Weekly Brief – 11th September 2026

A quick roundup of broadband news from the last week we haven’t otherwise covered.

Airband was sold to Voneus for just £4.6m after racking up £312m of creditor claims

Aberdeen Group stands to lose more than £228m of secured debt and its equity after administrators sold the Airband business from administration to Voneus for £4.6m. HSBC, which had an estimated debt of £81m, will also recover only around £4m. The administrators’ report notes that employees of Airband have been TUPE’d across to Voneus.

Eutelsat orders 229 OneWeb satellites from Airbus

Eutelset has announced plans to order another 229 OneWeb Low Earth Orbit satellites with Airbus to help boost its OneWeb satellite network. This will take their total to 669 satellites, including the 440 already procured from Airbus. The investment is estimated at €1 billion.

“This is an exciting next step for OneWeb and for Eutelsat’s LEO strategy. With the first satellites from the 440 due for delivery and launch soon, our replenishment programme is moving forward. The planned addition of 229 more satellites will further strengthen OneWeb, while IRIS² will bring significant new capacity and capabilities. Together, they give us a powerful roadmap to serve our customers, grow our LEO business and reinforce our role at the heart of Europe’s sovereign connectivity future.”

Jean-François Fallacher, CEO, Eutelsat

Virgin Media O2 launches £3m fund to help rehome tech

Virgin Media O2 has launched a £3m fund to support local schemes that collect, refurbish and redistribute unwanted phones, tablets and laptops. The Tech Rehome Network Fund will run until 2030, with an initial £500k funding round open to councils, charities and community groups. Virgin Media O2 says there are around 460m unused digital devices sitting in homes and businesses across the UK, while 1.5m people still do not have access to a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

The fund builds on work already underway with Coventry City Council, where unwanted devices are refurbished and passed on through the council’s CovConnects digital inclusion programme.