Industry news
6
Who, what, where...
1 Ofcom
Ofcom has appointed Dame Melanie Dawes as its chief
executive. She will take up her new position in early March.
Dawes said: “Ofcom plays a crucial role in ensuring that
people and businesses across the UK get the best from
their communications services. It’s a great privilege to be
appointed as chief executive at a time of signifi cant change
in the sectors Ofcom regulates.”
The regulator also announced that Professor Simon
Saunders will join as director of emerging technology,
a newly created role it says will ensure it is equipped to
handle the increasing pace of technological change.
February 2020 | www.landmobile.co.uk | Twitter:@Land_Mobile
2 National Infrastructure Commission
The National Infrastructure Commission has warned that progress
on mobile connectivity for railways has stalled since the government
accepted the fi ndings of its ‘Connected Future’ report in 2016. Its new
report, ‘Connected Future: Getting back on track’, found that a lack of
leadership from government, frequent ministerial changes, and split
departmental responsibilities, have halted any initial momentum to
improve passenger access to mobile services.
The commission said the gap between a connected society and
a disconnected railway could become even more stark unless the
government remedies four key areas: leadership and action, access to
trackside land, commercial barriers, and fi lling evidence gaps.
3 WND UK
WND UK has said it has achieved 90 per cent population coverage for its
public IoT network. The network uses Sigfox’s low-power wide-area network
(LPWAN) technology, which operates in the ultra narrowband and requires a
low amount of power so devices can run for years on a single battery.
Tim Harris, chief executive, WND UK, said: “We will be installing a further
500 repeaters during 2020, which will further enhance our coverage.”
Harris also said the company has over 130 channel partners using the
network for commercial applications. Use-cases range from metering and
fl ood detection to legionella monitoring.
4 Openreach
Openreach has outlined plans to bring its fi bre-to-the-premises (FTTP)
network to 227 market towns and villages across the UK. New locations
will include Aberdare in South Wales and Saxmundham in Su olk.
The plans follow village trials launched at the end of last year where
engineers developed new tools, skills and techniques to help Openreach
extend its full-fi bre network into areas previously considered too complex
or expensive to upgrade.
Openreach’s CEO, Clive Selley, commented: “Our full-fi bre build
programme is going great guns – having passed over two million premises
already on the way to our four million target by March 2021.”
signififi 8
/www.landmobile.co.uk