News

Hull-based phone and broadband ISP KCOM, which have deployed a full fibre (FTTP) network across 305,000 premises in parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has taken the decision to close a tiny “community library” in Skidby, that was set up during 2020 inside the village phone box, because it posed a “serious fire risk“. KCOM, not unlike BT, are known to have converted or helped to convert a number of their classic cream-coloured K6 phone boxes to mini-libraries. In practice, this...

Broadband ISP Sky Business (Sky UK) has announced a new multi-year agreement with Caffè Nero, the premium coffee house group, which will see them upgrade the digital infrastructure of 787 stores in The Caffè Nero Group (about 90% of their estate) across the United Kingdom. The deal is expected to introduce “next-generation connectivity solutions” to the stores, ensuring secure, high-speed connectivity for both customers and employees. This investment is said to enable frictionless...

Network operator nexfibre and supporting retail broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), which share some of the same parentage, have today announced that they’ve expanded the reach of their symmetric 2Gbps speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to more than 6,000 homes in the Falconwood area of South East London for the first time. The area is currently already well covered by Openreach’s and CommunityFibre’s gigabit-capable FTTP broadband networks, not to mention some smaller...

Most of the major broadband ISPs in the United Kingdom (BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet) have just been handed a new court order to block an Israel TV video streaming site, which was found to have been facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy). At present such blocking orders, which in the UK flow from Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA), aren’t cheap to bring but have over the past 15 years or so become very common. Hundreds of...

Aberdeen-based UK broadband and I.T solutions provider Internet for Business (IFB), which was first established all the way back in 1995, has been acquired by Converged Communication Solutions (CCS) for an undisclosed sum and after briefly falling into administration on 19th February 2025. According to company records on The Gazette, IFB appointed Michael James Meston Reid (IP No 7327), of MHA, to act as their administrator (credits to one of our readers, Chris, for spotting this). The same...

A new study from the cross-industry UK Spectrum Policy Forum (UKSPF), which was conducted by Smith Institute and Spectrivity, has recommended that the telecoms regulator, Ofcom, should adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to help manage the nation’s finite wireless radio spectrum more efficiently. The think-tank highlights how mobile networks, smart devices, and emerging technologies, like 6G based mobile broadband, are pushing current spectrum management strategies to their limits...

News  Deutsche Telekom has published its 2024 financial results, reporting a strong performance that exceeded expectations and setting ambitious targets for this financial year  The company’s total revenue grew by 3.4% to €115.8 billion, while service revenues saw a 3.9% increase to €96.5 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose by 6.2% to €43 billion, and free cash flow climbed by 18.7% to €19.2 billion, reflecting the company’s strong operational performance.  CEO Tim Höttges described 2024 as “another...

Podcasts On this episode, we discuss strategy and the mission to win hearts and minds on behalf of rural broadband Charles Thomas, the Chief Strategy Officer for Rural Broadband Partners (RBP), says he tells ISPs in rural areas not to view themselves as rural providers. Instead, he asks them to look at urban providers and to examine the resources those entities have. “You want to build that into your location,” he says. According to Thomas, who will be speaking at Connected America next month,...

News  Meta has entered into discussions to build a number of major data centres for its AI projects, an article from The Information has revealed, citing people familiar with the matter  According to the article, senior meta executives have already toured potential data centre sites, with campuses in Louisiana, Wyoming, or Texas being considered. Costs are expected to be over $200 billion, according to the sources.  However, a Meta spokesperson has denied the report, calling it “pure...

CHICAGO – Feb. 25, 2025 – Aeris, a global leader in secure cellular IoT platforms and solutions, today launched Aeris IoT Watchtower, the world’s first fully integrated security solution for cellular IoT. Aeris IoT Watchtower delivers enterprise IoT visibility and control to prevent IoT security breaches, significantly reduce the impact of any IoT security event, improve operational efficiency and ensure regulatory compliance. Aeris’ groundbreaking solution comes at a pivotal time. IoT devices...