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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Problems Remain – CMA Updates on Ofcom Loyalty Penalty Fixes

21st January, 2020 (0 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued its annual update on Ofcom’s progress toward tackling the “loyalty penalty” in UK broadband ISP and mobile services, which can result in existing customers paying “significantly more” than new ones. Overall the progress has been good, but not all operators are playing ball.

A Look at BT Group’s UK Single Rural Full Fibre Network Idea

21st January, 2020 (7 Comments)

The CEO of BT Group, Philip Jansen, has proposed a new framework, which could see builders of “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks working together in the final 20-30% of hardest to reach premises to maximise coverage, such as by avoiding overbuild in areas that can’t support multiple networks and sharing access.

ICS Wants Full Fibre Broadband for All of Scotland by 2027 UPDATE

20th January, 2020 (7 Comments)

The new Infrastructure Commission for Scotland (ICS) has this morning published a blueprint for their proposed 30-year infrastructure strategy, which among other things calls on the Scottish Government (SG) to ensure the delivery of a “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover all of the country 2027.

BT Defends Cost Proposals for Sharing Rural UK Mobile Sites

18th January, 2020 (19 Comments)

Last year’s £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) agreement between BT (EE), Vodafone, Three UK and O2, which will see the operators working together in order to extend geographic 4G mobile (mobile broadband) coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025, was just the start of what could be a tricky period of implementation.

Community Fibre Build FTTP Broadband to 100,000 UK Premises

16th January, 2020 (7 Comments)

London-focused UK ISP Community Fibre has today confirmed that the roll-out of their Gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has now reached their first target of 100,000 premises. On top of that they have plans in place that should see this grow to 370,000 homes via 40 of London’s largest landlords.

Government Changes UK Gigabit Broadband Voucher Rules

16th January, 2020 (47 Comments)

The Government has just approved some changes to the rules and eligibility criteria for both their £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) and the £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme, which effectively harmonises both schemes and helps the funding get to the right areas.

Ruling by EU Court Adviser May Hamper UK Internet Snooping

15th January, 2020 (2 Comments)

The Advocate General for the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Campos Sánchez-Bordona, has today issued a landmark legal “opinion” that could effectively limit the ability of national security agencies (e.g. GCHQ) to force internet providers (e.g. broadband ISPs) into the bulk retention of personal customer data.

Farmers Survey Highlights Poor UK Rural Mobile and Broadband

13th January, 2020 (36 Comments)

Once again the National Farmers Union has published the results from its annual online and telephone based survey of several hundred members, which found that just 17% of farmers had access to “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) speeds (up from 16% last year and 4% in 2015) and 15% have no indoor mobile signal at all.

Update on Greater Manchester’s £32m Gigabit Full Fibre Project

11th January, 2020 (13 Comments)

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has given its approval to the selection of a preferred bidder (due to be named within the next few weeks) to deliver on their Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN) project, which originally aimed to deploy a 450km long Gigabit speed fibre network to serve 1,300 public sector sites.

SHOCK – Councils Find UK Mobile Coverage Estimates Unreliable

10th January, 2020 (21 Comments)

The Local Government Association, which represents hundreds of councils across England and Wales, has finally figured out what almost everybody else has known for years, that those mobile network coverage (3G, 4G, 5G etc.) checkers – usually run by operators – are not a particularly reliable gauge of signal quality.

Scotland Reveal R100 Full Fibre Broadband Rollout Plan to 2023

9th January, 2020 (14 Comments)

The Scottish Government‘s Minister for Connectivity, Paul Wheelhouse, has today issued an update on the progress of their much delayed £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) project, which confirms how many premises will benefit in each area and what technologies will be used. Sadly the rollout will complete in 2023, rather than 2021.

Portsmouth Council Picks MLL to Provide Connectivity Services

9th January, 2020 (0 Comments)

The Portsmouth City Council, which last year awarded Cityfibre the £3.8m Local Full Fibre Network contract to rollout a new “gigabit-capable” Ethernet and broadband network to 200 public sector sites (here), has confirmed that UK biz ISP MLL Telecom have been chosen to provide services on the related Solent Network framework.

Suffolk UK Set to Approve Phase 3 Superfast Broadband Rollout UPDATE

8th January, 2020 (7 Comments)

The Suffolk County Council (SCC) appear set to appointed a supplier for their new £10m+ state aid fuelled Phase 3 Superfast Broadband contract, which could see 7,000 additional premises (mostly in rural areas) being reached by faster UK ISP networks; most likely via “gigabit-capable” Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology.

Ofcom UK Propose Predictable Annual Work Plan for 2020-21

7th January, 2020 (0 Comments)

Just like clockwork the UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed a new annual work plan for the next year. The generalised summary covers everything from improving fairness for consumers (e.g. end-of-contract notifications), internet regulation and boosting the roll-out of faster broadband ISP and mobile services etc.

Herefordshire UK Set £500,000 Aside for Rural Broadband Grants UPDATE

3rd January, 2020 (16 Comments)

The Herefordshire County Council (HCC) has confirmed that they’ve set aside £500,000 to support a new broadband grant scheme under the joint Fastershire project with Gloucestershire County Council, which will provide funding to help isolated communities that are not yet part of the current roll-out programme.

Scottish Landowners Complain of Being “Fleeced” by UK Telecoms Firms

24th December, 2019 (9 Comments)

The Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) group has complained that UK broadband and mobile network operators have “fleeced” rural landowners by allegedly abusing the revised Electronic Communications Code (ECC), primarily by only paying pitifully small sums in order to access and use private land.

50 Rural Monmouthshire Villages Targeted for FTTH Broadband

23rd December, 2019 (6 Comments)

Residents in the tiny rural Monmouthshire village of Llanddewi Rhydderch in Wales now have a second 1Gbps capable speed option for broadband in the form of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which is intended to complement their existing Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) trial. But another 50 villages could soon join them.