Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1818 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

UPDATE “Luton” Best and “Hull” Worst, UK Cities for Superfast Broadband

19th January, 2015 (15 Comments)

The Centre for Cities, which claims to be a non-partisan / independent think-tank that dedicates itself towards understanding and improving city economies, has published its annual 2015 Cities Outlook report to reveal the United Kingdom’s best and worst performing cities across various criteria. One of the criteria they judge is superfast broadband penetration.

Ofcom Open 5G Mobile Broadband Consultation on Spectrum Above 6GHz

16th January, 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has started a new consultation that seeks feedback on whether radio spectrum bands above 6GHz could be used for the future 5th generation (5G) of ultrafast Mobile Broadband connectivity, which many predict will be able to offer peak / shared performance of up to or beyond 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) by around 2020.

UPD3 Ofcom Propose Not to Cut BT’s FTTC Superfast Broadband Prices for ISPs

15th January, 2015 (17 Comments)

The national UK telecoms regulator has today revealed the outcome from its recent consultation into whether or not the cost of BT’s superfast broadband Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) lines for rival ISPs needed to be adjusted in order to “maintain a sufficient margin between [their] wholesale and retail superfast broadband charges“.

Ofcom – Few UK Children Know How to Disable ISP Internet Filters

12th January, 2015 (4 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today published its 3rd survey into the use and effectiveness of Internet safety measures, such as the network-level filtering (Parental Control) tools that were last year introduced by all of the largest broadband ISPs to help block “adult content” from young eyes.

Ofcom Propose to Prosecute Owners of Bad Powerline Network Adapters

6th January, 2015 (14 Comments)

The telecoms regulator has started a new consultation that proposes to expand the remit of its existing wireless telegraphy legislation in order to tackle electronic devices that create “undue interference“, which among other things could target consumers that make use of bad Powerline Adapters (HomePlug) for their home computer networks.

BTOpenreach Tweaks UK Line Rental and Ethernet Prices for 2015

31st December, 2014 (23 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which holds the responsibility for maintaining much of BT’s national telecoms network across the United Kingdom, has on New Year’s Eve announced a heap of new price reductions and increases for their line rental (WLR and LLU), Ethernet and various other connectivity services.

BT and Sky Face Challenges as Ofcom Launch New UK Pay TV Review

19th December, 2014 (8 Comments)

As expected the United Kingdom’s communications and media regulator has today opened a new consultation into regulation of the Pay TV market, which will predominantly focus on BT and Sky’s (Sky Broadband) impact on sports content (e.g. Premier League football) and will also examine the related impact of new broadband based delivery methods (e.g. NOW TV, Netflix etc.).

BT TV Bring Sky Sports 1 and 2 to its Broadband Based YouView Boxes

16th December, 2014 (2 Comments)

Customers of BT’s broadband powered YouView TV (IPTV) service can, following the operators successful application for interim relief at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, now get access to the Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 channels alongside their existing BTSport, ESPN and Eurosport content. The move also means no more BTVision+ boxes.

Ofcom UK Appoints HM Treasury’s Sharon White to CEO Role

16th December, 2014 (1 Comment)

The United Kingdom’s telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today announced that Sharon White will in late March 2015 take over the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Ed Richards, who steps down at the end of this month. The regulators Strategy and Technology Director, Steve Unger, will cover the intervening period as acting CEO.

Sky and Virgin Media Top Ofcom’s Phone and Broadband Satisfaction Study

12th December, 2014 (10 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has today published their annual study of consumer satisfaction with fixed line broadband, phone, pay TV and mobile providers, which is based on feedback received from around 6,000 consumers who were interviewed as part of the research. Overall it’s good news for Sky Broadband and Virgin Media, but less so for the others.

Ofcom Scorecard Highlights UK Strengths vs EU Broadband Rollout Progress

11th December, 2014 (0 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator has today published their latest EU Broadband Scorecard and 2014 International Communications Market Report (ICMR), which among other things shows how the United Kingdom compares with Europe’s other countries in terms of our progress towards the Government’s ambition that we should have the “fastest broadband of any major European country by 2015“.

Ofcom – 75% of the United Kingdom Can Sign-up to Superfast Broadband

8th December, 2014 (14 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their annual 2014 Infrastructure Report and revealed that 75% of premises are now within reach of a superfast broadband (30Mbps+) connection (this falls to just 22% superfast coverage in rural areas or 33% for raw NGA reach), with take-up of related services hitting 22% (up from 16% last year).

Ofcom – Fixed Line Broadband ISP Connections Hit 23.22 Million in Q2 2014

2nd December, 2014 (1 Comment)

The telecom regulator’s latest Telecoms Market Data Tables update for Q2-2014 has reported that the United Kingdom is now home to a total of 23,219,000 fixed line residential and small business broadband ISP connections (excluding corporate lines), which is up by +179,000 in the quarter. Meanwhile BT’s Retail share of the market has continued to rise from 31.6% in Q1 to 32% in Q2.

Rival ISPs Attack BT’s “network monopoly position” and Demand Change

24th November, 2014 (31 Comments)

The UK Competitive Telecommunications Association, which aims to foster a more competitive fixed telecommunications market and counts most of BT’s major rivals among its ranks (e.g. Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Sky Broadband etc.), has called on Ofcom to improve competition by among other things opening up BT’s passive infrastructure to all providers and launching another market review; although one is already underway.

BBC Watchdog Scalds BT Openreach for New Home Install Delays

21st November, 2014 (64 Comments)

Last night’s episode of the BBC’s popular consumer affairs TV show, Watchdog (Series 34 : Episode 6), took BTOpenreach to task again over the often lengthy periods of time that some people have to wait in order for their new phone and or broadband line to be installed.

Network Rail UK to Wholesale Out Upgraded Fibre Optic Network

21st November, 2014 (2 Comments)

A proposal by Ofcom for granting Code Powers (i.e. easier approval of street works etc.) to help Network Rail upgrade their Dark Fibre and mobile communications infrastructure has confirmed that the national railway operator will also provide “wholesale services to other telecom operators“.

Ofcom Appoint Temporary CEO as Hunt for Replacement Continues

19th November, 2014 (1 Comment)

The board of the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has so far failed to find a replacement for their current CEO, Ed Richards, in time for his departure next month. So in the meantime they’ve appointed an acting Chief Executive, Steve Unger, to hold the position until the right candidate can be found.