Advanced Television

Matt Warman

Openreach boost for low-income households

UK digital infrastructure provider Openreach is providing extra support to low-income households by offering to waive superfast broadband connection fees for any customers who aren’t currently connected to its network and receive Universal Credit with no other earnings. The initiative follows a recent report from industry regulator Ofcom which highlighted that households across the UK […]

September 7, 2021By Colin Mann

VMO2 hits gigabit network milestone

UK multiplay telco Virgin Media O2 has added one-and-a-half million homes to its gigabit network, meaning that more than half of its footprint can now access hyperfast broadband speeds. As part of the gigabit switch-on, Virgin Media O2 has upgraded its network in locations across the UK, with residents in towns and cities such as […]

August 11, 2021By Colin Mann

UK: Broadband in water pipes

The UK government is undertaking a three-year pilot designed to accelerate the rollout of broadband and mobile in rural areas. The Fibre in Water scheme is also attempting to reduce leakage from the public water supply – about 20 per cent of the water in the system. The government is putting up to £4 million […]

August 9, 2021

UK high-tech lab to speed 5G development

Digital Catapult, the UK’s leading agency for the early adoption of advanced digital technologies, is joining forces with comms regulator Ofcom to launch a new high-tech lab to speed up the development of 5G communication kit and help Britain diversify its supply chains. The government-backed £1 million (€0.84m) SONIC Labs will help accelerate the adoption […]

June 25, 2021

UK cellcos enhance rural coverage

Three of the UK’s mobile operators – O2, Three and Vodafone – are partnering to build and share 222 new mobile masts to boost rural coverage across the United Kingdom and deliver the first stage of the Shared Rural Network (SRN), a £1 billion programme to improve rural mobile coverage agreed by the mobile network […]

January 27, 2021By Colin Mann

New homes boost for full fibre roll-out

Barratt Developments, Britain’s biggest house builder, has partnered with digital infrastructure provider Openreach to ensure that its ultrafast ‘Full Fibre’ broadband is installed as standard across all of its new build developments. The move means that all of the c.15,000 new homes that Barratt builds every year will now provide access to a Full Fibre […]

January 26, 2021By Colin Mann

5G stadium project gets government funding

The DTG (Digital TV Group) the centre of UK digital TV, in partnership with Digital Catapult, Global Wireless Solutions, O2, Rohde & Schwarz, have successfully secured Government funding to develop a 5G mobile based platform to broadcast events in stadiums and other venues. DTG and partners plan to provide enhanced interactive viewing experiences direct to […]

January 13, 2021By Colin Mann

Consortium to produce AR app

BBC Studios, the Corporation’s commercial arm, 5G mobile network operator EE, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Talesmith and Dimension Studios have unveiled The Green Planet 5G AR Consortium, led by the immersive content studio Factory 42. The Consortium will work together on an innovation project to explore and develop a ground- breaking AR experience inspired by […]

January 13, 2021By Colin Mann

MPs warn of UK connectivity target failure

The UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee is warning the Government that it risks failing to meet its revised-down target for gigabit-capable broadband in the face of considerable challenges to infrastructure roll-out. Evidence to the ‘Broadband and the road to 5G inquiry’ found little confidence that nationwide gigabit-capable broadband by 2025 […]

December 22, 2020By Colin Mann

Report: 5G rollout delays could cost UK billions

Delays to the rollout of 5G could cost the UK tens of billions of pounds in lost economic output, according to a new report by the Centre for Policy Studies. In the CPS report, Upwardly Mobile: How the UK can gain the full benefits of the 5G revolution, former Government advisers Alex Jackman and Nick […]

October 6, 2020By Colin Mann