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Podcasts Ben Elkins, the CEO of AireBeam and Utah Broadband, joined the ‘Beyond the Cable’ podcast to discuss strategy and AireBeam’s explosive growth in Arizona By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities Since taking the helm as the CEO of an Arizona City-based AireBeam, Ben Elkins has overseen a 375 percent growth in fiber subscribers for the ISP. Now, Elkins is attempting to repeat success at another subsidiary of the Boston Omaha Corporation: Utah Broadband. Named as the Utah Broadband’s CEO...

And now for something completely different. Rural broadband ISP Quickline, which is rolling out a gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) and 5G powered fixed wireless access (FWA) network across rural parts of England (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has helped to launch a new children’s book that explains the work network operators do and educates on safety etc. The book – ‘Cones and Rural Broadband‘, which was commissioned by Quickline and written by author Chris Madeley, is the latest in a series...

Insight Access to backbone connectivity varies significantly across the European Union (EU) and, in some regions, inadequate connectivity can impact the development and performance of access networks. This disparity may also lead to potential imbalances in service pricing for both network operators and users. Fortunately, EU funding programme CEF-Digital plays a crucial role in addressing these connectivity challenges by supporting infrastructure development in those regions where market...

Broadband and mobile provider Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today announced that they’re planning to create more than 100 early UK careers and re-skilling opportunities during 2025, which is about half the intake figure of last year (here) and down from the c.350 they pledged to create during 2023 (here). The new positions – offered as permanent roles – are being created to cover a variety of different roles for people of “all ages“, such as in field engineering (i.e. keeping customers...

Network operator nexfibre and retail ISP partner Virgin Media (O2) have today confirmed that they’ve made their 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network available to more than 12,000 homes in the port town of Exmouth (near Exeter in Devon, England) for the first time. The move means that most premises will now have a choice between three gigabit-capable broadband networks, with Exmouth already being well covered by full fibre lines from both Openreach (BT) and AllPoints Fibre...

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have this week criticised UK broadband and mobile operators, particularly Vodafone, BT, EE, Sky Broadband, Vodafone, O2 and Fibrus, for their response to the damage caused by Storm Éowyn. The complaints touched on issues of slow repairs, absent compensation and poor communication with customers. Just to recap. Storm Éowyn (pronounced ‘Ay-oh-win’), which was the result of explosive cyclogenesis (aka – a weather bomb), struck parts of the UK on Friday...

News  The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close this year  BT has agreed to sell its Irish wholesale and enterprise division, BT Communications Ireland Ltd (BTCIL) to Speed Fibre Group, in a €22 million deal. The sale includes BTCIL’s domestic network infrastructure, over 400 customers, and supporting teams but excludes its multinational clients, large Irish enterprises, emergency call services, and recently divested data centre business. As part of the deal, BT and...

News  Any losses were aligned with company expectations, Vodafone said Vodafone has reported a 5% increase in total revenue to €9.8 billion in its Q3 trading update, fuelled by strong performances in the UK, Africa, and Türkiye. The company’s service revenue grew 5.6% to €7.9 billion. However, Vodafone’s German business was under pressure, with service revenue declining 6.4% after a regulatory change that ended bulk TV contracts for tenants.   The decline in Germany follows a major change in...

News  BT is expected to cut the diversity targets from its managerial bonus scheme, according to a recent article from The Telegraph  The company has told its major investors that it will replace the DEI section of its managerial bonus scorecard with a “measure of employee engagement,” which will come into effect in April.  Currently, ten percent of the BT annual bonus for its 37,400 managers is made up of DEI targets, comprised of representation of women, disabled people and ethnic...

Network access provider Openreach (BT), working alongside new 50G PON technology from strategic supplier Nokia, has this morning announced that they’ve “successfully tested” the United Kingdom’s “first live” 50Gbps speed broadband connection from a residential property in Ipswich (Suffolk, England). At present most of Openreach’s existing Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network, which covers over 17 million UK premises, is still using their old Gigabit Passive Optical Network...