London Southwark switches on free ultrafast Wi-Fi, phone calls and mobile charging InLinkUK from BT: Innovative digital street units replace Southwark payphones People living, working and travelling through Southwark can now benefit from ultrafast Wi-Fi speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps) - the fastest free public Wi-Fi service available in the UK. Southwark has gone live with new InLinkUK from BT street units, which will also provide the public with free UK landline and mobile phone calls, along with a range of free digital services. More than 100 InLinks are expected to be installed in Southwark, reflecting the borough s role as one of London s key business and cultural hubs, home to some of Britain s most loved tourist attractions, including The Shard, The Globe Theatre and Tate Modern. Other services available from the InLinks include mobile device charging, access to maps, directions and local services, and a new BT Phone Book app. InLinks digital displays will feature real-time information, such as tube service updates, weather forecasts and community messaging. All InLink services are free of charge to the public as the project is funded by advertising revenue generated by the InLinks digital displays. Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said: I m thrilled local people will be able to benefit from InLinkUK from BT. They ll be able to see real-time information such as travel updates and weather as they go about their business, but this is a game-changer in terms of helping people who may not have the internet at home to access more services online, and make calls. Most importantly, all for free. Councillor Peter John, OBE, leader of Southwark Council, said: Southwark s residents, visitors and 1
businesses will benefit hugely from the array of digital services offered by the new InLinkUK from BT street units. The enhanced connectivity and easy access to local services will help support Southwark in its ambition to become a digital Council. Neil Scoresby, BT s General Manager for Payphones and InLinkUK said: It s great news that we ve started to roll-out the next generation phone box in Southwark. The digital services will make a big difference for people on-the-go who all need information quickly whether they live there or are visiting this lively borough and want to discover more about it. Charging points, free phone calls, ultrafast Wi-Fi, maps and local information will all be well-used I m sure. InLinkUK is a new communications network that will replace over 1,000 pay phones in major cities across the UK, with new units called InLinks. Each InLink provides ultrafast, free public Wi-Fi, phone calls, device charging and a tablet for access to city services, maps and directions, connecting those who visit, live and work in urban hubs across the UK. Hundreds of users within range of an InLink will be able to access free ultrafast Wi-Fi on the move, with speeds of up to 1Gbps - the fastest free public Wi-Fi service available. InLinkUK from BT is being brought to the UK through a partnership between BT, Intersection, the urban innovation company behind LinkNYC, and Primesight, a leading UK outdoor advertising company. You can earn more at http://www.inlinkuk.com/ 2
BT Sport to celebrate sporting pub landlords First London winner from Holloway gets visit from Arsenal legend Martin Keown BT Sport is celebrating pub landlords across the UK who go the extra mile to create an amazing sporting experience for their customers and are rewarding them with their very own life-sized statue. The BT Manager of the Month award celebrates landlords who make their pub more than a pub, highlighting their role in connecting sport with the community. To kick-start the awards three statues were unveiled across the UK, including one at The Tollington (London), which Martin Keown unveiled. Martin Whelan, the pub landlord is the first London winner of the BT Sport Manager of the month. A statue now stands outside Martin s pub and he is set to receive a big screen TV prize too. The Tollington pub stood out from the competition as Martin Whelan came up with the idea of getting the players from their local team in the pub after the football games. Martin said: It was great to meet Martin Keown. He arrived at our pub to unveil the manager of the month statue and signed lots of autographs for the fans. There s been a lot of banter with the pub regulars and social media went crazy with lots of photos. I think one of the highlights was the crowd singing their version of the famous Bergkamp chant, which is still ringing in my ears, Walking in a Martin Whelan wonderland. All the winning pubs stood out from the competition thanks to the uniqueness of their venues, whether it be painting the pub to match the local team s colours, TVs in the toilets, or getting the players from their local team in after the game. The search for the next winners is already underway, with BT Sport inviting people to nominate their landlords, or for landlords to nominate themselves by tweeting @BTSportsBars using #BTMOTM. BT Sport will be looking for landlords that go above and beyond to bring sport to their customers. This could include the viewing experience or wider community projects that get people involved in sport. BT Sport will select one landlord a month until June 2018 and each will be presented a trophy by a local sporting personality and a brand new 4K TV for their venue. Bruce Cuthbert, Director Commercial Customers, said: Pubs are at the heart of their communities and sport is a fantastic way of bringing people together. The BT Manager of the Month gives us the opportunity to recognise the landlords up and down the country who go that extra mile for their customers and their community. If you have a landlord who you think deserves recognition then get tweeting @BTSportsBars using #BTMOTM. 3
For more information: www.btsport.com/business 4
London based company wins access to more than 125 million venture capital funding BT, Telecom Infra Project, and Facebook announce start-up competition winners BT, the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Facebook have announced the first three small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to be admitted into the UK Telecom Infra Project Ecosystem Acceleration Centre (TEAC), based at BT Lab facilities in London s Tech City and Adastral Park, Suffolk. One of the three competition winners was London based UnManned Life, who offer an autonomous AI drone-based technology platform for commercial applications and connectivity. All three companies will gain access to a pool of more than 125m in venture capital funding as well as support and expertise to help develop new innovative technologies aimed at boosting global connectivity, improving network user experience and lowering the overall cost of network infrastructure. The winners were announced after pitching their ideas to a panel of experts from BT, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Orange and TIP at the BT Tower. The selected winners provide solutions in the high-growth areas of autonomous unmanned systems (drones that rely on programming and communications with each other, rather than on manual operation), software defined networking (SDN) and quantum security. The other winners were KETS Quantum Security, based in Bristol, developers of a cost-effective quantum chip which could potentially boost security for the finance and government sectors and Zeetta Networks, also based in Bristol, offers software-defined networking technology to enable on-demand, network virtualisation and intent-based programmability software for Operations, Administration and Management (OA&M) optical & wireless networks. The TEAC initiative is part of TIP which was founded last year by EE, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Nokia, Intel and SK Telecom. TIP is a global movement comprising more than 450 operators, infrastructure providers, system integrators, and other technology companies who want to challenge and transform the traditional approach to building and deploying telecoms network infrastructure. The selected SMEs are the first entrants to join the TIP Ecosystem Acceleration Centre (TEAC) in the UK, a programme announced by BT, TIP and Facebook earlier this year, which will help SMEs working in the field of network infrastructure to bring their innovative ideas to market more rapidly. In addition to providing visibility and access to funding, the TEAC will be a space for participants to learn how to adapt their 5
solutions to the real operational requirements for rapidly developing areas of network infrastructure such as quantum networking, mission-critical communications, artificial intelligence and programmable networks. Howard Watson, CEO of BT Technology, Service and Operations, said: It s more important than ever before that we seek expertise not only from our home-grown talent and established partners, but also from newly created small businesses. By helping innovative SMEs like Zeetta Networks, KETS and Unmanned Life to grow, to scale up, and access the funding they need to develop even more successful businesses, we re supporting the development of technologies that have the potential to tackle some of our society s biggest challenges around connectivity, around security, and accessibility of digital services. Further selection rounds will be held on a regular basis, as the UK TEAC expands over the coming year. 6
BT broadcasts live from space at New Scientist Live event BT s broadcast technology connects visitors to ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli on board the ISS BT delivered a live broadcast link between London and the International Space Station (ISS), allowing visitors at the New Scientist Live event to interact with Italian European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli. Our media and broadcast division worked with the European Space Agency to provide the live broadcast technology, which allowed visitors to the event at London s ExCeL showcase watch the astronaut live as he orbitted 250 miles above the earth, as part of a five month mission on board the ISS. Libby Jackson, from the UK Space Agency, who was mission director from ESA s Control Centre for Paolo and other astronauts, hosted the broadcast, alongside BT Sport pundit Craig Doyle. Our bespoke Outside Broadcast (OB) truck, coupled with the iconic BT Tower, enabled the broadcast from space to happen. The specialist, high-capacity vehicle used on this event was key to the monitoring and pre-production of the link. It is capable of receiving multiple high definition (HD) and ultra-high definition (UHD) feeds simultaneously, ensuring a high quality viewing and listening experience for New Scientist Live visitors watching from London. The video and audio of Paolo, picked up by the camera at the ISS, started its journey to the UK via three satellites orbiting 36,000km from Earth, known as the Tracking and Data Relay System (TDRS). These satellites transmitted the footage to the Johnson Space Centre TV facility where they then entered the Encompass Atlanta broadcast hub for connectivity to London over a fibre-optic global network. When it reached London, the TV signal was converted from US TV standards to UK standards and was then presented to BT s Emmy award winning Facility Line switch in BT Tower. The signal was encoded and compressed to 90Mbps across the local fibre circuit to the ExCeL centre, decoded back to a HD signal at 1.485Gbps by the BT OB truck and presented to the on-site production vehicle for delivery to the New Scientist Live main theatre. Mark Wilson-Dunn, Vice President of BT Media & Broadcast, said: This was quite an unusual but exciting ask for us, and a bit of a technical challenge given the route the feed takes via multiple satellites from space back to the UK. However, thanks to a stellar effort from our team, coupled with the very best broadcasting equipment and our world-class fibre network, we were able to offer crowds the chance to interact with Paolo on his mission. BT showcased a whole range of technology innovations at the New Scientist Live event, including smart cities capabilities, its latest work in 5G, and the immersive virtual reality headsets used for the Champion s League. 7
Free BT work placements to help youngsters in London get 'Work Ready' BT is offering free work placements to help young people get work ready and prepared for their future careers. The ten day course, combining hands-on work experience with coaching and training is open to anyone aged 16 to 24 not currently in education, employment or training. Work placements are a great opportunity for people to build confidence and learn practical work skills such as CV writing and interview techniques. Although the course does not carry a formal qualification, attendees are given a certificate showing their attendance and achievements to demonstrate their commitment to prospective employers. Courses have taken place in Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield and also BT Centre, London. Prabhjot Basra, Regional Partnership Director, said: BT work placements give local, young people the opportunity to experience the working day and gain an invaluable insight of what is expected in the workplace. I d encourage you to register your interest to ensure you don t miss out on future courses. BT is also offering young people the chance to sign up for seven week traineeships in a variety of roles across the UK. During the course, trainees will get hands on experience of the workplace with an opportunity to run a project from start to finish, working both individually and as part of a team. Trainees also learn practical and transferrable work skills and can gain a nationally recognised qualification in digital employability. They can even brush up on maths and English. At the end of the course, trainees will leave with a career plan in place and receive ongoing help and support to complete the next steps towards employment or education. The BT Traineeship and Work Placements are both part of the BT Work Ready programme which is a series of initiatives provided to help young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, gain employment skills and get them ready for work. It s part of BT s commitment as a founding partner in the Movement to Work coalition of employers. 8