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Articles for Category Tag - Politics

Airband Contracted to Rollout FTTP Broadband in East Cheshire

15th January, 2021 (6 Comments)

The Cheshire East Council in England has awarded a new publicly funded contract, worth about £4.5 million, to UK ISP Airband in order to help extend gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband to a further 4,100+ homes and businesses in some of the hardest to reach (e.g. rural) areas.

First Projects in Wales Benefit from £10m Local Broadband Fund UPDATE

13th January, 2021 (4 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has today named the first projects to benefit from their new £10 million Local Broadband Fund (LBF), which aims to help bring “fast and reliable broadband” ISP networks (often FTTP powered) to some of the country’s most poorly served rural communities.

Study Claims UK Gov’s Digital Inclusion Strategy Missed Targets

13th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

A Rouge Media study has found that the UK Government may have failed the targets set in their 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, which among other things aimed to reduce the number of people offline by 25% every 2 years (and by the end of 2020, everyone who can be digitally capable, will be). But only a 16% fall was achieved.

9 New 5G Tech and OpenRAN Trials Secure £28m of UK Funding

13th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Government has unveiled an additional nine UK technology trials under the 5G Create scheme, which reflects a total investment of £28.3m to help test various new 5G based broadband and wireless technologies and use cases. The biggest winner this time around seems to be Open Radio Access Networks (OpenRAN).

Bundle of optical fibers with lights in the ends. Blue background.

Full Fibre Coverage Checker Live for N.Ireland’s Project Stratum

12th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Northern Ireland Executive (DfE) has today announced that a new address level postcode checker is now available, which enables people to check eligibility and availability for when the new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network will reach them under the £165m Project Stratum rollout.

PAC Warns UK Gov Failures Mean Rural Gigabit Broadband Delays

8th January, 2021 (29 Comments)

A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has identified a “litany” of failures in the Government’s (DCMS) £5bn Gigabit Broadband Programme (F20), which it warns will result in “business and homes in rural areas” being “locked out of gigabit broadband for years to come.”

UK Mobile Operators Confirm No Change to Free EU Roaming

29th December, 2020 (32 Comments)

As expected all four of the UK’s primary mobile network operators, including Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE (BT), have now confirmed that they have “no plans” (yet) to remove free roaming when the UK fully leaves the European Union on Thursday 31st December 2020 this week.

Airbus May Move OneWeb Satellite Manufacturing to UK After All

27th December, 2020 (11 Comments)

Space firm OneWeb, which is owned by a consortium of the UK Government and Indian conglomerate Bharti Global (here) and is in the process of building a mega constellation of “high-speed” broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), may move their Airbus supported manufacturing base to the UK.. eventually.

Op-ed by Matt Warman MP – Next Steps for the UK Gigabit Broadband Programme

23rd December, 2020 (0 Comments)

The pandemic has led to the migration of vast swathes of our daily lives to the internet, accelerating a process which many forecasters predicted wasn’t coming for another few decades.

Devon and Somerset UK Award Phase 2 FTTP Broadband Contracts

23rd December, 2020 (4 Comments)

The Connecting Devon and Somerset team will be hoping that the third time is a charm after they awarded £80m worth of contracts for Phase 2 of their delayed “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) rollout project, which sees 6 LOTS being split between three suppliers (Airband, Truespeed and Wessex Internet).

New Project Bringing Wireless Broadband to Rural Parts of Angus

22nd December, 2020 (1 Comment)

A new project between the Angus Council, SmartRural and UK ISP Rapier Systems in Scotland looks set to help bring “high speed broadband” connectivity to some of the county’s remotest rural residences and businesses via a new gigabit-capable Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network.

Cross Party UK MPs Criticise 2025 Gigabit Broadband Target UPDATE

22nd December, 2020 (9 Comments)

The DCMS Select Committee of cross-party MPs has today published the results of their inquiry into the Government’s £5bn pledge to ensure that 85%+ of the UK can access a “gigabit-capable” broadband service by 2025 and the role of 5G mobile. Unsurprisingly, they found significant concerns with deliverability.

Draft Strategy for £5bn UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout Published UPDATE

22nd December, 2020 (24 Comments)

The Government has today published the draft procurement strategy for their new £5bn Gigabit Broadband Programme (F20), which is a consultation on their plan to ensure that gigabit-capable networks reach a “minimum” of 85% UK coverage by the end of 2025 (before getting “as close to 100% as possible” thereafter).

OneWeb UK Successfully Launches 36 LEO Broadband Satellites

18th December, 2020 (13 Comments)

As promised space company OneWeb, which is owned by a consortium of the UK Government and Indian conglomerate Bharti Global (here), has today successfully launched their next batch of 36 high-speed broadband capable Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites – built with support from Airbus – into orbit.

GigaTAG List Solutions to Boost UK Gigabit Broadband Take-up UPDATE

18th December, 2020 (3 Comments)

The new Gigabit Take-Up Advisory Group (GigaTAG), which is led by paid consumer magazine Which? and various others (FSB, CBI, Ofcom etc.), has today published their first report that identifies a number of areas where improvements could be made to boost the take-up of 1Gbps capable broadband services in the UK.

£350K Project Brings FTTP to Rural Devon and Somerset Villages

16th December, 2020 (6 Comments)

Several rural communities in mid Devon and west Somerset are gaining access to a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network after UK ISP Technological teamed-up with the Government’s Gigabit Voucher Scheme and the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) project on a £350,000 build.

Man carrying UK optical fibre cable by 123rf ID 37098753

EY Report Proposes Ways to Boost UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout

16th December, 2020 (4 Comments)

A new report from EY has predicted that the United Kingdom will need to increase the pace of its existing “gigabit-capable broadband” rollout by 85% to 10,000+ premises passed per day in order to meet even the recently reduced 2025 coverage target. But a holistic, end-to-end approach, could help by boosting both supply and demand in tandem.