An email to staff from the newspaper’s chair Paul Kanareck on Wednesday said the proliferation of home working, and the availability of WiFi and 4G on the Tube had caused a collapse in circulation from 600,000 to 275,000 copies dispensed mainly outside Tube stations since 2019.

A proposed weekly newspaper is planned to replace the daily edition.

Vodafone shut off its wi-fi service on London Underground three years ago because it said not enough people were using the service originally launched in 2012. Vodafone reinstated the service a year ago “due to customer demand”.

Ironically, Evening Standard was a main media supporter of London mayor Sadiq Khan who pushed for a widespread 4G service on the Underground that has now contributed to the demise of the paper. Mobile coverage will exted tp all London Underground, by the end of the year as well as the Elizabeth line, with 5G at the vast majority of locations.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/tube-4g-wifi-partly-blamed-collapse-evening-standard-print-edition/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/ee-bringing-4g-london-underground-stations/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/ee-bringing-4g-london-underground-stations/#respond Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:36:04 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/ee-bringing-4g-london-underground-stations/ In the future, BAI’s infrastructure will be 5G-ready to allow for more upgrades and 4G and 5G could be rolled out simultaneously

Freshwave has created a connectivity pilot in the City of London, where EE mobile users can access enhanced 4G and 5G coverage along Queen Victoria Street. 

Connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave has built new mobile infrastructure in the 10-site pilot so that all four major MNO’s can deliver and share 4G and 5G.

Outdoor small cells installed at street level process the high demand in busy areas, which makes them ideal for enhancing connectivity in densely populated areas. 

These are the first 5G outdoor small cells to be installed in the City of London.

Freshwave’s pilot means the network can serve all four MNO’s with no adjustments to the infrastructure.

The solution is made up of specially designed wideband antennas, cabinets and columns and large amounts of dark fibre to each cabinet. 

The pilot is said to reduce equipment, be more cost effective to deploy, minimise street clutter and disruption, as well as reducing environmental impact. 

Simon Frumkin, Freshwave’s CEO, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this milestone in the pilot of our truly multi-operator neutral host network. Shared digital infrastructure is the logical evolution in telecoms as cities become more connected and smarter. Companies like Freshwave that deploy using the neutral host model help accelerate this connectivity for everyone as the model is more cost-effective, greener and less disruptive. I’m proud Freshwave are doing what’s right by all parties in this area.”

James Hope, Director of Mobile Radio Access Networks at EE, said: “High capacity, super-fast connectivity is essential for consumers and businesses today, with demand for data and low-latency networks continuing to rise. We’re pleased to be the first operator live on this pilot with Freshwave helping to deliver the best possible 4G and 5G services to our City of London customers, even at the busiest times. The project is a further demonstration of how we’re enhancing our networks to help both digitise and deliver economic prosperity to the UK, and we look forward to extending it in the future.”

Virgin Media O2 has announced a range of network upgrades, investment and digital inclusion activities across Yorkshire.

The company has provided 5G coverage reaching over 50 per cent of the Yorkshire population across 100 locations, including Leeds, York, Sheffield and Wakefield.

As well as this, over 61,000 postcodes across Yorkshire have had their 4G network upgraded, after recent research from Virgin Media O2 showed that 85pc of Northerners believe access to the internet is essential to their lives.

Over £188 million has been spent across Yorkshire in recent years, and through the company’s Project Lightning programme, ultrafast broadband has been made available to over 324,000 additional homes and businesses. 

The investment has also seen over 900 jobs created or secured and additional contracts with local firms to help build the required infrastructure.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2 said: “Virgin Media O2 is committed to bringing the best experience and seamless connectivity to all its customers around the UK. Through our investment, employment, collaboration with local authorities and continued support in local communities, we’re proud to be connecting residents and businesses across Yorkshire and playing our part in helping it continue to be the fastest growing digital industry in the UK.”

Ericsson has published its 33rd Mobility Report which highlights that global 5G subscriptions remain on track to top one billion by the end of this year, despite economic challenges.

The November edition of this report also forecasts global fixed wireless access (FWA) connections to grow faster than previously predicted.

FWA is predicted to grow at 19 per cent year-on-year through 2022-28 and reach 300 million connections by the end of 2028.

Growth is due to accelerated FWA plans in India and other emerging markets.

Around 110 million 5G global subscriptions were added between July-September 2022, totalling approximately 870 million.

5G subscriptions in North America and North East Asia penetration in the regions are expected to reach about 35 percent by the end of this year.

By the end of 2028, 5G subscriptions are forecasted to account for 55pc of all subscriptions and 5G population coverage is projected to reach 85pc.

4G subscriptions across the globe are expected to rise, growing by 41 million between July and September 2022 and are projected to reach 5.2 billion by the end of the year.

Internet of Things (IoT), from a top-level standpoint, refers to a network of physical devices, such as embedded sensors, driverless vehicles, smartphones/tablets, wearables, or home appliances, that create and share information wirelessly without any human involvement.

And although IoT is very much in Vogue right now, it is a technological capability that has been around for at least 10 years with interconnected devices and applications prevalent in industry and consumables.

What has recently changed is the augmented capabilities of the embedded devices, the standardisation of communication protocols and more affordable IT. This, along with a shift in working trends has given the IoT phenomena a turbocharge and as such it is transforming operational processes and product lifecycles across all markets and applications.

The advent of 5G with its superfast speeds and ultralow latency capabilities has been central to this acceleration, particularly as far as industrial IoT is concerned. In actual fact, this next generation network has brought about major innovations in silicon design, fundamental to the intelligence of IoT devices and technologies, and as such they’re capable of capturing an array of constantly changing data that is needed for a truly smart world.

IoT is supporting enterprises with sustainability goals

IoT technologies are being deployed across the board. By manufacturing and supply chain companies for operational reasons, by social housing landlords to augment mobility and wellbeing, by insurance companies to combat fraudulent claims, and by healthcare organisations for traceability and accountability purposes, the possibilities are endless.

Moreover, IoT is supporting enterprises, regardless of sector, with their sustainability targets by empowering them to reduce overall energy and water consumption, and ultimately their running costs, through greater insight and detailed monitoring.

It’s worth pointing out though that the vast majority of IoT applications operational today are not running on 5G networks, but on existing cellular networks and this begs the question why. The answer is its universal availability. According to a report from Counterpoint Research 4G will continue to be the dominant cellular connectivity technology used by IoT devices until 2028 and only after this date will 5G become the dominant player in IoT.

Although the rollout of outdoor 5G coverage is in full swing, it’s by no means mainstream and many existing 5G enabled devices are still switching between 4G and 5G services, which impacts performance and the reliability of IoT.

5G networks may well offer to deliver much higher speeds, but the trade-off is shorter propagation range (5G uses the < 6 GHz or 28+ GHz frequency bands) and their poor ability to penetrate bricks and mortar.

This means that Industry 4.0 technologies such as digital twins, autonomous robots or additive manufacturing powered by AI are off limits to everyone other than tier one enterprises who have the bandwidth and the budgets to commission a 5G private mobile network.

A shortfall in 5G infrastructure at carrier level

Mobile signal quality is dependent on a range of factors including location, topography, number of users and the services used. When said signal is required to penetrate a building’s physical attributes, the performance immediately deteriorates by default. The only way to overcome the poor mobile coverage quandary is to take the outside signal indoors using supplementary equipment, much of which is not yet fully 5G compatible.

The 5G coverage scenario is exacerbated further by a shortfall in infrastructure at carrier level. Until TelCos and TowerCos are in a position to upgrade their infrastructure at scale with the cloud and backhaul capabilities needed for 5G, 4G will continue to be the backbone of existing IoT systems and business critical communications.

Manufacturing companies, large factories, industrial warehouses, etc have historically limited their comms infrastructure investments to specific areas within a building – breakout areas, canteens, and administration offices – because of the perceived high costs involved. As a result, many areas on the shopfloor, along with goods in and out handling areas are void of any cellular connectivity.

And this is impacting the use of IoT because a mobile phone signal is needed for their operability. There is also the health and safety aspect to consider as the trigger mechanism for the obligatory damage detector systems, predictive maintenance technologies and indeed all other M2M communications is cellular.

4G comms investments will hold good for the foreseeable future

If businesses want to truly leverage the IoT revolution, then the most logical strategy is to assure seamless coverage for existing 4G services. 4G is going to be the underlying enabler for most IoT systems and processes for the foreseeable future and as such any investment made in 4G infrastructure will hold good for a while, plus it will ensure that an organisation is future-ready for the country’s new public safety network (ESN) on track go mainstream in 2024. 5G capabilities can subsequently be incorporated as rollouts intensify and more real-world use-cases unfold.

BT has given an update on its progress from last year’s network vision where it outlined goals for the company to complete over a certain period of time.

The company’s network ambition is to have 5G connectivity anywhere in the UK by 2028 and a fully converged network in the UK by the mid 2020’s. 

During the presentation, chief technology officer Howard Watson said that it has made progress with its 4G coverage by expanding the rural reach by a further 1,000 sq miles since last year, and covers 86 per cent of the UK population. 

5G network update

BT has covered half the UK population with 5G coverage a year ahead of its 2023 schedule, and there are seven million 5G-ready customers.

Watson said that BT is building an unbeatable 5G network and has tested out its capabilities in extreme circumstances.

“We tried out the 5G technology during Storm Arwin and through this year’s heatwave to see how it could deploy mobile coverage solutions in much harder to get to areas, and it worked,” he said.

Last year, BT promised that it would develop a new 5G core and go live in 2022, with the service fully launched in 2023, and now the first few customers have been transferred to the core.

Watson also provided an update on the Huawei situation, as BT and other providers have had to switch 4G suppliers.

“We have reduced dependence on Huawei and have swapped to Ericsson or Nokia equipment, and we’re on track to meet the July 2023 deadline to limit our reliance on Huawei,” he said.

Legacy

BT is moving all of its customers off of legacy products such as 3G networks, copper broadband and copper phones, to secure a full closure of legacy platforms.

It aims to have all customers off of 3G by the end of 2023 and the entire network to be sunsetting from 2024.

Watson said the copper broadband is down to the last few thousand customers as Openreach is rolling out fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) as its replacement.

“There is not much demand or need for 3G right now and customers are being contacted to be moved to 4G or 5G and we should have all customers moved by December,” he said.

“The PSTN switch off is also looming and should be completed by 2025.”

In the future, Watson revealed that BT wants to become a market leader in 5G with 90pc geo coverage by 2028, as well as becoming a market leader in full fibre by reaching 25 million premises by 2026.

Virgin Media O2 has announced they are investing hundreds of millions into network initiatives and upgrades across Scotland. 

Virgin Media O2’s 5G coverage in Scotland now reaches 58 towns and cities, such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Perth, and 37,000 postcodes are covered by 5G.

Studies show 5G could add £12bn to the Scottish economy and create 160,000 jobs and 3,000 new businesses.

The company has also invested in its 4G network upgrade across Scotland, boosting a further 33,000 postcodes to make Scotland a digital nation.

Rural Scottish communities have also received a boost as Virgin Media O2 is providing new services as part of the shared rural network (SRN) programme which gives residents and businesses access to improved, faster 4G services. 

Since its first investment in 2015, more than 330,000 homes and businesses have ultrafast broadband and half the population in Scotland can access gigabit broadband speeds.

Levelling up

Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise Ivan Mckee visited a dig site in Glasgow and commented: “Investment by Virgin Media O2 across gigabit-capable broadband, 4G and 5G mobile coverage is helping improve digital connectivity. 

This includes provision of 4G on a number of our Scottish 4G Infill programme sites and significant investment in 5G, with coverage added to more than 28,000 postcodes over the past year, including in Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness and Perth.”

Virgin Media O2 head of build for Scotland Colin Rae added: “Virgin Media O2 is driving forward the Scottish Government’s aspiration to make the country a world-class digital nation, turning ambition into action through continued investment to expand our gigabit network, 4G upgrades and 5G rollout.

“We’re dedicated to bringing the best experience and seamless connectivity to all our customers across Scotland, from the remote Isle of Gigha and Scottish Highlands, to the major cities, as we continue to upgrade the UK.”

Vodafone and Virgin Media O2 have agreed to join BAI Communication’s 4G and 5G ready mobile network to support mobile signal across the London Underground.

This means that all four UK major network operators will provide connectivity across the London Underground, with EE and Three already signed up.

Last year BAI Communications, a global communication infrastructure provider, was awarded a 20-year deal by Transport for London (TfL) to delivery this connectivity.

BAI is aiming to deliver a full 4G service across the entirety of the London Underground by 2024.

According to BAI, work is well underway, following a positive pilot section on the eastern end of the Jubilee Line earlier this year.

The next five stations to get coverage are Bank, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Euston, and Camden Town – all of which will go live within the next six months.

As part of this contract, BAI’s neutral host mobile network will also host the new Emergency Services Network (ESN).

“The UK needs world class digital infrastructure, and bringing 4G and 5G to the London Underground is a big part of that,” said Vodafone UK CEO Ahmed Essam.

Virgin Media O2 CEO Lutz Schuler added: “We’ve already invested hundreds of millions of pounds in the capital to expand and upgraded our fixed and mobile networks which has accelerated London’s transformation into a cutting-edge digital hub, fuelling growth and connecting communities to gigabit services.”

There are plenty of global phone manufacturers that appeal to the masses, but not many that cater specifically to the over-65 market.

Yet Sweden’s Doro, which has been around for 48 years in the consumer electronics space, is a vendor that does focus on products and services for that segment.

Doro’s devices are designed with loud and clear sound, large separated keys and an assistance button that alerts emergency contacts if the user needs help.

The company recognises that not all senior users are the same, so offers a range of products to suit individual needs.

Some customers want a smartphone but need guidance on using it. The firm therefore offers such devices – namely, the Doro 8050, 8080 and newly launched 8100 – but has an interface that helps navigate users through various functions such as calling a contact, sending a message and finding apps.

For others, ‘extra easy’ mobiles such as the Doro 6620 flip phone or the 6040 camera phone would be beneficial.

Experience

Peter Marsden, Doro’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, has been in the mobile industry for more than 30 years, having previously held positions at companies including Sony Ericsson, Panasonic and Blackberry – before joining Doro in 2017.

Marsden says he loves creating products that make customers’ lives easier, helping them overcome any issues with functions such as sight, hearing and dexterity.

“Our view is that a phone is something people feel comfortable carrying and is part of our everyday world now,” says Marsden.

“In the past, seniors that needed to get in touch with people carried a pendant or wristband, which was a bit stigmatising.”

Marsden emphasises that a phone is essential for seniors to communicate and receive support, something that has been highlighted by the pandemic.

“It was tough as a brand because so many of our customers were used to going into a shop and buying our phones there, but this changed dramatically overnight and our business dropped,” he says.

Now, he says, customers are equally happy to buy Doro’s products online as well as visit a store.

Doros for sale

Doro products can be found across most major operators, retailers and e-tailers, such as EE, O2, Vodafone, Currys, Tesco Mobile, Amazon and Argos.

“Anywhere you can buy a mobile phone, you’ll normally find a Doro,” says Marsden, who claims the brand has a 90 per cent share in the UK senior market among vendors that target over-65s.

“The seniors compared to the overall market are niche, but it’s an important niche.

“They’ve got disposable income and they need communication, so big companies like Vodafone and EE stock Doro so they have a solution for those customers.”

According to Doro, the amount of its UK users amount to around three million, and elsewhere in Europe, Doro’s shares of the senior market differ, with its most prominent being in the Nordic region, at nearly 100 per cent.

“In Germany, it’s a bit different, as there are some other vendors that are strong, so we’ve got about half the market,” says Marsden.

“In France, we have something like 70 to 80 per cent of the senior market, but in the overall European market we are quite small.”

4G Moves

The new Doro 8100 smartphone and recently launched 5860, 6820 and 6880 feature phones are all 4G-enabled.

Marsden says the company is gradually introducing 4G-compatible devices because some countries in Europe are already moving towards turning off 2G and 3G.

With the wider and more advanced range of features generally available on 4G phones, he is, however, keen that the devices remain simple to use.

“I think 2G and 3G will start to have a shelf life soon, so it’s important that we start to build up a 4G portfolio but make sure we still deliver products to the customer that are easy and intuitive to use,” he says.

“Today, there’s no great rush to completely switch to 4G. We work with networks such as O2 and Tesco, which still sell a lot of 3G devices and are happy to continue to buy 3G products.

“However, other networks such as Vodafone and EE will only buy a 4G device from us.”

Marsden believes the UK still has a good network on 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G technology, but many efforts will be focused on 4G for now.

“What could 5G give a senior that 4G couldn’t? At the moment, I don’t think it’s much,” he says.

“They’re not going to be streaming movies and looking at download speeds; they will need the phone for WhatsApp, picture messages and watching YouTube, which can all be done on 4G and WiFi.”

Focus Areas

Now that Doro has built up an understanding and reputation in the senior mobile space, Marsden says the brand will start to look at other categories such as wearables, hearables and new screens, as well as developing existing categories.

“Seniors tend to struggle with hearing, seeing and dexterity, so we could potentially enhance our range through better audio and monitoring health, and we’re looking into this,” he says.

Marsden re-emphasises the point that Doro is a brand that aims to make seniors’ lives easier and give them independence through its products.

“We get letters from relatives to say ‘my dad had a fall and he pressed the button on the back – without your phone, he could have been there for days and could have died’.

“I’ve worked for some of the big brands, but when you get a letter saying your phone saved my dad’s life, that’s just incredible… it gives us the passion to do what we do.”