Three clears up price hiking messaging in line with new Ofcom policy
News The mobile operator will now communicate pricing changes to customer in ‘pounds and pence’, rather than via esoteric inflation price indexes This week, Three UK has announced that it will simplify the way in which it communicates mid-contract price rises to its customers. The annual price hikes will now be conveyed in terms of ‘pounds and pence’, as per Ofcom’s new regulations aimed at stopping customers being hit with unexpected bills. The changes will come into effect for new and...
Scotland Partly Pauses R100 Gigabit Broadband Voucher Applications
The Scottish Government (SG) has confirmed to ISPreview that they will be introducing a “temporary pause” on Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) applications for gigabit-capable projects covering multiple premises, which is intended to ensure the “best use of public funds” and to help “deliver an optimised roll out schedule“. The SBVS is designed to complement the SG’s £600m Reaching 100% (R100) broadband upgrade project with Openreach (BT), which is because R100 alone won’t be enough to...
Mobile Operator Three UK Adopts New Price Hikes Policy
Mobile network operator Three UK has today followed BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone and TalkTalk by introducing a new pricing policy that aligns with Ofcom’s new guidance banning inflation-linked annual telecoms price rises (i.e. annual price increases will in the future be outlined in “pounds and pence”). Just to recap. The market regulator recently banned annual price rises that are based off confusing inflation (CPI/RPI) or percentage-based changes (here). For example, this means that Three UK...
EE and Sky Removing Netflix Basic Plan from UK TV Packages
In an unsurprising development, both Sky TV (Sky Broadband) and EE (BT) have now confirmed their separate plans for withdrawing the old Netflix Basic (£7.99) plan from their various bundles. The move follows on from last year’s decision (here) by the video streaming giant to replace Basics with their “Standard with adverts” plan. Just in case anybody has forgotten. Netflix stopped offering their old ad-free Basic plan to new or rejoining members in October 2023. But this raised a question mark...
Three UK Expand Free Community 5G Broadband and Tablets Scheme
Mobile operator Three UK has expanded their Connected Communities programme, which offers “free high-speed broadband, smart tablets and digital training sessions“, to include the Carrbridge Youth Centre in Birkenhead. The scheme has already launched across four youth groups in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester. Following a pilot in 2022 by Three UK’s Discovery team, the Connected Communities scheme was set-up with the goal of providing “brilliant young people across the country with the tools...
Broadband ISP Andrews and Arnold UK Finally Adopt Unlimited Data
The day has finally come when UK ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), which have long been one of the few remaining fixed line broadband providers’ to only offer plans with capped data allowances (albeit very big ones), has finally adopted packages that come “without a usage cap” (aka – unlimited, although they don’t describe it like that). Until now consumers looking to take out one of AAISP’s broadband packages, such as via their FTTP or FTTC products, would have typically chosen one with a...
Sky TV Launching Sky Sports+ Across UK on Thursday 8th August
Sky UK (Sky Glass, Sky Stream etc.) has today announced the expected launch of their new Sky Sports+ service, which will become available nationwide from Thursday 8th August 2024. Sky Sports+ is to be included with Sky Sports “at no extra cost” and brings a bunch of new features and content. Sky Sports+ is expressed as giving customers more choice with new live streams and a dedicated channel (live pause and rewind available on all new live streams), as well as an updated User Interface (UI)...
Macquarie quits discussions over TalkTalk’s wholesale division
News Reports suggest that Macquarie will walk away from the £450 million deal to buy a stake in TalkTalk’s wholesale division, PlatformX Communications (PXC) According to reports over the weekend, discussions between TalkTalk and Macquarie regarding a stake sale in PXC have reached an impasse. Macquarie was reportedly looking to spend up to £450 million on buying a 40% stake in the business, valuing PXC at £1.2 billion. Reasons for the breakdown of negotiations were not revealed, though...
Digi Portugal acquires Nowo Communications for €150m
News Nowo Communications is Portugal’s fourth largest mobile operator Romanian telco Digi has agreed to acquire Nowo Communications from Spain’s Masmovil for €150 million. According to the announcement’s press release, Nowo has approximately 270,000 mobile users and 130,000 fixed clients. It also holds spectrum licenses in 1800 Mhz, 2600 MHz and 3600 MHz frequency bands. The acquisition comes a month after the Portuguese competition authority, Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), rejected...
CMA delays Vodafone–Three merger decision
News The regulator said it needed more time to assess all the evidence, given the inquiry’s ‘very wide scope’ The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has delayed its investigation deadline into the £15 billion Vodafone–Three merger that was announced last June. The new deadline is now 7 December this year, eight weeks later than expected. The regulator said the “very wide scope of this inquiry and the technical and regulatory complexity of the sector” were key factors in the...