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Articles for Category Tag - USO

UK Ranks 5th in 2019 EU Broadband Connectivity Progress Study

11th June, 2019 (7 Comments)

The European Commission has published their 2019 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which uses data from 2018 to reveal how the UK’s fixed line broadband and mobile networks compare with the rest of the EU. This year we jumped in overall rank from 6th to 5th out of 28 countries but are only 10th for connectivity.

Ofcom Set March 2020 Launch for 10Mbps UK Broadband USO

6th June, 2019 (46 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed the final details for how the new 10Mbps+ (1Mbps upload) Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband – to be supplied by ISPs BT and KCOM – will be delivered and work once it’s introduced from 20th March 2020.

Cross-Party MPs Launch Another UK Rural Broadband Inquiry

29th May, 2019 (9 Comments)

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has launched a “short” inquiry that aims to examine the remaining problems with gaining access to superfast broadband ISP connectivity, mobile signals and accessing digital-only services in remote rural parts of the United Kingdom.

Ofcom 2019 Report – Avg. Home Broadband ISP Speeds Hit 54Mbps UPDATE

8th May, 2019 (19 Comments)

The national UK telecoms regulator has today published their 2019 study of fixed line home broadband ISP speeds, which reports that the average download rate has risen from 46.2Mbps last year to 54.2Mbps now and uploads hit 7.2Mbps (up from 6.2Mbps). But the gap between urban and rural areas has worsened.

Ofcom Finds Full Fibre Broadband Available to 7% of UK Premises

2nd May, 2019 (23 Comments)

Ofcom has published a Spring 2019 update to last year’s Connected Nations 2018 report, which uses more recent data to provide the latest coverage statistics for UK mobile and fixed line broadband networks. The key change is that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage has risen to 7% (i.e. over 300K premises in the last 4 months, nearly 1.8 million total).

Lords Report Propose Fixes for Poor UK Rural Broadband and Mobile

27th April, 2019 (47 Comments)

A new cross-party report from the House of Lords Select Committee on the Rural Economy has warned that rural communities across the UK are still being “ignored and underrated,” with many still suffering from poor fixed line broadband ISP and mobile network connectivity. But they also recommend some possible solutions.

Ofcom Updates on Plan to Boost UK Full Fibre Broadband Investment UPDATE

29th March, 2019 (10 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today set out more detail on how they intend to change market regulation in order to promote competition and investment in the roll-out of Gigabit capable “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks, which will support the Government’s ambition for “nationwide” FTTP coverage by 2033.

Final Ofcom Plan for 2019-20 Confirms Mobile and Broadband Changes

25th March, 2019 (7 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their final annual plan for 2019/20, which summarises all of the major work they intend to do this year (e.g. boosting mobile coverage, new consumer protections, implementing the 10Mbps USO for broadband and promoting investment in “fibre” networks etc.).

Calls for New Pre-Brexit Rural Broadband Strategy from UK Gov

1st March, 2019 (20 Comments)

The Rural Services Network (RSN) are today leading calls for the UK government to produce an “urgent comprehensive strategy for rural areas” in preparation for Brexit, which among other things demands more investment to boost the “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband roll-out and stronger mobile coverage targets.

Scotland Create Infrastructure Commission to Build 30 Year Strategy

11th February, 2019 (5 Comments)

The Scottish Government has today completed the establishment of a new Infrastructure Commission for Scotland (ICS), which aims to develop a 30 year strategy in order to advise on improvements across key infrastructure areas such as transport, energy, water, broadband (internet) and telecoms.

The Top 391 Fastest and Slowest UK Local Areas by Broadband Speed

22nd January, 2019 (13 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has used data from its broadband ISP speedtest to both identify some of the UK’s fastest local authority areas for average download speed (Broxbourne on 32.5Mbps) and some of its slowest “black spots” (Orkney islands on 3Mbps) for 2019. But network availability may tell a different story.

2018 H2 – UK Superfast Broadband Coverage Slowly Edges to 96%

7th January, 2019 (18 Comments)

A new independent model has estimated that the coverage of fixed “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) ISP networks across the United Kingdom has grown to 95.8% at the end of 2018 (up from 95.3% in H1 2018), while “full fibre” (FTTP/H) networks now reach 5.47% of premises (up from 3.82% in H1).

Party of Wales Criticises Welsh Government for 2 Year Broadband Delay

5th January, 2019 (9 Comments)

The Party of Wales (Plaid Cymru) has criticised the Welsh Government (WG) over delays to their “fast broadband” roll-out project (Superfast Cymru), which they claim means that some parts of the country “will not see any work done to install broadband connections for almost two years.”

Watered Down £150m N.Ireland Broadband Project Faces Uncertainty

4th January, 2019 (12 Comments)

Back in 2017 the Conservative UK government committed £150m to “help provide ultra-fast broadband” (100Mbps+) across Northern Ireland, which formed part of a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to secure the support of their MPs. But the plan now focuses upon 30Mbps+ speeds and is stuck in limbo.

Real Estate Firm Tells UK Farmers to Build their own Broadband

3rd January, 2019 (21 Comments)

Real estate company Strutt & Parker has suggested that UK farmers, many of which aren’t exactly swimming in lots of spare cash, should consider investing to build their own “private” broadband networks instead of waiting for whatever the Government’s 10Mbps+ Universal Service Obligation (USO) will deliver.

2018 Infrastructure Report Shows State of UK Broadband and Mobile

18th December, 2018 (3 Comments)

Ofcom has released their annual infrastructure report, which reveals that just 2% of the UK (677,000 premises) cannot access a 10Mbps capable fixed line broadband ISP service (down from 4% in 2017), while “full fibre” (FTTP) is available to 6% (up from 3%) and geographic coverage of 4G mobile has hit 66% (up from 43%).

One Year Extension for UK Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme UPDATE2

14th December, 2018 (13 Comments)

The UK Government’s Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme, which offers grants worth up to £350 for rural homes and businesses that are unable to get at least a 2Mbps download speed (i.e. helps them to get a faster ISP connection installed), appears to have been extended again until the end of 2019.