Live sports streaming and traffic spikes: A remedy for rural networks
Contributed Article By Steve Miller-Jones VP, Product Strategy at Netskrt Systems Inc. The live streaming tsunami Live sports has quickly become some of the most-streamed content across digital platforms around the globe. Between live matches and Match of the Day highlights, the UK Premier League commands some 59% of the total UK TV audience. Meanwhile, the 2024 Uefa European Championship final was streamed by 24 million UK viewers according to SportsPro Media. While these viewership numbers...
Broadband Forum Push Home ISPs to Adopt Low Latency L4S Technology
The Broadband Forum has launched a new roadmap that they hope will aid ISPs in implementing the new Low Latency, Low Loss and Scalable Throughput (L4S) technology, which has the potential to improve network latency times for popular UK internet activities like online video games, video conferencing, cloud gaming and so forth. Network latency is a measure of the time that it takes for a packet of data to travel from your computer to a remote server and then back again (ping). The delay is...
Study Warns Starlink Broadband Satellites Causing Problems for Radio Astronomy
A new study conducted by the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) has warned that interference from the second (v2-Mini) generation of Starlink’s (SpaceX) broadband satellites is around 32 times stronger than their first generation spacecraft, which is causing growing problems for radio astronomy. Elon Musk’s Starlink network currently has 6,398 LEO satellites (c.2,200 are v2 Mini / GEN 2A) in Low Earth Orbit – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and they’re in the process of...
BT Deal Allows UK ISP Cuckoo to Sell Openreach Broadband Packages Again
A new wholesale agreement between BT Wholesale and AllPoints Fibre (APFN) has today been announced, which among other things means that anchor tenant ISP Cuckoo will be able to offer full fibre broadband (FTTP) packages via Openreach’s network.. again (some related services were withdrawn earlier this year and customers booted to a different ISP). Just to recap. Cuckoo is currently still in the process of becoming the main retail broadband ISP outlet for Fern Trading’s (Octopus Investments)...
FCC fines AT&T $13m over 2023 data breach
News The regulator said the operator had not done enough to protect consumer data This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached a settlement with telco giant AT&T, fining them $13 million for their lack of oversight over customers’ data security. Back in January 2023, bad actors gained access to the data of 8.9 million AT&T customers via a cyberattack on an unnamed third-party cloud vendor. According to the FCC, this vendor was used by AT&T “to generate and...
Broadband ISP Cuckoo Retires Giganet Brand and Shifts UK Customers
Internet provider Cuckoo, which is the retail anchor tenant broadband ISP for the newly consolidated AllPoints Fibre network (comprising FTTP networks from Jurassic Fibre, Swish Fibre and Giganet), has today announced that the old Giganet brand is being retired and remaining customers fully migrated to Cuckoo. Cuckoo originally started life around four years ago as an independent ISP, which changed in 2022 after they were acquired by the Fern Trading backed Giganet (here). But last year’s...
Vodafone ads banned over misleading claims
News The decision from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) follows a complaint from rival telco BT This week, Vodafone Group has been ordered by the ASA to discontinue a trio of recent ads, with the regulator calling the ads “misleading” The ads, which were challenged by Vodafone’s rival BT, claim that customers could “switch from BT to Vodafone and get the same broadband for less”. Vodafone also claimed that “millions of BT customers across the UK are realising they can switch to...
Fastr Broadband Adopt ADTRAN’s 10Gbps FTTP Kit for York UK Rollout
Alternative network ISP Fastr Broadband (formerly UK Fibre Networks) has announced that they’ve adopted ADTRAN’s hardware and services to underpin their ongoing roll-out of a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in central York (England), which is aiming to cover around 8,000 homes and businesses in the city centre. Based on our earlier article (here), Fastr’s network expansion began in the Gillygate area of York during January 2024 (Phase 1) and has since expand into the...
Intel presses pause on European chip fabs
News The news follows Intel’s disappointing Q2 results last month US chipmaker Intel has said it will pause its plans for new chip factories in Germany and Poland for two years, citing lower-than-expected demand and financial pressures. Intel had announced plans to build a €30 billion factory in Magdeburg, Germany, and a €4.6 billion facility in Wrocław, Poland in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Both projects were heavily subsidised by the respective national governments, with the European Union...
CEO of Freedom Fibre Elected as Honorary Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering
The CEO and Co-Founder of alternative UK full fibre broadband operator Freedom Fibre, Neil McArthur, has just become one of 71 leading figures in the engineering and technology fields to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Following its AGM on 17th September 2024, the Royal Academy of Engineering announced the group consisting of 60 Fellows, 6 International Fellows and 5 Honorary Fellows, each of whom has made exceptional contributions to their own sector, pioneering...