Rural Connectivity

On 15 November, the Federated Telecoms Hubs (FTH) invited academia and industry to a symposium in London. 
It was an opportunity to hear from each of the four hubs that make up FTH and understand their ambitious collective goals to better drive the gap between telecoms R&D and translation to commercialisation.

The mobile industry has experienced another significant year in 2024, marked by continued advancements in nationwide connectivity. As we approach the end of the year, we’ve invited industry experts to share their insights and predictions for what 2025 might hold for the mobile industry. Check out these fascinating forecasts below.

Ceredigion County Council is proud to be part of the groundbreaking Rural Connectivity Accelerator (RCA) project, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

A new innovation project is steaming ahead in Dorset to test if WiFi can work on even the most rural and oldest railway networks. 

Dorset Council has been awarded £163,000 government funding from DSIT (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) to bring 21st century technology to Swanage Railway.

Rural broadband provider, Quickline Communications, is teaming up with social value specialist, Ahead Partnership, to bring a bespoke innovative, tech-focused engagement programme to 16 secondary schools across the region.

The 5G Innovation Region (5GIR) programme has seen 10 regions throughout the UK receive a share of £36m of funding as part of our wider programme to drive 5G adoption.

BT Group has activated its first self-powering mobile site in the Shropshire Hills, with approximately 70% of the site’s energy requirements met by on-site solar panels and a wind turbine.

The Shropshire Hills site provides reliable 4G and 5G connectivity to EE customers living, working, and travelling in the area.

The call for speakers has now opened! Don’t miss your opportunity to speak to 500+ major industry players, from technologists and entrepreneurs to academics and investors. We want to hear your stories of resilience, innovation and challenge, welcoming applications from organisations of any size or age.

Rural broadband specialist Quickline Communications has teamed up with Tech She Can, a leading tech education and careers charity, to tackle the issue of gender disparity in technology roles across the UK. 

Hello, my name is Gary Littledyke and I am the Senior Technical Officer for Telecoms at Dorset Council. I have forty years of experience in the telco industry; I joined the army as an apprentice at age 16 and spent eight years working as a British Army Royal Signals Communications Specialist. 

A further 4,500 homes and businesses across rural West Yorkshire and the York area can now access the fastest, most reliable broadband on the market, thanks to broadband provider Quickline Communications.

• Operator claims a US direct-to-cell first in partnership with Starlink
• Beta testing of the wireless emergency alert messaging service is still to be carried out and there is no timeframe for commercial launch
• T-Mobile says satellite-to-smartphone tech paves way to providing critical

Connected Britain took place at ExCeL London from the 11th to the 12th of September. The comprehensive two-day programme brought together 7,500 industry experts, innovators, and policymakers to shape the future of connectivity.

FarrPoint, a leading connectivity consultancy, unveiled its new report on digital connectivity readiness across the G7.

A new funding competition is supporting local businesses and industries in the Belfast region to harness the power of 5G and digital technologies to deliver enhanced operations and solutions.

CityFibre has announced a long-term partnership with Sky to expand its network reach.

As a result, Sky’s Full Fibre Broadband is expected to launch on CityFibre’s network starting next year.

• Research firm reports that fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) subs growth in UK is faster among altnets than major ISPs
• Altnets accounted for nearly 30% of retail UK FTTP connections at the end of Q2 2024; market leader BT had a 37% share
• Stinging rebuke for Virgin Media O2’s “premium pric

The UK Government will make an investment of up to £800 million to upgrade broadband infrastructure for 312,000 rural homes and businesses across England, Scotland and Wales.

The injection aims to close the digital divide that has left many remote areas with slow internet speeds.

The UK has taken third place in new global rankings of broadband reliability by Opensignal, the independent and reliable analytics company specialising in “quantifying the mobile-network experience”. 

Hello, I am George Gibson, a co-founder at Streetwave. Our two-year-old start-up is a product of the Welsh Government’s charity incubator, The Alacrity Foundation. The organisation researches the biggest challenges facing UK society, and mobile connectivity has been identified as a fundamental part of that.

Virgin Media O2 says it has completed the first phase of its Shared Rural Network (SRN) rollout, with the final ‘partial not-spot site’ installed at Glencoe Mountain Resort.

Building on the UK’s regional and national strengths, UKTIN’s Clusters Group exists to provide an open forum for inter-regional collaboration, sharing of best practices, insights and dissemination of learnings.

• A new independent report by FarrPoint, commissioned using data from four EE mast deployments, shows 4G mobile connectivity can generate more than £6 million for a rural community.
• From farming and fishi

Hello, I’m Dave Hudson and the CEO of two companies, Mpirical and PQMS, the UK training subsidiaries of Swedish company Hexatronic, delivering connectivity solutions globally.