The Scotland 5G Centre showcases sportscast broadcast using shared spectrum

A world first stand-alone private network for sports broadcasting using shared spectrum in the 3.8 to 4.2 GHz demonstrated the potential for private networks to provide wide area connected cameras for live events.

Using a network 5G standalone design, led and engineered by the Scotland 5G Centre’s partners at the University of Strathclyde, this technology has the potential to transform the way live sport is covered and bring fans closer to the action.

The University of Strathclyde StrathSDR team partnered with BT Sport, Dorna and Vislink to bring live segments to a worldwide audience from a 5G handheld camera at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix…

UK Government Launch Bid for Seat on the UN Telecoms Council

The UK Government will today launch its election manifesto as part of efforts to secure a seat on the governing council of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which will give it more of a say in future standards (broadband, satellite technologies etc.) and the allocation of global spectrum (mobile etc.) etc. As part of the […]

Virgin Media O2 UK and ITV Sign New TV Partnership Deal

Broadcaster ITV and broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) have today signed a new 5-year commercial partnership, which will deliver “deeper integration” of ITV’s programming, IPTV rights and features into the operator’s future IPTV based Pay TV products. As well as enabling customers to maintain access to ITV’s content. At this point it’s easy to forget […]

Welsh Gov Criticised for Removal of Broadband Availability Checker

Yesterday’s Plenary meeting of the Welsh Parliament raised an interesting point when it highlighted the Welsh Government’s removal of the superfast broadband availability checker from their Superfast Cymru page, which makes it harder for people to know which areas will benefit from the state aid supported rollout. At present the Welsh Government is still running […]

Virgin Media O2 UK Unveil First Electric Vehicles for New Fleet

Virgin Media and O2 UK (VMO2) have this morning taken the wraps off their first Electric Vehicles (EV), which will be used by their broadband ISP and mobile engineers. The company has just ordered 280 such vans (Vauxhall e-Vivaros) as a first step toward replacing their entire 4,300 strong fleet with EVs by 2030. Just […]

Is personalisation the key to enhancing customer experience?

Intent HQ’s CEO Jonathan Lakin sat down with Scott Appleton, TMT Strategy Manager at Cartesian to discuss how true personalisation can help telcos to increase their relevance with consumers and improve customer retention.
“As with any business story, the central character is always the customer and success is determined by how well the customer perceives the product,” Scott notes.
“Customers are tired of the noise of mass marketing”, observes Jonathan. However, most operators still operate in a “mass-market mode.” The need to send out campaigns to millions of customers is key but by doing this telcos risk losing their relevance and connection with the customer. “The only way to rise above the noise is to be relevant.”

Personalisation is nothing new, many telcos were working on it as early as 2010, however it looks very different nowadays. “What some of the big tech behemoths have achieved with personalisation and being relevant to a customer is on a different level in terms of investment…

Vodacom to form fibre joint venture and acquire control of Vodafone Egypt

Vodacom Group has agreed terms with Vodafone to acquire a controlling stake of 55% in Vodafone Egypt. The proposed transaction, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, is valued at approximately R41 billion or $2.738 billion. Vodacom will fund the acquisition by issuing 242 million new ordinary shares at R135.75 per share and R8…

Openreach Trial FTTP Broadband Speed Test to Identify Faults

Openreach (BT) has informed UK ISPs about the launch of a new speed test trial for their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband lines, which looks as if it will be used to help identify where on the network a speed fault actually exists (i.e. is it on Openreach’s side or not). At present existing speed tests […]

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Bundles Cheaper Netflix without Pay TV

Budget UK ISP TalkTalk has today introduced a new package that bundles a home “Fibre Broadband” (FTTC / VDSL2) service with a cheaper subscription to Netflix’s popular internet video streaming service, albeit without requiring new customers to take out a traditional Pay TV service first in order to benefit. Essentially, customers who take out TalkTalk’s […]

Dorset Project Demos Satellite Backhaul from a 5G Standalone Network

The 5G RuralDorset project, which is testing various 5G based mobile voice and broadband technologies alongside existing fibre cables, claims to have achieved a “world-first” by demonstrating satellite backhaul from a 5G Standalone network (i.e. using satellite to keep the connection live when terrestrial mobile fails). The work reflects part of the Connected Coast project […]