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Contract-free mobile operator VOXI, which is the virtual network provider (MVNO) sibling of Vodafone, has launched a new promotion that offers their entry-level £10 per month SIM-Only plan with 80GB (GigaBytes) of mobile broadband data (usually 20GB), as well as unlimited access to social media, calls, text and picture messages.

The plan, which also supports WiFi Calling, 4G Calling and Visual Voicemail, operates off a 30-day subscription and can also be taken as an eSIM. At the time of writing, VOXI has not set an end date for this 80GB special offer (only available via this affiliate link).

The main VOXI website is also carrying various other data boosted offers.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The operators warned that Europe’s 6G future could be in jeopardy if more spectrum is not made available to support emerging use cases

This week, 12 of Europe’s largest mobile network operators have published a joint statement urging regulators to allocate the upper 6GHz band for mobile usage.

The signatories, which include BT, Orange, Telefonica, TIM, and Deutsche Telekom, say this additional spectrum will be vital to supporting new technologies, as well as bolstering the capacity of existing 5G services.

“With escalating demands on current spectrum capacity and with future services including 6G on the horizon, it is critical that the entirety of the upper 6GHz band (6.425-7.125 GHz) is made available to mobile networks,” read the statement.

While not so highly prized as ‘midband’ spectrum (~3.5GHz), the 6GHz band is nonetheless seen as offering a strong combination of both capacity and coverage, making it appealing for delivering mobile services. These same qualities, however, also make it an attractive option for Wi-Fi providers, who want access to the spectrum to bolster their Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 offerings.

As a result, this debate over the upper part of the 6GHz band has been taking place for a long time, with various solutions being floated across Europe. In the UK, for example, Ofcom is currently consulting on what to do with the spectrum, including proposing ‘hybrid sharing’ between mobile and Wi-Fi in the long term. This could provide an interesting compromise, though technical challenges

The international communities, meanwhile, have taken a variety of different approaches to the 6GHz band. In 2020, the USA opened the full 1,200MHz of the 6GHz band to unlicensed usage (i.e., Wi-Fi), and related devices are already gaining significant traction there and in other markets. On the other hand, China allocated the band to mobile services in 2023, using it to enhance existing 5G services.

Europe’s lack of clarity over the band’s future is seen as potentially limiting the bloc’s ability to compete against these technology giants, particularly as the industry moves towards 6G.

“If the decision to make the upper 6 GHz band available to European mobile operators is delayed, while US technology interests are permitted to secure further 6 GHz capacity, Europe’s competitiveness would be threatened. This would stifle the future economic potential of European business and society and ultimately erode Europe’s influence over its own digital future and global competitiveness,” the statement continued.

As the statement points out, it should be noted that these mobile operators “are the primary providers of Wi-Fi services to European consumers and enterprises,” hence they would argue that they are not inherently biased in favour of supporting mobile services over Wi-Fi. They instead claim that Wi-Fi services are currently provisioned with enough spectrum for their needs.

“We do not perceive any current or future Wi-Fi spectrum shortfall,” said the statement.

Ultimately, European regulators are under pressure to pick a side or create a viable compromise, else they risk the spectrum being underutilised while their international rivals are already enjoying the value it can create.

The full list of signatories for the statement is below:

• Alexander Kuchar – Group Chief Technology Officer, A1 Telekom Austria Group
• Howard Watson – Chief Security and Networks Officer, BT Group
• Abdurazak Mudesir – Group Chief Technology Officer, DTAG
• Wouter Stammeijer – Chief Operating Officer, KPN
• Sami Komulainen – Executive Vice president Production, Elisa
• Laurent Leboucher – Chief Technology Officer, Orange
• Andrea Folgueiras – Chief Technology & Information Officer, Telefonica S.A.
• Alexandra Fürst – Sr. Vice President, Chief Technology & Information Officer, Telia Company
• Leonardo Capdeville – Chief Technology Officer, TIM
• Željko Batistić – VP Technology of the United Group
• Alberto Ripepi – Chief Network Officer, Vodafone Group

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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 ISPreview UK:Read More

Neos Networks, which runs one of the biggest 34,000km long business fibre networks in the UK – spanning 550 exchanges, 90+ data centres and 600+ Points of Presence (PoPs), has this morning launched a new “rapid activation” service that makes it possible for customers to order and use their high-capacity optical connectivity in just 5-10 days.

The new service appears to have come about as a result of Neos’ recently “re-architected network“, including its first “super region” – a high-demand zone that spans across London and the South East, connecting 131 exchanges and 5 key data centres with “fully digitised, pre-provisioned infrastructure“.

The above is said to mark the first step in a strategic roll-out of similar interconnected regions nationwide, which also has the bonus of “radically shortening” the lead times typically associated with optical data services / connectivity (Neos suggest such high-capacity services often take over 30 business days to deliver, but this does vary a lot).

The launch is specifically designed to support ISPs, alternative networks and aggregators, who often face time-sensitive pressures to scale rapidly or respond to emerging demand.

Mark Charlesworth, Director of Product, Digital and Pre-Sales at Neos, said:

“We’ve engineered our network to reflect what the market has been calling for – faster, smarter connectivity that doesn’t rely on manual processes. Our rapid activation proposition is a direct result of listening to our customer needs and providing the high quality and reliable services they expect from Neos.

But this isn’t just speed for speed’s sake, we’re building super regions that give customers instant access to the connectivity they need, where and when they need it, with the transparency and reliability to match. This is an important foundational step that will underpin further rollouts across our network.”

Admittedly, the ability to deliver such services so rapidly is not completely unique to Neos, but it does reflect a big improvement and the positive impact of their ongoing focus on reducing friction in service delivery, as well as enhancing scalability.

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Alternative network builder and ISP Grain (Grain Connect) has informed ISPreview that their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network is to be rolled out in the East Staffordshire market town of Burton upon Trent. The first works are due to get underway this month.

The operator’s broadband network currently covers over 250,000 premises (RFS) across the United Kingdom and is home to 43,000 customers (data from the end of March 2025), which is up from 220,000 premises and 30,000 customers in May 2024. But despite the wider market pressures, Grain has managed to continue their roll-out and is expanding into new locations.

The new deployment into Burton is the latest example of that ongoing network expansion, and vaguely aims to cover “thousands of homes” across the town. As above, the first street works are due to begin this month (all of this is on underground infrastructure) and they’re then aiming to get the first customers connected by late summer 2025.

Grain’s network is also present in a number of other Midlands towns and cities, such as Birmingham Wolverhampton, Leicester and Nottingham.

Richard Cameron, CEO at Grain broadband, said:

“We’re excited to offer Burton-on-Trent residents an internet service that can keep up with their digital lives.

We’re not just delivering faster internet; we are also saving customers a significant amount on their monthly broadband bill.

Whether you’re streaming your favourite shows, working from home or gaming, we’re helping to build a more connected Burton.”

Naturally, Grain will face some competition from gigabit-capable broadband rivals in Burton, which is already well covered by Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre) and has strong coverage from Openreach. In addition, ITS Technology has also deployed FTTP across much of the town, although off-hand we aren’t sure which residential ISPs are selling access to this part of their network (ITS tends to be more business-focused).

Finally, a number of altnets also have smaller scale deployments in the town, such as OFNL, Hyperoptic and FibreNest.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

London-based broadband provider Pulse Fibre, which focused on deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) internet connections into new UK build home developments and MDUs (here), have this week said it is “proud to reaffirm its commitment to price stability” in light of Ofcom’s new regulations banning certain mid-contract price increases (here).

Pulse Fibre said they had “never engaged” in mid-contract price hikes and will offer “clear, transparent pricing with no unexpected costs“. The provider said they “guarantee that the price agreed upon at sign-up remains unchanged throughout the contract“, although they may of course still raise prices post-contract (their fixed terms typically run for 12-months).

“At Pulse Fibre, we have never raised our prices mid-contract. Our customers deserve reliable service with no surprises or hidden fees. This is what sets us apart in the industry,” said Reece Dopson, Finance Director at Pulse Fibre. But it should be said that quite a lot of other ISPs also offer fixed price contracts, although many of the largest providers still do not.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Rochdale-base UK ISP Zen Internet has today officially launched The Fibre Hub, which essentially aggregates access to a number of major and smaller alternative full fibre broadband networks (Openreach, CityFibre, Trooli, Freedom Fibre etc.) and offers that up to partners (e.g. other ISPs) at the wholesale level.

Zen previously only supplied services to homes and businesses using products from Openreach (BT) and CityFibre, but over the past couple of years they’ve been busily expanding that range of networks and have previously spoken of their “aspirations to become the UK’s alt-net aggregator of choice“ (here). This could provide an alternative to the likes of PXC (Talk Talk Wholesale), AllPoints Fibre and others in the wholesale space.

The provider began to soft launch this through their Zen Partner programme on 23rd April 2025, which initially offered access to CityFibre’s Business FTTP with speed options ranging from 160Mbps to 2.5Gbps, and CityFibre Residential FTTP with speed options from 1Gbps to 2.5Gbps alongside existing Openreach access (over 19 million premises across both). This access is now available for all channel businesses to take advantage of. A new residential 160Mbps tier will also be introduced soon.

Just to be clear. CityFibre’s FTTP network alone currently spans over 4.4 million UK premises, with Zen Internet covering 3.8 million of these (Ready for Service). By comparison, Openreach’s FTTP network covers around 18.3 million premises, and there’s some overbuild between these two.

Richard Tang, Founder and CEO of Zen Internet, said:

“Hosting the launch of The Fibre Hub at The Gherkin, London’s iconic building, reflects our ambition to be the UK’s leading alt-net aggregator, offering unparalleled choice, reach, and performance.

We are excited to announce rollout timescales including Trooli access from early June, and Freedom Fibre from mid-July. The Fibre Hub is just another example of how we do things differently, and that’s true in lots of ways.”

Zen has previously indicated that Trooli’s network would also become available via The Fibre Hub “later this summer” and Freedom Fibre were due to be introduced into their Partner Portal “soon“, although today’s announcement merely states that those two “networks will be available on the hub later this year … with further alt-nets to be announced soon“.

The launch is said to include “several new features” for The Fibre Hub, such as network migrations, a cosmetic redesign (formerly known as Zen’s ICP Portal), and a bulk migration tool.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today published their annual Media Use and Attitudes 2025 report, which among other things has revealed that the proportion of UK adults with home internet access remains plateaued at 94% in 2024. But the majority of adults without internet access at home report a lack of interest in having it.

The full report looks at everything from our interactions and attitudes toward the internet, AI, social media, smartphone use and more – across different groups (age, gender etc.). For example, age and socioeconomic status continue to influence digital exclusion, with 21% of those over 65 having no internet access at home.

The majority of UK adults without internet access at home report lack of interest in having it. Some 81% stated that they see no need to connect online, although over four in ten of those who don’t go online at home have asked someone else to do something for them online (43%). In addition, 76% of those who do not go online at home reported that nothing would prompt them to go online in the next 12 months.

However, some have other reasons for being offline. One in five (21%) non said that it being too complicated was a reason for not being online, higher than the proportion who said cost was a reason (14%) or that they had concerns about being online (14%).

Interestingly, 18% of internet users go online using exclusively Smartphones (mobile broadband). Whilst some adults face challenges with online tasks on mobile devices compared to laptops or PCs, such as completing forms (65% of smartphone users), some 74% of those using only smartphones say they never feel disadvantaged by this.

The Government’s new Digital Inclusion Action Plan is currently attempting to address this problem via a series of “urgent actions” that it hopes will “begin fixing digital exclusion“. The plan includes funding for local initiatives targeted to the most digitally-excluded groups (e.g. the elderly and low-income households) and partnering with inclusion charity Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) to provide laptops to people who are digitally excluded.

However, it’s often overlooked that not everybody actually wants to go online and nobody should be forced to use the internet, even if this may leave them at a disadvantage. Similarly, digital skills can change with age, as well as disability (the two are often associated). For example, you might be digitally skilled today, but this can go in reverse when you develop a disability (loss of sight, strokes etc.), which makes life a lot more difficult.

The reality is that some people will always require offline support in order to achieve what society asks or expects of us. The full report goes into a lot of other areas too, and we’ve pasted a quick summary of that below.

AI is on the rise – but it’s not trusted by all

We asked people about their attitudes towards AI. While three in ten adults now say they have used AI tools, it is not trusted any more than it was in 2023.

There has been a marked increase in the use of AI tools, like ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot, including people using them for work. Half of online 8- to 17-year-olds say they use AI tools, an increase since last year, and they’re often used for learning and/or schoolwork.

Generally, AI tools were being used for limited, specific tasks, with an emphasis on labour-saving. Uses included drafting documents, helping with writing style, or as an intelligent search engine.

Using tech to improve our physical wellbeing

Technology is playing an increasing role in health, fitness and wellbeing, with three-quarters of adults (76%) saying they used the internet for at least one health and wellbeing activity, including relaxing (40%), looking up health symptoms (35%) and healthy eating/nutrition (28%).

One in five teenagers (19%) say they’re following a fitness programme online – an increase from 14% last year. And this increase is driven by younger teens aged between 13 and 15, with their use of these tools increasing to 19% from 11%.

Age isn’t an issue when spotting influencers and ads

Many teenagers continue to be able to recognise paid influencer endorsements. When online 13- to 17-year-olds were shown an Instagram post of American actress Sydney Sweeney holding a Samsung phone, 68% were both confident in their ability to recognise online advertising and subsequently identified this as influencer marketing.

Meanwhile, over-65s are better at recognising advertising on search engines. When shown a Google search, only half of all respondents (51%) were able to identify the top results as sponsored links. But over-65s had a higher success rate than younger age groups, with 59% of them able to recognise sponsored links compared to 37% of 16-24s.

More generally, despite people leading increasingly online lives, adults’ ability to spot advertising online has not seen any long-term improvement.

Scams and fake profiles

When faced with a mock-up of a scam email, a large majority (83%) of adults were able to take action to protect themselves. However, this was a small decline compared to 2023 (86%).

Again, over-65s were savvier in this area, and were more likely to respond appropriately than younger age groups (92% versus 70% of 25-34s).

However, younger adults were better at identifying fake social media profiles. When shown a mock-up of a fake social media profile, three-quarters (76%) of social media users correctly identified the profile as not genuine. People aged 16-24 were more likely to correctly identify the profile as not genuine (86%). This compares to 73% of over-65s and 70% of 45-54s.

Children and smartphone use

Parents reported that very young children are getting their own mobile phone, with one in five (19%) 3-5s and nearly a third (30%) of 6-7s now having their own device. At the same time, social media use among 3-5s has seen a significant increase – driven by a variety of platforms – up from 29% last year to 37%.

Almost all (94%) 8-17s who go online on their phones say that they have at least one restriction imposed on them, either in school or at home. Over half (56%) of children aged 8-17 who use their phones to go online say they are banned from using their smartphones all of the time they are in school. Nine in ten (92%) 8-17s can recall having had at least one lesson at school about online safety. A higher proportion of this group found these lessons “very useful” compared to the year previous (45% vs. 39%).

Digital gender differences

Online activities vary slightly by gender, with more women than men saying they use any social media apps or sites (92% vs 89%). Women were also more likely to send messages or make calls (96% vs 94%), while men were more likely to upload, watch or share live streaming content than women (69% vs 61%).

The top three platforms for women were WhatsApp (85% vs 79%), Facebook (81% vs 74%) and Instagram (63% vs 56%), whereas men were more likely to use YouTube (87% vs 77%), X (35% vs 24%) and LinkedIn (25% vs 18%).

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative network operator and UK ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which has already deployed their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 250,000 premises across the East of England and Midlands, has today become the latest provider to adopt Amazon’s range of Wi-Fi 7 capable eero routers.

The provider, which in 2023 was acquired by Kompass Kapital (here) after suffering some job cuts and a build slowdown in the East of England (here), is currently busy deploying across parts of over 30 market towns in South Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Cambridgeshire, and Rutland. But they now aim to “connect 400,000 homes and businesses by 2027” (previously it was 350,000).

The new kit is designed to complement all that. Depending on the selected package, one of two premium routers is included as standard: the eero 7 or the Pro 7, both of which are included with all residential and business broadband packages. For customers on 1Gbps and 2Gbps packages who wish to further customise their Wi-Fi 7 setup, the upgraded eero Max 7 is available for an additional cost.

Several other ISPs have launched Wi-Fi 7 based eero routers, but due to the high cost they usually only make it available to very selected packages. By comparison, LightSpeed Broadband has clearly gone for much wider availability.

Brett Shepherd, CEO at LightSpeed Broadband, said:

“We’re committed to bringing the very best in broadband innovation to our customers, and including the full eero Wi-Fi 7 range in all our packages is another leap forward. By combining eero’s smart, reliable Wi-Fi 7 performance with our full fibre broadband, we’re delivering a connectivity experience that’s built for the future.

We’re thrilled to collaborate with eero, and we are offering the eero 7 and Pro 7 routers with each of our broadband plans. eero’s Wi-Fi 7 systems deliver Wi-Fi 7 performance, reduce lagging for gamers, and provide reliable, seamless connectivity, perfect for working from home. In addition, the app offers easy setup, network management, built-in parental controls, and cybersecurity features, ensuring our customers have peace of mind.”

Residential packages are typically priced from £19.99 per month for a 75Mbps (symmetric speed) service, plus a £5 one-off activation fee on a 24-month minimum term, and rise up to £49.99 for their top 2000Mbps package (£65.99 after the first 24-months). New customers of their top 1Gbps and 2Gbps tiers will also benefit from an included £40 and £50 Amazon shopping voucher, respectively.

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New research from Point Topic has revealed that global fixed broadband lines grew by 0.91% or 13.5 million in Q4 2024 (down from 1.44% in Q3 2024) to total 1.5 billion connections. The subscriber growth rate of “full fibre” (FTTP/B) networks also remained strong in the UK at 11.7%, putting us just two places behind the leading countries for growth.

Once again South and East Asia has continued to claim the largest share of global fixed broadband subscribers, having increased it slightly in Q4 2024 to 50.99% (they also accounted for 54.62% of all new lines added in the quarter), which is mainly due to China’s huge size. By comparison, the whole of Europe (inc. UK) only accounted for 17.61% of overall subscribers and 9.49% of quarterly net adds.

The data also confirms that, overall, both cable (hybrid fibre coax) and copper (ADSL, SDSL) based broadband connections continued to lose market share as full fibre lines cannibalised their customers. Between Q3 2024 and Q4 2024, copper-based broadband lines lost -0.21% of their market share, while cable lost -0.12% and even hybrid-fibre (FTTC, G.fast) lost -0.14%. At the same time, FTTP/B (FTTH) grew by +0.28%.

Put another way, full fibre broadband lines now account for 71.49% of the global market, while cable (coax) holds 14.03%, hybrid fibre is on 6.30%, copper sits with 5.04%, fixed wireless technologies have 2.33% and satellite-based broadband solutions are on 0.44%. Both satellite and wireless broadband services also saw a little bit of quarterly growth (0.07% and 0.13% respectively).

The good news is that the United Kingdom continues to perform well for country-specific quarterly growth of FTTP/B subscribers in Q4 2024, which is despite recent slowdowns in build due to rising costs and competition. In Egypt, Venezuela, the UK, Greece and Algeria, the study recorded FTTP/B quarterly growth rates of more than 10%. Some 29% of all fixed broadband connections in the UK are now FTTP/B based.

Top Ten Countries for FTTP/B Subscriber Growth (Q4 2024)
Egypt 21.2%
Venezuela 11.9%
UK 11.7%
Greece 11.2%
Algeria 10.5%
Belgium 9.9%
Peru 8%
Kenya 7.2%
Pakistan 6.6%
Ireland 6.1%

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Broadband Forum has begun interoperability testing for the next generation of 50Gbps and 25Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable fibre optic broadband technologies, 50G-PON and 25GS-PON. Participating companies included Adtran, Broadcom, Calix, CIG, Cortina Access, Gemtek, Lambda Networks, MT2, Nokia, Sagemcom, and Vantiva.

At present most of the “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband ISP networks in the United Kingdom tend to be powered by old-fashioned Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) or modern 10Gbps capable XGS-PON (i.e. the ‘X’ stands for 10, the ‘G’ for Gigabits’ and the ‘S’ for symmetric speed) technologies.

However, a few network operators (e.g. Ogi) have deployed 25G-PON (now known as 25GS-PON) and some are even preparing to launch 50G-PON based broadband products in the very near future (e.g. Netomnia / YouFibre and Ogi), but it’s important to ensure that all of this new kit is as interoperable as possible in order to avoid causing undesirable compatibility headaches as network operators start their upgrades.

In keeping with that the Broadband Forum recently held their first “Plugfest” in conjunction with LANPARK and AT&T Labs’ at the latter’s Plano, Texas facility in the USA. The aim of the latest Plugfest, part of a multi-year interoperability testing series that will be conducted in laboratories around the world, was to give vendors an opportunity to ensure their equipment is ready to be deployed when connecting homes and businesses to broadband service providers’ core networks.

Broadband Forum CEO, Craig Thomas, said:

“It’s crucial that the industry prioritizes interoperability, co-existence, and collaboration to help broadband service providers excel with the next generation of PON technologies. Following the success of the previous Plugfest, it was great to see the industry come together again to advance both 25GS and 50G-PON technologies thanks to the participation of the vendors and involvement of LANPARK and AT&T Labs.”

The Plugfests are open to vendors of optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network unit (ONU) equipment, PON chipsets and software stacks, Residential Gateway devices directly incorporating a PON interface, and test and measurement equipment.

The 25GS-PON TC-PMD Layer was tested for the second time at this Plugfest and, for the first time, the 25GS-PON OMCI and 50G-PON TC-PMD Layer was also tested. “At each Plugfest, we see significant interoperability improvements between the products presented by manufacturers,” said Thierry Doligez, CEO of LANPARK.

The next test will take place in France on 7th July 2025, which will test XGS-PON, 25GS-PON, and 50G-PON kit together.