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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Swansea Bay City Deal Completes Half of its Full Fibre Infrastructure Build

12th December, 2024 (0 Comments)

The Swansea Bay City Region project has announced that it’s successfully completed 50% of its Full Fibre Infrastructure Build project with BT. This forms part of the related ‘Swansea Bay City Deal’s Digital Infrastructure Programme’ and is helping to upgrade key public sector sites with “future proofed” broadband connectivity.

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Ofcom Report 506,000 UK Homes Now Take Social Broadband Tariffs

12th December, 2024 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today published their annual 2024 Pricing Trends Report, which among other things confirms that the take-up of cheaper social broadband ISP and mobile tariffs for those on state benefits has jumped to 506,000 customers in June 2024 (up from 380,000 in Sept 2023). But that’s still just 9.6% of eligible households (e.g. those on Universal Credit).

Cityfibre Ultrafast Broadband Street Barriers 2023

CityFibre’s Project Gigabit Broadband Network in Suffolk UK Goes Live

12th December, 2024 (4 Comments)

CityFibre has today announced that the first customers have gone live on their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network in Suffolk (England), which is being built as part of their £100m state aid supported Project Gigabit contract (Lot 2) – this aims to reach more than 79,500 extra homes and businesses across hard-to-reach rural areas of the county.

Scotland Tenders for £40.7m Gigabit Broadband Rollout in Orkney and Shetland

12th December, 2024 (4 Comments)

ISPreview has spotted that the Scottish Government (SG) yesterday issued a contract notice for the Orkney & Shetland (Lot 6 – Scotland) deployment under the UK’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme, which is expected to expand full fibre (FTTP) connectivity to an estimated 13,550 premises in hard-to-reach (rural) parts of the remote Northern Isles.

Openreach Bring FTTP Broadband to 1 Million Premises in Wales

10th December, 2024 (8 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has announced that their new 1.8Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network has passed an important milestone by covering 1 million premises across Wales (up from 816,000 in January 2024 and 700,000 in July 2023).

Vodafone and Three UK Mega Mobile Merger Gets Final Approval UPDATE

5th December, 2024 (88 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today finally granted approval for mobile operators Vodafone and Three UK to proceed with their merger deal (here), which will result in an expansion of their 5G Standalone (SA) network (broadband) coverage. But the merged company will have to comply with new legal obligations and consumer pricing controls.

Glasgow City Region Mobile Survey Map Streetwave PR 031224

Bin Lorries to Survey Mobile Coverage Across Glasgow City Region

3rd December, 2024 (1 Comment)

Network analyst firm Streetwave has been contracted to conduct a huge survey of mobile broadband network (4G, 5G) coverage, using bin lorries, which will this time focus on 8 council areas within Scotland’s Glasgow City Region – including North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire, and East Renfrewshire.

First Local Authority in Wales Completes Digital Phone Switchover

2nd December, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) today claims to have become the “first local authority in Wales” to complete a digital switchover of its telecare alarms. This has seen them move away from BT and Openreach’s old copper-based analogue line services (PSTN phones and WLR) to adopt internet-based solutions instead.

BT and EE Extend Gov’s 4G Emergency Services Network for 7 Years

2nd December, 2024 (8 Comments)

The UK Government has signed a new £1.29bn deal with BT (EE) to extend their operation of the 4G based Emergency Services Network (ESN) for another 7-years. But after years of delays and disputes, only some of which is related to EE’s side of things, the Home Office still doesn’t expect the ESN to be fully operational until 2029.

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International Body Launched to Help Protect Submarine Telecoms Cables

29th November, 2024 (0 Comments)

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies, and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) have today formed a new ‘International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience‘, which comes hot on the heels of an ongoing dispute after two fibre optic cables were cut in the Baltic Sea last week.

Advertising rules for uk broadband and telecoms (123RF 57622626)

Ads Watchdog Updates UK Guidance on Mid-Contract Broadband Price Hikes

29th November, 2024 (11 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today updated their guidance for how broadband ISPs, phone, pay TV and mobile operators should communicate mid-contract prices hikes to consumers. The change is primarily intended to align their policy with Ofcom’s imminent ban on mid-contract price hikes that are linked to inflation and percentage changes.

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Freedom Fibre Update on Project Gigabit Broadband Build in Shropshire UK

27th November, 2024 (2 Comments)

Alternative network provider Freedom Fibre has today issued a short progress update on their £24m (state aid) Project Gigabit contract for North Shropshire – Lot 25.02 (here), which will see their full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network being expanded to cover “around” 12,000 hard-to-reach rural homes.

November 2024 BDUK Update on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

27th November, 2024 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has published its latest quarterly November 2024 progress update on the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which now has “over” 30 live contracts in place across England and Wales – supporting planned deployments of gigabit-capable broadband to around 1 million premises.

Gov Launch £3.5m UK Rural Broadband Trials of Hybrid Networks

27th November, 2024 (2 Comments)

The UK Government (DSIT, UK Space Agency) has today announced the launch of a new £3.5m “Very Hard to Reach Programme“, which will conduct three projects that seek to use hybrid networks (e.g. a mix of satellite, fixed wireless and 5G/6G mobile technologies) to help improve broadband connectivity in remote rural areas.

Sky Threatens Legal Challenge to Vodafone and Three UK Merger

26th November, 2024 (28 Comments)

Sky (Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband etc.) has today warned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that they could launch a legal challenge (appeal) if the proposed merger between mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK is allowed to proceed, unless significant changes are made to the proposed competition remedies.

Transport for Wales Launch Own Full Fibre Network for ISPs – TfW Ffeibr

25th November, 2024 (7 Comments)

In somewhat of a unique development for the UK and Wales. Transport for Wales (TfW), which is a not-for-profit owned by the Welsh Government, has launched a new “arm’s-length initiative” called TfW Ffeibr (Fibre). This has built a new full fibre broadband network alongside the railways and is offering access to help serve communities in the South Wales valley.

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Business ISP Commsworld Complete Northumberland’s New Full Fibre Network

25th November, 2024 (1 Comment)

Business UK broadband ISP Commsworld has today announced that they’ve completed the construction of the core network build for a new full fibre infrastructure in Northumberland (England), which is designed to replace the county council’s ageing Wide Area Network (WAN). But local homes, schools and business are also seeing the benefit.