Shropshire UK Hails Completion of Superfast Broadband Rollout
The Shropshire Council in England has confirmed the completion of their final contract under the £36m (state aid) “Superfast Broadband” (30Mbps+) rollout programme, which over the last 10 years has signed deals with various operators (e.g. Openreach, Airband) and extended coverage from 24% to 98.5% of premises. Just to clarify, much of that increase in […]
ISP Country Connect Expands Full Fibre Cover to 3,709 Premises
Alternative network provider Country Connect, which since 2021 has been building a new gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in South Wales (here), has confirmed that their relatively small and rural-focused network now covers 3,709 premises (up from 2,750 in April 2022). The ISP first started building across the village of Ponthir and town of […]
Wind Tre carves out network assets, sells majority stake to EQT
News Swedish infrastructure fund EQT will own 60% of the newly formed company, with the remaining 40% held by Wind Tre’s owner, CK Hutchison Today, private equity firm EQT have announced a new deal that will see them acquire a 60% stake in a newly formed company, set to own and operate Italian operator Wind Tre’s fixed and mobile network assets. The new company will take ownership of all Wind Tre’s radio antennas, base stations, transport network, and associated contracts, offering the network...
Rakuten Mobile and KDDI strike roaming agreement
Press Release KDDI Corporation, Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company and Rakuten Mobile, Inc. today announced that the three companies have concluded a new roaming agreement as of April 2023 In order to contribute to the promotion of fair competition among mobile network operators in Japan, KDDI committed to providing roaming services through its au network to Rakuten Mobile from the launch of fourth generation (4G) mobile communication service until the end of March 2026. As Rakuten Mobile has...
CMA give Viasat the thumbs up to acquire Inmarsat
News The UK competition regulator said that the $7.3 billion acquisition will not substantially reduce competition in the satellite communications sector This week, Viasat has moved one step closer to completing its acquisition of fellow satellite communications specialist Inmarsat, with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) granting unconditional approval for the deal on Tuesday. The deal, first announced back in November 2021, would see the companies combine their satellite...
Ofcom Improves LEO Satellite Broadband for UK Maritime Use
The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to update their Earth Station Networks (ESN) licence so that the new generation of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) platforms (e.g. Starlink and OneWeb) can be used at sea to “deliver improved maritime connectivity.” Every network operator delivering Fixed Satellite Services (broadband) to UK based satellite […]
CityFibre Start 10Gb XGS-PON Upgrade of UK Broadband Network
CityFibre has confirmed that they’ve started the national UK rollout programme for the XGS-PON technology upgrade to their existing GPON based full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network, which among other things will enable them to support symmetric broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps (9.953Gbps to be exact). The work forms part of CityFibre’s wider effort […]
Councils Warn Digital Divide Holding Some Back in Broadband Slow Lane
The Local Government Association, which represents councils from across England and Wales, has published a “new” report that warns of how poorer households are being left behind in the “broadband slow lane“, with access to fixed broadband being 15 percentage points lower in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived. The study, which […]
West Midlands Named Best Connected UK Region for 5G Cover
A new report from telecoms analyst firm Umlaut, which analysed geographic 5G mobile coverage across the UK’s Combined Authority areas, has identified the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) region as being the best connected in the UK, with 65% of locations having access from at least one operator. The figure for the West Midlands also […]
e& CEO joins Vodafone board
News The two firms continue to deepen ties, saying they will work together on technology, procurement, and creating joint solutions for customers This week, Vodafone has announced that the CEO of its largest stakeholder, e&, will be joining its board as a non-executive director. e& CEO Hatem Dowidar’s new seat at the table is reportedly ensured provided the Emirati operator group retains at least its 14.6% stake in Vodafone, with the option of nominating a second non-executive director...