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Articles for Category Tag - USO

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The EU Publishes 2021 Broadband Connectivity Progress Study

12th November, 2021 (10 Comments)

After a long delay due to COVID-19, the European Commission has today published their annual 2021 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which reveals how the EU’s fixed line broadband ISP and mobile networks compare. The UK was removed from this edition due to Brexit, so we’ve used Ofcom’s data to compare.

Ofcom and BT Adopt Changes to Help 10Mbps Broadband USO

11th November, 2021 (33 Comments)

Ofcom has today finalised the changes that were first confirmed in July to improve how BT handles delivery of the UK’s Universal Service Obligation (USO), which aims to bring faster broadband ISP speeds to those who can’t yet receive a 10Mbps+ capable download speed and aren’t planned to do so in the near future.

ISP BT and OneWeb UK Sign Satellite Broadband Distribution Deal

2nd November, 2021 (8 Comments)

UK ISP BT and satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government, have today officially signed a Distribution Partner Agreement that could result in faster low-latency backhaul and broadband solutions for businesses. Further down the line, it may also help to cover rural homes by fuelling Fixed Wireless Access.

BDUK Publish Phase 3 of UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Rollout Plan

29th October, 2021 (21 Comments)

The UK Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) team has today published details on Phase 3 of their £5bn Project Gigabit rollout programme, which will in this phase work to extend 1Gbps capable broadband ISP networks to a further 570,000 premises in rural and semi-rural areas.

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Ofcom 2021 Study – Median UK Broadband ISP Speeds Hit 50Mbps

9th September, 2021 (11 Comments)

Ofcom has published their annual study into UK fixed line home broadband ISP speeds, which reports that the average (median) download rate has risen from 50Mbps last year to just 50.4Mbps now (uploads are unchanged at 9.8Mbps). Meanwhile, the performance gap between urban and rural areas remains a problem.

Ofcom Summer 2021 Update – UK Gigabit Cover Hits 40 Percent

9th September, 2021 (6 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest Summer 2021 report into UK broadband and mobile coverage has revealed that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage is now at 24% (up from 21% in Jan 2021) and 11.6 million homes (40%) are within reach of a gigabit-capable network (up from 37%). Meanwhile, 4G mobile coverage remains stable and there’s still no data on 5G.

BSG Study Examines Gigabit Broadband for Remote UK Rural Areas

16th August, 2021 (7 Comments)

The Broadband Stakeholder Group, which is a think-tank that advises the UK Government, has today published new research from Analysys Mason that examines some of the commercial and technical practicalities of providing faster broadband coverage to areas in the UK that are hardest to reach.

Survey Wrongly Claims 1.3 Million UK Homes Use Satellite Broadband

4th August, 2021 (35 Comments)

A somewhat questionable new survey from Uswitch, which is based on feedback from a nationally representative sample of 4,002 UK adults, has boldly claimed that 1.3 million UK households are already using a satellite broadband connection. But we can’t find anything to substantiate such a figure.

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Gov Publish Next Phase of UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Rollout Plan

2nd August, 2021 (32 Comments)

The UK Government will today publish the next phase (inc. Phase 1a, 1b and 2) of their £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which in this batch aims to spread 1Gbps capable broadband ISP networks to a further 1.85 million rural premises (2.2 million confirmed so far) across 26 counties in England. Gigabit vouchers have also been boosted.

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Ofcom UK Fine BT 42,500 GBP for Inaccurate Broadband USO Data

30th July, 2021 (10 Comments)

Ofcom has today fined BT £42,500 after it ruled that the UK telecoms operator had broken their rules by providing “inaccurate information” in response to a statutory information request, which was seeking data about EE’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband (4G) service for their 2019 Connected Nations report.

Ofcom Tells BT to Improve 10Mbps UK Broadband USO Quotes

16th July, 2021 (32 Comments)

Ofcom’s investigation into BT’s compliance with their obligations under the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband has concluded that “some customers have been asked to pay materially higher amounts than they should have been.” As a result, they’ve asked the ISP to make a few improvements.

2021 H1 – UK Gigabit Broadband Coverage Reaches 42 Percent

7th July, 2021 (21 Comments)

The latest independent study of UK broadband coverage for H1 2021 has estimated that “full fibre” (FTTP) ISP networks have now increased their reach to 24.33% of premises (up from 19.2% in H2 2020), while 41.72% are within reach of “gigabit” speeds (up from 37.4%) and 66.9% can get 100Mbps+ (up from 64.3%).

BT Sign OneWeb Deal to Tackle UK Rural Broadband Slow Spots

27th June, 2021 (21 Comments)

UK ISP BT and satellite operator OneWeb, which is partly owned by the UK government, have reached an agreement that will see the two working together to bring ultrafast low-latency broadband speeds to some of the hardest to reach rural parts of the country, where even their £5bn Project Gigabit programme would struggle to go.

Ofcom Spring 2021 – Full Fibre Covers 21% of UK and Gigabit 37%

12th May, 2021 (9 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest Spring 2021 update for UK broadband and mobile networks has revealed that “full fibre” (FTTP) coverage has grown to 21% (up from 18% in Sep 2020) and 37% or 10.8 million homes are within reach of a gigabit-capable (1000Mbps) network (up from 27%). But sadly 4G coverage has not improved and there’s no mention of 5G.

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.

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.

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.