NEWS

Accessibility is taking a step forward for Jurassic Fibre users as they announce that deaf customers who use British Sign Language (BSL) are now able to use a video link interpreter when they contact the customer service centre.

The UK home broadband provider is one of the fastest growing companies in the South West appears to be poised for further growth with a fresh injection of £250m in capital investment from Fern Trading, advised by Octopus Investments.

The provision of BSL interpreter services for deaf customers is more common in large organisations, so this is a positive step for Jurassic Fibre to make their customer service more accessible and inclusive.

Sarah Howells, Chief Customer Officer from Jurassic Fibre, said: “People are at the heart of everything we do at Jurassic Fibre. Our business is to connect communities, and we need to make sure we include customers who need or want to communicate with us using any method they choose. So, we’re really excited to be able to offer this service for Deaf people who communicate using BSL.

“Our Deaf customers have already told us that they value the fast, reliable broadband that we install in their homes to connect them to the many online communications platforms they benefit from in day-to-day life. But for those that use BSL, contacting our customer service centre needs to be just as smooth. Major organisations including the NHS offer this service, but it’s fairly unusual with a company our size. We want to go above and beyond to connect all our customers not only to the outside world but to our customer support.”

The plan is being made possible with the help of Sign Solutions, who specialise in solutions to aid communication between deaf and hearing people.

Sophie Kang, Customer Development Manager with Sign Solutions, said: “Sign Solutions are delighted to be providing Jurassic Fibre with our on-demand service InterpretersLive!. InterpretersLive! enables Deaf customers to contact Jurassic Fibre in British Sign Language through a secure link on their website. The link connects Deaf callers to one of Sign Solutions National Register of Communications Professionals working with Deaf/Deaf-Blind People (NRCPD)-registered interpreters, who then makes an onward audio call to the team at Jurassic Fibre. Providing this service to customers will ensure equal access to services and further breaks down the barriers in communication that the Deaf community so often face.”

This will hopefully be good news for customers of the Exeter based ISP, who have been who have been developing a custom-build full fibre broadband network to rural communities in Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Dorset.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has published their annual infrastructure review, which highlights how the UK is making “rapid” progress in rolling out gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks and expects the Government to “achieve its target” for nationwide coverage by 2030. But 5G mobile still needs more direction. At present, the UK has established two main […]

Network operator CityFibre has completed their deployment of a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 1,018 homes in the suburban village of Binley Woods (Warwickshire), which only started in August 2022 and is an extension of their existing network in nearby Coventry. The project, which was delivered via civil engineering firm Callan, […]

Budget broadband ISP TalkTalk is reportedly mulling over the possibility of selling their business-to-business arm (TT Business Direct Limited), which is home to around 80,000 customers and could be worth over £200 million. The provider is understood to have hired bankers at Houlihan Lokey to oversee the plan. In case anybody has forgotten, we recently […]

NEWS

The social media giant has entered the ‘fair contribution’ debate, criticising plans to make tech companies pay for network infrastructure costs is not the solution

The company, in a post titled  ‘Network fee proposals are based on a false premise’, argues that the proposals don’t recognise that ‘its investments in content drive the business model of telecom operators’ and point to the investments in network infrastructure it’s already engage in, which run to tens of billions of dollars.

The post, co-authored by Kevin Salvadori, VP Network and Bruno Cendon Martin, Director & Head of RL Wireless, argues that ‘proposals by some European telecom operators to impose network fees on Content Application Providers (CAPs) such as Meta are not the solution. Network fee proposals are built on a false premise because they do not recognise the value that CAPs create for the digital ecosystem, nor the investments we make in the infrastructure that underpins it.’

In short, Meta argues that without the content customers would want to access, there would be less demand for high-speed, high-capacity networks – as well as Meta’s own high levels of investment into internet infrastructure, including undersea cables and what it terms a ‘content delivery network’ which included ‘an extensive European fibre network’, which operators are not charged for.

Meta’s rebuttal of the proposals is the latest in the growing debate around proposals to charge tech companies a ‘fair share’ for operating their services over telecoms networks within the European Union – but wherever you fall on the issue, the underlying issues driving the debate remain.

The European Commission’s ultimate decision on the issue will be watched with interest in both Europe and Silicon Valley – and the debate is likely to continue to run and run.

 

The current CEO of broadband and telecoms giant BT Group (inc. Openreach, Plusnet and EE), Philip Jansen (56), could be on his way out – sooner than expected. Industry sources have reportedly told a Sunday newspaper that BT Group have already begun hunting for somebody to replace Jansen, who has held the position since 2018. […]

OneWeb, which is part-owned by the UK government, has today technically completed their new Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast (100Mbps+) and low-latency (sub-100ms) satellite broadband network. The development occurred after they successfully launched their final full batch of 36 satellites aboard a rocket from India. The operator has now launched a total of around […]

Alternative rural network ISP Voneus, which is deploying both gigabit-capable Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband networks across parts of England and Wales, has continued its strategy of growth through acquisitions by gobbling Welsh provider Beacons Telecom. At present Voneus claims to have “identified” a total of over 200,000 premises that could […]

The Ferns Group, which is a Kent-based civil engineering firm that specialises in reinstatement works, has become the latest such company to sign a major £50m+ network services agreement with Openreach (there are actually several contracts involved). The deal mostly covers the South of England and may lead to bigger things. The contracts will run […]

UK ISP BT has apologised and promised to automatically refund customers who were impacted after a billing error meant that a “small number” of them had a “duplicate direct debit taken from their bank account“, which in some cases forced a few of those impacted into overdrafts. According to MSE, BT has not yet confirmed […]