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Latest Key Developments

Project Stratum FTTP Rollout in N.Ireland Adds 8500 Extra Premises

24th Aug, 2021 (7 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (DCMS) team has today announced that their £5bn Project Gigabit programme will supply an extra £25m for the Project Stratum contract in Northern Ireland, which will enable the rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology to reach an additional 8,500 premises.

Wales Mandates Gigabit Ready Broadband for New Social Housing

18th Aug, 2021 (5 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has just published an updated version of their quality requirements for any new affordable homes that are funded by the WG itself (e.g. social housing), which among other things will require that they must now be made “ready” for gigabit-capable broadband ISP connections.

The UK Gov’s Technical Definition of Gigabit Capable Broadband

13th Aug, 2021 (55 Comments)

One aspect of the UK Government’s new £5bn Project Gigabit programme that we haven’t touched on much is the “technical definition” for how they actually define such broadband ISP products, which is partly because this has been in a state of flux as the project evolved. But it now looks much closer to final.

Construction worker repairing a broken water pipe on the concrete road.

Gov to Trial Running UK Fibre Broadband Lines via Water Mains

9th Aug, 2021 (40 Comments)

The UK Government (DCMS) has today unveiled a new £4m ‘Fibre in Water‘ project trial, which will experiment with connecting homes, businesses and mobile masts to gigabit-capable broadband in “hard-to-reach areas” (e.g. remote rural) by running Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) style lines through the water mains.

copper vs fibre optic openreach engineer

Openreach List Next 86 UK Areas for Copper Phone to Fibre Switch – Tranche 5

3rd Aug, 2021 (46 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has published the next – Tranche 5 – list of 86 UK exchange locations where they plan to move away from old copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR etc.) services and on to a new all-IP network, which will occur in areas where over 75% of premises can get their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network.

Gigabit shiny bubble sign with shadow on white background

Gov Publish Next Phase of UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Rollout Plan

2nd Aug, 2021 (32 Comments)

The UK Government will today publish the next phase (inc. Phase 1a, 1b and 2) of their £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which in this batch aims to spread 1Gbps capable broadband ISP networks to a further 1.85 million rural premises (2.2 million confirmed so far) across 26 counties in England. Gigabit vouchers have also been boosted.

Virgin Media O2 to Upgrade Existing UK Network with Full Fibre

29th Jul, 2021 (56 Comments)

The latest combined Q2 2021 results from broadband ISP, TV and mobile operator Virgin Media and O2 has, among other things, revealed that they plan to completely upgrade their existing Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFX) network – some 14.3 million premises – with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband tech by the end of 2028.

satellite_broadband_LEO_MEO_constellation_uk_space by 123rf

Ofcom UK Propose Rule Changes for LEO Broadband Satellites

26th Jul, 2021 (2 Comments)

The new generation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband satellite constellations, such as from Elon Musk’s Starlink (SpaceX) and British-registered OneWeb, has today prompted Ofcom to launch a new consultation on several licensing changes to help support them and tackle potential interference.

Cross-Party UK MPs Consult on ECC Changes to Boost Fibre Rollout

22nd Jul, 2021 (1 Comment)

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Broadband and Digital Communication has launched a new inquiry, which will examine how reforms to the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) could help boost the deployment of “full fibre” broadband in rural and urban areas across the UK.

Ofcom UK Opt Not to Propose Regulated Social Broadband Tariff… Yet

22nd Jul, 2021 (12 Comments)

Ofcom has today revealed the conclusion of their latest bout of research into the impact of affordability and debt on broadband ISP customers, which found that around 2 million UK households “struggle to afford internet access.” But they aren’t going to force a regulated social tariff onto the industry.. yet.

Ofcom Tells BT to Improve 10Mbps UK Broadband USO Quotes

16th Jul, 2021 (32 Comments)

Ofcom’s investigation into BT’s compliance with their obligations under the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband has concluded that “some customers have been asked to pay materially higher amounts than they should have been.” As a result, they’ve asked the ISP to make a few improvements.

EE and BT Aim to Offer 5G Mobile Anywhere in the UK by 2028

14th Jul, 2021 (18 Comments)

Mobile operator EE and broadband ISP giant BT have today pledged to offer ultrafast 5G mobile solutions “across the entire UK” by 2028 and to “fuse” their mobile, Wi-Fi and fibre broadband infrastructures to realise the potential of the country’s “first fully converged network.” But this isn’t quite universal coverage.

Openreach Unveil Major FTTP Pricing Offer for UK Broadband ISPs UPDATE

1st Jul, 2021 (50 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today unveiled a “major” change to the pricing of their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband products, which aims to give UK ISPs not only cheaper services but also “long-term price certainty” through a series of new commitments. But in return, providers must push FTTP wherever they can.

Gov Updates on UK 4G Shared Rural Network Rollout Progress

29th Jun, 2021 (6 Comments)

The UK Government has today published somewhat of a progress update on their £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which reveals that Scotland, Wales and North East England will benefit most from the expansion of 4G based mobile network (mobile broadband) coverage into rural areas.

BT Sign OneWeb Deal to Tackle UK Rural Broadband Slow Spots

27th Jun, 2021 (21 Comments)

UK ISP BT and satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government, have reached an agreement that will see the two working together to bring ultrafast low-latency broadband speeds to some of the hardest to reach rural parts of the country, where even their £5bn Project Gigabit programme would struggle to go.

Ofcom Requires UK ISPs to Offer Emergency Video Relay Service

22nd Jun, 2021 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has today finalised their decision to force all UK broadband and phone providers – oddly including those that may not even deliver phone services – to offer a free (inc. zero-rated data usage), 24/7 video relay service for British Sign Language (BSL) users to contact the emergency services, via a dedicated mobile app and website.

Value for Money Concerns Raised Over N.Ireland Broadband Projects

17th Jun, 2021 (10 Comments)

The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) has today published a new report into two recent state aid supported broadband rollout projects in Northern Ireland, which questions whether they delivered value for money, highlights a lack of contract bidding competition for BT and warns about a reliance on the contractor to self-certify its costs.