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Connected Britain is where the great and the good of the telecoms industry convenes to discuss how wider society can benefit from the promise of unbridled connectivity and digitisation.
While it might not carry the same global recognition as MWC, it always punches above its weight in attracting some of the industry’s most influential thought leaders. From high-level policy and regulation to deeply technical discussions on spectrum and network slicing, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of digital delights for anyone with even a passing interest in the space.
As someone with more than a passing interest in the space (yes, that’s me at the event standing in front of a mobile mast), I headed down to the Excel last week to take a temperature check of the telecoms space. Here are four things you need to know from the UK’s premier telco event:
What better way to showcase the significance of the telecoms sector to the Government than a sweeping keynote from the new Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant MP.
Bryant made clear that digital telecoms infrastructure is the “foundation of our society and our economy”. But he didn’t just pay lip-service to the crucial role of digital infrastructure. He recognised that without it, the UK couldn’t deliver on exciting new technologies – like future diagnostic imaging in hospitals. Or be able to realise the full potential of smart meters, which can cut household bills in half.
What’s more, he noted, without a digitally literate population to be able to understand these developments, they would essentially be redundant.
The Minister’s appearance at Connected Britain was a powerful signal to the industry that the new Government is keen not only to recognise the significance of the sector to the country’s prosperity – but also the steps needed to unlock its potential.
Fittingly, the first panel after Bryant’s speech was pitched around regulation. For a discussion that was made up of competing broadband network builders – including NexFibre, Openreach and CityFibre – there was agreement that Bryant’s keynote struck the right note to the industry, namely that the new Government will provide the stability the sector needs to flourish.
For the panellists, that means the regulator using a steady hand and “seeing how regulation was working before loading more in”. Asks from Ofcom to telco companies, they argued, should be proportionate and evidence-based.
A through line of certainty from the government and the regulator will ultimately lead to telecoms companies willing to invest in infrastructure. After all, infrastructure projects are costly and time-consuming, so network builders need to know that their investments won’t be undermined by changing regulation. The new government, they agreed, was making the right noises in that respect.
On day two of the event, there were a few panels that stressed the importance of connectivity to the public sector.
It’s been well-publicised in recent years that local authorities are juggling multiple competing priorities with ever-diminishing budgets. Refreshingly, rather than seeing digitisation as another task to prioritise, many event speakers now see it as a means to address other pressing issues in the public sector.
In Greenwich, for example, damp and mould sensors have been installed in council homes to prevent residents from living in dangerous and unhealthy environments.
In Greater Manchester, where 60% of people in social housing live in digital poverty, the council had installed ‘Databanks’ – ‘food banks for connectivity’ where vulnerable people can access SIMS and mobile data. Meaning they can apply for jobs online and unlock other digital services. In this way, the council are using digital services to raise the living standards for people in the borough.
Naturally while a lot of the event focused on the transformative power of tech, there were also specific deep dives into some of the amazing use cases of innovation in mobile technology and how it can improve the fabric of society.
Of particular note was a discussion on non-terrestrial networks (aka satellites) that can beam connectivity direct to handsets for people living in rural areas – helping to tackle the digital divide in countryside communities where it’s not necessarily commercially viable to build mobile masts.
Another panel also spoke about how companies are helping humanitarian agencies track aid shipments in hard-to-reach locations (like the middle to the ocean) to ensure it isn’t lost, stolen or spoiled. There was also discussion about how network slicing can help emergency services use their own segments of spectrum. All of which demonstrate the power of mobile technology to overcome ingrained challenges that people and businesses are facing.
Far from being navel-gazing, Connected Britain is an important showcase of how the telecoms industry is reaching beyond the technology to fix societal and economic issues. It will always be an important moment in the calendar of Brands2Life’s telecoms team. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the event in the comments below.
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