News

Viewpoint Article By Steven Moore, Head of Climate Action at the GSMA At the time of writing, there are an estimated five billion phones lying dormant, sitting in drawers unused, but full of useful material. Those mobiles contain 50,000 tonnes of copper, 500 tonnes of silver, 100 tonnes of gold, and enough cobalt for 10 million EV batteries! Taking an unused and neglected device tucked away at home can have a monumental effect: it can help get someone online who couldn’t previously afford it;...

Broadband ISP BT Business has today announced the launch of their new Wi-Fi 6 capable Smart Hub 3 (SH3.1) router and WiFi mesh extender system (Complete Wi-Fi Plus) for small business customers, which follows last month’s soft launch of similar kit for customers of their EE consumer division (here). The official announcement is very vague […]

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed an alternative way of solving the debate over whether WiFi or mobile broadband (5G) should benefit from the extra capacity (i.e. faster speeds) available in the Upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz) – “hybrid sharing“. Just to recap. Ofcom has already made the Lower part […]

One of the biggest challenges for cheaper, and often faster, alternative broadband networks is the issue of consumer awareness. A new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults (conducted during May 2023), which was commissioned by Uswitch, has found that only 15% of respondents have heard of altnets before. The results are interesting, not least because […]

Fibre optic network builder Netomnia, which is supported by UK ISP YouFibre, has today announced a significant milestone after their rollout of a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network passed the 500,000 premises mark (up from 410k in March) and topped 40,000 customers. The operator, which is currently present in parts of […]

The latest research from Ookla, which operates the popular broadband connection testing service Speedtest.net, has revealed that Smartphone users using 5G based mobile broadband networks suffer between 6% to 11% higher battery drain than for those using 4G. The study was actually focused on identifying the difference between modern chipsets (SoC) on Android based Smartphones, […]

News Swedish telecommunications company Tele2 has been fined SEK 12 million (€1.01m) by the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) for breaching GDPR regulations with its use of Google Analytics Following 101 complaints from non-profit organisation None of Your Business (NOYB) of unlawful data transfers from the EU to the US, the IMY found that Tele2 and three other Swedish companies (CDON, Coop and Dagens Industri) had unlawfully transferred data between the EU and USA. The illegal...

News The new facility will house test labs, warehouses, production lines, and offices, providing customers and partners the ideal location for the co-creation of new mobile solutions This week, Ericsson has announced plans to create of a new manufacturing and research facility in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Situated in the Ulemiste City business park, alongside the company’s existing supply factory, the €155 million investment will see the creation of a new 50,000 square metre tech hub,...

News Battersea power station is now benefitting from fast 4G speeds provided by Vodafone, recently named London’s most reliable network. Vodafone customers visiting, working or residing in the newly opened Battersea Power station can now benefit from fast 4G connections and more reliable calls, following the launch of a new in-building cellular network. The improvements have been introduced by in-building connectivity specialist Exchange Communications, ensuring that those visiting and working...

In a not unsurprising move, BT has confirmed that their legacy Line Rental Saver (LRS) discount is to finally be “withdrawn from sale” on 21st July 2023. The service gave a special discount to home broadband customers who separately pre-paid for their phone line rental a year in advance. The LRS product is a legacy […]