Contributed Article

By Richard Moyes, Digital Solutions Business Director at Prysmian

With universal broadband access now recognised as a vital enabler of economic growth, some challenging targets remain.

At present, 86% of homes can connect to gigabit-capable broadband, but the remaining 14%—largely rural and remote properties—remain underserved. By 2032, the target is for 99% of premises to be connected.

Achieving this will require thousands of kilometres of new fibre, but equally significant is the need for upgrades to existing networks to meet rising demand.

Rising demand, shrinking copper

Households are now full-time bandwidth hubs, with simultaneous gaming, streaming, video calls, and online schooling. The copper switch-off by 2027 will transition legacy phone lines to digital solutions such as VOIP, further increasing reliance on broadband networks. In 2023 alone, UK broadband use rose by 10.5%.

This growth places increasing pressure on existing fibre infrastructure. Inferior fibre that cannot support higher bandwidths may soon face obsolescence, driving the need for network upgrades.

Smaller, more efficient cables are key to these improvements: they allow operators to retrofit new high-performance fibre into already congested ducts through a process known as overblowing, saving time and cost.

Prysmian’s Sirocco Extreme 864f microduct cable, for example, packs 864 fibres into just 9.8mm, achieving a record density of 11.5 fibres per square millimetre. This makes it possible to install in ducts as small as 12mm, unlocking greater network flexibility without disruptive civil works.

Beyond traditional fibre: The promise of hollow-core

The next frontier in broadband performance lies in hollow-core fibre technology. Unlike traditional glass-core fibres, hollow core features an air-filled core supported by precision-engineered anti-resonant structures.

This groundbreaking design creates a near-perfect mirror effect, enabling data transmission at transmission speeds nearly 50% faster and distances extended by 1.5 times. That means lower latency and connectivity stretching from 60km up to 90km. Prysmian, in partnership with Relativity Networks, is at the forefront of this development.

The economics of longevity

While innovation promises exciting future capacity, the durability of today’s fibre infrastructure is just as critical. Longevity is important because of the serious consequence of cable failure.

Cable replacement can be expensive: up to 60% of the total investment cost of a fibre optic network, particularly one in a congested urban environment, can be attributable to cable installation. As a comparison, the capital cost of the cable itself and connectivity hardware is about a fifth of that, at around 12% of the total investment.

Installing inferior quality fibre could result in some ISPs facing expensive rebuilds sooner than anticipated, rather than undertaking simple equipment upgrades. Where cable replacement is needed, innovative installation techniques, such as overblowing, will allow for retrofitting cable in existing ductwork without the need for extensive ground works.

Prysmian’s high-quality Sirocco fibre has been designed to be overblown. It has been tested for a 50-year field lifespan, giving ISPs confidence in its resilience.

For investors, longevity is equally important. As the UK broadband sector consolidates, Alt-nets with inferior quality networks risk devaluation, while robust networks built with premium fibre offer stronger long-term value.

Building for tomorrow

Quality is the foundation of longevity. Using high-grade materials and ensuring system compatibility between cables and connectivity components minimises faults and maximises efficiency. Prysmian, as one of the few manufacturers able to deliver complete solutions, provides operators with not just the products, but also the technical expertise to future-proof networks.

The UK’s broadband ambitions rest on more than just hitting coverage targets—they depend on building networks that can withstand decades of growth, demand, and technological change. With the right fibre, Britain can create an inclusive, resilient digital infrastructure fit for the next half-century.

Want to learn more about Prysmian and the networks for tomorrow? Join them on Stand 141 at Connected Britain 2025 taking place next week! Free tickets are available 

Private LTE networks are a well-established market and have been around for more than a decade, albeit as a niche segment of the wider cellular infrastructure sector.  However, private cellular networks or NPNs (Non-Public Networks) based on 3GPP-defined 5G specifications are just on the cusp of becoming a mainstream technology, with a market potential exceeding that of private LTE. Over the last 12 months, there has been a noticeable increase in production-grade deployments of private 5G networks by household names and industrial giants such as Airbus, Aker BP, Boliden, CIL (Coal India Limited), Equinor, Etihad, Ford, Hutchison Ports, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, John Deere, LG Electronics, Lufthansa, Newmont, POSCO, Tesla, Toyota, and Walmart, paving the way for Industry 4.0 and advanced application scenarios.

Compared to LTE technology, private 5G networks can address far more demanding performance requirements in terms of throughput, latency, reliability, availability, and connection density. In particular, 5G’s URLLC (Ultra-Reliable, Low-Latency Communications) and mMTC (Massive Machine-Type Communications) capabilities, along with a future-proof transition path to 6G networks in the 2030s, have positioned it as a viable alternative to physically wired connections for industrial-grade communications between machines, robots, and control systems. Furthermore, 5G’s wider coverage radius per radio node, scalability, determinism, security features, and mobility support have stirred strong interest in its potential as a replacement for interference-prone unlicensed wireless technologies in IIoT (Industrial IoT) environments, where the number of connected sensors and other endpoints is expected to increase significantly over the coming years.

As end user organizations in the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, and other countries ramp up their digitization and automation initiatives, private 5G installations have progressed to a stage where practical and tangible benefits – particularly efficiency gains, cost savings, and worker safety – are becoming increasingly evident. For instance, Tesla, LG Electronics, and Hyundai have eliminated connection-related stoppages since migrating AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) and AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) communications from unlicensed Wi-Fi systems to private 5G networks at their production facilities in the United States and South Korea. The French city of Istres has reduced video surveillance camera installation costs from $34,000 to less than $6,000 per unit by replacing fiber-based connections with a private 5G network. Among other examples, China Huaneng Group relies on a tri-band (700 MHz, 2.6 GHz & 4.9 GHz) 5G-Advanced network to safely coordinate a fleet of 100 unmanned electric mining trucks at its Yimin open pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China.

SNS Telecom & IT’s  “Private 5G Market: 2025 – 2030” report projects that annual investments in private 5G networks for vertical industries will grow at a CAGR of approximately 41% between 2025 and 2028, eventually surpassing $5 billion by the end of 2028. Although much of this growth will initially be driven by highly localized 5G networks covering geographically limited areas for Industry 4.0 applications in manufacturing and process industries, sub-1 GHz wide area critical communications networks for public safety, utility, and railway communications are anticipated to accelerate their transition from LTE, GSM-R, and other legacy narrowband technologies to 5G towards the latter half of the forecast period. For more information, please visit: https://www.snstelecom.com/private5g

London, UK, 15th September 2025 – Ontix, the next-generation infrastructure-as-a-service provider, announces the appointment of Chris Newall as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in a new chapter for the company. With over 30 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, Chris joins Ontix from Clarke Telecom, where he was Sales & Strategy Director, following his role as Chief Commercial Officer at Indigo Telecom Group.

Chris’s goal as the incoming CEO is to steer the business toward creating lasting value for its customers and to reinforce Ontix’s role as a leading provider of connectivity for all communities across the UK. Chris has a track record of securing transformational customer wins and enabling significant, sustained growth for the businesses he has led across hardware, software, and professional services. 

Chris Newall, CEO at Ontix, said: “I’m joining Ontix at a pivotal moment, as reliable mobile coverage becomes ever more essential. The growing demand for higher data capacity and truly ubiquitous 5G coverage, both indoors and outdoors, across public and private networks, brings complex challenges. Ontix has proven it can address these challenges, designing and deploying advanced infrastructure quickly and cost-effectively. I’m excited to get started with the Ontix team and our customers to accelerate the rollout of the next-generation mobile infrastructure the UK needs.”

Thor Johnsen, Managing Partner at Digital Gravity Infrastructure Partners and Ontix Board Chair, added: “The Ontix Board is delighted that Chris is joining to lead the team and the business through the next stage of growth. His proven experience as a commercial leader will ensure focus and delivery of Ontix’s advanced wireless solutions to our growing customer base.”

-ENDS-

About Ontix

Ontix is a next-generation infrastructure-as-a-service provider, disrupting the business model for delivering lightning-fast connectivity wherever it is needed. Ontix makes it cheaper, easier and quicker for mobile operators and wireless network providers to add next-generation wireless networks through its turnkey solutions. Ontix is transforming the entire process for wireless network densification by investing in shared small cell infrastructure – including connectivity – and licensing this to operators.

Today Lit Fibre announces the launch of three new Line-only broadband services,
designed to meet the growing need for fast and reliable business connections. With
service speeds from 500Mbps up to 2.4Gbps and contract options of 36, 24 and 12
months available, Lit Fibre’s new offerings provide a future-ready solution for
businesses of all sizes.

Broadband has become as essential to businesses as electricity. From cloud services
and video conferencing to EPOS systems, guest Wi-Fi, and robust security, modern
businesses depend on fast and reliable connections to operate effectively.
“We know the business landscape has changed,” said Tom Williams, CEO at Lit Fibre.
“Whether you’re an independent local business or a multi-site enterprise,
connectivity that’s both fast and reliable is non-negotiable. Lit Business puts
businesses back in control, combining ultrafast speeds, responsive human support,
and service standards that raise the bar. This is internet done properly; this is
internet that means business.”

To suit individual business needs all Lit Business connections are customisable with
optional add-ons including our advanced Lit Hub Pro and MESH.
Lit Fibre’s new business connections are now available to order across the CityFibre
network, for more information, to order, or to request a quote please see
Litfibre.com/business

First Lit Business Connection is Live with FC Clacton

FC Clacton, home of The Seasiders, is the first business to benefit from Lit Business.
Harry Underwood, Chairman, said: “Having Lit Fibre’s ultra-fast full-fibre broadband
installed will be a real game-changer, not just for matchday operations, but for
everything behind the scenes too. It’s great to have a partner that shares our drive for
speed, reliability, and progress both on and off the pitch.”

Press Release

Virgin Media O2 has today announced that its next generation 5G Standalone network is now live in 500 towns and cities across the UK. Available to more than 70% of the UK population – some 49 million people – this represents the country’s largest 5G Standalone deployment.

Customers in the 500 locations can benefit from an improved mobile experience with broader 5G coverage, higher speeds, and reduced latency. Unlike other operators, the new network is available at no extra cost to customers with 5G Standalone-compatible devices and SIMs.

In all 500 locations, Virgin Media O2’s 5G Standalone network provides at least 90% outdoor coverage ensuring that customers looking to benefit from the technology receive a reliable and consistent experience.

Since Virgin Media O2 launched its 5G Standalone network last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of customers using Standalone capable devices, with the majority of flagship handsets now boasting access to the network.

Unlike previous 5G services that relied on elements of the 4G network for data transmission, Virgin Media O2’s 5G Standalone network is a new end to end 5G network built on the latest future-proofed radio infrastructure and a fully cloud-based 5G core. This enhances network reliability, expands coverage, and will pave the way next-generation digital experiences.

5G Standalone will also unlock many of the innovative use cases associated with 5G, including autonomous transport solutions, remote healthcare and fully robotic factories.  Virgin Media O2 launched Standalone for business customers earlier in the year in an important step towards unlocking future industrial innovation and use cases.

The historic town of Bakewell, Derbyshire, became the 500^th location to benefit from Virgin Media O2’s industry-leading 5G Standalone rollout, where the milestone has been celebrated with the creation of a record-breaking giant Bakewell Tart.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “We are investing £2m every single day to improve our mobile network and provide a more reliable experience for our customers. By expanding our 5G Standalone network to 500 towns and cities and 70% of the population, we are continuing to deliver on that and are excited about the opportunities the new network will bring. This customer-centric rollout is about futureproofing our network and will pave the way for exciting customer led innovations that lie ahead.”

Kester Mann, Director of Consumer and Connectivity at CCS Insight, said: “Expanding 5G standalone coverage to 500 towns and cities is a significant milestone that will improve the mobile experience for millions of O2 customers across the UK. Not only will it support faster speeds and ensure more reliable connections, but it also paves the way for the introduction of innovative services in the future, particularly for the enterprise market.”

These upgrades are part of Virgin Media O2’s Mobile Transformation Plan, which will see the operator invest approximately £700m this year to future-proof its mobile network. The plan is focused on expanding 4G and 5G coverage, a dedicated small cells rollout to boost capacity in dense urban areas, and innovative solutions to address persistent network pain points including along railway lines, at airports, on motorways, and in stadiums and arenas.

Virgin Media O2 recently announced that it had agreed a deal with Vodafone UK to acquire 78.8 MHz of spectrum, bringing the operator’s total spectrum holding to approximately 30% of UK mobile spectrum and materially enhancing the company’s network position.

What impact will 5GSA have on the UK economy? Join the UK’s mobile ecosystem in discussion at Connected Britain 2025, taking place next week!

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Chris Brill, Field CTO at Myriad360

The telecommunications and data center industries are confronting an unprecedented infrastructure challenge. AI workloads have shattered the fundamental assumptions that have guided facility design and capacity planning for decades, creating a crisis that goes far beyond incremental upgrades.

The evidence is stark: companies are now exploring ocean-floor data center deployments and racing to secure Arctic locations for natural cooling. These aren’t experimental ventures—they’re desperate responses to the reality that conventional infrastructure approaches have reached their limits. … [visit site to read more]

News

The court ruled that Verizon’s actions had clearly triggered the Communication Act’s privacy protections

This week, the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit as rejected Verizon’s appeal to overturn a $46.9m fine issued to it last year for illegally handing customer location data to third parties without consent.

In its appeal, Verizon said that the FCC’s decision had been “arbitrary and capricious”, arguing that the location data was not protected under the law used by the FCC to issue the fine. The operator also said the fine was excessive and violated its Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury.

The three judges, however, unanimously rejected these accusations.

“We disagree [with Verizon],” the court ruling said. “The customer data at issue plainly qualifies as customer proprietary network information, triggering the Communication Act’s privacy protections. And the forfeiture order both soundly imposed liability and remained within the strictures of the penalty cap. Nothing about the Commission’s proceedings, moreover, transgressed the Seventh Amendment’s jury trial guarantee. Indeed, Verizon had, and chose to forgo, the opportunity for a jury trial in federal court. Thus, we DENY Verizon’s petition.”

The ruling relates to an FCC decision last year, which saw the regulator issue fines totalling almost $200 million to T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon for sharing customer data to ‘aggregators’ without prior consent. These data aggregators, such a LocationSmart and Zumigo, then resold or syndicated this data to third parties.

At the time, the FCC summarised its findings by saying the carriers had failed to take “reasonable measures” to protect their customers’ data from unauthorised use.

“The FCC Enforcement Bureau investigations of the four carriers found that each carrier sold access to its customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers,” explained the FCC in its findings. “In doing so, each carrier attempted to offload its obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information, which in many instances meant that no valid customer consent was obtained. This initial failure was compounded when, after becoming aware that their safeguards were ineffective, the carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.”

The regulator was first made aware that the mobile network operators were sharing location data to these aggregators in 2018. Fines were first proposed in 2020, but disagreements within the Commission led to delays in their implementation until 2024.

T-Mobile faced the lion’s share of the fines, with the FCC ordering it to pay roughly $80 million, plus a further $12 million on behalf of Sprint, with whom they merged in 2020. AT&T and Verizon were fined $57 million and $47 million, respectively.

All three operators appealed the fines. In April, AT&T successfully had its fine overturned, in part due to the process denying the operator the option of a jury trial. T-Mobile was less fortunate, however, with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejecting their appeal last month.

The US telecoms sector is changing rapidly in 2025. Join the ecosystem in discussion at Connected America 2026

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

News

The Space-IX initiative will work to outline how best to connect the ever-growing orbital infrastructure ecosystem

This week, the world’s largest Internet Exchange (IX) operator, Germany’s DE-CIX, has announced it is setting its future goals sky-high – literally. With its new Space-IX initiative, the Frankfurt-based company says it is not only exploring how best to provide interconnect services to orbiting satellites, but even the merits of putting IX infrastructure itself into space.

The goal of the project, as outlined on the company website, Is to ‘enable intelligent interconnection between LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites and ensure efficient integration with terrestrial infrastructure, cloud platforms, and content providers’.

“Wherever networks are created, interconnection should follow,” says Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “We’ve spent 30 years building the backbone of the Internet here on Earth. Now we’re bringing that same neutral, high-performance interconnection model to the next layer of digital infrastructure, above the clouds and to the stars.”

LEO satellites, such as SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, are playing an increasingly large role in the global connectivity ecosystem, delivering connectivity to places hard to reach for traditional, terrestrial infrastructure. However, interconnection with terrestrial networks can be challenging, particular when delivering latency-sensitive services.

As a result, DE-CIX is increasingly focussing on connecting to satellites using emerging technologies. For example, as part of the European Space Agency’s OFELIAS project, DE-CIX is collaborating with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to explore laser-based communications between satellites and ground stations. These optical data links are becoming increasingly popular for intersatellite communication, offering significantly higher data rates and lower latency than traditional radio frequency links. Connecting satellites to Earth via laser, however, is more complicated, requiring smarter protocols and algorithms overcome cloud cover and atmospheric interference.

But what if we could remove the need to beam some of that data back to Earth entirely? This is the core premise behind the idea of launching orbital data centres, both for compute and storage purposes. Such deployments would have some attractive advantages, including access to near-limitless solar energy and server racks being cooled by the vacuum of space. On the other hand, launch costs for such infrastructure is still largely prohibitive, and maintaining or upgrading the physical equipment would require a significant leap in autonomous robotics technology.

Nonetheless, the global tech industry is taking this possibility very seriously; Axiom Space, for example, have announced plans to launch their first two Orbital Data Center (ODC) nodes before the end of 2025.

For DE-CIX, this seemingly inevitable deployment of yet more satellites and space-based data centres will necessitate a seismic change in IX architecture.

“As satellites become part of the digital supply chain, whether delivering broadband to underserved communities, powering AI for businesses, or enabling orbital analytics, we need an architecture that unites space and Earth into one seamless ecosystem,” said Ivanov. “This collaboration is the very beginning of our answer to that challenge.

In related news, last month DE-CIX added Starlink to its interconnection system in India, becoming the first IX platform in the world to do so.

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Interview

We caught up with Joaquim Croca, Senior Vice President at global engineering and technology company Cyient, to discuss the pressures facing telcos and their automation journey

For the most part, the 2020s have not been a kind to telco network operators, particularly in Europe. The start of the decade saw them racing to pour billions of euros into their new fibre and 5G networks, betting heavily on the ‘build it and they will come’ mantra made famous by the 1989 film Field of Dreams.

Unfortunately for telcos in 2025, the resulting environment has proven less a field of dreams than a quagmire.

Traditional revenues have remained relatively flat for years in both the fixed and mobile sectors, often bogged down by heavy-handed regulation and fierce competition. At the same time, new revenue streams at scale remain elusive, despite the vastly improved technical capabilities of these new networks.

Against this challenging backdrop, as Cyient’s Senior Vice President Joaquim Croca points out, operational efficiency has never been more important.

“Telco business is fighting not to get fully commoditized,” said Croca. “All of the operators are looking towards becoming more streamlined, more cost-efficient… It’s a matter of survival.”

AI: Unlocking efficiency

At the heart of this drive for efficiency is the rapid evolution of AI in recent years, enabling a level of automation previously unattainable. Today, advanced AI analytics can rapidly compile data from numerous siloes into actionable data points, pre-empting network incidents and triaging problems in real time. Meanwhile, specially designed AI agents can work alongside network engineers, responding to queries in plain language and autonomously making resolving issues.

“AI is no longer just a buzzword; it’s starting to prove its value,” said Croca. “The question of 2025 is really: how can I use AI to release human intelligence to go and do something else?”

“We have been using AI for many years, but now it’s at the forefront of conversations with our customers. They want to know how much AI we are bringing to help overcome their challenges,” he continued.

For Cyient, this concept of freeing engineers to perform more high value tasks is at the core of their VISMON™ platform, a suite of AI-driven tools that enable zero-touch, closed-loop network automation, from planning and deployment through to optimisation and operations. According to the company, this platform is already delivering reductions in network operation time and resources by up to 40% and saving engineers numerous hours every day through autonomous site management.

“Our VISMON platform has been around for 20 years, evolving alongside the industry,” said Croca. “We have a stream of AI-powered scripts that are looking at how the network is performing, what are the issues, what are the fake alerts… ensuring we only call in the network engineer when it’s absolutely necessary.”

Increasing market complexity

In addition to automating network operations directly, part of what makes AI-powered OSS so effective is the smoother integration of these networks within the wider telco operating environment.

In recent years, an increasingly popular monetisation strategy for telcos has been to spin off their infrastructure, aiming to offload some of the operational complexity and serving to attract fresh investment. This, the telcos argue, will allow them to streamline their service operations and better focus on their customers. However, as Croca highlights, this type of fragmentation is making the telco market even more complex.

“We’ve seen a major trend of operators splitting between infracos, netcos, surfcos, etc. It’s all driven by the financial incentive,” explained Croca. “But this approach also creates a more complicated ecosystem. In Europe there are dozens of operators, each of which can divide into two or three different entities, each with their own processes and relationships. It rapidly becomes a very complex world.”

Handling this complexity on an international scale requires careful data management, another area where AI can perform. In a partnership announced this summer, Vodafone is using VISMON for just this purpose, helping to harmonise its network operations across its numerous markets. The platform provides unified network visibility across Vodafone’s markets, enabling them to benchmark configurations, detect anomalies, and track deployments.

The benefits are significant. According to the partners, their collaboration is delivering a 70% reduction in time spent compiling cross-market reports and three times faster decision-making. They also expect to see a 50% decrease in errors caused by inconsistent configuration.

“VISMON provides the strategic foundation to oversee configuration data across all markets, enabling us to harmonize practices, identify best-performing setups, and optimize our networks more effectively than ever,” said Mostafa Noureldien, Manager, Network Development Digital Strategy at Vodafone in the company release.

“We are already deploying AI NOC (Network Operations Centre) agents and rollout agents across two of Vodafone’s operations,” added Croca. “These are fully autonomous and very intelligent. They bring a big gain not just in efficiency but in quality, in terms of First Time Right and First Time Resolved. We’re delivering much faster resolutions to network issues.”

The road towards fully autonomous networks

Of course, the long-term dream for telcos is full network autonomy, requiring the bare minimum of human oversight. For Croca, this goal remains firmly on the horizon due to challenges both technical and philosophical.

“We are still going through existential doubts around how much of the network and its operations can be handed over to AI. There are technical questions and regulatory questions to be addressed, so we will be handing over the reins gradually,” he explained.

Nonetheless, the industry is making blistering progress, with Croca highlighting the need for effective and agile leadership in this rapidly changing landscape.

“To succeed, you need to find the CEOs and CFOs that are really driving new ways of operating, as well as finding some evangelist CTOs that are very keen to look at things in a different perspective,” said Croca. “It’s not just about technological maturity, but our own mindset towards embracing it.”

Find out more about Cyient and the journey towards autonomous networks here

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector