The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has unveiled its plans today to give 100m American households 100Mb by 2020. The National Broadband Plan would bring next generation access speeds to 90% of Americans and also give schools, hospitals and military facilities a 1Gb connection.
It is estimated to cost in the region of $350bn or £233bn but [...]

The government needs to ensure the new universal service commitment of 2Mb is met throughout rural communities before funding next generation access to urban areas, according to Charles Trotman, Head of Rural Business Development at the Coutry Land and Business Association (CLA) and leading voice behind a newly-formed pressure group, Final Third First.
He, and fellow [...]

Is the threat of being disconnected from the internet encouraging digital pirates to change their behaviour?

On 2nd March the EC opened a consultation on the future of universal service in a digital era.

TalkTalk is calling on Ofcom to ban BT, and any other provider, from using ‘rolling contracts’ to hook customers in to long-term contracts.
BT came under heavy criticism yesterday in a Which? report for using contracts which tie consumers in to the service for 18 months and are then renewed at the end of the 18 [...]

The Government’s plan to introduce a 50p levy on all telephone land lines has run in to heavy criticism from an all-party group of MPs.
The Business Innovation and Skills Committee has labelled the tax as “ill-directed” because it takes money from everyone to deliver a gain that not all will see. As the committee concluded:
“We [...]

European Commission seems happy but rival firms could yet put a spanner in the works.

BT’s decision this week to open its fibre ducts to competitors has been given a cautious welcome by rivals.
However, the overriding concern is that there are no firm details from BT about how access will be given and under what terms. With the growing politicisation of fibre, for its ability to bring ‘next generation’ broadband [...]

The Tories have been unveiling their digital ambitions.

The Independent Spectrum Broker admits moves toward Digital Britain came at “wrong point in the electoral cycle.”

How the anti-piracy measures included in its Digital Economy Bill could work in practice.

The Digital Economy Bill has been having its first “line by line examination” in Parliament this week.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has opened up a three month consultation period to gather views on how the Next Generation Fund could best be used to bring Next Generation Access to 90% of the population by 2017. Estimates suggest the fund could reach as much as a billion pounds within that period.
The [...]

You won’t be seeing any more of the Tiscali logo as the brand is officially decommissioned.

The new presidency’s agenda includes a proposal to make broadband provision compulsory in Europe.

The BT Group is waging a war on two fronts: versus the Government on one side, battling TalkTalk and Sky on the other.

Not only has BT Retail declared itself the first UK Internet Service Provider to reach the five million customer milestone, it’s also revealed it’s ahead of schedule when it comes to installing its next-generation broadband network

British broadband, fixed line and mobile prices are among the most competitive in the West, according to research published by Ofcom today.
It has compared the cost of bundling together a fixed line phone with broadband, as well as allowing for moderate mobile phone use and some pay television. The results show that at a price [...]

Project Canvas can now boast of two major new partners.  Broadcaster, Channel 4 and ISP, TalkTalk have joined the project which is aimed at creating a television platform which combines Freeview (and possibly pay per view) broadcasting with internet video content.
Channel 4 and TalkTalk join the BBC, ITV, Five and BT meaning that all public [...]

While all the industry, parliamentary and media attention currently appears to be on Clause 17 of the Digital Economy Bill, another clause could mean the “Government will be able to take increased control over the Internet and what passes over it.” That’s according to Francis Davey, a practising barrister and legal advisor to the technology sector, who says Clause 11 of the Bill could allow the Secretary of State to block groups of websites and implement “technical measures which could be imposed by stealth.”