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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

UK Councils Seek Cheap 10Mbps Broadband Tariff for Low Income Users

20th October, 2016 (9 Comments)

The Local Government Association, which supports councils from all over England and Wales, has called for the proposed 10Mbps broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) to include a subsidised “social tariff” so that those who are unemployed or on low incomes can get an affordable service.

UK Digital Minister Supports a FTTP/H Future of “Gigabit” Broadband

19th October, 2016 (37 Comments)

The Government’s Digital Minister, Matthew Hancock MP, appeared to send all the right signals today when he told the ‘Broadband World Forum’ in London that “gigabit speeds” and pure fibre optic (FTTP/H) connectivity “is the future” that he wanted, with specific help for alternative networks.

Businesses Tell UK Gov to Soften Brexit Blow with Broadband Investment

17th October, 2016 (28 Comments)

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which represents thousands of businesses of all sizes and sectors, has told the Government that it should make use of low UK interest rates to help soften the impact from Brexit by investing in broadband, housing and reform of business rates.

West Sussex UK Moot County-Wide 1Gbps Fibre Optic Broadband Roll-out

14th October, 2016 (7 Comments)

The West Sussex County Council has proposed a new “Gigabit West Sussex” framework that will shortly start seeking suppliers to help it “bring ultrafast [FTTP/H broadband] to as many parts of the County as possible,” starting with a contract to deploy a new Dark Fibre network in Adur & Worthing.

Study – £224bn Needed to Cover All EU Homes with 1Gbps Broadband

10th October, 2016 (28 Comments)

The European Commission has published a new Analysys Mason study that examines the cost of, among other things, providing 1Gbps capable fixed line broadband connections to all residential areas across the 28 EU member states, which for now still includes the United Kingdom.

UK Prime Minister Pledges Reform to Improve Rural Broadband

5th October, 2016 (10 Comments)

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has this afternoon hinted at the Conservative Party conference that she anticipates making a bigger state intervention to improve areas like rural broadband connectivity, energy and transport. But does this suggest something new or is it merely a rehash of existing strategy.

Gov Business Minister Slates “unacceptable” State of UK Broadband

29th September, 2016 (1 Comment)

The Government’s new Secretary of State for Business, Greg Clark, seems to have gone off-message after he told an annual conference for the Institute of Directors (IoD) that the United Kingdom’s mobile and broadband connectivity was in a “simply unacceptable” state for 2016.

BT Reveal Massive UK G.fast Pilot and LR-VDSL Broadband Trial Areas

22nd September, 2016 (46 Comments)

The CEO of Openreach (BT), Clive Selley, has today given a progress update on their plans to improve national broadband connectivity. Among other things this included improvements to their FTTP roll-out for new build homes, a list of trial locations for the 10Mbps USO focused LR-VDSL technology and a huge extension of their G.fast pilot to 138,000 UK premises.

EU Publishes Revised Fair Use Policy for FREE Mobile Roaming

21st September, 2016 (3 Comments)

The European Commission has today proposed a revised Fair Use Policy (FUP) for their plan to end EU mobile roaming charges from 15th June 2017 (i.e. any call, text or data allowances will come from your domestic plan), which replaces the one that was withdrawn almost as soon as it was announced.

Former O2 Boss Warns 5G Masts Could Swamp UK in Paper Work

19th September, 2016 (6 Comments)

The recently departed CEO of mobile operator O2 (Telefonica UK), Ronan Dunne, has warned that the Government’s new Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 is not radical enough to cope with the possibility of 500,000 applications for small new 5G masts.. and that’s just in London.

Network Rail Shelves Plan to Privatise UK Fibre Optic Infrastructure

19th September, 2016 (3 Comments)

Network Rail appears to have shelved a plan that would have seen the national railway operator effectively privatise their large track-side fibre optic and data infrastructure, which carries all sorts of transport, video (CCTV etc.), signalling and others communications.

BT and Virgin Media Start Joint UK Campaign to Oppose Openreach Split

19th September, 2016 (10 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT, with support from Virgin Media, will today kick off a new advertising campaign that aims to fight back against the persistent calls by rival ISPs and politicians for Ofcom to split them from control of their national network access division, Openreach.

New Powers Allow Ofcom to Fine Mobile Operators for Poor Coverage

17th September, 2016 (3 Comments)

Tucked deep within the new Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 is a measure that will give Ofcom enough power to impose a financial penalty (worth up to 10% of a company’s gross revenue) on Mobile Network Operators’ (MNO) or Fixed Wireless ISPs that fail to deliver on a coverage obligation.

Jeremy Corbyn, UK Has “slowest and most expensive broadband” in OECD

15th September, 2016 (62 Comments)

Politicians and their “facts” often give us a headache and today it’s the turn of the Labour Party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who claims that the United Kingdom has some of the “slowest and most expensive broadband” among the 35 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

UPDATE NAO Warns New UK 4G Emergency Services Network is “High Risk”

15th September, 2016 (5 Comments)

The National Audit Office has warned that the Government’s move to replace the existing Airwave wireless communications network, which is used by the police, fire and other emergency services, with a 4G solution supplied by EE is “inherently high risk” and the dangers are not being taken seriously enough.

EU Confirms Goal of UNIVERSAL 100Mbps Broadband for All by 2025

14th September, 2016 (17 Comments)

The European Commission has officially unveiled its future Connectivity proposals, which among other things include a new target for “all European households” to get a minimum Internet download speed of 100Mbps+ by 2025, with businesses and the public sector being told to expect 1Gbps+.

UK and EU ISPs Warn of “regressive” New Internet Copyright Laws

14th September, 2016 (2 Comments)

The European Internet Services Providers Association, which represents ISPs from across the UK and EU, has warned that the European Commission’s new Digital Single Market proposals include “regressive” measures that could make ISPs more responsible for the activity of their users.