Tech
Science and Technology Committee calls out migration red tape | Computer Weekly
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee’s second report into the UK’s failure to retain and scale science and technology firms has described the government’s visa policies for global talent as “counter-productive”.
With the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee for high-skilled workers’ H1-B visa, the committee has urged the government to “roll out the red carpet” for talented scientists and entrepreneurs who want to come to the UK, rather than red tape.
Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society, said the UK has a visa cost system, which is, on average, 17 times more expensive than in any other country. “It is insane,” he told the committee. “Again, it keeps going back to the lack of joined-up stuff across government. DSIT (the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) will say, ‘We want global talent’, and the Home Office will say, ‘We will try to put you off’.”
The committee’s second report of the session, Bleeding to death: The science and technology growth emergency, highlights a continued failure of the UK to support a thriving science and technology ecosystem. The report warns that the UK has seen a procession of promising science and technology companies moving overseas rather than scaling here. Its inability to retain the economic benefits of its R&D endeavour is a fatal flaw in any growth strategy.
Robert Mair, chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, said: “The UK’s failure to scale its science and technology companies has reached a crisis point. We have witnessed a procession of promising science and technology companies choosing to scale overseas rather than in the UK.”
Risk-averse and inflexible government procurement is blamed by the report’s authors for shutting out small and medium-sized enterprises from government contracts. Combined with the lack of larger technology companies based in the UK that could provide contracts, the report found that startups often have no choice but to seek equity funding from overseas, which can lead to a loss of control over the company.
The report’s authors call for the government’s “laissez-faire approach to technological sovereignty” to change. “All too often, we have allowed promising UK science and technology companies and lucrative contracts to be acquired by overseas investors, especially in the US,” they said. “We must nurture and support these companies to remain here, anchoring them firmly into the structures of government, academia and commerce, and make it the obvious choice for them to grow in the UK.”
Labour’s Industrial Strategy aims to make the UK a digital leader. It sets out overarching targets for the UK to become the third-best place in the world to scale up a technology business, and to achieve the first trillion-dollar tech company in the UK by 2035.
To achieve this, the committee said there needs to be coordinated action across government departments and public bodies, including No 10, the Treasury, DSIT, the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for further Education, the Home Office, delivery departments, UKRI, Innovate UK, the British Business Bank, the National Wealth Fund, procurement authorities in government, and regulators.
“This coordination has proved difficult to achieve in the past, particularly when departments pull in contradictory directions,” the report’s authors warned.
Mair added: “The government will need to use every lever it has to support UK-based science and technology companies and entrepreneurs, and to encourage private investors to do the same. By unlocking institutional investment, changing the culture around innovation, and organising its efforts in procurement, public investment bodies and regulatory reform, the UK government can still stop the bleeding and reap enormous rewards for the nation.”
Generally, reviews and analyses of the telecoms market have been very grounded and focused on gigabit fibre networks and 5G mobile. But any look at 2025 would not be complete if it didn’t show just how much service providers and the industry in general are now increasingly and literally reaching for the stars – to be more precise, the looking at the burgeoning satellite communications sector.
The upshot is that in 2025 non-terrestrial networks (NTN) and satellite connectivity moved very markedly from niche to mainstream, whether in rural broadband or direct-to-cell use cases. In terms of those driving the provider landscape, it was no surprise to see Starlink as having gained the highest orbit sealing with 44 partnerships, followed by AST SpaceMobile and Lynk.
Looking at use cases and geography, rural and enterprise broadband remained the dominant application, with the leading providers players enabling unmodified smartphones to connect in remote areas. Yet in-flight connectivity was perhaps one one of the most interesting applications.
In July 2025, Virgin Atlantic announced plans to introduce Starlink in-flight connectivity across its entire fleet by creating a digitally connected cabin. Months later, arch rival International Airlines Group (IAG) announced a partnership to implement Starlink connectivity for more than 500 aircraft across its fleet, which includes Aer Lingus, British Airways (BA), Iberia, Level and Vueling. Not to be outdone, Qatar and Emirates also inked deals with Starlink to equip widebody aircraft with connectivity.
After a previous year which marked its fifth birthday and the arrival of Advanced versions of the basic network, the 5G industry concentrated on deployment. And one of the most interesting developing market was in-stadium connectivity. Simply offering Wi-Fi in stadiums is not enough: providing an advanced connectivity experience is now what fans – both in music and sports – expect. Game-changing connectivity for stadiums includes integrating existing stadium infrastructure with 5G, cloud-based private telecom networks.
The year was rather quiet on the 6G front, but 2025 did end with research establishments in Europe, in particular Finland, setting out plans for what the next generation of mobile will look like.
For fixed broadband access in the UK, the year saw continued rapid pace of gigabit access. A report from regulator Ofcom in November revealed that 78% of UK homes (23.7 million) had full-fibre broadband access, up from 20.7 million (69%) a year ago. Yet Ofcom also noted that less than half of those with access sign up. Alternative providers were also facing increased business headwinds that are expected to continue into the new year.
Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 telecoms stories of 2025.
GSA study shows Starlink leading the satellite landscape with 44 partnerships, followed by AST SpaceMobile and Lynk, while in spectrum Ka-band remains most widely used frequency range, supporting both feeder and service links.
The findings point to an evolving landscape where satellite services are moving from niche to mainstream, with strong growth expected in broadband and direct-to-cell offerings, and slower but steady expansion in IoT applications
Satellite communications firm launches its next-generation internet of things connectivity service, which it says is set to revolutionise global IoT capabilities with two-way messaging connectivity.
The IoT Nano service is designed to address a growing demand for cost-effective, low-data, low-power IOT services, enabling businesses across sectors such as agriculture, transport, utilities and mining to effectively monitor and control fixed and mobile assets with what is claimed as “ultra-reliable” satellite coverage.
As part of its mission to build the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones for commercial and government applications, AST SpaceMobile reveals plans to expand its satellite fleet by almost 10 times over the next 18 months.
Specifically, the space-based cellular broadband network provider as part of a programme to send 45 to 60 satellites into orbit by 2026 to support continuous service in the US, Europe, Japan and other strategic markets.
MENA airline accelerates programme to equip widebody aircraft with Starlink-based connectivity and now operates up to 200 daily such connected flights to key destinations.
Qatar Airways claims to be the operator of the largest number of Starlink-equipped widebody aircraft and the only carrier in the MENA region currently offering Starlink in-flight connectivity. It has described the expansion as “reaffirming its position as the world’s leading airline for innovation, reliability and unmatched passenger experience
Preliminary design review revealed for Astrum Mobile’s Neastar-1, said to be the first geostationary satellite-to-device mission in the region designed to change how mobile networks reach people across Asia Pacific.
Neastar-1 is being developed on Swissto12’s HummingSat new geostationary small satellites that are seen as offering new economics for the geostationary satellite market, being around five times smaller than traditional satellites and so unlocking faster builds, lower costs and ride-share launches. The range is also said to offer a telecoms-grade service backbone that plugs directly into the 3GPP non-terrestrial networks (NTN) standard, designed for mass-market adoption.
As the country’s mobile comms operators increase the reach and roll-out of 5G standalone networks, the UK has become a mobile data-hungry nation, with mobile users consuming nearly a fifth (18%) more mobile data than a year ago, according to research from communications regulator Ofcom.
The research found UK mobile data use climbs to over 1.2 billion gigabytes each month, as networks deliver 5G SA to 83% of the UK to meet rising demand.
The city of Oulu in Finland has received a further boost to its prestige in the field of mobile communications research, design and manufacturing, with Nokia’s opening of what it calls the new home of radio, in the form of a research and development hub for the entire lifecycle of 5G and 6G radio innovation that will design, test and deliver next-generation networks built for artificial intelligence (AI).
The new campus is claimed to contain some of the world’s most advanced radio network laboratory and manufacturing technology, and will provide both simulated and real-world field verification environments to accelerate network evolution, ensuring that secure 5G and 6G networks are designed, tested and built in Europe.
The UK’s broadband sector has quietly witnessed a tipping point as fibre-based connections direct to premises superseded kerb-side connectivity for the first time, according to analyst Point Topic, while two of the country’s leading independent broadband service providers (altnets) have geared up fibre offerings for businesses.
The Point Topic survey found that the UK broadband market overall regained momentum in the third quarter of 2025, adding 64,000 subscribers and returning to growth across a total base of 28.94 million lines. Most significantly, full-fibre (FTTP) adoption surged ahead at its fastest rate since nationwide roll-outs began, reaching 11.56 million connections and overtaking fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) for the first time, with the latter decreasing to 10.6 million.
Mobility Report shows 33 CSPs currently offer differentiated connectivity services based on network slicing, with a combined total of 65 offerings with around 1.4 billion people expected to be served by fixed wireless access.
Even though the footprint of the UK’s alternative broadband providers (altnets) has doubled in less than two years, the sector is now moving from expansion to survival, with several operators facing commercial pressure that could trigger an expected consolidation wave, a study from Intelligens Consulting has found.
The State of the UK fibre market 2025 report revealed that the UK broadband market is on the brink of its biggest shakeout yet, as the industry shifts from rapid expansion to targeted, commercially grounded fibre investment.
The US Food and Drug Administration today approved a pill version of the blockbuster anti-obesity drug Wegovy. Made by Novo Nordisk, the pill is taken once a day. The company’s original version of Wegovy is a weekly injection. Both drugs contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide.
“This allows patients with obesity who want to lose weight to have a choice between a once weekly injection or a daily tablet,” says Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer at Novo Nordisk.
With the soaring popularity of injectable GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, Novo Nordisk and other pharmaceutical companies have been racing to make effective pill versions that could be preferable for some patients. These drugs mimic a naturally occurring hormone in the body that acts on the brain and gut to promote a feeling of fullness.
In clinical trial results published in the New England Journal of Medicine, participants who took the pill achieved an average weight loss of 13.6 percent by 64 weeks. Nearly 30 percent of people lost 20 percent or more of their weight. The study also showed improvements in cardiovascular disease risk and physical activity levels similar to the injectable version.
While pills can sometimes be a more convenient option, patients may not always take them as prescribed, making them less effective. The clinical trial investigators estimated that in an ideal scenario where participants take the pill every day as prescribed, weight loss would be 16.6 percent—which is similar to results seen with injectable Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk first won approval for an oral semaglutide, sold under the brand name Rybelsus, in 2019 to treat type 2 diabetes. That drug has never been approved for obesity and is not as effective for weight loss as newer GLP-1 medications. The Wegovy pill is essentially a higher-dose version of Rybselsus.
“The efficacy for the obesity pill at the end of the day is driven by dose. Higher doses are required to achieve full weight-loss potential for obesity,” Lange says. The Wegovy pill is 25 milligrams while Rybelsus is 14 milligrams.
The most common side effects of oral Wegovy include nausea and vomiting, which are also side effects of the injectable version.
Novo has not disclosed the exact timeline for the drug’s launch, but Lange says it will be available sometime in the first few months of 2026. Production of the medication is already underway at Novo Nordisk’s US manufacturing sites, and the company expects to have enough of the drug to meet US demand.
The first thing to think about is how you’re going to drain the water from the dehumidifier. In the basement, the best thing you can do is to use the dehumidifier’s continuous water drain tube to either the sump pump or a drain. If those options are not available, you might be emptying the tank multiple times a day. The first time I put a dehumidifier in the basement, the tank was filled in three hours’ time. It’s all about the drainage. Also, knowing how to read a label. If you have a 50-pint humdidifier that means the appliance can remove 50 pints of moisture from the air in a 24-hour period; it’s not the internal tank capacity. Also, look for the maximum area coverage. For example, the Honeywell Smart 50 pint can remove 50 pints of water from 4,000 sq ft—the size of a whole house—in 24 hours.
If you, like me, also need a dehumidifier in your city apartment, then consider buying one that’s easy to move around with wheels and a handle. Some of these machines are heavy. Also, a small dehumidifier in the bathroom is a good idea to keep the dampness at bay, especially if you have mold growing on your grout.
Lastly, do not drink the water collected in your dehumidifier tank. That water is not potable. Pour it down the drain. A dehumidifier is not creating distilled water; that’s a different process and appliance.
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