Weekly Brief – 20th March 2026

A few pieces that may be of interest this week:

Some in Orkney Islands are without internet access due to an undersea fibre break

Around 500 customers in Orkney are offline due to an undersea fibre break between Evie and Westray in the Orkney Islands. The cause for the fibre break has not yet been confirmed, and BT, which owns the fibre, is in discussions with the Orkney Local Emergency Coordination Group about the repair. Timescales are not yet known as it requires a specialist ship to deploy, and this is dependent on availability.

Zen Internet holds ‘wacky races’ charity karting event

Zen have held a karting event to raise money for Zen’s nominated charities, Springhill Hospice and WHAG (formerley Womans Housing Action Group. The event put telecoms rivals up against each other in central Manchester to race for the top spot on the podium. Zen hosted CityFibre, Freedom Fibre, Netomnia, Gigaclear, VMO2, Sky Wholesale, Openreach, MS3 and BT Wholesale. £11,500 was raised, with Zen doubling this amount.

Ofcom publishes its plan of work for 2026-2027

Ofcom has put together a webpage showing its plan of work over the coming period, discussing its priorities and projects that are underway or will begin. This includes consultations as well as statements on things such as the Telecoms Access Review. An interactive project outline with milestones is shown here.

Virgin Media O2 takes in 85,000 devices as part of its O2 Recycle program

In 2025, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) took in 85,500 device from customers who traded in their unwanted devices through O2’s Recycle program. Many of these devices still hold value and usable life and can be wiped before being refurbished and sold again, or, where necessary, repaired. VMO2 is encouraging consumers to repair, reuse and recycle their tech so that they can help reduce the carbon impact of new tech.

“Around 80% of a device’s carbon footprint happens before the box is even opened, so keeping devices for longer is a massive win for the planet.

Every device that’s repaired, reused or recycled is one less piece of technology that could become electronic waste. Yet millions of smartphones with years of life left in them are still sitting unused in drawers or being thrown away.

We’re making it easier than ever to keep devices in circulation, whether that’s through repairing a phone through O2 Insure, recycling unwanted tech through O2 Recycle, or choosing a refurbished device from our Like New range.”

Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Virgin Media O2