As a result, millions are at risk of being left behind. Being digitally excluded can mean being cut off from essential services, from family, friends and community, from economic opportunity, and from the ability to navigate a society that’s increasingly shaped by technology.

BT is one of the biggest investors in UK infrastructure, and our nationwide broadband and mobile networks will fuel the UK’s future prosperity – unlocking the power of technology, boosting productivity and enabling growth.

But we recognise that great networks alone are not enough. That’s why we are stepping up, with a new ambition to reach 30 million people and businesses with the digital skills, tools and support they need by 2030.

Building on a decade of progress

We set our first digital inclusion target a decade ago, in 2015. Since then, BT has supported more than 23 million people and businesses with digital skills and training, and our new, extended ambition builds on the progress we have made.

That progress has been achieved through long-term partnerships and practical programmes – from helping young people develop digital confidence, to supporting businesses to grow their capabilities, to keeping families connected during the pandemic.

We have built a strong foundation. But the country – and the challenge – has moved on.

Today, digital inclusion is about far more than skills alone. It means being able to get online reliably, afford to stay connected, and use digital services safely with confidence and trust.

As more of everyday life moves online, and as technologies like AI reshape how we work and access services, the gap between those who can benefit and those who cannot risks widening further.

Bringing connectivity and capability together

For BT, this means tackling both sides of the challenge. We are continuing to upgrade connectivity and build the country’s digital backbone, including in rural and harder-to-reach communities, while also helping people and businesses gain the confidence and capability to make the most of it.

Because infrastructure only becomes opportunity when people can access it, and use it in ways that improve their lives.

We know we can achieve more when we work together. From supporting the Government’s digital inclusion and skills initiatives, to being part of the Connection Project – a national alliance aiming to help everyone thrive online, BT’s programmes and partnerships focus on practical support where it makes the greatest difference:

• helping children and families stay safe online,
• enabling older people, disabled people and those most at risk of exclusion to access essential services more independently, and
• supporting small businesses to grow, adapt and protect themselves from cyber threats.

Our relationship with AbilityNet is a strong example of that approach, taking free support directly into communities and helping thousands of older people build confidence at their own pace. Held in welcoming spaces like community centres and libraries, these sessions help equip people to be vigilant and spot scams, and are part of BT’s wide-reaching activities to enable people to stay safe online.

From providing mobile services that give young people support specifically tailored to their stage of digital development, to delivering industrial-grade cybersecurity tools to small businesses, the steps BT is taking to become the UK’s most trusted connector could not be more relevant, or more important, in today’s rapidly changing world.  

Embedded in our strategy

Digital inclusion is not a standalone initiative. It is central to our purpose, and how we deliver for customers, communities and the country. It is, therefore, fully embedded into our strategy, as we create a better BT for all of us.

That is why it now sits firmly within our Board’s oversight of strategy and performance ensuring delivery, accountability and impact are fully integrated into the heart of how we run BT and deliver for all our stakeholders.

We’ve made real progress over the last ten years, and we are excited about the opportunities to come in the years ahead.

Our new 30 million ambition is about making sure more people and businesses don’t just get online, but can stay connected, feel confident, and benefit from everything digital life offers.

That is what connecting for good means and why we are stepping up our ambition now.

For more information see: Digital Inclusion

Why BT Mobile, Why Now?

Customers no longer think of connectivity as separate services. They want reliability from a provider they trust and better value without compromising on performance. In a market where tariffs can feel overly complex, there is a clear opportunity to offer something simpler: easy-to-understand mobile plans built around the needs of BT broadband customers.

They want:

• Reliable home and mobile connectivity
• Simple, transparent mobile tariffs
• Help choosing the right plan
• Easier service management and control
• Confidence in service and support
• Better value from a provider they trust

These new BT Mobile plans are designed to meet those needs.

BT Mobile brings those benefits together in a more joined-up experience, with better value and greater simplicity for BT customers.

Great Value, Built Around Customer Needs

Great value sits at the heart of the new BT Mobile plans.

By bringing mobile and broadband together, we can offer real value without added complexity. Plans start from just £9 per month for 10GB of data when bundled with BT broadband, making it easier for households to stay connected for less.

The new tariff structure is deliberately straightforward: four clear data plans, flexible 30-day terms, and benefits included as standard, so customers can more easily choose the option that is right for them.

Value does not mean compromise. All BT Mobile plans include:

• EU roaming included as standard, so customers can stay connected while travelling
• Spam Protect, helping block scam and nuisance calls before they reach you
• Flexible terms, with 30-day rolling contracts so customers can scale data up or down as their needs change

Customers can choose from four clear data options – 10GB, 15GB, 30GB or 75GB – making it easier to find the right plan.

This is about delivering everyday value through simple, transparent tariffs.

BT Mobile Plans with Security in Mind

BT Mobile plans are also built on the security leadership we offer our customers.

At BT, we employ thousands of security experts and deploy network-level protections every second to help safeguard our network and customers from cyber threats.BT Mobile customers benefit from network-level blocks on spoof and suspicious numbers, alongside Scam Protect for added security.

UK’s most reliable mobile network

BT Mobile plans provide access to the UK’s most reliable mobile network, covering more than 99% of the population and over 90% of the UK’s geography. Customers also benefit from award-winning 5G in more places, supporting a faster, more dependable experience.

Trust is central to the BT brand, and it underpins everything we are delivering with BT Mobile – from tariff design to the quality, security and support behind it.

Customers can expect:

• Reliable performance built on proven infrastructure
• Strong coverage where it matters most
• A service experience grounded in transparency

Reliability is not just about connection. It is about knowing your service will be there when you need it, whether at home, at work or on the move.

Strengthening BT for the Future

BT Mobile is a key step in strengthening the BT proposition for the future and sharpening how we serve loyal broadband customers.

By bringing mobile and broadband closer together, we are:

• Deepening relationships with customers through a broader connectivity offer
• Offering better value through integrated broadband and mobile services

This reflects a clear focus on what BT has long stood for: dependable connectivity, trusted service and products that meet customer needs in a more converged market.

What This Means for Customers

For customers, the message is clear:

BT Mobile is back – simpler, more affordable and built around customer needs.

Whether you are already with BT or considering making the switch, BT Mobile offers:

• A simpler way to stay connected
• Better value when combined with broadband
• A service you can trust

It is about making life easier and ensuring that staying connected does not come at a premium.

That’s what we mean when we say BT is Behind Brilliant Things. This is just the beginning of our investment in the BT brand, and in the products and services that showcase our network, with more exciting launches planned for customers over time.

Get Started Today

To explore the new plans, see how much you could save by bundling, and get started, visit: https://www.bt.com/mobile

This is an essential step. The PSTN was designed for a different era and has become increasingly difficult to maintain. It can no longer support the connectivity, resilience or functionality that modern organisations – and critical national infrastructure (CNI) providers in particular – rely on today.

Delivering the network investment needed for the All-IP transition

Over many years, BT has invested billions of pounds in UK digital infrastructure, including nationwide full-fibre networks, to enable the move away from analogue technology and support next-generation connectivity and services.

These full-fibre, fully digital networks are built for speed, resilience and flexibility. They enable capabilities that legacy analogue systems simply cannot support and provide the robustness required by CNI sectors and essential public services. Crucially, this investment means the UK now has the digital foundations in place to complete the transition away from the PSTN safely and securely. It is also what allows BT to take a more proactive role as the switch-over approaches.

Stepping up our proactive support through protective migrations

As we move into the final stretch, our focus is on completing the transition for business customers who are still using PSTN-based services.

BT Business has already migrated the majority of business customers away from legacy platforms. As of January 2026, around 80% of our voice customers have moved to All-IP services. This represents significant progress, but thousands of organisations still rely on Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) and other PSTN-based services.

Where it is possible to do so, we are now carrying out protective migrations. This means proactively upgrading many remaining organisations and automatically moving their analogue services onto a digital solution. This helps ensure continuity of key services as the switch-over date approaches. In many cases, these upgrades can be completed with minimal disruption, and customers who can go through this process are now being notified.

Why customer engagement is important 

However, protective migration is not suitable for every service or every organisation. That is why customer engagement remains essential.

Some services cannot be upgraded automatically and in other cases customers need to be involved to agree timings, test new solutions or confirm how services are used within their organisation.

Engagement remains vital for ensuring continuity of services and will make the process smoother and safer. It gives our business customers greater visibility of what is changing, more control over how the transition is completed, and time to address any complexities specific to their business.

Protecting critical national infrastructure

As a CNI provider ourselves, we understand how vital resilient connectivity is to the delivery of essential services across the UK.                                                                                                                

We fully recognise the importance of upgrading critical services, and strong progress has already been made across sectors such as local and central government, emergency services and utilities. Overall volumes of CNI WLR services have reduced significantly, with the water sector and government bodies seeing reductions of around 50% over the past year.

Our priority is to ensure that CNI services are protected during the PSTN switch-over. That’s why as well as offering protective migrations and dedicated support teams, we also plan to provide a limited voice service for lines still in place for CNI customers after January 2027.

However, this will have very basic functionality that enables voice calls only, and isn’t a long-term solution, which underlines the importance of continued engagement across CNI organisations.

Completing the transition

To remain secure, resilient and future-ready, we’re urging all organisations to make the move to digital, IP-based networks by January 2027. We’re in the final stretch of a transition that is essential to maintaining continuity of service and to supporting the UK’s long-term connectivity.

We’re stepping in with protective migrations where we can, but we need customers to engage with us to ensure continuity of their services. Acting early reduces risk, avoids last-minute disruption and ensures the transition can be completed safely and on time. In all cases, we’ll explain what will change, outline available options and support customers in moving to replacement technologies ahead of the deadline.

If you have not upgraded yet, or you are unsure which services your organisation relies on, now is the time to check. You can contact BT on 0800 023 2698 for dedicated support, or visit https://business.bt.com/insights/what-is-ip-technology for more information.

AI training for all Business colleagues 

The foundation of our AI transformation will be our people. That’s why we’re announcing today that BT Business is launching tailored AI training for all 11,000 of our employees across all roles and disciplines.

All BT Business staff will receive a course of training modules that support people at all stages of AI knowledge - from AI fundamentals to role-specific training, supported by coaching from leaders and line managers.

The skills programme is provided by Avanade and Microsoft, who will provide dedicated webinars and learning pathways for participants, as well as resources for managers to create tailored study plans for their teams.

New AI roles in Business

Today, in National Apprenticeship Week, BT Business is also launching the first BT apprentice and graduate roles fully dedicated to AI as part of its 2026 intake. In parallel, we’ve also announced that we’ll be providing hundreds of new AI & Data apprenticeships for existing colleagues, enabling them to train in new fields.

This reflects BT’s continued commitment to early careers opportunities and to growing its pipeline of specialist talent at the cutting edge of technology, with roles available across the UK.

In partnership with leading educational technology company Multiverse, these Business staff will be given the chance to develop new AI, data, automation and technology skills. As one of the UK’s largest private sector employers of apprentices, participants in both schemes will join more than a thousand employees who are currently completing an apprenticeship at BT.

Our commitment to the UK

BT’s investment in AI upskilling aligns with our commitment to grow AI skills across the UK. BT is a founding partner in the Government’s AI Skills Boost programme, which aims to upskill 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030. Alongside major industry and public sector organisations, BT is supporting colleagues and customers to access training that helps them confidently participate and thrive in an AI-enabled world.

BT also works in partnership with Babington, one of the UK's largest apprenticeship training providers, to provide a £4m Apprenticeship Fund to support SMEs, charities and public sector organisations across England. Now in its third year, this programme helps to train new apprentices and upskill existing staff, with £1.6m allocated so far to support 223 apprentices across 142 employers.

Seizing the AI future

Investing to stay at the cutting edge of technology, including AI, is crucial to our customers and to our employees, and BT will continue to invest to ensure that we remain at the forefront of our industry, as we have for 180 years. 

These new AI training and career pathways are designed to enable our current and future talent to ensure they have the lifelong skills they and BT need for the future, so we can innovate and deliver faster. AI does not transform businesses; people do.

Last year, we set a record-breaking score for the UK, becoming the first network to ever break the 900 barrier – an achievement which placed EE in a class above every other UK operator. This milestone still stands, and this year we’ve gone even further, achieving an incredible score of 920 and extending our already significant lead over second place.

EE also performed best in each of the nine major cities where local performance was analysed, including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast¹, as well as in testing on railways and across over 5.7 billion samples of crowdsourced data. That means whether they’re gaming, video-calling or streaming, customers in these cities, and right across the UK, enjoy an unbeatable experience.

The results come just a few weeks after we experienced a new record data peak on our mobile network of 1.79 Tbps, demonstrating the ever-increasing need for reliable mobile connectivity in our personal and professional lives. Which is why we’re also especially proud of the fact that we’ve also been named within Umlaut’s report as the most reliable network for both voice and data services.

It takes a huge amount of work to keep enhancing our mobile network leadership performance while meeting growing customer demand – and doing so as we continue to expand coverage, including this year doubling the size of our 5G+ network, which now reaches over 68% of the UK population, with an ambition to cover 99% by the end of FY30.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on some of the brilliant milestones and innovations of the past 12 months, all of which have contributed to the recognition we’re seeing from Umlaut today:

• We achieved a world-first in launching Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC), a smart technology that lets nearby mobile sites share capacity. This means faster speeds (around 20 per cent quicker downloads) and more reliable 5G in busy places like city centres and train stations – without needing extra masts.

• We’ve also improved upload for customers, becoming the first operator in Europe to deploy a new generation of Ericsson Massive MIMO units for up to 4x greater uplink performance than previously – increasingly important for everyday activities like live-streaming and mobile gaming.

• Our comprehensive network of outdoor small cells – miniature masts which help to boost mobile capacity in the busiest urban areas – now stands at 1,500 nationwide following over 500 new installations across the UK, including our very first deployments in towns and cities such as Belfast, Bristol, Middlesbrough, Preston and Bolton.

• Complementing this work, we’ve also delivered improved indoor connectivity across a host of venues where it’s needed most, from shopping centres and travel hubs to some of the country’s most iconic sports and events venues like Cheltenham Racecourse.

These milestones underline how our commitment to enhancing and densifying the EE network is delivering a tangible difference for customers – faster speeds, greater reliability, and better connectivity where it matters most, with our brilliant engineers working tirelessly year-round to make it all possible. Achieving a record-breaking score isn’t just an accolade; it’s proof that our strategy is working. As demand for mobile data continues to grow, we’ll keep pushing the boundaries to ensure EE customers continue to enjoy the best possible experience on the UK’s best network. 

¹ _{Full list of cities: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester}

We believe that technology should be an enabler, not a barrier. Whether it’s staying connected with customers, enabling flexible working, or protecting against cyber threats, digital tools are central to how businesses grow and compete. But knowing where to start, or who to speak to, isn’t always easy.

At BT Business we know that for many business owners, face-to-face support still matters. And this isn’t just for solving problems – it’s also about building confidence. Many small businesses are keen to adopt and benefit from new technologies utilising AI and the cloud, but are unsure how best to do so. They are keen to speak to someone who understands their challenges and can quickly help them find the right solutions.

That’s why we’re investing to give customers brand new access to face-to-face support from Business experts in our high street stores across the UK. These are people who understand the realities of running a business and can offer clear, practical advice. Every store will offer access to expert guidance, whether you book online, pop in for a chat, or arrange a visit to your own workplace.

This is part of our continued investment in the UK high street and local communities, and our aim to make technology more accessible to those who could benefit the most. Our business experts are trained to help SMEs navigate everything from connectivity and cloud services to smart devices and automation tools. And crucially, they’re ready to support businesses facing one of today’s biggest threats - cybersecurity.

Although larger companies make the headlines, SMEs are a huge target for cybercriminals, with 42% experiencing an attack last year¹. We’re providing a range of new security solutions tailored for small businesses, and with our in-store experts they can get face-to-face support to help them navigate cyber threats and grow securely.

Ultimately, connectivity isn’t just about broadband or mobile – it’s about unlocking potential, enabling growth, and empowering the businesses that form the backbone of Britain’s economy. That’s the kind of support we want to deliver every day and in every community, and with small and medium businesses this is vital – as when they succeed, the whole country benefits.

_{¹ Small businesses to receive cyber security boost with new toolkit from experts - NCSC.GOV.UK}

We’re investing more than any other FTSE business into the UK – over £24bn so far this decade. While we’re making great progress, it’s far from job done. We plan to invest billions more before the end of the decade to build a better BT for customers and fuel growth across the country.

Proposed changes to UK business rates risk a slowdown in infrastructure investment at a time when the nation needs it most. The financial impact on firms like BT is currently unknown, and will depend on the outcome of ongoing discussions with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and on decisions taken at the next Budget on 26 November. But what is clear is that any increase in this tax on infrastructure could threaten investment across a broad range of infrastructure sectors.

An opportunity for a clearer, fairer system

Business rates are widely seen as outdated, unfair, and a drag on growth. Successive governments have tried different reviews and reliefs, but criticism remains high among economists and businesses alike. Addressing these challenges and providing greater support to high street businesses is rightly a priority for Government.

While the UK’s business rates system taxes commercial properties like shops, offices, and warehouses, it also impacts other physical assets – like fibre cables and ducts, telephone exchanges, and mobile masts – which digital infrastructure providers like BT rely on to connect the country.

It is also worth noting that business property is already taxed considerably more in this country than our European neighbours – decreasing UK competitiveness.

Table One: Comparison of non-domestic property tax burdens in Europe

The latest proposed change is a major one: the Government plans to abolish the VOA – which oversees how business rates are calculated – and move its functions into HMRC. This could be a positive step; especially if HMRC uses the opportunity to build a fairer and more transparent system. They’re also considering a range of other longer-term reforms which could improve how the system works.

The VOA is currently revaluing every commercial property in the UK. This is a major concern to businesses of all sizes, as it has been argued that its approach can lack transparency and accountability. There is also a significant risk that the VOA takes decisions which stifle economic growth.

At the same time, the Government is also introducing a new reform charging a higher rate to businesses with properties and physical infrastructure valued over £500,000, which aims to fund lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure firms.

The goal was to get online giants to pay more while giving high street firms a much-needed break. But the reality is more complicated – with serious unintended consequences for the services that keep the country and the economy running.

These changes could instead result in a small number of UK infrastructure providers bearing a disproportionate level of the cost – potentially up to £400m between them each year. These are businesses investing in the energy, transport, and digital networks that underpin the economy and the country as a whole. Penalising them risks slowing investment in the fabric of the nation and the networks and services we need to fuel growth.

Meanwhile, large distribution warehouses – often associated with online tech giants – could end up contributing just £250 million a year between them. But that figure also includes warehouses used by haulage firms and UK retailers, meaning that tech giants may only pay a small portion of what is needed to properly support small businesses.

As a result, these reforms are unlikely to rebalance the system in favour of the high street. And more than that – the new business rates could become a tax on UK infrastructure, at a time when the country needs investment most.

Supporting the investment that will fuel growth

The changes mean that in many critical sectors, businesses may have to absorb the costs through cutting back on investment. The impact will be felt by people and communities too. In regulated industries like water and energy, it’s likely that higher business rates will lead to higher bills and fuel inflation.

Our in-depth analysis suggests that this reform could reduce business investment by £1.4 billion over five years, and permanently shrink the UK’s economy by £1.5 billion a year. That turns a supposedly revenue-neutral policy into one that actually costs the Government £600 million annually.

To truly support growth – and the Great British high street – we’re urging the Government to rethink its approach. It should target reliefs where they’re most needed: supporting small businesses without slowing much-needed investment into the country’s infrastructure. Exempting infrastructure providers or capping the higher rate for the very largest properties could also help protect investment while still raising funds for the high street.

Business rates reform is overdue – and we all agree the high street needs support. But reform must be done in a way that supports vital infrastructure investment rather than thwarts it.

Further information is available in our full report: Unlocking Growth: Designing a fit for purpose business rates system

Given the value people put on staying connected, our vision for EE – the UK’s best network – matters more than ever.

That’s why today we’re announcing our ambition to deliver 5G standalone to 99% of the UK population by the end of FY30 – four years ahead of any other UK mobile operator's  stated projections.

Our network has been built to deliver up to 100 times more capacity than 4G connectivity - making it significantly better at handling demands from lots of devices at once – delivering more reliable mobile internet in busy areas. 

Building for the future with smarter technology

To achieve our vision, we’re rolling out the most innovative technologies to power our customers’ connectivity:

• EE today announces that it is the first European mobile network to deploy a new generation of Massive MIMO units (Ericsson AIR 3284, the world's first 5G triple-band FDD Massive MIMO radio). These are antenna integrated radios that deliver maximum network experience and up to four times greater uplink capacity.  Two of these units are live in Leeds - with hundreds more to follow by the end of the decade.
• We have over 1,500 outdoor small cells now boosting coverage nationwide - 500 of which were added in just the last 12 months. This includes our very first small cell deployments in towns and cities such as Belfast, Bristol, Oxford, Middlesbrough, Preston and Bolton.
• We last month announced that we are the first operator in the world to launch Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC) in our distributed mobile network. This enables mobile sites near to each other to remotely pair up and share capacity, dramatically boosting network performance.

To make the benefits of this technology clearer for customers, we’ll use the term 5G+ rather than the technical industry shorthand 5GSA or 5G Standalone. It’s the same game-changing network, but in language that’s simple and relatable.

Backing ambition & growth with bold policy

From airports to Wembley Stadium, growing demand at major hotspots highlights why reliable connectivity isn’t just nice to have - it’s essential. Connectivity doesn’t just enrich lives; it powers the economy. Our recent report with Assembly found that continuous improvements to mobile network quality could unlock up to £230bn in economic growth for the UK.

Government support is essential if we are to transform our ambition for nationwide 5G+ coverage - and the significant economic opportunity it brings for the UK - into reality.

A valuable next step would be for Government to launch a Mobile Market Review. This could examine planning reforms to accelerate the rollout of new network equipment, to increase the availability of spectrum (the radio waves that enable mobile coverage), and consider removing the Annual Licence Fees currently paid by operators to use spectrum.  There are also massive opportunities for the UK to accelerate the digitalisation of public services and to support SMEs to make the most of new digital opportunities.

We should also recognise that achieving 99% 5G+ coverage, while an important milestone, will not by itself resolve every challenge around mobile coverage and capacity. Targeted interventions will still be required to address specific issues, such as improving connectivity along railways.

Leading the UK as the trusted mobile connector

At BT, our mission is clear: to be the UK’s most trusted connector, now and in the future. By expanding our 5G+ coverage, rolling out smarter technologies, and leading the way in network innovation, we’re building the foundations for a more connected, more prosperous UK.

I was struck by the fact that this isn’t something that’s relevant to just one business unit or function in our organisation. As we become the UK’s most trusted connector of people, business, and society, inclusion isn’t just a priority – it’s an important part of our strategy. It’s part of building a better BT for all of us: for our people, our customers and our owners.

BT is investing more than anyone else in the UK’s networks, unlocking huge benefits across society. From enabling 98% of the population to access high-speed internet access by 2030, to providing the UK’s best, most reliable mobile network – our infrastructure is designed to connect everyone for good.

For BT, this means reflecting the customers and communities we serve. When we embrace diverse voices and ideas, we become more innovative, more resilient, and set ourselves up to better serve the UK. In my role as Chief Strategy & Change Officer, I see inclusion as part of the fabric of how we design, build, and deliver our products and services. It’s part of giving our customers what they need – and I’m clear that we won’t get there without breaking down structural barriers to inclusion.

We’ve made some great progress, but we still have much more to do. So, even as this week’s events recognise the steps we’ve taken so far, they also focus us on the road ahead and the work we still need to do.

Accelerating our own progress

As I prepare to take family leave myself for the birth of our second child, I’m reminded that inclusion isn’t just about policies, it’s about creating a culture where everyone feels seen, heard, supported, and able to succeed. That’s why I’m so proud to be the leadership sponsor for our internal Pride network here at BT. Providing accessible, inclusive products and services for all our customers begins with supporting and empowering our people.

I’m proud that BT is making moves to break down barriers to opportunity – whether through flexible working, workplace adjustments for those who need them, through our additional paid leave policies for our people with caring responsibilities or for anyone welcoming a new child, or through our recruitment programmes. We’ve also taken more strident steps, becoming an early signatory to the Can’t Buy My Silence Pledge to end the use of NDAs in sexual harassment cases – a move that will soon be written into UK law. And we’ll apply this same principle in all discrimination cases.

Hearing from our early careers colleagues this week has been particularly powerful for me. I’m constantly inspired by the talent and ambition of our apprentices, who are helping BT build better products and services.

Zainab Onikoyi, Apprentice Researcher, is working on server power optimisation and cyber security, using tools like Python and Wireshark to tackle real-world challenges.

Mya Adiga, Apprentice Network Engineer, values the freedom to learn at her own pace and is already planning to pursue a degree within BT.

Asad Afzal, Apprentice IT Technician, is gaining experience across multiple teams while developing both technical and public speaking skills – and hopes to progress to a Level 6 software engineering programme.

Building connections for all

Looking outward, for BT inclusion also means bringing next-generation networks to every corner of the UK – unlocking the benefits of connectivity for everyone. A great example is our recent project in the Swansea Bay City area, where we’re delivering full fibre broadband to 1,800 hard-to-reach sites. This initiative is designed to support levelling up in under-connected communities, ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age.

Digital skills are another huge part of this: helping everyone in the UK build confidence and competence online. Whether it’s young talent preparing for the future, entrepreneurs growing their businesses, or older people overcoming digital exclusion, we’re equipping communities with the tools they need to thrive.

Connecting customers to new experiences

The best service for everyone means rethinking customer experiences and products to make them more accessible and user-friendly. It's why we’ve introduced the EE Additional Needs Centre, helping our retail guides manage and update customer requirements like vulnerabilities or disabilities on their account, allowing us to offer more personalised support.

In a connected world, great technology should work for everyone. From tactile QR codes that help visually impaired customers access setup instructions, to router boxes that are easier to open, and high-contrast modes on our TV products that improve menu legibility – every detail matters.

Looking ahead

This week and every week, I’m clear that when we embed inclusion into our strategy, we unlock potential, performance and purpose. We create better outcomes for our people, customers, our owners and the UK as a whole.

We know we’re not there yet, and we know it won’t be easy or happen overnight. But we do know that by bringing everyone along, we’ll build a BT that’s better – for all of us.

It comes as our customers face unprecedented disruption across their markets driven by geopolitics, regulation and technology — with AI catalysing change faster than ever. We have designed BT International specifically to help our customers meet these challenges head on and anticipate future opportunities to thrive.

The way we do this centres on two highly scalable telco platforms designed for the age of multi-cloud and AI: Global Voice and Global Fabric, with security built in by design. We’ve channelled our investments into these cloud-centric global platforms and concentrated our expert teams where customers need them most.

From asset-light to platform-rich

We have evolved our ‘asset-light’ strategy for several years, designing our platforms to reflect the trends we see in customer traffic crossing our networks — from data flows to and between the big cloud providers to the emergence of hybrid cloud as a preferred model for many businesses. We see that AI has unpredictable impacts on our customers’ networks — from the lumpy, bulky training workloads of large language models (LLMs) powering GenAI to the low latency demands of conversational AI and augmented reality. These trends are set against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving cyber security threat landscape and a fast-moving regulatory environment.

Telecoms gets its voice back

Our Global Voice platform enables businesses, governments and the people they engage with to communicate with each other effortlessly. We’re already world leading in the global voice services market, managing over 16 billion calls to customer call centres in over 70 countries every year. We’ve migrated these services onto a new SIP-powered, cloud focussed platform enabling voice to be carried across data networks. SIP has been around for a while but the fact that Global Managed Voice is both SIP-powered and cloud-focused means that it’s perfectly poised to unlock the full potential of integrating voice with AI.  

Indeed, Gartner predicts that 30 per cent of Fortune 500 companies will offer customer service through only a single, AI-enabled channel by 2028. I believe our Global Voice platform is strongly positioned to enable this, backed by our experts who have delivered over 5,000 contact centres to over 2,000 customers around the world.

Wrapping the world in Global Fabric

Next, we have Global Fabric, our brand-new, AI-ready, cloud-centric network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform. This offers customers instant, secure and resilient connectivity to practically every app or digital service they want, including the world’s top cloud and software-as-a-service  (SaaS) providers. It launched to live customer traffic earlier this year and it is the platform that will help us achieve our goal to be the world’s number one provider of secure multi-cloud connectivity.

Global Fabric could have hardly arrived at a better time. We were one of the first telcos off the starting blocks with a truly greenfield international platform to eliminate the drag that the previous generation of networks had on customer innovation. With traditional networks, setting up or making changes to connectivity for a new or existing app, including AI, could take days or weeks. With Global Fabric, it happens in an instant.

Now think of the increasingly complex international regulatory environment. Technology and data have become geopolitical pawns. That means customers must double down on sovereignty, ensuring the right data stays within the right jurisdiction while enabling them to unlock its value to the business. With Global Fabric, customers can choose both the cloud destinations their data goes to and the route it takes along the way. This means regulated data never leaves the designated national borders and helps customers stay compliant.

Sharing a platform for success

Looking to the future of our industry, we believe international networks will gravitate towards fewer, larger, telco platforms able to manage the demand generated by increased cloud and AI services. We invite other service providers to work with BT International, as we build out our ecosystem of partners, including our recently announced partnership with Google Cloud, and scale fast so we can, as an industry, offer the best value to customers across the globe. 

We’re at a pivotal moment as an industry. It is an opportunity to move away from fragmented legacy international networks to a platform designed with the reality of AI, cyber and cloud at its core, reflecting customers’ expectations of speed, security, sustainability, sovereignty and naturally the skills to support future growth and prosperity.

For those of us lucky enough to witness these events in-person, mobile connectivity is an increasingly essential part of the experience. For some eventgoers, that may simply mean being able to access their mobile ticket, or to stay in contact with those they’re attending with – relatively basic needs in terms of capacity, but important nonetheless. For others, it might be more data-intensive tasks like live-streaming the event on social media or video-calling friends and family to share their experience – something which over one-third of Gen Z-ers like to do.

Whatever the use-case, if the network doesn’t have sufficient capacity, then everybody’s experience suffers. And it’s not just the sheer volume of people that can hinder indoor connectivity. Complex designs are a feature of many commercial venues, with the shape, size and even building materials all impacting the connectivity experience. Just think of the sheer scale of an airport, the thick Victorian walls of many a train station, or the multi-level layout of shopping centres.

As the UK’s best and most reliable network¹, it’s important to us that our EE network delivers for customers whenever and wherever they need us. While we’re proud of our network leadership credentials, it’s not just about extending geographic coverage and top speeds. We know that a consistently reliable experience is essential, and in-building connectivity is a key area in which we’re continually focused on making improvements for our customers.

That’s why we’re working hard every day to bring our connectivity to more and more venues all the time, using innovative Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) to simplify complex building designs and boost coverage and capacity, so that our customers experience the same network performance inside as they do outdoors. With a DAS, we’re able to simplify a large or complex venue by breaking it down into smaller ‘sectors’, each with its own antenna that connects back to a single source bringing 4G or 5G from outside to in. These antennas mean we can evenly deliver coverage throughout the building, ensuring any barriers to reliable connectivity – like thick walls – are no longer a concern.

Take Cheltenham Racecourse as an example, where we recently installed a DAS to support the arrival of almost 220,000 racegoers at March’s Cheltenham Festival. Implemented within the racecourse’s multiple spectator stands – packed with bars, eateries and hospitality suites – the system boosted capacity alongside our usual temporary outdoor deployments, resulting in a near doubling in 4G and 5G data traffic year-on-year (38.21TB vs 20.08TB in 2024).

At the same time, as we continue to roll-out our next generation 5G Standalone (5G SA) network, we’re beginning to look at how this can enhance the customer experience in new ways. Earlier this year, Wembley Stadium, Connected by EE, became the UK’s first sports venue to have a bespoke and permanent 5G SA network, bringing with it cutting-edge connectivity for fans, as well as the potential to support wider stadium operations, for example by ensuring the payment terminals at food and merchandise stalls benefit from a fast and reliable connection.

Our ambition is to build a network that permeates everywhere, and in-building connectivity is essential to that. In the last 12 months, we’ve activated 85 new indoor systems across the UK. And our coverage isn’t just limited to sports and entertainment venues – you’ll find a strong, reliable EE connection in transport hubs like Stansted Airport, retail hotspots like Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Birmingham’s Bullring, and even in numerous office blocks too. It’s encouraging to see more and more landlords recognise mobile connectivity as a key requirement for their occupants, be they sports fans, shoppers, commuters or employees. We’re excited to work with them and our partners to deliver greater connectivity to even more buildings over the next year and beyond.
 

_{¹ Claims based on the RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report: H2 2024. Tested at locations across the UK with the best commercially available smartphones on 4 national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE. Visit ee.co.uk/claims for more details.}

When I talk to BT’s multinational customers, they say it’s the end of the road for legacy networks. Like motorists 100 years ago, they realise that slow is the new down.

The invention of the automobile was transformational. Mass-produced, affordable cars expanded people’s horizons and created new opportunities for business. As Carl Benz’s “Motorwagen” evolved into modern-day cars, performance outstripped the ability of roads to carry them. For the car to reach its full potential, new infrastructure was needed. Autobahns, interstate highways and motorways became the transportation backbone of the modern world.

A similar story is being written today, but instead of physical items like you and me, it’s about transporting AI workloads in the digital world — from locations such as Google Cloud data-centres all the way to users and devices, wherever they may be.

A rear-view mirror

Most businesses still use networks built for a previous generation of IT, where users sat in offices and accessed apps and data stored in their own data-centre. Traffic was predictable and connectivity specified at the start of a fixed-term contract. Few changes were needed, and those that were took days or weeks to make.

AI is changing that. AI traffic is unpredictable. For example, training large language models (LLMs) can cause surges in bandwidth demand, congesting inflexible networks. This impacts not just AI performance, but that of other apps too. Moreover, AI workloads can be split between many users in different places. The app itself may be hosted across multiple clouds.

AI-ready performance

At BT, we pride ourselves on delivering rock-solid foundations for our customers’ digital business. We understand AI demands and are building a brand-new network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform designed specifically to meet its needs.

Called Global Fabric, it offers multinational customers connectivity on demand to a full choice of third-party cloud, AI and SaaS providers. They can choose routes, types of connectivity (eg Internet, Ethernet, IP-VPN), scale, locations and services to connect to, all in an instant with the flexibility to make changes at any time. With Global Fabric, we want AI to run best on BT wherever customers are, wherever the data is. That’s a huge ambition and demands extraordinary scale. No single network provider can do this on their own.

That’s why we’re deepening our partnership with Google Cloud. We’re combining the power of Global Fabric with Cloud WAN, Google Cloud’s fully managed, reliable and secure enterprise WAN backbone that leverages the planet-scale Google network to optimise AI performance and cost.

Together, Global Fabric and Google’s Cloud WAN deliver:

• An extensive network
• A network engineered for speed
• One of the most resilient networks
• And the best outcomes for our customers.

To do this, we’re pre-integrating Cloud WAN’s low-latency subsea optical links into Global Fabric. Customers will have a wide selection of high-speed, reliable routes for their digital workloads, all available at the click of a button on Global Fabric’s web portal. They’ll be able to create fully modern, high-performance, secure and resilient flexible networks for their business — meaning they can put their foot to the floor with their AI plans.

Our partnership will also see BT offering customers Google Cloud Partner Interconnect via Global Fabric in 50 of the world’s top cloud locations, growing to 70 by 2026. This will give customers instant connectivity into Google Cloud, with a 99.99 per cent reliability service level agreement (SLA) backed by BT and Google Cloud.

BT will continue to deepen its collaboration with Google Cloud to ensure reliable, direct, and the fastest low-latency access to Google and Google Cloud services across BT’s network.

For customers on their AI journey, our partnership with Google Cloud offers a high-speed route to success. Traffic restrictions are being lifted. A brand new hyperscale highway awaits.

Without doubt, the demand for live content will continue and innovation will be part of the answer to deliver faster streaming, of higher quality content, to an even greater number of devices.

In late 2023, responding to this challenge, we launched MAUD (Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery) – BT Group’s revolutionary technology solution. MAUD enhances live video streaming quality and reliability for viewers and increases content delivery efficiency for broadcasters and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).

We teamed up with Broadpeak - a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-tv operators worldwide, to leverage their technology as part of the MAUD solution. And our partnership with Qwilt enabled us to deploy the MAUD solution with their Open Edge technology.

A year on from launching MAUD and we’re delighted with the results from our first trial. The trial used BBC Two content on EE’s set-top box TV platform in the live network – taking the technology from proof of concept to real-world.  The trial has shown that during peak times on the network, the MAUD solution has converted over 60 percent of traffic from unicast delivery to multicast delivery. In simpler terms, the trial has demonstrated MAUD’s ability to flatten peaks of network traffic, by switching to multicast delivery, which is a more efficient way of delivering content over the internet.

Moving to the next stage of the trial, BT Group is looking to broaden the scope to include more channels, build out the full feature set, as well as to test the addition of dynamic ad insertion, which would enable a seamless, personalised ad experience for viewers. As seen during the recent Super-Bowl, there is high demand for ad space for live sports with CEO of Fox, Lachlan Murdoch, commenting that ‘ad space had sold out at record pricing’.

As millions look forward to watching the next live event, we’ll continue to innovate and collaborate with content and application providers, on technologies such as MAUD, to make sure that we collectively deliver the best experiences for our shared customers.

The new wave of quantum innovation

Quantum technologies will be a critical enabler of prosperous economies and societal growth. If we look at quantum computing, it has the potential to solve classes of computational problems exponentially quicker that any existing supercomputer. This offers the possibility of major breakthroughs – particularly in sectors such as energy, telecoms, pharmaceutical, finance, construction, and civil engineering.

As such, Nation states are racing to develop and commercialise the opportunities that quantum technologies will bring. The UK is well and truly in the race. Ranked third in the world for the quality and impact of its scientific research and first in Europe for quantum start-ups and capital investment, the UK quantum economy already employs over 100,000 people and is growing. What’s more, the UK is ranked first in Europe for patents in quantum technologies.

With this foundation, the UK is in a strong position - not only for quantum sector growth but also to establish quantum tech as an area of strategic sovereignty and capability. BT is central to supporting the UK in this race as we look to build a network for quantum technologies. 

Building a network for quantum technologies

We’re exploring how to develop our networks to support the future quantum internet: a network to connect quantum computers and devices so that our customers can harness the advancements that quantum technologies will bring.

But we must also protect our customers from the threats that quantum computers will bring. A leader in quantum secure communications, we started our research a decade ago and have now built a ‘world first’ commercial trial of a quantum secure network in London, alongside Toshiba, and with EY and HSBC conducting customer trials. With Equinix, we’ve recently made access to the network easier for businesses in a UK-first data centre to data centre connection. Taking cutting-edge quantum research and moving to commercialisation, our network represents an important step towards the Government’s ambition for nationwide quantum secure connectivity.

As with any new technology - standards and assurance must be developed so that the technology is trusted by our customers, to support adoption. We’re leading ‘QAssure’ – a project to assure Quantum Key Distribution as an early example of deployable quantum technology that can play a role in critical infrastructure.

If we look to another area of quantum tech, that of quantum sensing, we’re again leading the way. Quantum sensing uses quantum principles to measure different physical properties, including, gravity, temperature, magnetic field and rotation, with extreme sensitivity. For sectors such as civil engineering, defence, autonomous transport and IoT, this can enable transformational opportunities.

BT has been researching how quantum sensing can be applied to radio receiver technology for some time and today owns valuable IP in this space. Having developed and successfully trialled a new hyper-sensitive quantum radio receiver (in what we believe to be the first standards compliant, mobile communications link), we’re now looking at how we can support the UK with sovereignty in the technology supply chain – a key focus area for DSIT.

We’re incredibly excited by the opportunities that quantum technologies will bring and remain committed to continuing to support the UK to be a front-runner in this global marathon.

We're doing all we can to be smart with our cost base and we're incredibly careful about what we pass on to customers. And we want to be clear about how and when any changes to prices will occur.

From 31 March we’ll roll out our annual price change, with customers on two types of model across our brands: Pounds and Pence and CPI+3.9%.

Why two models? In December 2023, Ofcom asked communication providers to move away from inflation-linked mid-contract price rises. We were the first operator in the UK to introduce a Pounds and Pence price change, aligned with Ofcom’s approach offering our customers a predictable long-term view of their annual price rise for the duration of their contract term.

Putting a number on it

So, from 31 March 2025, for new and re-contracting mobile customers on the Pounds and Pence model, this annual increase will be an extra £1.50 a month. It will be £1.50 a month for connected devices (including laptops, tablets and smart watches), £2 a month for TV customers, and £3 a month for broadband customers.

There will be customers on our CPI+3.9% model, because they were already in contract before we introduced the Pounds and Pence change. There will also be some customers with a mix of the two models across different products.

For CPI+3.9%, we use the December rate calculated by the Office of National Statistics to calculate our price change. This was 2.5%, which means a price change of 6.4% (CPI:2.5% + 3.9%). On average, this year’s change is around £2 to £3 per month – a very small part of an average household's bill.

A total of 2.6 million customers will be excluded from price change. This includes our Social Tariff customers, landline only customers who don’t have broadband with us or another provider, and those with PAYG on mobile.

For everyone else, this small increase means we can keep giving our customers even more with the latest tech across fibre and mobile as we roll out 5G standalone and Wi-Fi 7 – setting a new standard for connectivity in and out of the home – continue to invest in our network and keep our most financially vulnerable customers connected. 

We’re the UK’s best mobile network for 11 years in a row, and one of the country’s fastest broadband providers. The quality of those network is the foundation that means we can bring our customers so much more as demand continues to increase. Average mobile data useage, for example, has more than trebled in the past five years, and mobile download speeds have doubled. 

With customers using more data and getting faster speeds, these relatively small price increases mean we can give them the networks they need.

But it is a world apart from what we, as a society, now demand from our digital communications. Today, just 0.1 percent of all data on our entire EE mobile network is carried over 2G.  

As a result, all mobile operators have committed to the UK Government to close their 2G networks by 2033 at the latest. While we will not be closing our 2G network until later this decade, the time for businesses to start preparing is now.

We want to make sure all UK businesses understand how our network is evolving and give several years notice before any changes take effect.

Having first spoken publicly about our 2G retirement plans back in 2021, in the coming months we will be reaching out to all our business customers who still use 2G in their operations to encourage and support them in making the move to a modern network; such as 4G, 5G or our new purpose-built Internet of Things (IoT) service used to connect smart devices and sensors.

Greener. Faster. Stronger. 

These modern forms of network connectivity are widespread across the UK, and with cutting-edge technologies like 5G standalone and Global Fabric making headlines, most of our customers already benefit from reliable, secure and energy-efficient connectivity. 

Businesses that continue to rely on 2G technology and devices are missing out on better connectivity and the improved functionality, security and productivity that can come from it. 

We are listening to our customers, and this long-planned network evolution is our response to their needs. With greater focus on climate change and sustainability targets, more businesses across the UK now only want to use the most energy efficient mobile networks.

2G is extremely energy intensive and, as with any technology, the older it gets the less reliable and more difficult to repair it becomes.  

Many operators in the US, Australia and Europe have already switched off their 2G networks. Taking that step here allows us to continue optimising the secure and future-ready networks our customers – and the wider UK economy – need.   

Backing UK businesses 

If we’re going to provide the UK with a rock-solid foundation to build out its digital economy, then relying on mobile network architecture that was designed three decades ago is not the answer.

Despite the ever-decreasing reliance on 2G, some businesses do still use it as part of their operations, primarily to transfer small amounts of data between devices, sensors or machines.

By reaching out to these businesses now to make them aware of how our network is changing for the better, we can provide tailored support and technical advice so they can upgrade to a modern connection. 

We are starting these conversations early so that we can collaborate closely with the business community, giving them certainty and ensuring we take account of their needs in setting a date for the switch off, ensuring several years notice to make the transition safely and affordably.

So, what happens next? 

In the years ahead, we will be preparing our network for the closure of 2G. That will include continuing to expand the reach of our 4G and 5G networks and working closely with industry bodies, charities and Ofcom to raise awareness.

When that time comes, we will provide comprehensive support – both online and in-person – to all our remaining 2G customers to move to a more modern and robust network. Doing so will mean they benefit from our cutting-edge connectivity, which many businesses are already using to power greener growth for decades to come.

Kickstarting economic growth is the Government’s number one mission. And we won’t get there without the country’s small and medium businesses. The figures are clear: there are 5.5 million small businesses in the UK, and improving their annual productivity by just one percent during this Parliament would grow the economy by almost £100 billion, equivalent to over half the annual budget of the NHS.¹ But how do we get there? And whose responsibility is it to lead the way?

It would be easy to write this off as a Government issue. Research has shown that greater adoption of technology amongst small and medium businesses (SMBs) could directly boost the economy² – but that the UK’s SMBs currently invest less in technology than their G7 counterparts.³ The delayed adoption of technology from smaller businesses could hinder the UK’s international competitiveness. The Government can address this by making digital adoption a central pillar of their upcoming Small Business Strategy, with clear delivery targets and the right incentives for SMEs to invest.

However, the reality is that we can’t rely on policy alone. Or on the UK’s start-ups and scale-ups to carry the burden. The small businesses I speak to tell me that they are doing all they can to survive and thrive. Big businesses are already playing an important role in supporting SMBs. But there’s still scope to raise the bar. We all need to do more.

For small businesses to reach their full potential as a UK growth engine, we need big businesses – including BT – to build further on the strong foundations we have in place. This means listening to the common challenges faced by the SMB community and stepping up wherever possible by sharing more of the resources, skills and expertise we all have to offer.

Putting people first

Big corporates often say that their greatest asset is their people. I truly believe this, so if we’re going to empower smaller organisations to drive productivity and growth, then we should start with our people.

Many of our tech peers are already doing excellent work in this space, and we’ve seen it ourselves with our Digital Boost scheme – hosting a range of BT-led activities like 1:1 mentoring sessions, virtual workshops and webinars along with a 6-week accelerator program. More than 5,000 businesses and over 300 BT people have gone through the various schemes over the past two years. This not only helps plug the digital skills gap – it also helps build pride amongst our teams. It’s a great start, but there’s more to do.

It's well known that take-up of apprenticeships amongst small and medium businesses is particularly low. That’s why we announced last week that BT is sharing up to £4 million from our apprenticeship levy funds to help give these businesses the support they need to invest in talent, boost productivity and create a more skilled, diverse, and competitive workforce. I’d urge other big employers to look into ways they can use their levy in a similar way.

Connecting for good

As much as business is about people, it’s also about connections. Digital networks have a vital role to play in making these connections. In a recent study, three in five small companies said a strong digital foundation is essential to their business.⁴

Whether it’s apps that enable payments for food trucks at busy events, or reliable networks to connect social media entrepreneurs to their customers, businesses need technology to help them compete and grow in a digital economy. BT’s fixed and mobile networks connect more than one million small businesses across the UK – and we know we have a major responsibility to underpin their growth.

As confidence amongst small business leaders starts to rise⁵, we’re making a commitment to continue helping boost their connectivity, security and skills. From 01 October we are offering four months’ free broadband for small business customers on 24 and 36-month contracts – as well as three months’ free cyber awareness training for any small business looking to upskill its people (no matter which network they’re on).

These measures can have real impact. After all, we know that only 30% of small businesses had any cyber training or awareness raising activities in the past year, and that figure drops to 14% for micro businesses. For those that don’t turn on their human firewall the cost can be high: the average cost of a successful cyber breach to small and micro businesses is over £4,500.⁶

 We’re making encouraging progress, but it doesn’t stop there. As well as working with the UK’s smallest companies, we also count 90 of the FTSE 100 as valued BT customers. So we’re challenging ourselves, our customers and our tech peers to push harder for small business growth. Whether it’s dedicating time, resources or reevaluating our supplier relationships, we must build on the foundations we’re all laying and commit to upholding best practice and leveraging our networks to elevate small businesses.

Let’s continue to prioritise the skills, technology and leadership that will enable national productivity and growth on the scale we need. This is a national mission, and we all have a role to play.

_{¹ Be the Business G7 Productive Business Index | Be the Business
² Untapped tech adoption could boost UK economy by £232 billion annually (sage.com)
³ FSB | Small Business Index: Quarter 1, 2024
⁴ Research commissioned by BT and conducted by Censuswide among 2,000 UK business decision makers, between 26 March and 5th April 2024
⁵ FSB | Small Business Index: Quarter 1, 2024
⁶ Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, Cyber Security Breaches Survey, published April 2024}

From day one, this means enhanced mobile and broadband performance, inside and outside of the home, through better speeds, increased capacity, and lower latency. And longer-term, it’s also an important milestone in our ambition to deliver a seamless and fully converged connectivity experience, where our mobile, fixed and public WiFI networks work together to give you the best and most reliable performance no matter where you are and what you’re doing.

But before we delve into that, let’s first focus on some of the brilliant benefits that these technologies bring in the here and now, starting with WiFi 7.

WiFi 7

Our newly launched Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro enable EE Home Broadband customers to be amongst the first in the world to be offered a next-gen WiFi 7 router. Offering much broader capacity and a substantial increase in peak data transmission performance, WiFi 7 – when used together with the Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro, gives EE customers access to ultra-reliable multi-gigabit Wi-Fi throughout the home.

That means faster speeds, less interference, more capacity and the performance to support a host of high-bandwidth activities at the same time – be that cloud gaming, immersive AR/VR, or 4K/8K video streaming.

With the average home expected to double the number of WiFi connected devices in the next five years, Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro enable customers to truly benefit from the game-changing speeds and reliability of WiFi 7.  

5G Standalone

5G Standalone is the next evolution of our mobile network, essential to unlocking the true potential of 5G by untethering it from the underlying 4G network. A network that’s both built on and ready for AI, it’s all about bringing greater network performance and reliability to our customers, as well as unlocking a new wave of capabilities for both businesses and consumers.

We always said that we wanted to be best when launching 5G Standalone, rather than first. That’s why we’ve launched in 15 cities across the UK – including Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London – and crucially have focused on ensuring uninterrupted 5G Standalone connectivity, launching with at least 95 per cent coverage in each of these cities.

This is of course just a starting point, and we’ll continue to bring 5G Standalone to more and more of the UK population over the coming months. It’s not just about the short-term evolution though, 5G Standalone also enables us to offer new services to our customers. Take network slicing as an example, a configuration which gives us the ability to prioritise performance even at the busiest times — perfect for mobile gaming, streaming or video conferencing on the move.

For businesses this is especially exciting. It’s easy to imagine a multitude of different scenarios where being able to count on this quality of service will have a major impact. It could be food or merchandise vendors at a packed stadium, able to run their mobile payments systems from a network slice – keeping their queues moving and their customers happy. While at the very same event, another slice is supporting broadcasters to ensure high quality live-feeds can be delivered to production facilities in real-time.

The future of connectivity

All that goes to say that with 5G Standalone and Wi-Fi 7, our customers will benefit from the latest and best connectivity, both in and out of the home. But our vision doesn’t stop there – as we mentioned before, 5G Standalone and WiFi 7 are also the foundational pieces of an exciting networks ambition…

Both our mobile and fixed networks are built on a converged cloud core which enables the flexibility and scalability that we need to meet the evolving connectivity requirements of our customers. This was a massive project, and essential to us being where we are today in launching two fantastic new networks.

Now we want to bring that same level of convergence to our customers. A few weeks ago we took a first step towards this with EE One, providing simplicity and control to consumers in the pricing of our networks. Now it’s about bringing those networks together physically. What that means is a highly intelligent network of networks, with seamless transition between cellular and Wi-Fi. A network that’s as versatile as the things you use it for, and adapts to your life in the background.

So you’ll benefit from uninterrupted, reliable and high-speed connectivity as you go about your day – switching between our networks without even noticing. And this is what we mean when we talk about redefining connectivity. Right now, when your connectivity is bad, that’s when you notice it - a call drops or you lose connection to an online gaming session, simply because you’ve moved from one location to another and with it have switched networks. Our ambition is to remove those siloes – creating networks which complement rather than contradict one another – and ultimately delivering the best and most reliable connectivity experience possible.

So to do this, the next logical questions for companies are: ‘Are we secure?’ and ‘Are we AI-ready?’ The answer to these questions is one of the reasons we are confident about the future of modern, global networks and the opportunity for industry collaboration to deliver performance benefits to customers around the globe.

I’d like to offer a perspective on this by talking about factories and fabric.

First, factories. Industry uses AI to accelerate research, development and distribution. Leveraging AI offers unprecedented opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce costs and accelerate time-to-market for new products. Most companies face sizeable hurdles, including high R&D costs, globally dispersed people and operations, long development cycles and stringent regulatory requirements.

It is no surprise that they want to explore how AI can deliver faster data-driven decision-making, predictive analytics and automation. This requires the integration of AI into existing workflows and that in itself requires seamless international collaboration, secure data sharing and compliance with global standards. Naturally, there is very little point of doing this if those workflows travel over networks that are simply not AI-ready themselves.

This is where we come in. Or rather Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), which is where we see the greatest opportunity in a very fragmented market. NaaS is like having a virtual toolbox which allows companies to adapt the network to suit their needs in an instant, whereas with previous technologies it could take weeks.  It enables them to modernise traditional networks into highly scalable, cloud-centric solutions that adapt quickly to different data needs.

In short, a NaaS should connect companies to everything they need, wherever they are, in the most intelligent, secure and sustainable way. That makes sense. It also ties into our ambition at BT which is to be the most trusted connector of people, devices and machines.

And so to fabric.

The world of networks has been through several seismic moments as new technologies have emerged and transformed the landscape. In the 1970s and 1980s a technology called X.25 revolutionised the way in which companies accessed their remote mainframe terminals. In the 1990s Frame Relay allowed you to connect to a cloud making it more efficient to run corporate networks and a lot cheaper too. The next big breakthrough came with the introduction of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) in the mid-2000s, which allowed carriers to converge voice, video and data on the same network. Each of these network solutions was right for its time. We are now at another pivot point in the history of networking, driven by the demand for higher bandwidth, seamless connectivity to and between cloud services and dispersed workforces and operations, flexible economics and pervasive scalability.

Our response to this is Global Fabric, which revolutionises connectivity as organisations adapt to modern network demands and ask the question: ‘Are we AI ready?’ We think companies like BT, who have global connectivity solutions, serving multinationals around the world, can lead the rollout of a single, integrated agnostic platform that delivers value to customers, cloud service providers, technology companies and other global telcos.

Back in May, we talked about exploring options for our global operations in the context of BT Group needing to double down on its core UK businesses. This leaves the field clear for opportunities to engage in much deeper international partnerships to leverage the investment we have made in rolling out Global Fabric.

We know there is a common desire among companies to optimise cloud and network costs, to reduce cybersecurity risks and to enhance sustainability across their IT estate, especially in the light of the surge in demand from AI-driven applications. Network operators face the challenge of upgrading their network infrastructure as the current technology reaches the end of its lifecycle. We know that AI has intensified the challenges of data distribution, due to the surge in data produced by AI systems. And we know that AI’s electricity demands will present huge challenges to companies striving to achieve their Net Zero carbon emissions goals. 

As organisations adopt AI strategies and shift their apps to the cloud or edge to bring them closer to their business operations, network demands will grow in scale and complexity. At the same a modern network will help reduce the concentration of risk in single points of failure and make it easier to address major IT outages, as experienced globally on 19 July 2024.

At BT, we believe strongly in the future benefits of AI and we’re ready to help companies answer the question: ‘Are we AI ready?’ At the same time, we believe this is a pivotal moment in networking technology and recognise that international partnership and collaboration is the best way of realising the considerable benefits of this new era on the global stage. BT stands ready to make this real.

A tremendous amount of work is taking place to ready ourselves for the arrival of EE’s own 5G SA network. We’ve already built and moved onto our new dual-mode 5G core, engineers are upgrading RAN sites up and down the country, and we’re incrementally testing and tweaking to ensure that we deliver on our ambition to be the UK’s best 5G SA network upon launch.

What that means is greater performance, capacity and reliability from day one. But 5G SA isn’t just about what’s on offer at launch, it’s also about creating a platform for advancements down the line in terms of the new services and capabilities it will deliver to consumers and businesses alike. Short-term evolution, long-term revolution.

To that end, there is also a huge amount of vital work taking place in BT’s Network Services, Architecture and Research departments not only to prepare the 5G SA network for launch later this year, but also to futureproof it so that we’re ready to capitalise on industry developments which are on the way in the months and years ahead. Ultimately this is where 5G SA will enable game-changing performance which, coupled with the cloud-native driven benefits of scalability and speed of delivery, will be the catalyst for new services to thrive.

That brings us to today’s announcement, in collaboration with our close partners Nokia and Qualcomm, that we’re the first European operator to achieve 5G carrier aggregation with five component carriers (5G CC CA) – you can read more here. Led by our Networks team at Adastral Park, with support from BT Research, this is the latest milestone in 5G innovation for us, and promises to deliver potentially even faster 5G SA downlink speeds in the future, of up to nearly 2 Gbps. What this means for customers is a significant boost in performance in areas of high demand when the 5G SA device requires a high-speed connection, for example when watching live sport at a train station in rush hour.

This follows on from previous carrier aggregation ‘firsts’ aimed at boosting 5G SA performance across both downlink and uplink, where demand for greater speeds is growing in importance for a number of both existing and emerging use-cases, including live-streaming and video calls.

Today’s achievement has been delivered with one eye on the future, too. The 5G SA handset ecosystem right now is relatively small, but we expect to see more and more devices come to market by the early part of next year which are capable of supporting this technology. So we’re laying down a marker to say that at EE, as the UK’s best and most reliable network¹, we are building capabilities into our network to support both the devices of today and the future.

We want to ensure that we really deliver on the promise of 5G SA for our customers, and an ongoing focus on innovation and research will be key to achieving this. Whether that’s through carrier aggregation advancements like today’s, demonstrating network slicing capabilities for guaranteed quality of service, or exploring how we can support the emerging IoT ecosystem through the likes of 5G RedCap technology, we’ll continue to prioritise advancements in network quality to support the evolution of the 5G services ecosystem.

_{¹ Best Mobile and Most Reliable Mobile Network based on the RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report: H2 2023. Tested at locations across the UK with the best commercially available smartphones on 4 national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE. Visit ee.co.uk/claims for more details.}

The NHS is at a pivotal point in its history. For more than 75 years it has provided free, accessible and world-leading healthcare to people across the country, shaping modern medicine, and becoming one of the UK’s most cherished national institutions in the process.

And yet, the 21^st Century has brought enormous change. The evolution of the internet and advent of the smartphone have transformed the way consumers interact with organisations, and each other, and while much of society has embraced this new digital age, the NHS has been slower to adapt.

Talk to anyone – inside or outside the service – and you’ll hear opinions on why. From funding to pandemic backlogs, cultural hurdles to its sheer size (the NHS is the world’s largest single health system, and sixth largest employer); change in such conditions is always going to be challenging. Nevertheless, it’s understandable that people feel frustrated at how slow things are moving, especially when lives are at stake.

BT has been a trusted partner of the NHS since day one and is committed to helping it navigate technology and embrace the potential it brings. I am also passionate about the NHS, having spent more than 20 years in the service, including senior regulator, provider and commissioner roles. It’s this background, and my belief that technology has a major role to play in shaping its future, which led to BT  launching a major research programme last year, speaking to patients, to NHS staff, and now, to leading minds from across healthcare, policy and business, to understand what’s standing in the way of progress, and how we can collectively do something about it.

Our roundtable was co-hosted by Anu Anand, BBC journalist and podcaster, and myself, and attended by Dr. Paul Bhogal (Consultant Interventional Neuroradiologist), Dr. Michael Quinn (Consultant in Nephrology and Acute Medicine), Rachel Murphy (entrepreneur, health tech advisor and public speaker), Dr. Franz Pfister (CEO & Co-Founder of deepc), Bryce Travers (Digital Lead at ImageEast) and Dr. Amrita Kumar (Consultant Radiologist). It was a rich and rewarding debate; here’s what we agreed on.

Barriers to tech transformation

With many pilots in place at any one time, the NHS is no stranger to trialling with technology. We’re working with it today to introduce electronic patient records and AI-powered communication platforms, such as Diagnostics AI Marketplace, Patient Concierge, Smart Messaging, and Heath Cloud, but too often attempts to introduce modern technology hit hurdles. What exactly did the experts point to as standing in the way?

• Lack of incentives for innovation – responsibility for finding, proposing, testing and championing new technology all too often falls on clinical staff, who are already incredibly busy providing care for their patients.
• A fragmented NHS structure – add to this the fragmented and disjointed structure of NHS trusts and you have a world where no single group of people are incentivised to drive technological transformation in the NHS.
• Short-termism – pressure to address growing waiting lists and plug staffing shortfalls are preventing senior NHS leaders from exploring the long-term solutions that could address these problems more sustainably. As trusts across the country grapple with increasing demands for care with current resources, the NHS needs to find time to build an actionable vision for technology that can support staff in their day-to-day roles.
• Patient journeys are not ready to be digitised – improving the way each patient journey is managed is essential to ensure appropriate care is offered throughout. Patients often don’t have access to their own health data, and records are rarely compatible to be shared either externally or within different healthcare units within the NHS (i.e. GP surgeries, hospitals, specialist clinics, etc.) A platform that is interoperable and that contains all patient data, harmonised to support transfers in between healthcare providers, is crucial. 
• Lack of trust in tech – with the recent explosion in the data economy, stories documenting breaches have created an overall sense of fear and distrust in emerging technologies. The successful adoption of new technologies relies on the NHS's ability to prove how patients benefit from these innovations and alleviate concerns about their data being compromised, misused, or sold off to nefarious third parties.

Digital health: Five priorities for this year

Our roundtable revealed incredible examples of how technology can transform the way patients receive care across the UK and improve the NHS’ productivity – from using AI to help detect suspected abnormalities in breast and chest X-rays, to developing pioneering solutions for early detection of stroke-like symptoms that cut down patient journeys in half.

However, none of these innovations can be scaled to help more patients without a true digital revolution in our healthcare system. Indeed, technology can provide solutions to many of the challenges the NHS is currently faced with, however a true culture shift is required to jumpstart the acceleration of digital health. Drawing from experiences working with or within the NHS, our conversation coalesced at a five-point plan to enable positive change.

1.     Build platforms to scale – once a new technology implemented in a trust has proven to enhance patient care, other NHS bodies should be able to access a governance structure that allows them to implement the same framework across multiple trusts. Quick and easy scalability is the key to ensuring successful pilots are implemented regionally, improving outcomes for both patients and the NHS.

2.     Modernise data infrastructure – harmonisation of data is key to ensuring GPs, primary and secondary care providers are aligned on patient journeys, helping reach the right treatment plans faster. Mandated contracts with trusted technology partners would help trusts implement solutions specific to their needs, while also allowing them to organise and share data in a format that encourages interoperability and communication between other trusts.

3.     National leadership, local delivery – there is a real case for moving certain roles responsible for designing governance frameworks for technological adoption to the frontline of the digital revolution. Similarly, implementing and leveraging vanguards across trusts will allow those who have been successful in implementing technological innovations in their trust to share their framework and support adoption across other regions.

4.     Better communication – there is a real opportunity for the NHS to share more about its technology use and how it improves outcomes for staff and patients alike. The NHS does manage incredibly sensitive patient data, so there needs to be safeguards in place to continue building trust that it is kept safe. However, these should not hinder communications or the implementation of technology – why it is necessary, how it works and, most importantly, why it will benefit patients in the long term.

5.     Shift mindsets to move faster – the pandemic showed us how quickly trusts can respond to crisis and enact change. We must reflect on the key learnings and success stories from the NHS’s Covid-19 response and carry on the proactive, can-do attitude that saw many new policies implemented at pace and efficiently, throughout the country.

Implementing change at scale – especially while pushing for a culture change – can be a slow process. We know how important it is for each step of the NHS’s digital transformation to be carefully considered from all angles, to put patients’ best interests at the heart of each decision. Yet as the world heads from one digital revolution to the next, with new technologies like AI unlocking opportunities never before possible, it’s time for the NHS to leapfrog ahead and lean on trusted partners to help build the digital health future the country deserves.

A vast 63-acre site, Madley serves as our main satellite earth station and, with satellite and wider non-terrestrial solutions playing an increasingly important role as part of a heterogeneous network, its strategic importance to BT Group is arguably greater now than at any point in the site’s 46-year history.

Supporting communications resilience

As the above comment from one of our guests highlights, satellite connectivity plays a vital part in everyday network resilience, with one of its key use-cases being to serve as back-up to our terrestrial networks. Madley itself is a crucial cog in delivering this resilience, with more than 60 satellite dishes on site, ranging from 32 metres in diameter to just 75cm. The ability of satellites to deliver ubiquitous and high-speed coverage across the globe, while not being subject to the same extent to certain risks which threaten terrestrial solutions – for example extreme weather or man-made disasters – makes them an ideal solution for network resilience.

It’s for this reason that we use satellite backhaul within our own connectivity portfolio to support the delivery of our own fixed and mobile connectivity services to customers. This is further supported by our specialist Emergency Response Team (ERT) who – as experts in civil resilience – are headquartered at Madley, and on hand for the provision of on-demand connectivity in the wake of any threats to our network.

The ERT also has access to an extensive fleet of rapid response vehicles and cells-on-wheels, which contain mobile network base station capabilities, satellite modem, VSAT backhaul and a satellite alignment system – all of which can be rapidly deployed and fully operational in as little as one hour, depending on the solution.

Connecting remote and hard-to-reach locations

As the satellite industry continues to evolve, so too does BT Group’s wider space strategy. In recent years we’ve seen a boom in the space sector, not least in the realm of LEO satellites which offer different performance metrics to their GEO counterparts, being closer in orbit to Earth for lower latency. GEO, meanwhile, remains a well-established option for near-global communications from a much small number of satellites, sitting in a special orbit which means they appear to be in a fixed location above earth.

It’s in this respect that we see satellite connectivity as an increasingly important component of a heterogenous network, and pivotal to our ambition to deliver connectivity to the entirety of the UK by 2028. We’ve always said that at least 90 per cent of this will be provided by permanent solutions, grounded in our industry-leading terrestrial networks – 4G, 5G, and full fibre. But connecting some parts will remain incredibly costly and logistically challenging, but for satellite and high-altitude solutions.

Take the ultra-remote Lundy Island, for example, sitting as it does 19km off the coast of Devon. Thanks to a partnership between OneWeb, the UK government and BT Group, the island’s 28 residents last year received fast and reliable internet for the very first time via LEO satellite connected to BT’s core network. A designated Marine Conservation Zone and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), this connectivity doesn’t just provide the islanders with everyday home comforts that most of us take for granted, like streaming our favourite shows, it’s also supporting crucial conservation and research efforts – as well as being a lifeline to the mainland in case of an emergency.

Ultimately, it's clear that the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks will result in truly global heterogeneous networks, delivering high-availability for mission critical traffic and use-cases no matter their location – including off-shore, maritime and aviation. Madley has been integral to the UK’s satellite communications since 1978 and remains just as critical today as space-based connectivity and resilience play an ever more critical role in UK infrastructure.

In 2021, a huge fire at an Arqiva broadcast tower at Bilsden, in North Yorkshire, knocked out BBC broadcast coverage for half a million homes across the North of England. While viewers awaited repairs, data showed a significant increase in television being consumed over the internet from this region, with notable weekly spikes around the BBC News at Ten, EastEnders and MasterChef.

This unexpected test has been an important marker, because, as an Ofcom report released today notes, a decade from now we could see the full retiring of traditional broadcasting, with delivery of television moving fully – or predominantly – online. Ahead of 2034, Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 already offer services as ‘online only’ and statistics – like those released by Ofcom that show a 30% decline in broadcast consumption since 2018 – will tell you this is an inexorable shift to meet how the public choose to consume TV.  

The telecoms industry is investing heavily to be ahead of this change. By the end of 2026, Openreach will have built gigabit capable full-fibre connectivity to 25 million homes and businesses – with an ambition to reach up to 30mn by 2030. At the same time, the Government’s Project Gigabit scheme will help drive coverage beyond even that, delivering to over 99% of UK premises by 2030. That’s more than can be reached by DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) today and still four years ahead of its possible retirement.

But connectivity isn’t just about fibre underground; 4G and 5G mobile networks are also evolving and expanding, offering both consumption on the move and an alternative option for home broadband. Fixed Wireless Access (i.e. broadband over a mobile network), can provide superfast download speeds and performance, and are more than capable of streaming video on demand and television to individual households where fibre is not yet available. For the very hardest to reach – in the region of 100,000 homes and businesses – there is a growing confidence that, with the right support, a mix of fixed wireless solutions and low earth orbit satellites – like those offered by Starlink or OneWeb – will meet consumer demand.

Of course, it’s not just about the building of networks; it’s also about ensuring the capacity to support modern services.  97% of the UK can already access speeds of 30 Mbps, which surpasses the basic requirements of modern streaming or watching ‘normal’ TV over broadcast. For example, a standard definition Netflix stream takes around 3.5 Mbps.

Where networks face bigger challenges, such as the higher viewing demand for national moments of live TV, or the inefficient delivery of some types of content, we’re innovating new solutions like MAUD (multicast assisted unicast delivery), a technology that could help to deliver peak live traffic up to ten times more efficiently. Growing demands will require evolving solutions with a greater contribution and coordination from wider industry, but there’s little doubt that overall, Internet connections should offer a far better experience than DTT, delivering higher quality content to customers across a broader range of devices than DTT is capable of.

Access, therefore, to good connectivity by 2034 is unlikely to be a major issue. Instead, the focus now must be on take up – a key barrier identified by Ofcom today.

Digital inclusion has rightly been at the top of the agenda since the pandemic highlighted its systemic importance. Affordability is clearly one aspect of take up but is rarely the only barrier. According to research from AbilityNet – who raised these issues with the help of Sir Geoff Hurst earlier this week – for most digitally excluded people a combination of low confidence, low skills and low motivation also play a big role.

Specific goals, such as making a doctor’s appointment, can drive motivation better than an abstract offer of learning digital skills and structuring support around these personal goals will help to generate better outcomes. As Ofcom notes, while the flexibility of IP platforms holds promise to tailor solutions to need, their current complexity is a barrier for those digitally excluded, and bringing in the TV sector's skill at creating easy to navigate interfaces can have a big impact. Industry, policy makers and representative groups must work tirelessly to support the skills people need to use the internet and – in cases where they cannot afford it – to access it.

It’s important, because these changes could make a huge difference to the digital divide in the UK. By adopting internet technology, customers won’t just be getting a wider range of content, they’ll also be taking steps along a critical digital pathway to access new opportunities – entertainment, further education and social experiences – as well as crucial public services that are increasingly digital, such as online banking or video link GP appointments.

This week, the media Secretary of State announced an ‘audience engagement programme’ to collect views on the matter but, as Ofcom make clear today, prolonging the ageing DTT infrastructure will reach a tipping point where it’s economically unviable – creating a dual cost of delivery at a time when it’s clear that full fibre is the future. DTT has served the country well but, as some groups are coming to realise, is now starting to hold consumers back, by slowing down the digital adoption of other services among groups that often have the most to gain.

We welcome Ofcom’s paper today because it sets out the choices for policymakers.

They could accept that, without coordinated action, some customers will continue to seek to access linear TV over legacy technologies. But that approach leans into the digital exclusion of these groups and will only deepen their wider economic and social exclusion. Or they could use the changes coming as an opportunity to support all households to gain IP connectivity. The challenges we know exist can be addressed via good policy making, and the social and economic benefits of doing so are considerable and reach far beyond the TV sector.

Notably, Ofcom are clear that the status quo undermines the goal of a universal and inclusive service, and interestingly, the three options they set out can all be achieved in an 8-10 year timeframe.

With Government committed to the legacy terrestrial broadcast system only until 2034, that’s food for thought.

The last years have been a journey of transformation and digitisation alongside returning these business units to growth. When taking on these businesses, it was clear from talking to customers, the public and various stakeholders that they needed to change: to modernise and become more sustainable. There were letters from children about why we were still distributing millions of printed phone books every year, enquiries from customers and stakeholders about payphones, and how Freeview could be future proofed for the next generation of content. And these are just a few examples.

Upgrading payphones for a new era

Nowhere is the move to a digitised society more pronounced than the evolution from the traditional phone box to our innovative digital street units. Payphone usage has dropped massively since the late 1990s/2000s, with devices and smart phones replacing not only communication access, but the central community points that the payphones once stood for.

Our recent announcement with Global is a clear proof point of our strategy at BT, to double down on what we’re best at – connectivity – and partner where others are better. We’re the experts when it comes to connectivity, but we’re not a leader in outdoor advertising or building hubs – so our partnership with Global makes perfect sense.

The agreement will see Global continue to market and sell advertising on BT’s c1,000 existing Street Hubs, and upgrade them as they evolve. And they’ll also convert up to 2,000 conventional BT payphones and kiosks into brand new Street Hubs. It means we can concentrate on investing in new networks and connectivity, with many hubs hosting small cells to boost mobile coverage. They will also serve as a key location on high streets for the local community, providing free calls and WiFi as well as access to emergency services through a red button, and give local councils another outlet to reach those who live nearby and pass by on a daily basis.

A revamped directory services unit

Last month also saw the last copies of the printed Phone Book going out to millions of households across the UK - one of the most recognisable outputs of our directory services unit. A poignant moment in many respects, as the public looked back with fondness on a resource that served the UK fantastically for more than a century. But for most people today, looking up a phone number is at the click of a button or a spoken command. This change is reflected in the dwindling number of listings in the Phone Book and the subsequent size of its final edition. A PDF version of the book will be available via our website going forwards for people to browse. And BT also provide printed copies on request for the small number of people who may still need it.

The core directory service that underpins the Phone Book has been brought in-house and will be refreshed. It will continue to be the source of vital information to our emergency services and information to credit reference agencies, which is crucial to the economic growth of the UK.

Accelerating TV to the cloud

Our Media & Broadcast unit is one of our principle vehicles for innovation and change. Last year, we announced a collaboration with Telstra to improve the strength of our Global Media Network (GMN), pooling network infrastructure and localised expertise to create an alliance that’s more than the sum of its parts; again allowing us to focus our investment on our core UK business.

The broadcast industry is vitally important for us as we help customers streamline their operations by moving to the cloud. We’re already working with D3&4 and with military charity and broadcaster BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) to harness the benefits of this technology and future-proof services. Multi-cloud networking is already the backbone on BT’s strategy with the arrival of Global Fabric, and will remain a major focus for us over the next few years in the broadcast media landscape, as we support our customers use of cloud to drive more flexibility and innovation into their workflows.   

Frictionless trade

Over 30 years ago, BT, on behalf of the UK Government, turned Customs declarations electronic: replacing printed telex and faxed paper documents with digital messages that has facilitated trade ever since.

With BT Rune, our CCS (Cargo Community Systems) business is expanding that digitisation further along global supply chains. It now captures information at source and reuses the data all along the cargo journey to satisfy each country’s border regulations - all via an innovative platform.

With major produce importers starting to sign up, this innovation will enable UK Customs declarations to not only be digitised, but fully automated too. This will be a massive step forward as BT helps streamline and simplify processes for traders, demonstrating that our business customers are better on BT.

More to come

I’ve highlighted just a few examples of the rapid transformation we’re undertaking to deliver real value for customers and our wider BT Group stakeholders. BT’s UK Portfolio businesses have long played a significant role in the country underpinning many important services for businesses and communities. In this ever-expanding digital environment, the uniting factor among all our customers is their demand for secure, always-on connectivity delivering our purpose to connect for good.  

Our teams have been proud to make a real difference, and there’s an exciting opportunity ahead for all these businesses and the communities they serve. BT will continue to be there to support them in a better-connected future, every step of the way.

We acted after an Ofcom consultation proposed that when people sign up to a phone, broadband or pay TV contract, they should be clear and certain about what they will have to pay throughout its duration. The regulator said price increases being linked to future inflation created too much uncertainty for consumers.

Up until now, we have used a model that was introduced in response to Ofcom’s Fairness for Customers commitments in 2019 that adjusts customer pricing every year, on 31st March, by the rate of inflation (CPI) +3.9%. That price increase went ahead this year as normal at the end of March.

We want to act in line with Ofcom’s guidance to move from % figures and CPI-linked changes for our monthly plans and provide certainty for our customers on exactly what their price change will be, and when. So, starting today (10 April), we will introduce a new model for BT and EE customers’ price changes consistent with Ofcom’s approach that shows pounds and pence amounts in new and upgrading customers’ contracts. Plusnet will follow later this summer. 

From 31 March 2025, for new and re-contracting mobile customers, this annual increase will be an extra £1.50 a month. It will be £1.50 a month for connected devices (including laptops, tablets and smart watches), £2 a month for TV customers, and £3 a month for broadband customers. Out-of-bundle services will be subject to an annual 5% increase.

There will be no plan increases for our customers in financially vulnerable circumstances on EE Basics or BT Home Essentials.

The cost of living and a digitally inclusive society are now more relevant and important than ever. I’ve written before about how our annual price change is never an easy conversation to have with customers. But it is a necessary conversation to have to help us manage our own rising costs and investments we’re making into networks and customer service, while also protecting those customers in vulnerable circumstances, experiencing financial hardship or digital exclusion.

It is also important to point out that our price rises have not risen in line with usage. Customers' consumption of data, across the industry, has trebled across mobile and fixed networks in the past five years alone. All this while telco services continue to make up only a small and declining share of household outgoings, representing just 3.5% of average monthly basket spend.

Driving meaningful change

We are continually thinking about how we – and the wider industry – can play our part alongside policymakers to drive meaningful change, at a time when we can see so many people under pressure. Today, we provide broadband for 72% of those in the UK who take social tariffs, and we continue to give all our customers outstanding value for money: in real terms, people pay less for their connectivity now than they ever did and get much more.

Value for money is different from offering the lowest prices. The quality and reliability of mobile networks are now more important, to more people, than ever. The digital economy is the economy for the future, built on brilliant digital infrastructure. We know many people pay a little more to be on EE, which is why we’re proud to have been named the UK’s best network for 10 years in a row, according to RootMetrics. It’s testament to our approach of always putting network quality at the heart of our customer experience.

We’ll continue to invest and offer our customers the best and most reliable connection on our networks, with the latest tech and brilliant UK-based service. It’s all part of our ambition to be the most personal, customer-focused brand in the UK.

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100 years later and I’m struck by the parallels I see: not only in the geo-political environment but also in the areas of mass production, transportation, connectivity and electrification. Technology-led developments in these areas are changing things again – this time, offering fantastic opportunities for digitization in the UK.

If we look to mass production, we’re witnessing a cambrian rise of robotics. Transportation has seen major progress with the promise of autonomous cars, drones/aircraft, delivery bots and more. In the area of connectivity and new media, there are huge advances in spatial computing – virtual and mixed reality, advanced entertainment, digital twins, as well as generative AI content. And in 2024, electrification is about de-carbonisation, renewable energy, electric vehicles and distributed energy storage.

What does this mean for network providers? This means opportunities.  

• Mass production: With the explosion of robotics, comes a need for reliable, low latency and high bandwidth services, and demand for remote monitoring and control interventions. Operators could provide enhanced customer experiences to those that need it, by guaranteeing the level of throughput, reliability and control for specific services via network slicing.
• Transportation: Developments will demand co-ordinated transport services, connected airspace, and guaranteed continuous coverage enabling smooth travel.
• Connectivity and new media: The challenge that real time simulated systems present is the huge amount of data they create. As offerings advance, the demand for consistent latency and high bandwidth services will increase even further.
• Electrification: Looking ahead, there could be opportunities for operators to provide energy and connectivity resilience as a service to customers.

Evolution in these four key areas will lead to major advancements in productivity and efficiency, but only if the network supports the underlying products and services that enable it.

Our challenge is to ensure the network can deliver the robust connectivity that enables such technology advancements – a network that is hyper-personalised, customisable, automated and on-demand.

BT Group’s fixed and mobile network credentials are strong and that put us in a strong leading position. We’ve also refreshed our network strategy so that we are laser focused on developing a fully programmable network, under-pinned by on-demand, real time, AI first and best in class security capabilities.

Looking ahead

Although the world looks a little different 100 years later, the technological evolution driving greater connectivity demands remains indisputable. Economic growth will drive spending on networks and connectivity to enable the digitisation required to unlock the productivity improvements that AI, renewable energy, robots and digital twin technologies promise.

We’re excited by the opportunities that the new roaring 20’s will bring. We’ve got really strong foundations, and we are in a great position to unleash product innovation, through our ambitions for the programmable network, to meet our customers’ needs.

It’s a fascinating time to work in tech: more data, more technology, more devices, all helping us work faster, smarter, better. I’ve always seen change as a catalyst and use it as a way to reassess where we are going and find better ways forward. The opportunity is great for businesses, but the stakes are high. Can’t, or won’t adapt, and you’ll get left behind. Customers of all sizes in every location tell us about this challenge every day.

Whether we’re talking about start-ups or multi-nationals, changing to keep pace with the digital world is business-critical for us all. And at BT, we’re doing two things: looking out, helping customers to reap the benefits of going digital; and looking in, changing the way we run our own operations. It’s all part of delivering on our plan to double down on what we’re best at and show that business simply runs better on BT.

Laying the foundations for success

Our networks underpin businesses across the UK and the world – as well as critical national infrastructure and public services. We’re moving faster to help these businesses, and the economy, thrive.

And to be the digital powerhouse we want to be for our customers, we must lead by example. I joined BT in early 2023 with a clear remit – to consolidate and enhance our product offering and create the strategy that will help deliver long-term growth and ensure the business is fit for the future.

It’s an ongoing process. But I can already see signs that it’s working, and it’s making us a better business for our customers. In less than 12 months we’ve reached some significant modernisation milestones – within BT and for the businesses we serve. Here are some highlights:

Doubling down on core platforms. 

We’re moving away from legacy infrastructure to future-fit networks. We’re building Global Fabric, a brand-new international network, enabling business customers to innovate at pace. We’ve completed the nationwide closure of our 3G network, and 100% of UK business premises are now covered by our All-IP portfolio* – with 89% of the business broadband circuits we sell now fibre footprint based.**

Doing fewer things, better. 

We’re simplifying our business and focusing for our customers. We’re reducing the number of products in our portfolio by more than half. We’ve also driven up productivity by increasing our use of digital sales channels for Small and Medium Business (SMB), which is up 40% YOY. And we’re seeing growth for strategic products like managed, secure SD-WAN cloud networking in our corporate and public sector base – and critical services like security, which has grown by 14% YOY.

Partnering with the best. 

Part of focusing on what we do best means working with others where together we can do better. We recently became the first UK partner for Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile. This is all about enabling collaborative, secure working on the go for our customers.

Changing together

I’m proud of the work our teams have done to deliver these results, but I know there’s much more to do. We connect more than one million businesses and public sector organisations across the UK and the operations of leading global multinationals in 180 countries. We’re changing for the good of our customers, our people, our shareholders and the economy.

As we close out the financial year, I’m looking ahead to what the next 12 months will bring. For me, the focus will be on continuing to solve customer problems, to execute on our strategy and to keep our eyes on longer-term gains.

At BT, we’re modernising from the inside out. For us and for all businesses, future-proofing is a journey, and I know the path we’re following is the right one.

* EAD, FTTP, SOGEA, SOADSL

** SOGEA and FTTP

These are just a few examples of the brilliant work being delivered across BT Group, and much of this is underpinned by our engineers in Networks. Their passion, ingenuity and technical expertise drives many of the solutions and services for which we are known today.

Harnessing and sharing that immense amount of knowledge, skills and expertise has long been an objective of mine, and is why, in part, we set up the BT Tech Fellowship programme two years ago. I’m delighted to see how this has very quickly become a thriving, self-sustaining community within BT Networks.

Today, we’re launching a little more formally to the outside world, and the main reason for that is because we’ve recognised our first Fellows – the highest level of achievement within the Fellowship, and a major accomplishment for my four colleagues.

But first, a bit about our Tech Fellowship. It’s a fantastic career development programme led by engineers, for engineers – recognising and inspiring technical talent, providing support and opportunities for skills development, and fostering a community of knowledge sharing by bringing together the full breadth of technical expertise from across BT Group’s Networks unit.

It’s a win for colleagues, for BT Group and for society. For colleagues, they have the opportunity to develop as technical specialists, keep their finger on the pulse of the latest technology, and establish themselves as an expert who’ll make an impact in an ever-changing industry. For the company, in addition to the fantastic benefits of having a talented and diverse community, the programme enables technical experts to be brought together into ‘squads’ to work on technologies in areas such as AI, Security, Energy in Networks, IoT and Cloud Scaling, bringing together new insights, expertise and ways of thinking. This true innovation that comes from bringing together brilliant people converts not only into products and services for our customers but also, innovations that can transform society.

There are four levels of involvement in the Tech Fellowship programme: Member, Accomplished Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, and Fellow. In the community we already have over 1700 members, with 133 of those recognised as Accomplished Engineers and 35 recognised as Distinguished Engineers. And today, I congratulate our first Fellows – these exceptional colleagues have been awarded the Fellows status in recognition of their contributions to engineering or for their outstanding technical achievements and leadership, and as thought leaders/experts in their given field.

I look forward to seeing this community grow and prosper. The diversity of thought, coupled with technical knowledge and skills that is enabled by the Tech Fellowship programme will be a key element in enabling BT Group to continue to be a great place to work as well as a company that is at the forefront of technology innovation for our customers and society.

It was a landmark moment as we continue our work to upgrade Britain’s connectivity infrastructure. But more importantly, it is a significant milestone for communities across the UK who are now embracing the benefits provided by modern mobile technologies like 4G and 5G.

Having spent 2023 phasing out customer reliance on 3G and completing a detailed pilot switch off in Warrington, we were able to confidently start the nationwide 3G switch off as planned in early January.

Since then, we have been responsibly and methodically retiring the technology across more than 18,000 mobile sites, with dedicated pauses built into the process so we could closely monitor each region in real-time.

We have now successfully completed the nationwide closure of our 3G network, resulting in big improvements for both our customers and the environment.

Those 3G customers who have transitioned to our 4G and 5G networks are now enjoying more reliable and widespread mobile coverage with faster mobile internet speeds, while switching off 3G has already saved enough energy to charge nearly one billion smartphones.

We will continue to monitor the performance of our other mobile technologies (2G, 4G and 5G) to ensure EE customers continue to get the high-quality connectivity experience they need from the UK’s most reliable mobile network. *

_{* Network data based on rankings from the RootMetrics® UK RootScore® Report: 2H 2023. The RootMetrics award is not an endorsement of EE.  Visit https://rootmetrics.com/en-GB/content/uk-mobile-performance-review-2h-2023 for more details. Find more information at ee.co.uk/claims.}

How times have changed. Today, for most, the smartphone is king and organising a Friday night out looks very different. Not only can you make plans with friends in an instant, but ordering a taxi, making a reservation, placing a take-away order to end the evening and putting the heating on for when you get home is available at the touch of a button, or at the end of a voice activation.

Yet, look at any current depiction of London and it will often include the traditional red phone box. A much-loved cultural icon and celebrated symbol, this year we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the design of the K2 - Britain’s first red telephone box.

The K2 was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in a 1924 competition and introduced in 1926. By 1934, more than 1,700 K2s had been installed - mostly in London. In this decade K2s were a community lifeline, used to call the emergency services (via the operator), doctors, friends, family and businesses. In fact, the majority of callers used local phone-boxes until the 1950s and 60s, with home-phones being more commonplace only for the more affluent members of society prior to that.

Today, 98% of the adult population use a mobile phone and, understandably, the need for phone boxes has dramatically reduced. Conversely, the need for connectivity has exploded. Just as BT provided critical connectivity in the 1920s, today our network connects more than 200 million devices, empowering our customers to stay connected to the people and things that matter most to them. With EE’s 5G now covering more than 70% of the UK population and EE’s 4G available to 88% of the landmass, we continue to expand our network across towns and cities, countryside communities and the major road and rail routes connecting them.

And while times have certainly changed, the iconic K2 continues to play a part in communities today. In 2021, BT revealed that 4,000 red phone boxes were available through its ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme, enabling communities to take on their local kiosk, with a refreshed purpose. To date, more than 7,200 kiosks have been adopted across the UK, repurposed into mini libraries and life-saving defibrillators, among others. Another 200 red phone boxes have been given grade II listed status.

As we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the design of the K2, we’re delighted that it ‘lives on’ with the newly released model from LEGO IDEAS – enabling people to own a little piece of British history for themselves. The model also serves as a mobile phone holder, beautifully capturing the evolution from the payphone, to the smartphone, blending history with modernity.

As we continue to build the next generation of communication networks, the K2 will continue to be preserved as a much-loved cultural icon, whether that be through adoption by a community, or as a timeless Lego model, sitting on a shelf. Invoking a warm sense of nostalgia, looking back, we can see how far we have come.  

There’s huge competition to present as the best network in urban areas. Whether it’s Vodafone’s sponsorship of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, O2 at the former Millennium Dome or Three’s ongoing communication partnership with Chelsea, visibility of brand is everywhere in cities like London. We do the same with EE’s sponsorship of the home football nations and Wembley. But visibility of the actual network to customers is even more important. That’s true in urban areas, but it's even more vital in rural ones, where competition can be lower.

While in built up areas, the network is denser - using rooftops, bus stops, phone boxes and small cells to pack in the capacity that bigger populations demand - the challenges of connectivity in the countryside are very different. Mobile masts are fewer but come with their own unique – and costly – challenges. Planning processes take longer, there are greater demands to ensure the site blends into its surroundings and power connections are harder to come by and more expensive to deliver. We also have to consider what resilience we can put in place – such as back-up power or backhaul technology – as servicing remoter sites can prove challenging in extreme weather, like that being experienced by the UK today.

This makes partnerships with Government vital. They provide political support for investment and can sometimes contribute capital funding too.

In 2020 the mobile industry committed to the UK Government to close partial not-spots under a project called the Shared Rural Network. Last week, EE announced it had fulfilled that commitment, taking 4G coverage to over 88% of the UK landmass. Likewise, in Scotland, we’re proud to have installed 4G on 50 of the 55 sites funded by the Scottish Government under their S4GI (Scotland 4G Infill) programme. And in Wales, we’ve worked with the government to deliver bespoke new sites, like our 5G mast at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells.

We’ve delivered these promises in the face of tough economic conditions, a global pandemic and a wide range of digital transformation within our own networks. Which is why it’s surprising to see those very same problems being used as an excuse by other networks for their slow progress.

Take Scotland. Despite Government funding to build 55 brand new sites, two networks have managed just under a third of sites between them, while the fourth has managed to add 4G to just a single site over the past three years. On the UK Government’s flagship mobile policy – the Shared Rural Network – Ministers have reportedly received an unwelcome request from CTOs of those same companies asking for extra support in order not to miss their targets. One has already gone as far as to tell the Business and Trade Select Committee that they would miss the target.

Of course, disruption can happen. Covid did impact on workforce personnel and supply chains, but they impacted networks equally. EE entered the SRN agreement clear-eyed, understanding the deployment environment and the difficulties we would undoubtedly face.  We therefore designed our programme to mitigate risks and delays to our roll-out.  During the programme, we also made difficult decisions to divert spend and resource from other network programmes to overcome issues in a timely manner, given the importance of meeting the deadline to our customers and due to the clear financial penalties for non-delivery.

In other words, delivering legally binding commitments like these to Government takes a concerted effort and strategic sacrifices; there is always a choice for how, what and where a business chooses to invest. And given the involvement of taxpayer money to fund coverage, it’s hard to blame the wider investment environment for missing this licence commitment.

Why does this matter? This week, the Shared Rural Network will be debated in Parliament. And next month, the National Audit Office is expected to conclude a review it has undertaken into the programme. Scrutiny of Government policy matters and installing mobile infrastructure in more rural and remote parts of the UK is always challenging. But EE’s efforts shows where there’s a willingness to prioritise investment to meet the coverage promises you’ve made, it should be delivered.

Through careful planning and by prioritising investment in expanding our 4G and 5G networks, with a particular focus on rural communities, we have been able to responsibly begin our 3G retirement process in north Wales this month - a significant milestone in the evolution of Britain’s mobile infrastructure.

I have previously written about enhancements we have made to the radio technology used in our mobile network to give customers a better day-to-day experience once 3G has been retired. With those in place, we adopted the same approach we took for our successful pilot in Warrington last year and were able to smoothly decommission the 3G network across the north of Wales.

Those 3G customers who had no desire or need for 4G mobile data continued to seamlessly use our 2G network for calls and texts. As anticipated, this resulted in a small natural rise in 2G voice traffic (c. 10%) in the region when compared to the week immediately prior to the switch off. This uplift has had no detrimental impact on call setup success rate or network accessibility. In fact, there have been no related performance or congestion issues on our 2G, 4G, or 5G networks in the region post switch-off.

Importantly, our customer care teams have been on hand to support those who needed advice. While only a handful of customers called our support centre, most of those who did already have a 4G-compatible phone but simply had 4G Calling turned off in their settings. As a reminder, any EE customer unsure if their phone is 4G-compatible can text HANDSET to 150 for free to find out.

A welcome boost for Wales

The fact our 4G and 5G connectivity is so widespread has enabled most of our customers to easily transition away from outdated 3G technology. It has also meant the north of Wales is the first area to take an important step towards all the benefits modern mobile networks provide.

This is welcome news for local business leaders in the region, including those at M-SParc, a leading science park and innovation hub for the north of Wales, located in Gaerwen on Anglesey. It opened in 2018 with support from a range of partners, including Bangor University.

Speaking about the importance of mobile connectivity, Pryderi ap Rhisiart, Managing Director at M-SParc, said: “4G and 5G, and the next generation of mobile technology, will continue to transform the way we live and work. It is vital for business growth that companies and innovation hubs like ours have access to these latest generation mobile networks. That goes for whether you are in a busy city centre or in a rural location.

“The big tech developments, from artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, to connected IoT devices and data analytics, are all going to rely on fast, reliable connectivity. At M-SParc, we are working on a range of new innovations which require the bandwidth modern networks provide, including an Augmented Reality experience on site where users can learn about M-SParc as they walk around the park. The latest mobile networks and technology will open new opportunities for sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles. It is very important therefore that we're connected to the latest networks to keep innovating and pushing the boundaries.”

Dawn of a new era

One of the major benefits of retiring outdated 3G technology that fewer people are using, is that we can reuse the network spectrum – which is a finite resource – to enhance our 4G and 5G performance across the UK, making the everyday mobile experience for our customers even more reliable, sustainable, secure, and much faster. Our aim is to enable a 5G ‘on demand’ connection anywhere beyond our permanent network in the UK by 2028.

So, while retiring 3G may be a small, but significant step forward for all those in the north of Wales, it is the start of a giant leap forward for our customers, the environment, and wider economy as the UK fully embraces the power of modern mobile technologies.

If you or a family member would like more information or advice on 3G retirement, including the dedicated support we have put in place (which includes free 4G-ready mobile phones for vulnerable 3G customers), please visit www.ee.co.uk/3g-switch-off, call 150, or head to your nearest EE store today.

Following Ofcom’s recent consultation, the way we communicate and charge for the contracts we provide (for both new and re-contracting customers) is going to change.

What are we changing?

We currently use a model that was introduced as part of Ofcom’s Fairness for Customers commitments in 2019 that adjusts customer pricing every year, on 31^st March, by the rate of inflation (CPI) +3.9%.

At the end of last year, Ofcom shared a consultation advising that prices linked to inflation can be confusing for customers, because they don’t have certainty on exactly what their price change will be. They don’t know because inflation can go up by different amounts each year, and isn’t set until the December CPI figure is published in January. They made clear that while price increases within contract are okay, they must be set out more clearly. 

Ofcom is proposing an amended regulation requiring that any price change written into a customer's contract needs to be set out in pounds and pence, prominently and transparently, at the point of sale. That includes being clear about when any changes to prices will occur.

We're listening, and we've taken this on board.

Ofcom will finalise its decision on the proposed requirements in the coming months, with new pricing models in place no later than four months after that.

So, starting in early summer, we will introduce a pricing model consistent with Ofcom’s approach, moving away from % figures and CPI, and offering instead, a clear and simple view of any changes in “pounds and pence”. For new and re-contracting mobile customers we expect this increase to be from £1.50 (for Sim Only and Airtime, for example), and for broadband customers £3.

Until then, we continue to follow the existing rules, with our annual March 31^st price increase of CPI + 3.9% going ahead as per normal.  This means that most of our customers can expect an increase of a few pounds per month, about the price of a takeaway coffee each month.

Helping people under pressure

Our new pricing model isn’t for all our customers, however. There will be no changes for our customers in financially vulnerable circumstances on EE Basics or BT Home Essentials.

The cost of living and a digitally inclusive society are now more relevant and important than ever. We are continually thinking about how we – and the wider industry – can play our part alongside policymakers to drive meaningful change, at a time when we can see so many people under pressure.

I am proud that we have led the market for many years, first with BT Basic, (for some time the only social tariff for phone lines and broadband on offer across the entire industry), and more recently our fibre-based broadband tariff Home Essentials. Today we provide broadband for 72% of those in the UK who take social tariffs.

At the same time, customers' consumption of data, across the industry, has trebled across mobile and fixed networks in the past five years alone. All this, while telco services continue to make up only a small and declining share of household outgoings, representing just 3.5% of average monthly basket spend.

In real terms, people pay less for their connectivity now than they ever did and get much more. As an industry, we continue to give our customers outstanding value for money.

We’ll continue to offer our customers the best and most reliable connection on our networks, with the latest tech and brilliant UK-based service. And we’ll let our customers know clearly and in good time how the way we communicate and charge for their contracts is going to change.

It’s all part of our ambition to be the most personal, customer-focused brand in the UK.

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Together, this culminated in us winning multiple awards and EE being named the UK’s best and most reliable network by RootMetrics for a record tenth year in a row, following extensive testing of the nationwide performance of all the UK’s mobile operators. Our network leadership – especially our 5G performance in major cities like London and Edinburgh – was also reinforced in Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations Report.

These achievements take hard work, a laser focus on wanting to build a network that people can rely on, and choosing to invest in a network to make that vision a reality.

But more important than awards and milestones, this year our network delivered a superior connectivity experience for more people, in more places, more of the time. And that is something we take immense pride in.

Every day our network – both fixed and mobile – empowers our customers to stay connected to the people and things that matter most to them. Whether it is video calling their kids while commuting home from work, seamlessly streaming their favourite TV shows and sports matches, enjoying low-latency online gaming with friends, or ordering that last present online so it arrives in time for Christmas, our network underpins it all.

The rural rollout continues

As we look back over the last twelve months, one of the areas where there has been considerable progress is the continued rollout of 4G to more rural communities across the UK.

4G is the most widespread and reliable form of mobile technology available today and as part of our work with the Scottish Government’s 4G infill programme (S4GI), residents, local businesses, and the emergency services in 51 locations across Scotland – including some of the UK’s most remote island communities like Foula, Jura and Out Skerries – now have access to reliable and fast 4G mobile connectivity from EE.

For some, this new mobile internet access has “opened up a whole new world” of online shopping just in time for Christmas. For others, like the owners of the Deerness Distillery in Orkney, it is helping support the growth of their business at a vital time, while for healthcare services like those provided by the Jura Medical Practice, it is supporting life-saving treatment for critically ill patients.

We have also made important progress this year on our commitments under the Shared Rural Network (SRN). Having upgraded or built more than 1,500 4G masts as part of the SRN, spanning every region of the UK, we are not only on track to meet our rural coverage targets by summer 2024, but our network is leading the way in proactively helping close the digital divide between rural and urban areas.

In the last five years, we have been able to expand our 4G footprint by more than 10,000 square kilometres, helping ensure we continue to deliver the connectivity boost countryside communities across the UK can rely on in 2024 and beyond.

Yorkshire Water is just one of many rural businesses capitalising on the new connectivity, using our 4G network to connect state-of-the-art IoT (Internet of Things) monitors on water courses feeding its Scar House reservoir, enabling its team of scientists and engineers to monitor water quality in real-time and ensure they are delivering for the local community and the environment.

And it’s not just 4G connectivity we’re bringing to rural areas. Our partnership with OneWeb has now delivered fast and reliable internet on Lundy Island off the coast of North Devon for the first time via Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites!

A need for speed

Like most years, 2023 also saw us support major events, festivals, and local shows with additional network capacity. From iconic one-off spectacles like the King’s coronation and the UK’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest, to the biggest annual racing events like the Formula One British Grand Prix and Cheltenham Festival, we rolled out 125 upgrades on temporary mobile masts to boost the speed, capacity and reliability of our network in the busiest of places - delivering a fan experience worthy of these iconic events.

Certain events also required us to be creative with the deployment of our network infrastructure too. For instance, every August the population of Edinburgh doubles as more than 500,000 people visit the city for its renowned Fringe Festival. To help boost mobile coverage in the busiest areas of the city, we deployed numerous small cell sites to help enhance street-level mobile coverage in areas where it is impractical to build larger masts. This meant we ensured the city's mobile network had the capacity to cope with this significant increase in demand during festival season.

This is a strategy we have successfully implemented across the country in 2023, with more than 600 UK-wide small cell sites currently carrying more than 20TB of data traffic every single day – the equivalent of streaming 280,000 hours of music.

But it is not just about boosting temporary network capacity. With hundreds of thousands of customers descending on Silverstone, Glastonbury, and Wembley to support their favourite drivers, artists, and football teams this year, our permanent 5G sites in these areas also ensured the big crowds could connect and harness the performance of our network to capture and share life-long memories.

In fact, since we became the first operator to launch a 5G service in the UK back in 2019, we have increased the average mobile download speed for our customers by 121%.

Keeping connectivity on track

We have worked hard to make sure our network not only supports customers where they live, work, and socialise, but also how they get there – and that is something we have made great strides in boosting this year. Our 5G network now covers more major road and rail routes than ever before, including around the UK’s busiest and largest train stations.

Whether they are travelling from Exeter St Davids, Birmingham New Street and London Waterloo, or Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly, Cardiff Central, Kings Cross or St Pancras International, commuters and tourists can benefit from reliable mobile connectivity.

But it is not just above ground. Our connectivity upgrades throughout Transport for London’s underground network have also been crucial in elevating the rail experience in the UK’s capital. This year saw high-speed coverage go live at the first West End stations and was recently followed by the first four Elizabeth Line stations amongst others.

Over the past year, commuters on the Northern and Central lines alone have already used 424.5TB of data, which is the equivalent of spending 28 million hours surfing the internet.

New year, same vision

As the festive period begins and 2023 draws to a close, this next twelve months will see us continue to proactively invest in our network as we work towards realising our vision of being the first operator to deliver a 5G ‘on demand’ connection anywhere in the UK by 2028.

It will also see us continue to roll out full fibre broadband connections to millions more homes and develop new innovations to make our network more efficient and sustainable for future generations, helping us have a greater positive impact on our customers, the planet, and the UK economy in 2024.

As part of ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to support customers making the switch, we welcome the introduction by Government of an industry charter. We are fully supportive of the formation of this charter and efforts to encourage Local Authorities and telecare providers to work with the industry on information sharing agreements, which will help us to identify telecare users before they switch.

The urgency for switching customers onto newer digital services grows by the day because the resilience of the 40-year old analogue landline technology is increasingly fragile. It’s critically important that we manage customer migrations from old to new as quickly and smoothly as possible, while making the necessary provisions for those customers with additional needs, including telecare. The charter of commitments will help significantly in achieving these objectives.

Collaborating with local authorities and telecare providers

We want to reassure our customers that we will continue to maintain strict policies to protect telecare users and vulnerable customers where we are made aware of their status. For those who use telecare, we will only switch them to Digital Voice where we, the telecare provider or the customer can confirm their service is compatible and functions using a digital landline. We offer these customers free resilience solutions such as battery back-up units and hybrid phones. Customers who are unsure or who have told us that they have a telecare device which isn’t compatible with a digital landline will not be switched until they tell us they’re ready.

We work with some participating local authorities and telecare providers across the country to identify users through information sharing agreements and we regularly ensure our data remains up to date. However, we would urge all local authorities and telecare providers to share their data with us so we can cross-reference this against our own database.

Meanwhile, we’ll continue to work with our Digital Voice Advisory Group*, charity partners, housing associations, care homes and key industry groups to shape our approach to supporting vulnerable customers to ensure that our processes are designed to meet their needs. This includes check-in points with customers, via text message and postcards to encourage them to test to ensure their service is working and to make sure they have the right back-up solutions in place.

Supporting our customers

Together with Government, Ofcom, telecoms providers, charity partners and key industry groups, BT is working hard to ensure that everyone knows about the change, how they will be impacted and what they need to do.  Further information about the industry wide change can be found here: UK transition from analogue to digital landlines - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We’d also encourage any vulnerable customers who have concerns or who haven’t told us about their circumstances to give us a call on 0330 1234 150. To find out more about BT’s new home phone service, Digital Voice, please visit: www.bt.com/digital-voice

Notes to Editors

*Members of the Digital Voice Advisory Group include Age UK, Department of Health and Social Care, Independent Age, Rural Services Network, and Which? amongst others.

3G has already been switched off in many countries around the world. Doing it here will help strengthen the performance of 4G and 5G across the country, so more of our customers get a superior mobile experience in more places, more of the time.

Getting our approach to 3G retirement right

Having first announced our intention to close our 3G network back in 2018, and reaffirmed it as part of an industry-wide commitment to the UK Government in 2021, we’ve spent this time liaising closely with Ofcom, working with our charity partners like AbilityNet to provide digital skills training and create helpful resources, as well as conducting a successful 3G trial in Warrington to help ensure we get our approach for the nationwide switch off right.

For us, that means making sure we have informed all our 3G customers about what is happening, when and why, and have the dedicated support available to help them make the transition successfully before January. It also means conducting the technical switch off in the New Year in a responsible and phased way, with dedicated pauses built-in to the process so we can monitor progress at every stage until its completion in March.

While our 3G network has delivered on what it was built to do, it is now 20 years old and has been made redundant by newer technologies. With our 2G network remaining for voice calls and texts, there is nothing else 3G does that is not improved by using 4G or 5G.

It is no surprise then that the use of 3G across our EE network continues to fall to record low levels; responsible for less than 0.4% of all downloaded data. According to Ofcom, EE customers only spend 2.7% of their time connected to 3G, which is the lowest amount of time of any UK mobile operator.

There are two major reasons why these numbers are so small. First, we have built the largest and most widespread 4G network in the UK. We have also spent the last three years expanding it to a further 1,500 rural communities, including some of the most remote parts of the UK, to ensure more people than ever have access to the most reliable mobile technology available today. And secondly, most customers have already left 3G behind and successfully moved to 4G or 5G.

Keeping the vulnerable connected with free 4G phones

For the small minority who still use a 3G-only phone or data plan, we recognise this is a period of change. We are committed to ensuring all of them, especially vulnerable customers, have the support available to help them make the transition successfully if they want to.

As well as being the only UK mobile operator to offer all vulnerable customers a free 4G-ready mobile phone (or a big discount on a pay monthly plan for those who want to choose their own handset), we have also set up a dedicated freephone line where they can call our 3G support team to talk through their individual needs and get help with migrating.

It is also important to remember that some customers have no desire or need to use mobile data. These people, if they decide not to transition to a more modern mobile network, will not be impacted by the retirement of 3G as our 2G network, which like our 4G one already covers 99% of the UK population, is remaining for voice calls and texts.

999 calls are also not reliant on 3G being available, with EE customers still able to call the emergency services as they do today by using our 2G network or Wi-Fi Calling. In an emergency, 999 calls will also automatically roam onto any available mobile network to connect.

Embracing next generation connectivity

For those who do use mobile internet however, one the biggest benefits of switching off 3G is that we can reuse the network spectrum to deliver enhanced 5G performance, meaning their everyday mobile experience is more reliable, more sustainable, more secure, and much faster.

After 3G has been retired, customers in Belfast, Darlington, Uxbridge, Dartford, Solihull, York, Dagenham, Hayes, Harringay and London will be among some of the first to benefit from superior 5G connectivity.

Having been the first mobile operator to launch a 5G service in the UK four years ago, our 5G network is growing all the time. It currently covers 72% of the entire UK population and will get a big boost from 3G retirement as we aim to deliver a 5G ‘on demand’ connection anywhere in the UK by 2028.

Dawn of a new era

When 3G launched in the early 2000s, Tony Blair was Prime minister, Gareth Gates was topping the music charts, and the Nokia 1100 was the best-selling mobile phone. There was no iPhone, no Netflix, no Spotify, no Zoom, no WhatsApp or videocalls on the move, and no cloud gaming.

3G was built to serve a different world than the one we live in today. Couple that with the need to deliver the best mobile experiences in a more sustainable way, while reusing finite network spectrum, and the time has come to embrace a new era of mobile technology.

Doing so – and doing it in the right way – will ensure our customers, the planet and the wider UK economy benefit from everything 4G and 5G have to offer.

You can learn more about our approach to 3G switch off by visiting www.ee.co.uk/3g-switch-off.

To find out if your mobile phone is already compatible with 4G or 5G, or to get advice and support with migrating, text ‘HANDSET’ to 150.

Quantum technologies promise transformational opportunities, unlocking innovation to drive growth and helping to build a thriving and resilient economy, whilst also contributing significant value to a country’s prosperity and security.

The UK is well and truly in the ‘quantum race’ being ranked as 2^nd in the world for the number of quantum companies and private investment in quantum, but the challenge now is to keep the pace up.

Today, the Government has turbo-boosted the UK’s ability to compete, by setting out its long-term ‘time-bound’ missions: missions that will have wide-ranging benefits, enabling industry, academia and investors to come together to make them a reality and signal the UK’s intent internationally.

As this quantum enabled economy emerges, having a secure digital infrastructure at its heart will be critical. Here lies the challenge - advances in quantum computing will disrupt security as we know it. This is because quantum computing has the potential to be able to crack the mathematics that underpins much of the current cryptography that is used to secure networks. It is believed that within the next decade we won’t be able to rely on some forms of encryption that protects our data today. But it’s not just a problem for the future. Securing encrypted traffic is a pressing problem today because data which requires long term security could be at risk of ‘store today, crack later’ attacks.

As the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure products, solutions and services, what we deliver is essential to lives, businesses and communities. Security is therefore a top priority and developing quantum secure communications is an important part of that.   

We started R&D into quantum secure communications years ago and have journeyed to a point we are at today, whereby we have built a ‘world first’ commercial trial of a quantum secure metro network in London, alongside Toshiba, with EY becoming the first customer and HSBC recently joining. The network connects customers across London, helping them to secure the transmission of valuable data and information between multiple physical locations using a technology called ‘quantum key distribution’ (QKD).

QKD is a quantum safe cryptography technology. Imagine if you had ‘super-hearing’ to detect someone eavesdropping on your conversation from miles away. This is similar to QKD which instantly detects interference on the network and raises an alarm.

BT Group is part of a rich, UK quantum ecosystem – across academia, start-ups and scale-ups, inward investors, governmental and publicly funded bodies – and its one which has cross-party support.

Today, we’re delighted to see that one of the mission headlines is for the UK to deploy the world’s most advanced quantum network at scale by 2035, pioneering the future quantum internet. Nationwide quantum secure connectivity coupled with early commercialisation and an ambition for international quantum networks will be critical enablers of the UK quantum economy. The London quantum secure metro network represents an important step towards this ambition, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Government and our partners over the coming months.

By accelerating commercialisation of quantum technologies with long-term strategic benefit for the UK, whilst providing a showcase for the UK’s capabilities, we can lead this race.

While it seems straightforward, it actually requires a lot of focus and hard work. In today’s world, with the complex and disruptive nature of the digital economy, it’s never been more important for businesses to have a strategy that can meet the challenges, harness the opportunities and deliver the best results.

We are in the midst of a major technological revolution – on a scale not seen since the Victorian era. The race to the cloud, the switch from legacy networks to digital ones, the advancement of AI, are just the tip of the iceberg. We’re all facing the pressure to do more, move faster, work smarter.

BT is no different. Our new strategy is about focus: doubling down on our core platforms and the things that will make us better at what we do, and better for our customers.  We’re creating a smaller, scalable portfolio built around customers’ outcomes – and we’ll partner with others, where it makes sense, to deliver these.

An example of this new strategy in action is our collaboration with Telstra Broadcast Services to improve the strength of our Global Media Network (GMN), and offer customers greater global reach by giving them access to the best unified operations of BT and Telstra’s network infrastructure, including key Asia-Pacific regions such as India, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, and other countries.

Our GMN is among the best in the world, and so is Telstra’s. We know that operating a global network requires substantial investment to provide the services customers need. Now, to help more customers harness the benefits of cloud-first broadcasting all over the world, we have decided to join forces with another major player in the market and combine our strengths, scale and expertise.

Telstra already has a GMN that spans Australia, Europe and the USA, closing some of the gaps we have today. Equally, our network does the same for Telstra. So, working together makes sense and will be better for customers, for Telstra and for BT.

At BT our purpose is to connect for good. Whether it’s doubling down on the networks on which customers build their businesses, or by partnering where others are better, we’re building a BT that plays to its strengths and delivers the best outcomes – for today and tomorrow.

The long-term investments that we’re making in fibre, 5G and digital systems will create a stronger, better company with brighter prospects.  It’s also the sort of commitment that the country badly needs for jobs, productivity and public services across the UK.

For once, however, I want to focus less on all the economic benefits of this technology and instead spend a moment on the economic underpinnings of our investment case and in particular the innovations in our taxation system without which it would not have been possible.

In general, the UK has suffered in recent decades from a comparative lack of corporate investment.  Businesses face a lot of short-term pressures.  The BT Board, in deciding to make enormous long-term commitments on full fibre worth some £15bn, had to do so in the knowledge that the investment would all be made up front with the returns some way off.  The nature of our business is that most of our investments take at least five years to generate a return; but in the case of fibre that period will stretch to at least a decade.

We took that tough decision to commit to fibre, nonetheless, in part because policymakers and regulators understood this point and acted on it. That’s where decisions on tax have been so important. 

The introduction of a tax ‘super deduction’ for infrastructure investors from April 2021 allowed BT Group to increase and accelerate our fibre rollout targets – from 20m to 25m homes. 

As economic conditions hardened over the winter of 2022-23, and the super deduction came to an end, those targets were under real pressure.  That’s why the replacement of the super deduction with a new policy of full expensing was also critical: it allowed us to accelerate our capital investment by some £300m per year, to stick to the 25m target and to simultaneously increase the pace at which we were connecting new customers to the new fibre network (itself a capital-intensive process).

I think politicians on all sides have now understood the important role that tax incentives can play in promoting investment.  In our industry, the results are very clear from the record-breaking pace at which Openreach is now rolling out the new network.

However, like the super deduction before it, full expensing is only a short-term intervention.  It is due to expire in two and a half years.  The investment demands and needs of the industry and the country won’t stop there, though.  There is a £20bn investment gap to close, for example, if government ambitions for 5G mobile services are to be met, and an ever-increasing need to make our networks more energy efficient, secure and resilient against future risks and threats.

The real game-changer would be to put these tax incentives on a permanent basis.  That would give businesses like BT Group genuine long-term certainty to plan and shift the investment environment in Britain from good to great.

I know the Chancellor is considering this as one option for next week’s Autumn statement.  He has said he would like to take this step when the economic conditions allow.  With billions of pounds of potential investment at stake, it’s also important to ask whether, as a country, we can afford not to.  This one measure could have a transformative effect in getting Britain building: not only digital infrastructure but much else besides.

Fibre networks require less equipment, are more efficient and can connect more customers from fewer exchanges. Openreach have therefore set out an ambition to exit three pilot exchanges by March 2025, a further 100 by December 2030, and a large majority of the remaining 4,500 exchanges by the early 2030s.

The first three exchanges that Openreach will exit will form part of an industry-wide pilot that will see BT and all other Communications Providers connected to the Openreach network switch their customers over from copper to fibre.

The three pilot exchanges are:

• Deddington, Oxfordshire – March 2024
• Kenton Road, Greater London – September 2024
• Ballyclare, Northern Ireland – September 2024

While the technology that powers it is changing, the landline is here to stay. BT will be offering consumer customers its new home phone service, Digital Voice – where calls are made over a broadband line. For business customers, we offer a full suite of Voice Over IP (VOIP) products which combine all the features of a traditional phone system with the flexibility of the cloud - supporting the smallest home offices to the largest corporations and government departments.

Our aim is to support customers every step of the way and to make sure that vulnerable customers and the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure providers are guided and protected as we exit exchanges. Ultimately, though, we will need everyone in these pilot areas to make the switch ahead of the deadline.

We’ll be contacting all residential BT customers yet to make the switch in each of the three locations at least four weeks in advance of any changes taking place to help ensure they’re ready to make the switch to a digital landline. Business customers will be contacted even earlier, to plan their migration to new All-IP services.

Residential customers who identify as vulnerable, have additional needs or rely on their landline will be provided with additional support. This ranges from free battery back-up units to engineer-supported installations and hybrid landline phones, which have a built-in battery back-up unit and can connect to the mobile network. Customers can also nominate a family member, friend or carer who will receive all the information about the changes on their behalf.

Business customers are also advised to check what devices they have connected to their landlines and should speak to their device provider or manufacturer about the compatibility with a digital landline before making the switch.

Consumer customers with any questions, concerns or who want to let us know about their circumstances ahead of the switch to Digital Voice, should get in touch with us on 0330 1234 150 or visit bt.com/digital-voice. Business customers can call 0800 800 152 or visit The PSTN and ISDN switch-off: what it means for you | BT Business.

BT will be working with Openreach, Government, Ofcom and local stakeholders to monitor progress and we’ll be inviting customers to local events to help raise awareness.

The switch to a digital landline will have no impact on how BT customers use their phone and will not cost any more than they pay today. They’ll still have the same service and price plans.

We understand that any change can be unsettling – that’s why we are here to support our customers, to make the experience as seamless as possible.

Our AI vision

Combining human intelligence and artificial intelligence, we want to use the power of AI in a safe and ethical manner to unlock value for our customers and colleagues in alignment with our purpose to ‘connect for good’.

Building trust to drive adoption

AI has the potential to deliver immense benefits for business and society. We’re already seeing this around us: whether it’s helping us to digitise the nation at pace; giving our customers a more personalised experience; or reducing the carbon impact of our networks.

But greater adoption will be key to unlocking the full value of AI. To drive adoption, we’ll need to put people first – our colleagues, customers, and communities. At its heart, this is about trust – in the technology and the organisations developing and deploying it.

Enabling AI for all

The policy debate to date has focused primarily on frontier AI developers and end consumers, but the deployers – those looking to apply AI in their everyday operations – have largely been left out. These are the businesses that need to deploy AI safely to benefit ordinary people. For that, we are calling for principles-based regulation that reduces risk and builds trust, transparency across the AI value chain, and partnership between government and industry.

Scaling AI responsibly

Individual organisations will need to play their part by scaling AI responsibly. At BT Group, we build and maintain trust by applying our responsible tech principles, ensuring that AI is deployed in a way that is for good, accountable, fair, and open.  Our responsible AI approach is built on strong foundations of data governance, privacy and security, and built into our data fabric – a key enabling platform that helps streamline and embed these principles in the way data is accessed and used across the Group.

Protecting from new cyber threats

We are addressing new cyber threats in the realm of generative AI. AI changes the cyber risks we face by enabling attackers to automate and scale up their attacks, mimic and manipulate human behaviour. AI also increases the complexity and uncertainty of the cyber threat landscape. To address these threats, we have a dedicated AI security research team, developed AI security standards and best practices, and are participating in global initiatives and partnerships to advance AI security research and innovation. Ultimately, all organisations and governments will need to adopt a similarly proactive and collaborative approach to AI security.

Enabling a skills (re)evolution

Finally, AI will reshape the world of work.  We need to work with our colleagues to explore what this means for them and to support them through the transition we all face as we build a new era of human/AI partnership. The new solutions built on AI will require new roles and evolved skills to enhance the value we deliver to our customers.

Towards a bright AI future – unlocking value for everyone

The benefits of AI will be transformative. Some of this will come in the form of efficiencies – allowing us to invest for customers and the UK economy, and grow, creating jobs for the future. It will also take the form of new opportunities to re-imagine how we operate and serve customers, colleagues, and communities.

We know we have a huge role to play in unlocking AI’s potential.  We will do that by building trust, by using AI to make everyday life better, and by building the skills we all need for a bright future – one in which people and AI come together, for good.

It’s a vital goal, and we support UK ambitions to lead on it. 

But this important aim mustn’t eclipse the arguably bigger leadership opportunity: safely harnessing all manner of AI across all UK sectors and public services to improve everyday life.

The Real Opportunity

That’s because too often the AI debate focuses only on global developers and on protecting citizens, neglecting the intermediaries, or deployers of AI.   Yet this ‘missing middle’ is where most of the UK’s businesses and public sector bodies sit, and where vast economic and societal value resides.

Estimates suggest AI could add anything between £232bn to £400bn to the UK economy by 2030.  

The potential is huge – but, based on the UK’s low rates of AI deployment, could go untapped. 

While the Government rightly celebrates that UK AI startups raise more funding than their peers in Germany and France combined, deployment of AI by UK firms is lower than in either country, lagging Italy and Spain too.  Meanwhile in public sector deployment, Singapore and the US race ahead. 

In short, we have an AI deployment deficit – and it’s costing the UK, big time. 

So what has stopped the UK from leading so far?

Barriers to deployment

Among the commonly identified checks on AI deployment, three stand out:

• Transparency and regulatory/legal certainty: firms can find it hard to understand what AI they’re buying, despite deployers carrying the most regulatory risk.  Globally, around 3 in 5 companies identify ‘AI vendors who don’t include explainability features’ as a pervasive barrier to explainable and trustworthy AI. Regulatory/legal uncertainty can frustrate deployment too.
• Skills and confidence: many firms don’t have the skills among their leadership or employees to understand AI and its potential for them, or to deploy it with confidence.  The proportion of firms reporting skills as a key barrier to AI adoption is almost 60% higher in the UK than in France. 
• Data complexity and quality: companies also list data complexity among the principal barriers to AI deployment.  While AI may now get all the limelight (UK Google searches for AI increased x5 in the first half of this year alone), it relies on good quality data.  It doesn’t matter how mighty your model, there’s one unbending rule: “rubbish in, rubbish out.” 

These factors –transparency/regulatory certainty, skills, and data complexity – all drag deployment.

Yet they can be overcome with the right strategic focus, regulatory tools, and partnership between government and industry. 

We don’t have all the answers (you can read more about BT Group’s own aspirations to responsibly embrace AI here).  But we do have some proposals that should help.

Policy proposals

We recommend an immediate focus on the following areas.

1.       Transparency to de-risk deployment: to give companies confidence to buy and deploy AI, developers should have to publish consistent, easy-to-use information.  The format should be a standardised ‘model card’ that explains what training data was used, how the AI system was tested, if and how bias mitigation was applied, and the limits to its recommended use.  No proprietary information should be disclosed.  Indeed, model cards should remain as simple as possible, like food labelling that lists ingredients, allergens and simplified nutritional ratings.  This approach would help ensure responsibilities are distributed fairly across the value chain and promote clearer accountabilities.  Greater transparency is a better alternative at present to a detailed UK legal framework for such fast-evolving technology.

2.       AI ready workforce: while Government has helped expand and diversify the pipeline of new AI talent, more focus is needed on making the existing workforce ready for AI in the workplace.  For individuals, there should be more flexibility in when they access Government support for post-18 learning, opening more opportunities to upskill and reskill, including in roles that AI can augment or create.  For corporates, there should be more flexibility in how they invest their apprenticeship levy, enabling them to scale up programmes for current staff.  For smaller enterprises, managers should get support in learning about how AI can help their business.  Here again, flexibility in support can be a key factor in adoption. 

3.       Get the data foundations right: unnecessary uncertainty hangs over UK data laws.  We’ve seen a stop/start approach to sensible reforms aimed at maintaining a high standard in data protection while allowing businesses to simplify their processes.  Now’s time to finish the job and look to where pro-innovation provisions offer the most potential for AI-driven value.  This could start with better sharing of Government data to improve public service delivery.  We also need to ensure that ‘smart data’ schemes for industry focus on innovation between sectors, not narrowly within them.  For example, ‘Open Communications’ proposals – focused only on telecoms – would currently provide poor bang-for-buck (Government’s own figures suggest costs could be more than double the consumer value unlocked).  These measures should be part of a wider, ongoing strategic focus on data as well as AI; the fuel as well as the machinery of our present industrial revolution. 

These policy proposals should help ensure that UK firms and institutions have better understanding, a better skills base and stronger data foundations upon which to build their AI adoption plans.  They should contribute towards the resilience of the UK AI economy in the face of supply chain and labour market disruption.  Crucially, they should benefit UK businesses, workers and consumers. 

The safety of Frontier AI is a necessary pillar of trustworthy AI, but it is not sufficient for the challenges we face in adopting these technologies, responsibly, at scale, for the benefit of all.  As the last visitors exit Bletchley Park this week, we hope the UK can enter a new phase focused on responsibly harnessing AI for growth.  Making Artificial Intelligence work for the real economy.  Making the safe adoption of AI a national mission.

Whether it’s road tailbacks or the crush on the morning commute, we’re all used to the challenges of travel at peak times. We strive to avoid the same kinds of congestion on digital networks, despite also experiencing periods of exceptional demand.

We know that, typically, most demand is in the early evening, as work emails are shut down, personal devices are switched on and live sport hits the network. That means we need to carefully manage our networks to avoid congestion; no one wants to miss a goal because they’re caught in a digital traffic jam. Ofcom has now delivered some important clarity over regulations that should help us with this.

Why are networks getting busier?

Both the quantity and quality of content is growing. Online gaming, virtual worlds and the growth of streaming, coupled with ever more sophisticated tech that delivers these experiences in greater quality, are driving up data usage. Ofcom’s Mobile Strategy Review – released in December 2022 – forecast a year on year 40% traffic growth across mobile networks and BT Group expects a similarly huge increase in traffic growth across our fixed network by the early 2030s.

Of particular issue is ‘content clash,’ when massive data events – such as huge game downloads or major football matches - occur simultaneously on the network. At present, we build our network to accommodate these extraordinarily high peaks (despite them being occasional and often very short duration) to avoid a poor customer experience. But that’s akin to investing in an extra 10 motorway lanes only to see them used by bank holiday traffic just a few times a year.

That investment would be far better made elsewhere in the business. At a time when we’re balancing our responsibilities of growing coverage, subsidising more online access than anyone else and supporting vital public services to digitise, we have to ensure we’re not wasting money to facilitate inefficient use of the internet.  And the energy resources that consumes. This is where Ofcom’s statement comes in.

What will Ofcom’s changes mean?

In January, Ofcom announced they would review their application of net neutrality rules – basic principles that were established to protect customers’ rights to access content. The fundamental tenets of net neutrality are supported across the industry and the changes Ofcom have made regard how they are applied in practice. 

First, they’ve provided welcome clarity around what innovative solutions are permitted under “specialised services” rules. This will give us greater certainty to develop and invest in exciting new ideas. It’s been unclear until now, for example, whether we could develop a service which prioritises the relay of messages controlling the direction of a drone, to keep it flying safely. 

Second, they’ve clarified that zero-rating – the process of ensuring some online services don’t count towards a customer’s data usage – have some value. This will allow us to offer a range of products to customers, tailored to their specific needs. 

Finally and positively, they’ve acknowledged that ISPs and network owners, are allowed to take some traffic management steps to contribute to network efficiency and prevent congestion on the network. 

These changes are welcome and important and will help us to manage our network in the short term. But they are the start of further reforms that are needed, so we can face into the future with confidence. Unless and until telecommunications companies have the necessary environment to negotiate on a level playing field with content providers, the challenges of meeting growing demand will remain reliant on telcos funding endless capacity upgrades. 

The internet is hugely valuable, but the benefits and costs could be more evenly spread. We need to create a new model that supports the laudable public policy goals of increasing coverage and getting more people online, while also ensuring reliability, quality and investment efficiency. 

Ofcom’s statement is clear that any further reform will need Government action. Supporting the future delivery of content over the internet is becoming vital public policy and new rules – still guided by the principles of an open internet, consumer choice, innovation and efficiency – could unleash a new wave of online innovation in the UK.

You can find out more about our strategy for delivering the future of online content on our policy pages. 

Against this backdrop the telco industry has offered a range of social tariffs - discounted connectivity offers for those on a range of benefits.

Yet the numbers - how many are digitally included, especially how many have broadband, and the characteristics of who does and does not - have barely changed.  While there are some who call for a major drive to increase the uptake of social tariffs, the industry in increasingly warning this may not be sustainable if it requires a subsidy for many millions of households.  There is a risk to other important policy agendas, such as investment in new network rollout.

What is really going on?

To help answer this, over the summer BT Group commissioned three experts Frontier Economics, Yonder Consulting and charity AbilityNet, to provide insights into overlooked or misunderstood aspects of the challenge.

Together, they have found that:

• One million households in the UK have incomes so low they cannot afford any connectivity at all. Most of this group are working age but not in work, so in the near term, only the Government can help them change this.
• Two million people (21% of those currently eligible) live in households with sufficient income that they are unlikely to need the discount offered by social tariffs.
• Many households eligible for social tariffs do have broadband, and are navigating the market well and so paying around £20 a month for it (the price Ofcom defines as a social tariff). This group know the importance connectivity in their lives and so prioritise it in their spending. Many are buying their broadband in a bundle with other services such as mobile or TV, which enables them to get this affordable price. They often say that they would not move to get a slight saving, as they value the other services they buy.
• To support someone that has never used a digital device before on the journey to be confident and active in the digital world, high quality, tailored, one on one, consistent support is often needed. When this is provided it can be transformative. It is also essential to driving change: people do not want services they cannot use.

Earlier in the summer Enders Analysis published an independent note (where the previous three were commissioned by BT Group). Enders also identify that the numbers in acute need of support with the costs of connectivity are much lower than current eligibility.  They also quantify the risks of the current focus on uptake – calculating that with full uptake £1.5bn a year could be taken out of the industry and could increase prices for non-eligible customers by 20%.

What could be a better way forward?

BT Group makes the following suggestions:

1.     Policy makers should refocus their attention on the very low income households and consider public funding to support this group as a social policy priority.

2.     Ofcom should use a wider set of measures to track affordability, including not only tracking awareness and uptake of social tariffs, but also how many households pay £20 or less per month for their broadband (whether through a social tariff or a commercial product).

3.     Ofcom should ensure all operators offer a social tariff and that those tariffs meet the same minimum standard term so that all customers have a straightforward offer available to them, as a safety net, in what can be a fast-moving and complex market.  At the same time, policymakers should recognise that many customers will continue to get good or similar value from other low-priced commercial products: a mass migration of customers away from these products is not necessary.

4.     Policymakers should re-examine how to provide greater direct support to those who lack the skills and confidence to participate in the digital world, not all of whom are in low-income groups.

In the 21st Century this is a systemic challenge. The case for well-funded and well-designed policy interventions lies not just in the potential to transform lives but also in enabling the digital transition of public services like healthcare, and private services like banking. And so driving greater digital inclusion should be at the heart of the next Government’s agenda, both to empower citizens and support improved productivity and growth in the UK economy.

You can download the report in full – Digital inclusion: New insights and finding a sustainable way forward 

On 1 April 2023 we brought BT Group’s Enterprise and Global units together to create a single focused division serving business customers in the UK and internationally.

As a unified unit under the BT brand, we connect more than one million organisations, in around 180 countries worldwide. We run the fixed and mobile networks that cover 99% of the UK’s non-residential premises, underpin critical national infrastructure and public services and enable trade. We support more than three million more end-users through our UK wholesale operations. And internationally, we work with some of the biggest global brands and governments.

The last few months have seen our 24,000-strong team of colleagues come together to create better outcomes for our business customers. Today, I’m pleased to share a strategy that will see us build on BT’s rock-solid digital foundation to help businesses and the economy thrive.

Better Focus

Our strategy for Business is about focus. Focusing on the problems we know our customers need us to solve for them, now. And being ready for the problems customers will face in the future – from riding the AI wave to achieving Net Zero.

Because today every business is a digital business. Whether it’s a small shop taking mobile payments, a manufacturer using robotics on the factory floor or a multinational connecting people and customers across the globe, connectivity is the lifeblood of commerce.

Our customers expect us to deliver the rock-solid digital foundation on which to build their businesses, because they need stability, security and skills as the bedrock of their future growth.

1.  We’re doubling down on our core platforms: the fixed, mobile and converged networks that carry our customer’s voice and data allowing them to perform at their best
2. We’ll do fewer things, better: a smaller, but highly scalable portfolio built around customer outcomes with roughly half the number of product variants within five years
3. We’ll partner where others are better: we’re concentrating on the things we’re best at. For everything else we partner – collaborating where we know partner solutions simply work better on BT for customers.

We have simplified our portfolio into three core areas:

• Digital infrastructure: We’re investing in the fixed, mobile and multi-cloud networks to handle more connections and data in a secure, sustainable and scalable way
• Digital work: In a world of flexible working, we’ll connect people to the tools they need to collaborate securely wherever they are
• Digital services: From cyber security to the cloud, we’ll make the digital part of business easy for our customers.

Better outcomes

The success of our strategy will be defined by the quality of customer outcomes. And that quality will be defined by the performance of our stable, secure, sustainable networks – and the services that run over them. This is also where partnerships matter, so we’re working with the best in the business to help customers stay competitive in an increasingly complex digital world.

Our first step on this journey is to unveil our brand-new Global Fabric network. This is an entirely new type of network that will make it much easier and quicker for businesses to connect employees, customers and devices to multiple clouds – the clouds that host their ever-increasing workloads. This network-as-a-service will offer “pay-as-you-use” rather than lengthy fixed-term contracts. With legacy networks, setting up new connectivity could take weeks, while with Global Fabric, it happens in an instant. It will help customers innovate at pace and do so more sustainably. We estimate Global Fabric will use 79% less electricity than current international networks, helping customers reduce their Scope 3 emissions.

Better tomorrow

A big part of solving customers’ problems and delivering better outcomes is looking to the future. We’ve built the Business strategy around our shared BT Group purpose: We connect for good.

This means we’re using our products and our services to help customers lay the foundations for sustainable growth, even as their digital footprint increases. We’re empowering them with digital skills training and we’re developing tools to help them save a collective 60 million tonnes of CO₂ by the end of the decade.

Ultimately, when it comes to sustainability, we’re working to make sure tech is part of the solution, not part of the problem.

From planning to action

Now we’ve got our focus, it’s all about execution. With our people, networks and tech ready to deliver – we believe business is better on BT.

That said, every major evolution in mobile networks requires a responsible and considered approach to ensure people understand what is happening, when, and why; as well as have the dedicated support available to help them make the transition successfully.

As we get closer to January 2024 and the start of EE’s 3G switch off - which we plan to complete by March - that is something we have been working hard to deliver on.

A win for Warrington

Our 3G pilot in Warrington this summer saw the town become the first place in the UK where EE’s 3G network was switched off. It was a significant milestone in our journey to enhance Britain’s mobile infrastructure and helped inform the approach for our nationwide retirement of 3G.

Following the smooth switch off there were no customer complaints about network coverage or performance. Importantly, there were also no capacity issues on either our 2G or 4G networks, despite a natural rise in traffic as more people relied on them every day.

Having collaborated closely with the local community – including Warrington Borough Council – in the run up, we were able to successfully transition our business customers in the area away from 3G, leaving the town ready to capitalise on its bright future in the digital age.

That future will also be more sustainable now too. 3G represents around 35% of our mobile network’s total power consumption - massively outweighing its usage which is falling all the time. Retiring the technology is one of the best steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint, as modern networks like 4G and 5G are not only faster and more reliable for customers but also up to ten times more efficient. In fact, we estimate that switching off our 3G network across the UK will save the equivalent amount of energy needed to fully charge up to four billion smartphones, making it better for the planet as well as our customers.

Keeping the vulnerable connected

To make sure our consumer customers that are registered as vulnerable are not left behind – and the cost of upgrading is not a barrier – we are offering each one of them a free 4G-ready mobile phone (or a discount on a monthly plan if they would prefer to choose their own handset). Having adopted this approach for our pilot in Warrington and seen its success, we will now be rolling it out across the country to support those 3G customers who need it most.

As part of our long-standing partnership with AbilityNet – which delivers digital skills training to over 65’s across the UK – we have also prepared a 3G factsheet to help elderly and vulnerable people, and their families, clearly understand why 3G is being retired and what steps they can take to make sure they are not impacted. More than 4,000 people will have received AbilityNet training by the end of 2023 as part of group and one-to-one sessions in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, London, and the South Coast.

A new era for our mobile network

These are not the only positive steps we have made in the run up to the start of our nationwide 3G switch off from January 2024. We have also implemented several enhancements to the radio technology used in our EE mobile network to ensure customers whose phones already support 4G connectivity (but may default to 3G) can stay connected to it for longer – giving them a better and more reliable experience.

For those who do not have a modern handset or plan, our 2G network (which like our 4G one provides 99% population coverage) has been tuned to be their fall back for voice calls and texts. The results are as you might expect: 3G usage on the EE network fell to record lows this summer, accounting for just 0.6% of total data downloaded and 7% of voice traffic.

According to Ofcom’s Mobile Matters 2023 report, EE customers only spend 2.7% of their time connected to 3G which is the lowest amount of time of any UK mobile operator. This number is going to keep falling as customers upgrade and we continue to expand the reach of our 4G and 5G networks to more people across the UK, including to traditionally hard-to-reach rural communities who need it most, as well as major towns and cities and iconic stations on the London Underground.

The sun sets on 3G

While 3G delivered everything we expected it to twenty years ago, it has now been made redundant by the widespread rollout of newer mobile technologies. Retiring 3G means we can reuse the spectrum to strengthen our 4G and 5G experiences (which the majority of customers use every day) and make sure more communities have access to a fast, reliable and sustainable mobile network.

When our 3G network switches off early next year it will be a landmark moment. And while its retirement is more of a network evolution than a revolution, it sets the scene for many exciting developments to come in the years ahead.

To discover more about the 3G switch off, visit www.ee.co.uk/3g-switch-off.

While 5G delivers increased network speeds and vital capacity, the next generation of this mobile network technology – 5G Standalone – is around the corner. Take last year’s Green Planet experience, in partnership with Sir David Attenborough and the BBC Studios. Over 10,000 visitors were enthralled by a unique AR experience delivered over a dedicated 5G standalone (SA) service – a network solely using a 5G core with no dependency on 4G. This facilitates opportunities for lower latency, dedicated capacity and denser coverage in more congested areas. All features that supported the rich, interactive experience that helped us to bring the BBC’s Green Planet to life. 

And it’s not just consumer applications where we’ll see 5G play an important role, we’ve also showcased the massive potential of 5G Private Networks for UK enterprises. BT’s 5G Private Network at Belfast Harbour, covering 2,000-acres, has been driving operational efficiencies, productivity gains, and accelerating digital transformation for a significant port that hosts over half a million freight vehicles a year. Unlocking new growth opportunities for industries throughout the UK by supporting modern connectivity use cases—that’s where we see the true potential of 5G in the UK.

So how is our progress going towards 5G Standalone? In short, we’ve made huge strides.

We’ve already moved the vast majority of our mobile customers – seamlessly – onto our new 5G-ready network core. In parallel, we’re upgrading many of our key radio sites across the country and been issuing 5G SA-capable SIMs to customers.

And in a bit of news that we haven’t previously shouted about, we carried out the UK’s first call over 5G in the network – in the industry we term it VoNR (Voice over New Radio). Why’s this important? At present, voice calls are supported by 2G and 4G, and the soon-to-be-retired 3G. Ensuring that 5G also provides this function is crucial to supporting a genuine 5G Standalone experience – as well as offering a further voice option for customers. With ever more 5GSA capable handsets coming onto the market, we’re making sure EE is in prime position to maintain its number one status for their performance.

But our work goes beyond the physical build of our new core and masts.

We’re also been busy innovating to get the best out of the network. We already hold a big lead on 5^th percentile speeds. In human terms, that means, on average, you’ll have a much better network data experience over EE than other mobile networks in the UK.

We want to keep this the case as we transition to a Standalone network. So, in two European firsts over the summer, BT teamed up separately with Nokia and Ericsson to demonstrate the improved transmission and performance of 5G services in different carriers.

It’s vital, because as network quality and accessibility improves, so too will innovation and the 5G services ecosystem. Demonstrating new network capabilities is critical to achieving this goal, and also paves the way to ensuring that 5G SA delivers new possibilities for our customers. In particular, the trends we see from customers in demanding upload performance show the importance of meeting ever rising expectations.

These are huge innovative strides and crucial groundwork for the next generation of technology. EE alone knows how to launch and run a best-in-breed network. We did it with 4G and 5G and we’ll be doing it again with 5G SA, following years of preparatory activity to ensure a meaningful 5G Standalone network for our customers.

I can’t wait to update you further, alongside my team, as this vision becomes reality.