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Android gives you the freedom to use whatever apps and services you want, for the most part. So, for example, if you wanted to use an email app that you prefer over what comes pre-installed, you can do that. Of course, it is a lot easier to just use what comes stock with the operating system, and for Android, that’s Gmail. It’s worth noting that you can sync external emails, too, you aren’t confined to just Google’s email services when using the app. But the fact that it is so readily available and such a big part of modern communication means that when Gmail isn’t working on your Android phone, it can cause a lot of headaches. 

Some Gmail adjustments are simple — for instance, you can change one setting to instantly make Gmail better by removing the Meet button — while others, like resolving connectivity problems, take a bit more troubleshooting. There are quite a few things that can go wrong behind the scenes to interrupt services. In Gmail’s case, it could be internet issues, on either your side or the server’s side, misconfigured sync settings, cache problems, or a few other minor complications. Each process or potential problem needs to be troubleshooted differently. But when you don’t know what’s wrong, you have to work step-by-step to try and find a fix. Here are some common reasons why Gmail may not be working on your Android, and how to resolve them.

Google’s services are down

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Never underestimate the possibility of a server-side outage. Sometimes, a service like Gmail and Google’s Workspace applications are down for the count, and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s because there’s nothing wrong with your device, or the app, or your internet connection, so you’ll just have to wait until the problem is fixed. To proceed, you have a couple of options. You can use a tool like Down Detector to check Google’s services, and many others. Google also manages a public dashboard you can use to check the server status of its services. In Google’s chart, an orange encircled exclamation mark means there are service disruptions, while a big red circled “X” means an outage.

If you notice either of these indicators next to Gmail, it means there are technical difficulties on the company’s side, and they probably have engineers working to fix the problem. It’s annoying when you have to sit and wait, but that’s the way of the digital world and online services, unfortunately. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that there was a major Google Cloud outage that took out half the internet.

You might need to update the Gmail app

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If you don’t make a regular habit out of updating your mobile apps on your phone, you probably should start. Many of them still work on older, outdated versions, but they lose functions, introduce security risks, and sometimes, like with Gmail, they stop working or connecting altogether. Syncing issues, when your local client or app cannot connect to the remote server, can be caused by using an outdated app version, especially since Google is constantly pushing out updates for its core applications.

To update the app, head to the Play Store, tap your profile icon in the top right, and then tap Manage apps & device > See details under Updates available. Look for Gmail in the list and select Update as needed. You can also just search for Gmail in the search bar when you first open Google Play. Yes, Google may notify you when there’s an update available, but it’s still best to check on your own. It’s easy to dismiss those notifications when you’re busy and forget about them, and sometimes you may not even receive them.

You should check your Gmail synchronization settings

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An app like Gmail that receives perpetual updates usually has a subset of options related to synchronization. These controls often define how often the app connects and polls server data, determining how often you’ll receive updates about new emails. It is possible to turn sync off or adjust these settings so that Gmail doesn’t connect properly.

To check this, open Gmail, tap the menu in the top left (three lines), and scroll down to Settings. Select your primary Gmail account, scroll down to the Data usage section and make sure the toggle next to Sync Gmail is checked. If sync is enabled, a blue checkmark will appear. Once that’s done, close the Gmail app and open your Android phone’s settings. Go to About device > Google Account > Account sync on most Android devices, or Accounts and backup > Manage accounts > your main Gmail account on Samsung devices. Tap Account Sync and then make sure Gmail is selected and enabled in the list. Close the Gmail app if you had it open and refresh your connection. If it still won’t sync, make sure you have an active internet connection. Double-check that you didn’t disable your Wi-Fi or mobile connection through the quick settings toggles.

There’s a cache or storage issue

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Every Android app has a data cache that can become corrupted. The cache is basically made up of previously used or downloaded files, accessible quickly to make loading the app faster with each subsequent use. When that cache becomes corrupted, for whatever reason, it can cause apps to misbehave. You can try clearing the cache, but don’t worry, it won’t remove important user files. If you are worried, it’s possible to back up your Gmail data beforehand, using a simple, accessible method.

Open Android settings, go to Apps > See all Apps > Gmail. Under either Storage & cache or just Storage, tap the Clear cache button. For good measure, press the back button and select Force Stop from the Gmail information page. If you restart the Gmail app and are still having sync issues, you could check your local storage. Sometimes, when the storage is full, apps can misbehave or won’t sync new data, in which case you need to delete some apps or files to free up some available space.

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Representing a £6.5m boost for UK companies and universities collaborating internationally on space innovation, the UK Space Agency has announced the second round of projects from the successful International Bilateral Fund (IBF), what is said to demonstrate the UK’s commitment to international partnerships and a wide range of areas where the space sector can contribute to economic growth.

As set out in the government’s Industrial strategy, the UK Space Agency is increasing bilateral research and development funding with international allies. The IBF is regarded as a critical mechanism for this, providing targeted support for UK-led international collaborations, and building capabilities and partnerships across the global space sector.

The funding was announced during the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney, and involves partners in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Lithuania and the US.

The announcement follows the agreement between Nasa and the UK Space Agency to develop artificial intelligence (AI) models to support future exploration missions, under the Transatlantic Tech Prosperity Deal, as well as the launch of the Nasa Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, to which UK scientists contributed.

The projects encompass autonomous 3D printing and lunar agriculture to orbital threat detection, biotech manufacturing, medical research and deep space radar, spanning life sciences, communications, in-orbit servicing, Earth observation and advanced materials.

“This £6.5m boost shows Britain leading the way in space innovation,” said UK space minister Liz Lloyd. “From improving mobile coverage to monitoring Earth’s forests, these 23 projects will create jobs, strengthen partnerships with our allies and keep the UK at the cutting edge of space technology. It’s an exciting time for our space sector and great news for British businesses reaching for the stars.”

UK Space Agency chief executive Paul Bate added: “These new projects span the full spectrum of UK space expertise, from telecommunications, propulsion and environmental monitoring to cutting-edge technologies that could change how we develop treatments for deadly diseases using microgravity. By combining home-grown talent with global expertise, we want to strengthen our capabilities, support growth and ensure the UK remains at the forefront of space innovation.”

The UK Space Agency’s stated aims include catalysing investment to advance space-based technology and maximise UK space sector growth; delivering missions and capabilities that responsibly meet national needs and advance our understanding of the universe; and “championing the power of space” to inspire people, offer greener, smarter services, and support a sustainable future. The projects are said to showcase the breadth of expertise across the UK’s space sector, which employs more than 55,000 people and generates £18.6bn.

Just weeks ago, the UK government revealed that the UK Space Agency is to become part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as part of a plan to boost support for the country’s satellite sector and help transform the delivery of public services around the country.

Among the companies seeing backing is Southampton-based AccelerComm, a provider of flight proven high-performance 5G technology for satellite networks, which has a joint venture with RadisysCorporation to support the development of the next generation of 5G non-terrestrial networks. The project will look to tighten the integration of these technologies so they can be offered as a complete package to satellite manufacturer and operator customers.

“The next generation of NTNs is dependent on 5G base stations operating onboard satellites,” said David Helfgott, CEO of AccelerComm.

“Making this happen in the extreme environment of Earth’s orbit is only possible through close collaboration by companies from across the value chain,” he said. “[The funding] builds on our long-standing partnership with Radisys, further unlocking new business opportunities for NTN 5G communication. It also strengthens the UK’s international partnerships in space technologies.”

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The world is elated over the rollout of the iPhone 17 and iOS 26, but Apple’s cutting-edge software could throw its users into troubled waters, and it’s all because of one default setting on the Wired Accessories screen. To access this menu, you’ll need to launch the Settings app, then tap Privacy & Security, followed by Wired Accessories. Once you’re there, you’ll want to change the Automatically Allow When Unlocked default to Always Ask or Ask for New Accessories.

We’re willing to bet you’re probably wondering why, and it’s because of how dangerous it is to connect your iPhone to a public-facing USB port. Hackers are highly active at locations like airports, train stations, and other busy gathering spots. And according to the TSA, one of the main ways these troublemakers get a hold of our personal data is through a process called juice jacking. This is when a hacker swaps out healthy, functioning USB ports and cables for malicious ones that are designed to harvest user data. On the surface, it just looks like the USB is charging your device as intended, but because the connection supports power and data, hackers are able to work their nasty on the backend.

Hackers are turning charging cables against us

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There’s also choicejacking to worry about, which is when a hacker uses fake ads, pop-ups, and sites to fool users into thinking they’re interacting with their phone’s UI when they’re really engaging with a hacker-manipulated interface. Traditionally, choicejacking refers to the act of UI manipulation through methods like fake overlays, fake frames, and even transparency hacks, where an invisible element is hidden behind a legitimate button or prompt. This might be something like a “confirm” button on a fake pop-up that’s asking you to update your phone software or a “play” button on an innocuous-looking video thumbnail. Once you click the fake element, you’ve opened your device up to whatever maliciousness the hacker has in store.

But a study carried out by a team at the Graz University of Technology in Austria seems to indicate that accessories like charging cables could be used to spoof user input, too, which hackers may then use to access your data. Be it juice or choice-labeled, the end result is the same: the bad guys getting what they want from you and your device. This is why it’s so bewildering that iOS 26 arrived with open-armed connectivity for wired accessories once you’ve unlocked your iPhone.

Protecting your iPhone from public USB ports

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For those of us thinking about upgrading to a brand-new iPhone, or those who plan on updating an existing device to iOS 26 (or if you’ve already done so), you’ll want to disable that auto-allow setting for wired accessories pronto. As mentioned, just tap Settings; Privacy and Security; Wired Accessories, and then select Always Ask or Ask for New Accessories.

There are other precautions you can take when hanging out in a public space, especially if you’re often in need of a USB port to top off your battery before hopping on a flight. The best defense is bypassing these public connections entirely by using your own wall charger or portable power bank. You could also carry a USB data blocker with you if you don’t want to pass up the convenience of public USB ports. That’s still awfully risky, though, if you ask us, especially since hackers are getting savvier by the second. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of community USBs; it’s the only surefire way to protect your device from a cyberattack.

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Just days after research revealed that the leading independent full-fibre platform network had 13% UK access coverage, representing 4.3 million premises, CityFibre has announced record connections of 108,000 in its third quarter, almost double the 58,000 customers connected in the previous quarter.

The company said sales performance from partners continues to accelerate, delivering significant revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) growth for the company. For the third quarter, CityFibre posted revenue of £43m, up from £34m a year ago, with an annualised run rate of £172m, up 26% year-on-year. Adjusted third-quarter 2025 EBITDA was £7.6m, more than five times that posted in the same quarter a year ago and now at an annualised run rate of £30m.

Having completed its 10Gb XGS-PON upgrade ahead of schedule and rolled out a 5.5Gb wholesale product, CityFibre said it was cementing its position as the UK’s wholesale provider of choice thanks to its ability to offer internet service provider (ISP) partners “the best economics, the best products and the best service”. CityFibre now has around 730,000 customer connections, with growth accelerating across its ISP partners.

In July 2025, Sky launched across CityFibre’s nationwide network, joining an ISP line-up that serves around 50% of the UK broadband market. When the deal was announced in August 2024, Sky Broadband had a customer base of 6.7 million across the UK and Ireland, with services in the UK then delivered by BT’s broadband provision division Openreach, making it the second-largest residential provider in the UK after BT itself.

Also in July 2025, CityFibre reached an agreement with its shareholders and existing lenders on a major £2.3bn financing round to accelerate its next phase of growth.

The financing includes £500m in new equity secured from CityFibre shareholders – including Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Antin Infrastructure Partners, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding – plus a £960m expansion of existing debt facilities. An accordion facility of £800m is also being made available to help drive CityFibre’s continued expansion through the acquisition of full-fibre network assets. This facility will be used to finance the company’s M&A pipeline and cement its position as the sector consolidator.

With the financing now concluded, the company said it is well-positioned to ramp up market consolidation and transform the reach of its network and the number of premises passed.

“Our rate of customer growth has real momentum, with our ISP partners making the most of CityFibre’s market-leading services and growing across our full-fibre network,” remarked CityFibre CEO Simon Holden.

“We are proving the strength of CityFibre’s wholesale business model as we reach an inflexion point, with our recent financing providing the firepower to significantly expand our reach through acquisitions and bring world-class digital infrastructure to people, businesses and communities across the UK.”

In addition to the Sky deal, the company has also launched full-fibre services for Gigafast+ across its nationwide network, and has completed the integration of Lit Fibre and the acquisition of Connexin’s full-fibre infrastructure.

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In August this year, the Department for Business & Trade published an evaluation of its trial of Microsoft’s M365 Copilot tool. The report found that while employees saved time using the technology, these gains did not translate into greater productivity. For many in the public sector, this result may feel familiar. Artificial intelligence (AI) pilots deliver incremental benefits, but the real transformation the government hopes for remains elusive.

The reason is straightforward – the UK’s current approach to AI is built on shaky foundations. The National Data Strategy, last updated in 2022, does not adequately prepare departments to manage, share, or secure their data in a way that makes it ready for AI. To achieve the cost savings outlined by the government, the UK needs a comprehensive strategy for unlocking data from legacy systems to be utilised in AI.

Challenges in data and AI deployment

Most AI projects in government today layer a large language model (LLM) on top of existing legacy datasets. This approach can deliver some useful outcomes. For example, an AI model can sift through hours of Hansard transcripts — the official record of parliamentary debates — and instantly summarise discussions, or scan government policy documents to pinpoint where a particular issue has been raised. These examples demonstrate AI’s potential to cut through information overload and support faster decision-making.

However, these use cases are limited and struggle when applied to large, disparate, and unstructured datasets spread across multiple departments. The underlying challenge remains – fragmented, incomplete, and siloed data.

Without consistent data foundations, these proofs of concept cannot be scaled or integrated into critical public services. The infrastructure required to process and analyse this data – from cloud platforms and high-performance computing systems to modern networks and storage – must also evolve with growing demand and complexity.

The UK is also facing a skills gap, with a shortage of public sector employees trained to manage, interpret, and apply AI responsibly. Valuable AI talent is leaving the UK for roles overseas, drawn by more advanced facilities and higher salaries.

A refreshed National Data Strategy

A refreshed National Data Strategy can offer a roadmap for overcoming these challenges and turning AI pilots into scalable, productive outcomes.

It should look to establish clear standards for data quality, interoperability, and accessibility across government. This requires not only cleansing and standardising legacy datasets but also creating governance models that incentivise collaboration rather than siloed pilots.

Crucially, this must be supported by a structured approach — from auditing what data exists, to consolidating and de-duplicating it, to migrating it onto modern platforms where it can be securely managed and accessed. Furthermore, governance frameworks should enable safe data sharing between departments, allowing citizens to be treated as whole individuals rather than fragmented records scattered across multiple systems.

The government can further accelerate progress by investing in skills and culture, equipping staff with AI capabilities and fostering a mindset that embraces digital transformation. Cross-department collaboration should be encouraged, with frameworks and incentives to share data and undertake joint initiatives, reducing silos and maximising the value of AI across services.

Public sector data often involves sensitive personal or national information, making robust security guardrails non-negotiable. A refreshed strategy should address not only how data is stored and shared, but also how it is protected against increasingly complex threats. By embedding strong data sovereignty and security principles into every stage of AI deployment, the government can give public sector organisations the confidence to embrace AI while managing risk effectively.

Embedding AI into everyday public services

AI has the potential to transform public services, improving efficiency, decision-making, and citizen outcomes across healthcare, infrastructure, and everyday government operations. Realising this potential will require more than pilots; it will take a coordinated effort to embed AI into the fabric of public sector work.

By investing in workforce skills, modernised infrastructure, cross-department collaboration, and strong governance, the UK can move from isolated experiments to AI solutions that scale, deliver tangible benefits, and maintain public trust.

Matt Harris is managing director for UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa at HPE.

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Some T-Mobile customers have found themselves scratching their heads after receiving letters shaming them for their browsing histories. The letter, which says it come from the T-Mobile Legal and Emergency Response Team, claims that the user has been accessing “sites promoting or facilitating hacking-related activity, and sites containing adult-oriented content featuring fictional characters presented as underage.”

Such a letter might incite panic, even though it notes that the account related to the letter won’t be canceled, throttled, or punished in any way. Many are already concerned about how much their wireless carrier might be spying on them, something that only seems to grow each year as carriers like T-Mobile continue to add features we have to opt-out of to keep them from gathering data about us.

Luckily, this specific incident isn’t one worth worrying about, as T-Mobile has confirmed to Android Police that it isn’t sending out these letters. Additionally, the letters mention that the only way to discuss the matter further is to contact the company’s “Compliance Support Team.” The letter, which has been shared to Reddit, also lists what many online users might immediately recognize as a very suspicious email address, but for those who don’t spend as much time connected to their devices, it might not be so easy to spot.

T-Mobile says it isn’t tracking your browsing history

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While it’s unclear what the motive behind this particular letter is, the goal seems to be getting users to respond to the scam via email, where they’ll likely be fed other bogus information which the scammers could use to try to gain access to information like the caller’s T-Mobile account login information. T-Mobile says that it is investigating the issue itself, too, and that “its Care team is following up with customers who reached out.”

The good news is that the company also says that it isn’t monitoring your browsing history, and that any blocking of websites is done as a way to keep users safe from known malicious sites for “security purposes.” Nevertheless, the contents of the letter are still somewhat believable, especially with so many changes hitting the internet lately. More age-restriction laws are going into effect, with sites and apps introducing their own systems to comply. Many states are blocking access to specific sites that refuse to obey those laws. With AI taking more of a center stage in our lives, it feels like the importance of personal online privacy is beginning to fade.

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The government has unveiled 14 Regional Tech Booster projects as part of its £1m programme to provide businesses and entrepreneurs with targeted training and expert guidance.

In partnership with UK Tech Cluster Group (UKTCG), the £1m aims to deliver local expertise and includes a series of investment events under a National Investment Corridors initiative, through which the government is seeking to put local tech centre stage, boosting investment into the UK’s tech talent from beyond the capital. The first two of these events are taking place in Bristol and Leeds later this year.

The Regional Tech Booster programme will also include workshops on tech ecosystem planning and sharing best practices for ecosystem development with authorities across the country. Further Regional Tech Booster programme details, including investment event dates and venues, will be available via UK Tech Cluster Group as they are confirmed.

Tech for growth minister Kanishka Narayan MP said: “We want UK tech to grow and succeed from any and every corner of the country. It’s a no-brainer that supporting projects like these, and encouraging more investment across the UK, will catalyse our tech brilliance to boost economic growth and opportunities for communities nationwide.”

The projects receiving Regional Tech Booster funding include Tramshed Tech’s AI Innovation Challenge, which aims to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) capability and innovation across Wales, and ScotlandIS’s Future Ready in Scotland, which aims to break down the barriers that often prevent tech founders in rural or remote communities from accessing opportunities typically available in more urban or connected areas through creating peer networks.

In Northern Ireland, Tech NI Advocates and AwakenHub’s Activate AI pilot programme aims to boost AI adoption and productivity among under-represented founders and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region. 

In the East Midlands, Allia Impact’s Building a tech 4 good ecosystem pilot aims to deliver a structured support pipeline, from rapid prototyping and pre-launch programmes to scale-up and funding readiness across the region, while in the West Midlands, TN Naija is providing Build Here, Bridge Beyond, a programme to support immigrant founders in the region to scale locally and globally.

The East of England’s ACT Catalyst pilot from Tech East is targeting startups, scaleups and non-tech SMEs to raise awareness of technologies such as 5G, 6G, AI integration and quantum communications.

The Leeds Digital Startup Studio is offering a peer-to-peer learning model to support at least 30 early-stage and scaling tech businesses across Leeds and West Yorkshire, while in Sheffield, the Pathways off the Plateau scaleup programme from Sheffield Digital Limited is providing targeted support and bespoke action plans to at least 30 plateaued digital businesses in the city and across South Yorkshire.

Other pilots include Digital Plymouth’s Beyond Boundaries Pilot, which is a pre-accelerator programme designed to address systemic gaps in early-stage support in Plymouth’s tech ecosystem, and the Plus X Brighton and Sussex Innovation Centre’s Brighton and Sussex Innovation Partnership for Scale Up Growth, a combined initiative that seeks to strengthen the region’s innovation ecosystem and unlock growth across diverse sectors.

David Dunn, UKTCG lead on Catalyst Pilot Projects, said: “As the projects are delivered, we are excited to share learning across other ecosystems – it is this multiplier effect of knowledge transfer that really makes the Regional Tech Booster initiative valuable.”

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Chris Belasco, chief data officer (CDO) at the City of Pittsburgh, is focused on his team’s triumphs. While some data leaders might like to bask in the glory of their personal achievements, Belasco says success in the fast-moving digital age is very much about taking a collegiate approach: “The complaints should come to me, and the credit should go to the team.”

Belasco reached the CDO position by transferring his evaluation and analytics skills from academia to the public sector. He completed a PhD in public affairs and ran a unit at the University of Pittsburgh that conducted large impact evaluations on democracy and foreign assistance for the US Agency for International Development.

With a young family, he was keen to establish roots locally and joined the City of Pittsburgh in 2018 as enterprise project manager. He moved into the CDO role in 2022 and has relished the opportunity to help his organisation build data pipelines and refine its operational processes.

“I was fortunate enough to have good team members, some of whom are still here,” he said. “I’ve built the rest of the team, which has some incredibly sharp data engineering skills that I feel are a nice way to emphasise the capabilities of what the city has to offer.”

As a reflection of those capabilities, Pittsburgh achieved a higher level of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities Certification earlier this year. The certification recognised how the city has established data capabilities to inform policy, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate programmes, and engage residents. Belasco is proud of the achievement.

“Thirty-eight cities are either gold or platinum in the western hemisphere, and we are punching well above our weight class with the capabilities and practices that we’re able to demonstrate,” he says. “What we’re able to achieve through the work we’re doing, such as partnering with Astronomer, is pretty spectacular.”

Creating a fresh approach

As Pittsburgh CDO, Belasco manages analytic, data engineering, and software development efforts to improve the city’s operations. His team builds the connective tissue for city departments to focus on helping residents, rather than managing data infrastructure.

“My job is mainly about making sure the team has the resources they need to succeed,” he says. “I enjoy helping people make better decisions, giving them the resources they need to be able to do that, and helping to achieve transparency.”

Belasco says the other key element of his job is about ensuring data helps the city achieve its objectives, which are centred on citizen requirements: “My role is about connecting people across silos and departments in our organisation, but also the public and our partners, to make sure that they know the data assets that we have.

“I need to ensure we’re using those assets strategically and that we’re achieving the goals set out by the leadership in the city. We need to give the public some of the things they’ve come to expect from cities in this digital age. That’s about being able to advance our practices by listening to the people who say these are the things you should be working on.”

Belasco says the general direction in terms of digital transformation is towards helping Pittsburgh become a data hub. He says the city made strong progress before he arrived at the organisation, referring to a series of dynamic leaders who were eager to help the city progress in the data space.

Since becoming CDO, Belasco has continued this work. He points to the organisation’s transition to the cloud, suggesting his role in Pittsburgh’s continued digital transformation has involved connecting to best practices in other places and ensuring his team has the runway to land its work effectively.

“We’re about to launch our first open data report since 2017. We’ve been able to release open data sets and partner with our data intermediary partners to do community-driven and community-facing data projects that help equity and justice. We’ve also achieved some safety measures that feel a little unheard of in our domain,” he says.

“We partnered with human resources, the Department of Public Works, which was the pilot leader, and the Mayor’s Office, and we built both the ability to report on safety incidents and the outcome metrics. That work has reduced safety incidents and ensures that employees can go home from work safely, and that’s clearly tremendously important.”

Opening data access

Belasco and his team have also been focused on building real-time citizen dashboards that provide open access to government data. At the heart of this programme of work sits the organisation’s implementation of Astronomer technology.

The Astro platform helps Belasco’s team manage the city’s Apache Airflow data pipelines. Before implementing the platform, the team maintained its Airflow environments on Google Cloud Composer. However, the team struggled with Composer outages and spent valuable time firefighting issues when they wanted to focus on developing innovative citizen services.

Belasco and his colleagues assessed their options and believed Astro could support a digital transformation. The data team began the migration to Astro in early 2024 once they’d demonstrated the case for change to the city’s senior executives.

“I enjoy helping people make better decisions, giving them the resources they need to be able to do that, and helping to achieve transparency”

Chris Belasco, City of Pittsburgh

“We tried to come up with an estimate of how much time we would spend servicing Composer images,” he says. “We were trying to be entrepreneurial about ways that we could help free up time for our people who knew engineering but were spending time on data management. So, Astro was a force multiplier for us to take their time and move it off into something else. The executives understood that we were trying to make our processes more efficient.”

One of the most important initiatives being supported by Astro is the City’s recently launched OneStopPGH Insights tool, a web-based application that allows residents to track neighbourhood permits, code violations and zoning applications online in real-time. Belasco says the pioneering initiative is a great example of how his organisation is working to create data-enabled services for Pittsburgh citizens.

“The site will tell you all the different pieces of information related to the area you’re exploring,” he says, adding that more than 30 permit types are already tracked. “Soon, the platform will also include everything from our Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, such as information related to transportation, rights of way and street segments.”

About 99% of the city’s data activities run in Astro, which has become the city’s unified orchestration platform. The shift to Astro has involved more than four million rows of transformed data across 13 pipelines. The platform also supports the city’s open data efforts, enabling data scientists and the public to use information freely and easily.

“These technologies are the foundations for creating useful visualisations,” says Belasco.

Proving the value of information

Belasco says the work around Astro is a good example of the data-led change that his organisation is attempting to pursue. Across all stages of this initiative and other transformation projects, there’s a continual attempt to build strong bonds with line-of-business professionals.

He gives the example of how this joined-up approach has helped prove the benefits of the OneStopPGH Insights tool to the broader Pittsburgh community: “There’s a project manager in another department who is overseeing the implementation of the software that is used for this programme of work.

“They’re also the person who’s gone out to the community groups to talk to them about using and transitioning to this new software. And the people in the community have had nothing but good things to say. So, this initiative is a triumph of a handful of different teams working together to get the work done.”

When it comes to lessons for other business and digital leaders, Belasco says that modern data chiefs must ensure people across the organisation understand the value of projects that produce insights for line-of-business professionals and external clients. His team stands on the shoulders of earlier work and the recognition of the benefits of transformation in Pittsburgh.

“I feel like everything started with culture changes in technology leadership at the city, which we were able to glom onto and grow. I want to credit the CIOs and past leaders of our organisation who have helped to grow that culture across departments, so that data people in the various departments could get interesting projects moving along,” he says.

“You grow trust out at the department-to-department level and get everybody moving along in one direction as closely as you can. We’ve acted like a subcommittee to help ensure that everyone believes in our work and has a say in what we’re doing. That institutionalisation is a way that we’ve been able to achieve our targets as we’ve moved forward, and then those conversations translate over into products we create.”

Building long-term trust

The data team continues to seek new ways to exploit information. When it comes to artificial intelligence, Belasco says the aim is to explore emerging technology carefully. “We’re working on adapting our activities to ensure that our workforce has the tools to be able to do higher-order work,” he adds. “That’s our pathway.”

Belasco says successful data projects are all about communication and collaboration: “When you say, ‘OK, here’s what we need to do’, and you have someone from a line-of-business department who has a leadership role in the work you’re doing, and they’re telling you, ‘Here’s what I need to see from the project’, then you begin to work together with other people closely to achieve your targets.”

The key to data success is getting the right people from other lines of business across the organisation involved early and quickly.

“It’s all about getting visibility from teams and subject matter experts to help make sure that they have a voice and can contribute,” Belasco says. “You must build trust between your team and the line-of-business professionals and senior executives in the organisation.”

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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has commissioned a senior lawyer to review whether there was any misconduct by police officers following an independent review that found police unlawfully monitored journalists’ phone data, but found no “widespread and systemic” surveillance.

Jon Boutcher, chief constable of the PSNI, told the Northern Ireland Policing Board that he had appointed an “eminent” legal counsel, John Beggs KC, to review a 200-page report on PSNI surveillance and report back to confirm there was no misconduct or wrongdoing by police officers.

Beggs, a specialist in police misconduct cases, represented the police commanders at the 2016 Hillsborough inquests, and is the co-author of Police misconduct, complaints, and public regulation.

Separately, the police force has referred itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate whether a “defensive operation” by the PSNI to gather journalists’ phone numbers and compare them with internal phone records to identify PSNI staff who may have passed information to journalists was lawful.

Boutcher was speaking following the publication of a 200-page review by Angus McCullough KC, which found that the PSNI had made  data applications to identify journalists’ confidential sources, collated a secret register of more than 1,000 journalists’ phone numbers, and identified four cases where the PSNI had used “directed surveillance” for investigations involving journalists and one involving a lawyer.

Sinn Féin representative Gerry Kelly pressed the chief constable on whether he stood by his public statement that the McCullough Review had revealed no issues of misconduct, criminality, or unlawfulness.

Kelly said there were “unlawful retentions” of two journalists’ data, despite clear court orders that the data should be destroyed, 21 cases of the unlawful use of covert powers to identify journalists’ sources, and a “washing through” operation to identify PSNI employees who had phone contact with journalists that was likely in breach of human rights laws.

“I just think for you to come in and to say that there’s no issue here, I just find it hard,” he told Boutcher.

Code of practice had no public interest test

Boutcher said the Investigatory Powers Tribunal found that the PSNI had acted unlawfully in 2013 by obtaining the phone data of journalist Barry McCaffrey, but had found that PSNI officers had acted in good faith.

PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher has appointed a legal counsel to review the 200-page report on PSNI surveillance

This was because the 2007 codes of practice followed by the police “were not fit for purpose” and were changed in 2015 to introduce a public interest test, said Boutcher.

“Proper consideration wasn’t given in the application process around things that weren’t required by the code, but should have been,” he said.

Boutcher said he had asked the ICO to assess the legality of the “washing through” operation.

The PSNI’s professional standards department had stopped the practice in March 2023, and Boutcher had issued a formal notice to discontinue the practice in May 2024, the Policing Board heard.

Boutcher said police should be able to investigate whether staff breached the PSNI’s code of ethics by releasing information to journalists, but investigations should be based on a “specific and precise concern”.

“In all the time that I’ve been a senior investigating officer and dealt with some really complex organised crime operations, I don’t think I’ve ever required comms data for a solicitor or a journalist,” he said. “I don’t understand why the washing through was done, and it’s not going to happen anymore. It stopped,” he added.

He told the Policing Board that the lists of journalists used in the “washing through” operation were inaccessible and would be destroyed when they were no longer needed by cases currently being investigated by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

Police did not act with malice

Boutcher said McCullough had found no malice or that anyone was deliberately trying to inappropriately use the system.

“There were mistakes. There are process issues. There was a lack of legal advice. Special status issues weren’t properly thought through,” he said.

Angus McCullough KC published a 200-page report – The McCullough Review – on PSNI surveillance

Human rights groups Amnesty International and the Committee on Administration of Justice last week called for an independent inquiry into spying on a journalist by MI5, following disclosures that the service unlawfully monitored the phone data of BBC journalist Vincent Kearney.

Boutcher said he could not answer for colleagues in the intelligence services, but that there were frameworks in place, such as the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, to provide accountability.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board heard that the relationship between the PSNI and the Security Service, MI5, was governed by an Annex in the St Andrews Agreement, the peace deal which led to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2006.

Under the agreement, PSNI officers are colocated with Security Service personnel to ensure that “intelligence is shared and properly directed within the PSNI”. The PSNI runs the “great majority” of national security agents in Northern Ireland, under the direction of MI5.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is investigating 10 complaints brought against the PSNI by journalists, lawyers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over alleged unlawful surveillance.

They include cases brought by the BBC, along with former BBC journalist Kearney and former BBC Spotlight reporter Chris Moore, who exposed MI5’s involvement in the Kincora boys’ home.

Boutcher has written to seven journalists in the wake of the McCullough Review, which found that the PSNI had unlawfully accessed their phone data. Another journalist impacted is no longer alive.

UTV journalist Sharon O’Neill is taking legal action after police covertly attempted to identify a confidential source in 2011. Hugh Jordan, journalist at Sunday World, has also been informed that his phone data was accessed.

Boutcher has also apologised to human rights lawyers Peter Corrigan and Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law after they were subject to unlawful surveillance.

McCullough is due to produce a second report, expected next year, reviewing the progress of the PSNI in implementing 16 recommendations and complaints against the PSNI currently being considered by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

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BT is ramping up its deployment of advanced mobile telecoms technology at its EE mobile unit to gain a leap in a competitive marketplace, deploying a new generation of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) units with antenna integrated radios that are claimed to deliver maximum network experience and up to four times greater uplink capacity.

The MIMO units come from Ericsson, specifically the AIR 3284, said to be the world’s first 5G triple-band FDD massive MIMO radio used in a European-first deployment. And to make the usage of the technology clearer for customers, BT will in future use the term 5G+ rather than 5GSA.

EE first introduced its 5G standalone (SA) network in September 2004, launching in 15 cities across the UK, including Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.

At launch, EE said its 5G SA network will set a new standard for connectivity, bringing benefits to customers from day one, and being the first of its kind in the UK to offer near-uninterrupted outdoor coverage in every city it launches.

The operator said 5G SA would offer a smoother, more reliable and more secure mobile connection built for better live streaming, video calling and mobile gaming. In addition, it was attributed with supporting enhanced voice calls in more places, with faster setup times that reduce the delay between dialling a number and the phone starting to ring via voice over 5G (Vo5G) standalone.

Two of the Ericsson units are live in the city of Leeds, with hundreds more said to follow by the end of the decade, and in addition to deploying the technology, BT noted that its ambition was to deliver 99% 5G+ population coverage by 2030, what it said was four years ahead of any other UK MNOs’ current projections.

The deployment is being supported by what are called a series of technology firsts and ongoing network densification efforts. In addition to massive MIMO, BT is also scaling its small cell programme, which now exceeds 1,500 nationwide after 500 units were added in the past 12 months alone. This includes its very first small cell deployments in towns and cities such as Belfast, Bristol, Oxford, Middlesbrough, Preston and Bolton.

Only weeks ago, EE deployed Ericsson advanced radio access network coordination (ARC) technology, which is designed to give 5G users across the UK a significant boost to their connectivity.

Fundamentally, ARC technology is designed to allow nearby mobile sites to remotely pair up and share capacity, with the result of “dramatically” boosting network performance – especially in busy areas at peak times – without the need for additional masts.

BT Group chief security and networks officer Howard Watson said that it was building for the future with smarter technology, backing ambition and 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,” he said. “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,” said Watson.

“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,” he added. “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.”

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