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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme Goes Live in First UK Cities

7th December, 2013 (11 Comments)

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has announced that the Government’s Connection Vouchers scheme, which uses part of the £150m Urban Broadband Fund (“Super-Connected Cities“) to help SME businesses install superfast broadband (30Mbps+), has finally started to go live in 22 cities across the United Kingdom.

UK Home Office Sets Out Plan to Force ISPs into Blocking Extremist Websites

4th December, 2013 (11 Comments)

The Government’s Home Office has today published a new report from the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism, which proposes to force broadband ISPs into helping identify and block websites that contain “extremist content“.

UPDATE UK Gov Touts £10m Competitive Fund to Boost Rural Broadband

4th December, 2013 (10 Comments)

The Government’s Treasury has today announced a new £10 Million “competitive fund” that aims to “test innovative solutions to deliver superfast broadband services to the most difficult to reach areas“, which sounds a lot like another attempt to do what DEFRA’s £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF) has often struggled to achieve.

Labour Reveals Plan to Slash “rip-off” UK Phone Bills and Cut Line Rental

30th November, 2013 (43 Comments)

The Labour Party has proposed a new multipoint point plan that it believes could help to cut the cost of consumer phone and calling bills across the United Kingdom, which includes a pledge to force BT and other operators into cutting the cost of line rental. But some of the measures are already expected.

MEPs Support “Broadband Ready” Label for Homes and Cheaper Civil Works

29th November, 2013 (2 Comments)

Europe’s ITRE Industry Committee yesterday approved a draft law that could help to cut the cost of civil works (e.g. digging up roads to lay new fibre optic cable) when deploying new broadband infrastructure. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have also called for a voluntary “broadband-ready” label on new homes.

BT Based RCBF Funded UK Rural Broadband Schemes Still Going Ahead

28th November, 2013 (3 Comments)

The Government’s £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (RCBF), which has been stalled for months because BT and local councils have controversially refused to share vital service speed and coverage (SCT) data with bidding altnet ISPs, is still alive in Northumberland (England). Naturally BT is running the project.

Northamptonshire UK to Offer Secured Business Loans for Superfast Broadband

26th November, 2013 (3 Comments)

The Northamptonshire County Council has today announced the Superfast Northamptonshire Access to Finance (SNAF) initiative, which will complement the local authority’s existing investment of £16.26m with BT under the national Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme by offering secured loans to businesses.

ISP Zen Internet Calls on UK Government to Tackle Broadband Noise

26th November, 2013 (39 Comments)

Broadband provider Zen Internet has today called upon the Government to get tough on the causes of Repetitive Electric Impulse Noise (REIN), which references a type of electrical interference that can disrupt the performance and stability of consumer broadband services (e.g. ADSL and FTTC lines).

Wales BT and BDUK Contract Reveals Actual Broadband Speed Commitment

25th November, 2013 (12 Comments)

A time consuming Freedom of Information (FoI) request conducted by Richard Brown has successfully secured a redacted version of the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) supported ‘Next Generation Broadband’ roll-out contract for Wales, which was agreed between BT and the Welsh Government and contains a lot of interesting details about service speed.

GBP2.5m Greater Manchester Broadband Programme Moves Forward

23rd November, 2013 (3 Comments)

Several local authorities across the Greater Manchester area (e.g. Bolton, Salford etc.) in North West England have each agreed to contribute £312,500 (total £2.5 million) to help boost superfast broadband (30Mbps+) coverage for SME businesses.

UK Retain 3rd Place in 2013 World Index of Internet Growth and Impact

22nd November, 2013 (0 Comments)

The World Wide Web Foundation, a non-profit organization established by WWW inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has today published its annual 2013 Web Index that ranks 81 countries by broadband access quality, affordability and Internet related policies. Happily the United Kingdom remains in 3rd place and even improved its score slightly.

Government Allocates Funding to Improve Broadband in UK Colleges

20th November, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Government’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has announced that Colleges across the United Kingdom will receive additional funding in order to help them install a second broadband connection for improved reliability and to boost Internet bandwidth.

UK Farmers Angered by Lack of Broadband and Online Only Government

20th November, 2013 (38 Comments)

The Government’s on-going “digital by default” strategy to push more services, such as tax management and farming subsidies, into an online-only state of availability has once again incurred the wrath of farmers due to the lack of adequate broadband provision in many isolated rural areas.

UPD2 UK Government and ISPs Launch £25 Million Internet Safety Campaign

16th November, 2013 (13 Comments)

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has confirmed the launch of a new £25m Internet Safety Campaign with the country’s largest broadband ISPs that aims to help educate parents about how best to keep their children safe from adult Internet content. The move is expected to precede the re-announcement of new Internet filtering measures.

Report Claims UK Superfast Broadband Worth GBP20 for Every GBP1 Spent

14th November, 2013 (15 Comments)

The economic benefits of rolling out superfast broadband around the United Kingdom are often complex to understand but a new study commissioned by the government claims that it’s “excellent value for taxpayer money” and will deliver a net return of £20 for every £1 spent by 2024.

UPDATE NAO Praise UK Broadband Prices in Infrastructure Investment Report

13th November, 2013 (1 Comment)

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published an interesting new report into the impact of infrastructure investment on consumer bills. The focus is centred on the hot-topic of energy and water prices but it also gives a brief mention to telecoms services.

Oxfordshire County Council Rejects Cotswolds Broadband Scheme for BT

13th November, 2013 (8 Comments)

The promising Cotswolds Broadband project, which aimed to roll-out an open access and 100Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to 90% of homes and businesses (5000 premises) in the Chipping Norton area of west Oxfordshire (England), has joined a similar project in Dorset (Trailways) to be rejected by local councils in favour of BT.