Ofcom clamps down on mid-contract price rises
News Telcos will not longer be allowed to implement mid-contract price rises linked to unclear metrics like inflation In December last year, Ofcom proposed the introduction of stricter rules surrounding mid-contract price hikes for mobile, pay-TV, and broadband customers, after an investigation found that many customers were confused The issue primarily related to inflation-based price increases, where pricing would be linked to indexes like the consumer price index (CPI) or retail price index...
Commscope sells mobile networks businesses to Amphenol in $2.1 bn deal
News The sale comes off the back of a financially poor first quarter for Commscope Commscope has announced a deal to sell its mobile networks businesses to Amphenol for $2.1 billion. Specifically, the deal includes the purchase of CommScope’s Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN) segment as well as the Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) business, which resides in CommScope’s Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS) unit. The acquired businesses are projected to generate...
Global IT outage disrupts the world in “biggest IT fail ever”
News The outage has caused disruption for millions Today, an IT malfunction of unprecedented scale has sent shockwaves across the world, affecting critical services and impacting millions of people. Elon Musk, tweeting this morning, has labeled the event as the “biggest IT fail ever.” The cause of the huge outage lies in a software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The company uses a cloud-based system that offers companies security over the internet, rather than local...
Openreach Name Next 92 UK Areas for Copper to FTTP Switch – Tranche 17
Openreach (BT) has today released the next batch of 92 exchanges (Tranche 17) in their “FTTP Priority Exchange Stop Sell” programme, which reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre and will thus stop selling copper based analogue phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option). Currently, there are two schemes for moving away from old copper lines and services, which can sometimes criss-cross. The first starts with the gradual migration of...
Chair of Government’s Building Digital UK Agency Resigns
The Government (DSIT) has just confirmed that the Chair of their broadband and mobile centric Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, Simon Blagden, resigned from his position yesterday “with immediate effect“. The details of Simon’s departure have not been made public, but it’s perhaps not surprising given the recent change of Government. A spokesperson at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “The Department would like to thank Mr Blagden for the significant contribution he...
Quickline’s Project Gigabit Broadband Build Hits 600 Homes in Escrick as Kids Try Diggers
UK ISP Quickline has announced that their state aid (Project Gigabit) supported roll-out of a new gigabit full fibre (FTTP) broadband network in the North Yorkshire village of Escrick has now reached 600 homes. As part of that, they’ve teamed up with PBS Construction to show pupils at the local Primary School how they build the network via a “Digger Day“. The school Digger Day, which sounds like a dream come true for many kids (particularly boys of a certain age – usually aged 5 to 80+), is a...
EE UK Adds YouTube App for TV Box Pro and TV Box Mini Users
Broadband ISP and mobile operator EE (BT) has today announced that UK customers of their internet-connected pay TV service can now, finally, gain access to the YouTube App on their TV Box Pro and TV Box Mini set-top-box hardware. The long overdue app can be found from the Featured Apps rail, where it will sit alongside other streaming and entertainment apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, NOW and Apple TV+. EE TV customers will also be able to sign up to YouTube Premium and YouTube...
Ordnance Survey Helps UK Broadband Networks with Data on Flats
The Ordnance Survey (OS), which creates and maintains detailed location (map) information for Great Britain, claims to have launched a “game-changing advantage” for alternative broadband networks (Altnet) that can help them to roll-out full fibre lines by “eradicating time-draining obstacles“, such as missing data for multi-dwelling units (big residential buildings). According to OS, Altnets can sometimes run into trouble, when confronted with high rise flats and mixed-use residential and...
Ofcom UK Approve Plan to BAN Some Mid-Contract Broadband Price Hikes
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today finalised their earlier proposal to BAN phone, mobile, pay TV and broadband ISPs from doing mid-contract price hikes that are linked to inflation and percentage changes. The plan is to introduce this change from 17th January 2025, before the next round of annual price increases typically hit. Back in 2020 most of the major providers preferred to announce a general price increase each year, which usually averaged around 4-6%. But that changed after BT...
Mobile Operator Lebara UK Offer Cheaper 30 Day SIM Only Plans
Mobile network operator Lebara, which harnesses Vodafone’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) platform, has introduced a handful of exclusive 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) supporting SIM-Only Pay Monthly mobile plans on 30 day terms for those who want a save a bit of extra money on the middle tier plans. The additional 30-Day plans include a 10GB for £7 (monthly) option, as well as 20GB for £8 and 30GB for £9 – the latter two are cheaper than the same tiers on their 12-Month terms. The...