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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Chancellor Calls on UK Broadband and Mobile Providers to Play Fair with Price Hikes UPDATE

26th November, 2025 (16 Comments)

The UK Government’s Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has today increased the pressure on the country’s main broadband and mobile providers by calling on them to “reinforce” their commitment to “treating customers fairly” by, among other things, confirming that “customers under contract will not face price rises beyond those they signed up for“.

Openreach Expand Project Gigabit Broadband Builds in Devon and Somerset UK

24th November, 2025 (4 Comments)

Network operator Openreach (BT) has issued a progress update on their deployment of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP network across rural parts of Devon and Somerset (South West England), specifically those areas that form part of their related Project Gigabit contracts with the UK government.

Study Finds Benefits from Scotland’s R100 Gigabit Broadband Rollout

24th November, 2025 (2 Comments)

The Scottish Government (SG) have published an interim evaluation report for their ongoing £697m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach, which has so far helped to deploy full fibre (FTTP) broadband to 93,800 extra premises in remote rural areas. The report finds benefits in terms of “business productivity, enhanced personal wellbeing and strengthened resilience for households and communities“.

Government Invests £6.9m in Next Gen UK Satellite Optical Links and 5G NTN

21st November, 2025 (1 Comment)

The Government’s UK Space Agency has announced a £6.9 million investment in next generation satellite communications technology, which will be distributed between five UK-led projects through the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) programme.

Nov 2025 Contract Delivery Progress for UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

20th November, 2025 (5 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has today published their November 2025 update on the delivery progress of contracts that have been awarded under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which among other things reveals that some 167,770 contracted premises (up from 150.7k in Oct 2025) have been covered out of a planned total of 1,002,210.

Wessex Internet Complete Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout for North Dorset UK

20th November, 2025 (4 Comments)

Rural broadband ISP and alternative network builder Wessex Internet, which have built a mix of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and fixed wireless (FWA) networks across Southern England, has today announced the completion of their £6m publicly funded Project Gigabit contract for North Dorset (Lot 14.01) – extending fibre to 6,490 hard-to-reach premises.

Neos Networks Lays First Fibre Under UK Gov’s Rail Scheme Project Reach

20th November, 2025 (2 Comments)

Connectivity provider Neos Networks, which operates one of the biggest 34,000km long and 400Gbps capable business fibre optic networks in the UK – spanning 550 exchanges, 90+ data centres and 600+ Points of Presence (PoPs), has completed the first fibre installation under Project Reach to help improve 4G and 5G mobile (broadband) coverage along major rail lines.

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Starlink Satellite Broadband Now Live on the Falkland Islands

20th November, 2025 (1 Comment)

Good news for residents of the remote Falkland Islands, which are a British Overseas Territory off the South American coast. After a long and complex battle, SpaceX’s ultrafast Starlink broadband service has recently gone live and its final pricing appears to closely mirror the standard packages that are available to UK consumers.

2025 Local Digital Index Calls for Biz Rates Relief to Boost UK Full Fibre and 5G

20th November, 2025 (2 Comments)

TechUK, which represents many of the UK’s key technology firms, has today drawn on 23 indicators from across the economy, connectivity, and skills to paint a regional and national picture of the tech ecosystem via their 2025 Local Digital Index. But the report also calls on the government to “fast-track” completion of its broadband and mobile projects to tackle slow spots, ideally alongside relief from business rates.

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Gov Invest £155m to Improve UK Wireless and Satellite Navigation Signals

19th November, 2025 (4 Comments)

The UK government, which have long been looking at alternative ways of delivering accurate Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solutions to complement GPS (Global Positioning System) – supporting everything from mobile (4G/5G) signals to in-car Sat Nav, has today invested £155m boost the country’s resilience in this critical field.

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Openreach Update on Progress of Project Gigabit Builds in Scotland

18th November, 2025 (3 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has issued a progress update on their deployment of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network across rural parts of Scotland. This forms part of their £157m (public subsidy) Project Gigabit contract (here) with the UK government to upgrade 65,000 premises (albeit managed by the Scottish Government).

House of Lords Report Calls for UK Broadband Investment to Boost Home Working

17th November, 2025 (7 Comments)

The cross-party Home-based Working Committee (Lords Select Committee) has published its report on remote and hybrid working in the UK, which among other things finds that the government should “increase long-term investment in digital infrastructure, particularly broadband” in order to properly support such working.

Full Fibre’s Impact – Fibrus Report Makes Three Predictions for UK Rural Areas in 2025

17th November, 2025 (9 Comments)

Infracapital-backed alternative broadband ISP Fibrus, which is building a full fibre network across parts of Cumbria (England) and Northern Ireland, has published a new report that outlines three predictions for how the UK’s rural areas might look in 2050 and highlights the “extraordinary potential” of such communities as engines of growth.

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Great Western Railway Pilots Hybrid Network to Boost Onboard Wi-Fi

17th November, 2025 (7 Comments)

The Great Western Railway (GWR), which operates most train services across the Great Western Main Line (GWML) – the rail line in England that runs between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads, has joined with Peninsula Transport, Network Rail and Motion Applied to pilot faster on-board broadband (WiFi) using “technology from the world of Formula 1“.

CEO of Broadband ISP Zen Internet Calls for Ban of Mid-Contract Price Hikes

15th November, 2025 (46 Comments)

The boss of venerable UK broadband and phone provider Zen Internet, Richard Tang, has backed the Government’s Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Liz Kendall, in her alleged “call for an ‘outright ban on absurd’ mid-contract telecoms price rises“. But it remains unclear whether Ofcom will go that far.

No Solution Yet for West Herefordshire and Peak District Gigabit Broadband Project

15th November, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK government has furnished ISPreview with a brief update on their progress toward finding a solution for Project Gigabit’s stalled full fibre broadband upgrades for rural parts of the Derbyshire Peak District and West Herefordshire. Both areas ran into difficulty (here) earlier this year after FullFibre Ltd “mutually agreed to terminate” their publicly funded contracts.

Streetwave Publish Map of South Yorkshire 4G and 5G Mobile Cover and Data Speed

14th November, 2025 (5 Comments)

A few months ago we reported that the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) in England and network analyst firm Streetwave had begun a new project to map 4G and 5G mobile broadband coverage and speed across the region using bin lorries (here). The data from this has now been made available to the public via a new interactive map.