Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: October 2019 (116 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for October 2019

Full Fibre UK ISP Grain Connect Secure £10m Investment UPDATE

31st Oct 2019 (2 Comments)

Fibre provider Grain Connect, supported by wireless ISP Solway Communications, confirms that it has successfully raised £10m in additional equity finance from Albion Capital (Albion Real Assets Fund). The money will support the further development of its UK “full fibre” broadband network at new build home developments.

The Rural UK Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme is No More

31st Oct 2019 (1 Comment)

The UK Government’s Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme, which offered grants worth up to £350 to rural homes and businesses that were unable to get at least a 2Mbps download speed (i.e. helping to get a faster ISP connection installed), will unsurprisingly NOT be extended for another year beyond 2019.

Gov Finalise Strategic Priorities for UK Broadband and Mobile

31st Oct 2019 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has this week formally adopted a Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for UK mobile and broadband services, which broadly requires Ofcom to improve protection for consumers in the wider telecoms market, promote investment in “gigabit-capable” broadband and support new entrants to the market.

UK Mobile Operators Blamed for Scotland’s Slow 4G Infill Scheme UPDATE

31st Oct 2019 (11 Comments)

The Scottish Government‘s £25m 4G Infill Programme, which began in March 2018 and aims to improve rural mobile coverage (mostly across the Highlands and Islands region) by building a network of 45 new masts (here), has so far not built any new sites and only 3 are expected to begin construction in the “very near future.”

BT FTTP and G.fast Broadband Cover Tops 4.2 Million UK Premises

31st Oct 2019 (15 Comments)

BT Group’s latest results to the end of September 2019 (Q2 19/20 financial) confirm that Openreach’s “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) ISP network has increased its coverage to total 4.2 million premises (up from 3.7m last quarter), which includes 1.81m on FTTP (up from 1.51m) and 2.42m on hybrid fibre G.fast (up from 2.16m).

Hints of a Bidder Shortlist for £165m N.Ireland Broadband Project

30th Oct 2019 (11 Comments)

BT (Openreach), ISP Fibrus and private investment firm Granahan McCourt Capital (GMC) have all reportedly been linked with bids for Northern Ireland’s £165m Project Stratum, which aims to ensure that most of the 98,000 premises still awaiting access to “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) can get it.

ISP Grain Connect Build 1Gbps Fibre for Perry Barr in Birmingham

30th Oct 2019 (0 Comments)

UK ISP Grain Connect has announced a new agreement with the Birmingham City Council (West Midlands), which will see them rollout a “hyperfast” gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across the future Perry Barr Residential Scheme (i.e. a development of 1,400 new build homes and apartments).

Virgin Media Preparing New Horizon Software for UK v6 TV Box

30th Oct 2019 (6 Comments)

Sources indicate that cable TV and broadband ISP Virgin Media UK (Liberty Global) may have begun initial customer product testing of a new Horizon software platform for their v6 set-top-box, which if all goes according to plan might replace their existing TiVo based platform during the second half of 2020.

Openreach Help Virgin Media Build to 15500 Premises in Lurgan

30th Oct 2019 (8 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media UK has announced that they’ve been able to harness Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts in order to complete the expansion of their FTTP based ultrafast broadband and TV network to 15,500 premises (homes and businesses) in the town of Lurgan, County Armagh (Northern Ireland).

VOXI Goes Live with Unlimited UK 5G Data At No Extra Cost

29th Oct 2019 (18 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has announced that customers of their sibling contract-free “youth brand” – VOXI – can now also access the new ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) network, which will be offered “at no extra cost.” The operator also confirmed that their own Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plans will be getting 5G “soon“.

Mobile Operators Face Huge Fines if they Fail UK Coverage Target

29th Oct 2019 (6 Comments)

The Government’s Culture Secretary, Nicky Morgan MP, has revealed that Mobile Network Operators (Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE / BT) could face huge fines – worth up to 10% of their annual turnover – if they fail to meet their new 4G / 5G geographic UK coverage obligations by 2026.

KCOM and Digital Scotland Shortlisted for EU Broadband Awards

29th Oct 2019 (0 Comments)

KCOM’s £85m rollout of a new FTTP broadband ISP network in Hull, as well as Digital Scotland‘s £442m (public and private investment) work with Openreach (BT) to spread “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) to 940,000 extra Scottish premises, have today both been named as UK finalists for the 2019 European Broadband Awards.

SSE Enterprise Telecoms Hops on Nextgenacess Full Fibre UPDATE

29th Oct 2019 (8 Comments)

Business connectivity provider SSE Enterprise Telecoms (SSEET) has signed a carrier agreement to make use of a new fibre optic link from Nextgenaccess (i.e. the 60km fibre route nearing completion between Bradley Stoke in Bristol and Newport in South Wales), which will enable the UK operator to connect with a high capacity data centre.

ISP TalkTalk Business Relaunch UK Ethernet over FTTC Service

29th Oct 2019 (12 Comments)

Internet provider TalkTalk Business has today relaunched their uncontended Ethernet over FTTC (EoFTTC) service to partners with improved features for small business customers. This is not to be confused with the broadband focused Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) product that consumers buy.

BDUK – Possible Build Scenario for UK Full Fibre Broadband Rollout

29th Oct 2019 (22 Comments)

The Government’s (DCMS) Building Digital UK team recently proposed an interesting build scenario for the future £5bn – state aid funded – project to roll-out gigabit-capable “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks, which as predicted suggests that the build phase probably won’t begin until late 2021.

O2 UK Hails Recycling Effort – 3 Million Handsets Saved from Landfill

28th Oct 2019 (5 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 has today congratulated themselves after their recycling scheme (O2 Recycle), which enables consumers from any network to sell their old phone in order for it to be reused by others, took in 3 million phones over the past 10 years (saving 450 tonnes of mobile phone waste from landfill).

Cityfibre Hit 100K UK Premises FTTH Broadband Build Milestone

28th Oct 2019 (12 Comments)

A new batch of independent data has estimated that Cityfibre’s £2.5bn effort to rollout a 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband ISP network to cover 5 million UK premises across 37 cities and towns by the end of 2025 (here) – supported by Vodafone – has just passed the 100,000 premises milestone.