Telecom news

• Tickets Alert: Annual Open Day at the National Physical Laboratory

  20-03-2023 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  In southwest London is a former royal residence that’s today the home of the government’s national measurement standards laboratory — and will be open to the public for one day.
  Bushy House (c) NPL
  This is Bushy House, home to the National Physical Laboratory, and although most of the work is now done in a large modern estate nearby, they still own Bushy House as a private building.
  But they have one open day a year — which this year is Saturday 20th May 2023.
  Bushy House
  
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• Orange gets green light for VOO deal

  20-03-2023 15:25
  The European Commission has approved Orange’s proposed acquisition of VOO in Belgium following a lengthy competition investigation.
  Orange had to agree to provide rival Telenet access to its fixed infrastructure in the Walloon region and parts of Brussels to get the Commission onside, but we knew that was coming; the telco brokered such a deal with Telenet in January, subject to completion of the planned takeover.
  That network access deal proved sufficient to satisfy the Commission.
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• RMT union calls off the Network Rail strikes

  20-03-2023 15:14 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The worst of the rail strikes, which have run for over a year are over, after RMT union members voted to accept a pay offer.Although the resolution only affects Network Rail, and not the train operating companies, the RMT strikes at Network Rail had by far and away the biggest impact on the national rail network.
  In a turnout of 90 percent of their 20,000 members working in the railways, they voted by 76 percent to 24 percent to accept the offer.  The RMT has now confirmed that the vote mea
  
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• CK Hutchison reportedly looks to Telenor for Sweden and Denmark merger

  20-03-2023 14:27
  CK Hutchison is reportedly holding talks with Telenor with the aim of brokering a merger deal in Sweden and Denmark.
  The telco group, which operates Three-branded services in both countries, is proving instrumental in a new wave of merger and acquisition activity in the European sector. Its discussions with Vodafone over a UK tie-up are thought to be nearing completion, and now the firm is apparently turning its attention further north.
  So says the Financial Times, which late last week cited unn
  
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• UK launches mobile phone emergency alert initiative

  20-03-2023 13:43
  The UK government will soon conduct a nationwide test of a system that will allow it to push messages to nearly all mobile phones.
  Sensibly named, the Emergency Alerts service was launched yesterday. We’re told it will only be used when there is an imminent risk to life, which it is assumed will be a very rare event. While it’s hard to imagine such an event, about which potentially affected people would have otherwise been ignorant, another channel for emergency communication seems l
  
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• VMO2 reportedly eyeing £3 billion CityFibre swoop

  20-03-2023 13:32
  Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) might be willing to splash the cash to boost its fibre footprint.
  The Liberty Global-owned UK cableco is exploring the possibility of acquiring altnet CityFibre, according to unnamed sources cited in a Telegraph report (paywall) on Saturday. As always, a generous pinch of salt is a recommended accompaniment to rumours like this.
  With that said, the newspaper asserts that initial talks have taken place between Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries and his CityFibre counterpart, Gre
  
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• BT drafts in AWS for cloud edge computing trial  

  20-03-2023 12:48
  BT Wholesale is working with AWS to trial a mobile cloud edge computing service for businesses and public services to facilitate mobile IoT applications over EE networks.
  The ‘5G-connected infrastructure as a service’ is underpinned by what they are calling an ‘AWS Wavelength Zone’ in Manchester – a 100km area (which covers Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Blackpool) within which eligible businesses and public sector organisations access to edge computing services th
  
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• Avanti West Coast gets temporary extension of its rail contract

  20-03-2023 09:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Troubled train operator, Avanti West Coast has been granted a 6-month extension of its rail contract, and hired a new managing director to take the job of recovering its services.
  (c) Avanti West Coast
  The company was given a short contract last year which would only be extended if the delays and cancellations between Manchester, Birmingham and London were sorted out.
  There has been a marked improvement in short-notice services, with cancellations falling from around 25% of all trains to just ov
  
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• London’s Alleys: Cut Throat Alley, TW10

  20-03-2023 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This is a long narrow alley near Richmond that’s hemmed in with tall walls and certainly looks at first glance to be very deserving of its name of Cut Throat Alley.As it happens, the alley’s name may be a corruption of a more mundane name — Cut Through Alley. It apparently owes its origins as a shortcut for arable workers who needed access to Ham Gardens and Lands and its market gardens and arable fields. It certainly would save quite a long walk around Ham House for people on
  
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