Author: Mark Jackson | 39 Comments

The Chief Executive of the UK telecoms regulator, Sharon White, has told a cross-party committee of MPs that a “key test” of Ofcom’s new regulatory approach to BT will be whether or not Openreach can “do a co-investment deal with another operator” following their “full fibre” broadband consultation. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 0 Comments

Hull-based Connexin, which operates wireless broadband networks in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), looks set grow after it secured an investment of £10m from Digital Alpha Advisors (DAA). A focus on smart cities (e.g. public Wi-Fi), 100 extra staff and a new data centre are all in the plans. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 0 Comments

The publicly funded Community WiFi scheme in Essex, which offers small grants (up to £400) to help communities setup a public wireless network via local hubs (village halls, community centres etc.), has this month been opened up to all suppliers via the regional Superfast Essex project. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 5 Comments

The City of London Corporation has today announced that their ultrafast “gigabit speed” capable free public WiFi network, which will be operated by O2 and Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure (CTIL) under a 15 year contract, has finally gone live across the ‘Square Mile’ area. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 6 Comments

Security researchers have revealed bad news for WiFi wireless networks everywhere. Several key management vulnerabilities in the 4-way handshake of the WPA2 security protocol, which helps to keep modern Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) secure via encryption, have been found. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 0 Comments

The Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has started to hunt for the first test locations to support a future rollout of 5G based Mobile and Fixed Wireless Broadband technologies across the United Kingdom, which is supported by an initial public investment of £25m. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 6 Comments

The CSW Broadband project, which hopes to make “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) available to 98% of premises in Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry by the end of 2019, has updated its coverage map to add more detail and the latest Phase 3 FTTP roll-out plan with Openreach (BT). Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 19 Comments

The Government’s National Infrastructure Commission has launched a new consultation which, among other things, warns that the United Kingdom “risks falling behind” other countries in its next generation mobile (5G) and broadband connections unless “urgent action” is taken to increase capacity. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 15 Comments

The Open Rights Group‏ (ORG) has this week helped to highlight how some of the UK’s biggest broadband ISPs are continuing to allow their Parental Control filters to block masses of innocent websites, often for seemingly bogus reasons (e.g. blocking a small gardening business for “pornography“). Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 1 Comment

Fixed wireless ISP Boundless Networks has revealed that they intend to bid on Phase 3 of the state aid supported Superfast North Yorkshire project, which if successful would expand their “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) network to cover 25,000 premises in rural areas across the county. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 2 Comments

Reports claim that the Daisy Group, which supplies communication and broadband services to businesses across the UK, could shortly appoint investment bankers to manage a sale of the business. Under the plan it’s alleged that Daisy could auction itself off for £1.5bn during the first half of 2018. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 1 Comment

Ofcom’s decision this week to grant Inmarsat a wireless telegraphy licence for ground based stations using the 2GHz band (here), which will support a new Satellite based superfast broadband network for air travellers, has triggered ViaSat to prepare legal proceedings against the regulator. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 1 Comment

A rural business park on the Hutton Wandesley Estate in North Yorkshire has been given a huge boost after Signa built a new fixed wireless superfast broadband network in the area to help serve isolated firms, which will also soon also be expanded to cater for local residents. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 0 Comments

UK ISP Boundless Networks has successfully deployed a new fixed wireless superfast broadband network to cater for residents of Slippery Ford, which is a tiny rural hamlet and part of the Worth Valley in West Yorkshire that has long campaigned for faster internet connectivity. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 15 Comments

The dream of 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 technology, which could one day be deployed on Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) based cable networks like Virgin Media, has taken another step forward after CableLabs completed the technology’s official specification. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 12 Comments

The Government’s £150 million Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP), which was originally set-up in 2011/12 to improve mobile network (2G, 3G and 4G) coverage in rural “not spot” areas, has today won some praise for what it achieved, despite only being able to build 75 of the promised 575 masts. Read More..

Author: Mark Jackson | 4 Comments

Telecoms operator Sure has launched a “totally unlimited” 4G broadband service on the Isle of Man (British Crown Dependency), which it claims is a “superior alternative to fixed line broadband.” Download speeds of up to 40Mbps (2Mbps upload) are available over the new product. Read More..