Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: December 2021 (104 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for December 2021

Rural Full Fibre ISP Gigaclear Celebrates 250,000 UK Premises UPDATE

14th Dec 2021 (2 Comments)

Alternative network ISP Gigaclear, which currently aims to reach 500,000 UK premises with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network by the end of 2023, has today celebrated being able to close out the year with a total footprint of 250,000 premises passed across England.

Scottish ISP Fibrecast Hops on CityFibre’s Network in Dundee UPDATE

14th Dec 2021 (3 Comments)

Scotland ISP Fibrecast, which has previously deployed their own ultrafast wireless and fibre broadband network around the City Quay area of Dundee and the Airport business park, has today announced that they’ll also be selling services to homes over CityFibre’s new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in the city.

Broadband Speed Testing Giant Ookla Acquires RootMetrics

14th Dec 2021 (1 Comment)

Ookla, which operates the popular global Speedtest.net service, has today announced that they’ve acquired mobile network benchmarking firm RootMetrics for an undisclosed sum. The goal will be to combine their normal crowdsourced data with RootMetrics’ scientifically controlled drive and walk testing data collection.

Neos Networks to Boost UK Full Fibre Coverage in Several Areas

14th Dec 2021 (1 Comment)

Neos Networks has today made two announcements on their UK fibre coverage, which will see them connect up 200+ public sector sites (councils, hospitals etc. – many in rural areas) in Oxfordshire and boost their full fibre, last mile, metro network expansion across the capital (London), Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.

EE Comes Top Again of Umlauts 2021 UK Mobile Network Test

14th Dec 2021 (7 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has once again come top in umlaut‘s latest annual 2021 UK Mobile Network Test, which used a range of different benchmarks to test 4G (voice and data / broadband) and 5G service performance across 19 cities, 46 towns and along 10,000km of major roads. But Vodafone weren’t far behind.

truespeed fibre optic cable install on road

Rural Broadband ISP Truespeed Start Glastonbury FTTP Rollout

14th Dec 2021 (5 Comments)

Rural UK ISP Truespeed, which is fuelled by £75m from Aviva Investors and are building their own 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across Somerset, has today announced that they’re deploying across the festival town of Glastonbury. The neighbouring areas of Shepton Mallet and Street will also benefit.

Parliamentary Committee Sets Out Plan for UK Internet Regulation

14th Dec 2021 (24 Comments)

The Joint Committee on the controversial Draft Online Safety Bill (OSB), which was setup to help establish the regulatory framework to help Ofcom tackle “harmful” content online (e.g. hate speech, bullying, terrorism, conspiracy theories etc.), has today published its report. But the tougher rules and tighter offences may not all be workable.

BT Takeover Fears Mount as Altice UK Boost Stake to 18 Percent UPDATE

14th Dec 2021 (8 Comments)

Broadband giant BT, which has recently been busy boosting their defences against a possible takeover attempt by Patrick Drahi’s Altice UK, has today reported that the investor has raised their 12.1% stake in the operator (worth c.£2bn) to a total of 18%.

Audit Office Casts Doubt Over Value of N.Ireland Broadband Contract UPDATE

14th Dec 2021 (8 Comments)

The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) has today raised concerns over the number of properties that will be covered by the £165m state aid supported Project Stratum rollout in Northern Ireland, which highlights that some premises may have been “commercially viable” for FTTP broadband delivery without subsidy.

Quickline Appoint New COO and CTO Ahead of UK Fibre Rollout

13th Dec 2021 (1 Comment)

UK ISP Quickline, which aims to invest £500m on a major rollout of “ultrafast and gigabit-capable broadband” across rural parts of North England and beyond, has today announced that two industry veterans – Lee Allison and Ian Smith – will be appointed as their new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

4 Fibre and Converged Communication Solutions Plan FTTP Broadband Builds UPDATE

13th Dec 2021 (0 Comments)

Two new UK Alternative Network (altnet) builders – 4 Fibre (SCCI Group) and Converged Communication Solutions – have today revealed their tentative plans to rollout or expand an existing Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across some very different parts of the country.

Mobile Operators Unhappy as Ofcom Set Licence Fees for 2100MHz

13th Dec 2021 (9 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today set new annual licence fees (ALF) for spectrum licences in the 2100MHz band, which was originally auctioned off in April 2000 to support the rollout of 3G mobile (mobile broadband) networks for the eye watering sum of £22.5bn. But mobile operators aren’t happy about the change.

County Broadband Launch Bespoke Team to Help Remote Premises Get Fibre

13th Dec 2021 (3 Comments)

Rural UK ISP County Broadband (CB), which is currently deploying their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in England, has today launched a dedicated “bespoke connections team” (BCT) to find and deliver cost-efficient ways of connecting the remotest premises.

Mobile Operator EE UK Quietly Scraps FLEX Mobile Plans

13th Dec 2021 (6 Comments)

New customers of mobile operator EE (BT) can no longer order “Flex” plans, which were first introduced back in 2018 as an alternative to the traditional Pay As You Go (PAYG) model (here). The plans were quietly removed, without explanation, from the operator’s website and shops a few weeks ago.

BT Ask Vauxhall to Build More EV Vans in the UK for Engineers

13th Dec 2021 (12 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT is reportedly in talks with Vauxhall in the hope of encouraging the car manufacturer to ramp-up production of their electric vehicles and move more of the construction line into the UK. The aim is to support their goal of converting Openreach’s entire fleet of engineering vans to EVs by 2030.

virgin media o2 network engineer in datacentre 2021

Virgin Media O2 Name Trial Cities for UK FTTP Broadband Upgrade UPDATE

11th Dec 2021 (46 Comments)

Last month we reported that Virgin Media (VMO2) had begun trials in three cities to test their UK plan for upgrading existing Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) based network areas with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband – using XGS-PON technology (here). The good news is that we now know the names of those three locations.

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Start Testing Netgem Powered TV 4K Box UPDATE

10th Dec 2021 (15 Comments)

Budget UK ISP TalkTalk, which back in October 2021 signed a contract to harness Netgem‘s pay TV platform (here), has begun to offer a related “TV 4K Box” device for certain customers as part of a “test“. But it’s currently only available to those on their “Future Fibre” (FTTP) broadband plans (Openreach, CityFibre etc.).