Connectivity Technology Blog

Mobile internet has become the backbone of modern life, yet the latest GSMA report shows that progress is uneven. While billions enjoy fast 4G and 5G connections, hundreds of millions are still left outside the digital world entirely. The real challenge now is not just building networks but making them sustainable, affordable, and meaningful for the people who need them most. Connectivity has never been closer to universal, but the final stretch is proving to be the hardest. The GSMA’s latest report on 'The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025' paints a mixed picture of progress and persistent challenges in global mobile internet connectivity. While mobile broadband coverage has continued to expand and network quality is improving in many regions, significant gaps remain, particularly in the world’s most vulnerable communities. As of 2025, 96% of the world’s population lives within the footprint of a mobile broadband network. However, that still leaves around 300 millio...

Distributed Antenna Systems, commonly known as DAS, play a crucial role in extending mobile connectivity into environments where outdoor signals struggle to reach. From convention centres to hospitals, and from tunnels to stadiums, DAS ensures that users stay connected in areas where mobile coverage would otherwise be poor or non-existent. The main challenge arises from the fact that large buildings often block or degrade cellular signals due to their construction materials. DAS addresses this by redistributing the signal inside the structure through a network of antennas connected to a common source. This significantly improves coverage, capacity and user experience. To explore how DAS works in practice and the differences between types of solutions, we are sharing two insightful videos that break down the fundamentals and practicalities of deploying DAS. The first video, by WilsonPro, offers a straightforward explanation of passive and active DAS. Passive DAS, also referred to as sig...

Mobile connectivity is becoming a necessity and this is compelling mobile operators to provide coverage in very hard to reach areas within cities. One such example is in subways and metros where connectivity enhances the overall quality of life for commuters, improves safety and efficiency, and supports the growth of smart, connected urban environments. There are several other advantages like emergency communications, being able to communicate with friends/family/colleagues as and when required, and much more that I an not going to expand here. Some years back we made an explainer on how connectivity is provided in case of metro/subway here . While there were limited examples available then, we have seen a boom in underground connectivity since then.  Recently O2 Telefónica in Germany announced (in German, translated via Google translate): It was now possible for all passengers of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) to access high speed connectivity. The Berlin subway, the ba...

There are just too many options when it comes to IoT. LoRaWAN is probably the winner from the unlicensed camp with plethora of other options also available. On the licensed front while LTE-M and NB-IoT haven't enjoyed the success they were touted to, other cIoT options aren't doing that badly. In their recently released whitepaper entitled, 'Understanding the benefits of LTE Cat 1bis technology', Qualcomm explains: LTE-M and NB-IoT are two IoT-specific standards introduced in 3GPP release 13. They provide low power operation, extended coverage range and low data rate; they are aptly called low-power wide area networking, or LPWAN technologies. In Release 13, LTE Cat 1bis was also added to the standards. Cat 1bis requires one receive- (Rx) antenna, making it easier and cheaper to build devices in smaller form factors. Recently, IoT use cases involving drones and industrial automation have evolved, requiring either higher throughput, lower latency or both. 5G or higher-...

Offshore wind farms are typically located in remote areas, making it challenging to establish reliable connectivity using public mobile networks. Private mobile networks allow wind farm operators to deploy dedicated coverage in the vicinity of the wind farm, ensuring consistent and high-quality network connectivity. UK-based wireless telecommunications provider, Vilicom, is providing a cloud-enabled private mobile network for the Moray East wind farm for Vestas. A press release , couple of years back, explained what they were doing:  Currently in its construction phase 20 miles off the Scottish coast, the Moray East wind farm will comprise of 100 V164-9.5 MW units, giving a combined total power output of 950 MW across its impressive 295km2 plot. The turbines, supplied by Vestas, will generate sufficient power to supply clean energy to approximately one million households across the United Kingdom. Moray East will bring more low-carbon power to the UK, and will continue to support t...

At Telecom Infra Project's Fyuz 22 conference, one of the main stage panel session talked about New Business Models, Neutral-Host NaaS and the Rule of Threes. During that session, Kunal Bajaj, CEO & Co-Founder of CloudExtel spoke on how India can tackle this challenge and unlock 5X Quality of Experience improvement for users, through Shared RAN solutions. CloudExtel successfully deployed its first solution at Mumbai Central railway station , one of the country's largest railway stations, addressing this issue. The video of the panel session below has been adjusted to start exactly at Kunal's talk. There is an Q&A session followed by the talk. If you would rather hear all the talk in the panel sessions, rewind to 33:10. A lot of neutral host solutions are being deployed in different parts of the world. If properly planned, they can help service providers deliver a much better experience for the end users.  Related Posts :  Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Details...

LTE UE Categories were a popular topic once upon a time. I have various blog posts on the topic, the earliest one being in 2009 , then in 2011 and 2015 . Most of the smartphones started with Category 3 (Cat-3), going on to Cat-6, Cat-9, etc. Cat-2 was never used as far as I know. Cat-1 and Cat-4 gained popularity in various IoT applications. The picture above from this press release , nicely summarises the evolution of various 3GPP technologies, including IoT. As you will notice, an updated version of LTE Cat-1 known as Cat-1bis was in 3GPP Release-13. You will also notice that LTE Cat-0 was introduced in Release-12 that evolved into eMTC or LTE-M (Cat-M1). A blog on Ericsson has a nice summary here . In Release-13, LTE Cat-1bis was introduced. This article explains what Cat-1bis is and how's it different from Cat-1: LTE Cat 1, sometimes also refers as 4G Cat 1, is specifically designed for more feature-rich Machine-to-Machine (M2M) IoT applications. The technology was initially ...

Hurricanes are not so uncommon nowadays in the USA. Many a times the terrestrial infrastructure gets severely damaged or destroyed. In that situation, one of the easiest way is to use satellite backhaul along with COWs (Cell On Wheels). During Hurricane Ida, Verizon Response Team set-up a COW with satellite backhaul to ensure LTE and Wi-Fi connectivity for the First responders in Louisiana. One video is embedded below: Frankly, it's not just in USA where satellite connectivity helps. SpaceX's Starlink came to rescue of German communities impacted by disastrous floods last year.  Starlink satellite broadband connecting German communities ravaged by floods, including phone and internet outages. "We have never seen such a disaster. It's really devastating," said the Rhineland-Palatinate state governor, Malu Dreyer. @Tesmanian_com https://t.co/3EpvFOGkm5 pic.twitter.com/lnEutCAN6W — Gary Lerude (@MWJGary) July 27, 2021 Of course when the infrastructure gets damag...

In previous posts we looked at how OneWeb is trying to implement 5G in their satellite networks from the start. In a recent talk at 5G Forum Korea, Massimiliano Ladovaz, CTO of OneWeb presented their Vision for LEO Satellites and 6G connectivity Any issues OneWeb was facing, are past problems , and in the last year they have not only sorted that out but also managed to make good progress with their launches.  Mission Success! We are thrilled to have ended the year with another successful launch, with contact received from all 36 satellites. We have now launched over 60% of our constellation! Thanks to all our team and distribution partners for a great year! https://t.co/jn9YhCSlJe pic.twitter.com/vue4UBQW4I — OneWeb (@OneWeb) December 27, 2021 Back in December , OneWeb successfully launched 36 satellites, bringing total in-orbit constellation to 394 satellites. They have now launched over 60 percent of their LEO satellite fleet that has been promised to deliver high-speed, l...

With the 5G and NB-IoT hype in full swing, people can be forgiven when they think that NB-IoT is the dominant technology for the Internet of Things. More shocking for some people is the fact that there are no 50 billion IoT devices yet , even when non-cellular IoT technologies are included. At the recently concluded 5G Techritory conference, Jans Jelinskis, Technical Director, 1NCE highlighted the fact that finally, customers are coming round to the idea that there will be no 2G network in the future, so the future of cellular IoT will be 4G. While many of the existing IoT requirements are still getting satisfied by the 2G simplicity, plan B also includes other non-cellular LPWA IoT technologies like LoRaWAN & Sigfox. Time will tell which of these will succeed and which of them will disappear into oblivion. Here is the video of the talk Related Posts :  The 3G4G Blog: Are there 50 Billion IoT Devices yet? Connectivity Technology Blog: The Potential of Connectivity Technologies ...

NTT Docomo and Airbus have demonstrated the ability to use Airbus's solar-powered Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) to deliver future wireless broadband connectivity. The trial took place in the United States in August, when the Zephyr S aircraft undertook approx. 18-day stratospheric flights to test various capabilities. We have covered many of the topics here, see related blog posts link at the bottom. A press release said: Carrying an onboard radio transmitter, the Zephyr S provided an agile datalink during a stratospheric flight to simulate future direct-to-device connectivity. Test data was captured at different altitudes and at different times of day and night, focusing on assessing how connectivity is affected in the stratosphere by factors including weather conditions, different elevation angles and aircraft flight patterns. Tests included various bandwidths to simulate direct-to-device service from the HAPS to end users using low, nominal and high throughput. T...

GSMA together with some mobile network operators recently published a white paper to promote the use of High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) technology to meet the need for broadband connectivity worldwide. We have covered HAPS multiple times in our blog posts. They are unmanned aircrafts that fly typically at altitudes of around 20km.  The description of the paper says: Operating in the stratosphere, unmanned high-altitude platforms (HAPS) could bring connectivity to areas that are either not covered, or are only partially covered, by terrestrial cellular networks. This whitepaper highlights the potential of HAPS to meet the need for more broadband connectivity worldwide. HAPS are very versatile: they can be adjusted to prioritise coverage or capacity depending on the use case. Moreover, an aircraft can be deployed to cover a location at short notice. As HAPS can employ LTE and 5G, there are no special requirements on the user equipment: a normal smartphone can be used. As a res...

One of the biggest challenges with UAVs and Drones is that there are no harmonized regulations allowing aerial UEs worldwide. While different countries may have different regulations, work like the LTE Aerial Profile is intended to standardize on an approach to remove concerns of interference with ground based users. When it is implemented by the MNOs, the policy will adapt to using LTE for drones.  In Europe there are efforts from European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) in a safe and secure manner. The operators can help supporting in this area by, first of all, having a conversation with the national authorities and demonstrate the performances of the network. Also it is highly recommended to participate to the Aerial Connectivity Joint Activity (ACJA) work tasks to help define the right KPIs, the more mobile operators participate the better is the result. In this GSMA IoT WebTalk (embedded below) the theme of partnership is exp...

Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Telekom are radically improving mobile reception on trains: in future, passengers using the Deutsche Telekom (DT) mobile communications network are to be able to make calls and surf the internet on all routes without interruption – in much better quality than currently available. A press release from DT said: By 2026 at the latest, coverage gaps along all railway lines in long-distance and regional services are to be eliminated. Both companies have agreed that Deutsche Telekom is to build out its mobile communications network along Deutsche Bahn’s railway lines, close any gaps, and significantly increase its network’s performance. Together, the two companies are investing a sum in the hundreds of millions in order to achieve this goal.  Deutsche Telekom will specifically provide Deutsche Bahn’s entire rail network with gap-free coverage in its mobile communications network by the end of 2026. The planned investments will be made to build out many routes ...

We have looked at the Finnish public safety network on The 3G4G Blog here . State Security Networks Group Finland (Erillisverkot) safeguards the Finnish society by offering authorities and critical operators engaged in critical infrastructure and services secure and reliable ICT services.  At the core of the Virve 2.0 project is the secure and seamless transition from the current Virve to new services. Critical communication and mission control between authorities and other mission critical operators will be safeguarded under all circumstances. A recent update stated: The highly tuned current Virve network for authorities will continue to work seamlessly alongside new services during the migration phase between 2023-2025. At the same time, the development of Virve 2.0 will proceed strongly in the areas of radio networks, information systems, devices, and application services. Our desire is to conduct the development, testing and piloting of new services in close collaboration with...

We have done multiple posts on our blogs looking at Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). It all started with this tutorial here . 5G FWA was one of the most popular services being offered by the operators.  Late last year, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) announced the establishment of the GSA 4G-5G fixed wireless access (FWA) forum to bring together leading chipset, module and terminal vendors—as well as other telecommunications industry representatives, who wish to promote 4G and 5G FWA technology, products and services—to report on progress of FWA deployments, identify use cases and encourage global adoption.  At the recent GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum, Simon Sherrington, VP Research, GSA, presented the status of Fixed Wireless Access. Some of the highlights from his talk: FWA investment is global At least 477 operators in 175 countries/territories catalogued as investing in FWA based on LTE or 5G Trials, pilots, deployments, commercial launches or investment in licences GSA h...