Broadcaster ITV and broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) have today signed a new 5-year commercial partnership, which will deliver “deeper integration” of ITV’s programming, IPTV rights and features into the operator’s future IPTV based Pay TV products. As well as enabling customers to maintain access to ITV’s content. At this point it’s easy to forget […]
Openreach Trial FTTP Broadband Speed Test to Identify Faults
Openreach (BT) has informed UK ISPs about the launch of a new speed test trial for their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband lines, which looks as if it will be used to help identify where on the network a speed fault actually exists (i.e. is it on Openreach’s side or not). At present existing speed tests […]
Broadband ISP TalkTalk Bundles Cheaper Netflix without Pay TV
Budget UK ISP TalkTalk has today introduced a new package that bundles a home “Fibre Broadband” (FTTC / VDSL2) service with a cheaper subscription to Netflix’s popular internet video streaming service, albeit without requiring new customers to take out a traditional Pay TV service first in order to benefit. Essentially, customers who take out TalkTalk’s […]
Dorset Project Demos Satellite Backhaul from a 5G Standalone Network
The 5G RuralDorset project, which is testing various 5G based mobile voice and broadband technologies alongside existing fibre cables, claims to have achieved a “world-first” by demonstrating satellite backhaul from a 5G Standalone network (i.e. using satellite to keep the connection live when terrestrial mobile fails). The work reflects part of the Connected Coast project […]
WightFibre’s Full Fibre Build Tops 30,000 Isle of Wight Premises
Broadband ISP WightFibre has revealed that their £85m project to deploy a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the Isle of Wight (South Coast of Hampshire, UK) has now covered “over” 30,000 premises, which is up from 26,000 in April (here), albeit still short of their 41,000 goal for the end of 2021. The long-term […]
Voneus Aim Ultrafast Broadband for More of South West Wales
Rural focused UK ISP Voneus, which is supported by investment from Macquarie Capital, looks set to bring faster broadband speeds of between 50Mbps to 1000Mbps (gigabit) to more areas of South West Wales, seemingly including several communities across parts of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. The provider, which currently holds a “near term” target to connect 100,000 […]
Headaches for UK ISPs as Telecoms Security Bill to Become Law
The UK Government’s new Telecommunications (Security) Bill (TSB) is set to become law after passing through both houses of parliament this month, but it goes much further than just banning Huawei from the UK’s 5G mobile networks. Broadband ISPs, both big and small alike, also face a cacophony of tedious new rules. Few would disagree […]
Virgin Media O2 Upgrade 90 Percent of UK Network to 1Gbps
Broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) has today switched-on gigabit broadband capability (1130Mbps downloads and 52Mbps up) for another 1.6 million UK homes, which means more than 90% of their entire network has now been upgraded to the DOCSIS 3.1 standard. The remaining 1.2 million should follow by the end of this year. The last batch […]
Ofcom Moves to Protect 5,000 UK Payphone Boxes from Closure UPDATE
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today announced that they intend to protect around 5,000 “vital phone boxes” from closure by BT and KCOM, but only those that are truly still needed by local communities. Without such protection, some of those phone boxes considered “vital” would still have been set for removal. At their height […]
ISP Baltic Broadband Introduce Baltic Backpack to Fix Connectivity
Business ISP Baltic Broadband, which typically offers a mix of fixed wireless and full fibre broadband to firms in the Liverpool area, has introduced an unusual new product called the ‘Baltic Backpack‘ – designed to be introduced to tackle areas of slow or failed broadband, seemingly by harnessing multiple cellular networks. According to the announcement, […]