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County Durham-based Everflow, which is multi-utility provider that focuses on UK business services, has announced that they’ve secured a total of £44 million in fresh funding from capital investor BGF and digital bank OakNorth to help the operator expand into telecoms.

The funding appears to be evenly split, with £22m coming from BGF and the same from OakNorth – making this one of the largest deals of the year in the North East. Founded in 2015 as an intermediary between water wholesalers and commercial customers, Everflow has more recently evolved into a nationwide, multi-utility provider achieving 30% year-on-year growth over the last 3 years and serving more than 120,000 premises.

The company’s expanded offering, which now includes waste management and connectivity services (i.e. broadband and phone), allows SMEs to manage multiple business utilities through a single provider relationship. The latest funding round will support the company’s expansion across the UK, enable diversification into new sectors (e.g. telecoms) through customer growth and M&A, and to expand its 250-strong team.

Everflow also expects to adopt AI to enhance internal business processes and Evie, the company’s modular platform that unifies all services within a single system.

Craig Dallison, CEO of Everflow, said:

“We set out in 2015 with a clear goal. To make utilities simple for SMEs, while bringing greater choice, improved service and better value to businesses relying on the UK’s water retail market. This investment comes at an exciting inflection point for Everflow, and BGF stood out as the partner to help us continue to grow at pace.

As a home-grown business in the North East, we’re proud of our expansion over the past decade. But we’ve also helped our customers operate more sustainably by reducing water consumption and cutting carbon emissions. These outcomes reflect our commitment to delivering both commercial and environmental value for the organisations we work with.”

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The post Nokia launches AI-RAN platform appeared first on Total Telecom.

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Spectrum Comms Solutions, which specialises in building telecoms infrastructure and fibre optic broadband / Ethernet networks (both for themselves and for other providers), has revealed that they’re looking to maintain and expand their passive network (inc. Dark Fibre) in places such as Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, London Docklands and other UK regions where “data centre clusters require secure interconnection“.

The plan was revealed as part of the company’s application for Code Powers from Ofcom, which are typically sought in order to help speed-up deployments of new fibre networks and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licences needed for street works. The powers can also help with supporting access to run new fibre via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles (PIA), which is something that Spectrum Comms plans to do.

Just to be clear. Spectrum Comms does have their own network activities, but they’re more of a civil engineering firm that builds networks for their partners in the UK, as opposed to being an alternative network (altnet). The new application is thus arguably more about making such build activity more efficient in order to support data centre clients, including edge computing, AI, 5G, Internet of Things, and cloud growth.

“The Applicant’s proposed network and system of infrastructure would consist of both active/lit electronic communications services and passive infrastructure services respectively. This includes high-capacity bandwidth, DWDM and wavelength-based services, together with dark fibre, duct, chambers, sub-duct, fibre routes and associated passive telecommunications infrastructure,” explained Ofcom.

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Broadband and mobile operator VMO2 (Virgin Media and O2) have today decided to complement Ofcom’s new anti-scam rules for telecoms providers (here) by publishing their first quarterly Scam Index, which among other things reveals that more than 18.5 million adults in the UK have been targeted by scammers in just three months.

The new index is intended to bring together VMO2’s internal data alongside consumer research to track how frequently people are targeted, how vulnerable they feel, the impact on victims and whether threats are escalating to provide a “complete and up-to-date picture of how criminals are operating“. But the operator’s first summary only seems to offer a very limited high-level overview.

According to the results, VMO2 has blocked more than 1.4 billion scam texts to date and is flagging almost 100 million suspicious calls to customers each month before they even answer the phone. In June 2026, the operator flagged more suspicious calls than at any point in its history, warning the public to stay alert.

Meanwhile, some 36% of survey respondents say they see at least one scam every week, while 19% have been informed their personal information has appeared in a data breach and 33% of those who lost money to scams were left out of pocket, with the average loss reported by victims being over £1,800.

The most common scam trends seen were fake delivery messages (63%), online shopping scams (58%) and fake account suspension messages (56%), showing how scammers use believable requests, realistic websites and urgency to trick victims.

Top 10 Scams – April to June 2026

1. Delivery Scams: Fake Royal Mail / DPD / Evri texts about held parcels, redelivery fees, or tracking updates. (63%)
2. Online Shopping Scams: Messages about an order you haven’t placed or fake websites where paid-for items never arrive (58%)
3. Account Suspension Scams: Claims your Apple, Microsoft, PayPal, Netflix, Amazon, or social media account will be locked unless you verify details. (56%)
4. Banking / Finance Scams: Fake messages claiming to be from your bank or payment provider about suspicious activity or account verification. (49%)
5. Tech Support Scams: Messages or calls claiming your device is infected or account compromised, urging you to call support or install software. (48%)
6. Prize / Lottery scams: “You’ve won!” messages for competitions you never entered, often requesting fees or personal information. (47%)
7. Government / HMRC scams: Fake tax refunds, grants, fines, National Insurance problems, or legal threats claiming to be from HMRC or other government departments. (46%)
8. Telecoms Scams: Fake alerts from O2, EE, Vodafone, etc., about bill issues, SIM swaps, or upgrades. (43%)
9. Friends / Family Impersonation Scams: Fake profiles, mobile numbers or hacked accounts pretending to be family, friends, colleagues, or verified accounts requesting money or codes. (33%)
10. Investment / Crypto Scams: Get-rich‑quick schemes, fake trading platforms, crypto doubling, or bogus celebrity endorsements. (33%)

The operator is once again encouraging consumers to remain vigilant and to report suspicious messages to the 7726 service (many modern Smartphones will have a button to help you do this). These reports are used by the telecoms companies to investigate and block mobile numbers used by fraudsters, so help to refine their blocking services. This makes it easier to identify new trends and block messages faster.

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The UK’s largest alternative full fibre broadband network, CityFibre, has this morning proposed organisational changes that could result in 200 roles being impacted, subject to consultation. The move is said to be a response to the current environment, where market conditions remain difficult and there has been “slower progress on consolidation“, impacting their near-term growth.

At present CityFibre’s 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network currently covers over 4.7 million UK premises (4.5m Ready for Service), including over 1 million connected customers, and they still aspire to cover 8 million premises in the future. The FTTP network is supported by UK ISPs such as Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen Internet, Sky Broadband and many more.

However, the operator also carries a lot of debt (c.£3.7 billion net debt) and still faces many of the same pressures as other operators (e.g. high interest rates, rising build costs and competition), which in recent times has already caused hundreds of redundancies earlier in 2026 (here). The recent move to sell their non-core off-net business, Entanet, may have also had an impact (here), as well as the inability to secure a consolidation deal with Netomnia (VMO2/nexfibre outbid them).

Suffice to say it may not come as a huge surprise that more jobs are likely to go in the future. ISPreview understands that CityFibre held an All Hands meeting today to provide some context for the latest development, which could impact around 200 roles (we don’t yet know precisely how many of these will face redundancy).

A CityFibre spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Establishing CityFibre as the third national network the UK deserves, requires an agile and efficient organisation. With a network now serving over one million connections and customer numbers growing 20% in the first six months of this year, we are continuing to drive strong, profitable growth and are accelerating plans to optimise our cost base. We will support our people throughout this process and ensure that CityFibre remains best positioned for long-term, sustainable growth.”

In a letter to staff that was shared as part of the meeting and signed by CityFibre’s CEO, Simon Holden, the operator highlighted how their shareholders “remain confident” in the company’s strategy and continue to support them. But the company also acknowledged that market conditions are “not moving at the pace we anticipated” and there has been “slower progress on consolidation“, which has delayed the expansion of their network footprint and affected near-term growth.

CityFibre is understood to have a three-year plan to help shape their operating model at maturity, which is intended to move the company towards a better position by “simplifying” the organisation and aligning resources more closely to their priorities. “We believe these proposals are the right step to accelerate our operating model and position us well to continue to attract the capital we need,” said Simon.

The move is likely to worry the provider’s retail ISP partners, particularly given the recent concerns over a decline in the company’s support quality (here), although such changes ultimately appear to be necessary to help support the sustainability of the underlying business. CityFibre is currently understood to employ somewhere around 1,000 staff.

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The Starlink (SpaceX) service, which operates a massive constellation of low latency and ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for the UK and the world, has finally published the specifications for their next generation V5 dish terminal. In short, it’s smaller, lighter weight and doesn’t gobble as much power, but peak service speeds are slightly slower.

Regular readers will know that we’ve been hearing about the looming launch of a new V5 dish and mini dish terminal for the past few months (here and here), although until now Starlink has opted not to reveal much in the way of official details about the hardware. But that changed this week after the V5 started appearing in the Starlink app and then official specifications were added to their website (here and here).

According to a new social media post from Starlink: “Starlink V5 has a smaller form factor and lightweight design with greater power efficiency than the Starlink V4. With speeds up to 375+ Mbps, Starlink V5 delivers seamless connectivity for streaming, video calling, gaming and more. Currently available in select areas. As production ramps, Starlink V5 will be available in additional areas” (select areas means in the USA, for now).

We should point out that the V5 dish is NOT intended for in-motion use and, aside from the key specification differences summarised below, the new kit is broadly the same as the V4 (i.e. the same operating temperature, snow melt capabilities, field of view etc.). Otherwise, the fact it’s smaller and lighter is nice, but we think the biggest win is likely to be in terms of the significantly reduced power draw (V5 averages 35-50 watts vs V4 on 75-100 watts) – that’s a big win in a country like the UK, where electricity costs are very high.

Quick Starlink Hardware Comparison

The V5 currently appears to be targeted more toward Starlink’s mid-tier or entry-level consumer packages (100Mbps and 200Mbps in the UK), while those on their fastest residential tier (Max) are likely to still get the more powerful V4. At present, in the UK, customers of the 100Mbps tier get Starlink’s Mini X hardware, while 200Mbps comes with V4.

The service currently has around 10,850 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-550km. Residential customers in the UK currently pay from £40 a month for the Residential 100Mbps unlimited data plan (plus £10pm for the hardware), which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity (c.20ms). Faster packages exist at greater cost, while more restrictive (data capped) options also exist for roaming users (e.g. £55 per month for 100GB of data).

However, Starlink has yet to officially announce their new battery powered mini dish, which is expected to follow close behind the V5’s introduction.

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Carlisle-based broadband ISP Grain (Grain Connect) appears to be in the process of restarting the roll-out of their 2Gbps speed point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network in the Wiltshire (England) town of Swindon. The provider previously built to a small number of premises around 5 years ago and then stopped.

At present Swindon, which is home to a population of around 225,000, already has wide access to several gigabit-capable broadband networks via Openreach, Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre) and CityFibre. In addition, there’s also a small bit of full fibre cover from alternative networks like Hyperoptic, OFNL, Glide, Gigaclear and Elevate (Telcom).

Suffice to say, the town seems like a bit of risky bet for an altnet like Grain, but that’s not stopped them before (they often try to undercut on price) and indeed back in 2021 they announced that the town would be next on their roll-out list (here). But the provider only ever ended up deploying to a few premises before stopping and this time they’re going much further.

So far as we can tell from the local road works, Grain appears to be starting restarting their network expansion work all along the central Ferndale Road area and in surrounding streets. The first customers are currently expected to go live sometime this winter.

Richard Cameron, CEO of Grain, said:

“We are excited to offer Swindon residents an internet service that can keep up with their digital lives. We are not just delivering faster internet; we are also saving customers a significant amount on their monthly broadband bill.”

As usual, Grain will try to undercut the established networks on price and value, with early sign-ups during July 2026 being offered symmetric package speeds from £19.99 per month for 250Mbps (four months of free service is also being promoted for faster speeds). All packages promise no in-contract price rises, no installation fees, and a Price Match Guarantee.

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The UK internet content, telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has this morning published a “comprehensive package of practical measures” to help UK mobile network operators “block, limit and disrupt scammers” from sending messaging scams. In addition, they’ve strengthened rules to help protect people from international calls that imitate – or “spoof” – UK mobile numbers.

Most of the United Kingdom’s major broadband, phone and mobile network operators have already implemented various technical measures to tackle things like Nuisance Calls, Scam Calls and Scam Texts (e.g. mobile operators block an estimated 600 million+ messages each year).

However, existing systems aren’t always 100% effective and there are still plenty of operators and device manufacturers that could do more. For example, scammers often still use mobile messaging services to reach victims at a mass scale and manipulate them into making payments or sharing sensitive information (e.g. pretending to be government services or parcel delivery firms – business messaging scams).

Sometimes scammers may even impersonate a friend or family member texting from a different number, often asking for money as part of a fabricated emergency situation (i.e. person-to-person messaging scams). This criminal activity causes significant financial and emotional harm to UK people and businesses and damages their confidence in vital communications services.

Ofcom has this today confirmed the range of measures they intend to introduce to help combat this, which seems to be primarily focused on SMS/MMS messaging and not OTT services like WhatsApp, RCS or iMessage etc. This is because the latter uses functionality that is not dependent on telephone numbers and they are thus not regulated under the Communications Act.

“Services such as RCS share characteristics of the traditional messaging services like SMS and MMS but also share characteristics of online messaging apps. Whether such a service is now, or could in the future be, regulated under the Communications Act will depend on how it is implemented in the UK. It is for operators to determine in the first instance whether their current implementation of RCS constitutes a service that is regulated under the Communications Act or the Online Services Act,” said Ofcom.

Ofcom’s Changes to Tackle Messaging Scams

We are implementing new rules and guidance to significantly reduce the risk that people and businesses receive P2P and A2P scam messages.

This package of measures is intended to stop scammers from accessing mobile messaging services in the first place and also to stop their activities where they have gained access.

For P2P messaging, we are introducing new General Conditions (GCs) to require mobile operators to prevent scam messages from being sent or received on their networks, by:

• Setting volume limits for pay-as-you-go (PAYG) SIMs, to make it harder for scammers to message large numbers of potential victims.

• Blocking numbers used by scammers: preventing scammers from sending messages from numbers that have been identified as responsible for scams. This includes having processes in place to receive scam reports from customers and third parties such as anti- fraud organisations about telephone numbers and web links (URLs12) that are being used for scams.

• Blocking scam messages in transit: identifying and blocking scam messages in transit on their networks by detecting scam URLs and telephone numbers, based on scam reports from customers and third parties.

For A2P messaging, we are introducing new GCs to require mobile operators and aggregators to prevent scam messages from being sent or received on their networks, by:

• Conducting due diligence: preventing criminals from using A2P services to contact potential victims by ensuring that effective Know Your Customer (KYC) checks are made at the onboarding stage.

• Preventing the use of fake alphanumeric sender IDs, including by corroborating Sender IDs against information gathered through KYC checks and maintaining a policy on restricting the use of protected sender IDs and generic sender IDs.

• Conducting ongoing Know Your Traffic checks, including reviewing account activity and promptly investigating reports of fraud.

• Applying incident management processes where scam activity is identified, to block message senders and address any compliance failures by other providers.

• Blocking scam messages in transit: identifying and blocking scam messages in transit on their networks by detecting scam URLs and telephone numbers, based on scam reports from customers and third parties (as we are requiring for P2P messaging).

We are also introducing new GCs for mobile operators and aggregators to ensure the requirements are effective and to minimise the risk that providers block legitimate messages. These include: a right for mobile users to challenge a decision to block a number or message; and requirements relating to reviewing policies, training staff, record keeping and compliance with data protection legislation.

We have published guidance on how providers can meet these requirements.

We have amended the proposal in our 2025 consultation13 to require mobile operators and aggregators to ensure the transmission of legitimate messages. Instead, we will require providers to identify, monitor and address instances where messages are blocked in error.

We also consulted on a requirement for providers to notify message senders when certain messages are blocked. In the light of new evidence, we have decided not to implement this proposal. We have made further amendments to the rules and guidance we proposed in our 2025 consultation, taking into account respondents’ feedback.

Additionally, Ofcom have today introduced strengthened guidance to set out how telecoms companies should protect people in the UK from international calls that imitate – or “spoof” – UK mobile numbers. Criminal gangs based abroad often prey on victims by imitating UK phone numbers which people are more likely to trust and therefore answer than calls from an unknown international number. 

Under the new guidance, telecoms companies should now withhold the Caller ID (CID) of calls that appear to come from a UK mobile roaming abroad, unless they can verify its validity. Customers in the UK should continue to exercise caution in deciding whether to accept calls from withheld numbers, which can include legitimate and important calls, or from numbers that they don’t recognise.

Amy Jordan, Ofcom’s Strategy Delivery Director, said:

“Mobile messaging scams can have devastating consequences for victims, with criminal gangs using ever more sophisticated techniques to dupe their victims. Our new protections for consumers and businesses announced today will help ensure we remain one step ahead by disrupting and blocking this criminal activity at source. Working closely with Government, other regulators, law enforcement and industry we are confident that our collective efforts will make a significant difference in thwarting these predatory fraudsters.”

The new rules and new guidance that apply to P2P messaging will come into effect on 18th January 2027. Those that apply to A2P messaging will come into effect on 15th July 2027.

Breaking news.. more to follow..

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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a digital poster advert for EE’s fixed broadband packages after several rival providers, including Vodafone and Sky (Sky Broadband), complained that part of its claims were misleading because they were not verifyable.

The poster, which was seen on 5th June 2025 and 31st October 2025, contained two headline claims in large print – “MORE PEOPLE ARE CHOOSING EE BROADBAND” and “SWITCH TO THE UK’S FASTEST GROWING BROADBAND PROVIDER”. Small text at the foot of the ad stated “To verify see ee.co.uk/claims”.

Both Sky UK and Vodafone complained the advert was “misleading” on two grounds – 1) because they understood the claims did not take into account customers who had migrated from one brand to another within the BT Group; and, 2) it was not verifiable. But the ASA rejected the first (1) complaint because they said the evidence supported EE’s claim, although they upheld the second (2) complaint over whether the broader claims were verifiable.

ASA Ruling Ref: G25-1321697 EE Ltd

Because the ad initially did not link to any relevant verification information, and the document that was later added initially contained insufficient information to understand the nature of the comparison, and because the verification page contained an additional outdated document and did not provide a clear route to verify the claims, we concluded that the ad did not meet the requirements for verifiability.

On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.34 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).

The full ruling is quite a laborious read and centres a lot on the data that EE provided (or didn’t provide) to verify the claim, but we think the key summary above is enough to cover the main points. As usual the ASA told EE to stop being naughty and to in future “ensure that their comparative claims were verifiable“.

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The Government has tonight set out more details of how they intend to implement their recently announced internet Social Media ban for children under 16 (original news), which among other things includes new details on overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under 18s.

In case anybody has forgotten. Last month saw the government confirm their intention to adopt an Australia style model of online censorship, which required the most popular Social Media platforms to effectively ban Children under the age of 16 – covering TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, X, Threads, Facebook and Kick.

The plan also included a variety of other measures aimed at under 16s, such as a ban on livestreaming and chatting with strangers via online gaming apps (inc. gaming websites); the introduction of more Highly Effective Age Assurance (HEAA) measures (a complex problem to get right, while still preserving privacy); a review of Ofcom’s enforcement capabilities to ensure they can handle the changes; restrictions for under 18s on the access and use of AI chatbots (e.g. romantic companion chatbots); and tech companies have a 3-month deadline to stop children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images etc.

Restrictions on some of these functionalities are to be enabled by default for both under 16- and 17-year-olds to prevent a cliff-edge at sixteen, although we presume those aged 16+ will be able to disable many of them. However, popular internet messaging services, like WhatsApp and Signal, were excluded from the new social media ban.

Finally, the government also said they were considering “options … about whether we could age-gate VPN use”, while at the same time looking in more detail at overnight social media curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds. But on these last points the government said they’d set out more detail about how this would all work in July 2026, and today we got the answer.

What does the new detail reveal

At the time of writing, the government’s official announcement is actually quite sparse on detail and merely confirms much of what they’ve said before, alongside a smidgen of extra information.

Key Developments

➤ Default overnight curfews from midnight to 6am will be switched on for 16 and 17-year-olds on social media apps.

➤ Features that can keep users scrolling for longer – such as videos that automatically play one after another and feeds that continually serve up personalised content – will also be switched off by default for older teenagers.

➤ The Technology Secretary intends to bring forward a package of measures to help children use AI chatbots safely. These will include:

• Regular breaks for under-18s using chatbots, encouraging healthier online habits.
• Working with regulators and across government to address services that provide dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice. Ministers will consider all options, including banning chatbots that pose a serious threat to children.
• Publishing new guidance for children, parents and guardians on how to use AI safely and confidently by expanding the Kids Online Safety Hub.

➤ In order to bolster media literacy skills in schools, from September 2026, RSHE (Relationships, Sex, and Health Education) classes will cover critical thinking about new types of technology including artificial intelligence and AI chatbots. Children will also be taught about mis and disinformation, how to identify misogynistic or violent online content, and to understand that online content can present a distorted picture of the world.

The National Curriculum will now embed media literacy across subjects, alongside strengthened English and History content to analyse sources and spot bias, and an enhanced computing curriculum covering AI, data science, and technological bias

The new protections are aiming to “strike a balance between giving older teenagers greater safeguards online while still allowing them to change their own settings if they wish” (this is a reference to those over the age of 16).

The measures are said to follow a “first-of-its-kind Government pilot” involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the UK, with families reporting that overnight curfews quickly became part of their routine and helped improve sleep and concentration.

Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, said:

“Our consultation provided a clear message from parents and teenagers alike – even as young people gain greater independence at 16, they should still be protected from the most addictive online features that can have a harmful impact on their wellbeing.

These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life.

We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive.”

Broadly speaking, the changes being announced in this update are a lot more balanced than those that have already been confirmed (e.g. infinite scrolling is probably something we could all do without), which were by comparison a bit more contentious due to issues of strict censorship, privacy and treating even older teenagers like they’re 5 years old. But there remains a lack of detail in the government’s announcement and this makes it hard to properly judge the wider impacts.