Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents many of the UK’s alternative broadband ISP networks, has announced that their efforts through the previously announced Infrastructure Sharing Group (ISG) have now resulted in the creation of a new infrastructure sharing venture – supporting the use of 500,000km of “spare fibre capacity“.

The issue of infrastructure sharing has been somewhat of a bugbear for the industry in recent years, particularly in locations where several operators may be overbuilding each other and duplicating new fibre infrastructure due to the lack of effective access to existing infrastructure.

At present Openreach (BT), as the incumbent network operator with Significant Market Power (SMP), are already required to share access to their existing cable ducts and poles via the Ofcom regulated Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product – many rival networks use this. But PIA isn’t viable in every location and the market would thus sometimes benefit from a complementary solution, which could further reduce the need for new trenching and telecoms poles etc.

Outside of PIA accessible areas, infrastructure sharing often comes down to the ability to reach commercial agreements between competitors, which is naturally problematic. Put another way, if you’ve invested significant money to deploy a new full fibre network, and you’re a smaller operator that is already taking on a lot of risk, then you’re often dis-incentivised to give rivals a free ride to use what you’ve built.

The ISG within INCA has thus been working to develop a new framework for infrastructure sharing between altnets, which is intended to complement Openreach’s PIA product. This will enable asset owners amongst the independent broadband market to commercialise the ducts, poles and dark fibre that they own by establishing a common means of sharing their infrastructure with others in the altnet sector, as well as mobile operators, datacentres, tier one carriers and hyper-scalers, who are increasingly putting out tenders for ducts to support their own operations.

Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Networks and Chair of INCA’s ISG, said:

“We’re ready to share our infrastructure and maximise the assets we own for the benefit of our sector as well as the mobile industry and data centres who will now have access to the assets we’ve invested in to deliver gigabit capable broadband across the UK.

Pivotal to making this happen has been the establishment of an Infrastructure Sharing Framework that has put in place a common standard product definition, set of terms and conditions, and commercial and legal documents to support this new marketplace.

Not only will this venture enable asset owners to get the best ROI from their infrastructure, it also has the potential to significantly reduce the disruption that comes about from the duplication of telegraph poles and ducts. It has been estimated that there is currently some half a million kilometres of spare fibre capacity that has not previously been easily identified.

This will save Altnets money, accelerate fibre deployment across the UK and potentially reduce further need for completely new ducts and poles. It will also provide asset seekers with a cost-efficient infrastructure solution compared to investing in such assets themselves.

It also opens up a significant new market opportunity for Altnets, including a slice of the £100m backhaul market in the mobile industry. Asset owners can decide who they wish to share their infrastructure with and the commercial terms. They also have full control over access to their networks and chambers.

We acknowledge the public and government concerns sometimes about construction of new physical infrastructure, and we hope this framework will reduce the need for that, where Openreach PIA is not available.”

Asset owners and seekers can now “register free of charge” with INCA to take advantage of the new venture, which includes access to the standards and the full range of documents that support third-party use of existing fibre assets. Through INCA’s recently signed partnership with AssetHub, users will also be able to access maps that show the location of these assets.

Sadly, the announcement doesn’t include a list of the initial twenty supporting altnets (we have asked and will report back), but this is overall still a very positive move. The downside is that it would have probably had a bigger impact had it existed a few years earlier, although the existence of this venture may still allow some altnets to expand their coverage and without needing to make a huge investment into new infrastructure build.

ISPreview touched on the issue of infrastructure sharing a few times when we interviewed INCA’s CEO, Paddy Paddison, earlier this year (here).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network benchmarking firm Opensignal has reported that they’ve seen the “first measurable improvements” in their data from the recent merger between mobile operators Vodafone and Three UK, which appears to indicate that VodafoneThree is delivering some “significant coverage” improvements and “faster speeds” (mobile broadband).

Just to recap. VodafoneThree’s post-merger plan involves investing £11bn into upgrading the UK’s 5G mobile infrastructure and coverage over the next decade, while also delivering improvements by combining spectrum and existing 4G infrastructure / mast sites (here, here and here). The combined business has previously stated that it aspires to reach more than 99.95% of the UK population with their 5G Standalone (5GSA) network by 2034 and push fixed wireless access to 82% of households by 2030, among other things.

The merged company has already begun to deploy the benefits of their combined spectrum and joint network roaming via their new Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN), which helps customers to connect to whichever mast/service gives them the best signal. For example, in August 2025 they revealed that the feature had gone live via a total of 600 mast sites, with 9,000 to follow by the end of the first year of the merger being formed (i.e. March 2026).

Similarly, the operator has previously claimed that 7 million Three UK customers have experienced an average 20% boost in 4G (mobile broadband) speeds since they began the multi-year process of fully combining both networks.

What does the new study say?

Based on Opensignal’s early data, once full integration is completed, Three UK users are expected to see around a 13% improvement in “Coverage Experience” (Opensignal’s own metric for measuring network coverage), while Vodafone users will see a 7% increase. For the 5G “Coverage Experience“, the uplift is projected to be much greater — a 92% improvement for Vodafone users and 7% for Three UK users.

Post-merger, Vodafone and Three UK users are also said to be experiencing “improved reliability” in areas of existing coverage, while Three UK users are measuring “improved download speeds“. For example, Three’s network saw the metric for Download Speed Experience increasing by an impressive 8%, from 43.16Mbps recorded in Q2 2025 to around 46.72Mbps as recorded in Q3.

Similarly, both Vodafone & Three UK users are said to be “experiencing more reliable networks post-merger“. Three UK users saw a strong increase of 20 points from Q2 2025 to Q3 2025, going from a Reliability Experience score of 876 points (on a 100 to 1000 point scale) to 897 points in Q3 2025. Vodafone users saw Reliability Experience scores improving by a respectable 10 points from Q2 2025 (887 points) to Q3 2025 (897 points).

Opensignal defines Reliability as the ability of their users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) network tasks.

“These early results highlight that Vodafone and Three’s network sharing is already delivering more than just expanded coverage. Users are seeing faster speeds and more dependable connectivity, marking the first concrete benefits of integration. Together, these gains position VodafoneThree as an increasingly competitive player in the UK mobile market,” said Opensignal.

The rollout of MOCN-enabled sites is expected to conclude around 2033, as both operators upgrade sites via either software or hardware enhancements. But as we’ve previously reported, full convergence into a single core network remains a longer term target and one that doesn’t yet appear to have a solid date attached (here). It will be interesting to see how things progress over the next few years.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

American network supplier ScaleFibre, which manufactures and delivers optical fibre connectivity kit and cables to broadband operators, has announced that they’ve established ScaleFibre UK Ltd as part of their expansion into Europe. Giving digital network builders in the UK another option to consider.

The new entity is said to enable direct import, warehousing, and distribution of ScaleFibre’s full range of optical fibre cables and connectivity systems within the United Kingdom (inc. regulatory compliance under UKCA and CE marking requirements), supporting hyperscale, telecom, industrial, and infrastructure projects across Europe’s largest data-centre market.

The London-based operation gives ScaleFibre a permanent logistics and technical base in the UK, which means faster lead times, as well as better local support, and engineering expertise. The company said they intended to focus on high-density loose-tube and ribbon cables, MPO and MTP assemblies, and optical infrastructure for hyperscale and carrier networks. These systems support 400G, 800G, and emerging multi-terabit architectures, with compatibility across legacy and next-generation fibre types, including hollow-core and multi-core designs.

Daniel Rose, CEO of ScaleFibre, said:

“Our customers in Europe want access to quality, flexibility, and speed of delivery for optical fibre connectivity. Establishing a UK presence means we can respond faster, support large-scale deployments locally, and bring the same challenger mindset.”

A mainland EU distribution and technical centre is also being planned for later in 2026, which should complement the London operation and provide coverage across both regulatory zones.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband, phone and mobile operator Manx Telecom (MT), which is the primary telecoms network for premises across the remote Isle of Man, has announced that their free email service (Manx.net) is to be migrated to a new platform run by Junara. But customers that wish to continue using the service will, from 21st Jan 2026, need to pay £65 a year (or £6.50 per month).

Unfortunately, Manx are by no means the only internet provider to replace their free email platform with a paid or semi-paid one in recent years, with both TalkTalk and Plusnet being two of the most recent UK ISPs to follow a similar sort of trend (here and here). Most internet providers stopped advertising email as a package feature many years ago (plenty of freemail choices these days), and thus most of the users that remain are often legacy ones.

Manx claims that the move will enable them to “focus on [their] core telecommunications offerings,” while at the same time appearing to suggest that the transition is also about “protecting islanders from scams“. But the operator acknowledges that, for over 25 years, it has “subsidised the Manx.net service, providing it free of charge” and that “technology and security requirements have evolved significantly” since then.

In short, Manx Telecom indirectly indicates that they’re no longer willing to acquire the “increasingly specialised expertise” and commit the extra infrastructure investment necessary to maintain their current approach. As a result, Junara (a brand of Atmail), which has been providing the technical platform for Manx.net for several years, has now assumed full ownership and customer support responsibilities.

What this means for customers

If you wish to keep your @manx.net, @isleofman.com, or @isleofman.org email address: 

• Go to www.manx.net — type it directly into your browser (don’t click any email links). 

• Register with Junara between 21 October 2025 and 20 January 2026. 

• Choose your plan: £65 per year (discounted from £79) or £6.50 per month (discounted from £7.50).

• Payment options: Register now and pay later (by 20 January 2026), or pre-pay during sign-up. 

• Once registered and paid, your email service will continue without interruption.  

Important dates 

• Registration window: 21 October 2025 – Tuesday 20 January 2026 

• Subscription starts: Wednesday 21 January 2026 

• Suspension period: 21 January – 20 April 2026 

• Permanent deletion: Tuesday 21 April 2026 

Accounts not registered and paid by 20 January 2026 will be suspended from 21 January 2026. 
A grace period for reactivation runs until 20 April 2026, after which accounts will be permanently deleted on 21 April 2026. 

However, if maintaining your Manx address isn’t absolutely essential, then a better course of action would be to use this time to adopt one of the many free email (Outlook/Hotmail, Gmail etc.) platforms that already exist.

Gary Lamb, CEO of Manx Telecom, said:

“We have been proud to support the Island community with Manx.net for more than two decades. Transitioning the service to Junara, who already power the platform, ensures customers can continue using their @manx.net email address with specialist management. This change protects customers and the service itself for the long term, while Manx Telecom continues to focus on fibre broadband, mobile networks, and business connectivity for the Isle of Man.”

As we’ve said many times before, it’s always wise to use a separate email service from the one provided by your broadband and mobile provider, not least because it can make it harder for you to switch providers (i.e. you run the risk of losing access to your address) and email services aren’t usually regulated (i.e. there isn’t much support for those who experience difficulties).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband and telecoms giant BT (Openreach) has been fined a total of £9,000 at the Barrow Magistrates Court in Cumbria (England) after Westmorland and Furness Council (WFC) brought a successful prosecution against the operator for carrying out roadworks “without permits“, while also “failing to reinstate the road adequately“.

The offences are said to have taken place during January 2025 in the parish of Seathwaite, within the Lake District National Park. The company, which we assume to actually be Openreach (only BT is named), carried out significant roadworks, installing more than 3 miles of underground duct and 20 carriageway chambers, albeit “without following correct procedures for closing the road or with appropriate permits in place“.

Just to make matters worse. The council had earlier “refused the issue of a permit” because several of them would have been needed to cover the whole works and road closures then also became a requirement, “without which the works would be considered dangerous“. The works performed also left the road in an “inadequate state and not at the required standard“.

Cllr Peter Thornton, WFC Cabinet Member for Highways, said:

“We don’t like having to prosecute utility companies as we recognise the important work they do. However, we do insist that this work is done to a proper standard, to strict health and safety regulations and that permits are properly applied for.

We will continue to demand the highest standards from anyone working on the public highway in Westmorland and Furness.”

The operator, which pleaded guilty, ended up being charged under Section 71 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and Regulation 19 of the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007, which has over the years been used to levy similar fines against various other broadband operators (recent examples here, here and here).

As well as being fined, the company was also ordered to pay the council’s costs of £5,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000. We have asked Openreach to comment and await their response. Credits to one of our readers, Graham, for the news tip.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today banned yet another direct mailing advert for alternative full fibre broadband ISP Zzoomm, which occurred after it was found that the mail was NOT “obviously identifiable as a marketing communication” and misled recipients about the importance of its content.

In short, Zzoomm sent out a direct mail (letter) to homes in some of their deployment areas, which on the front was marked “Important notice. Disruption in your area” – indicating some urgency. But the letter inside said: “Not the disruption you were expecting…But it’s the best kind. Homes across your area are switching to faster, more reliable Full Fibre broadband from Zzoomm – loving the difference…”.

Issues like this one have cropped up before. For example, ISPreview recently ran a piece that questioned the boundary between ethics and advertising when using exactly this sort of tactic (here), which often makes such letters look like an urgent government, police or HMRC communication etc. Unsurprisingly, the ASA noted how five people complained about Zzoomm’s similar letter and promptly upheld those complaints.

In its response, Zzoomm agreed with the concerns raised and pointed out that the relevant marketing campaign was designed and distributed by a team that no longer worked with them. The campaign was conceptualised in April 2025, before a new team was appointed in June 2025, following their merger with FullFibre Limited (here). “They had no knowledge of the campaign and therefore did not review it. They said that, had they been given the opportunity, they would not have circulated the campaign,” said the ASA.

ASA Ruling (REF: G25-1297639 Zzoomm plc)

The ASA considered that the text “Important notice. Disruption in your area” implied that the letter received was an official communication related to an interruption of service in the recipients’ local area. We further considered that the text “Important notice” indicated a sense of authority to recipients. We also noted the appearance of the envelope, which was brown and windowed. We considered that this further contributed to the overall impression that the circular was official correspondence.

While we acknowledged the presence of the Zzoomm logo on the envelope, we considered that, the inclusion of branding alone was not sufficient to make clear the commercial nature of the communication, particularly when presented alongside wording that suggested an important service update.

In that context, we considered that the contents of the envelope would be understood to contain a formal notice about potential disruption to the recipients’ usual broadband service in the local area. Furthermore, we understood that Zzoomm had previously carried out infrastructure improvements in the relevant areas, and we thus considered that furthered this impression.

The letter stated “Not the disruption you were expecting…But it’s the best kind. Homes across your area are switching to faster, more reliable Full Fibre broadband from Zzoomm […]” and “Broadband disruption… but for all the right reasons”. We considered that, once opened, most recipients would understand that the letter was a marketing communication promoting Zzoomm’s broadband offering. However, because that text was not visible without opening the letter, we considered that it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.

Because the ad implied it contained an important notice about broadband disruption in the recipient’s local area and did not make its commercial intent clear from the outset, we concluded that the ad was misleading and breached the Code.

The ruling is important because it sends a clear signal to the rest of the industry that it is not appropriate to adopt this sort of tactic with Direct Mailing adverts. This is likely to impact a number of other providers (e.g. like the one we previously highlighted in our aforementioned article) as some of those communications were even less obviously promotional than Zzoomm’s.

As usual the ASA banned the advert in its current form (a move Zzoomm had already taken) and told the internet provider to ensure that their ads were “obviously identifiable as marketing communications, and that they did not mislead consumers by presenting them in a way that implied they were important notices about broadband disruption“.

We should point out that this is not the first time Zzoomm has been at the wrong end of the ASA’s ban hammer (here), albeit previously for a different issue.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative network operator Elevate, which back in April 2025 secured the contract to build a new “hyperfast” full fibre broadband network in the Merseyside (England) town of St Helens (here), has today revealed that they’ve made “substantial progress” on the deployment with 4,874 metres worth of fibre already installed.

Elevate, which are using their own engineers, added that this means they’ve already completed the subducting required for the project and laid over 99% of the track, helping to pave the way for faster internet speeds and better reliability for residents and businesses in the town centre – less than six months after the project began.

The new network, which is said to be supported by funding from the previous Government’s £3.6bn Town Fund Programme (details), is being built on behalf of the St Helens Borough Council and its Digital Infrastructure Programme. “The network will significantly increase internet speeds and reliability for residents and businesses across the Town Centre,” said Elevate’s original announcement.

The deployment itself adopts a “Dig Once” strategy, which typically reflects the wide reuse of existing cable ducts, street furniture and other infrastructure to run new fibre (i.e. reducing the need for new street works). Projects like this tend to focus on building a full fibre network to connect local public sector sites, rather than individual homes and businesses, although the latter may often follow via additional private investment.

We should point out that the central part of the town is already partly covered by gigabit-capable broadband from Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media (O2), with outer areas also being reached by various alternative networks.

Councillor Keith Laird, St Helens Borough Council’s Cabinet Member, said:

“We’re really pleased with the rapid progress that’s been made, and the reception from businesses and residents across the town centre who recognise the social and economic benefits this project will deliver. The new full fibre network is essential digital infrastructure which will help to make us one of the most digitally connected towns in the region.

We’ve also been working with Elevate to absolutely maximise the social value of this project, providing new opportunities and better connections for hundreds of people across the borough.”

Elevate has also been working proactively with local institutions and community interest companies to extend the impact of the project, such as via a £30,000 contribution to Thrive, which will fund targeted services for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). The operator also donated £10,000 to St Helens Borough Council to cover the cost of 800 lessons through the Tute ‘Virtual School’ program.

Finally, the operator is providing a free, lifetime 1Gbps internet connection to the St Helens Coalition of Disabled People (Buzz Hub), based at Nuttall House.

The Council were supported in the development of the Project by Digital Infrastructure experts CJ Founds Associates, who helped to develop the Commercial Case and Contracting Strategy.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Internet provider TalkTalk has today continued their efforts to boost the take-up of their home broadband services by launching their self-proclaimed “lowest ever price” on a 900Mbps full fibre (FTTP) package, which drops it from £38 to £30 per month on a 24-month minimum term for new subscribers.

The package also includes a wireless router, free installation, built-in HomeSafe online security (inc. features like KidSafe, scam site filtering, and protection from malicious content). But as usual it’s worth noting that customers will be subject to the provider’s mid-contract price hikes policy, which raises the monthly price by £3 every April (i.e. £33 from April 2026 and then £36 from April 2027).

So far as we can tell, the £30 offer appears to be available regardless of whether you’re covered by their CityFibre or Openreach based networks, although TalkTalk hasn’t said how long they’ll keep offering the package at this price point to new customers.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The CEO of Hull-based alternative UK network operator MS3, Guy Miller, has today announced his intention to “step away” from the company at Christmas after an “incredible four years“. The provider’s full fibre (FTTP) broadband network currently covers 234,000 premises (212k RFS) in the North of England and has connected 20,000 customers.

The provider, which offers access to its network at wholesale for retail ISPs to harness, has become known for helping to weaken KCOM’s grip on the broadband market in Hull (East Yorkshire). But in recent times they’ve also had to slow their network build in order to focus more on commercialisation of their existing network, due to wider market pressures (here).

Guy’s full statement doesn’t explain why he’s leaving, although that’s not uncommon when bosses depart.

Guy Miller said:

“A couple of weeks ago I announced internally that I will be stepping away from MS3 at Christmas. It’s been an incredible four years, but the time is right now for this amazing local business to be run by an incredible local team.

In that time we’ve secured over £100m in investment, taken the business to over 20,000 customers and 200,000 RFS, signed 40+ wholesale partners including recently Zen Internet and PXC, we’ve won Fibre Provider of the Year twice in a row and set the record for most award wins; we’re maintaining an amazing 4.8 stars on Trust Pilot, we’re debt-free, about to have our first EBITDA+ year and are fully funded to cashflow positive.

Not only that but we have done this all in the one part of the country that everybody said was impossible to compete in. The monopoly is on its way to being over.

We’ve built one of the most sustainable, efficient and dynamic altnets in the UK and with a ruthless focus now on commercialisation, it is the right time to put the business in Tony Jopling’s extremely capable hands. As someone who has spent his adult life passionately working in telecoms in Hull, there is no-one better to ensure MS3 reaches its full potential.

Every day our team work to improve the financial position of their neighbours, of their friends and of their families who for years in the area have been overcharged and had no choices when it came to broadband. It’s fitting that the business is now again run by an amazing leadership team made up of local people who understand what their communities really need.

I will leave at the end of the year with a little part of me left behind in Hull.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The collaboration will see thousands of sites rolled out across the company from early next year

This week, Wind River has revealed its selection by Vodafone to help deploy Open RAN in Germany and the rest of its European markets.

The partnership covers the use of Wind River® Cloud Platform as the containers-as-a-service (CaaS) layer, which Wind River says allows for the “development, deployment, operation, and servicing of distributed edge networks at scale”.

“Vodafone continues to advance and collaborate with the industry in realizing the promise of Open RAN. We’re proud to extend our partnership to enable the next wave of large-scale deployments,” said Paul Miller, chief technology officer, Wind River. “Wind River Cloud Platform delivers the scalable, distributed cloud infrastructure service providers need to run next-generation networks efficiently.”

The news follows Vodafone Group’s ‘Spring 6’ announcement earlier this month, which provided an update on the company’s ongoing RAN refreshment strategy. The update said that the company would continue to lean on Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia for its transition to 5G Advanced, but would bring in Samsung as a strategic vendor for the deployment of Open RAN across Europe.

Germany will be Vodafone’s first market to implement Open RAN at scale, with Samsung reportedly set to equip “thousands of sites” throughout the country. The first Open RAN site is already live in Hannover, with Wismar planned as the first city fully equipped with Open RAN from spring 2026.

Thousands more Open RAN sites in other markets are planned for deployment over the course of the five-year investment programme.

How is the German connectivity landscape changing in 2025? Join the industry in discussion at Connected Germany 2025

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