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Latest Key Developments

New £900m Getting Building Fund Brings Broadband Boost to England UPDATE

5th Aug, 2020 (0 Comments)

The UK government’s new £900m Getting Building Fund (GBF), which seeks to help create new jobs, skills and infrastructure across England in order to aid the recovery from COVID-19, has announced its allocations to various regions. A few of the projects also include funding for new gigabit broadband and “full fibre” networks.

BDUK Pilot Consumer Led Approach to Gigabit Broadband Vouchers

30th Jul, 2020 (19 Comments)

The UK Government’s (DCMS) Building Digital UK team, which is responsible for implementing much of their “full fibre” and gigabit broadband deployment plans, has begun piloting a new consumer led (instead of supplier led) approach for the Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.

3d rendering of optical fiber cable by 123rf

Ofcom to Help BT Fibre Rollout Reach 3.2 Million Rural Premises UPDATE

29th Jul, 2020 (74 Comments)

Ofcom has proposed to change their UK regulation as a result of Openreach’s (BT) recent commitment to extend their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to a further 3.2 million rural properties, which will allow the operator to include these investment costs in its prices upfront.

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More Big UK Home Broadband ISPs Commit to Fairer Pricing

28th Jul, 2020 (2 Comments)

Industry regulator Ofcom has today secured new commitments from UK ISPs EE, Plusnet and Sky Broadband to reduce prices automatically for “vulnerable customers” who are out of contract, which mirrors a similar move agreed last year with BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. Savings of £270m are forecast.

Ofcom UK Opens 6GHz Radio Band for Use in Faster Home Wi-Fi

24th Jul, 2020 (12 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today made it possible for future home WiFi networks to harness 500MHz of radio spectrum frequency in the new 6GHz band, which will significantly boost the speed of licence-exempt indoor home wireless networks (i.e. via the Wi-Fi 6/6E – 802.11ax standard).

New Ofcom Guidelines for Fair Treatment of Vulnerable UK People

23rd Jul, 2020 (0 Comments)

At present the COVID-19 crisis has shown that phone, pay TV and broadband ISPs have adopted different approaches for how they deal with “vulnerable customers” (i.e. those suffering from financial, health or emotional problems). Ofcom has today produced new guidelines that attempt to standardise how the market tackles such issues.

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Big UK Rule Changes to Boost Gigabit Broadband and 5G Rollout

22nd Jul, 2020 (30 Comments)

The UK Government has today confirmed a series of changes to both the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) and Mobile infrastructure planning, which when taken together are intended to help boost the on-going deployment of both “gigabit-capable” broadband and 5G mobile networks (as well as the Shared Rural Network).

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Wales Extends BT FTTP Broadband Rollout to 39,000 Premises UPDATE

20th Jul, 2020 (18 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has just announced that their Phase 2 Superfast Cymru contract with BT (Openreach), which is currently building a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 26,000 premises by March 2021 (here and here), is to be extended to reach 39,000 premises.

Ofcom Propose Tweaks and Dark Fibre for KCOM in Hull UK

16th Jul, 2020 (2 Comments)

After a bit of a COVID-19 delay. Ofcom has today opened a review of regulation on KCOM’s network in the Hull (East Yorkshire) area, which last year completed the roll-out of a new gigabit Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband service across their entire network and is now expanding beyond that footprint.

NO Huawei – UK Gov BANs New 5G Mobile Kit from Dec 2020 UPDATED

14th Jul, 2020 (62 Comments)

The UK Government has today confirmed a dramatic U-turn, which means that new core and non-core 5G kit from Chinese tech giant Huawei will be banned from use in mobile networks from 31st December 2020. But existing kit will get until 2027 for removal and a decision on FTTP broadband ISPs will come later.

Virgin Media Start UK Rollout of Remote Phy to Improve Network

10th Jul, 2020 (53 Comments)

Cable ISP Virgin Media has just made their first UK deployment of a new-ish technology – Remote Phy (R-PHY) – on their Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) based DOCSIS broadband and TV network in Coventry. The development will make their network more efficient, which should lead to better internet speeds and reliability.

Progress on BDUK Plan for £5bn UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout

8th Jul, 2020 (15 Comments)

Over the past few months’ we’ve seen the UK Government step-up market engagement exercises as part of work to develop a framework for their £5bn investment, which aims to ensure that “every home” can access “gigabit-capable” broadband by the end of 2025. As a result we now have a better idea of what this will look like.

CMA, ICO and Ofcom Launch Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum

1st Jul, 2020 (3 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today joined forces with both the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in order to launch a new forum, which aims to help “ensure online services work well for people and businesses in the UK.”

copper vs fibre optic openreach engineer

Ofcom Consults on Openreach UK Copper Retirement Process

25th Jun, 2020 (52 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today opened a short consultation on their proposal to push back some key decisions regarding the retirement process for Openreach’s (BT) copper lines in favour of fibre optic broadband. In short, Ofcom wants to see a bit more FTTP roll-out take place first (for experience), before they set out a final plan.

79,000 Premises in Wales Remain Without Superfast Broadband UPDATE

24th Jun, 2020 (20 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has today issued a short update on their various broadband schemes, which among other things reveals that 79,000 properties (categorised as “white premises”) still do not have access to “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) and won’t benefit from any future roll-out plans within the next 3 years.

ISP Fibrus Commits to Help N.Ireland Hit 100% FTTP Broadband

17th Jun, 2020 (2 Comments)

Belfast-based UK ISP Fibrus, which recently began the £85m+ roll-out of a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network in Northern Ireland and aims to cover 145,000 premises by around 2024 (here), has now committed to help ensure that 100% of homes can access such services by the end of 2025.

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UK Ranks 8th in 2020 EU Broadband Connectivity Progress Study

12th Jun, 2020 (6 Comments)

The European Commission has today published their annual 2020 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which reveals how the UK’s fixed line broadband ISP and mobile networks compare with the rest of the EU. Overall the UK ranks just 20th for “Connectivity” (up from 21st in 2019), but we do better in other areas.