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News The patents relate to an “ocean towing type cutting device” that can be used to severe cable on the seabed On Friday, a report from Newsweek shared the news that Chinese engineers had logged multiple patents for anchor-like devices specifically designed to sever submarine cables. The report highlighted a 2020 patent filed by engineers at China’s Lishui University that said it had built a more simplified and cost-effective method for cutting cables on the sea floor. “With the development...

Network analyst firm Streetwave has today shared the results from a new survey they conducted, which examined the coverage and performance of 4G and 5G mobile (broadband) networks for people travelling on a train from Manchester (Piccadilly) in England to Cardiff (Central) in Wales. Overall, Vodafone came top. The railway route involved in this study connects Manchester and Cardiff via Crewe, Shrewsbury, Hereford and Newport. According to the ORR – 51.5 million passenger journeys take place...

London-based broadband ISP Pulse Fibre, which specialises in building “full fibre” (FTTP) connections into UK new build home developments and MDUs (here), has signed a new partnership that will enable their network to expand across new developments being built alongside multi-utility provider Entity Connect in the South East of England. The initial focus will be on delivering full fibre connectivity to the Farriers Green development in Rainham, Kent. This is a residential development with 46...

News The list sanctions companies assessed as posing a potential threat to US national security or operating adversely to US foreign policy interests On January 6, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the latest wave of companies to be added the so-called ‘Entity List’. US companies seeking to export to companies on the Entity List must first receive a specific. licence to do-so from the US government, most of which are reviewed with the...

News Here’s a look at the five biggest stories over the last week from our sister publication, Broadband Communities Data center construction, booming in cities like Phoenix, is fueling demand for dark fiber in major American markets. That, plus Broadband Communities sits down with Steve Smith, the CRO of a rural ISP, to discuss how rural ISPs can endure in a changing marketplace. Data center construction fuels dark fiber demand in major markets Booming data center construction continues to...

Network operator nexfibre, which is working alongside UK ISP partner Virgin Media to deploy a new 10Gbps full fibre broadband (FTTP) network across over 5 million premises (2m have already been built), has today set out its list of recommendations for Ofcom to consider adopting as part of their forthcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR). Just to recap. Back in 2022 Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners setup nexfibre as a new £4.5bn joint venture (here), which aims to...

The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) has today published their first biannual UK Customer Satisfaction Index for 2025 (January), which reveals that four mobile and broadband (telecoms) providers made it into their table of the country’s top 50 organisations – Tesco Mobile (16th), Utility Warehouse (28th), Sky Mobile (41st) and giffgaff (47th). The research typically reflects the results from a large online survey of over 15,000 customers – balanced to be representative of the UK adult...

Some customers of Sky’s broadband-based Sky Stream TV devices (puck) have, over the past week, noticed the surprise addition of a new “TV Input” App that appears to activate the previously unused TV aerial port (tuner) on the back of the box – making it possible to add terrestrial Freeview channels via the old-fashioned method. But it may only be temporary. Until now, the Sky Stream boxes have been purely focused upon the delivery of broadband based TV streaming (hence the name), which has...

Mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) has this morning revealed that they’ll begin the withdrawal of their older 3G mobile (broadband) services across the United Kingdom – the last major operator to do so – in April 2025, which will start with the city of Durham in England (not to be confused with County Durham). Just to recap. Back in 2023 VMO2 became the final mobile operator to reveal their plan for switching off their 3G mobile (mobile broadband) network (here), which they said would...

The Dorset Council in England recently set out its proposals for a £416m budget for 2025/26, which included major cost-saving measures of around £44m and some of that involves the greater adoption of digital technologies, as well as AI. But councillors have been quick to warn that “pockets” of poor broadband and a lack of digital skills, among some groups, could create problems. The council is currently in the process of adopting somewhat of an “invest to save” approach, where it’s hoped that...