Westminster City Council Trials Free Connected London WiFi Service
The Westminster City Council (WCC), supported by the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan), has worked with wireless technology provider Guglielmo and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) to launch a free public WiFi network trial with a single sign-on (OpenRoaming) technology. This will be available to anyone living, visiting or working in the city. At present, it’s already possible to access a free WiFi network across many parts of Westminster, but most of those require people to sign up and log in...
Roughly 4 to 5 Starlink LEO Broadband Satellites Now Burning Up Per Day
Data released by an independent researcher has revealed that SpaceX appears to now be “retiring and incinerating” about 4 or 5 Starlink broadband satellites from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every day, which is up sharply from before May 2024, when the average was closer to just one per day. But the exact reason for this seeming mass retirement surge remains unclear. At present Starlink’s network has almost 7,000 satellites in orbit (c.2,800 are v2 Mini / GEN 2A) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km...
Broadband ISP Grain Pledges UK Package Price Freeze Until 2027
Alternative network operator Grain (Grain Connect), which has built their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network to cover over 220,000 UK premises and 30,000 customers, have maintained their promise of no mid-contract price hikes and also pledged to retain their current price freeze until 2027 (if you sign up before 21st Feb 2025). “Broadband prices jumped by up to 8.8% in 2024. And no, that’s not a typo. Across the UK, millions of households were hit with in-contract price...
Toob Expand Cheap Gigabit Broadband to 16 New UK Locations and Add 150Mbps Plan
Hampshire-based broadband ISP toob, which has already deployed a 900Mbps+ full fibre (FTTP) network across parts of Southern England, have announced that they’ve expanded the availability of their services – under their partnership with CityFibre – to add 16 cities and towns across seven UK counties. We’ve also spotted a new 150Mbps package. The internet provider is currently being financed through equity from funds managed and advised by the Amber Infrastructure Group, as well as a huge...
Gov Reportedly Looking to Cut Support for £1bn Rural UK 4G Mobile Rollout
A major newspaper has reported that the Government may be looking to reduced their funding commitment for the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme and its efforts to extend 4G mobile (mobile broadband) coverage into remote rural areas. The move could significantly cut the number of mobile masts due to be built with public funding. The SRN, which is supported by £501m of committed public funding and £532m from operators, involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts...
Openreach Reveal Storm Eowyn Badly Damaged Over 500 UK Telecoms Poles
Network access provider Openreach (BT) has revealed that Storm Éowyn (pronounced ‘Ay-oh-win’), which violently struck the United Kingdom at the end of last week on Friday 24th January 2025 (here and here), has so far left more than 500 broadband / telecoms poles “badly damaged“, with reports continuing to come in. The storm, which was the result of explosive cyclogenesis (aka – a weather bomb), focused most of its destructive energy on Ireland, Northern Ireland, Northern parts of Wales and...
SoftBank in talks to invest $25bn in OpenAI
News The investment follows a SoftBank taking a $1.5 billion stake in OpenAI last year Japanese conglomerate SoftBank reportedly in discussions to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion in OpenAI, according to a recent report from the Financial Times. If it goes ahead, the investment will make SoftBank OpenAI’s largest financial backer and would significantly expand the Japanese company’s presence in the AI sector. “The talks are ongoing and the amount that SoftBank could invest in...
Wireless and Full Fibre Broadband ISP Orbital Net Acquires ClubWifi
Independent Kent-based UK ISP Orbital Net (Orbital Internet Group), which runs the Vfast sub-brand that sells packages to homes via a mix of fixed wireless (FWA) and full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks, has today announced that they’ve acquired ClubWifi, which is a key supplier of commercial WiFi services to holiday parks, marinas and more. The deal, which was done for an undisclosed sum, effectively sees Orbital Net growing its capabilities and expanding into the leisure and tourism markets....
EE renews partnership with Home Nations Football Associations and Wembley Stadium
Press Release EE will continue to invest in all levels of football across all four Home Nations, with specific focus on growing the women’s game as well as support for England’s para and eLions teams EE has signed a series of deals to continue as exclusive lead partner of all Home Nations football teams until 2028. The four-year extension will see the EE logo continue to appear on all training kits worn by England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales senior men’s and women’s squads until...
Ofcom Probes Deeper into Flaws of New UK Broadband Switching Process
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has called on major ISPs – including BT, Sky Broadband, Vodafone, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media – to provide more information in an effort to help them understand why the new consumer broadband and phone switching system (One Touch Switching) is still struggling to successfully complete many consumer migration requests. Just to recap. The OTS service, which after many delays finally went live on 12th September 2024, was part of an effort to make it both quicker...