Vodafone, Austria-based A1 and Ericsson have reached a new 5G standalone (SA) milestone that shines a light on the technical complexity of taking this technology across borders.

They claim to have established the first 5G SA international roaming connection between two different operator groups, in this case Vodafone Germany and A1 Bulgaria. They demonstrated seamless data connectivity and voice roaming using a standard device and generally available core network software supporting the latest 3GPP standards.

NEC Corporation has successfully achieved Japan’s longest terrestrial wireless optical communication (*), or free-space optical (FSO) communication, over a distance of more than 10 km. In addition, NEC has successfully conducted FSO communications between an observation deck at TOKYO SKYTREE®, the tallest structure in Japan, and a location on the ground approximately 3 km away, representing a significant change in elevation.

German incumbent Deutsche Telekom is going to great lengths to demonstrate its quantum networking prowess.

82 kilometres, in fact. That's the distance at which its T-Labs unit, together with quantum networking hardware provider Qunnect, was able to dynamically route so-called polarisation-entangled photons, or qubits, over multiple paths at fidelities of more than 92% in parallel with traditional data traffic.

Londoners experience a poorer quality of experience on 5G mobile networks than residents of other UK cities and the gap appears to be widening, according to new data published this week.

Operators in the UK capital have experienced a set of challenges when rolling out 5G that are not unique to the city, but are particularly pronounced there: the impact of building regulations on indoor coverage; issues with leasing rooftop space for network densification; and the use of 3.5 GHz spectrum.

European leadership in the development of next-generation 6G mobile technologies is set to be boosted with the launch of a new €104 million call to support cutting-edge research and innovation in mobile networks.

The funding is managed by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), the European public-private partnership working on the development of 5G and 6G technologies across Europe.

According to the Worldwide Security Spending Guide published by International Data Corporation (IDC), European security spending is projected to grow by 11.8% year on year in 2025. Geopolitical developments, the intensification of cybercrime activity, and a tightening regulatory environment are driving organizations in Europe to adopt increasingly sophisticated defensive measures. Security spending is expected to remain robust throughout the 2023–2028 forecast period, reaching nearly $97 billion by 2028.

44% of UK respondents said they used AI in a professional setting, compared to the global average of 67%, according to a report by EY.

The report surveyed 15,000 people from 15 countries, including the UK, about AI usage. The survey found that 70% of UK respondents have consciously used AI in their daily lives in the past six months, while the global average is 82%.

Hello, I’m Dimitrios Pezaros, a professor of Computer Networks at the University of Glasgow. I am also the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Digital Resilience for Critical National Infrastructure.

• The UK universities of Bristol and Cambridge have been collaborating on quantum-safe networking developments
• They have achieved live, quantum-secure transfer of encrypted medical data, secure remote access to a distributed datacentre and the world’s first long-distance quantum secured video call.
• It’s the first time a long-distance network using different quantum-secure technologies (including entanglement) has been successfully demonstrated.
• The work is the foundation for a large-scale quantum internet

The UK government has found £121 million at the back of the sofa to throw at quantum research, which it says will “bolster the UK’s world-leading research programmes.”

The UK quantum sector is home to the second largest community of quantum companies behind the US, we’re told, and this new pot of cash will help deliver economic growth, apparently.