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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Cumbria UK Still Passing the Buck over BT Fibre Broadband Coverage Data

14th May, 2014 (3 Comments)

The Cumbria County Council has once again refused to publish the 7-digit postcode level broadband speed and coverage data for their state-aid supported roll-out of BT’s superfast broadband (FTTC/P) network, which aims to reach 93% of homes and businesses in the region by the end of 2015. This time the buck is passed back to BT on copyright grounds.

£1m Fund to Help Female Entrepreneurs Benefit from Superfast Broadband

14th May, 2014 (3 Comments)

The Government’s Equalities Office has setup a new £1m Challenge Fund alongside the national Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, which will be used to help female entrepreneurs get the most out superfast broadband.

IETF Commits to Hamper State Sponsored Mass Internet Surveillance

13th May, 2014 (0 Comments)

The influential Internet Engineering Task Force, which is a large open international community of network designers and operators that work to help evolve the Internet’s underlying protocols and architecture, has decided to take action against massive state sponsored Internet snooping (e.g. GCHQ/NSA etc.) through the development of new solutions to mitigate such activity.

Wales Audit Office to Review Superfast Cymru Broadband Deployment

8th May, 2014 (3 Comments)

The Wales Audit Office (WAO) has confirmed that it intends to conduct an audit of the Superfast Cymru scheme, which aims to make BT’s faster “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) speeds of up to 80Mbps available to 96% of Welsh premises by the end of spring 2016.

Questions for Low Uptake of UK Business Broadband Connection Vouchers

1st May, 2014 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Connection Vouchers scheme, which is part of the £150m “Super-Connected Cities” initiative to help SME businesses install superfast broadband (30Mbps+), has been criticised for low uptake in Oxford, Portsmouth and Brighton. Curiously one of the reasons given is that businesses don’t need the speeds it offers.

UK Digital Inclusion Charter Attempts to Get Everybody Online.. again

14th April, 2014 (18 Comments)

If at first you don’t succeed. The Government has launched its new Digital Inclusion Charter, which marks the latest in a long list of attempts to get the 11 million adults in the United Kingdom, specifically those who “lack basic digital skills and capabilities“, to finally go online. As usual various ISPs, mobile operators and others have been roped in to join the holy war on refuseniks.

UK Government Reduces Minimum Grant for Broadband Connection Vouchers

12th April, 2014 (2 Comments)

The Government’s Connection Vouchers scheme, which forms part of the £150m Urban Broadband Fund (“Super-Connected Cities“) to help SME businesses install superfast broadband (30Mbps+), has now completed its roll-out to all 22 cities across the United Kingdom and reduced the minimum voucher value.

Full Copy of DCMS Guidance on BDUK Broadband Maps and Altnet Funding

9th April, 2014 (11 Comments)

A recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request, which was served upon the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has managed to extract a full copy of some recent Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) guidance; this was issued to councils in order to encourage the release of better broadband coverage maps / data and clarify the approach for alternative ISP projects.

European Parliament Clears Tougher Rules to Protect an Open Internet

3rd April, 2014 (1 Comment)

The European Parliament’s vote today to “end [mobile] roaming charges” by Christmas 2015 and protect open access to the Internet arguably masks the real story, which is that several new amendments have introduced a clear and very specific reference for the “principle of net neutrality” (i.e. treating all Internet traffic as equal).

UPDATE Prime Minister Demands More Broadband Roll-Out Info from BT

3rd April, 2014 (25 Comments)

The Prime Minister of the coalition Government, David Cameron, has joined recent calls from the Public Accounts Committee by demanding that BT “give more detail in their roll-out plans” so that rival ISP schemes can “see whether there are different ways of filling any gaps” in the planned broadband coverage.

Public Accounts Committee Blasts UK Superfast Broadband Rollout Again

1st April, 2014 (10 Comments)

The latest Public Accounts Committee report into the United Kingdom’s £1.2bn national Broadband Delivery UK project with BT, which aims to make fixed line superfast broadband (25Mbps+) speeds available to 95% of people in each local authority area by 2017, has once again poured heavy criticism upon the scheme for its alleged failings in competition and openness.

UK ISPs Could Implement Voluntary Piracy Warning Letters by End of 2014

20th March, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Government’s Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, has told a recent Westminster Hall debate that their efforts to introduce a controversial Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme (VCAP) of Internet piracy warning letters, which would hit customers of the UKs largest broadband ISPs, “may be up and running before the end of the year“.

UK Budget 2014 – What is in it for Broadband Internet Access?

19th March, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Government’s Chancellor, George Osborne, today set out his annual Budget 2014 report for the United Kingdom. Unfortunately anybody hoping for a significant boost to broadband investment, outside of what has already been announced, would have been very disappointed. In fact “broadband” is only mentioned once.

UK Online Safety Report Finds ISP Website Blocks Unsuitable for Tackling Porn

19th March, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Government’s related department, has published its latest (6th) Online Safety report and found that website blocking by UK ISPs was “highly unlikely to be a suitable approach” for tackling adult pornography or violent material on the Internet.

EU ITRE Committee Approve Net Neutrality and Cheaper Roaming Rules

18th March, 2014 (3 Comments)

The European Parliament’s ITRE Industry Committee has this morning voted in favour of the new Telecoms Single Market Regulation, which proposes a raft of changes including measures to protect open Internet access from abuse by ISPs (Net Neutrality), ending EU mobile roaming charges, coordinating spectrum for wireless/mobile operators and various other measures like easier switching between broadband providers.

Labour Party Moves to Resuscitate Digital Britain Policy for 2015

13th March, 2014 (6 Comments)

The British Labour Party appears to be starting its fight for the 2015 General Election early by launching a Digital Government review, which among other things will aim to update the relevant parts of their 2009 Digital Britain report that helped begin the national broadband roll-out strategy. But will broadband even play a part?

ISPA UK Calls for Changes to Tackle Vexatious Consumer ISP Complaints

13th March, 2014 (3 Comments)

The UK Internet Service Providers Association has called for changes to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process that could address the problem of “vexatious” consumer complaints and, in relation to that, situations where broadband ISPs pay hundreds of pounds in ADR fees despite winning their case.