Press Release
MLL Telecom, a leading provider of secure managed network services for the UK public sector, today announced its continued commitment towards development and innovation in the East of England. Since its initial appointment by Cambridgeshire’s EastNet partnership in summer 2018 to upgrade the county’s existing Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructure, MLL Telecom has been awarded several contract wins across the entire East region. These new contracts have laid the foundations for sustained technological and social investment by MLL Telecom in the region.
Upgrading the WAN
Limited bandwidth and declining WAN infrastructure is becoming an important agenda point for UK council’s digital transformation strategy. As a result, many local authorities are placing emphasis on upgrading or replacing their existing infrastructure to enable new ways of working and interacting. MLL Telecom has partnered with several local authorities across the East of England, including Suffolk County Council and Norfolk County Council to realise these ambitions and provide futureproof digital connectivity strategies.
MLL Telecom was appointed in 2018 by the EastNet partnership, a collaborative initiative between public sector organisations throughout the region, to bring full-fibre gigabit speeds to Cambridgeshire via a new WAN. Since then, MLL Telecom has migrated sites across Cambridgeshire, encompassing local schools, NHS Foundation Trusts, District and City Councils, and County Councils, significantly enhancing connectivity options for residents and business alike.
MLL Telecom has also been appointed by Suffolk County Council on a 5-year partnership contract to lead its digital transformation strategy and future-proof Suffolk’s County Council’s network as part of a 20-year long infrastructure project with CityFibre. This will see MLL Telecom contribute to economic growth and social enhancement in the region. MLL Telecom’s services have enabled councils across the East of England to deliver:
• A more streamlined connection from a single provider, replacing point-to-point connections from multiple providers
• Region-wide internet roaming via the government-led GovRoam initiative, enabling greater remote working options
• Increased bandwidth speeds of up to 10Gb
• A managed and secure connection, enhanced by new firewalls
MLL Telecom has leveraged a number of partnerships to bring these new services to the region, including a partnership with CityFibre, a digital infrastructure provider, as well as not-for-profit organisations such as, Connecting Cambridgeshire, Connect Suffolk, and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.
HSCN migration
In addition, MLL Telecom is also assisting several healthcare organisations with their migration from the now-defunct N3 network, onto the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). The migration to HSCN allows local NHS sites, such as hospitals and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), across the region to work on a shared, high-speed, secure network, to allow the safe transfer of critical and sensitive patient information.
MLL Telecom has helped the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, made up of 45 sites, to seamlessly migrate onto HSCN, and futureproof its digital strategy to ensure it can cope with demand for more, digitally led services, such as video conferencing for acute hospitals, and patient Wi-Fi. MLL Telecom has also helped a number of acute hospitals in the Norfolk region receive enhanced network connectivity. These include the James Paget University Hospitals in Great Yarmouth, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in Norwich, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. In addition to this, MLL Telecom is also responsible for providing connectivity to Norfolk’s Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). As of today, MLL Telecom manages the entirety of Norfolk’s healthcare connections, outside of the region’s ambulance service.
Social impact
The enhanced connectivity brought about by MLL Telecom’s investment in the region has also seen significant social benefits brought to the East region. This includes the launch of a ‘Digital Academy’ in Suffolk, which aims to upskill local employees in fibre installation, digital skills, such as AI and DevOps, and network management. MLL Telecom is also supporting several local authority sites throughout Norfolk and Suffolk who are working with the New Anglia Enterprise Adviser Network to improve social mobility across the region. MLL Telecom will also help Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in rolling out new services, including:
• Managed public Wi-Fi via a managed local area network (LAN), to increase connectivity in rural areas
• Apprenticeships and training programs backed by MLL Telecom to upskill local residents and create more employment opportunities
• Better access to digital services, such as remote teaching, in the region’s classrooms
Commenting on MLL Telecom’s investment, Executive Director, Strategy and Sales at MLL Telecom, Isy Bizaoui, said: “We are extremely proud of the results we have delivered, either through partnership or directly with public authorities or healthcare institutions across the East of England. We understand the impact that good connectivity options can have on a community – our reliance on technology today means connectivity can significantly improve residents’ day-to-day lives and deliver better business outcomes. We’re committed to making the East of England the envy of the country, ensuring it embraces technology to meet the demands of today, and tomorrow.”
“Enhancing connectivity is an important agenda point for us at Suffolk,” said Simon Reed, Head of IT Service and Operations, Suffolk County Council. “Connectivity is about more than internet speeds, it is about helping local communities, no matter how rural, thrive and grow. It is also key to helping drive and boost employment opportunities throughout the region, and help Suffolk become a truly digital county. Our 20-year partnership with MLL Telecom is key to enabling the digital change we want to see in the near and long-term future, and we are looking forward to seeing how this partnership will evolve alongside Suffolk County Council.”
About MLL Telecom
MLL has over 25 years’ experience in designing, building and managing reliable and secure networks for all the UK Mobile Operators and many UK Public Sector organisations, including local government, blue light, health and third sector bodies. We use this experience to deliver a combination of fixed, mobile and wireless technologies enabling optimum network solutions for our customers. We also provide our insight and recommendations on how a network’s design and commercials should evolve by taking advantage of new technologies, suppliers and market pricing throughout the lifetime of a contract.
MLL is a Licenced Code Operator and has an extensive portfolio that includes Design, Planning, Infrastructure Build, Installation & Commissioning Services to support Vodafone, MBNL, O2 and EE.
MLL has also established itself as a leading provider of managed Wide Area Networks and overlay services such as LAN, UC, Wi-Fi, Security and Cloud Infrastructure. In 2015, MLL became an approved provider on the RM1045 Network Services Framework Agreement. In March 2017, MLL became the first supplier to gain full HSCN compliance and in October 2017 we connected the first customer to a live HSCN network service.
MLL Telecom media contact:
Anais Merlin
CCgroup
T: +44 (0) 203 824 9200
E: mlltelecom@ccgrouppr.com
