Hi, I’m Matthew Izatt-Lowry, the Head of Economics at FarrPoint, a consultancy headquartered in Edinburgh that advises on digital connectivity, telecoms infrastructure and data centres. Previously, I worked for the Scottish Government as an economist. 

My team formulates business cases and assesses the benefits of internal projects, both before they begin and after. Over the last 18 months, we have supported the DSIT-funded 5G Innovation Region projects, including the Ayrshire and Borderlands programmes. 

• EE customers in Manchester and Edinburgh are now experiencing faster, more reliable mobile connectivity, thanks to a groundbreaking new technology that’s transforming how mobile networks operate.
• In a world-first deployment, EE has introduced Ericsson’s Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC) solution – an innovation that allows mobile sites in close vicinity to one another to pair up and share capacity, dramatically boosting network performance without the need to deploy additional radio equipment.

What’s new?

EE is the first mobil

• US President Donald Trump is visiting the UK
• Digital infrastructure investments are among the related business announcements made to coincide with the occasion
• Google, Microsoft, Nvidia and more are to provide the technology that enables the UK’s sovereign cloud and AI services

A phalanx of US tech giants have announced investments and projects in the UK to coincide with President Donald Trump’s state visit to ‘Blighty’ (as we like to call it here), underlining just how reliant countries such as Britain are

• Introduces Nokia Mission-Safe Phone, a purpose-built defence smartphone for reliable mission-critical communications in the harshest operational environments
• Nokia also launches the upgraded Banshee 5G Tactical Radio, a rugged, portable, easy-to-deploy network hub, now with integrated 5G connectivity
• These new solutions expand Nokia’s tactical communications portfolio, delivering a fully integrated, end-to-end system built to meet the evolving needs of modern military operations

Nokia announced the launch of

• Nozomi Networks, a global leader in OT, IoT and CPS security, defends organizations around the world from cyber threats and operational disruption
• The acquisition accelerates Nozomi's industrial cybersecurity innovation while maintaining its heterogeneous approach to supporting customers and partners
• Both companies share a vision for the power of data and AI to fuel more effective cyber defenses and improve operational efficiency and resilience

The significant increase in data use marks the single largest year-over-year jump in U.S. history.

Americans used a record 132 trillion megabytes of mobile data in 2024, shattering the 100 trillion megabytes mark set just the year before, according to CTIA’s Annual Wireless Industry Survey. This marks the third straight year of approximately 35% growth.

SpaceX has entered into a purchase agreement with EchoStar for 50 MHz of exclusive S-band spectrum in the US as well as global Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum licenses. This agreement will enable us to develop and deploy our next generation Starlink Direct to Cell constellation which will be capable of providing broadband service to cell phones globally.

On the 9th September, UKTIN led a free webinar about how connectivity is transforming the way we deliver health and social care.

• New campus in Oulu, Finland – the “Home of Radio” – will deliver high-performance, resilient and trusted radio networks. 
• It is the world’s most advanced hub for the entire lifecycle of 5G and 6G radio innovation, ensuring that secure 5G and 6G networks are designed, tested and built in Europe. 
• Oulu ecosystem sees around 3,000 Nokia experts work alongside leading universities, start-ups and technology companies to shape the networks of tomorrow. 
• The on-site energy station is one of the w

• Quantinuum is one of the world’s leaders in quantum computing
• It is working with a range of partners on multiple projects, including Japanese telco SoftBank Corp and Nvidia
• The company has just raised $600m at a valuation of $10bn

AI might be attracting most of the tech investment money right now but the quantum computing sector is also getting a slice of the action, with US/UK specialist Quantinuum having just announced a $600m round that values the company at $10bn.