I never imagined that I would be drafting my first blog post here, in a quiet moment on location from the UK’s first ever public trial of autonomous vehicles on UK roads. But, as I have quickly learned, such is life at DG Cities!
Last month I joined DG Cities on secondment from Ofcom, the UK’s independent communications regulator. As Head of Telecoms, I’m working on a range of projects across DG Cities to provide specialist input related to several connectivity projects the company is running. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to go on a site visit and to see firsthand the real-world impact of the work that DG Cities and the Royal Borough of Greenwich have been doing to future-proof digital infrastructure in the Borough.
As we have learned throughout the past 18 months, access to good quality broadband matters to us all. Whether it’s being used to stream the latest programmes and films, play games with other people around the world or connect with friends and family via video calls, high quality broadband forms the backbone of how many of us get our entertainment and communicate with one another. But beyond these many benefits, we at DG Cities are also aware of the role that such networks play in helping people to partake more fully and meaningfully in society. Good quality broadband can be crucial in enabling and empowering people to access public services, including education and healthcare.
During my time at DG Cities I’m especially looking forward to working alongside the team as we continue our work to ensure that Greenwich’s residents are able to take full advantage of the opportunities that modern full fibre networks offer. This doesn’t just mean increased bandwidth, but also increased reliability and lower latency, the latter of which is particularly important for real-time applications such as video conferencing.
Throughout my 15 years at Ofcom I have worked on projects across telecoms, media, online and postal services. Starting in the Strategy team, I have worked in the Market Intelligence team, leading on the audio and postal sectors. Many innovations being researched and adopted by operators of postal and other types of networks used to deliver physical goods such as fleet electrification and autonomy are also key priorities for DG Cities, so I’m equally excited to learn more about these areas during my time with the team.
If you want to know more about my work or the work of the team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].