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Rural UK ISP Quickline, which is building a new gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) and fixed wireless (FWA) network across parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England (3-Year Rollout Plan), has revealed that a further 7 communities in East Yorkshire (England) have now been connected as part of their associated Project Gigabit contract.

Just to recap. The provider holds several contracts under the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit scheme, including the £118.9m (public subsidy) one for the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (Lot 23), which was announced back in July 2024 and originally aimed to reach around 72,000 additional premises over the next few years (officially the contracted figure is currently 47,800).

According to the latest data from the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency (here), Quickline has so far covered 13,270 premises under this contract. The latest seven locations to go live on the new network include Langtoft, Rudston, Kilham, Cherry Burton, Etton, Catwick and Tickton – reflecting about 2,000 premises (note: two thirds of that is via Project Gigabit and the rest are part of Quickline’s commercial build).

Lauren Robson, Quickline, said:

“Some of these communities are small, quite isolated and have been waiting a long time for decent connectivity. We’re incredibly proud to be involved in delivering a network that is making a real difference to the lives of people who live and work here.”

Quickline currently aims to extend gigabit-capable broadband to a further 360,000 UK premises across thousands of rural communities (roughly 170k via publicly funded projects and almost 200k from commercial builds). The provider recently reported that they ended 2025 with 200,000 premises passed via full fibre (plus 200k more via wireless).

Customers of the service currently pay from just £24.99 per month on a 24-month minimum term for symmetric speeds of 200Mbps, which rises to £32.99 for 1000Mbps (1Gbps). New subscribers can also benefit from up to £300 of switching credit, which helps to cover early termination chargers if you choose to leave your old provider while still within contract.

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Internet access and online security provider Gigabit IQ (formerly Grayshott Gigabit) has this morning announced that they’ve partnered up with telecare alarm provider Careline365, which aims to help protect vulnerable and elderly households during the UK’s transition away from analogue landlines and on to digital phone services with a new package.

Just for some context. Back in 2024 the big legacy phone switch-off was delayed from the end of 2025 to 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details). The main focus of this delay was the 1.8 million UK people who depend upon vital home telecare systems (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people), which aren’t always compatible with digital phone services.

The industry-led shift to digital phones is being driven by two major changes, including the looming retirement of copper lines in favour of full fibre (FTTP) broadband (inc. future exchange closures) and the fact that reliability of the old network is in decline (i.e. it’s becoming harder for operators to source parts and skills for older technologies).

Suffice to say that internet, phone and telecare providers are now busy working to ensure that vulnerable customers are able to make the switch safely, which is where Gigabit IQ’s partnership with Careline365 comes into play. The work will offer integrated digital connectivity and telecare solutions to customers (i.e. a bundle of full fibre broadband and digital telecare solutions).

Key Features of the Integrated Service

• Digital-Ready Alarms – All packages include fully digital-enabled Careline365 alarms, eliminating reliance on outdated landline systems.
• Mobile Coverage Failover – Options include alarms with built-in SIMs for areas without broadband access. Landline options are available only in extreme cases where both internet and mobile coverage are unavailable.
• Multiple Emergency Contacts – Users can register up to six trusted contacts. In the event of no response, these contacts will be called to reduce pressure on emergency services.
• Reliable Connectivity – Gigabit IQ ensures dependable fibre broadband, designed with family and safety-critical use in mind, especially for households dependent on telecare.
• More information can be found at https://www.gigabitiq.com/careline-365-partner/

Mashood Ahmad, Founder of Gigabit IQ, said:

“Our mission has always been to prioritise family safety and online wellbeing. By partnering with Careline365, we’re taking proactive steps to ensure that vulnerable individuals and the elderly remain protected during this critical infrastructure change.”

Mark Law, Partnership Manager of Careline 365, said:

“As the digital transition continues at pace, expected to complete by January 2027, Careline365 is absolutely delighted to partner with a highly experienced broadband provider in Gigabit IQ to support service users with their network and pendant alarm setup, ensuring the elderly and vulnerable are well cared for.”

The integrated service packages itself is said to be available now and to ensure families, as well as caregivers, feel supported during the transition, Gigabit IQ and Careline365 will also be launching a Joint Education Programme across the UK. This programme will include a mix of:

• Online webinars led by digital and telecare experts
• In-person educational events where needed
• Accessible resources for local councils, housing associations, and family members

These sessions will offer guidance on what the digital switchover means, how to set up the new integrated services, and how to ensure continued support for vulnerable individuals.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

(Image credit: Amazon)

News

The approvals bring Amazon’s planned constellation to 7,700 satellites

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Amazon Leo the green light to launch a second tranche of low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites.

The approval will allow the company to launch 4,504 additional satellites, bringing the burgeoning constellation’s full complement to 7,727 devices.

Of the newly approved satellites, 3,212 are the more advanced Gen 2 satellites, while 1,292 are Gen 1 satellites aimed at expanding coverage to polar regions, including the northernmost parts of North America and Europe.

Under the approval, Amazon Leo must launch half of the approved satellites by February 10, 2032, and the remaining half by February 10, 2035.

Amazon Leo (previously known as Amazon’s Project Kuiper) has been in development since 2019, aiming to challenge meteoric rise of SpaceX’s Starlink.

Starlink already has around 9,000 satellites in orbit, and recently secured approval to increase this number to 15,000.

As such, Amazon Leo has a lot of catching up to do – a fact made more daunting by its slow deployment rate since it began launching satellites in April last year.

Amazon’s initial FCC clearance required the company to launch half of its 3,232 Gen 1 satellites by July 30, 2026; however, last month the company filed a request for an extension, citing launch vehicle limitations. Amazon is asking that the deadline be extended to July 2028 or even waived entirely.

Amazon Leo has currently launched just 180 of the 1,616 satellites required. (Thirty-two additional satellites are set to be sent into orbit later today, delivered by Arianespace’s latest Ariane 6 launch vehicle.)

Despite this, the company still reportedly aims to begin providing commercial services later this year.

In related news, this week maritime connectivity reseller MTN has announced it will be the first to offer the sector access to Amazon Leo.

According to MTN’s website, the company’s existing partnership with Starlink is ‘the core of [the company’s] strategy’, but it also notes other satellite partners including OneWeb an GEO (geostationary) satellite operators.

“But Starlink is only part of the solution. MTN combines LEO networks like Starlink and OneWeb with GEO satellites, wireless, and near-shore RF to deliver a hybrid model that consistently outperforms legacy connectivity.”

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Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5GSA) mobile broadband network in the Greater Manchester area. The operator’s 5GSA network is now live across a total of more than 500 locations (70% of the UK’s population, or c.49 million people).

Just to recap. 5GSA networks are pure end-to-end 5G that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for IoT devices, increased reliability and security etc. Existing 5G networks often use a Non-Standalone (NSA) approach, which is hobbled by being partly reliant upon older and slower 4G infrastructure.

O2’s 5GSA rollout first began in February 2024 (here) and usually aims to reach “at least 90% outdoor coverage” in every location they reach. The same should hold true for Manchester, where more than 589,000 residents across the city will be able to benefit from the 5GSA network. The rollout includes the city of Manchester and key towns across Greater Manchester, including Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.

Professor Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2, said: “Our new 5G Standalone network is now live in Manchester and surrounding towns, providing an impressive upgrade for local people and businesses and creating new opportunities in and around the city. We are investing every single day to improve our mobile network and provide a more reliable experience for our customers, future-proofing our connectivity and paving the way for exciting innovations that lie ahead.”

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Alternative broadband provider Wildanet, which has built a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Cornwall and Devon in South West England, has today become the latest altnet to withdraw from some of the Government’s publicly funded Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contracts, this time in Cornwall.

Until today Wildanet held the following Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contracts for Cornwall Central (Lot 32.03) and South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02) – both awarded in January 2023 (here) – and the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Lot 32) contract – awarded in April 2024 (here). The three contracts combined are worth £77m and would have helped to extend gigabit-capable broadband to over 37,000 additional premises in the county.

However, the government has just announced that Wildanet will be withdrawing from completing the build for Lots 32.02 and 32.03, where they’ve already covered around 13,200 premises to date out of the original plan to reach 19,250. This will leave 7,700 contracted premises in limbo until the Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency can find an alternative solution.

At the time of writing we don’t yet know why this has occurred, although a number of other altnets (e.g. Voneus, FullFibre Ltd. and Freedom Fibre) have previously dropped out or scaled-back their Project Gigabit contracts after coming under a lot of strain from high interest rates, rising build costs and competition. Wildanet is no stranger to this, after announcing job cuts last year (here), although at the time they informed ISPreview that this wasn’t expected to impact their ability to deliver on the Project Gigabit contracts.

BDUK Statement

Wildanet has informed us that it wishes to withdraw from fully completing the build on two contracts covering southwest and central Cornwall (Lots 32.02 and 32.03). Wildanet has successfully covered around 13,200 premises to date under these contracts but will no longer deliver to the remaining 7,700 contracted premises.

BDUK is now moving swiftly to put in place alternative plans with other suppliers to connect premises that were due to be covered by these contracts.

The expectation is that BDUK will typically take one of two probable approaches to resolving this. The agency will either run a new procurement for the remaining premises or, more likely, try to find a way of rolling those premises into one of Openreach’s wider Type C (Cross-Regional) deployment contracts (here and here). Type C can be used for these sorts of situations, provided it makes sense for both BDUK and Openreach.

Whatever the outcome, this situation does mean that those remaining premises will be left in a state of limbo and uncertainty, probably until later this year.

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Alternative network operator Elevate, which back in April 2025 won the contract to build a new “hyperfast” full fibre broadband network in the Merseyside (England) town of St Helens (here), has today confirmed that they’ve completed the roll-out in the town centre – paving the way for local residents and businesses to get faster internet speeds and better reliability.

The new network, which was supported by £2.5 million of funding from the previous Government’s £3.6bn Town Fund Programme (details), is being built by Elevate’s own engineers on behalf of the St Helens Borough Council and its Digital Infrastructure Programme. “The network will significantly increase internet speeds and reliability for residents and businesses across the Town Centre,” said Elevate’s original announcement.

Elevate, St Helens Borough Council and the St Helens Town Deal Board now intend to host an official launch event for the new full fibre network at the BrewDog Stadium on 12th March 2026. Local businesses are invited to hear presentations and take part in discussions on how to make the most of high-speed, reliable internet, and learn how the project is helping to boost the local economy and attract inward investment.

Dedicated business WiFi and cyber clinics will also be deployed to provide the opportunity to speak directly with WiFi and cyber security experts, learn more about the project’s social value initiatives, and network with other local businesses etc.

Councillor Keith Laird, Cabinet Member for People, Performance and IT, said:

“We’re thrilled to report that the network’s now live, and both businesses and residents across the town centre can now start to realise its benefits. This essential digital infrastructure will help to make us one of the most digitally connected towns in the region.”

Andy Tatlock, Chief Revenue Officer at Elevate, said:

“Taking the network from contract to completion in less than a year is a proud moment for everyone involved in the project, and due in no small part to the close working relationship between Elevate, St Helens Borough Council and infrastructure and programme delivery experts, the Founds Group.

This new digital infrastructure will give local businesses the speed, reliability and resilience they need to plan and scale confidently; unlocking opportunity, attracting investment and helping businesses across St Helens thrive.”

The deployment itself adopted a “Dig Once” strategy, which typically reflects the wide reuse of existing cable ducts, street furniture and other infrastructure to run new fibre (i.e. reducing the need for new street works). Projects like this tend to focus on building a full fibre network to connect local public sector sites and businesses, rather than individual homes, although the latter may often follow via additional private investment.

We should point out that the central part of the town is already partly covered by gigabit-capable broadband from Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre), with outer areas also being reached by various alternative networks.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Whitepaper

For years, the telco wholesale model was a predictable, linear affair. It was a world of minutes and megabytes, defined by simple value chains where connectivity was the sole currency. But as the global industry evolves, MDS Global is highlighting a shift toward something far more intricate: the value network.

In this new “Wholesale Plus” era, the boundaries between operators, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), hyperscalers, and enterprises are dissolving. As CCS Insight explores in their latest report with MDS Global, communication service providers (CSPs) are becoming the essential platform for a massive ecosystem of digital services. From real-time network APIs to Open Gateway’s “Quality on Demand” API, the revenue opportunities are vast, but they bring a level of billing complexity that legacy systems simply cannot handle.

Ryan O’Hanlon, VP of Global Sales at MDS Global, joined the Beyond the Cable podcast in 2025 to discuss this transition towards sophisticated charging metric combinations. As Ryan noted, whether it is supporting a short-term quality boost for a specific event or managing application service plans, the billing engine must be a revenue catalyst, not a bottleneck. It requires a system that can orchestrate settlements across multilayer hierarchies, often involving four or five different partners in a single transaction.

In a market where technical agility is the true differentiator, agility is the only true competitive edge. To attract the most innovative partners, CSPs must move beyond the “one-size-fits-all” approach and embrace a platform that allows for rapid pivots and complex, real time settlement.

To find out how your organisation can unlock these new revenue streams and master the multilayer wholesale world, you can download the full CCS Insight whitepaper and listen to the latest industry discussion via the links below.

Unlock New Revenue: Download the Whitepaper

MDS Global will be showcasing these solutions at MWC Barcelona. You can find the team at the Lumine, Hall 2, Stand 2G11.

The post Navigating the multilayer wholesale era appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A relatively new telecoms company called Boom Telecom Networks has revealed that it’s planning to build and operate a UK broadband network, which would be a Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) and Gigabit Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) hybrid, although the details are currently quite limited.

The plan was revealed as part of the company’s application for Code Powers from Ofcom, which are typically sought in order to help speed-up deployments of new fibre networks and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licences needed for street works. The powers can also help with supporting access to run new fibre via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles (PIA).

According to that application, Boom Telecom intends to use its network for the sole purpose of wholesaling (open-access) connectivity to the consumer and retail telecommunications markets as well as other markets, including future UK government projects like the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) and other Rural Connectivity initiatives (the GBVS is due to end before too long, so they’ll need to be quick).

Extract from Boom Telecom’s Code Powers Application

The Applicant notes that the network would incorporate fibre access, transit and inter-connect services for customers via Points of Presence (PoP) or fibre-cabinets located in public and private highways.

The Applicant is seeking Code powers with national coverage to encompass deployments across the UK. For the first year, the Applicant intends to seek to connect end service points in the north west of England and, in subsequent years, the rest of England, Scotland and Wales.

Otherwise, the application doesn’t reveal much and the company, which was only incorporated on 7th August 2025, is currently being run by two Directors – Paul Brian Forster and Darren Keen. Paul is known to have a history with a number of companies related to fibre optic engineering, training and also rail work. Now is of course perhaps not the most ideal time to be starting a new alternative network or related street works firm, due to the wider economic strains in this sector.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Communications and broadband provider BT Business has today announced that they’re working alongside global IT consultancy Avanade and Microsoft to launch a tailored AI training for all 11,000 of its employees, which they say aims to “radically transform how we work and to better serve our customers“. Cost-cutting probably has a role to play too, we’d imagine.

Under the plan, all staff will receive a course of training modules that support people at all stages of AI knowledge – from AI fundamentals to role-specific training, supported by coaching from leaders and line managers. At the same time, they’re also launching the first BT apprentice and graduate roles fully dedicated to AI as part of their 2026 intake.

In parallel, BT Business said they’ll also be providing hundreds of new AI & Data apprenticeships for existing colleagues, enabling them to retrain in new fields, with roles available across the UK. Participants in both schemes will join more than 1,000 employees who are currently completing an apprenticeship at BT.

Jon James, CEO of Business, said:

“Investing to stay at the cutting edge of technology, including AI, is crucial to our customers and to our employees, and BT will continue to invest to ensure that we remain at the forefront of our industry, as we have for 180 years.

These new AI training and career pathways are designed to enable our current and future talent to ensure they have the lifelong skills they and BT need for the future, so we can innovate and deliver faster. AI does not transform businesses; people do.”

We should point out that BT is also a founding partner in the Government’s AI Skills Boost programme, which aims to upskill 10 million workers with AI skills by 2030.

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Mobile infrastructure company Cornerstone (CTIL), which was originally established as part of a UK network sharing agreement between O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone (Vantage Towers), has today announced a new strategic partnership with StonesThro to deploy a nationally distributed Micro-Edge cloud infrastructure via their estate of c.16,000 mast / cell sites.

The idea of installing what are effectively mini data centres on such infrastructure, across Cornerstone’s national estate, is an interesting one. The approach could be used to address the ever-present need for increased data processing speed and capacity, data sovereignty, and national infrastructure resilience etc. Obviously, this would make all those mast sites even more commercially attractive in the process.

Given the current international climate, it probably doesn’t hurt to be deploying a UK-centric solution to the growing dependency on centralised, often foreign-owned, cloud architectures – reducing exposure to international jurisdiction problems and external interference.

“The core of the Cornerstone and StonesThro partnership is the shared ambition that for critical systems to be truly resilient, computing power must reside within national borders and closer to the point of use,” said the announcement.

Pat Coxen, CEO at Cornerstone, said:

“The breadth and reach of our infrastructure estate has the ability to enable UK digital connectivity on an unrivalled scale. By partnering with StonesThro, we are evolving our estate infrastructure from being predominantly about communication to focussing on locally processing data, and the intelligent application of information.

We are providing the ‘where’ for the micro-edge, enabling a network that is not only resilient, but also physically situated within the communities and industries it serves.”

At present, it’s unclear precisely how many such sites will be deployed with the new solution or who will be looking to harness it, but in theory this might also help to improve the economic models for deploying new mast sites in some otherwise challenging areas. Time will tell.