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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

6 Months Ahead of Schedule – Suffolk’s Superfast Broadband Rollout

16th July, 2019 (7 Comments)

The Suffolk County Council in England has issued a new report on the progress of their £64m project to help extend the coverage of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) capable ISP networks to 98% of local premises by the end of 2020, which after some initial delays is now running nearly 6 months ahead of schedule.

Cambridge Opens Over 100km of Duct to Full Fibre Broadband ISPs

11th July, 2019 (0 Comments)

The University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire County Council have joined forces to launch a new company called Light Blue Fibre, which will essentially open up access to over 100km of ducting and wholesale Dark Fibre for use by UK broadband ISPs that want to deploy Gigabit capable “full fibre” networks in Cambridge.

B4RN Celebrate After Raising £3m for Rural Gigabit FTTH Rollout

8th July, 2019 (8 Comments)

Rural focused UK ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) has successfully hit their £3 million crowdfunding target via Triodos Bank (here), which will help to support the on-going rollout of a community built and funded 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network across remote parts of several counties.

UK Government Incorrectly Claims 97% Superfast Broadband Cover UPDATE

8th July, 2019 (22 Comments)

The Government’s Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Margot James MP, has wrongfully claimed that its Building Digital UK programme has now helped to push fixed “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) network coverage to 97% of UK premises (the expectation is that this could reach around 98% by the end of 2020).

BT Make Progress on Legal Openreach Split, But FTTP Clarity Needed

3rd July, 2019 (18 Comments)

Ofcom has today deemed Openreach to be making “real progress” in their on-going efforts to become a distinct “legally separate” company away from BT, although the UK telecoms regulator seeks more “transparency” around their efforts to increase independence and solid details on their future FTTP broadband plan beyond 2020.

Digital Scotland Brings More FTTP Broadband to Rural Communities

2nd July, 2019 (15 Comments)

The £442m (public and private investment) Digital Scotland (DSSB) project with BT (Openreach) is continuing to expand and in the final stages we’re seeing a lot more Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) reaching rural parts, most recently around Lanarkshire and Aberdeenshire.

Rural Gigabit Wireless Broadband Trial in Wales Delivers 30Mbps+ UPDATE

1st July, 2019 (17 Comments)

Homes connecting to a supposedly 1Gbps wireless broadband trial in the tiny rural Monmouthshire (Wales) village of Llanddewi Rhydderch, which is supported by the UK Government, have yet to experience “anything near” to those speeds. A recent council meeting also suggests that the service becomes “patchy when the weather is poor.”

Countryside Alliance Calls on UK Gov to Set Out Full Fibre Funding

28th June, 2019 (6 Comments)

The Countryside Alliance, which is home to 100,000 members who campaign to protect UK rural areas, has called on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) to demand a “funding strategy” from the Government to support the aspiration of making “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband available nationwide by 2033.

Broadband Only Given Small Boost in New UK Tourism Sector Deal

28th June, 2019 (1 Comment)

The UK Government has announced the “first ever” tourism sector deal, which among other things aims to “prepare Britain for an extra 9 million visitors per year” and includes a commitment to build 130,000 new hotel rooms by 2025. As part of that there’s also a relatively small £250,000 boost for broadband connectivity.

Grant Shapps MP Calls for Competition Probe of UK Mobile Giants

24th June, 2019 (4 Comments)

The chair of the cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG), Grant Shapps MP, has called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate claims of “potential collusion between some major operators,” which it’s alleged may have contributed to the sudden collapse of mobile retailer Phones 4U in 2014.

UK ISP Internet Porn Ban DELAYED AGAIN Due to Gov Admin Error

20th June, 2019 (11 Comments)

The Government’s controversial new internet age verification system, which was due to be implemented by commercial websites and “apps” that contain pornographic content (broadband ISPs would be forced to block sites that fail to comply), has once again been delayed and will not now be enforced from 15th July 2019.

North Wales Sets Out Gigabit Full Fibre Plan to Connect Public Sites

19th June, 2019 (6 Comments)

The North Wales Economic Ambition Board (NWEAB) has today set out its plan for investing up to £7m from Wave 3 of the UK Government’s Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which will see Gigabit capable fibre and “ultrafast broadband” services being used to connect up to 400 further public sector sites.

Gov to Give CMA Power to Fine UK Broadband ISPs for Loyalty Penalty UPDATE

18th June, 2019 (3 Comments)

The UK Government has proposed to beef up the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) so that it can “decide for itself whether consumer protection law has been broken” and impose fines for “wrongdoing,” such when potentially unfair pricing is applied to vulnerable customers (“loyalty penalty“).

Boris Johnson Pledges Full Fibre for All UK by 2025 – Doesn’t Say How UPDATE

17th June, 2019 (44 Comments)

In-between skipping TV leadership debates the current front-runner to be the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, has made the rather striking pledge toward “delivering full fibre [broadband] to every home in the land” by 2025. Naturally he fails to say how this would be funded or even possible.

Gov to Simplify 5G Planning Process and Put £40m into New UK Trials

12th June, 2019 (1 Comment)

The UK Government has today committed a further £40m from their 5G Testbeds and Trials (5GTT) programme to support another round of projects, which will help to show how the ultrafast mobile broadband tech could support work in the “logistics and manufacturing sectors.” They also want to simplify the planning process to help rollouts.

Fears of Unlawful Bulk Internet Surveillance Data Retention by MI5

12th June, 2019 (6 Comments)

A legal challenged brought by Liberty in the UK High Court has pointed to the “undoubtedly unlawful” bulk retention of largely innocent peoples communications data (telecoms and internet) by MI5, which stems from an apparent failure to adhere to the safeguards set out in the Government’s 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPAct).

UK Ranks 5th in 2019 EU Broadband Connectivity Progress Study

11th June, 2019 (7 Comments)

The European Commission has published their 2019 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which uses data from 2018 to reveal how the UK’s fixed line broadband and mobile networks compare with the rest of the EU. This year we jumped in overall rank from 6th to 5th out of 28 countries but are only 10th for connectivity.