Amazon to form a ISP in Europe / UK?

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2474587/amazon-reportedly-primes-own-internet-service-in-europe

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/10/amazon-mooting-broadband-isp-uk-europe.html

Keen to wholesale eh?

Wouldn't seem logical to go with Sky as they are a direct competitor in the OTT market. BT? Maybe as they are mostly sport on the OTT side.

TalkTalk have been in the wholesale game a long while so would be a good bet. Especially as they try to sure up dwindling consumer numbers.

Vodafone are more recently back in the fixed line market game with a OTT offering as well. Maybe a deal to be had there as well.

Basically it's a crowded market to enter in the UK but if anyone could do it, Amazon can! Wouldn't be great news for the likes of smaller ISP's such as John Lewis in that space. Amazon has deals with the likes of Morrisons where it could get some marketing across as well.

BT Claims Future G.fast Broadband Delivers 300Mbps Speeds at 350 Metres

Article at ISPreview:

"The CTO of BT’s Wholesale division, Colin Bannon, has revealed that their future G.fast (ITU G.9701) broadband technology has also been tested on longer copper lines of 350 metres and the operator found that at this distance it was still able to deliver Internet speeds of 300Mbps."
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/06/bt-claims-future-g-fast-broadband-delivers-300mbps-speeds-at-350-metres.html

Premier League rights: Sky Sports & BT win UK broadcasting rights as price tops £5billion

I guess Sky thought they had to 'Go big or go home' at this auction. The share price had dropped about 50p by the end of the day on announcement (903p) and has recovered pretty  well today (933p).

God only knows what these auctions will be like in a few years, The prices paid are insane. Hopefully we won't get to a point where Ofcom has to step in to protect consumers from rising subscription costs,

I can't help but think the Premier League should be forced to feed more money down into the lower leagues as well or justify the amounts raised in some way. I would be nigh on impossible for a startup to enter the market without huge backing from the likes of say; Vodafone or Liberty Global these days.

Hopefully this won't effect Sky's commitment to original programming that they started making more noise about after the Champions league rights went in BT's favor previously. .

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/premier-league-tv-rights-sky-sports-and-bt-sport-win-uk-broadcasting-rights-as-price-tops-5billion-10036935.html

BT confirms it’s in exclusive negotiations to buy EE for £12.5 billion

So it's looking more and more likely now.

BT would then have a quad-play offering akin to Virgin Media. It will be interesting to see how Sky and TalkTalk react. TalkTalk already has the quad-play offering with YouView and an MVNO mobile product which is something Sky lacks.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2014/12/15/bt-confirms-exclusive-negotiations-buy-ee-12-5-billion/?fromcat=uk

Openreach launches new 40Gbps & 100Gbps optical capability for uk communications providers

BT Press release:

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=8F009284-A81F-4AF9-8F6B-5DB8E133A8DA

Seems a bit slow with this release if you ask me. Vendors such as Alcatel Lucent have had the tech at that capacity ready and out in the field for ages!

BT calls for Sky and TalkTalk subsidies to end

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=AF013B68-9A18-4095-9447-EB8D9D760D06

BT Sport wins rights to show 350 UEFA matches live

Big move, interesting move.  Lets see if they can match the quality of Sky...

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/6149-bt-sport-wins-rights-to-show-350-uefa-matches-live.html

BT has no love of the old BT Cellnet network or Vodafone. Jumps in bed with EE.

BT has today moved one step closer to expanding their mobile solutions after it signed an “exclusive” multi-year agreement with EE (Everything Everywhere), which will provide the predominantly fixed line telecoms firm with Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services.

The deal, which is still subject to final contract, effectively means that BT has chosen to replace its existing 9-year MVNO agreement with Vodafone in favour ofEE. BT said that the operator would work to “ensure a seamless transition for customers“.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/10/ee-sign-deal-provide-uk-mobile-virtual-network-operator-services-bt.html

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Vectoring Trials Begin as BT Look to Boost UK FTTC Broadband ISP Speeds

BTOpenreach, which helps to maintain and upgrade BT’s national telecoms network, has confirmed that the first customer trials of VDSL2 Vectoring technology (ITU-T G.993.5) are live. The new technology could deliver a significant speed boost to users of the operators existing up to 80Mbps hybrid-fibre (FTTC) superfast broadband network.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/09/vectoring-trials-begin-as-bt-looks-to-improve-uk-fttc-broadband-isp-speeds.html

BT List 19 Final UK Exchanges for their GBP2.5bn Fibre Broadband Rollout

The Absolutely Final 19 Commercial Fibre Exchange Upgrades

ANFIELD – Merseyside
ASHFIELD – West Midlands
BEACON – West Midlands
BRADFORD – West Yorkshire
CANARY WHARF – Greater London
FARNWORTH – Greater Manchester
GOSCOTE – Leicestershire
HALESOWEN – West Midlands
HOLMEWOOD – Derbyshire
LEEDS – West Yorkshire
NETHERLEY – Merseyside
NEWCASTLE EAST – Tyne and Wear
NORTH SHIELDS – Tyne and Wear
OLD WHITTINGTON – Derbyshire
ORRELL – Greater Manchester
RIPPONDEN – West Yorkshire
RUBERY – West Midlands
STONE CROSS – West Midlands
WAKEFIELD – West Yorkshire

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/09/bt-list-19-final-uk-exchanges-commercial-fibre-broadband-rollout.html

BT Make Final Adjustments for Faster FTTC Broadband Vectoring Trial

"VDSL Vectoring is not unlike the noise cancellation technology that you often find in some headphones and works to cancel out crosstalk (interference) on the “last mile” run of copper cable (i.e. between your local street cabinet and home), which could result in a noticeable speed boost.
 
Some have speculated that Vectoring could push BT’s FTTC service beyond 100Mbps and, with the help of a few other tweaks, possibly as high as up to 200Mbps. But BT’s initial focus will not be on raising the headline rate and they instead envisage it being used to improve existing performance to more users; especially for those on longer lines where interference is a big problem.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/08/bt-make-final-adjustments-for-faster-fttc-broadband-vectoring-trial.html

BT Sport attracts one million customers, says its strategy is working

I don't get this. The numbers seem low to me given how many broadband customers they have. 

I did want to see the Emirates cup but I soon gave up looking for just a day pass to the service.

http://www.eurocomms.com/industry-news/49-online-press/9216-bt-sport-attracts-one-million-customers-says-its-strategy-is-working

BT - the next OTT provider thanks to 4G - The Full Spectrum

Very interesting. Do BT have something like Vodafone's SureSignal in a USB form to connect their routers to customers local mobile phones.

FON doesn't really work well in my opinion but if the range was good on these add ons and BT was to give them out free or dead cheap they could build a pretty big (although patchy) 4G network pretty fast. Combine that with a spectrum sharing agreement with another 4G supplier and there are some interesting concepts to explore for all parties involved!

BT - the next OTT provider thanks to 4G - The Full Spectrum

BT Retail to split to help differentiate between business and consumer

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5959-bt-retail-to-split-to-help-differentiate-between-business-and-consumer.html

BT and Ciena Trial 800Gbps Fibre Optic Super Channel in the UK

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/05/bt-and-ciena-trial-800gbps-fibre-optic-super-channel-in-the-uk.html

Sorry Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin. BT 1up'ed you with their new home hub 4

It's dual band! (2.4 and 5GHz), has some Gigabit ethernet ports and a USB port...

Fits through a letterbox which is convenient.

No VDSL modem built in still..

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/05/uk-isp-bt-retail-reveals-new-smarter-hub-3-broadband-wireless-router.html

O2 ropes in BT to help with its 4G rollout

Whats more interesting is the rumours that BT might be looking to get back into the mobile business. Having sold off Cellnet many years ago, its an interesting move but its probably worth some exploration with the low latency that 4G brings.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2264667/o2-ropes-in-bt-to-help-with-its-4g-rollout

BT Reveal UK FTTC Self Install and Vectoring Broadband Trial

ISPreview:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/04/bt-reveals-uk-fttc-broadband-isp-self-installation-and-vectoring-trials.html

BT reveals latest phase of fibre roll-out

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=23F28D29-F8B5-4EC0-A3F8-04C1FEA340F1

VONGA is dead – long live FVA? – Openreach

An interesting read over at the CTO of Timco's blog:

http://www.trefor.net/2010/07/13/vonga-is-dead-long-live-fva-openreach/

It is a 2010 article so be warned to keep that in mind.