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Latest Key Developments

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ISP Sky Broadband UK Deploying IP Address Sharing via MAP-T UPDATE

13th Jun, 2024 (11 Comments)

Some customers of Sky Broadband have noticed, via our forum (here), that the ISP has quietly deployed a modern type of Internet Protocol (IP) address sharing called MAP-T that seems to be a notable improvement on other sharing solutions, like the often maligned Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGNAT).

Scotland Tenders for £106m Gigabit Broadband Rollout in North East

31st May, 2024 (11 Comments)

The Scottish Government has issued a contract notice for the North East of Scotland (Lot 5) under the UK’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme, which is expected to expand related connectivity to an estimated 68,342 premises in hard-to-reach (rural) parts of Dundee, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Moray, Highland and Perth and Kinross.

PAC Warn Pace of Rural UK 4G Mobile Rollout Project is Unsustainable

29th May, 2024 (4 Comments)

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is responsible for overseeing UK government expenditures to ensure they are effective, has warned that the current build pace of the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network project (i.e. extending 4G mobile (broadband) coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025) “may not be sustainable“.

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Openreach Name 517 New UK Locations for FTTP Broadband Rollout

28th May, 2024 (79 Comments)

Network operator Openreach (BT) has today announced a HUGE update, which reveals the next batch of 517 new locations – covering 2.7 million UK premises – to benefit from their roll-out of a 1.8Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. The operator has already covered 14m premises, and this update largely completes their build plan to 2026.

Ofcom Fines BT £2.8m Over UK Customer Contract Info Failings UPDATE

22nd May, 2024 (13 Comments)

The UK telecoms, internet and media regulator, Ofcom, has today hit broadband ISP BT (including subsidiaries EE and Plusnet) with a fine of £2.8 million, which occurred after their investigation found the operator had “failed to provide” 1.1 million customers with clear and simple contract information before signing up to a new deal.

Openreach Update as Analogue UK Phone Switch Off Delayed to 2027 UPDATE

17th May, 2024 (46 Comments)

In case anybody missed it after being buried in yesterday’s BT results (here). The plan to withdraw BT and Openreach’s old copper-based analogue line services (PSTN phones and WLR), which was due to complete by December 2025, has been delayed until 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, telecare providers and consumers more time to adapt.

BT Group Grows FTTP to 13.81m UK Premises as Openreach Picked for Project Gigabit

16th May, 2024 (13 Comments)

The latest BT Group H2 FY24 results to March 2024 reveal that Openreach’s UK full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network added 1 million premises to their coverage in the quarter to cover 13.812m, while EE’s 5G mobile covers 75% of the population (up from 72% in H1), the PSTN (analogue phone) migration won’t complete until Jan 2027 and Openreach is named “preferred bidder” for Type C Project Gigabit contracts.

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Gov Expanding Gigabit Broadband Vouchers to UK Urban Areas

15th May, 2024 (9 Comments)

Sources have informed ISPreview that the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has decided to extend the availability of their Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) to include urban areas. The scheme has, until now, only offered grants to help rural properties get a 1Gbps capable ISP connection installed.

Ofcom UK Examine Future of TV Distribution in a Broadband World

9th May, 2024 (58 Comments)

The UK media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published an interesting new report for the Government that examines the future of TV distribution in an increasing broadband (internet) connected world and proposes how to address the inevitable tipping point – where Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services risk become too expensive to sustain.

First BT EV Car Charger from UK Broadband Cabinet Goes LIVE

1st May, 2024 (37 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT, specifically their awkwardly named UK digital incubation team, Etc., has today “powered up” their first Electric Vehicle (EV) charger under a 2-year pilot, which is one of potentially tens of thousands that could be established by repurposing Openreach’s old fixed broadband street cabinets.

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Gov Enforce New UK Internet Security and Broadband Boosting Law

29th Apr, 2024 (21 Comments)

The UK Government has this morning announced that new laws, which are designed to help protect consumers from cyber criminals, such as by requiring that network devices, like broadband ISP routers, receive greater protection (e.g. regular security updates and stronger default passwords), have finally come into force.

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Ofcom Spring 2024 Study – Gigabit Broadband Covers 24 Million UK Homes

24th Apr, 2024 (4 Comments)

Ofcom’s spring 2024 study of UK fixed broadband and mobile coverage has reported that “full fibre” (FTTP) now reaches 62% of the UK (up from 57% in Sept 2023), while 80% are within reach of a gigabit-capable network (up from 78%) and 85-92% of premises can get an outdoor 5G signal from at least one operator (largely unchanged).

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Alternative Full Fibre Networks Grow to Cover 12.9 Million UK Premises

23rd Apr, 2024 (15 Comments)

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) and Point Topic have released their 2024 report into the impact of alternative “full fibre” (FTTP/B) gigabit broadband networks (AltNets), which reveals that their UK coverage grew by 57% in 2023 to top 12.9 million premises (up from 49% and 8.22m in 2022) and could reach 16.7m in 2024.

Government Reject Calls by UK Mobile Operators for 4G SRN Delay

23rd Apr, 2024 (5 Comments)

The CEO of the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, Dean Creamer, has told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that officials have rejected a request from several mobile operators to delay completion of the 4G roll-out for Partial Not-Spot (PNS) areas under the £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project by 18-months.

Scotland’s State Aid Broadband Projects Benefit 1 Million Premises

20th Apr, 2024 (9 Comments)

The Scottish Government (SG) has announced that both of its past and present broadband roll-out programmes, accounting for a total public investment of £1bn, have now helped more than 1 million extra premises (homes and businesses) in poorly served areas to gain access to a faster broadband ISP network.

Connexin Temporarily Pauses Broadband Pole Installations in Hull UPDATE

11th Apr, 2024 (17 Comments)

Following a “productive meeting” with KCOM yesterday, alternative UK broadband ISP Connexin has announced that they will “temporarily pause” the deployment of new telecoms poles in parts of Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire (England) as they “explore the viability” of the incumbents recent infrastructure sharing offer.

April 2024 UK Gov Update on Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

10th Apr, 2024 (20 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has released their April 2024 (spring) progress update on the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which is so far running 37 live contracts and procurements worth £1.9bn in state aid (£1.38bn for 31 signed contracts) to help extend coverage up to an extra 1 million hard to reach premises.