Category: Regulation

While everyone apart from perhaps the terrorists and criminals want the Police and Intelligence services to be able to do their job, sneaking in law changes to increase the online surveillance of the whole population and not just people involved in a specific case is back on the agenda.

5G is a buzzword that is almost as popular as selfie sticks have been at tech trade shows, but the reality may not actually be mobile 10 to 50 Gbps connections.

We have been here before with the old Margin Squeeze Test that existed before 2004, and Ofcom has acted to ensure that retail price competition means that competitors to BT should always be cheaper.

Ed Richards at Ofcom has seen many changes in the last eight years and steps done in less than two weeks, his replacement has now been announced.

It will upset a fair few people but the original comments made by Jeremy Hunt some years ago about best broadband in Europe of the major countries is dangerously close to being a reality.

Relish is the most successful incarnation of UK Broadband yet that has previously tried to compete in the UK with roll-outs in Swindon but seems to be gaining some traction in the central London area.

G.fast has now received its physical layer specification approval from the ITU which means the silicon manufactures can now move ahead at full speed to produce kit for Telco's around the world.

The last week has a seen a lot of mis-information on what a new bill will mean for broadband providers and the millions of businesses and consumers using them, alas even with the new bill now available it is still not clear.

The success of LLU has driven broadband competition for almost ten years in the UK now and has underpinned the slashing of telephone bills, even in the face of rising line rental costs. The EU though has endorsed now for the second time the concept of virtual unbundling.

The Ofcom speed test analysis may mean very little to individuals, but given they are the national regulator its research does represent an important cog in the puzzle of how UK Broadband is behaving.