Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: May 2023 (127 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for May 2023

Virgin Media O2 Deploy 4G at 50 UK Rural Mobile Masts Under SRN

15th May 2023 (5 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has today confirmed that they’ve so far deployed “reliable” 4G based mobile broadband coverage across a total of 50 rural sites in the United Kingdom, which forms part of their commitment under the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project with the Government.

Shropshire UK Hails Completion of Superfast Broadband Rollout

15th May 2023 (7 Comments)

The Shropshire Council in England has confirmed the completion of their final contract under the £36m (state aid) “Superfast Broadband” (30Mbps+) rollout programme, which over the last 10 years has signed deals with various operators (e.g. Openreach, Airband) and extended coverage from 24% to 98.5% of premises.

ISP Country Connect Expands Full Fibre Cover to 3,709 Premises

13th May 2023 (5 Comments)

Alternative network provider Country Connect, which since 2021 has been building a new gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in South Wales (here), has confirmed that their relatively small and rural-focused network now covers 3,709 premises (up from 2,750 in April 2022).

Starlink-Maritime-Dual-Terminals-on-Boat

Ofcom Improves LEO Satellite Broadband for UK Maritime Use UPDATE

12th May 2023 (6 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to update their Earth Station Networks (ESN) licence so that the new generation of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) platforms (e.g. Starlink and OneWeb) can be used at sea to “deliver improved maritime connectivity.”

CityFibre Start 10Gb XGS-PON Upgrade of UK Broadband Network

12th May 2023 (43 Comments)

CityFibre has confirmed that they’ve started the national UK rollout programme for the XGS-PON technology upgrade to their existing GPON based full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network, which among other things will enable them to support symmetric broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps (9.953Gbps to be exact).

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland map outline.

Councils Warn Digital Divide Holding Some Back in Broadband Slow Lane

12th May 2023 (16 Comments)

The Local Government Association, which represents councils from across England and Wales, has published a “new” report that warns of how poorer households are being left behind in the “broadband slow lane“, with access to fixed broadband being 15 percentage points lower in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived.

West Midlands Named Best Connected UK Region for 5G Cover

12th May 2023 (11 Comments)

A new report from telecoms analyst firm Umlaut, which analysed geographic 5G mobile coverage across the UK’s Combined Authority areas, has identified the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) region as being the best connected in the UK, with 65% of locations having access from at least one operator.

Vodafone UK CEO Pushes Ofcom to Clear Openreach FTTP Prices Cuts

11th May 2023 (23 Comments)

The CEO of mobile and broadband ISP Vodafone UK, Ahmed Essam, has joined other retail internet providers in publicly calling on Ofcom to approve Openreach’s proposed “Equinox 2” discount scheme for their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based products, which is being challenged by alternative networks (AltNets).

Wales 2023 Map of Broadband Slowspots Sub 30Mbps

Wales Hints at £70m Broadband Upgrade for 84,000 Premises

11th May 2023 (11 Comments)

The Welsh Government has put out a Prior Information Notice (PIN) on a future project for “Extending High Speed Broadband Reach in Wales“, which indicates that they’re preparing to procure a contract worth around £70m (state aid) to upgrade broadband for 84,000 premises (i.e. those that can’t yet get “superfast” speeds of 30Mbps+).

London ISP Community Fibre Add 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee

11th May 2023 (4 Comments)

London-focused broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which aspires to roll out a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 2.2 million premises in the UK’s capital city by the end of 2024 (currently at 720,000 premises passed), has launched a “60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee” for all new customers.

Openreach-2022-Engineer-Testing-FTTP-Lines

Openreach Try to Reduce UK FTTP on Demand Broadband Cancellations

11th May 2023 (24 Comments)

One of the problems with Openreach’s quirky and expensive FTTP on Demand (FTTPoD or FoD) broadband product for UK ISPs is that it suffers from a high rate of order cancellations, which are running at a rate of around 90% following the site survey and confirmation of the build charge. In response, the network operator is changing the order and survey process.

AltNet ISP Wessex Internet Refreshes UK FTTP Broadband Plans

11th May 2023 (6 Comments)

Broadband ISP Wessex Internet, which is building a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset in England, appears to have recently refreshed some of their full fibre packages – offering faster plans for less money.

SMARTY UK Offers 100GB Mobile 5G SIM for £12 Per Month

11th May 2023 (0 Comments)

Mobile operator SMARTY, which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) on Three UK’s network, has launched a new SIM Only offer that gives new customers 100GB of mobile broadband data for just £12 per month, and you can also still get unlimited data for just £16 per month (£20 after 12-months).

Ofcom See Positive Impact of UK Mobile Text-to-Switch System

10th May 2023 (14 Comments)

Ofcom has today published a new analysis of the impact their “Text-to-Switch” (Auto-Switching) system for UK mobile operators (e.g. EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three UK), which was introduced in June 2019, had on consumers. Overall, the new system has fuelled a strong increase in consumers switching mobile operators.

London Full Fibre ISP G.Network Plans Hundreds of Job Losses

10th May 2023 (37 Comments)

Instability in the UK market for alternative broadband networks has continued to rise today after ISP and network builder G.Network, which had been investing around £1bn to deploy a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network across London, notified staff of future redundancies (sources indicate over 200 jobs could go).

Freedom Fibre Win Rural Shropshire Gigabit Broadband Rollout Contract

10th May 2023 (2 Comments)

The eighth contract to be awarded under the UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme – worth £24 million – has today been awarded to network builder Freedom Fibre, which will upgrade connectivity for “around” 12,000 hard-to-reach homes and businesses across rural parts of Shropshire (England).

Customers of Giganet Broadband Suffer Mass UK Service Outage UPDATE

10th May 2023 (9 Comments)

Fern Trading-backed UK ISP Giganet (Cuckoo) appears to have been suffering from a “mass service outage” over the past 12-24 hours which, judging by feedback from customers across the UK, has resulted in a variety of sporadic connectivity problems since around 3pm yesterday afternoon.