Yearly Archives - 2013

20 Mar 2013

Budget 2013 – staying the course on broadband

There was next to no mention of broadband in the Chancellor’s budget speech today, and not much more in the full 2013 Budget document itself.

“We’re giving Britain the fastest broadband and mobile telephony in Europe??? declared George Osborne and perhaps we should view the lack of additional initiatives flagged in this year’s budget as an indication that Government is staying the course on its previous intentions, albeit ones that do not look beyond 2015 at this stage. (more…)

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20 Mar 2013

National average fixed download speed reaches 12Mbps

Last week saw the release of Ofcom’s bi-annual UK fixed-line broadband performance from November 2012, which gave latest figures on residential speeds across ISPs. Much of the recent coverage (including in the Telegraph, BBC and Cable) has focused on the surge in speeds over time, with the main headlines being that the average fixed download speed was 12.0Mbps. This figure was 34% higher than the 9.0Mbps from six months prior, and a whopping 234% faster than the 3.6 Mbps average in November 2008. (more…)

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19 Mar 2013

Guest blog: Matt Powell, Broadband Genie

Full Fibre Broadband

The UK’s broadband infrastructure is undergoing an important period of change. We’re moving away from a reliance on outdated copper lines in favour of future-proof fibre optic links. In place of a creaking phone network which was never built with the internet in mind, the fibre lines spreading throughout the country can provide far greater connection speeds without the signal degradation which affects copper cabling over long distances. (more…)

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20 Feb 2013

Ofcom announce winners of UK 4G spectrum auction

Ofcom today announced the winners of its 4G spectrum auction, with Everything Everywhere; Hutchison 3G UK; Niche Spectrum Ventures, a BT subsidiary; Telefónica (O2); and Vodafone, emerging as winning bidders.

In 50 rounds of bidding, a total of 250MHz of spectrum was auctioned in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands. It is thought that the combination of the two bands will allow networks to deal with concentrated demand in urban areas as well as provide widespread network coverage. (more…)

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12 Feb 2013

BSG responds to reduced EU spending commitment on broadband

Last Friday saw the conclusion of EU budget negotiations, and as a result the proposed Connecting Europe Facility budget was reduced from €9.2bn to €1bn.

Our CEO, Pamela Learmonth, has responded to this announcement commenting:

“Broadband connectivity is vital to Europe’s future, and in tough economic times the ongoing challenge is to make the best use of resources. The reduction in proposed budget may initially provoke disappointment from some but the EU budget of EUR 1 billion is still a new investment in support of digital services and must also be seen as part of a larger sum of funding across European member states. (more…)

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08 Feb 2013

DCMS launches consultation on Siting Requirements

Last week saw the launch of the DCMS Consultation on the proposal that, for five years, broadband street cabinets and new poles can be installed under permitted development rights in any location (except SSSIs) without the need for prior approval from local planning authorities. The full Consultation document can be found here.

The timing comes as the delivery of the Government’s ambition to have the best superfast network in Europe by 2015 rolls on. The consultation cites that for any one location it is expected that superfast broadband could create between £143 million and £19.8 billion in additional GVA, and we’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on this. (more…)

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