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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

New UK Infrastructure Bank May Boost Gigabit Broadband and 5G

28th February, 2021 (7 Comments)

The HM Treasury has announced that its plan to setup a new UK Infrastructure Bank, which was first proposed in last year’s Spending Review, will be supported by an initial £12bn in capital investment and £10bn in loan guarantees. In theory this could help to unlock more private investment, such as to boost the gigabit broadband rollout.

GBP5bn UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout Starts in Central Scotland

27th February, 2021 (20 Comments)

In a surprise twist the UK Government has technically started the rollout phase of their £5bn Gigabit Broadband Programme early by reaching a unique agreement with the Scottish Government’s existing £579m Reaching 100% (R100) project, which will see them replace FTTC with FTTP in rural parts of Central Scotland.

Cityfibre’s 1Gbps FTTP Broadband Goes Live in Portsmouth UK

26th February, 2021 (12 Comments)

Full fibre operator Cityfibre has announced that their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has finally started to go live for customers in the south coast city of Portsmouth (Hampshire, UK), which is being supported by UK ISP partner Giganet. The rollout itself reflects an investment of £32m.

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H2 2020 – FTTP Broadband Covers 88.5% of UK New Build Homes

25th February, 2021 (3 Comments)

The latest independent H2 2020 study of broadband coverage in UK new build homes has indicated that 88.5% of houses constructed last year were connected to a “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP network (up from 87.3% in H1 2020), which rises to 97.7% for 30Mbps+ “superfast broadband” services (unchanged).

Newcastle City to Connect Public Sector Sites via 100Gbps Fibre

25th February, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Newcastle City Council (NCC) has announced that they’ve appointed Aspire Technology Solutions – working in partnership with Virgin Media Business (Wholesale) – to extend a 100Gbps capable “full fibre” network to serve “hundreds of public sector sites across the region.”

EE UK Set to Expand 4G Mobile Cover to 579 Rural Areas in 2021

24th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has today announced that, as part of the £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) industry project, they will expand their 4G (mobile broadband) network in 579 rural areas during 2021 in order to improve signal coverage (333 in England, 132 in Scotland, 76 in Wales, and 38 in Northern Ireland).

WeFibre Plan FTTP for 9 Rural Areas in West Wales and Cumbria

23rd February, 2021 (15 Comments)

New UK ISP WeFibre, which is part of the wider Telcom Group (including sibling operator ClearFibre), has revealed to ISPreview.co.uk that they intend to deploy their new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to serve 9 rural communities in Cumbria and West Wales.

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Infrastructure Commission Calls for Detailed Gigabit Rollout Plans

17th February, 2021 (19 Comments)

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has just published its Annual Monitoring Report 2021, which among other things calls on the UK Government to set out a “workable plan” for ensuring that the hardest to reach homes and businesses can “get the benefits of high capacity broadband” (i.e. gigabit speed connectivity).

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North Yorkshire UK Prep Fibre Broadband and Rural WiFi Boost

15th February, 2021 (7 Comments)

The North Yorkshire County Council is reportedly preparing to start a new scheme worth £3m, which among other things will rollout a free public WiFi network across 16 of the county’s “rural” market towns – stretching from Scarborough to Skipton. Ultrafast full fibre broadband will also be deployed to 6 rural business parks.

Farmers See Small Improvements in UK Mobile and Broadband

10th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has published the results from their annual (2020) survey of 430 members, which found that just 20% of farmers had access to fixed “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) speeds (up from 17% last year) and 11% have no indoor mobile signal at all (better than the 15% recorded last year).

O2 Study Predicts £187.7m 4G Boost for Rural UK Businesses

10th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

A new study commissioned by O2 UK has predicted that the first phase of the new £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project with Vodafone and Three UK, which will see all three mobile operators working to build and share 222 new 4G (mobile broadband) masts (here), could increase the turnover for rural businesses by £187.7m per annum.

BDUK Consults on Gigabit Broadband Coverage in Cumbria UK

9th February, 2021 (5 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK programme has begun a new consultation to help them identify what existing or planned commercial gigabit-capable broadband coverage exists in Cumbria (England), which will help to establish the areas where public investment may be needed to rollout the service.

MPs Warn UK Gov’s 5G Diversification Strategy Lacks Clear Targets

4th February, 2021 (9 Comments)

The cross-party UK Science and Technology Committee has warned that the Government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, which aspires to ensure that mobile operators have a better choice of suppliers after Huawei’s ban, lacks “clear milestones” and detail. The strong focus on OpenRAN is also not “guaranteed” to succeed.

OneWeb UK Confirms BT Talks – Possible Rural Broadband Fix

2nd February, 2021 (21 Comments)

Satellite broadband operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government and aims to build a mega constellation of “high-speed” broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has confirmed that they’re in early-stage talks with BT about the use of their network to help connect remote rural areas.

Spectrum Internet Appoints New Chiefs for Wales FTTP Rollout

2nd February, 2021 (2 Comments)

Cardiff-based UK ISP Spectrum Internet, which is investing £200m on a deployment of 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband to reach 150,000 premises in South Wales by late 2025 (here), has today appointed two familiar industry leaders, Justin Leese and Steve Cooper, to their executive team.

PwC Study Claims 5G Mobile May Add £43bn to UK GDP by 2030

2nd February, 2021 (1 Comment)

New research from professional services firm PwC has forecast that the productivity and efficiency gains enabled by the rollout of ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) technology will drive business, skills and service change worth £43bn to UK GDP by 2030. The healthcare sector is also expected to see the biggest impact from this.

DCMS Update on Plan for UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Vouchers

1st February, 2021 (4 Comments)

The UK Government (DCMS / BDUK) has confirmed a few more details about the future of their £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme to broadband ISPs, which is due to end on the 31st March 2021 but is widely expected to be superseded by a new programme with a fresh pot of “over” £250m.