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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

EU Publishes 2022 Broadband Connectivity Progress Study vs UK

8th August, 2022 (4 Comments)

The European Commission recently published their annual 2022 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which charts how the EU’s fixed line broadband ISP and mobile networks compare across all of its 27 countries. The UK was removed from this report post-Brexit, but it’s still possible to see how we compare by using Ofcom’s data.

ISPs See Minimal Impact from BT and Openreach Workers Strike

5th August, 2022 (15 Comments)

The recent two-day national strike by up to 38,000 of BT and Openreach’s unionised workers (here) – due to a dispute over pay – does not appear to have caused any significant problems for either the operator or its customers. At least that is the feedback we’ve had from UK broadband ISPs and alternative networks.

Which? and ISPA UK Call on Gov to Cut VAT from Broadband Bills

4th August, 2022 (10 Comments)

The UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) and consumer magazine Which? have today called on the Government to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis by enabling ISPs to cut Value Added Tax (VAT) on broadband and mobile bills from 20% to 5%, which is naturally a move that will attract wide support.

17 Public Sites in Greater Manchester Get Free Fibre Broadband Until 2025

3rd August, 2022 (0 Comments)

The £23.8m deployment by Virgin Media Business (VMO2) of a new 2,700km long “full fibre” network in Greater Manchester, which is designed to connect over 1,500 public sector sites, has also resulted in 17 public sites – including homeless shelters, charities and community centres – benefiting from free fibre broadband until 2025.

10 Recommendations to Help Improve Broadband in Wales

1st August, 2022 (6 Comments)

The Welsh Parliament‘s Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) has today publish a new report into the state of broadband internet access across Wales, which makes 10 recommendations for how the UK and Welsh Government’s could improve connectivity and fill the remaining gaps.

1 in 7 UK Broadband, Mobile and Mortgage Users Hit by Loyalty Penalty UPDATE

1st August, 2022 (15 Comments)

A new “nationally representative” Opinium survey 3,087 UK adults with a mobile, broadband ISP, or mortgage contract, which was commissioned by Citizens Advice, has found that 1-in-7 customers are still paying their providers a “loyalty penalty” (i.e. paying more than new customers) despite cost-of-living crisis.

Virgin Media O2 Parents Form Joint Venture to Build New UK Fibre Network

29th July, 2022 (32 Comments)

The parents of Virgin Media (Liberty Global) and O2 (Telefonica), supported by InfraVia Capital Partners, have today announced the creation of a new Joint Venture (JV) to build an XGS-PON based and wholesale focused Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network that will cover “up to” 7 million additional UK homes.

BT-Workers-Strike-in-London-on-29th-July-2022-by-CWU

BT and Openreach Workers Begin Two Day UK Strike TODAY UPDATE1

29th July, 2022 (54 Comments)

Up to 38,000 workers at national broadband and communications giant BT (including Openreach) are today beginning day one of their two-day national strike over pay (the first one since 1987), with the second due to take place on Monday next week. So far, BT has shown no sign of giving in to the pressure.

New Subsea Fibre Cable Links Ireland to the Isle of Man and UK

27th July, 2022 (2 Comments)

Connectivity Services provider Aqua Comms has announced the completion of their work to deploy the Celtix-Connect 2 subsea fibre optic cable, which now runs between Ireland (Dublin), the Isle of Man and England (Blackpool). The move means more resilient and faster broadband for premises on the isle.

Government Offer £25m to Help Develop Future 6G UK Mobile Kit

26th July, 2022 (6 Comments)

The UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has today set aside £25m as part of their new Future Open Networks Research Challenge (FONRC) fund to help support the development of future 5G and 6G based mobile broadband equipment (focused primarily on O-RAN).

OneWeb First Generation Satellite in Orbit

British Satellite Broadband Operator OneWeb and Eutelsat to Merge UPDATE2

25th July, 2022 (6 Comments)

Satellite broadband firm OneWeb, which is British-registered and partly owned by the UK Government, is about to sign a merger deal with existing investor and rival French operator Eutelsat. But the UK is understood to have secured a number of concessions to help protect its strategic investment.

CityFibre Find Positives in its Failed FTTP Prices Appeal vs Ofcom

24th July, 2022 (24 Comments)

The Competition Appeal Tribunal‘s (CAT) decision last week to reject CityFibre’s appeal against Ofcom’s approval process for Openreach’s “Equinox” price cut (here), which slashed the cost of the incumbent’s wholesale FTTP broadband products for UK ISPs, may not have been a total loss for the alternative network operator.

Devon and Somerset UK Scrap Truespeed FTTP Broadband Contracts

22nd July, 2022 (26 Comments)

The state aid supported Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme has been hit by yet another controversy after it “terminated” two contracts with Bath-based broadband ISP Truespeed, which had suffered delays in its £6.7m (public investment) deal to deploy a full fibre network to cover 15,172 premises.

CEO of ISP 4th Utility Calls for HS2 Funding to be Spent on Broadband

20th July, 2022 (45 Comments)

The CEO of UK ISP 4th Utility, Tony Hughes, has today said that access to reliable broadband should be a basic human right and that now is the time for the Government to “rethink” their investment in the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. Instead, Tony believes that such funding should be diverted to upgrade broadband infrastructure.

Scotnet Bring 100Mbps Broadband to Scotland’s Ardnamurchan Peninsula

20th July, 2022 (9 Comments)

Some 300 homes across Scotland’s most westerly mainland point – the Ardnamurchan Peninsula – now have access to superfast broadband speeds of 35 – 100Mbps after local ISP Scotnet, supported by the government’s voucher scheme, deployed a new Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network to serve the area.

Government’s Building Digital UK Agency Appoints New Chair

20th July, 2022 (0 Comments)

The Government’s Digital Secretary, Nadine Dorries MP, has appointed Simon Blagden CBE to be the new chair of their Building Digital UK (BDUK) executive agency, which has responsibility for delivering faster broadband and mobile networks across the nation (e.g. the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme and the £1bn Shared Rural Network).

Welsh Government and Openreach Extend FTTP Broadband Rollout

20th July, 2022 (6 Comments)

The Welsh Government has issued an easy to miss statement on Digital Connectivity in Wales, which among other things reveals that their £52.5m Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband rollout contract with Openreach (BT) is now expected to cover slightly more premises. But this will push completion back to 31st March 2023.