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Alternative rural broadband ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), which is a community benefit society that has so far built their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 30,000 premises across England, has today announced that they’ve just connected their 15,000th customer (up from 14,000 a year ago).

The provider is a registered Community Benefit Society (i.e. they can’t be bought by a commercial operator and profits go back into the community) that has already expanded their full fibre network to cover various remote rural parts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Northumberland, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Northumberland and County Durham – often with the direct help of local volunteers.

The announcement means that the project, which started all the way back in 2011, continues to deliver a strong average take-up of 50% and tends to expand the coverage of their network about twice as fast as the number of homes they connect to it. But the operator does eventually expect to cover 40,000 to 50,000 premises (RFS) in total once their existing plans reach completion.

B4RN may not be the biggest of alternative networks in terms of their premises passed figures, but their focus on remote rural areas means that they run an extremely large fibre network in terms of geographic reach. Suffice to say that premises passed doesn’t tell the whole story when it comes to rural coverage. This provider is much bigger than it looks.

B4RN Statement

None of this would have happened without the incredible efforts of our volunteers, landowners, contractors, staff, and members over the years. From digging the first trenches to helping their neighbours get connected, the B4RN community has always been at the heart of our success.

We’re also proud to acknowledge the important role of the BDUK UK Gigabit Voucher Scheme, which has provided vital support in helping many rural communities access affordable gigabit-capable broadband. By working together with government initiatives and local communities, we’ve been able to reach places that otherwise might still be left behind.

Hitting 15,000 customers gives us even more strength to continue expanding, reaching places others won’t, and ensuring rural areas receive the digital future they deserve.

We’re not stopping here. The demand for fast, reliable broadband continues to grow, and our mission is to ensure that no community is left behind. With more projects already underway and new areas in planning, we will continue to build, connect, and prove that rural communities deserve the very best.

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Network operator nexfibre and supporting retail broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), which share some of the same parentage, have today announced that they’ve expanded the reach of their symmetric 2Gbps speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to more than 13,000 homes in the Gloucestershire market town of Stroud for the first time.

The area is currently already well covered by Openreach’s and Netomnia’s gigabit-capable FTTP broadband networks. But until recently there was little to no presence from Virgin Media, either directly or via nexfibre, which has of course now changed. Not bad for a town with a population of just 13,500, although the nexfibre build extends a bit beyond just the town itself.

Nexfibre, which reflects a £4.5bn joint venture between Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners (here), has so far already covered 2.3 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network. But the operator’s original plan to cover “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises was recently dealt a blow by Telefonica’s strategic review (here). The operator now only expects to reach 2.5 million premises by the end of 2025 and uncertainty remains over what comes next.

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Broadband and telecoms giant BT Group has today announced a new partnership with edge video delivery network MainStreaming, which they hope will deliver a smoother and “more resilient streaming experience” for UK audiences by integrating it directly into their nationwide mobile and fixed networks.

According to the blurb, the new collaboration will: boost the quality of experience (QoE) and reliability for live streaming audiences; drive greater cost efficiency for network providers through caching at the edge (); and deliver efficiency for content providers through a unique capacity-based model to simplify costs.

On top of that, the roadmap also includes the UK’s “first trials” of MAUD (Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery) for live streaming, which is a type of Content Delivery Network (CDN) technology that we’ve written about a few times before (here). But we’re not sure why this is referenced as “first trials“, since EE has already conducted one (here).

The companies will also look at software-defined edge caching solutions designed to meet the evolving demands of content providers and consumers.

Chris Bramley, BT’s Chief Network Architect, said:

“We are continually enhancing our networks to ensure our customers enjoy the best possible streaming experience. Bringing a leading Content Delivery Network provider like MainStreaming into our network enables us to drive efficiency of video content delivery and provide outstanding viewing experiences to our shared customers.”

The improvements are being aimed at UK broadcasters and Over-The-Top (OTT) video platforms, which could include anything from the BBC’s iPlayer to Netflix or EE’s own pay TV services etc. But the announcement is somewhat vague on when everything promised by this partnership will be fully introduced or trialled.

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The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today revealed that they will begin accepting applications from network operators for their auction of the 26GHz and 40GHz millimetre wave (mmW) bands from 17th September 2025. The large chunk of radio spectrum will be used by mobile operators to deliver faster 5G data (broadband) services.

At present the major mobile providers (EE, O2 and VodafoneThree – Vodafone and Three UK) already have access to several 5G capable bands between 700MHz and 3.8GHz. Such frequencies reflect the same sort of mid-band radio spectrum that mobile network operators have been using since the advent of the first 3G and 4G networks.

The move to auction off 26GHz (25.1-27.5GHz) and 40GHz (40.5-43.5GHz) will complement those existing bands by providing lots of additional spectrum frequency, which means more data capacity for extremely fast speeds (e.g. multi-Gigabit). But such signals tend to be very weak and can’t cover a wider area without a much denser / more expensive network, which in practice means they’ll primarily be used for serving busy urban areas (shopping malls, airports etc. – “High Density Areas“) and fixed wireless broadband (FWA) links.

The good news is that after a long wait Ofcom has finally confirmed that they will start accepting applications from companies wishing to take part in the forthcoming spectrum auction from later this month – 17th September 2025. The first bidding is then expected to follow in October 2025 and we should thus have a good idea of who has won what by around the end of this year.

Any company wishing to take part in the auction must submit its application between 10:00am on 16th September 2025 and 4:00pm on 17th September 2025.

Ofcom Statement

Making mmWave spectrum available for new uses has the potential to deliver significant benefits to people and businesses in the UK.

This type of spectrum will enable services requiring very high capacity and speeds. It can play an important role in enabling mobile providers to meet current needs and future growth in demand for data – this means that it can help to improve capacity in busy places like train stations, busy urban areas, and sports and music venues where lots of people want to use their mobile phone at the same time.

As part of the auction launching today, we are awarding the spectrum in 68 “high-density” areas (that is, the towns and cities in the UK where we have identified high demand for mobile data).

We are already making spectrum in the 26 GHz band available to those who want a licence through our shared access licensing regime. This regime offers local area licences – for example this spectrum might be used to provide fixed wireless broadband in rural communities or to support automation in industrial sites, such as busy ports.

Details of the confirmed bidders, start date and results will be published on our website.

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Some residents in the semi-rural village of Catsfield in East Sussex (England), which is home to nearly 900 people, have been left without access to fixed broadband and phone services for roughly three weeks after a car fire caused damage to Openreach’s nearby telecoms pole and fibre optic cables.

Resolving such problems in urban areas is normally a lot quicker and a downed or damage pole can often be corrected within only a matter of hours, or a few short days. But the wait for rural villages is often a lot longer and there can often be mitigating circumstances that may cause an additional wait.

Openreach has previously informed ISPreview that it can take around 20 days to fix damaged poles, such as after a major storm. But over the years we’ve seen examples where, in rare cases of extreme damage, rural areas have been left to wait for several months before repairs (here, here and here).

Such long waits can stem from a variety of issues, such as with the need to seek prior permission for traffic management, safety considerations and limited local resources etc. According to the BBC News (see for pictures of the car), the long delay in Catsfield seems to be at least partly related to the fact that they had to allow extra time for Sussex Police to investigate before the burnt-out car could be removed, which has now finally happened.

A spokesperson for Openreach said:

“We’re aware of an incident where a third-party vehicle fire damaged part of our network, affecting a small number of customers.

Our engineers are working to get everyone back up and running as quickly and safely as possible. We’re sorry for the disruption and appreciate everyone’s patience.”

At present it’s not known precisely when Openreach will be able to complete replacement of the pole and its cables. In the meantime, some locals are complaining of patchy mobile signals, which has caused concern over the difficulty of contacting family, friends and the emergency services.

However, it should be noted that the quality of mobile coverage in the area does vary between the networks (Vodafone seems poor, but O2, EE and Three UK do have modest to good outdoor coverage), yet calls to the emergency services will usually connect via roaming to the best available signal (i.e. it’s not dependent on who you have your contract with).

In addition, the area also has access to Trooli’s alternative Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network, but they often run their fibre via Openreach’s existing poles and ducts, which means that the outage may potentially also be impacting their network in the area too.

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A self-proclaimed “consumer rights litigant“, Marc John, claims to have notified the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of his plan to launch a £2bn opt-out collective proceedings claim against Sky UK (Comcast). The claim appears to focus on Sky’s alleged failure to issue end-of-contract notifications (ECNs) to millions of its satellite TV customers.

The proposed case relates to a long-running legal dispute between Ofcom and Sky, which started in 2022 after the regulator ruled that the TV provider had broken consumer protection rules by failing to send End-of-Contract Notifications (ECN) to their satellite-based Pay TV customers.

Sky has spent the past few years arguing that this is incorrect because their related pay-TV services are “content services“ and NOT an “electronic communication service“, which in theory would make it an exception to Ofcom’s rules. But the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) recently dismissed Sky’s latest attempt to overturn the regulator’s decision (here).

Marc John (54), a former Odeon Cinemas executive who claims to be the same individual that made global headlines in 2018 by winning a High Court battle against Lucasfilm (here), contends that this situation has kept millions of customers paying higher “rollover” prices after their contracts ended, while also reducing their ability to switch and harming competition. But it’s unclear precisely how he’s arrived at the £2bn figure.

Marc John said:

“With the Court of Appeal judgment now public, the time feels right to make this announcement. I don’t think it matters if Sky appeals again. I’m alleging abuse of dominance, which goes beyond Ofcom’s regulatory decision. I hope to seek compensation for millions of Sky customers.”

At present this is said to be a “prospective claim“, which has yet to be certified by the CAT, with a CPO application not yet filed, and with liability and damages yet to be determined. Suffice to say, there’s nothing all that official behind the claim yet from the CAT, which for now means that it should probably be taken with a pinch of salt until we see some real movement.

The proposed claim appears to also be trying to adopt a litigant-in-person (LiP) approach, with John acting as the Proposed Class Representative (PCR) without third-party litigation funding, although he states that “adverse costs protection is not currently a concern“. But this is where things might get a bit more complicated.

John claims to have notified the CAT of his intention to use a single-purpose limited company, requiring its permission to self-represent a corporate body under CAT Guide sections 9.39 and 9.42, before making a formal application for a collective proceedings order. John says he has had discussions with interested law firms and funders, but the claim is said to be “not funder-dependent“.

Marc John explained:

“Usually, opt-out claims are engineered by lawyers who recruit academics to act as class representatives on a fee-paid basis, with litigation funding agreements covering massive legal budgets. I think those costs are wildly disproportionate and put consumer interest at risk. These claims should be genuine grassroots consumer-led initiatives.

I believe this claim, if certified, will mark the first time an opt-out claim has been developed by a consumer advocate rather than by lawyers pursuing a commercial opportunity.”

John said that he doesn’t rule out pro bono schemes or other assistance, but hopes to set a precedent by showing that defendants can be held accountable in a more accessible, efficient, and proportionate way. “The CAT would need to approve any recompense I would seek from a successful outcome as the class representative,” said John. “And would ensure it is just and reasonable.”

Opt-out claims mean the people affected are automatically included unless they opt-out. The claim, says Marc, costs them nothing and, if successful, compensation would be shared among the class, with people notified about how to claim their money. John states that he plans to innovate by using AI agents to answer class member queries, but we’re not going to go into that until we see this moving forward in a more official capacity.

The approach is an unusual one, to say the least, and it’s probably fair to say that class action claims against UK consumer telecoms and media companies haven’t recently been delivering much success (here). ISPreview has contacted the CAT for confirmation of the new notification and asked Sky to comment. But for now, it remains to be seen whether this will become anything more credible than a single press release.

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Telecoms giant BT has today announced that their Radianz unit, which is a global network and connectivity platform for the financial services industry that generated revenues of approx. £142m during 2024/25, is to be sold to Transaction Network Services (TNS) – a provider of ultra-low latency trading infrastructure – for an undisclosed sum.

The planned transaction aligns with BT’s strategy to withdraw from its global operations and become more of a UK-focused “national champion“, while also exploring options to “optimise its international business“.

The transaction, assuming no unexpected obstacles arise during the process, is expected to complete during the first half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearance.

Bas Burger, CEO of BT International, said:

“Today’s announcement is another key milestone in focusing our international business on what it does best: providing secure multi-cloud connectivity to large organisations globally. Our Radianz business unit will enter a new era with TNS and we are confident that TNS will continue to deliver exceptional service to customers.”

Tom Lazenga, General Manager of TNS Financial Markets, said:

“This is an exciting development for clients of both TNS and Radianz who will now have access to the combined suite of services in addition to our investments in new capabilities. With a large global network of financial endpoints and our industry leading low latency platform, today’s news firmly cements TNS as the premier partner serving financial market participants globally.”

Evercore served as financial advisers to TNS and Jones Day served as legal advisers to TNS. Citi served as financial advisers to BT and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner served as legal advisers to BT.

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Greg Mesch, the original founder and current CEO of the UK’s largest alternative full fibre (FTTP) broadband network for ISPs, CityFibre, is reportedly to step down after setting the Openreach competitor up some 14 years ago in January 2011. The move comes shortly after the operator secured a crucial UK funding agreement worth £2.3bn (here).

CityFibre has so far deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover around 4.5 million premises (inc. “almost” 700k customers) and they’ve long aspired to reach up to 8 million UK premises – representing c.30% of the UK. But their original target of hitting that by the end of 2025 will be missed, and they’ve more recently been looking to boost coverage via greater consolidation of rival networks (here and here), while also having to deal with some of the same pressures as many other networks (e.g. high interest rates, rising build costs and competition).

Despite the challenging climate, it’s hard to ignore how much of a dramatic impact CityFibre has had on competition at the physical infrastructure layer in the UK. The operator was one of the first real scale challengers to the established giants of Openreach and Virgin Media, which played a role in encouraging the incumbents to up their game and deploy their own FTTP networks at scale. But big changes are now afoot at the top of Cityfibre.

According to the FT (paywall), Greg Mesch will reportedly be leaving his role as CEO for personal reasons and with immediate effect. Greg is to be replaced by the company’s current Chief Operating Officer (COO), Simon Holden, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker (credits to Ionide for spotting this news).

However, it’s claimed that Mesch will remain with CityFibre in a new role as vice-chair at the company, although CityFibre has yet to confirm any of this officially. Otherwise, there’s no immediate change with CityFibre’s current strategy (yet), which continues to focus on securing deals to acquire several more alternative networks (we’re expecting another 3-4 in the near future) and expanding its own build via their state-aid backed Project Gigabit contracts.

UPDATE 11:56am

The news has now been officially confirmed.

Steve Holliday, CityFibre’s Chairman, said:

“The Board would like to pay tribute to Greg’s extraordinary vision, leadership and impact. Over the last 15 years, he has been tirelessly committed to transforming the UK’s telecoms market for the benefit of consumers and the broader economy. Under his leadership, CityFibre has emerged as an unstoppable force in UK infrastructure, and I am delighted that he will continue to contribute to its future as Vice Chairman.

In Simon Holden, we have a proven leader who has helped shape CityFibre’s strategy and operations. His sector expertise and deep institutional knowledge make him the ideal person to guide CityFibre through its next stage of growth. Under Simon’s leadership, CityFibre will stay firmly focused on executing its long-term strategy, expanding its market presence, and delivering lasting value as the UK’s full fibre challenger.”

Greg Mesch, Vice Chairman of CityFibre, said:

“Founding and leading CityFibre over the past 15 years has been the privilege of a lifetime. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has achieved, unleashing digital infrastructure competition to drive investment and innovation, and unlocking immeasurable benefits for consumers, businesses and the UK. We have overcome many challenges, and I can say with confidence that we have helped change the country for better, for ever.

After 15 years at the helm, the company is in the strongest shape ever, and it’s the right moment for me to step back from day‑to‑day operations whilst continuing to support CityFibre’s long‑term direction as Vice Chairman. Simon has been central to our success since he joined six years ago, and I have every confidence in his leadership. I look forward to backing him and our mission in my new role.”

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New research from Broadband Genie, which analysed the cost of 12-month and 24-month broadband deals from major UK providers during August 2025, claims to have found that 12-month broadband contracts “ideal for students” are on average 49% more expensive (costing £142.88 more a year) than two-year deals.

Virgin Media is said to have stood out as the “most extreme example“: its short-term option works out at £30.68 more every month, adding up to £368.12 extra per year. This is more than double the price of its two-year deal. But Virgin does provide student deals for shorter 9 month terms, but they were found to have “massive out-of-contract fees” – £29.99 in contract compared to £83.50 after the initial term (we’d of course assume that students cancel these at the end of their term).

Other big names also hit students hard. BT charges £185.99 more a year for a 12-month plan, Three UK adds £132 (albeit for a mobile broadband service), and Hyperoptic customers pay an extra £108.50. Even the ‘softer’ differences still sting: Plusnet tacks on £85.50, Cuckoo £72, and Onestream almost £46.

“Put simply, whichever way you look at it, students moving into new houses this September are almost guaranteed to be paying over the odds,” said the comparison site. But in fairness, the news that shorter contract terms cost more than longer ones won’t come as much of a surprise, as this is always how it’s worked (i.e. you take a risk on a longer term and, in exchange, the ISP gives you a lower price to reward that commitment).

Having said that, we’d broadly agree that it would still be nice to see ISPs offering more attractive student-specific packages. On the other hand, there is a massive amount of choice out there now and many students will be living in urban or semi-urban areas, which often also have access to cheaper and faster alternative networks. Suffice to say that the old advice to shop around before committing to something still rings true, but spread your net wider than the biggest ISPs.

However, if budget is a problem, then cheap mobile broadband (4G/5G) plans with “unlimited” usage are often a lot more effective today, although this may not suit if you expect to be a heavy internet user (highly plausible for students) or have others sharing the same connection with you. But it’s of course also worth checking out Virgin Media’s Student Deals and BT’s Student Deals, even if it’s just to help establish a useful base for comparison.

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Broadband ISP and mobile operator Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today announced that they’re working with both the Scottish Government and Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) to help people get online. This involves donating 1,200 refurbished smartphones and mobile data SIMs to Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) across 12 Local Authorities throughout Scotland.

The move forms part of VMO2’s earlier commitment to donate “up to” 12,000 pre-owned Smartphones during 2025 (c.1,000 per month) to help people in need get online and reduce e-waste (here), which is also being conducted with support from other organisations like the Good Things Foundation and Hubbub.

According to the news, one in ten households in Scotland remain without internet access and VMO2 are trying to help close that digital divide, although this does sometimes overlook the fact that not everybody wants to go digital.

Nevertheless, VMO2 said the Smartphones, complete with a free 25GB (GigaByte) mobile 4G/5G data allowance via the National Databank, are being distributed to CABs via Community Calling, which was setup to help re-home smartphones to people who need them.

Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer at VMO2, said:

“Access to smartphones and data can transform lives, and that’s why we’re proud to work with Citizens Advice Scotland and the Scottish Government to provide these devices, helping local communities get online and thrive across the country.

With our circular economy strategy, we’re committed to reusing phones from our supply chain to give tech a second life, which is also connecting communities across Scotland, and preventing e-waste. It’s a win-win for people and the planet.”

CABs offering the devices include those in: Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeenshire, Highlands, Inverclyde, East Lothian and West Lothian. Recipients are expected to include disabled people, those experiencing homelessness or on low incomes, refugees and asylum seekers, people leaving prison and those fleeing domestic violence.