Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK Government has today launched a new Innovation Cluster Map, which forms part of a fresh drive to encourage pensions firms to commit more of their private investment toward the country’s science and technology sectors, which could include anything from research into new vaccines and medicines to AI or future satellite broadband technologies etc.

According to the Science Minister, Lord Vallance, some $16bn was invested into UK start-ups and scale-ups last year (we’re not sure why they’re using dollars), and more than $8bn has been raised in the first half of 2025 – exceeding France and Germany combined. But the government wants to see more money going toward this field as part of efforts to boost growth via their ‘Plan for Change’.

In order to support pension firms to invest with clarity, the Government has introduced its new Innovation Cluster Map, which is said to outline pockets of outstanding research and commerce across different parts of the UK (i.e. helping investors to better identify the companies, sectors and regions of the UK to target for investment).

The map identifies areas (clusters) and regions where networks of businesses and research institutions are benefitting from close proximity to one another, boosting the effects of research, development, and innovation. “This means investors know where to seek out expertise and crucially how to make the most of the skills that exist around the country,” said the announcement.

Science Minister, Lord Vallance, said:

“There are far too many UK companies operating at the cutting-edge of emerging technologies, like AI, biotechnology and quantum to which UK investors are underexposed.

Through our Industrial Strategy, we are building an environment where public funding, streamlined regulation and partnerships with industry are channelling investment into science and technology.

Encouraging greater flows of capital into the sector is another piece of the puzzle, supporting companies to grow and jobs to be created.”

The map may be of some use to investors, although it appears to only give quite a high-level view across some fairly wide geographic areas, usually accompanied by various statistics. In that sense it seems to be more of a starting point for roughly locating areas of interest for investment, although beyond that its applications appear to be quite limited.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Telecom giant Vodafone and strategic supplier Nokia have today revealed that they conducted their first real-world trial of “lag-busting” L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, and Scalable Throughput) technology on a “live home broadband fibre [FTTP] connection“. The trial was able to significant reduce the delay (latency) time during gaming and videoconferencing by 94%.

For context. Latency is a measure of the time that it takes for a packet of data to travel from your computer/device to a remote server and then back again (ping). The delay is measured in milliseconds (e.g. 1000ms = 1 second) and modern broadband connections will often have an average latency of anything from around c.4ms to 40ms (what is normal for your connection will depend on lots of different factors).

A faster score (shortest time) is best for latency, although this can be affected by various things, such as the performance of remote internet servers, the connection technology being used, network congestion at your ISP, peering / routing problems and the setup of your own home network etc. But consumers with a modern Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband connections can usually already expect some of the best latency times (often c.2-10ms).

However, Vodafone and other operators have long been working to introduce L4S technology, which could enable their networks to simultaneously maintain high throughput and low latency. L4S is based on the knowledge that the root cause of queuing delay (i.e. when packets wait idly in buffers across the network, for instance in routers and modems, before being forwarded) is in the capacity-seeking congestion controllers of senders, not in the queue itself. L4S thus aims to transition away from congestion control algorithms that cause substantial queuing delay and instead adopt a new class of congestion controls, which seek capacity with very little queuing.

The good news today is that they’ve progressed from last year’s lab trials and have now trialled L4S on a live commercial FTTP fibre broadband network (end-to-end) for the first time. The trial took place in Türkiye (Turkey) and reduced latency on multiple customer lines whilst using video conferencing and cloud gaming applications.

The increase in round-trip delay, with the customers line heavily congested, was said to have been reduced from 220ms to just 4.7ms.

Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer of Vodafone, said:

“We are raising the bar on quality for fibre broadband by significantly lowering latency. Our world-first trial underlines our commitment to innovate and deliver an enhanced service to customers across Europe.”

Bjorn Capens, Vice-President Fixed Networks Europe of Nokia, said:

“Nokia continuously strives to increase the performance of its fibre solutions through innovation, and this trial puts the L4S internet protocol – pioneered by Bell Labs – into practice in a real-world fibre network, including the in-home Wi-Fi.

Innovating for and with a leading operator like Vodafone is paramount for a company like Nokia, as well as providing superior latency with minimal latency variation on an end-to-end fibre and in-home Wi-Fi network.”

ISPreview queried when we might see this being deploying on Vodafone’s network in the UK, although the operator is currently planning to conduct more tests before looking to deploy the technology across its European markets (focusing on driving common standards and vendor support). But they do still expect it to be “adopted over the next few years“.

We should point out that L4S is a technology neutral standard, so while the trial was conducted on FTTP, it could also just as easily have been deployed on 4G or 5G mobile etc.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The independent wholesale broadband and leased-lines aggregator, VeloxServ, has today announced that they’ve added Gigaclear’s rural full fibre broadband network to their platform as part of a new supplier partnership. The move gives partners (ISPs etc.) access to yet another alternative network, the fourth new supplier partner they’ve onboarded in 2025.

The announcement indicates that Gigaclear’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network is currently available to over 530,000 homes and businesses in poorly served parts of rural England. But the network operator’s latest official coverage figures appear to put their reach at 612,000 premises for Sept 2025 (inc. 150,000 customers in June 2025).

VeloxServ currently gives resellers, ISPs, and MSPs access to a wide and growing range of suppliers – including major carriers like Openreach, CityFibre, and Virgin Media (O2), as well as alternative networks such as Elevate, ITS Technology, Freedom Fibre, FullFibre Limited, Netomnia (Brsk), Vorboss and now Gigaclear.

Craig Messer, MD of VeloxServ, said:

“We’re delighted to partner with Gigaclear to bring even more full-fibre capability into our wholesale portfolio. This is our fourth major supplier addition this year and it underlines our strategy of giving our partners the widest possible choice in high-quality, future-proof connectivity. By working with Gigaclear, especially in rural areas that are often underserved, we’re helping our partners extend their reach, improve service delivery, and meet the increasing demand for ultrafast, reliable broadband. At VeloxServ, our aim is always to empower the channel – offering not just multiple supplier options, but transparent pricing, technical support, and a partner-first approach, so resellers can build resilient, profitable businesses without bias or constraint.”

Jamie Flint, Gigaclear Wholesale Director, said:

“We are pleased to be working with the team at VeloxServ and this collaboration will deliver even more choice for residents and businesses in rural areas. At Gigaclear we are proud of our near 15 years’ experience of building and operating a network in some of the most rural parts of the country, and we are continuing to play our part in narrowing the digital divide that exists between rural and urban areas. We are looking forward to delivering even greater connectivity as this partnership develops.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile and internet provider giffgaff has today published the results of a new 3Gem survey of 2,000 UK adults (conducted during Sept 2025), which claims to have found that 53% of respondents face “broadband disruptions” at least twice a month and the average Brit spends nearly 50 hours a year troubleshooting poor internet connectivity.

The survey, which later confusingly indicated that the 53% figure referred to people who “suffer regular problems with their WiFi“, identifies that the top frustrations experienced by respondents include frozen work calls (17%), lost shopping orders (13%) and films or TV shows cutting out mid-stream (12%).

Meanwhile, people are said to be “going to extraordinary lengths to stay connected“, with 36% having left the house to find a signal – heading to cafés, friends’ homes, libraries and even supermarket car parks – and 6% even admitted parking outside an ex’s house to use their WiFi (this is technically illegal if done without permission).

At home, coping tactics mean that 38% of respondents said they wander round the house trying to get a better signal, while 17% shout at the router (always super effective), and 8% drain their phone data (mobile broadband) by Tethering it to other devices. Finally, 31% say it’s too much hassle to switch provider (it’s actually now very easy), while a quarter think another provider wouldn’t be any better.

It’s almost like giffgaff have got a new home broadband service to promote, which of course they do (here).

Ash Schofield, CEO of giffgaff, said:

“Our research shows just how frustrating and disruptive unreliable broadband has become in people’s everyday lives. It’s clear that many feel stuck with a service they’re not happy with.

That’s why we invited over 500 people to help shape our offering, ensuring we deliver a service that is built around what people actually want. The launch of giffgaff’s full fibre broadband provides a flexible and reliable option with no fuss and no compromise.

Ditching bad broadband and switching to giffgaff could be the answer to a lot of people’s frustrations and is really simple to do.”

Leaving aside the obvious vested interest above, it’s worth caveating that this survey doesn’t make much distinction between problems caused by local network connectivity (e.g. bad configuration, variable WiFi between rooms etc.) and the physical broadband connection from an ISP. Similarly, some of the issues complained about (e.g. lost shopping orders), could just as easily be the fault of a remote internet website or service.

We should point out that not every person has the necessary skills to correctly identity and diagnose the cause of internet or network connection issues. As usual, opinion surveys like this should always be taken with a pinch of salt, especially given the relatively small sample size involved.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

 Intracom Telecom, a global technology systems and solutions provider and BroadbandOne, a rapidly growing enterprise connectivity provider in several States in the U.S, today announced a strategic partnership to expand their broadband points of presence across Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. The pioneering initiative is based on Intracom Telecom’s high-performance multi-gigabit mmWave Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology and BroadbandOne’s highly differentiated service model.

BroadbandOne’s rollout delivers cost-effective gigabit connectivity for business customers, especially in areas where traditional fiber is limited or cost prohibitive. Powered by Intracom Telecom’s technology and operating at the 28 GHz mmWave frequency range, it is capable of connecting subscribers with download speeds up to 2.4 Gbps and reaching beyond 5 miles from the cell center. Each Intracom Telecom WiBAS™ G5 Smart Base Station radio offers 5.6 Gbps capacity and serves 120 subscribers, with powerful hierarchical QoS, and exceptionally high availability of service. The Intracom Telecom technology continues to offer reliable service where buried or aerial fiber fails due to cuts and weather inflicted damage.

The deployment strategy launched supports BroadbandOne’s Telco as a Service (TaaS) model, a fully managed solution that gives enterprises scalable, carrier-grade connectivity without the burden of owning and maintaining network infrastructure.

“Businesses need broadband that is as agile as they are,” said Eric Watko, CEO of BroadbandOne. “Through this FWA rollout, enterprises can access fiber-like gigabit performance without the delays and costs of traditional fiber builds. This is about giving customers faster time to service, predictable costs, and the flexibility to scale as their needs evolve.”

“Intracom Telecom is proud to support BroadbandOne in this multi-state rollout,” said Kyriakos Vergos, CEO of Intracom Telecom USA. “Our unique technology platform is designed to deliver high-capacity, secure, and ultra-reliable multi-gigabit connectivity at scale. By combining BroadbandOne’s innovative service model with our technology, enterprises across the U.S. can benefit from faster deployments and a broadband experience comparable to fiber.”

Together, BroadbandOne and Intracom Telecom are redefining how enterprises access and consume broadband by combining service innovation, advanced technology, and speed of deployment. The partnership is set to expand into additional U.S. regions in 2025, accelerating broadband access and digital transformation for businesses nationwide.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

The site uses Nokia’s dual-band massive MIMO technology to combine low, mid and high-band spectrum, including new spectrum obtained as part of Virgin Media O2’s deal with Vodafone UK

Virgin Media O2 has today announced the successful switch-on of a first-of-its-kind Giga Site in Paddington, London, utilising newly acquired spectrum and marking a major step forward in delivering faster and more reliable mobile connectivity across the UK.

The new Giga Site combines low, mid and high-band spectrum with Nokia’s new cutting-edge dual-band massive MIMO technology, which uses a large number of antennas to significantly improve 5G network performance by boosting capacity, spectral efficiency, data rates, and coverage. This is the one of the first deployments of its kind on a live European network.

By bringing together different spectrum bands on one mast, the operator can offer strong, reliable signal to a large area. The single site is using a combination of low band spectrum to provide broad coverage, mid band to offer additional capacity, and high band to give customers very fast speeds.

The new site can deliver more than 10Gbps of throughput which is more than the entire O2 UK network carried at the peak of the London 2012 Olympics, and is enough to support 2,000 simultaneous 5Mbps HD video streams.

Following many months of detailed technical planning, the site has been able to make use of newly acquired spectrum from Vodafone UK, with the signal put to use just one minute after it was transferred. Virgin Media O2 will continue to deploy this spectrum over the medium term.

Virgin Media O2 plans to roll out 1,000 of these new Giga Sites nationwide throughout next year to bring a further step change in mobile connectivity for customers on the O2 network who will experience faster speeds and a more reliable connection.

Dr Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2, said: “The switch on of our first Giga Site here in central London is a really important demonstration of how we are investing and innovating to continue improving our mobile network and customer experience. These new sites will deliver faster speeds, greater capacity, and more reliable connections for our customers. As we carry out upgrades and roll out hundreds more Giga Sites across the country, we’ll put our new spectrum to work helping us keep improving mobile connectivity nationwide.”

Mark Atkinson, Head of Radio Access Networks at Nokia commented: “Our partnership with Virgin Media O2 to implement Giga Sites reflects our commitment to helping our customers differentiate with superior performance. This is one of Europe’s first dual-band Massive MIMO deployment combined with our TDD carrier aggregation solution, which showcases how our latest high-performance radios and versatile carrier aggregation solutions allow operators to fully harness the power of their spectrum, enabling the next wave of 5G services.”

These upgrades are part of Virgin Media O2’s Mobile Transformation Plan, which will see the operator invest approximately £700m this year to future-proof its mobile network. The plan is focused on expanding 4G and 5G coverage, a dedicated small cells rollout to boost capacity in dense urban areas, and innovative solutions to address persistent network pain points including along railway lines, at airports, on motorways, and in stadiums and arenas.

Virgin Media O2 recently announced that it had agreed a deal with Vodafone UK to acquire 78.8 MHz of spectrum, bringing the operator’s total spectrum holding to approximately 30% of UK mobile spectrum and materially enhancing the company’s network position.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The island nation is the biggest producer of semiconductors in the world and maintaining this dominance is about more than just the economy.

This week, the Taiwanese government has denied that they are considering shifting 50% of their semiconductor manufacturing operations to the US, despite statements made to the contrary by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier this week.

Speaking to NewsNation on Tuesday, Lutnick said that his latest trade talks with Taiwan had included discussions of shifting up to half of the country’s chip production to the US.

“That’s been the conversation we had with Taiwan, that you have to understand it’s vital for you to have us produce 50%,” said Lutnick in an interview with NewsNation.

Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) controlling over 68% of global semiconductor foundry revenue at the end of 2024, according to data from TrendForc, Second-place producer, South Korea’s Samsung, accounts for just 8%.

On Wednesday, however, Taiwan’s Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun rejected the suggestion that the matter had even been discussed.

“Our negotiating team has never made any commitment to a 50-50 split on chips. Rest assured, we did not discuss this issue during this round of talks, nor would we agree to such conditions,” said Cheng, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.

Instead, Cheng said the discussions were focussed on resolving issues surrounding tariffs and the US’s Section 232 investigations, which seek to probe whether imported goods represent a threat to national security.

Taiwan’s exports to the US are currently subject to a 20% tariff, with the island’s government hoping to negotiate this rate’s reduction.

The rapid expansion of the US’s domestic chip production capabilities has been a focus for the government since the start of the decade, when the coronavirus pandemic exposed the fragility of global supply chains. The Biden-era CHIPS and Sciences Act – described by President Trump as a “horrible, horrible thing” – has set aside $39 billion in subsidies for domestic chip production, encouraging major investments from giants like Intel, Micron, and Samsung.

The subsidies even proved enough of a lure to draw interest from TSMC, which announced a $65 billion commitment in 2024 to build three greenfield fabs in Phoenix, Arizona, supported by $6.6 billion in US subsidies. Earlier this year, this investment was scaled up by a further $100 billion.

This investment, however, is seemingly not enough for the US government, which wants far less reliance on overseas production.

Naturally, the elephant in the room during discussions are the major geopolitical factors in play. Taiwan is under constant existential threat from China, and the vital role its semiconductor industry plays in the global tech supply chain is a key reason for its US support. Moving chip production to the US would not only be a technical and economic challenge for Taiwan, but a disintegration of the nation’s so-called ‘Silicon Shield’, removing its largest deterrent against Chinese invasion.

With news published just this week that Russia is reportedly helping China plan an invasion of Taiwan, the country is surely less motivated than ever to hand over its technological crown jewels.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The popular online image sharing website Imgur.com, which was first founded in 2009 and has been widely used to host viral images, short videos and memes that can be linked to from other sites, appears as if it may have responded to a recent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation by blocking UK IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

People on UK internet connections who try to visit the website, or who wish to view imgur.com hosted images via other websites (it’s common practice to upload and share images in this way), are instead being shown a generic error message: “Content not available in your region“. This typically indicates that the website itself has implemented a geo-block against the country.

The strong suspicion being expressed online is that this could be a response to the new Online Safety Act (OSA) and its requirements for websites to implement “effective age checks“ on visitors (here). The measure is designed to prevent children from encountering online porn and protect them from other harmful content, but it’s also something that has not been universally popular (here).

One of the issues is that Ofcom and the government have been trying to apply this in an extraterritorial fashion to websites based and hosted in other countries. Sites that don’t comply could potentially face fines or be blocked by UK internet providers (broadband and mobile). Suffice to say that some sites have been opting to simply block UK visitors instead of going through the complex and costly hassle of adopting another country’s rules.

However, it now seems more likely that Imgur’s decision is a direct reaction to a recent investigation by the ICO, which we’ll come back to in a moment.

An Ofcom spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Imgur’s decision to restrict access in the UK is a commercial decision taken by the company and not a result of any action taken by Ofcom. It has not stated the reasons for its decision. Other services run by MediaLab remain available in the UK – such as Kik messenger, which has implemented age assurance to comply with the Online Safety Act.”

So far as we can tell, imgur.com does not appear to have issued any prior notice of their intent to adopt such a measure, which will be a breaking change for a lot of online UK content that relied on the image sharing service. However, it may not have helped when, during October last year, imgur.com decided to loosen its restrictions on memes and photos involving adult humour (PC Mag), although they don’t allow nudity / porn.

We should point out that imgur.com has in the past been the subject of several blocks imposed by broadband ISPs too (e.g. here and here), albeit usually by accident due to faulty content filtering. But crucially Imgur.com is currently being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for its approach to assessing the age of child users in the UK (here).

The ICO previously said their investigations into Imgur were “considering how the platforms use UK children’s personal information and their use of age assurance measures … Age assurance plays an important role in keeping children, and their personal information, safe online. There are tools or approaches that can help estimate or verify a child’s age, which then allow services to be tailored to their needs or access to be restricted“.

However, the ICO’s investigation is being carried out under data protection law, not the OSA. Admittedly there is crossover between the two regimes when it comes to age assurance (i.e. providers need to comply with both regimes and the two regulators have been co-ordinating on that), but stritcly speaking the ICO’s investigation has nothing to do with the OSA itself.

UPDATE 11:48am

We’ve added a comment from Ofcom above and added some detail on the ICO’s investigation into imgur.com.

UPDATE 12:04pm

The ICO has also issued an update on the aforementioned investigation today (here), which adds some key context. The ICO previously said they had been working closely with Ofcom on this, which has responsibility for enforcing the Online Safety Act, to ensure their efforts are co-ordinated.

Tim Capel, ICO Interim Executive Director – Regulatory Supervision, said:

“We reached our provisional findings on this investigation, and we issued a notice of intent to impose a monetary penalty on MediaLab on 10 September 2025.

Our findings are provisional and the ICO will carefully consider any representations from MediaLab before taking a final decision whether to issue a monetary penalty.

We have been clear that exiting the UK does not allow an organisation to avoid responsibility for any prior infringement of data protection law, and our investigation remains ongoing.

This update has been provided to give clarity on our investigation, and we will not be providing any further detail at this time.

Safeguarding children’s personal information is a key priority for the ICO and our Children’s code strategy outlines our key interventions in this area. Keeping children safe online is the responsibility of the companies offering online services to them and we will continue to hold them to account.”

UPDATE 1:48pm

Imgur.com has updated their help site to include the following statement (this part is still viewable from the UK).

Imgur access in the United Kingdom

From September 30, 2025, access to Imgur from the United Kingdom is no longer available. UK users will not be able to log in, view content, or upload images. Imgur content embedded on third-party sites will not display for UK users.

You can exercise your data protection rights without logging in (for example, to request a copy of your data or deletion) using our Help Center request form. 

• I want to request a copy of my data
• I want to delete my account (GDPR/CCPA) 

We may request information to verify your identity and will respond within the time limits set by UK data protection law.

We may continue to process limited personal data where necessary and lawful, for example, to comply with legal obligations and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Information about how long we keep data and how we process it is available in our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions, please contact us via our Support request form.

UPDATE 4:05pm

The key part of the ICO’s investigation seemed to have focused on how Imgur failed to ask visitors to declare their age when setting up an account. We’ve clarified above that this investigation took place under data protection law and not the OSA.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Sister UK ISPs Brsk and YouFibre (Netomnia) will today launch special Black Friday pricing across their range of broadband packages. On top of that, Brsk also confirmed that their new WiFi 7 routers will, from today (1st Oct 2025), be included as standard for all new customer orders (YouFibre did the same in August – here).

In terms of the early Black Friday discounts, we note that Brsk’s symmetric speed mid-tier 500Mbps package on an 18-month term has now been reduced to £29 per month (down from £30), while 1000Mbps has been cut to £30 per month (down from £35) and the biggest discount of all sees their 2000Mbps tier dropping to just £35 per month (down from £55). All packages include a wireless router and free installation.

At the same time YouFibre will discount their similar 1Gbps broadband package from £33.99 to £29.99 per month, while their 2Gbps tier is set to drop from £49.99 to just £34.99. YouFibre clarified that this offer will only be available for new customers to take until 1st December 2025.

Finally, Brsk will today introduce their new WiFi 7 routers and make them standard for all new customers. The hardware they’re adopting is expected to mirror the kit used by YouFibre.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The United Kingdom’s existing market for internet service providers is already quite an overcrowded place, but today it got a little busier after a new ISP called Orbus Broadband (a trading name of London-based AnyLead Ltd) launched with a promise to deliver “Better Broadband and the Best WiFi Across the UK“.

According to the announcement, Orbus aims to “bring households faster speeds, stronger WiFi coverage, and fairer pricing. At a time when millions of families are struggling with poor service and confusing contracts, Orbus is setting out to offer a simple alternative: full fibre connectivity paired with the latest Eero mesh WiFi system.” Orbus also commits to “avoid the hidden fees and mid-contract price hikes“.

At present the new provider, which includes an Amazon’s mesh WiFi system as standard on their packages, appears to only be offering three packages via Openreach’s national full fibre (FTTP) broadband network. Prices start at £30.99 per month for 150Mbps on a 24-month term and rise to £35.99 for 500Mbps and then £40.99 for 900Mbps.

Shay Ramani, CEO of Orbus Broadband, said:

“We created Orbus to give UK households a better broadband option – one that puts speed, reliability, and fairness first. Our launch is about providing not just fibre connections but also the best WiFi available through our partnership with Eero. Every family should have a service that works across the whole home without confusing pricing or hidden costs.”

The listed Director of AnyLead Ltd is currently Shaileshkumar Ishvarlal Ramani, who is also a director of several other companies, including the Free Price Compare utilities comparison website at the same address.