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Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

18 Months of Village Broadband Disruption Traced to Old TV Set

22nd September, 2020 (33 Comments)

Residents in the tiny rural village of Aberhosan (Powys, Wales) have finally seen an end to 18-months of unusually slow and unstable broadband ISP connectivity after engineers, working for Openreach (BT), traced the source of the disruption to an old television set, which had been leaking electrical interference (SHINE).

EU Court Ruling Challenges Mobile Operators Zero Rating Plans UPDATE

15th September, 2020 (18 Comments)

A new ruling by Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has today, for the first time, interpreted the EU regulation enshrining “internet neutrality” (this was also adopted in the UK), which appears to restrict mobile and broadband operators when offering zero rating plans (i.e. unlimited data on certain services).

Ofcom – Full Fibre Broadband Grows to Cover 14% of the UK

10th September, 2020 (13 Comments)

Ofcom has today released their Summer 2020 update for UK broadband and mobile networks, which reveals that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage has grown to 14% or 4.2 million premises (up from 12% in Jan 2020) and 2% (590,000 premises) are still unable to get speeds of 10Mbps+. Geographic 4G coverage is now 67% (unchanged).

Vodafone Attracts the Most UK ISP Complaints in Q1 2020 – Ofcom

4th September, 2020 (5 Comments)

Ofcom has published their latest Q1 2020 consumer complaints report, which reveals that UK ISP Vodafone attracted the most gripes for broadband, while TalkTalk were the worst for landline phone and BT did the same for Pay TV. Meanwhile Vodafone, Three UK, BT and Virgin Media all tied the bottom spot for mobile.

New ISP Yesfibre Planning UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

3rd September, 2020 (1 Comment)

A new Faversham-based ISP called Yesfibre, which was only incorporated on 27th April 2020, has this week cropped up with tentative plans to roll-out a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to homes and businesses in “selected urban and suburban areas across the UK.”

The High Cost of Broadband for USO Excluded UK Communities

30th August, 2020 (54 Comments)

The elephant in the room of the UK Government’s broadband centric Universal Service Obligation (USO) has always been the fact that it isn’t truly “universal” and tens of thousands of premises have fallen outside of its scope. In other words, getting a minimum speed of 10Mbps can become very expensive for some.

Survey Finds UK Mobile Operators Slow to Tackle Overpayments

28th August, 2020 (8 Comments)

A new survey of 4,006 UK adults, which was conducted by consumer magazine Which? in July 2020, has found that 36% of mobile customers whose bundled airtime contracts (handset and mobile tariff) have ended in the last 2 months are still overpaying on their bill. This is despite many operators pledging to tackle the practice.

Westnetworks and FACTCO Hint at New UK FTTP Broadband Plans

24th August, 2020 (4 Comments)

Apparently you can never have too many alternative full fibre broadband ISP networks, so here are two more with separate plans to expand across the United Kingdom in the near future – Westnetworks Innovations (WestWiFi) and FACTCO (Ecodial). Both providers already have some presence in the market.

Ofcom 2020 Study Ranks UK Mobile and Broadband ISPs by Quality

21st August, 2020 (12 Comments)

Ofcom UK has published their 2020 survey of broadband and mobile service quality, call waiting times, complaints and install times among the largest ISPs and mobile operators. Overall TalkTalk attracted the lowest satisfaction for home broadband (78%) again, while Three UK were the same for mobile (89%).

Ofcom Finish Clearing 700MHz TV Band for UK Mobile Broadband

20th August, 2020 (20 Comments)

After several years of difficult work Ofcom has this week officially completed one of their “biggest” ever UK projects, which involved moving Digital Terrestrial TV (Freeview) channels out of the 700MHz spectrum band to free up those airwaves for use by 4G and 5G based mobile technology in 2021.

Ofcom Propose Changes to UK Mobile and Landline Call Charges

13th August, 2020 (0 Comments)

The way we all use UK landline phone and mobile calling services is changing and as a result Ofcom are today proposing changes to their regulation via the new Wholesale Voice Markets Review 2021-26 (WVMR), which among other things will set new caps on call termination charges and deregulate other areas.

Ofcom UK Ponders Personalised Broadband and Mobile Pricing

4th August, 2020 (24 Comments)

The UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, has launched a new discussion document that explores the potential impact of “personalised pricing” on broadband ISP, phone and mobile services (i.e. when providers adopt the ability to set different prices for different customers, based on individual characteristics).

Ofcom UK Aim Next 5G Mobile Spectrum Auction at January 2021

3rd August, 2020 (9 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today confirmed that their much delayed auction of the 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz radio spectrum bands, which could boost new 5G mobile network coverage and mobile broadband speeds further into the Gigabit (1000Mbps+) territory, will not now take its first bids until January 2021.

Ofcom to Help BT Fibre Rollout Reach 3.2 Million Rural Premises UPDATE

29th July, 2020 (74 Comments)

Ofcom has proposed to change their UK regulation as a result of Openreach’s (BT) recent commitment to extend their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to a further 3.2 million rural properties, which will allow the operator to include these investment costs in its prices upfront.

Hands holding british pound coin and small money pouch

More Big UK Home Broadband ISPs Commit to Fairer Pricing

28th July, 2020 (2 Comments)

Industry regulator Ofcom has today secured new commitments from UK ISPs EE, Plusnet and Sky Broadband to reduce prices automatically for “vulnerable customers” who are out of contract, which mirrors a similar move agreed last year with BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. Savings of £270m are forecast.

Ofcom Adds 39GHz as Option for Supplying WiFi on UK Trains

27th July, 2020 (9 Comments)

Ofcom has today updated their advice to the UK Government on spectrum bands suitable for providing “trackside to train connectivity,” which adds the 39GHz band as a possible option. In the future this could be used to support on-board ultrafast broadband capable WiFi access points or mobile (4G, 5G) small cells for commuters.

Ofcom UK Opens 6GHz Radio Band for Use in Faster Home Wi-Fi

24th July, 2020 (12 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today made it possible for future home WiFi networks to harness 500MHz of radio spectrum frequency in the new 6GHz band, which will significantly boost the speed of licence-exempt indoor home wireless networks (i.e. via the Wi-Fi 6/6E – 802.11ax standard).