thinkbroadband

Residents, businesses and visitors to Clocaenog in Denbighshire will now have 4G for the first time. EE has deployed a mini mast on an existing lamp post in the village. View of Clocaenog forest in Wales The village has extensive Openreach full fibre so the new 4G service is about removing a mobile not spot, and allowing people to be connected when outside the range of their home WiFi which is usually just a few metres down the road from their house.

When the broadband USO became reality back in 2020 with a 10 Mbps download sync speed it was hoped it would lead to lots more full fibre appearing in hard to reach areas, but for many the reality was actually a 4G fixed wireless service. Leap forward six years and ISPreview is reporting that Starlink has been confirmed as meeting the broadband USO by Ofcom.

Moody’s has published a report that takes a look at the UK broadband and compares penetration and take-up rates with the collective EU+UK. For years the UK was lagging seriously with regards to full fibre availability compared to the EU 27, but since around 2024 when the UK drew level rollouts have continued.

We covered our Openreach full fibre tracking hitting the 23 million milestone back on 4th July 2026, and now it is time for our regular 12th of the month summary of the Openreach FTTP rollouts. The pace of 1 million premises going Ready for Service a quarter appears to have been broken, and while the 25 million premises with Openreach full fibre built to them by the 2026 ambition remains possible the timetable is slipping.

A round up of some news that wasn’t covered this week. A contract to provide broadband for MP’s has been awarded to Onecom at a value of £2.58m for a three-year term. This gives an average price of £110 per month. Onecom have wholesale deals with Openreach, CityFibre and APFN, so will be able to offer broadband over these services, although the framework allows for fixed wireless and satellite technologies to be used.

The problem of fake and scam adverts across multiple platforms has been growing and often they will feature a well known celebrity with some fake claim to pull in the unsuspecting public. Ofcom is making it very clear to the Big Tech platforms that they MUST address this issue. Ofcom research indicates 51% of adults have seen these adverts and 36% are seeing them frequently.

DSIT, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with LSBUD, Line Search Before U Dig, to help improve safe digging practices. The signing marks a joint commitment between the two to help reduce accidental damage to the UK’s critical underground infrastructure. DSIT run the NUAR, the National Underground Asset Register, which is managed by Ordnance Survey on behalf of the government.

Age Verification for accessing adult content was a key part of the Online Safety Act 2023, and Ofcom who was given the powers to police this area for the United Kingdom has fined another porn website. The fine for hosting pornographic material and not implementing highly effective age assurance to determine if a visitor is over 18 in this case is £600,000 and a further penalty of £30,000 has been imposed for failing to respond to a legally binding information request on time.

It has been a concern for a while and had the possibility of making installation of full fibre Gigabit capable broadband in flats and homes harder and more expensive, in terms of paperwork and time recording everything. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has today announced dispensation from building regulation controls for when installing broadband in flats and houses.

Ses Indy who has 25 years of experience working in the digital infrastructure and fixed telecommunications sector has joined nexfibre in the role of Chief Commercial Officer. Ses Indy joins from Openreach where he had worked for 17 years working closely with providers like Sky, Vodafone and PXC with a focus on wholesale strategy. “I am delighted to be joining nexfibre at such an exciting and important stage in its growth journey.