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Google Scraps Project Loon – 4G Rural Broadband via Balloon

22nd Jan, 2021 (10 Comments)

Maybe it was just a lot of hot air but Google (Alphabet) has announced that Loon, their long-running project that aimed to deploy mobile broadband (4G / 5G) connectivity from High Altitude Platforms (stratospheric balloons), is “winding down” as a company after they struggled to turn it into a commercial success.

Rural Full Fibre Broadband Pilots Start Rollout in Pembrokeshire UPDATE

22nd Jan, 2021 (3 Comments)

The Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) in Wales has today announced that the first of many gigabit-capable broadband cabinets have just been install in several rural communities, which stem from four new pilot schemes with Broadway Partners (UK ISP Broadway Broadband).

Virgin Media UK Add 6,800 Premises in Accrington to FTTP Rollout

22nd Jan, 2021 (22 Comments)

Some 6,800 additional homes in the town of Accrington, which sits in Lancashire (England), have just become the latest to benefit from the on-going expansion of UK ISP Virgin Media’s (Liberty Global) new gigabit-capable and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network.

Vodafone UK Launch 4G Gigacube B818 Mobile Broadband Plans

22nd Jan, 2021 (29 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has launched a new 4G based Gigacube B818 router and several associated mobile broadband plans. The new kit is described as being a “flexible alternative to standard broadband“, which they claim will allow customers to “benefit from high-speed internet access in areas without fixed-line connectivity.”

Telecoms Operators Spent £940m on UK COVID-19 Support

22nd Jan, 2021 (5 Comments)

A new Assembly Research study has found that UK broadband ISPs and mobile operators responded quickly to the COVID-19 crisis and have so far provided a colossal £940m worth of support, such as via free allowances (data, calls and texts), special packages, zero rated data on websites, discounts and support for online learning etc.

CMA Probe Fears Higher Prices After O2 and Virgin Media Merger

21st Jan, 2021 (19 Comments)

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published an ‘issues statement‘ on the proposed £31bn merger between mobile operator O2 and broadband ISP (inc. TV, phone) Virgin Media, which highlights the authority’s two main concerns – the risk of higher consumer prices and worse 5G connectivity for rivals.

ISP Pure Broadband Joins Cityfibre’s UK Full Fibre Network

21st Jan, 2021 (13 Comments)

UK ISP Pure Broadband has today become the latest provider to join Cityfibre’s growing national Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which will enable them to take a wholesale service and thus launch gigabit-capable internet packages across a number of initial UK towns and cities during early 2021.

Giffgaff UK Boost 5G Mobile Data Allowances, Hikes PAYG Price

21st Jan, 2021 (16 Comments)

Mobile operator giffgaff has announced that they will soon be boosting the data (mobile broadband) allowances on some of their plans and as part of that they’ll also launch two new 5G ready “golden goodybag” plans. But it’s not all good news as the operator is doubling the price of data usage on their Pay As You Go (PAYG) service.

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) have reportedly two among several "groups" that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of a £1.1bn takeover by Toscafund - controlled by hedge fund tycoon Martin Hughes (here), which including debt valued the broadband provider at around £1.8bn. The deal took the ISP private and gave them more financial flexibility for their future plans. Since then, they've backed Freedom Fibre (here) and this week made the notable acquisition of Ethernet provider Virtual1 (here). According to the FT (paywall) and Sky News, TalkTalk is now said to have asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after allegedly being approach by several groups, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband). Lazard is a logical choice as they recently acted as Financial Advisor to TalkTalk on the Virtual1 transaction. Some industry analysts have reportedly suggested that TalkTalk itself could now be worth "at least" £3bn. But this seems rather optimistic for an ISP that doesn't have any significant fixed line broadband infrastructure to call its own (excluding their old unbundled LLU network) and largely just piggybacks off Openreach (BT), CityFibre and Freedom Fibre. But TalkTalk do have a strong business and wholesale side. Funnily enough, Sky Broadband are in a similar position with their own fixed line base, while Vodafone also likes to piggyback off Openreach and CityFibre. At present, Vodafone has a fixed broadband base of 991,000 customers, while Sky Broadband is estimated to be home to around 6.7 million and TalkTalk has approximately 4.2 million. Suffice to say, anybody gobbling up TalkTalk would instantly become a much larger provider, giving them a greater say in how the UK broadband market develops and more opportunities for convergence (Vodafone with mobile, and Sky with mobile and TV). Crucially, TalkTalk's consumer base is mostly made up of those on older copper and hybrid fibre lines (i.e. ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2), which are ripe for a future migration to FTTP. At the time of writing, all of the aforementioned operators have decline to comment on the reports, and TalkTalk has yet to receive any serious formal offers. In other words, we strongly suspect that this is largely just an exercise in spin to help TalkTalk drum up some more productive interest in the idea. But at the same time, it's not unreasonable to suspect that they might succeed, as the interest seems genuine. On the other hand, we see reports like this every year or so and only a very few ever convert into a serious offer. Time will tell. Much may depend upon whether or not TalkTalk’s new owners are more flexible and pragmatic about doing a deal than the previous lot. Arguably, TalkTalk might have gone much further by now had they taken some different decisions a few years ago (e.g. co-investing in FTTP instead of Pay TV).

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Preps New UK Smart Home Protection

21st Jan, 2021 (16 Comments)

Budget conscious internet provider TalkTalk appears to be nearing completion of a new ‘Smart Home Protection‘ service (app), which is currently being trialled by a number of their broadband customers and looks to be an upgrade of their existing ‘Supersafe Boost’ (usually costs an extra £4 per month) and HomeSafe service.

Vodafone UK Says it’s Unable to Offer Free BBC Bitesize Access

20th Jan, 2021 (22 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone has said that they won’t be following EE’s (inc. Plusnet and BT) lead by offering free data (mobile broadband) access to BBC Bitesize (education) content during the latest COVID-19 lockdown because it is “not possible,” at least not without applying the same rule to the whole of the BBC’s UK website.

EE Still in the Lead as Best UK Mobile Network for H2 2020

20th Jan, 2021 (17 Comments)

The latest biannual H2 2020 study of mobile network (4G and 5G) performance across the United Kingdom by RootMetrics has found that EE (BT) continues to be the best overall operator. On top of that they also delivered the fastest median (average) broadband download speed of 43Mbps (similar to 42.6Mbps in H1).

Mobile Operators Reject Call to Stop 5G Rollout Over Health Fears UPDATE

19th Jan, 2021 (0 Comments)

The trade association for UK mobile operators, Mobile UK, has warned that calls for the 5G rollout to be delayed on health grounds are “without merit“. The commentary comes after Professor John William Frank (University of Edinburgh) alleged that the transmitter density required for 5G may be “potentially harmful to health.”

Wireless ISP Quickline Joins Cityfibre’s UK Full Fibre Network

19th Jan, 2021 (14 Comments)

Broadband ISP Quickline has today become the latest ISP to join Cityfibre’s growing national wholesale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which will enable them to launch gigabit-capable internet packages across a number of initial UK towns and cities during early 2021.

Hands holding british pound coin and small money pouch

Chair of UK Business Committee Pushes Social Tariff for Broadband UPDATE

19th Jan, 2021 (5 Comments)

The Chairman of the cross-party UK Commons Business Select Committee, Darren Jones MP (Labour), will tomorrow propose a new Private Members Bill that seeks to introduce a new low cost “social tariff” for broadband, which will be focused upon families with children on free school meals (i.e. disadvantaged groups).

ISP Lothian Broadband Plans FTTP Rollout to 50,000 Premises

18th Jan, 2021 (7 Comments)

Fixed wireless and full fibre ISP Lothian Broadband, which covers parts of East Lothian and Mid Lothian in rural Scotland, has today announced that they’re planning to accelerate growth through a “large-scale investment in fibre infrastructure” by deploying FTTP to 50,000 homes in communities where they already have a presence.

UK Internet Censorship – Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t

18th Jan, 2021 (68 Comments)

Prompted by Donald Trump’s ban from social media, calls are once again growing from politicians for internet sites to be held liable if they remove lawful content and users. Soon it may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t, as the future approach toward protecting freedom of speech risks doing the opposite.

Hyperoptic Gifts Free Fibre Broadband to Disadvantaged UK Kids

18th Jan, 2021 (9 Comments)

UK ISP Hyperoptic, which is rolling out a 1Gbps FTTP/B broadband network to large residential (MDU) buildings and office blocks, has today echoed last week’s news from CommunityFibre (here) by announcing that they too will supply a “free 50Mbps service” to homes with children stuck on slower connections (coverage allowing).