Brendan Dick Next to Openreach Van 2022

2023 New Year Honours for Members of BT and TalkTalk’s Team

The UK Government is in the process of publishing the King’s New Year Honours List for 2023, which sees Brendan Dick, the former Director of BT in Scotland (2006-18) and former Chair of Openreach’s Scotland Board (2018-21), picking up an OBE for services to telecommunications in Scotland. But he’s not alone.

The King’s New Year Honours list is said to recognise the achievements and public service of people across the UK, from all walks of life. Anyone can nominate someone for an honour, and nominees are then “checked by various government departments to make sure they’re suitable for an honour” (this may include checks by HMRC) and an honour’s committee will also review the nominations.

As well as the OBE award for BT’s Brendan Dick, TalkTalk’s former Early Careers Manager (until October 2022), Sam Davys, has been awarded an MBE for services to Young People and to Inclusion in Digital Industries. She’s now in a different role at the ISP, but the award recognises her work under the provider’s Kickstart program during the pandemic, whereby the DWP provided funding to employers to create jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit.

Read the full story here.

london underground tube

EE and Vodafone UK Extend 4G Mobile to 6 New London Underground Stations

Broadband and mobile operators EE (BT) and Vodafone have announced that they’ve extended their 4G network on the London Underground to include six more stations, covering parts of the Central and Northern lines, which reflects a partnership with BAI Communications. This builds on their already live coverage on the eastern half of the Jubilee Line.

At present, BAI holds a 20-year concession deal with Transport for London (TfL), which was signed in June 2021 (here) and allows them to build the new 4G mobile infrastructure itself and to then make it available via wholesale for Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to harness. The goal of this is to cover the entire London Underground with the new network by late 2024 (ticket halls, platforms and tunnels).

NOTE: O2 (VMO2), Three UKEE and Vodafone have all signed deals to harness the new infrastructure. The new network is classed as “5G-ready“.

The neutral host distributed antenna system (DAS) network, which will end up being supported by hundreds of kilometres of fibre optic cable laid in tunnels for data capacity (fitted outside operational hours), was first trialled on the Jubilee Line (eastern half of the line). The first new sections beyond that are now starting to go live.

Read the full story here.

vodafone mast and logo

Vodafone Deploys 5G Mobile to Five Additional UK Airports

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has this morning announced that their ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) network is now being deployed to cover a further five airports, such as the George Best Airport in Belfast and Newcastle International Airport. All were installed by Exchange Communications.

The two deployments mentioned above have already been completed, but Vodafone and Exchange Communications have already started work to deliver 5G across an additional three locations – the Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports – in the very near future.

Andrea Dona, Vodafone’s UK Network and Development Director, said: “Millions of passengers use these airports every year, so we’re delighted to be able to give them fast data speeds, however busy it gets. Meanwhile, each of these airports have an important role to play in their region and their local economy. So it’s great to be able to supply the connectivity they need to continue to grow and succeed.”

Read The Full Story Here.

gigaclear fibre route engineers

Gigaclear Bring Full Fibre to Rural Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire Border.

Rural UK ISP Gigaclear has announced that their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network is being extended to cover 3,500 homes and businesses in two neighbouring communities – the village of Aspley Guise and town of Woburn Sands – on the border between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

The provider’s network, which has already covered 360,000 premises (up from 300,000 in May 2022) across rural parts of England, already passes near to both locations and so the expansion makes plenty of sense. The only catch is that Openreach has already deployed FTTP across a large part of Woburn Sands, which in such a small area may make it harder for Gigaclear to make a positive impact.

Despite the competition, local councillor John Baker welcomed the work and expressed his “hope” that Swallowfield Primary, Aspley Guise Village School and Fulbrook Secondary “will soon be connected and children will be able to access all their favourite educational applications more quickly!

Read The Full Story Here.

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