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Total Global Broadband Internet Connections Reach 597 Million in 2011

21st March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Broadband Forum and UK telecoms analyst firm Point Topic have today reported that the world added 65.49 Million new broadband ISP lines in 2011 and ended the year (Q4-2011) with a global total of 597 Million. Sadly quarterly growth was down from 3.08% in Q3-2011 to just 2.6% in Q4.

UPD Budget 2012 Confirm Final 10 UK Cities for £100m Ultrafast Broadband Fund

21st March, 2012 (12 Comments)

The UK governments Chancellor, George Osborne MP, has this afternoon presented his annual Budget 2012 announcement to the House of Commons (Parliament) and confirmed which 10 cities can now expect to get “ultrafast” broadband ISP services and “high speed public wifi” through the £100m Urban Broadband Fund (UBF). A further £50m has today also been allocated for a second wave of “smaller cities“.

Sky Name New Internet TV Service and Make Anytime+ Available to all ISPs

21st March, 2012 (4 Comments)

Media giant Sky (Sky Broadband) has today announced that its new internet TV (video streaming) service, which is due to launch this summer 2012 and deliver access to Sky content via a “wide range of broadband-connected devices“, will be called NOW TV.

Former BT CTO Tells Inquiry the UK Needs £15bn to do Broadband Properly

21st March, 2012 (3 Comments)

The former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BT, Dr Peter Cochrane, has told a Lords Select Committee Inquiry into the UK governments superfast broadband strategy that the country would need to invest “at least £15bn” if it wanted to upgrade the national telecoms infrastructure properly and deliver a truly fibre optic (e.g. FTTH) service to everybody.

Annoying Marketing Email in Decline Due to Stringent ISP Filtering

20th March, 2012 (2 Comments)

Return Path, an email certification and reputation monitoring company, has today released its latest biannual Global Email Deliverability Benchmark (H2-2011) report. The study found that the number of emails reaching peoples inbox (globally 76.5% make it through SPAM filters) is “rapidly decreasing” (down 6% in H2-2011) and consequently “email marketers are continuing to pour money down the drain” (oh how terrible).

UPD BT Reveal Next 73 UK Locations for its Superfast Fibre Broadband Rollout

20th March, 2012 (21 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which provides UK ISPs with access to BT’s local and national telecoms infrastructure, has today announced the next batch of 73 new telephone exchange upgrades for its superfast ‘up to’ 40-80Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) and 100-300Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises ( FTTP ) based internet access technologies.

BBC iPlayer Broadband Video Streaming TV Service Arrives on UK XBox Live

20th March, 2012 (1 Comment)

The BBC’s free web-based broadband video streaming TV service, iPlayer, has today become available to owners of Microsoft’s popular XBox 360 games console via the online XBox LIVE service.

PM David Cameron Reiterates UK Governments Broadband Commitments

20th March, 2012 (12 Comments)

The UK Prime Minster (PM), David Cameron, has laid the groundwork for tomorrows Budget 2012 announcements by giving a special speech on national infrastructure to the Institute of Civil Engineering (ICE) that reiterated the governments various commitments for improving the country’s broadband internet access services.

BT Expands 20Mbps Broadband ISP Services to 80% of UK Homes

19th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

BTWholesale, which is of course the wholesale division of UK telecoms operator BT, has released its latest “advanced copper” enablement update (February 2012) and confirmed that its up to 20Mbps (ADSL2+) capable (Wholesale Broadband Connect / 21CN) platform can now reach telephone exchanges serving around 80% of UK homes and businesses (20 million premises).

Vodafone Slam Ofcom UK for Letting T-Mobile and Orange Launch 4G in 2012

19th March, 2012 (7 Comments)

Last week’s proposal by the communications regulator, Ofcom, to allow mobile operators T-Mobile and Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) to launch a new generation of 4G superfast Mobile Broadband services over their existing 1800MHz (2G/3G) radio spectrum (here) has been heavily criticised by rival Vodafone, which suggested that the regulator had “[taken] leave of its senses“.

Internet Access Contributes More to UK GDP than any other G20 Country

19th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consultancy firm, has reported that broadband internet access and the online industry contributed 8.3% (£121bn) to the UK economy (Gross Domestic Product) in 2010 and will grow by 11% each year for the next four years to hit £221bn by 2016.

BT Makes it Easier to Migrate Away from Sub Loop Unbundled Broadband ISPs

17th March, 2012 (3 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which provides UK ISPs with equal access to BT’s local and national telecoms and internet infrastructure, has moved to “improve and enhance the end user experience” by allowing shared and fully unbundled (LLU) broadband providers (e.g. TalkTalk, Sky Broadband, O2 UK etc.) to submit orders to migrate customers away from rivals on Sub-Loop Unbundling (SLU) services.

UK Government Adds Broadband ISP Bundles to its Inflation Calculations

17th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The governments Office for National Statistics (ONS) has quietly announced a notable change to the way it measures inflation (Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI)) by adding “bundled communication services” (broadband internet access, phone and TV) to its calculations for the first time.

UPD Burst Water Mains Pipe Knocks Mobile GiffGaff UK Customers Offline

16th March, 2012 (1 Comment)

Customers of budget UK mobile operator GiffGaff, which makes use of the O2 network, are today being affected by a “network wide problem” that has caused serious disruption to voice, text and internet data services since around 10am this morning.

BBC to Commercialise Broadband Video Streaming iPlayer TV Service

16th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

The BBC’s Director General, Mark Thompson, has somewhat controversially announced that the TV broadcasters free web-based iPlayer broadband video streaming service will soon begin to offer a commercial “download-to-own” product similar to Blinkbox and other online digital distribution platforms. But apparently it won’t be a “second licence-fee by stealth” as many might fear.

BT Unable to Bring UK Superfast Broadband to all Race to Infinity Winners

16th March, 2012 (14 Comments)

BT has confirmed that last year’s Race to Infinity campaign, which pledged a free upgrade for six communities (telephone exchanges) where demand for its ‘up to’ 40Mbps (soon to be 80Mbps) FTTC superfast broadband ISP product was highest (Race to Infinity Winners), will not be able to deliver the service to everybody who won.

Ofcom UK Publishes More Detailed Broadband Availability Data for England

15th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

Following a request from the UK governments Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Ofcom, the communications regulator, has today published some of its “early” 2011 Infrastructure Report broadband data at a “more detailed geographical level“.