Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Politics (3105 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Councils Object to Planning Changes for Boosting UK Mobile Cover

6th September, 2019 (27 Comments)

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has voiced strong opposition to new plans by the UK government, which last month proposed to simplify the planning rules (Permitted Development Rights) for new mobile infrastructure (4G / 5G masts etc.) in order to improve rural network coverage across England.

Plaid Cymru’s 3 Point Plan to “Eradicate” Broadband Notspots in Wales

6th September, 2019 (2 Comments)

The Party of Wales (Plaid Cymru) appears to expecting a general election soon as they’ve recently set out a new – if somewhat familiar – three-point plan, which primarily aims to “eradicate Wales of broadband not-spots by 2025.” Sadly they neglect to define what “broadband” means, in terms of either speed or technology.

Government Name 100 England Towns Set for Faster Broadband Boost

6th September, 2019 (29 Comments)

At the end of July the UK Government announced that part of their new £3.6bn Towns Fund would go toward supporting an initial 100 towns “so that they will get the improved transport and improved broadband connectivity that they need” (here). The names of those towns, which includes a few cities, have today been published.

Some Progress on Resolving Part Built Fibre Broadband Areas in Wales

3rd September, 2019 (9 Comments)

A hint of progress is in the air as the Welsh Government (WG), Openreach (BT) and Building Digital UK (DCMS) programme are continuing their efforts to find a solution for the “stranded assets” problem, which reflects thousands of premises on unfinished (part-built) “fibre broadband” (FTTC and FTTP) deployments in Wales.

£1m from UK Gov to Boost Superfast Broadband in North Lincolnshire

2nd September, 2019 (0 Comments)

The North Lincolnshire Council (NLC) has revealed that it could spend the £1m grant awarded to it in June 2019 by DEFRA’s Rural Broadband Infrastructure (RBI) scheme on extending “superfast broadband” connectivity around rural industrial estates on the edge of Scunthorpe.

Openreach Extends FTTP Broadband to Remote Outer Hebrides

28th August, 2019 (21 Comments)

At a significant cost – around £4,000 per premises – Openreach (BT) and the £442m (public and private investment) Digital Scotland (DSSB) project have today announced that they’ve deployed their Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to several tiny Outer Hebrides (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) communities.

Scotland’s R100 Broadband Delay Hits Inverness City-Region Deal

27th August, 2019 (4 Comments)

The on-going delay to the Scottish Government’s proposed £600m Reaching 100% (R100) project, which originally aimed to cover the whole of Scotland with 30Mbps+ “superfast broadband” by the end of 2021, has now stalled the digital element of the proposed Inverness and Highland City-Region deal.

Improved Mobile Planning Rules and £30m for UK Rural 5G Trials

27th August, 2019 (5 Comments)

The UK Government has commitment another £30m to help up to 10 rural locations conduct “innovative trials” of 5G mobile / mobile broadband applications as part of a new Rural Connected Communities (RCC) project, which could stimulate commercial investment. On top of that they aim to ease mobile planning rules.

Digital Scotland to Cover 6,000 More Premises with FTTP Broadband

18th August, 2019 (8 Comments)

The £442m (public and private investment) Digital Scotland (DSSB) project, which has been working with BT (Openreach) to rollout “superfast broadband” to poorly served areas, is to extend Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) UK ISP technology to cover a further 6,000 premises thanks to a reinvestment of £17.8m.

Calls for Action to Tackle “Chronic” Rural Broadband and Mobile Problems

16th August, 2019 (27 Comments)

A new report from lesser known UK think tank Parliament Street has warned how a historic “lack of investment” and “chronic connectivity” problems mean that too many rural areas are still being “challenged” by issues such as “slow broadband, less bandwidth, and problematic mobile and TV reception,” among other things.

Conference Centres Invited to Bid on £250K for UK Full Fibre Upgrades

16th August, 2019 (8 Comments)

A couple of months ago we reported that the Government’s new tourism sector deal would make £250,000 available to help boost “full fibre” broadband facilities in conference centres across the UK (here). Today a new competition has been launched that enables such centres to bid for a slice of the funding pot.

Orkney MSP Calls for Clarity on Scotland’s R100 Broadband Target

13th August, 2019 (6 Comments)

The MSP for Orkney, Liam McArthur (LibDem), has called on the Scottish Government’s Connectivity Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, to come clean with regards to whether or not they have now “quietly abandoned” the target to make “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) available to all of Scotland by the end of 2021 (March 2022 financial).

Autumn National Infrastructure Strategy to Boost UK Full Fibre Funding

10th August, 2019 (26 Comments)

The Government’s seemingly unachievable new goal of blanketing the UK in Gigabit capable “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband connectivity by the end of 2025 is expected to get a boost in the autumn, which is thanks to the long-awaited publication of its National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) that is widely said to include a major funding boost.

New Study Slams Lack of 100% UK Geographic 4G Mobile Coverage

9th August, 2019 (22 Comments)

A new Which? study has found that in 524 out of 650 UK parliamentary constituencies 4G mobile coverage is not available via all four operators to the whole constituency. The most poorly-served city-based constituencies (all under 80% coverage) were Rochford, Southend, South West Devon, Romsey and Southampton North.

Ofcom Economist Pimps Menu Regulation to Boost UK Fibre Networks

6th August, 2019 (1 Comment)

David Henriques, a Senior Associate Economist at Ofcom and Visiting Fellow at the LSE, has appeared to suggest that menu regulation for fibre optic broadband networks may be a better approach for the United Kingdom to take than incentive orientated regulation.

Gigabit Wireless Broadband Trial in Rural Wales Morphs into FTTP

6th August, 2019 (2 Comments)

Homes in the rural Monmouthshire (Wales) village of Llanddewi Rhydderch may soon be connected to a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based ultrafast broadband ISP network from Broadway Partners, which initially promised to deploy a “Gigabit” speed wireless network but ended up connecting locals at 30Mbps.

Pembrokeshire Unveils Plan to Improve Full Fibre Broadband Coverage

5th August, 2019 (2 Comments)

The Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro) council in South West Wales has revealed the outline of a new plan that aims to help spread the availability of ultrafast “full fibre” broadband connectivity across rural parts of the county, which among other things includes a £2m investment to boost existing voucher schemes and a LFFN bid.