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The partnership is a continuation of an AI collaboration signed last year 

Telefonica Tech, the digital services arm of the Spanish telco, has announced a new partnership with Microsoft to provide next-generation cybersecurity services to companies around the world. 

The collaboration involve the integration of Microsoft’s AI solutions with Telefonica tech’s existing cybersecurity operations. This will then be managed 24/7 by specialised Telefónica tech teams from its Digital Operations Centers in Madrid, Bogota and Colombia. This will mean customers get “proactive, integrated, automated and real-time security management,” reads the press release. 

President of Microsoft Spain Alberto Granados echoed this, adding that the partnership will offer “customers innovative security solutions powered by Artificial Intelligence with the aim of improving their cyber-resilience.” 

“This global cooperation between Telefónica Tech and Microsoft is a key milestone,” said María Jesús Almazor, COO of Telefónica Tech for Spain and the Americas. 

“Companies around the world will take advantage of all the opportunities that technology offers to digitize processes and jobs, including tools based on generative artificial intelligence, with maximum security,” he continued. 

Last year, the two companies agreed an initial long-term collaboration with the launch of Microsoft’s Responsible AI Innovation Centre in Spain. Along with 15 other companies, Telefónica Tech promotes the adoption of secure AI use through training, developing AI use cases and promoting the responsible use of AI applications. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
UK government conditionally approves £15bn Vodafone–Three merger
Nokia and Vodafone trial Open RAN with Arm and HPE
T-Mobile and Verizon to buy US Cellular, reports say

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published a new paper that sets out its options and vision for how the upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz) could potentially be released and then shared between both 5G mobile (mobile broadband) and Wi-Fi networks (e.g. home WiFi).

So far the regulator has already made the Lower part (5925 to 6425MHz) of the 6GHz band available for WiFi under the new WiFi 6E, WiFi 7 and future standards (here), yet the Upper part has remained the subject of some debate. Mobile operators want to harness it (licensed) to deliver faster 5G based mobile speeds, while others say it should go toward licence-exempt consumer WiFi. Meanwhile, existing users of the band (e.g. fixed services, satellite, radio astronomy and PMSE), seek protection.

Suffice to say, both sides of the debate have been able to field strong arguments and Ofcom has, thus far, opted not to pick a side. Instead, the regulator has been exploring the option of “hybrid sharing” (details), which could potentially enable, with some performance caveats (i.e. co-existence without causing interference is a challenge), the use of both Wi-Fi and mobile in the Upper 6GHz band.

The latest paper continues this by outlining the two possible approaches that could form part of such a “sharing framework“.

Proposals for Hybrid Sharing – Upper 6GHz Band

➤ Variable spectrum split.

Both Wi-Fi and mobile would be able to use any part of the band where the other is not deployed, but have sections of it they are prioritised in. This could be done by each technology transmitting a specific signal so they can sense and avoid each other.

➤ Indoor/outdoor split.

Wi-Fi routers tend to be indoors to serve a particular household, whereas mobile base stations are mostly located outdoors to provide coverage to a wider area. The band could be managed to prioritise the indoor use of Wi-Fi while also prioritising mobile use outdoors.

The paper itself is quite basic, but that does have the advantage of making it both easy and quick for anybody to read – somewhat of a rarity when it comes to regulatory paperwork.

Ofcom’s Statement

We are working with industry to develop a hybrid sharing framework and the necessary coexistence solutions. We are also working with other European regulators, with a technical report on this topic is scheduled to be published in 2025. Earlier this month, we welcomed a range of technology companies and European regulators to a workshop on this topic. The ideas discussed by the approximately 70 participants will help us further refine our thinking.

The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is also funding several trials until March 2025 to explore new spectrum sharing techniques, which should provide insights for our work.

Crucially, Ofcom makes clear that it is still “too early to identify a single preferred approach” for handling the Upper 6GHz band, which is why they’re exploring two possible elements that could form part of the sharing framework, and some of the trade-offs that may be required. As above, the regulator also plans for a technical report on hybrid sharing to be published sometime in 2025, as well as a consultation on the precise mechanisms for authorising the Upper 6 GHz band.

In other words, it’s likely to be sometime in late 2025 or 2026 before we actually see some sort of practical outcome to all this, which largely reflects the fact that this is an evolving technological approach and one that needs to be proven before it can seriously be proposed for any kind of implementation. Not to mention that more consultations will be required before we reach that point.

Internet provider Cuckoo, which is in the process of becoming the main retail broadband outlet for Fern Trading‘s (Octopus Investments) consolidated full fibre networks (Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre, Giganet and AllPoints Fibre), has renewed its relationship with GoCardless to provide future payment services.

Under the new 3-year deal, Cuckoo will continue to use GoCardless’ Direct Debit capabilities to collect monthly bills from customers, continuing a relationship which first started in 2020. The collaboration is said to continue a list of “customer-centric milestones from Cuckoo, with the broadband provider already integrating customers onto the revolutionary customer service platform Kraken.”

Cuckoo’s partnership with Kraken, struck in July 2023 (here), was a broadband industry first that was aimed at delivering “better customer and employee satisfaction“. Kraken will soon add additional GoCardless features into its platform, including Instant Bank Pay, the fintech’s open banking payment feature.

Once live, Cuckoo customers will have access to an even more seamless experience by enabling them to make instant, one-off payments – for example, paying their first bill or topping up an account – through the same provider that takes their recurring Direct Debits.

Tommy Toner, Chief Product Experience Officer at Cuckoo, said:

“We’re really pleased to be renewing our partnership with GoCardless – it’s a brand that’s grown with us over the last 3 years, and a relationship we’re keen to continue into the future.

Cuckoo’s goal is to deliver fast, fair and feel good broadband, and part of that is unmatched customer service at every stage of the journey. Payments are no exception.

We’re on a mission to transform the broadband industry and revolutionise the sector’s reputation for customer service. By partnering with innovators like GoCardless, we’re able to deliver an industry leading customer experience.”

The founder of TalkTalk, Sir Charles Dunstone, and fellow shareholders are reportedly preparing to inject around £180m of new equity into the financially troubled UK internet provider. The move would help to tackle the threat of two large debt repayments, which are due over the coming months and said to total up to over £1bn.

The provider has already spent much of the past year or two wrestling with the pressure from its existing c.£1bn debt pile, which in 2023 culminated in a plan to demerge the group into three separate businesses (TalkTalk Consumer, TalkTalk Business Direct and the wholesale centric PlatformX Communications – here), while also cutting costs (e.g. marketing) and monetising some assets (e.g. selling IP addresses).

The demerger could also, in theory, make it easier to sell off individual parts of the business (selling the entire group proved tricky) and indeed Virgin Media (VMO2) has recently been linked with a possible acquisition of TalkTalk’s Consumer broadband business (here). But the first piece to go was technically TT Business Direct, which ended up being sold to the company’s own shareholders for £95m after struggling to attract other fish (here).

The company is also attempting to raise £450m from the possible sale of a large stake in PlatformX Communications (wholesale division) to Australian investment giant Macquarie which, if successful, would help to pay off some of the debt and avoid a default. Suffice to say that TalkTalk are still very much in the midst of trying to resolve their now legendary debt problems, with pressure from several looming repayment deadlines (totally over £1bn) – due over the coming months – helping to concentrate minds.

The Telegraph (paywall) now claims that the banks behind the provider’s £330m Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), which is due for refinancing in November 2024 and is a primary source of liquidity, are seeking to reduce their exposure down to £150m. In order to stave off a debt crisis, the banks are reportedly pressing Sir Charles and fellow shareholders (e.g. Toscafund) to inject the remaining c.£180m as part of a rescue deal.

The negotiations over this are said to be ongoing, although it’s worth noting that, even if a deal can be reached, there is still £685m worth of bonds that fall due in February 2025 and issues with some loans. The alternative approach to the aforementioned rescue deal could be a debt-for-equity swap, which would see TalkTalk’s lenders take control. TalkTalk declined to comments on this.

According to credit ratings agency Fitch, a default is still considered “a real possibility” for TalkTalk under its downgraded CCC rating (here). “Fitch believes TTG’s corrective action plan, which includes restructuring the business model and raising equity investment, could enable a refinancing and recover operating performance. However, this is subject to execution risks. Failure to execute it successfully in a timely manner will materially increase the prospects of a near-term debt restructuring event and likely drive further negative rating action,” said Fitch in January 2024.

Mobile network analyst firm Streetwave has today published a new study that attempts to rank 20 of London’s Boroughs based on the level of “Good Mobile Coverage” they receive from the UK’s mobile network operators. Overall, Southwark had the highest average levels of Good Coverage (76.3%), while Barnet had the lowest (48%).

Streetwave typically adopts a scientific approach to their studies (i.e. they don’t use crowdsourcing), which collects data on an address-by-address basis and is designed to represent real-world consumer experience. The study is also network generation agnostic, meaning they don’t prioritise any connection technology type (2G to 5G) and allow each operator to manage them in the same way a consumer would be managed by the network.

In terms of the new study, the stated measure of “Good Mobile Coverage” has been defined as the percentage of locations where a mobile operator, typically using 4G and 5G technologies, can simultaneously offer users at least 5Mbps of mobile broadband download and 2Mbps of upload speeds (i.e. enough for most typical or basic mobile use cases and needs).

The final score was then calculated by taking the average level of ‘Good Coverage’ within each council from the four main mobile networks in the UK: EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media), Three UK and Vodafone. But sadly, we only get an overall total for each borough and there’s no breakdown for each area by mobile operator, which would have been useful to see.

However, the 28.3% difference in ‘Good Coverage’ levels, between the best and worst boroughs, does appear to show the sharp contrast in mobile network quality within different parts of London for residents, businesses and visitors.

Results – 20 London Boroughs Ranked by “Good” Mobile Cover

Ranking
London Borough
Average ‘Good Coverage’ across the 4 UK MNOs (%)

1
Southwark
76.3

2=
Islington
75.5

2=
Newham
75.5

2=
Tower Hamlets
75.5

5
Merton
73.8

6
City of London
71.8

7=
Hammersmith & Fulham
69.8

7=
Kensington & Chelsea
69.8

9
Lewisham
69.5

10
Lambeth
69.3

11
Camden
68.5

12
Hackney
67.5

13
Westminster
66.3

14
Richmond
64

15=
Greenwich
61.5

15=
Wandsworth
61.5

17
Kingston
57

18
Haringey
56.8

19
Waltham Forest
51

20
Barnet
48

The latest annual study from Cable.co.uk has tested fixed line broadband ISP packages from 223 countries (up from 219 last year) to create a global price comparison, which finds that the UK ranks 96th cheapest (down sharply from 76th), with an average monthly cost of $38.79 (£30.65) and that’s up from $34.19.

The research, which used data from 3,405 fixed broadband deals gathered between 7th September 2023 and 10th November 2023, also reported that the average package cost across the world as a whole came out as $55.89, which is down from $57.07 last year.

Otherwise, the Solomon Islands came out as the country with the most expensive average monthly broadband package cost at $457.84, while Sudan continued to deliver the cheapest on $2.40, albeit largely due to the collapse in value of the Sudanese Pound (SDG) against USD.

The 29 countries measured in Western Europe span the middle to the lower end of the table, with none in the top 50 cheapest places in the world to get broadband and two in the bottom 50. The regional average price of $50.01 makes it the seventh cheapest of the thirteen global regions overall. The cheapest in the region was Malta ($27.01, 63rd), followed by Italy ($30.97, 70th) and Spain ($31.99, 76th). The most expensive was the Faroe Islands ($83.86, 182nd), followed by the Norway ($80.18, 176th) and Iceland ($76.24, 172nd).

However, it’s important to reflect that the core ranking of this study doesn’t tell the whole story, not least because it cannot easily reflect the other differences between packages, such as in things like value-added extras (static IP addresses, different router quality, security features, unlimited vs capped data allowances etc.) and broadband speeds.

Doing a true apples-to-apples value comparison would be nightmarishly difficult and, arguably, might work better if weighted to reflect cost using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The application of PPP is important because there can be huge differences between countries in terms of things like taxation, size of the state and monthly salaries (i.e. $1 will go many times further in some countries than others).

Rank
Name
Average cost of broadband (Per month in USD)
Average cost of broadband (Per Megabit per month in USD)

1
Sudan
$2.40
$0.83

2
Argentina
$5.17
$0.03

3
Belarus
$7.03
$0.75

4
Ukraine
$7.35
$0.04

5
Egypt
$8.31
$0.17

6
Romania
$8.60
$0.01

7
Vietnam
$8.72
$0.04

8
Kazakhstan
$9.08
$1.94

9
Moldova
$9.19
$0.04

10
Nepal
$9.51
$0.11

11
Zimbabwe
$9.64
$0.38

12
Russian Federation
$9.66
$0.02

13
India
$9.73
$0.08

14
Bulgaria
$10.47
$0.08

15
Iran
$10.69
$5.13

16
Turkey
$10.95
$0.11

17
Kyrgyzstan
$11.04
$0.30

18
Azerbaijan
$11.18
$0.96

19
Mongolia
$12.55
$0.71

20
Republic of Congo
$12.62
$0.12

21
Bangladesh
$13.73
$0.36

22
Georgia
$14.21
$0.89

23
Tunisia
$15.01
$0.67

24
Serbia
$15.36
$0.14

25
Kosovo
$15.36
$0.31

26
Uzbekistan
$15.43
$0.62

27
Pakistan
$15.52
$0.53

28
Northern Macedonia
$15.56
$0.22

29
Eswatini
$15.90
$6.09

30
Latvia
$16.59
$0.09

31
Lithuania
$16.94
$0.04

32
Czechia
$16.99
$0.18

33
Slovakia
$17.12
$0.03

34
Tajikistan
$17.42
$1.85

35
Tonga
$17.66
$1.59

36
Poland
$17.71
$0.03

37
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
$17.87
$2.04

38
Armenia
$18.21
$0.31

39
Albania
$18.32
$0.23

40
Ethiopia
$18.46
$2.02

41
China
$18.81
$0.05

42
Libya
$19.07
$4.48

43
Hungary
$20.01
$0.06

44
Colombia
$20.47
$0.03

45
Myanmar
$20.56
$0.71

46
Bosnia and Herzegovina
$20.72
$1.42

47
Algeria
$20.80
$0.57

48
Brazil
$21.18
$0.06

49
Paraguay
$21.44
$0.11

50
Chile
$21.86
$0.03

51
Nigeria
$21.89
$0.72

52
Lebanon
$21.91
$1.22

53
Croatia
$21.94
$0.08

54
Thailand
$22.56
$0.02

55
Liberia
$24.00
$7.70

56
Taiwan
$24.63
$0.28

57
Peru
$24.86
$0.12

58
Venezuela
$25.00
$0.22

59
Montenegro
$25.04
$0.52

60
Sri Lanka
$25.66
$3.26

61
Israel
$25.80
$0.19

62
South Korea
$25.99
$0.05

63
Malta
$27.01
$0.05

64
New Caledonia
$27.70
$0.44

65
Syria
$27.74
$7.19

66
Indonesia
$28.05
$0.41

67
Mayotte
$28.36
$1.42

68
Cambodia
$29.13
$1.17

69
Cuba
$29.52
$11.99

70
Italy
$30.97
$0.04

71
Estonia
$31.21
$0.35

72
Mauritius
$31.28
$0.44

73
Ecuador
$31.42
$0.19

74
Malaysia
$31.44
$0.09

75
Afghanistan
$31.86
$15.80

76
Spain
$31.99
$0.06

77
Portugal
$32.10
$0.10

78
Guatemala
$32.31
$0.38

79
Mexico
$32.35
$0.26

80
Austria
$32.67
$0.36

81
France
$33.16
$0.06

82
Dominican Republic
$33.51
$1.87

83
Sweden
$34.05
$0.14

84
Suriname
$34.35
$1.72

85
Togo
$34.36
$0.47

86
Nicaragua
$34.50
$1.70

87
Morocco
$34.65
$1.16

88
Greece
$34.86
$0.34

89
Philippines
$35.55
$0.14

90
Germany
$36.14
$1.04

91
Iraq
$37.19
$0.47

92
Panama
$37.67
$0.10

93
Finland
$38.15
$0.20

94
Denmark
$38.19
$0.30

95
Japan
$38.27
$0.06

96
United Kingdom
$38.79
$0.36

97
Bolivia
$39.24
$0.77

98
Jordan
$39.28
$0.16

99
Singapore
$39.37
$0.03

100
Senegal
$39.84
$2.11

101
Andorra
$40.13
$0.07

102
Slovenia
$40.29
$0.12

103
Puerto Rico
$40.63
$0.27

104
Réunion
$40.75
$0.03

105
Côte d’Ivoire
$40.82
$0.70

106
Mali
$40.82
$1.02

107
Åland Islands
$42.69
$0.67

108
Martinique
$42.69
$0.04

109
Ireland
$42.80
$0.16

110
Cyprus
$42.82
$1.14

111
Rwanda
$43.22
$0.36

112
El Salvador
$43.36
$0.35

113
Tanzania
$43.44
$1.00

114
Belize
$43.61
$0.86

115
Cape Verde
$44.20
$1.18

116
Zambia
$44.36
$3.52

117
Burkina Faso
$44.74
$3.25

118
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
$45.51
$0.18

119
Brunei Darussalam
$45.99
$0.34

120
Fiji
$46.18
$2.68

121
Costa Rica
$46.27
$2.99

122
The Netherlands
$46.81
$0.22

123
San Marino
$47.08
$0.26

124
Angola
$47.52
$2.95

125
Kenya
$47.73
$1.54

126
Jamaica
$48.11
$0.30

127
South Africa
$48.24
$0.50

128
New Zealand
$48.60
$0.15

129
Guadeloupe
$49.43
$0.36

130
Australia
$52.21
$1.05

131
Uganda
$52.59
$2.81

132
Luxembourg
$52.93
$0.28

133
French Guiana
$53.84
$0.24

134
Grenada
$54.58
$0.16

135
Somalia
$54.58
$42.42

136
Benin
$55.11
$1.77

137
Uruguay
$55.35
$0.09

138
Macau
$55.85
$0.09

139
Madagascar
$56.31
$0.56

140
Cameroon
$56.88
$17.47

141
Ghana
$57.65
$2.58

142
Namibia
$57.75
$2.47

143
Honduras
$58.00
$0.64

144
Canada
$58.26
$0.66

145
Saint Martin (France)
$58.35
$0.07

146
Belgium
$58.40
$0.36

147
Turkmenistan
$58.68
$21.11

148
Monaco
$58.84
$0.13

149
St. Pierre and Miquelon
$58.85
$0.49

150
Palestine (State of)
$59.95
$0.39

151
Saint Lucia
$62.35
$0.20

152
Liechtenstein
$62.41
$0.19

153
Guyana
$62.47
$1.69

154
Dominica
$62.90
$0.21

155
United States
$65.00
$0.08

156
French Polynesia
$65.27
$8.80

157
Mauritania
$65.66
$11.57

158
Trinidad and Tobago
$66.53
$0.23

159
Bahrain
$66.61
$0.50

160
Saint Helena
$68.02
$44.28

161
Switzerland
$68.38
$2.07

162
Isle of Man
$68.58
$1.16

163
Guernsey
$68.84
$1.11

164
Botswana
$68.92
$7.76

165
Jersey
$69.08
$0.11

166
Equatorial Guinea
$69.40
$26.84

167
Kuwait
$73.09
$0.46

168
Montserrat
$73.63
$0.44

169
Gibraltar
$74.86
$0.12

170
Maldives
$75.58
$2.09

171
Sierra Leone
$75.80
$14.50

172
Iceland
$76.24
$0.20

173
Hong Kong
$76.50
$0.39

174
Haiti
$77.00
$1.43

175
Gabon
$77.91
$0.57

176
Norway
$80.18
$0.21

177
Niger
$81.65
$52.05

178
Cook Islands
$82.38
$10.58

179
Virgin Islands (U.S.)
$82.45
$0.80

180
Curaçao
$82.78
$0.33

181
Antigua and Barbuda
$83.64
$2.44

182
Faroe Islands
$83.86
$2.13

183
American Samoa
$85.00
$2.84

184
Djibouti
$85.53
$3.91

185
Sao Tome and Prencipe
$85.78
$5.32

186
Saint Kitts and Nevis
$85.96
$0.87

187
Lesotho
$85.98
$1.31

188
Barbados
$86.44
$0.16

189
Gambia
$87.33
$4.19

190
Saudi Arabia
$91.53
$0.24

191
Qatar
$91.55
$0.06

192
Anguilla
$91.57
$0.32

193
Marshall Islands
$92.03
$142.88

194
Caribbean Netherlands
$93.89
$2.52

195
Vanuatu
$94.44
$9.50

196
Palau
$95.37
$6.36

197
Oman
$95.47
$0.30

198
Comoros
$96.11
$62.46

199
Aruba
$103.05
$0.44

200
Bahamas
$103.81
$1.05

201
Micronesia (Federated States of)
$107.25
$22.08

202
Timor-Leste
$107.33
$19.80

203
Seychelles
$108.51
$5.84

204
Greenland
$114.60
$10.02

205
Sint Maarten
$115.00
$5.90

206
Eritrea
$116.66
$338.15

207
Bhutan
$117.75
$6.83

208
Mozambique
$118.26
$14.10

209
Samoa
$133.53
$1.34

210
Saint Barthélemy (St. Barts)
$134.56
$5.01

211
Guam
$135.00
$1.60

212
Falkland Islands
$139.74
$28.01

213
Christmas Island
$141.85
$11.33

214
United Arab Emirates
$142.65
$4.31

215
Cayman Islands
$155.04
$0.57

216
Yemen
$159.71
$29.92

217
British Indian Ocean Territory
$167.33
$16.21

218
Congo (Democratic Republic of)
$170.97
$2.96

219
Bermuda
$185.00
$0.55

220
Virgin Islands (British)
$189.00
$0.28

221
Turks and Caicos Islands
$212.00
$0.84

222
Burundi
$304.57
$116.66

223
Solomon Islands
$457.84
$289.75

A new Opinium survey of 2,004 UK adults, which was commissioned by Uswitch.com and conducted between 16th April 2024 to 22nd April 2024, has claimed that broadband ISP customers who haven’t switched for 7-8 years are the worst off, paying on average £22.10 extra a month. The situation is almost as bad for mobile users’ too.

Most of the major broadband and mobile providers tend to entice new customers with big first-term discounts, which promptly evaporate at the end of that term as prices return to their standard level (in some cases, this can double your monthly payments). On top of that, it’s also fairly common for such providers to also introduce mid-contract price hikes that can hit both new and existing customers alike.

In January 2024, Uswitch calculated prices for broadband customers would rise by £27.19 per year on average, and mobile customers would see an average increase of £24.23 per year. This was based on the majority of broadband and mobile providers calculating their annual price rises based on December 2023’s 4% inflation rate plus an additional 3.9%.

The other problem with being loyal is that you can end up being stuck on a legacy contract / package that could ultimately cost a lot more over the longer term, unless you proactively elect to upgrade, change or re-negotiate your existing package (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill). The new survey helps to underline the impact of this.

The Cost of Loyalty

The survey found that customers have seen huge variations in pounds-and-pence price rises, depending on their original package and how long they’ve stayed with their provider – with the impact of percentage increases compounding every year.

For example, broadband customers who haven’t switched for 7-8 years are the worst off, paying on average £22.10 extra a month (45% more than the national average increase of £15.20). By comparison, mobile customers who haven’t switched for 8-9 years have been hit by an average £13.20 monthly bill rise (67% more than the national average of £7.90).

On the flip side, those who switched their mobile provider less than one year ago were the best off, with their increases averaging out at £6.70, or 15% lower than the national average of £7.90. Similarly, those who switched their broadband provider less than one year ago saw their price increase average out at £11.75 – 23% lower than the national average of £15.20.

Average amount broadband bills have increased by since March 2024

Length of time spent with same provider
Average monthly increase in 2024

Less than one year
£11.75

1-2 years
£13.40

2-3 years
£15.80

3-4 years
£15.90

4-5 years
£12.80

5-6 years
£13.60

6-7 years
£15.60

7-8 years
£22.10

8-9 years
£21.90

Average amount mobile bills have increased by since March 2024

Length of time spent with same provider
Average monthly increase in 2024

Less than one year
£6.70

1-2 years
£7.70

2-3 years
£8.50

3-4 years
£8.40

4-5 years
£7.90

5-6 years
£7.00

6-7 years
£11.70

7-8 years
£12.80

8-9 years
£13.20

As if to make matters worse, some 23% of respondents were unsure about how much their bills have gone up, while 44% still don’t know when their contract ends (this is important if you’re looking to leave penalty-free). The most common reason for this is because they rely on reminders from providers to pay bills or renew contracts (28%), although 18% confess they aren’t good at keeping track of dates.

Clearly, the regulator’s End-of-Contract Notifications (ECN) system, which requires all telecoms providers to issue such notifications to existing subscribers at the end of their term (sent by text, email or letter), may not be working for everybody. The ECN system was intended to help tackle the so-called “loyalty penalty” by keeping customers informed about the best deals and thus encouraging switching.

In addition, Ofcom recently moved to BAN broadband ISPs and mobile network operators from doing mid-contract price hikes that are linked to confusing inflation and percentage-based changes (here), although this won’t be enforced until around the end of this year. On top of that, this change is more about improving the transparency of pricing – it doesn’t completely ban mid-contract hikes.

In theory, the regulator’s new One Touch Switch (OTS) system, which aims to make it both quicker and easier for consumers to switch broadband providers on different networks, could help to make migrating between ISPs a lot easier. But after several long delays, that isn’t due to be implemented until 12th September 2024 (here) – assuming it meets that date.

Consumer magazine Which? have announced that UK broadband ISP Zen Internet has been crowned the winner of their new ‘Customer Service Brand of the Year Award’ for 2024, while mobile network operator SMARTY picked up the award for ‘Utilities Brand of the Year’.

Broadband provider Zen Internet is already Which?’s only Recommended Provider for broadband and is said to have impressed the judging panel with its high scores for customer service, technical support and value for money.

The winners were apparently selected by a panel of “experts” through a “rigorous and impartial” process, although the press release didn’t include much detail on this side of things.

Winners at the 2024 Which? Brand Awards

Which? banking brand of the year – Starling Bank
Which? insurance brand of the year – NFU Mutual
Which? travel brand of the year – Jet2
Which? retailer of the year – Richer Sounds
Which? utilities brand of the year – SMARTY
Which? customer service brand of the year – Zen Internet
Which? car brand of the year – Honda
Which? baby and child brand of the year – CYBEX
Which? Computing brand of the year – Samsung
Which? Home entertainment brand of the year – LG
Which? best value appliance brand of the year – Beko
Which? Trusted Trader of the year – Move On Removals & Storage Ltd.

Interview

At this year’s Connected North conference, the inaugural Start-up Competition saw ten shortlisted start-ups take to the stage to present their business to a panel of expert judges.

We caught up with Judith McMinn, founder of winning start-up Rezon, to learn more about the company’s concussion-reducing headband and how they are integrating wearable brain electroencephalogram (EEG) technology.

Firstly, congratulations on winning the startup competition at this year’s Connected North! Tell us a little about your background and how you came up with the idea for Rezon?

Thank you!

My professional background is in management consulting, so I’m a problem solver by trade, and the core idea behind Rezon is actually to do with a problem I first encountered in childhood.

Like many people, I played hockey as a child, and I often wondered why we protected our shins and our teeth, but not our brain. Protective gear in sport is typically designed to protect the scalp, like scrum caps, or the head more generally, like helmets, but very little is done to protect the brain itself.

In the last few years there’s been a growing awareness around brain injury in sport, particularly in American football with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and, more recently, in rugby. Identifying concussions have been a major focus for both the media and sporting bodies, but its sub-concussions – small force impacts that are around 500 times more frequent than concussions – that are also causing major lasting damage to the brain.

And there’s little being done to protect against this.

What makes these sub-concussions so dangerous? 

Well, it’s really important to understand the physicality of the brain. When a head impact occurs, rotational forces cause the brain to rotate inside the skull, and when the brain rotates it tears brain cells and tiny blood vessels, creating inflammation.

Sub-concussions like this are caused by just a quarter of the force of a regular concussion and, unlike full concussions, they’re completely asymptomatic.

However, over the years, with thousands of impacts taking place, the damage accumulates, contributing to neurological conditions like early-onset dementia, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, memory issues, and much more.

For example, research tells us that if you’ve had 1,000,000 radians per second (the measure of rotational acceleration, i.e., rotational force) applied to your brain, your risk of CTE is increased by 22%. Head impacts in sport can often be up to 8,000–9,000 radians per second in a game of football or rugby, so in many cases we’re talking just 100–200 impacts to pass that threshold.

For reference, the average rugby player will likely take1,500 sub-concussions a season! The average football player will take 600. So, the scale of this issue is enormous, and for every player, not just those in professional sport.

We knew very quickly that we needed to find a way to reduce those rotational forces on the brain, and partially in sub-concussive impacts, so this was the focus for our Halos headband.

Tell us more about the Halos headband and how it works?

In 2020, I started investigating brain health more deeply and began bringing together brain and manufacturing experts to create a solution.

After two years of research, we created our Halos headband, which is a patented design of nine layers of material. As the head is impacted, some of those layers deform and move over each other, essentially reducing the energy that’s delivered to the brain.

Our studies have shown that wearing the Halos can reduce rotational forces by up to 61%. We also had it tested by Virginia Tech, who gave it 5-stars after finding it to reduce the risk of concussion by 74%.

We’ve worked hard to ensure that the headband is sport agnostic, gender agonistic, and age agnostic. That’s really important, because protecting your brain needs to start early in life. You don’t get early onset dementia just because you turned up at the Manchester United Academy or you started playing for Harlequins as a young adult. You get it because you started playing at three or four and have accumulated damage since then.

Of course, every brain is unique. There are some people who can take thousands and thousands of impacts with no obvious consequences, and other people, sadly, where the threshold is much lower. But we know that the threshold is lower in women, and we know it’s lower in children, so these groups are particularly vulnerable.

We’re a British company formed in County Durham and we make our protective headband here in the UK. It’s fully recyclable and carbon footprint of the band is just 0.4kg, so the equivalent of driving a mile in the car.

We brought our protective headband to market in the spring of 2022, and we are now used 18 sports, varying from the traditional sports associated with head impacts like rugby and football all the way to more unconventional sports like handball and quadball, which people would know as quidditch.

Now, with our US-partner Cogwear, we’re putting brain monitoring tech within the Halos to wearers to better understand their own brain health.

Tell us more about this collaboration with Cogware

What Cogware have developed is the world’s first in-motion clinical-grade EEG  technology, which measures your brain activity. EEG itself is not a new technology, but it’s traditionally been incredibly bulky, costly and inconvenient – it usually requires you to sit in a darkened room with a big swim cap on, told not to move, don’t sneeze, don’t talk… Cogwear have miniaturised the technology so that it’s about the size of your thumb.

We’ve combined this with our Halos design, meaning that wearing the headband can provide you with clinical grade brain data in real-time. People can baseline their brain health in the comfort of their own home or their own changing room before sport begins, so that they can properly assess the severity of impacts during the game. This will allow us to diagnose concussions and sub-concussions as they happen, keeping players safer and helping to determine when or if they are fit to return to play.

All brains are different, and the best way to monitor brain health is to monitor your brain against your brain. We’re giving people a real-time view of their brain activity so they can make more informed decisions.

Being able to measure brainwaves in action like this is very exciting! Are there any other applications for this technology you’re currently exploring?

Well, what’s really interesting about this technology is that it can measure not just damage from collisions, but all kinds of performance elements. Brainwaves can reveal a lot about our metal state, from stress to concentration levels.

For example, we’ve been doing work in the US focussed on golf, and we can now accurately predict the shot that a golfer’s going to take by monitoring the brain.

That is the groundbreaking when it comes to understanding sporting performance. Who has the best mental state to take the match-winning penalty kick? What does an elite athlete’s brain look like? How does my brain handle an intense training session? These are all questions this very sophisticated neurotechnology will help to answer and that has big implications for the sporting world and beyond.

We envisage the Halos being used for coaching and training, as well as for protection.

Our focus has always been on unlocking the invisible world of the brain, and doing so in a flexible way that suits the individual. The brain is slowly becoming more understood through sophisticated neuroimaging, and I think this is going to change the conversation. Soon people will begin thinking about their brains in terms of diet or fitness, like any other body part.

Want to know more about Rezon, brain health, and concussion protection? Join Judith and Rezon at Connected Britain 2024! Get your tickets now

News

The company described the trial as a “pivotal moment in network security” 

 

Sparkle, Telecom Italia (TIM) ’s international services arm, has completed the first test of an international Virtual Private Network (VPN) protected with quantum encryption in partnership with Arqit Quantum, a UK company that specialises in quantum-safe encryption. 

The Proof of Concept (PoC) on the first Internet Protocol secure tunnel ran between Italy and Germany using Arqit’s Symmetric Key Agreement Platform.  

The trial was also supported by Telsy, a TIM owned company that specialises in cyber security. 

According to the press release, Arqit Quantum’s software-based technology will allow it to be easily scaled across existing telecoms networks, allowing for the safe transfer of sensitive data across geographical borders without the threat of cybersecurity breaches. 

“The successful completion of the quantum-safe VPN PoC, preliminary to a large-scale commercial launch, anticipates the potential threat of quantum decryption and confirms our market leading commitment to continuously elevating the security and resilience of Sparkle’s infrastructure,” said Sparkle’s Chief Marketing & Product Management Officer Daniele Mancuso. 

The advent of quantum computers poses a major threat to classical cryptography, potentially able to break through existing encryption methods in a matter of seconds. As such, developing quantum-resistant cryptography is a growing focus for the telecoms industry, as well as governments, militaries, and the public sector.  

Arqits’s solution works by creating pairs of pre-shared keys on demand, being used as both authentication and data-in-transit encryption keys. The platform then works as a broker for the creation of all subsequent keys, authenticating each endpoint with each request. 

This methodology, developed following well-established cryptographic primitives, is reportedly extremely robust against quantum attack. 

“Sparkle’s establishment of the first quantum-safe VPN between Catania and Frankfurt signifies a key milestone in telecoms cybersecurity,” said David Williams, Arqit founder, CEO and Chairman.  

“By leveraging Arqit’s SKA Platform, Sparkle is pioneering a new era of secure communication, ensuring the resilience of critical networks against the looming threat of quantum adversaries,” he continued. 

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