Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Northern Ireland (180 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Northern Ireland

Public Funding Links 1,084 UK Schools to Full Fibre Broadband

14th October, 2021 (6 Comments)

The UK Government has today revealed that 1,084 schools in rural areas have now been connected to a gigabit-capable “full fibre” network as a result of the investment they started in 2019, which is continuing under their new £5bn Project Gigabit scheme. A further 884 schools are planned to be connected by March 2022.

BDUK Accepting Councils to Gigabit Voucher Top-Up Scheme Again

8th October, 2021 (2 Comments)

After a delay that was caused by a data backlog regarding previous voucher schemes, the Government’s (DCMS) Building Digital UK team have confirmed that they are now actively onboarding local councils that are interested in setting up a top-up boost for their £210m rural gigabit broadband voucher scheme.

Rivals Sigh as Ofcom Clear Openreach FTTP Broadband Price Cut UPDATE3

30th September, 2021 (50 Comments)

Ofcom looks set to stoke anger among alternative UK network (AltNets) builders after the regulator today flatly rejected their concerns over Openreach’s “Equinox” offer, which will introduce a “major” price cut (details) to the incumbents wholesale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband products for ISPs.

Openreach Trial Air Wand to Boost UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

19th September, 2021 (3 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that they, alongside partner Circet and others, have begun trials of a new ‘Air Wand‘ (aka – Air Sabre or Air Lance) machine, which uses compressed air or high pressure water to break the ground and could speed up the rollout of their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network.

Ofcom Summer 2021 Update – UK Gigabit Cover Hits 40 Percent

9th September, 2021 (6 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest Summer 2021 report into UK broadband and mobile coverage has revealed that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage is now at 24% (up from 21% in Jan 2021) and 11.6 million homes (40%) are within reach of a gigabit-capable network (up from 37%). Meanwhile, 4G mobile coverage remains stable and there’s still no data on 5G.

Openreach Adds 17 Rural Locations to N.Ireland FTTP Rollout

8th September, 2021 (4 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today named a further 17 new “rural” towns and villages across Northern Ireland that, over the next 18 months, will benefit from a local investment of £130m (up from the prior commitment of £100m) to help expand the reach of their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network.

12 Months Free Phone and Broadband for N.Ireland Businesses

3rd September, 2021 (0 Comments)

Biz ISP Barclay Communications, which serves Northern Ireland, has launched a new £250,000 grant scheme – ‘Barclay Backing Business Grant’ – to support local firms that have suffered a downturn in business as a result of the pandemic. Under this, successful applications will receive “free telecoms solutions for 12 months.”

Project Stratum FTTP Rollout in N.Ireland Adds 8500 Extra Premises

24th August, 2021 (7 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (DCMS) team has today announced that their £5bn Project Gigabit programme will supply an extra £25m for the Project Stratum contract in Northern Ireland, which will enable the rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology to reach an additional 8,500 premises.

Fibrus FTTP Broadband Build in N.Ireland Tops 58,000 Premises

16th August, 2021 (8 Comments)

Infracapital backed UK ISP Fibrus has today announced that their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in Northern Ireland has now passed 58,000 premises, which reflects progress under both their commercial rollout and the £165m (public funding) Project Stratum (here) contract.

BSG Study Examines Gigabit Broadband for Remote UK Rural Areas

16th August, 2021 (7 Comments)

The Broadband Stakeholder Group, which is a think-tank that advises the UK Government, has today published new research from Analysys Mason that examines some of the commercial and technical practicalities of providing faster broadband coverage to areas in the UK that are hardest to reach.

Openreach Rivals Warn Ofcom NOT to Allow Big Fibre Price Cut

16th August, 2021 (49 Comments)

Alternative UK network providers have heavily criticised Ofcom’s provisional decision not to oppose Openreach’s (BT) proposal for a “major” price cut to their wholesale Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband products, which they warn could impact competition by discouraging ISPs from adopting rival networks.

Ofcom Provisionally Clears Openreach FTTP Broadband Price Cut

6th August, 2021 (14 Comments)

As expected Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has today launched a final consultation on Openreach’s (BT) recently proposed plan to introduce a “major” change to the wholesale pricing of their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband products for ISPs (details), which could result in cheaper prices for consumers.

Broadband ISP Fibrus Extend FTTP Rollout to Northern England

27th July, 2021 (5 Comments)

Belfast-based ISP Fibrus, which has spent the past couple of years deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across Northern Ireland, has today announced that their build is being extended to include 300,000 premises in the North of England (i.e. Cumbria, Northumberland and North Yorkshire).

Ofcom Tells BT to Improve 10Mbps UK Broadband USO Quotes

16th July, 2021 (32 Comments)

Ofcom’s investigation into BT’s compliance with their obligations under the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband has concluded that “some customers have been asked to pay materially higher amounts than they should have been.” As a result, they’ve asked the ISP to make a few improvements.

2021 H1 – UK Gigabit Broadband Coverage Reaches 42 Percent

7th July, 2021 (20 Comments)

The latest independent study of UK broadband coverage for H1 2021 has estimated that “full fibre” (FTTP) ISP networks have now increased their reach to 24.33% of premises (up from 19.2% in H2 2020), while 41.72% are within reach of “gigabit” speeds (up from 37.4%) and 66.9% can get 100Mbps+ (up from 64.3%).

broadband vouchers ultrafast gigabit uk full fibre

BDUK Tweak Gigabit Broadband Voucher Rules Around Eligibility

3rd July, 2021 (12 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK team has tweaked the eligibility rules for rural gigabit vouchers in order to balance against the issues caused when parts of the UK are placed under a Public Review as part of the £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which can cause in-scope premises to suddenly become ineligible for vouchers.

virgin media o2 engineer at work over trench 2021

Virgin Media O2 Deploy FTTP to 4000 More County Down Homes

1st July, 2021 (7 Comments)

Some 4,000 extra homes in the small County Down (Northern Ireland) town of Donaghadee have just become the latest to benefit from the expansion of Virgin Media’s (VMO2) new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband and TV network, which can offer top download speeds of up to 1130Mbps to local residents.