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The owners of UK broadband, mobile and TV provider Virgin Media (O2), Telefónica and Liberty Global, are reportedly set to move forward with earlier proposals for a significant round of cost-cutting (i.e. a mix of job cuts and reducing capital expenditure) and are reportedly aiming to calm investors by cutting c.£600m. (more…)
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Eutelsat has revealed that they’ve purchased an additional 229 satellites for OneWeb’s constellation of ultrafast broadband spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is in addition to the 440 already procured from Airbus. A total of 669 new satellites have now been procured and they’ve also chosen Arianespace to help launch some of these in 2027 and 2028. (more…)
Original article Total Telecom:Read More
With a record-breaking number of entries this year, the Connected Britain Awards 2026 showcased the most innovative and exciting elements of Britain’s ever-growing and rapidly evolving digital economy. This year’s shortlist included a fantastic array of diverse organisations and individuals, all of whom were highly deserving of praise.
A big thanks to all our award presenters and to our expert panel of judges for lending us their expertise in selecting the winners.
For this category the judges were looking for an entry that did something special to help deliver connectivity to a previously hard-to-reach location.
The winning entry created a system that did exactly this, drastically cutting installation time, costs, and waste, finally making broadband delivery economically viable for many rural locations in the UK.
Emtelle – Rapid Customer Connect
The winner in this category pulled off a remarkable engineering feat, delivering high‑capacity 4G and 5G coverage at three locations, positively impacting millions of users.
Wireless Infrastructure Group
Combining proactive network management with outstanding local support, this entry demonstrated a true customer-first philosophy backed by exceptional satisfaction and retention scores.
Lightning Fibre
Highly commended: 4th utility Rise
This entry delivered a masterclass in collaboration and leadership by creating an open-access framework to simplify asset access, lower deployment costs, and accelerate fiber rollout.
West Sussex County Council for OpenAccess West Sussex
ZIM Connections
Sustainability Award
Challenging the throwaway culture of tech, the winning entry in this category sought to prevent e-waste through high-quality engineering and prioritizing ‘longevity by design’.
FRITZ! & Zen
The winner in this category demonstrated a European first, deploying exciting new network capabilities that could reshape the approach to mobile connectivity across the UK.
Virgin Media O2 – O2 Satellite
Highly commended: VodafoneThree
Turning back-office audits into live, real-time field support, the winning solution slashed telecom fault rates by up to 50% within 60 days and set a new benchmark for AI operational value.
SkillsBase Forge
Highly Commended: Zyxel One powered by Lifemote
This winning project delivered a resilient, sustainable data centre transformation, notably making use of waste heat to benefit a local campus.
Advanced Power Technology and Schneider Electric
Proving that mastering the basics drives extraordinary results, this provider achieved an outstanding NPS, near-zero churn, and market differentiation through early Wi-Fi 7 rollouts.
Connect Fibre
Highly commended: Fibrus
This team introduced a transformational solution that addresses complex enterprise connectivity challenges while delivering clear operational flexibility.
Antevia Networks – 5G Shift Private Network Solution
The winner here is potentially the landmark deal of the decade in UK connectivity, structured to unlock massive long-term investment, competitive scale, and enhanced connectivity across the nation.
VodafoneThree
Using a holistic approach to network deployment, this specialist delivered a Project Gigabit contact ahead of schedule working in one of the UK’s most challenging environments.
Viberoptix
For this entry, the judging panel was highly impressed by a targeted, scalable digital skills initiative that directly tackles digital exclusion and builds long-term confidence across local communities.
Norfolk County Council – Tech Skills for Life and Digital Skills Team
Highly Commended: Kent County Council, Medway Council and East Kent College Group
This award celebrates a private company that has done exceptional work in partnership with public sector organization.
The winning partnership deployed IoT at scale, showing a high level of cooperation and effectively shifting property maintenance from reactive to predictive, potentially having a major impact on residents’ health.
iOpt & ng homes
While the previous award celebrated those working with the public sector, this award goes to a public organization itself.
This entry overcame tough engineering hurdles to add an additional layer of connectivity to services, positively impacting thousands of users every day. We hope to see similar initiatives repeated across the country.
Scotrail for their Starlink satellite integration
Highly commended: The Scottish Government
The judges were blown away by this individual’s early-career leadership, with one judge saying: ‘These achievements are exceptional for any age, and remarkable for such an early career stage.”
The winner has already led major fibre deployment projects and delivered remarkable infrastructure impact well beyond their years.
Cameron Moir, GoFibre
Highly commended: Emily Jones, TTB CircularIT & Harry Turfrey, CityFibre
A standout story in network automation, this entry leveraged an AI-powered digital twin to deliver massive efficiency benefits, both in network deployment and ongoing operations.
Virgin Media O2 – Challenger OSS
This inspiring project stood out for tackling a major challenge facing our industry and society at large: nurturing the next generation of STEM professionals. This initiative focused not only on educating, but on empowering underserved local communities with transformative technology skills beyond the basic curriculum.
Littlegarth MicroBotics
Highly commended: Wessex Internet
The post Connected Britain Awards winners 2026 announced! appeared first on Total Telecom.
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) office has today published a couple of new studies that evaluate the performance, delivery and value of its various public investments to help deploy gigabit-capable broadband (full fibre) connections to poorly served libraries and GP (Doctor) surgeries. (more…)
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The administrators for alternative UK rural broadband network Airband, which was recently acquired by Voneus (full summary), have published a report that reveals the financial details of the deal. Strikingly, it states that Voneus, which was the only bidder, paid just £4.6m for the company’s assets and customers. (more…)
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The LSBUD (Line Search Before You Dig) organisation, which provides an online asset search facility to UK street works firms for underground pipes and cables, has published their Digging Up Britain 2026 report and revealed that telecoms (broadband, mobile etc.) remains the “most active industry” when it comes to searching before digging (36.2% of all searches, down from 37.5% in 2025). (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Customers of Sky’s broadband-based Sky Glass and Sky Stream pay TV streaming devices and service can now benefit from a “major upgrade” to the supporting Sky Go video streaming app, which takes its visual inspiration (User Interface) from the look and feel of Sky OS (software that powers Glass/Stream) and has added a bunch of new features. (more…)
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Satellite broadband service Starlink has finally published details of their new Wi-Fi 7 capable home wireless “Router 4” (UTR-261) hub on their website, which largely confirms the details revealed in last month’s FCC filings (here) and gives us a better look at the device itself. A new video showcase has also been shared via social media. (more…)
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Mobile operator and internet provider giffgaff, which is gradually making their new full fibre (FTTP – XGS-PON) broadband packages available to UK consumers via nexfibre’s and Virgin Media’s networks (here and here), has revealed that they’ve increased their serviceable footprint to 4.2 million homes and rising. (more…)
Original article Total Telecom:Read More
Huawei is positioning wearable technology as more than a consumer electronics category, increasingly using its wearable devices as platforms for health monitoring, data collection and medical research.
The strategy was on display at SHOWPALAST in Munich, Germany, where Huawei showcased the Watch D3 and its European Terve Research platform alongside its broader smartwatch portfolio. Huawei’s products captured the event’s ‘Chase the Wild’ theme as the products are designed to help users track their activities and use the data to better manage their health and lifestyle.
Watch D3 combines advances in blood pressure monitoring, while Terve is a European research platform designed to connect wearable-generated data with academic and medical research. The Watch D3 launched globally on September 2, while Terve Research is being introduced as an infrastructure layer for European medical and academic institutions.
The move comes as health tracking becomes an increasingly crucial element for smartwatch and wearable manufacturers. Market research firm Counterpoint Research now tracks features such as sleep apnea detection, ECG and blood pressure monitoring alongside shipments, revenue and average selling prices in its global smartwatch market analysis.
“From metabolic monitoring and active health management to brain activity sensing, wearables are no longer just about your wrist. We are moving toward a complete picture of your health, a full-body system that monitors, understands, and responds,” said Rico Zhang, President of Huawei’s Smart Wearable and Health Product Line.
While the technology is advancing rapidly, there have been questions raised around validation, calibration and performance of wearable health monitoring tools. In this context, Huawei’s approach is particularly notable because Watch D3 combines conventional oscillometric measurement using a miniature pump and airbag with Photoplethysmography (PPG)-based continuous trend monitoring, rather than relying exclusively on cuffless estimation.
From smartwatch to health platform
Significantly, Huawei has been building toward this position for several years. The first-generation Watch D introduced wrist-based blood pressure measurement in 2021, while the Watch D2 added 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) in 2024. The D3 takes the concept further by attempting to reduce one of the principal drawbacks of ABPM: the disruption caused by repeated cuff inflation.
The watch uses four high-precision micro-pump measurements during the day and three at night, while PPG continuously tracks blood-pressure trends between those measurements. Huawei describes this as a “precision measurement plus trend tracking” approach, intended to retain reliable measurements while reducing the frequency of disruptive inflations.
The device has received CE Medical Device certification for resting blood pressure measurement, ABPM and pre- and post-exercise blood pressure monitoring. Huawei claims it is the world’s first wrist-worn device to pass ISO standards for accurate blood-pressure measurement before and after any physical activity, to help users in building sustainable fitness habits.
Huawei’s focus on measurement methodology gives Watch D3 a differentiated position in an increasingly crowded health-wearable market. Watch D3 is 17.7% thinner and 9% lighter than its previous version, making it easier for the user to wear and benefit from the device.
Building an ecosystem around the wrist
The larger opportunity for Huawei, however, may extend beyond the device itself. Terve Research is designed as an online platform through which European academic and medical institutions can conduct wearable-based studies as well as recruit participants. Funded by Huawei but independently managed and operated by medical technology provider Thryve, the platform allows researchers to conduct closed studies with selected participants or open studies involving eligible Huawei wearable users who voluntarily opt in.
The platform is launching with two studies: one examining the health impact of social jetlag and disrupted circadian rhythms, and another investigating the relationship between exercise patterns and cardiovascular risk. Both are being led by European medical researchers and use data collected from Huawei wearable devices.
This creates a potentially valuable feedback loop: wearables generate real-world data, researchers use that data to investigate health patterns, and those findings can help in the development of future products and health services.
It is also a direction that reflects the broader evolution of the wearable market. The industry is gradually moving away from counting steps and monitoring basic fitness metrics toward continuous health monitoring, preventive care and research applications.
From consumer electronics to digital health
Huawei also announced the launch of is also expanding its smartwatch portfolio with the HUAWEI WATCH GT 7 Series, which brings upgrades across sports tracking, health management, design and battery life. The GT 7 Pro features a nano-tech ceramic bezel and titanium alloy frame, while the series adds new capabilities such as wrist-based turn and G-Force detection, ski mapping across more than 3,000 resorts, advanced cycling features and AI-powered insights. The company is also bringing the HUAWEI WATCH 6 Series back to Europe, with AI-driven workout analysis, independent calling, navigation and payment capabilities, alongside enhanced health and wellness features.
The company says its digital-health ecosystem now includes partnerships with more than 160 healthcare institutions globally and more than 10 research centres, including three sports and health science laboratories.
Zhou Hong, President of Huawei Research Institute, Europe, said the broader value of wearables lies in their ability to gather health information outside traditional settings. “Wearable devices enable fast, convenient and reliable multimodal measurements anytime and anywhere, providing actionable insights to personalize interventions and support more effective behaviour management. That is why the health sector is so promising: the potential for discovery is enormous, and the need has never been greater.”
Huawei is not just adding another health feature to a smartwatch. It is attempting to build an ecosystem spanning sensors, devices, software, research platforms and healthcare partnerships.
Significantly, Huawei also announced the launch of HUAWEI Mate XT 2 in Guangzhou, China. First smartphone to feature the LogicFolding Tau chip, Huawei Mate XT 2 comes with the new Kirin 9050 Pro chip and several upgrades in durability, AI, privacy and photography. More importantly, the device also brings health features including ECG analysis.
As basic fitness tracking becomes increasingly commoditised, differentiation is likely to come from the quality of health measurements, validation, longitudinal data and the ability to turn that information into useful insights. Huawei is taking a lead in this by developing a range of devices that are designed not just to give reliable measurements but also to contribute to the wider health ecosystem.
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