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…)
Ofcom has this week published their Annual Plan for 2016/2017, outlining their planned initiatives to deliver the best outcomes for consumers in the context of changes in the market and ongoing reviews of regulatory frameworks both at UK and EU levels. (more…)
The Broadband Stakeholder Group has agreed it work programme for 2016/17.
The key themes for this year are:
The full work programme can be found below. Stay up to date with our progress on these issues via our newsletter (which you can subscribe to below).
On Monday 14 March, the Broadband Stakeholder Group hosted an event to discuss the Government’s intention to make sure that “every home and business can have access to fast broadband by the end of this Parliament???. The event explored how any target for universal coverage should be framed, the actions needed to meet that target and what lessons can be learned from other countries.
Government has today launched its consultation on a Universal Service Obligation for broadband. The consultation acknowledges that a USO is a safety net for those who do not have access to super or ultrafast speed to ensure that everyone is able to participate in our digital society. This follows on the Prime Minister’s commitment last year that the UK would have a USO of 10 Mbit/s. This level is backed up by Ofcom in their latest Connected Nations Report.
