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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

CLA to Finalise National Wayleave Deal for UK Rural Broadband Boost

2nd November, 2012 (2 Comments)

The Country Land and Business Association(CLA), a lobby group for land owners in England and Wales, has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that it expects to finalise a national wayleave agreement for underground cables this month. The move could help to develop superfast broadband networks in rural areas.

ISP TalkTalk Wants Gov to Worry About Lack of Fibre Broadband Competition

31st October, 2012 (8 Comments)

The CEO of budget ISP TalkTalk, Dido Harding, has warned a Westminster panel session that the UK government should “start to worry” about the lack of competition in the new market for fibre optic based superfast broadband services; where a true alternative to BT and cheaper fibre-based local loop unbundling (LLU) remains absent.

Superfast Broadband and 4G Mobile Benefits to UK Economy Exaggerated

31st October, 2012 (4 Comments)

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has published a new Huawei sponsored study that says “a good dose of reality” is in order as it questions whether the new fixed line superfast broadband and 4G mobile solutions can really deliver the “sizeable boost to GDP growth” and job creation, which are so often touted by the UK government.

20 Tory MEPs Call on UK Culture Secretary to Get a Grip on Broadband

27th October, 2012 (4 Comments)

Some 20 Conservative members of the European Parliament (EP) have written a new letter to the UK government’s culture secretary, Maria Miller, that calls on her to “get a grip” on the much delayed broadband roll-out and conduct an “urgent review” to boost its speed, funding, scale and scope.

Official Government Response Shuns Lords UK Superfast Broadband Inquiry

24th October, 2012 (6 Comments)

The UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has released its official response to July’s controversial Lords Inquiry into the UK government’s superfast broadband strategy, which called for a more competitive national fibre optic network to be built. But anybody expecting to see big changes will be disappointed.

BT Has No General Plan to Disguise UK Superfast Broadband Street Cabinets

23rd October, 2012 (67 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which manages access to BT’s national UK telecoms network, has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that it has no general plans to disguise street cabinets. The confirmation follows an earlier suggestion by the government’s culture spokesman, Viscount Younger, that “plans [were] afoot to camouflage” the big green FTTC boxes.

Legal Challenge to UK City Broadband Funding Could Bring Improvements

23rd October, 2012 (0 Comments)

The UK country manager for Brocade, a global network solutions provider, has suggested that BT and Virgin Media’s legal challenge against the use of public money (State Aid) to improve broadband services in the city of Birmingham might actually “improve the scheme’s chances of success“.

BT and Virgin Media UK in Legal Challenge to Birmingham Broadband Funding

22nd October, 2012 (6 Comments)

National UK telecoms operators BT and Virgin Media have “disappointed” Birmingham City Council (BCC) after they launched a shock legal challenge against the city’s £10m publicly funded (State Aid) plan to expand the reach of “ultrafast” (100Mbps+) broadband ISP and public wifi services by 2015.

UK and European Leaders Support GBP7.5bn Superfast Broadband Boost

20th October, 2012 (6 Comments)

The European Council, which is represented by the leaders of each member state (e.g. UK Prime Minister, David Cameron), yesterday set aside its doubts and gave explicit support to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and its proposed investment of €9.2bn (almost £7.5bn) into the delivery of faster broadband services.

UPDATE The Broadband Delivery UK Office is Home to 75 Full Time Staff

19th October, 2012 (3 Comments)

The government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office, which is responsible to distributing £680m to help 90% of people gain access to superfast broadband ISP connections by 2015, apparently has 75 full-time staff working to implement its remit. But are they all needed?

Broadband Rollout to be Boosted as New Infrastructure Bill Reaches Parliament

19th October, 2012 (1 Comment)

The Growth and Infrastructure Bill (GIB), which among other things contains plans to help “fast-track” the deployment of superfast broadband (25Mbps+) services around the United Kingdom by cutting red tape in the existing planning system, has now gone before parliament.

15,000 More Jobs in Scotland Thanks to Broadband Investment

11th October, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Scottish Government has predicted that its £200m+ investment strategy to bring “world-class digital access” to all of Scotland by 2020 will result in the creation of 15,000 new jobs across the economy. It will allegedly also help job seekers, older people and those with disabilities gain access to employment.

EU Requests Minor Changes for Broadband Delivery UK State Aid Clearance

8th October, 2012 (1 Comment)

The European Commission’s (EC) competition boss, Joaquín Almunia, has confirmed that the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office, which is responsible for managing the country’s national superfast broadband strategy, will shortly be given permission to distribute State Aid funding to related projects around the country.

UK Foreign Secretary Demands Open Internet But Promotes Censorship

5th October, 2012 (3 Comments)

The UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague (MP), yesterday told the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace that he wanted an “open” and “transparent” internet that respected “individual rights of privacy“. But back at home the government’s effort to increase its monitoring and censorship of the online world continues to expand.

Wales UK Given GBP20 Million Broadband Funding Boost

3rd October, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Welsh Government has today announced a further £20m to help the existing investment of £425m deliver faster broadband ISP services, which will initially see 96% of homes and businesses in Wales being given access to download speeds of up to 80Mbps (FTTC) by the end of 2015.

TV Could Suffer as UK Mobile Operators Agree Early 4G Launch in H1 2013

3rd October, 2012 (2 Comments)

The country’s mobile phone operators have finally agreed to put aside their differences after Ofcom moved its timetable for the auction of superfast 4G (LTE) compatible mobile broadband spectrum (800MHz and 2.6GHz) forward by roughly 6 months, which weakened EE’s perceived early-launch advantage. But will Freeview TV services suffer?

UK Government Sacks Man Who Questioned BT Superfast Broadband Costs

2nd October, 2012 (38 Comments)

The government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has allegedly sacked the author of an internal discussion paper that questioned some of the costs of BT’s financial model for delivering superfast broadband (FTTC) services into the “final third” of mostly rural parts of the UK.