Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: February 2020 (103 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for February 2020

Ericsson Use Commercial 5G mmW Kit to Hit 4.3Gbps Speed

13th Feb 2020 (4 Comments)

Telecoms kit maker Ericsson has announced that they’ve been able to achieve mobile broadband download speeds of 4.3Gbps by harnessing 800MHz of spectrum frequency in the millimeter Wave (mmW) bands, which was crucially achieved during interoperability testing using regular commercial solutions.

Macro fibre optical cable detail isolated on white

VXFIBRE to Rollout £10m Full Fibre Broadband in Colchester UK

13th Feb 2020 (3 Comments)

The Colchester Borough Council (CBC) in Essex appears to be in the process of approving a proposal from Swedish operator VXFIBER, which is looking to invest £10m in order to build a new gigabit-capable “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP network that will eventually cover most of the town (homes and businesses).

Openreach UK Trial Finally Brings G.INP to ECI FTTC Broadband

13th Feb 2020 (31 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has announced plans to trial ReTransmission (ReTx / G.INP) technology on “more” of their Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) based broadband network, but what the public briefing doesn’t tell you is that this time they’re going to try rolling it out on their estate of ECI street cabinets.

ISP Airband Begins Oxfordshire Rural FTTP Broadband Build

12th Feb 2020 (1 Comment)

UK ISP Airband has announced that they’ve begun work on the new state aid supported Broadband for Rural Businesses in Oxfordshire (BiRO) project, which despite the name aims to supply 557 business and 619 incidental residential premises with access to their ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.

ISP Aquiss Finally Completes Full Rollout of IPv6 Addresses

12th Feb 2020 (11 Comments)

UK ISP Aquiss has been offering both IPv4 and IPv6 internet addresses alongside their fixed line broadband packages since 2015, although until recently some of their other services had not yet been able to benefit. The good news is that their entire network estate and products can now opt to use v6 addresses.

Ofcom Set to Become UK Regulator for Internet Censorship

12th Feb 2020 (12 Comments)

The UK Government has today proposed for Ofcom to take on the role of internet content regulator via a new legal “duty of care“, which would hand them the power to force company websites and social media firms into removing “harmful” content (e.g. bullying, terrorism, child abuse, self-harm and suicide imagery).

Ofcom Appoint Dame Melanie Dawes as CEO, Replaces Chairman

12th Feb 2020 (3 Comments)

The UK broadband, media and communications regulator, Ofcom, has today announced that, following a delay due to the General Election, they’ve finally found their new CEO in the shape of Dame Melanie Dawes. She replaces “interim” CEO Jonathan Oxley, who himself became a stand-in after Sharon White’s exit.

Say Hello to the First UK Street with 3 Full Fibre Broadband ISPs

12th Feb 2020 (58 Comments)

How about this for consumer choice. Some premises along a street in St James’s (Central London) have just become one of the first UK locations to enjoy a choice of three “full fibre” (FTTP) ultrafast broadband networks, including via Hyperoptic, Openreach (BT) and G.Network. But many more will soon crop up.

First Customers Live on KCOM’s New £100m FTTP Expansion

11th Feb 2020 (0 Comments)

Last month saw Hull-based UK ISP KCOM unveil a new £100m project to extend the coverage of their 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network into new parts of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire (here and here). This week the provider has connected their first customer in Driffield to the new network.

Virgin Media UK Set to Extend Discount on Plume Mesh WiFi

11th Feb 2020 (6 Comments)

Last year Virgin Media launched an invitation-only trial that gave “selected customers” of their broadband ISP and TV network a special discount on Plume‘s smart home Mesh WiFi system (here). Now parent operator Liberty Global has signed a new deal that seeks to expand the service to all customers.

Virgin Media Add 3000 Premises in Wickford to FTTP Broadband

11th Feb 2020 (3 Comments)

Cable and full fibre ISP Virgin Media UK (Liberty Global) has confirmed that they’ve just completed the build of their 516Mbps (average download speed) capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover an additional 3,000 homes and businesses in the Essex town of Wickford.

EE Mobile Become Exclusive UK Partner for Netflix Rival BritBox

11th Feb 2020 (2 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has today announced that they’ve become the exclusive partner for the new BritBox video streaming service, which among other things means that customers of their existing Pay Monthly mobile and tablet (4G and 5G) plans will receive a free 6 subscription to the service (starting on 13th March 2020).

ISP TalkTalk UK in £500m Move to Refinance Existing Debt

10th Feb 2020 (0 Comments)

Budget broadband ISP TalkTalk, which is currently in the process of selling their FibreNation FTTH network to Cityfibre for £200m (here), has today announced a £500m corporate bond issue that looks like it will be used to help refinance the provider’s existing debt pile.

O2 Begins to Rollout First UK LTE-M Network for IoT in 2020

10th Feb 2020 (3 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Telefonica) has announced that the first 50 sites are already live on their new 4G mobile based UK LTE-M (Long Term Evolution for Machines) standard, which is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN / LPWA) service that is designed to connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Cable ISP Virgin Media UK Extends Partnership with Netflix

10th Feb 2020 (1 Comment)

In an unsurprising development Virgin Media’s parent company, Liberty Global, has announced a 3-year extension to their existing distribution deal with Netflix’s popular internet video streaming service. The TV and broadband provider was one of the very first UK ISP’s to fully integrate Netflix into their platform and offer a single bill.

ISP TalkTalk Brace for “Massive” Spike in Traffic from Gaming

10th Feb 2020 (11 Comments)

Low cost UK broadband ISP TalkTalk has informed ISPreview.co.uk that online video games are increasingly producing significant surges in internet data traffic on their network. Indeed they’re braced for another “massive spike” tomorrow with the release of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Season 2 update (v1.14).

All BT Customers Now Have Access to 5G Mobile Data Plans

10th Feb 2020 (12 Comments)

UK ISP BT (EE) has today announced that they’ve extended the availability of their new “superfast” 5G mobile network to all customers. Previously you could only get access to 5G on BT by taking one of their special “Halo” converged plans alongside a fixed broadband package.