Portsmouth-based business ISP Elite has today announced the expansion of their Dark Fibre network and related Ethernet (leased line etc.) services into the Birmingham and Manchester areas, which means they’re now available to local exchanges in over 136,000 UK postcodes.

Mobile operator O2 has invested £32 million to upgrade their existing 4G network capacity at just under 400 UK tourist hotspots for the summer holidays. Some of the locations to benefit from this include the Abbey Road crossing, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and the Angel of the North.

The Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has begun consulting on its plan to implement the new European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) into UK law, which includes new provisions that are intended to boost the rollout of Gigabit speed “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband and 5G mobile networks.

New customers of EE’s UK fixed line home broadband and phone (ADSL, FTTC and G.fast) packages may like to know that the ISP will later this morning knock another -£2 off their monthly prices for the first 18 months of service, although this will only be available to order between now and 28th July 2019.

Cityfibre has today confirmed the next 14 UK cities and towns (only three are new additions) to benefit from Phase Two their £2.5bn rollout of a new Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network, which is being supported by residential ISP partner Vodafone and aims to cover 5 million premises by 2025.

Cable TV and broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has signed telecoms builder Avonline Networks (M Group Services), which will support the rollout of their Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based RFoG / DOCSIS network to 70,000 extra premises across the South West of England, Wales and North East England.

Ofcom has today opened a new investigation to examine whether BT has complied with its charging obligations, which occurred after the UK operator indicated to the regulator that it may not have correctly billed for Excess Construction Charges (ECCs) when providing new business lines (Ethernet services etc.).

Too much choice can be confusing. EY‘s annual digital home survey of 2,500 UK consumers found that 46% of households believe there is too much choice in the broadband ISP and content market (up from 43% in 2017). Plus the various discounts on offer don’t make it any easier to choose.

Cable broadband and TV operator Virgin Media has agreed to a new multi-year partnership with Sky TV (Sky Broadband), which will not only extend their existing access to Sky’s TV channels but from next year it will also give them access to Sky’s Ultra HD (4K) linear and additional video-on-demand content.

The UK High Court of Justice has refused notorious copyright trolls – Golden Eye (GEIL) and Mircom International – access to obtain “tens of thousands” of customer records from cable broadband ISP Virgin Media (these would have been used to pursue claims of internet piracy), which occurred because their evidence was ruled inadequate.

A new survey of 3,807 consumers by Which? has revealed the top consumer complaints for each of the UK markets largest TV and broadband ISPs. Overall the study found that 70% had experienced an “issue” with their provider and customers of cable operator Virgin Media were the most likely to have had problems.

Cityfibre’s £30m project to rollout a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband ISP network to homes and businesses across the Cambridgeshire city of Peterborough has been given a boost with the appointment of a second civil engineering contractor, locally based firm Telcabo.

Broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps should now be possible for around 10,000 homes and businesses across Twickenham (London) after Openreach (BT) completed their rollout of a new ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in the area, which forms part of their wider “Fibre First” strategy.

Vodafone has announced that their new 5G network, which promises average mobile broadband speeds of 150-200Mbps and peaks up to 1Gbps, has now started rolling out into Birkenhead, Bolton, Gatwick, Lancaster, Newbury, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton after initially only going live in a few major cities.

Alternative network ISP County Broadband, which last year secured an investment of £46m to help it roll-out a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, claims to have identified 20 rural villages in South Norfolk and Breckland where they could extend their network in the near future.

Telecoms operator Vodafone appears to have reduced their 30 Day Service Guarantee to just 14 days, which means that new subscribers to their mobile and broadband services will have less time to consider cancelling their contract without penalty if they’re not totally satisfied.

Budget UK ISP TalkTalk has this morning issued a thin trading update to the end of June 2019 (Q1 FY20), which sees them claim to be making “good progress on finding an infrastructure investment partner” for their FibreNation (FTTH broadband rollout) project but without actually announcing one.. again.