BT Warns Three UK and Vodafone Merger to Damage Competition, Cause Higher Prices
Broadband and telecoms giant BT (EE) has warned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that the mega-merger (here) between rival mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone would give rise to a “substantial lessening of competition“, which they claim would “ultimately [result] in higher prices, poorer network quality, and reduced incentives to invest.” The merger, which would see Vodafone hold a 51% slice of the business and CK Hutchison (Three UK) retain 49%, has previously been promoted by...
BT pushes back against Vodafone–Three merger
News This week, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published ten responses to an issues statement that was released in May, which invited parties to provide submissions commenting on the issues and possible remedies for the merger Among them is the response from UK incumbent BT, who released a 40-page report. The company claims that the proposed merger will “create a Merged Entity with a disproportionate share of capacity and spectrum, unprecedented in UK and Western European...
Nexfibre UK Target FTTP Broadband for 12,000 Rochford Premises
Network builder nexfibre, which shares some of the same parentage as Virgin Media (VMO2), has today announced that they expect to cover 12,000 premises across the Rochford District of Essex (England) via their new wholesale accessible 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network. The company has already covered over 1 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network, and they’re currently in the process of investing another £1bn during 2024, which should...
IOH and Google Cloud renew AI Native TechCo alliance
Press Release The collaboration will advance Indosat’s AI Native TechCo vision, empowering it to better serve more than 100 million customers across its B2B and B2C segments Companies to develop enterprise-grade AI solutions for customer service modernization, dynamic content generation and hyper-personalization, geospatial analytics and predictive modelling, augmented network and IT operations, and back-office transformation Jakarta, June 14th, 2024 – Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (“Indosat” or...
CityFibre UK Updates on FTTP Broadband Rollout in Bognor Regis
It’s been a couple of years since CityFibre first started rolling out their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the West Sussex seaside town of Bognor Regis (here). But the operator has today revealed that they’re now expanding their build into the areas of Middleton-on-Sea, Elmer Sand and Flansham. The expansion should help to complement their existing deployment in the town, which the operator states has already brought full fibre to the areas of Aldwick,...
Vodafone UK Adds Good Grade Option to its Refurbished Phones
Mobile network operator Vodafone UK has introduced a new condition grade to their refurbished phones scheme, which will mark out devices as being a “Good Grade” when they’re in “excellent working order“, albeit with some visible signs of use, such as small scratches, dents or marks on the case and screen. From today, customers will be able to pick up a host of “Good Grade” devices that may potentially save them “up to £216” compared with buying brand-new, including iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone...
Report Shows Progress and Benefits of Isle of Wight FTTP Broadband Rollout
A new report from Curia, which has been published by local ISP WightFibre, has revealed that the efforts to deploy gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks across the Isle of Wight – just off the South Coast of Hampshire in England – are slowly nearing completion and could help to generate £328m of new business. At present there are two operators deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology at scale across the island, which is home to 141,000 people. The first is...
Openreach Update on Closure of G.fast Cabinets in UK FTTP Areas
Network access provider Openreach (BT) has issued a small but interesting update to UK ISPs on the question of how they intend to deal with G.fast broadband cabinets that have a) no activate customers, and b) have been 100% overbuilt by the operator’s latest gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. You can guess the answer. Just to recap. G.fast (ITU G.9701) was an interim hybrid-fibre and copper technology, which was capable of download speeds up to around 300Mbps, but which...
T-Mobile selected for decade-long $2.67 billion US Navy contract
News A contract worth billions of dollars will provide U.S. Navy agencies with T-Mobile equipment for years to come This article was originally released by our sister publication Broadband Communities T-Mobile has been selected for a $2.67 billion defence contract that will make them a wireless solutions provider for the U.S. Navy for the next decade. The contract replaces a previous iteration, known as Spiral 3, which expired in May. With the new Spiral 4 contract, all agencies under the U.S....
Fibrus UK Extend FTTP Broadband into Cumbria Town of Silloth
Infracapital-backed UK broadband ISP Fibrus has today announced that they’ve extended their multi-gigabit speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to reach 1,000 premises in the Cumbria (England) port town of Silloth, which follows similar deployments in locations such as Workington, Parton and Wigton. The provider’s gigabit broadband network has, as of 31st March 2024, already been expanded to cover 354,000 premises (337k RFS) across parts of England and N.Ireland, which is up from...