Busy period for OneWeb with additional funding, launch of more satellites, and signing deal with BT for rural broadband provision
News Carriers
Tim Berners-Lee’s NFT Source Code Sells For $5.4m
Auction of an NFT of Tim Berners-Lee's original source code for the World Wide Web sells for $5.4 million at Sotheby’s this week
Shared Rural Network Update Issued By Government
Progress report on £1 billion Shared Rural Network shows Scotland, Wales, North East England benefiting from 4G rural coverage
Mobile World Congress Returns To Barcelona With ‘Hybrid’ Event
Mobile World Congress returns to Barcelona for Europe's first major tech conference since beginning of Covid-19 pandemic, with talks from Elon Musk and Samsung
EE First Operator To Reinstate European Roaming Charge
EE has become the first UK mobile operator to reinstate roaming charges for customers in Europe, but only for new and upgrading customers
Starlink Will Go Public When Cash Flow Stabilises – Elon Musk
SpaceX's Elon Musk confirms the Starlink broadband satellite venture will eventually apply for an initial public offering (IPO)
SpaceX Starlink To Provide Global Coverage By September
SpaceX's Starlink fleet of satellites is to deliver continuous global coverage by around September, its president has revealed
US Regulator Proposes More Restrictions For Huawei
Federal Communications Commission grants initial approval for rules banning new Huawei and ZTE equipment, and requiring carriers to 'rip and replace'
Sir Tim Berners-Lee To Auction Web Source Code As NFT
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is to auction off the original source code for World Wide Web as a NFT later this month, to raise funds for good causes
Biden Urged To Appoint FCC Commissioner To Speed Net Neutrality Return
US President Biden has been urged to appoint a fifth commissioner to “ensure a fully functional Federal Communications Commission"
Vodafone Chooses Samsung For 5G, Open RAN
Watch out Nokia, Ericsson? Samsung gains 5G foothold in Europe after Vodafone UK opts for equipment from South Korean giant
French Telecoms Giant Altice Acquires Stake In BT
France's second largest telecoms firm Altice purchases 12 percent stake in British carrier BT, but denies takeover intentions
US Senate Passes Bill To Counter China Tech Threat
US Senate passes $250bn US Innovation and Competition Act that seeks to counter global influence of Chinese technology, and encourage US innovation
Major Websites Down After Global Outage
Major internet outage knocks oflline big name websites such as UK Government, Amazon, CNN, Bloomberg, Financial Times offline
Openreach Doubles Rural Full Fibre Deployment Target
Good new for rural broadband as Openreach doubles its target for 1Gbps full fibre to 6.2 million rural homes and premises
Virgin Media, O2 Merger Achieves Final Clearance By CMA
CMA gives its official blessing to merger of O2 and Virgin Media, after being 'reassured that competition … will remain strong'
BT Targets Hull To Begin Removal Of Huawei Kit – Report
BT begins program to remove Huawei equipment from its 4G and 5G mobile network, with Hull in East Yorkshire being the first location
Google Cloud, SpaceX Sign Deal For Enterprise Cloud Services
Elon Musk's SpaceX is to deliver Google Cloud services to enterprises at the 'network edge', via the Starlink constellation
BT Raises FTTP Target To 25 Million Premises
Despite a tough financial year, an extra five million premises has been added to BT's deployment of FTTP broadband, creating thousands more jobs
Virgin Media Ranked Worst For Broadband, Mobile Wait Times
Virgin Media kept customers waiting longest on customer service calls for both mobile and broadband, while giffgaff and EE ranked best
Old Routers Pose Security Risk, Warns Which?
Elderly routers that can no longer receive firmware updates posed security risk to millions of people, consumer group Which? warns
Starlink Signs Up 500,000 Pre-Orders For Satellite Internet
Elon Musk space venture SpaceX has already signed 500,000 customers on pre-order for its Starlink satellite broadband service
BT Half Price Fibre Broadband For Low Income Households
More than four million households on Universal Credit could benefit after BT confirms at-cost social tariff for fibre broadband
Eutelsat Buys 24 Percent Stake In OneWeb For $550m
French satellite operator Eutelsat joins British government and Bharti, with investment so as to access to its LEO broadband constellation
OneWeb Grows Total Constellation To 182 satellites With New Launch
Latest satellite launch in Russia by government-owned OneWeb, increases total number of in-orbit constellation to 182 satellites
Telephone Landline Usage In ‘Terminal Decline’, Uswitch Finds
As usage of WhatsApp, Zoom etc soars, the humble telephone landline declines, with 26 percent not even bothering to connect a handset
Dutch Report Flagged Huawei Monitoring Of KPN Concerns – Report
Report ten years ago from Capgemini reportedly warned that Huawei may be able to monitor calls made by KPN's 6.5 million users
Rural Mobile Phone Masts To Be Heightened By 20 Percent
Government efforts to tackle rural not spots will see mobile phone masts being up to five metres taller than existing rules
UK Regulator Provisionally Approves Virgin, O2 Merger
CMA gives provisionally blessing to the 50/50 merger between Virgin Media and O2, after initial concerns over backhaul pricing
OneWeb ‘Milestone’ Launch Of Another 36 Satellites
Latest satellite launchin Russia by government-owned OneWeb, increases total number of in-orbit constellation to 146 satellites