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Articles for Category Tag - Building Digital UK

Nearly Half of UK Councils Expect Superfast Broadband Target to Slip

23rd March, 2015 (41 Comments)

A new survey of local authorities across the United Kingdom, which was conducted by the County Councils Network, has claimed that 45% of councils are expecting the Government’s target of bringing fixed line superfast broadband (24Mbps+) to 95% by 2017 to be missed.

Government Won’t Force Farmers in England into Online-Only Land.. Yet

20th March, 2015 (8 Comments)

The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) appears to have delayed a long-planned strategy that would have effectively forced farmers in remote rural parts of England to go online, which is despite a lack of good broadband connectivity and IT skills among some in the community.

South Gloucestershire UK Sees Fibre Broadband Cover 17,000 Premises

18th March, 2015 (3 Comments)

The joint public and private “Great Western Broadband” project to roll-out BT’s “superfast” (24Mbps+) FTTC/P network to 94% of South Gloucestershire by the end of March 2015 has completed its first major deployment phase, with 17,000 premises covered (2,000 more than originally planned).

Surrey UK Celebrates Completion of Local Fibre Broadband Rollout

18th March, 2015 (16 Comments)

The £35m+ Superfast Surrey project in England has announced the completion of its main deployment phase, which means that an additional 82,000 homes and businesses in the county can now gain access to BTOpenreach’s “high-speed fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network; albeit a few months later than originally planned (end of 2014).

UPDATE Budget 2015 – Osborn Pledges to Deliver 100Mbps Ultrafast Broadband

18th March, 2015 (44 Comments)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, has today set out the Government’s annual Budget 2015 report for the United Kingdom. Unlike past budgets this one is different because it comes immediately before a General Election and that usually means big promises, such as pledging 100Mbps “ultra-fast” broadband to “nearly all the homes in the country” and a possible 5Mbps+ USO.

UPDATE BT Hails Strong Uptake of Superfast Broadband in Cornwall UK

17th March, 2015 (5 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT has today reported that their joint £132m Superfast Cornwall project with the EU, which has already deployed the operators “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network to cover around 95% of local premises (including the Isles of Scilly), has seen strong uptake by local premises with 60,000 subscribers choosing to adopt it.

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Demands USO for Broadband from UK Gov

17th March, 2015 (1 Comment)

The Deputy First Minister for the Scottish Government, John Swinney, has written to the UK’s Digital Economy Minister, Ed Vaizey, in order to call for broadband in Scotland to become part of a legally binding Universal Service Obligation. The move is designed to “ensure everyone in Scotland can access affordable, high-speed broadband“.

Review of Business Rates Might Benefit the Rural Broadband Rollout

16th March, 2015 (2 Comments)

As expected the central UK Government has today announced the start of a new review into Business Rates and thus the related taxation set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). It’s just possible that this could also result in an adjustment that benefits the roll-out of rural broadband services, but don’t hold your breath.

BT Signs Superfast Broadband Extension Contract for Leicestershire UK

13th March, 2015 (8 Comments)

The Leicestershire County Council in central England and national telecoms operator BT have today signed a £9.2 million extension of their existing Broadband Delivery UK contract, which will enabled more than 10,000 extra homes and businesses to access a “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network by the end of 2018.

UPDATE Aylesbury Vale Council to Fix Rural Superfast Broadband Notspot

12th March, 2015 (12 Comments)

The Aylesbury Vale District Council in Buckinghamshire (England) has started a new pilot project, which is being funded with £1.5m from the local New Homes Bonus pot and aims to roll-out a superfast broadband (30Mbps) network across the rural villages of North Marston, Granborough and Hogshaw (more could follow).

UPDATE UK Broadband’s 4G to Help Swindon Expand Superfast Broadband

11th March, 2015 (0 Comments)

The Swindon Borough Council, which is administratively independent of its parent county in Wiltshire (England), has announced that their Broadband Delivery UK based plan to improve the cover of superfast broadband (24Mbps+) could take a different approach by expanding UK Broadband‘s existing fixed wireless 4G network.

Consumers Back Calls for a Universal Service Obligation on Broadband

9th March, 2015 (7 Comments)

The recent discussion over whether broadband should be added to a legally binding Universal Service Obligation has prompted us to conduct a survey, which found that out of 1,445 respondents some 71.5% supported the idea of imposing a USO on BT (or KC in Hull) to deliver fixed line broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps to all.

Revealed – The Dec 2014 BDUK and BT “Fibre Broadband” Uptake Figures

7th March, 2015 (64 Comments)

The central Government’s national Broadband Delivery UK project, which is working with BT to deploy superfast “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) connectivity services across the United Kingdom, has just published the programmes latest take-up figures for December 2014. Adoption is rising rapidly and several more projects have now broken the 20% threshold.

Ed Vaizey Talks BT’s “quiet life” Option and Contracts by Broadband Speed

6th March, 2015 (136 Comments)

The Digital Economy Minister, Ed Vaizey, has warned critics of BT’s dominance in the national Broadband Delivery UK programme that the operator could have simply opted for the “quiet life” by not bidding for any contracts. The minister also floated the idea of ISPs offering different broadband packages for areas that suffer from slow speeds.

EU Council Moves to Weaken Net Neutrality and Scrap Free Mobile Roaming

5th March, 2015 (1 Comment)

The Council of the EU, which represents the governments of Europe’s member states (e.g. UK, France, Italy etc.), has put a spanner in the works of long held plans to end mobile roaming charges and safeguard open Internet access (Net Neutrality) by attempting to water down the proposed rules for a new Single Telecoms Market.

UPDATE MPs Prep Yet Another Rural Broadband Debate at Westminster

4th March, 2015 (29 Comments)

The Devon (Tiverton and Honiton) MP, Neil Parish, will this afternoon (2:30pm) host yet another live streamed debate at Westminster Hall on the management and delivery of faster broadband connectivity to remote rural areas. Parish will be flanked by fellow Conservative MP Richard Bacon and Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt.

Somerset Villagers Unhappy with Government Satellite Broadband Pilot

4th March, 2015 (21 Comments)

A group of residents in the Somerset village of Priddy have expressed displeasure at the Government’s attempt to fix the community’s broadband “slow spots” by spending public money on a new Satellite Internet service, which locals complain is too limited, expensive to run and is not up to the task of catering for business demands.