Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1844 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Rural-mobile-mast-side-on-hill-123RF-98872692

Mobile Operators Face Higher Rents for UK Masts on Rural Land

23rd August, 2024 (11 Comments)

A recent ruling by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in London means that UK mobile and broadband operators will effectively have to pay landowners of rural greenfield mast sites significantly more to place their masts, with the typical rental for such sites being expected to rise from £750 to £1,750 per year.

Vodafone-UK-and-Three-UK-Merger-Illustration

Opensignal Study Warns Three UK at Risk if Vodafone Merger Fails

21st August, 2024 (25 Comments)

Network benchmarking firm Opensignal has published new analysis of the “competitive headwinds” facing Three UK in the mobile market, which finds that the operator’s struggles are “driven by a low subscriber base and high churn resulting from many factors“. But it also warns that the situation could get worse if the proposed merger with Vodafone is rejected.

ICUK Launch Broadband One Touch Switching Platform for UK ISPs

20th August, 2024 (0 Comments)

Network operator ICUK, which provides wholesale connectivity solutions to ISPs, has today informed ISPreview that they’ve launched version 22 of their portal (Control Panel) with support for Ofcom’s new consumer broadband and phone migration system – One Touch Switch (OTS).

O2 UK Launch Cheaper Mobile Social Tariff for People on State Benefits

19th August, 2024 (18 Comments)

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today launched a new 4G and 5G mobile plan to support UK people on low incomes, which is a low-cost data (mobile broadband), calls and texts (SMS) plan that is only available to those on eligible state benefits and costs just £10 per month.

New UK Gov Reiterates Call for Limits on Building Broadband Poles UPDATE

17th August, 2024 (24 Comments)

The new Labour-led UK Government has somewhat echoed the previous administration today by calling on broadband operators to “end the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles” when rolling out new gigabit-capable networks. But they have “at this stage” rejected the idea of removing Permitted Development (PD) rights for poles.

Full Fibre Builder UK Fibre Networks Rebrands to Fastr Broadband UPDATE

8th August, 2024 (3 Comments)

The rather generically named alternative network ISP UK Fibre Networks, which operates an 8Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in central York (England), has today announced that they’ve re-branded to Fastr Broadband as they continue to roll-out their network to 8,000 homes and businesses in the city centre.

HS2 Claims HS2 Could Boost UK Mobile and Rural Broadband

8th August, 2024 (3 Comments)

New analysis published by High Speed 2 Ltd, which is a non-departmental public body that is wholly funded by the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT), has claimed that the HS2 rail project could help “thousands of properties” across 538 postcodes to gain access to “ultrafast broadband speeds” and better mobile connectivity.

Starlinks ready to launch with Direct to Cell

Study Finds Starlink’s Direct to Cell Mobile Data Satellites are Quite Bright

8th August, 2024 (5 Comments)

A recent study has warned that Starlink’s (SpaceX) latest broadband and Direct to Cell based satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are somewhat brighter than the company’s previous spacecraft, which risks adding to the headaches that observational sciences (e.g. astronomy) already have to tackle.

UK Broadband and Mobile Providers Balk at Ofcom’s Call for Battery Backup

7th August, 2024 (24 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has published some of the responses they’ve received from fixed broadband ISPs and mobile operators to their consultation on enhancing network resilience in order to “reduce the risk of network outages“ (here). Suffice to say that many operators are balking at the costs of deploying national battery backup.

Mobile-mast-on-smartphone-by-CoPilot-for-MJ-on-190624

Landowners Score Key Win in Battle Over UK Mobile Cell Sites and Rents

6th August, 2024 (1 Comment)

A new ruling by the Scottish Lands Tribunal, which could have significant industry-wide ramifications, has re-opened the contentious issue of land ownership and rent reductions on UK mobile masts (inc. rooftop sites), such as those that may occur when mobile or wireless broadband operators attempt to renew an existing lease at a much lower rent.

Lightning Fibre Seek Code Powers to Continue UK FTTP Broadband Build

6th August, 2024 (4 Comments)

Eastbourne-based alternative UK broadband ISP Lightning Fibre, which fell into administration earlier this year and ended up being acquired by existing backer Foresight Group via a new company called LF Holdco2 Ltd (here), are now seeking Code Powers from Ofcom for the new holding company in order to continue their full fibre build.

Ofcom’s New Broadband Switching System May Clash with 14 Day Cooling Off Period UPDATE

6th August, 2024 (15 Comments)

The MD of UK ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), Adrian Kennard, has today pointed out another potential issue with Ofcom’s new One Touch Switch (OTS) system for quicker and easier switching between broadband providers, which could conflict with the statutory 14-day cooling-off period.

Mobile Operator Three UK Adopts New Price Hikes Policy

6th August, 2024 (16 Comments)

Mobile network operator Three UK has today followed BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone and TalkTalk by introducing a new pricing policy that aligns with Ofcom’s new guidance banning inflation-linked annual telecoms price rises (i.e. annual price increases will in the future be outlined in “pounds and pence”).

Broadband ISP Andrews and Arnold UK Finally Adopt Unlimited Data

5th August, 2024 (32 Comments)

The day has finally come when UK ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), which have long been one of the few remaining fixed line broadband providers’ to only offer plans with capped data allowances (albeit very big ones), has finally adopted packages that come “without a usage cap” (aka – unlimited, although they don’t describe it like that).

switch broadband ISP direction sign illustration

Survey Claims 71% of UK Broadband Users Find Changing ISP Tedious UPDATE

5th August, 2024 (12 Comments)

A new survey of over 1,000 adults across the UK, which was conducted by research and consulting firm Cavell, claims to have found that the majority of UK consumers (71%) still find the process of changing broadband ISP to be frustrating, complicated or intimidating. Just 28% said they found it “easy“.

Engineers Over Fibre Chamber Openreach 2022

Network Operators Call for Fairer Pricing to Access Openreach’s UK Infrastructure UPDATE4

2nd August, 2024 (39 Comments)

A new “PIA Coalition” of alternative UK broadband networks, including nexfibre, AllPoints Fibre, CommunityFibre, Gigaclear, Netomnia and Brsk, has been setup and is calling on market regulator Ofcom to “ensure a level playing field for access” to Openreach’s passive infrastructure (existing cable ducts and poles) in its upcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR).

Ofcom UK Propose to Open Unassigned 32GHz Spectrum for Fixed Wireless Links

1st August, 2024 (0 Comments)

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has today proposed to open the remaining unassigned spectrum in the 32GHz band (32.445-32.571 GHz paired with 33.257-33.383 GHz) for new fixed wireless links, while at the same time rejecting previous interest in using this radio spectrum for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband services.