Sky UK to Cut 1,000 Staff as Broadband TV Takes Priority
Sky UK (Sky TV, Sky Broadband, Sky Mobile etc.), which is part of Comcast, has today notified staff that as many as 1,000 jobs could be cut this year as the company increasingly shifts its focus toward their internet-based (IP) TV solutions – Sky Glass and Sky Stream. Satellite TV installers are known to be […]
Xavier Niel’s NJJ to buy Turkcell’s Ukraine unit
News Reasons for the sale, which was initially announced back in December, have not been specified NJJ Capital, the investment company owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel, has agreed to buy Turkcell’s Ukrainian operations, including mobile operator Lifecell, for at least $500 million. The agreement was initially signed in December when Turkcell agreed to transfer over all shares in the businesses to NJJ for an undisclosed price. At the time, the three business units – mobile operator...
Maroc Telecom ordered to pay rival Inwi $636m for anticompetitive practices
News A Moroccan commercial court has ruled that Maroc Telecom unfairly used its dominant market position to restrict its rivals in the landline market This week, a Moroccan court has ordered incumbent operator Maroc Telecom to pay its rival, Inwi (Wana Corporate), 6.36 billion dirhams ($636 million) following a successful legal challenge from its smaller rival. The ruling relates to a case Inwi brought back in 2021, arguing that Maroc Telecom had unfairly restricted the company’s access to...
Cityfibre UK Complete Bury St Edmunds FTTP Broadband Build
CityFibre has announced that they’ve completed their “primary build” of a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network in the Suffolk (England) town of Bury St Edmunds. The network is now Ready for Service for over 16,000 homes, which is said to reflect about 81% of homes and most businesses in the town. […]
EE dominates RootMetrics benchmarking study but loses 5G crown to Three
News All of the UK’s mobile operators demonstrated impressive results, with EE continuing to lead the pack in most categories This week, RootMetrics (Ookla) have released their bi-annual benchmarking study of UK mobile networks, measuring both performance and coverage of various mobile technologies. RootMetrics, as ever, have been diligent in their methodology, conducting 634,942 tests in 16 of the UK’s most populous cities, all using the same Samsung smartphone model. These tests took place...
FCC updates spectrum rules to facilitate broadband access on ships and aircraft
Press Release The Federal Communications Commission last week adopted updates to its rules for the 70 GHz, 80 GHz, and 90 GHz spectrum bands to facilitate broadband access on ships and aircrafts, in addition to backhaul service for 5G. This action will promote the efficient use of spectrum and will provide opportunities for the development of new broadband service options. The Report and Order adopted today establishes new rules and updates existing rules for the 71–76 GHz, 81–86 GHz, 92–94...
Openreach UK Discount 10Gbps Cablelinks for Fibre Broadband
Openreach (BT) has launched a new special offer for broadband ISPs that discounts the connection charge on 10Gbps Cablelinks for FTTP and FTTC lines (GEA), nationwide, when taken on Layer 2 Switches (L2S) built before 31st December 2023 to just £499 +vat (the regular product cost is normally £1,270.58). The Cablelink (Ethernet) products are how […]
Openreach Updates on Isle of Wight and Dover UK FTTP Builds
Network access provider Openreach has announced that they’ve started their rollout of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network in the town of Dover (Kent). Separately, they’ve also issued a progress update on their £4.5m project to deploy the same network on the Isle of Wight (just off the south coast of Hampshire). According […]
UK government strikes deal with Vodafone over e& security concerns
News The move comes as a measure to prevent foreign powers from having too much power and influence over British businesses Vodafone and the UK government have reached an agreement to implement “proportionate measures” after the government raised concerns over UAE-based e&’s growing stake in the UK operator. The government last week said that e&’s significant stake in the business poses a national security risk and ordered Vodafone to take mitigating action, the details of which...
BT faces court battle over £1.3bn overcharging claim
News The case begins today at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in London BT is set to appear in court today to face a class action lawsuit that claims the operator had has “disproportionately overcharged” its historic landline customers. The claim, which is backed by over three million claimants, alleges that BT excessively overcharged customers by exploiting their dominant position in the market. It is based on an Ofcom market review in 2016/7, which found that landline-only...