Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Politics (3010 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Politics

UK ISP Rutland Telecom Fix Broadband Altnet Woes in Essendine Village

17th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Rural focused Internet provider Rutland Telecom (Gigaclear) appears to have now resolved the broadband problems that recently beset Essendine village in the East Midlands of England, which initially resulted in the local parish council perhaps unfairly describing the small ISP as a “virtual monopoly“.

ISPreview UK Survey Finds Support for Big Broadband Public Funding Boost

14th October, 2013 (17 Comments)

The government of the United Kingdom has so far committed around £1.2bn in public funding to help make fixed line superfast broadband speeds of 25Mbps+ available to 95% of the country by 2017. But the latest ISPreview.co.uk survey of 2,197 people has found that 67.2% of respondents would like even more state aid to be spent.

Microsoft and Estate Agents Bash Slow UK Broadband Speeds and HS2

12th October, 2013 (28 Comments)

Microsoft and a variety of Estate Agents have this week criticised the poor performance of broadband in rural parts of the United Kingdom. At the same time the software giant also warned that spending £42.6bn on the High Speed Two (HS2) railway link instead of super-fast Internet connectivity is a “strategic mistake“.

Lack of Fast Broadband Could be Fuelling Rural Depopulation in Scotland

9th October, 2013 (4 Comments)

The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment, Richard Lochhead, has told Scotland’s Rural Affairs Committee that there is “now evidence of people leaving rural communities to live in urban areas” due to a lack of good broadband connectivity.

UPD UK Government Creates Confusion with Talk of 15Mbps Broadband

9th October, 2013 (18 Comments)

The government has caused confusion after yesterday’s crucial Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) industry day, which was supposed to help resolve some long standing problems and design a way forward, created more questions than it answered.

ISP AB Internet Warns Against UK Wireless Tax and a Pure Fibre Optic Focus

7th October, 2013 (3 Comments)

AB Internet has told ISPreview.co.uk, as part of our exclusive interview, that the Valuation Office Agency’s review of how its business rates can be applied to fixed wireless networks could result in a “whole segment of society” being “digitally marooned“. The ISP also warned against an “all roads must lead to fibre” approach to broadband.

UPD Broadband Delivery UK Invite BT and Smaller ISPs to Crucial Meeting

3rd October, 2013 (25 Comments)

The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office has put out a new tender that is seeking “as many suppliers as possible” to help it spend the extra £250m, which will be used to extend fixed line superfast broadband coverage from around 88% of the population by the end of 2015 to 95% by 2017 (or 99% by 2018 if you include wireless).

MPs Call on UK Government to Implement ISP Piracy Warning Letters ASAP

27th September, 2013 (6 Comments)

A new report from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has taken a broadly pro-enforcement line on tackling Internet copyright infringement (piracy) and called for the much-delayed 2010 Digital Economy Act (DEAct) system of Warning Letters from broadband ISPs to be implemented at “far greater speed” than planned.

UPD2 PAC Report Attacks UK Gov for Giving BT a Monopoly on Broadband

26th September, 2013 (87 Comments)

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which works alongside the House of Commons to examine public expenditure, has today published its final report into the £1.2bn Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme and it accuses the government of allowing BT to build a “quasi-monopolistic position which it is exploiting by restricting access to cost and roll-out information“.

David Cameron Defends Broadband Delivery UK from “slightly unfair” Criticism

20th September, 2013 (33 Comments)

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has told a select committee meeting that some of the recent criticism directed towards his £1.2bn scheme to improve the availability of superfast broadband has been “slightly unfair“. But he is prepared to look at the “possibilities” of BT having an unfair monopoly on related contracts.

Trouble for Altnets as UK Village Gets Annoyed by Lack of Broadband Choice

20th September, 2013 (8 Comments)

Altnet schemes are often praised for bringing faster broadband into areas that previously could not receive a good service. But what happens when their performance suffers and residents feel trapped by a lack of ISP choice. Could the situation with Rutland Telecom in Essendine (Lincolnshire, England) be a harbinger of things to come?

Politics and the Top 4 Myths of a Delayed UK Superfast Broadband Rollout

18th September, 2013 (10 Comments)

Many positive things came out of the NAO and Public Accounts Committee’s recent efforts to pick apart BT and the government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme (here) but not all were helpful. In particular there are four myths about the projects aims and delays that continue to persist despite being largely inaccurate.

UPD2 UK ISP Launch of Child Internet Censorship Rules Face Possible Delay

16th September, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Government’s controversial plan to force the country’s largest broadband ISPs into adopting network-level filtering systems, which would be used to help censor adult websites (Parental Controls), could suffer a delay after the minority Liberal Democrat side of the coalition voted against the measures.

New EU Rules to Protect Open Internet, Cut Mobile Prices and Boost Broadband

12th September, 2013 (1 Comment)

The European Commission (EC) has published its official proposal for the construction of a new EU Single Telecoms Market, which promises even cheaper mobile roaming charges, stricter guidelines to help safeguard open internet access (Net Neutrality) and new measures to boost superfast broadband development.

Nominet Moot BAN on Swearing and Bad Language in UK Internet Domains

10th September, 2013 (11 Comments)

Nominet, which manages the registry of .uk Internet domain names, has at the behest of the government launched a review of its registration policy for new website domain names that will examine whether or not it should ban certain words and expressions (e.g. swearing).

UK Isle of Wight Set to Pick BT for its Broadband Plan Despite Concern

3rd September, 2013 (2 Comments)

The Isle of Wight Council (IWC), which represents a small island just off England’s central south coast, finally looks set to name BT as the “preferred supplier” for their state aid supported £3.09 million project to rollout superfast broadband (25Mbps+) after council chiefs received fresh funding assurances from the UK government.

Rights Holders and Big UK ISPs Working on Voluntary Internet Piracy Code

2nd September, 2013 (3 Comments)

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and associated record labels (music publishers) are once again attempting to push big broadband ISPs including BT, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband (BSkyB) and TalkTalk into adopting a potentially “unworkable” Voluntary Code of Practice for tackling Internet piracy.