• AT&T launches ‘Build-A-Plan’
• India’s Bharti eyes a bigger bite of BT
• Vodafone bolsters its 5G upload capacity

In today’s industry news roundup: AT&T tries to attract new customers with a customisable mobile package offer; India’s Bharti Enterprises reportedly wants to increase its stake in UK national operator BT; Vodafone uses carrier aggregation capabilities to increase the capacity of 5G data upload links; and more!

AT&T has landed the latest blow in the marketing battle between the three main mobile operators in the US with the launch of a flexible Build-A-Plan option for its wireless customers, which allows them to customise how much mobile and hotspot data they have access to on a monthly basis. Starting at $15 per month, the Build-A-Plan service – which will go live on 27 May – allows customers to add extra data (up to “unlimited” amounts) and hotspot data (up to 50GB to the baseline 1GB of data). This can then be adjusted or dropped the following month. To get the top-end offer costs $35 for unlimited data and 4K video streaming plus $20 for 50GB of hotspot data, and the plans are initially being made available to new customers, though the operator stressed it isn’t ditching its existing plans. Jenifer Robertson, executive vice president and general manager, AT&T Consumer, explained: “By giving our customers the freedom to tailor their wireless service month to month, we are giving them an affordable way to connect to America’s largest wireless network and still control their budget. It is a win-win.”

Indian telecom and tech giant Bharti Enterprises is eyeing the opportunity to increase its stake in UK incumbent BT, according to reports. Citing three people familiar with the matter, Reuters reports that the Indian firm is seeking UK government approval to boost its share in BT to a level just below the threshold that would force it to make a full takeover offer. Bharti currently holds a 24.95% stake in BT after buying the stake previously held by Altice owner Patrick Drahi in 2024 but, according to the report, it could look to increase this to as much as 29.9%, although a spokesperson for the company said Bharti is pleased with its current shareholding. Increasing this beyond 25% would require approval from the UK government as part of the National Security and Investment Act. BT has just reported its full year financial results and latest strategy update, which included plans to expand the telco’s cost-cutting efforts. 

Vodafone is trialling 5G uplink carrier aggregation capabilities in Germany in order to boost 5G upload speeds by up to 30%. The operator has deployed Uplink Carrier Aggregation with Tx Switching, which combines multiple transmission channels to offer upload speeds up to 200Mbit/s. Connected devices can alternate between two transmission modes, using MIMO in one to optimise signals when users are connected indoors. Vodafone has been testing the technology, which leverages Ericsson’s radio equipment, in the German city of Hanover, as well as in Ciudad Real in Spain, where engineers claim to have achieved peak upload speeds of 273 Mbit/s under strict testing conditions. It is now being made commercially available for German users, though it is currently only supported by smartphones made by Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi – notably on the 15 Ultra and 17b Ultra models, with compatibility with more brands and handset models expected to follow.

Metal theft has cost the UK more than £4.3bn over the past decade and, with the cost of copper at an all-time high, BT’s wholesale fixed access division Openreach has partnered with charity Crimestoppers to launch a public campaign aimed at curbing cable theft. Openreach is appealing for members of the public to report suspicious activity to the Crimestoppers hotline in the hope of reducing the amount of cable theft, which it claims has impacted more than 100,000 customers since 2024. Around 153km of cable has been stolen during that time, according to the telco – equivalent to the distance from London to Bristol. Since April 2025, Openreach’s specialist security team has instigated 90 arrests but the threat remains, especially during the summer months. According to the infrastructure firm, it has lost 1.2 million working hours to repairing theft-related damage, time that could have been spent improving its network or upgrading it to full fibre. Openreach, Crimestoppers and cable recycling firm EMR have joined forces in asking the public to help them catch the perpetrators. Andy Shepherd, director of resilience and integrity at Openreach, said: “We’re working closely with partners and using proactive security measures to reduce the impact of this criminal activity, but we also need the public’s help. If you see anything suspicious, please call 101 or contact Crimestoppers completely anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

– The staff, TelecomTV