Weekly Brief — 31 October 2025

GoFibre named as top 50 fastest growing businesses in Scotland

Scottish broadband provider GoFibre has been named as one of the top 50 fastest growing businesses in Scotland by UK Fast Growth Index which identifies the fifty fastest growing companies in seven regions and nations.

“Being named among Scotland’s fastest-growing companies is an incredible honour and achievement for GoFibre. As a company we’ve demonstrated strong commercial success, not just in the context of the independent broadband provider sector, but as a Scottish company generally. Our growth has been built on our ambitious, people-friendly culture – adding customers while retaining our hyper-local, customer-centred approach, demonstrated for instance by our industry-leading Trustpilot score. I’m so proud of all that GoFibre has achieved since our founding in the Borders in 2017 and look forward to continued growth while retaining what makes GoFibre unique.”

Neil Conaghan, CEO, GoFibre

GoFibre has built infrastructure around the East side of Scotland from Aberdeen down to the border, as well as the area around Barnard Castle in England.

Ofcom: Mobile Network Operators commit on wholesale prices for business bulk SMS messages

Ofcom has issued a statement confirming it has received commitments from Mobile Network Operators on bulk pricing for Application-to-person (A2P) SMS messages. These are messages used to notify you of doctor’s appointments, delivering two-factor authentication codes* and other notifications from companies

* Using SMS-based two-factor authentication is not hugely safe due to the risk of SIM Swapping, especially for financial services. We’re conscious banks often use them, however there are far better 2FA systems you can use including the Google Authenticator-type services (although you don’t need to use Google’s app.

“Ofcom has received commitments from mobile operators to help stabilise the wholesale prices of automated text messages that organisations send to people [..] Businesses who send these texts typically contract with a Messaging Service Provider, which then uses the services of an Aggregator, who contracts with mobile operators – including EE, O2, Sky and VodafoneThree – for delivery of the text messages. [..] We have been concerned about the potential for future increases in the wholesale prices charged by mobile operators to Aggregators

As a result of our review, EE, O2, Sky and VodafoneThree have made voluntary commitments relating to their wholesale prices, and the frequency, notice periods and timing of price increases. The commitments last until the end of 2028, and we estimate they collectively cover more than 90% of A2P SMS sold to Aggregators.”

BT launches new security service with Crowdstrike

BT in partnership with CrowdStrike has launched an AI-powered security solution for small and medium sized businesses. It has announced research that hackers are monitoring UK organisations through laptops and mobile phones. The research shows that professional services (lawyers, accountants, etc.), retail and hospitality sectors are more targeted by ransomware. Companies with under 25 staff are also more likely to be affected. IoT devices (like security cameras) can also become a target. It says this is about bringing the enterprise-grade solutions to smaller businesses.

Cybercrime is a threat to all businesses, not just the household names that make headlines when they get hacked. Although small businesses often don’t consider themselves prime targets, they’re under attack like never before, as cybercriminals increasingly use AI to scan for and exploit vulnerabilities. We’re committed to delivering leading technologies that secure organisations of all sizes enabling them to focus on growing their business.

Chris Sims, Chief Commercial Officer, BT Business

Adversaries are weaponising AI to launch faster, more targeted attacks – and BT’s data shows the scale of that threat is only accelerating. At CrowdStrike, we’ve harnessed AI to stop breaches before they happen. Together with BT, we’re bringing that same AI-powered protection and expertise to UK small and medium-sized businesses, giving them the power to stay ahead of even the most sophisticated adversaries.

Daniel Bernard, Chief Business Officer, CrowdStrike