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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

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.

Scotland’s R100 Broadband Contract Delayed Until End of 2019

7th June, 2019 (15 Comments)

The Scottish Government’s Minister for Connectivity, Paul Wheelhouse, has confirmed that contracts for the £600m Reaching 100% (R100) superfast broadband project won’t now be signed until the “end of the year,” which suggests that the rollout may be unable to complete by the end of 2021 (March 2022 financial) as planned.

Ofcom UK CEO Sharon White to Exit Telecoms and Media Regulator

6th June, 2019 (16 Comments)

The CEO of Ofcom, Sharon White, has today confirmed that she will step down from her stewardship of the United Kingdom’s telecoms, broadband and media regulator by “around the turn of the year“. The regulator’s board will now begin the process of finding a replacement (subject to final approval by the DCMS Secretary of State).

Rural UK Landowners Seek Guarantees in Rural 4G Mobile Rollout

6th June, 2019 (10 Comments)

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Countryside Alliance, National Farmers Union (NFU), Rural Services Network and Which? have today jointly called on the UK Government to ensure that the proposed plan by mobile broadband operators to improve rural 4G network coverage meets “four key tests.”

Ofcom Set March 2020 Launch for 10Mbps UK Broadband USO

6th June, 2019 (48 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed the final details for how the new 10Mbps+ (1Mbps upload) Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband – to be supplied by ISPs BT and KCOM – will be delivered and work once it’s introduced from 20th March 2020.

Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland in £12m Full Fibre Bid

6th June, 2019 (2 Comments)

The North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA), which represents Newcastle, North Tyneside (Tyne and Wear) and Northumberland, has put its support behind a £12 million bid for funding from the UK Government’s Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme that could help to spread Gigabit connectivity into rural areas.

Spare a Thought for the Falkland Islands and Terrible Broadband

5th June, 2019 (23 Comments)

We often report in gripes with rural broadband connectivity from across the United Kingdom but spare a thought for the 3,400 people living on the largely self-governing and self-sufficient Falkland Islands, where all of the fixed line services and mobile networks are still supplied by a limited Satellite data link.

Lowestoft Council Aim to Extend Full Fibre Broadband to Local Homes

5th June, 2019 (5 Comments)

The East Suffolk Council in England has agreed to explore a proposed extension of Cityfibre and UK ISP MLL Telecom’s on-going rollout of a new “full fibre” network across the town of Lowestoft, which would enable the network to bring “ultrafast broadband” speeds of 1000Mbps+ to local homes and smaller businesses.

Code of Practice to Boost Fibre Broadband Street Works in Scotland

3rd June, 2019 (0 Comments)

The Scottish Government has officially implemented a new Code of Practice in Scotland, which appears to create a uniform technical standard for “narrow trenching” method of civil engineering (i.e. trenches less than 300mm in width) that could help to speed up the rollout of fibre broadband ISP networks across the country.

New UK Consumer Advocate to Tackle Unfair Broadband Practices UPDATE2

3rd June, 2019 (4 Comments)

The Government has revealed that they will soon legislate to create a new independent “consumer advocate,” which will be given the task of tackling “unfair” practices within the UK telecoms market (broadband ISPs and mobile operators). On top of that they will also provide “direct support” to consumers.

Devon and Somerset UK to Offer Community Broadband Funding

1st June, 2019 (34 Comments)

The troubled Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) project has announced that it is looking for ISPs to help support the launch of a new funding scheme, which is due to launch later in 2019 and will help rural communities to get a faster broadband network built. Meanwhile Gigaclear has been given a deadline to get their FTTP plan sorted.

Cross-Party MPs Launch Another UK Rural Broadband Inquiry

29th May, 2019 (9 Comments)

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has launched a “short” inquiry that aims to examine the remaining problems with gaining access to superfast broadband ISP connectivity, mobile signals and accessing digital-only services in remote rural parts of the United Kingdom.

Alternative Full Fibre ISPs Aim to Cover 3.38 Million UK Premises by 2020

29th May, 2019 (0 Comments)

A new report from the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) and Point Topic has estimated that alternative “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband ISPs grew their coverage by 30% in 2018, reaching 1,298,185 UK premises. Related providers are now forecast to reach 3.38m premises by the end of 2020 and 15.96m by 2025.

B4RN and Lancashire Council Resolve Broadband Wayleave Dispute

28th May, 2019 (15 Comments)

A long-running dispute over wayleave agreements between the Lancashire County Council and “full fibre” UK ISP B4RN has finally been resolved, which means that the operator will be able to connect up several rural schools to 1Gbps FTTH broadband and extend their network to nearby premises at the same time.

London Grid for Learning Boosts Speeds with Virgin Media Business

28th May, 2019 (0 Comments)

The London Grid for Learning (LGfL), which alongside Virgin Media Business helps to supply broadband connectivity to around 3,000 schools (over 1.2 million children) in the UK’s capital, has signed an expanded deal with the cable operator that will deliver connection speeds of up to 1000Mbps and often “at no additional cost.”

B4RN to Hit 6000 Rural FTTH Broadband Customers and Raises £2m

21st May, 2019 (7 Comments)

Plucky rural UK ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), which is deploying a community built and funded 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network to remote premises in several counties across England, expects to achieve 6,000 live connections by the end of June and has raised £2m via crowdfunding.

Disputes Over UK Street Furniture Risk Slowing 5G Mobile Rollout UPDATE

20th May, 2019 (18 Comments)

The next generation of multi-Gigabit speed capable 5G based mobile broadband networks could be facing yet another challenge due to a backlog of disputes over access to UK street furniture (lampposts etc.). Related deployments in some parts of the country are allegedly being delayed by as much as 2 years.