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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

57 Cross-party MPs Back Report Seeking Compensation for Slow Broadband

29th July, 2017 (35 Comments)

Grant Shapps’s (MP) cross-party British Infrastructure Group, which is supported by 57 MPs, has published its latest Broadbad 2.0 report, which among other things calls for consumers in the United Kingdom to be compensated for sub-10Mbps broadband speeds. Sadly it also makes some mistakes.

HIE Opens Review of the Community Broadband Scotland Funding Scheme

27th July, 2017 (1 Comment)

The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has commissioned consultancy firm ekosgen to conduct a review of their Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) initiative, which has been running for five years and provides public investment to help setup new broadband networks in very remote rural areas.

Trouble for BT as MP Grant Shapps Preps Cross-Party UK Broadband Report

21st July, 2017 (43 Comments)

The cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG), which is led by Grant Shapps (Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield), will next week publish their new Broadbad 2.0 report that is expected to highlight a number of problems with the state of broadband in the UK and call for improvements.

NFU Survey Finds UK Farmers Still Suffering Poor Mobile and Broadband

20th July, 2017 (10 Comments)

A new survey conducted by the National Farmers Union with 800 farmers across the United Kingdom has found that just 6% have access to “superfast” broadband download speeds and 85% have an “unreliable” outdoor mobile phone signal.

North Skye Broadband Project Scraps State Aid Application Over Delays

20th July, 2017 (11 Comments)

The North Skye Broadband (NSB) project, which had been planning to deploy a B4RN-like fibre optic broadband network to 2,000 rural premises on the Northern side of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, has given up its application for significant state aid support after facing repeated delays.

Openreach Start Consultation on Plan for Large Scale FTTP “Full Fibre” Rollout

17th July, 2017 (55 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today launched their consultation on the prospects for a “large-scale” roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) ultrafast broadband technology across the United Kingdom by around 2025, which in theory could see the operator’s “full fibre” network reach up to 10 million premises.

UPDATE ISP Blocking and Age Verification of Porn Websites from April 2018

17th July, 2017 (17 Comments)

The Government has confirmed that, from April 2018 onwards, they will require broadband ISPs to block access to pornographic websites that fail to introduce at least a Credit Card based Age Verification system. This is intended to stop children being able to access naughty images and videos.

UPDATE Shropshire Pick Wireless ISP to Extend 30Mbps Rural Broadband

10th July, 2017 (16 Comments)

A further 14,000+ premises in the county of Shropshire (England) look set to gain access to a “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) connection over the next 3 years after the local authority selected fixed wireless ISP Airband to deliver the extra coverage under a new £11.2m contract.

UK Gov Hands £16m to Universities for 2018 Test of 5G Mobile Tech

7th July, 2017 (0 Comments)

The Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has awarded £16 million to three Universities (King’s College London and the Universities of Surrey and Bristol) in order to trial and demo the United Kingdom’s first end-to-end 5G Mobile network in 2018.

UK Government Reannounce 100% Business Rates Relief on “Full Fibre”

4th July, 2017 (0 Comments)

The Government has today introduced their new Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill 2017-19, which among other things sets out the mechanism for supporting their 100% business rates relief on new 5G Mobile and “full-fibre” (FTTH/P) broadband networks (estimated to be worth £60m).

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UK Gov Start £400m Digital Infrastructure Fund to Boost “Full Fibre” Broadband

3rd July, 2017 (6 Comments)

Last year the Government committed £400m of public money to support a new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund (here), which has today gone live. The new fund could help to support alternative network ISPs in deploying ultrafast broadband FTTH/P networks to 2 million extra UK premises.

Liberty Granted Permission to Challenge UK ISP Internet Snooping Law

30th June, 2017 (8 Comments)

The High Court in London has today approved a request by Liberty, a human rights group, to challenge part of the Government’s controversial Internet surveillance powers in the new Investigatory Powers Act. The effort is being supported by £53,313 raised via crowd-funding.

London Assembly Warn City’s Broadband and Mobile is “frankly embarrassing”

29th June, 2017 (11 Comments)

A new report from the London Assembly’s regeneration committee has described the quality of mobile (4G) and fixed line broadband connectivity in the city as “frankly embarrassing.” The report also calls for more ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) to be deployed in order to “bypass the copper problem.”

The Top 390 Fastest and Slowest UK Local Authority Areas by Broadband Speed

27th June, 2017 (3 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has today published the results of a new survey that reveals the fastest and slowest local authorities across the United Kingdom by broadband download speed (median). The Orkney Islands (6.3Mbps) are by far the slowest and Tamworth is the fastest (30.4Mbps).

£150m Extra for Ultrafast Broadband in Northern Ireland – Tory and DUP

26th June, 2017 (9 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party has today signed a new deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to secure the support of their 10 MPs in Parliament. As part of that Northern Ireland can expect to receive £75m per year over two years to “help provide ultra-fast broadband“.

2017 Queen’s Speech Hints at Strict New UK Internet Censorship Policy

21st June, 2017 (3 Comments)

The annual State Opening of Parliament, in which the Government enlists the Queen to promote their policy plans for the forthcoming year, has today revealed that the “new” minority Conservative administration intend to push forward with tough new rules for controlling Internet content.

Digital Minister Matt Hancock Recommits to “Full Fibre” Broadband Policy

14th June, 2017 (8 Comments)

The Government’s returning Digital Minister, Matthew Hancock MP, has today told the Connected Britain event in London that he will recommit to the current policy of fostering “full fibre” broadband and 5G mobile, which is despite the fact that a deal between the Conservative Party and DUP has yet to be signed.