Colchester-based alternative network ISP County Broadband, which has an ambition to cover 500,000 premises across the East of England with their new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by the end of 2027, has today signed a new partnership with civil engineering firm AB Installs to accelerate their rollout. The full fibre provider, which is being supported […]

Press release

The Liverpool City Region’s new full fibre network, built as part of LCR Connect, a 50% publicly owned joint venture, has played a leading role in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Utilising the 212km full fibre network that is being built across the six local authorities of the city region, LCR Connect provided the digital highway that enabled the successful delivery of the week-long celebration and Saturday’s final.

The grand final was broadcast live from Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena to a global television audience of more than 160 million people, with performances running throughout the week, including fringe events as well as two semi-finals.

LCR Connect is a joint venture between the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, led by Mayor Steve Rotheram, which owns 50% of the venture, alongside ITS, and NGE, who are delivering the network across the Liverpool City Region.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Staging a global spectacle like the Eurovision Song Contest to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world was a massive triumph for our area – and one that was made possible, in part, by our world-class infrastructure.

“Through LCR Connect, we’re delivering the fastest internet speeds in the country and positioning ourselves at the forefront of the UK’s digital revolution – and stand ready to attract the thousands of well-paid jobs and training opportunities it will bring to our area. We’ve shown the world that nowhere is more capable, or qualified, to host global events than the Liverpool City Region.”

The network, which is on track to be completed this year, is designed to significantly improve connectivity, and will support internet access for businesses and other organisations, making the city region among the best-connected areas of the UK.

Working with the BBC, technology partners and the National Cyber Security Centre, experts from LCR Connect and joint venture partners ITS and NGE provided the design and deployment of the network.

Utilising the ITS Faster Britain full fibre network, the solution ensured Eurovision 2023 was broadcast to the largest global audience in the contest’s history, as well as providing connectivity to the world’s media, audience members and visitors in the city.

Ahead of the event, organisers had been especially alert to a possible cyber-attack after Italian police thwarted attempts by pro-Russian hackers to disrupt last year’s event in Turin, so network security was a central element to this year’s planning.

To ensure resilience, the solution encompassed completely diverse routes from the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool to independent locations in London, where internet traffic was handed off to the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union, allowing the show to be beamed around the world.

And ITS, in partnership with leading security experts NTT, also provided protection for the public facing internet traffic at the arena, defending against distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks, a tactic commonly used by cyber-criminals.

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS, said:

“The vision of LCR Connect is to provide a world-leading full fibre network to the City Region, and this weekend that has been in evidence. We were delighted to work with multi-agency colleagues to deliver this event in Liverpool to a global audience.

“Our network and security measures have enabled broadcasters to take this spectacle to its biggest ever audience, providing reliable connectivity to visitors across the city, and contributed to a memorable week of celebrations across the City Region – it really does show the power of connectivity. I would like to thank the technical teams that have enabled such a successful event.”

Scott Bicknell, UK Managing Director of NGE, said:

“Eurovision 2023 has been placed under the sign of unity, which is also one of NGE’s values, demonstrated each day by the work our teams carry out together with the Liverpool City Region and our partner ITS to bring high-speed internet in the region.

“We are thrilled to have contributed to the successful delivery of this major European event, with the construction of a reliable and transformative infrastructure for local businesses and communities. A shout out to our Liverpool teams for their commitment.”

 

Startup Stories

Utrecht based startup, Komensky, empowers telecom companies to ensure their workforces stay competitive and innovative. They will be joining us at Total Telecom Congress this November.

About Komensky & Our Founder, Fedor Hagenaar:
Founded by Fedor Hagenaar, a specialist with almost 20 years of experience in enterprise learning strategy, Komensky is an innovative startup designed to future-proof workforces. Fedor’s expertise spans across a multitude of areas including learning ecosystem strategy, skill mobility, personalized learning, and learning analytics. His conviction that an organization’s success lies in its ability to learn and adapt led to the inception of Komensky. This innovative platform facilitates the re- and upskilling of individuals for in-demand professions, bridging the gap between current competencies and the skills of tomorrow.

Our Unique Selling Proposition (USP) & Services:
Komensky stands out for its emphasis on skills-based learning. Our platform is powered by an adaptive skills engine, which uses a robust skill framework to make informed decisions and recommendations. It maps specific job descriptions to skills, levels, knowledge, abilities, and assessment criteria. This allows employees to identify their skill gaps and receive personalized recommendations to help them and the organization develop and grow.

Our comprehensive service offering covers a wide range of learning needs. From content curation, creation, and conversion to learning management, automation, and complex reporting, we provide solutions that support sustainable learning strategies and internal skill mobility.

Relationship with the Telecom Sector & Partnerships:
In the telecom sector, Komensky plays a pivotal role in helping companies adapt to the rapidly evolving technological landscape. By providing tailored educational solutions, we empower telecom companies to ensure their workforces stay competitive and innovative.

Our partnerships extend to reputable libraries like GoodHabitz and LinkedIn Learning. We also integrate all proprietary content and use open source content relevant for a set skill set, enabling us to provide a diverse range of learning resources.

Our Journey to the Current Stage of Development & Future Plans:
Our development is a result of extensive research, experience, and collaborations. We’ve interviewed thousands of individuals, advised dozens of companies, and delved deep into learning psychology and technology. This wealth of knowledge and expertise has helped us refine our platform to optimally meet the needs of our clients.

In light of the European Year of Skills in 2023, we plan to further elaborate on skill-based learning for all, solidifying our commitment to creating a future-proof workforce.

Our Inspiration, Recognition, and Awards:
Inspired by the wisdom of Jan Amos Komensky — ‘You live, you learn’ — we established Komensky with a vision to revolutionize learning and development in the professional sphere. Our efforts have been recognized by reputable organizations. We’ve been featured on RedThread Research‘s Skill Tech Vendor Map and have been nominated for two Learning Pool awards. We’re proud to have won the Extraordinary Impact Award 2022 from Learning Pool, a testament to our dedication and effectiveness in the EdTech sector.

The Future of Komensky:
Komensky envisions a future where our platform becomes integral to every organization’s learning and development strategy, driving growth, and enhancing workforce capabilities across industries. We are committed to continuously innovating our platform to accommodate the ever-evolving demands of the labor market and deepen our engagement with the telecom sector.

At Komensky, we firmly believe that the future of work is intrinsically tied to lifelong learning, and we are poised to lead the way in this transformative journey.

There are still opportunities to join Komensky in the Startup Village at the Total Telecom Congress this November. To find out more, visit the website totaltele.com/congress

SpaceX’s popular Starlink ISP, which harnesses thousands of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver ultrafast broadband speeds and fast latency times to homes, has launched a new promotion for people in UK rural areas that slashes the one-off hardware cost by 75% from £460 to just £99. Customers in the UK would […]

A new study from Ookla, which operates the popular broadband connection testing service Speedtest.net, has surprised absolutely nobody today by revealing that home WiFi performance continues to lag behind wired Ethernet (LAN) performance in many advanced markets (e.g. Wi-Fi speeds in the UK were just 29.8% of Ethernet in Q1 2023). The fact that Wireless […]

Rural broadband ISP Wildanet, which is rolling out a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of South West England (mostly Cornwall), has today revealed the next 4 locations in Devon that will benefit from their ongoing infrastructure build. The provider, which is being supported by an investment of £50m from the Gresham House […]

Internet video streaming giant Netflix has reportedly contacted several major UK broadband ISPs that bundle their service with Pay TV products, including Sky Broadband, BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, to discuss the potential impact on customers of their imminent crackdown on password / account sharing. At present Netflix’s terms merely state that access to your […]

Crewe-based broadband and phone provider Ice Telecommunications Ltd (Ice Comms) has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after they were found to have made 72,682 unsolicited marketing (SPAM) calls to businesses registered with the CTPS or TPS between 13th Sept 2021 and 31st Jan 2022. The ICO said they received 30 complaints […]

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) and Point Topic just published their 2023 report into the impact of alternative “full fibre” (FTTP/B) gigabit broadband networks, which reveals that AltNets grew their UK cover by 50.18% in 2022 to top 8.22 million premises (up from 5.46m in 2021). But the rollout slowed. The figures above are […]

News

From improved coverage to beam forming and energy savings, the emergent technology is one that could come to define the future of wireless network deployment

As we look towards the future and the 6G era, one of the most anticipated emerging technologies is surely Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS).

A RIS is a surface comprising arrangement of scattering elements called unit-cells, which can be controlled to change its electromagnetic behaviour. This allows the RIS to dynamically alter the way in which it reacts to wireless signals, through increased or decreased reflection, refraction, focusing, collimation, modulation, and absorption.

When strategically deployed, the adaptability of RIS will not only allow operators to increase their coverage, but also provide additional spectral efficiency, security, energy savings, and more.

RIS could also allow for a cost-effective network deployment in areas that were previously unfeasible using traditional solutions, such particularly indoors.

Now, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has released a new report on the topic – ETSI GR RIS-001 – seeking to identify and define RIS use cases and produce related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The report includes 11 defined use cases for the new technology, including deployment scenarios and potential requirements for the new technology.

“In the future 5G-Advanced and 6G wireless networks, many new applications, such as in eHealth, strongly impose requirements on both the communication and sensing performance,” explained Arman Shojaeifard, Chair of the ETSI RIS group. “As an example, a RIS can reconfigure the radio environment to sense human posture and detect someone falling, a useful application for elderly care.”

Numerous operators are already exploring the potential of this latent technology. In fact, last year Orange became the first operator in Europe to demonstrate RIS in action at their Orange Research and Innovation Exhibition in Paris, France.

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