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WightFibre Connect 25,000th FTTP Broadband User on Isle of Wight

21st August, 2025 (2 Comments)

Broadband ISP WightFibre, which is building their own gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the Isle of Wight – just off the South Coast of Hampshire (England), has revealed that their full fibre network now covers 72,000 premises (87% of the island) and they’ve just connected their 25,000th customer to it.

Broadband ISP Grain Expanding UK Full Fibre Network in Nottingham

20th August, 2025 (3 Comments)

Carlisle-based alternative network operator and ISP Grain (Grain Connect), which recently secured a major £225m funding boost (here), has announced that they’re expanding their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband network in the Midlands (England) city of Nottingham.

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Concerns Grow as Small UK ISP Link Broadband Suddenly Vanishes UPDATE4

20th August, 2025 (24 Comments)

Internet provider Link Broadband, which is a smaller ISP that has tended to work with several alternative full fibre networks, appears to be in a spot of trouble after its website vanished a few days ago (now showing a “503 Service Unavailable” message) and some feedback alleges that it may even be at risk of imminent closure.

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) have reportedly two among several "groups" that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of a £1.1bn takeover by Toscafund - controlled by hedge fund tycoon Martin Hughes (here), which including debt valued the broadband provider at around £1.8bn. The deal took the ISP private and gave them more financial flexibility for their future plans. Since then, they've backed Freedom Fibre (here) and this week made the notable acquisition of Ethernet provider Virtual1 (here). According to the FT (paywall) and Sky News, TalkTalk is now said to have asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after allegedly being approach by several groups, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband). Lazard is a logical choice as they recently acted as Financial Advisor to TalkTalk on the Virtual1 transaction. Some industry analysts have reportedly suggested that TalkTalk itself could now be worth "at least" £3bn. But this seems rather optimistic for an ISP that doesn't have any significant fixed line broadband infrastructure to call its own (excluding their old unbundled LLU network) and largely just piggybacks off Openreach (BT), CityFibre and Freedom Fibre. But TalkTalk do have a strong business and wholesale side. Funnily enough, Sky Broadband are in a similar position with their own fixed line base, while Vodafone also likes to piggyback off Openreach and CityFibre. At present, Vodafone has a fixed broadband base of 991,000 customers, while Sky Broadband is estimated to be home to around 6.7 million and TalkTalk has approximately 4.2 million. Suffice to say, anybody gobbling up TalkTalk would instantly become a much larger provider, giving them a greater say in how the UK broadband market develops and more opportunities for convergence (Vodafone with mobile, and Sky with mobile and TV). Crucially, TalkTalk's consumer base is mostly made up of those on older copper and hybrid fibre lines (i.e. ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2), which are ripe for a future migration to FTTP. At the time of writing, all of the aforementioned operators have decline to comment on the reports, and TalkTalk has yet to receive any serious formal offers. In other words, we strongly suspect that this is largely just an exercise in spin to help TalkTalk drum up some more productive interest in the idea. But at the same time, it's not unreasonable to suspect that they might succeed, as the interest seems genuine. On the other hand, we see reports like this every year or so and only a very few ever convert into a serious offer. Time will tell. Much may depend upon whether or not TalkTalk’s new owners are more flexible and pragmatic about doing a deal than the previous lot. Arguably, TalkTalk might have gone much further by now had they taken some different decisions a few years ago (e.g. co-investing in FTTP instead of Pay TV).

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Launch New Team to Support UK Home Movers

20th August, 2025 (9 Comments)

UK ISP TalkTalk has today announced the launch of a new “HomeMove Squad“, which as the name suggests reflects a dedicated team of “Wi-Fi moving experts” that can provide a single point of contact, simplifying the process of transferring services and ensuring customers are connected from day one in their new home.

O2 UK Finally Adding 5G Support to Pay As You Go Mobile Plans UPDATE

20th August, 2025 (15 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has confirmed that they’re currently in the process of “enhancing” their Pay As You Go (PAYG) SIM services and plans during the second half of 2025, which among other things seem to be finally adding support for their latest 5G (mobile broadband) network.

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British Telecoms Provider Colt Updates After Major Cyber Attack and Data Breach

20th August, 2025 (3 Comments)

Business communications and internet provider Colt Technology Services (COLT) has provided an update after hackers breached their business support systems late last week, which resulted in the provider choosing to proactively take some systems offline. Work to restore the service remains ongoing, but sadly it is now known that a data breach has occurred.

Customers of UK ISP Earth Broadband Suffer Billing Errors and Support Woes

20th August, 2025 (2 Comments)

Some customers of internet provider Earth Broadband (earth.) have recently established a Facebook based support group after they complained of having suffered a string of problems with billing errors, unexpected price rises and a lack of effective communication and customer support from the ISP.

Virgin Media UK Preparing New TV 360 and STREAM Software Update

19th August, 2025 (0 Comments)

Customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) may like to know that the provider will shortly begin rolling out a new firmware update for their TV 360 and STREAM platforms (set-top-boxes), which is expected to introduce a number of new features (e.g. enhanced search functionality that will use image tiles instead of a text heavy display).

O2 UK to Upgrade 4G and 5G Mobile Signals for 22 Haven Holiday Parks

19th August, 2025 (8 Comments)

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) and partner Freshwave have today revealed that they’re in the process of upgrading their 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) network for visitors to 22 Haven holiday parks across the UK “ahead of a summer of staycations“. We’ll overlook that it’s already the latter half of summer and the deployment won’t finish until 2026.

Survey Claims Broadband ISPs Expect AI and Streaming to “Crush” Today’s Networks

19th August, 2025 (8 Comments)

A new survey of 200 “senior telecom decision-makers” from the USA, UK, and Australia, which was conducted by network technology firm RtBrick, has claimed that broadband ISP and mobile operators are at risk of being “overwhelmed by the demands of AI and streaming bandwidth” in the next 5 years – around 80% of respondents expect it to “crush” today’s networks.

Monzo Looks to Copy Revolut by Preparing to Launch a UK Mobile Service

19th August, 2025 (8 Comments)

Digital banking company Monzo has revealed that they’ve begun to “explore” how they could launch their own mobile provider in the UK, which seems likely to echo the approach that rival banking and money management app Revolut recently began to take (here); although we’re still waiting for the latter to take their training wheels off.

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VMO2 Confuse Nexfibre’s UK Build Target as More Homes Get FTTP Broadband UPDATE

19th August, 2025 (19 Comments)

Virgin Media (O2) has revealed that their joint expansion of 2Gbps speed FTTP broadband (nexfibre and FTTP upgrades) have now reached 94,867 new homes in Belfast (Northern Ireland), 68,631 in Birmingham, 56,652 in Leeds, 65,121 in Coventry and 63,870 in Stoke-on-Trent. But interestingly, the provider still suggests nexfibre will reach their target of covering 5 million homes across the UK by 2026.

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Former CEO of APFN Becomes Non-Executive Director of Wessex Internet

18th August, 2025 (0 Comments)

The former Group CEO of All Points Fibre Networks (APFN), Jarlath Finnegan, has today been appointed as a Non-Executive Director for UK broadband ISP Wessex Internet, which is currently busy extending their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Southern England.

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Quickline Gifts 6 Months Free Broadband to South Yorkshire Businesses

18th August, 2025 (0 Comments)

Rural focused UK ISP Quickline has announced that, as part of their social value commitment under the Government’s Project Gigabit programme, they’ve launched a new offer to business premises covered by their alternative full fibre (FTTP) network in South Yorkshire – offering the first six months of service for free when they sign-up.

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Customers of UK Mobile Provider Mozillion Suffer WiFi Calling Problems UPDATE

18th August, 2025 (13 Comments)

Mobile operator Mozillion, which is a virtual network operator (mvno) that harnesses EE’s national 4G and 5G platform, has confirmed that some of its customers are experiencing ongoing connectivity problems (i.e. it stopped working) with their WiFi Calling service.

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UKRI Gives £13m to 11 UK Projects to Develop Future 6G and Fibre Technologies

18th August, 2025 (3 Comments)

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency, which is the national funding agency for investing public money into science and research projects, recently announced that 11 telecoms and networking projects had each secured a slice of £13m to help commercialise their work on advanced connectivity technologies (e.g. 6G [mobile broadband], fibre optics and more).

Three UK Users Complain of Outdoor Hub Reboots on 5G Broadband UPDATE

18th August, 2025 (12 Comments)

Some customers of mobile network operator Three UK (VodafoneThree), specifically those who took the new 5G Outdoor Hub (Green Packet Y5-210MU) option for their Three Home Broadband service, are finding that the router has recently developed an annoying habit of rebooting itself – often once every hour (variable and intermittent).