A three-judge panel in the Cincinnati-based sixth US circuit court of appeals said the Federal Communications Commission lacked authority to reinstate the rules initially implemented in 2015 by the Obama administration.

The net neutrality rules, which require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally, were repealed by Donald Trump in 2017, before outgoing President Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules.

The court cited a June decision from the Supreme Court in Loper Bright to overturn a 1984 precedent that would give deference to government agencies in how they interpret laws they administer. The ruling leaves in place state net neutrality laws but is a blow to Democrat efforts to give federal regulators oversight of the internet.

Net-neutrality rules prevent ISPs from restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain users. The rules also forbid special arrangements in which ISPs give improved network speeds or access to favoured users, but the rules were opposed by Brendan Carr, who is set to become FCC chair when Trump comes to power later this month.

Following the ruling, sitting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel challenged Congress to act to “put open internet principles in federal law”.

She said: “Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open and fair. With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call.”

USTelecom, an industry group whose members include AT&T and Verizon, said in a joint statement with other groups that sued that the ruling is “a victory for American consumers that will lead to more investment, innovation and competition in the dynamic digital marketplace”.

However, the FCC’s net neutrality rules received backing the likes of Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Meta.

The post US court strikes down net neutrality rules appeared first on TechInformed.

Each year, NORAD’s Santa Tracker combines cutting-edge technology and the festive spirit of volunteers to monitor Santa’s magical journey around the world on Christmas Eve, delighting children by fielding millions of their questions.

McCall shares how this heartwarming tradition began in 1955 when a misprinted ad accidentally directed kids to NORAD’s predecessor, sparking a legacy of holiday cheer that’s lasted ever since.

Over coffee — plain for him, gingerbread-flavoured for us — McCall delves into the workings of this festive mission, fuelled by dedicated local volunteers, tech sponsors, mince pies, and plenty of Christmas tunes!

The post A coffee with…Luke McCall, Santa Tracker volunteer, NORAD appeared first on TechInformed.

No technology topic was discussed more at major tech conferences, in press releases, or even by politicians than artificial intelligence, especially the various forms of GenAI and large language models.

We’ve seen a whole host of new AI launches, with Cisco, Salesforce, and even Amazon jumping aboard the AI train. Meanwhile, industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google have all rolled out new products and unveiled new partnerships.

There were also signs of a shift in AI technology as more and more firms revealed “agentic” models—AI agents designed to serve users by automating mind-numbing processes or handling elements such as customer services.

Three years after the public launch of ChatGPT overturned our understanding of AI, it doesn’t appear to be losing momentum… meaning 2025 could bring even more exciting developments.

When the chips are up

Perhaps no other tech company has had a better year than chipmaker Nvidia, which has positioned itself at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Once a relatively modest chipset maker known for its graphic processing units (GPU), Nvidia has metamorphosised into one of the world’s most valuable public companies.

It has partnerships with all the big AI players, including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and the company’s value has almost doubled in the last 12 months.

Can Nvidia’s incredible success last? Several factors favour leather jacket-wearing enthusiast CEO Jensen Huang and his firm. This year, Nvidia unveiled its new computing architecture, Blackwell, which is specifically designed for AI, positioning it to benefit even further from the AI boom.

However, one negative is on the horizon — China has just announced an antitrust probe in an escalation of its tech war with the US.

Connecting the world at the Olympics

2024 was a massive year for major events, including the UEFA European Championships in Germany and a spate of major elections worldwide. However, no event was bigger than the 2024 Olympic Games held in Paris over the summer.

A record-breaking 12.1 million tickets were sold for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which saw athletes compete in more than 329 events across 32 sports in a three-week stint.

Logistically, the games were a huge challenge for the organisers of the International Olympic Committee and the French Government.

The event got off to an auspicious start when a sabotage attack damaged several rail networks. Though these were denied, there were also reports of blackouts and attacks on telecom infrastructure.

Deepfakes and cyber-attacks: How the Paris 2024 Olympics became a hotspot for digital warfare

Orange, the IOC’s broadcast and connectivity partner, supported the entire event. Orange provided a private 5G network throughout Paris to power the games.

The 5G network provided capacity across 32 spots and 120 official sites across the city and was made available for broadcasters and teams on the ground, as well as spectators visiting Paris.

According to the telco, around 20,000 photos were transferred on its network in the first week of the Games alone.

Orange also supported the opening ceremony by providing 5G smartphones, which were used to live broadcast the parade down the River Seine.

The French incumbent has since revealed a partnership with the French postal service to give new life to network equipment used during the games.

Beginning in 2025, around 90% of the Wi-Fi terminals and 78% of the switches from the Olympic sites will be refurbished and installed at La Poste’s locations in France.

Musk ado about nothing

A controversial pick now — and they don’t come much more controversial than Tesla owner, SpaceX boss, and soon-to-be US government consultant/DOGE chief, Elon Musk.

To say it has been an outright fantastic year for the billionaire wouldn’t really be accurate — no single person in tech has generated more headlines than Musk in 2024, though not all have been positive.

Musk has certainly faced numerous challenges, including questions about his proposed pay, the performance of his social media platform Twitter/X, and disputes with regulators in regions from Brazil to Europe.

However, one major decision looks set to pay off handsomely: his call to throw his considerable might behind Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

For Musk, Trump’s win in November means he is now arguably one of the most powerful non-politicians on the planet. The incoming President is set to hand him his own department (DOGE) tasked with reducing governmental waste.

Musk remains the world’s richest man, but according to Fortune, his net worth was buoyed by Tesla’s growth (up around 37%) and success at SpaceX.

Speaking of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company continued to push the boundaries of space exploration technology with the sixth flight test of Starship last month. At the same time, its Polaris Dawn mission saw the world’s first privately funded spacewalk.

With Trump due to return to power in January, this year could just be one small step for his billionaire best friend.

Reaching for the Bluesky

As we already mentioned, not everything went Elon Musk’s way, and our final tech triumph in 2024 is for a company that tried to capitalise on — and seemingly succeeded in — some of Musk’s misfortunes.

Elon may be looking beyond the clouds with his space exploration, but it’d be remiss to ignore the sky… Bluesky, that is.

Created in 2019 by founder Jack Dorsey, previously of Twitter, Bluesky has quickly become the alternative microblogging platform to Musk’s X — or the home of the ex-Xers, so to speak.

Bluesky launched as an invite-only service in February 2023 and opened registrations in February 2024. However, the platform’s growth skyrocketed around the US Presidential Election as users sought an alternative to X.

Today, Bluesky has around 25 million registered users and has more than tripled its user base within the last three months.

Though it is still way behind the former Twitter’s estimated 600 million monthly users, Bluesky could position itself as a true alternative to Elon Musk’s platform in a way that previous rivals, such as Threads, have failed.

You’ve read about the tops, now read the bottoms: the top tech turkeys of 2024!

The post 2024’s Top Tech Triumphs: AI Domination, Nvidia’s Rise, and Musk’s Mixed Year appeared first on TechInformed.

The amalgamation will create a new market leader in the UK’s mobile sector after the regulator gave its approval to the deal.

The deal is contingent on a number of legal obligations, including a commitment to spend £11bn ($14bn) improving 5G connectivity services across the country.

Legally binding commitments include capping some mobile tariffs and the agreement to offer preset contractual terms to mobile virtual network operators who leverage the combined firm’s wholesale network.

Price rises will be capped for several years, with both the CMA and regulator Ofcom set to enforce any conditions, which will be reported annually.

Some had questioned the deal’s ability to reduce competition in the connectivity market, as the merger will reduce the number of UK mobile network operators from four to three: Vodafone/ Three, BT/EE, and VMO2.

The deal, which brings together the UK’s fourth and third biggest operators, was first struck in June 2023. The combined entity will have around 27 million subscribers.

Vodafone’s chief executive, Margherita Della Valle, said the approval “releases the handbrake on the UK’s telecoms industry.”

Della Valle said: “Today’s decision creates a new force in the UK’s telecoms market and unlocks the investment needed to build the network infrastructure the country deserves.

“Consumers and businesses will enjoy wider coverage, faster speeds and better-quality connections across the UK as we build the biggest and best network in our home market.”

Vodafone will own a 51% stake in the merged company, while Three-owner CK Hutchison — based in Hong Kong — will own the remaining 49%.

Read more: How do organisations like Vodafone unlock innovation through smarter data strategies?

Canning Fok, the deputy chair of CK Hutchison, said: “When Three and Vodafone are combined, CK Hutchison will fully support the merged business in implementing its network investment plan, the cornerstone of today’s approval by the CMA, transforming the UK’s digital infrastructure and ensuring customers across the country benefit from world-beating network quality.”

The merger follows a tie-up between O2 and Virgin Media to form VMO2 in 2021. The company is a joint venture between Virgin Media owner Liberty Global and O2 owner Telefonica.

The other primary UK player is BT-owned EE, formed in 2010 as a merger between the then fourth-placed T-Mobile and third-placed Orange before it was bought out by BT in 2016.

The industry’s reaction to the Vodafone and Three deal has been mixed, with rivals such as BT strongly opposing the consolidation.

However, Rafael González, CMO at MedUX, said the newly merged entity needs to focus strongly on improving 5G services.

He said: “While the Vodafone/Three merger includes commitments to invest in 5G, general investment alone may not be sufficient to improve the experience for UK citizens and enterprises. Capital expenditure should specifically focus on enhancing 5G coverage, availability, reliability, and performance.

“With various versions of 5G offering different quality levels, it’s essential to address overlooked factors such as the spectrum bands used, minimum required speeds, and the performance capabilities necessary for new use cases.”

He concluded: “Considering these factors is crucial for contributing to positive social welfare and improving network quality.”

The post CMA approves £16.5bn Vodafone and Three deal and sets terms for UK telecom’s future appeared first on TechInformed.

Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger has stepped down after three years in charge at the chipmaker, following pressure from the US firm’s board of directors.

Gelsinger has said he will retire from Intel — where he spent most of his career — effective immediately. This follows a meeting with the company’s board, which reportedly gave him the option to retire or be removed, Bloomberg has reported.

Gelsinger rejoined Intel as CEO in February 2021, taking over from Bob Swan in an effort to turn around the chipmaker’s fortunes after Intel had lost ground to rivals, including Nvidia.

In a tweet confirming his departure, Gelsinger said: “Leading Intel has been the honour of my lifetime. I am forever grateful for the many colleagues around the world who I have worked with as part of the Intel family and can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. Thank you all!”

With Gelsinger out, Intel’s chief financial officer, David Zinsner, and Intel Products CEO, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will temporarily serve as co-CEOs while the board searches for his replacement.

Read more…

UK govt eyes donation cap to limit billionaire influence on elections amid Musk rumours

The UK government could cap political donations after reports emerged that tech billionaire Elon Musk is eyeing a $100 million donation to the Reform UK party.

Musk, who was a significant presence during the recent US Presidential Election, is reportedly a big fan of Reform leader Nigel Farage. He has expressed a strong dislike for current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer through his social media platform X.

Musk and Farage share ties to presidential-elect Trump, and Farage has hinted at Musk’s potential financial and ideological support, describing him as “supportive” of his policy positions.

Although no formal financial arrangement has been confirmed, the prospect has ignited debates over the role of international billionaires in domestic politics.

UK ministers are considering capping political donations to curb foreign influence, a reform potentially spurred by reports of Musk’s pledge.

Proposals under review suggest limiting annual donations from individuals and corporations to £100,000 ($127,000). This cap would aim to prevent undue influence by wealthy donors and foreign entities, but it could significantly impact the funding of major political parties.

Read more…

Microsoft faces £1bn class action case in UK over software prices

Microsoft could be forced to pay over £1 billion in compensation to UK businesses if it loses a class action case claiming it overcharged companies for its Windows Server software.

According to reports, regulation expert Maria Luisa Stasi has filed a complaint with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal on an opt-out basis.

The lawsuit alleges that UK businesses are forced to pay more to license Microsoft’s Windows Server software on rival firms’ clouds than to license its own Azure platform.

This would theoretically allow Microsoft to lock businesses into its Azure platform, making it harder to switch to other hyperscalers.

Read more…

Starlink told to cease operations in Namibia

The Namibian communications regulator has ordered Elon Musk’s satellite comms provider, Starlink, to cease operations in the country until the relevant licences are granted.

Starlink, part of SpaceX, provides mobile communications in remote areas through satellite connectivity. It currently operates in several African countries, including Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Benin, South Sudan, Eswatini, and Sierra Leone.

The firm said it had applied for a licence in Namibia, but the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRAN) is currently reviewing the application.

In a statement, CRAN said it had found Starlink operating a network in the African country, prompting the regulator to send Musk a cease-and-desist order. SpaceX has yet to comment on the situation.

Read more…

Telegram signs up to IWF child safety scheme

Following a controversial year which saw its founder placed under arrest, messaging app Telegram has announced it will work with an internationally recognised body to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

For years, Telegram has refused to engage with schemes such as the Internet Watch Foundation, which aims to detect and remove CSAM and to prevent its spread.

However, Telegram, used by around 950 million people worldwide, has announced a u-turn, saying it will join the IWF.

In a statement, the IWF called the move “transformational.”

“By joining the IWF, Telegram can begin deploying our world-leading tools to help make sure this material cannot be shared on the service,” said Derek Ray-Hill, Interim CEO at the IWF.

Earlier this year, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris, accused of failing to moderate extreme content.

This occurred in August, and French judges have since barred the billionaire from leaving the country pending further investigations.

Read more…

The post Intel CEO steps down amid chip pressure while Microsoft faces £1bn cloud lawsuit appeared first on TechInformed.

The “Live Intelligence” offering aims to democratise access to GenAI for European companies, starting in France early next year.

Orange Business says its tool will allow European businesses to keep their data within the continent and tackle the issue of “Shadow AI,” which refers to employees using free online solutions, risking the exposure of sensitive data.

50,000 Orange Business employees have already used the solution for internal operations.

“Live Intelligence enables all businesses, regardless of their size or sector, to leverage the power of GenAI to improve operational efficiency and customer experience without compromising the security of their data,” said Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, Chief Executive Officer of Orange Business.

Mousnier-Lompré added: “AI is more than just a technology; it represents a fundamental shift in how we envision future applications.”

Orange Business made the announcement at its annual OpenTech event, in which Orange also announced a digital inclusion project with Meta and OpenAI.

The partnership aims to develop AI models that understand regional African languages. The goal is to create custom AI models for customer support and sales, allowing users to communicate in their local languages.

These open-source models will be available for non-commercial use, supporting public health, education, and other services.

By collaborating with local startups and tech companies, Orange said it hopes to bridge the digital divide in Africa. It will focus on regional languages like Wolof and Pulaar, spoken by 16 million and 6 million people, respectively, in West Africa.

Orange plugs 5G into Africa

Starting in 2025, the initiative will fine-tune AI models such as OpenAI’s ‘Whisper’ and Meta’s ‘Llama’ to better understand African languages.

The long-term goal is to cover all languages across Orange’s 18-country footprint.

“This multilingual issue is a challenge because we serve clients in 17 countries in Africa, yet in those 17 countries, there are 948 languages,” said Elizabeth Tchoungui, executive vice president of group social responsibility at Orange.

She added that Orange launched a chatbot in Senegal that understood Wolof. Examples of its use include mothers talking to the chatbot to find out information on vaccines and their local healthcare centre.

“Wolof and Pulaar are both languages not well represented today in both spoken and written form,” explained Steve Jarrett, chief AI officer at Orange Innovation. “As a result, in the models trained by these companies, like our partners OpenAI and Meta, these languages are not well represented.”

He added: “I think Orange is perfectly positioned because of the deep technical expertise we have in our teams at Orange Innovation, and also the teams in the regions and countries [we work in], and all of the local partners that we work with to get high quality, and non-biased samples of these languages.”

Orange’s telecom services are present in 18 countries across Africa.

In addition, Orange has secured direct access to OpenAI’s models, which aim to help improve solutions across Europe, including AI-driven voice interactions for customers.

The post Orange OpenTech 2024: GenAI for B2B and LLMs for African communities appeared first on TechInformed.

Nvidia is planning to launch its AI-powered Jetson Thor humanoid robot computing platform in the first half of 2025, staking a claim in what is expected to be a fast-growing humanoid robotics market.

The latest addition to the Nvidia Jetson platform, Jetson Thor will focus exclusively on robotics and promises unprecedented levels of human/robot interaction. Nvidia says it will focus on rapid advancements in AI, particularly computer vision and natural language processing to allow robots to see and understand their surroundings with greater levels of sophistication.

Read more…

Trump appoints ‘free speech warrior’ Carr to head FCC 

Brendan Carr, the fierce Republican critic of Big Tech, has been named as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency which regulates TV, radio and the internet.

A lawyer and the senior Republican on the FCC, Carr has promised to tackle social media firms which censor conservative viewpoints, although his appointment will require approval by the US Senate.

He was the author of a chapter in Project 25, the blueprint/wish list for the second Trump presidency, in which he promised to reign in Google and Facebook and toughen the stance on Chinese social platform TikTok.

Read more… 

Meta gets EU fine for abusive practices on Facebook Marketplace 

The European Commission has fined Meta €797.72 million for breaching EU antitrust rules.

According to the Commission, Meta linked its Facebook Marketplace classified ads service to Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ad providers.

The Commission said that all Facebook users get automatic access and regular exposure to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not, and the company unilaterally imposes unfair trading conditions on other online classified ad providers who advertise on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Read more…

AI outpaces the law in celebrity voice cloning frauds 

A UK government select committee has been warned that fraudulent cloning of celebrity voices is on the rise with Oprah Winfrey, Kylie Jenner and David Attenborough all falling victim to having their voices cloned without consent.

Dominic Lees, an expert in AI in film and television who is advising a UK parliamentary committee on the ethical use of AI in film-making, told The Guardian newspaper that UK privacy and copyright laws aren’t up to date with the challenges that AI technology presents.

AI voice cloning scams were up 30% in the UK in the last year, according to research by NatWest Bank this month.

Voice cloning is also reportedly being used by fraudsters to perpetrate a version of the “hi mum” text scam, in which fraudsters pose as children needing their parent to send funds urgently.

Read more…

Face Lab recreates Richard III avatar complete with Yorkshire accent 

A carefully researched digital avatar reconstruction of the head of medieval English king Richard III has gone on display at York Theatre Royal with a distinctive Yorkshire accent.

The king, who reigned from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32, had his remains discovered in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.

Now he has been further resurrected through a project at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University with the help of experts from various fields including speech and language therapy, dentistry, forensic psychology and archaeology, led by craniofacial identification expert professor Caroline Wilkinson.

Read more…

British Airways outage leaves pilots in the dark and passengers on the tarmac

UK airline British Airways was affected by an IT outage on Monday evening, 18 November, stranding BA passengers at airports across Europe.

Phone lines for the airline were reportedly having issues, along with the BA website, which went down shortly after 6pm on Monday evening, according to Downdetector. Pilots were reportedly left without information with planes full of people waiting for clearance to take off.

The issue was attributed to an IT glitch, which impacted much of the company’s software, leaving pilots to manually call Heathrow Airport to file flight plans.

Read more… 

The post Nvidia’s humanoid platform; BA glitch strands passengers; Meta slapped with EU fine appeared first on TechInformed.

Sandwiched between some terraced housing and a Sainsbury’s supermarket, it doesn’t feel like the most auspicious location to be reporting on an innovative tech development.

And yet Steve Parish’s club, affectionately known as “The Eagles”, achieved this on 21 September this year, with a private 5G use case, which has not only improved the experience for one fan community, but also has the potential to expand into other areas.

Eagle eyes

During the Premier League game between Crystal Palace and Manchester United, several Palace fans with low vision were invited to wear headsets to enjoy the early season game in real-time, from any seat in the stadium, alongside their friends and family.

The headsets comprised of a vision enhancement system patented by assistive tech firm GiveVision.

Founded in 2014 in conjunction with Moorfields Eye Hospital and other universities, GiveVision started out with a home device that helped people with low vision to read and watch TV – even enabling one couple to see their baby’s face for the first time.

And then one user took the headset to a Spice Girls reunion gig, which proved game changing in many ways, prompting the organisation to do more research into the events space.

The latest version of the headset (now in its fifth iteration) possesses technology that modulates a broadcast feed from the cameras filming at the event into a bright, sharp stereoscopic light, projected via the headset to the working part of the retina.

This stimulates the user’s remaining vision to enable them to see details more clearly.

“The wonderful thing about this feed is that the camera operators are always following the best of the action. And if you have a visual impairment sometimes it’s quite difficult to know what to focus your attention on,” says GiveVision’s head of operations, Joanna Liddington.

Liddington adds that there’s a second setting on the headset too – in the form of a camera which allows users to magnify the view “like you would do when you zoom into a picture on your phone.”

“There’s generally a 50:50 split between people who prefer to use the headset camera to look at what they want to look at and the other half who would rather watch the operator’s feed,” she adds.

To ensure the feed is delivered in real time, without any lag or interruptions, to every seat in the stadium, the right connectivity solution was crucial.

And there isn’t anyone who can explain why a low latency rate was needed better than a fan who struggles on match days to keep up with what’s happening on the pitch.

According to Eagles fan Stephen Anderson, a council worker from Harrow, the experience of being a visually impaired fan at a football match is one step removed from most other supporters.

“It’s like you are there but you’re not there. When you don’t see a handball and you can’t shout ‘handball!’ along with everyone else. You’ll see fans giving it to the ref: but you can’t form a judgement.

“There’s just such power in being able to say, ‘I saw it!’ and I think for many non-visually impaired people that might be a difficult concept to appreciate.

“The fact that, seeing a goal with your own eyes. Seeing a foul, seeing all those things as they happen, and being part of the live narrative.”

Private 5G

GiveVision tried several solutions to power the headsets in the two and a half years it’s been collaborating with the club. However, the public mobile network proved too congested to use during match days and WiFi does not possess the low latency needed to stream feeds instantaneously.

The accessibility tech firm reached out to Shared Access, a neutral host provider that invests in infrastructure and leases it out to different mobile operators.

The company started building out emergency service networks before moving on to grass roots sports organisations and then larger clubs. One recent project saw Shared Access design, install and fund a distributed antenna system (DAS) to serve Tottenham Hotspur FC in Northeast London. This also included macro coverage and a small cell network through Haringey, around the stadium so that Tottenham fans could enjoy connectivity as soon as they arrived at the train station all the way into and around the stadium.

Instead of each mobile operator installing its own separate network equipment in the stadium, Shared Access installs one single network system that all mobile operators can use.

This system includes antennas set up around the stadium to provide strong, focused coverage in different areas, ensuring that everyone—no matter their carrier— gets good reception.

According to Sam Jackman, Shared Access’s chief development officer, a private 5G network was the most effective way of streaming the game into the headset.

“It benefits from the speed, and we can control who uses it by having a sim card, which you need to log onto the network.

As a neutral host operator, the firm was able to apply to Ofcom for about 100MHz of lower power spectrum, explains Shared Access’s Future technologies director Paul Coffey.

“We’ve built it in the n77 which runs from 3.7MHz to 4.2 MHz and we’ve deployed our own private secure network. Low powered spectrum is perfect for events like this where we can tailor it to where we need it most,” he adds.

Footballing first

The GiveVision and Shared Access partnership with Crystal Palace enabled the club to be the first in the UK to use a 5G network and the first club in history to offer a permanent vision enhancement system for fans at the stadium.

“It really has changed my experience in terms of coming to football matches,” Anderson remarks.

“Even a couple of years ago, you would never have imagined me doing this. I’m able to see the fouls, the goals, the penalties, the free kicks, the yellow cards. And I’m also able to hold the referee in the same level of contempt as everybody else! Equality is the main point here.”

At the match that Saturday, seven people used the headsets although there is capacity for 15 according to Jackman.

“It could be scaled in the future. We have about 100MHz so we could double or treble this number of users. So, it gives us scalability if the club finds more users.”

For the club and others who commit to the technology, the private 5G network can also be applied to other use cases around the stadium.

Identified use cases include support connectivity for WiFi in tough to reach areas or to enhance the speed of delivery and security for point-of-sale operators within the stadium.

Broadcasters could also make use of the network to have a secure network available for use inside the stadium, or to communicate from inside to out during events.

“Security cameras could be run on a private network, as well as other types of security needs such as body cams that could then send live updates to a control room rather than have to be downloaded and reviewed later,” Jackman also suggests.

Premier buy-in

Now that Palace has a working example of the tech up and running, chairman Steve Parish – a business entrepreneur who started his career in computer graphics – wants other clubs to pick up the mantle.

“We have pioneered this technology because we want everybody to come and enjoy the games, whatever their personal situation, whatever their circumstances. This is another step forward on accessibility for everybody,” he explains

“Obviously we want to help the supporters that come to our ground, but we’re hopeful that this expands across the Premier League. We don’t want to be the only club doing this!”

This sentiment is also echoed by former Liverpool and England player Michael Owen, whose son, James, has a degenerative eye condition.

“It’s great to see this sort of technology being introduced at Premier League games to help visually impaired fans enjoy the game. What GiveVision and Shared Access are doing to increase accessibility and help fans see the game they love is incredible. Hopefully more clubs follow,” says Owen.

According to GiveVision’s Liddington, the firm has started doing work with Bournemouth and Everton football clubs and she seems confident that more will follow. In the meantime, she adds, it is working on the next iteration. So, what would V6 offer?

“At the moment, the headset works for 95% of visually impaired people but it would be good to have one for everyone. Everyone’s sight loss is so different it would be amazing to develop different more tailored settings for different eye conditions.”

Read more: Genesys and Lighthouse Works partner to boost CX careers for blind workers

The post Crystal Palace FC eliminate restricted view for visually impaired fans appeared first on TechInformed.

The study, which analysed the breadth and depth of sustainability initiatives and technological adoption, names Japan’s KDDI, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, and the US-based Verizon as the top three operators globally in terms of their impact on sustainability.

KDDI was highlighted in the report for its circular economy efforts and commitment to cloud technology. Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom and Verizon were recognised for their sustainability strategies and initiatives to reduce their environmental impact.

KDDI takes the lead in mobile sustainability

According to the report, KDDI recycled over 99% of its disused network hardware in 2023.

The Japanese operator has also taken steps to reduce its carbon emissions by embracing cloud computing, allowing for more efficient use of resources and energy.

KDDI’s use of Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) enabled the company to reduce the physical infrastructure required for its data centres, further reducing energy consumption.

These advancements in virtualisation and automation are central to the company’s sustainability strategy, allowing it to streamline operations and optimise energy use across its networks.

The operator’s sustainability strategy claims to focus on achieving carbon neutrality, promoting renewable energy, and supporting the circular economy.

Some of its key initiatives include the “Green Mobile” service for corporate customers powered by renewable energy and establishing the KDDI Green Partners Fund to support startups tackling environmental issues.

Deutsche Telekom and Verizon also performed well in sustainability

Deutsche Telekom and Verizon’s sustainability efforts also stood out in Juniper’s research.

Deutsche Telekom has been recognised for its commitment to environmental sustainability in the past, investing heavily in renewable energy and sustainable supply chain practices.

The German operator, the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue, has implemented numerous initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint, including the widespread use of renewable energy across its European operations.

On the other hand, Verizon has focused on integrating sustainability into every facet of its business, from network management to customer outreach, according to Juniper’s report.

The US-based firm has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2035 and has invested significantly in green energy projects.

What role does cloud computing play in network sustainability?

The Juniper Research report recognises cloud computing as one of the most impactful technologies driving sustainability in the mobile operator space.

“With the high levels of virtualisation across 5G and future 6G networks, it is predicted that centralising and automating network functions via cloud platforms will enable operators to reduce their overall energy consumption by over 2,000TWh globally in 2025,” the report says.

Senior market analyst at Juniper Frederick Savage, the report’s author, emphasised the importance of cloud computing in meeting sustainability goals: “Cloud computing is an instrumental strategy for operators to improve efficiency and meet sustainability goals.

“Cloud’s ability to dynamically allocate resources in real-time significantly reduces energy consumption, compared to the constant energy requirement from traditional networks,” he said.

Read more: The hidden cost of AI and digital transformation

However, the data centres that power the cloud hyperscalers’ cloud computing operations are not carbon emissions-free. A recent Guardian analysis found that Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta data centre emissions could be 662% higher than reported due to “creative accounting”.

According to the International Energy Agency, data centres accounted for 1% to 1.5% of total global electricity consumption in 2022, and that was before the launch of ChatGPT.

Benchmark forecasts

In addition to analysing current practices, the Juniper report predicted that the global shift toward sustainable network practices will accelerate over the next five years, driven by advances in renewable energy, circular economy strategies, and sustainable supply chains.

Operators are expected to adopt more aggressive targets, such as the Science Based Targets initiative, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.

Chatbots: BT and Deutsche Telekom share insights

The post Report reveals the world’s most sustainable mobile operators appeared first on TechInformed.

Throughout the Paris Games, Orange ran a private 5G network throughout the city, providing capacity across 32 spots and 120 official sites across the region.

Speaking at a media event in London last week Bruno Zerbib, the company’s executive vice president and CTIO, and Laurent Leboucher, the firm’s group technology officer and senior VP of Orange’s innovation division, said they now had a “unique experience” on how to make workable, scalable 5G private networks a reality.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time sharing over the next few months how we made the games in Paris work,  and how we became the telco that has the most unique experience in making 5G at scale a reality and how we are going to turn it into a product-based offering,” said Zerbib.

“We had to secure broadcast quality service within the 5G network, and we used all those advanced capabilities to make that work with tons of visitors who were using the network at the same time while protecting these very important streams,” he added.

Orange used a “standalone” version of 5G (5G SA) during the Paris Games which enabled it to leverage network slicing capabilities for this dedicated use case, guaranteeing performance on this virtual slice.

Leboucher added that the French telco was now able to offer customers “different flavours” of 5G private networks – to provide more flexibility and cost efficiency for the end user.

“Up to now we used to deploy dedicated 5G networks for stadiums and so on. But because we’ve invested in 5G SA now we can reduce the network cost  and slice it and to create efficiency. We  are starting to do this in Belgium, and Spain and soon we will do it in France,” he added.

According to Leboucher, Orange will soon be able to not just build a dedicated solution for enterprise customers on a project basis, but it will be able to transform this capacity into “a platform that can be leveraged as a service capable of combining both the scale of the public network and the ability to use the private infrastructure and architecture. The best of both worlds,” he added.

Agile all the way

Since Zerbib’s appointment last year, the French telco has consciously moved away from the traditional linear progression of the mobile generational model (4G, 5G, 6G etc) choosing instead to  act more like  hyperscalers such as Amazon or Google, offering clients capabilities, products and services through platforms or APIs.

In part, this is a reflection of what is happening within the wider industry, with mobile providers collaborating with the developer community on API integrations through projects such as CAMERA , Open Gateway,  and, more recently, last month’s joint venture spearheaded by Ericsson and a dozen or so telecom operators (including Orange) to scale their offerings and sell their APIs globally.

Zerbib, who worked in Silicon Valley for 25 years at Big Tech firms including HP, Cisco and Yahoo –  reiterated this approach, adding that it was essential that the telco rolled out new capabilities on the software side more frequently.

“Through the power of [the Ericsson] joint venture we can enable the system in a unified way with  one API and code to scale globally.

“It [the Ericsson JV] will also enable other developer platforms and hyperscaler developers by exposing the capabilities of our network. We want to build solutions that add value.”

Zerbib added that the industry needed to avoid fragmentation when it came to APIs, to make sure they were universal “so that we don’t create a lock up situation for customers.”

While Orange’s CTIO said that the company would take a use case-led approach, this translated into fewer actual examples than you might think,  although Leboucher did highlight fraud prevention as one popular application of telco APIs- which is backed up by GSMA research.

Augmenting networks with AI

The rise of generative AI and automation is something that Zerbib believes will compliment this agile approach. Internally, Zerbib revealed that AI has made Orange a better company. The firm has trained 40,000 employees to use its AI capabilities to increase operational efficiencies, he revealed.

One use case, the French exec added, would be using LLMs to map the layout of an enterprise’s entire network. The model could understand and anticipate customer support requirements and effectively become an engineer offering appropriate solutions.

Bringing it back to 5G private networks, Zerbib talked about fully automated and virtualised 5G networks that operate through AI – and hinted that the transformational 5G experience that telcos have long been espousing, will finally be realised through AI augmentation.

How the firm best goes about creating these LLMs is where Orange finds itself today, the CTIO admitted, adding that the telco was currently reviewing its options.

Zerbib and Leboucher do not currently think that Orange will need to build an LLM from scratch – nor one that was telco specific – especially when a series of generic “Vanilla AIs” were working well for some applications.

Generic LLMs – such as Chat GPT (which French exec Zerbib referred to as a “she”), Google’s Gemini, Facebook’s Llama and France’s Mistral have all  been good enough so far for network applications such as summarising tickets and alerts that technical staff investigate, Zerbib claimed.

The Orange execs added that the costs of training LLMs from scratch were currently too high -but a more cost friendly and equally effective option might be “fine tuning”  some of these existing LLMs.

Zerbib also hinted that processing power to train LLMs may require some telco expertise.

“There is going to be a need for some edge computing, where you have something in the middle,” Zerbib said. “Processing would happen not on the device or in a huge data centre but in smaller facilities of the kind Orange uses for its network

The post Orange to productise Olympics 5G offering – and reveals LLM approach appeared first on TechInformed.