The Hellesdon Parish Council, which is a village and suburb of Norwich in Norfolk (England), has fined CityFibre an unspecified amount after a local councillor complained that their efforts to rollout a new gigabit-broadband (FTTP) ISP network in the area was “shoddy” and had caused “a lot of issues“. Deployment of the new network, which […]
Gov Invites Broadband ISPs to £800m UK Project Gigabit Rollout
The Government’s Building Digital UK team has published a Prior Information Notice (PIN) for their Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) programme, which is valued at £800m+ and reflects the part of their £5bn Project Gigabit scheme that aims to help gap-fund the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks into rural areas. At present around 70% of […]
CityFibre Refreshes Brand – Brings Full Fibre to 1.9 Million UK Homes
Major alternative network provider CityFibre, which is currently investing over £5bn (debt and equity) to make their full fibre (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP network available to almost 8 million premises (c.30% of the UK) by the end of 2025 (here), has today announced a “major brand update” (i.e. they have a new logo). Now […]
Caveats as SpaceX Trial Cheaper Starlink Satellite Broadband Plan
One of the biggest obstacles to wider UK adoption of SpaceX’s popular Starlink service, which offers ultrafast latency and broadband via a mega constellation of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has been price. But a trial in France that cuts the monthly rental to €50 (£42) may be a sign of things to […]
Virgin Media O2 UK Lays Groundwork for Faster Upload Speeds
Broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) appears to be in the process of laying the groundwork for both faster upload speeds and latency times (ping), which comes after a growing number of the provider’s customers began reporting activation of the first DOCSIS 3.1 channels for upstream on their HUBs. At present Virgin Media has already deployed […]
Towercos set to do battle for Oi’s Brazilian towers
Today, Brazilian media is reporting that both ATC and IHS Towers are lining up to bid for OI’s 8,000 mobile towers, situated throughout Brazil, according to anonymous sources close to the matter.
Oi has already received a binding offer of roughly $326 million in early August for the towers from NK 108 Empreendimentos e Participacoes (NK 108)…
VMO2 boosting apprenticeship schemes
This week, Virgin Media O2 (VMO”) has announced that launch of five new apprenticeship schemes, set to focus on digital marketing, cyber security, quantity surveying, network cabling and DevOps.
These new schemes will run in addition to the 40 the company already offers in these crucial areas, with VMO2 also running alternative schemes for network engineering roles.
Apprentices will reportedly be paid a minimum annual salary of £19,000, with the company seeking to fill an additional 70 roles in total…
Scotland Unveil £36m Extension of R100 Fibre Broadband Rollout
The Scottish Government has unveiled an extension of their existing £600m Reaching 100% (R100) contract with BT (Openreach), which will see a further £36m being invested to cover an additional 2,637 rural properties with a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network. But completion is now 2028! The original R100 project was split between three […]
Connecting Kilimanjaro: Africa’s tallest peak to gain internet access
This week, the Tanzanian government has announced that state-owned mobile operator Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTC) has begun connecting Africa’s highest mountain to the internet.
The government said that it had completed the installation of telecommunications equipment 3,720 metres up the mountainside, providing access to a high-speed broadband connection for the thousands of climbers that visit the mountain every year.
By the end of the year…
Ofcom Finds Sky UK Breached Rules on Contract Notifications UPDATE
A long-running investigation by the UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today concluded that Sky (Sky TV, Sky Broadband etc.) broke consumer protection rules by failing to send end-of-contract notifications to their satellite based Pay TV customers. The End-of-Contract Notifications (ECN) system requires all fixed broadband, mobile, home phone and pay TV providers to […]