Vodafone–Three reveals leadership team
Press Release Following CMA clearance of the Vodafone UK Three UK merger in December 2024 (subject to legally binding commitments), and in anticipation of final deal completion in the coming months, Vodafone-Three has announced the company’s General Management Team Max Taylor, CEO Vodafone UK, and CEO of the future merged entity, has appointed the following people to lead the new company: Darren Purkis, CFO Kelly Barlow, Strategy and Portfolio Clare Corkish, HR Andrea Dona, Networks Nick...
Ofcom Shames TalkTalk and O2 for UK Telecoms Complaints – Q3 2024
Ofcom have today published their Q3 2024 study of UK consumer telecoms complaints, which names and shames TalkTalk for attracting the most complaints about broadband, while O2 took the most flak mobile and Virgin Media was put on the naughty step for Pay TV. Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or...
EU launches ‘InvestAI initiative’ to bring €200 bn of investment to AI development
News “This large AI infrastructure is needed to allow open, collaborative development of the most complex AI models and to make Europe an AI continent,” the European Commission said The European Commission has launched InvestAI, a €200 billion initiative aimed at accelerating AI investment and innovation across Europe. Central to the plan is a €20 billion investment in AI gigafactories, designed to provide the computing power needed for AI development. The InvestAI fund will support the...
LINX Surpasses 725Gps of Traffic at Manchester UK Internet Exchange
The not-for-profit London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles a large chunk of UK and global data traffic through their switches via around 900 members (broadband ISPs, mobile operators etc.), has today announced that their regional internet exchange in Manchester has hit a new “record maximum traffic peak” of 725Gbps (Gigabits per second). The exchange states that LINX Manchester has seen consistent growth in traffic, rising by an average of 100-200Gbps throughout 2024. At least part of...
Fibrus CEO Apologises for Lengthy Broadband Outages in Northern Ireland
The CEO and Co-Founder of UK ISP Fibrus, Dominic Kearns, has apologised to the several thousand premises in Northern Ireland that are still without access to their full fibre broadband network following Storm Éowyn (pronounced ‘Ay-oh-win’), which struck nearly three weeks ago. But most of their customers are now back online. The storm, which was the result of explosive cyclogenesis (aka – a weather bomb), struck parts of the United Kingdom on Friday 24th January 2025 (here and here) and...
Virgin Media O2 Switches on 5G Standalone for UK Businesses
After launching their first commercial 5G Standalone (SA) based mobile broadband network for consumers in February 2024 (here), mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today expanded the service’s availability to include large enterprise, public sector, and SME (business) customers on eligible tariffs. Just to recap. 5GSA networks are pure end-to-end 5G that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for...
Vodafone UK Send Mixed Messages Over Static IP Availability for Broadband
Mobile operator and UK ISP Vodafone has today confirmed to ISPreview that customers of their fixed line consumer broadband packages, which are supplied over Openreach and CityFibre’s national networks (FTTC and FTTP), should still be able to request a Static IP (Internet Protocol) address. But this is despite some support staff telling users the opposite. Most home broadband users will either have a changeable (Dynamic) or shared (CGNAT etc.) IP address, while a ‘Static’ (or ‘Fixed’) IP...
Vodafone and Three UK Confirm New Leadership Team for Merger
Mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK (CK Hutchison) have this afternoon announced their newly formed General Management Team for the future merged company. The new appointments followed a selection process and were approved by the MergeCo Governance Board, with representatives of both operators as shareholders of the new entity. Just to recap. The merger, which was approved by the CMA in December 2024 (here) and is said to be worth £15bn+, will see Vodafone retain a 51% slice of the...
CityFibre turns a full-year profit for the first time
News UK altnet CityFibre has announced its 2024 annual results, reporting its first full year of profitability, with a 34% revenue increase to £134 million The company’s consumer revenue rose by 73%, while it added 181,000 net new customers, bringing the total number of live customers to 518,000. CityFibre’s fibre network now covers 4.3 million premises, with 4.1 million Ready for Service (RFS). CityFibre’s involvement in the Project Gigabit initiative also delivered £865 million in...
New Gov Action Plan Supports Vulnerable Users in UK Digital Phone Switchover
The UK government has published its revised Telecare National Action Plan (TNAP), which will require major UK broadband and phone providers (e.g. BT, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Sky Broadband) to go further with protecting vulnerable telecare users when upgrading legacy phone lines to new digital (IP based) networks. Just to recap. The industry-led shift to digital landlines is partly being driven by the looming retirement of copper telecoms lines in favour of full fibre (FTTP) broadband, as...