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The UK Government has today announced that their planned data reform, which covers a multitude of areas (many of which are outside our focus), will also set out plans to impose tougher penalties and fines for nuisance calls and text (SMS) messages. But it’s unclear how much impact this will actually have.
Ofcom has published their annual study into UK fixed line home broadband ISP speeds, which reports that the average (median) download rate has risen from 50Mbps last year to just 50.4Mbps now (uploads are unchanged at 9.8Mbps). Meanwhile, the performance gap between urban and rural areas remains a problem.
The UK Government has today invested £4m to support a new 2-year project (DCIA) trial, which aims to make it easier for network operators to access and deploy 5G mobile (mobile broadband) infrastructure on street furniture and public buildings, such as CCTV poles, traffic lights, lampposts, bus shelters and so forth.
Mobile operator Three UK, which last year said that they planned to “retain” EU roaming at no extra cost “regardless of Brexit negotiations“, has today followed the U-turns from rivals EE (BT) and Vodafone by announcing their intention to reintroduce roaming charges on texts, data (mobile broadband) and calls.
Ofcom’s latest Summer 2021 report into UK broadband and mobile coverage has revealed that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage is now at 24% (up from 21% in Jan 2021) and 11.6 million homes (40%) are within reach of a gigabit-capable network (up from 37%). Meanwhile, 4G mobile coverage remains stable and there’s still no data on 5G.
The UK Government has announced that their project to create a National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), which reflects a digital map of underground pipes (water etc.) and cables (fibre optic broadband, power etc.), is entering the “Build Phase” and could help to cut some of the £2.4bn (per year) cost of accidental utility damage.
Consumer site Expert Reviews has posted the winners of their annual ‘Mobile Network Awards’ event, which surveyed their readers in an effort to identify the best UK Mobile Network Operators across a range of different categories. But in the end, Sky Mobile (Sky Broadband) ended up winning every single category, with giffgaff and Tesco Mobile being runners-up in different areas.