Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: July 2015 (110 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for July 2015

The Controversial Idea of a Universal Internet Delete Button Returns

31st Jul 2015 (10 Comments)

A crossbench life peer of the House of Lords, Baroness Beeban Kidron, has re-proposed a new “cultural framework” (iRights), which among other things moots the seemingly controversial idea of a universal Internet delete button where “every website” that allows people to post content would also offer the ability to remove it.

Virgin Media UK Sets Five “Sustainability Goals” for the Next 5 Years

31st Jul 2015 (2 Comments)

Virgin Media (Liberty Global) has today committed itself to achieving five “ambitious” sustainability goals in the next five years, which covers everything from the energy efficiency of their on-going £3bn “Project Lighting” network expansion to improving the lives of disabled people through digital technology.

Sky Offers Samsung Tablet with 12 Months FREE Unlimited Broadband

31st Jul 2015 (0 Comments)

UK ISP Sky Broadband has announced that their unlimited ‘up to’ 17Mbps standard broadband package, which is currently being offered for free for a whole year (£10 per month thereafter), will now also come with the option of a £100 M&S or Tesco e-voucher, pre-paid MasterCard or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 computer.

Vodafone UK Brings 4G Mobile Roaming to 63 Destinations

30th Jul 2015 (0 Comments)

Vodafone has announced that customers of their 4G (LTE) based mobile plans in the United Kingdom will now be able to make use of the same connectivity and their existing allowances (calls, texts and data [Mobile Broadband]) while roaming across 63 destinations worldwide (70 if you include 3G or 2G).

Ofcom Moot Bigger Penalties for Naughty UK Telecoms Operators

30th Jul 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has proposed that in the future it could impose higher penalties against telecoms and broadband providers that break its rules, which it claims would deliver a “stronger deterrent effect” and thus “reduce regulatory contraventions“.

UK Gov Confirm £129m Clawback Reinvestment to Boost Broadband

30th Jul 2015 (27 Comments)

The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK project, which is predominantly working with BT to deploy superfast “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) services to 95% of the United Kingdom by 2017/18, has confirmed that the take-up rate of their roll-out has exceeded the forecast and as a result they’ve activated their clawback mechanism to reinvest up to £129m.

Virgin Media Expand Cable Broadband to 80,000 Leeds UK Premises

30th Jul 2015 (2 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media (Liberty Global), fresh from kicking off the deployment of their new £3bn “Project Lightning” network expansion in Manchester last month (here), has announced that 80,000 premises in Leeds (West Yorkshire, England) will be the next to benefit.

BT Reach 7.8M Broadband Customers and 80 Percent UK Fibre FTTC Cover

30th Jul 2015 (3 Comments)

BT has released the latest results for Q2-2015 (calendar) and confirmed that their retail business added +85K new broadband subscribers in the quarter (down sharply from +121K in Q1) to total 7,798,000, which includes 3,226,000 on BTInfinity “fibre broadband” (up by +217K vs +266K in Q1). Incidentally FTTC/P is now available to 23 million premises (80% of the UK).

BT and ASSIA Settle Dispute Over FTTC Broadband Linked Patents

29th Jul 2015 (1 Comment)

Last year the Court of Appeal ruled that BT’s Next Generation Access (NGA) Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / BTInfinity) superfast broadband technology had infringed upon parts of two patents owned by California-based ISP ASSIA, which related to the field of Dynamic Spectrum Management.

Vodafone Find Altnet Fix for Rural 3G Mobile Open Sure Signal Rollout

29th Jul 2015 (0 Comments)

Vodafone has found a fix for some of the communities in their Rural Open Sure Signal (ROSS100) project, which until recently had been unable to benefit from the Femtocell tech (i.e. uses fixed line services to boost local mobile signals) because the related areas suffered from a lack of good fixed line broadband.

Ofcom Fine ISP Unicom GBP200K for “mis-leading” Sales and Marketing

29th Jul 2015 (3 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today fined Unicom (Universal Utilities) £200,000 for misleading consumers over the sale of their fixed line telecommunications services (between the 1st March 2013 and 8th July 2014).

BT Escape Latest Ofcom UK FTTC Margin Squeeze Test Unscathed

29th Jul 2015 (1 Comment)

The telecoms regulator has re-run its FTTC / VULA “margin squeeze” test, which was introduced earlier this year as a mechanism for keeping BT’s “fibre broadband” prices fair by ensuring they “maintain a sufficient margin between wholesale and retail … charges“, and found that the operator is not in breach.

France Rules Against Misuse of “Fibre Optic Broadband” in ISP Adverts

29th Jul 2015 (9 Comments)

The debate over whether or not broadband ISPs that don’t sell a pure “fibre optic” (FTTH/P) broadband connection should be allowed to use such terminology in their adverts is nothing new, but a new ruling by the Government of France shows that some countries are taking a stand.

Sky Broadband UK Growth Stable to Reach 5.62 Million Internet Users

29th Jul 2015 (0 Comments)

Sky Broadband is holding its own against increasing pressure from BT and this is demonstrated by their Q2 2015 results reporting another +96,000 increase in Internet subscribers for the UK and Ireland (total 5.62 million), which is only a small dip from the +100k added in Q1 2015 and +106k in Q4-2014.

Amazon UK Prime Instant Video Users Get FREE Music Streaming

28th Jul 2015 (1 Comment)

Online retailer Amazon UK has expanded their existing unlimited TV and Movie streaming service by adding Prime Music at no extra cost, which gives the service a slight edge over rivals like NOW TV and Netflix that tend to focus more exclusively on video streaming.

All Public Libraries in England to Get FREE WiFi Access by March 2016

28th Jul 2015 (1 Comment)

The Government has announced that tier 1 local authorities can now apply for a slice of £7.1 million in public funding, which is designed to help them ensure that all public libraries in England can offer free wireless (WiFi) Internet access to visitors by March 2016.

Select Committee Starts Inquiry into UK Superfast Broadband Strategy

28th Jul 2015 (19 Comments)

A House of Commons Select Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has launched yet another inquiry into the national Broadband Delivery UK programme, which will focus on the coverage, delivery and speed of superfast broadband and mobile connectivity across the UK.