Connected Britain 2026: Key highlights and takeaways

Connected Britain 2026 brought together the connectivity ecosystem to discuss the technologies, infrastructure and partnerships shaping the UK’s digital future. From AI-driven data centre demand and the changing role of fibre to rural connectivity and the growing role of satellite, one message came through clearly: the connectivity landscape is changing rapidly, and the infrastructure supporting it needs to keep pace.

As part of the Proactive PR team attending this year’s event, we spent time this week on the exhibition floor, filming companies, meeting industry professionals and listening to a number of panel discussions. Here are some of the key themes that stood out.

Data centres: AI is changing the infrastructure equation

The discussions around colocation, hyperscale and edge data centres highlighted just how quickly AI is changing the requirements of digital infrastructure.

AI workloads are driving demand for significantly greater power and cooling capacity, while the sheer volume of data moving into and out of AI data centres is putting optical connectivity and fibre infrastructure firmly in the spotlight. Infrastructure is increasingly being viewed as just as important as power when it comes to supporting next-generation compute.

At the same time, there is no single answer to the question of where and how this capacity should be built. Geography, available power and physical space are becoming major constraints, making retrofitting of existing data centres an increasingly important option. Existing edge facilities already have customers and connectivity, while reusing infrastructure can also help avoid some of the financial and environmental costs associated with building entirely new sites.

One particularly memorable observation from a session was that “it is the time of the edge”, with edge infrastructure potentially becoming as important as AI itself as demand for lower-latency processing grows.

Building an interconnected Britain

The conversation around the telco and data centre alliances reinforced the need for greater collaboration across the connectivity ecosystem.

As data centre locations evolve beyond the traditional hubs of London Docklands, Manchester, Slough and the M4 Corridor, operators need to think about how networks, data centres, investors and construction companies work together. Capex sharing was highlighted as one potential mechanism for making new locations commercially viable, while earlier involvement from civils and investors could help bring the different stakeholders together.

Ther was also a clear call for greater clarity from government around data centre development but perhaps the broader takeaway was that the industry cannot simply wait for policy to catch up. With AI demand moving so quickly, private sector collaboration and industry-led investment will remain critical to get projects off the ground and keep them moving.

More broadly, the changing geography of data centres creates a requirement for stronger connectivity across the UK. Key discussions highlighted the need for significant upgrades to fibre networks in some rural areas if the UK is to remain competitive with the rest of mainland Europe in the enterprise market.

Rural Connectivity: infrastructure is only the beginning

The Rural economies: Connectivity as a driver for growth panel offered a useful reminder that getting fibre into the ground is not the end goal – it is the starting point.

Connectivity can enable new services and opportunities across agriculture, tourism and local businesses, with aggrotech providing one example of how rural communities can make practical use of better networks. But the panel stressed that simply switching on a connection does not guarantee adoption or economic impact.

Community engagement and trust therefore emerged as major themes to help increase penetration and improved connectivity in those hard to reach areas. Different communities have different needs, and understanding those needs has to happen early in the deployment process rather than as an afterthought. Getting into village halls, working with local organisations and listening to residents can help turn infrastructure investment into genuine take-up.

The potential impact is significant, with examples discussed including rural residents working in the city gaining the ability to work remotely and local businesses seeing direct benefits from improved connectivity. The opportunity is therefore not simply to close the digital gap, but use connectivity as a driver for business growth, productivity, wellbeing and even relocation.

Satellite moves further into the connectivity mix

Satellite connectivity has increasingly moved beyond being viewed simply as a solution of last resort, and the Sky-high ambitions: Integrating satellites into the UK’s multi-technology mix panel demonstrated just how quickly that perception is changing.

The discussion coincided with the recent publication of the new UK Space Strategy, which places strong emphasis on resilient SatCom and on bringing innovation to scale. The strategy identifies Satellite Communications as one of the four space subsectors to be prioritised for faster deployment, while setting out plans for a more integrated national SatCom architecture.

For the connectivity market, the most interesting shift is the increasing integration of satellite with terrestrial networks. The Space Strategy explicitly envisages commercial satellite connectivity being integrated with terrestrial 5G and 6G, alongside investment in direct-to-device networks and technologies that allow terminals to roam across services.

This reflects what we heard from the panel that satellite is increasingly being deployed in places, including urban environments, where this would previously have been considered a niche solution. As the market develops, resilience, choice and competition will become increasingly important, particularly for customers where connectivity is business critical.

The bigger question is how the UK turns strong technical capability into a scalable ecosystem. As one of the panel’s key messages put: “We need to bring innovation to scale” and partnerships will be central to making this happen.

Looking ahead

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this year’s event has to be the speed of change we are seeing across the industry. From AI reshaping data centre requirements to satellite becoming a more mainstream connectivity solution, the technologies and infrastructure discussed at the event are moving rapidly from future concepts into practical deployments.

The challenge now is making sure the UK's infrastructure, skills, investment and policy environment can move at the same pace.