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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

UPD2 UK Councils to Release Rural Superfast Broadband Data to Help ISPs

29th July, 2013 (2 Comments)

The UK government’s culture secretary, Maria Miller, has written a new letter to local councils to confirm that she has reached an agreement with BT that should require them to reveal which areas will receive a superfast broadband (FTTC/P) upgrade as part of the £1.2bn Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme.

Councillor Says Local UK Broadband Surveys to Have No Useful Impact

26th July, 2013 (7 Comments)

A big part of the government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme was the expectation that local authorities and communities would conduct citizen focused surveys and petitions to help inform the decision about where better internet connectivity was needed. But in the end all that effort might be absolutely worthless.

IET Warns UK ISP Internet Porn Filter will be Ineffective and Harmful

25th July, 2013 (7 Comments)

The influential Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), which is a professional society for 150,000 members of the global engineering and technology community, has warned that the UK government’s move to force big ISPs into blocking adult websites “will be ineffective and harmful“.

UPD Rural Communities Report Says 2Mbps for All Target Must be the Priority

24th July, 2013 (2 Comments)

The government’s Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has today been criticised by a new select committee report for its late delivery of the Universal Service Commitment (USC), which aims to ensure that 100% can access a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps by 2015. The inquiry said this must now be “prioritised over increasing speeds“.

Farmers Angry After UK Considers Diverting their Subsidies to Broadband

22nd July, 2013 (11 Comments)

The UK government’s Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, has caused anger among farming communities by proposing to divert more than £300 million a year of their subsidies from Europe’s controversial 60bn Euro Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and to use it for improving rural broadband access.

UPD4 Child Internet Safety and Censorship Measures Unveiled for UK ISPs

22nd July, 2013 (11 Comments)

The Prime Minster of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has unveiled the government’s plan for helping to protect children online. As expected it includes a series of solutions including one that requires all of the country’s largest broadband ISPs to adopt strict network-level filtering blocks for adult websites and content (Parental Controls).

UPDATE3 Public Accounts Committee Savages BT Over State Aid Broadband

18th July, 2013 (43 Comments)

Last night’s grilling of BT by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which works on behalf of the House of Commons to examine public expenditure, was surely an uncomfortable experience for the telecoms giants Group Strategy Director, Sean Williams, but at the same time it also helped to clarify a few vital points.

Progress as Gov and BT Move to Support Rival UK Rural Broadband Projects

16th July, 2013 (7 Comments)

The government’s culture secretary, Maria Miller MP, and BT have met local action groups (some of which were smaller ISPs) in an effort to resolve the impasse over which parts of the UK will not gain access to superfast broadband (25Mbps+). It’s currently hard for alternative operators to fill the gaps without first knowing where the gaps are.

Leaked Letter to UK ISPs Reveal Political Meddling in Adult Internet Filters

15th July, 2013 (17 Comments)

Furious ISPs have leaked the full text of a controversial new letter from the government, which at the last minute appears to call on them to introduce a number of controversial changes for improving their approach to the censorship of adult websites. It also reveals a worrying level of political meddling, possibly to satisfy the Daily Mail.

Just 15 Superfast Broadband Delivery UK Contracts Left for BT to Sign

11th July, 2013 (7 Comments)

The government’s Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, has confirmed that two thirds of the projects that were initially designed to help deliver superfast broadband (25Mbps+) services to 90% of the United Kingdom by 2015 are now underway and the remaining 15 contracts should be “agreed shortly“.

CBI Report Tells UK to Fix Rural and Urban Broadband Divide Before 2015

10th July, 2013 (1 Comment)

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which lobbies on behalf of some 240,000 businesses (around a third of the private sector workforce), has published a new Let’s Get Digital! report that calls on the government to stop “short-term thinking” and adopt a cross-party approach to solve the national roll-out of superfast broadband before 2015.

B4RN Target £1.375m to Extend 1Gbps Fibre Broadband in Lancashire UK

6th July, 2013 (70 Comments)

The non-profit B4RN (Broadband 4 Rural North) scheme, which is rolling out a “hyperfast” 1000Mbps capable community-built Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network in rural Lancashire (England, UK) and has now connected 170 premises, hopes to secure an extra £875k from the RCBF and a bank loan of £500k to boost its coverage.

UPDATE National Audit Office Scalds 2 Years Late Broadband Delivery UK Project

5th July, 2013 (9 Comments)

The National Audit Office (NAO), which is responsible for scrutinising the value for money of public spending in the United Kingdom, has described the government’s national £1.2bn superfast broadband roll-out scheme as “moving forward late“, lacking “strong competition to protect public value” and being underfunded.

NAO Praises Smooth Ofcom Auction of 4G Mobile Broadband Spectrum

4th July, 2013 (0 Comments)

The National Audit Office (NAO) has given its approval to Ofcom’s recent auction of 4G (LTE) based Mobile Broadband spectrum (800MHz and 2.6GHz), which some had criticised for only being able to raise £2.368bn (about £1bn less than the government had initially hoped for).

UK Office of Fair Trading Probes Supply of ICT Services to the Public Sector

4th July, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which is the United Kingdom’s consumer and competition authority, has started a new probe into the supply of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) goods and services to the public sector. The move is likely to include some aspects of the government’s national broadband scheme(s).

UPD2 Smaller UK ISPs Asked to Help Find the Final Rural Broadband Areas

4th July, 2013 (9 Comments)

The government’s culture secretary, Maria Miller, has written to a group of smaller UK ISPs (altnets) and called them to a 15th July 2013 summit with BT where she will attempt to find a solution to the “final 10%” problem (i.e. nobody is quite sure where it is).

UPDATE8 Gov Pledge 95% of UK to Get Fixed Superfast Broadband by 2017

27th June, 2013 (8 Comments)

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury for the United Kingdom, Danny Alexander, has today published full details of the country’s future infrastructure spending plans (‘Investing in Britain’s Future‘). Included in this is a £250 million commitment to ensure fixed line superfast broadband reaches 95% of the population by 2017 (99% by 2018 with wireless).