Gangster Granny! Meet Daisy: O2’s new weapon against scammers
News “It’s a bad day to be a scammer,” said VMO2 in its announcement O2 has unveiled its new, unique weapon in its fight against scammers: Daisy, an AI-powered assistant designed to keep fraudsters talking and waste their time. As part of Virgin Media O2’s “Swerve the Scammers” campaign, Daisy’s mission is to distract scammers with realistic, rambling conversations, helping protect potential victims while raising awareness about fraud. Developed with the help of popular YouTube scambaiter Jim...
Broadband Networks Zzoomm and Freedom Fibre Ponder UK Merger UPDATE
Alternative broadband network builders Freedom Fibre and Zzoomm, both of which have been rolling out 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks across different parts of the country, are reportedly holding “detailed discussions” about a possible future merger, which could create a network that covers over 500,000 premises. At present Zzoomm’s network, which is home to over 30,000 customers (15%+ take-up) and covers 202,000 premises (RFS), is currently available across parts of around...
BT Wholesale Investigating One Touch Switch Problems with UK ISPs
BT Wholesale, which supplies a number of UK ISPs with broadband services, has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re investigating an issue with consumer switching between providers via the One Touch Switching (OTS) process that appears to have been introduced on Monday and is disrupting some ISP switches and internet connections. According to one of the ISPs that reported it to ISPreview earlier in the week: “Basically any order going in, regardless of any dates that are selected for the...
DCF Summarises Progress of UK Telecoms Operators Toward Net Zero
A new report from the Digital Connectivity Forum (DCF), which is an industry think-tank for the Government, has summarised how much progress the UK telecoms (broadband, mobile etc.) market has made with respect to sustainability and Net Zero (i.e. the goal of an organisation to remove as many carbon emissions as they produce) – with nearly all of the major operators having set targets. The report, which surveyed 12 major telecoms companies during May 2024 (e.g. network operators, ISPs and...
Ofcom UK Warns One Touch Switching Laggard ISPs to Get Onboard
The UK telecoms regulator has warned that they are “prepared to take action” against broadband ISPs that have failed to adopt the new One Touch Switching (OTS) process, which went live on 12th Sept 2024 and aims to make it easier and quicker for consumers to change provider. But not every ISP has joined, which is causing some consumers to struggle with switching. Implementation of OTS is being handled by the industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which acts as a sort of centralised...
Broadband Altnet Spring Fibre UK Sold to Harmony Networks for Just £1.5m
Alternative broadband operator Spring Fibre, which began attempting to deploy a new 10Gbps capable wholesale full fibre (FTTP) network for ISPs to use in 2021 – starting in Lincolnshire (here), has been sold by their administrators to Leeds-based Harmony Networks for £1.5m after only having passed 12,000 UK premises (RFS). The operator, which was initially backed by Kingsley Capital Partners and telecoms specialist Graphite Strategy, is known to have originally secured an investment (loan) of...
EE takes coverage to the top of Ben Nevis
News The addition plays a key role in enhancing the team’s ability to respond to emergencies, especially in areas previously lacking coverage EE has teamed up with Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team (LMRT) to improve the connectivity and support search and rescue operations on Ben Nevis. Using existing 35-meter mast site located in Glen Nevis, this collaboration aims to enhance safety in one of the UK’s most popular yet challenging outdoor destinations. The mast, which has been providing 4G...
US accuses China of telecoms espionage
News The statement adds further fuel to the US–China geopolitical fire The US government’s ongoing investigation into cyber threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has uncovered a wide-reaching espionage campaign targeting commercial telecommunications networks, according to a joint statement released this week from the FBI and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency). The findings have revealed that Chinese affiliated hackers have breached networks across multiple...
Majority of Frontier stockholders approve of acquisition by Verizon
News Over 60 percent of Frontier Communications stockholders have approved a merger agreement proposal with Verizon This article was originally published Brad Randall, Editor of our sister publicationBroadband Communities Approximately 63 percent of Frontier Communications stockholders have voted to approve a merger agreement proposal. Frontier, which announced the news following a Nov. 13 special meeting, also reported that ten of the company’s top 12 stockholders voted in favour of the...
Virgin Media O2 UK Creates AI Granny to Waste Scammers Time UPDATE
Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has done something rather crafty by creating a “human-like” AI (Artificial Intelligence) ‘Granny’ called Daisy, which is designed to answer calls in real-time from fraudsters and then keep them on the phone and away from customers for as long as possible – wasting them time and money. Most of the United Kingdom’s major broadband, phone and mobile network providers have already implemented various technical measures to tackle Nuisance Calls and Scam Calls. But...