Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has confirmed to ISPreview that they’ve finally started to make their new XGS-PON powered full fibre (FTTP) network upgrade (aka – Project Mustang or Fibre Up), which is being deployed alongside their existing coaxial cable (HFC / DOCSIS 3.1) areas, available to existing customers too.

Just to be clear. The change being referenced above is NOT to be confused with nexfibre’s separate roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines into new UK areas, which has already covered 2.5 million premises (access to this is being sold to consumers via Virgin Media and giffgaff). The nexfibre build is entirely focused upon areas that weren’t previously reached by Virgin Media.

By comparison, this article is talking about Virgin Media’s own efforts to upgrade their legacy HFC (DOCSIS 3.1) and Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG FTTP) powered areas – covering 16 million premises – to add support for XGS-PON technology. The goal of this programme is to complete that upgrade by 2028, although migrating customers will take much longer as it requires an engineer visit (i.e. replacing old kit with new ONT / optical modem).

At present, we still don’t know precisely how many HFC areas have been upgraded to support XGS-PON lines (costing c.£100 per premises), although several million premises are known to have been completed. But until recently the only ones able to access these new FTTP upgrade areas were new customers (here), which meant that if an existing customer wanted to upgrade from HFC to FTTP/XGS-PON then they had to cancel and re-subscribe.

However, some of ISPreview’s readers in HFC areas (i.e. those that Virgin have upgraded to support XGS-PON) have recently informed us that they’re now able to order up to Gig1 over HFC and Gig2 over FTTP, without needing to go through the tedious (early termination chargers and downtime etc.) hassle of cancelling and re-subscribing as a new customer first.

A spokesperson for Virgin Media has now confirmed to ISPreview that they have “begun offering existing customers in some areas the opportunity to upgrade their services to symmetrical and gigabit packages delivered on the XGS-PON network“. The key word in that response is “some“, since this is part of a phased roll-out as they continue to upgrade their network, so not everybody in a Project Mustang (Fibre Up) area may be able to benefit.. yet.

This is a positive development as Virgin Media really needs the XGS-PON upgrade to do more than just sit there, doing absolutely nothing (i.e. not generating revenue). After building, it’s important to make it as easy as possible for both new and existing customers to benefit from the newest network.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Apple’s next major iOS software update for iPhones – v26.3 – looks set to include an interesting new feature, which aims to improve user privacy by limiting the amount of location data available to mobile network operators. The move is apparently set to be supported by EE (BT) in the United Kingdom, although no other UK operators are currently named.

The issue of location data on mobile networks is one we’ve touched on before in a very different context (here). Otherwise, mobile operators usually collect such data to support key functionality, such as for call routing and messaging, analytics, network management, ensuring you are connected to the best mast (cell site) and not to mention lawful use by the emergency services etc.

Apple’s new Limit Precise Location setting will reduce how much information mobile operators can access to determine your precise location. But this will only be available on compatible iPhone and iPad models (e.g. iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, or iPad Pro (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular) with supported carriers (e.g. BT / EE in the UK).

The related information page on Apple’s website (here) explains this in more detail, which also confirms that it won’t impact the data available to the emergency services, which is good.

Apple’s Statement

With this setting turned on, some information made available to cellular networks is limited. As a result, they might be able to determine only a less precise location — for example, the neighbourhood where your device is located, rather than a more precise location (such as a street address). The setting doesn’t impact signal quality or user experience.

The limit precise location setting doesn’t impact the precision of the location data that is shared with emergency responders during an emergency call.

This setting affects only the location data available to cellular networks. It doesn’t impact the location data that you share with apps through Location Services. For example, it has no impact on sharing your location with friends and family with Find My.

Turn limit precise location on or off

1. Open Settings, then tap Cellular.

2. Tap Cellular Data Options. If you have more than one phone number under SIMs, tap one of your lines.

3. Scroll down to Limit Precise Location.

4. Turn the setting on or off. You might be prompted to restart your device.

Sadly, we aren’t told precisely what part of the data won’t be shared and obviously customers on O2 and VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) won’t see any benefit, until they introduce support for the feature, assuming they plan to do so (we’ve asked and will report back). Credits to one of our readers (Harrison) for the tip.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

One of the UK’s largest alternative broadband networks, Netomnia (Substantial Group), has today reported their latest Q4 2025 results. The figures reveal that revenues on their full fibre (FTTP) network increased to £104m (up 168% year-on-year) and take-up reached 15% (up 28% YoY). Some 3 million premises are now covered (up by 245k in Q4 vs 241k in Q3).

The provider also ended the quarter with a total of 445,000 customers (up by 49k in Q4 and 207k YoY). The results confirm that Netomnia are continuing to build out their network after hitting their 3 million premises target for 2025 and appear to retain their existing coverage goals (see below), although they have recently been linked to talk of a possible c.£2bn merger with bigger rivals CityFibre or Virgin Media (here).

The brief results also reveal that the operator delivered positive adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of £5m (up from £0.3m in Q3) – excluding exceptional items. This marks positive progress, particularly given how only a couple of quarters back (Q2) they delivered a loss of -£4.9m (the company previously saw a total EBITDA loss of £29m during 2024).

However, the company’s ongoing network builds inevitably mean that their Net Debt has also grown by 69% in the year to total £905m (debt drawn to date including accrued interest less cash), which is up from £801m in Q3.

Jeremy Chelot, Group CEO of Netomnia (YouFibre, brsk), said:

“FY25 marked a breakout year for the Group. We delivered the fastest network build among Alt-Nets, alongside a strong and accelerating customer acquisition rate, while surpassing three million premises serviceable, a milestone that underscores the scale, momentum and resilience of our platform.

This progress firmly positions us as the UK’s second-largest Alt-Net provider and validates our strategy of building a uniquely scaled, capital-efficient retail and wholesale model. With strong operational delivery and a clear line of sight on growth, we are now focused on extending our footprint.”

On the retail service front, we should point out that last quarter was quite chaotic for group ISP brand Brsk, which suffered a data breach (here) and is now in the process of being merged into the YouFibre brand (here).

Otherwise, the next big focus for the group during early 2026, aside from ongoing network build and all that media talk of consolidation, will be on YouFibre’s plan to launch a new VodafoneThree powered mobile service (YouMobile). But we understand this has now been put back from Q1 to Q2 due to the brand merger between YouFibre and Brsk taking precedence.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Government appears to have responded to recent concerns over the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) approval processes, which are known to have been causing delays and increased costs for broadband and mobile operators trying to deploy new digital infrastructure into large buildings (MDUs etc.). But a new consultation is proposing changes that may address some of the issues.

Just to recap. The cross-party House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee recently highlighted how delays in the BSR’s updated processes for minor works had been, among other things, causing problems for network operators and pushing up costs, often unpredictably (here). In short, putting a lot of red tape in front of even fairly routine work and thus slowing network deployments down (the government describes this as an “unintended consequence” of earlier changes in 2023).

The government today appears to have responded to that, at least in part, by launching a new consultation on ‘Improving proportionality and safety outcomes in building control‘ for “telecommunications work“, which specifically aims to introduce changes to the processes for the “installation of fibre optic cabling” (fixed broadband) and “building work related to mobile masts“.

The key proposal is to “dispense with procedural requirements of building regulations” for certain types of work on existing buildings, such as work related to “the drilling of holes through internal fire-resisting walls for fibre optic cabling and work related to the installation and repair of mobile communications masts“.

The consultation finds that the current rules for these areas of work “may be unreasonable and disproportionate“, which is said to be taking direct regulatory resources away from the types of building work that carry higher risk (e.g. new builds and remediation projects).

Summary of the Proposals

This consultation seeks views on proposals to streamline the building control procedural requirements for the following types of building work within the higher-risk building regime: fibre optic cabling and mobile masts.

In the case of building work to fibre optic infrastructure, the consultation also seeks views on building control approval routes for non-higher-risk buildings.

These proposals aim to ensure that regulatory processes remain proportionate, effective, and focused on maintaining building safety.

Specifically, the consultation considers proposals to dispense with procedural requirements of building regulations for the following types of building work to existing buildings: building work related to the drilling of holes through internal fire-resisting walls for fibre optic cabling and work related to the installation and repair of mobile communications masts.

For these activities, the current building control procedural requirements may be unreasonable and disproportionate and can direct regulatory resources away from the types of building work that carry higher risk, such as new builds and remediation projects.

The proposed changes would streamline procedural steps at building control approval, construction or completion certificate stage for these defined works, while retaining safeguards where they matter most. For all the proposed changes, dutyholders, defined as individuals or organisations that are assigned specific responsibilities at particular phases of the building life cycle, would still be required to ensure that building work complies with technical/functional requirements of the Building Regulations 2010.

The consultation invites evidence and views on these proposals, with detailed reasoning provided in the referenced sections.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) states that their consultation will be open for feedback until 11:59pm on 24th March 2026. The changes, if adopted, do not appear to require any changes in existing legislation (so far as we can tell) and so could be introduced fairly swiftly into the existing process. At present, this only affects England.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Intracom Telecom, a global technology systems and solutions provider, and Greece’s largest network infrastructure manufacturer, announces the expansion of its collaboration with Nova, a member of United Group the leading telecommunications and media provider in Southeast Europe and a pioneering provider of mobile, internet, and video services. Nova will begin deploying Intracom Telecom’s WiBAS™ G5 Smart and WiBAS™ G5 GigaConnect FWA platforms to deliver reliable high-speed enterprise connectivity over Nova’s 5G mmWave spectrum at 26.5–27.5 GHz.

This deployment marks an important step in Nova’s ongoing investment in high-speed access infrastructure, aimed at supplying business customers with highly reliable broadband services. Operating in the 26.5–27.5 GHz band, the WiBAS™ G5 platform enables Nova to unlock substantial network capacity and deliver consistent performance, ensuring robust connectivity even in demanding enterprise environments.

Since 2021, Intracom Telecom and Nova have been engaged in a multi-year network modernization program utilizing Intracom Telecom’s field-proven WiBAS™ Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) technology. This nationwide initiative has focused on expanding coverage and capacity across Greece’s major metropolitan areas, connecting thousands of business customers with next-generation wireless access solutions. The ongoing expansion reinforces Nova’s strategy to deliver resilient, ultra-fast connectivity to enterprises of all sizes.

“Our collaboration with Nova continues to grow stronger as we jointly build the foundation for a high-capacity enterprise connectivity network in Greece,” commented Ioannis Tenidis, Director for Wireless Product Line Management at Intracom Telecom. “The deployment of our WiBAS™ G5 platform will enable Nova to deliver unmatched performance and reliability to its business subscribers on valuable 5G mmWave spectrum.”

Thanos Theodoropoulos, Access & Transmission Senior Manager at Nova, added: “Intracom Telecom has been a trusted technology partner in our multi-year effort to modernize and expand our enterprise wireless services. The new WiBAS™ G5 solutions enable us to offer even higher speeds and resilient connectivity to our customers, supporting Greece’s digital transformation.”

The post Intracom Telecom Expands Strategic Collaboration with Nova to Enhance Enterprise Connectivity appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

VodafoneThree and Virgin Media O2 are among those expected to bid, according to reports

According to a report from Sky News, TalkTalk has begun negotiations for the sale its consumer ISP unit and wholesale platform business (PXC).

Sources suggest that potential buyers could include VodafoneThree and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), though this remains unconfirmed.

TalkTalk appointed bankers to oversee the sale process in August.

TalkTalk was split into three businesses – a consumer ISP, PXC, and an enterprise business – as part of a strategic demerger in 2023.

The enterprise unit was quickly sold to shareholders for £95 million later that year. The larger and more valuable wholesale and consumer units have been more difficult to offload.

The most oft-quoted suitor is VMO2, a company that has explored the acquisition of TalkTalk for many years. The company was most notably linked to a takeover bid in 2022, with reports at the time attaching a £3 billion price tag to the deal. However, market dynamics and regulatory concerns scuppered the deal before the end of the year.

Since then, VMO2 has continued to show interest in TalkTalk post-break up, particularly in its consumer unit in 2024.

Despite a steady decline, TalkTalk’s consumer business still includes about 3.2 million broadband customers, as of the end of the 2025 financial year.

TalkTalk’s wholesale unit has also generated considerable interest, with Australian banking giant Macquarie offering £450 million for a 40% stake in the company in 2024. This deal, however, also quickly collapsed the same year.

Regardless of who the potential suitors are, TalkTalk will be keen to progress quickly. The company is facing a significant decline across both business units and, despite emergency refinancing in 2024, remains drowning in over £2.6 billion in debt.

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The post TalkTalk hunting for buyers for PXC and consumer units appeared first on Total Telecom.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The UK communications and media regulator, Ofcom (Office of Communications), has today kicked off a new consultation that aims to gather feedback in order to examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the experience of broadband and mobile customers – both its positives and negatives.

Over the past few years we’ve seen network operators and retail service providers adopting AI in all sorts of different ways, such as to make their network infrastructure more energy efficiency and faster. Various AI solutions have also been adopted to help improve customer service and support (communication), such as through more efficient processing of customer data and other things like intelligent chatbots.

For example, all the major broadband and mobile providers, such as Vodafone (here), BT (here), TalkTalk (here) and Virgin Media / O2 (here), have already adopted and are continuing to evolve such solutions at various different levels. Some are also using it to help pro-actively identify and block scam calls and spam texts before they reach customers.

However, consumer sentiment toward the use of certain features, such as AI chatbots, tends to be quite mixed, with many viewing it as being more of a negative (i.e. a way of reducing the number of actual humans that are available to provide support over the longer term). On the other hand, if such systems do end up making it quicker and easier for customers to get their issues resolved, then that would still be a positive change.

Regulator’s Statement

“We want to understand how residential and business customers, telecoms providers and third-party applications in the telecoms value chain are currently using AI tools and technologies and how this is likely to evolve in the future. Further, we want to explore how this may have the potential to change customers’ experience of telecoms markets.

The relevant tools and technologies could include generative AI and AI agents that are designed to act autonomously and make decisions with limited human intervention (and more people and businesses may adopt personal AI agents9 that act on their behalf online).

…

Our work will focus on three specific areas:

1. How tools are currently being deployed and used across the telecoms sector, for instance to handle customer conversations, and how customers, including businesses, are affected.

2. The evolving nature of such technologies, and the opportunities and risks these tools present to the telecoms customer journey.

3. How our rules can support responsible innovation and growth, while continuing to protect consumers. “

Ofcom envisages that this consultation could ultimately result in some changes to their rules further down the road. For example, they might consider whether the specific protections they have in place for consumers in “vulnerable situations” are adequate and what protections might be needed for customers who do not feel comfortable using AI tools.

The regulator is inviting views from telecoms providers, businesses, researchers, developers, consumer groups and the public. Comments and submissions, including requests for discussions, should be sent to the team by 10th March 2026. Ofcom aims to publish their analysis, along with further research in this area, during the second half of 2026.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The SIM-only UK mobile provider spusu, which holds a virtual operator (MVNO) agreement via BTWholesale to harness EE’s national 4G and 5G network, has today confirmed that it will continue its existing price freeze for the third consecutive year until at least 2027.

Currently, spusu’s SIM-only plans continue to start from £4.90 per month (5GB of data and unlimited calls/texts etc.), rising to £14.90 for 100GB of data. But it’s worth pointing out that these are all monthly rolling plans and so the issue of mid-contract price hikes, which plague many of the market’s largest players, is perhaps less of an issue. But the continued certainty over future pricing is certainly welcome.

“We know how important it is for people to have confidence in their monthly bills,” said Christian Banhans, UK Managing Director of spusu. “This is especially heightened at the start of each year after the Christmas rush. We want to assure our customers that their mobile bill with spusu won’t contribute to any worry because our prices remain frozen. Our commitment to putting our customers first is evident with our continued price freeze.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

UK ISP Virgin Media (O2) and network partner nexfibre, which share some of the same parentage, have today announced that they’ve expanded the reach of their 2Gbps (symmetric) speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to reach more than 5,000 homes in the South Lanarkshire (Scotland) market town of Strathaven for “the first time.”

The town, which is home to a population of around 8,400, is already well covered by Trooli’s (formerly Axione UK) alternative full fibre network, while Openreach also has a patchy presence in the area with their own gigabit-capable broadband network. Suffice to say that the addition of nexfibre’s new network should help to boost gigabit competition in the area, although it’s a fairly small town for three fibre players.

Nexfibre reflects a £4.5bn joint venture between Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners (here). This has so far already covered 2.5 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network, which is being built by Virgin Media’s engineers. But the operator’s original plan to cover “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises was recently dealt a blow by Telefonica’s strategic review (here) and uncertainty remains over what comes next.

Julie Agnew, MD of Fixed Network Expansion at VMO2, said:

“5,000 more homes in Strathaven can now feel the benefit of Virgin Media’s services – with packages that include everything from next generation multigigabit broadband to easy-to-use TV streaming and entertainment services.

These ultrareliable full fibre to the home broadband connections come with high speeds, providing total peace of mind that whatever you’re doing online, you’ll never be slowed down by your service.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Cambridge Broadband Networks Group (CBNG), which develops network tech for mobile and wireless broadband operators, has launched the latest generation of their Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) platform – VectaStar NR. The new kit is said to be designed to “deliver ‘fibre like’ broadband [performance] using 5G-based technology … without the time, cost and disruption of fibre rollouts“.

The VectaStar NR platform and hardware is said to use licensed mmWave spectrum and a Point-to-Multipoint (PtMP) architecture to connect large numbers of homes, businesses, campuses and public-sector sites from a single hub. At launch the kit seems to work with the n260 (37–40 GHz) radio spectrum band, but they’re also working to add support for n257 (26.5–29.5.5 GHz), n258 (24.25–27.5 GHz), n259 (39.5–43.5 GHz) and n261 (27.5–28.35 GHz).

The platform also introduces a more compact form factor, advanced beam-forming phased-array antennas and a simplified architecture that is said to make it easier for operators to integrate, scale and manage within existing networks. This setup is said to allow network operators to deploy high-performance broadband in “days rather than months, while maintaining carrier-grade reliability and predictable quality of service“.

According to CBNG’s website, the new platform should be able to deliver much higher data throughput and at “great range“, with data speeds of up to 6.5Gbps per 90° sector – achieving 3.5Gbps at 5km of distance. But of course we’ve yet to see how this pans out in a real-world setting and under high load. The performance will also depend upon what kind of radio spectrum it can harness each setup, as well as backhaul capacity etc.

Nedko Ivanov, CBNG CEO, said:

“Today’s world runs on AI, cloud computing and HD streaming, yet for many communities and businesses the last mile of connectivity remains a major bottleneck. Traditional fibre is expensive and can be slow, expensive and disruptive to deploy, while conventional wireless solutions often struggle to keep pace with rapidly growing data demands.

VectaStar NR reimagines how high-capacity broadband is delivered. We can provide fiber-grade connectivity over the air, without the cost and disruption of digging up streets and laying cables.

Operators are under intense pressure to expand coverage and capacity faster, while controlling costs. VectaStar NR brings together the performance of 5G, the efficiency of point-to-multipoint and the predictability of licensed spectrum to make high-capacity fixed wireless access a practical, scalable option for the next phase of network growth.”

The platform is being targeted at mobile and fixed operators, wireless ISPs and neutral-host providers, as well as municipalities and campus owners deploying private 5G networks for smart cities, CCTV and campus-wide connectivity. CBNG plans to showcase VectaStar NR at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona (Hall 7, Stand 7C30).