Vodafone UK Set 5G and 4G Coverage Targets for Northern Ireland
Mobile operator Vodafone has today confirmed their commitment to both “exceeding” the UK Government’s minimum Shared Rural Network (SRN) coverage target for 4G services in Northern Ireland and upgrading this to support 5G Standalone (5G SA / mobile broadband) technology. But only if they get approval for their merger with Three UK (here). At present, Vodafone claims that approximately 75% of Northern Ireland’s rural area landmass is a total 5G not-spot. But the operator says they can “exceed”...
IX Wireless Agree to Move Wireless Broadband Pole After Allegedly Abusive Call
A woman in Burnage has been successful in getting broadband network operator IX Wireless to move one of their poles (masts). The move occurred after she complained that it had been installed “without warning” next to her house and that staff had allegedly become “really weird and abusive on the phone” when she complained. IX Wireless is currently building a new UK fibre-fed fixed wireless access (FWA) network across parts of the UK using WiFi based technology (e.g. Accrington, Blackburn,...
Copper Cable Thieves Strike Openreach’s Network in County Tyrone
Some 700 homes and businesses in the County Tyrone (Northern Ireland) town of Dungannon have suffered significant broadband and phone connectivity problems, which occurred after criminals damaged Openreach’s local network during the theft of a “large quantity” of their copper telecoms cable. The incident is understood to have occurred at around 1:15am on Tuesday (29th May 2024) morning in the vicinity of the Clonfeacle Road. Local reports noted that alarms had been set off in the area, and the...
IOEMA announces new North Sea submarine cable
News The company was founded in 2023 after four years of project development On day one of the Submarine Networks EMEA Conference in London, IOEMA Fibre unveiled its new submarine cable connecting Northern Europe. The 1400km long repeatered cable will span across five key markets in Northern Europe: the UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway. It will be made up of a trunk route that connects Dumpton Gap in the UK with Kristiansand in Norway, and three branches connecting Eemshaven...
UK ISP NOW Broadband to Hike Prices by £3 Per Month
Sky’s sibling NOW Broadband (NOW TV) sub-brand has notified existing internet and phone customers of an imminent price increase that will be introduced from 5th July 2024 and bump their package prices by an extra £3 per month (£36 per year), which is slightly lower than last year’s £3.50 hike. The good news is that those who are unhappy with the change, which doesn’t impact the provider’s cheaper social tariff for those on certain state benefits (NOW Broadband Basics), may be able to cancel...
CityFibre’s Luton FTTP Broadband Build Covers 35,000 Premises
Fibre optic network builder CityFibre has issued a brief progress update on their efforts to deploy a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the Bedfordshire (England) town of Luton, which began two years ago (here) and has now covered a total of 35,000 premises. The operator now claims to have “completed most of its rollout in the eastern area of Luton“, although it’s unclear how long it will take them to finish the city-wide deployment, and they face several...
Affordable broadband subsidy now in the final days
News The clock is still set to expire on the Affordable Connectivity Program despite a tsunami of public outcry. This story was originally written by our sister publication, Broadband Communities Funds for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) are still set to expire at the end of May. The federal program, which had helped millions afford broadband, has been on its last legs since April. The FCC stopped accepting new ACP enrollments in February. This month, ACP customers have been...
MS3 Grow UK Full Fibre Broadband Network to 200,000 Premises
Network operator MS3, which is deploying a new 10Gbps capable open access (wholesale) full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network across 30 locations in the UK (mostly East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire), has announced that they’ve now extended their coverage to 200,000 premises (up from 174,261 on 4th Jan 2024). The Asterion-backed network operator currently aims to reach 535,000 UK premises by the end of 2025. A big chunk of that has been happening in Hull, where the operator – based in...
PAC Warn Pace of Rural UK 4G Mobile Rollout Project is Unsustainable
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is responsible for overseeing UK government expenditures to ensure they are effective, has warned that the current build pace of the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network project (i.e. extending 4G mobile (broadband) coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025) “may not be sustainable“. The SRN – supported by £501m of state aid and £532m from operators – involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led...
Openreach identifies next 2.7m premises to receive FTTP
News The announcement means around 3,500 towns, cities, boroughs, villages, and hamlets are now included in the company’s build programme Broadband infrastructure provider Openreach has announced its plan to deploy full fibre broadband to 517 additional locations in the UK, bringing fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) to 2.7 million more homes and businesses. The new build plan notably 400,000 homes in rural areas. Openreach is aiming to make gigabit-capable broadband available to 25 million...