8 June 2016: The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) today published a new Open Internet Code 2016, signed by major communication providers and with the wider support of the Open Internet Forum.
The Broadband Stakeholder Group are happy to be supporting Connected Britain 2016, a two-day conference taking place in London on the 15th and 16th of June.
The event will provide a platform for a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the challenges of connectivity and broadband access in the UK in the context of a new political landscape.
Key topics to be discussed include the legislative support for the roll-out of superfast broadband and mobile networks, the future of mobile coverage, preparing the UK for an ultrafast network, the deployment of 5G, and the social and economic benefits of greater connectivity.
Broadband Stakeholder Group CEO Matthew Evans will speak on the second day, exploring incentives and regulatory framework for the build out of 5G and ultrafast fibre networks.
There are a number of ways to get involved with the day and you can find the full list off speakers and agenda on the official event website here. You can find the event on social media using @ConnBritain and #connectedbritain on Twitter, and going to the Facebook page here.
The latest Broadband Performance Indicator report published by Government shows that superfast broadband has now been made accessible to nearly 4 million premises in the UK (900,000 more premises since June 2015) thanks to projects funded by the Broadband Delivery UK Programme (BDUK). (more…)
The Digital Economy Bill was announced in the Queens Speech today, intended to “make the UK a world leader in digital provision – a place where technology ceaselessly transforms the economy, society and government???. For the telecoms sector it aims to make it easier to deploy communications infrastructure whilst empowering consumers.
Government published yesterday a summary of the responses received on its recent consultation on a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). After gathering views on the proposed roadmap to implementing a new broadband USO, Government commented on the various issues raised by respondents.
The Department for Transport (DfT) yesterday released a study exploring how rail users value and use mobile connectivity on trains. It also shows evidence that passengers are willing to pay up to 17% more on rail fares above existing ticket price for improved connectivity on mobile and internet network access.
This study follows the 2015 Government consultation on improving mobile communications for UK rail passengers, as well as the Coalition Government’s pledge to roll out free Wifi on trains across England and Wales from 2017. The report finds that some groups of passengers would be willing to accept the costs of improvements to connectivity on trains, saving costs for the government and industry. (more…)
The European Commission today announced that they were blocking the proposed takeover of O2 by Hutchinson (Three’s parent company) due to the strong concerns that it has over the impact that this merger would have on competition in the UK market.
BT’s has today announced that its Openreach and EE businesses will spend around six billion pounds between them over the next three years, in the first phase of a plan to extend superfast broadband and 4G coverage beyond 95% of the UK by 2020.
The announcement focuses on services, coverage and capacity with the latter receiving the most press coverage. As well as confirming their ambition of supplying 12 million premises with ultrafast broadband, BT announced that at least two million of those to be connected with Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology. (more…)
The Advertising Standards Agency announced today that they will be introducing new rules on how broadband providers can advertise. (more…)
Virgin Media yesterday announced their intention to accelerate the UK’s rollout of fibre optic broadband directly to homes and businesses, by committing to one million new fibre to the premises (FTTP) connections under current expansion plans. (more…)
The European Parliament published this week a briefing referencing the difficulties in revising the EU Universal Service Directive, which sets the criteria for a universal service obligation in the telecoms sector. As part of its review of the EU Telecoms Regulatory Framework, the European Commission is considering extending the scope of the Directive to include broadband. However, the briefing makes clear that setting EU-wide conditions for the introduction of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband is not without challenges.
Ofcom last week published their annual report into adult use, attitudes and understanding of TV, radio, mobile, games, and the internet, with a particular focus on those groups that tend not to participate digitally. The report is based around research conducted in autumn 2015, and any key changes compared to Ofcom’s statistics from 2014.
In what Openreach describes as “one of the fastest deployments of fibre broadband in the world???, it announced yesterday that its fibre network has passed the 25 million premises milestone, helping to take the UK’s superfast broadband (24Mbit/s) coverage past 90% of premises.
Following the recent (and ongoing) Government consultation on the approach to take to introduce a Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO), Ofcom is now consulting on its design and implementation. Ofcom was commissioned by Government to produce an evidence-based report by the end of this year which will address thorny issues from the scope of the USO to its funding mechanism.
Doteveryone has announced today that they will be absorbing Go ON UK. (more…)
