SamKnows

Something very unusual has started to happen in the UK over the past couple of years and it is has been happening in Scandinavia too. Alcatel-Lucent, which rolls out broadband networks and switching equipment across the UK for the likes of BT, among several others, has started to receive an increasing amount of calls for

Within two years BT Business will be making more from selling software services than monthly broadband connection fees. In fact, its figures suggest it could be making three to four times as much per user by selling software as the connection it runs across.
That is the bold prediction of Jerry Thompson, Director of Products and

Adrian Wooster has a simple message for the those stuck in ‘not-spots’; get organised and don’t expect the government or BT to go out of their way to bring fibre to your community.
As Chief Technology Officer for the Community Broadband Network (CBN) he helps communities and, more usually, local councils to plan how to bring

The Digital Britain report is out at last and there was a proverbial rabbit in the hat for Lord Carter to pull out; a 50p per month tax on telephone line connections to raise roughly £150m a year to push back the geographic barriers of faster web access.
Other than that, the report was largely as

A look at the 50p/month telephone tax and how it will be used to provide next generation access to the “Final Third”.

We look at the detail in the Digital Britain final report to see what the Universal Service Commitment really means.

Today’s the day (rumours abound that there may be a slight delay while a BBC Worldwide/Channel 4 Deal is finalised) that Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report comes out. Hurrah, about bloody time too, etc etc. We’ve been speculating about what’s going to be in there and, while not quite going so far as printing Digital

Not everyone without broadband will take it up - even if it’s offered to them for free. That’s according to new research from communications regulator Ofcom, which says over forty per cent of “disconnected” adults would be happy to stay that way.

The man in charge of the UK’s biggest ISP says that, when it comes to preventing illegal file-sharing, too much attention is being paid to peer-to-peer networking and the role ISPs can play to stop it. Speaking ahead of the impending final Digital Britain report, Charles Dunstone said “we need to be careful that politicians do not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends up looking stupid.”

Now then, just how important is the internet connection in your life? According to a recent survey by OFCOM advisory group the Communications Consumer Panel 73 per cent of the 2,000 people polled feel that broadband is right up there alongside water, electricity and other utilities, while 84 per cent agreed that everyone should have

Two weeks ago we were contacted by the BBC who wanted to run a story on UK Broadband. This followed on from a meeting we’d previously had with them where we’d discussed the lack of information around ‘Not-spots’, what they are, where they are and what they mean, etc…

ThinkBroadband have launched a survey to collate information on locations without broadband (notspots) or with speeds below 2 Mbits/s (slowspots). A support forum is also available.

Vodafone and O2 can breathe a sigh of relief. A Government spectrum farming report has decided that neither company should be forced to give up any of its most valuable mobile broadband spectrum. However, the carrot of spectrum released by switching off analogue tv in 2012 remains in front of the pair to tempt them

Sky has launched a scathing attack on the BBC and the BBC Trust over the proposed Project Canvas which would see BBC, ITV and BT collaboration on a set top box which would bring online video content to the living room - essentially a Freeview box but with iPlayer-style functionality.
Sky’s response to the BBC Trust

A future Conservative government would build Digital Britain with an injection of more common sense and new powers at local government level as well as encouraging community groups to petition local authorities for fibre. Far more controversially, though, Ed Vaizey, Shadow Minister for the Creative Industries, reveals the Conservatives would give private investors access to

With the upcoming launch of their new HYLAS satellite Avanti are promoting satellite broadband as the solution to a universal broadband service. In a Daily Mail article a price point of £15/month is suggested which is well below the £47/month for a 2M/512k service with 15 GB download offered by Avanti via the Scottish Government’s

Eutelsat communications has launched their “Tooway” satellite broadband service with a pitch for providing Lord Carter’s 2Mbits/s “Universal” Service Obligation (USO). This is a 2-way satellite service with 2Mbits/s download and 256k or 384k upload depending on the satellite chosen. Faster services up to 10M are forecast for 2010.
Although proclaiming “Affordable broadband for homes faced

We’re running out of cyberspace and will all be suffering net “brownouts” in couple of years time, according to an American technology think-tank (and no, it’s nothing to do with the UK prime minister). Nemertes Research says that, because online video providers like YouTube and BBC iPlayer are taking up increasing amounts of bandwidth, we

It may have been the first country to get a man on the moon but now America’s playing catch-up in the national broadband stakes. After announcements from the U.K., South Korea and Australia, the U.S. is starting work on its own strategy that could - after an initial year-long period of consultation - bring

The Australian Government is set to pour around £21 billion pounds into upgrading its broadband network after it decided against private investment. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised fast and affordable broadband when he was elected in 2007 and calls the country a “broadband backwater.” “Just as railway tracks laid out the future of the 19th Century