Rural UK to get broadband

Engineers are trialling technology in rural Wales that could help provide high-speed broadband and voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) services to the UK's worst Internet connectivity 'blackspots', reports Telappliant.

Communications company Arqiva and telecoms firm Alcatel-Lucent are to test long term evolution (LTE) technology to provide wireless access in the Preseli Mountains for a three-month period.

Alcatel-Lucent's north Europe president Lakh Jemmett explains LTE could open up the Web to homes in hard-to-reach areas with the possibility of many more applications in the future such as digital TV.

Cisco Systems has made what it recognises as the first-ever VOIP call from outer space, says e-Money Daily.

The company made this call by using an Internet router in orbit. Cisco says it has done this without the use of any terrestrial infrastructure to route the call.

Cisco's Internet routing in space programme made this technology and the company says that using satellites, such calls can be made more efficient.

Verizon Business will be rolling out hosted VOIP services for businesses in Switzerland, states TMCnet.

Anthony Recine, VP of networking and communications solutions at Verizon Business, says: "Verizon Business continues to enhance and expand its VOIP offerings to create a powerful unified communications and collaboration platform for multinational enterprises.”

Verizon says it will make unified communications software and services available from an externally hosted platform by leveraging the cloud services pay-per-user model.