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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Hampshire UK Council Offer Grants for Alternative Rural Broadband Services

1st August, 2012 (1 Comment)

The Hampshire County Council (HCC) has quietly launched a new Alternative Broadband Pilot scheme, which borrows an idea from Wales by offering grants worth up to £300 to help “Not Spot” homes in rural areas install an “alternative” broadband service that can provide broadband speeds of more than 2Mbps+.

Analyst Warns of GBP1bn Shortfall for Lords UK Fibre Optic Broadband Proposal

1st August, 2012 (10 Comments)

Consultancy firm Analysys Mason has warned that yesterdays scathing House of Lords Select Committee report into the UK’s embattled superfast broadband strategy, which proposed to blanket the country with truly open-access fibre optic hubs, would require “substantially more public funding” (£1bn) than is currently available.

UPDATE2 Lords Inquiry Calls for UK to Deploy Robust Fibre Optic Broadband

31st July, 2012 (37 Comments)

The House of Lords Select Committee Inquiry into the UK government’s superfast broadband plan has published its first report, which criticises the lack of “strategy” and failure to focus upon “eliminating” the rural digital divide. Crucially it calls for the roll-out of a “robust and resilient national network” that should be linked primarily by open access fibre optic lines; but only if home owners pay for it first.

EU Giving High Priority to Resolution of UK Superfast Broadband Delay

30th July, 2012 (7 Comments)

The European Commission (EC) has given a “high priority” to resolving competition concerns over the UK governments allocation of State Aid for its national superfast broadband deployment, which appears to be delaying the approval of funding for several related Local Broadband Plans (LBP).

UK ISPs Give Conflicted Response to New Open Internet Code of Practice

26th July, 2012 (1 Comment)

Yesterdays release of a new voluntary Open Internet Code of Practice (OICP), which is designed to tackle Net Neutrality concerns by requiring members to ensure the provision of full and open internet access, has today received a starkly mixed response from the UK’s fixed line broadband ISPs.

UPD 3 ISPs Snub BSG Launch of New UK Net Neutrality Code of Practice

25th July, 2012 (5 Comments)

The Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG), a UK government supported think-tank, has launched a new Voluntary Code of Practice to ensure “the provision of full and open internet access” and to prevent ISPs using Traffic Management practices to “degrade the services of a competitor“. But three of the country’s largest ISPs have refused to join.

Smaller UK Altnet ISPs form Group to Challenge BT for Public Broadband Funds

24th July, 2012 (5 Comments)

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA), which works to support the development of next generation internet access around the UK, has announced the forming of a new group of smaller ISPs that could challenge BT’s apparent dominance of the publicly funded superfast broadband roll-out. But is it too little, too late?

Europe Opens Public Debate on its Future ISP Net Neutrality Rules

23rd July, 2012 (1 Comment)

The European Commission (EC), which recently announced tentative plans to allegedly support Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal) by imposing stiffer industry guidelines and delivering more “effective consumer choice“, has today launched a public consultation on the matter.

No Surprise as Wales UK Award GBP425m Superfast Broadband Contract to BT

19th July, 2012 (28 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has today surprised nobody by awarding its £425m contract for the Next Generation Broadband Wales tender to BT. But of course it would as the telecoms giant has been the only bidder since January 2012 (here) when rival Fujitsu UK “voluntarily” withdrew due to the “risk levels“.

North Yorkshire UK Awards GBP70m Superfast Broadband Contract to BT

17th July, 2012 (49 Comments)

The North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) has announced that its £70m Connecting North Yorkshire (CNY) project, which aims to make superfast broadband ISP services available to “100% of businesses and citizens … by 2017” (90% by 2015), has unsurprisingly been awarded to BT.

Worcestershire UK Council Vents Anger at EU for Broadband Rollout Delay

17th July, 2012 (2 Comments)

The Worcestershire County Council (WCC) in England warns that a “gross miscalculation” has been made over the time it would take to get final approval from Europe to proceed with its planned superfast broadband roll-out, which is delaying the project that was supposed to proceed in June 2012.

Shetland Telecom Claims Scottish Highlands Need More Money for Broadband

14th July, 2012 (9 Comments)

The project manager for Shetland Telecom’s effort to roll-out a new fibre optic infrastructure around the remote Shetland Islands, Marvin Smith, has warned that the Scottish Government‘s (UK) recent allocation of £120m to improve broadband in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) region will not be enough.

UPD2 EU Sets Out Rules to Boost Fibre Broadband Competition Until 2020

12th July, 2012 (9 Comments)

The European Commission (EC) has today set out new rules to help boost investment, development and competition in the rollout of superfast broadband technologies and services right across Europe, which will “apply at least until 2020” and support its wider Digital Agenda targets.

EU Delay Revision of Internet Data Retention Directive to Boost Privacy

12th July, 2012 (1 Comment)

The European Commission (EC) appears to have quietly confirmed that it will not revise the controversial Data Retention Directive (DRD) this year, which could affect the UK’s draft Communications Data Bill that seeks to expand the country’s internet snooping power through big broadband ISPs.

Fujitsu Withdraw from Broadband Projects in Cumbria and North Yorkshire UK

11th July, 2012 (7 Comments)

Japanese technology giant Fujitsu UK, which is one of only two major telecoms operators left in the government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) project to improve the country’s national internet infrastructure (the other is BT), plans to withdraw from bidding in two further regions – Cumbria and allegedly also North Yorkshire.

Draft UK ISP Internet Snooping Law Will Not Log Web Page Addresses

11th July, 2012 (4 Comments)

Yesterday’s meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that is responsible for scrutinising the draft Communications Data Bill, which threatens to expand the UK’s existing internet snooping laws and force ISPs into monitoring a bigger slice of everybody’s online activity, appears to have confirmed that the bill will not require full web page addresses (URL) to be logged.

Vouchers to Help 900000 UK Homes Fix TV Loss Caused by 4G Services

11th July, 2012 (8 Comments)

The governments Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey MP, has set out the terms for a £180 million scheme to help 900,000 UK homes avoid the loss of Freeview Digital TV (DTV) services, which is expected to be disrupted by interference from the next generation of superfast “4G” (LTE) Mobile Broadband services.