Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The enterprise division of Hull-based broadband ISP KCOM, which has spent the past few years deploying a new full fibre (FTTP) network across 305,000 premises in parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has today been appointed to a new public sector YPO procurement framework for Connectivity and Telecommunications Services.

In case anybody doesn’t know. The Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) is a publicly owned central purchasing body based in Wakefield, which is owned and governed by a consortium of county, metropolitan and borough councils in Yorkshire and the North West of England. It exists to help the public sector achieve the best possible value when buying products and services.

The news means that KCOM has been awarded a position on five “LOTS” of the YPO 1229 Network Connectivity and Telecommunication Solutions 2 Framework: Wide Area Network (WAN) Services, Local Area Network (LAN) Services, Education Connectivity and Associated Services, Cyber Security Solutions and Communication Services.

The operator will thus now be able to deliver its service to major public sector organisations in Yorkshire and beyond.

Jan Collins, KCOM Enterprise MD, said:

“We’re proud to provide vital Infrastructure and Managed Services to support public sector organisations deliver for their communities. By working with YPO through this framework we’re able to facilitate even more effective procurement of these services, with all the benefits that brings for value, quality and experience.”

Robyn Lamport-Rann, YPO ICT Category Manager, said:

“YPO is delighted to welcome KCOM as a supplier on the new Network Connectivity and Telecommunication Solutions 2 framework. YPO’s compliant framework offerings make it easy for public sector customers, from schools to social housing providers, to source cost-effective solutions from the market leaders. “

YPO currently provides more than 22,000 products and 100 compliant frameworks to customers across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Sky UK (Sky Broadband, Sky TV, Sky Mobile etc.) has confirmed that as many as 2,000 workers (7% of its total workforce) could be facing redundancy as part of a proposed plan to close three of its ten UK customer service centres, which reflects the company’s sites in Stockport, Sheffield and Leeds Central.

The change, which is said to have been prompted by changing consumer preferences (i.e. they’re focusing more on online messaging and emails) and declining call volumes (Sky expects this to decrease by a third in the next few years), will apparently also impact the company’s operations in Dunfermline and Newcastle too. But the details of the latter remain unclear and subject to consultation.

According to the Sky News report, Sky intends to try and mitigate against the impact of this by making a multi-million pound investment in its Livingston site to create a “centre of excellence” that can “deliver quicker, simpler and more digital customer service“.

A Sky UK (Comcast) spokesperson said:

“We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler, and more digital customer service.

Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.

We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable, and available 24/7.

This is about building a future-ready Sky that continues to put our customers and their needs first.”

We tend to take the mention of a “more digital customer service” as meaning greater use of self-service online communications tools and AI style chatbots (something we’ve already seen other broadband and mobile operators adopt), although Sky’s announcement wasn’t terribly specific.

According to Ofcom’s figures for consumer complaints (example), Sky has consistently attracted some of the lowest complaint levels of all the industry’s major providers of broadband, phone, TV and mobile services. But this will also make it easy to spot if their customer support quality starts to decline post-closure. However, the regulator takes time to catch up with current events, which means we won’t start to see the first impacts from today’s news until late 2025 or early 2026.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Tech charity Jangala has published a new report that reveals the findings from one of its recent pilot projects with mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media), which provided free WiFi internet access to 429 people in temporary accommodation around Coventry in England. The pilot also worked with local charities, NHS services, and housing associations.

Just to recap. Jangala’s approach involved providing internet-enabling “Get Boxes” to charities and local authorities across the country (here), which has so far delivered free WiFi hotspots to help thousands of people affected by “data poverty” to get online. The Get Boxes are effectively small (book sized) WiFi routers that can each connect up to around 20 people (there’s a larger Big Box unit for connecting up to 5,000 users).

The idea is that these routers can be posted to a user, who can then simply plug it into mains electricity and establish a secure Wi-Fi network instantly – linked back to O2’s mobile broadband (3G / 4G) connectivity, using data from the National Databank.

The new Digital Lifelines report helps to show why this approach can be so beneficial to those most in need of support, but it also identifies areas where the approach falls short. For example, the report notes how “many end users” ran out of data (25GB allowance) before the month was out, which isn’t surprising given how easy it is to consume that much data on the modern internet.

We should point out that some users were also given unlimited data, and they tended to use about twice as much data than those with a capped allowance.

Rich Thanki, Managing Director at Jangala, said:

“This research vividly highlights the critical role that internet access plays in so many aspects of welfare. We’re thrilled that our Get Box technology, with incredible support from VMO2 and Coventry Council, has been able to positively impact the lives of such a diverse range of digitally-excluded people.”

Nicola Green, Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer at VMO2, said:

“We’re proud that Virgin Media O2’s partnership with Jangala is providing a lifeline to people in need, helping them to get online and access essential online services from applying for accommodation to booking medical appointments or building their skills via online training course, and is helping them to stay in touch with loved ones.”

Learnings from the Pilot Project

➤ Learning 1: Temporary housing residents face a Catch-22 of needing internet without having good access to it.

Residents are penalised if they do not bid weekly for permanent housing, but are often on low incomes and cannot install internet in their temporary homes.

➤ Learning 2: For residents of temporary housing, increased internet access through Get Box resulted in vital social outcomes.

These include improved emotional and mental wellbeing, increased independence and freedom, improved opportunities to learn, increased social connection, increased safety and improved access to essential services.

➤ Learning 3: Many users place ‘essential’ services with equal importance to ‘leisure’ activities.

Users place a high value on connecting to loved ones and streaming services, and to ‘leisure’ activities which are fundamental to a sense of freedom, normalcy and wellbeing. If programme providers and evaluators try to rigidly differentiate activities under ‘essential’ or ‘leisure’ categories, this can undermine the social impact of internet access.

➤ Learning 4: Jangala’s Get Box is especially suited to swiftly addressing gaps in digital access in temporary accommodation settings.

Because it is portable, easy to install and free to end users, it can provide internet quickly to people who need it urgently. Although suitable to a range of contexts, it is especially compatible with supporting temporary accommodation providers to get people the internet they need.

➤ Learning 5: In this Get Box pilot, boxes with unlimited data used more data per month (approximately four times) than Get Box users with limited data.

This is partly because of differences in situational usage, but also because many end users require more data.

➤ Learning 6: Many end users with 25GB of data run out by the end of the month.

End users experience distress and frustration when they run out of data, especially if it is unexpected.

➤ Learning 7: The improved social outcomes of increased internet access are reduced by limited data packages.

Improvements in mental health, freedom and independence and other domains, are inhibited when end users run out of data or must ration their data.

➤ Learning 8: Key elements of the Get Box product and service can be improved to offer a better user experience.

These include visibility of data usage, key design elements and information provided.

The report also includes a bunch of recommendations, such as calling for all temporary housing providers to provide “unlimited” Wi-Fi internet access at a “reasonable speed” for residents, wherever possible (this also goes for other settings where the Get Boxes can be used). This is of course an easy thing to say, but such things invariably carry a cost for network operators that may not always be economically viable to deliver.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network operator and ISP Trooli (Call Flow) has confirmed to ISPreview that a small number of their customers are at risk of disconnection, which will occur when they shut one of their old hybrid wireless and fibre optic broadband networks in rural Hampshire (England). This was originally deployed around ten years ago with public funding (Building Digital UK).

At present, Trooli is focused on deploying their FTTP gigabit broadband network (covering 410,000 premises) across towns and large semi-rural villages in parts of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, West Sussex and Wiltshire in England. As well as parts of North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Fife in Scotland (formerly part of Axione UK’s network).

However, in the past, Trooli – formerly better known as Call Flow Solutions – did also deploy a number of hybrid broadband networks into several rural communities using Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and sub-loop unbundled Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technologies. One such deployment occurred as part of a £1.258m (state aid) BDUK Market Test Pilot back in 2014-16.

The aim of the aforementioned pilot was to deliver “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) to poorly served residents in the hard-to-reach rural areas of Bramdean and Ropley, including the hamlet of Monkwood. The service has been working reasonably well since then, at least it was until earlier this year when residents in Monkwood were informed that their service would be terminated at the end of March 2025.

What went wrong in Monkwood

The above situation appeared to be in response to local connectivity problems, which started in January 2025. “We’re aware of an issue impacting customer connections in the Monkwood area. Our networking team are aware of the issue and are currently investigating the cause,” said the statement on Call Flow’s website (dated to 5th Jan 2025), which has remained the same since then.

Call Flow/Trooli followed that up later by issuing another update directly to residents, which identified that the “fault itself is related to a particular part of our network which is connected via a radio link“, specifically a “natural limitation of this radio link“. But then came the really bad news.

The provider’s message revealed that this “is not an issue that we will technically be able to resolve” and, after exploring “all other options for replacing” that link, the ISP admitted they had been “unable to find a commercially viable, alternative solution” and said the service would be “terminated” at the end of March 2025.

On March 18th, residents of the nearby village of Four Marks were similarly told they would also be losing their Call Flow service at the end of May 2025, which prompted people in another nearby village, Ropley, to worry that they might be next to suffer the same fate. Suffice to say that ISPreview has raised this with Trooli and they’ve since provided more information.

A Spokesperson for Trooli told ISPreview:

“In 2016, Call Flow was granted funding by BDUK for an experimental project delivering a hybrid solution, primarily mixing Fibre To the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technologies. The aim was to deliver superfast broadband to residents in the hard-to-reach areas of Bramdean and Ropley, including the hamlet of Monkwood. In the nine years since then, Trooli’s Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) broadband network has commercially overbuilt to the majority of the homes covered by this experimental service, providing them with an ultrafast, modern alternative.

Some of the original network has not been commercially viable for Trooli to overbuild. Given the age of the network, now approaching nine years, some components have started to fail and have become too difficult and costly to maintain. Consequently, it is no longer commercially viable to maintain some parts of the original Call Flow network being delivered to a handful of premises in the Monkwood area.

The planned withdrawal of service at the end of March was shared with the affected households in January, with free internet offered throughout February and March. Over this period, most customers have migrated to alternative services, which have developed substantially in the intervening nine years, most typically 4G. We continue to work with the very small number of customers who continue to use our legacy solution.

In an entirely separate situation, we have been in touch with a number of customers whose broadband service is at threat from Openreach’s Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) switch off. These customers, who are connected to the SLU/FTTC SMPF broadband solution employed by Call Flow, were originally informed that their service would be switched off in May.

However, as the Openreach WLR switch-off is not scheduled to take place until the end of the year, we have decided to use this time to continue our attempt to find an improved resolution with Openreach. This postponement has been communicated to potentially impacted customers.

We will, of course, provide further updates to these customers and keep them updated on how our conversations with Openreach progress.”

In fairness to Trooli/Call Flow, the operator did deliver on their contracted commitment and has actually kept the hybrid broadband network running longer than they had pledged. As above, many of the premises that were originally reached by this network have also since been overbuilt by the operator’s newest FTTP infrastructure, which marks a big improvement over the original service.

Ultimately, nothing lasts forever, but the hope is that a new home can be found for all of those affected by the current problems, although a few may yet be left with little in the way of viable alternatives before they’re disconnected.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Podcasts

Seemingly arbitrary decisions and reviews with seemingly pre-determined outcomes left Evan Feinman’s staff ‘constantly concerned,’ the former director of BEAD explained on Beyond the Cable

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

The arbitrary nature of decision making left former Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) staffers constantly concerned about their jobs, according to Evan Feinman, the program’s former director.

Feinman, who sat down today with Broadband Communities, made the comments on the Beyond the Cable podcast.

“My really high-talent staff was constantly concerned that they were going to be let go at any reason,” Feinman said. “Not because they were underperforming, not because they weren’t getting the job done, but irrespective or whether or not they were performing and getting the job done.”

According to Feinman, who resigned his post on Friday, March 14, that fear hurt the culture within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The NTIA, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is described as the executive branch agency most responsible for advising the White House on matters like information policy and telecommunications.

As the director of the BEAD Program, Feinman oversaw the rollout of the nation’s $42.42 billion investment into expanding broadband access in America under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Feinman said BEAD is state-led effort.

“At least it was conceived to be,” he said. “The new administration seems to be interested in making it a much more top-down, directed out of D.C., approach.”

A ‘pretty clear directive’

Feinman’s departure additionally came shortly after Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced a “rigorous review” of BEAD.

“I would really welcome a rigorous review,” he said. “That was not my experience. Instead, it seems as though the outcome of any review had been determined already.”

Feinman also added detail to earlier reporting that he’d been pressured to increase focus on low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite.

“The pretty clear directive that came from the secretary’s office was to increase the use of satellite and to decrease the use of fiber,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really well-supported by a plain reading of the statue that created the BEAD program.”

Feinman also clarified that previously reported comments from Lutnick emphasizing a focus on LEO coverage, and asking if Feinman had ever spoken to Elon Musk, were relayed to him by a colleague.

“I did not have Sec. Lutnick say that directly to me,” he said, adding that he was told about Lutnick’s comments by a colleague debriefing him shortly after the comments were made.

He said he has confidence that the reported comments were spoken, however.

“I got the debrief from the meeting minutes after it occurred,” he said. “So, there was no real debate, and I got it from multiple people.”

Feinman also said he thinks it is “significant” that there has been no pushback regarding the content of that meeting.

“If there had been inaccurate reporting about the content of Secretary Lutnick’s directive, they’d have pushed back on that and they haven’t at all,” he said.

How to listen

Feinman is worried that the new direction of the BEAD Program could “lock in” a digital divide. Click here to listen to the full episode on Spotify.

Apple Podcasts listeners, meanwhile, may click here to hear the full interview with Feinman.

To get content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.

Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

Yorkshire altnet Quickline has expanded its Project Gigabit broadband rollout, securing an additional £11 million in public funding to support the extension 

The new phase will bring full fibre connectivity to 6,000 more hard-to-reach homes and businesses across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, further enhancing the reach of the government-backed initiative.  

The expansion covers Quickline’s existing Project Gigabit network, including regions in West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, and East Riding of Yorkshire. With this latest adjustment, public investment in Quickline’s full fibre rollout will exceed £300 million, now serving over 170,000 premises. Progress remains steady, with new rural areas across the region gaining access to high-speed, reliable broadband on a weekly basis. 

“This is great news for people in underserved areas across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. By refining our plans with the more recent data, we can extend our reach and connect even more homes and businesses to full fibre broadband where it’s needed most. As a trusted regional delivery partner for the UK government, we’re proud to play a key role in ensuring no community is left behind,” said Dan Hague, Project Delivery Director for Quickline in a press release. 

“Project Gigabit is boosting some of the most remote areas in the UK and equipping people with the vital tools they need to thrive in the digital world, no matter where they choose to call home,” said Telecoms Minister Sir Chris Bryant. 

“It is great that even more homes and businesses across Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire will soon benefit from the fastest speeds on the market thanks to this government intervention,” he continued. 

Project Gigabit is the UK government’s £5 billion subsidy scheme to help extend broadband to some of the most rural parts of the country, typically where infrastructure rollouts by the private sector would not be commercially viable. So far, over 30 Project Gigabit contracts have been awarded, totalling around £2.6 billion of the £5 billion fund. 

The UK government is currently aiming to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to at least 85% of UK premises by 2025 and the whole of the UK (roughly 99%) by 2030.   

Join us at Connected North, 23-24 April in Manchester. Get tickets here! 

Also in the news:
‘Adapt or die’: VOX Solutions’ message to telcos in the age of AI’
Spanish government invests €13.8 million in Sateliot 
Ofcom wants UK to be ‘first in Europe’ to use direct-to-device satellite services

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Italy-based Prysmian, which specialises in the global manufacture and supply of fibre optic broadband cables (inc. related kit), is reportedly being threatened with strike action over plans to cut 40 jobs and shift their only UK HQ in Bishopstoke (Hampshire, England) to Romania.

The company, which primarily uses the site to produce cables for Openreach (BT) and a few other network operators, first opened its 46-acre manufacturing base in Bishopstoke during 1967, and it soon became their UK headquarters. The site is still said to be profitable, but Prysmian now appears to want to reduce labour costs and move production for cables to Romania.

Around 250 people are employed at the factory, with the telecoms department, which produces fibre optic cables, being the one that is under threat. The move to “scrap [the] only department of its kind in UK” has angered staff, with Unite (union) saying the workers are set to begin a consultative ballot for industrial action over the plans.

Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said:

“Hugley profitable Prysmian’s disgraceful plans are the ugly and irresponsible face of corporate greed. It admits its Bishopstoke operations are successful, yet it plans to throw loyal and hardworking staff under the bus to squeeze out as much extra cash as it can.

Prysmian’s Bishopstoke workforce have Unite’s total backing in fighting against these abhorrent plans.”

Unite are also understood to be lobbying BT to step in and demand that its cables are produced in the UK, although it’s unclear how much mileage they’ll get out of that approach. We have contacted Prysmian for a comment.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Bioscope’s patented bioleaching solution delivers sustainable, high value returns 

Cambridge, UK – 25 March 2025: Bioscope Technologies is pleased to announce Techbuyer, an established international provider of ICT equipment refurbishment, resale and disposal services, as an early adopter of its e-waste bioleaching solution.

This follows Techbuyer’s desire to find sustainable solutions for end of life ICT equipment. During the past 12 months the company has been supplying printed circuit boards (PCBs) to Bioscope’s Cambridge-based bio-refinery to enable the recovery of high quality precious and base metals using Bioscope’s patented bioleaching processes.

“When I heard how Bioscope were exploring how bioleaching can be used to recover PM & CRMs from e-waste, I knew we would want to be involved as part of our commitment to emerging technologies,” said Paul Thorogood, Resource Recovery Manager. “Being a part of the journey right from the start means we are perfectly placed to see how the technology develops over time.”

Astrid Wynne, Techbuyer’s Head of Sustainability and Public Sector, added: “Techbuyer has been dedicated to furthering the Circular Economy for many years. We achieve this by not only improving our processes for extending product life but also by supporting better processes at end-of-life. Bioscope is a great recycling partner for Techbuyer because they are at the cutting edge of improving material recovery at end of life for IT hardware. Their success is our success; it furthers the circular economy.

“Many of the rarest materials in ICT are in trace amounts – amalgams and coatings – which means they are destroyed by traditional recycling technologies. We know from our work with the CEDaCI project that this can be improved with new technologies like bioleaching, but recyclers working in this area need critical mass of materials to scale up.”

Bioscope’s patented bacteria-based bioleaching and bio-refining refining technologies are focused on recovering a wide range of precious and strategic metals including not only gold but also silver, palladium and copper from PCBs, providing UK companies with a highly sustainable and more profitable alternative to shipping PCB waste to refiners in Europe, Japan and USA.

Commented Jeff Borrman, CEO, Bioscope Technologies: “We are delighted to have Techbuyer as one of our first customers for our PCB bioleaching solution. We are also pleased with board yield rates in terms of metals recovered for achieving maximum market value.”    

Notes to editors:

According to UK data^[i], recycling one tonne of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times more gold and 30 to 40 times more copper than can be mined from one tonne of ore. Recycling the PCBs from a million discarded mobile phones can recover around 6,000kg of copper, 350kg of silver, 34kg of gold and 15kg of palladium…25 million mobile phones discarded in the UK each year.

The UK produces 6 million tonnes of e-waste a year. Only 30% of this UK e-waste is recycled with most of the PCBs recovered from this amount being exported to refineries in Europe, Far East or the US. The remainder ends up in landfill or in the hands of unlicensed recyclers.

About Bioscope Technologies

Harnessing the power of naturally occurring bacteria, Bioscope’s world-first bioleaching bio-refining methods deliver a cleaner, more sustainable way of recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life hardware devices used in enterprise and cloud computing. BT has been trialling the company’s bioleaching technology for several years to recover copper and gold from decommissioned telephone exchanges as well as copper from cabling.

About Techbuyer

Techbuyer helps businesses maximise their IT budgets by supplying cost-effective new and quality refurbished servers, storage, memory and networking equipment from over 150 brands including HPE, Dell, IBM and Cisco. Not only do we sell a large range of enterprise IT hardware, we also buy used parts and turn them into high quality refurbished IT equipment. Founded in 2005, Techbuyer has grown from a company run by just two people to a global organisation with multiple warehouse facilities located worldwide. We have decades of experience in buying used enterprise IT equipment and selling new and certified refurbished IT parts and have worked with thousands of organisations worldwide.

Further information:

Bioscope Technologies

+44 (0) 7979 595 828

https://bioscope.tech/

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

New research from Ipsos UK, which interviewed a representative sample of 993 adults across Great Britain during early March 2025, has claimed that Brits are increasingly cynical about the motivations of utility companies and broadband/phone providers when setting annual price increases – with over 40% believing these industries are mainly raising prices to boost profits.

Firstly, it’s important to highlight that not all communication providers play the mid-contract hikes game. A good number of ISPs, particularly smaller players and many alternative networks, often adopt much more static pricing that rarely changes or at least won’t change during your minimum contract term. But sadly, some providers, particularly most of the largest players, do engage in mid-contract hikes, which often rise above the level of annual inflation.

Providers that engage in the mid-contract hikes game often argue, somewhat correctly, that they are not immune to many of the same cost increases that have hit consumers in recent years. In particular, many of them face rising costs due to high interest rates / inflation, higher charges from suppliers, electricity, leases and the cost of adding all sorts of new services (e.g. FTTP builds) and catering for new regulations etc.

However, it may also be reasonable to say that the desire for greater profit is a factor too, which certainly seems to be the view of many respondents to the new Ipsos UK survey. When it comes to assigning blame for price rises, Britons are cynical about the motivations of utility companies and broadband/phone providers. Just over two in five (43% and 42% respectively) believe these industries are mainly raising prices to boost profits, rather than simply covering their own increased costs due to inflation.

Consumer who are hit by mid-contract hikes could alternatively try haggling for a lower price when the notification drops (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill), although your mileage may vary (big providers will be more receptive). Meanwhile, those on benefits (Universal Credit etc.) also have the option of taking a cheaper Social Tariff – see our Quick Guide to UK Social Tariffs.

In addition, Ofcom’s new One Touch Switching (OTS) system has also made it much quicker and easier to switch providers, but just make sure you aren’t going to be penalised by any early contract termination or exit fees before doing so (this should not be an issue if you’re already out of contract). On the other hand, a growing number of ISPs do offer contract buyouts (welcome credits) to those who wish to exit their existing contracts early.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP, phone, TV and mobile operator Virgin Media (O2) has today announced that they’ve established a new UK team of over 500 “highly skilled” customer service agents, which will be dedicated to resolving the most “complicated and sensitive issues“, including bereavements, complex complaints and supporting telecare and vulnerable customers.

The new Manchester-based team, which could also be seen as a response to previous gripes about the provider’s support quality (example) – something they recently committed to improve, is still expressed as being in the “early stages” of its development. But they’re already said to have “achieved high satisfaction scores“, with particularly positive feedback from vulnerable customers.

The team itself comprised of around 250 new hires and 280 existing care agents who have received additional training. This new team – backed with unspecified new technology to help them provide customers with “seamless, bespoke assistance” – is tasked with delivering better customer support while handling some of the most sensitive issues (e.g. helping the next of kin manage an account following a bereavement, or where a customer is known to be vulnerable or a telecare device user).

According to VMO2, the new team is already answering calls in under a minute on average and will also be tasked with testing and overseeing trials of new products and services, providing feedback before they’re rolled out more widely (we assume this will be done with a focus on vulnerable users).

Alan Stott, VMO2’s Director of Customer Contact, said:

“We’ve been clear that we’re committed to improving customer service, and while the vast majority of our customers are satisfied, we won’t be satisfied until we’re delivering consistently exceptional, market-leading customer service.

The strategy kickstarted last year, focused on investment, simplifying systems and processes, upskilling agents and removing persistent pain points, is already delivering green shoots and shows that our plans are getting us closer to where we want to be.

The launch of this new dedicated team is a key milestone for us, with more than 500 multi-skilled and fully converged agents – backed by the latest technology – delivering seamless and tailored customer service in some of the most challenging cases. The team will act as a blueprint for customer support across the company in the months and years ahead as we continue to deliver improvements for our customers.”

The team is currently based in VMO2’s Wythenshawe office, however its agents will also be among the 1,500 employees moving to the company’s new multi-million-pound central Manchester office space, Island, in late 2025. The “state-of-the-art, net-zero carbon workspace” will become their future North West HQ.

In recent months, we have seen signs of a gradual improvement in VMO2’s service and support quality (e.g. Ofcom’s latest complaints’ data), which may be at least partly attributable to the new support team.