Cerillion Blog - 5G

Starlink began as a niche satellite broadband provider serving customers beyond the reach of traditional telecom networks. Today, SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, appears to be pursuing a far more ambitious goal: becoming a fully-fledged hybrid telco combining satellite coverage with terrestrial spectrum and infrastructure. Is the telecom industry’s next major player another operator, or a space company?

Romania’s strong connectivity is the product of decades of community-built networks, early fibre adoption and a very different regulatory environment. Yet “worse than Romania” is a comparison that the British press keeps returning to when discussing the UK’s own telecom shortcomings. Adam Hughes asks: what can we learn from Romania’s experience, and what does the comparison reveal about our assumptions?

South Korea is implementing a policy of universal basic mobile data, guaranteeing a minimum level of connectivity for all users and redefining what it means to be connected. What does this new baseline of connectivity look like in practice – and how does “snack culture” fit into it?

While operators race to deliver ever-faster connections to people who are already well-served, billions of potential customers remain without any reliable signal at all. Is ubiquitous coverage, not speed, where the opportunity lies?

5G is still letting users down. However, a recent controversy suggests that consumers may understand phone signal even less than we had thought. Where has all the phone signal gone – or was it never really there to begin with?

5G delivers increased mobility, performance and security – so why aren’t telcos doing more to capitalise on these capabilities in the private sector? We break down the essentials of private 5G, and how telcos can seize the initiative.

What happens to the telecoms industry if mobile networks reach overcapacity and data traffic starts to fall? We might already be in that situation. Has cratering data traffic growth brought us to "the end of telecoms history?"

Recent user experiences indicate that phone signal quality is deteriorating, leading to dropped calls and slower data speeds. What factors are contributing to this decline, and how can telcos address these challenges?