The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today introduced changes that are designed to improve their spectrum sharing framework, which among other things have been designed to add more flexibility, facilitate more effective spectrum sharing and increase spectrum supply to support new types of fixed wireless (broadband) and mobile (4G, 5G etc.) services.

The existing spectrum sharing framework was first introduced in 2019 (here) and paved the way for many smaller mobile and fixed wireless data networks to be created in order to deliver local coverage, such as for industrial, events, farming or residential connectivity etc.

The shared access licences, which were made available via a mix of Low Power and Medium Power licences, initially covered spectrum in four specific bands – 1800MHz, 2.3GHz, 3.8-4.2GHz, and 26 GHz (the latter was only made available for indoor low power licences). Naturally, this all had to be made to coexist with other users of the same spectrum bands, such as mobile network operators.

Ofcom currently offers two primary types of Shared Access Licence (distinguished primarily by permitted power levels) to cater for different types of use, which we’ve summarised in a little bit more detail below.

Shared Access Licences

• Low power licence (per area licence): This allows users to deploy the required number of base stations in a circular area with a 50-metre radius without further authorisation from Ofcom. For large sites, people can apply for multiple licence areas to achieve the required coverage area.

• Medium power licence (per base station licence): Given the higher transmit power and larger potential interference area, this licence will be issued on a per base station basis and, generally, for deployments in rural areas only, where they are unlikely to constrain low power users.

Since then Ofcom has issued a total of 988 licences (as of November 2024), which are fairly evenly split between low and medium power licences – the most popular bands are 1800MHz and 3.8-4.2GHz. The regulator also recently published an updated map of spectrum supply, to assist stakeholders in making their applications.

Suffice to say that demand is only expected to grow and, as a result of the aforementioned success and recent consultations, the regulator is now introducing changes to improve local spectrum availability – especially in the busiest bands. The core changes being introduced by Ofcom have been summarised below, but they aren’t all being implemented today.

Ofcom’s Spectrum Sharing Changes

➤ We will remove the Terminal Registration Requirement (TRR) for all Low Power deployments (including outdoor use) in the 3.8-4.2 GHz band.

At present, users are required to keep records for mobile terminals connected to base stations in this band. This change opens new opportunities for ‘neutral host’ style deployments, with the potential to improve network coverage for outdoor and campus locations.

➤ We will allow licensees easier access to Medium Power in most urban areas in the UK, in the 1800MHz and 3.8-4.2GHz bands.

This will streamline the licensing process, making it simpler and quicker to access Medium Power licences, which can unlock the business case for new applications.

➤ We will also implement three balancing measures to ensure that Medium Power use is managed appropriately:

– limit to 100 MHz the spectrum that can be held by a Medium Power user in a given urban location. This aims to ensure no single user exhausts spectrum supply in an area.

– retain our ‘exceptions process’ in Greater London, to help manage supply and demand. This aims to encourage carefully planned deployments that preserve opportunities for more sharing.

– set a new price point of £160 per 10 MHz, per annum, for urban Medium Power licences. This is designed to incentivise Low Power usage where it would still meet user needs.

Ofcom said they are “keen to make changes quickly to deliver benefits for stakeholders“, but they also need to ensure that more complex system changes are thoroughly tested and integrated with their wider programme of work to evolve the licensing platform. Consequently, some changes will be given a bit more time for implementation.

In short, the regulator has today implemented new Low Power licences in 3.8-4.2 GHz that omit the TRR (with variations available on request for existing licensees), as well as the Medium Power licences available in urban areas (with a 100MHz limit, and an exception process in Greater London). But the new fee for Medium Power in urban areas in the 1800MHz and 3.8-4.2GHz bands won’t come in until the second half of 2025.

Contributed Article 

Recently, Huawei launched its new 5G-A^A solutions, designed to address the growing demands of Mobile AI.  

The solutions aim to deepen the integration of 5.5G networks with AI technologies, improving both network capabilities and user experiences. As such, these solutions focus on two complimentary concepts: ‘Networks for AI’ and ‘AI for Networks’.  

‘Networks for AI’ seeks to ensure that mobile networks are equipped with the necessary capacity and flexibility to support the diverse service requirements emerging through the global adoption of AI.  

On the other hand, ‘AI for Networks’ seeks to equip the mobile networks themselves with advanced AI features, such as RAN Agents, making their operations intelligent, autonomous and efficient. 

“Mobile AI is changing our lives. The arising new connections and services pose increasingly higher requirements on networks,” said Cao Ming, Vice President of Huawei and President of Huawei’s Wireless Solutions. 

“Huawei’s 5G-A^A 10 solutions build multidimensional ultimate network capabilities through the full-series Advanced Radio, enable full-domain site digitalisation through Ambient Site, and achieve L4 network autonomy through the Agent-based digital engineers team. With such excellent performance, these solutions will help operators meet the ever-diversifying demand for services in the Mobile AI era,” he continued. 

Cao presented a variety of new solutions, with one of the most innovative of which being the new Sub-1 GHz Massive MIMO technology, allowing low-band spectrum to benefit from Massive MIMO architecture. This has numerous benefits for operators, allowing them to leverage the low-band spectrums long range while also providing improved downlink, uplink, and low-latency performance. It offers full access to all radio access technologies (RATs) and guarantees reliable real-time services and IoT connectivity. 

Huawei also introduced several products aimed at simplifying 5G deployment. The Blade AAU X, for example, supports Massive MIMO across all sub-6 GHz bands with a single antenna. It requires 50% less space than competing products and reduces operational costs by 70%. For U6GHz, the new IMT spectrum, Huawei releases the U6GHz AAU that integrates over 1,500 antenna elements and supports speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Based on Huawei’s unique ELAA technology, the U6GHz AAU achieves indoor continuous Gbps experience. The EasyAAU represents the industry’s lightest AAU on the market, weighing half of a typical 8T RRU model, making it ideal for rapid 5G deployment. 

To support the rapidly growing IoT market, Huawei’s new LampSite X solution enables indoor 10Gbps and Passive IoT (P-IoT) access, allowing enterprises to generate more real-time data within their operations, including daily asset stocktaking and digital upgrades.  

For rural areas, Huawei unveiled RuralCOW, the latest iteration of the RuralLink and RuralStar product line. This all-in-one solution integrates fronthaul and radio units into a single box, eliminating the need for backhaul, BBU, and access to the energy grid. This will allow mobile connectivity to be delivered in areas previously unavailable to operators, as well as significantly reducing site costs for multi-RAT deployments in remote locations. 

Supporting all of these innovations is Huawei’s intelligent RAN Agent-based digital engineers team, which offers unattended maintenance, real-time optimisation, and 24/7 energy-saving possibilities. This approach, alongside with Huawei’s Ambient Site technology, enables full-site digitalisation, improving energy efficiency and overall user experience. 

In his closing remarks, Cao Ming emphasised the significance of Mobile AI and 5.5G and encouraging industry-wide collaboration, 

“Mobile AI is on the horizon.” We will continue to work with all industry partners and innovate to promote the integration of 5.5G and AI.” 

News 

BT has long been a cornerstone of the UK’s emergency connectivity, handling 999 emergency calls since 1937 

BT has signed a £1.29 billion contract with the Home Office to provide mobile services for the UK’s Emergency Services Network (ESN) over the next seven years, the company announced over the weekend. 

The ESN is a critical system that uses the 4G network to deliver secure and reliable voice, video, and data communications for the UK’s emergency services. It allows police, fire, and ambulance services to access essential information in real-time, ensuring they can respond quickly and effectively, even in remote areas or during peak network use. The network prioritises these services, ensuring emergency workers can communicate effectively during crises.  

Since 2015, BT’s EE has played a central role in developing the ESN as part of a programme to replace the ageing Airwave system, owned by Motorola. This included upgrading over 19,500 of BT’s existing 4G sites, expanding rural coverage, and creating a dedicated core network to ensure emergency services have priority connectivity all the time. 

Progress on the project, however, has been heavily delayed. The ESN was initially scheduled to be fully operational by 2019, but today’s contract suggests this will only be achieved by 2029 – a decade behind schedule. These delays have incurred significant costs, with the government having spent £2 billion on the project by March 2023 and a further £2.9 billion maintaining the old Airwave system. 

This week’s new agreement with BT aims to accelerate the project, as well as updating its capabilities to meet today’s demands, includes maintaining and developing the infrastructure to support more than 300,000 users.  

BT will also manage key infrastructure such as the Air-to-Ground (A2G) network, Extended Area Services (EAS), and connectivity for the London Underground, as well as key road and rail tunnels. 

A major focus of the new contract is improving indoor connectivity, with plans to carry out the largest rollout of coverage solutions in UK history to meet Public Safety Communications Services standards. 

“BT Group has been a committed longstanding partner for Britain’s Emergency Services Network (ESN). We’re proud to double down on this commitment today by broadening the scope of our agreement with the Home Office until 2032 and beyond – as the Government takes ESN from build through to delivery and operation of this critical network,” said Bas Burger, CEO of business at BT in a press release. 

“Essential public services like these depend on a rock-solid digital foundation. Through our award-winning EE mobile network, we’ll continue to play a central part in delivering mission- critical, trusted communications for the Emergency Services on the ground, in the air, and wherever they need to operate – helping them connect for good and protect the communities they serve nationwide,” he continued. 

Join us at next year’s Connected North, 23-24 April in London. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
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Namibia halts Starlink operations amid licensing dispute  
Deutsche Telekom replaces Huawei kit in new Nokia deal

Broadband ISP and mobile operator EE (BT) has today announced that customers of their pay TV service have just gained access to the new Paramount+ streaming App via their TV Box Pro and TV Box Mini hardware (set-top-boxes). This offers access to a wide selection of blockbuster movies and TV shows etc. But there’s a catch for those with a Premium plan.

In addition to the ‘Standard’ (£7.99 per month) Paramount+ plan, customers can also sign-up to the recently introduced ‘Basic (with ads)’ (£4.99) and ‘Premium’ (£10.99) subscription tiers through EE TV. But EE notes that Paramount+ ‘Premium’ plan subscribers will initially “receive content in ‘Standard’ plan capabilities at launch” (i.e. all other ‘Premium’ plan benefits will become available to EE TV customers “at a later date“).

Paramount+ also includes content produced by the production company’s various associated brands and studios, including CBS, Comedy Central, MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and SHOWTIME®.

Alistair Wilson, EE’s Partnerships Director, said:

“It’s our ambition to provide EE TV customers with a truly extensive variety of the very best TV, film, and sport options – and the addition of Paramount+ adds a whole new catalogue of exciting content for our customers to stream. The blockbusters, new originals and hit shows offered by Paramount+ will be a welcome addition for customers and easily accessible for anyone with EE TV.”

The Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) today claims to have become the “first local authority in Wales” to complete a digital switchover of its telecare alarms. This has seen them move away from BT and Openreach’s old copper-based analogue line services (PSTN phones and WLR) to adopt internet-based solutions instead.

Just to recap. The shift to digital landlines is an industry, not government, led programme that is partly driven by the looming retirement of copper lines in favour of full fibre (FTTP) broadband. Not to mention that modern mobile and Internet Protocol (IP)-based communication services have largely taken over from traditional analogue phones, and it’s become harder to find parts for the old network.

The plan to switch-off older phone lines was recently delayed by BT to 31st January 2027 in order to give internet and phone providers, as well as telecare providers and consumers, more time to adapt (details). But the main focus of this delay was on the 1.8 million people who use vital home telecare systems in the UK (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people), which often aren’t compatible with the replacement VoIP / IP-based digital phone services (i.e. for everybody else the deadline is still technically Dec 2025).

In addition, last month saw the Government agree to a new Telecare National Action Plan with major UK communication providers (e.g. BT, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Sky Broadband). This requires them to do more to protect vulnerable telecare users when upgrading phone lines to new digital (IP based) networks.

However, the challenges involved in this are not merely a matter for telecoms providers, as local authorities and other sectors (e.g. lift operators) have also needed to adapt. This is thus just as much of a challenge for the telecare and alarm providers themselves to get to grips with (i.e. failing to upgrade their systems), which have thus far been slow to adapt and that’s despite having years of warning.

The good news today, at least from Wales, is that the Bridgend County Borough Council has completed a digital switchover of its telecare alarm calls. As part of this, the council has installed over 2,200 new units in advance of the move away from using the PSTN network to digital networks. The local switchover programme is said to have started in January 2024 and has cost £1m to deliver, using equipment manufactured by Legrand Care and supported by telecare service providers, Care & Repair and Galw Gofal.

Cllr Jane Gebbie, Bridgend’s Deputy Leader, said:

“The completion of the digital switchover for our telecare clients is a key milestone for the authority and improves the reliability and efficiency of telecare services, ensuring that vulnerable residents receive a faster and more responsive level of support.

The success of this switchover has also provided the foundation to moving forward with technological developments to support our services.”

Interestingly, the council reports that the switchover had also provided telecare users with “better call quality and reliability” – with fewer failed calls to the call centre – and given service providers a real time overview of the status of the appliances used. We don’t often hear about the positives of this switch, so that does make for a refreshing change, even if a lot of UK councils have yet to complete similar work.

The programme has also provided scope to combine telecare with telehealth support for people who need it.

The UK Government has signed a new £1.29bn deal with BT (EE) to extend their operation of the 4G based Emergency Services Network (ESN) for another 7-years. But after years of delays and disputes, only some of which is related to EE’s side of things, the Home Office still doesn’t expect the ESN to be fully operational until 2029.

Just to recap. The emergency services (police, fire, ambulances etc.) were originally due to have moved away from the old Motorola-owned Airwave network several years ago, which harnessed TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology. This is because TETRA was regarded as slow (dialup / ISDN like data speeds) and expensive, although it does deliver strong voice coverage (c.97% geographic reach) and has been reasonably dependable.

The limitations of Airwave’s network were often highlighted as the primary reason for why the UK government, in 2015, decided to replace it with a 4G mobile alternative (ESN) – the first country to do so. The Home Office originally expected that emergency services could start using the ESN in September 2017, allowing Airwave to be replaced by December 2019, but the contract ended up being billions of pounds over budget and years behind schedule.

According to last year’s report from the National Audit Office (here), the Home Office is expected to have spent just under £2bn on the ESN by March 2023, and a further £2.9bn to maintain Airwave because of all the delays. A variety of problems have beset the project, from delays with developing the new end-user kit (handsets etc.), to delays with the network build and competition disputes related to Motorola’s conflicting roles in the project etc. The project has since been effectively reset.

On the BT side of things, EE has already built a new dedicated core network for the ESN, ensuring priority EE connectivity to Emergency Services users at all times. The original contract also included upgrading more than 19,500 of EE’s existing 4G sites ready for ESN and expanding coverage in rural and critical operational areas etc.

The New Contract Extension

The Home Office has previously indicated that it intended to award EE a new contract, “without competition“, for the network rollout side to avoid delaying the programme further, which it planned to complete when the current contract ends (31st December 2024). Suffice to say that the BT Group finally confirmed they’d signed this 7-year extension contract, worth £1.29bn, on Sunday.

Under the new contract, BT Group will continue to build, maintain and develop critical mobile coverage and capabilities for ESN as it rolls out to support more than 300,000 users. The new contract also sees BT take management responsibility and provide coverage services for the Home Office’s Air-to-Ground (A2G) network, their Extended Area Services (EAS) sites, London Underground and specific road and rail tunnels.

It is expected that the ESN programme will see BT Group carry out the country’s largest ever single roll-out of coverage solutions into indoor locations – to meet the operational standards for Public Safety Communications Services (PSCS) users. The new contract spans 7.25 years, with the option for a one-year extension.

Bas Burger, CEO of Business at BT, said:

“BT Group has been a committed longstanding partner for Britain’s Emergency Services Network (ESN). We’re proud to double down on this commitment today by broadening the scope of our agreement with the Home Office until 2032 and beyond – as the Government takes ESN from build through to delivery and operation of this critical network.

Essential public services like these depend on a rock-solid digital foundation. Through our award-winning EE mobile network, we’ll continue to play a central part in delivering mission- critical, trusted communications for the Emergency Services on the ground, in the air, and wherever they need to operate – helping them connect for good and protect the communities they serve nationwide.”

According to the Home Office, the timetable for completion of the ESN (this covers everything, not only the network side) has been pushed back to 2026 “at the earliest”, with the later date of around 2029 often being touted as a more realistic expectation. Meanwhile, maintaining Airwave into the 2030s is predicted to cost at least £250 million a year.

A year and a half has now passed since the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron (Lib Dem), highlighted the connectivity limbo (here) that several villages in Cumbria – including Ormside, Warcop, Hilton, and Murton – had been left in by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme. But locals have just been asked to wait a little bit longer.

Just to recap. Some or all of the aforementioned communities were originally in the process of being lined up to receive gigabit broadband (FTTP) via B4RN as part of the Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS). But before that could proceed, BDUK unexpectedly placed the area into the scope of Project Gigabit’s regional supplier contract, which had previously been won by Fibrus the year before, in 2022 (here).

The situation would have been fine if it actually meant those communities being upgraded in a timely fashion, but it’s not quite so simple. The regional supplier contract includes two categories of intervention: Initial Scope, where the regional supplier should build as quickly as possible; and Deferred Scope, where BDUK wait and see whether commercial plans or voucher projects translate to delivery, but could then build if not.

Sadly, the aforementioned communities are all stuck in a Deferred Scope, which means they’re still waiting to hear whether or not Fibrus will be able to reach them. “For premises that are included in the Deferred Scope of contract, we will seek a price from the regional supplier, but will not authorise build unless and until they are re-classified as White. We will always either descope Under Review premises or defer build to them and we will always descope Grey or Black premises,” states BDUK’s policy documents.

Back in June 2023 the then Chancellor of the UK government, Jeremy Hunt, promised to “happily look into what has happened … We strongly support all rural areas having access to gigabyte broadband, as an important part of our policy. We have made a lot of progress on that. I will look into detail of what is happening in the hon. Gentleman’s area and get back to him.” But little has changed, which on Monday prompted another intervention by Tim Farron.

Tim Farron told parliament (here):

“Perhaps of greater concern are the places that are in scope, but in deferred scope. I want to name four parishes in my constituency, near Appleby: Hilton, Murton, Warcop and Ormside. Those are communities on very low speeds at the moment. Some people are forced, against their better judgment and almost against their will, to give money to Elon Musk to use Starlink instead of the very limited broadband opportunities that are available to them.

While those communities are within scope but in deferred scope, they wait for the contract holder, Fibrus, to give them a date, and because they are within deferred scope, nothing is happening on the ground to connect them. Also, they do not have access to the voucher scheme, which would allow them to work with our absolutely brilliant Cumbrian Broadband for the Rural North, otherwise known as B4RN, an award-winning community interest company that has connected so many homes throughout rural Cumbria to gigabit and greater broadband speeds.

So I want to press the Minister—this is my one ask of him—on whether he will ensure that those parishes I have listed, Ormside, Warcop, Hilton and Murton, are either given a date for connection under Project Gigabit, or are descoped so that vouchers can be made available and B4RN can then step in and fill the gap. We had a public meeting in the snow in Murton last December—next weekend it will be 12 months ago—where BDUK made all sorts of promises of which it has fulfilled absolutely none.

Will the Minister give personal attention to either descoping those communities so they can get broadband through the B4RN and the voucher system, or give Fibrus—and more importantly BDUK—a kick up the backside to make sure they bring the communities into scope, and give a date in the next few months so that those communities, which are very remote in many other ways, are connected properly to gigabit broadband speed?”

In response, the government’s new Telecoms Minister, Chris Bryant, told Tim, “I do not want to descope at this point, because I very much hope that we will get to a resolution in the next month, but he makes a strong point. If it proves necessary to abandon ship, as it were, he can come back at me on that.”

The response appears to indicate that some or all of the aforementioned villages might soon be included into Fibrus’ main deployment, but we won’t find out until around the turn of the year. Even if the deployment does end up being confirmed, then it remains unclear how long locals may have to wait before the new service actually arrives.

We should point out that there are plenty of other communities across the UK that have found themselves being placed into a similar position over the past couple of years.

Energy provider Electricity North West (ENW) has said its engineers were “left speechless” after discovering that a telecoms operator in the Lancashire (England) town of Burnley had erected a steel mast “just one metre away” from 132,000-volt overhead electricity lines. “One wrong move could have resulted in a death,” said ENW.

The “potentially fatal” situation in Burnley is said to have been discovered on Wednesday by ENW’s “tree cutting teams“, who were carrying out maintenance in the area. The team reported the situation immediately, and engineers attended the Kiddrow Lane site and quickly made the decision to switch out and earth the circuit for safety reasons. No customers were without power as a result.

You’d think that even the most basic understanding of science and electricity, the sort children tend to learn at the youngest of ages and that we all carry through our lives, would have avoided such a Darwin Awards level error of safety competence. But clearly, in this case, something has gone shockingly wrong, and we can all thank our lucky sparks stars that no lives were lost. This is about as dangerous as you can get.

As ENW states, the 132,000-volt network is the highest voltage they operate at. By comparison, even the standard 230 volts in a domestic property is more than enough to kill. Suffice to say, engineering standards require any assets to be several meters away from the 132kV network due to the possibility of the electricity jumping. At such high voltages, electricity can jump up to 3 meters through the air to a conducting material (e.g. like a tall steel mast!), making it live.

Paul Killilea, Electricity North West’s Asset and Investment Director, said:

“The incident seen in Burnley is incredibly serious and one that without a doubt could have been avoided.

I cannot stress enough that one wrong move could have resulted in a death. People need to be aware of their surroundings, particularly if they’re erecting steel poles, scaffolding or even ladders anywhere near our network.

Taking a moment can make all the difference, if you are unsure, pick up the phone and call us. We are more than happy to help and ensure work is carried out safely when in close proximity to the network.”

ENW added that their engineers remained on site until the installer attended and within several hours, the pole was taken down. Surprisingly, the release doesn’t state who the “installer” was, although the mast looks almost identical (example) to the smaller, more discreet, ones that IX Wireless (6Gi / Opus Broadband) are sometimes known to have been erecting around the town (they also deploy a much larger mast in other locations).

However, it is possible that IXW may not be the only telecoms operator using these in the area, so we’ve shot off a comment request to their press contact in the hope of gaining some official clarification. Anybody who sees anything dangerous in or around the power network should call their local network operator on 105.

Partner Article

The deployment, which Huawei says is the world’s first ‘large-scale integrated 5G-Advanced intelligent network’, will provide services to over 10 million people in the Chinese capital

China Unicom Beijing has deployed a far reaching 5G-Advanced network covering stadiums, schools, scenic areas, metro stations, commercial areas, residential areas, and other facilities in Beijing. 

The new three component carrier (3CC) network will provide 5G coverage for roughly 10 million customers within Beijing’s 4th Ring Road and the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, 85% of which will use the latest 5G-Advanced technology.  

This 5G-Advanced network offers greater speeds (up to 10 Gbps), improved network capacity, spectral efficiency, and coverage versus existing 5G networks. These capabilities make the new network perfect for supporting the latest consumer use cases, such as immersive videos, UHD live streaming, and cloud gaming, according to China Unicom and it tech partner Huawei. 

But perhaps the most important aspect of this new network – at least from China Unicom’s perspective – will be its integration with AI and machine learning.  

The operator has built in end-to-end automation for sites based on user service data, including AI-powered optimization of provisioning, services, iteration, and inspection. This will not only help the sites to operate more efficiently, resulting in cost savings for the operator, but allow for the rapid deployment of new services automatically, without manual intervention. In this way, this automated process will reduce the provisioning time from days to minutes.  

These AI capabilities will require significant compute power to function effectively. As a result, China Unicom is deploying the necessary compute infrastructure alongside the sites themselves, allowing AI workloads to be handled locally, at the edge.  

China Unicom says it is the first operator to implement this network self-provisioning and self-optimisation in lightweight scenarios.  

“Large bandwidth can quickly improve user experience. Only by providing 10-gigabit network capabilities can we guarantee a gigabit experience for all users. This time, we’ve built a large-scale integrated 5G-Advanced intelligent network to bring a better experience to all China Unicom users across Beijing,” said Yang Lifan, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom Beijing. “We are confident that, based on Huawei’s advanced technologies and our smart operations capabilities, we will provide users in Beijing with an increasingly better network experience in the future.” 

5G-Advanced shines at Workers’ Stadium and the Great Wall 

As part of the public network deployment, China Unicom has paid special attention to the recently reopened Workers’ Stadium, one of the country’s largest football stadiums. The stadium will be supported by numerous 5G-Advanced 3CC sites, both inside and outside, allowing customers to receive download speeds of over 10Gbps. 

“Field tests recorded a downlink peak rate of 11.2 Gbps, allowing a crowd of up to 68,000 people to simultaneously and smoothly watch 1080p videos. Meanwhile, the uplink peak rate reached 4 Gbps, sufficient to support services like UHD shallow compression,” explained Huawei in a statement.  

The stadium’s 5G-Advanced network will also support novel use cases, including those related to the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Internet of Things (IoT), and extended reality (XR) split rendering. 

Alongside Workers’ Stadium, another area receiving a significant 5G-Advanced network deployment from China Unicom is the Great Wall Scenic Area, situated roughly 70km northeast of Beijing. This area is one of the Great Wall of China’s best preserved and most picturesque sections, receiving over 1.4 million visitors annually.  

Here, China Unicom has worked with the local Yanqing District Government to deploy 5G-Advanced base stations at scale, offering the area 5G coverage both on the ground and at low altitudes of up to 300 metres. This ensures that visitors to the Wall and the surrounding area can enjoy uninterrupted network coverage wherever they are, helping to support tourism, logistics, and emergency rescue. 

As user demands on the network continue to increase and AI use continues to scale, 5G networks must continue to evolve. Telcos around the world will be watching this deployment from China Unicom closely, hoping to take key lessons for their own 5G-Advanced upgrades in the near future. 

News

The European parliament has approved Ursula von der Leyen’s selected commissioners for her second term as President of the European Commission

Earlier this summer, Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as President of the European Commission, granting her a second five-year term as head of the European Union’s most powerful institution. Now, this week has seen von der Leyen’s selection of European Commissioners ratified by parliament, setting the stage for a new European regulatory era to begin next year.

“This is the Europe that I love. And this is the Europe my Commission will always devote itself to. Because I believe that our generation of Europeans must once again fight for freedom and sovereignty. For the freedom that the people of Ukraine are heroically fighting for. For the freedom to shape our own future in a confrontational and unstable world. But this freedom is not just an abstract word. It is about Europeans knowing that their families will be safe. Their country protected. That they will be able to afford to buy food or heat their homes, with decent wages and fair prices. That they will be able to seize opportunities. And that they feel in control of the change – and the speed of change happening – in society,” said von der Leyen said in a speech this week.

“Our fight for freedom may look different to generations past. But the stakes are just as high. And, honourable Members, these freedoms will not come for free. It will mean making difficult choices. It will mean massive investment in our security and prosperity. And above all it will mean staying united and true to our values. Finding ways to work with each other – and overcoming fragmentation. This is what I – and all 26 women and men with me – will strive for every single day. We are ready to get to work immediately.”

In terms of the incoming Commission’s priorities, von der Leyen spoke of closing the innovation gap between Europe, the US, and China, with a heighted focus on European R&D and international competitiveness. Digital technology, naturally, will be a keystone here, with Finland’s Henna Virkkunen being appointed to lead this strategic approach as Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

As far as telecoms regulation is concerned, the other key figure being appointed to the Commission is Spain’s Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, who will become Executive Vice-President for the Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. Rodríguez will be tasked not only with accelerating the bloc’s decarbonisation, but also with overseeing its competitive landscape and State Aid framework.

Exactly how Virkkunen and Rodríguez will approach telecoms regulation remains to be seen, but the first significant indicator will likely be the legislative proposal for the Digital Networks Act, which Virkkunen will be required to prepare early next year. This Act will include a framework for the governance of the bloc’s telecoms sector and is likely to have a major impact not only for telcos but also Big Tech.

You can find the full list of Commissioners-designate here.

The UK’s telecoms landscape is changing rapidly. Join the operators in discussion at Connected North 2025 live in Manchester

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BT unveils new managed SASE service