Bridging AI and global connectivity: The rise of hybrid cable landing stations and the shift beyond hyperscalers
Contributed Article by Tim Parker, Chief Growth Officer of Assured Comms The rapid evolution of AI is reshaping data center infrastructure, changing the approach to compute deployment by enterprises and cloud providers. Driven by traditional hyperscalers with large-scale training clusters, emerging efficiency gains are shifting demand toward smaller, more distributed inference deployments. Meanwhile, demands for connectivity continue to rise globally, demanding infrastructure that best...
Gigaclear Advisors to Hunt Fresh Funding for Rural UK Broadband Build
Abingdon-based broadband ISP Gigaclear, which has already extended their full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 580,000 premises (RFS) in rural parts of England (inc. over 130,000 customers), is reportedly hiring advisors to help it find new funding in order to continue their network deployments across the UK. According to Bloomberg‘s (paywall) sources, advisor firm Teneo is working with Gigaclear on the funding effort. Lenders are understood to have heard pitches from financial advisers this...
LightSpeed Broadband Finally Puts FTTP Live in Cromer and Sheringham
Alternative network provider and UK ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which has so far built their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 250,000 premises across the East of England and West Midlands, has finally started to put their new network live in the neighbouring coastal Norfolk towns of Cromer and Sheringham. The provider, which in 2023 was acquired by Kompass Kapital (here) after suffering some job cuts and a build slowdown in the East of England (here), is currently busy...
Full Fibre UK Broadband ISP Youfibre Launch New Loyalty Promise
Broadband ISP Youfibre, which is available to those covered by Netomnia’s (Brsk) 10Gbps capable FTTP network, has today launched a new “Loyalty Promise” for its renewing customers. The move is part of an effort to help set them apart from the market’s largest ISPs, which often hit existing customers with price hikes at the end of their term. Under the promise, customers coming to the end of their contracts at YouFibre “will be able to choose from the same packages available for new customers“....
London Broadband ISP Community Fibre Launch Cheap 100Mbps Tier
Broadband ISP CommunityFibre (CF), which has deployed their 3Gbps speed FTTP network to cover 1.32 million UK premises (mostly in Greater London), has this week introduced a new entry-level tier that offers symmetric speeds of 100Mbps from just £19 per month on a 24-month minimum term. The new package is slower than the old entry-level tier of 150Mbps, but at £19 per month it’s also a few pounds cheaper. The residential package includes free setup, a wireless router and a 60-day satisfaction...
Share and share alike: Ofcom consults on the future of 6GHz
News The regulator is proposing sharing the upper 6GHz band between both mobile and Wi-Fi networks Today, Ofcom has launched a consultation on the future of the upper 6GHz spectrum band, potentially allowing both mobile and Wi-Fi networks to share the valuable airwaves. Back in 2020, 500MHz of spectrum in the lower portion of the band were allocated to Wi-Fi as part of the Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 standards. The future of the upper portion of the band, on the other hand, remained up for debate....
GNM Expands Network with First PoP in Budapest
Boosting Wavelength and Interconnection Services in the Region GNM’s Budapest Point of Presence takes advantage of its own DWDM-system. It provides valuable options for network redundancy improvement, traffic flow optimization, and reduction of points of failure. The GNM’s interconnection services such as GNM-IX and IP Transit allow direct connections with a wider range of networks, as well as access to Tier-1 connectivity providers. Flexible port options from 10G to 400G provide customized...
ISP KCOM Upgrades Customers to Symmetric FTTP Broadband Speeds
Hull-based broadband ISP KCOM, which has spent the past few years building a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England, has begun upgrading their packages to support symmetric speeds. But only up to a maximum upload speed of 500Mbps. The change, which started to be deployed from 20th January 2025 (credits to Phil for the news tip), means that all KCOM packages up to 500Mbps will now offer fully symmetrical upload and download speeds....
UK space race heats up as Amazon wins UK MoD satellite contract
News Amazon’s satellite arm, Project Kuiper, has secured a deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) worth £670,000 The consultancy deal will see Amazon study the potential use of “translator” satellites to facilitate communications between military, government, and private satellites as well as between allied nations. This technology, which is also being explored by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to improve communication between military, government, and...
Navigating the depths: Strategies for delivering successful subsea cable projects
Contributed Article By James McKenzie, international arbitration and cross-border litigation partner at Eversheds Sutherland The difficulties inherent in delivering subsea cable projects are well known, but a confluence of geopolitical events is making delivering them now, in the current climate, particularly acute. The critical security role performed by subsea cables makes them an obvious target. Recent events have highlighted the physical challenges of policing and patrolling large cables,...