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The BT Group has published their H1 FY27 results, which saw total revenues of £8,750m (down from £8,837m in H2 FY26) and a decline in Openreach’s broadband lines of -366k (down from -414k). But the network operator also grew their full fibre (FTTP) coverage to 24.1m premises (up by 1.19m vs 2.6m in H2 FY26) and now expect to reach their 25m FTTP target in March 2027 (slight delay from Dec 2026). (more…)
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Existing mobile networks can help close a gap in detecting low-flying, fast-moving objects such as drones across wide areas. Following successful testing of Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) technology over the past months, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today introduces the Ericsson ISAC System.
The new solution adds sensing capabilities to the mobile network, enabling defense, public safety and critical infrastructure operators to detect and track moving objects, even when they are not connected to the network.
Commercial introduction of the Ericsson ISAC System will take place in phases, beginning with small-scale, sensing-only commercial pilots with selected customers in 2027, followed by broader-scale deployments from 2028. The integrated communications capability will be added as the solution evolves towards 6G.
Small, low-cost drones are increasingly being used for unlawful surveillance, organized crime, sabotage, and warfare. Their size and flight behavior at low altitudes make them difficult to detect, which creates new challenges for national security, critical infrastructure protection, and public safety. Dedicated sensors will remain important for protecting critical sites but scaling them across larger areas may be challenging due to the significant new infrastructure required.
The Ericsson ISAC System closes the low-altitude, wide-area detection gap by transforming the mobile network into a new layer of situational awareness. Using sensing-capable 5G radios, edge computing, AI and signal processing, it detects objects that are not connected to the network and maintains tracks across the coverage area, complementing radar and other sensors rather than replacing them.
Ericsson ISAC System detects and tracks objects by analyzing how radio signals are reflected by objects in the environment. It operates as a multi-static system, which means that sensing signal transmission and reception are distributed across multiple geographically separate mobile-network sites. This allows objects to be viewed from multiple angles at once – providing high accuracy that increases detection confidence, positioning, track continuity, and coverage resilience.
The Ericsson ISAC System uses parts of the 5G mobile network infrastructure – such as towers, backhaul and spectrum – already in place across cities, transport corridors and strategic locations to provide tracking data and AI-based classification. This data can be securely shared through standardized interfaces with authorized external systems, including security and command and control systems. Combined with data from other sensors and mitigation platforms, it can give users a more complete operational picture, helping them respond faster and make more informed decisions.
In validated tests, the system reliably detected and tracked micro drones at kilometer-scale distances with precise 3D positioning. Testing demonstrated consistent detection and tracking across a range of operating conditions, system configurations and drone flight patterns. Actual performance depends on factors such as the characteristics and flight profile of the target, sensing geometry, terrain and surrounding environment, and system configuration.
Trials with AT&T in Arlington, Texas, used sensing dashboards to display drone activity. Combining Ericsson technology with AT&T’s network expertise, the trial detected, located multiple drones, and tracked their movements, illustrating how wireless infrastructure could help protect major venues, critical infrastructure and other key locations.
A separate demonstration with Erillisverkot in Helsinki showed multiple 5G sites detecting and tracking drones, demonstrating how network sensing can support public safety and counter-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) operations while extending coverage alongside traditional sensors.
In Poland, Ericsson, Asseco and Play demonstrated how Ericsson’s Integrated Sensing and Communication technology, Play’s mobile network and Asseco’s PUSZCZYK acoustic detection system could support detection and positioning of low-flying drones with higher accuracy.
Defense and public safety: Enhancing airspace monitoring across borders, coastlines and strategic assets.
Critical infrastructure: Strengthening protection for ports, power plants and other vital sites.
Transport and industry: Supporting safer operations across road, rail and industrial environments.
Low-altitude economy: Drone traffic management, urban airspace monitoring, and digital twins for smart-city planning and environmental mapping.
Freddie Södergren, Global Head of Mission Critical Networks and Defense, Ericsson, says: “Low-flying drones create a detection coverage gap that no single sensor can effectively address. Ericsson ISAC System enables multiple 5G sites to deliver coordinated wide-area detection and continuous tracking, with data that can be integrated with traditional sensing technologies and operational systems. It also gives operators a pathway to create new services from existing network assets.”
Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts, says: “Ericsson’s ISAC System shows that mobile-network sensing can perform far better than many expect, turning complex radio reflections into remarkably accurate tracking of low-flying, uncooperative objects. By building on an extensive footprint of existing sites, Ericsson has the potential to deliver wide-area drone detection faster and more cost-efficiently than deploying new dedicated sensor infrastructure.”
Carl Lundqvist, Chief Architect, Swedish Armed Forces HQ, says: “Detecting small drones across large areas is a growing operational challenge. The possibility of using distributed infrastructure to complement existing sensors could provide an important additional layer of situational awareness.”
Shawn Hakl, SVP & Head of Product, AT&T Business, says: “The next evolution of connectivity is about networks that don’t just move data but help organizations with insights to better understand and respond to the events in the real world. Bringing Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) capabilities into existing 5G infrastructure can provide telemetry and intelligence in situations where it is not possible or desirable to pre-deploy sensors or cameras. Deploying this technology in a complex environment like a stadium is an important example of how intelligent networks can drive better safety and security outcomes from infrastructure already in place.”
Antti Kauppinen, CTO, Erillisverkot, says: “The Ericsson ISAC System shows that dual-use technology can strengthen national security by extending sensing capabilities to help authorities protect people and critical infrastructure. Together with Ericsson, we are exploring how this capability can be developed responsibly to enhance Finland’s resilience, security, and preparedness.”
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A report from Reuters claims that Israeli ad tech firm Discover-Tech has been targeting Starlink users for surveillance, according to six anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The sources claim that the company pursued a large scale ad purchasing campaign aimed at surreptitiously gaining access to targeted users’ location and tracking their internet activity.
The report builds upon a previous report published on 15 October by TrendAI, a subsidiary of Japanese security firm Trend Micro, which first revealed suspicious ad purchasing activity by a company referred to by a codename, “Shadow-Earth-79”.
Shadow-Earth-79, since revealed to be Discover-Tech, was shown to be the number one bidder for ad-space via Starlink in over 100 countries, including Syria, Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan – countries with “almost no demand” for Western advertisements.
In total, Discover Tech accounted for 12.9% of winning advertisements in Starlink traffic, almost five-times higher than the average of 2.6%.
Online advertisers typically compete for ad space on websites and apps through a complex auction process. During this process, data about the end receivers of those ads can be shared with bidders. This data, when recorded over time and combined with other available information, can allow for individual identification, geolocation, and targeting with surveillance software.
TrendAI’s report said that the company’s bidding patterns showed an “obvious skew” towards Starlink users, likely related to “targeting and tracking infrastructure rather than a commercial advertising operation.”
The same day that TrendAI’s report was released, Discover-Tech was also accused of wider surveillance efforts by cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab and ad tech specialist Confiant. This included using Candiru spyware alongside its ads to compromise user devices, including 5 Windows devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera between 2024 and 2025.
“Very likely hundreds of millions of people would have been touched by Discover-Tech,” explained Confiant cofounder Jerome Dangu.
Alphabet (Google), IAB Europe, and Comcast’s Beeswax have all cut the company off from their ad platforms in the past month.
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The post Israel’s Discover-Tech suspected of using ads to track Starlink users appeared first on Total Telecom.
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Latin America’s international bandwidth is growing faster than that of almost any other region, yet much of it still travels on cables designed for a very different internet. There is real value in making better use of the region’s existing subsea infrastructure. Upgrading established systems can unlock additional capacity and extend their useful life, and it will remain an important part of meeting future demand. At the same time, the region’s changing traffic patterns and growing connectivity needs raise a broader question: how can existing infrastructure and new investment work together to deliver the capacity, route diversity and commercial flexibility customers need?
Demand is not evenly distributed
The average utilisation across an existing portfolio can look comfortable, but demand does not spread itself evenly across a network. According to TeleGeography, used international bandwidth in Latin America grew by about 25% in 2025 to more than 400 Tbps, and some networks are already running hot. Brazil has grown at a 29% compound annual rate, Mexico at 32%, and Colombia at close to 40%. Spare capacity on one cable does not help a customer who needs it on another route, in another country, or with a different landing point. Nor does it help if it cannot be bought in the quantity or on the terms the customer needs. Available capacity is only useful where, when and how it can be used.
Investment is lagging demand
Latin America is attracting less cable investment than other regions. TeleGeography estimates USD 0.7 billion for cables entering service between 2023 and 2025 and USD 1.3 billion expected between 2026 and 2029, below Asia, Oceania and the transatlantic and transpacific routes. Content providers played no role in Latin American cables before 2017, but their presence has grown steadily, and carriers remain key to future projects. More than 90 Tbps of content-provider demand already travels the US to Latin America route, growing at about 50% a year. The cloud footprint tells the same story. Latin America has far fewer cloud availability zones than Asia, Europe or the United States, yet five more are planned. As that infrastructure arrives, so does the need for direct, high-capacity international connectivity.
The limits of upgrades
New terminal equipment can raise the capacity of existing fiber, and the industry should keep taking advantage of that. But an upgrade works within the limits of the cable already in the water: its fiber count, its reach and its age. Older systems were built with fewer fiber pairs, earlier generations of fiber with higher attenuation and smaller effective area, and repeaters and power-feed equipment designed for the transmission technology of their day. A system with no defined end of life is not a system with unlimited life, and an upgraded older cable is still an older cable.
TeleGeography’s list of ageing systems in the region runs to around twenty cables, with the oldest past 30 years in service. Meanwhile, the demands placed on the network have changed. Yesterday’s cables were designed for voice and internet traffic that was predictable, flow north to south, was led by carriers and was limited by capacity. Today’s traffic is shaped by cloud, AI, content delivery and regional data centres. It is dynamic, distributed and growing quickly.
Designed for today’s traffic
The TAM-1 cable, and other planned new subsea systems in the region, have been designed for that traffic. TAM-1 is one of fewer than five 24-fiber-pair subsea cable systems deployed globally, and the first in the Americas. With 24 fiber pairs on its South System and 12 on its North System and around 800 Tbps of design capacity with current-generation terminal equipment, it offers more than 200 times the capacity of any of the legacy Caribbean systems and its open cable design lets customers light capacity with the equipment of their choice as transmission technology evolves.
Resilience is about having more routes to choose from
Resilience is a priority for subsea networks across a region exposed to hurricanes, earthquakes and fishing activity. Strong operational track records and continued investment in existing systems both play an important role, but resilience also depends on the diversity of routes available when disruption occurs. Past hurricanes have demonstrated how connectivity can be affected when communities rely on a single route. TAM-1 addresses this through two diverse subsea routes, a North System and a South System, with switchable branching units that allow traffic to be re-routed between them. Stubbed branching units installed during construction also provide for future expansion, including the planned TAM-2 Pacific extension, without the need for disruptive marine work on the live system. Route diversity and future flexibility were priorities highlighted by customers from the outset, and both are built into the design.
TAM-1 North and South Systems. Source: Trans Americas Fiber
Access matters as much as capacity
For decades, the best subsea connectivity in the region has been available mainly to those who own infrastructure or depend on those who do. Smaller carriers and ISPs paid more for less and had little say over the capacity they relied on.
Modern systems are tending towards neutrality and open access. Any carrier, hyperscaler, ISP, government or enterprise can buy capacity directly, with no minimum commitment and no fixed structure. Shared spectrum, managed optical services and dark fiber let customers start at the scale they need and grow from there. Ten anchor tenants, including AT&T, Millicom, AXTEL and Grupo ICE, committed to TAM-1 before construction was complete. Grupo ICE’s partnership alone is expected to increase Costa Rica’s total international capacity more than twentyfold.
Both, and more
This is not a choice between upgrading what exists and building what is needed. The region needs both, and it needs competition between them. But it should not be asked to settle for yesterday’s design when demand is growing about 25 to 30% a year and the traffic mix is changing. Capacity on paper only matters if customers can reach it, trust it and afford it. We are acting to give the region scale, diversity and open access in one platform.
How is the submarine cable industry changing in 2026? Join the discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA
César Jiménez, Chief Technology Officer, Trans Americas FiberThe post The capacity gap: Why Latin America needs a new generation of subsea cables appeared first on Total Telecom.
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VodafoneThree, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and City of London Police have collaborated to identify and disrupt criminal SIM farm operations, leading to eight arrests, the seizure of cash and equipment, and the recovery of more than one million compromised card details ‘phished’ from the public by criminals.
A SIM farm is a collection of cellular SIM cards, sometimes scaling to hundreds or thousands, used by fraudsters to route massive volumes of automated calls and text messages to members of the public, aiming to deceive victims into giving up sensitive personal information – known commonly as ‘phishing’. This information can be used to commit fraudulent activities or be packaged into detailed ‘profiles’ of potential victims and sold to other criminals.
Around three million victims suffered financial loss through fraud, (the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales) with more than four million incidents in the year ending March 2025. The economic and social cost of fraud in 2024 was estimated at £14.4 billion by the Home Office.
Using a new approach developed with law enforcement, having identified suspected SIM farm activity, VodafoneThree shared intelligence with the NCA and City of London Police’s Fraud Targeting Cell. The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a banking industry-funded unit, used the intel to investigate individuals suspected of using SIM farm systems to target the public. This led to the disruption of organised criminal activity and the recovery of what law enforcement has described as potentially the largest haul of compromised payment details ever recovered.
The announcement comes as legislation banning the operation of SIM farms takes effect in the UK, strengthening powers to tackle fraud and organised crime – enabling earlier disruption, more arrests, and fewer victims.
Rachel Andrews, Head of Corporate Security at VodafoneThree, said:
“Fraud cannot be tackled through protection measures alone. We need to go further, using our intelligence and capabilities to identify and disrupt the infrastructure that allows organised criminals to operate at scale. This collaboration with the NCA shows what can be achieved when industry and law enforcement combine their strengths, disrupting criminal activity closer to its source and preventing harm before it reaches customers and the wider public.”
Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of Fraud in the National Economic Crime Centre at the National Crime Agency, said:
“These arrests highlight the impact of close collaboration between law enforcement and industry. Intelligence shared by VodafoneThree enabled us to disrupt suspected criminal activity and recover more than one million compromised card details.
“SIM farms are a key enabler of large-scale fraud, allowing criminals to create huge numbers of fake online accounts and target victims in huge quantities with minimal effort.”
“The introduction of new offences covering the possession and supply of SIM farms strengthens our ability to protect the public from fraud. The NCA will continue to work with partners across policing and industry to disrupt the criminals behind this offending.”
Lord Hanson, Minister for Fraud, said:
“It only takes one fraudulent text to deprive people of their hard-earned money and SIM farms give fraudsters the tools to target their victims at scale.”
“The law we introduced to ban their use is now in force. Those using these devices to defraud the public will not only continue to face the full force of the law but will also be hit with hefty fines.”
“Criminals are increasingly working on an industrial scale, so we are meeting them with the same force by partnering with mobile networks and law enforcement to disrupt their operations and hit the scammers where it hurts.”
Tackling fraud at the source
Crucially, SIM farms can hide in plain sight. Recent UK investigations have uncovered the technology operating from ordinary homes and properties in local communities.
As criminals increasingly exploit digital infrastructure, organised fraud is becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect. The ability to operate at greater scale and speed makes disrupting the infrastructure behind fraud more important than ever.
Combatting organised crime through collaboration
Telecommunications operators have a critical role to play in disrupting the infrastructure that enables organised fraud.
In line with Pillar 1 ‘DISRUPT’ of the UK Government’s Fraud Strategy, VodafoneThree is committed to tackling fraud at its source. Alongside its own safeguards, it works with industry, government and law enforcement to disrupt fraud and protect customers and the wider public.
A landmark moment in the fight against digital fraud
The criminalisation of SIM farms represents a significant change in the UK’s approach to tackling fraud.
By making the operation of SIM farms a criminal offence, law enforcement agencies now have additional powers to target the infrastructure that underpins a wide range of fraud and cybercrime offences. The legislation reflects a growing focus on preventing criminal activity at source.
*according to the NCA
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In Disney’s 1940 film Pinocchio, top hat-wearing conscience-incarnate Jiminy Cricket famously sang: “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are”. As we discovered on a recent Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) trip to Wales, however, when you wish upon a Starlink satellite, it seems it does matter where you are – at least a little.
VMO2 launched its commercial O2 Satellite offering February, offering customers the chance to access direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity for £3 per month via a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink.
Roughly eight months later, VMO2’s Director of Mobile Access Engineering, Rob Joyce, led a group of journalists on a wet trek into the hills of Snowdonia to test the service for ourselves.
Our first mission – which proved trickier than anticipated – was finding a ‘not-spot’.
Unsurprisingly, given its geography, Snowdonia is littered with not-spots, ranging from small sections of remote road to large swaths of the mountains (check out O2’s coverage checker for a closer look).
However, for our outing to the beautiful Aber Falls (pictured), terrestrial coverage remained robust for longer than expected. Only after a few kilometres off the beaten track were we finally seemingly out of range of O2’s mobile network.
At this point the O2 handsets provided for us should have automatically switched to the satellite network, but no. As we stood in the rain under a heavily overcast sky, we wondered whether the weather was impacting the service.
Water absorbs microwave radiation at different levels at various frequencies; a microwave oven, for example, typically operates at a frequency of around 2.45 GHz, a frequency chosen specifically to dump most of its energy into the water molecules within food.
O2 Satellite uses spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band. In heavy rain, could this cause enough disruption to stop us connecting?
“Rain should cause very little attenuation at 1,800 MHz,” explained Joyce, noting that this band is already widely used for terrestrial 4G LTE services. If rain were to interfere with spectrum at this frequency, terrestrial services would have felt it even more intensely than satellite connections.
“After all, a signal coming from a mobile tower a kilometre away would pass through much more water than the satellite signal coming down from above,” added Joyce.
The most likely explanation for the connection failure, Joyce explained, was that the devices were still attempting to connect to the terrestrial network they had so recently had access to.
A short while later, at a well-known not-spot at Pen-y-Pass – the starting point for various climbs up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) – our phones began to display the SAT symbol indicating satellite connection.
SAT connection (credit: Paul Lipscombe)
The service itself was intermittent but effective. Using the Satellite Tracker app from Star Walk, we watched Starlink satellites hurtle across the sky above us at 17,000 mph, our connection blinking in and out at regular intervals. This was more than enough to send texts, use various apps, and conduct Internet-based voice calls.
For now, Starlink’s service is limited to just basic data services, with each satellite capable of delivering around 50 spot beams, each covering a diameter of roughly 50km and delivering roughly 4Mbps across its user base.
Nonetheless, in an area where there would previously have been no connection at all, this is transformative for users. While O2 Satellite subscribers will not be downloading Netflix shows or cloud gaming over the service any time soon, they will certainly be able to message loved ones from some of the UK’s most remote locations.
“Obviously, it’s not meant yet for doing high-bandwidth applications. It’s there for reassurance of coverage beyond the current cellular footprint,” said Joyce, noting that satellite has increased O2’s overall network coverage from 89% of the UK to 95%. “That’s why we’re not selling it as a replacement cellular service. It’s sold as a service that reassures you that you have coverage when you need it for those moments that matter.”
Big plans for the future
Joyce’s ‘yet’ is important here.
Starlink’s D2D service is currently reliant on around 650 satellites, but this will not be the case for long. SpaceX is expected to begin launching its V2 satellites next year, with roughly 20x the throughput capability of their V1 predecessors. The Starlink website promises ‘full 5G cellular connectivity with a comparable experience to current terrestrial service’.
“In version two of the satellites […] we’re going to have a lot more bandwidth. I think the figure is 20-times or 100-times the capacity, depending on how much spectrum you deploy,” explained Joyce. “Service could then be comparable to terrestrial.”
SpaceX has also recently bought 14MHz of 800MHz spectrum in the US. If the new Starlink satellites can use this spectrum, then O2 will likely be able to make use of the 10MHz of spectrum it owns in the same band, too.
Taken together, this could mean that O2 soon has even more reliable coverage and a huge boost in capacity.
Despite this, Joyce remains highly sceptical that satellite could ever truly replace mobile services.
“You’re not going to have the coverage deep indoors […] and you’re not going to have the capacity to deliver a service to the amount of traffic that’s now offered to a cellular network,” said Joyce. “The laws of physics say that because of the spectrum and because of the propagation, the satellite can’t replace cellular […] I think it will always be a complementary technology.”
For now, O2’s fledgling satellite services remain limited in scope, if not in coverage. But perhaps it will not be long before they can serenade their customers with the promise that when you wish upon a Starlink your dreams will come true.
How is the UK’s satellite landscape evolving? Join the discussion at Satellite Live 2027, co-located with Connected Britain 2027
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The post Wishing upon a Star(link) in North Wales with O2 Satellite appeared first on Total Telecom.
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Telecoms network analyst firm Streetwave has today published the results of a new study, which uses data collected from bin lorries to show how real-world mobile network (4G, 5G) coverage and data speeds vary across Northern Ireland between rural and urban areas, as well as via different mobile operators. Suffice to say, rural connectivity has a lot of catching-up to do. (more…)
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The CEO of UK broadband provider Virgin Media’s (VMO2) co-parent operator Liberty Global, Michael Fries, has told investors that the group “remain committed” to trying to get nexfibre’s £2bn acquisition of rival full fibre network Netomnia over the line and “aren’t going to build any more fibre [FTTP] on the VMO2 balance sheet regardless of the outcome” with the CMA. (more…)
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The UK telecoms regulator has today imposed a fine of £7,500 on wireless broadband operator IX Wireless (Opus Broadband). The ruling came after Ofcom found that the company had brokeen its rules by failing in its duty to minimise the visual impact of a 15-metre tall metal mast / pole, when it was installed in Rochdale all the way back in 2023. (more…)
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Hampshire-based broadband ISP toob, which has rolled out their own full fibre (FTTP) broadband network around the South of England and harnesses CityFibre’s network in other UK areas, has today launched their annual Black Friday discounts with prices starting from just £18 per month for 300Mbps. (more…)