Yearly Archives - 2017

Ofcom’s 2017 Connected Nations Report

The 2017 Ofcom Connected Nations Report, published December 15th, once again sets out the year’s main developments for both fixed and mobile networks’ performance as well as coverage.

Ofcom headlines the fact that 1.1 m UK homes and business (4% of properties) cannot get decent broadband – defined as having a download speed of 10Mbps. To address this, the government today announced that it will be mandating a regulatory Universal Service Obligation to make high speed broadband a legal right by 2020. (more…)

Is there a bigger role for satellite in the UK broadband market?

Satellite broadband hasn’t really taken off in the UK in the way that we might have expected it would 10-15 years ago. There are many reasons for this, both technical (latency issues affecting video calling and gaming applications and the potential for weather related outages) and economic (expensive terminal equipment and relatively high ongoing data costs).

(more…)

Government launches review into incentives for network investment

The Government has published the Terms of Reference for a review into future investment into the UK telecoms sector, led by DCMS. The cross-government Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review will explore what makes investment in full fibre and 5G networks attractive, and what actions Government may need to take in order to deliver on its vision.

(more…)

Silver linings in failure: Benefits of the MIP

I’ve written before about why the Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) failed to live up to its expectations. In summary, building infrastructure is hard in any case and it’s even harder when neither the problem you want to solve nor solution are agreed upon by the parties involved. Last week though the Government published the Mobile Infrastructure Project: Impact and Benefits Report so it’s only fair to pay attention to the benefits that it delivered too.

(more…)

BSG Annual Conference – the Future of Digital Communications – Thursday 2 November 2017 #BSGComms17

The Broadband Stakeholder Group is delighted to invite you to our free Annual Conference on Thursday 2 November 2017.

Kick-starting with a keynote speech from Minister for Digital Matt Hancock, the Conference will focus on the future of digital communications, both in terms of infrastructure deployment and take-up of services.

(more…)

Towards near universal superfast broadband coverage

The Government announced an additional public fund of a total of £645 million which will further extend superfast broadband coverage to 98% of UK premises by 2020. This is an update to figures released towards the end of December 2016, indicating that a total of £440 million would help reach premises beyond the 95% target (by end of 2017) under the BDUK scheme.

(more…)

BSG supports the Broadband World Forum, 24-26 October 2017

Broadband-WorldForum-logo-RGBThe Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) is pleased to continue its partnership with the Broadband World Forum (BBWF), which this year will take place in Berlin. Over three days (24 to 26 October) more than 300 speakers, amongst which the BSG, will share their expertise on the latest broadband technologies and discuss the future of connectivity.

(more…)

Broadband Speeds and Technology in the Advertising Spotlight – and views from France

In the autumn 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the advertising watchdog, started investigating potentially misleading advertising practices amongst internet service providers. In November 2016, the ASA stated the use of descriptions of broadband speeds such as “up to” in broadband commercials could be considered confusing to some consumers. In the spring of 2017, the ASA explored the use of the terms “fibre??? in broadband advertisements. (more…)