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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

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Wessex Internet to Expand South Wiltshire Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

5th August, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK Government (DSIT) appears set to expand their £18.8m (state aid) Project Gigabit contract with rural UK ISP Wessex Internet for South Wiltshire (LOT 30). This originally aimed to build their 10Gbps capable FTTP broadband network to cover “around” 14,500 hard-to-reach premises in the area (here), but will now look to reach 21,197 premises.

Study Claims UK Public WiFi Networks Failing Child Safety Standards

5th August, 2025 (18 Comments)

A new study from Guest Metrics, which has a vested interest in selling content filtering solutions, claims to have identified “widespread failures in public WiFi compliance” after it identified that 80% of the venues it tested had no content filtering (no age checks, no splash pages, no logging) to protect children from adult content – a key part of the UK government’s new Online Safety Act (2023).

Repair Ship Cable Vigilance Aims to Fix Shetland Subsea Fibre Break by Thursday

5th August, 2025 (3 Comments)

Good news. Broadband and mobile services on the remote Shetland and Orkney Islands (Scotland), which have been disrupted since part of the main SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) submarine (subsea) fibre optic cable was damaged over a week ago (here), could be restored as soon as this Wednesday or Thursday after the French repair ship ‘Cable Vigilance‘ arrived.

Network map of United Kingdom. Country digital connections map. Technology, internet, network, telecommunication concept. Vector illustration.

Six Major UK Broadband ISPs Found to Lack an Internal Audit Function UPDATE

4th August, 2025 (21 Comments)

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA) has today raised “serious concerns” about the financial resilience of the UK’s broadband sector, which appears to be based on the fact that six of the country’s thirteen “major” ISPs currently operate without an internal audit – potentially exposing them to “unchecked risks and increasing the likelihood of corporate collapse“.

IX Wireless Remove 15m Metal Broadband Mast in Heywood After 2yr Campaign

4th August, 2025 (11 Comments)

A two-year-long campaign by residents and councillors in the Rochdale town of Heywood has succeeded in getting broadband provider IX Wireless (UK ISP 6Gi / Opus Broadband) to remove their 15-metre tall metal mast / pole on Snowden Street. The council said the structure had an “unsightly appearance” and that there had been “little or no consultation with local communities” before its deployment.

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Openreach Trial Panic Alarms for UK Broadband Engineers as Abuse Rises

2nd August, 2025 (18 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has begun to trial panic alarms for their staff after revealing that UK engineers reported 450 incidents of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March 2025, which is up 8% in the last year and represents a shocking 40% increase when compared with 2022-23. Other providers have seen a similar trend.

Quickline North Yorkshire Female Engineer in Van

Quickline Cover 2,000 North Yorkshire Homes Under Gigabit Broadband Contract

1st August, 2025 (1 Comment)

Rural focused UK ISP Quickline has revealed that they’ve now covered 2,000 premises as part of their £73.5m state-aid supported Project Gigabit roll-out contract for North Yorkshire (Lot 31), which was awarded a year ago (here). The contract aims to extend gigabit-capable broadband to reach an additional 36,300 premises in some of the hardest-to-reach areas.

Government Funded 4G Mobile Mast Upgrades Go Live in Yorkshire Dales

1st August, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has this morning revealed that a total of 58 government-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live as part of the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project. The most recent additions have occurred around the North Yorkshire town of Hawes – also impacting Hardraw, Appersett, Snaizeholme and Sedbusk.

Illustration of a VPN Virtual Private Network on UK Computer by 123rf ID184214833

UK Government Warns Promoting the Use of VPNs Could Attract Fines UPDATE

31st July, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK government has warned that online platforms which “deliberately target UK children and promote [Virtual Private Network] use” could now “face enforcement action, including significant financial penalties“. The statement comes after many people – ironically mostly adults – rushed to adopt VPNs to avoid the wide adoption of age verification.

KCOM to Launch Broadband Infrastructure Sharing in Hull UK on 1st August 2025

31st July, 2025 (4 Comments)

Hull-based network operator KCOM, which has already deployed their own full fibre (FTTP) broadband network across a big chunk of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, has today confirmed that their new infrastructure sharing solution (i.e. giving rivals access to their cable ducts and poles) will officially go live on 1st August 2025. But is it too little, too late.

Gov Update on Plan to Help Push FTTP Broadband into UK Flats and Build Mobile Masts

29th July, 2025 (3 Comments)

The Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, recently issued an important update on their efforts to boost growth by removing barriers to digital infrastructure deployment. The statement covered progress with flexi-permits and softening the rules for new mobile masts, but it also touched on how they intend to help get gigabit broadband into large residential buildings (blocks of flats / apartments).

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Broadband Disrupted for Shetland and Orkney by Subsea Fibre Break UPDATE

27th July, 2025 (11 Comments)

Thousands of homes and businesses across Shetland, which is a remote UK subarctic archipelago that resides north of the Scottish mainland, have suffered disruption to their broadband services this weekend after part of the main SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) submarine (subsea) fibre optic cable was damaged. Premises on the Orkney Islands were also hit.

BDUK Issue First 2025 Update on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Progress

24th July, 2025 (3 Comments)

The Government’s (DSIT) Building Digital UK agency has today published their first 2025 progress report on the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which covers the April to December 2024 period. The data reveals that some 1,188,400 UK premises have received gigabit-capable broadband coverage by BDUK’s gigabit programmes since their inception.

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Most MPs Expect UK to Miss Targets for 5G Mobile and Gigabit Broadband

22nd July, 2025 (4 Comments)

A new survey of 108 Members of Parliament, which was conducted by consultancy firm Cluttons and polling company YouGov, has revealed that only 34% of MPs currently believe the UK will achieve the government’s target of delivering Standalone 5G (5GSA) mobile coverage to all populated areas by 2030. The figure drops even lower for the gigabit broadband target.

OneWeb First Generation Satellite in Orbit

OneWeb Broadband Satellites to Deliver UK Gov Services Worldwide

21st July, 2025 (1 Comment)

In a not particularly surprising development, the UK government has today chosen Eutelsat’s global network of OneWeb ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to help provide “resilient, high-speed, low-latency connectivity” to their global operations – delivered through distribution partner NSSLGlobal.

NFU Farmers Survey Highlights Weaknesses in UK Broadband and Mobile

19th July, 2025 (12 Comments)

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has published the results from their annual digital access survey of 661 members (conducted between February and March 2025), which found that just 33% of farmers had access to “fibre broadband” speeds and nearly one out of ten respondents have no 4G or 5G mobile access.

30 Government Funded 4G Mobile Mast Upgrades Now Live Across Wales

17th July, 2025 (2 Comments)

The UK Government has this morning revealed that a total of 30 publicly-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across Wales as part of the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which recently succeeded (here) in extending geographic 4G coverage from at least one operator to 95% of the UK (aggregate).