News

Press Release Economic research shows Openreach’s digital upgrade could generate £4bn for Scottish economy and help reverse depopulation Half of Scottish homes and businesses can now get connected to ultrafast, reliable broadband –thanks to Openreach investment in the nation’s new digital network. The company has spent more than £435 million1 on full fibre links for Scotland so far, with 1.45 million properties now able to upgrade and take-up at 38 per cent, ahead of the UK average. Around 30...

Some customers of mobile operator Three UK are this afternoon being impacted by a partial network outage, which is preventing them from making outgoing calls (this often returns a “call failed” message). But 999 (emergency) calls and data (mobile broadband) connectivity, including related IP based calls (e.g. WhatsApp), continue to function. A spokesperson for Three UK said on social media: “We’re aware of an issue affecting a small percentage of voice services, our team are working hard to...

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today confirmed our report from last month (here) and revealed that they will withdraw, from new sale (provision), the once popular 40Mbps (2Mbps) upload tier for their Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) based broadband ISP lines – effective from 24th April 2025. As we said last month, Openreach does occasionally withdraw legacy tiers, usually due to a lack of demand by Communication Providers (inc. end-customers) or just to help simplify their...

News A new chairman has taken the helm at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and learn about Trump’s new nominee to fill the vacancy left by former FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Plus, see how data centers are driving demand and controversy in recent headlines. Trump designates Brendan Carr as FCC chairman Brendan Carr has been designated as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) following an order signed by President Donald Trump yesterday. Trump nominates...

A number of network operators, such as Openreach (BT), have put out notifications to warn partners and customers about the expected impact of Storm Éowyn tomorrow morning. The named storm is expected to be particularly vicious when it strikes Ireland, which is why it’s generating some headlines online, although its impact upon the UK will still be nasty. The storm itself is the result of explosive cyclogenesis (aka – a weather bomb), which reflects a low-pressure system whose central pressure...

News The partnership includes SIM management, IoT, and analytics solutions to help improve the customer experience and efficiency of electric taxi rides This week, Indonesian mobile operator Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has announced a new partnership with Vietnamese electric taxi company Xanh SM. The partnership will see Indosat Business support Xanh SM’s operations in Indonesia by providing a range of IT, IoT, and analytics technology, aimed at boosting operational efficiency. The deal will...

Network operator CityFibre has today become the latest broadband infrastructure builder to adopt EXFO‘s Exchange solution, which is a solution that will improve the company’s ability to conduct field-testing of their full fibre network (covering. 4 million premises across the UK) and so also save them time, as well as money. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a number of broadband operators adopting EXFO’s various solutions (e.g. Openreach, Hyperoptic and Gigaclear). In this case, CityFibre...

CityFibre has been criticised by a homeowner in Southend-on-Sea (Essex, England) after the operator accidentally built one of their new full fibre broadband ISP street cabinets, without permission, on a private garden. But then, after attempting to rectify their mistake, “left the garden in ruins – an unsafe and hazardous mess“. Just to recap. The operator, which has already extended their FTTP network to cover 4 million premises across the United Kingdom, officially announced the completion...

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has continued with their effort to boost 4G mobile (mobile broadband) capacity across the UK, which today sees them working with Ontix to expand their roll-out of small cells into new areas of Birmingham – primarily around Soho Road and Handsworth. Small cells are akin to mini shoebox sized mobile (radio) base stations, which have been designed to deliver limited coverage (usually up to around 100 metres) and thus tend to be more focused on busy urban...

Consultancy firm FarrPoint has today published their third annual (2025) survey of digital leaders at councils across England, Scotland and Wales. The results reveal that expanding the coverage of gigabit broadband remains the top priority for most local authorities. But on the flip side, only 4% of surveyed councils are developing a dedicated data centre strategy. The report – FarrPoint Digital Connectivity Survey 2025 (PDF) – found that most respondents chose gigabit broadband (1000Mbps+) as...