News

Some customers of O2 UK’s (Virgin Media) Pay As You Go Data SIMs (mobile broadband) have recently been surprised to find that they can no longer top their plans up with extra data. The reason for this appears to be because the mobile operator quietly removed them from sale during early August 2024. Just to recap. O2’s PAYG Data SIMs allowed customers to choose from a selection of plans, each with a different allowance and expiry period. For example, you could pay £3 for 1GB (GigaByte) but that...

Broadband ISP and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2, which invests millions in counter fraud measures each year and blocked more than £250m worth of fraud in 2023, has called on the UK Government to take “urgent action” to address the “epidemic” levels of fraud. The ISP is seeking stronger police powers and the appointment of a dedicated minister. The telecoms operator highlights the example of how its own investigation team spent more than two years building a compelling case against a...

Alternative network provider Fibrus, which is deploying a new 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of Cumbria in England and Northern Ireland, has kicked off some early Black Friday discounts that will be available for new customers to take for the next few weeks. The operator, which has already built their network to cover 375,000 UK premises and claims to be “fully funded to complete” their roll-out plan for 500,000 premises in the near future (here),...

UK ISP Virgin Media Business (VMO2) has today announced that they’ve launched a new Small Business Partnerships initiative with several key brands including Virgin StartUp, GoDaddy, and egg, to bring exclusive offers to small business based broadband and mobile customers. For example, Virgin StartUp will offer a 50% discount to VMO2’s customers on their 12-topic on-demand video course, ‘How to Build a Business’, which covers key steps from customer research to brand development and investor...

Merseyside-based alternative broadband operator and UK ISP BeFibre, which sells packages to homes and businesses via FullFibre Limited’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, has today refreshed their prices, shifted from 24-month to 18-month contract terms and launched a new 2.3Gbps speed package. The changes mean that BeFibre’s entry-level 150Mbps symmetric speed package, for example, now costs slightly less at £24 per month on both a 12 or 18-month minimum contract term (£30 thereafter),...

Rochdale-base broadband ISP Zen Internet has today signed yet another wholesale deal with an alternative full fibre network, which this time will enable them to sell faster internet packages to homes and businesses by harnessing Freedom Fibre‘s 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the North West and West Midlands. At present Freedom Fibre’s network can already cover 315,000 premises (that’s up only a little from 300k on 27th Mar 2024) across parts of Cheshire, Greater...

The Horsham-based Telecom Acquisitions Group (TAL), which is a holding company for several familiar UK residential broadband brands (Home Telecom, Eclipse Broadband etc.), has today announced that they’ve signed a wholesale agreement to access and sell services over KCOM’s full fibre (FTTP) network. The deal means TAL’s brand, Eclipse Broadband, will market and support solutions on the expanded KCOM network in parts of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire (England) that have recently been...

News Apple’s investment is set to boost Globalstar’s network expansion for enhanced satellite services  Globalstar has expanded its partnership with Apple, in signing an updated agreement to deliver enhanced satellite services through a new mobile satellite network (MSS), according to a recent regulatory filing.  The upgraded network will feature a fresh satellite constellation, expanded global ground infrastructure, and additional satellite service licensing to support Apple’s connectivity...

Telecoms and broadband giant BT Group has reportedly begun the process of making their ‘Global’ division available for sale, either in whole or in pieces. The international arm of the business, which is overseen by Business CEO Bas Burger, typically sells internet, phone and other business solutions to over 1,000 multinational corporate clients worldwide. According to This is Money, BT Global has suffered a fall in profitability over recent years and is claimed to be difficult to value, with...

Some customers of mobile network provider giffgaff, which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) on O2’s UK platform, appear to be experiencing a mix of two problems, including delays to new SIM activations and delays to transfers (ports) of mobile numbers – both in to or out of their network. In terms of the delays to new SIM activations, the operator’s technical team recently confirmed (here) that SIMs ordered on or after the 21st of October have been impacted by the activation issue,...