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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

BT Make Changes to Improve 10Mbps UK Broadband USO

6th May, 2021 (40 Comments)

UK ISP BT has issued their second biannual report into the progress they’ve made toward delivering the 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation for broadband, which reveals they’re building USO connections that cover nearly 5,000 homes and have introduced a new cost sharing system to help communities afford an upgrade.

Full Fibre Could Bring 1 Million UK People Back into Workforce

28th April, 2021 (3 Comments)

The Centre for Economics & Business Research and Ofcom have today released separate, albeit complementary, reports that take a post-COVID19 look at the UK’s digital divide. The CEBR in particular estimates that 1 million people could return to the workforce with FTTP broadband available across the UK (up from the previous estimate of 500k).

Broadway Win Phase3 Full Fibre Contracts in Rural Pembrokeshire

27th April, 2021 (0 Comments)

Alternative UK network developer Broadway Partners (ISP Broadway Broadband) has today secured several contracts to deploy Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks to cover the rural Pembrokeshire communities of Angle, Tiers Cross and Lawrenny and Marletwy in Wales.

Broadband and Mobile Policy by Political Party in Wales and Scotland

26th April, 2021 (3 Comments)

Anybody living in Wales or Scotland will be aware that both are currently preparing for their 2021 Parliamentary Elections, which are due to take place on 6th May 2021. As such we thought it might be useful to take a quick look at what each of the main parties are promising in terms of broadband and mobile policy.

ISP Giganet Hails 100th Customer on Portsmouth FTTP Network

20th April, 2021 (0 Comments)

UK ISP Giganet has just connected their 100th customer to CityFibre’s new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the south coast city of Portsmouth (Hampshire, UK). This might not sound like much, but for a smaller provider it comes only two months after the service first started to go live.

New Government Changes to Boost 5G Mobile Cover in England

20th April, 2021 (20 Comments)

The Government has today begun a consultation on their proposed changes to Permitted Development (PD) rights for mobile infrastructure, which seeks to extend 5G and 4G (mobile broadband) coverage in rural areas of England via key changes (e.g. allowing taller masts of up to 30 metres and softening planning permission).

Works to lay new paving slabs and temporary footpath closed red warning sign on London sidewalk by 123rf

Lane Rental Mission Creep Threatens UK Broadband Upgrades

15th April, 2021 (18 Comments)

Street Works UK, a Trade Association that represents utilities and their contractors on street works issues, has warned that mission creep in the Government’s new Lane Rental scheme is threatening to significantly increase the cost of deploying new broadband networks across England and Wales.

Small Full Fibre Rollout Expansion for Project Stratum in N.Ireland

15th April, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Building Digital UK programme is reportedly preparing to approve a small funding boost for the Project Stratum deployment in Northern Ireland, which will see the chosen supplier (Fibrus) build their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to a couple of thousand extra premises.

Openreach Plan FTTP Broadband for 100000 Extra N.Ireland Premises

13th April, 2021 (2 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today announced that they will invest a further £100m+ (capital expenditure) over the next 12-months into Northern Ireland. The funding will help to expand the availability of their 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to another 100,000 premises, as well as to maintain their existing network.

broadband vouchers ultrafast gigabit uk full fibre by 123rf

New UK Gigabit Voucher Scheme Terms Add Satellite and Caveats UPDATE

6th April, 2021 (16 Comments)

As part of their £5bn Project Gigabit programme the UK Government will this week (8th April) start a new rural focused £210m gigabit broadband voucher scheme. A quick look at the new Terms and Conditions for this reveals some key changes, such as the inclusion of satellite, a £100k funding cap on project changes and other caveats.

Gov Praises UK Broadband Sector for Creating 22,000 New Jobs

1st April, 2021 (26 Comments)

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has this afternoon praised broadband ISPs for helping to create more than 22,000 new jobs over the past year as “forecasts for gigabit rollout are revised further upwards,” which is an interesting statement coming so soon after the Government’s decision to downgrade their own coverage target.

CEO of the Government’s Building Digital UK Team to Leave UPDATE2

31st March, 2021 (3 Comments)

The CEO of the Government’s (DCMS) key Building Digital UK programme, which oversees everything from the new £5bn Project Gigabit scheme to rural broadband vouchers, Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN), 700MHz clearance, SRN and the prior £2.5bn Superfast Broadband (SFBB) project, Raj Kalia, has decided to stand down.

New Resolver Policy Proposed to Improve Internet DNS Privacy

30th March, 2021 (0 Comments)

A new industry initiative – the ‘European DNS Resolver Policy‘ – has been established that aims to foster better standards for privacy and transparency across resolver services for the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS), such as those run by UK or European broadband ISPs and third-party services (e.g. Google Public DNS).

Pound sterling broadband voucher by 123rf (100296328)

Anger as New Gigabit Broadband Vouchers Exclude Some Villages UPDATE

26th March, 2021 (21 Comments)

The Government’s new £210m UK Gigabit Voucher scheme, which is due to launch on 8th April 2021 and will help to spread 1Gbps capable broadband into some of the most remote rural areas, is facing somewhat of a backlash from communities that may find some or all of their homes being excluded under the new eligibility criteria.

Quickline Start 100Mb Broadband Rollout in North Lincolnshire

26th March, 2021 (5 Comments)

Broadband ISP Quickline (part of the Bigblu group) has started to rollout a new 100Mbps+ capable broadband network across 1,500 rural homes and businesses in North Lincolnshire (England), which follows last year’s award of a new £1.8m state aid supported contract by North Lincolnshire Council (NLC).

Virgin Media’s Manchester Dark Fibre Build Generates £12m Boost

25th March, 2021 (1 Comment)

UK ISP Virgin Media (Business) has announced that their £23.8m deployment of a new 2,700km long “full fibre” network in Greater Manchester, which was designed to connect 1,700 public sector sites, is now “substantially complete” and is estimated to have already delivered an £11.8m economic boost to the local economy.

Poor Broadband Means UK Gov Stuck with BBC TV Licence Fee

25th March, 2021 (93 Comments)

The Government’s recently proposed idea of replacing the BBC TV Licence fee with a Netflix-style subscription model after 2027 (here), assuming universal coverage of “fast” (or gigabit) broadband is achieved, has been rubbished by a new report from the cross-part DCMS Select Committee.