Telecom news

• In conversation with CST on the value of the ICT Indicator Forum

  02-06-2023 15:08 via telecoms.com
  In its 9th edition, the ICT Indicators Forum 2023 investigated topics related to digital regulation, opportunities to scale businesses in digital economy, and the ICT sector’s future trends.
  The forum plays a key role as an enabler for collaboration and participation in the industry in Saudi Arabia. The ICT market size in the country is now the largest in the MENA region, having reached $40.9 billion in 2022. Attended by leaders and experts from across the Saudi ICT landscape including tel
  
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• Orange completes VOO purchase

  02-06-2023 13:43 via telecoms.com
  The Belgian division of telco group Orange has completed its acquisition of regional quad-play services operator VOO, following a lengthy competition investigation.
  Technically, the deal will give Orange Belgium a 75% stake minus 1 share in VOO, with the remaining 25% plus one share retained by Nethys.
  This transaction values VOO at €1.8 billion for 100% of the capital, and Orange Belgium will finance it through an intra-Group loan.
  “For decades, we developed our telecom skills and pi
  
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• Russia accuses Apple of helping US spy on iPhone users

  02-06-2023 13:33 via telecoms.com
  The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reckons American intelligence agencies were assisted by Apple in infecting iPhones with malware.
  The allegation was made in a press release which doesn’t seem to have an English-language version. According to the Google translation, the FSB uncovered ‘previously unknown malicious software that uses software vulnerabilities provided by the manufacturer’ in thousands of iPhones. It goes on to conclude this suggests ‘close cooperati
  
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• Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson show off a network slicing proof of concept

  02-06-2023 12:23 via telecoms.com
  In what they are calling some manner of world first, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson have ‘instantiated’ a secure network slice that automatically connects to private cloud services.
  The proof of concept is designed for enterprise use, and provides for automated configuration, provisioning and end-to-end orchestration of the enterprise slicing service order – for those that fancy a bit of that. The chief innovation appears to the lack of need for any additional configuration by t
  
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• Carshalton’s annual Lavender harvest returns next month

  01-06-2023 19:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  One weekend a year, a 3-acre private lavender field is open to the public to visit and harvest your own bunch of lavender from the fields.
  (c) Carshalton Lavender
  At one time, lavender was widely grown across much of south London as a crop, but these days it’s found in just a handful of locations, and in 1996, a 3-acre plot of disused land in Carshalton was planted with Lavandula Intermedia by the local environmental charity BioRegional.
  Prisoners on day-release from Downview Prison worked
  
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• China Telecom reportedly building $434 million quantum computing unit

  01-06-2023 18:35 via telecoms.com
  Chinese Telco China Telecom is dropping some cash on a new quantum computing division, according to a report.
  China Telecom has dropped 3 billion yuan ($434 million) to set up China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group according to Reuters, quoting a statement on its WeChat account. There doesn’t appear to be anything in terms of a press release.
  The division will be based in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, and will unsurprisingly be tasked with developing quantum technology
  
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• 3.3 billion EoT devices will be trading with each other by 2030, apparently

  01-06-2023 16:58 via telecoms.com
  A report – commissioned by Vodafone and carried out by STL Partners – estimates there will be 88 million devices next year that can ‘independently and securely trade together’, rising to 3.3 billion by 2030.
  The Economy of Things isn’t a term that’s as widely used the Internet of Things, and the report describes it as ‘a world in which vehicles, devices and machines can interact and transact with each other via a secure digital platform’.
  It says a
  
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• Abseil off the top of the Lloyd’s Building in the City

  01-06-2023 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  If you fancy abseiling off the top of the Lloyds Building in the City of London, then you can next month — for charity.It’s part of the annual Lord Mayor’s Appeal, so you need to be able to raise £500 from your friends and colleagues who will be more than happy to see you leap off the side of a building with just a thin rope to hold you up.
  The abseil is open to everyone who is over 18 and reasonably fit and healthy.  No previous experience is needed as there will be
  
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• Mayors of London and Manchester call for HS2 to be built in full

  01-06-2023 15:10 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  With delays and changes to plans, the Mayors of Greater Manchester and London have jointly called for HS2 to be built, in full, from London Euston station to Manchester Piccadilly station.The letter also outlines the importance of building Manchester Piccadilly as an underground station that supports Northern Powerhouse Rail in full — rather than the proposed above-ground station — and that HS2 connects with a London terminus at Euston, not six miles outside the city centre.
  Euston s
  
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• London exhibitions to visit in June 2023

  01-06-2023 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A selection of ten excellent exhibitions to visit while dodging random bursts of heavy rain in the summer months.Coronations & Celebrations
  Fan Museum, Greenwich
  (Note, the exhibition closes 24th June)
  Adults: £5 | Children (7-16): £3 | Children (<7): Free | Family £10
  Come and see centuries of royal fans from across the continent: from a special, printed, English fan marking the restoration of Charles II almost 400 years ago, to the contemporary fans made by The Fan Mus
  
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• ESB Networks drafts in Nokia and Sigma for new 4G private network

  01-06-2023 12:37 via telecoms.com
  Nokia and Sigma Wireless Communications will install a private 4G/LTE mobile network for Irish energy company ESB Networks.
  The new LTE-based private wireless system will be installed over a three-year period, and the firm says the connectivity goodness will enable the integration of renewable energy to the grid, decarbonization of the electrical network and electrification of heat and transport.
  A ‘dedicated Smart Grid telecoms network’, as the release puts it, is part of ESB Networ
  
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• Currys to resell Vodafone home broadband

  01-06-2023 11:41 via telecoms.com
  Operator group Vodafone is raising its UK fixed line game by expanding its partnership with electronics retail giant Currys.
  Essentially this seems to be designed to enable Currys customers to access the Vodafone Together mobile and fixed bundle, which offers the kinds of discounts on the component parts that you would expect. Currys was already reselling Vodafone mobile contracts and the operator seems to be on a general broadband push right now.
  Vodafone claims to have not only ‘the UK&r
  
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• TfL in talks to buy more Elizabeth line trains to cope with HS2 demand

  01-06-2023 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that it is working on plans to buy more Elizabeth line trains to cope with demand when HS2 opens its Old Oak Common station.
  Elizabeth line trains lined up at their Old Oak Common depot
  The HS2 railway should be terminating at Euston, but for a number of years, it will terminate at Old Oak Common, which will have an interchange with the Elizabeth line, and that is expected to put a lot of extra demand on the Elizabeth line as HS2 passengers seek to contin
  
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• IoT Security Landscape Report

  01-06-2023 01:01 via telecoms.com
  The IoT Security Landscape Report is a Bitdefender annual report that identifies the most vulnerable home IoT devices in user homes and addresses the hidden threats posed by unregularized smart devices.
  The findings are based on threat intelligence collected from 2.6 million smart homes globally protected by NETGEAR Armor powered by Bitdefender, and they reveal an unsettling truth: the growing popularity of connected devices makes the home network more vulnerable to attacks than ever before. Eve
  
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• Finding vulnerabilities in IoT devices. Protecting the Smart Home

  01-06-2023 01:01 via telecoms.com
  “Finding vulnerabilities in IoT devices” is a paper aimed at raising awareness about the many hidden vulnerabilities of smart home devices.
  As of 2022, Bitdefender has tested over 80 off-the-shelf consumer smart devices. In our research we found a variety of security and privacy issues that the creators of said products had not discovered on their own. Some of these issues can be mitigated, but others cannot as they affect older devices that are no longer supported. Currently, there
  
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• Fantasia, The Black Hole and Tron to highlight a Disney season at the BFI

  31-05-2023 19:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  To mark a century of Disney, there’s a two-month long film season taking place at the BFI showing a range of movies from the big headline names to some lesser known and harder to see on the big screen outings.
  So, yes, you can now watch films such as The Black Hole on your home TV with a Disney+ subscription, but it’s much rarer to see it on the big screen instead.
  Tickets to the screenings go on sale on Thursday 8th June 2023 at 11:30am – click on the links below for details.
  
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• BSNL posts $1 billion loss but things could be worse

  31-05-2023 18:10 via telecoms.com
  BSNL posted a net loss of close to US$1 billion for the most recent financial year, but its business is actually looking healthier than that figure suggests, despite the fact that while its rivals are focusing on 5G, it is still to roll out 4G.
  The Indian state-owned operator, which has has more than its fair share of troubles in recent years, or even decades, as the market’s private players have built at scale, reported a bottom line of 81.17 billion rupees (US$981 million) for the twelve
  
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• Network Rail recruits Turner and Townsend to beef up telecoms services

  31-05-2023 18:05 via telecoms.com
  ‘Professional services company’ Turner and Townsend have been drafted in to help improve the state of telecoms on the National Rail network across the UK.
  Turner and Townsend, whose website also describes it as the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, will be working on Network Rail’s telecoms professional services framework as it attempts to transform its legacy systems into ‘a simpler, more resilient and affordable set of technologi
  
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• Mobile phone coverage expanding on the Northern and Central lines

  31-05-2023 17:55 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The next phase of expanding mobile phone coverage on the London Underground has been revealed, with more of the Northern and Central lines coming on first.
  Projected phone coverage in tunnels – green is existing coverage (c) TfL
  At the moment, along with the Jubilee line between Westminster and Canning Town, there is phone coverage in the Central line between Holland Park to Queensway and the Nothern line between Archway to Kentish Town.
  According to a map included in TfL’s latest Ma
  
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• What is network slicing?

  31-05-2023 17:02 via telecoms.com
  Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about network slicing in telecoms – including the technology behind it, what it is used for, and who is buying it.
  Network slicing is cropping up more and more as a term within telecoms discussions, particularly with reference to the benefits of 5G in certain industrial or business settings. It’s pitched as a way of improving the reliability and performance of connectivity in certain situations where there is congestion or mission
  
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• Indiana Jones statue coming to Leicester Square

  31-05-2023 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The various bronze statues around Leicester Square have been joined by Indiana Jones, although he’s stuck in a box for the next few weeks.
  The proposed sculpture – source: Planning document
  The addition to Leicester Square is to mark the release of the latest of the Indiana Jones movies which is set to be released in UK cinemas on 28th June. The statue will depict Indi at the moment he first donned the whip and fedora in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  So it’s also a sculpture of the
  
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• Veon on cusp of Russia exit as MegaFon gets litigious

  31-05-2023 13:54 via telecoms.com
  Netherlands-based Veon has taken another step closer to bidding ‘do svidaniya’ to Russia.
  The telco group on Tuesday announced that it has submitted all necessary paperwork to Euroclear and Clearstream – two European securities transaction settlement firms – pertaining to the cancellation of Veon’s Eurobonds held by its Russian unit, PJSC VimpelCom.
  Cancelling these bonds means Veon has cleared another hurdle on its way out of Russia. That’s been the plan sinc
  
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• Keysight and Nokia Bell Labs try to solve 6G ‘subterahertz’ frequency challenges

  31-05-2023 13:29 via telecoms.com
  Testing and measurement outfit Keysight has teamed up with Nokia Bell Labs to wrestle with the problems posed by using very high frequencies for mobile.
  Amid the struggle to create new mobile technology paradigms beyond mobile broadband, one persistent avenue of enquiry involves creating greater bandwidth by tapping chunks of spectrum previously considered impractical for mobile. 5G has seen the embrace of ‘mid-band’ (3.5-6 GHz) and even mmWave (somewhere between 26-300 GHz, dependin
  
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• UK consumers ditch SVOD services

  31-05-2023 13:10 via telecoms.com
  The number of UK households with a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service continued to decline in the first quarter of this year, new data shows, despite the fact that consumers are still migrating away from traditional platforms to Internet delivery, as evidenced by reports of job cuts at Sky.
  19.08 million UK homes, or just over 67% of households, had an SVOD service in the three months to the end of March, down by 1.7% from 19.42 million in the last quarter of 2022. The data comes from U
  
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• New exhibition looks at the UK’s role in indenture labour

  31-05-2023 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A little-known period of post-slavery life in the Caribbean is being explored in a new exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands.
  I say little known, for those involved, it’s very well known, but often the narrative in the UK about the ending of slavery in the sugar plantations seems to end at that point, and doesn’t look at the “slavery in all but name” that followed on afterwards.Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, British planters in the Caribbean devised a
  
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• US smartphone trade-in values increase as global shipments decline  

  31-05-2023 12:55 via telecoms.com
  The average trade-in value of smartphones in the US rose in Q1 according to a report, amid a backdrop of declining global shipments of new devices.
  US consumers scraped back $865 million through trade-in programs in Q1 2023 in fact, according to figures from Assurant’s latest Mobile Trade-in and Upgrade Industry Trends report, and the average iPhone trade-in value surpassed $200 for the first time since 2021.
  Other stats to come out of the report include the fact the top five traded device
  
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• A visit to St Bartholomew’s Church, Horley

  31-05-2023 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This is a circa 14th-century church on a site that’s seen Christian worship for at least 800 years, and where it was once rural, these days it’s on a main road to Gatwick Airport.The church of St Bartholomew’s Horley is known to have existed from around 1150, although it had a different name then. The earliest known rector for the church was “Walter” who joined the church in 1218 – 806 years ago. The church was renamed after St Bartholomew for some reason, in
  
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• How Taiwan became the indispensable economy

  31-05-2023 06:00 via ig.ft.com
  Fearing a potential conflict in Asia, western companies are looking to move production out of Taiwan. But turning away from the self-ruled island will come at a high price for manufacturers
  
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• 5G: modernize to monetize

  30-05-2023 18:12 via telecoms.com
  Telecoms.com periodically invites expert third parties to share their views on the industry’s most pressing issues. In this piece Jean Lawrence, Vice President, Marketing & Communications, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, looks at how best to go about monetizing 5G.
  Over the course of my 25 years in the telecom industry, I’ve seen multiple waves of major investment, often with uncertain future returns. We are poised to repeat this with 5G.
  In fact, according to recent researc
  
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• There are three days of railway strikes this week

  30-05-2023 16:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  There will be national rail strikes this week taking place on Wed 31st and again on Fri 2nd and Sat 3rd June.
  Two unions are striking, with ASLEF on strike on the Wednesday and Saturday, while the RMT is striking on the Friday.On RMT strike day, around half of the network will shut down, with around 50% of normal services running.  On Aslef strike days around 40% of trains will be running but there will be wide regional variations with some operators running no services at all.
  It is also
  
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• 5G ready to support FWA in Europe

  30-05-2023 16:20 via telecoms.com
  Europe’s 5G networks are offering download speeds that make them a credible contender for fixed wireless access (FWA) connectivity, a new study published this week shows.
  Norway is the fastest in Europe with maximum 5G download speeds indoors of 1.12 Gbps, while Spain leads outdoors – which is handy, given the weather – with maximum speeds of 1.11 Gbps, according to Cellsmart, which carried out thousands of speed tests in 29 countries last month.
  Given that Cellsmart’s mi
  
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• Foundling Museum given until September to secure its long term future 

  30-05-2023 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Foundling Museum in central London has been given until September to secure its long term future as launches a fundraising appeal.The Museum has already raised over £3.6m from over 20 supporters, but it needs an additional £1 million to hit the £4.6 million total needed. This is because much of the museum’s collection is on loan and the agreement to look after the collection will expire in 2027, unless they secure the long term custodianship of the collection.
  The rea
  
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• The Telecoms.com Podcast: Security, China and Open RAN

  30-05-2023 14:40 via telecoms.com
  The Telecoms.com Podcast · Security, China and Open RAN
  
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• Dish deal with Amazon could boost mobile sales

  30-05-2023 14:18 via telecoms.com
  Dish Network is reportedly close to announcing a deal to sell mobile plans through Amazon, a move that could give its fledgling mobile business a shot in the arm.
  The US mobile operator is holding talks with the online retail giant and could unveil details of new plans to be sold on Amazon as soon as next month, the Wall Street Journal reported late last week, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
  The sources added that there are a number of factors that could still delay or even d
  
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• AI leaders publish desultory public statement addressing ‘risk of extinction’

  30-05-2023 14:11 via telecoms.com
  As the artificial intelligence arms race continues to accelerate, so does the rush to signal concern about where it could lead.
  The parallel trajectory of these two trends seems increasingly disingenuous, with the latter coming over as a crude attempt to sugar the potentially lethal pill represented by the former. We had Elon Musk, et al, calling for an implausible pause on AI development after Open AI announced GPT-4, followed by purposeful rustling of papers by US, UK and EU regulators and pol
  
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• Nvidia bets on AI hype to help it chip away at Intel

  30-05-2023 14:07 via telecoms.com
  Chip maker Nvidia hopes to mount a stronger challenge to Intel with a new product line that promises the best generative AI capabilities.
  Over the weekend, the company announced that its new ‘superchip’ has entered full production, and will power a new supercomputer offering. The chip combines Nvidia’s Grace line of central processing units (CPUs) with its Hopper graphics processing unit (GPU) into one, all-powerful product, cleverly named Grace Hopper, after the pioneering Ame
  
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• Dumbphones may be emerging as a salve for social media overkill  

  30-05-2023 13:55 via telecoms.com
  As HMD drops a couple of new barebones flip phone models, it claims millions of Nokia feature phones are sold monthly as consumers ‘crave going back to basics.’
  Nokia was once probably the most well known phone brand in the world in the early noughties, before touch screen smartphones came along and flipped over the apple cart, so to speak. These days it makes its money primarily from selling network infrastructure to operators – but ask anyone on the street and they’ll p
  
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• Tickets Alert: Tours of the 350 year old Stationers’ Hall

  30-05-2023 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Hidden away around the corner from St Paul’s Cathedral is Stationers’ Hall, one of the largest and opulent of the City of London’s livery halls, and they hold occasional public tours.The livery hall has been sort of open to the public, as they have tours for groups, or you can hire it, but other than during London Open House weekend, it’s not really open to individuals to visit.
  But they offer occasional general public tours — and the next one will be on Friday 23rd
  
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• Lost sculpture from the Festival of Britain found in a back garden

  30-05-2023 11:59 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A sculpture created for the Festival of Britain and then seemingly lost has been discovered, in a Londoner’s back garden. It’s now been acquired by the Museum of London with the intention to put it back on public display again.
  Original of Youth at Festival of Britain (c) Henrion family archive
  Called Youth, the sculpture by British sculptor Daphne Hardy Henrion was prominently located in front of 51 bar, which was designed by architect Leonard Manasseh on the South Bank.
  The artist
  
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• London’s Pocket Parks: McDermott Gardens, SE15

  30-05-2023 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This is a lovely local nature reserve just to the south of Peckham Rye town centre that owes its origins to the devastation of WWII, and a TV show.The area was laid out pretty much as conventional rows of terraced houses with gardens behind them, but the houses in this part of Peckham were badly damaged by a direct hit from a bomb during WWII.
  After the war, the area was cleared and used for prefab housing, and slowly bits of it were redeveloped. In fact, the very last of the prefabs was removed
  
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• Telecoms companies take first steps on emissions cuts

  30-05-2023 06:00 via ft.com
  
  The sector’s switch to renewable energy is a good start — but the supply chain accounts for most of its carbon footprint
  
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• Giant Morph sculptures appearing in the City of London

  29-05-2023 19:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This summer, Tony Hart’s Morph will come to the City of London, many times, as 56 six-foot tall sculptures of Morph will be dotted around the city.
  Not made from plasticine though.
  (c) Morph’s Epic Art Adventure / David Oates
  The huge painted Morphs have been created as a charity fundraiser for the children’s charity, Whizz-Kidz, and will be sold off after the exhibition. The money raised will enable the charity to provide life-changing wheelchairs and confidence-building oppor
  
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• Refurbishment for Malden Manor’s art-deco railway station

  29-05-2023 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Just shy of its 85th birthday, Maldon Manor station in south London has been refurbished to restore back some of its 1930s glory.Opened on 29 May 1938, Malden Manor station sits on the Chessington branch line in South West London and is described by Hidden London as “a pleasing art deco structure that made innovative use of reinforced concrete”.
  The station was designed by the Southern Railway’s Chief Architect James Robb Scott, who played a large role in the reconstruction of
  
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• London’s Alleys: Piccadilly Place, W1

  29-05-2023 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This is a narrow gap off busy Piccadilly that leads to a service road at the rear and seems to serve little purpose other than to separate two large buildings.Once empty fields, this part of London developed rapidly to largely built up in just a few decades in the 1660s-80 as London expanded westwards from Whitehall and St James.
  Initially, the alley seems to have been called Maggots Yard, which is not an indicator of its function, but was named after the Meggott family which had a lease from th
  
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• Can the UK’s telco giants course correct?

  29-05-2023 06:00 via ft.com
  BT and Vodafone have unveiled large job cuts, but investors await evidence they can prosper
  
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• Sky to cut hundreds of jobs in shift from satellite TV

  27-05-2023 13:00 via ft.com
  Move follows sweeping restructuring plans announced by rivals including BT and Vodafone
  
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• Energy stocks: first, select your shade of green

  26-05-2023 17:45 via ft.com
  Diversified SSE powers on despite the energy crisis
  
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• Step inside Sir John Soane museum’s hidden “drawing room”

  26-05-2023 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A room inside the Sir John Soane museum that’s never been open to the public is now open twice a week, and it’s quite a remarkable space, even for this already remarkable museum.
  It’s also a room that thousands of people have walked under without even realising, but until recent conservation and cleaning work, wasn’t possible for the public to visit. As a room, superficially it looks not that dissimilar to the rest of the house, being packed full of plaster casts acquired
  
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• Tickets Alert: Vintage tube train trips to Heathrow Airport

  26-05-2023 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A tube train built in 1938 and restored to its art-deco original interior will be running between central London and Heathrow Aiport next month.
  Apart from the fun of riding in the vintage train itself, an awful lot of fun is to be had watching people when the train goes through stations as people waiting for a modern train look up in shock as this tiny little red train rumbles through instead.The 1938 Stock was the first kind of tube train to have all of the electrical equipment underneath the
  
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• US and allies continue to chip away at Chinese tech sector

  26-05-2023 12:03 via telecoms.com
  US semiconductor trade sanctions against China seem to be having an effect, but at what cost to its own companies.
  Considered a key US ally in the region, Japan this week announced a bunch of export restrictions to China, with a focus on chip-making equipment. Japan insisted the move has got nothing to do with US pressure, and is instead only to stop chips being reappropriated for military use, but that’s hard to believe.
  Meanwhile America’s other main East Asian ally, South Korea, t
  
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