Residents and businesses in part of Manchester are a step closer to having a “true open access network which will revolutionise ways of working and using digital communications.” That’s according to the Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA), which has announced the appointment of a firm to deliver its next-generation fibre-optic broadband project.

Providing a nationwide network of next generation broadband could cost as much as £29bn, according to the influential telecommunications industry body, the Broadband Stakeholder’s Group (BSG). If that leaves ISPs and broadband users wondering where the investment is coming from, the long awaited ‘Caio report’ (PDF download) suggests that it’s unlikely to be coming from [...]

Remarks by the Chair of Ofcom’s Consumer Panel that ‘next generation’ broadband should skip a generation to prioritise those without broadband today have been met with a muted response from the two companies that could potentially build the required nationwide network.
Neither BT nor Virgin Media was able to answer positively SamKnows’ question of how people [...]