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Shetland Islands Connect Local Superfast Fibre Optic Link to SHEFA2 Cable

2nd April, 2012 (2 Comments)

Shetland Telecom, which was setup by the Shetland Islands Council (SIC) to develop better telecom and superfast broadband internet access services in the remote Shetland Islands (North of Scotland, UK), has successfully connected up its new fibre optic infrastructure to the undersea SHEFA-2 cable that links the Faroe Islands to mainland Scotland (UK).

UPD Virgin Media UK Add Traffic Management to 50Mb and 100Mbps Packages

2nd April, 2012 (29 Comments)

Cable giant Virgin Media, fresh from doubling its UK customers broadband speeds (here) and revamping their bundles (here), has announced the introduction of Traffic Management on their 50Mbps and 100Mbps services. But it’s not all bad news as they’re reducing the downstream speed reduction on 30Mbps (Virgin’s new entry-level speed) and above from 75% to 50%.

UPD2 UK ISPs React as ASA Start Enforcing New Broadband Advertising Rules

1st April, 2012 (10 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) will, from today (Sunday 1st April 2012), officially begin enforcing a new set of guidelines that have been designed to clamp down on misleading ISP promotions of broadband internet access speeds and “unlimited” style usage allowances.

B4RN Begins First Dig of New 1Gbps FTTH Broadband Network in Lancashire UK

31st March, 2012 (1 Comment)

Just after midday today the B4RN (Broadband 4 Rural North) project, which hopes to connect thousands of rural homes in north Lancashire UK via a unique “hyper-fast” 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable fibre optic (FTTH) broadband ISP network, will officially begin construction with a ceremonial “breaking of the sod” event (Jubilee Tower – 1pm).

UPD Yorkshire Pumps £10m into Digital Region to Keep Broadband Project Alive

30th March, 2012 (8 Comments)

The financially troubled Digital Region project, an alternative wholesale network operator that was built with £100m of public money to help 80% of homes and businesses in South Yorkshire (UK) gain access to superfast broadband services, is to get yet another injection of £10m from the public pursue in order to stay afloat.

UPDATE3 BT Based Broadband ISPs Struck by National UK Outage

30th March, 2012 (3 Comments)

Several BT based ISPs, including Zen Internet, Eclipse Internet, PlusNet and others, are reporting that “a significant number of our broadband customers lost connection to the internet” this morning.

BT Superfast Broadband Rollout in London UK to Create 26000 New Jobs

29th March, 2012 (3 Comments)

Apparently BT’s work to rollout superfast broadband internet access (FTTC etc.) services in London will, over the next 15 years, help to create 26,000 new jobs in the city and boost the capitals economy by £20bn (£7.3bn in improved business performance, £11bn from business creation and nearly £1bn via home-working).

Ofcom UK Moots Mobile Broadband in UHF Spectrum Bands IV and V

29th March, 2012 (1 Comment)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has started a new consultation that will look at the long term development options (after 2018) for handling the valuable radio spectrum in Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands IV and V. One option could be to repurpose them for use by Mobile Broadband services.

UPD BT Select Deddington UK for its First Fibre Only Broadband and Phone Trial

29th March, 2012 (11 Comments)

BTOpenreach has today officially selected Deddington (Oxfordshire, UK) as the first rural village to take part in their unique Fibre-Only Exchange (FOX) trial, which will replace the areas existing “copper-based products” with ultrafast fibre optic broadband (e.g. 100Mbps+ FTTP) and phone (Fibre Voice Access) services.

UK White Space Broadband Wireless Trial Speeds Fail to Impress

29th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

Early feedback from BT’s trial of ‘White Space‘ (IEEE 802.22) wireless broadband technology on the Isle of Bute suggests that the service, which delivers internet access by making use of the unused radio spectrum that exists between Digital TV channels, still has a lot of problems to overcome, not least in terms of its sporadic performance.

UK ISPs Claim a Perceived Lack of Choice is Hindering Broadband Adoption

29th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

Business ISP Fluidata claims that 24 out of the 30 internet providers it interviewed felt that a “perceived lack of choice” and a “lack of awareness” of the broadband options open to businesses and consumers were creating a barrier to adoption, particularly in rural areas.

UPD MS3 Communications Expand Fibre Optic Broadband Network into Hull UK

29th March, 2012 (1 Comment)

MS3 Communications, an independent data and telecommunications network, has awarded the £5.5 million contract for deploying the “first 50km” of their fibre optic broadband network around Hull (Yorkshire, UK) to Mid-Wales based company Welch Civils Ltd.

Europe Preliminarily Agrees Cheaper Mobile Broadband Roaming from July 2012

28th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The European Commission (EC) has today reached a preliminary deal that should make it significantly cheaper to surf the internet from your Mobile Broadband connection while roaming abroad within the EU. In addition the price of mobile voice calls and text (SMS) messages will also be slashed.

Timico CTO Experiences 40Mbps Speeds on O2 UK Trial of 4G Mobile Broadband

28th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-Founder of business ISP Timico UK, Trefor Davies, has reported experiencing “4G” superfast Mobile Broadband download speeds of up to 40Mbps (23Mbps upload) while taking part in O2’s (Telefonica) Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology trial in the city of London.

UK Businesses Demand More Public WiFi Internet Access in Stores

28th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The business division of UK cable operator Virgin Media (VirginMedia Business) has surveyed 5,000 business owners from companies with 100+ employees and discovered that 21% “needed” more wireless internet access in stores in order to provide “innovative sales offers and marketing promotions” to customers.

Criminals Could Target BT’s UK Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband Batteries

28th March, 2012 (7 Comments)

BT has denied that the backup batteries used by its new generation of fibre optic (FTTC, FTTP) connected superfast broadband street cabinets could soon become a target for thieves. The result could be a serious loss of connectivity, albeit only if the theft occurred during a power outage.

European Parliament Set Final ACTA Copyright Treaty Vote for June 2012

28th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an international treaty that seeks to establish a broad new range of copyright enforcement standards and threatens to make broadband internet providers (ISP) more liable for the content they deliver, will officially be put to a final vote by the European Parliament (EP) in June 2012.