Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1042 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Gov Tightens Huawei 5G Mobile and FTTP Broadband Restrictions

30th November, 2020 (9 Comments)

In another telecoms policy surprise the UK Government has today announced that mobile operators, such as Three UK, EE (BT) and Vodafone, must stop installing “any” Huawei equipment in ultrafast 5G networks from the end of September 2021. A 35% cap on kit will also apply to FTTP and gigabit broadband from Jan 2023.

copper vs fibre optic openreach engineer

TalkTalk Considers Legal Action to Stop Openreach Price Rises

29th November, 2020 (48 Comments)

Budget UK phone and broadband ISP TalkTalk has reportedly approached Sky Broadband and Vodafone about the possibility of combining forces in a legal challenge to halt a key change in Ofcom’s Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR), which could result in Openreach (BT) charging higher wholesale prices.

New Bill Laid to BAN Huawei and Boost UK Telecoms Security

24th November, 2020 (12 Comments)

The Government will today publish their Telecommunications (Security) Bill, which imposes new rules to improve the security of UK networks (mobile and broadband) and ban “high risk vendors” like Huawei, while also threatening fines of up to £100k a day (or 10% of turnover) against operators that fail to meet the standard.

Ofcom Find Positive UK Progress on Openreach’s Split from BT

19th November, 2020 (9 Comments)

Ofcom has today broadly praised the progress that Openreach have made in their on-going efforts to become a distinct “legally separate” company away from BT, although not all stakeholders agree with the UK telecoms regulator and “growing pains” have also been noted with their Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

ISP BT Change Digital Voice Calling for Local UK Numbers

17th November, 2020 (30 Comments)

Broadband ISP BT appears to have begun informing customers about a “small” forthcoming change to their new Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) style ‘Digital Voice’ service (often supplied alongside FTTP or SOGEA based hybrid fibre packages), which will change how you dial when calling a local number.

House of Lords Committee Probes Online UK Freedom of Speech

16th November, 2020 (10 Comments)

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has launched a new inquiry, which will examine whether or not freedom of expression is under threat online and, if so, how modern technology might be used to help protect it. The inquiry will also weigh that against how such freedoms should be balanced with other rights.

Plusnet, Vodafone and EE Drag Feet Over Automatic Compensation

14th November, 2020 (28 Comments)

After almost 20 months of waiting it’s become increasingly disappointing to find that three of the UK home broadband ISPs that originally pledged their support to Ofcom’s new automatic compensation system for customers – Vodafone, Plusnet and EE – have yet to officially join the scheme.

New Operator Delambre Infrastructure Planning UK FTTP Build

13th November, 2020 (10 Comments)

A new Cheshire-based alternative network provider called Delambre Infrastructure has just cropped up with a vague ambition to deploy a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to “provide ultrafast broadband to households and small and medium-sized enterprises.”

ISP TalkTalk Tops Ofcom Broadband Complaints Table for Q2 2020

13th November, 2020 (17 Comments)

Ofcom’s new Q2 2020 consumer complaints report is out today, which names UK ISP TalkTalk as attracting the most gripes for both home broadband and landline phone, while Three UK did the same for Pay Monthly Mobile services and Virgin Media came bottom for Pay TV.

Government Preps Universal Service Obligation for UK Mobile

11th November, 2020 (19 Comments)

The UK Government yesterday introduced new powers for the Secretary of State to, among other things, establish a new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for 4G or 5G mobile networks “in the future,” albeit only if that is “deemed necessary.” Questions will now be raised over what such a USO would look like.

Three UK Scrap Capita Call Centre Outsourcing Deal 2 Years Early

7th November, 2020 (49 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK appears to have confirmed that its £70m business process outsourcing contract with Capita, which was signed in late 2016 as part of a 7-year deal to improve sales and customer support (among other things), has been scrapped 2 years early following allegations of poor performance.

ISP A&A Confusingly Asks Mobile Users to Request a PAC Switch

3rd November, 2020 (19 Comments)

Customers of UK broadband ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), specifically those who take one of their 07 mobile numbers (normally linked to their SIP2SIM service), will shortly be asked to log-in to their account page and request a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) to switch provider in order to avoid a tricky supplier.

BT Issues Report on Progress Against the UK Broadband USO

30th October, 2020 (27 Comments)

UK ISP BT has just issued their first biannual report on the progress they’ve made toward delivering the 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband, which highlights some of the known challenges. Overall they’ve so far handled 9,000 applications and 512 confirmed orders, resulting in a USO build for 4,000+ homes.

consumer switching uk broadband and phone

Ofcom Extend Broadband ISP Switching and Ban Locked Mobiles

27th October, 2020 (9 Comments)

Ofcom UK has set out new measures that will make switching between broadband ISPs on physically separate networks easier (e.g. Openreach to Cityfibre), but due to the complexities involved providers will be given until December 2022 implement it. Mobile operators will also be banned from selling “locked” handsets.

Virgin Media UK Warns BT Against Anti-Competitive FTTP Discounting

19th October, 2020 (29 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has warned the market regulator, Ofcom, against allowing BT (Openreach) to sign “deeply discounted and long-term” wholesale agreements for “full fibre” (FTTP) services with rivals ISPs, which they claim might make it harder for alternative networks to compete against the established giant.

One UK Village’s Roller-Coaster Ride of USO Broadband Costs

18th October, 2020 (21 Comments)

The long running saga of trying to get a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband service installed across the village of Pandy in Wales is one step closer to a solution. But its plight also helps to highlight how difficult it’s been for some areas to harness the new 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO).

EE Mobile Seeks to Trade Some 2.6GHz 4G Spectrum to O2 UK UPDATE

16th October, 2020 (22 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has today requested approval from Ofcom for them to trade some of their 4G (mobile broadband) friendly unpaired radio spectrum in the 2.6GHz band (between 2595-2620MHz) to rival O2 (Telefonica UK). At present neither O2 nor Three UK own any of their own spectrum in the 2.6GHz band.