Network Infrastructure

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is headed for the stars thanks to a new consortium launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Spanish satellite operator Hispasat.

The group, called Q-Design, has set its sights on enabling QKD via geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites (GEO/LEO) as well as terrestrial infrastructure.

Ericsson has announced the launch of two high-performance antennas designed for mission-critical applications such as public safety and disaster relief.

• Nokia Autonomous Network Fabric brings together all the capabilities required to accelerate the journey to full network automation in an open, cloud-native, multi-vendor environment. 
• Key features include a library of cross-domain correlated data products, telco-trained models (LLM/LAM/ML), integrated s

UKTIN’s latest webinar, held on June 17th, explored the current Horizon collaborative opportunities in the UK for advanced communications.

Hello, my name is Megan Lawless, and I work for the Manchester Digital Strategy at Manchester City Council. I am also involved in the Greater Manchester 5G Smart Decarbonisation Network project. 

According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, global Network Security revenue reached $6.2 B in 1Q 2025, expanding 12 percent year-over-year (Y/Y).

According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, enterprise class Wireless LAN (WLAN) revenue increased by 11 percent on year-over-year basis.

• Unprecedented £11bn investment is one of the largest privately funded infrastructure programmes in the UK, connecting all four nations and every community  
• VodafoneThree is the only mobile network operator with a fully funded, regulated and guaranteed

Vodafone Group Plc (“Vodafone”) and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited (“CKHGT”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (“CK Hutchison”), are pleased to announce that the merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK successfully completed on 31 May 2025.

Vodafone and chip firm MediaTek say they have reached a milestone by successfully testing 5G uplink speeds of up to 277 Mbps.

The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) has officially been approved as a registered training provider for the Level 4 Cellular Network Field Engineer (CNFE) apprenticeship — a move that directly responds to the UK’s growing need for skilled telecoms engineers.

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) will combine its B2B arm with Daisy Group in a deal that might not go down too well with some of the latter's customers.

Under the agreement, Daisy will be consolidated into VMO2 Business, with each party respectively controlling 30% and 70% of the combined entity.

• Together with Ericsson, Vodafone has introduced a new era of tunnel connectivity with the deployment of innovative multiband mobile radio antennas in the Arlinger Tunnel near Pforzheim, Germany
• This installation marks the first operational use of Ericsson’s advanced antenna technology from Ericsson Antenna S

• Spain and Portugal suffered a major power outage this week
• Telcos scrambled to switch to power back-up options to maintain at least some services
• Ookla and Cloudflare have reported on the performance of the mobile operators and the impact on internet traffic volumes

• The major hyperscalers have reported their first-quarter 2025 financials
• Synergy Research Group has collected all the data
• AI workloads have fuelled a 23% year-on-year increase in the value of the global cloud infrastructure services sector to almost $94bn

While

Kit vendor Ericsson will inject €200 million over the next three years into its Athlone facility in central Ireland, in order to research open network management and automation capabilities for 5G.

UK comms regulator Ofcom has closed a loophole that can allow fraudsters to manipulate mobile networks.

• India’s two main telcos, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, have built nationwide 5G networks
• As well as marketing 5G mobile packages, they have both been offering 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband services
• Jio is currently dominating India’s 5G FWA sector with a near 85% market

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.

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.

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.

Hello, I’m Dimitrios Pezaros, a professor of Computer Networks at the University of Glasgow.

• 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.

To become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) is the objective of the AI Continent Action Plan launched today.