Home » UK ISP News Archive » Key Developments (789 Posts)

Latest Key Developments

Government to Unveil £40m for UK Rural 5G Broadband Pilots

10th Feb, 2020 (17 Comments)

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is today reportedly gearing up to announce a fresh round of new capital investment in major infrastructure projects (HS2 etc.), which is expected to include a pot of £40 million to support pilots of superfast 5G based wireless (mobile) broadband in rural areas.

network cables closeup with fibre optical background by 123rf

Welsh Government to Open Cable Ducts for Fibre Broadband

7th Feb, 2020 (2 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG), which is currently working with Openreach (BT) to extend gigabit-capable”full fibre” (FTTP) broadband to a further 26,000 premises by March 2021 (here and here), has announced that they intend to open some of their own telecoms ducts up for use by ISPs to help boost connectivity and capacity supplies.

Ofcom Toughens Personal UK Broadband ISP Speed Estimates

30th Jan, 2020 (30 Comments)

Ofcom has today announced that they intend to toughen their existing Broadband Speed Code of Practice, which among other things requires UK ISPs to supply consumers with a personal estimate of their broadband line speed before buying. Under the new change this estimate will become more accurate, but there’s a catch.

Huawei You GO! UK Green Lights Firm for non-Core Telecoms Kit

28th Jan, 2020 (21 Comments)

After a protracted period of uncertainty the UK Government has today confirmed that kit from Chinese technology giant Huawei and other “high risk vendors” will be banned from the “sensitive” core of future UK 5G and “gigabit-capable” fixed broadband ISP networks, although non-core 5G kit (antennas, street cabinets etc.) will be exempt.

Openreach Add 227 Rural UK Areas to FTTP Broadband Rollout UPDATE

26th Jan, 2020 (107 Comments)

Network provider Openreach (BT) has announced that 227 new UK locations – 250,000 premises – are being added to the roll-out phase of their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology, which this time appears to focus on some of the “harder to reach” villages, market towns and rural areas.

Ofcom UK Set Final Fairness Framework to Tackle Unfair Practices

23rd Jan, 2020 (1 Comment)

Ofcom has published their final Fairness Framework (guidelines) for UK providers of mobile, home phone, pay TV and fixed broadband ISPs, which have been designed to show consumers how the regulator will in future assess whether such providers, and the way they treat their customers, is fair (pricing, transparency, support etc.).

Cityfibre Buy FibreNation and Set 8 Million UK FTTH Homes Goal

21st Jan, 2020 (24 Comments)

UK ISP TalkTalk has today confirmed that their wholesale full fibre (FTTH) broadband network sibling – FibreNation – has been sold to the Goldman Sachs backed Cityfibre for £200m cash. In response Cityfibre has increased their fibre optic roll-out plan from 5 million UK premises by 2025 to 8 million.

Ofcom UK to Make 6GHz Band Available for Faster Home Wi-Fi

17th Jan, 2020 (7 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today proposed to free up 500MHz of spectrum in the 6GHz frequency band on a licence-exempt basis so that it can be used by the latest WiFi networks (e.g. Wi-Fi 6 / 6E – 802.11ax), which would make such networks faster, more reliable and a bit more secure.

Government Changes UK Gigabit Broadband Voucher Rules

16th Jan, 2020 (48 Comments)

The Government has just approved some changes to the rules and eligibility criteria for both their £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) and the £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme, which effectively harmonises both schemes and helps the funding get to the right areas.

Scotland Reveal R100 Full Fibre Broadband Rollout Plan to 2023

9th Jan, 2020 (21 Comments)

The Scottish Government‘s Minister for Connectivity, Paul Wheelhouse, has today issued an update on the progress of their much delayed £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) project, which confirms how many premises will benefit in each area and what technologies will be used. Sadly the rollout will complete in 2023, rather than 2021.

fibre optic red and blue broadband cables 2018

Ofcom Start Major Review to Boost UK Full Fibre Broadband Market

8th Jan, 2020 (20 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today launched their first combined Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR), which proposes major changes to help boost investment in “full fibre” broadband and high capacity Ethernet (leased line) services for both the residential and business connectivity markets.

consumer switching uk broadband and phone

Big Ofcom Changes to Help Broadband ISP and Mobile Switching UPDATE

17th Dec, 2019 (8 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to make switching between broadband ISPs on physically separate UK networks easier (e.g. BT to Hyperoptic) and they also intend to ban mobile operators from selling “locked” handsets (i.e. Smartphones that cannot be used on other networks unless they are unlocked).

ISP TalkTalk Trial UK FTTP Ultrafast Broadband via Openreach

10th Dec, 2019 (32 Comments)

Last month UK ISP TalkTalk promised that they would launch a new range of ultrafast broadband packages “before the end of the calendar year“, which for the first time would be based off Openreach’s (BT) new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. The first customer trials are now quietly going live.

Wales Considers Spending More on Mobile than Fixed Broadband

27th Nov, 2019 (9 Comments)

The National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW) has issued a call for evidence on its priorities for 2020 as it develops a future infrastructure plan for Wales, which among other things includes a proposal to spend a “greater proportion of public funds” on mobile (4G / 5G) rather than to fixed broadband ISP networks.

Ofcom and Openreach Trial Cheaper UK FTTC Broadband Upgrades UPDATE

25th Nov, 2019 (14 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has begun a consultation on the proposed introduction of a new “bulk upgrade process,” which requires an exclusion in Openreach’s (BT) quality of service regulation but would make it more efficient for them to upgrade slower lines to FTTC (VDSL2) based broadband ISP connections.

BT to Scoop LOT 1 of Scotland’s R100 Superfast Broadband Rollout

21st Nov, 2019 (20 Comments)

The Scottish Government has awarded BT (Openreach) the final LOT 1 contract – as preferred bidder – to deliver their new £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) project, which originally (here) aspired to make “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) ISP networks available to “every single premises in Scotland” by the end of 2021.

Labour Party Pledge £20bn to Deploy FREE Full Fibre for All UK UPDATE3

15th Nov, 2019 (112 Comments)

The UK Labour Party has set out their broadband pledge for the General Election on 12th December 2019, which includes a commitment to invest £20.3bn into rolling out “full fibre” (FTTP) by 2030, nationalising Openreach (BT) into public ownership and if that wasn’t quite radical enough then access to this will be.. FREE.