New UK Data Use and Access Bill to Aid Utility Maps and ISP Comparisons
The UK government has today unveiled details of their new Data Use and Access Bill (DUAB), which aims to deliver a £10bn economy boost by “unlocking the secure and effective use of data for the public interest“. The measures will also support personalised market comparisons for utility pricing and a new digital map of underground broadband cables and pipes on a “statutory footing“. Improving the sharing of sensitive personal data tends to be one of those hit-and-miss areas for governments,...
Opensignal Compare Vodafone’s UK and Pan European Mobile Performance
Network benchmarking firm Opensignal, which uses crowdsourced data from its app to test broadband and mobile networks, has published a new report that shows how Vodafone’s mobile network performance compares across the UK and nine other European countries in which it operates. The Netherlands ends up being the Group Winner, with the UK placing 7th. The study bases its comparison on their Consistent Quality (CQ) metric, which collects data on several key performance metrics (e.g. download...
CityFibre Start FTTP Broadband Build for East Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
CityFibre has begun the build phase of their £58m state-aid supported Project Gigabit broadband rollout contract for Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire & East Berkshire (LOT 26) in England (here), which will see them expand their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 34,000 of the hardest-to-reach premises (150,000 if you include their complementary commercial build). The government’s Project Gigabit programme, which is overseen by the Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, aims to help extend 1Gbps...
Netomnia’s UK FTTP Broadband Rollout Boosted by £25m from NWF
Network builder Netomnia (inc. retail ISP YouFibre), which is currently merging with Brsk (here) and rolling out a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across the UK, has today announced that they’ve secured an additional investment (loan) of £25m from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) to help accelerate their deployment. The investment bolsters a £75m debt commitment made in March 2023, which occurred before the recent transformation of UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB)...
New UK Petition Calls for “Loyalty Tax” on Broadband Contracts to be Banned
A new petition, which has already been signed by over 56,200 people across the UK, has called on Ofcom to tackle the issue of “loyalty penalties” by changing the rules so that existing broadband ISP customers can access the same offers as new ones and that any end-of-contract price increases be “limited to a maximum of 30% of their current contract price“. The issue of “loyalty penalties”, which are not to be confused with the similar debate over annual mid-contract price hikes, is an old one....
Fibre take-up rates: “We need to be realistic about our endgame”
Interview Take-up of fibre services by customers has been slower than anticipated in the UK, but this is not necessarily a problem in itself, says F&W Networks’ Executive Chairman Carlos Bock. Talking at this year’s Connected Britain, Carlos explores why altnets need to have patience when it comes to take-up and why that makes operational efficiency all the more crucial. Check out our full interview below! Is the UK’s fibre rollout moving fast enough to hit government targets? Join the...
Netomnia receives £25m funding from National Wealth Fund
News The new investment brings Netomnia’s total investment from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) to £100 million UK fibre altnet Netomnia has today announced it has secured a further £25 million loan from the NWF, which they say will help accelerate their rollout of full fibre across the country. This new funding is in addition to the £75 million debt commitment from the NWF (then the UK Infrastructure Bank) in March last year, bringing the total NWF backing to £100 million. According to...
NCTA clashes with FTC over new ‘click to cancel’ obligations
News The new rules introduced by the regulator are part of the Biden administration’s attempt to tackle ‘junk fees’ for US consumers After around a year of deliberation, earlier this month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) introduced new ‘click to cancel’ rules, obligating companies to simplify the process of cancelling subscriptions and memberships. More specifically, these rules require companies to allow customers to cancel their subscriptions through the same method that they used to sign...
RETN and CRATIS enhance connectivity to Croatia’s newest data centre, DC North
Press Release RETN, the leading independent global network services provider, and CRATIS, Croatian ICT solutions provider, are proud to announce the commissioning of a new Point of Presence (PoP) in Croatia’s newest state-of-the-art data centre, DC North, located in Varaždin. DC North, situated approximately 100 kilometres north of Zagreb, is currently Croatia’s only Tier 3 certified facility by the U.S. Uptime Institute. The new RETN POP in DC North is connected via two diverse paths to...
German operators team up to test railway 5G
News The “5G am Gleis” (5G on the track) project will bring boosted connectivity to the country’s railway network The railway line between Hamburg and Berlin is set to receive ‘seamless’ 5G coverage, thanks to a declaration of intent signed by Deutsche Bahn, the federal government, and the German telcos 1&1, Deutsche Telekom, O2Telefónica, and Vodafone. The partners announced the deal at the Digital Summit in Frankfurt this week, , pledging to jointly test, develop, and install 5G...