SamKnows

Will the 50p phone line tax only bring fibre to 80% of the UK ?

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

The Business and Enterprise Committee are to hold an inquiry into Broadband speeds in the UK.

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

A new report is backing alternative models for putting fast broadband into rural areas, arguing the Digital Britain report’s proposed levy on phone lines may not be enough.

Outlaw.com concludes that net neutrality has no status in UK law.

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

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

If you’ve not got time to read the full 245 pages of Digital Britain, Samknows.com is here to help you understand what it means for the country’s online future. Because it’s a special occasion we’ve got our first ever interview with Samknows co-founder Alex Salter.

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.

Communications regulator OFCOM has given BT Openreach the green light to operate active electronics in its access network.

The countdown for Phorm could well and truly be starting, revealing by the end of the year if it really is on track to live up to its hype and serve £239m worth of adverts within two years.

The General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress says that “up to 25% of all online TV piracy” takes place in the UK and that the country “has the unenviable position of a world leader” in that respect. Writing for The Telegraph, Brendan Barber has argued there’s just one week left to save Britain’s creative industries - and of course he’s referring to the upcoming Digital Britain report.

Channel 4 is moving its Catch-Up TV service fully over to channel4.com where it will be streamed and compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

The BBC Trust has asked the BBC management to address a number of points raised in responses to the recent consultation on Project Canvas before proceeding to the next stage.

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.”

At around the same time as Sir Alan tells one would-be Apprentice ‘you’re fired’ tonight, Phorm will be launching what it claims has always been the ‘missing piece’ in its ‘rounded offering’.
However, one can only imagine what the business guru would have to say to Phorm if he were there in person. With six months

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

Spotify has been pressured for months to seal its legitimacy and sign up for a PRS for Music licence and SamKnows can now reveal that the hugely successful music streaming service has agreed terms with the UK body which represents music writers and publishers.
Although Spotify’s Chief Technology Officer, Andreas Ehn, would only coyly reveal last