Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: March 2025 (128 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for March 2025

Broadband Operators in the UK Watch Nervously as DZS Falls Over

22nd Mar 2025 (16 Comments)

The chances are reasonably good that quite a few of our readers won’t have heard of the name DZS (DZSi / Zhone) before, but they’re a supplier of fibre optic networking kit to a number of broadband operators in the UK, USA and elsewhere across the world. Why is this relevant, you ask? This week, they “commenced a liquidation proceeding“.

Uswitch 2025 Awards Name Best UK Broadband and Mobile Providers

21st Mar 2025 (18 Comments)

Uswitch.com has today named the winners of their annual 2025 Telecoms Awards event, which among things saw UK ISP Plusnet once again being named as the best “National Broadband Provider of the Year“, while YouFibre won the best regional provider award and giffgaff scooped the win for best mobile “Network of the Year“.

Broadband Streaming Service NOW TV UK Finally Gets a Revamp

21st Mar 2025 (21 Comments)

Sky’s sibling NOW TV video streaming platform appears to have now largely completed the deployment of its new app and User Interface (UI), adding a “new look and some great new features“. The roll-out of the new app started on 18th February 2025 and has taken “several weeks” to deliver, although some devices have yet to benefit.

Grain’s FTTP Broadband Network in Bury to Go Live in April 2025

21st Mar 2025 (11 Comments)

Alternative UK network operator Grain (Grain Connect) has issued a progress update on their recently started roll-out of a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network in the Greater Manchester (England) town of Bury. The service is now set to start going live next month.

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Gov Commit £45m for Better Internet Connectivity in Around 1,000 UK Schools

21st Mar 2025 (8 Comments)

The UK Government’s Department for Education (DfE) has today committed to invest £45 million into improving internet connectivity and further plans to make digital standards a requirement for all schools across the country, which includes fibre broadband upgrades for 833 schools. The goal is to help close the remaining digital divide.

BT UK to Shut Older Contact Centres in Leeds and Exeter

20th Mar 2025 (23 Comments)

Telecoms and broadband giant BT has confirmed to ISPreview that, as part of their ongoing UK programme to modernise and consolidate the number of offices they have, they’ve decided to close their Contact Centres in Leeds and Exeter over the “coming months“. The move is expected to impact hundreds of jobs, but many will be consolidated into more modern sites.

Vodafone UK Add Disney+ Premium to Mobile Entertainment Plans

20th Mar 2025 (2 Comments)

Customers of broadband and mobile network operator Vodafone UK may like to know that the provider has today added support on their Pay Monthly Airtime plans (i.e. those with the “Entertainment” feature) for Disney+ Premium Plans (video streaming service), which complements their existing choice of Amazon (Prime Video) and YouTube Premium plans.

Starlink for Moving Motorhomes RV Pictures

Starlink Refresh UK Biz Broadband Plans, But Adds 1Mbps Speed Cap

20th Mar 2025 (12 Comments)

SpaceX’s Starlink service, which offers ultrafast broadband speeds via a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has this week refreshed their range of plans for business customers and made them more affordable for those with lower data usage requirements. But there’s a nasty catch for some customers in the form of a 1Mbps speed cap.

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O2 UK Complete 4G and 5G Upgrades for 3500 Postcodes in Liverpool

20th Mar 2025 (6 Comments)

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today announced that they’ve completed a project to upgrade the capacity of their 4G and 5G mobile services across “over” 3,500 postcodes in the Merseyside city of Liverpool (England), which should mean “faster” mobile broadband speeds and greater reliability.

Ofcom Set Out Changes to Boost UK Gigabit Broadband in 2026 Review UPDATE3

20th Mar 2025 (11 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their proposals for the new Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), which it hopes will help to “promote competition and investment” in gigabit broadband and business connectivity. Broadly speaking, the regulator will be updating and tweaking their existing approach, with few radical changes this time around.

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New Which Survey Award Best and Worst UK Broadband ISPs for 2025

20th Mar 2025 (6 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has published the results from their latest broadband ISP satisfaction survey, which questioned 4,347 UK adults (Dec 2024 to Jan 2025) about their internet providers. Overall three ISPs were labelled ‘Recommended Providers‘ – Zen Internet, Plusnet and Utility Warehouse, while NOW TV (NOW Broadband) and Virgin Media were ranked at the bottom.

Broadband ISP Zen Internet Moves to Become UK Altnet Aggregator

20th Mar 2025 (12 Comments)

In recent months’ we’ve been reporting on how Rochdale-base ISP Zen Internet has expanded the reach of their “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband network by signing wholesale access agreements with a number of alternative network providers, such as Trooli and Freedom Fibre. But their ambitions aren’t limited to retail packages.

Sky Mobile UK Simplifies eSIM Setup for Apple Devices

20th Mar 2025 (6 Comments)

Customers of the Sky Mobile (Sky Broadband, Sky TV etc.) service, which harnesses O2’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) platform, may like to know that they’ve recently made it even simpler for you to activate your eSIM on Apple devices (iPhone etc.) with iOS 18 or later. No more scanning of QR codes.

Virgin Media O2 UK Slowly Phasing Out TV 360 Mini Boxes

19th Mar 2025 (10 Comments)

Customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) may like to know that the provider recently began the slow process of phasing-out their old TV 360 Mini boxes, which are usually deployed to support for multi-room systems. But the company is now increasingly working to replace these with their modern ‘Stream’ set-top-boxes (STB) instead.

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FTTH Council Predict Full Fibre Broadband to Cover 31 Million UK Homes by 2030

19th Mar 2025 (5 Comments)

The FTTH Council Europe has just published their 2025 ranking of 39 European countries (EU39) with the strongest take-up and coverage of gigabit-capable “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband ISP networks. This sees the UK pass 21.4 million homes (up by 4.2m in the year) with take-up of 37.1% and a prediction that it’ll cover 31m by 2030. But growth has slowed a bit.

Project Gigabit Broadband Contract Tweaks for Wildanet, CityFibre, Fibrus and Quickline UPDATE

19th Mar 2025 (1 Comment)

For the second time this week (here), the Government (DSIT) has published another round of contract modification notices for several of Wildanet, Fibrus, CityFibre and Quickline’s state aid funded Project Gigabit broadband roll-outs across several regions – North Yorkshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Suffolk, Hampshire and Norfolk. The tweaks change both the level of public funding and premises target.

O2 Reminds Durham Over Start of UK 3G Mobile Switch Off in April 2025

19th Mar 2025 (5 Comments)

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today issued a reminder about how they intend to start switching off their old 3G mobile (broadband) services across the United Kingdom from next month, which is a process that will start in the city (NOT county) of Durham and should complete nationally by the end of 2025.