Competition Watchdog Delays Three UK and Vodafone Merger Decision
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will need an additional 8 weeks to reach a conclusion on their Phase 2 investigation of the proposed mega-merger (here) between mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone. As a result, the deadline has been extended from 18th September 2024 to 7th December 2024. The merger, which would see Vodafone retain a 51% slice of the business and CK Hutchison (Three UK) hold 49%, has previously been promoted by the parties as something that...
Broadband ISP Aquiss Introduce Multi Gigabit UK CityFibre Plans for Businesses
Shropshire-based UK ISP Aquiss has today announced that they’ve expanded their range of CityFibre based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) packages by introducing symmetric speeds of up to 2.5Gbps for business customers (they already had some of these for residential subscribers). All of Aquiss’ business packages are supplied with unlimited usage, true static IPv4 and IPv6 assignments as standard and have no in-contract price rises. Next Business Working Day SLAs ensure quicker fix times. All...
Intel cuts 15,000 jobs as it seeks $10bn cost savings
News Punishing financial results are forcing the company to take “bold action” Intel has this week revealed that it is laying off over 15,000 workers, saying it will cut 15% of its workforce in efforts to streamline the business. The company says the cuts are part of a drive to save $10 billion in costs by 2025, which will be achieved through various streamlining measures and spending reductions. R&D and marketing spend will be cut by more than a billion dollars through to 2026, while...
Opensignal Ranks Largest 14 UK Broadband ISPs by Reliability
Benchmarking firm Opensignal has today published a complementary study to their recent research into the differences in broadband reliability across countries (here), which reveals the ISPs that deliver the strongest and poorest “broadband reliability experience” in the UK. Suffice to say that it’s a good day for Virgin Media and altnets. Just to recap. Opensignal leverages crowdsourced data collected via end-users on their benchmarking app and services. In this case they also harnessed their...
Broadband Infrastructure Company Ltd Wound Up After Court Order
The Broadband Infrastructure Company Ltd (formerly British Fibre Networks), which was once part of the i4 Technology Group, has been ordered to wind up its UK operations by the courts. The development comes after the company, which was previously run by CEO Elfed Thomas, found itself being hit by challenges from former staff over unpaid wages. In case anybody has forgotten, British Fibre Networks (BFN) originally aspired to create an open access and 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH)...
Openreach Trial Ruggedised ONT for Non-Traditional UK FTTP Installs
Network operator Openreach (BT) has begun to pilot a new “Ruggedised” Optical Network Terminal (ONT), which is the optical modem that in a domestic installation of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP lines would normally be screwed to your inside wall. But this ONT is intended for “Uninhabitable Locations“. The ONT / ONU or optical modem device is usually installed inside your home or office (wall hung), near to where the fibre optic cable physically enters your property,...
Network Operators Call for Fairer Pricing to Access Openreach’s UK Infrastructure
A new “PIA Coalition” of alternative UK broadband networks, including nexfibre, AllPoints Fibre, CommunityFibre, Gigaclear, Netomnia and Brsk, has been setup and is calling on market regulator Ofcom to “ensure a level playing field for access” to Openreach’s passive infrastructure (existing cable ducts and poles) in its upcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR). At present Openreach is already required to provide access to their existing cable ducts and poles via the regulated Physical...
Full Fibre UK Broadband ISP BeFibre Launch 30 Day Contracts and Biz Plan
Merseyside-based UK ISP BeFibre, which is powered by FullFibre Ltd’s national gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has today launched two new products – FlexiMonth & BeWork. The first, FlexiMonth, essentially adds the option to take out a short monthly contract (instead of the usual 12-24 month terms), albeit at extra cost. All FlexiMonth packages come with a Linksys Wi-Fi 6 router and zero installation, activation or set-up fees. For example, BeFibre’s entry-level 150Mbps...
Three UK Warn Customers Over Rise in Missed Parcel SMS Scams
Mobile network operator Three UK has warned customers this week about an increase in fraudsters using “missed parcel” SMS (text) scam messages this summer, which are not a million miles from the fake DHL or FedEx delivery messages that tried to infect phones with malware a few years ago (and continue to do so today). The operator states that, since January 2024, they’ve blocked over 20 million “fraudulent messages” (roughly 111,111 a day). But recent research from Citizens Advice indicated...
Voneus Connect First Wireless Gigabit Broadband Users on Walney
Rural alternative network builder and ISP Voneus, which aims to cover 370,000 premises via both their gigabit-capable fixed wireless access (FWA) and full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks, has connected the first customer to their new wireless network on Walney Island in Cumbria (England) – just 8 weeks after they started building (here). Assuming all goes to plan, then the build could eventually end up connecting around 4,700 homes, many of which currently lack access to gigabit-capable...