News

News Optus, Australia’s second largest telco, will use Space X’s low latency satellite constellation to provide mobile connectivity to 100% of Australia  Optus’s terrestrial mobile network coverage currently covers 98.5% of Australia’s population (around 25.5 million people). However, due to Australia’s unique geography, the vast majority of these people are located in a small number of dense urban centres, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, leaving vast swathes of the outback largely...

Openreach (BT) has confirmed the next batch of 18 UK exchanges under ‘Tranche 13‘ of their project to move away from older copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR etc.) services and on to a new all-IP network, which in this case will also occur once over 75% of premises in each area are able to […]

Ofcom has published an update on its action plan to support broadband and mobile customers during the cost-of-living crisis, which once again calls on UK ISPs to take “immediate action” to boost the take-up of cheaper social tariffs (available to those on state benefits) and promises to publish take-up data for each provider. Back in […]

VIEWPOINT 5G is a massive opportunity for carriers to accelerate economic growth in the post-COVID era. However, carriers must invest in the infrastructure to move beyond 5G to 5.5G to boost economic growth across all industry sectors. As per the GSMA estimates 5G will represent 600 billion in terms of additional GDP value to the global economy, translating to approximately 1% of GDP. By the end of March this year, 38 carriers had launched commercial 5G Standalone (SA) networks and another 14...

UK ISP Cuckoo (Giganet), which sells broadband packages to consumers via Openreach’s full fibre (FTTP) network, has today signed a deal to adopt the cloud-based Kraken Utilities (part of Octopus Energy Group) platform, which they claim could lead to “better customer and employee satisfaction“. At this point the marketing spin for the new platform, which […]

News The drone, created through a partnership between NSW Telco Authority and Vocus-owned Challenge Networks, will help to provide vital connectivity to those affected by natural disasters  Supported by high speed, low-latency satellite connectivity from the Vocus Satellite–Starlink solution, the drone can act as a temporary mobile tower providing mobile connectivity to a 28km² area.   This will serve to provide vital mobile connectivity in situations where pre-existing infrastructure may be...

Unite the Union, which has previously expressed its opposition to Vodafone and Three UK’s proposed merger (here), is attempting to up the ante by pressing some of Vodafone’s largest shareholders (e.g. Blackrock, Vanguard, Norges Bank and local authority pension funds) to take a stand, on conflict of interest grounds, at the next AGM. The deal, […]

The national telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has this morning announced that they’ve opened an investigation into the service cancellation practices of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2), which follows customer complaints that suggest the “company is making it difficult for them to cancel their services“. Breaking news.. more to follow..

A new YouGov survey of 1,150 adults aged 65+ in England, which was commissioned by older people’s charity Independent Age, has claimed that 48% of respondents on a low income (under £15k a year) have struggled to keep up with their broadband ISP bill in the last 6 months (20% of those found it a […]

The Digital Connectivity Forum (DCF), an industry think-tank, has today announced that the UK’s largest mobile and broadband providers, including BT, Three UK, and Sky Broadband, among many others, have agreed to work together to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the telecoms supply chain. The vast majority of the operators making this commitment already […]