The Building Digital UK team has published a new Public Review (PR) consultation for Wales, which reveals that some 327,174 premises might need state aid help under the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme in order to access 1Gbps speeds (rising to 984,806 if including ‘Under Review‘ premises). The project, which is targeted at […]
UK's SMEs badly lacking in cyber protection, says BT
The survey of 1,000 decision makers at UK businesses has found that many thousands of small firms may be at risk – despite having security measures in place – because they are relying on security products which are not designed for business use.
With the majority of small firms moving online during the pandemic, opportunistic cyber criminals have also stepped up their efforts to target them. The Government’s recent Cyber Security Breaches survey found that almost half of all UK small businesses suffered a cyber security breach or attack last year.
However, despite the increased threat, BT’s latest research reveals more than half (51%) of the micro business sector…
Sky and Vodafone among those interested in buying TalkTalk
According to reports, Sky and Vodafone are among a number of suitors having approached UK broadband ISP TalkTalk regarding a potential acquisition.
The reports note that TalkTalk have appointed investment bank Lazard to review their options…
TIM refuses to let KKR look at its books
US private equity firm KKR first made a non-binding bid to take control of Italian operator TIM last year, offering €10.8 billion.
At the time, TIM was in something of a vulnerable position, with then-CEO Luigi Gubitosi coming under fire from shareholders for failing to provide the financial uplift that had been promised. The bid from KKR hasted Gubitosi’s departure, with TIM Brasil’s CEO, Pietro Labriola, taking over as Group CEO at the start of 2022…
GBP295m Funding Boost for Netomnia’s UK FTTP Broadband Rollout
Network operator Netomnia and partner broadband ISP YouFibre have today secured a huge funding boost of £295m from DigitalBridge Investment Management, which will help to fuel the ongoing rollout of their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network for UK homes and businesses. The operator, which last year secured £123m of funding (here) and […]
Vodafone and Sky Sniffing Possible Acquisition of UK ISP TalkTalk
Mobile giant Vodafone UK and Sky (Comcast) are reportedly two among several “groups” that have approached budget conscious fixed broadband ISP TalkTalk about a potential deal (most likely an acquisition), which in theory could create a much larger provider with more influence over the industry. Just to recap. In 2020 TalkTalk became the subject of […]
Three UK See Record Mobile Data Traffic of 1 TeraByte Per Second
Mobile operator Three UK has today published their new ‘Mobile Britain’ report, which summarises key statistics from their network and reveals that mobile broadband (data) traffic hit an all-time high of “1 tbps (terabyte per second)” on Tuesday night – between 21:15 and 21:30. Before we get started, it’s important to address that claim of […]
Union Rejects Revised BT Pay Offer and Preps Strike Ballot
The BT Group (inc. Openreach, Plusnet and EE) has today proposed to award frontline broadband and telecoms workers a £1,500 consolidated pay increase. But the Communications Workers Union, which represents c.40,000 of the operator’s UK staff, has rejected this and moved to “prepare for a statutory industrial action ballot.“ BT settled their last dispute with […]
Africell launches mobile services in Angola
Africell has launched commercial mobile services in Angola, having won the licence roughly 14 months ago.
For decades, the Angolan mobile market has been served by just two players, Unitel and Movicel. Discussions surrounding the introduction of a new competitor have been underway for years, but it was not until 2019, alongside a wider government Program for Integral and Partial Privatization of Public Enterprises (PROPRIV), that plans to auction a third telecoms licence began…
Vodacom expands m-mama mobile maternity transport app across Tanzania
Vodacom’s m-mama mobile service, developed by the Vodacom Tanzania Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation, is set to be scaled up to cover over half of Tanzania using a $10 million investment over the next six years.
The m-mama programme aims to help pregnant women received vital medical assistance as quickly as possible, especially in rural areas where ambulances are rarely available. To do this, the m-mama app creates a network of local taxi drivers, each ready to transport a pregnant woman to the nearest medical facility during an emergency…