Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Politics (3099 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Project-Gigabit-June-2023-UK-Progress-Map

BDUK Start Procurement on Cross Regional UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout

31st July, 2023 (8 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has started the procurement phase for the award of their first major Cross-Regional Supplier Framework (Type C) contract under the £5bn rural Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which could see a single network operator being picked to help cover some of the most challenging areas.

Project-Gigabit-UK-Gov-Investment-Scheme-2025

BDUK Change CEO as Gigabit Broadband Project Struggles with Slow Progress UPDATE2

30th July, 2023 (15 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has reportedly changed its current CEO, Paul Norris, and appointed the man who oversaw the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Dean Creamer, to take on the role after concerns were allegedly raised over “slow” progress in their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout.

BT and OneWeb’s Rural Broadband Trial Goes Live in Devon UK

21st July, 2023 (13 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT and satellite operator OneWeb have completed the deployment of their new rural broadband trial on Lundy Island, near the North Devon coast, which aims to help bring “high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity” to residents – supported by the UK Government’s (DSIT) Alpha Trials programme.

Ofcom Move to Protect UK People from Mobile Roaming Bill Shocks

20th July, 2023 (13 Comments)

Ofcom has today proposed new rules to force mobile network operators, such as Three UK, Vodafone, EE and O2 (inc. MVNO operators), to protect consumers who travel abroad from mobile BILL SHOCKS on data (broadband), call and text charges by introducing new roaming alert protections for consumers and small businesses.

Farrpoint Finds Investing in UK Rural 4G Mobile Brings Big Benefits

20th July, 2023 (5 Comments)

A new report from technical UK consultancy firm FarrPoint, which examined the impact of a single network deployment, claims to have proven that investing in better rural mobile connectivity will bring “significant economic, social and environmental benefits” for those it covers.

Building Digital UK Agency Publish Corporate Plan for 2023 to 2026

19th July, 2023 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, which oversees various gigabit-capable broadband and mobile network (4G, 5G etc.) deployment projects, has today published their corporate Plan for 2023 to 2026 – this sets out their latest key progress, targets and objectives for the next three years.

Legal Opinion Warns of “unlawful” Clause in UK Online Safety Bill

19th July, 2023 (12 Comments)

The UK Government’s controversial new Online Safety Bill is facing more criticism today after Dan Squires KC and Emma Foubister of Matrix Chambers issued a legal opinion on its “prior restraint” clause. This suggests that there is “likely to be significant interference with freedom of expression that is unforeseeable and which is thus not prescribed by law“.

Report Finds UK Gigabit Broadband and 5G Rollout Needs More Collaboration

18th July, 2023 (4 Comments)

A new report from the Digital Connectivity Forum (DCF), an industry think-tank, has found that UK’s rollout of gigabit-capable broadband and 5G mobile connectivity would benefit from improvements in communication, collaboration and consistency between local authorities and the telecoms industry.

British sterling one pound coin currency by 123rf

Ofcom UK to Publish Take-up of Social Tariffs by Provider

13th July, 2023 (9 Comments)

Ofcom has published an update on its action plan to support broadband and mobile customers during the cost-of-living crisis, which once again calls on UK ISPs to take “immediate action” to boost the take-up of cheaper social tariffs (available to those on state benefits) and promises to publish take-up data for each provider.

Unite Raise Conflict of Interest Concerns Over Vodafone and Three UK Merger

13th July, 2023 (16 Comments)

Unite the Union, which has previously expressed its opposition to Vodafone and Three UK’s proposed merger (here), is attempting to up the ante by pressing some of Vodafone’s largest shareholders (e.g. Blackrock, Vanguard, Norges Bank and local authority pension funds) to take a stand, on conflict of interest grounds, at the next AGM.

Hands holding british pound coin and small money pouch by 123rf

48% of Low Income Pensioners Struggle to Pay Broadband Bills

13th July, 2023 (20 Comments)

A new YouGov survey of 1,150 adults aged 65+ in England, which was commissioned by older people’s charity Independent Age, has claimed that 48% of respondents on a low income (under £15k a year) have struggled to keep up with their broadband ISP bill in the last 6 months (20% of those found it a constant struggle and 28% struggled from time to time).

Vodafone Warn Gov 5G Targets to be Missed if Three UK Merger Blocked

10th July, 2023 (39 Comments)

The CEO of mobile operator Vodafone, Ahmed Essam, has indirectly warned regulators that a decision to block its attempted merger with Three UK (CK Hutchison) would result in them cutting their investment in digital infrastructure (5G broadband etc.) and being unable to deliver on the Government’s goals.

GoFibre Start Project Gigabit Broadband Build in Rural Northumberland

5th July, 2023 (1 Comment)

Independent UK rural broadband ISP GoFibre (BorderLink) has this morning announced that they’ve begun the building phase of their £7.3m state-aid supported Project Gigabit broadband rollout contract for North Northumberland (England), which will aim to upgrade over 3,750 hard-to-reach premises.

Summer 2023 BDUK Update on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Build

3rd July, 2023 (18 Comments)

The Building Digital UK agency has published their latest quarterly update (June 2023) on the Government’s £5bn rural Project Gigabit broadband rollout progress, which has so far awarded rollout contracts worth a total of £589m (state aid) to help extend coverage to an extra 378,450 of the hardest to reach premises.

Cityfibre FTTP Splicing Close Up Picture 2022

CityFibre Win Three Major UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout Contracts

1st July, 2023 (48 Comments)

The UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme has announced that CityFibre have secured three major build contracts for Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk in England. The combined award is worth £488m (£318m state aid and £170m private) and will see the operator extend 10Gbps capable FTTP to 218,000 premises (500k inc. commercial build).

BT Reveal Cause of 999 Emergency UK Call Handling Outage

30th June, 2023 (25 Comments)

Broadband and telecoms giant BT has revealed that last Sunday’s outage and disruption to their 999 emergency services number, which resulted in 11,470 unique emergency calls being “unsuccessfully connected“, was caused by a “complex software issue” that had never previously been seen through their testing regime.

Scotland’s R100 FTTP Broadband Build Tops 24,000 Premises

30th June, 2023 (3 Comments)

The Scottish Government has, in response to a Freedom of Information Request, published a useful progress update on their £600m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach (BT), which reveals that 24,194 premises have now been covered by their rollout of a new “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) capable ISP network.