Openreach Tackle UK Copper Cable Theft with DNA Tracing Tech
Network operator Openreach (BT) has told ISPreview that they’ve seen a 30% fall in the theft of their copper phone and broadband cables (Metal Theft) over the last year, which is being partly attributed to the deployment of a new “invisible” forensic liquid marker that can be sprayed directly onto cables and equipment. The technology works by leaving a unique DNA trace on people and vehicles that have contact with it. The tagging formula uses synthetically-manufactured DNA particles to create...
Verizon rolls out connectivity upgrades in Detroit for NFL Draft
News Verizon is gearing up for the NFL Draft in Detroit Verizon has ramped up its connectivity capacity in Detroit in anticipation of the NFL Draft. Mayor Mike Duggan predicted at least 300,000 visitors will descend on the city for draft events from 25 – 27 April. To handle the increased network demand, Verizon has spent approximately $25 million on upgrading infrastructure in the city. Scott Hubble, manager of business development and strategic planning with Verizon, told Detroit Free Press...
Connecting communities: nexfibre’s vision for future-proofed digital infrastructure
Insight In the 21st century, access to connectivity is not a luxury, it’s a basic essential service. However, to be a world-class digital economy we need more than the basics; we need digital infrastructure that provides higher speeds, greater resilience and better quality, right across the UK. Demands on our digital infrastructure are rapidly increasing as future technologies, such as multimodal AI and cloud gaming, require ever greater data capacity. The market must be able to adapt to...
CityFibre Covers 90,000 Wolverhampton Premises with FTTP Broadband
Network operator CityFibre has revealed that their £50m project to deploy a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the West Midland’s city of Wolverhampton, which began all the way back in July 2020 (here), has now covered over 90,000 premises (homes and businesses). The announcement states that the operator has “completed its rollout across several areas of the city“, where homes and businesses have been designated ‘Ready For Service’, although it seems to...
UK Broadband ISP Cuckoo Appoints Sarah Howells as MD
Internet provider Cuckoo has today announced the appointment of Sarah Howells as Managing Director (MD) of the business. The newly created role will oversee all of the ISP’s customer-facing activities across Sales, Customer Service, User Experience, Digital, Brand, Marketing and Product. Sarah was previously the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) of Jurassic Fibre, until 2023, where she is said to have helped to triple the customer base within nine months. She’s also had a distinguished career in...
UK and New Zealand partner for subsea cable earthquake detection trial
News The trial is set to begin later this year The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Metrology Institute, has partnered with Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL) in New Zealand to carry out earthquake detection tests through subsea cables in the Pacific Ocean. The duo will carry out the tests in a 3,876km-long section of the Southern Cross NEXT cable (a subsea cable that connects Aukland, Sydney and Los Angeles), that sits on the floor of the Tasman Sea between...
TOTSCo Clarifies UK Switching Rules for Wireless Broadband Networks
The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which is responsible for implementing Ofcom’s now heavily delayed One Touch Switch (OTS) migration system for faster consumer switching between UK broadband ISPs, has today helped to clarify the tedious subject of applicability to Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks. At present most of the talk around OTS has tended to focus upon fixed line providers, which might have caused some FWA providers to assume that the new rules don’t apply to them. Ofcom...
Meta shares tumble after Zuckerberg reveals AI spending increase
News The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp is increasing spending to become a global AI leader This week, Meta released its Q1 earnings report, in which the company announced a heavy increase on AI spending, and confirmed its plan to turn the group into “the leading AI company in the world”. Revenue for the quarter totalled $36.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27% and just above analyst expectations ($36.2 billion). Total expenses reached $22.6 billion, a 6% increase. ...
Trooli Consolidates Full Fibre Network with Axione UK in Scotland
Alternative broadband operator Trooli, which was last year acquired by Agnar UK Infrastructure (here) and had been aiming to build their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 330,000 premises across England by the end of 2023, appears to now also be harnessing Axione UK‘s once separate fibre network in Scotland. In case anybody has forgotten, Axione UK – a subsidiary of French provider Axione – started a £300m project a few years ago to build a new open access (wholesale) and...
Grain Expands UK Full Fibre Broadband to 236,000 Premises
Alternative UK network builder and broadband ISP Grain (Grain Connect), which has been gradually deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has revealed that they’ve now passed 236,000 premises (207k Ready for Service) and confirmed they have 28,000 customers. The details were first released by CEO Richard Cameron at this week’s Connected North event in Manchester, and Grain were kind enough to share the slides (PDF) from that speech. Richard was sharing his thoughts...