EE mobile users in London can now access enhanced 4G and 5G coverage along Queen Victoria Street through a connectivity pilot led by Freshwave. Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has also signed up to the pilot and is expected to go live early in 2023. In busy areas such as city centres, the number of people […]

Telstra, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have achieved a new 5G download peak speed benchmark of 7.3Gbps achieved in Telstra’s live commercial network. The new global downlink speed benchmark for a single user was achieved at a Telstra live mobile site located at the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia. According to Ericsson, this latest achievement further demonstrates […]

AST SpaceMobile, the company building what it claims is the first space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has confirmed the closing of its offering of 13,636,364 shares of Class A Common Stock raising gross proceeds of $75 million (€71.1m). Riley Securities (B. Riley) was the sole book-running manager of the offering. […]

In the coming year, Deutsche Telekom plans to increase the pace of its fibre rollout significantly, with 2.5 to 3 million connections set to be added in 2023. In the current year, Telekom’s fibre team is fully on track to achieve the goal of offering FTTH connections to an additional 2 million households and businesses. […]

Ofcom probes telecoms price rise transparency UK comms regulator Ofcom has launched an industry-wide enforcement programme into whether in-contract price rises were set out clearly enough by phone and broadband companies before customers signed up. Having analysed customer complaints and other preliminary evidence, Ofcom is concerned that consumers who took out contracts between March 1st, […]

Intelsat has confirmed its launch plans for its Intelsat IS-41 and IS-44 satellites. Intelsat will use an Ariane 6 rocket to launch the pair of satellites in 2025. Thales Alenia Space is building the satellites, which will have a combined weight of some 8,000 kgs. “We are honoured, yet again, by our faithful long-time partner […]

Cellular telco Rakuten Mobile has obtained preliminary experimental test station licences to conduct mobile communication tests and preliminary verification in Japan using AST SpaceMobile’s low earth orbit satellite, BlueWalker 3. AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard unmodified mobile phones. In the future, Rakuten Mobile aims […]

Apple iPhone 14 owners in the US and Canada can now use their phone’s Text-based satellite SOS service when they are in uninhabited or dead zones as far as cellular or WiFi connectivity is concerned. In the event of an emergency their phone can send a Text message to one of 24 orbiting Globalstar satellites […]

As climate leaders meet at COP27 in Egypt, figures from the GSMA have revealed that global mobile operators are making strong progress in maximising the use of renewable energy in their networks. However, a survey indicates that access to an additional 64 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity – roughly equivalent to Austria’s annual energy usage […]

A consortium of funds led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR has entered into a strategic co-control partnership with telco Vodafone for Vodafone’s c. 81.7 per cent stake in Vantage Towers, a leading telecoms tower company in Europe. Vodafone will transfer its stake in Vantage Towers to a holding company (Oak BidCo), which will […]