In a new series developed by the bOnline team, we give you a round-up of the most important news in UK telecom.
Broadband
Boris Johnson announces plans to prioritise mobile coverage, particularly in rural areas
Conservative Prime Minister has also announced plans to prioritise mobile coverage in rural areas. Boris Johnson aims to bring £5 billion towards gigabit broadband to the UK. Poor broadband speeds have been a notable issue for rural areas with many households and businesses struggling with their connection.
A rise in super-fast broadband in the UK
Moving on, an independent study has estimated that fixed super-fast broadband has in fact risen to 96.45% while full-fibre (FTTP) now reaches 11.01% of premises up from 8.13 and 59.30& can get 100Mpbs+ up from 57.5%. Currently, the government's target remains set on their goal by 2023 to ensure that every home and business premise has access to full-fibre.
Landline
Openreach delay SOGEA and Prep FTTC Price Cut
Openreach has delayed the launch of their Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA) allowing broadband ISP line without acquiring a phone line. This is due to a concern over failure rates, the 40Mbps Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) is also due for a price cut. SOGEA is set to shake up telecommunications and lead the way for small businesses to move to VoIP.
VoIP
Ofcom UK Soften Openreach Rules for IP and FTTP Migration Trials
Ofcom is consulting on a new proposal that could remove a few key pieces of regulation from Openreach which is intended to support their analogue telephone (WLR) to digital voice (VoIP) and copper to "full-fibre" (FTTP) Exchange Upgrade trails.
Ofcom announces another 5G spectrum auction for the UK in spring 2020
Ofcom has confirmed its plans to hold an auction for low and mid-band 5G spectrum in Spring 2020. In a statement, Ofcom will include companies bidding for spectrum in two frequency bands. However, the UK telecoms watchdog has not yet confirmed when it will auction the high band that will allow mobile operations to offer fast trans-formative speeds.
Check back next quarter where we round up the next set of news of small business telecoms!
