Four reasons to fear Labour’s plan to part-nationalise BT November 15, 2019 British businesses today poured scorn on Labour’s plans to provide Brits with free broadband and part-nationalise BT, slamming the policy as a major setback for the UK’s digital economy. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has set out plans to nationalise BT’s full-fibre arm, Openreach, along with other divisions, funding it by taxing multinational tech giants. Read [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s British broadband speech in full November 15, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has laid out plans to provide free full fibre broadband to every UK household and part-nationalise BT this morning. Labour said that the policy, the cost of which was estimated at £20bn, would be funded by taxing multinational tech giants. The policy announcement sent BT’s share price down over two per cent this [...]
Labour’s BT plans force Talk Talk to pause sale of Fibrenation November 15, 2019 Broadband provider Talk Talk’s chief executive Tristia Harrison said that Labour’s plans to nationalise BT’s Openreach arm had forced the company to pause negotiations over the sale of its Fibrenation sister business. On a call with reporters, Harrison said: “Negotiations are going very well, but the news overnight means that we are all pausing, considering [...]
Vodafone expands full-fibre network with Openreach deal November 11, 2019 Vodafone is set to expand its full-fibre broadband network to three new UK cities after signing a new commercial deal with Openreach. Customers of the telecoms firm will be able to access the superfast network in Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool from spring 2020, taking its total reach to 15 UK towns and cities. Read more: [...]
BT shares fall as Virgin Media ditches telco for Vodafone network November 6, 2019 Virgin Media is leaving BT’s mobile network for rival Vodafone from late 2021, in a five-year deal that will give its customers access to new services including 5G. Under the deal, Vodafone will supply wholesale mobile services including voice and data to over three million Virgin Mobile and Virgin Media Business customers until 2026. Read [...]
BT keeps dividend alive despite heavy network spending October 31, 2019 BT kept its dividend alive despite a hit to earnings and revenue in the first half of new boss Philip Jansen’s first financial year due to hits from regulation and legacy product declines. The telco posted a flat profit and interim dividend as it pushes to try and roll out fibre broadband to 4m premises [...]
Why BT’s house party with EE is about to end in a hangover October 9, 2019 If there’s a crisis on the British high street, no one told Philip Jansen. The BT boss has announced that his company will return to bricks-and-mortar, shacking up with mobile subsidiary EE. The shops are part of a wider transformation plan at the telecoms stalwart. Since taking over as chief executive in February, Jansen has [...]
Boris Johnson set to unveil £5bn full-fibre broadband boost September 29, 2019 Boris Johnson is said to be preparing a subsidy of up to £5bn in a much-needed boost for his plans to roll out full-fibre broadband across the UK by 2025. The Prime Minister could unveil the fresh funding at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester this week, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing industry and Westminster [...]
Broadband firms pledge to cut prices after Ofcom review September 25, 2019 Major UK broadband providers have pledged to cut prices for out-of-contract customers after Ofcom carried out a review into the market. Sky, BT and Talktalk have all agreed to allow customers whose initial contracts have ended to get the same deals as new customers when they renew their contracts. Read more: BT leads push for [...]
BT Group ‘leads push for timetable’ on Britain’s big broadband switch September 18, 2019 BT Group and other broadband infrastructure firms are said to be holding talks with the government about a timetable for switching off copper broadband services. In a move that would echo the switch-off of analogue TV signal in 2012, BT is reportedly spearheading the initiative, which has been under discussion with other firms, regulators and [...]