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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

 
openreach_2017_rural_van_on_country_lane

20th January, 2026 (3 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency recently provided a small but useful update on their stalled £43m (public subsidy) Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract for Cheshire (Lot 17), which was originally held by Freedom Fibre until they “mutually agreed to terminate” it in March 2025 (here). But Openreach (BT) may now be set to take it on.

BT Group -Sign-on-Office-Window-2025

16th January, 2026 (24 Comments)

Broadband and mobile giant BT (EE) has today announced that they’re following the UK government’s latest guidance, which requested that they “proactively move customers onto price changes with clear pounds and pence pricing amounts instead of inflation-linked rises“. But the risk is that this may result in some customers being hit by much bigger mid-contract price hikes in the future.

pound coin money new

15th January, 2026 (34 Comments)

Over the past few months a number of broadband ISPs have announced an increase to their annual mid-contract price hikes policy of £4 (BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk etc.). But a new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted during December 2025 for Uswitch.com, claims to have found that 24% of broadband users view such a rise as “unmanageable“.

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telecommunication tower a falling signal on the city 123rf

15th January, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, which oversees their gigabit-capable broadband and mobile network expansion programmes, has just published three new studies that examine the wellbeing and social benefits of the 4G Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, as well as the benefits and challenges of 4G mobile in rural Scotland, and finally some additionality research for mobile suppliers.

Audit Scotland Map R100 Contract LOTs

10th January, 2026 (0 Comments)

The Scottish Government (SG) has revealed that 96,347 premises have now benefitted from their £697m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach (up from 93,800 in Nov 2025), which is rolling out full fibre (FTTP) broadband to remote rural areas. The next areas set for upgrade include Hoy in Orkney, Kilmartin in Argyll and Bute, and Inchture in Perth and Kinross.

3d rendering of optical fiber cable by 123rf

8th January, 2026 (2 Comments)

The South Yorkshire Digital Infrastructure Team, which primarily works under the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to accelerate the rollout of fixed gigabit broadband (1000Mbps+) and 5G mobile networks, has today celebrated having surpassed their target of reaching 95% of homes and businesses in the region with gigabit lines.

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Analogue-uk-phone-handset-on-red-background 123rf

7th January, 2026 (20 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has responded to recent concerns that BT’s switch to broadband-based Digital Phones may have left some vulnerable customers without access to a working service. Ofcom warns that they could potentially “step in” and investigate the operator (such things sometimes lead to a significant fine), but it’s not yet clear if they will.

Works to lay new paving slabs and temporary footpath closed red warning sign on London sidewalk by 123rf

7th January, 2026 (9 Comments)

A new report from the Digital Communities All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has warning that the “ongoing lack” of mobile (4G/5G) and broadband coverage in parts of the country (urban, rural and coastal) are “undermining national ambitions“. The solution, they suggest, could be found in planning reform, breaking down monopolies, stronger regulatory scrutiny by Ofcom and more strategic investment.

internet censorship forbidden written on keyboard - 23208292 - 123rf

7th January, 2026 (26 Comments)

A new survey of 1,469 adults, which was conducted by the child protection focused Lucy Faithfull Foundation, has “warned” that 45% of adults who don’t want to verify their identities to access porn – a requirement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) – have turned to using sites without age checks. In addition, 29% have used Virtual Private Networks to bypass age checks on sites that have them.

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Starlink-satellites-in-orbit-around-the-earth GEN1

5th January, 2026 (7 Comments)

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has reportedly invited interested suppliers, such as Starlink, to engage on the possibility of harnessing Direct to Device (DtD) based signals from broadband satellites to help resolve coverage gaps in the Government’s massively late and over-budget 4G based Emergency Service Network (ESN); currently being delivered by EE (BT).

BT Battery Back Up BBU for SmartHub Plus Router

2nd January, 2026 (74 Comments)

Broadband provider BT (EE) has been criticised by a resident of the remote Outer Hebrides (Scotland) island of Scalpay after they found that the Battery Backup (BBU) device, which the ISP provided for their internet and Digital Voice (phone) service, failed to work in two out of three recent power cuts. A bit of a problem as the house also gets no mobile signal.

Big Ben, London Westminster Bridge and Houses of Parliament - 123rf

30th December, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has published their annual New Year Honours List for 2026, which this time saw Matt Agar, Strategy Director for the government’s Building Digital UK agency within DSIT, being named an “Officer of the Order of the British Empire” for “services to Digital Infrastructure and Broadband“.

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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland map outline.

29th December, 2025 (13 Comments)

The past couple of years have been awash with news and predictions about rising consolidation within the UK’s market for alternative fixed broadband networks (altnets). But keeping track of so many developments can be difficult, so ISPreview has decided to start a new tracker, which monitors related announcements since 2020 onwards.

World-broadband-download-and-upload-speeds

27th December, 2025 (16 Comments)

ISPreview is today ending 2025 by taking our annual look back to see how the United Kingdom’s position, in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for fixed broadband and mobile speeds (4G, 5G), has changed since 2024. Overall, the UK’s global rank for mobile speed is now 59th (down from 53rd last year), while our ranking for fixed broadband is 44th (unchanged).

SRN 4G mobile mast funded by UK government PR 300125

23rd December, 2025 (18 Comments)

The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has tonight revealed that a total of 100 government-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across England (28 masts), Wales (44) and Scotland (33) as part of the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project. But more are set to follow by 2027.

Fibre-optic-network-fibres-and-cable-connectors-uk

23rd December, 2025 (3 Comments)

The North Yorkshire Council (NYC) in England has announced that NYnet, which is the NYC-owned company that – alongside funding from the local authority, UK government (BDUK) and private investment (network operators) – helped the council to spread faster broadband connectivity across the region, is “set to be expanded nationally“.

Project-Gigabit-Funded-by-UK-Government

19th December, 2025 (8 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has published their December 2025 update on the delivery progress of contracts that have been awarded under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme. The update reveals that some 183,380 contracted premises (up from 167,770 in Nov 2025) have so far been covered out of a planned total of 1,002,210.

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