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Sky UK to Make TV Streaming via Broadband Boxes Standalone

12th Apr, 2022 (25 Comments)

Last year’s launch of Sky Glass, which made it possible to stream Sky’s TV channels and content over a UK home broadband ISP connection (here), received a mixed reception because customers could only do this by adopting a special Sky branded TV. But the good news is that you’ll soon be able to do this without their TV.

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Peak Time Latency Strikes Part of Virgin Media’s UK Network UPDATE2

12th Apr, 2022 (33 Comments)

Some broadband customers on UK ISP Virgin Media’s (VMO2) fixed line network are reporting a noticeable increase in peak time latency – usually between around 5:30pm and 11pm, which appears to have begun at around the end of last week. This can see latency times become very slow (double or more vs the usual baseline).

ISP Sky Broadband and NOW Launch Cheaper UK Social Tariff

12th Apr, 2022 (12 Comments)

Good news. UK ISP Sky Broadband and sibling NOW Broadband have today become the latest internet providers to launch a cheaper “social tariff” for home broadband and phone connectivity, which is being offered to consumers who are claiming Universal Credit or Pension Credit.

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Google Removes Dubious UK Broadband ISP Support Adverts

12th Apr, 2022 (0 Comments)

Internet search giant Google has removed two adverts, which appeared to offer support services to broadband users on major UK ISPs, after an investigation by Which? claimed that “customers with internet problems [were] being duped” by “dodgy broadband broker adverts” that tried to sell packages on “shady” Supanet (Supatel).

Vodafone Puts Ultrafast 5G Mobile Live in 12 New UK Locations

11th Apr, 2022 (12 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone has today announced that their new ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) network has just started to go live across a further 12 UK cities and towns, including bigger locations, like the city of Coventry in the West Midlands, and smaller places, such as the town of Llantwit Major in Wales.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak Visits B4RN’s Rural Gigabit Full Fibre Project UPDATE

11th Apr, 2022 (31 Comments)

The UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, appears to have taken some time out from questions over his family’s tax affairs to see how public investment is helping rural ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) to deploy a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to homes in the North Yorkshire hamlet of Cotterdale.

Rural ISP RunFibre Target 3500 Premises for FTTP by Early 2023

11th Apr, 2022 (1 Comment)

Bristol-based ISP RunFibre, which recently started building their own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of South Gloucestershire in England, has begun to “ramp up” the rollout of their new network and now aim to make 3,500 properties Ready for Service (RFS) by March 2023.

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Hyperoptic Asks Ofcom UK to Probe Broadband ISP Price Hikes UPDATE

11th Apr, 2022 (26 Comments)

Full fibre broadband ISP Hyperoptic has today formally called on the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, to investigate the use of above-inflation mid-contract price rises and to consider reform that would allow impacted customers to terminate their agreement and switch providers, penalty-free.

327,174 Premises in Wales Need Help to Get Gigabit Broadband

9th Apr, 2022 (14 Comments)

The Building Digital UK team has published a new Public Review (PR) consultation for Wales, which reveals that some 327,174 premises might need state aid help under the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme in order to access 1Gbps speeds (rising to 984,806 if including ‘Under Review‘ premises).

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) have reportedly two among several "groups" that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of a £1.1bn takeover by Toscafund - controlled by hedge fund tycoon Martin Hughes (here), which including debt valued the broadband provider at around £1.8bn. The deal took the ISP private and gave them more financial flexibility for their future plans. Since then, they've backed Freedom Fibre (here) and this week made the notable acquisition of Ethernet provider Virtual1 (here). According to the FT (paywall) and Sky News, TalkTalk is now said to have asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after allegedly being approach by several groups, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband). Lazard is a logical choice as they recently acted as Financial Advisor to TalkTalk on the Virtual1 transaction. Some industry analysts have reportedly suggested that TalkTalk itself could now be worth "at least" £3bn. But this seems rather optimistic for an ISP that doesn't have any significant fixed line broadband infrastructure to call its own (excluding their old unbundled LLU network) and largely just piggybacks off Openreach (BT), CityFibre and Freedom Fibre. But TalkTalk do have a strong business and wholesale side. Funnily enough, Sky Broadband are in a similar position with their own fixed line base, while Vodafone also likes to piggyback off Openreach and CityFibre. At present, Vodafone has a fixed broadband base of 991,000 customers, while Sky Broadband is estimated to be home to around 6.7 million and TalkTalk has approximately 4.2 million. Suffice to say, anybody gobbling up TalkTalk would instantly become a much larger provider, giving them a greater say in how the UK broadband market develops and more opportunities for convergence (Vodafone with mobile, and Sky with mobile and TV). Crucially, TalkTalk's consumer base is mostly made up of those on older copper and hybrid fibre lines (i.e. ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2), which are ripe for a future migration to FTTP. At the time of writing, all of the aforementioned operators have decline to comment on the reports, and TalkTalk has yet to receive any serious formal offers. In other words, we strongly suspect that this is largely just an exercise in spin to help TalkTalk drum up some more productive interest in the idea. But at the same time, it's not unreasonable to suspect that they might succeed, as the interest seems genuine. On the other hand, we see reports like this every year or so and only a very few ever convert into a serious offer. Time will tell. Much may depend upon whether or not TalkTalk’s new owners are more flexible and pragmatic about doing a deal than the previous lot. Arguably, TalkTalk might have gone much further by now had they taken some different decisions a few years ago (e.g. co-investing in FTTP instead of Pay TV).

Vodafone and Sky Sniffing Possible Acquisition of UK ISP TalkTalk

8th Apr, 2022 (40 Comments)

Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) are reportedly two among several “groups” that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry.

GBP295m Funding Boost for Netomnia’s UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

8th Apr, 2022 (8 Comments)

Network operator Netomnia and partner broadband ISP YouFibre have today secured a huge funding boost of £295m from DigitalBridge Investment Management, which will help to fuel the ongoing rollout of their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network for UK homes and businesses.

Three UK See Record Mobile Data Traffic of 1 Terabits Per Second UPDATE

8th Apr, 2022 (10 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK has today published their new ‘Mobile Britain’ report, which summarises key statistics from their network and reveals that mobile broadband (data) traffic hit an all-time high of “1 tbps (terabyte per second)” on Tuesday night – between 21:15 and 21:30 (they actually mean Terabits).

Union Rejects Revised BT Pay Offer and Preps Strike Ballot

7th Apr, 2022 (33 Comments)

The BT Group (inc. Openreach, Plusnet and EE) has today proposed to award frontline broadband and telecoms workers a £1,500 consolidated pay increase. But the Communications Workers Union, which represents c.40,000 of the operator’s UK staff, has rejected this and moved to “prepare for a statutory industrial action ballot.“

Energy Assets Fibre Networks to Expand FTTP Broadband Builds

7th Apr, 2022 (0 Comments)

Utility infrastructure firm Energy Assets, specifically its ‘Fibre Networks‘ (EAFN) division, looks set to expand their existing deployments by becoming a bigger wholesale provider of gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband infrastructure to UK ISPs.

Full Fibre Builder CityFibre Wins UK RoSPA Health and Safety Award

7th Apr, 2022 (2 Comments)

Network builder CityFibre, which is currently deploying a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the UK, has won a ‘Gold Health and Safety Award‘ from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for ensuring its staff and build partners “operate in a safe environment.”

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First Milestone of 4G Rollout on London Underground Completes

7th Apr, 2022 (10 Comments)

Infrastructure firm BAI Communications (BAI) has announced the completion of the first milestone of its rollout of 4G and 5G-ready mobile (mobile broadband) coverage across the London Underground, which introduces uninterrupted coverage on the eastern section of the Jubilee Line. But only EE (BT) and Three UK have signed to use it.

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Fire Cuts Openreach Broadband for 7400 Premises in Kent UPDATE3

7th Apr, 2022 (10 Comments)

The details remain unclear, but a “suspected” arson attack against Openreach’s (BT) network infrastructure in Staplehurst (Kent, England), which we believe occurred around mid-morning yesterday, has resulted in a loss of broadband and phone connectivity for 7,400 homes and businesses in the area.