The CEO of network access provider Openreach (BT), Clive Selley, is one of only two people in the UK telecommunications sector this year to be awarded with one of the Queen’s Birthday Honours. The other person was Stephen John Terry, although the honours list failed to clarify the what, why and who of that award.

Credible sources have indicated to ISPreview.co.uk that Sky Broadband (Comcast) may be close to finally launching a 500Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) package via Openreach’s (BT) network, which looks likely to be called “Ultrafast Plus” – complementing the “Ultrafast” (145Mbps) plan that launched last autumn.

Telecoms giant BT is suing Tii Technologies (formerly Porta Systems) for £72m in the UK High Court (Technology and Construction Court) after they allegedly supplied 95,256 faulty jack test (JT) blocks between 2006-2016, which reportedly caused a spate of copper line ADSL broadband outages (mainly impacting ISP Sky Broadband).

Internet provider TalkTalk has today published the latest volume (3) of their “Internet Insights” report, which offers quarterly analysis of their network traffic and usage trends. For example, it notes that UK internet usage was up over 44% pre-pandemic to April 2021, but it has fallen away a bit since then.

Customers of UK broadband ISP BT, specifically those with one of the operator’s Mini Whole Home Wi-Fi systems (mesh repeaters) and a custom DNS setup on their personal network, have been told to expect a firmware patch, again, after complaining that their connections were making masses of DNS lookups to Google and Microsoft.

The latest start-up to enter the UK broadband market appears to be Morden-based ISP Grayshott Gigabit, which has revealed that they plan to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across poorly served rural areas in the East Hampshire, Surrey Hills and surrounding areas.

UK ISP Quickline (Quickfire), which specialises in deploying “full fibre” FTTP and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks around Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, has today confirmed their new plan to invest £500m on a deployment of “ultrafast and gigabit-capable broadband” connectivity across rural Northern England and beyond.

Rural focused UK broadband ISP Gigaclear has been spotted deploying their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network infrastructure into the large Surrey village of Bagshot (population 5,600), which appears to be somewhat of a first for the provider as they haven’t previously announced much for the county.

The International Telecommunication Union will this year complete the development of its new “Higher Speed Passive Optical Network” (G.9804 series / G.hsp) technology – 50G-PON, which will make it possible for future FTTP broadband ISP networks to deliver speeds of 50Gbps (Gigabits per second).

Broadband ISP and TV provider Virgin Media (VMO2) has announced the success of a new trial in the Scottish city of Glasgow, which managed to recycle the use of aggregate materials while rolling out their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in the Cranhill area.

A new survey conducted by Portland Communications, which was commissioned by CityFibre and the Quality of Life Foundation, has found that people who rent their accommodation were nearly twice as likely to describe their broadband ISP connection as only “average or unreliable” than those who own their own home.

A new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was commissioned by Uswitch.com, has hit upon the well-known problem of broadcast lag with live internet video streaming. The study estimates that nearly 15 million people (28%) have had goals spoiled because the broadcast they were watching was lagging behind the live action.

The UK telecoms giant, BT Group, has this morning confirmed that Altice UK, a business wholly owned by Patrick Drahi, has acquired a sizeable 12.1% equity stake in the operator (worth c.£2bn) and also issued a statement in support of the broadband and media firm’s current management and strategy.

Residents in the Staffordshire (England) city of Stoke-on-Trent have been venting their anger at VXFIBER‘s subsidiary LilaConnect, which occured after the local rollout of a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network caused a number of problems – from damaged driveways to cut broadband and electricity cables etc.

The UK Government has published a new consultation to help set the terms and code for implementation of the new Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021, which aims to make it quicker and cheaper for gigabit broadband ISPs to access big buildings (e.g. apartment blocks) when “rogue landlords” fail to respond.

Fibre optic UK ISP Grain Connect, which is backed by £10m from Albion Capital, has been spotted deploying their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to existing homes in the resort town of Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast, as well as Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness and Blackburn.

Sky’s sibling UK ISP and TV streaming service, NOW (NOW Broadband), has today discounted the price of their Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based “Super Fibre” (63Mbps) package, which comes with inclusive anytime UK phone calls, to just £22 per month for the length of its 12-month minimum contract term.