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The Government’s (DSIT) Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency appears to have published another contract modification notice for UK broadband ISP Wildanet, which will see their £18m state aid funded Project Gigabit broadband roll-out across hard-to-reach rural parts of South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02) being extended.

The original contract for South West Cornwall (Lot 32.02), alongside the linked award for Central Cornwall (Lot 32.03), was first announced all the way back in January 2023 (here) and was due to take 4 years to build. The details of 32.02 committed Wildanet to extending their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network to covering 9,200 premises (the similar Lot 32.03 targeted 9,400 premises with £17.6m of state aid).

However, Project Gigabit’s contracts are not static and their scope, as well as committed levels of public funding, can change over time for a number of different reasons (this is informed by regular ‘Open Market Reviews’ of UK deployment plans by broadband operators). For example, commercial operators may expand or reduce their roll-out plans in the same region, which can reduce or increase the scope for public investment within those same contracted areas.

The contracted operator could also find the deployment more expensive or even cheaper than previously envisaged, such as due to changes in build costs and interest rates / inflation, as well as any unexpected obstacles to street works or greater efficiencies of build than planned or expected. Rising build costs and high interest rates are currently a well-known bugbear for the whole industry.

Suffice to say, there can be various reasons why the contracted scope of related builds and level of allocated public funding may change over time, although the latest modification notice for 32.02 only mentions that the change was caused by “errors identified in the supplier’s financial model” (i.e. the modification is intended to correct for this). But the good news is that the outcome reflects a modest expansion.

“Awarded value after modification £18,534,622.22, value increased by £422,879.78. The total awarded premises have increased from 9,229 to a total of 9,718, from the original 9,128,” said the modification notice. This marks a nice coverage improvement for a smaller local supplier (type a) contract of this size, benefitting hundreds of extra premises in remote rural parts of South West Cornwall. The total contract value after the modifications is now stated to be £18,977,502 +vat.

Map of Wildanet’s Original Project Gigabit Rollout

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Openreach has confirmed that their new 1.8Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network has now covered 90% of Northern Ireland, which is up from 87% a year ago. The operator is currently still in the process of investing another £100m to push this figure up to 97% for a total of more than 830,000 homes and businesses (here).

The deployment forms part of the operator’s wider £15bn investment to cover 25 million UK premises (80%+ of the UK) with their full fibre network by December 2026, including 6.2 million in rural and semi-rural areas (here). Openreach has already completed coverage for over 18.3 million UK premises and they have an ambition to potentially reach up to 30 million by 2030.

However, the roll-out in N.Ireland isn’t only delivering in terms of coverage, with Openreach reporting that their full fibre network is already being used by over 64% of end customers in the country too. This compares extremely well with the operator’s figures for the whole of the UK, where their FTTP network now covers 55% of premises and that has delivered a still very respectable take-up of 35%.

Lauren McGaughey, Acting Director of Openreach NI, said:

“Reaching 90% Full Fibre coverage is a significant milestone and reflects our commitment to connecting Northern Ireland to world-class digital infrastructure. We’re not just building for today – we’re building for the future. Our focus is firmly on ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can benefit from fast, reliable, and sustainable connectivity.

The rollout of this technology is helping to level the playing field between urban centres and rural areas, giving people and businesses more freedom to choose where they operate and grow. From enabling more flexible working to driving environmental benefits through reduced commuting, Full Fibre is changing the way we live and work – and we’re proud to have reached this milestone.”

The new service, once live, can be ordered via various ISPs, such as BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many more (Openreach FTTP ISP Choices) – it is not currently an automatic upgrade, although some providers have started to do free automatic upgrades as older copper-based services and lines are slowly withdrawn.

The work in N.Ireland, when combined with the ongoing FTTP deployments from rival networks (e.g. Netomnia, Fibrus and Virgin Media / nexfibre), will eventually extend full fibre coverage to around 99% of premises across Northern Ireland (nearly universal coverage).

Ofcom’s most recent data for January 2025 (here) revealed that 95% of premises in NI can already access a gigabit-capable broadband network (94% for just FTTP) and the regulator forecasts that this could reach the 98-99% mark by as soon as May 2026 (here).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

A new report from the cross-industry UK Spectrum Policy Forum (UKSPF), which was conducted in collaboration with consultancy firm Coleago, has examined what might become of the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum bands after 2034 (currently used for digital TV, PMSE and others). For example, if auctioned to mobile operators, the IMT600 band could raise up to £980m.

The Government and Ofcom are currently in the process of deciding the future of the UHF bands, which technically goes from 300MHz to 3GHz. But the new report is mostly focused upon what will happen to the sub-1GHz bands, primarily those that help to carry Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT / DTTV) services (470-694MHz). Over the next decade, it’s widely expected that DTTV services will slowly shift to broadband-based IPTV solutions, which could gradually free up some of this spectrum for other uses.

One key decision point will also come much sooner than this, at the end of 2026, when the BBC must decide whether to renew its MUX-B licence (this carries HD channels). “If the largest Public Sector Broadcaster (PSB) in the UK takes a step back from DTT it may encourage other broadcasters to review their plans and ultimately hasten a move towards IPTV,” although it remains unclear what approach the BBC will take.

However, the new report finds that “no single future scenario can satisfy all stakeholders“, necessitating “carefully balanced” policy responses. The report thus models five future pathways for DTT beyond 2034, ranging from targeted upgrades and spectrum efficiency improvements to a full switch-off by 2035 in favour of IPTV. Each case is assessed for its technical feasibility, impact on PMSE, and implications for future mobile spectrum availability (IMT600 band).

Key Findings:

➤ Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) continues to serve nearly half of UK households, with an estimated 3.3 million homes relying on DTT exclusively. Despite shifts toward online content, DTT remains essential for vulnerable populations. The report cautions that reducing DTT could deepen digital exclusion, particularly among the elderly and low-income households.

➤ Mobile Communications, which account for approximately 0.75% of UK Gross Value Added, face mounting demand for sub-1 GHz spectrum. Without additional allocations, network congestion and poor rural coverage may exacerbate digital inequality and hinder economic development.

➤ Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE), a cornerstone of the UK’s creative sector (contributing over £124bn in GVA), depends on UHF for high-quality wireless audio essential to live events and broadcast production. Its localised and predictable spectrum usage presents opportunities for dynamic sharing solutions.

We should point out that freeing up the DTT bands for 5G and future 6G based mobile services would be of most benefit to rural areas and indoor signal quality, since such low frequency bands tend to travel much further than higher frequency ones and penetrate better through walls. The catch is that this won’t improve speeds (mobile broadband) much because there’s not a lot of spectrum frequency spare for carrying data in these bands.

However, the government will no doubt be keen to hear that allocation of the IMT600 spectrum via an auction could raise a significant amount for the exchequer. Based on Ofcom’s 2021 auction price of £280m for 2 x 10MHz of 700MHz spectrum, the auction of 2 x 35MHz of 600MHz spectrum could potentially raise an estimated £980m, assuming comparable market conditions and spectrum value (this is subject to a fair bit of uncertainty).

Finally, the report goes on to make several recommendations, which are aimed at minimising the related socio-economic disruption and optimising UHF spectrum usage.

Key Recommendations

➤ Spectrum Sharing – Dynamic allocation mechanisms between mobile and PMSE, particularly in rural areas, could enhance network capacity while preserving essential PMSE services.

➤ Targeted Infrastructure Investments – Expanding fixed broadband affordability and availability can reduce dependency on mobile networks mitigating coverage and congestion issues. For example, if there is no mobile coverage then fixed broadband with Wi-Fi can provide a substitute.

➤ DTT Modernisation and Public Support – If DTT is to be maintained (per cases 1 to 4) then investments in technological advancements and potential public funding mechanisms will need to be explored.

➤ International Coordination – The UK’s spectrum policy should align with global standards to maintain economies of scale in equipment manufacturing and cross-border interoperability.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Managed ISP ASK4, which delivers gigabit-capable broadband to students and residents (renters) in multi-tenant buildings across the UK (inc. parts of Europe), has today announced that they’ve acquired ClearFibre – previously part of Elevate (formerly Telcom) – to help their goal of improving internet connectivity in the UK’s Build-to-Rent (BTR) market.

In case anybody has forgotten, ClearFibre was previously the part of Elevate that focused on helping to connect UK homes in the private rental sector to “full fibre” broadband, using a 10Gbps capable Nokia XGS-PON based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network.

Customers of ClearFibre’s service typically paid from £30 per month for a 250Mbps symmetric speed service on a 12-month term (30-day rolling contracts also available), which rises to £48 for their top 1000Mbps tier. All packages include a free router and installation. But we haven’t had many updates from ClearFibre itself since 2021, and it’s unclear how many premises they ended up serving (we suspect this may be on the smaller side of altnet deals).

Jon Thornhill, Group Strategy Director of ASK4, said:

“We’re proud to welcome ClearFibre into the ASK4 Group. This acquisition, our first under GI Partner’s ownership, strengthens our ability to support the Build-to-Rent sector with deeper expertise, enhanced networks for critical building systems and an unwavering focus on resident experience. Our priority is to ensure a seamless transition for ClearFibre’s customers, who will continue to receive the high standard of service they have come to expect.”

Chris Coulton, Deputy Head of Portfolio at Gresham House, said:

“This transaction marks a positive step forward for both businesses. ClearFibre’s focus on high-quality consumer broadband makes it a strong strategic fit for ASK4, who are well equipped to support its next phase of growth. At the same time, the deal allows Elevate to further focus on delivering reliable, high-performance connectivity and managed services to business customers throughout the UK.

Gresham House’s investment in Elevate sits within our digital inclusion investment subsector, focusing on infrastructure that aims to provide better access, connectivity and increase productivity for all parts of society”

The announcement states that ASK4’s “immediate focus” will be to ensure service continuity and expand upon ClearFibre’s existing relationships, which means that their brand will remain in place, at least “for the time being“. But over time, the new owner said that they would look to align more closely with the ASK4 brand.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Some customers of Sky’s UK pay TV services appear to still be suffering from connectivity problems this morning after the platform suffered a significant service outage late last night, which primarily seemed to impact users of their Sky Q boxes. But Sky has remained frustratingly silent during this outage.

The bulk of the problems appear to have started at around 9:30pm last night and continued until just after midnight. Customers reported that their TV service suddenly switched off, despite the box itself still showing a green light. Some subscribers attempted to rectify the issue by rebooting their set-top-boxes, which worked for a short time (not for everybody) before the issue reoccurred.

During this period customers reported seeing various error messages, some of which referenced problems with an “authentication server“, while others displayed messages about there being no signal/source for the channels or stating that “there has been a problem finding your Sky Q box on the network“.

However, anybody looking for some kind of statement or acknowledgement of the issue from Sky’s online Help Team via social media (or otherwise), during one of its biggest national TV outages, will have been left disappointed. Sky didn’t post any public service statements during the night, and we’re still awaiting a comment from them this morning.

Nevertheless, Sky’s many suffering TV customers were still able to share their complaints via a huge mega thread on Sky’s Community Forum, which unfortunately reveals that quite a few people are still suffering problems this morning.

Sample Sky TV Complaint by Steve486 @ 8:18AM

“Our main Sky Q box keeps shutting down and then won’t switch back on. If I unplug it and restart it, it works for a while and then shuts itself down again. Of course this means none of our Sky Mini boxes in other rooms can connect either.”

Sample Sky TV Complaint by apchelt @ 8:12 AM

“Having exactly the same issue here too. Happened whilst watching a recording and whilst in (Paramount) app.

Reboot via mains switch fixed it temporarily then went again 30 minutes later.

Symptoms are black screen with green power light but unresponsive box.”

Sample Sky TV Complaint by Adams93 @ 8:13 AM

“Anyone else having problems with their SkyQ box not working? Has anyone been able to talk to anyone at sky and understand how to fix?”

A quick glance at the related Downdetector page for Sky confirms that there are still some issues for Sky to work out this morning. The suspicion is that Sky may have attempted to push out a platform configuration or firmware change to their boxes last night, which might have gone a bit wrong, although there’s not currently enough solid information to be confident of this. The issues come only shortly after Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers suffered their own set of similar issues (here).

UPDATE 8:41am

Sky’s support agents seemed to have woken up and are now responding to some social media posts with the following message: “We are aware of some technical issues overnight that led to Sky Q boxes to go into standby mode. Our technical support teams investigated and resolved this. If your sky Q box is still stuck in standby please switch off your Sky Q box at the power socket for 30 seconds and back on again which will restore service. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

However, as per the complaints above, switching the Sky Q box off and on again doesn’t appear to be working for everybody. Some other customers have advised turning both the Standby Mode and Smart Standby Mode off in the settings (Settings > Setup > Preferences), which only needs to be done on the main Sky Q box. But if you can’t get into the menu then disconnect the box from mains power for a minute and reconnect to try again.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

Openreach has begun delivering full fibre broadband to homes and in some of the hardest to reach locations in the UK 

The rollout brings gigabit connectivity to areas that have been overlooked by commercial broadband investment, including villages such as Lacock and Broad Hinton in Wiltshire, Dane End in Hertfordshire, Castle Caereinion and Llanwrin in Powys, and Meeth in Devon. 

The upgrades form part of Openreach’s Project Gigabit contracts to reach 290,000 hard-to-serve properties that would otherwise not have been commercially viable. 

In Meeth, one of the first communities to go live, the arrival of fibre has already started to reshape local businesses. Mike Tunnicliffe, landlord of The Bull and Dragon pub, says the impact is huge: “Just because we’re in the middle of nowhere, doesn’t mean we’re disconnected anymore. As Chair of the Parish Council, I know that having connectivity coming into the village is going to allow businesses and the community to grow. There’s a lot of families that home school and it’s going to make their lives a lot easier as well.” 

The upgrades come amid growing evidence of the wider economic potential of nationwide gigabit access. Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) suggests that fibre adoption could boost UK GDP by £66 billion by 2029, with the potential to bring more than 600,000 people back into the workforce and enable over 1 million to work remotely. 

“I’m delighted to see the first premises successfully connected thanks to this landmark contract with Openreach, which will see some 290,000 homes and businesses connected in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the UK,” said Telecoms Minister Sir Chris Bryant. 

“Poor connectivity has kept rural communities back for too long, but through Project Gigabit we’re removing barriers to opportunity and bringing fast, reliable broadband to homes and businesses that need it most,” he continued. 

Alongside the government backed rollout, Openreach’s commercial fibre deployment continues to accelerate. The company is now passing over 70,000 new premises a week, with its network footprint reaching 18 million homes and businesses. 

Openreach aims to expand to 25 million by the end of 2026, and up to 30 million by the end of the decade. 

Join us at Connected Britain, 24-25 September in London. Get tickets here! 

Also in the news:
GSMA bemoans high spectrum prices in latest report
NTT buying up land to support global data centre expansion
US rescinds AI chip export controls

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

Reports suggest the company is preparing to divest of its Chilean unit, while at the same time making plans to buy Liberty Global’s stake in the UK’s Virgin Media O2

Telefonica is taking the next step in its withdrawal from South American, appointing Citi to oversee the sale of its Chilean unit, according to a report from El Confidencial.

Estimates suggest that the unit could be worth up to €1 billion.  

Telefonica has gradually been reducing its presence in Latin America since 2019, with the company saying it would instead focus on its key markets of Brazil, the UK, Spain, and Germany.

This transition has seen a notable acceleration this year, following the surprise ousting of longstanding executive chairman José María Álvarez-Pallete and his replacement by Indra’s Marc Murtra in January. So far in 2025, Telefonica has already agreed to divest of its operations in Argentina, Peru, and Colombia.

This week, Murta presented the company’s first quarterly results under his guidance, with these divestments contributing a significant financial hit to the companies bottom line. Telefonica booked a net loss of €1.3 billion in its Q1 financial reporting, €1.2 billion of which came from the discontinuation of the Argentinian and Peruvian units.

In Telefonica’s core markets, however, the company fared better, reporting a profit of €427 million.

“The results for the first quarter meet our expectations, while free cash flow reflects the usual seasonality. The Group’s results will improve throughout the year, in line with our forecasts for 2025,” said Telefonica COO Emilio Gayo in a related statement.

Speaking of the company’s core markets, reports suggest that Telefonica is considering taking full ownership of its Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), its UK joint venture with Liberty Global. Sources say that Murtra has held discussions with advisors on the plan, but no formal decision has yet been made.

Telefonica denies such discussions are underway, saying the company is “happy with the current situation”.

Buying out Liberty Global would be an expensive endeavour; VMO2 has recently been valued at £31.4 billion, with a problematic debt pile of £21.8 billion. Given that one of Murtra’s key focusses in Telefonica’s ongoing strategic review is to reduce the company’s own leverage – which currently stands at around €25.8 billion – such an acquisition would be challenging.

That said, there are options available. Under the original merger terms, the joint venture partners can seek an initial public offering three years after the deal’s close in 2021. Alternatively, they can also sell their stake directly to a third party once five years have passed – a deadline that would be reached next year.

Also in the news:
Germany appoints first ever digital minister
Signify and Cornerstone to deploy city-wide multi-operator wireless network through street lighting
BT opens new flagship Manchester office

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Rome, 15 May 2025

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, announces the results of the Artificial Intelligence Sparkle Network Assurance (AISNA) project aimed at implementing artificial intelligence in its Network Operation Center (NOC) dedicated to managing and monitoring the international network.

Developed in collaboration with Engineering – a leader in digital transformation for businesses and public administrations – AISNA enables the automation of monitoring, management and quality improvement activities, thereby reducing the risk of errors and misalignments, and allowing faster responses to customer support requests.

By simplifying access to information and automating more repetitive tasks, the solution has reduced by 30% the operational handling time of alerts at the NOC and by up to 80% the average execution time for massive network update campaigns. Furthermore, thanks to AI’s ability to analyze email content, summarize key information and automatically update tickets, it has been possible to reduce by approximately 3,000 hours per year the time spent on customer reporting and by about 700 hours per year the time spent on RFO (Report for Outage). This has allowed staff to focus more on direct customer interaction and problem resolution, with a positive impact on the overall quality of service.

“Sparkle is engaged in several projects aimed at improving customer and employee experience through AI, as well as enriching our market proposition. The AISNA project, focused on network management, has been a top priority for its impact on customers and operations,” said Lorella Scalcione, Chief Information Officer of Sparkle.

“Thanks to this project,” confirms Danilo Decaroli, Head of Operations at Sparkle, “our NOC is now able to interact with customers even more promptly and transparently, while also operating more efficiently and with a greater focus, reducing the burden of repetitive activities in favor of customer care and problem solving.”

About Sparkle

Sparkle is TIM Group’s Global Operator, first international service provider in Italy and among the top worldwide, offering a full range of infrastructure and global connectivity services – capacity, IP, SD-WAN, colocation, IoT connectivity, roaming and voice – to national and international Carriers, OTTs, ISPs, Media/Content Providers, and multinational enterprises. A major player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa and the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 32 countries.

Find out more about Sparkle following its X and LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website tisparkle.com

Media Contacts:

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband and telecoms giant BT Group has reportedly taken the decision to shift its remaining international business into a new standalone division, which is expected to comprise over 8,000 staff and will report separately from the company’s UK business.

BT has been gradually reducing their international operations for some time as part of wider cost cutting plans, which was most recently reflected in the agreement to sell their often troubled Italian business (BT Italia S.p.A) to Retelit for an undisclosed sum (here). Prior to that, we also covered the acquisition of their Irish wholesale and enterprise business unit – ‘BT Communications Ireland Ltd.‘ (BTCIL) – by the Speed Fibre Group (here).

According to the FT (paywall), the move to carve out their international business into a standalone unit could make it easier to sell, or possibly even merge with another network operator. But there’s also the potential for further redundancies and some other short-term challenges, such as with respect to the fact that BT has historically opted not to separate their financial disclosures between units (i.e. it’s currently hard to value the new unit).

In an internal memo sent to staff today, BT is reported to have said that the decision would give BT “the best chance of success” in both domestic and international markets, particularly as their competitors are said to have “gained strength”. The former chief of BT’s Business division, Bas Burger, is expected to run the “industry leading” new unit.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The ITS Technology Group, which has built various open access full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks (“Faster Britain“) across urban parts of the UK for businesses and ISPs, today claims to have “become the first UK provider” to successfully trial the delivery of dedicated internet access services over 50G PON broadband tech (both in the lab and via a live business environment).

The claim is somewhat debatable, since Openreach recently conducted its own test of the 50Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology with Nokia (here), which connected to a residential property in Ipswich (Suffolk, England). Similarly, Ogi are working toward a similar trial of 50G PON in Wales (here), while Netomnia are working with Adtran to conduct a commercial launch (here), but this has faced delays.

In the case of ITS Technology, the new trial was conducted with Nelson-based Limitless Digital Group and is the first of “several planned tests” across the UK. ITS said they’re building a bank of scalable, real-world use cases to support the roll-out of 50G-PON and shape how next-gen networks are adopted by enterprise, public sector, infrastructure partners, and smart city developers.

During the trial the ITS team observed 50G-PON speeds of 41.8Gbps downstream and 19.2Gbps upstream. This was while using combi-optics to deliver GPON and XGS-PON services, allowing ITS to deliver 50G-PON leased line services over existing networks without disruption to service.

Breaking news.. more to follow..