Freshwave partners with National Robotarium to help deploy agritech robots
News Freshwave will deploy a portable 5G private network at the Edinburgh facility to help support robots and AI applications The collaboration, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), is designed to improve robotics testing and drive innovation in the agritech sector. The first use case for the portable 5G network features Spot, a four-legged wireless robot.. Using the 5G network, Spot streams live video, generates 3D maps, and conducts infrared scans in real time to...
France and Germany partner on cross-border 5G corridor
News The infrastructure is designed to operate for at least a decade Vantage Towers, TOTEM, Orange, O2 Telefónica, and Saarland University of Applied Sciences have joined forces to deploy a 5G highway corridor connecting Metz in France to Saarbrücken in Germany. The “5G Autobahn to Autoroute” (5G A2A) project spans 60km, with construction beginning in early 2025, aiming to complete in late 2027. The corridor will include a 55km section in France and a 5km stretch in Germany. In France,...
Over half of Brits have never heard the term ‘data centre’, finds Telehouse study
Press Release Telehouse launches educational initiative featuring character ‘DC’ to enhance public understanding of data centres and their impact on digital lives Half of UK consumers (51%) have never heard of the term ‘data centre,’ highlighting a significant lack of awareness about their critical role in powering daily digital life. New research from Telehouse reveals how, despite the increasing reliance on digital services and their recent categorisation by the government as Critical...
Broadband ISP Aquiss Introduce FullFibre Ltd Based FTTP Packages
Shropshire-based UK ISP Aquiss has this morning announced that they’ve launched an additional range of broadband packages based off FullFibre Limited‘s (Fibre Heroes) network, which has so far deployed an open access Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 380,000 UK premises ‘ready for service’ (23rd Aug 2024). The provider, which already supplies services via Openreach and CityFibre’s growing national FTTP networks, appears to be offering a range of packages via FullFibre Ltd that...
CityFibre UK Starts Project Gigabit Broadband Roll Out for Kent
Network operator CityFibre has today announced that they’ve begun the roll-out phase of their £112 million state-aid supported Project Gigabit contract for Kent (Lot 29) in England. This will extend their 10Gbps capable FTTP broadband ISP network to an additional 50,000+ premises in hard-to-reach rural areas. The announcement means that CityFibre has now begun construction work in all 9 of their Project Gigabit contract areas (here). The projects reflect over £782m in government subsidies to...
Virgin Media Business Start Offering Ethernet via New Converged UK Network
The wholesale division of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media Business (VMO2) has today announced that they’ve started offering their high-bandwidth products, such as National Ethernet (NE) and Direct Internet Access (DIA), over their new “next generation” Converged Interconnect Network (CIN). Just to recap. Virgin’s new CIN brings their fixed line (FTTP, DOCSIS etc.) and mobile networks (4G, 5G etc.) together in a way that they say will make them more efficient, resilient, scalable and flexible....
Three UK Picks Ericsson to Build New Cloud Native Core Network
Mobile operator Three UK has this morning announced that they’ve selected Ericsson to build their new cloud-native core network, which it claims will be the “largest in Europe” and one that will end up “more than tripling its core capacity” to 9Tbps (Terabits per second). Data (mobile broadband) usage on Three UK’s network has grown significant in recent years, surpassing 2Tbps in December 2024 due to Premier League streaming on Amazon Prime and gaming updates. Customers of the service...
Ofcom Propose to Make More Wireless Devices Licence Exempt
Ofcom has today launched a new consultation that proposes to exempt lots of additional devices (equipment) from needing a wireless telegraphy licence, such as 5G handsets and dongles on an aircraft or ship and 5.8 GHz (5725-5850 MHz) Fixed Wireless Access kit – used by many wireless broadband ISPs to offer rural connectivity. Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, the regulator can grant licences for the use of radio frequencies. This is to “ensure spectrum is used efficiently and to prevent...
Openreach List 163 More UK Areas for Copper to FTTP Switch – Tranche 19
Openreach (BT) has released the next January 2025 batch of 163 exchanges (Tranche 19) in their “FTTP Priority Exchange Stop Sell” programme, which reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based analogue phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option). Currently, there are two schemes for moving away from old copper lines and services, which can sometimes cross-over. The first starts with the gradual...
EXA Infrastructure Reaches Agreement to Acquire Aqua Comms
London-registered network operator EXA Infrastructure, which was acquired by investment firm ‘I Squared Capital’ in 2021, has today announced that they’ve signed binding agreements to acquire specialist connectivity services provider Aqua Comms, which operates a number of transatlantic and intra-European subsea infrastructure systems (fibre optic cables). EXA Infrastructure currently operates over 150,000km of digital infrastructure across 37 countries, including 20 cable landing stations that...