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London-focused network operator and ISP Vorboss, which runs a 100Gbps speed full fibre network in the UK’s capital city, has today announced the expansion of their managed service and cybersecurity offerings via two strategic acquisitions – Optimity (managed services) and 40fi (cybersecurity), and an investment in Layer8 (network management for commercial real estate).

Just to recap. The operator has so far completed the deployment of a 700km long dedicated point-to-point fibre optic network across Central London (covering most of zones 1 and 2), which we’re told is enough to connect all commercial buildings in the area to their direct internet access and Ethernet network.

The company’s latest strategic move – acquiring three additional businesses across the associated sectors for an undisclosed sum – is thus intended reflect the growing demand for comprehensive, resilient services from a single partner – particularly in light of the increasing complexity of cybersecurity threats and IT infrastructure.

The deal includes 40fi, a cybersecurity business, and Optimity, a provider of managed IT services. Together, these acquisitions bring an additional 80 experienced professionals into the Vorboss team, enhancing the company’s ability to deliver end-to-end solutions for London’s businesses. Vorboss has also welcomed the hundreds of customers that Optimity and 40fi serve across the UK today.

In addition, Vorboss has also invested in Layer8, a software platform that enables building operators to automate, manage, and monetise their networks. Designed for commercial real estate environments, Layer8 gives building managers, managed service providers (MSPs), and non-technical users simple, secure control over on-site network infrastructure.

Tim Creswick, CEO of Vorboss, told ISPreview:

“Vorboss has a long history in managed services, but for the last 6 years, our focus has been on delivering the best enterprise fibre network London has ever seen. That has been a huge project, commanding millions of hours of labour from our team, and we are now connecting thousands of business customers to that network – all at 10Gbps and above.

I’m excited that we’re now able to return to some of our managed services roots, with the timely addition of cybersecurity services. These are things that our customers and partners ask us about all the time. As operators of extensive, high-capacity infrastructure, we have a huge amount of real expertise in-house already, so customers know that they’re getting advice from real practitioners, not just consultants.”

Customers of the provider will now gain the option to purchase a complete suite of managed IT, cybersecurity, and connectivity services – either bundled together or individually, to suit their requirements. Vorboss will also extend these new capabilities to their channel partners, enabling them to expand their own offerings.

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Geemarc Telecom, which specialises in the manufacture and sale of products that help hearing-impaired and visually impaired users, has produced an interesting new twist on the humble Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA) that allows people to plug their old home phone handsets directly to a 4G mobile broadband network. But that isn’t its only trick.

The UK is currently going through a significant shift in digital communications services, which among other things includes the turbulent withdrawal of more traditional analogue telephone methods (PSTN / POTS) in favour of digital internet (IP / VoIP) based alternatives. For many people, this means plugging their old home phone(s) into the back of a broadband router instead of the wall socket.

Failing that, if your router can’t do this or your ISP won’t supply it, then you can always buy an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) device (e.g. Grandstream HT-802) for around £50, which acts as a VoIP bridge between your router and old phone handset(s). You could also buy a dedicated VoIP / IP phone handset (e.g. Yealink SIP-T33P), but that’s not necessary (these will usually connect to your router via a LAN port or WiFi).

However, Geemarc has recently introduced a new twist on the ATA – the CL2000 4G telephone adapter, which doesn’t need to connect via your existing home broadband router and instead connects directly to a 4G mobile network of your choosing (take note that some – not all – sellers ship it with an EE sim, but the device is designed to work with any mobile operator).

The CL2000 is essentially a mini mobile (MiFi) router and ATA in one unit, which means that it can also operate as a limited Wi-Fi hotspot (max speed of 150Mbps) for your other devices. On top of that, Geemarc also had the good idea of including a 4000mAh back-up battery into the unit in case of a power cut (10 hours in use or 40 hours in standby).

Setting all of this up to use a mobile phone number is practically Plug & Play, although it’s likely to be a little bit more involved if you want to retain your existing home phone number. Some third-party services do exist for transferring your home phone number to a 4G SIM card, but novice users may require some help with all this and the approach can mean extra costs.

Geemarc informs ISPreview that they began bringing the CL2000 to market a few short months ago and will be selling them on Amazon within the “next few weeks“, although we’ve seen a few unfamiliar retailers selling them for around the £65 mark (inc. VAT). The fact this device is portable also helps to safeguard against changes of Care Home room or addresses, as you’d simply take it with you (assuming the new location gets a mobile signal).

Despite the positives, we do find ourselves wishing it included a LAN (Ethernet) port, as well as an extra phone socket, and we couldn’t see any mention of being able to work directly with custom VoIP providers/profiles. We’re trying to clarify the latter point at the moment (will update later), as the ability to input your own VoIP / SIP account details is usually a key function for a good ATA.

Admittedly it’s technically already possible to use a regular ATA with a 4G/5G mobile network, but this would require the home broadband router you’re connecting with to actually support mobile data (either directly or via a USB dongle) and is overall a more complex setup. The above device does this without all of that, which is very handy, but obviously the seeming lack of VoIP / SIP profiles is a shortcoming.

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The UK internet content and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed changes that will require phone providers to withhold the Caller ID (CLI) of calls that appear to come from a UK mobile roaming abroad unless they can verify its validity. The goal is to tackle scam calls by cracking down on number “spoofing“.

Just to recap. Most of the country’s major broadband, phone and mobile providers have already implemented various technical measures to tackle Nuisance Calls and Scam Calls. But these aren’t always 100% effective, and not all operators have introduced the same level of protections. Suffice to say, there’s still plenty of scope for improvement, and so Ofcom have been gradually introducing further changes.

For example, at the start of 2025 the regulator implemented changes that aimed to block scammers who call from abroad and imitate UK landline numbers (i.e. spoofed calls), which imposed stricter measures against “Presentation Numbers” (here). The move was useful because otherwise potential victims might trust a UK number more than an international one, and thus related calls are more likely to be answered.

However, the above change only worked for landlines, and today’s new proposal is intended to extend that to tackle spoofed mobile numbers. This is because there is currently an exemption from blocking calls from abroad that display a UK mobile caller ID, which exists to allow people who are roaming abroad to display their number to family and friends when they call them.

Ofcom’s research reveals that, in February 2025, 42% of phone users said they received a suspicious call in the last three months and people are more trusting of calls coming from UK mobile numbers (+447) than they are of calls from withheld or international numbers. Some 26% said they were likely or very likely to pick up a call from an unrecognised UK mobile number, compared to just 9% who would answer a call showing an international number with an unrecognised country code.

Marina Gibbs, Ofcom’s Policy Director for Networks and Communications, said:

“Customers endure a barrage of scam calls, and when people get caught out, the consequences can be devastating. It can happen to anyone, with criminal gangs in other countries trying to exploit people when their guard is down.

The work we’ve collectively already done has led to a million calls a day being blocked, but there’s no silver bullet, and we’re always looking for new ways to shore up our defences in the fight against fraud. These new measures would provide further protection for people in the UK.”

Ofcom’s Proposal

UK communications providers should withhold the Presentation Number of calls that appear to come from UK mobile users roaming abroad, except where they can verify the validity of the caller.

We are proposing to amend our CLI Guidance to set out how we expect providers to process calls from abroad that appear to come from UK mobile (+447) numbers.

When these calls first reach a UK provider (including entities acting as international gateways), the provider should modify the call’s CLI data to mark the CLI Presentation Number as ‘withheld’.

UK providers should have arrangements in place with their roaming partner networks so that calls to the UK that their customers make while roaming abroad are routed via the customer’s ‘home’ network (i.e. the network of the UK provider in question). After the call’s Presentation Number is marked as withheld, the home network should then modify the CLI data of calls from customers who are genuinely roaming abroad, so that the call recipient can see who is calling them, where technically feasible (and unless the caller has elected to withhold their number).

This two-step process will remove the ability of scammers outside the UK to present a spoofed UK mobile (+447) Presentation Number to people and businesses in the UK. This is because no home network will be able to verify the validity of these calls and therefore the Presentation Number will appear as withheld.

We expect the effect of this measure to be that UK people and businesses receive significantly fewer calls from scammers that appear to come from UK mobile users, although scammers may still be able to send messages from UK SIMs which they manage to source and use from overseas destinations. In turn, this will reduce the likelihood that people engage with scam calls and lose money.

Ofcom intends to consult on this until 13th October 2025 and will then publish their final decision during “early 2026“. After that, UK mobile operators would be given 12 months to introduce the changes, which is needed to “give providers the opportunity to modify agreements with roaming partner networks to have their customers’ calls routed via the UK provider’s network, where such agreements are not already in place“.

The challenge in all of this invariably stems from the inherent problem of implementing such rules without also over-blocking legitimate calls and messages. But this should become easier once all such services have gone digital (IP-based) as new methods will then become viable (e.g. CLI Authentication [CLIa] – here).

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Digital entertainment platform Netgem TV has this morning announced that their IPTV box and service, which is usually bundled by broadband ISPs like Brsk, TalkTalk, CommunityFibre, Wightfibre and others, has expanded its range of FAST Channels to total 250 across the UK, France, Switzerland and Gibraltar.

The set-top-boxes that Netgem provide – like the Netbox 4K (inc. HDR, bluetooth pairing, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB and Dolby Atmos sound) – tend to be similar to some of those supplied by rival video streaming companies and include an often-familiar array of premium content, apps (iPlayer, itvx, 5, UKTV play, Amazon Prime Video etc.), live TV channels (Freeview) and catch-up content.

Like a lot of those other streaming platforms, Netgem also includes support for Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels, which are special dedicated channels that tend to only offer content and schedules based on either a single TV show or theme.

The main development today is that Netgem has recently partnered with various new content distributors, such as Rakuten TV, Zee, Global Fan Network and others. This development expands Netgem’s offering to include a total of 250 FAST Channels.

Sylvain Thevenot, MD of Netgem Pleio, said:

“Netgem FAST Lane’s momentum continues by forging deeper ties with Rakuten TV and Banijay Rights, alongside exceptional new content from partners like Zee Entertainment, GFN, and VOD365. This proves the attractiveness of our distribution model with Telecom Operators”.

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Ofcom has today warned that “traditional public-service TV is endangered” as more UK broadband users turn to online streaming platforms like YouTube. The regulator has thus published a new six-point action plan to tackle this, which includes urging broadcasters to make their content “easy to find and discover” on third-party platforms.

In 2024, the regulator states that 60% of all individuals viewed YouTube videos over their home broadband connection. Recent growth was driven by viewing on connected TVs with 42% of in-home YouTube viewing on the TV set (up from 34% in 2023) now that more than seven in ten households have connected TVs.

In addition, older audiences are also increasingly turning to YouTube, for example 75 year-olds and over now watch an average of ten minutes of YouTube a day (an increase of 46% since 2022). Suffice to say that the old model of content distribution, such as via terrestrial signals or specially controlled platforms (e.g. Freely), is under “serious threat” and requires some adaption.

Audience choice is now wider than it’s ever been, while broadcasters are experiencing fundamental financial challenges and structural change in the advertising market. And in this environment, public service broadcasters are finding it much harder to fund the production and distribution of quality UK content to all audiences.

However, Ofcom warns “there is no silver bullet that will address the challenges that the sector is facing“, and so they’ve proposed six recommendations – requiring a collective effort from public service broadcasters (PSB), social media and video sharing platforms, the Government, and of course the regulator itself.

Ofcom’s Six Point Action Plan

1. Prominence and discoverability for PSM content on the third-party platforms that audiences increasingly turn to. To deliver on this:

➤ The PSBs need to keep adapting to audience preferences by constantly challenging themselves to test and iterate new ways of distributing and creating content for diverse audience groups.

➤  It is critical that the PSBs and YouTube work together to ensure that PSB content is prominent on its service, and on fair commercial terms. This is important for PSM to continue to connect with all audiences, particularly for news, which supports democracy, and for UK children’s programming which helps young audiences learn and grow.

➤ The Government should consider whether this needs to be underpinned by legislation. This would require significant work but would give prominence for PSB content on YouTube statutory backing, just as the Media Act provides PSB players prominence on connected TVs and other devices.

➤  More widely, the Government may wish to explore prominence for news on social media and other platforms, even though implementation would be complex and would need to reflect the different ways that platforms promote content to users. In the meantime, the PSBs need to work with other VSPs and social media platforms to ensure their content is available and easily discovered by users.

2. Stable and adequate funding to sustain a broad range of PSM content, including trusted and accurate news, and programmes that showcase the diversity of the whole of the UK and bring the country together:

➤ Stakeholders have called for a range of measures to support funding for PSM content like levies and changes to tax credits to fund specific PSM genres. It is for the Government to consider these, and to lead work on the future funding of the BBC through its Charter Review. However, if there is to be new funding we recommend that it should prioritise genres that are socially valuable but commercially less viable and attract lower advertising revenues, such as news, local news and children’s programming.

➤ Content creators need to earn a fair return for their work on third-party platforms, including when used to train GenAI services. The Government is considering responses to its consultation on AI and copyright. The CMA has also recently opened a consultation on Google Search, which includes a number of potential interventions that should help improve commercial terms for content creators who rely on search.

➤ Ofcom’s regulation will continue to support the provision of content that reflects the diversity of the UK – particularly in the nations and regions – including through targeted and proportionate quotas.

3. Urgent clarity on how TV will be distributed in the future.

The PSBs are required to be universally available. As viewers increasingly move online, they have to broadcast over Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) while also investing in distribution across multiple platforms. In this context, delivering content over DTT is quickly moving from being one of the PSBs’ most valuable benefits to a significant cost. These resources could otherwise be used to both create PSM content and experiment with strategies for engaging all audiences in a rapidly evolving sector.

➤ Last year Ofcom published a review of the options for the future of DTT including implications for spectrum use and digital infrastructure. We said a decision by Government would be needed within the next two years and we continue to believe a decision in early 2026 would allow sufficient time. A later decision risks undermining the investment and innovation needed to put universal TV distribution on a sustainable footing inclusive of all audiences.

4. More ambitious partnerships amongst the PSBs.

Modern media organisations need technology to reach audiences and compete with global platforms who they depend on in some cases to reach viewers. Scale is critical for the PSBs’ and domestic broadcasters’ ability to connect with all audiences in a fast-moving sector:

➤ The PSBs (and other UK providers) will need to be ambitious in pursuing new strategic partnerships – in technology and how they reach audiences.

➤ Regulators, including Ofcom, need to assess any mergers or partnerships in the context of an up-to-date assessment of market conditions, recognising there continues to be fundamental change in the sector.

➤ In its Creative Industries Sector Plan the Government has asked the CMA, supported by Ofcom, to assess how sector changes could affect the approval of “strategic partnerships or possible consolidation between broadcasters which may benefit their financial sustainability and audiences.”

5. Investment in media literacy is vital for everyone’s ability to use digital services and to understand and critically engage with news and content.

Media literacy is, defined as the ability to use, understand and create media and communications across multiple formats and services. With the emergence of new technologies (including new forms of AI) the media landscape is only going to get more complex and personalised. Broadcasters are in a unique place to support audiences to critically engage with news content from a range of sources, distinguish fact from fiction, provide transparency about how they establish facts and raise awareness about conspiracy theories and prevalent fraud schemes. To help audiences develop their media and digital literacy skills:

➤  The PSBs need to invest and contribute to media literacy in the UK and use their distinctive and trusted relationship with audiences to give them confidence to use digital services.

➤  The BBC plays a further role, supporting media literacy through its children’s education initiatives. It is also considering how it can further support young people’s digital literacy skills so they can better assess trusted information and recognise disinformation.

➤ Alongside broadcasters, online platforms including social media and VSPs, should enable media literacy by design. This autumn Ofcom will publish a Statement of Recommendations under the Online Safety Act, setting out how online platforms and broadcasters can empower their users to understand and engage with online media and services.

➤ Ofcom has longstanding duties to promote media literacy and support others to carry out media literacy activities. But when it comes to the curriculum and education spending, it is for Governments – in Westminster and the nations – to ensure that the modern education system gives children and adults the skills they need for the future.

6. Streamlined regulation which strips away any outdated unnecessary restrictions.

The majority of the current legislative and regulatory framework was designed for a linear world. It needs a fundamental review to determine what is required to support audiences as they shift their viewing and listening online and to encourage growth and innovation.

➤ Ofcom is already implementing the Media Act which provides critical support for the PSBs, in particular through giving them greater flexibility to meet their obligations across their linear and online services and making their on-demand players prominent on connected TVs.

➤ We are also working with Government on its BBC Charter review which will play a central role in supporting the future of PSM.

➤ In parallel, we will review our regulation of broadcast TV and radio. We will seek input from stakeholders about the priority areas for reforming regulation and supporting the future provision of PSM content. We will look at what further reform is needed to ensure regulation supports all audiences benefitting from PSM content in the future and how we can ensure audiences are protected from harm wherever they are. This may involve legislative change as well as changes to our regulation.

➤ Before the end of the year, we will publish a comprehensive call for evidence on the work we are intending to do.

If no action is taken, Ofcom states that “the very existence of the PSBs will be threatened” and that “time is running out to save this pillar of UK culture and way of life“.

Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Ofcom’s Broadcasting and Media Group Director, said:

“Public service media is stitched into the cultural fabric of UK society. It starts conversations, educates and informs, and brings us together in moments of national importance.

But in a world dominated by global streaming platforms, public service media risks becoming an endangered species, and time is running out to intervene to protect it.

Our six-point plan would involve collective action from broadcasters, online platforms, the Government and Ofcom. It maps out a clear route that would help sustain public service media for the future.”

The issues that Ofcom are touching on above naturally flow into the often-divisive debate over the future of TV distribution in general (here) and at what point it may become necessary to start switching off the old terrestrial signals in favour of a broadband-only delivery model. Not to mention future funding and the TV licence fee, which is always a “fun” topic and still the subject of much debate.

The PSBs currently support a transition to IPTV in the 2030s as it is becoming increasingly challenging “to bear double costs from running multiple distribution platforms”. However, without intervention, by 2040, some 5% of homes (1.5 million) are currently forecast to still be relying on digital terrestrial television via the airwaves.

The regulator clearly warns that the time for debating such issues is fast running out, and the time for decisions is now upon the government. “Without PSBs there would be significantly less UK content and there is a risk that society becomes ever more fragmented and polarised,” claimed Ofcom. But taking those decisions will undoubtably come with a whole can of worms.

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The National Farmers Union (NFU) has published the results from their annual digital access survey of 661 members (conducted between February and March 2025), which found that just 33% of farmers had access to “fibre broadband” speeds and nearly one out of ten respondents have no 4G or 5G mobile access.

Farmers naturally tend to work in some of the United Kingdom’s most sparse and remote rural areas, which frequently end up being last on the list to be upgraded (if they’re improved at all), due to the economic challenges of building expensive networks to cater for so few users over a wide area. As such, the fact that they suffer a greater proportion of connectivity problems will come as no surprise, but the digital divide has shrunk a lot in recent years.

The new survey further reveals that 21% of farmers have fixed broadband speeds under 10Mbps – compared to the national average of less than 1%, while only 22% report getting reliable mobile signal across their entire farm. Yet nearly all respondents say mobile signal (98%) and broadband (91%) are important for their business.

The coverage of both mobile and fixed broadband services does of course continue to improve with every passing year, but this won’t mean much to those who are waiting for better connectivity to arrive. Admittedly in some areas it’s also possible that a better service could already exist, but that the locals may not have realised yet (awareness is still a common issue), although the NFU’s survey doesn’t examine this.

Additional Survey Highlights

➤ 54% of respondents believe that the mobile signal they receive is sufficient for the needs of their business

➤ 63% of respondents believe their broadband speed is sufficient for the needs of their business

➤ 61% of respondents access the internet through their mobile

➤ 33% of respondents have “fibre” (the survey doesn’t define if this includes both FTTC and FTTP)

➤ 7% of respondents have a download speed of 2Mbps or less

➤ 12% of respondents are reached by “ultrafast” broadband (this is not defined in the news summary)

The Government would no doubt argue that they’re continuing to improve mobile and broadband connectivity, such as via the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project to improve 4G connectivity that recently delivered on its first target ahead of schedule and will continue to expand its reach until January 2027 (here).

The goal of the SRN is to expand 4G coverage to 90% in England, 74% in Scotland, 80% in Wales and 85% in N.Ireland when looking at coverage from all MNOs combined (i.e. you can get a signal from all of EE, O2, Vodafone / Three UK in these areas). This might not seem all that good, but true universal coverage would cost billions more and mostly end up reaching empty space (doesn’t pass the value for money test).

On top of that there’s the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme, which aims to help extend gigabit-capable fixed broadband (1Gbps+ downloads) coverage “nationwide” (c.99% of premises) by 2032, although this target was recently put back by two years after originally aiming to deliver it by 2030 (here). Finally, there’s the goal of delivering 5G Standalone (SA) coverage “for all populated areas” by 2030 (here), while VodafoneThree aim to reach 99.95% UK population coverage of their 5G SA network by 2034 (here).

Rachel Hallos, NFU Vice-president, said:

“We have been consistently told by government that food security is national security, but to deliver on that farmers need the right tools.

Right now, poor connectivity is holding back the full potential of British farming. We welcome the government’s investment announced in the Spending Review, but these delays risk leaving rural farms disconnected for longer.

This isn’t about asking for special treatment. It’s about fairness. Rural businesses, families and communities deserve the same opportunities as everyone else – and that starts with being properly connected.”

The NFU is now calling on the government to “deliver mobile and broadband connectivity to rural areas“, not least by asking for Shared Rural Network (SRN) to remain a priority. Farmers also want all broadband delivery support schemes to be applicable to all types of broadband – “not just fibre” (alternatives like fixed wireless or mobile broadband are specifically mentioned), as well as better and more widely available rural and agricultural specific digital skills training, and for “clear times to be laid out” to ensure that delivery targets are being met.

The previous government was in the process of examining support options for very remote premises and had also been preparing to review the 10Mbps broadband Universal Service Obligation (here), which may bring some changes in the future (the Labour Party previously called for a 30Mbps USO). But the change of government may have delayed that effort and the recent 10-Year Industrial Strategy didn’t provide much in the way of new information.

Failing that, farmers can today also consider exploring the option of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based satellite broadband service – Starlink from SpaceX is pretty good, if you can afford it and look past the ‘Musk’ factor. But improving connectivity in rural areas isn’t merely the responsibility of governments and network operators to resolve.

For example, rural landowners sometimes battle and demand higher rents for the installation of new mobile masts – causing delays and higher costs, while local community members frequently object to such deployments due to their visual impact on the nearby landscape.

Suffice to say, it’s easy to demand improvements, but you also have to be open to the fact that a lot of the needed infrastructure is not going to be invisible. Sometimes it’s possible to hide and conceal such things, but sometimes it’s not, and trying to do so might make the whole deployment economically unviable. The NFU doesn’t touch on this though.

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The TalkTalk Group has confirmed to ISPreview that a further batch of their UK customers are being migrated to Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) as part of a recently agreed partnership, which follows a similar move by the provider’s Origin Broadband base a couple of months ago (here).

Customers of TalkTalk, which seemingly includes quite a few that were acquired as part of last year’s deal to gobble Shell Energy’s broadband base from Octopus Energy (here), this week suddenly began posting that the provider had notified them of being migrated to UW.

The message informs customer that, as part of TalkTalk and UW’s partnership, they’ve agreed that “selected TalkTalk customers will be transferred to Utility Warehouse, where they can continue receiving uninterrupted broadband, award winning support and benefit from Utility Warehouse’s extended services“.

The message continues to say that related broadband and home phone contracts were “transferred” to UW on 30th June 2025 (i.e. customers were only notified of this afterwards, instead of before). “However, TalkTalk will continue to support you and handle any queries you have regarding your service,” on UW’s behalf, at least “until your account has been fully moved across to them later this year“.

TalkTalk added that there would be “no immediate changes” to the package price and service.

A TalkTalk spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We have agreed to transfer a small number of customers on standalone and legacy products to Utility Warehouse. We are contacting those customers now to advise them but they don’t need to do anything and won’t see any changes for the time being. We will contact them again later in the year, before the migration, but there will be no interruption to services.”

The provider didn’t define exactly what they meant by “small number of customers“, which is relevant for an ISP that is home to over 3 million users. But the move appears to have been a strategic activity focused on non-core and legacy customer bases, which may enable them to migrate more seamlessly to the newer Kraken platform (here).

The TalkTalk Group has of course also been dealing with various wider challenges, which last year saw them accept a refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here). This saved the group from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (i.e. extended debt maturities to September 2027), but still left them with the challenge of needing to fix their foundations. Since then they’ve also had to contend with payment disputes and reports of a possible sale (here, here and here). Never a dull day.

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The UK communications regulator has today launched a couple of new consultations to set future regulation for the wholesale markets that enable landline and mobile phone calls. A number of changes have been proposed as part of this, although most of them are fairly minor or merely confirm a continuation of the existing approach.

The first consultation – open for feedback until 10th October 2025 (final decision due Q1 2026) – focuses upon call termination rates and will cover the period from April 2026 to March 2031. When someone calls a UK phone number, the caller’s network provider pays a wholesale charge to the recipient’s phone company for connecting the call. This is known as a ‘termination rate’.

Ofcom are proposing several measures to “promote competition between call providers and ensure customers can make and receive calls across mobile and landline networks“. Most notably they are proposing to maintain the current price caps for termination rates (0.0365 pence per minute for landlines and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to inflation.

In addition, the regulator wants to “simplify some of our rules” and to remove a specific obligation (the End-to-End Connectivity Condition) that applies only to BT, which was initially intended to enable new entrants to secure quick market entry through BT’s established connectivity arrangements with the rest of the market. “This is because the market has evolved and there are alternative options available,” said Ofcom.

Ofcom’s Proposals for Call Terminations

To continue to set caps on the charges for terminating calls to landlines and mobile phones in the UK. Without these proposed caps, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination. This is because an originating provider has no other choice than to buy the termination service from the terminating provider.

To keep the proposed caps for mobile and fixed call termination at their current nominal levels throughout the review period, until March 2031. We propose to maintain the current caps (0.0365 pence per minute for fixed and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to a measure of inflation, as this is more likely to reflect the costs borne by industry in offering these services going forwards. This would also avoid the need for operators to conduct an annual revision of domestic charges in their billing systems and incur consequential costs.

To continue to impose network access conditions for all providers offering fixed call termination and mobile call termination.

To continue to impose additional remedies on BT relating to its provision of fixed call termination and associated facilities but remove conditions relating to legacy technology. These remedies include a requirement not to unduly discriminate, various transparency requirements and financial reporting requirements. These remedies are justified in light of BT’s position in the market as the largest provider of fixed call termination and an important interconnection partner for other fixed providers. The conditions we propose to remove have become redundant because BT no longer provides call termination services on its legacy network.

To continue to set a cap on termination rates for calls to 070 numbers (also known as personal numbers) equivalent to the proposed cap for mobile termination rates. Without the proposed cap, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination of calls to 070 numbers, with potential adverse consequences on end-users (for example, artificial inflation of traffic through fraud and bill shock).

To revoke the End-to-End (E2E) Connectivity Condition with effect from 1 April 2026. We propose to revoke the access-related condition requiring BT to purchase termination from other providers on reasonable request and on reasonable terms and conditions, including charges.

In addition, Ofcom are also consulting on free-to-caller numbers (those beginning 080 and 116) until 26th September 2025. Such numbers are typically used by businesses, charities and public sector organisations and can have important social uses, such as for helplines. They remain very common. Ofcom are required by law to review these and are merely proposing to maintain them.

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Alternative network provider and UK ISP Truespeed has today confirmed that they’ve “agreed in principle” to merge with County Broadband in order to create a single operator covering 177,000 premises (RFS) and 40,000 customers. Both operators have built full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks across various rural parts of England.

At present Truespeed is mostly focused upon serving rural premises in parts of Devon, Wiltshire and Somerset, where they’ve already covered over 109,000 premises (RFS) and are home to over 24,000 customers. But the operator originally held an “ambitious” overall target of reaching 500,000 properties, although that took a hit after some job losses and a build slowdown (here and here).

Meanwhile, County Broadband has been busy rolling out their own FTTP network across rural parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in England (i.e. they’ve been building to over 250 villages, but we haven’t had any detail on premises passed or take-up). The operator once held a similar ambition of reaching 500,000 premises, but that too suffered a setback in 2023 after they confirmed redundancies (here).

Suffice to say that both operators are known to have been under many of the same strains as other players in the wider UK market (i.e. rising build costs, high interest rates and competition). As a result, we weren’t surprised when several sources informed us last year that the pair were working toward a merger agreement (both are backed by Aviva), although it’s taken until now for them to finally confirm the development.

The merger brings together two “highly complementary networks and teams“, combining Truespeed’s presence in the South West with County Broadband’s footprint across East Anglia. The combined entity – Truespeed Communications Group Ltd – will serve 177,000 fully Ready-For-Service premises, with 40,000 customers already connected to the network and will be led by James Lowther (Truespeed’s current CEO).

James Lowther said:

“This merger represents an important milestone for both companies and for rural broadband in the UK. Both companies have invested extensively in building ultrafast broadband for underserved parts of the country. Now, we’re coming together to ensure those networks deliver the best possible experience for our customers — today and for decades to come.”

John East, Chairman of County Broadband, said:

“We’re proud of what we’ve built at County Broadband, and this merger is the logical next step for our business and our customers. Together with Truespeed, we’ll be able to even better serve our communities and help to bridge the digital divide.”

The new group is said to have the “full backing of Aviva Investors Limited” and its “focus will be on combining the strengths of both businesses to optimise future growth within its existing footprint“. In practice this means a greater focus on growing customer take up, unlocking operational efficiencies, enhancing customers’ experience and “[providing] an even stronger platform for future investment and further consolidation.”

Following completion (we’re told this will occur in August 2025), customers of both providers have been told to “expect a seamless transition” with “no change to their current services“. Both businesses will also continue to trade under their own names for the “immediate future“. But there was no word on any fresh investment, plans for future network expansion or the possibility of a revamped wholesale offer to help rival ISPs access their network.

Crucially, the combined network is still relatively small in terms of premises passed (it may become a target for consolidators), although the rural nature of both networks does mean that they have quite a wide geographic reach.

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After much debate, the UK telecoms regulator has today agreed to reduce the total amount paid by the primary mobile network operators – EE, O2 and Vodafone / Three UK – to use the 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz radio spectrum bands by around £60m per year. The bands support the use of 2G and 4G mobile (mobile broadband) services.

The cost of Annual Licence Fees (ALF) remains a highly divisive subject for the mobile operators, which often complain that hikes in this area can mean price rises for consumers and less investment going toward their networks. The cost of such fees can, however, be influenced by various different factors, such as the ongoing removal of 3G services and the desire to make modern 5G services available via the same bands etc. Not to mention any changes in the supply and demand conditions since the fees were set.

In case anybody has forgotten, Ofcom, which was prompted by evidence submitted via BT, has been investigating a “material misalignment between our fees and the underlying market value of the relevant spectrum” since early 2024. Back in December 2024 this resulted in a proposal to reduce the ALFs for the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands by 21% (here), while fees for the 2100MHz band would increase by 12%.

The mobile operators were clearly unhappy with Ofcom’s approach and several complained of errors in their calculations, as evidenced through feedback published in April 2025 (here). But the good news today is that the regulator’s final decision has updated the calculation and indicated that operators will now save an estimated combined total of £60m a year (up from the prior proposal of £40m).

Ofcom’s ALF Decision

We have decided to revise the ALFs we charge for mobile spectrum as follows:

• For 900 MHz spectrum, we will reduce the ALFs to £1.032m per MHz (a 26% reduction from current levels).

• For 1800 MHz spectrum, we will reduce ALFs to £0.760m per MHz (also a 26% reduction from current levels).

• For 2100 MHz spectrum, we will increase ALFs to £0.722m per MHz (a 6% increase from current levels).

Overall, this will reduce the total ALFs that MNOs pay from around £325m to around £265m, a reduction of 18%.

These changes to ALFs give effect to the proposals set out in our December 2024 consultation, with modifications to:

• reduce the lump sum values (“LSVs”) we consulted on by 5% to account for a potential modest reduction in spectrum values since the last two UK auctions, and to ensure that we set LSVs conservatively; and

• reduce the annualisation rate from 6.38% to 6.33%, primarily to reflect an updated view on the inflation risk premium and inflation expectations.

In addition, as we proposed in our February 2025 consultation, we have decided to:

• allow the MNOs to pay ALFs in 12, rather than 10, monthly instalments; and

• change the date on which fees for the 2100 MHz spectrum become due, to align with the date on which fees become due for 900 and 1800 MHz spectrum.

Ofcom hopes to ensure that “spectrum is used efficiently” by aiming to set their ALFs based on an estimate of the forward-looking market value of the spectrum in each of the bands, although some mobile operators like Three UK still think the whole concept of ALFs should be “abolished” (here). But for now it appears as if the regulator intends to continue with the above approach.

“While the amount of money saved by each mobile network operator will vary because they hold different amounts of spectrum in each of these bands, all operators will benefit from these changes, strengthening their ability to invest in the UK. We will make the Regulations that will give effect to our decisions later this year,” said Ofcom’s statement.

Separately, the regulator has today opened a new consultation on amending the Mobile Trading Regulations. The proposed change would remove the requirement that mobile network operators pay all instalments of their ALFs before trading spectrum they hold. This would remove a potential barrier to spectrum trading, which could encourage efficient use of spectrum. The consultation will remain open for responses until 12th Sept 2025.