Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Podcasts

Seemingly arbitrary decisions and reviews with seemingly pre-determined outcomes left Evan Feinman’s staff ‘constantly concerned,’ the former director of BEAD explained on Beyond the Cable

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

The arbitrary nature of decision making left former Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) staffers constantly concerned about their jobs, according to Evan Feinman, the program’s former director.

Feinman, who sat down today with Broadband Communities, made the comments on the Beyond the Cable podcast.

“My really high-talent staff was constantly concerned that they were going to be let go at any reason,” Feinman said. “Not because they were underperforming, not because they weren’t getting the job done, but irrespective or whether or not they were performing and getting the job done.”

According to Feinman, who resigned his post on Friday, March 14, that fear hurt the culture within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The NTIA, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is described as the executive branch agency most responsible for advising the White House on matters like information policy and telecommunications.

As the director of the BEAD Program, Feinman oversaw the rollout of the nation’s $42.42 billion investment into expanding broadband access in America under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Feinman said BEAD is state-led effort.

“At least it was conceived to be,” he said. “The new administration seems to be interested in making it a much more top-down, directed out of D.C., approach.”

A ‘pretty clear directive’

Feinman’s departure additionally came shortly after Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced a “rigorous review” of BEAD.

“I would really welcome a rigorous review,” he said. “That was not my experience. Instead, it seems as though the outcome of any review had been determined already.”

Feinman also added detail to earlier reporting that he’d been pressured to increase focus on low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite.

“The pretty clear directive that came from the secretary’s office was to increase the use of satellite and to decrease the use of fiber,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really well-supported by a plain reading of the statue that created the BEAD program.”

Feinman also clarified that previously reported comments from Lutnick emphasizing a focus on LEO coverage, and asking if Feinman had ever spoken to Elon Musk, were relayed to him by a colleague.

“I did not have Sec. Lutnick say that directly to me,” he said, adding that he was told about Lutnick’s comments by a colleague debriefing him shortly after the comments were made.

He said he has confidence that the reported comments were spoken, however.

“I got the debrief from the meeting minutes after it occurred,” he said. “So, there was no real debate, and I got it from multiple people.”

Feinman also said he thinks it is “significant” that there has been no pushback regarding the content of that meeting.

“If there had been inaccurate reporting about the content of Secretary Lutnick’s directive, they’d have pushed back on that and they haven’t at all,” he said.

How to listen

Feinman is worried that the new direction of the BEAD Program could “lock in” a digital divide. Click here to listen to the full episode on Spotify.

Apple Podcasts listeners, meanwhile, may click here to hear the full interview with Feinman.

To get content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.

Learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025 in Houston.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

Yorkshire altnet Quickline has expanded its Project Gigabit broadband rollout, securing an additional £11 million in public funding to support the extension 

The new phase will bring full fibre connectivity to 6,000 more hard-to-reach homes and businesses across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, further enhancing the reach of the government-backed initiative.  

The expansion covers Quickline’s existing Project Gigabit network, including regions in West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, and East Riding of Yorkshire. With this latest adjustment, public investment in Quickline’s full fibre rollout will exceed £300 million, now serving over 170,000 premises. Progress remains steady, with new rural areas across the region gaining access to high-speed, reliable broadband on a weekly basis. 

“This is great news for people in underserved areas across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. By refining our plans with the more recent data, we can extend our reach and connect even more homes and businesses to full fibre broadband where it’s needed most. As a trusted regional delivery partner for the UK government, we’re proud to play a key role in ensuring no community is left behind,” said Dan Hague, Project Delivery Director for Quickline in a press release. 

“Project Gigabit is boosting some of the most remote areas in the UK and equipping people with the vital tools they need to thrive in the digital world, no matter where they choose to call home,” said Telecoms Minister Sir Chris Bryant. 

“It is great that even more homes and businesses across Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire will soon benefit from the fastest speeds on the market thanks to this government intervention,” he continued. 

Project Gigabit is the UK government’s £5 billion subsidy scheme to help extend broadband to some of the most rural parts of the country, typically where infrastructure rollouts by the private sector would not be commercially viable. So far, over 30 Project Gigabit contracts have been awarded, totalling around £2.6 billion of the £5 billion fund. 

The UK government is currently aiming to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to at least 85% of UK premises by 2025 and the whole of the UK (roughly 99%) by 2030.   

Join us at Connected North, 23-24 April in Manchester. Get tickets here! 

Also in the news:
‘Adapt or die’: VOX Solutions’ message to telcos in the age of AI’
Spanish government invests €13.8 million in Sateliot 
Ofcom wants UK to be ‘first in Europe’ to use direct-to-device satellite services

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Italy-based Prysmian, which specialises in the global manufacture and supply of fibre optic broadband cables (inc. related kit), is reportedly being threatened with strike action over plans to cut 40 jobs and shift their only UK HQ in Bishopstoke (Hampshire, England) to Romania.

The company, which primarily uses the site to produce cables for Openreach (BT) and a few other network operators, first opened its 46-acre manufacturing base in Bishopstoke during 1967, and it soon became their UK headquarters. The site is still said to be profitable, but Prysmian now appears to want to reduce labour costs and move production for cables to Romania.

Around 250 people are employed at the factory, with the telecoms department, which produces fibre optic cables, being the one that is under threat. The move to “scrap [the] only department of its kind in UK” has angered staff, with Unite (union) saying the workers are set to begin a consultative ballot for industrial action over the plans.

Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said:

“Hugley profitable Prysmian’s disgraceful plans are the ugly and irresponsible face of corporate greed. It admits its Bishopstoke operations are successful, yet it plans to throw loyal and hardworking staff under the bus to squeeze out as much extra cash as it can.

Prysmian’s Bishopstoke workforce have Unite’s total backing in fighting against these abhorrent plans.”

Unite are also understood to be lobbying BT to step in and demand that its cables are produced in the UK, although it’s unclear how much mileage they’ll get out of that approach. We have contacted Prysmian for a comment.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

Bioscope’s patented bioleaching solution delivers sustainable, high value returns 

Cambridge, UK – 25 March 2025: Bioscope Technologies is pleased to announce Techbuyer, an established international provider of ICT equipment refurbishment, resale and disposal services, as an early adopter of its e-waste bioleaching solution.

This follows Techbuyer’s desire to find sustainable solutions for end of life ICT equipment. During the past 12 months the company has been supplying printed circuit boards (PCBs) to Bioscope’s Cambridge-based bio-refinery to enable the recovery of high quality precious and base metals using Bioscope’s patented bioleaching processes.

“When I heard how Bioscope were exploring how bioleaching can be used to recover PM & CRMs from e-waste, I knew we would want to be involved as part of our commitment to emerging technologies,” said Paul Thorogood, Resource Recovery Manager. “Being a part of the journey right from the start means we are perfectly placed to see how the technology develops over time.”

Astrid Wynne, Techbuyer’s Head of Sustainability and Public Sector, added: “Techbuyer has been dedicated to furthering the Circular Economy for many years. We achieve this by not only improving our processes for extending product life but also by supporting better processes at end-of-life. Bioscope is a great recycling partner for Techbuyer because they are at the cutting edge of improving material recovery at end of life for IT hardware. Their success is our success; it furthers the circular economy.

“Many of the rarest materials in ICT are in trace amounts – amalgams and coatings – which means they are destroyed by traditional recycling technologies. We know from our work with the CEDaCI project that this can be improved with new technologies like bioleaching, but recyclers working in this area need critical mass of materials to scale up.”

Bioscope’s patented bacteria-based bioleaching and bio-refining refining technologies are focused on recovering a wide range of precious and strategic metals including not only gold but also silver, palladium and copper from PCBs, providing UK companies with a highly sustainable and more profitable alternative to shipping PCB waste to refiners in Europe, Japan and USA.

Commented Jeff Borrman, CEO, Bioscope Technologies: “We are delighted to have Techbuyer as one of our first customers for our PCB bioleaching solution. We are also pleased with board yield rates in terms of metals recovered for achieving maximum market value.”    

Notes to editors:

According to UK data^[i], recycling one tonne of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times more gold and 30 to 40 times more copper than can be mined from one tonne of ore. Recycling the PCBs from a million discarded mobile phones can recover around 6,000kg of copper, 350kg of silver, 34kg of gold and 15kg of palladium…25 million mobile phones discarded in the UK each year.

The UK produces 6 million tonnes of e-waste a year. Only 30% of this UK e-waste is recycled with most of the PCBs recovered from this amount being exported to refineries in Europe, Far East or the US. The remainder ends up in landfill or in the hands of unlicensed recyclers.

About Bioscope Technologies

Harnessing the power of naturally occurring bacteria, Bioscope’s world-first bioleaching bio-refining methods deliver a cleaner, more sustainable way of recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life hardware devices used in enterprise and cloud computing. BT has been trialling the company’s bioleaching technology for several years to recover copper and gold from decommissioned telephone exchanges as well as copper from cabling.

About Techbuyer

Techbuyer helps businesses maximise their IT budgets by supplying cost-effective new and quality refurbished servers, storage, memory and networking equipment from over 150 brands including HPE, Dell, IBM and Cisco. Not only do we sell a large range of enterprise IT hardware, we also buy used parts and turn them into high quality refurbished IT equipment. Founded in 2005, Techbuyer has grown from a company run by just two people to a global organisation with multiple warehouse facilities located worldwide. We have decades of experience in buying used enterprise IT equipment and selling new and certified refurbished IT parts and have worked with thousands of organisations worldwide.

Further information:

Bioscope Technologies

+44 (0) 7979 595 828

https://bioscope.tech/

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

New research from Ipsos UK, which interviewed a representative sample of 993 adults across Great Britain during early March 2025, has claimed that Brits are increasingly cynical about the motivations of utility companies and broadband/phone providers when setting annual price increases – with over 40% believing these industries are mainly raising prices to boost profits.

Firstly, it’s important to highlight that not all communication providers play the mid-contract hikes game. A good number of ISPs, particularly smaller players and many alternative networks, often adopt much more static pricing that rarely changes or at least won’t change during your minimum contract term. But sadly, some providers, particularly most of the largest players, do engage in mid-contract hikes, which often rise above the level of annual inflation.

Providers that engage in the mid-contract hikes game often argue, somewhat correctly, that they are not immune to many of the same cost increases that have hit consumers in recent years. In particular, many of them face rising costs due to high interest rates / inflation, higher charges from suppliers, electricity, leases and the cost of adding all sorts of new services (e.g. FTTP builds) and catering for new regulations etc.

However, it may also be reasonable to say that the desire for greater profit is a factor too, which certainly seems to be the view of many respondents to the new Ipsos UK survey. When it comes to assigning blame for price rises, Britons are cynical about the motivations of utility companies and broadband/phone providers. Just over two in five (43% and 42% respectively) believe these industries are mainly raising prices to boost profits, rather than simply covering their own increased costs due to inflation.

Consumer who are hit by mid-contract hikes could alternatively try haggling for a lower price when the notification drops (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill), although your mileage may vary (big providers will be more receptive). Meanwhile, those on benefits (Universal Credit etc.) also have the option of taking a cheaper Social Tariff – see our Quick Guide to UK Social Tariffs.

In addition, Ofcom’s new One Touch Switching (OTS) system has also made it much quicker and easier to switch providers, but just make sure you aren’t going to be penalised by any early contract termination or exit fees before doing so (this should not be an issue if you’re already out of contract). On the other hand, a growing number of ISPs do offer contract buyouts (welcome credits) to those who wish to exit their existing contracts early.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP, phone, TV and mobile operator Virgin Media (O2) has today announced that they’ve established a new UK team of over 500 “highly skilled” customer service agents, which will be dedicated to resolving the most “complicated and sensitive issues“, including bereavements, complex complaints and supporting telecare and vulnerable customers.

The new Manchester-based team, which could also be seen as a response to previous gripes about the provider’s support quality (example) – something they recently committed to improve, is still expressed as being in the “early stages” of its development. But they’re already said to have “achieved high satisfaction scores“, with particularly positive feedback from vulnerable customers.

The team itself comprised of around 250 new hires and 280 existing care agents who have received additional training. This new team – backed with unspecified new technology to help them provide customers with “seamless, bespoke assistance” – is tasked with delivering better customer support while handling some of the most sensitive issues (e.g. helping the next of kin manage an account following a bereavement, or where a customer is known to be vulnerable or a telecare device user).

According to VMO2, the new team is already answering calls in under a minute on average and will also be tasked with testing and overseeing trials of new products and services, providing feedback before they’re rolled out more widely (we assume this will be done with a focus on vulnerable users).

Alan Stott, VMO2’s Director of Customer Contact, said:

“We’ve been clear that we’re committed to improving customer service, and while the vast majority of our customers are satisfied, we won’t be satisfied until we’re delivering consistently exceptional, market-leading customer service.

The strategy kickstarted last year, focused on investment, simplifying systems and processes, upskilling agents and removing persistent pain points, is already delivering green shoots and shows that our plans are getting us closer to where we want to be.

The launch of this new dedicated team is a key milestone for us, with more than 500 multi-skilled and fully converged agents – backed by the latest technology – delivering seamless and tailored customer service in some of the most challenging cases. The team will act as a blueprint for customer support across the company in the months and years ahead as we continue to deliver improvements for our customers.”

The team is currently based in VMO2’s Wythenshawe office, however its agents will also be among the 1,500 employees moving to the company’s new multi-million-pound central Manchester office space, Island, in late 2025. The “state-of-the-art, net-zero carbon workspace” will become their future North West HQ.

In recent months, we have seen signs of a gradual improvement in VMO2’s service and support quality (e.g. Ofcom’s latest complaints’ data), which may be at least partly attributable to the new support team.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Independent data from Thinkbroadband has today revealed an updated assessment of how big – in terms of network coverage (premises passed) – the top 17 largest Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP networks in the UK have become by March 2025. Once again, we compare this data against official coverage claims.

One of the difficulties with keeping close tabs on the rapid growth of UK full fibre networks is that some operators often make coverage claims that are difficult to independently verify. Similarly, we’ve often found that the official “premises passed” figures put out by some of those providers may not always reflect reality.

For example, in some cases official figures can include partially built areas that aren’t fully live yet and, in other cases, the network may be technically built, but customers in some of the covered areas won’t be able to get it ordered or installed by an ISP (i.e. not yet truly “Ready for Service” – RFS). Similarly, in a smaller number of cases, operators can sometimes make mistakes in their data.

The latest State of Broadband Report (March 2025) from TBB is thus quite useful because we get an up-to-date summary of how much coverage has been independently verified to exist (RFS) across the largest alternative network (altnet) operators in the full fibre space. We can then compare TBB’s data with the official coverage claims from operators.

Naturally, there are some caveats to consider when doing this, which need to be reflected. Firstly, TBB is not perfect, and they do sometimes miss bits and pieces of network coverage (please email them if you spot this). Secondly, conducting independent analysis of network builds like this is slow and laborious work, thus over the years we’ve tended to perceive that TBB’s latest data can be up to 2-3 months behind actual build.

Such a time lag, which will vary between operators, may not seem like much, but it can create large gaps between independent and official figures. Such gaps are most likely to occur during the early ramp-up phase of a new network build, where smaller networks may – over the course of a year – go from having a few tens of thousands of premises passed to hundreds of thousands (very few operators are in that phase today).

Suffice to say, it’s wise not to make the mistake of automatically inferring that a big gap is because an altnet may be overstating their coverage. In addition, we’ve also dated the official claims below as most operators only very occasionally provide an official update on their build progress and some haven’t done one in a long time, which will thus be out of step with TBB’s latest modelling.

Finally, we’ve included TBB’s previous figures from July 2024, which help to show whether or not a network operator has slowed its pace of build or even stalled.

Top 17 Largest UK Full Fibre Networks by Coverage – March 2025

We aren’t going to micro analyse each operator above and, in any case, most of TBB’s real-world focused estimates of Ready for Service (RFS) coverage are roughly where we’d expect them to be when compared with official claims. But there are a few caveats to point out for certain operators.

Firstly, Virgin Media’s network is currently in the middle of a major upgrade, which is seeing XGS-PON based FTTP being deployed into areas that could previously only access their Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network. Currently, it’s a little bit difficult to accurately track these XGS areas (it’s only now starting to go live), and thus TBB has only included the figure for their older Radio Frequency Over Glass (RFOG) based FTTP build and not the HFC upgrades.

Meanwhile, the nexfibre build is technically a separate company and so gets its own entry, despite only selling packages via Virgin Media (more ISPs will join this year). Officially, Virgin Media and Nexfibre claim to have passed a total of 6.4 million premises with FTTP (as above, the missing gap above reflects Virgin Media’s HFC to XGS upgrades), which is up from 5 million in July 2024.

Elsewhere, we’re now treating Netomnia and Brsk as a single operator post-merger, while we’ve also done the same for FullFibre and Zzoomm due to their recent consolidation. The table also now includes toob, which is useful because the last time we had an official build update from them was in August 2023.

Broadly speaking, most of the listed operators seem to be tracking close enough to their official claims to be reflecting reality, although G.Network, F&W Networks and Hyperoptic’s official vs estimated coverage data continues to show wide gaps.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Infracapital-backed network operator and UK ISP Ogi, which is rolling out a 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales (100,000 premises are covered / RFS), has today launched a new ‘Pro’ package for business customers that comes with eero’s TrueMesh WiFi technology from Amazon.

The official announcement actually tells us very little about the new router and package, except to state that it offers “eero’s cutting-edge TrueMesh wifi technology, enhanced security and real-time control.” The move is also said to make Ogi the “first telecoms provider in Wales” to offer Amazon’s latest WiFi technology to businesses, although you can of course buy the same kit directly from Amazon.

“With the ability to support up to four separate networks, businesses can securely manage key processes and payment systems, side-by-side with a fully customisable public wifi experience. The intuitive eero app helps business owners to manage their networks remotely, providing real-time insights and network control from anywhere,” added Ogi.

The Ogi Pro eero for Business solution is said to be easy to install, scale and supports offices with up to 75 devices. Side-by-side with this new solution, Ogi also offers local, Wales-based support through a dedicated Ogi Pro business service desk.

Ogi’s Director of Business Sales, Andy Dow, said:

“As businesses look to technology to improve efficiency and user experience, Ogi is here to equip them with the tools they need to grow and thrive.

With eero for Business, the Ogi Pro solution not only provides high-performance connectivity but also makes sure that businesses have the security, control, and support to navigate today’s staff and customer expectations.

We’re excited to bring eero for Business to our suite of Ogi Pro solutions – an essential tool for those looking to drive innovation and maintain a strong digital presence.”

As above, the announcement is extremely light on detail and doesn’t mention anything about other package details or prices. However, from the mention of “75 devices” above, it almost sounds like they’re bundling the older eero Pro 6E router with this package. But we’ve had it confirmed that they’re actually offering the eero Pro 7 (supports 200+ devices) and eero Max 7 hardware and the eero app software bundle – and in the lab, they are currently testing the eero PoE Gateway hardware.

The router is an interesting choice for business users, not least due to the fact that the Pro model only features two 5Gbps Ethernet ports (although you get four ports on the Max 7), which means you’ll need extra networking kit to boost that port count or to support the transition from analogue to digital phone services. Sadly, not many smaller ISPs are bundling routers with phone ports (FXS/FXO) for IP voice / VoIP these days.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News 

The Spanish government agency Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) has invested €13.8 million in satellite company Sateliot 

The investment, approved by the country’s Council of Ministers, is part of Sateliot’s ongoing Series B funding round, which aims to raise €70 million. 

The funds will be used to expand Sateliot’s existing constellation of six LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites by over 100 additional satellites, which will support sectors such as defence, security, and logistics. The company provides its service through roaming agreements with MNOs and MVNOs, meaning it can deliver coverage to “hundreds of millions of users everywhere.” 

With the new funding boost, Sateliot has raised €58.8 million of its €70 million target. The company has also received contributions from other investors, including Global Portfolio Investments which added €10 million.  

The company has also secured €30 million in debt funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank’s first venture debt deal in the space sector. This financial support comes as the EU and NATO increase their focus on enhancing defence and space capabilities. 

“The confidence shown by SETT and other institutional investors confirms that Sateliot is Europe’s answer to the growing need for secure, accessible, and autonomous satellite connectivity—essential for critical applications in civil, security, and defence sectors,” said Jaume Sanpera, CEO and co-founder of Sateliot in a press release. 

Sateliot’s most recent launch saw four satellites sent into orbit in August last year.  

The company is planning to begin commercial services this year, with the company currently holding €270 million in contracts with over 400 clients across 50 countries.  

Sateliot says it aims to reach €1 billion in revenue by 2030. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to our newsletter 

Also in the news:
Ofcom wants UK to be ‘first in Europe’ to use direct-to-device satellite services
AT&T mulls acquisition of Lumen’s consumer fibre unit
Viasat joins ESA’s Moonlight project for lunar connectivity 

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The regulator is proposing that direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services make use of spectrum already licenced by mobile operators for 4G and 5G

This week, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has proposed new rules that would allow D2D satellite services to be provided using the same spectrum and terrestrial mobile networks.

The regulator says the rules would make the UK the ‘first country in Europe’ to adopt such an approach, giving the nation a lead in this emerging technology.

“For years, we’ve seen satellite calls in disaster movies on special handsets. We’re now on the cusp of people being able to make them on their everyday smartphones,” said Ofcom’s Spectrum Group Director David Willis. “Ofcom always strives to be at the forefront of technological change, and we’re the first country in Europe to press ahead with the next frontier in mobile connectivity. This would unlock investment, open doors to innovation and growth, and bring much-needed mobile coverage to rural areas.”

D2D satellite communication has been a growing topic of interest for a number of years now, with the technology potentially allowing mobile operators to ensure their customers remain connected wherever they go.

Currently, satellite communications typically require a satellite to connect to a terminal deployed by the end user, which then relays the signal to the end user’s device, or to a specialised satellite phone. D2D services do away with this middleman, allowing customers to connect directly to the satellite itself using an unmodified smartphone.

Elon Musk’s satellite behemoth Starlink is currently testing its D2D capabilities with T-Mobile in the USA, while other players like AST SpaceMobile are also advancing their capabilities. Just last week AST sought permission to launch the latest model of its BlueBird satellite, with the aim of launching commercial D2D services in 2026.

From a regulatory standpoint, however, these emergent services raise a question over spectrum usage. Current mobile spectrum licences for 4G and 5G do not provision for connection to satellites (at least in the UK) and doing so poses the risk of interference of existing mobile services.

Despite these technical challenges, allowing operators to make use of their existing spectrum licences is very attractive, potentially allowing them to roll out D2D services more quickly and efficiently. It could also potentially help them to reach their rural coverage obligations, in some instances.

Ofcom is suggesting three possible approaches to D2D satellite services: (i) a licence exemption; (ii) a variation to the MNO’s existing base station licence accompanied by a licence exemption; or (iii) a new licensing regime. The regulator says its preference is for option (ii) but is seeking comment from the wider industry.

The consultation will continue until 20^th May 2025, with commercial D2D services potentially becoming available later this year if the proposals are approved.

How is satellite connectivity reshaping the UK’s telecoms industry? Join the discussion at our Connected North conference live in Manchester!

Also in the news:
Google announces agreement to acquire Wiz for $32bn
How small moves ignite industry-wide change
Liberty Global in talks to acquire Vodafone’s stake in Dutch JV VodafoneZiggo