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Articles for Category Tag - Building Digital UK

The Cumbria UK Villages Still Fighting for Gigabit Broadband

29th November, 2024 (21 Comments)

A year and a half has now passed since the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron (Lib Dem), highlighted the connectivity limbo (here) that several villages in Cumbria – including Ormside, Warcop, Hilton, and Murton – had been left in by the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme. But locals have just been asked to wait a little bit longer.

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Freedom Fibre Update on Project Gigabit Broadband Build in Shropshire UK

27th November, 2024 (2 Comments)

Alternative network provider Freedom Fibre has today issued a short progress update on their £24m (state aid) Project Gigabit contract for North Shropshire – Lot 25.02 (here), which will see their full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network being expanded to cover “around” 12,000 hard-to-reach rural homes.

November 2024 BDUK Update on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

27th November, 2024 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has published its latest quarterly November 2024 progress update on the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which now has “over” 30 live contracts in place across England and Wales – supporting planned deployments of gigabit-capable broadband to around 1 million premises.

Gov Launch £3.5m UK Rural Broadband Trials of Hybrid Networks

27th November, 2024 (2 Comments)

The UK Government (DSIT, UK Space Agency) has today announced the launch of a new £3.5m “Very Hard to Reach Programme“, which will conduct three projects that seek to use hybrid networks (e.g. a mix of satellite, fixed wireless and 5G/6G mobile technologies) to help improve broadband connectivity in remote rural areas.

Quickline Bring FTTP to 4 Villages in Yorkshire Project Gigabit Broadband Build

19th November, 2024 (3 Comments)

Alternative network operator and UK ISP Quickline has today issued another small progress update on their £60m state aid supported gigabit broadband roll-out contract for North and West Yorkshire (Lot 8 – here), which ultimately aims to reach 28,000 additional premises in hard-to-reach rural areas.

Pembrokeshire Celebrate Passing 60 Percent Gigabit Broadband Cover

19th November, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Pembrokeshire County Council (Cyngor Sir Penfro) in Wales has celebrated the news that 60% of local premises can now access gigabit-speed full fibre (FTTP) broadband (up from just 5% in 2019). But this is still well behind the UK’s current level of gigabit coverage, which stands at over 85%, due largely to the remote rural nature of the county.

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Gov Reopens Gigabit Broadband Vouchers in Part of Derbyshire UK

15th November, 2024 (2 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency made a change this week that has re-opened their Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) for parts of Derbyshire in England, which means that local homes and businesses in poorly served rural areas can apply for grants worth up to £7,500 to help get a much faster broadband ISP network installed.

Northern Ireland Tenders for £81m Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

12th November, 2024 (0 Comments)

The Building Digital UK agency and Department for the Economy (DfE) have this week begun the supplier procurement phase of their future Project Gigabit broadband roll-out for Northern Ireland, which values the contract at up to £81m (state aid) and could potentially achieve almost universal coverage of 1000Mbps+ broadband speeds.

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Future of TV as Gov Predict 99.65% of UK to Have Superfast Broadband by 2030

8th November, 2024 (39 Comments)

The UK Government has today published an interesting new report examining the ‘Future of TV distribution‘, which among other things looks at the changing viewing habits and platform choices of modern TV viewers and then attempts to predict what will happen by 2040. The report also delves into the related issue of broadband ISP speeds and take-up.

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Connexin Begin Rollout of FTTP Broadband in Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire

5th November, 2024 (5 Comments)

Alternative UK broadband ISP Connexin has today issued a short progress update to state that they’re about to enter the build phase on their £58.6m (state aid funded) Project Gigabit contract for rural parts of Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire (Lot 10), which aims to expand their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 34,320 hard to reach premises.

Devon and Somerset UK Broadband Project Scales Back Airband Rollout UPDATE

31st October, 2024 (33 Comments)

The state-aid supported Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme has suffered yet another problem with one of their rural broadband contracts, which occurred today after they announced that their full fibre roll-out deal with Worcestershire-based Airband was being “scaled back” following its underperformance.

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Autumn UK Budget 2024 Commits £500m to Broadband and Mobile UPDATE4

30th October, 2024 (6 Comments)

The new Chancellor of the Labour Government, Rachel Reeves MP, has today announced her first Autumn 2024 Budget and confirmed that she would commit “over £500m of funding next year” for “improving reliable fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas“.

Over 50 MPs Call on UK Gov to Defend Rural Broadband Funding

25th October, 2024 (0 Comments)

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents thousands of landowners (farmers and businesses) across England and Wales, has joined with over 50 MPs to “seek clarity” from the Government over the future of Project Gigabit broadband funding and what proportion of the spend will be going toward rural vs urban areas.

CityFibre Start FTTP Broadband Build for East Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire

24th October, 2024 (13 Comments)

CityFibre has begun the build phase of their £58m state-aid supported Project Gigabit broadband rollout contract for Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire & East Berkshire (LOT 26) in England (here), which will see them expand their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 34,000 of the hardest-to-reach premises (150,000 if you include their complementary commercial build).

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New UK Data Use and Access Bill to Aid Utility Maps and ISP Comparisons

24th October, 2024 (3 Comments)

The UK government has today unveiled details of their new Data Use and Access Bill (DUAB), which aims to deliver a £10bn economy boost by “unlocking the secure and effective use of data for the public interest“. The measures will also support personalised market comparisons for utility pricing and a new digital map of underground broadband cables and pipes on a “statutory footing“.

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Telecoms May Benefit from Gov’s New British Infrastructure Taskforce

19th October, 2024 (6 Comments)

The UK Government has launched a new British Infrastructure Taskforce (BIT), which is intended to attract more private investment by encouraging businesses to help design future infrastructure policy. In theory, this could be of some benefit to broadband and mobile (digital infrastructure), although the announcement doesn’t give specifics.

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Acrimony as UK Parliament Debate Use of Telegraph Poles for Broadband

18th October, 2024 (27 Comments)

The vexed question of whether it’s always right to use “telegraph poles“, which are far from popular with many UK communities, when deploying the new generation of gigabit broadband ISP networks came up for debate in parliament yesterday. MPs broadly called for change and stronger rules are coming “early” in 2025, but whether they will be enough remains to be seen.