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Articles for Category Tag - Building Digital UK

Breakdown of the Phase 2 Wales Superfast Broadband Coverage Plan

5th February, 2019 (23 Comments)

The Welsh Government has quietly released some additional coverage data on the scale of their Phase 2 broadband roll-out contract with BT (Openreach), which is expected to provide 26,000 premises with access to “fast reliable broadband” (mostly ultrafast FTTP) by March 2021 at a cost of nearly £22.5m.

B4RN Win Support from MP Tim Farron Over Loss of EIS Tax Relief

31st January, 2019 (5 Comments)

The Liberal Democrat MP for South Lakes, Tim Farron, has given his support to rural ISP B4RN over the recent loss of their tax relief following changes to the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), which he warned could “undermine the good work of broadband pioneers” in such remote UK communities.

BT End 2018 on UK FTTP and Gfast Broadband Cover of 2.6m Premises

31st January, 2019 (29 Comments)

BT Group has released their results to the end of December 2018 (Q3 – 18/19 financial), which reports that Openreach’s FTTP and G.fast based “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) UK ISP network has grown its coverage from 1.97m premises passed to 2.6m in the last quarter. Take-up of FTTP is 29.9% and G.fast just 0.88%.

Good Broadband Helps Survey Find Top 50 Best UK Places to Live – 2019

26th January, 2019 (2 Comments)

The 2019 Halifax Quality of Life Survey (Bank of Scotland) has just been published, which balances a combination of broadband speed, health, crime rate, weather, employment, happiness and skills in order to identify the best places to live in the UK. Once again Orkney in Scotland comes top of the list.

No More Gov EIS Tax Relief for Community Benefit Broadband ISPs UPDATE

26th January, 2019 (45 Comments)

A new ruling by HMRC, which appears to say that UK broadband ISPs acting as a Community Benefit Societies (CBS) to build their own local networks can no longer make use of tax breaks under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), could have serious repercussions for “full fibre” projects in rural areas.

2018 Q3 BDUK Take-up Progress for UK Superfast Broadband Rollout

23rd January, 2019 (3 Comments)

The Government’s £1.6bn+ Broadband Delivery UK project has just published its latest take-up data to the end of September 2018 for its state aid supported roll-out of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services across the United Kingdom, which has so far extended coverage to 5,011,052 extra premises.

The Top 391 Fastest and Slowest UK Local Areas by Broadband Speed

22nd January, 2019 (13 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has used data from its broadband ISP speedtest to both identify some of the UK’s fastest local authority areas for average download speed (Broxbourne on 32.5Mbps) and some of its slowest “black spots” (Orkney islands on 3Mbps) for 2019. But network availability may tell a different story.

BT Win £9.25m Wales LOT 2 Full Fibre Broadband Rollout Deal UPDATE2

17th January, 2019 (13 Comments)

The Welsh Government has quietly chosen BT (Openreach) to supply the final LOT 2 of their Phase 2 “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) roll-out contract, which uses £9.256m of public money and aims to bring FTTP “full fibre” coverage to around 10,000 more premises across East Wales (rural areas).

List of Approved UK ISPs for the Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme

17th January, 2019 (4 Comments)

At the end of last year the Government confirmed that they would extend their Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme for one more year, albeit with some changes (here). The scheme offers grants worth up to £350 to help rural premises get a better connection, if they are unable to receive at least a 2Mbps speed today.

Farmers Bemoan Poor UK Rural Mobile and Broadband Connectivity

16th January, 2019 (26 Comments)

The National Farmers Union has published the results from its latest online and telephone based survey of 812 members, which found that just 16% of farmers had access to “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) speeds (up from 4% in 2015) and only 17% have a “reliable” outdoor mobile signal. But the situation has improved.

2018 H2 – UK Superfast Broadband Coverage Slowly Edges to 96%

7th January, 2019 (18 Comments)

A new independent model has estimated that the coverage of fixed “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) ISP networks across the United Kingdom has grown to 95.8% at the end of 2018 (up from 95.3% in H1 2018), while “full fibre” (FTTP/H) networks now reach 5.47% of premises (up from 3.82% in H1).

Delay to New Gigaclear FTTP Plan for Gloucestershire and Herefordshire

3rd January, 2019 (2 Comments)

The Fastershire scheme in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire (England) has confirmed that they’ve sent Gigaclear’s revised Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband roll-out plan back to the drawing board. The move follows last year’s news (here), which revealed that the UK ISP’s contract had suffered “unexpected delays.”

2018 ICMR Compares UK Broadband and Mobile to 17 Countries

18th December, 2018 (0 Comments)

Ofcom has today published their International Communications Market Report 2018 (ICMR), which broadly compares broadband and mobile networks in the United Kingdom with 17 other countries and the EU. Overall the UK does well for fixed line superfast broadband and 4G mobile, but we’re weak on “full fibre” (FTTP).

2018 Infrastructure Report Shows State of UK Broadband and Mobile

18th December, 2018 (3 Comments)

Ofcom has released their annual infrastructure report, which reveals that just 2% of the UK (677,000 premises) cannot access a 10Mbps capable fixed line broadband ISP service (down from 4% in 2017), while “full fibre” (FTTP) is available to 6% (up from 3%) and geographic coverage of 4G mobile has hit 66% (up from 43%).

9000 Extra South Yorkshire UK Premises to See Ultrafast Broadband

17th December, 2018 (2 Comments)

The state aid supported Superfast South Yorkshire project has today announced the signing of a new £10m+ contract with Openreach (BT). This will aim to roll-out a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover an additional 9,000 premises by Spring 2021.

One Year Extension for UK Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme UPDATE2

14th December, 2018 (13 Comments)

The UK Government’s Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme, which offers grants worth up to £350 for rural homes and businesses that are unable to get at least a 2Mbps download speed (i.e. helps them to get a faster ISP connection installed), appears to have been extended again until the end of 2019.

CBI Demands Urgent Action to Fast Track UK Gigabit Broadband

12th December, 2018 (10 Comments)

A new report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that the UK Government must take “urgent action” and “fast track [new] laws” in order to ensure the delivery of its aspiration to achieve nationwide coverage of future 5G mobile by 2027 and “full fibre” (FTTP) Gigabit broadband ISP networks by 2033.