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ISPreview Talks to Westminster City Council about its FREE O2 WiFi Service

11th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

Last year O2 UK signed a new deal to provide visitors and residents of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea (i.e. Central London) with access to one of the largest free wireless internet (wifi) access zones in Europe. Today ISPreview.co.uk interviews both O2 and Westminster City Council (WCC) about what this means and how it’s been funded.

UPDATE3 Funding for EU Digital Agenda Broadband Projects Gets Wiped Out

9th February, 2013 (9 Comments)

Last night’s decision to cut the European Union’s seven-year 2014 to 2020 budget by 3% to around £768bn has taken a significant casualty. The European Commission’s (EC) plan to boost funding for future superfast broadband projects through its €9.2bn (£7.78bn) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) has effectively been wiped out.

UK ISP BE Broadband Offer 12 Months of Half Price Unlimited Internet

9th February, 2013 (7 Comments)

Internet provider BE Broadband, which got into trouble this week for cutting off one of its customers over excessive usage (here), has launched a fresh promotion that offers their “unlimited” broadband packages at half price for 12 months (when taken with a one year contract).

Halifax Study Claims Good Broadband Access Boosts UK House Values

8th February, 2013 (7 Comments)

A new survey of just over 2,000 UK adults conducted by ICM for the Halifax (Lloyds Banking Group) has claimed that 20% would pay more for “good broadband” (defined as speeds greater than 2Mbps) and two thirds (67%) of those were prepared to pay up to 3% more (22% would pay between 4% to 10% more).

EE Release New UK 4G Mobile Broadband Rollout Update for June 2013

8th February, 2013 (3 Comments)

Mobile network operator EE has announced the next stage of its urban focused 4G roll-out across the United Kingdom, which will see a further 27 towns being enabled to support the new superfast Mobile Broadband technology by June 2013 (i.e. 65 UK towns and cities in total).

OECD Ranks UK 9th for Fixed Broadband Penetration out of 34 Countries

8th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which engages with 34 countries that claim to support a market economy and democracy, has ranked the United Kingdom 9th in its latest fixed line broadband penetration tables to June 2012 (down from 8th a year earlier). But we do poorly in other areas, such as fibre optic uptake.

Digital Region Picks New Operator to Run its South Yorkshire UK Network

7th February, 2013 (4 Comments)

The troubled Digital Region (DRL) broadband network, which currently reaches 80% of homes and businesses in South Yorkshire (England), has this afternoon selected Bouygues Energies and Services (ETDE SA) as its “preferred bidder” to take over the running of their business.

Private Equity Firms Target UK 4G Mobile Operator EE with GBP10bn Bid

7th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

A group of several familiar private equity firms, including KKR, Apax Partners, Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners, are once again reported to be preparing another colossal £10bn takeover bid for the 4G offering UK mobile network operator EE (Everything Everywhere).

BPI Claims 7 Million UK People Use Illegal Internet Piracy Services

7th February, 2013 (3 Comments)

The British Phonographic Industry, which represents the United Kingdom’s music industry and recently reported “strong growth” from digital music sales in 2012, has claimed that 345m tracks were downloaded “illegally” over P2P (BitTorrent) during H1-2012 (compared with 239m legal tracks) and around 7m individuals use at least one service “where content is hosted illegally” every month.

SSE Pledges to Pay UK Subscribers 20 Quid if their Customer Service Sucks

7th February, 2013 (1 Comment)

Utility provider SSE (Scottish & Southern Energy), which offers a range of broadband, phone, gas and electricity services to customers in the United Kingdom, has launched a new £20 Customer Service Guarantee that will see the operator cough up money if their support quality fails to satisfy a new customer charter.

Fibre Optic Helps Global Broadband Revenues Reach GBP120bn in 2012

7th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

ABI Research estimates that the global fixed broadband ISP market (i.e. DSL, cable and fibre optic services) managed to grow by 7% last year to generate a total service revenue of around £120 billion ($188bn), which was helped by a strong growth in ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity.

Artist Creates Physical Visualisation of a WiFi Wireless Network Signal

7th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

Austrian artist Peter Jellitsch has created a somewhat unique piece of art that delivers a physical interpretation of what the signal from a home wifi wireless network (WLAN) might look like if you could see it with your naked eye.

Cost Concerns Set to Delay Internet Piracy Warning Letters from UK ISPs

7th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s economics and finance ministry, HM Treasury, has quietly withdrawn vital secondary legislation that sets out how the costs of its controversial measures to tackle internet piracy by customers of broadband ISPs would be shared. The move could result in further delays for the Digital Economy Act (DEAct).

UPDATE Northamptonshire UK Pick BT for Superfast Broadband Rollout

6th February, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) confirms that BT has been picked as the “preferred supplier” to help every household in the county gain access to a superfast broadband (30Mbps+) ISP connection by March 2017 (note: 90% coverage for speeds of 25Mbps+ is set for 2015).

UPD2 BE Broadband Face Unlimited Questions After User Cut Off for Overuse

6th February, 2013 (37 Comments)

Internet provider BE Broadband (O2 UK) could face questions from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a customer on their “unlimited” use package(s) was, without warning, allegedly given just 14 days to find a new provider after the ISP terminated their service due to “excessive” usage.

Virgin Media UK Tops 4.46M Broadband Users and Sells to LGi for GBP15bn

6th February, 2013 (9 Comments)

Cable provider Virgin Media UK has today released its latest results (Q4-2012), which saw subscribers to their broadband ISP climb to total 4,465,000 (up by +51,600). But the big news is that international cable operator Liberty Global (LGi) has officially agreed to buy VM (merger) for an enterprise value of approximately $23.3 billion (£14.88bn).

Ofcom Reports UK Broadband Lines Total 21.37 Million in Q3 2012

5th February, 2013 (1 Comment)

The latest Telecoms Market Data Tables Q3 2012 update from Ofcom has revealed that the United Kingdom is now home to a total of 21,371,000 fixed line broadband ISP connections (excludes corporate lines), which is up by +264,000 over the previous quarter and includes 639,000 superfast fibre broadband (FTTx) lines.