Telecom and utilities news and perspectives

From fiber-to-the-home to utility grid modernization, there’s no shortage of complexity in network management. Planning, design, mapping, permitting, and database integrity all shape how telecom and utility providers deliver reliable service. At 3-GIS, our team contributes daily to advancing the field, bringing a deep understanding of these challenges and the solutions needed to overcome them. Take a look at our take on what’s happening across telecom and utility networks, from fiber mapping software and OSP design software to smarter approaches for telecom network management and utility network solutions.

Industry news and perspectives at your fingertips

May 12, 2025 11:00:00 AM
  • Utilities
  • Communications service providers
  • Fiber deployment

Fibre at the core: Powering the smart cities of tomorrow

One global report estimated that the smart city platform market is set to be worth $292.1 billion by 2028, the primary factor driving this growth being various government initiatives to develop digitised, smart city infrastructure.1 Meanwhile, at a European level at least, FTTH Council reports that full fibre coverage across the continent has reached 74.6%.2 As these two trends converge, the message is clear: the future of smart cities and the expansion of fibre networks are not just parallel initiatives—they are fundamentally connected.

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May 5, 2025 5:00:00 PM
  • Fiber network industry and markets
  • Telecom technologies
  • GIS

How GIS transforms fiber proposals - Part 3: Creating accurate cost estimates

Cost miscalculations. The silent deal-killers of the fiber proposals process. Following our exploration of slow, manual processes and asset visibility challenges, we now address the most problematic factor that 37% of organizations we surveyed in a recent webinar identify as their biggest hurdle: creating accurate cost estimates.

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Apr 28, 2025 5:00:00 PM
  • Fiber network management
  • Telecom technologies
  • 3-GIS | Web

How GIS transforms fiber proposals - Part 2: Maximizing success with network asset visibility

Valuable fiber assets often sit unused while providers build costly new infrastructure alongside them. Why? Because many providers simply can't see what they already have.

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Apr 21, 2025 5:00:00 PM
  • Fiber network industry and markets
  • Telecom technologies
  • GIS

How GIS transforms fiber proposals - Part 1: The cost of manual proposal methods

Ever wonder why some fiber providers consistently win contracts while others struggle to close deals? In a recent webinar, we pulled back the curtain on what's really happening in the proposal process. The (not so) shocking reality? Many providers are losing winnable deals due to slow, manual processes, poor visibility into their network assets, and proposals with cost estimates that miss the mark.

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Apr 14, 2025 9:00:00 AM
  • Fiber network management
  • Fiber network industry and markets
  • Communications service providers
  • FTTH

What did FTTH Conference tell us about the future of fibre?

If this year’s FTTH Conference in Amsterdam made anything clear, it’s that the fibre industry is moving faster, growing smarter, and getting a whole lot more collaborative. The exhibition hall was alive with activity, as rows of booths hummed with demos, meetings, and panel debriefs. Conversations were wide-ranging: AI and automation, sustainable transformations, new builds, rural challenges, and, of course, how to plan, deploy, and manage networks that are only getting more complex.

But as much as the conversations varied, there were some common threads.

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Apr 7, 2025 4:00:00 PM
  • Fiber network management
  • App modernization
  • Press

Along the Path: How can we support network scalability?

Welcome to the 2025 Q2 edition of Along the Path. In this issue, we’re exploring scalability. Often overlooked during the buildout frenzy, scalability is reemerging as a critical component of fiber network management. From operational scalability to system scalability, telcos need the flexibility to adapt to project needs without worrying about overburdening their people or processors.

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Mar 31, 2025 5:00:00 PM
  • Fiber network management
  • App modernization

Digital transformation - What does it mean for telecom network management?

It feels like the European fixed line telecom market is in change. After a frantic 10 years of network rollout, the industry is finally taking a breath and taking stock of the situation. For many, this pause in capital spend and network build out is allowing them to focus attention on system improvements and efficiencies, namely digital transformation.

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Mar 24, 2025 4:00:00 PM
  • Internet service
  • Communications service providers
  • Altnets
  • FTTH

From buildout to buy-in: What's driving full fibre take-up in the UK?

The UK’s full fibre broadband market is at a critical inflection point. With billions invested in network buildouts over the past few years, the focus has firmly shifted to take-up—how many households are actually subscribing to services. Several recent industry reports have provided various insights and discussions around the current state of play and what’s shaping adoption across the country.

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