Ofcom Propose to Auction Upper 1.4GHz Band for UK 4G and 5G Mobile
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to auction off a 25MHz (spectrum frequency) slice of the 1.4GHz band (i.e. the “upper block” of 1492 to 1517MHz) to mobile operators (EE, O2, Vodafone / Three UK), which will be able to use it for their 4G and 5G based mobile broadband services. At present both Three UK and Vodafone are already harnessing the lower part (40MHz) of the L-Band spectrum (i.e 1452-1492MHz) to boost their mobile data connectivity (example) – mostly as a...
UK ISP Sky Broadband and TV Confirms UK Price Increases for 2025
Customers of Sky UK’s (Sky Broadband, Comcast etc.) internet, phone and Pay TV products have today been told to brace for an average annual price increase of 6.2% (down from 6.7% last year), which will be introduced from April 2025. But customers who are unhappy about this will be able to exit their contracts penalty free. Sky has traditionally shunned the old inflationary (CPI + X%) linked price hike policies of their rivals, which in recent years has resulted in their annual rises being a...
Nokia and AT&T extend voice core partnership
News AT&T has announced an extension of its partnership with Nokia in a multi-year deal to improve its voice network As part of this upgrade, AT&T will add Voice over New Radio (VoNR) and move its Nokia IMS Voice Core to a cloud-based system. This will help the company roll out new services faster, cut costs, and improve automation. AT&T will also use Nokia’s Cloud Platform to simplify network operations and reduce the need for manual work. Additionally, Nokia’s Digital...
UK PM urges for more European cooperation as suspicious subsea activity increases
News The heavy reliance on undersea cables remains a major risk as over 95% of global internet traffic depends on them UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has urged European leaders for increased cooperation on subsea infrastructure defences at a European Council meeting in Brussels. The call comes after an increase in suspicious activity from Chinese and Russian vessels around key European submarine cables. Last month, A Russian spy ship was caught in the English Channel attempting to gather...
GoFibre Quirkily Compares its Rural Broadband Speeds to Major International Cities
Edinburgh-based UK alternative network ISP GoFibre has today published the results of a new study, which reveals how well (download speed) their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband network – present in parts of remote rural Scotland and Northumberland – compares with a selection of major international cities. It’s interesting, if a bit on the random side. Just to recap, GoFibre is currently busy rolling out their gigabit-capable broadband network across rural parts of Scotland, the Scottish...
RootMetrics Test Names EE as BEST UK Mobile Network for H2 2024
Mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics (Ookla) has today published their H2 2024 study of UK mobile networks (calls, texts etc.) and mobile broadband performance, which once again sees EE (BT) continuing to win all the award categories, followed by Vodafone and Three UK. But O2 (Virgin Media) found itself at the bottom of the table. The new study made use of the “latest” 5G Samsung smartphones (model not disclosed) – purchased off the shelf from operator stores – to test both 4G and 5G...
Vodafone UK Surge to 1.55 Million Broadband Users as Mobile Falls to 18.3M
Mobile operator and ISP Vodafone UK has today published their Q3 FY25 financial results, which confirms that their fixed line broadband base grew by a new record to total 1.549 million customers (up by 72k in Q3 vs 50k in Q2). But their mobile base fell again to total 18.3m (down by -174k vs -93k in Q2), due entirely to a fall in their prepaid/PAYG base. In terms of their UK fixed broadband services, the operator reported a huge surge in growth, with a quarterly addition of 72,000 customers...
Broadband ISP Grain to Rollout its UK Full Fibre Network into Bury
Alternative network operator Grain (Grain Connect) has confirmed that they’re planning to expand their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network into the Greater Manchester (England) town of Bury. The UK network currently covers over 220,000 premises and connects 30,000 customers. The local rollout in the town, which vaguely aims to reach “thousands of homes”, is getting underway early this very month. After that, the “first customers” are then due to be connected...
From the bully pulpit: FCC’s Carr could strongarm allies over new subsea cable regulation
Feature Week For a man never shy of speaking his mind, returning US President Donald Trump has been remarkably quiet on the topic of submarine cables, an area of increasing geopolitical tension. His new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Brendan Carr, on the other hand, will likely have plenty to say as he leads a regulatory shift more than 20 years in the making. Consolidating regulatory power The end of 2024 saw the FCC propose the first changes to their submarine cable...
Ofcom Grant UK Licence for Amazon’s Project Kuiper Broadband Satellites
Ofcom has today grant Amazon’s Project Kuiper a UK Earth Station Network Licence (ESNL), which will support their effort to launch a global mega-constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver affordable ultrafast broadband and mobile (4G, 5G) services. The UK telecoms regulator also made more spectrum available in the 28GHz and 32GHz bands. Currently, Amazon are still in the progress of developing their service, which means that they’re trailing well behind established rivals...