Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Politics (3100 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Central London UK Broadband Picture 2024 - 123rf

MP Criticises UK Gov Proposal to Spend Rural Broadband Money in Cities

7th October, 2024 (10 Comments)

The Shadow Technology Secretary, Andrew Griffith MP, has warned the new UK Government against a “shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” by potentially shifting public funding, which is currently earmarked for the rural-focused Project Gigabit broadband roll-out, and using it to help upgrade parts of major towns and cities (e.g. central London).

IX Wireless Temporarily Suspended from Building New Masts in Oldham

5th October, 2024 (7 Comments)

The Oldham Council in Greater Manchester has ordered broadband operator IX Wireless (supported by UK ISP 6Gi / Opus Broadband) to “temporarily … stop work across the borough” due to “safety concerns“. The operator had been deploying large metal masts for their fibre-fed fixed wireless broadband network, which has recently attracted protests.

telecommunication tower a falling signal on the city 123rf

Study Shows Impact of Tourism on Mobile Broadband Speeds in Ceredigion

4th October, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Growing Mid Wales programme and network analyst firm Streetwave have used their ongoing mobile connectivity study in Ceredigion (Wales) to reveal what sort of impact tourism has on mobile broadband performance in seaside towns (there’s a “major” drop in data speeds) and thus where EE, Vodafone, Three UK and O2 may need to upgrade.

Channel Islands 2023 Map - Guernsey and Jersey

Sure Guernsey Ordered to Repay £115k for Leased Line Overcharging

2nd October, 2024 (3 Comments)

The Guernsey Competition & Regulatory Authority (GCRA) has ordered broadband and telecoms operator Sure (Guernsey) Limited to refund a total of £115,360 to customers of their wholesale leased line services, which occurred after the regulator found they had “overcharged” for the service between 1st January 2021 and 31st July 2022.

Lightning-fibre-engineers-next-to-open-fttp-cabinet

Lightning Fibre Trial 50Mbps UK Broadband Plan for People Aged 66+

30th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

Eastbourne-based alternative UK broadband ISP Lightning Fibre, which has built a new full fibre (FTTP) network across parts of Sussex and Kent in England, have today begun to “trial” a new 50Mbps (symmetric) package that costs just £15 per month for 24-months. But it’s only available to people born before 23rd September 1958.

Vodafone and Three UK Set Out Competition Commitments for Merger UPDATE

30th September, 2024 (21 Comments)

Mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK (CK Hutchison) have today responded to the recently raised competition concerns over their proposed mega-merger by setting out a series of commitments, which they hope will satisfy the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) enough to approve the deal.

CityFibre Connect First Norfolk UK Project Gigabit Broadband Homes

30th September, 2024 (0 Comments)

Alternative network provider Cityfibre has today announced that they’ve connected the first homes to their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network in rural parts of Norfolk, which is being built as part of their £114m state aid supported Project Gigabit contract (Lot 7) with the Government.

Smartphone-with-finger-touching-wifi-signal-showing-on-display-Copilot-for-MJ-on-100524

Ofcom’s Roaming Rules Come into Force for UK Mobile Operators

30th September, 2024 (7 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, will tomorrow (1st Oct 2024) begin enforcing new roaming rules that require mobile network operators, such as Three UK, Vodafone, EE and O2 (including their many virtual / MVNO partners), to protect consumers who travel abroad from mobile BILL SHOCKS on data (broadband), call and text charges.

UK ISP Gigaclear Nearly Complete Fastershire FTTP Broadband Rollout UPDATE

27th September, 2024 (6 Comments)

Rural broadband ISP Gigaclear appears to have nearly completed their state aid supported contract under the Fastershire scheme, which originally instructed the operator to extend their gigabit-capable “full fibre” (FTTP) network to 70,000 of the hardest to reach premises in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire (this was revised upwards to 110,000 in 2020 – here).

Sure Mobile Mast on Guernsey Website PR 160824

Guernsey Set for £48m 5G Mobile Boost as Gov Suspends Competition Law

27th September, 2024 (5 Comments)

The States of Guernsey, which governs the English Channel Island of Guernsey (British Crown dependency), yesterday voted to do something extraordinary by temporarily suspending local competition law in order to allow the dominant telecoms and broadband operator, Sure, to acquire Airtel Vodafone. The reward is a £48m deal to deploy 5G services.

Gigaclear to Cut Jobs as UK Rural Full Fibre Broadband Build Slows

26th September, 2024 (6 Comments)

Alternative network provider and rural broadband ISP Gigaclear has today revealed that, as part of “planning for the next stage of its development” and a “re-focus on ultra-rural areas“, their current pace of full fibre (FTTP) build will be slowing and that means job losses.

Quickline’s £60m Gigabit Broadband Build in North and West Yorkshire UK Goes Live

26th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

Alternative network operator and ISP Quickline has today announced that the first 4,500 premises under their £60m state aid supported gigabit broadband roll-out contract for North and West Yorkshire, including the remote areas surrounding York, have been covered by the new network. The goal is to reach 28,000 premises in hard-to-reach rural areas.

Northern Ireland Ministers Call for Improvements to Rural Mobile Coverage

25th September, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday met to debate the need for improvements in rural mobile coverage, which among other things highlighted problems with “major delays in the planning process” for approving new 4G / 5G masts, the need for greater infrastructure sharing and question marks over what impact the barrier busting task force has actually had.

Superfast North Yorkshire UK Broadband Rollout Helped 200,000 Premises

24th September, 2024 (0 Comments)

The state-aid backed Superfast North Yorkshire (SFNY) project, which was supported by £100m of investment (£85m from public sources), has finally reached completion and helped more than 200,000 extra premises to access faster broadband speeds via a mix of different technologies (FTTC, FTTP, Fixed Wireless etc.) and operators (Openreach and Quickline).

Vodafone Claim 5G SA Rollout Across UK Road and Rail Worth £3bn to Economy

24th September, 2024 (16 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has today claimed, as part of their efforts to build support for a merger with Three UK, that their joint plans for a nationwide roll-out of 5G Standalone (mobile broadband) technology could save regular road users £2bn a year on fuel and boost productivity through remote working on trains by £1bn (GVA) a year.

House-with-WiFi-broadband-symbol-above-123RF-60930318

Scotland to Require Gigabit Broadband for Almost All New Homes from 2025

21st September, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Scottish Government has finally caught up with similar legislation in England (here and here), which was introduced at the end of 2022, by effectively mandating that property developers must ensure their new build homes are constructed with support for gigabit-capable broadband connections. This will become effective from 1st January 2025.

Welsh Government Praises Progress of Local Broadband Fund UPDATE

21st September, 2024 (0 Comments)

The Welsh Government has today issued a progress update on their Local Broadband Fund (LBF), which was launched in 2020 and has so far allocated £12m – across four funding phases – to help local authorities and social enterprises to deliver faster broadband networks to areas and sites that need it (i.e. those unable to access speeds of 30Mbps+ today).