Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Rural broadband provider Quickline Communications has today unveiled the full list of communities set to benefit from its full fibre rollout over the next three years, bringing fast and reliable, gigabit-capable connectivity to a further 360,000 premises across thousands of rural communities. 

The announcement marks a major milestone in the company’s mission to close the digital divide and revolutionise broadband access across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. 

The rollout is fully funded following a £250 million financing deal secured last summer with the National Wealth Fund and Natwest, alongside long-term investors Northleaf Capital Partners, enabling Quickline to press ahead at pace. 

The programme comprises locations included in the UK Government’s Project Gigabit rollout, which Quickline is delivering in four regions, with a combined subsidy value of over £300 million. They span West Yorkshire and the York area, South Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, targeting more than 170,000 hard-to-reach homes and businesses. 

In addition, nearly 200,000 surrounding addresses will be connected through commercial investment, densifying the rural network footprint. 

Project Gigabit is the UK Government funded programme enabling hard-to-reach communities access fast, reliable, gigabit-capable broadband, reaching parts of the UK that might otherwise miss out on upgrades to next-generation speeds. 

Dozens of rural communities are already enjoying the benefits of full fibre thanks to the progress made so far on the Project Gigabit programme, including Escrick (near York), Barnby Dun (South Yorkshire), Hunmanby (North Yorkshire), Burgh le Marsh (Lincolnshire), and North Cave (East Yorkshire). 

And construction is currently underway in more locations such as villages outside Hoyland in South Yorkshire, Leven and Skipsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Grainthorpe in Lincolnshire, Cayton Bay and Felixkirk in North Yorkshire and Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire – to name just a few. 

Quickline’s gigabit-capable full fibre network will have reached around 200,000 rural premises by the end of this year and the company’s latest plans will more than double that figure by 2028. 

The full rollout plan, including the list of communities and expected availability dates, is now live here. 

Sean Royce, CEO of Quickline, said: “We’re proud to publish our full fibre rollout plan and give some clarity and confidence that better broadband is coming. 

“Our rollout is transformational for hundreds of thousands of people living in rural areas who have been left behind by the big providers. Our investment, alongside the much-needed government support through Project Gigabit, means real change is on the way. 

“This is about more than speed. It’s about fairness, opportunity and inclusion. Reliable, high-speed broadband will unlock new opportunities, boost local economies, spark innovation, and help entire communities thrive and connect in ways they’ve been denied for too long. 

“This is about ending broadband poverty and delivering the digital future the people of rural Yorkshire and Lincolnshire need and deserve.” 

How is the UK’s telecoms market changing in 2025? Join the industry in discussion at Connected Britain, the UK’s largest digital economy event

Also in the news:
SWR deploys Europe’s first ’Rail-5G’ Wi-Fi  
BT accelerates fibre rollout amid cost cuts
AT&T agrees $5.75 billion deal for Lumen’s consumer fibre asset

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The South Korean mobile operator will resume subscriber acquisition while continuing to issue replacement USIM cards to existing customers affected by the attack

Earlier this year, SK Telecom (SKT) released details of a major cybersecurity breach that saw data from up to 26.9 million customers compromised. The cyberattack took place in the summer of 2022, but was not discovered and reported to the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) until April this year.

The attack reportedly impacted 23 of SKT’s servers, with roughly 9.32 gigabytes of USIM-related data, including 26.9 million International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, potentially being exfiltrated by cyber criminals.

In response to the breach, SKT quickly announced it would replace impacted customer USIM cards for free. The subsequent rush for USIM replacements quickly caused a national shortage, leading the government to step in and advise SKT to pause customer acquisition until its USIM stocks were replenished.

SKT followed this guidance, suspending subscriber recruitment for the past two months.

Today, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has announced that it will lift its administrative guidance, allowing SKT to once again begin acquiring subscribers for their mobile services.

“SK Telecom has secured sufficient USIM inventory to meet replacement demands and has successfully implemented and stabilized a new reservation system,” the ministry said. “As the objectives of the administrative guidance regarding USIM shortages have been met, we have decided to lift the suspension of new business activities.”

It should be noted that this news does not mean SKT has replaced all affected customer USIMs, with the ministry urging SKT to continue to prioritise these replacements.

“We are ready to welcome new customers after successfully focusing on USIM replacements for existing subscribers,” said an SKT official in a statement. “Support for those affected by the cyberattack will continue as part of our ongoing recovery efforts.”

While this marks a major positive step in SKT’s recovery effort following the cyberattack, the full impact to the business remains to be seen. The incident has led to many thousands of customers moving to rival operators, with SKT’s CEO, Ryu Young-sang, suggesting that the total number of lost customers could reach 2.5 million, potentially costing the company up to $5 billion in lost revenue over the next three years.

Also in the news:
SWR deploys Europe’s first ’Rail-5G’ Wi-Fi  
BT accelerates fibre rollout amid cost cuts
AT&T agrees $5.75 billion deal for Lumen’s consumer fibre asset

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network operator and UK ISP Brsk (Netomnia) has scrapped plans to deploy three additional 9-metre-high wood telecoms poles on Fernwood Road and Bracken Close in Marple Bridge (Stockport, Greater Manchester), which came after a significant portion of locals protested the plan. Residents complained it would have spoilt their view of the surrounding countryside.

Just to recap. Brsk and Netomnia are in the process of merging and have so far deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 2.5 million UK homes (inc. 325,000 customers), which is expected to reach 3 million premises by the end of 2025 and then 5 million by the end of 2027.

The network operator’s deployment tends to involve a mix of both underground (i.e. new trenching and harnessing Openreach’s existing cable ducts, where available) and overhead work (i.e. running fibre cables via both new and existing telegraph poles). But the use of poles has sometimes got them into a spot of trouble (here) and one of their builds in Birmingham is also the subject of an Ofcom investigation (here).

The deployment of wood poles to run overhead fibre is a common practice across the UK. This is because poles are quick and cost-effective to build (several times cheaper than trenching), can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access agreement to safely put new underground cables, are less disruptive (avoiding the noise, access restrictions and damage to pavements of street works) and can be built under Permitted Development (PD) rights.

However, such deployments have also attracted a fair few complaints over the past few years. Suffice to say that a lot of people find them ugly, particularly when deployed in areas that haven’t had them before, which has in some parts of the country triggered strong anti-pole protests. But the industry has recently introduced new ‘Best Practice Guidance for Poles’ to help tackle this problem, which generally requires network operators to have greater engagement with and respect for community wishes.

In the case above, Brsk had been mostly intending to harness Openreach’s existing poles and ducts in the Fernwood Road and Bracken Close areas, but they also needed to build additional poles. The problem is that, firstly, there aren’t currently that many poles in the area (a lot of existing infrastructure is underground) and many locals enjoy a scenic view of the surrounding countryside. Suffice to say, residents didn’t want that to change.

In addition, Openreach and Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre) have already made gigabit-capable broadband available, although it should be said that Netomnia/brsk do offer cheaper packages and much faster speeds. But according to the Manchester Evening News, every household on Bracken Close put their names behind a letter to Brsk opposing the plans, while over 60 people on Fernwood signed a petition against the plans and also got local MPs involved. Brsk has now relented and heeded the feedback.

Gareth Cornelius, MD of Brsk, said:

“We can confirm that we will no longer be installing telegraph poles on Fernwood Road and Bracken Close in Marple Bridge.

While these streets already have existing Openreach poles, three additional poles were required to safely complete our network build in line with health and safety regulations, due to the distance between existing infrastructure.

We engaged with local residents and councillors as part of our community consultation process to explore solutions that would work for the whole community.

While some welcomed the prospect of improved broadband choice, others raised concerns. In line with our commitment to the best practice recommendations under the industry code of practice, we have listened to this feedback and decided not to proceed with our rollout in this location.

Our aim had been to invest in the community and bring essential broadband infrastructure to the area.”

It’s notable that Brsk has highlighted the revised best practice recommendations as one of the reasons for their change, which shows that they’re listening and acting on such concerns. We’ve also seen a few more cases like this over the past couple of months (i.e. providers changing their plans after feedback), but the volume of complaints is lower now because so many operators have had to scale-back or pause their builds due to wider economic challenges.

Brsk now only intends to conduct a partial network build in the area, using only existing poles and ducts, which will of course mean excluding a few premises from their originally planned coverage.

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The not-for-profit London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles a large chunk of UK and global data traffic through their switches via around 900 members (broadband ISPs, mobile and CDN providers etc.), has today announced the official introduction of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) solution as an add-on to their peering service.

The SLA has been introduced in response to demand from enterprise networks seeking resilient, reliable, and accountable connectivity solutions. The new SLA’s (LINX Enhanced Support) aim to address that and support the exchange’s aim of delivering “enterprise-grade performance guarantees“, which includes assurances around Exchange uptime and land support response times.

The new initiative is said to align with LINX’s broader strategy to diversify its membership and service offerings while maintaining its not-for-profit ethos.

Shehram Malik, Solutions Engineer at LINX, said:

“Enterprises today demand more than just connectivity — they need performance, control, and accountability. Our SLA is designed to give enterprise customers the confidence that their interconnection needs are being met with the highest standards of reliability and service.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator Vodafone (VodafoneThree) has revealed a little bit more information about how their new “Access to roam” feature will work. This will shortly become one of the first major benefits of their recently completed merger with Three UK (here and here) – allowing 27 million customers to roam across both networks at no extra cost.

The official announcement of all this stated that the new ability would be ready “within a few months” and will “happen automatically, with no need to change a thing (phones will connect to the best coverage available)“. By the end of 2025 this will remove a total of 16,500 sq/km of not spots (areas with no mobile signal) – equivalent to 10x the size of London – with the first 25 sites already live. But this didn’t provide the full and correct context.

The service will deliver all this by harnessing a network sharing architecture known as Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN), which allows more than one network operator to share the same Radio Access Network (RAN) – including towers, antennas, and spectrum – while maintaining separate core networks (usually situated inside data centres or similar).

In other words, whether your phone has a Vodafone or a Three UK SIM, it will connect to either a Vodafone or a Three UK mast – whichever one provides the best signal in your location. Naturally this approach has prompted a few questions from the customers of both operators and so Vodafone has now released a useful Q&A, which helps to answer a lot of those queries.

Some of the highlights of this include confirmation that it will take a total of 8 years to fully complete the roll-out of ‘Access to roam’ (it’ll be 95% complete after 6 years), which wasn’t made clear on the original announcement. The deployment is thus initially being strategically focused on areas of the country that will gain the most benefit from it (i.e. those with a poor 4G or 5G signal from one or the other operator).

In addition, while both 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) Non-Standalone networks will benefit, users of the latest 5G Standalone (5G SA) services (i.e. a pure end-to-end 5G only network) will have to wait a bit longer as it’s not yet able to support those (this is vaguely expressed as being planned for the future, with no firm ETA).

However, it’s probably best to think of “Access to roam” as being an interim technology, since eventually Vodafone and Three UK will look to have a single core network that will do away with the need for MOCN. But delivering on this is still “many years away“, which is an interesting thing to say given that MOCN itself will already be taking up to 8 years to fully deploy.

Access to roam Q&A

Do I need to change any settings on my phone for MOCN to work?

No, you don’t need to change any settings on your device. MOCN/access to roam will work automatically. This is thanks to VodafoneThree’s dedicated MOCN servers. Running specialised software and dotted across the country, they identify Vodafone and Three UK SIMs, then automatically route their connections to the relevant core network no matter which radio network they’ve connected to.Think of these servers as helpful multilingual staffers in an airport or train station, directing travellers unfamiliar with the layout of the place to the right gate or platform so that they don’t miss their connection.

Who or what decides which signal/radio network is better?

The decision, on which network a Vodafone or Three customer’s phone will use, is made by the core network of the MOCN-enabled mast that it is connected to. VodafoneThree’s network design team have agreed an intricately weighted set of criteria for when a customer’s phone will move between networks.From the customer’s point of view, the process will be seamless. For example, there won’t be any change in the stated name of the network as it appears in your phone’s settings or at the top of its screen.

Will it cost me any extra to use MOCN/access to roam?

Access to roam is available at no extra charge to customers of VodafoneThree’s five brands.

Where will MOCN/access to roam be available?

As of June 2025, MOCN has been enabled at 24 masts across the UK. By March 2026, 10,000 more network sites will have MOCN.

When will access to roam be available?

The roll out of access to roam has already started in the areas of the country that will gain the most benefit from it. 95% of the rollout will be complete within six years, with the entire rollout finished in eight years.

So the MOCN rollout will be complete in 2033? Why does the rollout take eight years?

Some masts can be upgraded with MOCN remotely with what is effectively a software upgrade. Others, however, will need to have new hardware fitted to them. Completing such hardware upgrades, especially in remote areas of the country, will take time.

Will network-dependent phone features, such as RCS messaging and Visual Voicemail, still work when my smartphone is using access to roam/MOCN?

Yes, any network-dependent phone features that are normally available on your usual network will still be available when your phone is connected through access to roam/MOCN.

Will VodafoneThree’s 5G Standalone (5G SA) service be available through MOCN?

For now, MOCN will provide customers with 4G and 5G Non-Standalone services. 5G SA service through MOCN is planned for the future.

Will VodafoneThree eventually have only one core network, doing away with the need for MOCN?

There will eventually be one core network, but that is many years away.

Does the Shared Rural Network (SRN) use MOCN?

SRN masts that cover areas which were previously Partial Not Spots – which is where service was only available from just one mobile provider – do use MOCN.

What happens if I have a dual-SIM phone equipped with both Vodafone and Three UK SIMs?

MOCN doesn’t affect the behaviour of a phone equipped with dual SIMs. Such a phone would use whichever network for whichever purposes you specify in its settings.

Is ‘roam to access’ the same thing as international roaming?

No, they’re not the same thing.

I’m a foreign visitor to the UK and my non-UK mobile provider has an international roaming agreement with either Vodafone or Three. Will my phone be able to use access to roam/MOCN?

MOCN wouldn’t affect the behaviour of an international visitor’s phone. Such a phone would use whichever network the customer’s home network has a roaming agreement with.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Rural-focused ISP and alternative network builder Wessex Internet, which is building a mix of full fibre (FTTP) and fixed wireless network across Southern England, has today announced that they’ve secured a £50m investment from the National Wealth Fund (formerly known as the UK Infrastructure Bank).

The provider, which also holds several state aid backed Project Gigabit build contracts (i.e. a total of four contracts worth £72m to deliver full fibre broadband to over 53,000 properties in the next four years), currently covers 40,000 premises across parts of Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset with their fibre optic lines (up from 30,000 premises and 10k customers in Nov 2024).

This new funding from the NWF will enable the provider to grow their full fibre network coverage from 40,000 to 137,000 underserved rural premises (note: in 2022 their business plan expressed an aim of covering an “additional” 150,000 premises by 2027).

The NWF’s funding could also be said to reflect a recognition that whilst there are known difficulties in the sector, Wessex Internet, has a “clear strategy” and is “achieving strong commercial results” (their accounts do look healthier than those of quite a few other altnets).

Hector Gibson Fleming, CEO of Wessex Internet, said:

“We are delighted with the National Wealth Fund’s decision to support our ongoing growth story. This investment will support the scale and pace of Wessex Internet’s rural network build and enables us to continue delivering high-quality digital infrastructure in areas that have historically faced limited connectivity.

As many broadband providers scale back, we have continued to grow by focusing on rural, hard-to-reach areas that others overlook. As a family-owned business, our focus has always been on ensuring that these regions can access reliable full fibre broadband, which supports local economic development and long-term community needs. Our success is rooted in that purpose.

Everyone in the business is proud of the huge impact that Wessex Internet has had on the communities we serve – connecting families, strengthening businesses and empowering local organisations.”

Ian Brown, Head of Banking & Investments at the National Wealth Fund, said:

“Every home and business in the UK deserves access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband. Our financing for Wessex Internet will ensure that under-served rural communities will benefit from the continued full-fibre rollout. These are areas where connecting homes and businesses to fast fibre will make the greatest difference, helping to improve connectivity and support local economies.”

Prices for their full fibre packages start at £29 per month for a 100Mbps (15Mbps upload) tier on a 12-month term, but this only comes with a meagre 100GB data allowance (£44 for unlimited), and you’ll have to pay £49 (one-off) for activation. By comparison, their top unlimited usage plan will give 900Mbps (450Mbps upload) for £79 per month. Not cheap, but then they’re often the only FTTP choice in a lot of their locations (remote rural areas cost more to serve).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

ISPreview has today published our latest biannual study of how the United Kingdom’s broadband download and upload speeds have changed across the fastest nationally available fixed line ISPs, mobile network operators and Starlink (satellite) services since the end of 2024. But this time we’ve made some changes to the structure of our top lists.

As usual, the results in this report stem from consumer web-based speed testing and are thus inevitably impacted by a number of factors, such as the rising coverage of faster networks (e.g. full fibre and 5G) and the level of take-up by customers. As a result it helps to understand any key changes in network deployments over the same sort of period, which is shown below using Ofcom’s Spring 2025 Connected Nations data.

In terms of fixed line broadband lines, the primary coverage improvements have continued to come from Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks (Summary of UK Full Fibre Builds). This is despite ongoing market pressures (i.e. rising build costs, high interest rates, fierce competition etc.) continuing to result in many alternative operators (altnets) suffering job losses and a slowdown in their deployment plans.

Full fibre networks are now also the sole driving force behind the rise in gigabit-capable coverage, which continues to be predominantly fuelled by commercial roll-outs in urban areas. Speaking of which, gigabit coverage passed the Government’s first target (85%) under their £5bn Project Gigabit programme earlier this year (this focuses on the final c.10-20% of rural premises) and is now aiming to hit c.99% coverage by 2032 (delayed from the original 2030 target – here).

Finally, in terms of mobile networks, there have been further improvements in 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) coverage. For example, the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project has made a little progress on boosting geographic 4G coverage and still aims to cover 95% of the UK – from at least one operator (84% from all operators combined) – by the end of 2025.

Fastest Major Fixed Broadband ISPs (H1 2025 vs H2 2024)

The data in this report has been gathered from Thinkbroadband’s independent speedtest database (inc. ISPreview’s Broadband Speedtest). The table below only includes the largest and most established independent ISPs with strong national availability, but there is a separate table for smaller providers directly below – these are difficult to include because such providers don’t produce much test data (fewer users).

Naturally, there are caveats to consider with speedtest based studies like this, not least because the results tend to be more reflective of take-up than network availability. For example, some ISPs may have a much larger proportion of customers on slower copper-based (ADSL or FTTC) lines, which can weigh against anybody on faster FTTP packages with the same provider (i.e. pulling average speeds down). The opposite can also be true.

However, the big change this time is that we’ve stopped doing a dedicated table for altnets, which is partly because some operators are wholesale-only (i.e. they lack a dedicated ISP for judging performance) and many other ISPs are now working with more than one underlying network operator. This has made doing an altnets-only table quite tedious and we’ve instead produced a second table that only includes the top 20 smaller ISPs (these do not require national availability and exclude those listed in the top 8 below).

Average Download Speeds – Top 8

Average Upload Speeds – Top 8

Overall, the average download speed of the top national providers was 90.12Mbps (up from 76.56Mbps) and the average upload speed hit 21.61Mbps (up from 15.88Mbps). The picture this time around is one of very mixed changes, with Zen Internet and EE showing big gains in download performance since the end of 2024, while for upload speeds the biggest gains came from Zen Internet, EE and Plusnet.

Now flick over to page 2 to continue this summary and see how the fastest satellite (starlink), mobile operators and smaller ISPs all performed.

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The UK Government has published its Infrastructure Strategy for the next 10 years – backed by £725bn in long-term funding for maintenance and major projects, which promises to “transform how infrastructure projects are planned and delivered” in order to “deliver stability, investment and national renewal“. And there’s some good news for broadband and mobile networks.

Naturally, our focus here is on cutting through the usual mass of political soundbites in order to identify the highlights for the telecoms side of things, which this week already saw the government confirm that it would invest £1.9bn into broadband and mobile projects (this comes from existing commitments) until 2029/30 (2025 Spending Review).

At present the government has a variety of research projects, such as for OpenRAN, future 6G mobile and various other technology trials. On top of that, the £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out programme is knee-deep in the process of helping to extend such networks to 99% of the UK by 2032.

After that, there’s also the £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which is working to extend geographic 4G coverage (aggregate) to 95% by the end of 2025 (although technically this won’t complete until 2027). The government also retains an ambition “for all populated areas” to have access to Standalone 5G (5G SA) based mobile broadband technology by 2030 (NOT to be confused with geographic coverage).

However, we nearly didn’t notice that the new 10-Year UK Infrastructure Strategy (10YIS) had been published, which is partly because the government didn’t furnish us with a press release and also partly because the official announcement made no mention of either digital infrastructure, broadband or mobile networks. Instead, the public announcement chose to focus more on health, education, justice and transport.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

“Infrastructure is crucial to unlocking growth across the country, but for too long investment has been squeezed. Crumbling public buildings are a sign of the decay that has seeped into our everyday lives because of a total failure to plan and invest.

We’re not just fixing buildings – we’re enhancing public services, improving lives and creating the conditions for sustainable economic growth in communities throughout the UK.

This will deliver the decade of national renewal we promised Britain, and fulfil our Plan for Change goals to kickstart economic growth, and build an NHS fit for the future.”

The good news is that the full strategy document does cover mobile and broadband networks, albeit without adding much in the way of truly new information. But we do get confirmation of the government’s effort to finally update the ECC (electronic comms code) rules in order to help make broadband and mobile infrastructure sharing, as well as network upgrades and related dispute resolution, easier to deliver (see our summary).

The strategy also confirms a plan to “bring forward“a more flexible permitting system (aka – flexi-permits) for street works across England, “if the ongoing trials are successful“, and they confirmed their intention to ease the process of getting gigabit deployment for leaseholders into multi-dwelling units / large residential buildings (background), albeit while still being vague on the details.

As for that final c.1% of premises, where fixed gigabit broadband networks are often too expensive to build, the strategy said it would aim to “ensure that the regulatory regime promotes innovation and the growth of alternative technologies, such as satellite and fixed wireless access“. Quite how they’ll do this is unclear, but the government is overdue to update their Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband, which continues to mandate a download speed of just 10Mbps (1Mbps upload) as the minimum requirement. The broadband voucher scheme could potentially also be made more accepting of alternative technologies.

In addition, £41 million is being provided to help introduce Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based broadband satellite connectivity “on all mainline trains” in order to “significantly improve both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers.”

Finally, the government said they would be carrying out a review of the mobile market in order to better understand how it will evolve, with their initial conclusions and next steps being published by the end of 2025.

We’ve pasted all the relevant mentions below. But as we said earlier, there’s nothing much that we haven’t reported on before in all this, although it does help to confirm the government’s future direction of travel.

Broadband and Mobile Plans in the Infrastructure Strategy

Upgrading telecoms networks and closing the digital divide

3.43 The UK is currently undergoing a transformation of its digital infrastructure. 5G is being rolled out across the country and old copper broadband networks are being replaced with new gigabit capable connections.

3.44 Gigabit broadband coverage now covers more than 87% of UK premises, of which more than 77% is full fibre coverage (this is up from gigabit broadband coverage of 37% of premises by the end of 2020, of which 19% were full fibre connections). The government provided £1.9 billion in the Spending Review 2025 for Building Digital UK, which includes funding to connect more homes and business to gigabit broadband. Through Project Gigabit the government is committed to reaching 99% coverage of UK premises, which is now expected by 2032.

3.45 The government will continue to support commercial deployment of gigabit networks. Supported by pro-competition measures and other interventions put in place by government, industry has made plans to invest over £40 billion in full fibre by 2030.

3.46 The government is committed to removing barriers to the deployment of fixed infrastructure so that the commercial market can deliver as far and as fast as possible. This includes:

• Implementing the remaining provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible.

• Bringing forward a more flexible permitting system for street works across England, if the ongoing trials are successful.

• Easing the process for gigabit deployment for leaseholders in multi-dwelling units, such as blocks of flats, and consulting on proposals as soon as possible.

3.47 For the very hard to reach areas, the government will ensure that the regulatory regime promotes innovation and the growth of alternative technologies, such as satellite and fixed wireless access.

3.48 As new networks are rolled out, legacy networks are being withdrawn, including the Public Switched Telephone Network, copper broadband services and 2G and 3G networks. For most consumers, these changes will be straightforward, as they will already have migrated on to new technologies. However, others may need to take action to upgrade services ahead of withdrawal. The government will work with industry and Ofcom to clearly communicate future network changes. This will ensure that consumers are protected during the transition to improved services and all sectors of the economy are protected and prepared for these transitions.

3.49 Businesses and critical national infrastructure also use digital infrastructure connectivity to provide products and services. To enable businesses and infrastructure providers to know when they need to upgrade, the government will work with industry to set out a forward-looking connectivity timeline. This will allow better planning of upgrades as part of regular research and development and/or lifecycle replacement, improving economic efficiency, saving public and private money and reducing the risk to life and critical services from upgrades.

Improving mobile networks

3.50 High quality mobile coverage is now a necessity. Yet in many places coverage remains patchy and unreliable. The government has therefore asked Ofcom to provide accurate, public reporting on mobile coverage and performance. Ofcom have committed to launching their improved online coverage checker in June 2025.

3.51 Through the Shared Rural Network programme the government has worked with Mobile Network Operators to improve 4G coverage in more rural areas. The programme has already met its target of delivering 95% 4G coverage from at least one Mobile Network Operator and will now continue to deliver into the most remote areas.123 The government is working with the Mobile Network Operators on interventions in areas which will bring the highest benefits per site, with a focus on coverage to premises and infrastructure.

3.52 The government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have standalone 5G by 2030, delivered through commercial investment. It will enable a range of new industrial applications across the economy, including in manufacturing, broadcasting, public services, transport and logistics. An Analysys Mason study found that 5G adoption in key sectors could realise up to £37 billion additional Gross Value Added in the period from 2022 to 2035.

3.53 The government will also use its purchasing power, through public sector procurement, to show leadership on the take up of new services, including innovative 5G use cases in the public sector, where appropriate. To support further deployment of wireless infrastructure, government will remove barriers to digital infrastructure deployment, including by publishing a call for evidence on changes to planning laws that could enable faster rollout of fixed and mobile coverage.

3.54 The mobile market is evolving. Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s approval of the Vodafone and Three merger, Ofcom and the CMA will oversee their commitments to deliver £11 billion investment in standalone 5G networks and 99% population coverage by 2034. BT-EE and Virgin Media O2 also have ambitious plans. To understand the impact of the evolution of the market on the digital sector, the government is carrying out a review of the mobile market. Initial conclusions and next steps will be published by the end of 2025.

Taking a ‘digital first’ approach to infrastructure

3.55 The future digital needs of the owners and users of infrastructure should be considered from the earliest stages of infrastructure planning. Failure to do so results in costly retrofits and lost benefits. The government will therefore ensure that digital infrastructure needs are considered during spatial planning for infrastructure, and from the start of project development.

3.56 Digital infrastructure will be a core part of emerging Spatial Development Strategies, so that telecoms providers will have opportunities to better understand future demand and to deliver in advance of growth, in ways that reduce costs and disruption.

3.57 As the National Infrastructure Commission recommended, telecommunications needs must also be considered for individual infrastructure sectors – across the energy, water and transport sectors. The government will work with Ofcom and other relevant regulators to set out the government’s assessment of the telecommunications needs for these sectors by the end of 2026, ahead of the next update to this Strategy. In the longer term, NISTA and DSIT will continue to lead government’s work on identifying and planning for digital infrastructure needs and challenges, across telecoms and non-telecoms digital infrastructure, for the coming decades.

3.58 To support passenger connectivity on the rail network and deliver against the government’s ambition to ensure that all infrastructure has adequate digital infrastructure, £41 million is being provided to introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers.

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A new study of over 380,000 web-based consumer broadband speed tests (recorded over the past 12-months), which was conducted by comparison site Broadband Genie, claims to have identified that broadband download speeds can slow down by up to 8% and uploads by up to 27% on the hottest days of the year (usually heatwaves).

The study was conducted by taking the average download and upload broadband speed from typically the hottest part of the day (11:00 – 15:30). This was then compared to broadband speeds recorded on the five hottest days of the year in the same hours of the day.

Upload speeds took the biggest tumble, dropping 27% on the hottest day, recorded in Brogdale, Kent. On the same day, download speeds were also 8% slower. On average, upload speeds declined by a tenth (10%) and download speeds dropped 3% vs. speeds on an average day.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the issue here is likely to be less down to your broadband connection and more with your router, since the chipset (CPU) may automatically choose to throttle back its performance as part of thermal management during very hot days (i.e. helping to avoid a hardware crash) – particularly if the device is under heavy load at the same time.

However, in that sense, it may not be entirely fair of the study to describe this as being due to “broadband speeds“, since the slowdown is less likely to be caused by your ISP and is more of a local network issue. “Our research shows hotter temperatures consistently take the edge off your broadband speed. The main weakness is your home broadband router. If the internal components get too hot and overheat, it will slow down or even cut out. If surfers aren’t careful, it could grind your connection to a halt,” said Alex Tofts, Strategist at Broadband Genie.

Table: Broadband speed on the hottest days of a year

As we’ve said before (here), most router manufactures are aware of thermal management and design their hardware to operate at temperatures of up to around 40c (varying a bit between manufacturers). Sadly, an overheating broadband ISP router is something that can happen, although even many of the devices with a stated tolerance of up to 40c may actually continue to function for a handful of degrees past that point.

However, experiences do vary a lot, and we should point out that your mobile phones, laptops, game consoles, tablets and other electronics may also run into their own issues (i.e. the router may not be the only source of performance problems that can impact your network).

Sadly, the study doesn’t date its temperature recordings or include a technology split, since it would have been interesting to know whether FTTP connections are just as likely to suffer from such issues as copper-based (ADSL, FTTC etc.) ones. If the primary cause is within the end-users network, then the answer may be yes. But equally, full fibre infrastructure should be more resilient since a lot of the related processing hardware will be retained back at the air-conditioned exchange/data centre (some areas may also place related networking kit inside more exposed local street cabinets).

On the other hand, it’s worth noting that the headline figures given in the study (8% and 27%) are clearly location specific. But in other areas the results show only a small to modest change, with Heathrow being largely unimpacted for downstream traffic and Chertsey actually showing a gain of 1%. Most of the figures show fluctuations that are thus a bit too small for drawing credible conclusions and, in fairness, the UK isn’t exactly a particularly “hot” country, so far as the world goes.

Finally, we should point out that we all live in different buildings, where the resilience to internal temperature rise will also differ – often significantly. As a result, the outside temperature measurement on a specific day does not tell us the whole story.

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The heavily indebted TalkTalk Group has reportedly begun the process of hiring City advisers – with both Barclays or Morgan Stanley said to be in the frame – in order to oversee the possible breakup and sale of their consumer broadband arm of the same name, and their PXC wholesale division.

The provider, which in the last month or so has been in the news several times due to alleged disputes with suppliers over payments and fees (here and here), is reportedly said by Sky News to now be in the process of launching a Strategic Review of its business after separate “unsolicited approaches” were allegedly received for both parts of the group.

The group has certainly had a rough few years and in September 2024 secured a crucial refinancing package worth c. £400m (here and here), which saved it from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (extended debt maturities to September 2027). But it’s still in a difficult position and recently suffered another round of redundancies (here), as well as the continued shrinking of its customer base from 3.6 to 3.2 million customers over the past year (here).

On top of that, Openreach was recently said to have “threatened to block TalkTalk from putting new customers on its broadband network,” which we assume would only be enacted if the same problem with late payments were to continue in the future. Suffice to say that the group have long been attempting to sell off their remaining businesses, albeit so far without all that much success.

The latest development suggests that the provider, which declined to comment on the new report, might be close to finding a suitor for TalkTalk’s consumer broadband business and / or their PXC wholesale and networks division. But it remains unclear whether the recent approaches can be converted into a deal, or what form such an agreement might take.

Sky also suggested that TalkTalk was in talks to raise a further £100m from a combination of existing investors and asset sales. The latter of which could involve the sale of their remaining 3.2 million broadband customers, or at least some of them, to a new owner.