Internet video streaming firm Disney+ has, following last year’s price hikes, today attempted to entice both new and returning customers to the service by launching a special, limited-time, offer that sells their “Standard with Ads” plan for just £1.99 a month for three months (£4.99 thereafter). The Standard with Ads plan supports Full HD (1080p) […]

Network operator CityFibre UK has issued a progress update on their £65m project to deploy a 10Gbps capable full fibre broadband network across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) in Dorset (England), which has now reached 100,000 “homes” (although they confusingly interchange this with “residents” in the same PR). The work, which began with an effort […]

City-focused ISP and network operator Hyperoptic, which has already extended their full fibre (FTTP / B) broadband network to cover “more than” 1.4 million UK homes in parts of 64 UK towns and cities, is reportedly attempting to raise up to £500m of additional capital in order to continue their network expansion. The operator previously […]

A new study by Broadband Genie, which harnesses data from actual consumer migrations, has claimed that there was a decrease of 38% in broadband ISP switches during the period of 15th December 2023 to 12th February 2024 and as a result UK bill payers are estimated to be £53m worse off in lost savings. The […]

Broadband provider and network builder Brsk, which is deploying a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the Midlands and beyond (rollout plan), has today introduced further price discounts across their range of packages – shaving a few pounds extra off monthly rentals for new customers. The change means that customers subscribing to their 100Mbps (symmetric) package […]

The recent dispute between residents in the seaside town of Southport (Merseyside) and Openreach reached UK parliament yesterday, with the local Conservative MP, Damien Moore, claiming that an alleged “whistleblower” had revealed that the broadband builder was sidestepping its own rules on pole deployments. In case anybody missed the previous developments (here). Openreach’s efforts to […]

Customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2), specifically those who take Pay TV services via one of the operator’s TV 360, STREAM or v6 box platforms, may like to know that they’ve just become the first UK Pay TV platform to offer DAZN’s FAST channel dedicated to women’s football. The channel – ‘DAZN Women’s Football‘ […]

Digital infrastructure firm Boldyn Networks (formerly BAI Comms), which is perhaps best known in the UK for helping to build a number of open access mobile and fibre networks, has officially closed its acquisition of Cellnex’s private networks business unit. The deal largely includes Edzcom, a Finnish pioneer and European market leader that designs, builds, […]

News

A selection of the most important connectivity stories relating to the North of the UK, with expert guest commentary provided by Dominic Beresford-Webb, Senior Conference Producer for Connected North at Total Telecom.

“In a series of transformative developments, the UK’s digital landscape is witnessing significant progress in connectivity initiatives.

Rural communities are getting the service they deserve with B4RN’s 400Gbps and strong progress being made by EE with the Shared Rural Network in North Yorkshire. EE built 40 masts over the last two years, giving a vital boost to 4G coverage for the area. With 1,600 rural locations upgraded under the SRN so far, EE have claimed to be ahead of other operators on this project.

We’ve seen some welcome news on Project Gigabit with both Quickline Communications and CityFibre winning significant investment to bring full fibre across rural premises. East Yorkshire-based ISP Quickline have £60 million in funding to build infrastructure that supports rural communities and drives economic growth. Meanwhile, CityFibre won a whopping £394 million worth of contracts for over 200,000 rural premises.

Hopefully this means a bright future for underserved rural communities to help address the digital divide, improve global competitiveness and increase investment.

It’s exciting times at CJ Founds Associates, with Lynne Wilson joining the team and bringing valuable insights from her time at the Berkshire Digital Infrastructure Group. This adds yet more expertise to a firm that’s well versed in assisting local authorities implement their digital strategy.

If you want to hear more from Quickline, CityFibre and CJ Founds Associates join us in Manchester for Connected North this April 22-23. These and many more organisations will be sharing their knowledge and networking with peers.

This includes Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Office for CityFibre; Sean Royce, Chief Executive Officer for Quickline Communications; Chris Founds, Director & Founding Partner for CJ Founds Associates.”

Learn more about Connected North 2024

B4RN’s Resilient 400G Network in Northern England goes Live: B4RN’s backhaul speeds will increase tenfold to 400Gbps, increasing network bandwidth and decreasing network latency deeper into rural communities.
Shared Rural Network update: EE boosts North Yorkshire 4G coverage: EE has built of upgraded 40 masts in the North Yorkshire area over the last two years.
CityFibre awarded nearly £400m in latest round of Project Gigabit contracts: The new contracts will see full fibre deployed to around 202,000 rural premises across the UK.
Pioneering local authority digital leader joins CJ Founds Associates: Lynne Wilson, previously of Berkshire Digital Infrastructure Group, has joined the company as Senior Digital Programme Manager.
Quickline wins £60m Project Gigabit contract: Full fibre will be deployed to around 28,000 rural homes and businesses, primarily in West Yorkshire.

News

A selection of the month’s most important stories from the US telecoms market, with commentary from Maddie Hicks, lead conference producer for Connected America

AT&T apologises for huge system failure but rules out cyberattack: A network outage at AT&T left thousands of customers without access to mobile services, including, in some cases, access to emergency services.
Connected America 2024 returns to Dallas, Texas: The US’s leading telecoms conference will take place 12–13 March and includes sessions from some of the biggest names in the telecoms sector.
Dish’s 5G voice coverage passes 200m people: The operator’s 5G network continues to grow, but doubts remain about the company’s future given its $26 billion debt pile.
Data breach at Verizon impacts 63,000 employees: The data breach was seemingly caused by “inadvertent disclosure” and “insider wrongdoing,” according to the operator.
Trudeau calls out Canada’s BCE for “garbage decision” over job cuts: The Canadian PM was reportedly ‘furious’ at BCE’s decision to cut roughly 5,000 job roles earlier this month.

It was hard to ignore the massive AT&T network outage on the 22nd. Up to 70,000 disruptions were reported, and some customers were unable to make emergency service calls. Dish continues to grow its 5G coverage in the quest to become America’s fourth nationwide mobile operator, but questions remain about the company’s future; the telecoms industry and consumers will have to wait to see how the Dish-EchoStar merger impacts Dish network expansion and service adoption.

With the future of the ACP still hanging in the balance and BEAD challenge processes beginning, the American telecoms landscape seems likely to continue to face significant uncertainty.

Want to keep up to date with all the latest developments in the US telecoms market? Join the industry in discussion at Connected America live in Dallas

Also in the news:
VMO2 records £3.3bn loss as interest rates begin to bite
Verizon to trial private 5G networks at NHL stadiums
From humble beginnings: The amazing journey of Hormuud Telecom CEO Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf