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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Ofcom Publish Final Results of UK 5G Mobile Auction for 26GHz and 40GHz

24th October, 2025 (4 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has this morning revealed the final (assignment stage) results of last week’s auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) spectrum bands for use by 5G mobile broadband operators, which sets out precisely which frequencies within each band will be allocated to EE, O2 and VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK).

ip address Fiber optic cables for backbone lines on blue network background

Internal Auditors Seek Greater UK Telecoms Role via New Security Code

24th October, 2025 (5 Comments)

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA), which recently complained that some of the UK’s major broadband ISPs operated without an internal audit (here) – potentially exposing them to “unchecked risks and increasing the likelihood of corporate collapse“, has now sought to drum up new business by pressing the government to make it a requirement of their revised telecoms security code.

Building Digital UK Publish Annual Report, Accounts and Fraud Data for 2024 – 2025

23rd October, 2025 (0 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, which oversees their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out and the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme for upgrading 4G coverage in remote areas, has today published their combined annual progress report and accounts for the period 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025. This also includes some data on the level of fraud in their programmes.

Quickline-engineers-planning-broadband-work

Quickline Bring FTTP Broadband to 6 More East Yorkshire UK Villages UPDATE

23rd October, 2025 (1 Comment)

Alternative network ISP Quickline, which is rolling out a new gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) and wireless (FWA) broadband network across rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England (3-Year Rollout Plan), has just extended their fibre network to three more rural communities along the banks of the River Ouse – the villages of Swinefleet, Reedness and Whitgift. Plus Patrington, Tickton and Broomfleet in other areas.

fibre optic connection to house by 123rf

20 Broadband Altnets Launch New UK Network Infrastructure Sharing Venture

22nd October, 2025 (17 Comments)

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents many of the UK’s alternative broadband ISP networks, has announced that their efforts through the previously announced Infrastructure Sharing Group (ISG) have now resulted in the creation of a new infrastructure sharing venture – supporting the use of 500,000km of “spare fibre capacity“.

UK fibre optic gigabit broadband map CoPilot for MJ on 12092024

Major UK Banks Scale Back Support for Alternative Broadband Networks

22nd October, 2025 (11 Comments)

Two of the largest backers of the UK’s alternative broadband networks, NatWest and Lloyds, have now scaled back new lending to the heavily indebted sector. The move follows an earlier report in August 2025 (here), which revealed that a number of banks had set aside funding to cover loans issued to altnets (now deemed unlikely to be repaid in full).

Major UK Pension Funds Commit £40m to Improve Rural Broadband UPDATE

20th October, 2025 (7 Comments)

The UK Government has announced the launch of the Sterling 20 initiative, which is a partnership of the country’s twenty largest pension funds and insurance companies (Nest, Aviva, Legal & General, M&G etc.) that have all agreed to pump extra investment into local infrastructure and businesses to boost growth. Rural broadband will be one of the winners.

Shetland Expecting Fix for Broken Subsea Fibre Cable to Occur Next Weekend

18th October, 2025 (2 Comments)

Homes and businesses on Shetland, which is a remote UK subarctic archipelago that resides north of the Scottish mainland, could see the full restoration of local broadband services by around next weekend. Connectivity was disrupted earlier this month after Storm Amy caused damage to the main SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) subsea fibre optic cable (here).

Derbyshire County Council Commits £900k to Plug Rural Broadband Gaps UPDATE

18th October, 2025 (0 Comments)

The Derbyshire County Council (DCC) in England has agreed to invest £900,000 to support the launch of two grant programmes, which will aim to improve broadband connectivity in at least some of the communities – predominantly rural ones – that are currently still expected to miss out on access to faster connections.

BT Group Warn UK Gov Not to Choke Broadband Investment with Biz Rates Hikes

16th October, 2025 (19 Comments)

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BT Group, Simon Lowth, has called on the UK government to “rethink” its proposed changes to UK business rates, which they warn could “risk a slowdown” in digital infrastructure (broadband and mobile) investment and lead to “higher bills” for consumers and businesses.

Ofcom Reveal Initial Results of UK 5G Mobile Auction for 26GHz and 40GHz

16th October, 2025 (12 Comments)

The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has this morning revealed the initial (principal stage) results from their auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) spectrum bands for use by 5G mobile (mobile broadband) operators, which saw EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone (VodafoneThree) pay a combined £39m to secure more airwaves.

University of Portsmouth Team Get £772k to Develop Subsea Cable Surveillance

15th October, 2025 (1 Comment)

A scientist from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Mathematics and Physics has successfully bid for £772,372 of funding from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which will be used to design a surveillance algorithm and maritime training programme to help identify, repair and reduce damage to undersea infrastructure (e.g. energy pipes and fibre optic internet cables).

training telegraph poles openreach engineers

Parliament Publishes Useful UK Summary of Rules for Broadband Poles

15th October, 2025 (12 Comments)

The House of Commons Library within the UK Parliament has published a useful new document that helps to summarise and explain some of the core rules around the deployment of poles (telegraph poles) for broadband network expansion. In recent years, these have often become a point of some contention for communities that don’t want them.

Ofcom Will Tomorrow Kick Off the UK 5G Mobile Auction for 26GHz and 40GHz

14th October, 2025 (14 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that the first bidding on their auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) spectrum bands for use by 5G mobile (mobile broadband) operators will get underway tomorrow, with BT (EE), O2 (Telefonica UK / Virgin Media) and Vodafone (VodafoneThree) all taking part.

Government to Reintegrate Building Digital UK Agency Back into DSIT UPDATE

13th October, 2025 (1 Comment)

The Government has today informed ISPreview that its Building Digital UK (BDUK) executive agency, which has responsibility for delivering gigabit broadband and better mobile connectivity across the nation (e.g. the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme), is to be integrated back into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) from 1st November 2025.

Tees Valley Authority Publish Performance Map of Local Mobile Signals

9th October, 2025 (2 Comments)

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) in North East England, which covers Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees, has today published a map of mobile signal quality and mobile broadband performance – the result of their prior work with Inakalum to harness local bin lorries to help test 4G and 5G coverage.

Gigaclear Start East Gloucestershire UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

9th October, 2025 (2 Comments)

Rural broadband provider Gigaclear, which has already deployed their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 612,000 UK premises, has this morning finally announced the start of their roll-out under Project Gigabit’s East Gloucestershire (Lot 18) contract. The £10.81m deployment is currently expected to help upgrade 3,547 premises in hard to reach areas.