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Creditors Allegedly Set to Take Control of Rural UK Broadband ISP Gigaclear

19th January, 2026 (54 Comments)

A major newspaper has claimed that creditors of the indebted Abingdon-based alternative broadband ISP Gigaclear, which has built a full fibre (FTTP) network across 612,000 premises in rural parts of England and is home to c.160,000 customers, are set to take control of the business after an attempt to sell the company failed.

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Openreach List Next 132 UK Areas for Copper to FTTP Switch – Tranche 23

19th January, 2026 (6 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has just published the next batch (Tranche 23) of 132 exchanges in their “FTTP Priority Exchange” stop sell programme – covering 1.23 million premises. This reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based legacy phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option, where it’s available).

UK Broadband and Phone Provider KCOM Promotes Richard Schafer to CEO

16th January, 2026 (0 Comments)

Network operator KCOM, which has deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across a big chunk of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England, has today announced that they’ve promoted Richard Schäfer to the position of permanent Chief Executive Office (CEO) to replace Tim Shaw, who stepped down last year (here).

BT and EE to Shift Legacy UK Customers to Pounds and Pence Pricing Policy

16th January, 2026 (24 Comments)

Broadband and mobile giant BT (EE) has today announced that they’re following the UK government’s latest guidance, which requested that they “proactively move customers onto price changes with clear pounds and pence pricing amounts instead of inflation-linked rises“. But the risk is that this may result in some customers being hit by much bigger mid-contract price hikes in the future.

Grain Add Sheffield to UK Full Fibre Broadband Network Expansion UPDATE

16th January, 2026 (5 Comments)

Carlisle-based alternative broadband ISP Grain, which has so far built their point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 270,000 UK premises (aiming for 600,000 in the future) and in 2025 secured a £225m funding boost (here), has issued a brief announcement to confirm that the South Yorkshire (England) city of Sheffield will be the next to get their network.

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ITS Technology Grows UK Full Fibre Network as Turnover Hits £34m

16th January, 2026 (6 Comments)

The ITS Technology Group, which have deployed various open access and business-focused full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks across parts of the UK, recently published their annual accounts and revealed an expansion of their network length by 13%, as well as a 12% increase in coverage and a 99% rise in take-up (on-net grew 77% and off-net grew 30%).

Openreach Pick Garret Kavanagh to Lead UK Complex Engineering Unit

15th January, 2026 (0 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT), which is currently busy investing £15bn to deploy Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology to 25 million UK premises by the end of 2026 (currently 21m premises passed), has today announced that they’ve promoted Garret Kavanagh to be their new Managing Director for Complex Engineering, effective April 2026.

Survey Claims Quarter of UK Broadband Users View £4 Price Hike as Unmanageable

15th January, 2026 (34 Comments)

Over the past few months a number of broadband ISPs have announced an increase to their annual mid-contract price hikes policy of £4 (BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk etc.). But a new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted during December 2025 for Uswitch.com, claims to have found that 24% of broadband users view such a rise as “unmanageable“.

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BDUK Publish Several Studies of UK Mobile Coverage and Performance

15th January, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, which oversees their gigabit-capable broadband and mobile network expansion programmes, has just published three new studies that examine the wellbeing and social benefits of the 4G Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, as well as the benefits and challenges of 4G mobile in rural Scotland, and finally some additionality research for mobile suppliers.

EE UK to Deliver Mobile Connectivity for easyJet’s Network in 35 Countries

15th January, 2026 (3 Comments)

Broadband and telecoms giant BT has announced that their EE mobile network has secured a major new contract with the UK’s largest airline, easyJet, to deliver thousands of mobile connections to keep its flight crew, aircraft and airports linked up across Europe – in 35 countries and over 150 airports (from Gatwick to Gran Canaria).

Broadband ISP Hyperoptic to Boost UK Support and Appoints New Directors

15th January, 2026 (2 Comments)

City-focused full fibre (FTTP/B) broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which claims to have already deployed their gigabit fibre network to cover 1.9 million UK homes, has today announced the appointment of Emma Dark as Customer Experience and Service Director, and Nemanja Zec as Head of Customer Service Operations to “support the next phase of growth“. Improvements to support are also coming.

Virgin Media O2 Says AI Saved UK Customers 400,000 Hours in Support Calls

15th January, 2026 (10 Comments)

Broadband and mobile provider Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today stated that their adoption of AI-based improvements to their automated phone system, as well as cross-skilling 5,000 agents and simplifying team structures, has reduced the number of calls transferred by its agents by 1.3 million in 2025 – saving customers around 400,000 hours of their time.

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O2 UK Expand 5G Standalone Mobile Broadband Network to Gloucester

15th January, 2026 (6 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has this morning announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5GSA) mobile broadband network for the city of Gloucester in Gloucestershire (England). The operator’s 5GSA network is now live across a total of more than 500 locations (70% of the UK’s population, or c.49 million people).

Starlink UK Introduce Cheap £35 100Mbps LEO Satellite Broadband Plan

15th January, 2026 (21 Comments)

The Starlink service (SpaceX), which offers ultrafast broadband speeds to the UK and globally via a massive constellation using thousands of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has introduced a new package for residential customers that costs just £35 per month and will offer you download speeds of up to 100Mbps.

Grain Expand UK Full Fibre Broadband Network into Goole, East Yorkshire

15th January, 2026 (0 Comments)

Carlisle-based alternative broadband ISP Grain, which in 2025 secured a £225m funding boost (here) and has already built their point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 270,000 UK premises (aiming for 600,000 in the future), has today continued the drip feed of new network expansion announcements by adding Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire (England) to their list.

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Broadband ISP YouFibre UK Set to Block Internet Email Port 25 from Friday UPDATE

14th January, 2026 (18 Comments)

Internet service provider YouFibre, which is one of the main retail outlets for Netomnia’s growing national Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network, has informed customers that they intend to impose a block against internet traffic on Port 25 (SMTP) from Friday (16th January 2026).

Virgin Media O2 Notifies Some 300 UK Staff of Potential Redundancies

14th January, 2026 (7 Comments)

Several sources have informed ISPreview that broadband and mobile operator Virgin Media (O2) has today notified staff, specifically those in the Fixed Wholesale and Customer Delivery side of their business, that c.300 of them could be facing redundancy in the near future. The move follows a slowdown in the expansion of their full fibre (FTTP) network via nexfibre.