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Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has announced that, in order to support England’s place in the FIFA World Cup 2026 football finals, they’ve extended their inclusive roaming benefit for eligible pay monthly customers travelling to the USA to include pay monthly Classic Plan customers. But only for a limited time, naturally.

The offer means that pay monthly Classic Plan customers can now roam freely in the USA until midnight on 20th July (PT) alongside Volt customers or those with a Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan, potentially saving them £7 per day for the cost of a travel bolt-on. Just remember that a fair usage limit applies to mobile broadband usage of 25GB (GigaBytes) for data.

Classic Plan users will, however, first need to log into their MyO2 account and activate the O2 Travel Bolt On (£7 per day) or buy a data bolt-on (1GB, 3GB or 5GB), and O2 will then automatically credit back the cost of the bolt on from 6th July – 20th July 2026.

Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said:

“Whether travelling in Europe or heading across the Pond, we’re now giving our customers one less thing to worry about this summer by crediting back roaming charges in the USA for the remainder of the tournament. From cheering their team on from the stands or sharing the excitement with friends and family back home, our customers can focus on the scoreline, not roaming charges, with the freedom, connectivity and confidence to make every moment count.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Vodafone Group has this morning confirmed that Abu Dhabi-based E& (Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC) has sold its entire 16.21% stake – some 3,944,743,685 ordinary shares – in the global mobile operator to Vega, an acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the Niel family group (owner of French telecoms firm Iliad), for $5.95bn (£4.43bn).

In a brief statement Vodafone said: “The relationship agreement dated 11th May 2023 between Vodafone and e& has been terminated. Hatem Dowidar, who was appointed to the Board of Vodafone as the nominee director of e&, has resigned from the Board with immediate effect.”

Meanwhile, E& said that the move followed a “comprehensive strategic review of its international investment portfolio” and, after today, they will “no longer seek to exert control or influence Vodafone’s Board or management team“. But the company added that they “appreciate the constructive partnership with Vodafone and looks forward to exploring future opportunities to collaborate in ways that create mutual value“.

The transaction will generate cash proceeds to e& of approximately $5.95 billion inclusive of final FY26 dividend. This will result in net cash return of around $1.3 billion. Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to take place in the near future.

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UK ISP Sky Broadband (Sky Mobile and Sky TV etc.), which sells their packages to consumers via both Openreach and CityFibre’s national full fibre (FTTP) networks, appears to have introduced some small discounts across several of their packages and also cut the price of their top 2.5Gbps (Gigabits) and 5Gbps tiers to £35 and £45 per month, respectively.

Just for some context. The 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps tiers both offer symmetric speeds and are currently only available via the CityFibre side of Sky Broadband’s service. Both packages also come with Sky’s Wi-Fi 7 router, while slow tiers include a slower Wi-Fi 6 device.

Customers taking up the new discount can also expect to receive free activation, a 24-month minimum contract term, unlimited usage, an optional bill credit worth “up to” £200 to help cover any early termination charges from your old ISP (if applicable) and, finally, online security and parental control features etc.

Sky also includes the disclaimer that their prices may change during the 24-month minimum term, which is another way of saying that they usually apply an annual mid-contract price rise but haven’t yet decided what that will be for 2027. On the flip side, Sky’s price rises are usually a bit softer than most of their biggest rivals.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

The former BT Openreach executive brings more than 25 years of broadband and wholesale telecoms experience

nexfibre, the joint venture between InfraVia Capital Partners, Liberty Global and Telefónica, today announced the appointment of Ses Indy as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), strengthening its senior leadership team as the company executes its mission to build a scaled national wholesale alternative to BT Openreach.

Indy joins nexfibre from BT Openreach and brings more than 25 years of experience across digital infrastructure and fixed telecommunications. Throughout his career, he has held senior commercial leadership roles and worked closely with major communications providers, including Sky, Vodafone and PXC with a particular focus on wholesale strategy and customer growth.

At nexfibre, Indy will lead the company’s commercial strategy, revenue growth and customer engagement activities. His appointment comes at a significant moment for the business as it progresses its planned acquisition of Netomnia, a transaction expected to unlock £3.5 billion of international investment and create a combined network footprint of approximately 8 million premises by the end of 2027.

A three-time recipient of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work award, nexfibre is continuing to scale its wholesale platform and accelerate the rollout of next-generation digital infrastructure across the UK.

Ses Indy, Chief Commercial Officer at nexfibre, said:

“I am delighted to be joining nexfibre at such an exciting and important stage in its growth journey. I look forward to working with the leadership team to drive commercial growth, deepen partner relationships and help deliver the benefits of high-quality full-fibre connectivity to homes and businesses across the country.”

Rajiv Datta, Chief Executive Officer of nexfibre, said:

“The board and I are delighted to welcome Ses to nexfibre. He brings deep industry expertise, a strong track record of commercial leadership and extensive experience of the wholesale broadband market. As we enter our next phase of growth and work towards creating a scaled national wholesale challenger, his leadership will be instrumental in expanding our commercial reach, strengthening customer partnerships and delivering on our long-term ambitions.”

How is the UK connectivity landscape changing in 2026? Join the industry in discussion at Connected Britain 2026

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The post Nexfibre appoints Openreach’s Ses Indy as CCO appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Multinational cloud telephony provider, LoopUp, and leading Caribbean and Central America communications provider, Digicel, have formed a strategic partnership to sell LoopUp’s Operator Connect telephony platform and service for Microsoft Teams across the Caribbean region.

Service will be offered to the enterprise market, leveraging Digicel’s extensive reach, in-country presence, and trusted business relationships. Customers will be able to integrate their regionwide business telephony with Teams in accordance with Microsoft’s certified deployment model, Operator Connect. Users will be able to make and receive calls from any device running Teams, benefiting from a simple and unified communications experience, and enterprises will be able to make significant cost savings by eliminating all legacy PBX equipment.

“Partnering with Digicel is a significant milestone in LoopUp’s international expansion,” said Steve Flavell Co-CEO of LoopUp. “Not only are we bringing the first Operator Connect capability to the region with Digicel, but we’re also extending our market-leading global country coverage for our multinational enterprise customers, who are headquartered elsewhere in the world but have operations throughout the region.”

For Digicel Business customers, the partnership adds a flagship, next-generation enterprise voice capability to the operator’s growing portfolio of cloud services. Digicel Business serves thousands of organizations across sectors including financial services, hospitality, government, and energy, many of whom have standardized on Microsoft Teams, and are now looking to bring their telephony under that Teams-first, unified communications umbrella.

“Our customers are asking for smarter, simpler ways to communicate,” said Liam Donnelly, Chief Business Officer for Digicel Group, “and Microsoft Teams has become the platform of choice for many of them. By partnering with LoopUp, we can give our enterprise customers a seamless, fully managed Teams telephony experience, regionwide and now globally, leveraging the simpler and more cost-effective Microsoft-certified Operator Connect approach and backed by the local support and network reach only Digicel can provide.”

The service will be available to Digicel Business customers from July 2026.

About LoopUp

LoopUp helps multinational enterprises consolidate how they buy and manage their global Microsoft Teams telephony, offering phone numbers and full cloud-based, PSTN-replacement service in more than 100 countries around the world. We liberate multinationals from the frustrations, complexities and inefficiencies of working with multiple regional carriers, each with their own contracts, pricing, support teams and management portals. LoopUp offers a single and consistent global solution, combining design, deployment, service delivery and support – provided globally and all integrated with Microsoft Teams and bringing calling data into the enterprise AI dataset. LoopUp is headquartered in London with operations around the world.

About Digicel

Digicel is a leading digital connectivity and communications provider, delivering modern wireless and fiber networks across 25 markets in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Serving nine million customers through mobile, home, and business solutions, they play a critical role in enabling economic participation and digital inclusion in the region. Their commitment to strong governance, inclusive access, and long-term value creation is embedded in how they operate every day. Backed by their DIGI values – Diversity, Integrity, Growth, and Innovation – their 5,000 employees are focused on driving impact for the customers, communities, and countries they serve.

For more information, please visit: https://www.digicelgroup.com/

The post Digicel and LoopUp partner to bring Microsoft Teams telephony to the Caribbean region appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband and mobile operator VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) has today revealed that mobile data (mobile broadband) usage hit “unprecedented heights” across England’s various FIFA World Cup 2026 football matches so far, with the recent win against Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning causing significant usage.

Take note that communication providers use sophisticated Content Delivery Networks (CDN) and systems to help manage load from events like this, which caches popular content closer in their network to end-users (i.e. improves performance without adding much strain to external links). But major events can still impact the overall levels of data usage seen across networks.

Andrea Dona, Chief Network Officer at VodafoneThree, said: “Our network has been providing fast, strong and reliable coverage whatever time of the day the game is shown here in the UK. As fans prepare for the big match at the weekend, we continue to ensure our customers have the coverage they need to enjoy the occasion. Whether it’s streaming the match, sharing their thoughts on social or discussing the result with friends and family, it’s all part of our commitment to building the UK’s best network.”

• Vs Mexico (6 July): Broadband usage tripled between 3-4am, as fans watched with bated breath to see if England could hang on to the win. Later that morning, between 4-5am, mobile data usage doubled compared to the same time on a normal Monday morning, as supporters shared their delight online at the final whistle.
• Vs DR Congo (1 July): Mobile data usage reached an all-time high, with 4.6Tbps used – a 30% increase compared to an average Wednesday night commute in June. Meanwhile, broadband traffic reached a peak of 8.7Tbps, marking a 9% increase as customers watched at home, in the office or at their local.
• Vs Panama (27 June): Broadband peaked at 9.30pm as fans settled down for the match. Meanwhile, mobile data usage peaked at 10.30pm, with 3.8 Tbps used, as the network saw an increase of 19% compared to a normal Saturday night by 11pm.
• Vs Ghana (23 June): Mobile data usage peaked at 9.30pm with 4.3Tbps used, as the network saw a data increase of up to 34% later that night. For broadband traffic, the peak was slightly earlier at 8.30pm while, by 10pm, data increased by 20% compared to a normal Tuesday night.
• Vs Croatia (17 June): Mobile data peaked at 9.30pm at 4.1Tbps, although the highest uplift during the match vs. usual traffic was at 11pm, when the network saw an increase of more than 31%. Meanwhile, broadband peaked just before kick-off at 8.30pm off. However, the highest uplift was during the match, when usage rose by 11%.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Ministry of Housing (MHCLG) and UK ISP Association (ISPA) have today unveiled crucial changes to address the current problem with the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes in England, which are known to have caused big delays and increased costs for broadband and mobile operators trying to deploy full fibre networks into large buildings (MDUs etc.).

Just to recap. At the end of 2025 the cross-party House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee highlighted how delays in the BSR’s updated processes for minor works had been, among other things, causing problems for network operators and pushing up costs, often unpredictably (here). In short, putting a lot of red tape in front of even fairly routine work and thus slowing network deployments.

ISPreview knows of various related broadband deployments by network operators, such as Openreach and Hyperoptic, among others, that have been slowed or even paused pending a solution to the problem. The government previously described this as an “unintended consequence” of earlier changes in 2023.

In response to these concerns the MHCLG launched a consultation in January 2026 on ‘Improving proportionality and safety outcomes in building control‘ for telecommunications work, which specifically aimed to introduce changes to the processes for the “installation of fibre optic cabling” (fixed broadband) and “building work related to mobile masts“ (e.g. certain types of work, like drilling holes through internal fire-resisting walls for fibre optic cabling, would be given more dispensation).

The consultation said the current rules for these areas of work “may be unreasonable and disproportionate“ had taken direct regulatory resources away from the types of building work that carry higher risk (e.g. new builds and remediation projects).

Changes to the BSR’s approval processes 

The good news today is that the MHCLG have announced changes that reflect special dispensation for related areas of work when deploying new digital infrastructure into such buildings, which seems likely to help get deployments rolling again.

“I am writing to inform you of directions given by the Secretary of State under Section 11 of the Building Act 1984 which grant dispensations from certain procedural requirements of building regulations for telecommunications related building work to existing buildings. These directions address the drilling of small holes in walls to install fibre optic cabling and, for higher-risk buildings only, the installation of mobile communications masts on rooftops,” said Keeran Jugdoyal, Deputy Director Building Performance.

New Directions Under Section 11 of the Buildings Act 1984:

1. The requirements of regulation 11(1) and 40(2)(e) of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 (Building control approval for work to existing HRB and Completion certificate applications – updated change control log) are dispensed with for building work that solely consists of the installation of a mobile communication mast on a rooftop of an existing higher-risk building and any ancillary connections or associated works required for that installation,

2. The requirements of regulations 11(1), and 40 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 (Building control approval for work to existing HRB and Completion certificate applications) are dispensed with for building work that solely consists of the drilling of holes 25mm or less in diameter in internal or external walls for the installation of only fibre optic cabling in existing higher-risk buildings,

3. The requirements of regulations 12 and 17 of the Building Regulations 2010 (Giving of a building notice or an application for building control approval and Completion certificates) are dispensed with for building work that solely consists of the drilling of holes 25mm or less in diameter in internal or external walls, for the installation of fibre optic cabling in an existing building that is not a higher-risk building.

—

For building work relating to mobile communication masts on rooftops of existing higher-risk buildings, the dispensations only apply to masts installed on rooftops. Masts installed on external walls are not included in the dispensation.

For building work relating to the drilling of holes for the purpose of installing fibre optic cabling, the dispensation applies to holes drilled through walls (internal and external) only – the dispensation does not apply to holes drilled through floors or ceilings.

The dispensations are currently planned to come into effect on 1st September 2026. “We are proposing to limit the dispensations relating to fibre optic cabling in time, and the relevant directions will expire after 3 years. The dispensation relating to mobile masts is not time limited,” added Keeran.

Andrew Kernahan, Head of Public Affairs at UK ISPA, told ISPreview:

“We welcome today’s announcement from the Government to provide a dispensation from building control regulations for the installation of gigabit-capable broadband into high-rise buildings, following the recent government consultation.

The dispensation is a step in the right direction to allowing our members to be able to accelerate much needed infrastructure upgrades that may otherwise have been subject to considerable delay. Importantly, these works will continue to be delivered in accordance with building safety legislation, robust fire safety measures and established industry standards, while supporting the sector’s efforts to meet the Government’s target of nationwide gigabit-capable broadband by 2032.

Connectivity is vital to everyday life; it comes as no surprise that 72% of people say that it is important that internet providers continue to invest in infrastructure upgrades, and that it is vital that regulation enables, rather than delays, rollout.

We are absolutely committed to building safety and will continue working with Government, members and regulators to ensure the final dispensation provides full and clear guidance to all stakeholders so that broadband can be installed safely and efficiently.”

However, it’s important to point out that these dispensations from the rules are still subject to compliance with various conditions, such as the need to use appropriate firestopping, weatherproofing and soundproofing. The installer must also be properly trained for such work and have been granted prior written approval for the building work. All materials and products used must also conform with relevant product standards.

Finally, for building work relating to the drilling of holes for the purpose of installing fibre optic cabling, to higher-risk buildings only, any person carrying out the work must still notify the BSR as soon as is reasonably practicable after the work has been completed. Any information submitted may be reviewed by the Building Safety Regulator to monitor compliance with the dispensations and their conditions.

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Broadband network operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with Virgin Media and O2 (harnessing the same build teams), has today announced the appointment of ex-Openreach veteran Ses Indy – where he spent 17 long years and held various senior roles – to be their new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Indy has more than 25 years of experience across digital infrastructure and fixed telecommunications – mostly via Openreach and BT, holding various senior commercial leadership roles and working closely with major communications providers, including Sky Broadband, Vodafone and PXC, with a particular focus on wholesale strategy and customer growth.

At nexfibre, Indy will lead the company’s commercial strategy, revenue growth and customer engagement activities. His appointment comes at a key moment for the business as it progresses its planned £2bn acquisition of Netomnia in order to create a combined full fibre network footprint of approximately 8 million premises by the end of 2027.

Rajiv Datta, Chief Executive Officer of nexfibre, said:

“The board and I are delighted to welcome Ses to nexfibre. He brings deep industry expertise, a strong track record of commercial leadership and extensive experience of the wholesale broadband market. As we enter our next phase of growth and work towards creating a scaled national wholesale challenger, his leadership will be instrumental in expanding our commercial reach, strengthening customer partnerships and delivering on our long-term ambitions.”

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Shropshire-based independent UK ISP Aquiss has notified their customers of concerns that dealing with one of the country’s largest alternative broadband networks, CityFibre, has recently become “incredibly difficult” after the alternative network let a sizeable number of staff go in recent redundancies.

Just for some context. CityFibre’s 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) based broadband network currently covers over 4.7 million UK premises (4.5m Ready for Service) and they aspire to reach 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, such as Aquiss, which sell related products on to homes and businesses.

However, CityFibre continues to carry a lot of debt (c.£3.7 billion net debt) and still faces many of the same pressures as other network operators (e.g. high interest rates, rising build costs and competition), which in recent times has caused quite a few redundancies (here). But Aquiss complains that the latest round of job cuts appears to have significantly impacted CityFibre’s ability to support partners.

According to a 7th July 2026 post – seen by ISPreview – to customers by the Managing Director (MD) of Aquiss, Martin Pitt, CityFibre has now become “almost impossible to reach on the phone“, with updates to support and new service installations being delayed or having to be “chased extensively and appointments being booked and missed, cancelled by AI decisions“.

Naturally end-customers don’t usually see this side of things and so the ISP’s staff are the ones that take the flak when things go wrong. Suffice to say, it appears as if Aquiss has finally had enough.

Our [Aquiss] Statement – Cityfibre

We want to be open with you all.

At the end of June, in order for Cityfibre to restructure their business, they let go of a large percentage of their staff and in doing so, let a huge amount of good talent go.

Since this time, we are finding that dealing with Cityfibre has become incredibly difficult, almost impossible to reach on the phone, updates to support and new provisions delayed or having to be chased extensively and appointments being booked and missed, cancelled by AI decisions. We have to call it what it is, poor decision making by their management (who remain in posts for the most part).

Their decision is putting an increased pressure on the Aquiss team, who are getting it in the ear when we are not coming back with positive updates in timely fashion. Staff are feeling it.

Cityfibre have great products, but presently without the love and support it deserves, there could be some pain for some time whilst we establish adjusted operations of business with them.

Martin Pitt
Managing Director

Aquiss are not the only retail internet provider to raise gripes about CityFibre’s recent performance, although thus far most of the others we’ve seen have preferred to stay below the public radar. But clearly for Aquiss the frustrations have gone too far, and they’re now calling out CityFibre’s performance, perhaps in the hope that doing so might improve the situation.

A CityFibre spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Martin is right that some fantastic colleagues have recently left CityFibre as we re-organise the business and get ready for our next phase of growth, but what hasn’t changed is the importance we place on our customer service and we would love to speak to Martin and resolve whatever problem he is currently experiencing.”

One key point in all this is that Aquiss are one of CityFibre’s off-net Entanet partners, which regular readers may recall is in the process of transitioning to new ownership under Tom O’Hagan (here). CityFibre have made clear that they intend to 100% support every partner throughout this transition, either through continued CityFibre support, from the Entanet team, or a combination of both. But clearly there are some issues that will hopefully soon be resolved.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The wholesale division of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media Business (VMB / VMBW) recently brought together more than 100 partners at its Partner Connect event in London to discuss AI, rising data demands and the need for higher-capacity networks. The business also shared a progress update on its XGS-PON-enabled Ethernet over FTTP (full fibre) proposition.

For those who may be unfamiliar. Ethernet over Fibre to the Premises (EoFTTP) technology typically sits somewhere in the middle between consumer FTTP broadband lines, which often have no or very little in the way of guarantees regarding reliability or higher bandwidth when put under pressure by heavy usage, and more expensive Ethernet leased lines that offer guaranteed higher bandwidth with a strong Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The EoFTTP solution is thus more intended to cater for smaller businesses that don’t need a leased line, but where consumer FTTP might well be too risky for some of their needs. Quite a lot of VMB’s rival networks already offer EoFTTP products via 10Gbps capable XGS-PON full fibre infrastructure and Virgin intends to join them.

According to the latest update, VMB said their Early Adopter Phase of EoFTTP will be “continuing through the end of the summer“, allowing their team to test orders through the full end-to-end process, gather further feedback from trial users and continue refining the experience ahead of an expected full market launch “later this year“.

Diego Tedesco, Executive Director of VMBW, said:

“Partner Connect is a great opportunity to bring our partners together, reflect on how the market is changing, and share more about where we’re heading as a business. Competition is as intense as it’s ever been, technology keeps evolving and customer expectations continue to rise. That means the ability to work together with trust, clarity and shared purpose has become more important than ever. That is the kind of wholesale business we are building. One designed not just to deliver connectivity, but to help partners grow and succeed in the market ahead.”