Mobile operator Vodafone has launched a Mobile Private Network (MPN) solution for businesses and other organisations, which supports the latest 5G Standalone (SA) technology. This means that those who deploy it should benefit from faster mobile broadband speeds, latency and more service customisation. Unlike most existing Non-Standalone (NSA) based 5G networks that rely on some […]

Broadband ISP RunFibre, which is rolling out a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural areas of South Gloucestershire (England), has announced that they’ve just gone live in the village of Charfield West. But on the flip side, they’ve had to remove several villages from their plan due to competition. Firstly, the deployment to the […]

UK ISP Glide Group, which is currently extending their full fibre broadband network (leased lines and FTTP etc.) to serve more homes and businesses, has announced that they’ve completed a network upgrade of their London datacentre ring – pushing its capability to 9.6Tbps (Terabits) using Juniper PTX series routers. The provider currently has three datacentres […]

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The test was carried out with support from AT&T, Vodafone, and Rakuten Mobile in what the satellite operator claims to be an industry first

Today, US based AST SpaceMobile has announced the results of a successful test that saw it conduct the world’s first ever voice call over satellite using unmodified smartphones.

The call took place in Midland, Texas, over AT&T’s network, using AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite to connect to the recipient on Rakuten Mobile’s network in Japan.

“Achieving what many once considered impossible, we have reached the most significant milestone to date in our quest to deliver global cellular broadband from space. While we take a moment to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment, we remain focused on the path ahead and pivotal next steps that get us closer to our goal of transforming the way the world connects,” said Abel Avellan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AST SpaceMobile. “I am immensely proud of our team and our incredible partners, whose unwavering dedication and tireless efforts have brought us to this pivotal moment.”

Additional tests were also performed to verify the transfer of SIM information to BlueWalker 3, as well as to test the uplink and downlink rates of 4G and 5G signals.

The BlueWalker 3 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite itself was launched in September last year and serves as a protype for AST SpaceMobile’s planned commercial satellites, called BlueBirds. Ultimately, AST hopes to deliver direct-to-mobile satellite services to customers around the world using these BlueBirds and has already secured contracts with numerous operators to this effect.

AT&T itself partnered with AST in December last year, saying the planned satellite constellation would help boost the operator’s coverage across rural America.

For now, it is unclear whether access to the satellite for connectivity would be included in existing mobile packages or would come at an extra cost, with AT&T previously said it was “too early” to make such a decision.

The US telecoms space race appears to be well underway, with all three of the American wireless giants having already struck partnerships with LEO players.

For AT&T, their primary partner is UK-based LEO OneWeb, while rival T-Mobile is partnered with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use the Starlink satellite constellation. Both of these companies already have satellites in orbit; Starlink has around 4,000 satellites circling the Earth so far, while OneWeb is just one launch away from achieving the total number of devices it needs to provide global coverage.

Verizon, on the other hand, has a deal to use Amazon’s fledgling satellite programme, Project Kuiper, which is aiming to launch its first satellites into orbit in 2024.

How will satellite connectivity impact the US connectivity landscape? Join the experts in discussion at upcoming Connected American 2024 conference

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AST SpaceMobile, which is backed by Vodafone and several other global mobile network operators, has successfully completed the “first-ever two-way voice calls” between their prototype BlueWalker 3 satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and a regular 4G and 5G capable Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone on Earth. The announcement claims that this is “the first time […]

Network operator Freedom Fibre, which aims to cover over 2 million premises in England and Wales with their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network – supported by UK ISP TalkTalk, has today added three new neighbouring towns along the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire and Merseyside to their rollout plan. The operator, which is being backed by a […]

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The French operator’s virtual reality (VR) tour of Notre-Dame serves as a window into the future of VR, with profits going towards the cathedral’s restoration

Since the Middle Ages, Notre-Dame de Paris has been one of the most celebrated and recognisable buildings in the world. A focal point of French history, the cathedral has played host to countless pivotal events, from the crowning of Henry VI of England as King of France in 1431 to the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor in 1804. For many, Notre-Dame represents not just the city of Paris, but the indomitable spirit of France itself.

Perhaps this is why, when a fire broke out on the evening of April 15 2019, images of the building engulfed in flame evoked such visceral sadness, not only within France but around the globe.

Now, four years on, in the midst of an extensive reconstruction process, French operator Orange is using VR to allow visitors to explore Notre-Dame throughout its history.

Orange’s ‘Eternal Notre-Dame’ was first launched in January 2022 in Orange’s facility in La Défense after two years of planning. It received around 5,000 visitors in the first six months and, after a year, was transferred to its current location adjacent to Notre-Dame itself. Since then, the experience has subsequently received over 60,000 visitors.

The experience itself takes place in an underground car park adjacent to the cathedral that has been repurposed to allow up to 100 headset-wearing visitors to wander freely, exploring the monument in the virtual world for around 45 minutes.

Alongside a headset, the experience requires visitors to don an LED-studded backpack that provides power and processing for the experience, while Wi-Fi infrastructure is used to track the users’ positioning within the facility and avoid collisions. While comfortable for the duration of the experience, this somewhat cumbersome setup illustrates one of the main obstacles facing the broader adoption of VR outside of a dedicated home-set up.

Nonetheless, for Morgan Bouchet, Orange’s global head of XR and metaverse, VR technology is on the right path. Devices are getting smaller, sleeker, and more powerful, and the advent of edge computing will allow the processing power to be offloaded to the cloud, eliminating the need for backpacks.

“In the Orange Lab at the Orange Innovation Park, we are exploring this scenario without the backpack thanks to edge computing. To stream the billions of polygons for the experience we need a very specific infrastructure, but thanks to 5G and fibre we can deliver it,” he said.

For Orange, part of the motivation for developing this experience was, of course, civic duty – of the €30 ticket price for the experience, Orange’s share (€10) is donated directly to Notre-Dame’s reconstruction.

But beyond helping to play a role in restoration, the value for Orange is also in demonstrating the potential of extended reality (XR) to enterprise customers. According to Bouchet a number of the operator’s B2B customers have already taken part in the experience and are reportedly ‘blown away’ by the technology’s potential.

“For Orange it’s a way to express something new,” said Bouchet. “We’re meeting with clients on the B2B side – they want to explore and understand the value of this technology and how they can use it in future. This is a good use case to demonstrate those capabilities.”

Bouchet said that major opportunities were available in segments like the automotive sector and healthcare, with virtual training being a key use case for both the private and public sectors.

As for the future of the ‘Eternal Notre-Dame’ experience itself, Orange says visitors will be able to enjoy the virtual tour until the end of 2024, to overlap with the Olympic games in Paris. Orange is also making the virtual experience available for customers around the world via Meta Quest’s App Lab and the Pico VR store; as before, all proceeds will go towards the cathedral’s restoration.

Furthermore, Bouchet explained that the project’s success has led them to begin engaging with other telcos and customers around the world with whom they could develop similar VR experiences.

“We’re currently in discussion with other countries in the world – in Asia and North America – to deliver similar experiences outside of France. We will look to licence the physical version of the VR experience to others if they want to offer the same kind of experience to their customers,” he explained.

Asked what Orange’s individual plans were for XR moving forward, Bouchet said that the company’s next project would also focus on Notre-Dame in the form of a 5G augmented reality experience for the social media app Snapchat.

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A new survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted by broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2), has found that respondents would rather give up booze (33%) and the gym (36%) than be without WiFi, with 98% stating they rely on broadband every day and 47% saying it’s vital they have a connection for the entire […]

Bath-based broadband ISP Truespeed, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of South West England, has today revealed that they’ve covered 70,000 premises and just connected their 150th community organisation – for free – as part of their ongoing rollout. The operator, which holds an “ambitious” target to reach 500,000 […]

The Government will today introduce their new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCCB), which among other things also promises several new protection measures that could benefit customers of broadband ISPs and mobile operators (e.g. clearer contract information and making it easier to exit a contract). The Bill, which will amend both the Competition Act […]