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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

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The EU Publishes 2021 Broadband Connectivity Progress Study

12th November, 2021 (10 Comments)

After a long delay due to COVID-19, the European Commission has today published their annual 2021 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which reveals how the EU’s fixed line broadband ISP and mobile networks compare. The UK was removed from this edition due to Brexit, so we’ve used Ofcom’s data to compare.

Ofcom and BT Adopt Changes to Help 10Mbps Broadband USO

11th November, 2021 (33 Comments)

Ofcom has today finalised the changes that were first confirmed in July to improve how BT handles delivery of the UK’s Universal Service Obligation (USO), which aims to bring faster broadband ISP speeds to those who can’t yet receive a 10Mbps+ capable download speed and aren’t planned to do so in the near future.

Update on Herefordshire Broadband Rollout and Gigaclear Delays

11th November, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Herefordshire County Council (HCC) in England has issued a new proposal for how they intend to tackle the problems caused by UK ISP Gigaclear last month (here), which warned that 2,324 of the planned premises for their state aid fuelled rollout of a new gigabit broadband (FTTP) network would be too expensive to reach.

Doubts Cast Over CityFibre’s 1 Million UK FTTP Premises Claim

11th November, 2021 (23 Comments)

Analysis by Thinkbroadband (TBB), which maintains an independent database of broadband network coverage, has called into question CityFibre’s recent claim to have covered 1 million UK premises with their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network.

UK Government Launch Bid for Seat on the UN Telecoms Council

10th November, 2021 (0 Comments)

The UK Government will today launch its election manifesto as part of efforts to secure a seat on the governing council of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which will give it more of a say in future standards (broadband, satellite technologies etc.) and the allocation of global spectrum (mobile etc.) etc.

Welsh Gov Criticised for Removal of Broadband Availability Checker

10th November, 2021 (3 Comments)

Yesterday’s Plenary meeting of the Welsh Parliament raised an interesting point when it highlighted the Welsh Government’s removal of the superfast broadband availability checker from their Superfast Cymru page, which makes it harder for people to know which areas will benefit from the state aid supported rollout.

Fiber Optic cables connected to an optic ports and Network cables connected to ethernet ports

Headaches for UK ISPs as Telecoms Security Bill to Become Law

9th November, 2021 (15 Comments)

The UK Government’s new Telecommunications (Security) Bill (TSB) is set to become law after passing through both houses of parliament this month, but it goes much further than just banning Huawei from the UK’s 5G mobile networks. Broadband ISPs, both big and small alike, also face a cacophony of tedious new rules.

Dorset Project Demos Satellite Backhaul from a 5G Standalone Network

8th November, 2021 (3 Comments)

The 5G RuralDorset project, which is testing various 5G based mobile voice and broadband technologies alongside existing fibre cables, claims to have achieved a “world-first” by demonstrating satellite backhaul from a 5G Standalone network (i.e. using satellite to keep the connection live when terrestrial mobile fails).

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Consultation on New Tools to Help Telecoms Negotiations in Scotland

3rd November, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Infralink programme, which is supported by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and the Scotland 5G Centre, has today invited views and opinions from landlords, the mobile phone sector and their advisors to help improve the complicated process of locating digital infrastructure and making it “fit for purpose“.

CityFibre Hits Target of 1 Million UK FTTP Broadband Premises

3rd November, 2021 (27 Comments)

CityFibre, which is investing £4bn to cover 8 million UK premises with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network by around the end of 2025, has today announced the successful completion of their first target by extending the network to cover 1 million homes and businesses before the end of 2021.

world broadband internet connectivity image

Digital Connectivity Index Ranks UK 8th Out of 24 OECD Countries

2nd November, 2021 (1 Comment)

A new Digital Connectivity Index (DCI) has been published today, which measures how individuals and organisations can connect with one another and the rest of the world through good quality broadband access. Overall the United Kingdom ranks 8th out of the 24 counties of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

ISP BT and OneWeb UK Sign Satellite Broadband Distribution Deal

2nd November, 2021 (8 Comments)

UK ISP BT and satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government, have today officially signed a Distribution Partner Agreement that could result in faster low-latency backhaul and broadband solutions for businesses. Further down the line, it may also help to cover rural homes by fuelling Fixed Wireless Access.

network cables and fiber optic closeup with keyboard background

BDUK Examines Impact of UK Local Full Fibre Networks Project

29th October, 2021 (1 Comment)

The Government’s Building Digital UK team has today published yet another new evaluation report, albeit this time into their Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which shows how the scheme has tried to spread more Dark Fibre networks across the country and foster a wider rollout of gigabit broadband.

BDUK Publish New Evaluation of UK Superfast Broadband Project

29th October, 2021 (5 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK team has today posted a new evaluation of the previous Superfast Broadband Programme (SFBB), which helped to boost the coverage of “superfast” (24-30Mbps+) ISP networks from c.76% (commercial) to around 97% of premises (i.e. an additional 5.5 million premises) across three phases.

BDUK Publish Phase 3 of UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Rollout Plan

29th October, 2021 (21 Comments)

The UK Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) team has today published details on Phase 3 of their £5bn Project Gigabit rollout programme, which will in this phase work to extend 1Gbps capable broadband ISP networks to a further 570,000 premises in rural and semi-rural areas.

Parliament UK Building at Dusk in London 2021

Autumn UK Budget 2021 Gifts GBP8m for Gigabit Broadband in Scotland

27th October, 2021 (15 Comments)

The Chancellor of the UK Government, Rishi Sunak MP, has today published his Autumn Budget 2021 statement – the second one this year – and sadly made no major new broadband announcements. But we did notice that a further £8m had been allocated to help 3,600 premises in north Scotland access “full fibre” broadband.

BT Group Boosts its UK Defences Against Possible Takeover

27th October, 2021 (14 Comments)

Broadband giant BT has reportedly hired advisory firm Robey Warshaw LLP to work alongside Goldman Sachs, which was appointed for a similar reason last year (here), to help boost their defences against a possible takeover attempt by Patrick Drahi’s Altice UK, which in June 2021 (here) acquired a 12.1% equity stake worth c.£2bn.