Latest news with #mobileblackspots
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Landmark deal to eliminate mobile blackspots on busiest rail routes
Commuters will soon be able to work seamlessly and stay connected with loved ones as the Transport Secretary lands a landmark deal to eliminate mobile blackspots on Britain's busiest rail routes. The breakthrough agreement will transform daily journeys for millions of passengers who currently face the frustration of dropped calls and interrupted streaming on key routes between Birmingham, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Cardiff. The deal, named Project Reach and signed today between Network Rail, and telecoms companies, Neos Networks and Freshwave marks the end of passengers having to pause important work calls or cut short conversations with family members when trains enter notorious signal blackspots. READ MORE: Northfield bus stabbing police probe launched after lunchtime attack The project's innovative commercial model brings together public and private sector investment and infrastructure and is expected to save taxpayers around £300m while creating a high-performing digital connectivity backbone for businesses, supporting the UK's digital ambitions. Project Reach will initially see Neos Networks deploy 1,000 kilometres of ultra-fast fibre optic cable along the East Coast Main Line, parts of the West Coast Main Line and the Great Western Main Line, with ambition to expand beyond 5,000 kilometres in the near future. In addition to this, Freshwave will tackle signal blackspots in 57 tunnels, covering almost 50 kilometres, including the 4-kilometre-long Chipping Sodbury tunnel near Bristol. As part of the deal, mobile network operators will also invest in new 4G/5G infrastructure at 12 of the biggest Network Rail stations across the country including Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Euston, Glasgow Central, King's Cross, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Paddington and Waterloo. Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, said: "This is a game changer for passengers up and down the country and will revolutionise journeys from Paddington to Penzance and Edinburgh to Euston. 'By boosting connectivity and tackling signal blackspots, we are also ensuring a more reliable and efficient service. 'This means better journeys for passengers while supporting our broader Plan for Change goals of economic growth and digital innovation.' This is a multi-year project with the first installation of mobile infrastructure expected to begin in 2026 and fully rolled out by 2028. The enhanced network will also enable better monitoring of railway assets and facilitate new technologies that rely on improved connectivity, paving the way for more reliable train services and improved safety for railway workers. Jeremy Westlake, Network Rail's Chief Financial Officer, said: "I'm delighted that we have now signed this innovative deal with our partners Neos Networks and Freshwave. 'This investment model will deliver the necessary upgrades to our telecoms infrastructure faster whilst offering significant value-for-money for the taxpayer and stimulating wider economic benefits across the country. 'As we move towards becoming a unified railway with the formation of Great British Railways, the enhanced telecoms infrastructure will play a key role in our ambition to provide a data-driven railway of the future, delivering better connectivity and a better, more reliable train service for our passengers.' Lee Myall, CEO of Neos Networks, said: "Project Reach will support the upgrade of the UK's connectivity infrastructure, creating new data superhighways that will drive the UK's digital ambitions forward." This partnership marks a major stride towards improved performance and better services for passengers as part of Great British Railways, as the Transport Secretary continues to deliver the Government's Plan for Change with a more connected, efficient, and passenger-focused railway fit for the future. It also builds on £41m confirmed in the Government's National Infrastructure Strategy to introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Telstra launches Australia's first direct to satellite text messaging service
An Australia-first service using satellites to deliver text messages anywhere in the country could be a game changer for Australians living in mobile black spots. Telstra has launched a mobile-to-satellite service for some customers, delivered through SpaceX's Starlink service. The technology is considered a significant breakthrough, providing coverage for people outside of land-based 4G and 5G networks. Communications analyst Graham Lynch said while it was still early days, the technology had massive implications for rural Australians. Initially, customers will only be able to text message using the service, and it will only work on a Samsung Galaxy S25 handset. Telstra's executive for technology engagement, Channa Seneviratne, said they were working to add additional handsets. "In time, there will be more, including future support for Apple devices," Mr Seneviratne said. He said the new service would be included in the standard contract, so there would be no extra charges, but he warned there could be some delays in sending and receiving messages. "If the satellite is not quite overhead, it could take a few minutes," he said. Accompanying the rollout of the new service are questions about its reliability. Mr Lynch said testing of similar services in the United States produced patchy results. "Messages get dropped, messages get missed," he said. He said getting a reliable connection was challenging because the low Earth orbit satellites (LEOsats) themselves are moving at about 25,000 kilometres per hour. "The LEOsats are spinning very fast around a planet that is itself spinning very fast, so there's a lot of calibration involved in the physics," he said. The new messaging service uses LEOsats and direct-to-device (D2D) technology to transmit signals from space directly to mobile phones. Users will connect automatically to the Starlink satellite if they are beyond the range of Telstra's mobile network on mainland Australia and Tasmania, excluding the Australian Radio Quiet Zone in Western Australia and remote offshore territories and islands of Australia. Many rural Australians are already using LEOsats to connect to services like Starlink, Sky Muster, Intelsat and Inmarsat for internet browsing, email, voice calls, and texting. But the CEO of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, Warren Pearce, said the technology had potentially life-saving implications for prospectors and others working remotely. Telstra said the service did not connect to emergency services yet, and users would have to text a third party to call triple-0 in those situations. TPG-Vodaphone has already tested a service and Optus is working on it as well. Telstra is working on enabling voice calls using the LEOsat network, but it will not be available until 2027. Mr Pearce said that would be significant. "If we can get to a point where we can make contact and have a conversation in every part of Australia, I think that would be a major breakthrough," he said. Labor promised to include LEOsat services in the federal government's universal mobile service obligation (UMSO) by 2027 if it was elected at the most recent poll. This would require telcos to offer satellite services alongside mobile and fixed services. If that happens, Australia will be the first country in the world to take that step. Mr Lynch said other countries like the US and New Zealand were offering the service, but reliability was still an issue. "They're not at the level where they can provide guarantees, which is what makes what Australia is planning to do so novel," he said.
