Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Openreach (1488 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Openreach

Identifying BT and Virgin Media’s Broadband Street Furniture 2020

27th December, 2019 (20 Comments)

One of the most common requests we receive comes from UK readers who would like help in identifying the street furniture (cabinets and poles etc.) that has been installed outside of their homes, not least whether or not it relates to broadband connectivity. Hopefully this guide will help to answer such questions.

Openreach Delay SOGEA Broadband and Prep FTTC Price Cut

23rd December, 2019 (9 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has delayed the launch of their Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA / SOGFast) product, which enables UK people to buy a standalone FTTC (VDSL2 or G.fast) broadband ISP line without the analogue voice (phone), due to a concern over failure rates. The 40Mbps FTTC tier is also due another price cut.

Openreach Blocking Copper Broadband at UK New Build Sites

23rd December, 2019 (74 Comments)

A clash between a property developer and Openreach (BT) in Buckinghamshire has confirmed that the UK network provider is “not fitting copper anymore to any larger sized developments” (defined as anything above 30 plots / homes passed). The move reflects the industry’s growing focus on “full fibre“.

Interview – Openreach on UK FTTP Rollout, Competition and Future Plans

21st December, 2019 (48 Comments)

Yesterday Openreach (BT) announced the milestone of having covered 2 million UK premises with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology (here). As part of that we’ve conducted an exclusive interview with the operator’s MD for Fibre and Network Delivery, Kevin Murphy, to talk about their future fibre plans.

Openreach’s FTTP Broadband Build Hits 2 Million UK Premises

20th December, 2019 (50 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has revealed that their roll-out of Gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology has just gone past the key milestone of 2 million premises passed, which is half way to their current goal of 4 million UK homes and businesses by March 2021.

Connected Nations 2019 – 3 Million UK Premises Can Get Full Fibre

20th December, 2019 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has today published their Connection Nations 2019 UK digital infrastructure report, which reveals that “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks now cover 10% of premises (up from 6% last year) and “ultrafast” (300Mbps+) lines reach 53% (up from 49%). Sadly geographic 4G cover from all operators is unchanged at 66%.

Gigaclear Legal Challenge Hits Scotland R100 Broadband Project

19th December, 2019 (17 Comments)

The Scottish Government has informed ISPreview.co.uk that LOT 1 of their £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) project, which recently approved BT as the “preferred bidder” and aims to extend “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) ISP networks to “as many premises as possible“, has become the subject of a legal challenge by Gigaclear.

Gloucestershire and Herefordshire’s £14m Broadband Plan for 2022

17th December, 2019 (5 Comments)

The Gloucestershire and Herefordshire UK councils appear to be on the verge of agreeing a new £14m Broadband Strategy for their joint Fastershire project, which will run until the end of 2022 and aims to extend the reach of “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) ISP networks into some of the most poorly served parts of both counties.

Big Ofcom Changes to Help Broadband ISP and Mobile Switching UPDATE

17th December, 2019 (8 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to make switching between broadband ISPs on physically separate UK networks easier (e.g. BT to Hyperoptic) and they also intend to ban mobile operators from selling “locked” handsets (i.e. Smartphones that cannot be used on other networks unless they are unlocked).

ISP TalkTalk Trial UK FTTP Ultrafast Broadband via Openreach

10th December, 2019 (32 Comments)

Last month UK ISP TalkTalk promised that they would launch a new range of ultrafast broadband packages “before the end of the calendar year“, which for the first time would be based off Openreach’s (BT) new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. The first customer trials are now quietly going live.

Scotland’s R100 30Mbps Broadband Rollout May Finish by 2024

6th December, 2019 (11 Comments)

The Scottish Government‘s £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) contract with BT (here and here), which originally aspired to make “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) ISP networks available to “every single premises in Scotland” by the end of 2021 and is already running a year behind schedule, may allegedly not complete until late 2024.

Openreach Offer FTTP Broadband Discounts to Boost Take-up

3rd December, 2019 (18 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has launched new discounts on their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in UK “Fibre First” cities and towns, which will start on 1st January 2020 and seem designed to encourage ISPs to build stronger take-up in return for reductions on service rental and connection fees.

Openreach Prepares UK Engineers for the Cold Winter Bite

3rd December, 2019 (15 Comments)

Openreach’s fibre broadband and phone engineers often have to work in difficult conditions, which as Winter approaches tends to be exasperated by the additional hazards of snow and ice. Inevitably this can delay repairs and slow the roll-out of new “full fibre” (FTTP) networks, although they claim to be well prepared for 2019/20.

After 15 Years – BT 21CN WBC Still Has 98 Exchanges to Upgrade

2nd December, 2019 (32 Comments)

BT Wholesale‘s long running upgrade to the 21st Century Network (21CN) powered Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) platform, which began in 2004 and is the foundation for many of the modern digital IP and broadband ISP technologies on their UK network, still has 98 exchanges left to upgrade and some won’t be done until 2021.

Confusion Over Openreach’s Fibre Rollout in Durham Villages

30th November, 2019 (17 Comments)

Residents and businesses in the neighbouring villages of Hurworth and Hurworth Place in Durham (England) have been left confused after the local Darlington Borough Council (DBC) and Openreach (BT) issued conflicting statements on the status of their “fibre broadband” (FTTC / FTTP) network coverage and future rollout plan.

Wales Considers Spending More on Mobile than Fixed Broadband

27th November, 2019 (9 Comments)

The National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW) has issued a call for evidence on its priorities for 2020 as it develops a future infrastructure plan for Wales, which among other things includes a proposal to spend a “greater proportion of public funds” on mobile (4G / 5G) rather than to fixed broadband ISP networks.

Ofcom UK Soften Openreach Rules for IP and FTTP Migration Trials

27th November, 2019 (8 Comments)

Ofcom are consulting on a new proposal that could remove a few key pieces of regulation from Openreach (BT), which is intended to support their analogue telephone (WLR) to digital voice (VoIP) and copper to “full fibre” (FTTP) Exchange Upgrade trials (here and here) in Mildenhall (Suffolk) and Salisbury (Wiltshire) respectively