News

Mobile and broadband operator Sure recently confirmed that their roll-out of full fibre (FTTP) broadband on the English Channel Island of Guernsey had now reached 75% of premises (with take-up of 15,000 premises), which puts them on-track to complete the build phase by the end of 2025. Many customers are also being given free speed boosts as part of the upgrade. Just to recap. Sure is working alongside the States of Guernsey on a joint £37.5m project (£12.5m of public investment) to build a...

Once again, as we reach the end of 2024, it’s time for ISPreview to take our usual biannual look back to see how the broadband download and upload speeds have changed across the fastest nationally available UK fixed line ISPs, mobile network operators and Starlink (satellite) services. But this time around we’ve made a few changes. The results in this report stem from consumer web-based speed testing and are thus inevitably impacted by a number of factors, such as the rising coverage of faster...

Once again we’re ending 2024 by taking a look back to see how the United Kingdom’s position, at least in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for both fixed broadband ISP and mobile (4G, 5G) data speeds, has changed since 2023. Overall, the UK fell from 51st to 53rd for mobile and jumped from 56th to 44th for fixed lines. The following report was created by harnessing data from Ookla’s popular Speedtest.net service for benchmarking internet connections around the world, which admittedly does...

The Carmarthenshire County Council (CCC) in Wales has signed a new agreement that will allow rural ISP Voneus to install their fixed wireless gigabit broadband network equipment on top of local street lighting columns, which will make it easier for them to expand into the county’s poorly served rural communities. The announcement notes that the provider will use this to send its wireless signal from “column to column … meaning long distances can be traveled into more rural areas“. This will...

Network testing firm Ookla (i.e. Speedtest.net, Downdetector.co.uk) has used its crowdsourced data to examine how 5G mobile (mobile broadband) networks performed across a selection of major world cities, including London in the UK, during last year’s New Year’s Eve (Dec 2023) celebrations. The study essentially analysed how 5G networks coped with the “surge in demand and change in traffic patterns” at New Year, across a selection of major cities featuring some of the largest New Year...

London focused UK broadband ISP G.Network, which has deployed a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 361,000 “connectable” premises in parts of London (here), has today begun a new discount that cuts the price of their 300Mbps (100Mbps upload) package to just £20 per month on a 24-month term (£30 thereafter). The special price, which will be available to order until 4th February 2025, also includes free installation, unlimited usage, a pledge of no mid-contract price hikes, an included...

The North Yorkshire Council (NYC) has called on the UK government to help it find funding and solutions for the remaining 11,000 properties in the county that, once existing roll-outs of gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks have completed, will likely still be left without access to “decent internet connections“. The original state-aid backed Superfast North Yorkshire (SFNY) project, which was supported by £100m of investment (£85m from public sources) and completed a few months ago (here),...

News  The acquisition was first announced back in March Swisscom has officially received the green light for its acquisition of Vodafone Italia, following approval from both the Italian Competition Authority and the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT). With regulatory hurdles cleared, Swisscom is now set to complete the deal by the first quarter of 2025.  Last week, the Italian Competition Authority approved the transaction, accepting a series of behavioural commitments proposed...

Viewpoints With the recent election behind us, there’s a noticeable shift in broadband industry sentiment. By: Jason Malmquist, EVP, Head of Software and IT Services Business at CHR Solutions To read the first part of this viewpoint series, click here. Following the election, industry stakeholders are cautiously optimistic now about potential improvements in financing conditions, strategic network expansion, and the evolving competitive landscape. As we look to 2025, several key trends and...

News  The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval Equinix has announced it will acquire BT Group’s datacentre business in Ireland for €59 million. The deal includes two datacentres in Dublin, located in CityWest and Ballycoolin, covering a total of 150,000 square feet. This acquisition follows BT’s strategic review of its international operations and is part of the company’s shift toward an asset-light model. By stepping away from owning and...