Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank plans to deploy high-altitude solar-powered drones to deliver internet and IoT connectivity by 2023. SoftBank has partnered with US drone manufacturer AeroVironment to develop the HAWK30, a solar-electric aircraft designed to operate at stratospheric altitudes. The HAWK30 stores solar energy and uses ten electric motors to sustain flight up to approximately … Read more

We’re not criminal experts, but after binge-watching enough crime dramas it’s clear why people committing illegal acts often use cheap, pay-as-you-go phones: they can be discarded quickly to prevent investigators from extracting data that could incriminate them or their associates. That said, not every suspect is so careful. Many offenders have been caught because incriminating … Read more

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/SolStock) Compression specialist V-Nova has unveiled a new 4K compression technology called Perseus at an industry event attended by more than 20 major telecom and media companies, including Sky Italia, Intel and the European Broadcasting Union. Perseus is designed to reduce the bandwidth required for ultra-high-definition video, enabling multiple 4K streams to be … Read more

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has stated that France will not impose an outright ban on Huawei’s participation in 5G networks, a position that contrasts with recent UK policy changes. In an interview with France Info radio, Le Maire explained that while national security would be strictly protected, the government will avoid a “blanket … Read more

The European Commission has approved a joint venture between Vodafone and Altice to roll out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) across Germany. The new company, named FibreCo, plans to bring FTTH connections to as many as seven million homes over a six-year timeframe. Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, said: “This partnership leverages Vodafone’s extensive next-generation network together … Read more

Nokia and Vodafone have collaborated to set a new milestone in gigabit fibre broadband by successfully demonstrating a Passive Optical Network (PON) trial that reached unprecedented per-wavelength speeds. PON uses a point-to-multipoint architecture where a single optical fibre serves multiple endpoints via passive splitters, distributing bandwidth across several access points without active electronics in the … Read more

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/ByeByeTokyo) As daily life increasingly depends on constant access to data, consumers expect mobile networks to deliver consistently high performance. A recent survey by Vasona Networks reveals widespread dissatisfaction among UK users with current mobile internet performance. More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) said they expect “good mobile data performance all of the … Read more

If you use a Mac, you’re likely familiar with the operating system’s reputation for stability. Still, occasional problems do occur, and when System Settings becomes unresponsive it’s helpful to know the best steps to diagnose and fix the issue. Begin by checking the apps currently running to identify any that appear to be malfunctioning or … Read more

Truphone part-owner Roman Abramovich was among several Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the UK government today. Abramovich accumulated much of his fortune after the collapse of the Soviet Union, purchasing major assets at prices critics say were well below market value through Russia’s controversial loans-for-shares privatisation programme. He served as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug … Read more

Orange Belgium, a leading telecommunications operator in the country, has announced a nationwide rollout of Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and LTE-M technologies—collectively known as Mobile IoT—across its network. NB-IoT and LTE-M are Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) cellular technologies designed to connect large numbers of devices to the Internet of Things. They are optimized for low-power, … Read more