Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Carlisle-based alternative broadband ISP Grain, which in 2025 secured a £225m funding boost (here) and has already built their point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 270,000 UK premises (aiming for 600,000 in the future), has today continued the drip feed of new network expansion announcements by adding Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire (England) to their list.

The port town of Goole, which is home to around 20,000 people, is an interesting choice for Grain because it’s already been covered by gigabit-capable broadband networks from Openreach (BT) and KCOM. The area is also quite small, which would normally make it quite high risk for a third network operator to consider, although Grain clearly believes that their lower cost approach to build and cheaper consumer pricing will work.

As usual, Grain hasn’t revealed precisely how many premises they intend to cover in the town or when the build will complete, although we did get some information on their roll-out plan. “The build will begin shortly, with first connections expected in Spring. Goole will be joining our growing Full Fibre network across the UK – and we’re only just getting started,” said the announcement.

Recent data from local street works indicates that Grain will be focusing their initial roll-out around the central parts of the town, just above the main railway line that runs through the middle of it – near Boothferry road. Most of those works are due to get underway in early February 2026, with a few starting toward 28th January. Grain are well known for making heavy use of Openreach’s existing cable ducts and putting new services live quite quickly post-build.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Starlink service (SpaceX), which offers ultrafast broadband speeds to the UK and globally via a massive constellation using thousands of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has introduced a new package for residential customers that costs just £35 per month and will offer you download speeds of up to 100Mbps.

Starlink currently has around 9,500 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.6,000 are v2 / GEN2 variants) – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-525km. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £55 a month for the ‘Residential Lite’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which promises downloads of up to 200Mbps (previously 250Mbps) and uploads of c.15-35Mbps. Faster packages exist at greater cost, while cheaper, albeit more restrictive (data capped), options also exist for roaming users (e.g. £50 per month for 50 GigaBytes of data).

However, regular readers may recall that the service briefly made mention of an even cheaper £35 per month tier last year, before promptly removing it. The package offered download speeds of up to 100Mbps and the usual upload speeds. The good news today is that this package appears to have been given an official launch, with Starlink’s website stating packages “Starting at £35/mo for service in select areas“.

Despite that mention of “select areas“, we have found that the £35 package appears to be quite widely available (credits to community member onephat for spotting).

Extract from Starlink’s Website:

Residential 100 Mbps

Reliable, affordable home internet service for seamless connectivity with speeds up to 100 Mbps.

Speeds*	Download Speeds: Up to 100 Mbps (typically 80-100 Mbps) Upload Speeds: 15-35 MbpsExplore Residential 200 Mbps or Max for faster speeds.
Wi-Fi **	Includes one Starlink Router Mini Coverage up to 1,300 ft² (120 m²)
Usage	Great for light streaming and online browsing on a few devices.
Data	Unlimited Data

* Speeds are calculated globally and represent the 99th percentile of real user data; typical speeds fall within the 20th–80th percentile range. Actual speeds may vary based on your location.

** Starlink may provide an upgraded router compared to what is advertised.

In addition, Starlink also appears to have tweaked some of their Roaming plans (credits to Stewart), with the Roam 50GB (GigaBytes of usage) tier becoming 100GB for £50 per month. Furthermore, when customers use up that 100GB they’ll now receive unlimited data at speeds of 1Mbps instead of just having to pay per GB.

Overall, the new £35 package is a huge boost, particularly since it comes alongside the hardware you need (included within that rental price), which contributes toward making Starlink a serious consumer affordable mass market broadband solution for even those with only basic needs. In other cases, it could be taken as an affordable backup for when your main connection goes down.

The new package may however pose a significant challenge for Amazon’s rival Leo service, which is due to start going live for consumers later this year (enterprise customers are already testing it). But it will take several more years for Amazon to build the same sort of economics of scale and capacity as Starlink have already been able to build, which means it could struggle to compete.

UPDATE 8:19am

Starlink appears to have made some negative changes too. For example, their ‘Residential Lite’ package previously capped download speeds at 250Mbps, but this has now been reduced to 200Mbps. There may be other changes that we haven’t spotted yet.

Some customers may also find that they have to pay £75 (one-off) for a professional installation, whether they need it or not.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has this morning announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5GSA) mobile broadband network for the city of Gloucester in Gloucestershire (England). The operator’s 5GSA network is now live across a total of more than 500 locations (70% of the UK’s population, or c.49 million people).

Just to recap. 5GSA networks are pure end-to-end 5G that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for IoT devices, increased reliability and security etc. Existing 5G networks often use a Non-Standalone (NSA) approach, which is hobbled by being partly reliant upon older and slower 4G infrastructure.

O2’s 5GSA rollout first began in February 2024 (here) and usually aims to reach “at least 90% outdoor coverage” in every location they reach. The same should hold true for Gloucester, where roughly 138,000 residents across the city will be able to benefit from the 5GSA network.

Dr Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2, said: “Our new 5G Standalone network is now live in Gloucester, providing an impressive upgrade for local people and businesses and creating new opportunities in and around the city. We are investing every single day to improve our mobile network and provide a more reliable experience for our customers, futureproofing our connectivity and paving the way for exciting innovations that lie ahead.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Internet service provider YouFibre, which is one of the main retail outlets for Netomnia’s growing national Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network, has informed customers that they intend to impose a block against internet traffic on Port 25 (SMTP) from Friday (16th January 2026).

Broadband ISPs usually try to steer clear of blocking internet connectivity and services if they can help it, although it should be said that port 25 has been blocked by various other providers over the years to help prevent email spam. The port was historically used for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) relay between mail servers (i.e. sending emails), which is usually not encrypted.

However, these days it’s more common for email servers and systems to use Port 465 (legacy SMTPS), Port 587 or Port 2525 for the secure variant of SMTP (SMTPS), which will usually be encrypted using the SSL/TLS standards or similar methods.

Suffice to say that customers of YouFibre shouldn’t be too alarmed after the ISP emailed them this week to inform of the impending change (credits to one of our readers, Joe, for the tip), although there’s always a risk from the unintended consequences of such moves.

Copy of You Fibre’s Email

We are doing a security update on the YouFibre network

Dear XXXXXX,

As part of our regular updates to the security of our network, we are implementing a new security measure – the blocking of Port 25 (SMTP).

This change will take effect on Friday 16 January, 2026.

Why are we doing this?

Port 25 is traditionally used for sending emails via the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Unfortunately, it is also commonly exploited by spammers and malicious actors to send spam and phishing emails, often from compromised computers within our network. By blocking Port 25, we will reduce Spam and Phishing Attacks.

What you need to know

Although this change won’t impact most of our users, those using Gmail, Outlook or other web based email will be unaffected, it may impact some of our customers, particularly those who operate their own mail servers or use email applications configured to send emails via Port 25.

Here is what you need to know:

1. Email Delivery via Port 25: If you are using an email client or service that relies on Port 25 to send emails, you will need to reconfigure it to use an alternative port. Common alternatives include Port 587 or Port 465, which are typically used for secure, authenticated email submission.

2. Support and Assistance: If you need help reconfiguring your email client or server, please contact your email provider.

How to change your email port settings

To avoid disruption in your email service, please follow these steps to change your port settings:

1. Open your email client settings.
2. Locate the outgoing server (SMTP) settings.
3. Change the port number from 25 to 587 or 465.
4. Ensure the “Use secure connection (SSL/TLS)” option is enabled.

For more information see our help article: Why Can’t I Send Emails on My Connection?

We believe this change will significantly enhance the security and efficiency of our network. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we implement this important security measure.

Best regards,

The YouFibre Network Team

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Several sources have informed ISPreview that broadband and mobile operator Virgin Media (O2) has today notified staff, specifically those in the Fixed Wholesale and Customer Delivery side of their business, that c.300 of them could be facing redundancy in the near future. The move follows a slowdown in the expansion of their full fibre (FTTP) network via nexfibre.

The move shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given the turbulent year that VMO2 has had, which was partly fuelled by the uncertainty that flowed from debt-strained Telefonica and the earlier move to launch a Strategic Review of their global business (here and here).

The fallout from that review has since resulted in a number of changes, such as nexfibre scaling-back their planned fibre deployment to reach just 2.5m premises by the end of 2025 and Virgin Media adopting a different approach to fixed wholesale access at the consumer level (here). Telefonica did recently outline their future strategy (here), but the exact plan for nexfibre’s build beyond 2025 remains uncertain.

Just to recap. Nexfibre was first established in 2022 after Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners created the company as a new £4.5bn joint venture (here), which aimed to deploy an open access (wholesale) full fibre (FTTP) network to reach “up to” 7m UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises.

Redundancies

The latest development began to surface this morning, after several sources informed ISPreview that VMO2 had issued an internal announcement to staff within their Fixed Wholesale and Customer Delivery teams, which put around 300 of them at risk of possible redundancy.

A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson told ISPreview:

“After hitting a major milestone which saw us surpass 2.5 million homes for nexfibre, we continue to push ahead with a focused fibre rollout programme.

Our strategy to create the biggest fibre alternative to Openreach remains in place and on track, and to ensure we deliver on this strategy, we are proposing to make changes within some teams that would result in some exits.

We are having open and honest conversations directly with our people and employee representative groups on these proposals and will continue to support any impacted individuals throughout this process.”

However, VMO2 has informed us that this may not translate into the same number of roles being cut, as the hope is that it will be possible to map many of them into other roles. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of clarity over how all these changes will impact the timescale for achieving nexfibre’s original build target, although there’s been plenty of talk about complementing it with consolidation (example).

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The upgrades will provide customers with more reliable service during busy football matches

O2 has carried out a targeted upgrade to its mobile network in and around Stamford Bridge, aiming to improve connectivity for the tens of thousands of fans who attend Chelsea FC matches and other events at the west London stadium.

The development will reportedly increase mobile capacity and performance across the stands, concourses, and hospitality areas.

The upgrades included the optimisation of the rooftop site within Stamford Bridge and the installation of new and upgraded small cells in the surrounding streets. O2 says these measures were intended to reduce congestion at peak times, making it easier for supporters to share photos and video, use mobile ticketing, and make contactless payments before, during, and after matches.

Following these upgrades, visitors are reportedly using more than twice as much data on match days and experiencing roughly four times higher speeds.

“Stamford Bridge is an iconic stadium with extremely high demand on matchdays. By optimising our network inside the ground and in the surrounding areas, we are giving O2 customers a more reliable mobile experience so they can enjoy every moment, from kick-off to the final whistle,” said Steven Verigotta, Director of Mobile Delivery at Virgin Media O2.

The Stamford Bridge improvements form part of Virgin Media O2’s wider Mobile Transformation Plan, which focuses on expanding 4G and 5G coverage, rolling out small cells in dense urban locations and tackling known network bottlenecks along transport routes and at major venues.

The operator has also been deploying spectrum it acquired from Vodafone UK last year, a move it says underpins capacity enhancements nationwide.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
World Communication Award Winners 2025
Ofcom clears the way for satellite-to-smartphone services
LG Uplus’s AI voice call app glitch leaks user data

The post Virgin Media O2 gives Chelsea stadium a mobile infra upgrade appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today launched a new consultation that sets out their plan to introduce a new code for designated connected TV platforms (e.g. Freely, Android TV, Roku OS, Sky Stream, Virgin Media Horizon etc.), which will require them to ensure that content and services (e.g. iPlayer) from Public Service Broadcasters’ (PSBs) are made “prominent” on their services.

The proposed changes reflect the latest phase of Ofcom’s work in implementing the new Media Act 2024, which introduced a new regime to make public service content easier to discover and watch on the connected TV platforms that people increasingly use for choosing and accessing TV programmes.

“For the first time, the most-used connected TV platforms in the UK must make sure BBC iPlayer and any other PSB players designated by Ofcom, along with their public service content, are available and prominent,” said Ofcom’s latest consultation. Connected TV platforms that fall within the scope of this must also take steps to incorporate accessibility features to help disabled users.

The regulator has already revealed the 15 connected TV platforms that have been designated as subject to the new requirements (details), which largely reflects platforms with at least 700,000 active users. The list also includes the new broadband-based live TV streaming platform, Freely, which is supported by most of the major UK TV broadcasters (BBC, ITV etc.) and is an evolution – not (yet) a replacement – for the existing Freeview service (inc. Freeview Play and Freesat).

The latest consultation goes beyond this by focusing on the regulatory duties (Code of Practice) that will apply to designated connected TV platforms and PSBs, which explains how providers of designated connected TV platforms can meet their new prominence and accessibility duties.

Ofcom’s Proposed Code of Practice

➤ Giving an appropriate level of prominence to PSB players, their public service content and any public service channels included in the players.

We are proposing a range of actions for providers to take with regard to the user interface that people see and navigate on connected TV platforms. These include that: designated PSB player apps should be immediately visible and generally appear within the first nine tiles on app menus; when public service content is most relevant to a user search, it should be the most prominent result; and public service content should be clearly attributed to the relevant PSB player.

➤ Making their services accessible to disabled people – particularly those with sight or hearing conditions.

Our proposed recommended actions include: providing a voice guidance function, or similar, as an alternative to visual information; ensuring users can enlarge text and images through a ‘magnification’ or ‘zoom’ function; and making sure accessible content is labelled as such, for example indicating where a programme has subtitles.

Crucially, the Code itself is “not mandatory” for platform providers, but they will be treated as compliant with their prominence and accessibility duties if they adopt the recommended actions it sets out. “Providers may choose to take alternative actions that they consider satisfy these duties, but where they do, they will not automatically be treated as compliant. Should Ofcom have concerns about those actions, we may choose to investigate,” said the regulator.

The consultation will remain open for feedback until 25th March 2026 and Ofcom then intends to issue a statement and the final Code + Guidance “later this year“. But such a major change, once finalised, will take time to fully implement, and so the regulator has proposed to give providers 12 months to bring themselves into compliance with the new regime. But this figure is still subject to potential change.

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

The PSBs currently support a transition to IPTV in the 2030s as it is becoming increasingly challenging “to bear double costs from running multiple distribution platforms”. However, without intervention, by 2040, some 5% of homes (1.5 million) are currently forecast to still be relying on digital terrestrial television via the airwaves. Ofcom is of the view that the time for debating such issues is fast running out, and the time for decisions is now upon us.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Clevedon-based broadband ISP Glide Group has today announced a new multi-year contract extension with the University of Exeter in Devon (England), which will deliver a “major upgrade” to their wired and wireless internet connectivity – focused upon the educational establishment’s student accommodation estate.

The announcement, which follows after last year’s funding boost from banking giant NatWest (here), will see Glide provide fully managed connectivity services to 5,346 student bedrooms and shared spaces – both indoors and outdoors (“high-performance Wi-Fi and wired connectivity“), making it one of the provider’s largest single university accommodation deployments to date.

The deployment will introduce Glide’s latest managed connectivity architecture, Glide Home, which will give students a “secure, private network that follows them across their accommodation, allowing all their devices to connect easily, reliably and securely wherever they live and study“.

In addition, Glide plan to upgrade their dedicated fibre connectivity to the University, increasing core capacity to 100Gbit/s to help keep up with modern data demands. The solution will also incorporate various network protection and wellbeing services, including “content filtering and crisis intervention capabilities“, supporting the University’s safeguarding and duty of care commitments.

Tim Pilcher, CEO at Glide, said:

“The University of Exeter is a highly respected Russell Group institution, and we’re proud to deliver this major connectivity upgrade. This contract reflects the strength of our long-standing partnership and our ability to design and operate networks that scale, perform and evolve alongside student expectations.”

Delivery of the upgraded network will begin in early 2026, with phased implementation designed to minimise disruption during the academic year.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative rural internet provider Voneus, which has deployed a mix of full fibre (FTTP) and wireless (FWA) broadband networks over some of Wales and England’s remote communities, has announced that they will make Netgem TV‘s new IPTV set-top-box and streaming service – PLEIO – available via new TV service bundles. The new kit features support for Freely‘s live UK V streaming service.

Netgem TV has already announced that a number of altnet providers would be carrying PLEIO (here), although admittedly Voneus wasn’t on their initial list. Sadly, today’s announcement doesn’t reveal anything about how Voneus intends to price the service on their TV bundles, and we struggled to find many details on their website (it’s unclear whether this is already live or planned for the future).

Alternatively, anybody can buy PLEIO at retail via Amazon, (includes a 12-month subscription to their optional premium channels and cloud gaming service), although the price for this was recently increased from £99 to £119.88 (possibly a reflection of the high demand for their new kit).

Ilan Scorah, Chief Commercial Officer at Voneus, said:

“Partnering with Netgem enhances the value of our broadband services by offering customers a flexible, easy-to-use entertainment solution that reflects how people watch and play today. PLEIO supports our mission to deliver fast, reliable connectivity and high-quality digital experiences to the communities we serve, with simple access to live TV via Freely and expanded family entertainment through cloud gaming.”

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The completed deployment would take the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to almost 20,000

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the launch and operation of 7,500 next-generation (Gen2) Starlink satellites by SpaceX.

The decision doubles the number of Gen2 satellites previously approved, bringing the total to 15,000.

SpaceX currently has around 9,400 satellites in orbit, roughly 6,200 of which are Gen2. These new satellites, equipped with upgraded communications technology, should deliver greater coverage and service quality for customers.

“This FCC authorization is a game-changer for enabling next-generation services,” said FCC chairman Brendan Carr. “By authorizing 15,000 new and advanced satellites, the FCC has given SpaceX the green light to deliver unprecedented satellite broadband capabilities, strengthen competition, and help ensure that no community is left behind.”

The approval, published Friday 9, was in fact only partial, with SpaceX having initially applied to deploy 22,000 Gen2 satellites in total.

“We defer authorization of the remaining 14,988 proposed Gen2 Starlink satellites, including satellites proposed for operations above 600 km,” explained Carr in the FCC’s ruling.

In addition to approving new satellite launches, the FCC also agreed to allow most of the new satellites to operate in slightly lower obits than their predecessors, between 340km and 485km above the planet’s surface. This, SpaceX claims, should allow for improved coverage and lower latency compared to existing Starlink devices, which orbit at around 500km.

Perhaps more importantly, it will also reduce orbital congestion. The 500–600km range is one of the busier regions of orbital space, occupied by a multitude of active satellites (with many more planned) and debris from previous projects. Orbital collisions at this height could theoretically cause a chain reaction, leaving a wasteland of debris that takes years fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

The possibility of this so-called ‘Kessler Syndrome’ was thrown into sharp relief late last year, when one of Starlink’s satellites suffered a ‘kinetic accident’, seemingly caused by an internal error, which caused its partial breakup and pushed it 4km out of its planned orbit. Starlink says this defunct satellite will harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere by the end of the month.

To mitigate further riks, Starlink says it will also reduce the orbits of around half of its existing devices (around 4,400 satellites), in additon to the newly launched satellites. This will both to lower the possibility of collisions and to reduce the time orbital debris takes to clear from years to weeks.

SpaceX has also received approval to operate its devices in the Ku-, Ka-, V-, E-, and W-band frequencies, supporting both Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) and Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), and an Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) waiver, which allows signals to be delivered at higher intensity. Combined, this should allow Starlink to deliver gigabit-speed services more consistently. These measures will also serve as a key enabler for Starlink’s next wave of direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities, including voice and data services.

As part of the approval process, SpaceX has pledged to launch and make operational 50% of the total Gen2 satellites by December 1, 2028, with the remainder launched by December 2031.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
World Communication Award Winners 2025
Ofcom clears the way for satellite-to-smartphone services
LG Uplus’s AI voice call app glitch leaks user data

The post Starlink gets FCC clearance for 7,500 Gen2 satellites appeared first on Total Telecom.