Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1765 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Northern Ireland Ministers Call for Improvements to Rural Mobile Coverage

25th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday met to debate the need for improvements in rural mobile coverage, which among other things highlighted problems with “major delays in the planning process” for approving new 4G / 5G masts, the need for greater infrastructure sharing and question marks over what impact the barrier busting task force has actually had.

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Step Telecoms Plans New UK Gigabit Speed Dark Fibre Network

24th September, 2024 (0 Comments)

A network operator called Step Telecoms UK has revealed that they’re planning to build a new gigabit-capable Dark Fibre network and lease it along with duct infrastructure on a wholesale basis to its data centre operator clients, which will initially focus on sites in London, Manchester and Slough (inc. some connections to coastal UK subsea cable landing stations).

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Countryside Fibre Plans North Somerset Gigabit Broadband Build

20th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

A new London-registered alternative network provider called Countryside Fibre has cropped up with a plan to deploy a gigabit-capable full fibre broadband network (FTTP vs GPON) across parts of North Somerset in England. The provider will sell packages both directly to homes and businesses, as well as via wholesale through other ISPs.

Fastr Broadband Adopt ADTRAN’s 10Gbps FTTP Kit for York UK Rollout

18th September, 2024 (0 Comments)

Alternative network ISP Fastr Broadband (formerly UK Fibre Networks) has announced that they’ve adopted ADTRAN’s hardware and services to underpin their ongoing roll-out of a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in central York (England), which is aiming to cover around 8,000 homes and businesses in the city centre.

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New Ofcom Rule on Misleading “Fibre” Terminology Puts Spotlight on Ads Watchdog

17th September, 2024 (15 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told ISPreview that they’re “keeping a watching brief” on how Ofcom’s recent move to clampdown on confusing uses of “fibre” terminology (here) may impact their own guidance on advertising claims. But at present, the ASA and Ofcom’s position still appear to be in some conflict.

London Full Fibre Provider Community Fibre See Benefits of New ISP Switching System

16th September, 2024 (3 Comments)

Broadband ISP CommunityFibre (CF), which has rolled out their 3Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across around 1.4 million UK premises (predominantly in London), has today claimed to already be “reaping the rewards” from Ofcom’s new One Touch Switching (OTS) system for consumers migrating between providers.

Ofcom UK to Enforce Rules on Misleading Use of “Fibre” Broadband UPDATE

15th September, 2024 (68 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, will tomorrow begin enforcing new rules that will only allow broadband ISPs to use terms like “fibre” and “full-fibre” on their websites, and in contracts, if their network brings the fibre optic cables all the way to your home (i.e. FTTP, FTTH and also FTTB).

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Telecoms Minister Updates on Effort to Limit UK Broadband Poles via Infrastructure Sharing UPDATE

13th September, 2024 (4 Comments)

The UK Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, yesterday held a round table meeting with a small selection of network operators in an effort to try and drive home the need for greater “infrastructure sharing” in order to “end the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles” when rolling out new gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks.

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Ofcom Launch Easier UK One Touch Broadband ISP Switching UPDATE

12th September, 2024 (20 Comments)

After over 17 months of delays, Ofcom’s new One Touch Switching (OTS) process for fixed line phone and broadband ISPs, which makes it quicker and easier for consumers to switch between providers on physically separate networks (e.g. Openreach to CityFibre or Virgin Media etc.), is today finally going LIVE. But don’t be surprised if your switch doesn’t use it, yet.

Ofcom’s 2024 Report on Openreach’s Independence Finds Only Minor Breaches

11th September, 2024 (2 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has published their annual 2024 monitoring report into Openreach’s independence from BT, which found only a few minor breaches and noted that they’d seen “evidence of efforts by BT Group to renew and refresh its engagement with the framework” since the appointment of new Group CEO, Allison Kirkby.

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Gov Asks UK Broadband ISPs to Offer 8 Hours of Battery Backup

10th September, 2024 (35 Comments)

The UK Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, has written a new letter to the bosses of major broadband ISPs that calls on them to help protect vulnerable users during the switchover from analogue (PSTN) to digital (IP) phone solutions by refraining from re-starting non-voluntary migrations and offering battery backup that can last “up to” 8 hours.

Openreach Calls on Virgin Media to Open UK Cable Ducts to Rivals UPDATE

6th September, 2024 (57 Comments)

The CEO of Openreach (BT), Clive Selley, has today set out their position with respect to Ofcom’s forthcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), which amongst other things sees the UK operator call for the regulator and Government to push Virgin Media (O2) and others into opening up access to their cable ducts to help reduce the number of broadband poles being built.

Ofcom Study Benchmarks Speeds of UK 4G and 5G Mobile Networks

6th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their 2024 Mobile Matters report, which uses Opensignal’s crowdsourced data (collected between October 2023 and March 2024) to benchmark the performance of UK mobile broadband networks by both technology (2G to 5G), nation and operator choice – including Three UK, O2, Vodafone and EE.

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Ofcom Sets Guidance to Improve Resilience of UK Broadband and Mobile Networks UPDATE

6th September, 2024 (13 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today set out how they intend to update their guidance on network resilience in order to give broadband ISPs, mobile operators and other digital network providers greater clarity on how they can “reduce the risk of network outages“. But proposals to improve battery backup on mobile networks will come later.

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ISP Equity Networks Add Paid Security Feature to UK Users Without Consent

6th September, 2024 (11 Comments)

Business broadband ISP and managed service provider Equity Networks has recently become the latest company in a growing list to irritate some of their UK customers, which it did by automatically adding a paid (£12.99 a month) internet security feature – ‘SafeWeb’ – to their accounts, without first getting explicit consent.

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Ofcom to Grant Amazon Licence for Project Kuiper LEO Broadband Satellites

5th September, 2024 (4 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to grant a UK Earth Station Network Licence (ESNL) to support Amazon’s long-in-gestation Project Kuiper, which represents their plan to launch a global mega-constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver affordable ultrafast broadband and 4G/5G mobile services.

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Communications Ombudsman Report Surge in UK Telecoms Complaints

5th September, 2024 (3 Comments)

The Communications Ombudsman, which is one of the two Ofcom approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers for UK consumers of broadband ISPs, mobile and landline phone operators, has released its complaints data for the first half of 2024 and reported a 54% increase in telecoms cases accepted vs the same time last year.