Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: March 2026 (138 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for March 2026

Openreach Appoints Lauren McGaughey as Northern Ireland Director

10th Mar 2026 (1 Comment)

National UK broadband operator Openreach (BT) has announced that their current Acting Director for Northern Ireland, Lauren McGaughey, has formally been appointed to the role on a permanent basis. She replaces Garret Kavanagh in the role, who recently became their MD for Complex Engineering.

ISP Sky Business Appoints Damian Saunders as UK Managing Director

9th Mar 2026 (0 Comments)

Broadband and mobile provider Sky Business (Sky UK) has today announced that they’ve appointed Damian Saunders to take on the role of Managing Director (MD). Damian originally joined Sky in 2012 as Strategy & Emerging Markets Director and has since held a series of senior leadership roles within the Sky group.

Netomnia Network-Installation in Street 2026

Netomnia Build FTTP Broadband Network in Wednesbury to 65,000 Premises

9th Mar 2026 (6 Comments)

Broadband network operator Netomnia (Substantial Group), which has deployed their own full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 3 million UK premises RFS (inc. 460,000 customers), have announced that their long-running roll-out across the large West Midlands (England) town of Wednesbury has now reached 65,000 premises (RFS).

Over 2 Million of iD Mobile’s UK Customers Now Use the Service’s App

9th Mar 2026 (1 Comment)

Low-cost mobile operator iD Mobile (Currys), which harnesses VodafoneThree’s (Three UK) national 4G and 5G network via a virtual operator (mvno) partnership, has today revealed that their mobile customers are rapidly shifting towards “self-service account management“, with the network’s App (across iOS and Android) now surpassing 2 million registered users.

50 Publicly Funded 4G Mobile Mast Upgrades Now Live Across Wales

9th Mar 2026 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has this morning revealed that a total of 50 publicly-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across Wales as part of the industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project (up from 30 in July 2025), which last year succeeded (here) in extending geographic 4G cover from at least one operator to 95% of the UK (aggregate).

Virgin Media O2 Eye Vodafone UK Wholesale Broadband Deal and Lament Price Hikes

9th Mar 2026 (21 Comments)

Telecoms giant VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) is reportedly engaged in talks with VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) over a possible wholesale broadband deal, which would enable Vodafone UK to sell packages to consumers via Virgin/nexfibre’s growing full fibre (FTTP) network. Separately, VMO2’s CEO has admitted that O2’s move to hike prices for existing mobile users “wasn’t the best decision“.

ISP Exascale Refresh UK Full Fibre Broadband Prices and Go Live via Gigaclear

9th Mar 2026 (5 Comments)

Internet provider and UK network builder Exascale, which has already deployed their own gigabit speed full fibre (FTTP) network to a few thousand premises in the Telford and Wrekin area, has refreshed the pricing of its consumer packages and also confirmed that customers can now order services over CityFibre and Gigaclear’s own fibre networks.

BBC Look to Open UK iPlayer TV Streaming Platform to More Broadcasters

8th Mar 2026 (23 Comments)

A few days ago, the BBC published their 118-page response to the UK Government’s Green Paper on its future. But while much of the coverage around that was on issues of funding and TV licence fees, buried deep within its pages the corporation also set out a new vision for their iPlayer streaming service, which could open it up to other Public Service Broadcasters (PSB).

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How to stay in control of auto-renewal business broadband contracts

7th Mar 2026 (0 Comments)

It usually happens quietly, without flashing alerts or awkward sales calls to mark the moment. While attention is focused elsewhere, a broadband or VoIP contract can renew in the background for another year with very little scrutiny. By the time it comes back into view, the opportunity to explore alternatives may already have passed, leaving businesses tied to terms that no longer reflect their needs or the wider market.

Virgin Media O2 Harness AI to Flag 1 Billion Suspected SCAM and SPAM Calls

6th Mar 2026 (5 Comments)

Mobile and broadband operator VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) have today revealed that they’ve used AI technologies, such as Call Defence from Hiya, to flag over 1 billion “suspected” scam and spam calls to UK customers before they even pick up the phone (more than 70 million suspected scam and spam calls are currently being flagged every month).

Renault Master E-Tech VMO2 Vans PR 06032026

Virgin Media O2 UK’s Broadband Engineers Get Renault Master EVs

6th Mar 2026 (9 Comments)

Broadband, mobile and TV giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today announced that, as part of their target to transition to a fully Electric Vehicle (EV) fleet by 2030 (c. 4,300 vehicles), they just purchased 101 Renault Master e-Tech vans (priced from £37,500 plus VAT after PiVG) for their telecoms engineers to use.

Openreach XGS-PON Broadband Trial Map by EE UK

New UK Map from EE Reveals Area for 8Gbps Speed Broadband Trial UPDATE

5th Mar 2026 (40 Comments)

A week has passed since we reported that broadband ISP EE (BT) had started sending out invites to those wishing to help trial Openreach’s new XGS-PON powered Full Fibre (FTTP) technology (here), which is capable of delivering internet speeds of up to 8.5Gbps down (850Mbps upload). The main update this week is that the provider has also detailed which areas are covered by the trial.

Gov Respond to Lords Remote Working Report and its Call for UK Broadband Investment

5th Mar 2026 (2 Comments)

The UK Government’s Department for Business & Trade (DBT) has responded to last year’s cross-party Home-based Working Committee report (here) into remote and hybrid working in the UK which, among other things, called for an increase to “long-term investment in digital infrastructure, particularly broadband” to help properly support such working.

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Next Generation 200Gbps PON Full Fibre Broadband Standard Inches Closer

5th Mar 2026 (14 Comments)

At present most fixed broadband networks in the UK are focused on deploying 10Gbps capable XGS-PON based full fibre (FTTP) technology for retail ISPs, while less than a handful are playing with 50Gbps (50G-PON) technology (here, here and here) and CityFibre has talked about 100Gbps for the mid-2030s (here). But the next gen 200G PON technology is also making progress, and it’s a major shift.

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Phonely Claim 59 Percent of Older UK Adults Unaware of Analogue Phone Switch-Off

4th Mar 2026 (43 Comments)

A new poll of 4,298 UK adults aged 50+, which was conducted by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Phonely (vested interest), has claimed that 58.7% of UK adults aged over 50 are still unaware that the country’s ancient legacy phone network is being switched off on 31st January 2027.

Virgin Media O2 UK Replaces BT Group Poached CFO with David Melcon

4th Mar 2026 (2 Comments)

Combined broadband and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today announced that they’re set to replace their former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2021, Patricia Cobian, with David Melcon from 2nd April 2026. In case anybody has forgotten, Patricia announced last year that she was jumping ship to the BT Group (here).

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Fibrus Brings Full Fibre Broadband to 30,000 Extra Premises in Cumbria UK

4th Mar 2026 (1 Comment)

Infracapital-backed altnet broadband ISP Fibrus, which is building a gigabit-speed full fibre (FTTP) network across rural parts of Cumbria (England) and Northern Ireland, has today revealed that they’ve reached an additional 30,000 premises in Cumbria as part of their Project Gigabit contract in the region.