131,000 Premises to Benefit from New Project Gigabit Broadband Contracts
The UK Government and Openreach (BT) have today confirmed their latest four UK contract awards – valued at £289m+ – under the Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme, which we leaked last week (here). Some 131,000 premises in rural parts of North and Southwest Wales, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Devon, Somerset, Essex, North East England and Worcestershire will benefit. Just to recap. The development forms part of Openreach’s earlier Single Supplier Framework agreement (here), which saw them...
Welsh ISP Ogi Make Progress on 10Gbps Full Fibre Rollout in Central Cardiff
Infracapital-backed network builder and UK ISP Ogi, which is rolling out a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales (100,000 premises are already covered / RFS), has today announced the completion of their network expansion to connect businesses in Cardiff’s city centre economic gateway. The central Cardiff build began in early 2023 (here) and was focused on serving “parts of the city that have seen significant growth in recent years.” But the...
Strategic Move Sees Lyca Group Shift Mobile Focus to New Markets
The Group behind mobile operator Lyca Mobile, which in the UK is a virtual operator (mvno) on EE’s network, has this morning announced a “strategic reorganisation” that it says aims to “drive efficiency and foster global growth“. This will include, among other things, “plans” for global expansion into Spain and the USA during early 2025. Over the past couple of years’, the operator has certainly faced plenty of challenges, particularly in the UK. For example, there was the 2023 cyberattack...
O2 UK Complete 4G and 5G Upgrades for 1500 Postcodes in Nottingham
Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today announced that they’ve completed a project to upgrade the capacity of their 4G and 5G mobile services across “over” 1,500 postcodes in the East Midlands city of Nottingham (Nottinghamshire, England), which should mean “faster” mobile broadband speeds and greater reliability. The work, which began at the start of 2024 (the press release actually says “since the beginning of the year“, but we suspect they mean 2024 rather than 2025), forms part...
GoFibre Begin FTTP Broadband Build for Ovington in County Durham
Edinburgh-based UK alternative network ISP GoFibre has today announced that they’ve begun to expand their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband network into the rural village of Ovington in County Durham, which forms part of their state aid supported Project Gigabit contract with the government (this also includes nearby villages such as Hutton Magna and Gainford). Just to recap. The Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme is currently working to extend 1Gbps download speeds (200Mbps+ uploads)...
Amazon readies to enter UK satellite broadband market with Project Kuiper
News A commercial launch would put the company in direct competition with satellite giant Starlink Jeff Bezos is preparing to launch a satellite broadband service in the UK to rival Elon Musk’s Starklink, according to an article published by the Telegraph over the weekend. Through its Project Kuiper satellite division, Amazon is gearing up to offer satellite broadband in the UK. The Project, though heavily delayed, ultimately aims to launch more than more than 3,200 low Earth orbit (LEO)...
Digital Edge bags $1.6bn in data centre expansion funding
News The funding will help expand the company’s data centre portfolio to meet the growing demand for cloud and AI infrastructure across Asia Digital Edge, a developer and operator of data centres cross Asia, has successfully raised over $1.6 billion in new funding. The capital, which includes both equity and debt financing, will fuel the company’s next phase of growth as it works to meet the increasing demand for cloud and AI services across the region. This funding round is made up of...
Broadband ISP Quickline to Support 500 Lincolnshire Students via New Bursary
Rural focused alternative UK ISP Quickline, which is building a gigabit-capable broadband network (full fibre and wireless) across parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has collaborated with the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology (LIoT) to help support 500 students through a bursary scheme (i.e. money will help with study, travel and additional childcare costs). The bursary is intended to be used to support students from “underrepresented groups“, including mature students, parents,...
Finnish court rejects calls to release tanker suspected of subsea cable damage
News The tanker is believed to have damage submarine telecoms and electricity cables by dragging its anchor across the lines late last year Late last month the subsea cable Estlink 2, which connects Finland and Estonia, was severed, causing significant disruption to data transport between both countries. An adjacent subsea power cable was also damaged. An investigation into the damage was quickly launched, Finnish authorities seizing the tanker Eagle S, which was in the vicinity when the...
Business ISP FluidOne Appoints New UK Chief Financial Officer
Business focused UK broadband ISP, IT and Cloud solutions provider FluidOne has today announced the appointment of Graham Dickie as its new Chief Financial Officer (CEO), effective immediately. Graham will replace former CFO, Roy Hastings, in the role after he left during July 2024 by mutual agreement. The new CFO is said to bring over 20 years of financial leadership experience to FluidOne and has worked in multinational businesses with revenues of upwards of £100m. In particular, the...