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The Connected Britain Awards recognise the most significant and innovative organisations, solutions, and programmes that are shaping Britain’s digital future. 

This year we’ve had a record number of entries across our 15 categories. 

Join us at the end of Day One at Connected Britain when the winners will be revealed! 

The full 2023 shortlist is as follows:  

B2B Service Provider of the Year Award – Sponsored by Digital Infrastructure 

Finalists: 

Gigabit Networks 

Giganet 

ITS Technology Group 

Pangea 

Truespeed 

Vodafone Business UK 

Broadband Provider of the Year Award – Sponsored by VETRO 

Finalists: 

Brsk Ltd 
Fibrus
Giganet 
Lightning Fibre
Truespeed 

Wessex Internet 

Wildanet 

Digital Skills Award 

Finalists: 

Dorset Council – Embedded digital champions 

Innovation Nottinghamshire – 5G Careers Programme 

Kent County Council (Digital Kent) 

Lloyds Banking Group and We Are Digital 

Vodafone Business & Enterprise Nation – business.connected   

Enterprise Solution of the Year 

Finalists: 

Eseye Infinity IoT Platform 

IFS Planning & Scheduling Optimization (PSO) 

Jetty 

Qualcomm Technologies, Wi-Fi 7 Networking Pro Series platforms 

VETRO 

Vitruvi Software  

Project Rollout Award  

Finalists: 

CityFibre 

County Broadband Ltd 

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) and LCR Connect 

Lothian Broadband Networks (LBN) 

Openreach 

Truespeed 

The Access Innovation Award 

Finalists: 

Avanti Communications 

 DexGreen Ltd 

Lothian Broadband Networks (LBN) 

Norfolk County Council 

Scottish Water and Atos using Starlink 

The Barrier Removal Award  

Finalists: 

CityFibre 

Intelligens Consulting with with Renfrewshire Council 

Kent County Council – Kent Wayleave Toolkit 

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) 

Lothian Broadband Networks (LBN) 

Trenches Law 

The Community Improvement Award  

Finalists: 

Coventry City Council #CovConnects 

FullFibre – Fibre Heroes’ Community Investment Fund 

Get Online London 

Greater Manchester Combined Authority – Get Online Greater Manchester: for care leavers 

Ogi, ‘Cefnogi’ Community Fund 

Sunderland City Council’s local connectivity shapes communities fit for the future 

Three Discovery 

Wildanet 

The Full Fibre ISP Innovation Award – Sponsored by Calix 

Finalists: 

Brsk Ltd 

Gigabit Networks 

Giganet 

Hey! Broadband 

Hyperoptic 

TalkTalk Wholesale Services 

The Industrial Innovation Award 

Finalists: 

Dexgreen Ltd – Virtual Buddy Training App 

Neutral Wireless – Private 5G Network Deployed for King Charles III’s Coronation 

Prodapt OpenFibreXchange 

Vodafone – 5G SA Slicing 

Zeti Limited   

The Smart Places Award – Sponsored by ITS 

Finalists: 

Connected for Success: Welcome to Sunderland, City of Smart 

FarrPoint Western Isles IoT Project 

Living Map Ltd 

NYnet Ltd / North Yorkshire Council 

Virgin Media O2 Business and partners. Greater Manchester Local Full Fibre Network programme 

The Wireless Innovation Award 

Finalists: 

EdgeQ 

Freshwave and the City of London Corporation 

Jangala 

Neutral Wireless – Private 5G Network Deployed for King Charles III’s Coronation 

Quickline Communications 

Scottish Water, Blackspot Networks and Atos 

The Rising Star Award 

Finalists: 

Chris Founds, CJ Founds Associates 

Franck Courbon, Ethicronics 

Haseeb Ahmed, NETS International Ltd 

James Harris, Cable Giants Ltd 

Liam Ceaplen, Jetty 

Phil Bairsto, Freedom Fibre 

The Sustainability Award – Sponsored by euNetworks 

Finalists: 

FarrPoint Western Isles IoT Project 

iLOQ Oy – iLOQ 5 Series Battery Free Locking Solution 

KCOM 

Openreach 

Wildanet 

Zayo: Zeus 

Startup of the Year Award 

Finalists: 

Artifeel
AssetHUB
Emu Analytics
Groundhawk io
Inteliports
Jetty
Lumilinks
SecHard
Stacuity
Weaver Labs 

Who will win? Find out at the end of Day 1 of Connected Britain 2022!  

Book your ticket here 

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Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.

ZTE has partnered with Thailand’s AIS (Advanced Info Service) on the world’s first dynamic RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface) trial in an mmWave network at the AZ centre in Bangkok.

This collaboration explores new possibilities in the field of millimetre-wave communication, offering a low-cost, low-carbon solution for deploying millimetre-wave networks at scale.  

RIS is an innovative multi-antenna technology that utilises electromagnetic metamaterials. RIS enables the extension of base station coverage by intelligently reflecting or transmitting base station signals, resulting in improved coverage at a low cost and with low carbon emissions. By incorporating dynamic functionality, ZTE’s RIS technology achieves beam sweeping and user tracking, effectively enhancing the coverage range of base stations and ensuring an optimal user experience even when the user is on the move.

During the trial, ZTE adopted the dynamic RIS product in the AIS millimetre-wave network with a 400MHz bandwidth. This implementation led to a substantial enhancement in millimetre-wave signal coverage. Users were able to consistently maintain a peak downlink rate of over 1.6Gbps and an uplink peak rate of over 260Mbps while moving within an office room larger than 400 square metres. This performance was more than three times that achieved without RIS under obstructed circumstances.

Millimetre-wave, as a crucial frequency range in 5G networks, offers the advantages of large bandwidth and capacity. However, due to its transmission characteristics it encounters significant challenges in terms of long-distance transmission and penetration through obstacles. Through the collaboration between ZTE and AIS, dynamic RIS technology has been successfully implemented in millimetre-wave networks. This technology effectively overcomes propagation obstacles and enhances coverage range and transmission speed. 

This collaboration represents an important milestone in the field of millimetre-wave communication, signifying a significant stride in the commercialisation of dynamic RIS technology. The implementation of this groundbreaking technology will usher in revolutionary changes to the global communication industry, establishing a stronger network foundation for the development of future smart cities, industrial IoT, and other domains.

Wasit Wattanasap, Head of Nationwide Operations and Support Business Unit of AIS, stated, “As Thailand’s leading mobile network operator, we are committed to advancing communication technology and popularising 5G networks. Our collaboration with ZTE has provided us with the opportunity to explore the application of RIS technology in mmWave communications. We believe that this technology will accelerate the arrival of the 5G-A era and deliver unprecedented communication experiences to users.”