Mobile network operator giffgaff, which normally only offers Pay As You Go (PAYG) and 30-day (monthly) style contract plans, has announced that they’re planning to introduce a new set of mobile plans with an 18-month minimum term from 11th April 2023. Expect to pay less for more mobile broadband data. At present the operator’s regular […]

Network operator CityFibre has finished their £2m deployment of a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover 3,600 homes in the village of Yaxley in Cambridgeshire (England), which is an extension of their existing network in nearby Peterborough that covers over 68,000 premises. The project, which was delivered via civil engineering firm Granemore Group, […]

Rural fibre builder and UK ISP GoFibre (Borderlink Broadband), which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Northern England and the Scottish Borders, has today issued a short progress update to highlight some locations that have just gone live and others that have entered build. The operator, which is currently […]

The ITS Technology Group, which runs 36 wholesale full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks (aka – “Faster Britain“) across urban parts of the United Kingdom for businesses and ISPs, has today confirmed it will not introduce price increases to any existing contracts or new on-net sales in 2023. But that’s not all. The operator said […]

NEWS

The announcement marks the latest in a growing number of staff cuts announced across the industry

Vodafone have become the latest operator to announce redundancies, with plans to cut around 1,300 full-time jobs in Germany revealed by Vodafone Germany in a statement last Wednesday. The plans form part of a ‘realignment’ in an effort to “become a more trusted partner for customers” and help its transition to become leaner as Deutsche Telekom’s main competitor in reports by Reuters.

The majority of cuts will be in administrative and management roles, and will be a cut of around 6.3% of the company’s 14,230 jobs in Germany. The announcement follows Vodafone’s plans to shed around 1,000 jobs in Italy – almost a fifth of its total workforce, first revealed earlier this month. Vodafone’s recent struggles within Germany, revealed in its financial statements last November, mean the redundancies weren’t wholly unexpected, particularly in the context of the company’s desire to reduce costs by €1bn by 2026.

Redundancies are becoming increasingly common across the board within the European market – BT’s plans to save £3bn by 2025 will almost certainly include job cuts, while in Italy and France, Sky Italia, TIM and Orange Business have all announced job cuts or voluntary early retirement agreements in order to cut costs over the coming years.

How will planned job cuts affect the European telco market? You can find out more by joining us for this year’s Total Telecom Congress which is being held at the RAI Amsterdam on November 21 & 22 2023 – follow the link to book your ticket!

Mobile operators Three UK and EE (BT) have agreed to stop jointly upgrading sites through the Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL) organisation, which runs their joint network sharing venture. The move is intended to help both move faster when deploying new ultrafast 5G based mobile broadband networks. One of the biggest benefits of network sharing […]

Full fibre broadband ISP BrawBand (HighNet) has today unveiled its new virtual “home assistant with attitude” – BrawBot. The goal of the bot is to take on monotonous computing tasks like unsubscribing from unwanted mailing lists and sending emails to people you really feel like you should keep in touch with but can’t be bothered […]

NEWS

Today, the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has seen fit to increase the amount of automatic compensation via cash or bill credits for loss of connectivity and delivery delays.  

The system is voluntary for home broadband ISPs, first launched on 1st April 2019, designed to compensate consumers for delayed repairs following connectivity failures. Originally, if a connectivity outage was not fixed in 2 working days the compensation was set at £8.40 per day over this, with missed appointments also potentially awarding £26.24 to the consumer. Delay to starting new services also incurred a charge of £5.25 per day.  

All these rates are now set to increase in line with inflation from the 1st of April annually, based on the Consumer Price Index from 31st Oct the previous year, which was around 11%. This means ISPs signed up to this system will now pay £9.33 per day for delayed repairs, £29.15 for missed appointments, and £5.83 per day if delaying the start of a new service.  

Most Major ISPs do support the system with big names such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Hyperoptic, Sky Broadband (plus NOW Broadband), Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Utility Warehouse, Vodafone (Openreach’s network only), and Zen Internet already signed up.

What with many providers feeling the squeeze of the general increase in bills, this could well put off more ISPs from joining this still voluntary scheme. Smaller providers will be even more unlikely to sign up given the costs and technical hurdles required to support the scheme. However, customers of providers might not need to worry, as some ISPs outside the scheme do provide their own approaches to compensation.  

Want to learn more about UK connectivity and engage with the full ecosystem? Connected North will be kicking off this April 17-18 and is poised to have key regional stakeholders discuss policy, regulations, competition, technology, and more. Click here to book your place today.

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today increased the payment amounts issued to consumers under their automatic compensation system, which requires some home broadband ISPs to compensate customers (cash or bill credits) for internet connectivity mishaps and delivery delays. The voluntary system, which first launched on 1st April 2019 (full summary here), was until today […]

Contract-free mobile operator VOXI, which is the virtual operator sibling of Vodafone UK, has doubled the data on their two entry-level plans for customers who order between now and 4th May 2023. As a result, you now get 30GB for just £10 per month and 60GB for £15 per month on a 30-day term. Both […]