The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA), high street retailer Currys and Computer Recyclers have today teamed-up to launch the ‘Get Online @ Home‘ scheme, which offers special deals on broadband and discounted refurbished devices to the 11 million people across the UK who they claim are experiencing digital exclusion. A quick look at the scheme’s website […]

A couple of years ago Vodafone launched what it called an “evolution in mobile phone plans” with their new 4G and 5G supporting EVO packages, which gave customers more flexibility over payments, contract lengths and smartphone upgrades etc. Today they’ve extended that to include other device bundles, such as laptops and tablets. The EVO plans […]

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Andrei Lipov, head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications (Roskomnadzor), met with Iranian telecoms minister Issa Zarepour to discuss internet regulation and telecoms collaboration

Over the weekend, the head of the Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor reportedly met with the Iranian telecoms minister to discuss “issues related to the internet”.

The primary focus of the meeting was to discuss ‘the protection of children online’, according to a statement from the Iranian government, which said it had valuable experience in this area to share with Russia.

The discussions also included collaboration around spectrum strategy, including potentially sharing spectrum to boost the quality and speed of internet services.

Finally, the duo discussed how they could best align their positions within the International Telecoms Union (ITU).

Lipov is also expected to meet with Amir Lajevardi, Iran’s deputy minister of ICT, this week, “to discuss opportunities for increased presence of Iranian telecoms companies in the Russian market”.

Russia and Iran both have terrible records when it comes to internet freedoms, including a long history of censorship and even internet blackouts.

Since 2012, Russia has maintained a centralised internet blacklist, known as the ‘single register’, overseen by Roskomnadzor. Over the years, the scope of the sites included on the single register has expanded from a focussing on drug use and pornography to encompass numerous social media sites, including both Facebook (Meta) and Twitter in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In 2019, the government also initiated plans forcing the country’s telecoms network operators to install equipment allowing them to separate the Russian internet ecosystem (Runet) from the wider internet if ordered to do so by the government.

Iran’s internet censorship, meanwhile, is even stricter, blocking numerous major social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Reddit, Medium, Instagram, and Threads. The government has also repeatedly shut down access to the internet completely during times of civil unrest, including during the 2019 fuel protests and the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022 and 2023.

Both Russia and Iran argue that they are under digital attack by the West, claiming that social media sites are being used to fuel unrest and anti-government sentiment.

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The Connecting Cambridgeshire project in England, which is being led by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, has today highlighted the progress they’re making in helping to accelerate the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband across the county, with 21km of new fibre ducting already installed or soon to be deployed. The programme’s “Dig Once” policy was […]

Internet provider Giganet are today reporting that they’re investigating a problem across their national UK network, which may be causing some leased line (Ethernet) and full fibre (FTTP) broadband customers to experience degraded service quality. According to the customer complaints we’ve seen, most of the gripes started in the small hours of this morning. The […]

Network builder and UK broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which is rolling out a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across London, has today reached the coverage milestone of 1 million homes passed (up from 720,000 in December 2022). The operator has expanded its network footprint by 75% in the last 12 months alone. Breaking news.. more to […]

Broadband ISP and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have published their Q2 2023 results, which saw their fixed broadband base fall by -15,300 in the quarter to total 5,667,300 (vs 28.8k added in Q1) and the operator confirm earlier reports (here) of 2,000 job cuts. But they also accelerated their nextfibre FTTP reach […]

Network builder and UK broadband ISP Lightning Fibre, which is deploying a multi-gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of Sussex and Kent (England), has today announced the appointment of an interim CEO, Stefan Stanislawsk, to replace the company’s outgoing boss and founder, Ben Ferriman. The operator, which is backed by private equity firm Foresight […]

Mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics (Ookla) has published their latest biannual H1 2023 study of UK mobile network (4G and 5G) and mobile broadband performance, which sees EE (BT) continue to pick up awards across all of the categories. But in terms of 5G data speeds, Three UK remains the operator to beat. The latest study […]

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The network will provide 4G services to individuals, homes, and businesses throughout the country 

Last week, Airtel Rwanda launched its highly anticipated 4G LTE Network. The firm is Rwanda’s first mobile network operator to secure its own 4G license and launch its own 4G network.  

The launch has been made possible by a government change in licensing strategy.  

Previously, Airtel could only provide their LTE services through Korea Telecom Rwanda Networks, who had a wholesale monopoly in the country.  

In February this year, however, the Rwandan government announced a change in licensing rules, which would allow other telcos to launch their own 4G networks, in the interest of increasing competition to accelerate the country’s access to high-speed mobile services. 

Airtel’s 4G tariff plans have launched at the same price point as its existing 3G plans, which Airtel Rwanda hopes will drive up adoption of 4G devices to boost digital inclusion across the country. 

“The company remains committed to leading innovation in the Rwandan market by providing choice to Rwandans because of significant investment in network coverage, consistent network quality, an improved quality of service in addition to delivery on market leading value for money,” said Airtel Rwanda’s Managing Director, Emmanuel Hamez.  

The move comes after the Rwandan government introduced The National and Broadband Policy and Strategy in October last year, aiming to transform Rwanda into a competitive digital economy.  

Airtel says it plans to expand its network infrastructure coverage and increase its support for the country’s new digital strategies. 

How is the African telecommunications market evolving in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam. 

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