Telecoms Research & Publications

How many people can a mobile network support? What happens when they start using it differently? And what does that mean for the companies investing in it?

Those questions connect two major strands of my career. My early research examined the workings of digital radio: how signals are transmitted, how they behave in different surroundings, and how interference limits capacity. My later work widened the focus to the services people would want, the prices that would encourage them to use those services, and the networks and business models needed to support them.

The connection is important to me. Understanding the engineering gave me a foundation for asking bigger commercial questions—and for examining what would happen if people embraced a technology more widely.

Helping shape mobile communications — late 1980s and early 1990s

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, mobile communications was still taking shape. The UK’s first cellular networks had launched in 1985; Vodafone’s UK digital GSM service followed in 1991. The capabilities we now take for granted were still being developed.^[17]

I completed my PhD in 1989 and spent the next six years in wireless research and development at BT. Working in small teams, we were helping to develop the technology and inform the standards for systems that would become part of everyday life. For me, that was an exciting prospect: investigating how something should work while its future was still being shaped.^[18]

My early work with Luis Lopes explored digital modulation and radio propagation. Modulation concerns how information is carried by a radio signal; propagation concerns what happens to that signal on its journey. Both affect whether a wireless system can deliver reliable communication in practice.

Our publications included PR-QDPSK modulation in 1989, designed to carry information efficiently within limited radio spectrum, and studies of radio channels around 1.8 GHz. We measured how signals behaved at Euston Station in London, a potential location for DECT public cordless services, and investigated the outdoor channel for DECT systems. The papers and my BT-sponsored PhD are listed below.^[7,13,19]

Our DECT research was cited in the COST 231 final report’s discussion of receiver performance. This European research programme supported the development of mobile systems and ETSI’s work on the emerging UMTS standard for 3G.^[15]

There is a direct industrial example too. An Ericsson patent application drew on our DECT paper’s findings about antenna diversity—using alternative antennas to improve reception—and the limitations when a user was moving. It used those results to explain the problem its new receiver method addressed.^[16]

With Paul Newson, I then investigated a question with major implications for cellular networks: how much capacity could CDMA actually provide? CDMA allows users to share radio spectrum, but the interference between them makes capacity sensitive to how the system operates.

Our 1994 paper compared CDMA with competing access methods and examined the effects of propagation conditions, power-control errors and realistic antenna patterns. It showed why capacity estimates needed to account for these imperfections: performance under ideal assumptions could differ significantly from what a network delivered in practice.^[14]

That work became part of the subsequent research literature on cellular capacity and power control. OpenAlex places the paper in approximately the top 3.3% for citation impact, compared with research of the same year, type and subject. The detailed citation records, examples of its use and a comparison with research of its period are available below.^{[2–4,10–12]}

From network capacity to commercial opportunity

As mobile communications developed, my emphasis expanded from the performance of individual systems to the decisions facing operators, equipment suppliers and investors. I co-authored more than 40 Analysys Research reports, covering developments including mobile broadband, fixed–mobile substitution, mobile television, network sharing and femtocells. At Unwired Insight, this work continued through client research and forecasts of 3G traffic and capacity.^[7]

The engineering and commercial questions were closely connected. Lower prices could encourage more people to use a service, and to use it more intensively. That changed the traffic a network had to carry, the capacity it needed and the investment required. A compelling customer proposition therefore had to be considered alongside the economics of delivering it.

Two contemporary BBC articles illustrate that relationship particularly well.

In 2004, the BBC drew on our research to ask whether households would abandon their landlines. Mobile voice was only part of the decision: a household might still need its fixed line for internet access. Whether 3G could replace that connection depended on the service and its pricing as well as the technology.^[5]

In 2006, the BBC explored my analysis of the transition to mobile internet. Text messaging generated substantial revenue from very little data. Encouraging people to browse, download and use internet services brought a different relationship between usage, revenue and network load. Pricing that stimulated demand also changed the capacity and business model needed to serve it.^[6]

These were the kinds of questions my reports addressed: how technical developments could change customer behaviour, and what that would mean for businesses. My later commentary for Sky News on 4G spectrum connected the same issues of capacity, investment and the next stage of mobile development.^[9]

Bringing that experience directly to people

Through Increase Broadband Speed, I brought this experience to a different audience: people wanting better broadband in their homes and communities. My guides addressed practical problems such as improving Wi-Fi, choosing fibre broadband, reducing delays in gaming and video calls, and developing a business case for community broadband.^[7]

That progression—from investigating signals, to assessing markets, to helping people improve their own connections—runs through the publications collected here. It also continues in my voluntary community work: understanding what technology can make possible, helping people adopt it, and sharing what I learn from putting it into practice.

Explore Building and Sustaining Digital Communities and Technology and the Web.

Sources and complete publications list

System development, standards context and industrial use

[15] COST 231 final report, chapter 5, section 5.8.1 (within section 5.8, authored by Luis Lopes): the discussion of diversity reception cites Lopes and Heath as reference [62], including where switching delays can remove the benefit as a handset moves. In the saved Rutgers chapter, see printed page 248 (PDF page 40); the reference appears on printed page 281 (PDF page 73). Chapter 5. Chapter 1, section 1.3.2, printed page 19 (PDF page 15), describes the programme’s support for ETSI’s UMTS standardisation work. Chapter 1.

[16] Dag E:son Åkerberg, Ericsson, A method in a diversity receiver, patent application WO1996002984A1, published 1 February 1996, priority 15 July 1994. Its “Description of the prior art” names Lopes and Heath’s paper and discusses figures 10 and 13; its invention summary addresses the delay/mobility problem described there. Read the patent application.

[17] Vodafone’s account of its 1985 UK network launch and 1992 annual report, recording the UK digital GSM launch on 2 December 1991.

[18] Dr Mark Heath, Technology and the Web, for the 1989 PhD and subsequent six years at BT. The small-team setting, work on developing technologies and standards, and personal excitement are Mark’s first-person recollections, supplied while developing this page on 12 September 2026.

[19] Propagation measurements at 1.76 GHz for Digital European Cordless Telecommunications (1990), publisher DOI. The indexed abstract describes measurements at Euston Station, a prospective DECT telepoint, including path loss and delay spread. The PR-QDPSK abstract linked in [13] describes its spectral-efficiency purpose.

Academic citation indexes and comparison with modern research

Figures checked 12 September 2026. These are separate database counts, not additive totals.

1994 CDMA paper	Indexed citations
[10] Semantic Scholar	103
[11] OpenAlex	94
Crossref	70

OpenAlex reports a normalised citation percentile of 96.7, approximately the top 3.3% within its comparison by publication year, work type and subfield. It separately reports a field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) of 6.90. FWCI compares citations in the publication year and following three years with the average for comparable works; for this paper, that window is 1994–1997. These are separate measures, not predictions of how many citations a reissued paper would receive today.

[12] OpenAlex method · Semantic Scholar’s influential-citation method

Other early work: OpenAlex records 33 citations for the 1991 DECT outdoor-channel paper and 25 for the 1992 CDMA conference paper; Semantic Scholar records 23 for the latter. The fuller comparison follows below.

Interpreting the comparisons

These figures describe citation performance, rather than a hypothetical number of citations if the paper were published today. A modern paper with the same FWCI would have the same multiple of its own comparison-group average; an equal normalised percentile would represent the same relative position within its own comparison group. The two measures are calculated separately.

A separate OpenAlex check of 169 articles in the same journal in 1994 places this paper 32nd by lifetime citation count, approximately the top 19%, against a median of 16 citations. That is a different comparison from the broader subject-based normalised percentile, so the percentages are not interchangeable.

The figures refer to individually matched papers, not an author-profile total. The OpenAlex author profile attached to the 1994 record has an incorrect resolved name; the work itself was checked by DOI, title, journal, year and author initials. The 1992 conference record also has an incorrect year in OpenAlex, so no year-normalised comparison is given for it.

For calculation details, see the OpenAlex metric calculation code. FWCI and normalised percentile use separate calculations; only FWCI is assigned the four-year window described above.

Research citations and examples of subsequent use

[1] Thom Frühwirth, Jörg-Rainer Molwitz and Pascal Brisset, Planning Cordless Business Communication Systems, ECRC-95-32, 24 November 1995. Pages 1–2 describe the POPULAR collaboration; section 2.2, page 5, cites the DECT work in the choice of fading reserve; reference [Lop91] is on page 15. Read the research report. [2] Shlomo Shamai and Aaron D. Wyner, Information-Theoretic Considerations for Symmetric, Cellular, Multiple-Access Fading Channels—Part I, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 43(6), 1877–1894, November 1997. See the introduction on page 1878 and reference [88] on page 1894. Read the paper. [3] F. Santucci, G. Durastante, F. Graziosi and C. Fischione, Power Allocation and Control in Multimedia CDMA Wireless Systems, Telecommunication Systems, 23, 69–94, June 2003. The publisher's abstract describes the analysis; the references include Newson and Heath's 1994 paper. Publisher's abstract and references. [4] R.C. Levine, Cellular & PCS, lecture material revised 2001. Page 30 references Newson and Heath in the discussion of access-system capacity. Read the teaching material. [8] Paul Newson and Mark R. Heath, The capacity of a spread spectrum CDMA system for cellular mobile radio with consideration of system imperfections, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 12(4), 673–684, May 1994. Bibliographic record.

[13] Heath and Lopes, Partial response QDPSK modulation (1989): publisher DOI. The original publication catalogue below supplies the channel studies and PhD title.

[14] Paul Newson and Mark R. Heath, The capacity of a spread spectrum CDMA system for cellular mobile radio with consideration of system imperfections, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 12(4), 673–684 (1994). Publisher DOI; indexed abstract and metadata. The abstract describes the access-method comparison and the assessment of propagation, power-control errors and antenna patterns.

BBC and Sky News coverage

[5] Mark Ward, Do land lines face being cut off?, BBC News, 24 May 2004. Read the article. [6] Mark Ward, Future shock awaits mobile firms, BBC News, 13 February 2006. Read the article. [9] Tadhg Enright and Hazel Baker, Mobile Phone Firms To Bid For 4G Licences, Sky News, 22 March 2011. Read the article.

Complete publications list, thesis and dissertation

[7] Preserved from the existing publications page on 12 September 2026.

Reports and articles produced for the Increase Broadband Speed website

Until its closure in December 2025, I wrote articles and guides on my Increase Broadband Speed site about current broadband issues and new technologies. These were targeted specifically at the millions of broadband users worldwide – consumers and businesses.

Some of the most popular articles, which have been widely referenced and linked to, are:

‘Increase Broadband Speed Guide – the top 15 tips to speed up your broadband’.
‘Review of 4G Mobile Broadband and Guide to Increasing 4G Speeds’.
‘FTTP Questions and Answers (FAQs) For an Openreach Community Partnership’.
‘Wi-Fi 6 Versus Wi-Fi 5 – real world performance and speeds’.
‘Review of Ubiquiti’s UniFi Wi-Fi 6 Long Range Access Point’.
‘The Guide to Setting the Best and Fastest DNS Servers for Xbox’.
‘Superfast Broadband Fuels Streamed Video-on-Demand Services’.
’15 Ways to Improve Video Conferencing including Zoom and Skype’.
‘Chart of Fibre Broadband (FTTC) Speed Versus Distance From the Cabinet’.
‘Ten Reasons You Need Superfast Broadband’.
‘Ten Reasons You Need Ultrafast Broadband’.
‘What is Fibre Broadband? FTTC and FTTP explained’.
‘What’s Involved in a Fibre Broadband Installation?’
‘Best DNS Server Settings For the UK and USA’.
‘What is G.Fast?’
‘The Benefits of Fitting a Faceplate Filter to Broadband Speeds’.
‘Tweaking Target SNR Margin to Increase ADSL Broadband Speeds’.
’10 Gigabit Ethernet Guide: is it time to upgrade to 10 GbE?’
‘TV and Video Will Triple Average Home Monthly Internet Usage to Beyond 1 TB By 2025’.
‘Guide for Rural Communities: the business case for Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and how to get it now for your community’.
‘Wi-Fi Optimisation Guide – how to improve your Wi-Fi connection and speeds’.
‘The Weaknesses of Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) – VDSL2 speed versus distance from the cabinet’.
‘How to Speed Up DNS Look-ups’.
‘Chart of Standard Broadband (ADSL) Speed Versus Distance From the Exchange’.
‘Fibre Broadband VDSL2 Vectoring Explained’.
‘G.INP the New Fibre Broadband Enhancement Arrives’.
‘What is ADSL Bonding?’
‘What is Load Balancing?’
‘Bufferbloat: what it is, why it is harming your broadband and how to easily fix it’.
‘Online Speed Tests – the best and worst and how to use them properly’.

I have also produced reports for other clients, such as confidential Expert Witness reports for legal firms. The following report was produced for Connecting Cambridgeshire:

‘Broadband Guide For SMEs and Consumers’, Connecting Cambridgeshire, Dec 2015.

Reports and publications from Unwired Insight

While I have produced many reports from Unwired Insight, the vast majority of these have been confidential reports for specific clients, including major equipment vendors, mobile operators and legal firms. My reports have generally focused on the commercial impact of mobile and fixed telecommunications technologies.

‘Will 3G Networks Cope? 3G traffic and capacity forecasts 2009-14’, Unwired Insight, Sep 2009.

Publications from Analysys Research

I have co-authored 40+ reports published by Analysys Research. These have been sold to mobile and fixed operators, equipment vendors and financial institutions across the world. These cover a range of ‘hot topics’ in the telecoms industry of major commercial significance. They include analysis and guidance on a range of emerging fixed and wireless technologies.

Here is the list of reports:

‘Wireless Network Traffic 2008-15: forecasts and analysis’, Analysys Research, Oct 2008.
‘Wireless Broadband Forecasts For 2008-2015: HSPA, HSPA+, EV-DO, LTE and WiMAX’, Analysys Research, Jul 2008.
‘iPhone Shows the Way For Mobile TV’, Analysys Research, May 2008.
‘Critical Ingredients of Mobile TV: femtocells and sideloading’, Analysys Research, Apr 2008.
‘3G Infrastructure Sharing: the inevitable future for mobile networks’, Analysys Research, Feb 2008.
‘3G Network Evolution From 2007-2012: HSPA, HSPA+, 3G LTE and femtocells’, Analysys Research, Jan 2008.
‘Femtocells in the Consumer Market’, Analysys Research, Nov 2007.
‘The Business Case For Picocells and Femtocells in the Enterprise Market’, Analysys Research, Nov 2007.
‘How to Succeed with Fixed-Mobile Convergence’, Analysys Research, Sep 2007.
‘Seizing the Opportunities From Enterprise Mobility’, Analysys Research, Jul 2007.
‘The Acceleration of Fixed-Mobile Substitution in Western Europe: facts and figures’, Analysys Research, Jul 2007.
‘The Future of the Global Wireless Industry: scenarios for 2007-12’, Analysys Research, May 2007.
‘The World’s Top Ten Non-Voice Services For Mobile Operators’, Analysys Research, Apr 2007.
‘Picocells and Femtocells: will indoor base stations transform the telecoms industry?’, Analysys Research, Mar 2007.
‘Mobile Operator Strategies For Fixed Broadband’, Analysys Research, Feb 2007.
‘Fixed-Mobile Substitution in Western Europe: causes and effects’, Analysys Research, Jan 2007.
‘Mobile Number Portability: strategies for operators and regulators’, Analysys Research, Dec 2006.
‘Mobile Operator Performance Benchmarks’, Analysys Research, Nov 2006.
‘The Business Case For WiMAX’, Analysys Research, Oct 2006.
‘Forecasting the Commercial Impact of Wireless VoIP in the USA and Western Europe’, Analysys Research, Aug 2006.
‘Pricing Mobile Services For Success’, Analysys Research, Jul 2006.
‘Evaluating the Options For Mobile TV and Radio Broadcasting in Western Europe’, Analysys Research, May 2006.
‘Lessons From the Japanese and South Korean Mobile Markets’, Analysys Research, Mar 2006.
‘Prospects For the Evolution of 3G and 4G’, Analysys Research, Feb 2006.
‘Scenarios For the Evolution of the Wireless Industry in Europe to 2010 and Beyond’, Analysys Research, Feb 2006.
‘Defending Against Fixed-Mobile Substitution’, Analysys Research, Dec 2005.
‘Accelerating Fixed-Mobile Substitution’, Analysys Research, Nov 2005.
‘Making a Success of Mobile TV and Video’, Analysys Research, Aug 2005.
‘Delivering Strategic Benefits with IP Multimedia Subsytem (IMS)’, Analysys Research, Jul 2005.
‘The Future of MVNOs in the 3G Era’, Analysys Research, May 2005.
‘Product and Service Opportunities From Short-Range Wireless Technologies: WLAN, Bluetooth, UWB and NFC’, Analysys Research, Mar 2005.
‘Wireless Voice Over IP: technical and commercial prospects’, Analysys Research, Feb 2005.
‘The World’s Top Ten Wireless Services’, Analysys Research, Jan 2005.
‘Pushing Beyond the Limits of 3G with HSDPA and Other Enhancements’, Analysys Research, Dec 2004.
‘The Role and Impact of WiMAX and Proprietary BWA Technologies’, Analysys Research, Nov 2004.
‘TV and Video Services on a Mobile Phone’, Analysys Research, Sep 2004.
‘Delivering High-Speed Internet/Intranet Services: the role for 3G and public WLAN’, Analysys Research, Aug 2004.
‘3G Launch Strategies: critical decisions on services and technology’, Analysys Research, Jun 2004.
‘The Road to Fixed-Mobile Substitution Starts With 3G’, Analysys Research, Apr 2004.
‘Vodafone Live! Versus i-Mode’, Analysys Research, Feb 2004.
‘Scenarios For the Evolution of the Wireless Industry’, Analysys Research, Dec 2003.
‘The Role and Impact of Emerging Wireless Technologies’, Analysys Research, Oct 2003.
‘Where Next For Mobile Messaging?’, Analysys Research, May 2003.

Conference and journal publications

I have produced US and European conference publications and journal papers, including IEEE journal papers. These are mostly focused on the development of new mobile and cordless telecommunications technologies. The publications also include early research into the capacity of CDMA cellular systems. W-CDMA later became a radio-access technology used in 3G mobile networks. ETSI: 3G specifications

The publications are listed below:

‘Opportunities For Wireless VoIP’, IIR Wireless VoIP Congress, Brussels, Belgium, Nov 2005.
‘The Battle For Voice Minutes on the Road to Fixed-Mobile Substitution’, IBC Conference on Maximising Voice Revenues, London (UK), Sep 2004.
‘Vodafone Live! Versus i-Mode: strategies in Japan and Worldwide’, IBC Conference on Mobile Services, London (UK), Sep 2004.
‘Where Next For Mobile Messaging?’, Startrax Conference 2002, Phoenix (USA), May 2003.
‘The Capacity of Spread-Spectrum CDMA For Cellular Radio’, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (USA), May 1994.
‘On the Capacity of Spread-Spectrum CDMA For Mobile Radio’, Proceedings of IEEE 42nd Vehicular Technology Conference, Denver (USA), May 1992.
‘The Performance of DECT in the Outdoor 1.8GHz Radio Channel’, Proceedings of IEEE Sixth International Conference on Mobile Radio and Personal Communications, Warwick (UK), Dec 1991.
‘Propagation Measurements at 1.76GHz for Digital European Cordless Telecommunications’, Proceedings of IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, San Diego (USA), Dec 1990.
‘Radio Channel Characterisation For the DECT System’, Proceedings of IEE Colloquium on CT2/CAI and DECT Cordless Telecommunications, London, Nov 1990.
‘Assessment of Linear Modulation Techniques and their Application to Personal Radio Communications Systems’, Proceedings of IEE Fifth International Conference on Mobile Radio and Personal Communications, Warwick (UK), Dec 1989.
‘A Class of Binary Linear Modulation Techniques For Personal Communications Systems’, Proceedings of IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, Dallas (USA), Nov 1989.
‘Partial Response Quadrature Differential Phase Shift Keying (PR-QDPSK): spectrally efficient linear modulation for personal communications’, IEE Electronics Letters, Volume 25, Issue 8, Apr 1989.
‘Variable Envelope Modulation Techniques For Personal Communications’, Proceedings of Second IEE National Conference on Telecommunications, York (UK), Apr 1989.
‘A New Class of Modulation Schemes With Variable Envelope’, Proceedings of 8th IEEE European Conference on Area Communications, Stockholm (Sweden), Jun 1988.

MBA dissertation

Sponsored by O2, my MBA dissertation focused on a commercial issue facing mobile operator O2 and its network investment strategy. I received the prize for top student at Henley Management College.

Ph.D thesis

Sponsored by BT Research Laboratories (Adastral Park), I developed novel digital modulation methods for application in future cellular and cordless telecoms systems. I presented this research at international IEEE and IET conferences in Europe and the USA, and Aalborg University in Denmark. I was supervised by Dr Luis Lopes and received the University prize for best Ph.D thesis. The thesis was entitled ‘Investigation of Digital Modulation Methods With a Non-Constant Envelope.’

For more information, please contact Mark Heath.