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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Streetwave UK Study Compares Mobile Coverage Across 12 Scottish Councils

30th April, 2026 (1 Comment)

Network analyst firm Streetwave has today published the results from a new study, which compared real-world mobile network (4G, 5G) coverage and mobile broadband performance across the 12 Scottish councils that have commissioned surveys. Glasgow tops the tables, while Argyll and Bute sit at the bottom.

Biannual April 2026 Progress Update on BT’s 10Mbps UK Broadband USO

29th April, 2026 (12 Comments)

Internet provider BT has today published the biannual (April 2026) progress update on their delivery of Ofcom’s somewhat limited 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband. The provider has so far helped to build a USO connection to over 9,089 premises (up from 8,553 in Oct 2025) – using FTTP, with 461 further builds in-progress (up sharply from 186).

internet censorship forbidden written on keyboard - 23208292 - 123rf

Gov Intend to Restrict Social Media for Under 16s Even Without Full UK Ban

28th April, 2026 (18 Comments)

The government’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has revealed that – regardless of the outcome from their current consultation on a proposed internet Social Media ban for children under the age of 16 (here) – they will still “impose some form of age or functionality restrictions” even if they stop short of a full ban.

Godshill Locals Frustrated After Removal from Gigabit Broadband Contract UPDATE

28th April, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Godshill Parish Council (GPC) in the New Forest National Park of Hampshire (England) has revealed that UK ISP Wessex Internet has “taken the decision to cancel the planned build” of a new gigabit-capable broadband network in the rural area, although there’s some confusion over the reason for this move.

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Public Accounts Committee Launch Inquiry into Regulation of UK Broadband

27th April, 2026 (0 Comments)

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is responsible for examining the value for money of UK Government projects, programmes and service delivery, has announced the launch of a new inquiry that will examine the effectiveness of current regulation when applied to the water, energy and broadband internet connectivity sectors.

Mobile-broadband-UK-operator-network-speed by 123rf

Streetwave UK Find Peak Time Gaps in Southwark’s Mobile Broadband Capacity

24th April, 2026 (4 Comments)

Network analyst firm Streetwave has today shared the results from a recent study they conducted, which tested the mobile broadband coverage and speed of 4G and 5G networks (EE, Three UK, Vodafone and O2) in the Central London district of Southwark. The results found performance drops significantly at high footfall locations during peak times.

Project Gigabit BDUK Funded Digital UK Broadband Map

April 2026 Contract Progress for UK Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout

23rd April, 2026 (8 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has today released their April 2026 update on the delivery progress of contracts that have been awarded under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme. The update reveals that some 250,000 contracted premises (up from 227,310 in Mar 2026) have so far been covered out of a planned total of 1,047,200.

Telecoms Operators Accused of New Tactic to Reduce Rents on UK Mast Sites UPDATE

22nd April, 2026 (2 Comments)

A new report has claimed that telecoms infrastructure providers in the UK’s mobile network sector are using “new tactics” to secure more favourable lease renewals on mast sites. The tactic is said to be enticing landowners to negotiate without professional representation (i.e. risking agreements that reduce rents or overlook key protections).

BT Expect to Fix Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Break on Orkney by Tomorrow UPDATE

17th April, 2026 (6 Comments)

The UK telecoms operator, BT, has confirmed that the subsea cable repair ship (Pierre de Fermat) they contracted to resolve the recent fibre optic break between Evie on the Orkney Mainland and nearby Westray, which disrupted local broadband and 4G mobile connectivity, is set to be fully resolved on Saturday (18th April).

SNP 2026 Manifesto Dangles Possible Subsea Fibre Cable to Shetland Islands

16th April, 2026 (4 Comments)

The Scottish National Party (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) has today published details of their 2026 Manifesto for the 7th May election, which among other things calls on the UK Government to “introduce affordable broadband social tariffs” and pledges to commission a feasibility study on the idea of running another subsea fibre link to the Shetland Islands.

Tax on uk broadband and IT by 123rf ID39017489

Full Fibre UK Broadband Networks Face Sharp Fibre Tax Hike on Network Bills

16th April, 2026 (13 Comments)

The Government’s Valuation Office (VO), which has just become part of HMRC, appears to have begun hitting builders of fibre optic broadband networks with an increase in the rateable value (RV) of their fibre infrastructure (aka – Fibre Tax), which in some cases has hiked costs by up to around 30%. Not ideal given the well known strains in the sector right now.

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Wessex Internet Tweak Project Gigabit Broadband Rollout for the New Forest

14th April, 2026 (3 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has tweaked their Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract with rural ISP Wessex Internet for the New Forest area in Hampshire (Lot 27.01). The change reduces the number of contracted premises it was due to reach from 15,120 to 12,733 and similarly decreases the contract value (public subsidy) from £17.4m to £16.3m.

Openreach engineers at work on rural grass verge

Openreach Take on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Contract for North Shropshire

14th April, 2026 (7 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has issued a second announcement today to confirm that the previously stalled Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract for North Shropshire (Lot 25.02), which was originally held by Freedom Fibre until they “mutually agreed to descope the remaining 8,500 premises” in June 2025 (here), has also been taken on by Openreach (BT).

Dumfriesshire FTTP Engineer Up Pole - Openreach

Openreach Take on UK Project Gigabit Broadband Contract for West Herefordshire

14th April, 2026 (0 Comments)

In a somewhat expected development, the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has confirmed that the previously stalled Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract for West Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean (Lot 15), which was originally held by FullFibre Limited until they “mutually agreed to terminate” it in May 2025 (here), has been taken on by Openreach (BT).

Study Finds Mobile Coverage in Caerphilly Boosted by VodafoneThree Merger

14th April, 2026 (0 Comments)

Network analyst firm Streetwave has published the results from a recent survey they conducted into mobile network coverage and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speed across Caerphilly in Wales, which involved two surveys over an 18-month period and revealed a strong post-merger boost for Vodafone and Three UK (VodafoneThree). On the flip side, O2 actually suffered a decline.

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BDUK Require Greater Clarity for Removing Premises from Project Gigabit Broadband Contracts

12th April, 2026 (2 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has notified suppliers (network operators) to its £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme that they will, from 14th April 2026, be required to provide more details of the reasons for removing homes / premises (UPRNs) from the scope of an existing deployment contract.

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Openreach Takes on Project Gigabit Broadband Contract for Derbyshire Peak District

10th April, 2026 (4 Comments)

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has today confirmed that the previously stalled Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contract for the Peak District (Lot 3.01), which was originally held by FullFibre Limited until they “mutually agreed to terminate” it in May 2025 (here), has now been picked up by Openreach (BT).