Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Events

Brandy Reitter, executive director of the Colorado Broadband Office, will be joined by counterparts Oklahoma and Texas.

By Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

State broadband leaders will feature among key speakers at Connected America 2026, with leaders from Colorado, Arizona, and Oklahoma already committed to speak this April at the event.

Connected America, scheduled for April 14-15 at the Irving Convention Center in Texas, plans to discuss technology, regulation, and the investment environment for next generation broadband in the United States.

Among speakers being promoted are Brandy Reitter, the executive director of the Colorado Broadband Office, and Edyn Rolls, the chief strategic officer for the Oklahoma Broadband Office.

Also committed to speak is Nicholas Capozzi, who holds the title of state broadband director for the Arizona Commerce Authority, and Eric Frederick, the chief connectivity officer for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. 

See also:

Is a BEAD conflict brewing between NTIA and Starlink? (Jan. 2026)

Frederick plans to discuss the current progress and challenges faced by state-led broadband programs in his appearance on Day 1, which will feature a discussion with Reitter and Bryant Clayton, who serves as the Broadband Development Office director in Texas.

Other key speakers from the public sector include figures like Kevin Gunn, the chief technology officer for Fort Worth.

The city’s broadband manager, Lillian Painter, will also be present to join a discussion on funding, policy, and partnerships driving middle-mile expansion in the U.S.

To learn more about Connected America 2026, review the recently released agenda, which features themes like AI America, Connected Places, Connected Networks, Startup America, and Data Center Forum.

To review a full list of themes for Connected America 2026, click here.

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The post State broadband leaders to gather at Connected America 2026 appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Digital entertainment platform Netgem TV has today announced that their latest IPTV box – PLEIO, which includes support for the UK’s newest broadband-based live TV Freely streaming service, will on Saturday (21st Feb) add support for 2K’s global hit game ‘Mafia: Definitive Edition‘ (no other PC or console is required to play as PLEIO ships with a gamepad).

In case anybody has forgotten, PLEIO (retail via Amazon – affiliate link) is bundled by a number of broadband ISPs in the UK and can also be purchased at retail for £109.89 (NOTE: it will return to £99 from tomorrow until the end of Feb). The retail device typically ships with the added bonus of 12 months subscription to their premium content service (you don’t have to keep the subscription after it ends), which normally costs £9.99 per month.

The PLEIO subscription includes access to 250+ Cloud Games and 150+ extra TV channels, but it’s the cloud gaming service that we’re focused on today. In addition, the software’s UI (User Interface) has also been updated to include new “My List” and “Continue Watching” rows available on the home page, as well as content on the home page being expanded beyond Freely.

Sylvain Thevenot, MD of Netgem PLEIO, said:

“From the very beginning we envisioned PLEIO as a service that would keep customers entertained, because we’re absolutely committed to value for the consumer. Adding Mafia: Definitive Edition on PLEIO Gaming – included in the 12-month access to Cloud Gaming – is a real indication of what consumers can expect from PLEIO in the future. It’s a truly phenomenal, console-quality game, and we are excited to be the first ones in the UK to include it as part of a TV & Streaming service.”

Netgem has also confirmed a number of other content additions to the platform, which we’ve listed below.

To WATCH – more extra channels:

● Masha and the Bear – A famous comedy preschool powerhouse
● Terra Mater WILD & Adventure Earth – High-production wildlife and discovery
● Autentic History & Autentic Travel – Documentaries and global exploration

To STREAM – hundreds of hours free for PLEIO users:

● Toon Goggles Jr – A dedicated, safe-for-kids platform featuring popular animated shorts and series.
● Duck TV – Expertly curated, soothing content designed specifically to help develop cognitive skills in infants and toddlers.
● Motor Vision – High-octane, on-demand automotive content – from supercar reviews to racing history.

To PLAY – more new games with fantastic options for kids:

● The Smurfs: Dreams – A stunning AAA platformer, with beloved characters
● Totally Spies! Cyber Mission & Tintin Reporter – Cigars of the Pharaoh – Massive fun with familiar characters
● My Universe – Doctors & Nurses – Aspirational, interactive gameplay for younger children

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has notified UK ISPs that they’ve launched three new special offers, which reflect a mix of connection discounts and free upgrades for those looking to take a 1Gbps speed Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) line – this provides dedicated point-to-point data connectivity between sites.

The first offer reflects a new EAD 1Gb connection discount in the High-Network Reach (HNR) access market, for the duration of 2026/27 with the connection charge set at £547 excluding VAT for Local Area (LA) and Standard (STD) circuits and £647 for Extended Reach (ER) circuits. The HNR reflects roughly 9% of UK postcode sectors with significant competitive infrastructure for leased lines, but where Openreach still retains Significant Market Power.

In addition, Openreach has also launched a similar connection discount for EAD 1Gb lines in the Central London Area (CLA). Finally, the operator has renewed the EAD 1Gb Remote Upgrade Special Offer for the duration of FY 2026/27, allowing ISPs to remotely upgrade 10Mbps and 100Mbps EAD lines to 1Gbps for free (without incurring the price list £100 regrade charge). Further details here.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has published their February 2026 update on the delivery progress of contracts that have been awarded under their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme. The update reveals that some 215,380 contracted premises (up from 202,270 in Jan 2026) have so far been covered out of a planned total of 1,023,310.

The figures in this update are not directly comparable to the figures published in BDUK’s general statistics release. This is because today’s report tracks the number of contracted premises to which a supplier has delivered a gigabit-capable connection under the main gigabit subsidy scheme (GIS), whereas the official statistics include the number of premises that have also received a gigabit-capable connection as a result of any public BDUK subsidy (i.e. that covers other schemes too, like gigabit vouchers and past contracts that pre-date Project Gigabit).

So far, most of the country’s gigabit-capable broadband coverage has been delivered by commercial deployments (predominantly focused on urban and semi-urban areas), while Project Gigabit focuses on the final bits that they fail to reach. The project has already committed most of its budget up to 2030, but there are still some contracts yet to be awarded and others that have been scaled-back or switched suppliers (here, here, here and here).

Otherwise, it’s worth remembering that all of the listed contracts were awarded at different times and are thus at very different stages of development (some started several years apart). A few of the listed contracts have already completed their delivery, such as Wessex Internet’s roll-out for North Dorset and GoFibre’s roll-outs for County Durham and North Northumberland.

Project Gigabit – Contracted Premises and Built Premises by Contract (Feb 2026)

Take note that CityFibre’s progress under the £58.6m (public subsidy) contract for rural parts of Nottinghamshire and West Lincolnshire (Lot 10) needs to be taken in context, since Connexin originally held this until only a few months ago when they were acquired by CityFibre. Connexin only began the build phase at the end of 2024 (here), thus its delivery has been stuck in limbo due to that consolidation.

The above is an example of why it’s important to understand the context behind each contract before judging delivery progress, since a face-value assessment will overlook key realities. Speaking of which, some of the contracted figures may differ from the original announcements, which reflects the usual contract modifications (i.e. the scope of delivery can increase or decrease, such as due to commercial builds by other operators going further than expected or builds costing more than expected etc.).

For some extra context, you can check out the previous figures for January 2026 (here).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network operator Openreach (BT) has this week confirmed that they’ve recently started to roll-out or expand their new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP network across the Somerset festival town of Glastonbury, as well as 9 more locations that stretch right across the United Kingdom.

Just to recap. Openreach is currently investing up to £15bn to expand the coverage of their new full fibre network to 25 million premises by December 2026 (here), which will include around 6.2m in rural or semi-rural areas. On top of that, they’ve also expressed an ambition to reach “up to” 30m by 2030 (there are c. 33m in the UK), albeit somewhat dependent upon a favourable outcome from Ofcom’s Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR).

The latest locations on Openreach’s existing roll-out plan to see the start of Street Works to build their new full fibre network have this week been confirmed as Glastonbury, Ferndown, Millport, Wemyss Bay, Ventnor, Ilfracombe, Royston, Low Moor, Padiham and Kingswinford. Sadly, the operator hasn’t said how many premises in each location will be reached.

The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some providers have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The move comes as the company pledges “to embed AI across manufacturing, logistics, energy, finance, retail, agriculture and healthcare” throughout India

Reliance Industries, owner of India’s biggest telco Reliance Jio, has announced plans to invest $109.8 billion over the next seven years to expand India’s AI data centre footprint.

Speaking at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi today, Reliance owner and Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, said that the investments would see the conglomerate deploy sovereign gigawatt (GW)-scale data centres to handle the country’s growing demand for AI.

“I would like to announce that Jio will play an even bigger role in India’s AI transformation,” said Ambani. “This is not a speculative investment. It is not for chasing valuation. This is patient, disciplined, nation-building capital, designed to create durable economic value and strategic resilience for six decades to come.”

During his speech, Ambani said the biggest bottleneck for AI in India was the limited availability of compute infrastructure, which risked driving up costs for consumers. By rapidly expanding the availability of this infrastructure, Reliance hopes to make AI affordable across the country.

“India cannot afford to rent intelligence. Therefore, we will reduce the cost of intelligence dramatically as we did the cost of data,” Ambani said.

Reliance Jio is already building a massive data centre campus in Jamnagar, ultimately aiming for 3 GW of total capacity. The first 120 MW are expected to come online in the second half of 2026, according to Ambani.

In addition to expanding its data centre footprint, Reliance’s investment strategy also focusses on building more localised compute infrastructure (i.e., edge computing facilities). By processing data closer to the edge, customers will be able to leverage AI with lower latency.

Of course, all this new AI infrastructure will require an immense amount of power. For this, Reliance says it is leveraging its 10 GW of renewable energy from solar farms in Gujarat and the Andhra Pradesh. This, Ambani says, is not only makes the project sustainable, but also cheaper for Indian customers.

It is worth noting, however, that Reliance is not alone in aiming to become India’s leading domestic data centre player. Earlier this week, Adani Enterprises – owned by India’s second-richest man Gautam Adani – said it would invest $100 billion to build renewable energy-powered AI-ready data centres by 2035.

The battle for AI data centre dominance in India is only just beginning.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today launched a bespoke family protection and security package for up to 10 devices in the shape of McAfee Protect Advanced, although it will come at an extra monthly cost for most, but not all, of their existing subscribers.

The new product is said to include updated features, such as enhanced Parental Controls, McAfee’s Text Scam Detector, Social Privacy Manager, Personal Data Cleanup, antivirus software and more. “With McAfee Protect Advanced, O2 customers can be assured that their family is shielded from viruses, scams, malware, and other online threats, whilst personal information remains safe from identity theft and fraud threats,” said the announcement.

McAfee Protect Advanced allows customers to protect up to 10 devices per household and is the latest service to join O2 Extras extensive catalogue, sitting alongside Extras including Disney+ from £5.99 per month, Amazon Prime for £8.99 per month (comes with a £2 discount), Cafeyn for £7.99 per month and TNT Sport (£26.99).

The new product replaces two previous McAfee security offerings available via Extras (McAfee Mobile Security Plus and McAfee Mobile Security Standard).

Key features include:

➤ Award-winning AI-powered antivirus – Rest easy knowing your devices are protected from the latest threats with award-winning antivirus protection for compatible Windows, Mac OS, Chromebooks, and Android devices.

➤ Parental Controls – Protect kids from inappropriate content online and help them to build good digital habits with the ability to manage both screen time and the content which is accessible. Features include the ability to apply a ‘Digital Timeout’, which pauses the child’s screen time and restricts access to installed apps and internet browsing. The software can also block inappropriate apps, content and dangerous websites, giving parents maximum control and peace of mind.

➤ McAfee’s Text Scam Detector – Scam or safe? Avoid scam texts with AI-powered protection. Text Scam Detector uses patented AI technology to proactively detect scams and automatically alerts you if it detects a dangerous link in your texts, even before you open the message. And don’t worry, it can even block sites if you accidentally click.

➤ McAfee’s Personal Data Cleanup – Know how much of your data is online, and which companies are selling it. With Personal Data Cleanup, O2 customers will also receive guidance on how to remove their data from third parties.

➤ McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager – Safeguard your privacy on social media. Social Privacy Manager helps you adjust more than 100 privacy settings across your social media accounts in just a few clicks, so your personal info is only visible to the people you want to share it with.

In terms of price, McAfee Protect Advanced is available exclusively to O2 customers at £4.99 per month, or at no extra cost for 6 months to those upgrading or taking out a new Ultimate Plan, via Extras. O2 Extras appear on a customer’s monthly bill alongside their Airtime plan.

Christian Hindennach, Chief Commercial Officer at VMO2, said:

“Helping our customers to remain safe and secure online is a top priority for O2. For us, our mission is simple – to help families feel more secure at home and confident in dealing with the modern challenges that come with being a connected household. This new package of award-winning security features by McAfee, exclusive to O2 customers, is our latest way of offering families peace of mind so they can enjoy the connection, entertainment and ease our network offers without having to worry about online risks. Whether you want greater control over your child’s online time or simply more say in how your own data is used online, every household can benefit from the security features offered by McAfee Protect Advanced.”

The launch is said to be O2’s latest way of keeping its customers, their devices and personal information safe. An automatic restriction is put in place to limit customers from accessing 18+ content on the O2 network, with age verification required in order lift this bar. O2 also provides a free opt-in Parental Control service which limits the websites children can access on the network.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Events

An impressive arrangement of local and state broadband leaders from the Lone Star State will take center stage at Connected America in Texas.

By Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Deep in the heart of Texas this April a who’s who of Texas leaders in broadband will share their insights with attendees at Connected America, scheduled for April 14-15 at the Irving Convention Center.

Lone Star leaders to set the pace at Connected America

Along with the Bryan Clayton, the director of the Broadband Development Office in Texas, speakers from the City of Fort Worth, the Deep East Texas Council of Governments, the City of Irving, the City of Seguin, and the City of Lewisville will also be in attendance.

Meanwhile, Fort Worth is sending two key speakers to Connected America 2026: Broadband Manager Lillian Painter and the city’s chief technology officer, Kevin Gunn.

The City of Austin will also be represented with Steven Apodaca, chair of the city’s technology commission.

Apodaca will discuss how employers, educators, and policymakers collaborate to future-proof the workforce, joining panelists on Day 2 of the conference for a panel titled “Building digital skills for the AI-driven economy.”

With state and local leaders, organizations based in Texas will also be well represented among speakers.

The agenda features speakers from North Texas Fiber (Bobby Vassallo), Nextlink Internet (Cameron Kilton), and NOVOS FiBER (Rob Johnson).

The conference’s second day will also feature a discussion about smart cities in Texas, featuring Chris Lee, the chief information officer for the City of Lewisville, and Shane McDaniel, who holds the same position for the City of Seguin.

Their panel, at 2:15 on Day 2, will investigate how Texas cities are using smart infrastructure to improve transport, energy, and safety. They’ll also discuss how mid-sized communities replicate big-city innovations affordably.

Earlier that day, Rashmi Varma, a managing partner at VAJR Capital, will detail how quantum technology is no longer a distant vision, with a presentation highlighting the Texas Quantum Initiative and the Texas Quantum Corridor.

Attendees can review the full conference agenda for Connected America 2026 online.

Click here to view a full list of key speakers.

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The post Texas broadband power players will headline at Connected America appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has today published the latest Q4 2025 progress report on their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme. The data reveals that some 1.37 million premises have now received coverage from BDUK’s gigabit programmes since their inception, albeit only 177,840 via Project Gigabit’s GIS contracts (up from 131,090 in Nov 2025).

At present over 89.6% of UK premises can already access a 1000Mbps+ capable broadband network (here) and Ofcom separately forecasts that this could rise to between 91-97% of homes by January 2028 (here). Most of this has been delivered by commercial deployments (predominantly focused on urban and semi-urban areas), but there are some areas in the final 10-20% of premises that are simply too expensive for commercial providers.

Project Gigabit itself was originally established in 2021 to help extend broadband ISP networks capable of delivering download speeds of at least 1000Mbps (1Gbps) to achieve “nationwide” coverage (c.99%) by 2030 2032 (here) – focusing on the commercially unviable areas (usually rural and semi-rural locations). The project has already committed most of its budget up to 2030, but there are still some contracts yet to be awarded and others that have been scaled-back or switched suppliers (here, here, here and here).

The latest update builds on BDUK’s prior report and covers the period between 1st October and 31st December 2025, although it should be noted that the agency tends to publish a separate and more regular monthly update in order to cover the progress of individual contracts under the Project Gigabit scheme (here). Today’s report is thus more of a general overall progress update, without any individual contract specifics.

The latest Q4 2025 BDUK data

Of the premises delivered by BDUK between 1 October 2025 and 31 December 2025: 

• • 75% (41,830) were delivered under Gigabit contracts, or Government Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) 
  • 18% (10,150) were delivered by vouchers 
  • 7% (4,050) were delivered by Superfast (e.g. the prior SFBB programme) & Hubs (e.g. Local Full Fibre Networks for the public sector)
• 90% (50,200) of the premises delivered between 1 October 2025 and 31 December 2025 were classified as residential premises and 10% (5,400) were classified as commercial premises.  
• The highest delivery between 1 October 2025 and 31 December 2025 was in England (80%, 45,100 premises), followed by Scotland (11%, 6,200 premises), Wales (9%, 4,800 premises), and Northern Ireland (< 50 premises) 
• Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest delivery between 1 October 2025 and 31 December 2025 among English regions (19% of England, 8,700), followed by the East of England (18%, 8,100) and the North West (17%, 7,700). 

The spreadsheet also includes some additional data and a regional breakdown of the figures, some of which we’ve included below. One key thing to note below is that Project Gigabit itself has still only delivered a relatively small amount of gigabit coverage, with the earlier Superfast Broadband Programme (SFBB) continuing to hold the lion’s share (largely because that ran for many years longer and Project Gigabit is much more recent).

Gigabit Premises passed by year and BDUK intervention

Gigabit Premises Passed by Year, Country and Region

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Market regulator Ofcom has this morning published their latest quarterly Q3 2025 study of UK consumer telecoms and TV complaints, which jointly names EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone as attracting the most moans from customers for fixed broadband services, while Sky Mobile took the most flak for Mobile services and EE did the same for Pay TV.

Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.

Otherwise, the results below reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs due to limited data (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%).

Just for some extra context. Ofcom’s most recent May 2025 study of telecoms provider quality (here) revealed that the proportion of UK consumers who were satisfied with their communications services stood at 73% for landline services (down from 77% two years earlier), 84% for broadband (up from 82%) and 88% for mobile services (up from 87%).

Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints

EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone jointly attracted the most broadband complaints in Q3 2025, with between 37% and 45% of them being driven by faults, service and provisioning issues. On the flip side, Plusnet attracted the fewest complaints of all the listed providers (although NOW Broadband didn’t attract enough complaints to be included this time around). Virgin Media also continued to show a fall in complaint volumes.

Fixed Line Phone Complaints

TalkTalk also attracted the most complaints for fixed line (landline) phone services, which were once again mainly driven (38%) by faults, service and provisioning issues. By comparison, Utility Warehouse continued to attract the fewest complaints, followed Sky.

Mobile Complaints

Mobile operators still enjoy lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but Sky Mobile did still attract the most moans, and ironically 33% of those were about their complaints handling process, while 25% had issues with changing provider.

Pay TV Complaints

Finally, EE attracted the most complaints for Pay TV services by far – mostly (33%) due to problems with complaints handling and changing provider (32%), while TalkTalk received the fewest complaints.

Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q3 2025
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints