This week, four men have been convicted in connection with a corruption and bribery scandal involving multimillion-pound telecoms contracts awarded to Scottish health boards
The High Court in Glasgow found Adam Sharoudi and Gavin Brown, directors of Scottish telco Oricom, guilty of securing over £6 million in NHS contracts through fraud.
The company, founded in Ayrshire in 2008, provided telecoms and video conferencing equipment to various Scottish NHS trusts between 2010 and 2017.
An investigation by NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services revealed that commercially sensitive procurement information was leaked to Oricom by NHS insiders Alan Hush, a former telecoms manager, and Gavin Cox, head of IT infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire. In exchange, Hush and Cox received cash and gifts worth totalling nearly £90,000.
The court heard that one contract awarded to Oricom without proper tendering was worth over £3.1 million.
Prosecutors argued that Oricom was given an unfair commercial advantage, undermining procurement integrity and costing taxpayers millions.
Lord Arthurson, presiding over the case, called the actions “a coldly calculated and criminal betrayal of the welfare state,” adding that the four men should expect significant prison sentences.
All four men remain in custody before sentencing next month.
For today’s Feature Week piece, here are all the top data centre related news stories this week
TikTok to build third European data centre
TikTok is to build a €1 billion data centre in Finland, Reuters has reported. The data centre build is part of the company’s broader “Project Clover,” a €12 billion, decade-long strategy launched in 2023 to improve data privacy and security for European users.
Both regulators and lawmakers have expressed concern over potential access to user data by the Chinese government, as TikTok ownership is owned by China-based company ByteDance.
The facility is TikTok’s first data centre in Finland, adding to existing sites in Ireland and Norway. The site has been chosen in part because of Finland’s climate – the cold environment reduces the need for energy-intensive cooling systems.
Microsoft to expand European data centres by 40%
Microsoft has announced an expansion of its European cloud and AI infrastructure, committing to a 40% increase in data centre capacity across 16 countries over the next two years.
The move is part of five new “Digital Commitments to Europe”, which aim to strengthen the continent’s digital resilience, data privacy, and economic competitiveness.
By 2027, Microsoft’s European data centre network will more than double, reaching over 200 sites to support sectors like healthcare, education, and government.
The company also introduced a legally binding “Digital Resilience Commitment,” ensuring that European governments can keep access to their data even during geopolitical challenges. To support this, Microsoft will have contingency plans and independent oversight in place.
A new Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Europe will also be appointed to make sure Microsoft meets the EU’s strict cybersecurity rules.
UK data centres turn to gas power as electricity grid delays threaten growth
Data centre developers are looking to build onsite gas-fired powerplants as long waits for electricity grid connections stall critical infrastructure projects, according to The Telegraph.
According to Future Energy Networks, more than 30 enquiries have been made in the past six months by developers seeking gas access.
The UK’s power grid is under significant strain due to soaring demand from data centres, EVs, and renewable energy projects. Ageing infrastructure and a backlog of connection requests have left parts of the network at full capacity. Developers say gas connections can be secured in months, compared to decade-long waits and multi-million-pound costs for electricity grid access.
The government says it is working with Ofgem and network operators to accelerate grid upgrades and support low-carbon power for data centres.
Microsoft data centre linked to £3m bribery scandal
A UK investigation is underway into a suspected £3 million bribery case linked to the construction of a Microsoft data centre in the Netherlands.
According to a press release this week from The Serious Fraud Office, the authority carried out searches across several UK locations and made three arrests. They believe that staff at construction firm Blu-3 paid £3 million in bribes to individuals connected to Mace Group, in exchange for favourable treatment on the project.
The “action is a reminder that we will take rapid and robust action to tackle suspected bribery and corruption wherever it appears – at home and overseas,” said Nick Ephgrave QPM, Director of the Serious Fraud Office.
The telecom industry is at the forefront of digital transformation, but with growing concerns about energy consumption and environmental impact, operators and vendors are prioritising sustainability
In the WinWin Live Studio, Emanuel Kolta, Lead Analyst at GSMA Intelligence, sat down with Lim Yu Leong, Vice President, Group Strategy, Engineering and innovation at Singtel, and Singleton Zhou, President of Network Consulting and Integration services at Huawei GTS to discuss the Green Network Index (GNI), which is a figure developed by the GSMA to assess and compare the environmental sustainability of mobile networks.
Singtel has recently implemented the Singtel Group Environmental Framework, which focuses on two key areas:
Climate action: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, integrating renewable energy, and optimising network energy efficiency.
Product stewardship: Promoting responsible sourcing, sustainable packaging, and e-waste management to support a circular economy.
Singtel’s commitment to sustainability has earned it an A score on the CDP 2023 Climate Change assessment, up from A- in 2022, making it the first Southeast Asian telco to achieve this recognition.
From the carrier’s perspective, Huawei has also helped the advancement of green telcos. Zhou emphasised that legacy telecom equipment consumes excessive energy and space. To address this, Huawei has:
Modernised 100,000 sites and 4,000 equipment rooms in 2024, helping operators save 740 million kWh of electricity.
Reduced OPEX costs by optimising equipment usage and improving network migration.
Supported zero-outage transitions using its NetLIVE platform, which uses digital twin technology and AI-driven risk assessment to ensure seamless migrations.
Another huge challenge in modernising telecom networks is maintaining reliability. According to ENISA statistics, network incidents have increased by 35% annually, making resilience an even bigger priority.
To combat this, Huawei has deployed its security and resilience networks solution, enabling operators to proactively manage risks. Their NetLIVE platform has already prevented 30+ operational risks in network change projects and improved first-time success rates to 99.99%.
“We have deployed network resilience solution in several projects. Carrier A’s core network fault can cause a 12-hour interruption, affecting more than 5 million users. After reconstruction, the interruption time was shortened to 1.5 hours, and only 1 million users were being affected,” said Zhou.
“In addition, the network accident rate was reduced by 70% as well. China operator B adopted our network change resilience solution, which has intercepted more than 30 operation risks. For implementing ‘network change’ request, the ‘first-time success rate’ exceeded 99.99%, and no major accident has occurred,” he continued.
The Green Network Index (GNI) provides telecom operators with a structured approach to measuring sustainability efforts. For Singtel, the GNI has been a valuable benchmarking tool, allowing it to:
– Assess its carbon footprint and energy efficiency.
– Identify areas for improvement and enhance network sustainability.
– Align with global best practices in green telecom operations.
For Huawei, the GNI has helped standardise energy conservation efforts across more than 200 operators worldwide. Their NetLIVE platform, currently deployed in multiple regions, enables operators to track and optimise their environmental performance in real time.
Looking forward, Singtel will continue refining its sustainability strategies and leveraging the GNI for continuous improvement. Huawei will expand its collaboration with global operators, focusing on low-carbon development and energy-efficient technologies.
“We firmly believe that deep collaboration is key to accelerating green transformation in the ICT industry. Singtel’s strategy to systematically advance carbon reduction through the GNI aligns closely with Huawei’s philosophy of “More Bits, Less Watts”.,” said Zhou.
Delays to BEAD forced a Louisiana broadband construction firm to layoff 80% of subcontractors, according to the organisation’s co-owner
This article was originally published by Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publication, Broadband Communities
A broadband construction firm in rural Louisiana has been forced into layoffs due to BEAD delays, according to Josh Etheridge, the co-owner of EPC.
Etheridge, who founded EPC with his brother eight years ago, is the latest Louisiana business leader to sound the alarm on delays to BEAD, the nation’s massive $42.45 billion effort to deploy broadband to all Americans.
In a new letter, addressed to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Etheridge said EPC was ready to put boots on the ground to begin BEAD deployments on January 25.
“But now? The market is frozen,” Etheridge wrote. “I’ve had to release 80% of our subcontractors. We’ve paused philanthropic giving, scaled back our chamber memberships, and sadly begun to make layoffs of our full-time employees.”
Since it was founded, EPC has grown to include more than 160 full time employees, Etheridge wrote. Additionally, he said the company had built a network of more than 150 subcontractors.
Now, Etheridge says even North Louisiana-based EPC’s at-risk capital builds are “pulling back.”
“We were poised for 300% growth,” he wrote. “We prepared accordingly. And now—we wait.”
Etheridge’s letter, given to Broadband Communities on Monday, calls on the administration not to let “bureaucracy unravel everything we’ve built.”
“If this continues, you will have effectively weaponized a great ambition—meant to lift up and transform rural America—against the very people who believe in this administration,” his letter continued. “We supported our newly elected leaders— with our money, our words, and our votes — believing you would support us in return.”
‘And now? We hear nothing’
Louisiana has been highly impacted by an ongoing review to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program called by Lutnick.
In 2024, Louisiana notably became the first to award BEAD funds through a state program called GUMBO 2.0 (Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities).
According to Etheridge, if the silence continues “it will say what no words ever could.”
“That we were never truly understood, that our sacrifice was never truly valued, and that our votes and voices mattered only when it was time to count them — not when it came time to honor them,” he wrote.
Like Herring’s letter last week, Etheridge stresses that Louisiana “did it right.”
He said his company “followed the rules and “ran a clean process.”
“No DEI mandates. Forty percent under budget. Tech-neutral. No labor strings,” he said.
Etheridge’s letter to Lutnick ends with the EPC co-founder telling Lutnick that “it’s not too late.”
He calls on Lutnick to “let Louisiana move forward.”
“Let EPC build. Let our people work,” he wrote. “Don’t let another generation lose faith in the promises we were raised to believe in. We are still ready. We are still willing.”
Octopus Group, the investment group behind Octopus Energy, is preparing to make its move into the UK mobile market, The Telegraph reported over the weekend.
According to the article, the company is exploring plans to launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that could challenge the dominance of the UK’s current biggest four operators, EE, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone, and Three.
Octopus’s mobile service would operate by leasing capacity from an existing network, instead of investing in its own infrastructure. Sources speaking to The Telegraph indicated that discussions have taken place via Fern Trading, Octopus’s telecoms investment arm, with at least one major network operator. The project appears linked to Y Corporation, a mobile provider owned by Fern Trading, which currently has a wholesale agreement with Three.
Y Corporation is reportedly considering an eSIM-only model targeting both enterprise and consumer markets. Adam Dunlop, former head of TalkTalk’s consumer division, was appointed to drive the mobile expansion earlier back in January.
The mobile push follows Octopus Energy’s success in the utilities sector, where it now supplies over 13 million customers, and has overtaken British Gas to become the UK’s largest household energy supplier.
A new mobile service under the Octopus brand would complement the group’s growing telecoms footprint, which includes broadband providers such as Cuckoo and AllPoints Fibre. Fern Trading recently announced plans to merge several of its altnets into a single entity to strengthen its market position ahead of expected industry consolidation.
The move comes at a key time for the UK’s mobile sector, with Vodafone and Three’s £15 billion merger set to reshape the market landscape. Should Y Corporation continue its partnership with Three post-merger, it would gain access to the UK’s largest mobile network.
Join us at Connected Britain, 24-25 September in London. Get tickets here!
Connected North 2025 was an enormous success, bringing together key stakeholders from accross the North of the UK to discuss the digital economy and emerging technologies.
Total Telecom’s very own Kieran Murphy was prowling the exhibition hall throughout the event, speaking to innovators helping the region on its digital journey.
Check out his interviews below!
Gareth Cottrell from CoverUp Key
Tiffany Shurr from Calix
Steve Morris from ACOME Group
Susan Wiseman from Hutchinson
Rosemary Kavanagh from NetworkUX – Inakalum
Steve Kingdom, CTO Fixed Networks at Xantaro
Paul Howard from TP-Link
Join the industry in discussion about all of the biggest topics at Connected Britain 2025 live in London, September 24-25
At Connected America this year, we caught up with Brooke Donilon, Vice President of Government relations at the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association to discuss unlicensed spectrum and how it can benefit consumers and businesses, spectrum policy in the US, competition with China and much more. Check out the full interview below!
The move is part of a major European Space Agency (ESA) mission launching later this month
A satellite developed and built in the UK is set to become the first in the world to measure the structure and condition of Earth’s forests in 3D from space.
Known as Biomass, the satellite will use radar technology to map tropical forests over a five-year period, helping scientists understand how carbon is stored and released by forest ecosystems.
Current satellites can only measure the tops of forest canopies. Biomass, using long-wavelength P-band radar, will be able to penetrate cloud cover and foliage to estimate the amount of carbon stored in trees more accurately than any existing satellite.
The data is expected to support climate change research, inform policy decisions, and contribute to long-term net-zero strategies.
The mission was proposed by professors at the University of Sheffield and has been built by Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage. It will launch from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, later this month.
Since 2016, UK organisations have secured nearly €91 million in contracts related to the Biomass mission through ESA membership. The mission has involved more than 50 companies across 20 countries, with the UK playing a leading role in design, assembly, and testing.
“The UK is back in the business of climate leadership and protecting the world’s forests through emerging and cutting-edge technologies is crucial to tackling the climate crisis,” said UK Climate Minister Kerry McCarthy.
BT is to sell its remaining stake in its Italian unit to local telco Retelit, the Financial Times has reported today
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but the unit sold generated revenues of approximately €160 million in 2024.
The “expansion will further strengthen Retelit’s coverage of the Italian corporate market, providing a more comprehensive suite of ICT infrastructure and services to support the innovation and the digital transformation of Italian enterprises,” said Retelit in a press release.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Karen Egan, Head of telecoms at Enders Analysis, explained that the unit has been “quite a thorn in the side of BT over the years” and that Kirkby “will be very pleased to have a deal done to sell it”.
BT CEO Allison Kirkby is focussing BT’s attention on the UK market in an attempt to cut costs.
Last May, the company said it had hit its target to save £3 billion by 2025 a year early, with much of this total being driven by the company’s ongoing job cutting programme that will see 55,000 jobs eliminated by the end of the decade.
Kirkby now says it will aim to repeat this, cutting a further £3 billion in costs by 2029.
In addition, the latest UK budget posed new hurdles for BT. The government’s decision to hike employers’ National Insurance contributions could cost BT an additional £100 million annually. In response, CEO Allison Kirkby outlined several measures to mitigate this impact, including potentially passing costs on to mobile and broadband customers. She also said that cost-cutting initiatives through automation and AI would be accelerated.
The facility will be delivered in phases and is aimed at meeting rising demand for AI, cloud, and digital services in the region
UAE operator du has unveiled plans for a new hyperscale data centre worth AED 2 billion ($544.54 million) with Microsoft confirmed as the lead tenant at AI week in Dubai.
“This marks a significant investment in digital infrastructure, reinforcing Dubai’s leadership in adopting the latest technologies, innovations, and digital services,” said the Crown Prince of Dubai in a LinkedIn post.
“This deal represents a pivotal leap in our strategic goal to revolutionise the digital ecosystem of the UAE,” echoed Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of du.
As lead tenant, Microsoft is expected to occupy a significant share of capacity to support its Azure cloud platform, helping to anchor the project and attract other enterprise customers.
du already operates five data centres across the UAE and said the new site will provide more capacity for businesses looking to scale cloud operations locally, while meeting requirements around digital sovereignty, ensuring that data is stored and managed in line with national laws and regulatory frameworks.
The announcement reflects a wider push in the Gulf to invest in data infrastructure, as governments and enterprises ramp up efforts around AI, cloud and sustainability.
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