Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has accused regulators in Europe of harbouring anti-American biases against US tech firms

This article was originally written by Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publication Broadband Communities

It’s choosing time for Europe, at least according to comments from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in a recent interview with the Financial Times.

Carr’s comments came as he accused countries in Europe of protectionism, saying that anti-American sentiment has played a factor in decisions made by European regulators.

“If Europe has its own satellite constellation then great, I think the more the better,” Carr said to the Financial Times, referring to low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology. “But more broadly, I think Europe is caught a little bit between the U.S. and China. And it’s sort of time for choosing.”

Carr’s comments also tried to downplay concerns about Starlink. In the past, Starlink has been criticized for lacking affordability versus the price tag for connections from fiber providers.

“If you’re concerned about Starlink, just wait for the CCP’s version, then you’ll be really worried,” Carr told the Financial Times, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

He also reportedly urged Nokia and Ericsson to move more manufacturing operations to America.

Previously, Brian Hendricks, VP of Policy and Public Affairs for Nokia Americas, has told Broadband Communities that Nokia supports bringing manufacturing back to the United States.

However, he also called Trump’s tariff policies “extremely difficult to predict,” describing the current situation as “a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”

Hendricks said the lack of predictability is causing “a real bottleneck” for those who are excited about the U.S. market’s potential and want to make investment choices but are concerned about recent events.

“So, it’s counterproductive. I think that’s what worries me,” he said.

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Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

UK ISP Plusnet has today introduced a bunch of new Easter discounts across their home broadband plans for new customers, which for example has cut the monthly price of their top 900Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) package to just £36.99 per month on a 24-month term (mid-contract price hikes apply). Plus there’s a £100 reward card thrown-in.

The internet provider’s fibre broadband packages are typically data-only plans (no home phone) that include unlimited usage, a new Hub Two wireless router (re-branded BT Smart Hub 2), UK based support, a 24-month minimum contract term, Plusnet SafeGuard and Protect – both powered by Norton – and free activation.

Take note that, on 31st March each year, the monthly plan price will increase by £3 for broadband and out of bundle charges will increase 5%. We’ve summarised what this means and the latest deals below.

Plusnet’s Easter 2025 Broadband Discounts

Full Fibre 145Mbps (30Mbps upload)
£50 Reward Card (pre-paid Mastercard)
Price: £26.99 per month

Price increases to £29.99pm on 1st April 2026 and £32.99pm on 1st April 2027

Full Fibre 300Mbps (50Mbps)
Price: £29.99

Price increases to £32.99pm on 1st April 2026 and £35.99pm on 1st April 2027

Full Fibre 500Mbps (75Mbps)
£75 Reward Card (pre-paid Mastercard)
Price: £31.99

Price increases to £34.99pm on 1st April 2026 and £37.99pm on 1st April 2027

Full Fibre 900Mbps (115Mbps)
£100 Reward Card (pre-paid Mastercard)
Price: £36.99

Price increases to £39.99pm on 1st April 2026 and £42.99pm on 1st April 2027

Take note that Plusnet also sell a 75Mbps FTTP and SOGEA (FTTC) based broadband tier that starts at £25.99 per month, which also comes with a £75 Reward Card.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Consumer magazine Which? has published the results from their latest UK mobile network satisfaction survey, which questioned 4,153 adults in January 2025 about their chosen operators. Overall, Smarty topped the table with a customer satisfaction score of 82%, while Three UK placed last on just 62%.

The survey itself typically questioned respondents about their experiences across several categories, including network reliability, overall value for money, customer service in general, the speed/ease of getting in touch, incentives, technical support, roaming value for money, download speeds (mobile broadband), communication frequency and quality.

In addition, the survey also ranked each provider by “Customer Score“, which is based on the respondent’s satisfaction and their likelihood to recommend the service. One catch with a survey of this limited size is that they needed at least 50 responses to include a survey result, and thus the sample sizes for some of these operators is considerably lower (less credible) than others. For example, O2 received 804 responses, while 1p Mobile got 54.

Several operators were also awarded the Which? ‘Recommended Provider‘ (WRP) status, which requires them to offer more than just great service to customers and they must also be able to offer prices that are lower than the market average. As for those with the ‘Great Value‘ status, this reflects networks that offer SIM-only deals that are significantly cheaper than the market average, for a good amount of data (mobile broadband).

As usual, most of the largest mobile network operators could all be found near the bottom of Which?’s table, while the top portion was dominated by smaller virtual (MVNO) operators that harness the same networks as the primary / biggest operators. The highest ranked of the primary operators was EE, which scored 71%.

Which? 2025 UK Mobile Awards Results (Customer Score)

RECOMMENDED PROVIDER, Great Value
Smarty 82%

RECOMMENDED PROVIDER
Voxi 81%

RECOMMENDED PROVIDER, Great Value
Talkmobile 80%

RECOMMENDED PROVIDER
Lebara 79%

Tesco Mobile 79%

RECOMMENDED PROVIDER
Giffgaff 77%

Great Value
1p Mobile 71%

Great Value
Asda 71%

EE 71%

Sky Mobile 71%

Great Value
iD Mobile 71%

Vodafone 69%

BT Mobile 68% (no longer available to new customers)

O2 68%

Lyca Mobile 64%

Three UK 63%

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The latest analyst note from Swiss Bank UBS has maintained their long-running “sell” rating on the BT Group and predicted that Openreach could lose 800,000 broadband lines to rival networks in 2025 (up from 707k in 2024). The analyst warned that the operator needed to “deploy fibre faster” to stem the bleed and “accelerate [its] cost-cutting“, otherwise they claim it may face a downside risk to free cash flow in FY26.

“We reiterate our view that BT is seeing rising broadband infrastructure competition that is putting pressure on both Openreach and Consumer revenues and we think Openreach needs to deploy fibre faster,” said UBS. The bank continues to hold BT Group under a “sell” rating and points to a 12-month price target of 120p. The current market price is typically hovering around 165-166p (up from a low of c.105p at this time last year).

The BT Group is currently investing up to £15bn on their deployment of multi-gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology, which already covers c. 18 million UK premises and is building at a rate of around 1 million premises per quarter. Openreach aims to reach 25 million premises by December 2026 and then holds an ambition to cover “up to” 30 million premises by 2030.

In terms of the positives. Openreach has been delivering good take-up of their FTTP network (c.35% – a figure that tends to be suppressed during rapid network builds) and Ofcom’s new Telecoms Access Market Review 2026 (TAR) didn’t propose any radical or hugely negative changes. Rival alternative networks are also under significant financial pressures, and many have had to slow or even pause their network builds. The BT Group also benefits from an established base of several hundred supporting ISPs and plenty of related brand familiarity.

On the flip side, some altnets are continuing to build at a rapid pace (e.g. Netomnia) and others (e.g. CityFibre) are looking to grow significant scale through consolidation. At the same time, those altnets that did slow their builds have instead switched strategies to focus on greater commercialisation, which means more effort going toward pulling customers away from Openreach and BT. The move by one of the market’s largest altnets, CityFibre, to sign-up Sky Broadband to their network is another problem for Openreach (here), although it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have.

At a certain point, Openreach may look to respond by trying to push another round of wholesale price cuts on FTTP lines through Ofcom (i.e. Equinox 3). But BT’s past commitments mean that the earliest we might see this is spring 2026. In the meantime, Openreach may struggle to match some of the prices being charged by altnets, which will themselves no doubt complain that they’re in a vulnerable state and could be put under strain if the incumbent is given more flexibility on pricing (although consumers would benefit from a price war).

The suggestion that Openreach should deploy their FTTP build “faster” is another interesting one to consider, not least because their focus over the next few years will increasingly switch to rural areas and semi-rural towns / suburbs (most of the big urban locations are already very advanced in their coverage). The nature of such locations is that roll-outs tend to slow, and costs rise, as properties become harder to reach and sit further away from exchanges.

One other risk to consider is Virgin Media’s move to open up their newer XGS-PON full fibre (FTTP) network to wholesale in the very near future, which when combined with nexfibre’s coverage (technically a sibling by similar parents) could give Openreach a run for their money (particularly once the XGS-PON upgrades finish in 2028). But much of this will depend upon VM/nexfibre’s ability to offer attractive pricing and terms at wholesale, and we still don’t know exactly how they’ll be positioned.

One final point to make is that analysts are constantly changing their opinions, which tend to vary quite a bit. For example, BNP Paribas upgraded BT to “neutral” last week, Barclays rated them “underweight” earlier in March, Arete upgraded them to “buy” in Feb, Citi downgraded and Goldman recommended “buy” in January etc.

The reality today is that we’re rapidly moving past the mid-way point of the national FTTP roll-out, and the wider market is in a state of some flux. Time will tell how it all pans out.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Multiple cables in the Baltic Sea were severed in November, with authorities initially suspecting deliberate sabotage

Today, Swedish authorities have released the initial results of their investigation into the Baltic submarine cable cuts, saying that there is no evidence of foul play.

“It cannot be determined with certainty whether a Chinese ship intentionally damaged data cables in the Baltic Sea,” concluded the government authority in a statement.

However, a separate probe into the cuts is still ongoing, with deliberate damage by bad actors not being ruled out.

“A lot of [the damage to the cables] is consistent with an accident,” said the head of the investigating authority, Jonas Bäckstrand. “But it is clear that if you want to do something deliberately, you also do it in a way that will avoid detection as much as possible.”

The pair of submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were fully severed in November last year, with the surrounding nations quick to raise the question of potential sabotage.

Following the initial phases of investigation, it was discovered that the Chinese bulk carrier ship Yi Peng 3 was in the area at the time the cable damage occurred. The ship has since been under investigation for dragging its anchor across cables, though whether this was done deliberately or accidentally is unclear.

The two affected cables were the BCS East-West Interlink cable, which connects Gotland, Sweden, and Lithuania, and the C-lion-1 cable between Helsinki, Finland, and Rostock, Germany.

The latter is the only direct subsea cable link between Finland and mainland Europe.

At the time, the German and Finnish governments released a joint statement saying, “We are deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea. The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times.”

“We take all reports of possible damage to infrastructure in the Baltic Sea very seriously. As I said earlier, they must be seen against the background of the serious security situation that prevails”, wrote Finnish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on X in February.

Join us at next year’s Submarine Networks EMEA in London, 27-28 May in London. Get tickets here!

Also in the news:
NOW Telecom’s mobile licence revoked after ‘grossly deficient’ infra rollout
Nokia, Telia, and Finnish military demo 5G network slicing across borders
Anatel approves expansion of Starlink satellite operations in Brazil

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Customers of broadband ISP TalkTalk Business (TTB) are once again able to use the provider’s email service after a protracted service outage, which lasted nearly a full week and appears as if it was caused by a misconfiguration of their Domain Name System / Servers (DNS).

The outage, which started on Wednesday of last week (9th April 2025), didn’t seem to get fully resolved until the start of this week. According to feedback shared via The Register, TTB initially blamed the problem on an unspecified “global outage“, before later admitting to the ironically named ‘Very Good Email Company‘ (TTB customers) that they had “made a mistake in changing the settings for a number of Domains that they host“.

One of TTB’s customers suggested that the problem appears to have been caused after the provider’s name servers were changed to Cloudflare, with no configured DNS records and no ability for users to change those records themselves. But misconfigurations of that sort are normally resolved within hours, rather than days, which leads us to suspect that there may be a little more to it.

We did request a comment from TTB before publishing, but unusually they declined to provide one. The ISP itself remains under strain following the recent demerger and financial challenges (here).

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Partner Article

As the UK’s most geographically diverse digital infrastructure provider, Pulsant champions regional thinking.  Every day, there’s a push for technological innovation to go beyond the M25 and drive the brightest businesses nationwide.

This has led to our focus in the Northern Powerhouse. Pulsant have invested extensively in data centres across Manchester, Rotherham, and Newcastle.  Across all their sites, Pulsant have seen the same thing: a wave of businesses poised to capitalise on digital commerce and artificial intelligence (AI) opportunities, leading to a revival of innovation, employment, and growth.

Manchester takes the lead

It is no surprise that Manchester is set to lead this Northern Renaissance. The UK’s second city recently took the crown of the most AI-ready metropolis [1].

The city of bees now boasts the most AI-related companies outside of London and the most significant number of AI technology-focused events. Opportunities for employment in data science and cloud analytics are a rich seam of possibilities for people seeking careers and a powerful driving force for new learning facilities and courses in AI disciplines.

Flagship initiatives such as the use of AI at Manchester United, collaborating with Manchester Metropolitan University[2], have catapulted Manchester to the forefront of AI discussions. And, tellingly, Manchester lies at the heart of a powerful new northern geography, with Leeds, Salford, and Liverpool all appearing in the top ten AI cities for 2024[3].

Investment in infrastructure

The level of investment in the digital infrastructure that this AI demands has been equally diverse. At one extreme, US investment outfit Blackstone has committed to a £10 billion investment to build a major AI data centre under the QTS brand in Cambois, Northumberland, on the site of a former power plant[4].

Elsewhere, the Singapore-backed Elite UK REIT has submitted a planning application to build an 80MW facility at Peel Park in Blackpool[5]. Blackpool Council is also progressing the Silicon Sands scheme within the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone. This 40-acre data centre cluster has the potential to bring billions of pounds of investment into one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

The driving force behind both these examples – and others – is proximity to both power and connectivity. For example, Silicon Sands is incredibly close to the landing point for the CeltixConnect-2 subsea fibre-optic internet cable that connects the USA, UK, and Ireland. CeltixConnect2 is part of the North Atlantic Loop, which also includes Manchester. That proximity means low latency connection for intensive AI workloads and more.

High-speed, high-capacity connectivity is at the heart of AI – something seen in the 150 networks on the London Internet Exchange (LINX) interconnection fabric hosted at Pulsant’s Manchester facility. Pulsant’s partnership with LINX via their facility in Old Trafford and the LINX Scotland regional interconnection hub based at Pulsant South Gyle enables regional businesses to evolve their network using the connective power of peering and more.

Pulsant and LINX are committed to improving the infrastructure and processes that underpin digital business success and economic growth for every region in the UK.

Networks that connect into an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) like LINX means that the traffic is kept local for lower latency, enhanced performance and increased control amidst a hive of media, content, and enterprise networks.

And make no mistake, it will be AI and the associated advanced data connection and collaboration capabilities that drives the next chapter in the history of businesses in the North.  Data has been referred to as ‘the new oil’.  But, in the case of Northern England, AI is the new industry that it feeds.

The potential of AI and digital business to come to be considered alongside the coal, steel, and manufacturing sectors that have dominated the Northern industrial heritage, is very real – and remarkably close to being realised. The Ren-AI-ssance has begun.

Find Pulsant at stand 47b at this year’s Connected North, taking place at Manchester Central on 23-24 April

[1] See SAS AI Cities Index 2024 – where is the most AI ready in the UK? | SAS UK

[2] See Manchester United aim to use AI for ‘on-pitch advantage’ in university link-up – Manchester Evening News

[3] See SAS AI Cities Index 2024 – where is the most AI ready in the UK? | SAS UK

[4] See Blackstone gets green light for £10bn QTS data center in Northumberland, UK – DCD

[5] See 80MW data center proposed in Blackpool, UK – DCD

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network testing firm Ookla (i.e. Speedtest.net, Downdetector.co.uk) has today published a new study that examines the performance of 5G mobile (mobile broadband) networks across the major UK cities of Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield. But the UK’s capital city was found to be lagging behind.

The new study uses crowdsourced data collected during the first quarter of 2025 via Ookla’s various Speedtest.net linked websites and apps. But it’s worth reminding readers that mobile data performance remains notoriously difficult to pin down because end-users are always moving through different areas (indoor, outdoor, underground etc.), using different devices with different capabilities and the surrounding environment is ever changeable (weather, trees, buildings etc.).

All the above can impact your signal and service quality, and that’s before we even consider other issues like network (backhaul) capacity at different cell sites or differing spectrum ownership between operators and masts. Suffice to say that benchmarking mobile networks can be a bit of a challenge, although Ookla are usually able to collect enough data to produce some meaningful results.

Overall, the new study found that London “lags behind the UK’s largest cities across key 5G performance indicators“, and the gap to top-performing Glasgow seems to be widening. The UK’s capital city was found to be trailing behind other cities for 5G network consistency, median downloads and upload speeds (e.g. London delivered a median 5G download of 115Mbps, which compares poorly with Glasgow’s 184.99Mbps).

On the flip side, median (average) 5G download speeds also fell by more than 7% on average across major UK cities between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. This is speculated to be reflecting the impact of shifting network load from older technologies onto 5G (e.g. the withdrawal of 3G), which contributed to broader improvements in overall mobile network performance in most UK cities during the same period.

Average (Median) 5G Download Speed by Major UK Cities
Glasgow 184.99Mbps
Birmingham 145.09Mbps
Liverpool 142.61Mbps
Manchester 142.24Mbps
Leeds 134.23Mbps
Bristol 130.42Mbps
Cardiff 123.19Mbps
Edinburgh 123.05Mbps
Sheffield 120.98Mbps
London 115.08Mbps
Belfast 114.38Mbps

Mobile users in London were also found to be spending more time in signal not-spots with no service than residents of other UK cities, reflecting “lingering coverage gaps indoors and across key transport routes“. The proportion of Londoners spending the majority of their time in locations with no service has, however, improved significantly due to operators investing in network densification through small cells and upgrades to transport links (e.g. London Underground).

Time spent on 2G networks increased across several UK cities over the last year, including Birmingham and Manchester, as the advancement of the 3G sunset in the UK contributed to greater propensity for 2G fallback.

However, the gap in 5G availability between the UK’s major cities and the national average has significantly narrowed over the past year. For example, Leeds led UK cities in 5G availability, with a 21 percentage point gap above the national average. By Q1 2025, London had taken the lead in 5G availability among major UK cities, and that gap above the national average had narrowed to 13 percentage points.

This trend reflects progress in 5G network expansion in smaller UK towns and rural areas in recent months, which has moved at a faster pace than coverage improvements in larger cities. But sadly we don’t get a more detailed summary of 5G availability across the listed cities, which would have been helpful.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Street works firm M Group, which was last year acquired by private equity firm CVC (here) and also harbours a telecoms (broadband and mobile) focused division, has today announced that they’ve acquired rival UK and Ireland focused technology, telecoms and civil engineering firm Telent for an undisclosed sum.

On completion of the transaction, which is currently still subject to regulatory approval, M Group said they would be “even better placed to tackle the evolving challenges of the ageing infrastructure across the UK and Ireland“, not least by combining M Group’s infrastructure service offering with Telent’s technology and digital solution capabilities.

Telent has somewhat of a “differentiated position” in mission-critical communications, network infrastructure and end-to-end cybersecurity services, which will complement M Group. “It also expands M Group’s reach into attractive adjacent markets, including the public sector, defence, emergency services and education,” said the announcement.

The hope is that bringing Telent into the M Group family will “strengthen longstanding relationships with shared customers“, including Transport for London (TfL), National Highways, Network Rail, Virgin Media / O2, BT, EE and Openreach.

Andrew Findlay, CEO of M Group, said:

“This is a hugely transformative deal for M Group and I am delighted Telent is joining us.

We recognise the strength of Telent’s differentiated capabilities, market position and talented people that make it a great business. With the acquisition of Telent, M Group will be even better placed to deliver essential infrastructure services for life.

Our ambitious growth strategy reflects a combination of organic and inorganic growth and this acquisition builds on our strong track record of strategic M&A. It will enable us to deliver even greater value and expertise to our clients and so help the people, communities and economies of the UK and Ireland adapt to a changing world.”

Jo Gretton, CEO of Telent, added:

“Joining M Group marks an exciting new chapter for Telent, reinforcing our leading position in network and technology solutions.

Telent is a business with a long trading heritage and an excellent reputation. With M Group’s extensive infrastructure expertise and scale, we are well placed to accelerate our growth and continue to be a trusted partner for organisations at the forefront of the digital revolution.”

The civil engineering sector, particularly on the telecoms side of things, has been under a lot of strain recently due to high interest rates, competition and rising build costs. This has in turn has caused a lot of network operators to slow and even pause some deployments as they revaluate their future strategies, which has had a knock-on impact for a lot of linked civil engineer firms (job cuts, contract cancellations etc.). Some of this may well be driving today’s deal.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP EE (BT) has this morning caused a degree of surprise by appearing to reverse last week’s denial (here) and announcing a price increase of £1 per month across their low-cost home broadband social tariffs for those on state benefits (Home Essentials). The provider had previously indicated to ISPreview that no such price increases would be introduced in 2025.

The Home Essentials plans reflect a mix of “fibre” (FTTC/P) and call bundles that are usually only available to those receiving Universal Credit (and certain legacy benefits). The plans included unlimited data, the ability to cancel anytime without penalty and speeds of 36Mbps (dropping back to 16Mbps in ADSL-only areas) or 67Mbps for just £15-£20 or £23 per month respectively. A Call Only (no broadband) plan also exists for £10 per month, while those on “zero income” (no income) only pay £15 for the 36Mbps option.

Last week we reported on how BT had updated the T&Cs on their website to announce a series of changes to their social tariffs, which among other things included a £1 per month price increase on two of their plans (36Mbps and 67Mbps) and the removal of their “zero income” option. The changes were all due to be introduced from 2nd May 2025.

The above came as a surprise, not least because BT had previously made a bit of a song and dance about how their social tariffs would NOT be increasing in price when they confirmed their latest round of annual price hikes in January 2025 (here). BT then responded to the news reports by informing ISPreview that their website was “not correct and [had] been updated in error”.

ISPreview later asked EE / BT to confirm whether it was indeed the case that “none of the changes” previously showing on their T&C pages would be introduced this year. In response, a spokesperson for the operator told us “that is correct” and we then updated our article accordingly.

So, you can imagine our surprise at receiving the following message from EE / BT this week, which confirmed that their broadband social tariff, Home Essentials, would indeed be increasing in price by £1 per month for new eligible customers from 2nd May 2025. In other words, their zero income plan becomes £16, while the Fibre Essentials plan (36Mbps) will now be £21, and you’ll pay £24 for 67Mbps on the Fibre 2 Plan.

A BT / EE spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We’re committed to providing support to our customers when they need it most – so we’re continuing to offer low-income customers a range of connectivity options. From 2nd May 2025, new customers can now join our broadband social tariff Home Essentials, which offers the cheapest quality connectivity for zero income customers from £16 a month. Our yearly eligibility checks ensure we’re offering customers the right tariffs at the right time.”

The provider said they were making the changes to help support their continuing investment in the business and to “bring customers a better, more reliable experience and the best value for money“. The provider added that they’d “kept the price for our social tariffs flat for a number of years, but our own costs continue to increase, so adjusting what we offer and how much for allows us to continue supporting customers“.

On the plus side, there’s no change to remove the “zero income” (no income) tariff this time, which is a good thing. But given the above U-turn, we now can’t help but wonder whether the writing may be on the wall for that plan too. The price increase itself is fairly small and is perfectly understandable given recent cost increases (inflation etc.), but clearly BT / EE could have done a better job on the communication side of things (both internally and externally).

Finally, a quick reminder. We know social tariffs can be a divisive topic for some, but that is not an excuse to abuse the comment system in order to post offensive remarks toward those who take state benefits. Such posts are against our rules and will be removed.