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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Pound sterling broadband voucher by 123rf (100296328)

Website Woes Cause Problems for UK Gigabit Voucher Scheme

6th June, 2021 (5 Comments)

The UK Government’s new rural-focused Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is said to have faced “significant challenges” due to issues with the stability of its website, which DCMS told ISPs had resulted in temporary site outages and “issues with automated supplier payments and reporting.” But only “some users” were affected.

British sterling one pound coin currency by 123rf

2.5 Million UK People Struggle to Pay their Broadband ISP Bills

4th June, 2021 (12 Comments)

A new survey from the Citizens Advice agency has estimated that 2.5 million people are “behind” on paying their broadband ISP bills and 700,000 have fallen into the red during the COVID-19 crisis. The charity is thus calling on more providers to launch cheaper social tariffs.

Openreach Boost Rural FTTP Broadband Build to 6m UK Premises

28th May, 2021 (98 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today announced that, as a result of the BT Group raising their rollout target for 1Gbps+ Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology, they now expect to reach 6.2 million UK premises across rural villages and market towns (up from the previous target of 3.2m) by December 2026.

Scotland Gives Rural 4G Mobile Infill Project a GBP3.75m Boost

25th May, 2021 (1 Comment)

The Scottish Government‘s (SG) 4G Infill Programme (S4GI), which via WHP Telecoms aims to improve rural mobile voice and broadband coverage by building new mast sites (mostly tackling notspots across the Highlands and Islands), has been given a £3.75m boost to construct a further 12 masts.

RootMetrics CEO Backs Plan to Allow 30 Metre UK Mobile Masts

20th May, 2021 (6 Comments)

The CEO of mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics, Kevin Hasley, has given his support to the Government’s proposed rule changes (here), which among other things will allow mobile operators to build taller 30 metre masts in order to boost rural 4G and 5G coverage. But he warns that such towers will need more data capacity.

BT Begin Replacing UK 4G and 5G Mobile Kit from Huawei in Hull

17th May, 2021 (9 Comments)

The BT Group (EE) has officially started its £500m programme to remove and replace Huawei’s 4G and 5G mobile (mobile broadband) kit within their UK network, with the city of Hull in East Yorkshire being the first on a long list of 12,000 mobile masts and rooftop sites that will need to be done (they run a total of 18,000 sites).

Wessex Internet Begin South Somerset FTTP Broadband Rollout

14th May, 2021 (7 Comments)

Rural UK ISP Wessex Internet has this week started to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network in rural parts of South Somerset, which forms part of their state aid supported contract under the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme.

Scottish Government Look to Improve Broadband Mapping Tech

14th May, 2021 (3 Comments)

The Scottish Government appears to be in the process of enhancing their mapping technology for the £579m Reaching 100% (R100) project, which could boost “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) coverage in rural areas by making it easier for ISPs to identify homes that aren’t connected to such a service and are thus eligible for vouchers.

Supporters Named for New DNS Resolver Policy to Improve Privacy

13th May, 2021 (0 Comments)

The recently proposed ‘European DNS Resolver Policy‘, which aims to foster better standards for privacy and transparency across resolver services for the internet’s Domain Name System (e.g. those run by UK ISPs and third-party providers), has today secured support from several leading organisations.

Sheep on a meadow and the Dinas Reservoir, near Ponterwyd Ceredigion, Dyfed, Wales, UK

Phase 4 Areas Named for Pembrokeshire FTTP Broadband Rollout

13th May, 2021 (2 Comments)

The Pembrokeshire County Council’s (PCC) wider Digital Connectivity Programme (DCP) in Wales appears to have identified the next set of six rural communities (Phase 4 or 5) for their programme, which are likely to benefit from the rollout of gigabit-capable full fibre broadband ISP networks.

BT Pause Redundancies as CWU Delay Ballot on National Strike

12th May, 2021 (10 Comments)

The threat of a major national UK strike by a significant chunk of BT’s workforce appears to have subsided, if perhaps only temporarily, after the two sides involved took steps to calm the situation and re-engage in negotiations. But the thaw in hostilities may only last until early June, unless an agreement can be reached.

BT Calls on UK Gov to Help Subsidise Social Broadband Tariffs

12th May, 2021 (6 Comments)

The CEO of BT’s Consumer ISP division, Marc Allera, has today called on the UK Government to help support the industry by making it easier for home broadband providers to launch new social tariffs via targetted funding or subsidies, which could come in a number of different forms.

Gov Publish UK Online Safety Bill to Censor “Harmful” Content UPDATE

12th May, 2021 (23 Comments)

After much delay the UK Government will today publish a draft of their new Online Safety Bill (Online Harms), which among other things hands Ofcom a new “legal duty of care” that can be used to force websites into removing “harmful” internet content. Failing to do so may risk being fined or blocked by mobile and broadband ISPs.

2021 Queens Speech Touts Online Safety Bill and Broadband Boost

11th May, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Queen has today carried out the first State Opening of Parliament since the pandemic began, which sets out the UK Government’s agenda for the coming session. As expected this included various references to gigabit broadband and mobile connectivity, as well as their plans to publish the controversial Online Safety Bill.

Ofcom Preps Strategic Review of UK 4G and 5G Mobile Networks

11th May, 2021 (7 Comments)

Ofcom has today set out the terms of reference for their future UK mobile strategy review, which will examine how the regulator can adjust their approach in order to improve 4G and 5G based mobile (mobile broadband) network connectivity for consumers and businesses over the next 5 to 10 years.

Cross Party MPs Examine UK Rural Broadband and Mobile Divide

11th May, 2021 (6 Comments)

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse, which is an informal cross-party group formed by UK MPs and members of the House of Lords, has begun a new inquiry that will explore whether the government has “given up” on bridging the digital divide (mobile and broadband connectivity).

BDUK Consults on Gigabit Broadband Coverage in Cambridgeshire

9th May, 2021 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK team has begun a new consultation to identify any existing or planned commercial coverage of gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks in Cambridgeshire and nearby areas (England), which helps to establish the areas where public investment may be needed to deploy the service.