Original article Total Telecom:Read More

This strategic move shifts Orbith’s offering beyond its established satellite connectivity leadership into a comprehensive portfolio of digital services.

“In a context where digital transformation is key to the competitiveness and efficiency of different sectors, Orbith expands its offering beyond satellite connectivity, evolving towards a comprehensive portfolio of digital services that enable companies, governments and organisations to modernise their infrastructure, reduce costs and accelerate innovation processes,” said Pablo Mosiul, CEO of Orbith. “With Orbith Cloud, we are consolidating our foray into the world of digital services, a path that began months ago with the launch of SD-WAN, a solution that allows companies and organisations to intelligently optimise and manage their networks.”

Photo left: Pablo Mosiul, CEO of Orbith. Photo right: Rafael Puig-Durán, Country Manager of Dade2.

Differentiated Cloud Performance

The new ORBITH Cloud is designed to directly address the demands of enterprise clients and public entities, prioritising speed, stability, and cost efficiency in the region:

• High speed: this system can process data up to ten times faster, making it perfect for intensive use and important applications.
• Performance assurance: systems remain responsive and stable, utilising all available resources even when user workloads rise.
• Cost control: a model offering exponential savings for clients with large internet consumption.
• Corporate reliability: constant accessibility, free from interruptions or data loss, guaranteeing company continuity and security.
• Simplified interface: cloud resource management is made for people who don’t know much about technology.

“Orbith Cloud’s launch is a reaffirmation of our dedication to innovation and our clients’ digital growth. In addition to providing connection in the most remote areas of the nation, we now also provide cloud infrastructure and services that help businesses and government agencies undergo digital transformation,” added Pablo Mosiul.

Dade2 emphasised the strength of the partnership in delivering a reliable, high-quality offering.

“We at Dade2 are totally dedicated to our collaboration with Orbith,” said Rafael Puig-Durán, Country Manager of Dade2. “We are confident that by working together, we can create genuine synergies to provide customers with the technology, performance, and flexibility that the modern market requires, along with the highest quality and reliability that characterises our cloud solutions.”

Orbith enhances its standing as a strategic partner for digital transformation in Argentina in this way. “We provide a comprehensive solution that helps governments and businesses become more inventive, competitive, and efficient by fusing our leadership in multi-orbit satellite connection with a wide range of digital services. We are available to help our clients at every stage of their digital development,” Mosiul said in closing.

About Dade2

Based in London, UK, Dade2 is an established provider of cloud solutions. Founded in 2009 by CEO Manuel Trongone, the company emphasises sustainability, operating its own data center in Iceland entirely powered by renewable energy. This environmentally conscious infrastructure is strategically located, providing excellent access to Europe, the North American West Coast, Central America, and portions of South America.

Website – http://www.dade2.net

+44 203 239 1536
info@dade2.net

About Orbith

Supported by the Boldt Group, Orbith is an Argentine-based company that pioneered the use of high-capacity HTS satellites in the Ka-band in Argentina for faster, more affordable connections. It was the first regional operator to provide multi-orbit connectivity (LEO and GEO). The company is actively working to close the digital divide, expanding its network in Argentina, building its own MicroGEO satellite, and growing into other Latin American nations.

Website – https://www.orbith.com/en

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Warsaw, Poland – October, 2025 – Four of Poland’s main Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) wholesalers – Fiberhost, Nexera, Polski Światłowód Otwarty and Światłowód Inwestycje – today announced a landmark collaborative initiative, partnering with Optare Solutions, an IT Consulting & Engineering Services Company, to lead the design of a common API for FTTH wholesale communications in Poland.

This joint, collaborative initiative aims to standardize FTTH wholesale API interfaces across the participating companies, but the designed solution will be available for the whole Polish market. By designing a common API, the project is expected to significantly reduce integration time and costs for new Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and wholesalers, streamline agreement processes, and accelerate sales. This standardization will also lower barriers to entry in the FTTH market, fostering greater competition.

The communication standard being designed between wholesale operators and retail operators will be publicly available and also will be voluntary. This means that its provision will lower the barrier to access by increasing the possibility of cooperation through the addition of another communication option, without excluding other methods.

The project implements the TM Forum Open APIs – a globally recognized framework within the telecommunications industry. By adopting this standard, the resulting solution will be modern, scalable, and aligned with international best practices. This approach guarantees interoperability and supports the future development of digital services, positioning the Polish market as both mature and innovative.

For internet access subscribers, this initiative translates to a more dynamic and competitive market, leading to improved service offerings. The reduced integration time and cost for ISPs entails that new services can be brought to market faster, providing consumers with more freedom of choice and innovative solutions. A common API facilitates seamless service provisioning, testing, and ticketing, which can lead to faster installations, quicker resolution of issues, and an overall enhanced customer experience.

Optare Solutions was selected as the partner for this consulting project due to its expertise in the telecommunications market, its prior knowledge of the FTTH market acquired across extensive previous projects and its commitment to designing a new API that reuses existing interfaces as much as possible while incorporating industry best practices and telecommunications standards. The project will focus on key wholesale operations, including service provisioning, service testing, and service ticketing.

“This joint effort underscores our commitment to fostering a more efficient and competitive FTTH market in Poland. Partnering with Optare Solutions will enable us to standardize our current APIs, which benefits all participants and drives innovation across the industry. The standard will be available without cost for all market participants – all operators on the market.” – said representatives for the four leading Polish FTTH wholesalers (Ignacio Irurita, CEO of Polski Światłowód Otwarty, Marta Wojciechowska, CEO of Fiberhost and President of the Management Board of Open Allies Foundation, Magda Russyan, CEO of Światłowód Inwestycje, Jacek Wiśniewski, CEO of NEXERA).

The consulting project will involve a structured methodology including individual meetings with stakeholders to understand their current strategies and API interfaces, a comprehensive analysis of existing documentation, and the design and documentation of the new common API. The four participating companies are committed to providing Optare Solutions with full access to their current APIs and provisioning processes, ensuring the successful design of a unified standard. 

About Fiberhost

Fiberhost is a leading company in building and operating modern open-access fiber-optic infrastructure (Fiber-to-the-Home) in Poland, currently reaching 1.4 million households.

The company provides wholesale services to both local and nationwide telecom operators. Thanks to the open-access model, residents within Fiberhost’s coverage area can choose from a wide range of internet and TV services, while operators benefit from access to a rich portfolio of wholesale solutions.

About Nexera

Nexera is one of Poland’s leading providers of high-capacity multi-fiber optic cables (min. 300 Mb/s). Nexera’s sole shareholder is Infracapital, one of the leading European infrastructure investors. 

Since its creation in 2017, based on the Digital Poland Operational Program (POPC), Nexera has built fiber optic networks in central and north-eastern Poland and added several other networks to its portfolio through acquisition. As of the mid- 2025, Nexera’s network covered 774,000 households located in over 5,850 localities. Company’s target is to get with its multi-fiber in the reach of 1.5 million households.

About Polski Światłowód Otwarty

Polski Światłowód Otwarty (PŚO) is an exclusively wholesale operator, offering all retail operators open access to its broadband network in Poland on non-discriminatory terms. It currently cooperates with five nationwide retail operators – Play, T-Mobile, Netia, Plus, and Orange – as well as four local ones: RFC, Flashnet, Netronik, and Intertell. The PŚO Group already covers over 4.1 million households in Poland and ultimately plans to expand its FTTH (Fiber to the Home) network to reach more than 6 million households. To achieve this, the company is carrying out a network expansion and modernization process using the XGS-PON standard. This technology enables operators using the PŚO network to offer FTTH internet services with speeds of up to 8 Gbit/s.

About Swiatłowód Inwestycje

Światłowód Inwestycje is the largest wholesale-only telecom operator of fiber optic infrastructure in Poland, which enables internet access exclusively in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) technology. The Company is focused on high quality processes and seamless cooperation with operators to ensure the best in class service for all users.

As of the mid 2025, Światłowód Inwestycje reached 700k active services on the coverage of 2,2 million households. At the end of 2025 S-I will finish the first  5-year investment plan with coverage of 2.4 million households, the new investment plan announced in June will expand coverage by 500 thousand households in 2026-28 and another 200 thousand in 2029-32.

Światłowód Inwestycje, established in 2021, is a 50/50 joint venture of Orange Polska, a leading telecom operator in Poland, and APG Asset Management, a leading pension asset manager with extensive experience and a proven track record in telecom infrastructure investments.

About Optare Solutions

Optare Solutions is a leading service consultancy in the telecommunications sector, specializing in delivering innovative and tailored solutions for CSPs and ISPs. Focusing on Network and Services automation, as well as OSS processes and platforms optimization, Optare Solutions is committed to helping clients achieve operational excellence and remain competitive in an ever-evolving market. With more than 160 professionals and a presence in 5 countries, the company has completed over 2,000 projects in more than 25 countries, collaborating with over 30 telecom operators. Since October 2024, Optare Solutions has been listed on the BME Growth market (BME:OPTS), opening new opportunities for international expansion and development.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative rural broadband ISP Airband, which has deployed their gigabit-speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks to cover parts of Wales and South West England, has today announced that the company’s existing Managing Director, Kashif Rahman, has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – effective immediately.

The internet provider has just gone through a period of restructuring, which resulted in a fair few jobs losses and a switch to focus more on commercialising their existing network (as opposed to new infrastructure build). The company has also been without a full CEO since former boss and founder, Redmond Peel, stood down from the role in May 2024 (here).

Kashif has thus been one of the main driving forces behind Airband’s progress over the last 18-months in his role as MD, overseeing the introduction of innovative new technologies (e.g. Tarana’s next-gen gigabit wireless upgrade) that have strengthened their service offerings and helping to keep the business moving forward (annual results).

Airband’s investors Aberdeen have similarly expressed full confidence in Rahman’s leadership. Suffice to say, it’s not a surprise to see him being promoting to the position of CEO.

Kashif Rahman said:

“I am honoured to take on the role of CEO at such an important time in Airband’s journey. We have a clear mission: to connect communities that have been left behind by traditional broadband rollouts. I am excited to build on our strong foundations, accelerate our growth, and continue delivering real value for our customers, partners and the communities we serve.”

In terms of the provider’s current network reach, Airband previously said that their broadband network now spanned “more than 440,000 premises in over 200 communities across 7 counties“ (here), which we were told breaks down as being 175,000 premises via “fibre” (FTTP) and 265,000 premises via wireless (FWA) – all Ready for Service. The also informed ISPreview that they expected to end 2025 with 30,000 customers.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network testing firm Ookla, which collects broadband performance data from consumers via their popular Speedtest.net service, has examined the onboard WiFi performance of train services across Europe (inc. some Asian rail networks) and found that the United Kingdom delivers some of the slowest internet speeds on trains.

Regular readers will already be aware that the quality of onboard WiFi across the UK’s various rail networks and operators can be a bit of a patchwork. The previous government once pledged, in 2017, to make “uninterrupted” WiFi and Mobile (5G) speeds of up to 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) available on all mainline train routes by 2025. But this never materialised, and only a very few rail operators have achieved such an outcome.

The current government recently circled back to this area as part of their Infrastructure Strategy for the next 10 years, which among other things committed £41m to “introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers“. But it’s unclear when this will be delivered.

In the meantime, Ookla’s latest study found a wide gap in the best and worst European train operators for onboard WiFi performance during Q2 2025. Sweden was named the fastest in Europe for Wi-Fi with a 64.58Mbps median average download speed, followed by Switzerland (29.79 Mbps) and Ireland (26.33 Mbps). But at the bottom end of the table came laggards like Spain (1.45Mbps), the UK (1.09Mbps) and the Netherlands (0.41 Mbps).

Part of the problem in the UK could be that many rail operators are still using older Wi-Fi 4 based connectivity, while 38% of those are on the most congested and slowest 2.4GHz band. On the other hand, some countries that feature a more modern Wi-Fi mix and thus drive greater use of the 5GHz band, like Spain and Italy, clearly still underperform on speed. This is often because their backhaul capacity can’t keep pace due to poor satellite or trackside infrastructure, which is the key factor for onboard performance.

The picture is a bit more varied when we look at latency performance, where the UK places about upper mid-table with an average response time of 49ms (milliseconds). However, given the super slow onboard broadband speeds, having a modestly faster latency isn’t quite so important. Taiwan delivered the fastest latency times of just 13ms, while the slowest came from Poland at 92ms.

Ookla’s full report goes into a lot more detail, including about the materials used in the construction of train carriages and onboard network design, although it’s clear from the report that political leadership and policy makes a big difference in this area. As does the adoption of satellite broadband connectivity from Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is of course something that the UK government is now pushing (but this won’t help in tunnels).

Ookla’s Onboard Train WiFi Study
https://www.ookla.com/articles/train-wifi-2025

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a website promotion for London-focused broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which occurred after it was found to have misleadingly claimed to be both the “#1 rated internet provider on Trustpilot – with the most 5 star reviews” and “#1 Best ‘Internet Provider’“.

Just for some context. CommunityFibre has so far deployed their 5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to serve 1.342 million homes (inc. 185k businesses within 200 metres of their network), albeit with the vast majority of that being present in London.

However, the ASA found that, when the companies in the same category as CommunityFibre were sorted by “highest number of reviews” on Trustpilot (at the time the promotions were seen – June 2025), two had a higher number of five-star reviews at over 182,000 and 65,000 five-star reviews respectively, compared to CommunityFibre that had over 60,000 five-star reviews.

ASA Ruling Ref: A25-1300873 Community Fibre Ltd

We understood that in order for Community Fibre to appear at the top of the list of ‘Internet providers’ on Trustpilot, the results had to be sorted by “Highest number of reviews” and the filters “4.5+ [stars]” and “London” had to be applied. This had the effect of filtering out a large number of Community Fibre’s competitors.

Whilst there were approximately 400 companies in the Trustpilot category “Internet provider”, when these filters were applied only 20 companies appeared. Moreover, when these filters were applied, although Community Fibre appeared at the top of the list of internet providers, another company which appeared beneath them in the list held a higher star rating.

Because the ads gave the impression that Community Fibre was the highest rated internet provider on Trustpilot when we understood that was not the case, we concluded the ads were misleading.

On that point, the ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).

As usual, the ASA banned the promotions in their current form and told CommunityFibre to “ensure they did not state or imply that they held the number one ranking, or had the most 5-star reviews, on third-party review websites if that was not the case“.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Ofcom has confirmed that all three of the UK’s mobile operators – EE (BT), Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), and VodafoneThree – have been given the greenlight to participate in the upcoming auction

This week, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has approved all three of the UK’s mobile operators to participate in the upcoming auction for spectrum in the 26GHz (25.1-27.5GHz) and 40GHz (40.5-43.5GHz) bands.

In total, 5.4 GHz of the spectrum will be available in 200MHz lots, with 68 licences available covering ‘high density’ areas across the country. For areas outside the remit of these licences, the UK’s Shared Access licensing framework will apply, meaning operators can attain permission to use the spectrum on a first-come, first-served basis.

The spectrum, often known as mmWave spectrum, has qualities that make it both appealing and challenging for the operators. On the one hand, it can support multi-gigabit-per-second peak data rates, with massive capacity and low latency. This makes it ideal for supporting large numbers of users simultaneously in dense environments like stadiums and city centres, as well as providing a ‘fibre-like’ broadband experience for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) users.

On the other hand, the spectrum has a much shorter range than the mid-band (generally 1GHz–6 GHz) spectrum typically used for 5G, hence more base stations are required to support an equivalent area, driving up deployment costs. It also has poor signal penetration, meaning it can be blocked by common obstacles, including walls, windows, and even the human body itself.

As a result of its limitations and inherent expense, mmWave deployments worldwide so far have been patchy.

At the dawn of 5G, the US quickly emerged as the poster child for mmWave, spending billions of dollars on relevant spectrum licences, with Verizon even targeting nationwide coverage. The reality, however, was underwhelming. While the spectrum has found some success in targeted urban environments and for FWA, deployment at scale has proven difficult, with the spectrum’s value sliding in response.

Indeed, this deployment challenge is being felt around the world. Even in South Korea – one of the most advanced mobile markets in the world – the country’s three national mobile operators were forced to surrender their mmWave licences to the regulator, having failed to meet minimum deployment targets.

This raises the question of how the UK mobile operators plan to use mmWave spectrum effectively – and how much they will be willing to pay for it.

Ofcom’s auction has reserve prices set at £2 million for lots in the 26GHz band and £1 million for those in the 40GHz bands. Given the relatively large amount of spectrum available and the expensive rollout of 5G Standalone the operators are already undertaking, it seems unlikely that they will be willing to shell out huge sums of money for mmWave.

While no official date for the auction has been given, it has long been planned for this month, with Ofcom saying that it will take place “soon”.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Existing CEO Hans Vestberg, who served as CEO since 2018, will be vacating the role with immediate effect

This week, Verizon has announced the appointment of Daniel Schulman, former CEO of PayPal, as company CEO.

The move sees existing CEO Hans Vestberg leave the role immediately, but remain in the company as a special advisor until October 4, 2026, helping to oversee the integration of Frontier Communications.

Schulman is no stranger to the company, having served on the company’s Board for seven years.

“I believe in Verizon and its future, and I am honored to be chosen to serve as CEO,” said Schulman in a company press release. “Verizon is at a critical juncture. We have a clear opportunity to redefine our trajectory, by growing our market share across all segments of the market, while delivering meaningful growth in our key financial metrics. We are going to maximize our value propositions, reduce our cost to serve, and optimize our capital allocation to delight our customers, and deliver sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders.”

In a message to employees on his first day, Schulman, who had previously worked for both AT&T and Virgin Mobile USA, said the appointment felt “like coming home” after 25 years in the telecoms industry.

“Today, we stand at an important moment—we are going to move quickly and boldly to win in both mobility and broadband. I fully intend for us to regain our leadership by growing share across all segments of the market, by consistently delighting our customers. At the same time, we must drive financial results that exceed current market expectations. We must also deliver for our shareholders,” he said.

“The biggest competitive advantage we have is our team. Every day, we have to focus on what truly matters to our customers. We want them to trust us, love us and stay with us,” he added.

Th final sentence is particularly poignant; earlier this year, Verizon revealed it had lost around 300,000 postpaid customers to its rivals in Q1 2025, a fact it largely attributes to the price hikes it implemented in January.

Verizon is not the only US telecoms giant undergoing a major leadership change before the end of the year. Last month, T-Mobile announced that its Chief Operating Officer, Srini Gopalan, will take over the company reins from current CEO Mike Sievert in November.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Rural-focused broadband ISP and alternative network builder Wessex Internet, which is deploying a mix of full fibre (FTTP) and fixed wireless networks across Southern England, has today published their annual accounts to the end of 2024 and highlighted both their “best-in-class” take-up of over 30% and a 20.5% rise in revenues to £5.76m (2023: £4.78m).

The provider, which also holds several state aid backed Project Gigabit build contracts (valued at £72m to deliver full fibre across over 53,000 properties by 2029), currently covers 50,000 premises (Oct 2025) across parts of Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset (inc. 14,000 customers – Aug 2025). Existing deployment plans aim to expand this to 137,000 premises (here).

Overall, the provider’s latest accounts could be said to be healthier or more stable than those of quite a few other altnets we’ve seen recently, and they also make a point of highlighting how they’re “up to date on all delivery milestones that fell during 2024 and to the date of these financial statements“.

Wessex Internet also describes itself as being “fully funded until 2029” and states that “take-up of our network is best-in-class; exceeding 30% overall and 50% in our most established networks“. We’ve summarised some of their key figures below, although it should be noted that the comparison figures for 2023 actually reflect a 15-month period to the end of December 2023.

Key Figures from Wessex Internet’s Results (Dec 2024)

➤ Revenues increased 20.5% to £5.76m (2023: £4.78m)

➤ Operating loss increased to £7.84m (2023: £5.43m)

➤ Total Homes Passed is listed as 50,000 premises

➤ Total Homes Connected increased by 50% during the year

➤ Gross profit remained fairly stable at £3.62m (2023: £3.68m)

➤ Total fixed assets worth £64.84m (2023: £39.49m)

➤ Net liabilities of -£22.27m (2023: -£10.12m)

➤ Average monthly number of employees (inc. Directors) for the year ended 2024 on 307 (includes a 180 strong construction team), which is up from 213

➤ Network investment increased by £24.7m in the year (2023: £22.6m)

The company currently has a £68m debt facility with no capital repayments under 2029. Some £28.4m of this has already been drawn, leaving £39.6m available.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK government has begun consulting on new proposals aimed at speeding up the process of home buying and selling, while also improving the material information that Estate Agents are required to provide for every transaction. The availability of broadband, as well as mobile signal and coverage, are some of the data points proposed for inclusion in future guidance.

As above, the main focus of the government’s reform in this area (here) is on finding a way to speed up the process of buying and selling UK homes, which currently takes an average of 120 days to complete and around 1 in 3 transactions fail. As part of this, they’re also consulting on new guidance to help estate agents meet their legal obligations and improve the “material information” they provide (here).

At present quite a few estate agents already include some details, albeit often quite limited, on the broadband capabilities of the homes they list for sale. Similarly, many online property comparison websites also list such details, even if some estate agents don’t always go that far.

However, this detail rarely extends to include mobile signals and coverage, while alternative broadband networks can sometimes be overlooked due to limited research (i.e. there’s still a tendency to focus on only the biggest ISPs and networks).

Government Statement (Ministry of Housing)

​The home buying and selling process is long, complicated and frustrating for both consumers and property professionals. A key reason for these inefficiencies is that both consumers and professionals often struggle to access the right information at the right time. Significant problems which might affect a buyer’s decision only emerge after their offer has been accepted.

​​We recognise that obtaining, interpreting and publishing material information can be challenging in the context of property sales. We therefore intend to produce new guidance that indicates what is likely to be considered material information, helps professionals meet their legal responsibilities and results in a better quality service for consumers.

As part of this the government have also published a list to show the categories that “we think may be considered material information“, based on previous guidance and engagement with industry stakeholders. The list mentions broadband and mobile connectivity.

Proposed Material Information for Property Sales

• price
• council tax and domestic rates
• tenure, including time remaining on lease (if applicable)
• ground rent or service charges (if applicable)
• electricity supply
• water supply
• sewerage
• heating type
• broadband
• mobile signal and coverage
• property type (for example, terraced, detached)
• number and types of room
• parking
• accessibility and adaptations
• rights and easements
• flood risk
• property construction (for example, standard, thatched roof, prefabricated)
• issues with property (for example, damp, subsidence, asbestos, Japanese knotweed)
• building safety defects, including fire and structural risk modifications
• restrictions (for example, listed property, conservation area, restrictions on usage)
• coastal erosion
• planning permission
• coalfield or mining area
• any other category

Naturally, the issue of including digital connectivity is not always an easy one to resolve, particularly in areas where copper lines with variable broadband speeds are still a factor or locations where the availability of smaller broadband networks may not always be apparent; especially if estate agents only look at data from commercial comparison sites, which often excludes the presence of smaller networks.

Extending this to include mobile connectivity can be an even bigger challenge, not least due to variability of that environment (e.g. local spectrum band assignments and cell sites do change and vary between operators) and the fact that you need to consider the importance of indoor vs outdoor reception. But Ofcom’s new Mobile Coverage Map might be able to provide a limited non-commercial basis for achieving this, even if it’s far from perfect.

Suffice to say it will be interesting to see what approach the government ends up taking, but we won’t learn that until later in 2026.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that the final bidders due to take part in their auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) bands for faster 5G data (mobile broadband) services will include BT (EE), Telefonica UK (O2 / Virgin Media) and Vodafone (VodafoneThree). No surprises this time around.

The major mobile network providers currently already have access to several 5G capable bands between 700MHz and 3.8GHz. Such frequencies reflect the same sort of low and mid-band radio spectrum that mobile operators have been using since the advent of the first 3G and 4G networks.

The move to auction off 26GHz (25.1-27.5GHz) and 40GHz (40.5-43.5GHz) will complement those existing bands by providing lots of additional spectrum frequency, which means more data capacity for extremely fast speeds (e.g. multi-Gigabit). But such signals tend to be very weak and can’t cover a wider area without a much denser / more expensive network, which in practice means they’ll primarily be used for serving busy urban areas (shopping malls, airports etc. – “High Density Areas“) and fixed wireless broadband (FWA) links.

Ofcom plans to make this spectrum available in a clock auction (200MHz lots) with 15-year licences across 68 “high-density” areas (i.e. cities and select transport hubs). Interestingly, the UK is one of the first countries in Europe to award spectrum in the 40GHz band for mobile, although the 26GHz award is much more in keeping with the EU’s existing approach and many operators can already access it.

The first bidding or principal stage is currently still expected to take place this month (an exact start date will be confirmed soon), although we won’t learn the final outcome until a little bit later. Ofcom’s reserve prices for this spectrum also appear to be modest when compared with other European auctions (£2m per 26GHz lot and £1m per 40GHz lot).

As usual, winning the auction is only part of the challenge. Network operators will then need to update and adapt their networks to support the new bands, and not all UK devices (Smartphones etc.) are currently able to harness them; this is particularly true of the 40GHz band.