The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, which oversees various gigabit-capable broadband and mobile network (4G, 5G etc.) deployment projects, has today published their corporate Plan for 2023 to 2026 – this sets out their latest key progress, targets and objectives for the next three years. The plan itself doesn’t say anything that we haven’t […]

Broadband ISP BT has today confirmed that they’ve extended the ongoing region-by-region deployment of their new Internet Protocol (IP) based home phone service, Digital Voice, to include the Yorkshire and Humberside areas of England. After this, we expect Northern Ireland to be next. Customers will be contacted at least four weeks before being upgraded, to […]

Network builder FullFibre Limited, which is deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure across various parts of England, has added another retail ISP to their platform in the shape of discount provider Direct Save Telecom (they also work with Openreach, OFNL and MS3). FullFibre Limited, which is being backed by investment firm Basalt, currently […]

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Armando Pereira, co-founder and former COO of Altice, was arrested late last week as part of a sweeping investigation into corruption, tax fraud, and money laundering

Armando Pereira, Portugal’s richest man and co-founder of the country’s largest telecoms operator Altice, was on Thursday detained for questioning by police as part of a major investigation into corporate corruption.

The ex-COO of Altice was one of three people detained in a widespread operation by Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) that saw around 90 homes and premises searched and around €20 million of property seized.

The raids were the culmination of a three-year investigation by the DCIAP that alleges procurement decisions taken at Altice under Pereira’s oversight were done so in a way that was “harmful to the companies of that group and to the competition”, according to a statement from the DCIAP.

The investigators also claim that individuals and entities outside Altice Group are being examined for evidence of tax fraud worth over €100 million, as well as money laundering facilitated by the company’s corporate structure.

Altice says that it is complying with the probe and “providing all the cooperation requested”.

The company’s Portuguese offers were reportedly among those searched by law enforcement.

Following the raids, the CEO and chairman of Altice’s Portuguese and US businesses, Alexandre Fonseca, temporarily suspended himself from all executive and non-executive duties in the company.

“With this decision, Alexandre Fonseca is looking to fully protect and safeguard the Altice Group’s best interests and all its brands, in an ongoing public process, where allegedly, there are facts under investigation which occurred in the timeframe where he was the CEO of Altice Portugal,” said the company in a statement. “This posture from Alexandre Fonseca comes as responsible on the path to clarification of the truth.”

Fonseca also resigned from the board of Altice USA over the weekend.

Altice USA itself has said that it has launched its own independent investigation following the arrests, including placing their chief procurement officer, Yossi Benchetrit, on leave.

“Altice USA is an independent, U.S.-based company, and, in response to the circumstances in Portugal, we immediately launched an internal investigation. While we conduct this investigation, our chief procurement officer has been placed on leave to ensure the company retains its focus on its operations and serving customers,” said an Altice USA spokesperson.

Pereira founded Altice alongside Patrick Drahi and Bruno Moineville in 2002.

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London-focused ISP and broadband network builder G.Network, which until today had been investing around £1bn to roll-out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network in the city, has today announced that they’ve secured a funding boost of up to £150m from principal investor USS. The operator, which last year claimed to have already covered 400,000 […]

The UK Government’s controversial new Online Safety Bill is facing more criticism today after Dan Squires KC and Emma Foubister of Matrix Chambers issued a legal opinion on its “prior restraint” clause. This suggests that there is “likely to be significant interference with freedom of expression that is unforeseeable and which is thus not prescribed […]

Mobile network operator and broadband ISP Vodafone UK has today added a second social broadband tariff for those on state benefits (e.g. Universal Credit), which is called ‘Fibre 2 Essentials‘ and costs a bit more than their existing ‘Essentials Broadband‘ plan, but will give you faster speeds of up to 73Mbps. Just to recap. Vodafone’s […]

Hull-based network builder and broadband ISP KCOM, which is currently busy expanding their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to more of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has this week selected Ricoh UK to help deliver their £17m copper to fibre phone network switchover. The operator’s full fibre network already covers c. 300,000 premises, which includes around […]

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The group will meet today with PM Rishi Sunak to discuss the state of the UK economy and explore options for boosting the economy

Today, the UK government has unveiled fourteen chief executives that will form a new business council set to advise the Prime Minister on economic policy.

The group comprises the CEOs of AstraZeneca, NatWest Group, BAE, SSE, Google DeepMind, Sainsbury’s, Vodafone, GSK, Aviva, Shell, Sage, Taylor Wimpey, Diageo, and Barclays.

Together, they represent many of the UK’s largest industries, including banking, pharmaceuticals, retail, construction, energy, tech, insurance, telecoms, and defence.

Unsurprisingly, these companies are also some of the UK’s most valuable; nine of the companies represented are in the UK’s top 30 listed businesses, with only the relative newcomer, AI specialist Google DeepMind, not being featured on the FTSE 100.

Combined, the fourteen companies reportedly employ around 330,000 people in the UK.

“I look forward to hearing first-hand from business leaders about how we can break down the barriers they face and unlock new opportunities for them to thrive,” said PM Rishi Sunak. “The more businesses innovate and invest, the more we grow and create good jobs across the country.”

The business council will reportedly convene twice a year and will be refreshed at the end of 2023.

Today’s meeting will reportedly focus on the economic climate, inflation, skill shortages, and the ongoing impacts of Brexit.

As far as all this relates to the telecoms sector, the inclusion of new CEO of Vodafone Group, Margherita Della Valle, is noteworthy.

Della Valle was made permanent CEO of Vodafone back in April, having held the position on an interim basis since the end of 2022. Since the resignation of previous CEO Nick Read at the end of last year, she has been outlining plans to turn around the company’s dwindling fortunes, declaring its most recent financial results “not good enough”.

The company currently has plans to cut around 11,000 jobs across Europe over the next three years, including a significant number at the company’s UK headquarters, as well as streamlining operations across its portfolio.

Perhaps most notably, the company is in the process of merging its UK operations with those of CK Hutchison’s Three UK. The £15 billion deal would create a telecoms powerhouse with the scale to threaten the hegemony of BT, potentially making Vodafone the most powerful player in the UK market.

The deal is still awaiting the results of regulatory scrutiny.

“I am pleased to be joining the Business Council, an important forum to promote and support the global competitiveness of the UK. We have a vital part to play in the UK’s future, as our national communications infrastructure can help drive innovation and economic growth,” said Della Valle.

Aside from Vodafone, the other natural fit for a telecoms representative on this council would be Philip Jansen, the CEO of BT. As head of the largest UK telco, as well as one of the country’s largest employers in the country, Jansen would seem ideally placed to help steer the PM on the UK economy’s digitalisation.

However, just last week it was announced that Jansen is seeking to step down from the role of CEO over the next year, with analysts suggesting he had been on “shaky ground” for time due to the company’s disappointing results.

Shares in BT have fallen around 45% during Jansen’s four-year tenure.

Finally, it is also worth quickly noting here the lack of representation of SMEs on this business council. There are reportedly, 5.5 million SMEs in the UK, representing 99.9% of UK private sector businesses, yet none of these

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), one of the largest lobbying groups in the country, which represents around 160,000 SMEs, has been quick to criticise the composition of the business council, calling it full of “corporate bigwigs” and “suits”.

How much of a key role does the telcoms play in growing the UK’s economy? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain conference, the UK’s largest digital economy event

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Broadband ISP BeFibre has today announced that their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which is being built by sister company Digital Infrastructure (DI), has finally gone live for 12,000 “residents” (coverage) in the Lancashire (England) town of Skelmersdale. At present Skelmersdale only has patchy FTTP coverage by Openreach and very little in the way […]