Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1895 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Do UK Broadband ISPs Need a New Approach to Price Hikes

11th July, 2021 (31 Comments)

Price hikes are fairly common amongst all of the largest UK broadband ISPs, which tend to increase what they charge by an average of c.4-6% with every passing year, albeit often via a mix of very different and changeable approaches. But is it time for the industry to start considering a more predictable and standardised approach?

No Sign UK Gov Pushing for Mandatory Social Broadband Tariffs UPDATE

6th July, 2021 (2 Comments)

A short but interesting debate was held yesterday in the Lords Chamber, which appeared to indicate that the UK Government are not, at present, pressing Ofcom to introduce mandatory low cost social tariffs for broadband across the industry. But like the regulator, they would like to see better promotion of those that exist.

Court Hearing Begins in BT UK Landline Overcharging Case

24th June, 2021 (3 Comments)

Broadband ISP BT has today said it will “vigorously defend itself” – at the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) – against the claim of having allegedly overcharged c.2.3 million landline-only customers, which has been brought by law firm Mishcon de Reya on behalf of a former Ofcom telecoms consultant, Justin Le Patourel.

Ofcom Grumbles at BT Over Inaccurate EE Broadband USO Data

23rd June, 2021 (4 Comments)

A probe by the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has found “reasonable grounds for believing” that BT broke the rules by providing “inaccurate information” in response to a statutory information request, which was seeking data about EE’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband service for the 2019 Connected Nations report.

Ofcom Requires UK ISPs to Offer Emergency Video Relay Service

22nd June, 2021 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has today finalised their decision to force all UK broadband and phone providers – oddly including those that may not even deliver phone services – to offer a free (inc. zero-rated data usage), 24/7 video relay service for British Sign Language (BSL) users to contact the emergency services, via a dedicated mobile app and website.

Grayshott Plan Gigabit Full Fibre Rollout in Hampshire and Surrey

11th June, 2021 (4 Comments)

The latest start-up to enter the UK broadband market appears to be Morden-based ISP Grayshott Gigabit, which has revealed that they plan to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across poorly served rural areas in the East Hampshire, Surrey Hills and surrounding areas.

Ofcom Finds UK Adults Spend Over 3.5 Hours Online Each Day

9th June, 2021 (0 Comments)

Ofcom has published their annual Online Nation 2021 report, which examines how we all use and interact with the internet in the United Kingdom. Overall, it found that 86% of adults use the internet (94% for households – up from 84% last year) and we spent an average of 3 hours and 37 mins online each day (up from 3:28 HH:MM).

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2.5 Million UK People Struggle to Pay their Broadband ISP Bills

4th June, 2021 (12 Comments)

A new survey from the Citizens Advice agency has estimated that 2.5 million people are “behind” on paying their broadband ISP bills and 700,000 have fallen into the red during the COVID-19 crisis. The charity is thus calling on more providers to launch cheaper social tariffs.

Ofcom Accuse Met Technologies and Guaranteed Telecom of SLAMMING

4th June, 2021 (9 Comments)

After a long investigation, Ofcom claims to have found “reasonable grounds for believing” that two little-known UK broadband ISPs – Met Technologies (Met Plus Telecom and Millenium Talk) and Guaranteed Telecom (Zoom Telecom) – may have switched a number of consumers to their service without permission (SLAMMING).

New Operator Tiger Fibre Planning UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

26th May, 2021 (3 Comments)

A new Solihull-based network builder called Tiger Fibre has emerged with plans to deploy their own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across homes and businesses in some as yet unspecified parts of the United Kingdom, albeit focusing upon poorly served areas.

Openreach Publish New Dark Fibre Reference Offer for UK ISPs

21st May, 2021 (6 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has published the first Draft Reference Offer for their second stab at an Ofcom regulated Dark Fibre Access (DFA) product, which gives rival UK network operators and broadband ISPs physical access to harness existing fibre optic cables to run leased line style services. But the new solution is more restrictive.

Ofcom UK Seeks to Expand Range of Indoor Mobile Boosters

19th May, 2021 (22 Comments)

A few years ago the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, took the decision to licence exempt certain “mobile phone repeaters” for indoor and in-vehicle (low gain) use (here), yet today only the kit from Nextivity (Cel-Fi) is known to officially meet their requirements. But their new proposals could be about to change all that.

Ofcom Sees Average UK Fixed Broadband ISP Speeds Hit 80Mbps

13th May, 2021 (45 Comments)

Ofcom has today published somewhat of a preview for their annual study into fixed line UK broadband ISP speeds, which reveals that the average (mean) download speed of home connections has risen by 25.3% since last year to 80.2Mbps. Upload speeds have also jumped by 54% to 21.6Mbps.

Ofcom Spring 2021 – Full Fibre Covers 21% of UK and Gigabit 37%

12th May, 2021 (9 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest Spring 2021 update for UK broadband and mobile networks has revealed that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage has grown to 21% (up from 18% in Sep 2020) and 37% or 10.8 million homes are within reach of a gigabit-capable (1000Mbps) network (up from 27%). But sadly 4G coverage has not improved and there’s no mention of 5G.

BT Calls on UK Gov to Help Subsidise Social Broadband Tariffs

12th May, 2021 (6 Comments)

The CEO of BT’s Consumer ISP division, Marc Allera, has today called on the UK Government to help support the industry by making it easier for home broadband providers to launch new social tariffs via targetted funding or subsidies, which could come in a number of different forms.

Gov Publish UK Online Safety Bill to Censor “Harmful” Content UPDATE

12th May, 2021 (23 Comments)

After much delay the UK Government will today publish a draft of their new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms), which among other things hands Ofcom a new “legal duty of care” that can be used to force websites into removing “harmful” internet content. Failing to do so may risk being fined or blocked by mobile and broadband ISPs.

Ofcom Preps Strategic Review of UK 4G and 5G Mobile Networks

11th May, 2021 (7 Comments)

Ofcom has today set out the terms of reference for their future UK mobile strategy review, which will examine how the regulator can adjust their approach in order to improve 4G and 5G based mobile (mobile broadband) network connectivity for consumers and businesses over the next 5 to 10 years.