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Latest Key Developments

Ofcom Change Openreach’s UK Full Fibre Threshold for Copper Retirement

9th Sep, 2026 (13 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today decided to change the threshold at which Openreach (BT) can begin to alter the wholesale prices of copper connections once full fibre (FTTP) broadband lines have become available. In short, the operator will now reach this stage in exchange areas where ultrafast broadband (300Mbps+) is available to 90% of premises, rather than 100%.

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Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme Closes to New UK Projects

2nd Sep, 2026 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has confirmed that their long-running Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), which offered grants to help those in digitally disadvantaged areas get significantly faster internet connections installed, has now closed to the submission of new voucher projects.

TV Broadcasters, Banks and UK Telecoms Providers Unite to Get Everyone Online UPDATE

20th Aug, 2026 (11 Comments)

Britain’s major banks, charities, TV broadcasters, broadband and mobile providers have today united to back a new report from the Connection Project, which calls for “coordinated action to ensure everyone” can get online and take part in a modern economy. But this is not the first time we’ve seen coordinated action on the subject.

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Openreach Expands UK Rollout of 10Gbps Speed Full Fibre XGS-PON Broadband UPDATE

19th Aug, 2026 (75 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has this morning announced that they intend to expand their ongoing pilot of 10Gbps capable XGS-PON based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology, which over the next 12 months will be made available to “more than a million premises” across the United Kingdom. But a third of its full fibre network could be covered over the next 5 years.

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New National Planning Policy Framework Lends Support to Broadband and Mobile

18th Aug, 2026 (2 Comments)

The Government has published its new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England, which finally appears to have laid the foundations for planning authorities to give “substantial weight” to the benefits of “maintaining or improving network coverage, capacity, reliability and resilience” of modern gigabit broadband and 5G mobile networks.

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Government Prepares £20m Phase 2 of Schools Gigabit Broadband Rollout

15th Aug, 2026 (0 Comments)

The Government’s Department for Education (DfE) has launched an early market engagement exercise to identify organisations that might be interested in supplying the second phase of their gigabit broadband roll-out programme for Schools, which has been allocated £20m of public funding to reach around a further 800 schools across England.

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New Rules to Tackle Fake Discounts Set to Benefit UK Consumers in 2027

10th Aug, 2026 (5 Comments)

The new UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, yesterday pledged to bring forward the introduction of several planned measures to help consumers exit bad contracts, stop misleading price promotions and to generally tackle “subscription traps“. Some of the new measures will now be introduced from January 2027, rather than next Spring, but others require further consultation.

Ofcom Propose to Block New Openreach UK FTTP Broadband Discount UPDATE2

28th Jul, 2026 (25 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today, for the first time, provisionally proposed to block one of several network discounts that network access provider Openreach (BT) had proposed to introduce in order to help them stay competitive and attract new customers to their full fibre (FTTP) broadband lines. But the separate £50 rebate offered in Virgin Media areas got a pass.

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Government Responsibility for UK Broadband and Mobile Returns to DCMS

23rd Jul, 2026 (1 Comment)

After a few days of conflicting messaging, the Government in Westminster did yesterday confirm that responsibility for all things broadband and mobile related – this includes programmes covered by the Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency and related aspects – has been shifted back to a re-named Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). But now the ‘D’ stands for Digital (I guess.. DDCMS?).

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Ofcom Adopt Shared Upper 6GHz Band for UK Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

20th Jul, 2026 (5 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today decided to implement their plan for allowing Low Power Indoor (LPI) Wi-Fi and outdoor mobile broadband (4G, 5G etc.) networks to “share” access to the Upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz). The UK will thus become the first country in Europe to adopt this, but mobile networks won’t be able to harness it until after 2030.

Ofcom Investigates Multiple UK Broadband Networks Over Liability Funds UPDATE

16th Jul, 2026 (4 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has opened investigations into several alternative full fibre broadband networks (altnets) – including Internetty, Cambridge Fibre Networks, Optical Fibre Infrastructure, Pine Media and Trooli – after they found “reasonable grounds to believe” that they may not be meeting their duties to show they have secured funds for meeting their liabilities.

Ofcom Introduce New UK Rules to Tackle Mobile Messaging Scams UPDATE

15th Jul, 2026 (7 Comments)

The UK internet content, telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has this morning published a “comprehensive package of practical measures” to help UK mobile network operators “block, limit and disrupt scammers” from sending messaging scams. In addition, they’ve strengthened rules to help protect people from international calls that imitate – or “spoof” – UK mobile numbers.

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Building Controls Updated to Fix Stalled Fibre Broadband Rollouts for Big Buildings UPDATE

9th Jul, 2026 (7 Comments)

The Ministry of Housing (MHCLG) and UK ISP Association (ISPA) have today unveiled crucial changes to address the current problem with the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes in England, which are known to have caused big delays and increased costs for broadband and mobile operators trying to deploy full fibre networks into large buildings (MDUs etc.).

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Broadband Altnets Spar with Ofcom Over Openreach UK Copper Line Retirement

7th Jul, 2026 (28 Comments)

The UK telecom regulator’s proposal in their Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), which sought to adopt a different approach to copper line retirement in favour of full fibre optic (FTTP) broadband lines on Openreach’s national UK network, has, perhaps predictably, attracted criticism from rivals that worry it may hand the incumbent an advantage.

CMA Fast Tracks Nexfibre £2bn Netomnia Broadband Merger to Phase 2 Competition Probe

1st Jul, 2026 (16 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today announced that it will skip a Phase 1 review of the proposed £2bn acquisition (here) of alternative full fibre UK broadband operator Netomnia (Substantial Group) by nexfibre (Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia), which will instead see them skip right to a deeper Phase 2 competition investigation.

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Gov Consults on UK Plan for Terrestrial TV Switch Off and Broadband Support

23rd Jun, 2026 (37 Comments)

The Government has today proposed to switch-off terrestrial TV signals in either 2034 or 2044 as part of a wider change to reflect the move to internet-based streaming, provided broadband coverage is ready to support the transition (they expect it to be). Support will also be provided to the UK homes that may struggle to afford broadband, possibly backed by a new subsidy scheme.

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Ofcom Update Guidance on Power Backup and Resilience in UK Mobile Networks

16th Jun, 2026 (8 Comments)

The UK telecoms and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has published a revised guidance document on network resilience, which was first published in 2024 (here) to give broadband, mobile and other digital network providers greater clarity on how they can “reduce the risk of network outages“. The new update clarifies their stance on power backup for mobile cell / mast sites.