrator Serveo to rollout an innovative urban lighting management project known as LayN.

This urban lighting management project will see IoT sensors added to streetlights, the data from which will then be used to help optimise energy resources and analyse mobility patterns.

Initial analyses will take place on large sets of anonymised customer location data from Vodafone, thereby measuring the real usage needs of each lighting installation.

According to Vodafone, the IoT sensors installed within the streetlamps will use 4G, 5G, and edge computing to control the lighting, while data analytics will be provided by the Vodafone Analytics tool help the sensors to understand where and when lighting is needed.

In this way, LayN will help to enhance existing urban lighting control mechanisms, as well as guide the efficient deployment of future streetlights.

In total, the companies estimate that deploying this intelligent lighting solution will allow for energy savings of roughly 30%.

“LayN represents the best combination of technological excellence applied to the sustainability of intelligent urban management, something that Vodafone has already adapted to areas such as mobility, but which has a long history in other many areas such as water management or lighting, among others,” said Daniel Jiménez, director of Vodafone Business.

LayN has already been tested in one of the cities operated by Serveo in Spain, with further deployments expected to take place in the near future.

Keep up with all of the latest international telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
New study highlights a massive funding gap for a full fibre US
TIM shares slide as company receives new bids for fixed network assets
EE delivers monster upgrades to Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme