Telecom news

• Sony beats out Apple, Huawei and Samsung for battery performance

  03-04-2018 14:16
  Research firm Strategy Analytics has completed a study which points towards Sony’s Xperia XZ2 as the best on the market for battery performance.
  This is certainly a good footnote to acquire for Sony, though it should be worth noting the research was commissioned by the Japanese multinational. The objective of the research was to identify how long a devices battery would last when subjected to what would be considered normal usage across the day.
  And the results are quite surprising.What is
  
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• Hither Green’s new footbridge opens for station’s step-free upgrade

  06-10-2026 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Last week, two shabby old footbridges at Hither Green railway station were replaced with one single very long spanning modern footbridge, as part of the station’s upgrade to make it step-free and build two new entrances.Although only the footbridge and a new ramp between platforms 4 and 5 have opened so far, the wider step-free scheme will also add four 16-person lifts. They are installed, but undergoing testing.
  The new footbridge is a substantial structure and is clearly much larger than
  
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• Kew Gardens to offer rare visits inside its emptied Palm House

  06-10-2026 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Next year there will be a rare opportunity to step into Kew Gardens’ famously large Palm House and see the entire structure for the first time in generations, totally empty of plants.
  Palm House (c) ianVisits
  The nearly 180-year-old tropical glasshouse is usually packed full of plants – and very humid – so the remarkable structure of the building is often hard to appreciate. As part of a once-in-a-generation restoration project, staff are currently moving all the plants from th
  
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• Frieze drops eleven sculptures into Regents Park

  06-10-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Visitors to Regents Park may notice some very odd additions at the moment as the annual Frieze sculpture trail returns.Featuring work by 11 artists, the collection ranges from seemingly random assemblages of metalwork to a tree that’s easy to miss but worth seeking out to pointless slabs of stone in the ground.
  The black palm is worth seeking out because when you look closely, you’ll see that the leaves are all made from old car tyres.Elsewhere is a rather sci-fi looking structure, a
  
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• Your guide to London’s 2026 fireworks and bonfire displays

  06-10-2026 12:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  It’s that time of year again, with Christmas in the shops and fireworks in the parks – Fireworks Night is back for 2026, and in a few locations, the displays still include the traditional bonfire.Prices below are for adults – children and family rates are also available. You can probably see the top half of the display for free from outside most venues, but since many raise money for local charities, pay for tickets if you can.
  And, yes, there are a few displays in October.
  Fri
  
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• Alice in Wonderland experience in London opens next month

  06-10-2026 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A new Alice in Wonderland experience opens next month at Dock X in Canada Water, promising to take visitors through ten rooms spanning 26,000 sq ft. The 120-minute production combines live actors, theatrical storytelling, projection mapping and sensory effects to tell Lewis Carroll’s story.
  Alice Immersive Wonderland (c) Cités Immersives
  The route includes a Rabbit Hole, the Caterpillar’s Den, a Cheshire Cat forest, a Mad Hatter tea party and the Queen’s Court. It ends w
  
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• DLR staff get their own Monopoly-style board game

  06-10-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Lots of companies buy corporate-branded goodies to hand out to staff and other worthies, and oh, look, yet another branded water bottle and tote bag. But sometimes, it’s a DLR-themed clone of the Monopoly board game – KADOPOLY.It was commissioned by the Docklands Light Railway’s (DLR) operator, KeolisAmey, as gifts for staff, so you’re not going to see it in shops, but it’s still been done to a high standard, with a lot of DLR touches to the board game.
  Community Ch
  
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• The creditor bloodbath in UK telecoms

  06-10-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  BT struck a deal to buy TalkTalk but the majority of the struggling broadband provider’s creditors are likely to be left with nothing
  
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• BT’s swoop on TalkTalk has regulators over a barrel

  06-10-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  UK watchdog typically takes a robust view of reduced competition in telecoms market but is taking a back seat this time
  
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• The London Buzz – 5th Oct 2026

  05-10-2026 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Olde London – Clerkenwell Green in London around 1898
  Today’s London news round-up:
  At noon today, Mon 5th October, tenants, local residents, and community leaders will stage a rally outside City Hall to urge Mayor Sadiq Khan to block a controversial redevelopment in Brixton. Brixton Buzz
  Meet the 14-year-old uncovering London’s lost history Positive News
  Dagenham homeowner ordered to pay over £30k after subdividing property without permission Barking Star
  Central London
  
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• One rule to ride them all: Mayor plans London-wide dockless bike regime

  05-10-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Mayor of London has outlined plans for a single London-wide regulatory regime for dockless bikes that could replace the current borough-by-borough patchwork of rules.The proposed framework would allow Transport for London (TfL) to manage bike numbers, set parking and maintenance standards, and require operators to share data to help monitor compliance and plan services. It would also seek to improve connections with public transport and introduce more consistent enforcement across borough bo
  
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• London Museum’s first exhibition goes back to the city’s Roman beginnings

  05-10-2026 15:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The soon-to-open London Museum has revealed details of its first exhibition in its underground vaults, going right back to London’s earliest story when it was founded by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago.
  CGI of the Vaults (c) Secchi Smith London Museum
  The museum will open in November with a permanent collection on display, but in Spring 2027 will open its first temporary exhibition, exploring Roman London’s first 50 years.
  At the heart of the new exhibition will be the Bloomberg Co
  
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• Pontoon Dock DLR station upgrade gets underway

  05-10-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Ground has broken on a long-planned upgrade of Pontoon Dock’s DLR station to add six escalators and reduce pressure on its overloaded lifts. Contractor Morgan Sindall Infrastructure says site mobilisation and enabling works are under way as part of a two-and-a-half-year programme.
  The station today (c) ianVisits
  Pontoon Dock opened in 2005, when the surrounding Royal Docks were far less populated. Its platforms sit high above street level, leaving passengers to climb stairs or choose betwe
  
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• BT buys struggling rival TalkTalk out of administration

  05-10-2026 08:36 via ft.com
  Deal will result in estimated £400mn cash hit for UK’s broadband leader and wipe out TalkTalk’s debts
  
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• BT closes in on deal for embattled TalkTalk

  05-10-2026 07:11 via ft.com
  Takeover would hand another 1.6mn broadband customers to UK market leader
  
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• BT weighs improved TalkTalk offer after initial approach rejected

  04-10-2026 13:03 via ft.com
  Telecoms group seeks deal within days for debt-laden broadband provider
  
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• Photographers launch appeal for east London community hub

  02-10-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A community photography centre could open in Haggerston under plans by the Association of Photographers (AOP) to turn its east London premises into a place for photographers to work, meet and share ideas.The AOP already owns the property, which it has rented out since 2012 to help fund its work. With the premises now available again, the association wants to use them as a hub for its members and the wider photography and image-making community.
  First, it needs to raise £75,000.
  The AOP say
  
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• Richmond’s draw-off dates confirmed for 2026

  02-10-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The dates for Richmond’s annual draw-off have been confirmed, offering visitors a chance to see the River Thames exposing its riverbed at very low tides.
  Richmond draw off 2025 (c) ianVisits
  Ordinarily, the low tide would look just like you’re seeing, but that would be a big nuisance for boats, so the Port of London Authority (PLA) uses the Richmond and Teddington locks to manage the river height and maintain a minimum level at low tide so the river can remain navigable.
  But turn the
  
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• Urgent closure of the Victoria line confirmed for Saturday evening

  02-10-2026 13:45 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  There is going to be an urgent partial closure of the Victoria line on Saturday evening to carry out repairs to the track outside Brixton station.
  Brixton tube station
  The fault, a points failure at the junction outside Brixton station, was detected a week ago and has meant trains crossing the junction had to slow down more than usual. The speed restriction means they can run only 24 trains per hour, instead of the usual 36 during rush hour. This has caused delays on the line because they can&rs
  
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• Salman Toor brings love, loneliness and green paint to the Courtauld

  02-10-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  An American-based artist you might not have heard of is currently filling a gallery space with a series of paintings ranging from life as a migrant to being alone in a pub surrounded by people.The artist, Salman Toor, was born in Pakistan but moved to the USA and is now based in New York City, focusing his work on the intimacy of a night out and the unease of being an outsider.
  Lauded in the USA – he even painted New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani (before he was a politician) – an
  
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• UK watchdog signals it may block major broadband deal

  02-10-2026 09:16 via ft.com
  CMA move over Nexfibre-Netomania tie-up could delay consolidation in fragmented sector
  
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• BT seeks government nod for potential TalkTalk takeover

  01-10-2026 17:02 via ft.com
  Telecoms group holds talks with UK officials over possible antitrust issues involved in buying smaller competitor
  
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• New Shakespeare library and research centre opens at the Globe Theatre

  01-10-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Globe Theatre at Bankside has opened a public Shakespeare library and research centre, giving visitors access to more than 6,000 books and a collection of rare Renaissance texts.
  Shakespeare’s Globe / James Newton
  The Globe describes the collection as the closest surviving resemblance to Shakespeare’s bookshelf.
  The new Research & Collections Centre includes the Audre D. Carlin Reading Room, whose books cover Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, and the history o
  
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• Tickets Alert: Tours of the RNLI base at Waterloo Bridge

  01-10-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  If you missed out on the RNLI’s recent exhibition, or fancy seeing more of their floating base, they offer occasional tours of the building.Each tour at RNLI’s Tower Lifeboat Station lasts approximately 60 – 90 minutes. During your visit, you will be guided around the station and learn about the lifesaving work carried out on the River Thames.
  The tour offers insight into lifeboat operations, the RNLI’s history and mission, and the station’s role today as the busies
  
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• Romance beneath the brollies: Renoir’s Paris comes to the National Gallery

  01-10-2026 14:15 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The man who painted Sunday afternoons is the subject of a new exhibition at the National Gallery, exploring twenty years when Pierre-Auguste Renoir captured the pleasures of Parisian life — and the flirtations beneath its respectable surface.At a time when most artists and writers focused on the dire state that Paris and France found themselves in, Renoir turned his back on the gloomy Monday to Saturday and focused on the day off instead. Only the richer folk though, as poor people didn&rs
  
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• Australia’s banks show how to prepare for cable blackouts

  01-10-2026 14:03 via ft.com
  The country is making its financial system resilient enough to withstand the cutting of undersea lines
  
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• TfL updates the small print behind London’s big transport hubs

  01-10-2026 12:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Whenever something is built in London, an army of armchair warriors love to point out how stupid the designer was – and don’t stop to think that maybe there’s a really good reason it was done that way.
  Bakerloo line entrance at Paddington station (c) ianVisits
  And while such people will never deign to check the facts first, there are policies governing what goes up and down, and how it does so. If only they read them.
  And Transport for London (TfL) has refreshed its own guideli
  
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• Shinto ceremony marks start of British Library extension and Crossrail 2 station

  01-10-2026 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A Japanese Shinto ceremony has marked the start of construction on the British Library’s £1.1 billion extension, a development that will also reserve underground space for a future Crossrail 2 station.
  Schematic of old and new site and Crossrail 2 – Source: British Library planning application
  The ceremony – which incorporated a series of Shinto rituals to prepare the site for construction work and to ask the ‘kami’ or guardian spirits of the land for good luc
  
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• London’s Pocket Parks: Stratford Insect Garden, E20

  01-10-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A couple of years ago, a small pocket park that had been displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show relocated to Stratford, offering a mix of sculpture and bug-friendly planting.Tom Massey designed the garden for the 2023 show, and it won a Silver-gilt medal for its ‘insect-eye’ laboratory and pollinator-friendly planting.
  That was also the year the RHS Chelsea introduced a rule that all gardens in the show must have a reuse plan, which is why it was designed to be picked up and relocated
  
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• Burnt Oak tube station closing for two weeks for step-free construction work

  30-09-2026 16:15 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Burnt Oak tube station on the Northern line will be closed for a couple of weeks from late October for engineering works to add step-free access.
  (c) ianVisits
  The station opened just over a century ago and was designed with a ticket hall on a bridge over the railway, with stairs down to the platforms.
  As part of the step-free works, a new walkway and footbridge will be built from the ticket hall, with a new lift providing access to the platform. Because of the station’s design, they can&r
  
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