Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
ISPreview has today been informed that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Edinburgh-based UK alternative network operator GoFibre, Neil Conaghan, who has led the business since November 2022, recently resigned from the business and a hunt for his successor has now begun. (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
A new study has highlighted how some of the UK market’s largest fixed broadband ISPs, including BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media and Vodafone, appear to be failing in their commitment to making cheaper Social Tariffs easier to access (available to those on state benefits). Instead the providers were found to make the tariffs and their details hard to find and often with unclear contract terms or pricing. (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Nearly a year has passed since banking and money management app provider Revolut launched its own eSIM based mobile service – Revolute Mobile (here), which is powered by Gigs. But two customers have recently informed ISPreview that their “unlimited” mobile plan has just been “terminated, effective immediately” due to heavy usage. (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
The member‑owned and not-for-profit London Internet Exchange (LINX), which manages a large chunk of UK and global data traffic through their switches via around 900 members (broadband ISPs, mobile operators etc.), has today extended their existing partnership with Japan Internet Xing Co., Ltd (JPIX) by launching new direct network routes between London and Tokyo. (more…)
Original article Total Telecom:Read More
In a timely update ahead of Connected Britain next month, Building Digital UK (BDUK) has today published an update on the progress of various contracts as part of the £5 billion Project Gigabit broadband rollout initiative.
The data, as of August 17, suggests that 296,770 contracted premises have now been delivered, up from 287,510 in July 2026. This represents around 35% of the 846,770 premises covered by existing contracts.
The government release notes that these figures are meant only as a rough indication of progress, noting that the ‘variable time lag between contract signature/delivery and data ingestion by BDUK’ means they may not be strictly accurate. The reported figures have also been rounded to the nearest 10.
The agency also highlighted that the figures should not be directly compared to those published in BDUK’s annual Delivery Performance report earlier this summer; those results, showing 1.42 million premises passed, refer to premises passed with the support of any public or BDUK-related subsidy, rather than solely the GIS programme.
Backed by £5 billion in public funding, Project Gigabit was first introduced in 2021with the aim of supporting the government’s gigabit-capable broadband targets. Those targets have evolved substantially over the past five years but are now set at 99% of premises passed with gigabit-capable broadband technology by 2032.
The UK currently has gigabit-capable broadband coverage of around 90%, with the 36 current Project Gigabit contracts aimed primarily at supporting rollout to the final 10%.
In short, the programme continues to make steady progress, but the lion’s share of the work remains to be done and will only become more difficult as the target locations become increasingly difficult to reach.
Is the UK doing enough to connect the hardest-to-reach communities? Join the discussion at Connected Britain
Also in the news
Shared Rural Network rollout extends to UK national parks with over 150 4G masts live
Vodafone touts latest attempt to bridge the UK’s digital divide
Virgin Media O2 cuts 5,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions
The post BDUK gives August 2026 update on Project Gigabit progress appeared first on Total Telecom.
Original article Total Telecom:Read More
The clock is ticking for South Africa’s major mobile network operators to fulfil their legal obligation of zero-rating information and services that carry social value. Companies like MTN, Vodacom and Cell C have been given until 15 January 2027 to make the digital content of public benefit organisations (PBOs) data-free for users.
The zero-rating requirement is not a corporate social responsibility initiative; it’s a condition attached to the multi-billion-rand spectrum auction held by Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) in 2022. The expected revenues foregone were factored into the bid prices by the network operators. But ICASA has yet to indicate how it intends to hold operators accountable.
In a country with unequal access to the internet and high data costs, the zero-rating of digital content is a bridge across the digital divide that could connect people to information for education, social services, healthcare and job seeking.
“Almost every home in South Africa has a mobile phone, but many in poor communities can’t afford the cost of data. This means the tools for stimulating socio-economic change are out of reach for millions of people in a country where barriers to connectivity and access to information and resources are a systemic choke which reinforces inequality,” explains David Harrison, CEO of the DG Murray Trust (DGMT).
“When content that carries social value is zero-rated, new mothers can access trusted information about breastfeeding and nutrition, preschool teachers can tap into support networks and receive training, and young people can be linked to work opportunities,” Harrison adds.
Some mobile network operators, like RAIN have risen to the occasion by zero-rating at least two dozen organisations. However, across the major operators, only fifteen organisations have been zero-rated out of thousands that may be eligible.
“We are deeply concerned that with the deadline just months away, we’ve had no meaningful communication from most mobile network operators, or from ICASA, about how zero-rating will be implemented, regulated and enforced,” says Busisiwe Kabane-Bailey, Innovation Director at DGMT.
PBOs are vetted and waiting to be zero-rated
Zero-rating is not new to mobile network operators: they were required to zero-rate educational and Covid-related health content of websites under the Covid-19 national disaster regulations. In the years before the pandemic, and since, some operators have zero-rated sites of their own accord.
But where this has happened, implementation was uneven: a site that is data-free on one network may not be on another, or may carry different speed and data limitations. And the content itself was selected at each operator’s discretion, with no shared standard to ensure it delivered the greatest possible educational or health benefit.
DGMT began exploring ways to reduce data costs and expand access to public benefit content as early as 2013, long before zero-rating became a licence condition. To streamline implementation, DGMT operates the Social Innovation Register (SIR), which is designed to review PBO applications by verifying their tax-benefit status according to Schedule 9 of the Income Tax Act and confirming they meet the technical requirements for zero-rating.
The SIR acts as a single source of information for PBOs that have been assessed against the eligibility criteria for zero-rating and aims to reduce the need for mobile network providers to evaluate applications independently. While the SIR itself was only launched in 2023, it is the product of more than a decade of work in this area.
“Since going live, the SIR has processed more than 120 applications, demonstrating that much of the infrastructure needed to drive implementation at scale is already in place. What’s missing is engagement,” says Kabane-Bailey.
“The question is not whether operators can do this but why they haven’t. When zero-rating was required under the Covid-19 disaster regulations, networks implemented it,” she adds.
South Africans have long regarded networks as predatory and for years, consumers complained that data was unaffordable, but prices only came down after the Competition Commission confirmed it. Now, MTN and Vodacom are in court against ICASA over data expiry rules. These repeated push-backs and delays only serve to deepen public mistrust.
“Zero-rating offers operators a chance to restore trust and to accelerate socio-economic development, at modest cost, with the systems already built,” Kabane-Bailey explains.
“We are calling on operators to use the existing systems to fast-track zero-rating before the deadline expires, and to urgently publish their implementation plans,” she concludes.
To arrange interviews, please contact DGMT Communications Specialist Corné Kritzinger on 060 679 7964 or send an email to co***@*****co.za.
About us: DGMT is a South African foundation built on endowments from Douglas and Eleanor Murray. As a public innovator through strategic investment, DGMT is committed to developing South Africa’s potential. To this end, DGMT has identified 10 opportunities to escape the inequality trap and build a thriving society. These opportunities span early childhood development, innovation amongst civil society organisations, youth development, preventing nutritional stunting and promoting literacy.
The post Deadline looms for mobile network operators to implement their zero-rating obligations appeared first on Total Telecom.
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Mobile operator giffgaff, which is controlled by Telefónica UK (part of the VMO2 Group) and uses O2’s virtual network platform, has today begun offering up to six times more data on two of their Pay Monthly SIM-only plans – £8 a month will now get you 40GB of data (up from 6GB), while £10 will get you 80GB (up from 25GB). (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has today published their August 2026 update on the delivery progress of contracts awarded under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme. The update reveals that some 296,770 contracted premises (up from 287,510 in Jul 2026) have so far been covered out of a planned total of 846,770 (35% complete). (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Apparently the odd squirrel in Manchester (England) has developed a taste for Netomnia’s optical fibre network after one of them went nuts while taking a mega-bite out of the network operator’s overhead broadband cable in the city, which caused a brief case of nut-working failure for at least one or two of their customers. (more…)
Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Mobile operator and internet provider giffgaff, which originally started to launch their full fibre (FTTP) broadband packages via nexfibre’s national UK network in September 2025 (here), looks finally set to resolve a long-running obstruction that made it hard for Virgin Media’s customers on the same network to switch to the provider. (more…)