Weekly Brief – 17th April 2026

Our weekly update on broadband news.

North Isles, Orkney subsea cable repair underway

Following the arrival of the cable-laying/repair ship Pierre de Fermat, around 8km of cable has been replaced, with the damage reportedly due to abrasion on the seabed, which is laid across a rocky route. Part of the repair work has seen this rerouted to help reduce future risk. The Orkney Local Emergency Coordination Group (OLECG) met yesterday afternoon, during which this was discussed, and the reports from BT advised that they are on schedule to restore connectivity by Saturday, 18th April.

AST SpaceMobile announces launch date of the largest communications array deployed in LEO

BlueBird 7 will launch on Sunday, 19th April, with a launch window of 645am to 845am EDT on Blue Origin’s New Glenn-3 mission. The satellite being launched is designed to support 4G and 5G broadband speeds, which are expected to “greatly exceed 120Mbps” peak data rate.

TOTSCo approves business switching price reduction

The board of TOTSCo has announced that they have approved a drop in price for switching business services through the TOTSCo platform. The unit price was originally planned at £1.70 per customer, but will now drop to £1.60. They have also announced that providers with fewer than 20,000 customers will not be charged until the live operation of the business switching platform begins. 

Zen launches mesh WiFi for SMEs using eero

Zen has announced they have partnered with Amazon’s eero to roll out Wi-Fi mesh technology to full fibre broadband customers. The company hope the new technology will enable businesses to provide a more reliable Wi-Fi connection to their employees and customers with an improved WiFi service, helping to improve coverage.

Netomnia wins FTTH Europe 2026 Operator Award

The FTTH Council Europe has awarded Netmonia as the winner of the FTTH Europe 2026 Operator Award. FTTH Council Europe say that the award acknowledges a company that has significantly contributed to the development and roll-out of FTTH in Europe and states that Netomnia won this for its “exceptional contribution to the development and widespread implementation of FTTH”.

They weren’t the only UK-based winner, with Trevor Linney, Network Technology Director at Openreach, winning the FTTH Individual Award for his “efforts in championing the advancement of FTTH technology in Europe”.