Connected Britain in 2025 is more about what people can do with connectivity rather than just building out the connectivity.
INDUSTRY EVENTS
Total Telecom ExCel Again!
Rob Chambers, CEO of Total Telecom took time out during the show to talk to Broadband Journal
I wasn’t disappointed by the fibre keynote at lunchtime as well; that took place in the keynote theatre and was literally standing room only, it was fantastic. What stands out the most so far for you? It would be the flash mob! People come to events not just for what they get out of it in a formal sense, but people want to have fun as well. We thought that was a nice way to break the ice and add some humour, a bit of fun. We have also focused on the overall experience of being at the show too. You can see in the middle of the floor here somewhere, The Dog & Duct pub which ICS has sponsored, which is a nice touch. We’ve also got a charity partner for the first time and hosted a 5K run last night with the Sue Ryder charity, so that’s great. How did the run go? It went really well. It’s hard to know how something new like that’s going to work, but we had about 50-odd runners, which for a first year I think was great. Other things that are new this year, we’ve got the recruitment and training hub on the show floor. It’s in its early stages at the moment, but it shows real promise. There’s lots of people there looking at the demonstrations that MATS and Impact Match have put on and the speeches they’re giving and talking to the people there on the training hub, the ITP (Institute of Telecom Professionals) are there, Virgin Business are there, so it’s really good.
Great to see you Rob – this is such a great show. Tell us a bit about yourself. I’ve been managing director Total Telecom for about 20-odd years now. I came to it from a background in financial publishing, and came into tech and telecoms publishing initially, and then events. I was joking you’re not really allowed out once you get into that space, and so I’ve been in it ever since. We’ve probably been seriously running events for about a dozen years now. How have things changed since those early days? The big thing that always changes with Connected Britain is it’s just bigger. Now, we’ve got nine halls here, we should
have about 8,000 people over the two days. We’ve got 430 speakers. If you’re looking more in terms of what’s different with the industry, then it’s really about how the industry is evolving, the way it’s diversifying away from a concentration on fibre, which is where the event was when we started out. Look around; you can see more focus on mobile technologies, you can see more focus on obviously AI and data centres, and Connected Britain in 2025 is more about what people can do with connectivity rather than just building out the connectivity. What are you most excited about this year? It was probably hearing from Allison Kirby chief executive of BT Group. We’ve always had good support from BT, right from the beginning, but we’ve never had the overall CEO before, not for BT Group.
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DECEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.4
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