Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: 5G (1771 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - 5G

Virgin Media’s Unlimited Mobile Data Plan Now Available to All

8th February, 2021 (45 Comments)

Cable broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has quietly made an important little change to their top unlimited mobile data plan, which removes the requirement for those who take it out to be an existing customer of their current pay TV, fixed line internet or home phone products.

MPs Warn UK Gov’s 5G Diversification Strategy Lacks Clear Targets

4th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

The cross-party UK Science and Technology Committee has warned that the Government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, which aspires to ensure that mobile operators have a better choice of suppliers after Huawei’s ban, lacks “clear milestones” and detail. The strong focus on OpenRAN is also not “guaranteed” to succeed.

BT Group Build 1Gb FTTP Broadband to 4.1 Million UK Premises

4th February, 2021 (78 Comments)

The BT Group’s latest Q3 2020/21 results reveal that Openreach’s G.fast and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) network now covers a total of 6.88 million UK premises, with 4.05m coming from FTTP alone (up from 3.5m last quarter). The take-up rate for their full fibre services has also improved.

Vodafone Tops 876,000 UK Broadband Customers as Mobile Shrinks

3rd February, 2021 (10 Comments)

UK ISP and mobile giant Vodafone have today published their latest results to the end of 2020 (financial Q3 FY21), which saw their fixed broadband base grow to 876,000 customers (up by +38k in the quarter vs +45K in Q2 FY21), while their mobile base slowed its decline to total 17,337,000 (down by -43k vs -200k in Q2 FY21).

bt_halo_3_plus_devices_broadband_wifi_mobile

BT Launch Halo 3+ to Combine WiFi, Mobile and FTTP Broadband

3rd February, 2021 (23 Comments)

UK ISP BT and EE has today combined to launch their new converged Halo 3+ package (add-on), which is a hybrid solution that is intended to give customers the “best” all-in-one broadband (e.g. full fibre FTTP as standard), WiFi coverage (“the UK’s only unbreakable Wi-Fi connection“) and mobile (mobile Broadband) connectivity.

OneWeb UK Confirms BT Talks – Possible Rural Broadband Fix

2nd February, 2021 (21 Comments)

Satellite broadband operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government and aims to build a mega constellation of “high-speed” broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has confirmed that they’re in early-stage talks with BT about the use of their network to help connect remote rural areas.

EE UK Sees 5G Mobile Broadband Usage Growing by 40%

2nd February, 2021 (10 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has today published their latest UK Mobile Network Index for Q4 2020, which among other things shows that data traffic over their 5G network (mobile broadband) grew by 40% month on month from October to December. Video streaming services also saw a 30% month on month increase.

PwC Study Claims 5G Mobile May Add £43bn to UK GDP by 2030

2nd February, 2021 (1 Comment)

New research from professional services firm PwC has forecast that the productivity and efficiency gains enabled by the rollout of ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) technology will drive business, skills and service change worth £43bn to UK GDP by 2030. The healthcare sector is also expected to see the biggest impact from this.

Arsonists Attack Openreach Broadband Cabinets in Essex UK

1st February, 2021 (41 Comments)

Three of Openreach’s street cabinets, and an unrelated mobile phone mast in Chelmsford (Essex), have been seriously damaged after arsonists attacked them this morning, which has sadly left almost 3,000 premises (homes and businesses) without access to either broadband or phone connectivity during a pandemic!

O2 UK and NEC Claim Success in Recent OpenRAN Mobile Trial

1st February, 2021 (0 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 has today announced that they’ve completed another successful trial of Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN) tech, albeit this time working alongside the NEC Corporation, as well as using virtualised RAN software from Altiostar and hardware from GigaTera Communications and Supermicro, among others.

Red Road Closed road sign in a UK city street. 123rf

Gov Consults on New ECC Changes to Aid UK Broadband Rollout

28th January, 2021 (2 Comments)

The UK Government has launched a consultation on a series of proposed changes to the Electronic Communications Code (ECC), which aims to put right some of the problems caused by their last revision in 2017 and could thus make it quicker for broadband and 4G or 5G mobile operators to deploy their networks.

O2, Three UK and Vodafone to Share 222 Rural 4G Mobile Masts

27th January, 2021 (32 Comments)

The £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) industry project made progress today after mobile operators O2, Three UK and Vodafone reached a related agreement to both build and share 222 new 4G mobile masts, which will be used to boost mobile voice and mobile broadband coverage in rural parts of the country.

Ofcom UK Delays Start of 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz 5G Auction

25th January, 2021 (22 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today confirmed that the new COVID-19 lockdown will delay the start of their auction for the 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz radio spectrum bands, which was previously due to start this month. The new bands should help to improve the coverage and speed of 5G mobile (mobile broadband) networks.

Virgin Media’s 5G Mobile Goes Live via Vodafone UK UPDATED

25th January, 2021 (37 Comments)

The mobile division of cable broadband, TV and phone provider Virgin Media – Virgin Mobile – appears to have started the live launch of their new ultrafast 5G based data services, albeit initially only using their new Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) platform from Vodafone rather than O2.

Google Scraps Project Loon – 4G Rural Broadband via Balloon

22nd January, 2021 (10 Comments)

Maybe it was just a lot of hot air but Google (Alphabet) has announced that Loon, their long-running project that aimed to deploy mobile broadband (4G / 5G) connectivity from High Altitude Platforms (stratospheric balloons), is “winding down” as a company after they struggled to turn it into a commercial success.

CMA Probe Fears Higher Prices After O2 and Virgin Media Merger

21st January, 2021 (19 Comments)

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published an ‘issues statement‘ on the proposed £31bn merger between mobile operator O2 and broadband ISP (inc. TV, phone) Virgin Media, which highlights the authority’s two main concerns – the risk of higher consumer prices and worse 5G connectivity for rivals.

Giffgaff UK Boost 5G Mobile Data Allowances, Hikes PAYG Price

21st January, 2021 (16 Comments)

Mobile operator giffgaff has announced that they will soon be boosting the data (mobile broadband) allowances on some of their plans and as part of that they’ll also launch two new 5G ready “golden goodybag” plans. But it’s not all good news as the operator is doubling the price of data usage on their Pay As You Go (PAYG) service.