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Latest Key Developments

Gigabit Broadband Contracts Awarded for Oxfordshire and Staffordshire UK UPDATE

25th Nov, 2023 (10 Comments)

The UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme has today announced two new contracts, which sees ISP Gigaclear awarded £26.5m to cover around 10,000 rural premises in North and South Oxfordshire. At the same time, Connect Fibre has scooped a £16.5m deal to cover 6,000 premises in North East Staffordshire.

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2023 Autumn Statement Boosts UK Full Fibre and 5G Builds – Full Expensing

22nd Nov, 2023 (12 Comments)

The Chancellor of the UK government, Jeremy Hunt, has today given his 2023 Autumn Statement, which among other things has announced that the new “Full Expensing” policy will be made permanent. The change will help some full fibre broadband and mobile operators to bring down the cost of their network roll-outs. Planning tweaks are also coming.

Ofcom UK Detail 5G Mobile Auction Plan for 26GHz and 40GHz

8th Nov, 2023 (9 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today set out the design of their planned auction for a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency across the 26GHz and 40GHz bands, which is to be used by mobile network operators to deliver even faster 5G (mobile broadband) services – mostly across urban areas.

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Virgin Media O2 Linked Nexfibre Publish UK Full Fibre Rollout Plan

7th Nov, 2023 (40 Comments)

Network operator nexfibre, which holds a wholesale partnership with Virgin Media (VMO2) to deploy a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across up to 7 million UK premises, has today published its first “nationwide rollout plan” for 2024 – listing the first large batch of planned locations.

Openreach Prep Alternative UK Analogue Style Phone Product

6th Nov, 2023 (44 Comments)

Openreach is developing an additional phone line product, which does NOT require a broadband connection to function and will be targetted at vulnerable and edge use cases (inc. CNI) users with old analogue phone lines (PSTN) who would otherwise “face challenges” in migrating to an All-IP (Internet Protocol) based solution by 2025.

Ofcom Finalises Softer UK Rules to Protect the Open Internet UPDATE

26th Oct, 2023 (19 Comments)

Ofcom has finalised their move to soften the Net Neutrality rules, which were originally established to prevent unfair blocking or slowing of access to legal websites and internet services by broadband ISPs and mobile operators. Providers will now gain more flexibility to create “premium” packages (e.g. better latency) and “specialised services“.

Project to Extend UK Rural 4G Mobile Cover Faces 2 Year Delay

23rd Oct, 2023 (23 Comments)

Mobile operators Three UK, O2 (VMO2) and Vodafone have reportedly warned the government that the first phase of their £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network project, which aims to extend geographic 4G (mobile broadband) coverage (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025, is at risk of being delayed by 2 years.

Ofcom May Change How Spectrum is Allocated for UK Wireless Broadband Networks

18th Oct, 2023 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today begun a discussion that could result in a change to how radio spectrum for the next generation of wireless broadband networks is allocated, which in the future may place greater emphasis on spectrum sharing (we’ve already seen a lot of this via private and local 5G networks etc.) and flexible access.

EE Becomes BT’s Main UK Broadband Brand – Launch 1.6Gb FTTP UPDATE

18th Oct, 2023 (93 Comments)

The big branding change continues. Some 18 months have passed since UK telecoms giant BT announced (here) that EE would – over time – gradually become their “flagship brand for our consumer customers” (i.e. converged broadband ISP and mobile plans etc.) and another shift begins today, alongside the launch of their 1.6Gbps package.

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Ofcom Predict 94 Percent of UK Covered by Gigabit Broadband in May 2026

17th Oct, 2023 (31 Comments)

Ofcom has today published the latest edition of their forecast for Planned Network Deployments, which predicts that the full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP lines are on course to cover 91% (27 million premises) of all UK properties by May 2026 – rising to 94% for “gigabit-capable” networks (i.e. FTTP and Cable).

Gov to Review UK Rural Broadband Options and 10Mbps USO

2nd Oct, 2023 (24 Comments)

The UK Government has today launched two interesting new consultations, including one that is seeking views on a looming review of the legally-binding 10Mbps+ Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband and another that will help better understand how to improve broadband for “Very Hard to Reach” areas.

Eutelsat Complete Merger with UK Satellite Broadband Operator OneWeb

28th Sep, 2023 (2 Comments)

European satellite operator Eutelsat has today announced the completion of their all-share combination with London-based broadband satellite operator OneWeb, which had been partly owned by the UK Government but will now become a subsidiary of the Paris-based operator.

Ofcom UK Sets Plan to Auction 26GHz and 40GHz for Faster 5G Mobile

27th Sep, 2023 (7 Comments)

The UK media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today revealed more details about their proposed plan to auction off a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency across the 26GHz and 40GHz bands, which will be used by mobile operators to deliver even faster 5G (mobile broadband) services in urban areas.

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Autumn 2023 BDUK Update on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

21st Sep, 2023 (22 Comments)

The Building Digital UK agency has released their latest September 2023 progress update on the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which is now running live contracts and procurements worth over £2bn in state aid (up from £1.4bn in July) to help extend coverage to an extra 1.1 million hard to reach premises.

Scotland Consult on Gigabit Broadband for All New Build Homes

20th Sep, 2023 (8 Comments)

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on new proposals that closely mirror those recently introduced across England (here and here), which would effectively mandate that property developers ensure their new build homes are constructed with support for gigabit-capable broadband connections.

Censorship and forbidden speech warning sign uk internet

Internet Censorship Galore as UK Online Safety Bill Becomes Law

19th Sep, 2023 (86 Comments)

Get ready, it’s going to be a rocky ride. The UK Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB) is finally set to become law after passing through both houses of parliament today, largely unopposed. The goal is to tackle “harmful” content online, but the result may be a regime that has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

New Smart Data Scheme to Help UK Broadband and Mobile Users

19th Sep, 2023 (7 Comments)

The UK Government (DSIT) has begun to consult on the potential introduction of a new Smart Data scheme – ‘Open Communications‘, which would require broadband ISPs and mobile operators to provide their customers (on request) with more data about their service (price, speeds, reliability, data usage etc.).