Superfast broadband will now be available to every home and business in the Priory Vale area of Swindon following a trial period. Approximately 500 properties took part in the trial, which involved being connected via a fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband. This connection offers 330Mbps speeds and after the trial, this will be extended to 1,000 homes and businesses.
The new Digital Economy Bill is set to go in front of parliament today and could be in place as early as next spring. The Bill, which guarantees a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps under the new Universal Service Obligation (USO), set out by the prime minister last October, is set to give rural homes and businesses a significant boost as they gain access to faster internet speeds.
Over 52,500 businesses and residential homes in Northumberland have now been connected to superfast broadband, thanks to the county’s iNorthumberland scheme.
Superfast Dorset has announced that its 500th fibre broadband cabinet has officially gone live in the village of Winterborne Houghton, with its residents the latest in the county to gain access to superfast broadband.
The organisation which represents the interests of land, property and business owners in rural England and Wales, has called for the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) regarding superfast broadband speeds to be enshrined in law.
The majority of homes and businesses in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire now have access to superfast broadband, thanks to a fibre optic broadband rollout programme in the two counties.
Local authorities have been under-spending on their broadband rollouts, which will give the government project Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) extra funds to achieve its goals.
More than 33,000 homes and businesses in North Lincolnshire now have access to superfast fibre broadband thanks to the rollout of a broadband scheme, according to the most recent figures.
Slow broadband is being blamed for areas of Britain not having access to online services, including BBC iPlayer, according to research from King’s College London.
The county of Essex has been praised by the UK government for being one of the top four counties in delivering superfast broadband. The compliment about the county's implementation of broadband services came at a conference hosted by Superfast Essex and was made by Christ Townsend, the chief executive of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).
Two villages in the county of Herefordshire have now been connected with a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connection ensuring speeds of up to 100Mb.
The march of cloud computing into UK businesses is continuing to gather pace, with financial companies now being given permission to use it by the industry regulator.
Football fans following the Euro 2016 online could face a struggle to watch their nation this summer, thanks to slow and inadequate broadband connections.
Businesses are struggling under the poor broadband service being offered in parts of Wales, the chief executive of IT company Cisco has said.
Consumer group Which? has called on the advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to ban companies from advertising super-fast broadband speeds when there are currently more than 15 million households who do not get the speeds they pay for.
The Isle of the Wight's rural broadband project has now been completed, with superfast broadband available to 99 per cent of households and businesses on the island, making it one of the best-connected areas in the UK.
Devon and Somerset are set to have at least 95 per cent of their counties connected to superfast broadband by the end of 2017, thanks to the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme.
The European Commission has given the UK National Broadband Scheme the green light, giving the go ahead for the UK to look at the designs for extending next-generation broadband access by 2020.
A new EU report has revealed that more than a third of UK households are signed up to superfast internet connections.
The European Commission has told the government it does not do enough to provide people living in rural areas access to high-speed networks.
Soon every family in the UK will have the right to demand 'fast' broadband, it was announced in the Queen's Speech. However, families in rural areas may still have to pay thousands of pounds to access it.
Key areas of Scotland are set to miss out on receiving superfast broadband because they are not part of the UK Broadband Delivery Programme, according to The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Latest figures released by the Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire programme have revealed that 90 per cent of properties in Newark and Sherwood now have access to superfast broadband.
The government's review of the business broadband and leased lines is set to close its call for evidence on 3 June 2016.
More than 95 per cent of homes and businesses in Nottinghamshire now have access to super fast fibre optic broadband ahead of schedule, according to a project. The Better Broadband for Nottinghamshire (BBfN) project is a joint venture between Nottinghamshire County Council and BT and is co-funded by the government's Broadband Delivery UK scheme.
Hundreds of local councils have signed up to The Daily Telegraph's broadband campaign, after it warned that Britain's rural areas faced becoming a “digital twilight zone”.
Rural services that do not currently have will fast internet connections will have to request broadband services, it has been confirmed by the government.
Homeowners will be able to take out a broadband connection without being forced to take a phone line under plans announced by BT.
The advertising watchdog has announced plans to crack down on the way broadband prices are advertised after criticisms from MPs and companies. However, it will not review rules on how top speeds are advertised.
Average speeds in 42 towns and cities in the UK are less than 24Mbps, according to research carried out by uSwitch.
Workers would happily work from home if they felt they could still perform their job to the same standard, according to research by Citrix. The survey found that over half of workers (54 per cent) would not commute into London and would happily work from home if the internet speeds and transport links were to a similar level.
More than 122,000 homes and businesses across the Highlands and Scottish Islands are now connected to superfast internet. The 120 villages that would not have previously been reached under the wider rollout can now get the fibre optic broadband, with around 70 per cent of the region able to connect.
Research carried out by Cable.co.uk has shown that two-thirds of fibre broadband customers are not aware that their fibre service arrives at their home through a standard copper line.
Rural areas could be set to miss out on the new pledge set out by the government, which will require that households receive minimum speeds of 10Mbps by 2020. This confession comes from minister Ed Vaizey, who said that there were parts of the UK where installation costs would be simply too much and that the government would not be willing to cover their upgrade costs.
Rural businesses and homes that are unable to get the minimum broadband service of 10Mbps that comes as part of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) should be given some form of compensation, according to the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).
The way broadband speeds are advertised is misleading for consumers and needs to be changed, a cross-party group of 50 MPs have said.
According to research carried out by Vodafone UK, one in five of Britons prioritise broadband over water or gas when they move into a new home.
The Plaid Cymru party has pledged superfast broadband by 2017 if they win the elections and gain power at the assembly, the party has stated. All homes would get access to this superfast broadband and would build on the original Superfast Cymru scheme, which aims to deliver fast internet to 96 per cent of Welsh homes and businesses by 2016.
The UK government has achieved the Universal Service Obligations (USO) targets set in 2010 of making superfast broadband available to 90 per cent of all homes.
A new tool has been released by broadband and telecoms regulator Ofcom in a bid to help consumers see what internet speeds and mobile reception they should typically receive in their area.
The government will not push through another national broadband roll-out programme, which would have ensured its universal service agreement of providing every person in Britain with access to 10Mbps connections by 2020, according to its consultation document.
An ultrafast broadband could be set up in Liverpool using ducts owned by the council, which would result in no expenses in digging up the roads and pavements to install the network. The council would offer the utilisation of the ducts in exchange for rental income and a share of the revenue.
A poll by YouGov for the Foundation for Information Society Policy (FISP) has found that there is widespread unhappiness among Londoners when it comes to broadband speeds and provisions in the capital. Over a million Londoners are unhappy with their broadband speed, according to the poll, and only a third believe that the city has the capacity to meet demands.
Rural broadband speeds are forcing businesses to move to urban areas, according to the Countryside and Landowners Association. A new report released by Ofcom has shown that the average speed for cities is 50.5Mpbs whereas in the countryside it is just 13.7Mbps. They have also shown that those that have a fixed broadband connection receive less than 10Mbps on average.
Britain's smallest city now has superfast fibre broadband as part of the Superfast Cymru project.
The county of Cambridgeshire is set to get a £5.3 million injection of cash into its superfast broadband programme. The aim is to get more fibre connections to more businesses and homes, and will be one of the highest take-ups of fibre broadband in the UK.
Monthly rental landline charges for householders could be scrapped if the landline isn't being used, according to proposals set out by the culture minister.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, didn't specifically mention the word broadband in his recent Budget speech. However, the government has promised to establish a new fund, called the Broadband Investment Fund, to support the establishment and growth of alternative broadband options.
Rural companies are missing out on business opportunities because of the failure to provide good broadband services, ministers have been told at a recent debate. The debate, led by Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman, was over the recently released Ofcom review and, in particular, over poor customer service.
A report released by Ofcom has shown significant concerns regarding Openreach's closeness to BT, and its cost structure to other competitors. In the report, the body found that Openreach is primarily managed by the BT group, who control Openreach's budget, how much is spent on network connections and also pricing for competitors' access to lines.
