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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

New UK Gov Reiterates Call for Limits on Building Broadband Poles UPDATE

17th August, 2024 (24 Comments)

The new Labour-led UK Government has somewhat echoed the previous administration today by calling on broadband operators to “end the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles” when rolling out new gigabit-capable networks. But they have “at this stage” rejected the idea of removing Permitted Development (PD) rights for poles.

ISP Wessex Internet Puts FTTP Live in 2 Hampshire UK Villages

16th August, 2024 (3 Comments)

Rural broadband ISP Wessex Internet, which is rolling out a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Southern England, has today revealed that homes and businesses in the Hampshire villages of Sway and Brockenhurst are now going live on the new network.

Mobile Operator Lyca Mobile UK Handed Winding Up Petition by HMRC UPDATE

15th August, 2024 (20 Comments)

Troubled mobile operator Lyca Mobile, which is a virtual network operator (MVNO) on EE’s platform in the UK, appears to have suffered a blow this week after the tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), filed a winding-up petition in the courts against their UK business on Monday. But Lyca says it was “issued in error“.

Openreach CEO Appeals to UK Gov to Fix Planning, MDU Access and Permits UPDATE

14th August, 2024 (12 Comments)

The CEO of network access provider Openreach, Clive Selley, has today called on the new UK Government to help introduce “simple” fixes and reforms that would enable them to expand their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network into areas and properties that are still “missing out on upgrades” due to “red tape“.

Openreach Win UK Project Gigabit Broadband Contracts and Help 312k Premises

13th August, 2024 (21 Comments)

The Government claims to have kicked off a “renewed push” today to “reach full gigabit [broadband] coverage by 2030“, which they’ve done by announcing that Openreach (BT) has secured several contracts under the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme. This could eventually be worth up to £800m (state aid) and may upgrade 312,000 premises in remote rural areas of Scotland, England and Wales.

HS2 Claims HS2 Could Boost UK Mobile and Rural Broadband

8th August, 2024 (3 Comments)

New analysis published by High Speed 2 Ltd, which is a non-departmental public body that is wholly funded by the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT), has claimed that the HS2 rail project could help “thousands of properties” across 538 postcodes to gain access to “ultrafast broadband speeds” and better mobile connectivity.

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AssetHUB Claims 100,000km of UK Fibre May be Left Underutilised

8th August, 2024 (16 Comments)

Asset reuse specialist AssetHUB has today claimed that an estimated 100,000km of publicly funded full fibre broadband cables in UK rural and hard to reach areas, allegedly worth over £1.4bn (total state aid), could be “left underutilised due to a lack of visibility” and “despite open networking being a condition of receiving taxpayers’ money“.

UK Broadband and Mobile Providers Balk at Ofcom’s Call for Battery Backup

7th August, 2024 (24 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has published some of the responses they’ve received from fixed broadband ISPs and mobile operators to their consultation on enhancing network resilience in order to “reduce the risk of network outages“ (here). Suffice to say that many operators are balking at the costs of deploying national battery backup.

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Landowners Score Key Win in Battle Over UK Mobile Cell Sites and Rents

6th August, 2024 (1 Comment)

A new ruling by the Scottish Lands Tribunal, which could have significant industry-wide ramifications, has re-opened the contentious issue of land ownership and rent reductions on UK mobile masts (inc. rooftop sites), such as those that may occur when mobile or wireless broadband operators attempt to renew an existing lease at a much lower rent.

Scotland Partly Pauses R100 Gigabit Broadband Voucher Applications

6th August, 2024 (1 Comment)

The Scottish Government (SG) has confirmed to ISPreview that they will be introducing a “temporary pause” on Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) applications for gigabit-capable projects covering multiple premises, which is intended to ensure the “best use of public funds” and to help “deliver an optimised roll out schedule“.

B4RN Join UK Gov Charter to Protect Vulnerable Home Phone Users

5th August, 2024 (0 Comments)

Rural focused alternative UK broadband network B4RN, which is a community benefit ISP that has rolled out a 10Gbps speed full fibre network to 25,000 premises (inc. 13,000+ customers), has joined the government’s charter for protecting vulnerable people from harm during the upgrade to digital (IP / VoIP based) phone lines.

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Welsh Government Suspends ABC Broadband Voucher Scheme

3rd August, 2024 (3 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has chosen to “pause” their long-running Access Broadband Cymru (ABC) grant scheme, which offered funding to help rural homes get a faster broadband service installed in areas of slow connectivity. But given the greater focus on gigabit-capable connections, ABC was starting to look a bit dated.

Competition Watchdog Delays Three UK and Vodafone Merger Decision

2nd August, 2024 (32 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will need an additional 8 weeks to reach a conclusion on their Phase 2 investigation of the proposed mega-merger (here) between mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone. As a result, the deadline has been extended from 18th September 2024 to 7th December 2024.

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Quickline Secure £250m Funding to Boost UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

1st August, 2024 (2 Comments)

Broadband ISP Quickline, which is deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and fixed wireless (5G FWA) network across parts of the North East and Midlands of England (mostly rural), has today secured a £125m term loan and £100m debt guarantee from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), alongside a £25m term loan from NatWest.

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Business ISP Commsworld Win £35m Glasgow City Network Contract

1st August, 2024 (1 Comment)

Edinburgh-based UK business ISP Commsworld has this morning announced that they’ve secured a new contract worth £35m+ over 5-years to provide network services to Glasgow City Council (GCC) in Scotland, which forms part of an effort to upgrade from the council’s “ageing legacy networks” to fibre optic and 5G services.

Tax Tribunal Backs HMRC Over £51m Lyca Mobile UK VAT Dispute

31st July, 2024 (14 Comments)

Mobile network operator Lyca Mobile, which is a virtual operator (MVNO) on EE’s platform in the UK, is facing a significant financial hit after a Tax Tribunal ruled in HMRC’s favour over a £51m dispute related to the VAT treatment of customer “bundles” (those sold over a period of 7 years). But the operator can still appeal.

Study Claims Poor Broadband and Mobile Drives People Out of UK Rural Areas

31st July, 2024 (9 Comments)

A new Strand Partners survey of 4,000 members of the UK public, which was commissioned by broadband and mobile providers Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2), has claimed that over a third of rural residents (or 66% of “young people“) are likely to be considering a move away to a town or city in the next 12 months. Poor internet connectivity is one of the key drivers for this.