News & Insights | Freshwave

Next-generation infrastructure for connected and smart cities 

Cities are constantly changing to meet the needs of the local community. Local authorities know that without the correct infrastructure in place, it isn’t possible to have a smart city and an essential part of this is future-proof connectivity infrastructure.

2 Aug 2022

New fintech 5G lab coming to London

Athonet is opening a fintech 5G lab to help banks, financial institutions, hedge funds and their technology partners learn more about 5G and experience how highly secure 5G technology could be integrated into their business, operations and products.

6 Jun 2022

Freshwave partners with Cornerstone to deliver mobile connectivity pilot to the City of London Corporation

Delivering a mobile connectivity pilot to help future-proof the City Corporation’s small cell communication infrastructure.

20 May 2022

What we’ve learned from signing more than a dozen open access agreements

Having signed the first open access agreement with a council back in 2020, we wanted to share what we’ve learned from working with many local authorities since then via this arrangement.

20 Apr 2022

Freshwave brings mobile private networks to Verdant Leisure parks in a first for Scotland

Verdant Leisure guests and owners staying at Erigmore or Thurston Manor Leisure parks can now enjoy improved wireless connectivity on a 4G mobile private network.

28 Mar 2022

Why do you need a mobile private network?

Mobile private networks are currently a hot topic in the enterprise space. But while 5G is getting much of the focus, for many businesses a 4G mobile private network provides more than enough capability – and at a lower cost.

23 Mar 2022

Women raising the bar in telecoms

To mark International Women’s Day 2022, we caught up with some of the women at Freshwave to get their thoughts.

8 Mar 2022

Freshwave signs open access agreement with Sutton Council

We continue to be at the forefront of open access agreements, having recently signed one with Sutton Council.

16 Feb 2022

Happy National Apprenticeship Week!

This week is the 15th annual National Apprenticeship Week and we wanted to take the opportunity to introduce some of our fantastic apprentices!

7 Feb 2022

Freshwave delivering enhanced mobile phone coverage throughout 22 Bishopsgate

Our managed service is delivering all four mobile network operators to the highest skyscraper in the City of London – 22 Bishopsgate. Our innovative commercial model makes sure both landlord areas and tenants have got network.

31 Jan 2022

Freshwave is two today!

It’s good to reflect. And we’ve had quite the journey over the last two years. We’ve grown, kept and won customers and worked hard to take care of each other during a lot of change. Despite huge shifts in customer priorities, we’re still at the forefront of our industry.

28 Jan 2022

Workspace and Freshwave continue their successful partnership

We’re proud to be providing multi-operator mobile connectivity as a managed service to 21 of Workspace’s properties. This equates to almost 1.5m sq ft!

24 Jan 2022

Sharing is caring in the towerco sector

Technology never stands still and one of the drivers of change in the towerco sector has been the increasing adoption of 5G. It’s been spurring innovation not only in the products being developed to support it, but also in the commercial models used to introduce it.

9 Dec 2021

Freshwave appoints Tom Bennett as new CTO

We’re delighted to welcome Tom Bennett to the Freshwave team as our new CTO. Tom joins us from EE where he has spent over 10 years, most recently as Director of Partnerships and Innovations.

8 Nov 2021

The benefits of digital twin technology in site scanning

Our in-house digital twin product is proving very popular for scanning mast sites. The 3D technology brings a host of benefits, both when immediately developing the site, and when potentially returning to do upgrades in the future.

21 Oct 2021

Freshwave wins the Fixed Wireless Access Award at Connected Britain with their mobile private network project

The Fixed Wireless Access Award recognises an organisation who can demonstrate a successful fixed wireless access initiative.

21 Sep 2021

A sign of the times: Freshwave’s very own grandmaster clock

A recent customer deployment of ours would normally have needed a GPS antenna installed on the building’s roof as part of the work. A big job on a skyscraper. But we thought there was a better way.

14 Sep 2021

Successful 4G mobile connectivity project in Croydon sees new areas added to the roll-out

After a successful roll-out of 4G small cells in Croydon under the UK’s first open access agreement, we’re now working with the council to add even more sites.

26 Aug 2021

An extra mobile mobile private network

What’s even more mobile than a mobile private network? A mobile private network in a suitcase!

3 Aug 2021

Outernet chooses Freshwave to bring multi-operator indoor mobile coverage to their London entertainment district

We’re excited to share an announcement about one of our recent customer wins, delivering multi-operator connectivity for a state of the art central London venue.

27 Jul 2021

First live calls using JOTS Neutral Host In-Building mobile specification are made: a step forward for indoor connectivity

Virgin Media O2, working with Freshwave and CommScope, has become the first mobile network operator to make live calls from its network using a new Neutral Host In-Building mobile specification.

14 Jul 2021

The power of the independent telecom tower

Events of the past year have clearly demonstrated the importance of connectivity. Even before the pandemic, there was more demand for mobile connectivity driven by both consumer and business use.

29 Jun 2021

Introducing DigitalBridge

We’re proud to part of the portfolio of a leading global investment firm called, until now, Digital Colony. But we have exciting news: Digital Colony has now rebranded and is operating as DigitalBridge.

22 Jun 2021

Smart investments for smart cities: Capitalising on doing things differently

As the march of 5G networks and smart city technology continues, mobile network operators (MNOs) in the UK and around the world are continuing to invest huge amounts of capital in their networks and infrastructure.

1 Jun 2021

Glasgow goes for open access

Glasgow City Council recently became the first council in Scotland to adopt the open access approach to mobile connectivity and we’re very pleased to be working with them under this model.

25 May 2021

Freshwave scoops the “Excellence in Commercial Deployment by an Alternative Service Provider” gong at the Small Cell Awards

Freshwave’s winning deployment is at a popular UK holiday park. It uses shared licensed spectrum and small cells to deliver 4G data speeds via a secure mobile private network to lodges in the park.

13 May 2021

Digital Colony-backed Freshwave acquires the managed service division of global Wi-Fi specialists Airangel

Today we’re delighted to announce the acquisition of the managed service division of Airangel, including the rights to use its leading platform across the UK and Europe. Read our media announcement below for the details: Leading UK network service provider Freshwave has acquired the managed service division of UK-headquartered Wi-Fi specialists Airangel. Founded in 2005,

10 May 2021

Freshwave is bringing multi-operator mobile coverage to The Grange University Hospital

Today, we announce our work installing a premium voice and high-speed data network connecting all four mobile network operators in one of Wales’ newest hospitals. As part of a 24/7 managed service, The Grange University Hospital will benefit from as-needed specialist engineering support and an upgrade path as technology becomes available. Read our media announcement

29 Mar 2021

Raising awareness of women working in telecoms

19% of the people working in the tech industry in the UK are female, according to WIT. This is a statistic we’re passionate about increasing through outreach and awareness. Because as Milbrey Wallin McLaughlin said, “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Since 2018, we’ve been actively working with communities local to us and our

8 Mar 2021

Our predictions on 2021 telecom market trends

As the UK market leaders in delivering multi-operator networks indoors and outdoors, we’re actively working with all four UK mobile network operators (MNOs) as they explore different approaches towards improving coverage.

21 Dec 2020

We’re a G-Cloud supplier

This is actually our fifth year as a registered G Cloud supplier, and we’re delighted to have met the requirements for G-Cloud 12. If you’d like to read more about our indoor signal as a service on the Digital Marketplace click here. In a quirk of our brand transition, we’ll still be listed as StrattoOpencell

28 Sep 2020

Collaborating and connecting in Croydon

We’re in the midst of an exciting project with Croydon Council, improving mobile connectivity in the town centre and beyond with digital infrastructure. In a first for a council in the UK, we helped Croydon Council to pioneer an open access model which means all four mobile network operators (MNOs) can easily share the same

14 Sep 2020

Getting 5G-ready for the future

Our Chairman, Graham Payne, recently had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on 5G at the UK Sustainable Infrastructure Policy & Investment Online Summit.

17 Jul 2020

Stanhope and the Freshwave Group Bring High-Quality 4G Mobile Coverage to London’s Angel Court

UK’s first multi-operator digital DAS-based managed mobile connectivity service brings high speed indoor mobile coverage to occupiers of leading development.

3 Mar 2020

Enterprise Connectivity Matters (request research report)

Office-based mobile signal issues are causing lost sales, wasting employees’ time and damaging businesses’ reputation.

28 Jan 2020

The Freshwave Group launches to challenge UK digital infrastructure market

Backed by Digital Colony, the Freshwave Group combines unique technical telecommunications capability, and commercial savvy from the property sector.

28 Jan 2020

Shared spectrum is here

We’re very excited to have achieved another industry first, this time with Vodafone and Ofcom.

2 Oct 2019

Spyder Facilities Acquired by Digital Colony’s UK Digital Infrastructure Platform

Digital Colony today announced further growth of its UK platform through the acquisition of Spyder Facilities Limited, a leading UK wireless infrastructure company with over 5,000 locations available for wireless transmission technologies including the latest 5G rollout.

17 Jun 2019

Digital Colony’s UK Digital Infrastructure Platform Acquires iWireless Solutions

Digital Colony today announced further growth of its UK platform through the acquisition of iWireless Solutions, a leading small cell service provider that delivers wireless connectivity solutions to some of the largest and highest profile venues in the UK.

29 Apr 2019

Digital Colony’s U.K. Digital Infrastructure Platform Expands In-Building Wireless Capabilities with the Acquisition of Opencell

Digital Colony today announced that an affiliate has acquired Open Cell Ltd (“Opencell”) and plans to combine the newly acquired business with Stratto Ltd (“Stratto”), a leading provider of premium DAS and small cell networks for indoor mobile coverage in the U.K.

5 Nov 2018