Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: May 2026 (12 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for May 2026

CommunityFibre Engineers Together in 2026

Full Fibre Broadband Network CommunityFibre May Restart UK FTTP Rollout

5th May 2026 (0 Comments)

A new report suggests that alternative network operator and ISP CommunityFibre could return to large scale expansion of their 5Gbps speed full fibre broadband (FTTP) network, potentially reaching close to 2 million UK premises. The provider has so far invested c.£1bn to build across 1.342m homes (inc. 185k businesses within 200 metres of their network) – mostly in London.

Gibraltar picture from 123RF ID 100932850 on 011124

Starlink’s LEO Satellite Broadband Service Goes Live on Gibraltar

5th May 2026 (0 Comments)

Elon Musk has confirmed that the global Starlink service from SpaceX, which offers ultrafast broadband via a massive global network of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), is now available to people on Gibraltar, which is a British overseas territory on Spain’s south coast.

Vodafone UK Takes Full Control of VodafoneThree as CK Hutchison Exits Stake

5th May 2026 (10 Comments)

The recently merged mobile and broadband operator VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) have today announced that Vodafone has reached an agreement to “buy out” CK Hutchison (Three) from the joint venture for £4.3 billion (€4.9bn) in cash via a cancellation of shares. The deal will increase Vodafone Group’s pro forma net debt, but give them full control.

NET CHECK UK Mobile Network Testing Car Outside London Palace

NET CHECK Awards Vodafone UK as London’s Best Mobile Network for 2026

5th May 2026 (2 Comments)

Broadband and mobile operator Vodafone UK has, for the third year running, topped a new network benchmarking study of 4G and 5G (mobile broadband and calls) performance across London, which was conducted by the Berlin-based NET CHECK group. But sadly Three UK found themselves at the bottom of the study.

Fibrus MD Warns Ofcom May Have Killed Private Investment in Rural UK Broadband

5th May 2026 (4 Comments)

The Group MD and CFO of alternative network ISP Fibrus, Colin Hutchinson, has today spoken to ISPreview about the challenges of building full fibre networks in rural areas, their approach to market consolidation and on how they fear the outcome of Ofcom’s recent market review “entrenches Openreach’s dominance” and “all but kills the prospect of future private investment in many rural areas“.

Mobile-broadband-UK-operator-network-speed by 123rf

Ookla Examine Impact of Peak Time UK and EU Mobile Network Congestion

4th May 2026 (0 Comments)

Global telecoms network benchmarking firm Ookla, which collects data from consumers via their Speedtest.net service (inc. apps), has published a new report that examines the performance drop of mobile (4G / 5G / mobile broadband) networks during peak times (19:00 and 21:00 local time) across the EU, UK, Norway and Switzerland during Q1 2026.

Lyca Mobile UK Finally Gets Around to Putting Wi-Fi Calling Live

4th May 2026 (3 Comments)

After a bit of a false start a couple of years ago, mobile network operator Lyca Mobile, which in the UK is a virtual operator (MVNO) on EE’s national network, has now finally confirmed that they’ve enabled the Wi-Fi Calling (VoWiFi – Voice over Wi-Fi) feature across “all” of their SIM plans.

Three Copper Broadband Cable Thieves in Birmingham Jailed for 3 Years

2nd May 2026 (7 Comments)

At the start of 2026 we reported on how West Midlands Police had arrested a gang of three men who were in the process of trying to steal Openreach’s (BT) copper UK broadband and phone cables – worth £50k – from an underground site in central Birmingham (here). Yesterday the Birmingham Crown Court jailed each one for 3 years.

engineer in manhole openreach uk fttp 2020

Openreach Near-net FTTP Trial to Reach UK Businesses Outside Build Plan

1st May 2026 (4 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach has announced the launch of an interesting new “Near-net” trial, which sounds like a different approach to their old FTTP on Demand (FTTPoD / FoD) broadband product. The trial aims to confirm the feasibility of building full fibre broadband to business footprint which is currently outside of build plans on a reactive basis.

Attendees at the Zen Internet Partner event

Broadband ISP Zen Internet Hails UK Demand Surge for its Fibre Hub

1st May 2026 (5 Comments)

A year has now passed since Rochdale-based UK broadband ISP Zen Internet launched its ‘Fibre Hub’ – a platform that essentially aggregates access to a number of full fibre networks, while offering that up to their partners (e.g. other ISPs) at the wholesale level. Zen now says they’ve seen a 52% increase in monthly gross demand through The Fibre Hub over the past 12 months.

Virgin Media O2 UK Broadband Users Fall by 5.6k as Full Fibre Build Stalls UPDATE

1st May 2026 (39 Comments)

Network operators Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today published their latest Q1 2026 results and revealed that their gigabit broadband network increased its UK coverage by just 6,400 premises in the quarter (down from 115.1k in Q4), while related consumer customers fell to a total of 5,446,100 (down by -5.6k in Q1 2026). VMO2’s total mobile base also fell to 46.44m.

Quickline-BDUK-contract-engineers-in-Stokesley-PR-310125

Quickline Expand Rural Project Gigabit Broadband Build in Yorkshire UK

1st May 2026 (0 Comments)

The Government has published a Project Gigabit contract modification notice for Quickline’s deployment of gigabit broadband across ‘West and Parts of North Yorkshire’ (Lot 8) in England. The change expands the number of contracted premises due to be covered by full fibre (FTTP) to 28,952 (up by 2,642) and increases the public subsidy to £65.47m (up by £3.195m).

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