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Articles for Category Tag - Business

BT Results See FTTP Broadband Cover 8.8 Million UK Premises

3rd November, 2022 (37 Comments)

The latest Q2 FY23 results to September 2022 have today been released by the BT Group, which saw the coverage of Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network reach 8.76 million premises (up by 805k in the quarter vs 763k last quarter). Meanwhile, EE’s 5G customers topped 8.157 million (up from 7.74m).

FullFibre Ltd’s Network in Derbyshire Gets 100G Capacity Boost

2nd November, 2022 (3 Comments)

Business ISP Commsworld has provided UK alternative network provider FullFibre Limited with a capacity boost for their FTTP broadband rollout in Derbyshire by deploying a 100Gbps connection between the Derby Exchange and Telehouse North Two (data centre) in London.

BT Wholesale Brings EE’s UK Mobile Connectivity to Wholesale

2nd November, 2022 (11 Comments)

The wholesale division of ISP BT (BT Wholesale), which sells broadband and other services to a large number of UK providers, has announced that they’re going to make EE’s connectivity available to enterprises and resellers on a direct, wholesale basis for the first time, through their mobile SIMs.

Virgin Media O2 Sees Project Lightning Add 3 Million UK Premises

2nd November, 2022 (15 Comments)

The latest Q3 2022 results from broadband ISP and mobile giant VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) has seen their fixed broadband base reach 5.63m customers (up by 19.1k in Q3 vs 16k in Q2), while their gigabit network coverage added 115,000 premises (3 million delivered via Project Lightning) and 5G is available in over 800 towns and cities.

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).

Virgin Media O2 UK Puts Possible £3bn TalkTalk Merger on Ice

31st October, 2022 (12 Comments)

A major newspaper has reported that Virgin Media (VMO2) has allegedly gone cold on the idea of reaching a £3bn merger deal with budget UK ISP TalkTalk, which would have added the provider’s broadband base of over 4.2 million to their own base of 5.6 million in order to more effectively compete with BT.

fibre optic uk network cable flay glowing 2020

VXFIBER and Council Owned ISP Extend FTTP Broadband to Wivenhoe UPDATE2

31st October, 2022 (3 Comments)

Network builder VXFIBER UK has announced that they’ve joined forces with the local authority owned ISP Colchester Fibre (part of Colchester Amphora Trading) to make their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (dedicated point-to-point fibre) available to over 3,500 homes and businesses in the town of Wivenhoe.

Full Fibre Benefits as Utility Warehouse Extend Deal with UK ISP TalkTalk

27th October, 2022 (1 Comment)

Broadband, mobile and energy provider Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) has today announced that they’ve extended and expanded upon their existing UK wholesale supply agreement with ISP TalkTalk, which looks as if it will give UW access to the provider’s growing range of alternative full fibre (FTTP) networks.

Virgin Media O2 Parents May Sell Stake in UK Masts to Boost Full Fibre

26th October, 2022 (7 Comments)

The parents of ISP Virgin Media (Liberty Global) and mobile operator O2 (Telefonica) are reportedly considering a sale of their 50% stake in mast operator Cornerstone, which is part of a network sharing agreement with Vodafone (Vantage Towers). The extra funding would be used to help fuel their UK rollout of full fibre (FTTP) broadband.

CWU Begin Final Day of Latest BT Strikes, But Worse May Follow

24th October, 2022 (21 Comments)

Up to 38,000 workers at UK broadband and telecoms giant BT (including Openreach) have today begun the final day of their latest round of strikes over a pay dispute (the 8th day overall). But the Communications Workers Union (CWU) claims that BT’s CEO, Philip Jansen, still “won’t even negotiate” with them.

Virgin Media Business UK Hitron CHITA Router

Virgin Media Business UK Customers Start Seeing Faster Uploads

21st October, 2022 (22 Comments)

Some business customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media Business UK (VMO2) are now reporting that they too have seen a modest uplift in upload speeds over the past week, which suggests that the forthcoming speed boosts won’t be limited to those on Virgin Media’s residential M100 and M200 packages.

Avonline Networks to Boost Ogi’s FTTP Broadband Rollout in Wales

19th October, 2022 (1 Comment)

Infracapital-backed ISP Ogi, which is currently investing £200m to deploy a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across 150,000 premises in Wales by 2025, has expanded their existing civil engineering contract with Avonline Networks (M Group Services). The move will increase Avonline’s business for Ogi three-fold.

Rural ISP Truespeed Appoint New Chief Commercial Officer to Accelerate Growth

19th October, 2022 (0 Comments)

Full fibre broadband ISP Truespeed, which is rolling out a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of South West England, has today appointed Nelson Missier to be their new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to “further strengthen our leadership team and accelerate company growth“.

Welsh Broadband ISP Ogi Boosts Staff Pay to Help Cost of Living

18th October, 2022 (1 Comment)

Broadband ISP and network builder Ogi, which is currently investing £200m to roll-out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 150,000 premises in Wales by 2025, has introduced a series of measures to support staff during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

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Neos Networks Launch Managed Dedicated Internet Access

17th October, 2022 (4 Comments)

Neos Networks, which operates a 34,000km long fibre network with 676 Points of Presence across the UK, has today launched a Managed variant of its Dedicated Internet Access (Managed DIA) service. The service will provide businesses with fully managed, enterprise-grade fibre optic internet connectivity.

F&W Networks Secures Funding and Extends UK Full Fibre to 185k Premises

17th October, 2022 (1 Comment)

F&W Networks – supported by UK ISP Hey!Broadband – has today announced that they’ve secured “significant” new funding from Foresight Group and claim to have covered 185,000 premises (up from 150k in July 2022) across the South of England with their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.

ISP TalkTalk Finish Acquisition of 135,000 SSE Broadband Customers

14th October, 2022 (8 Comments)

Low cost ISP TalkTalk, which is home to around 4.2 million UK broadband customers, has today announced the completion of their deal with Ovo Energy to acquire the company’s 135,000 (approx.) SSE Phone & Broadband customers for an undisclosed sum. The move comes after last year’s rescue of Origin Broadband’s base (here).

Broadband ISPs Giganet and Cuckoo to Create 250 New UK Jobs

14th October, 2022 (4 Comments)

Network operator Giganet has today joined forces with its recent consumer ISP acquisition of Cuckoo to announce that the newly merged pair plan to create 250 new jobs to support future growth, as well as the ongoing rollout of their own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across England.