News

Internet infrastructure

• December 08, 2021 08 Dec'21

  Number of .uk domain suspensions at record low

  Statistics from Nominet show how effective law enforcement action against cyber crime in the UK is paying off

• December 07, 2021 07 Dec'21

  Virgin Media O2 completes full gigabit access over entire footprint

  Gigabit speeds now available across UK cableco’s entire network, offering average download speeds of 1.130GMbps supporting hyperfast services

• December 06, 2021 06 Dec'21

  Network technologies shaping post-Covid global recovery

  Latest round-up ranking world’s most ‘network ready’ markets revealing how countries around the world are using information technologies to emerge from the Covid pandemic and become network ready.

• December 06, 2021 06 Dec'21

  European finance firms increase open banking spend

  Financial services firms are increasing investment in open banking capabilities, with improvements to payment initiation and onboarding capabilities expected

• December 06, 2021 06 Dec'21

  Streaming surges see BT chief call for new net neutrality regulations

  Marc Allera demands action on fairness in internet carriage as Amazon-hosted Premier League football drives new peak in traffic, 12% above previous high

• December 01, 2021 01 Dec'21

  Neos Networks completes latest leg in infrastructure expansion

  UK business connectivity provider hits target of 550 unbundled BT exchanges and confirms plans to continue expansion and boost local access networks

• December 01, 2021 01 Dec'21

  Global satellite broadband addressable market to grow to 330 million premises by 2026

  Research warns that even with the proliferation of mobile and fixed broadband access globally, there is still a significant portion of the population that suffers from poor coverage, offering a huge opportunity for satellite comms

• November 25, 2021 25 Nov'21

  CityFibre launches first 800Gbps infrastructure backbone ring

  UK’s largest independent network provider announces 800Gbps ring, launched in collaboration with Ciena, to serve 23 cities and six ‘super core’ sites as part of a multi-terabit, national backbone project

• November 23, 2021 23 Nov'21

  FTTH Council Europe calls on policymakers for measures to reap full-fibre rewards

  Industry organisation with a mission to advance ubiquitous full-fibre connectivity across Europe welcomes publication of the European Commission’s latest ‘Digital economy and society index’ and calls for demand-side measures to boost take-up of ...

• November 22, 2021 22 Nov'21

  Global broadband speed clipping rockets over past 18 months

  Research shows broadband speed clipping is rising sharply, with many subscribers hitting upper speed limits

• November 18, 2021 18 Nov'21

  Openreach hits six million homes with full-fibre reach

  BT broadband provision division says full-fibre broadband roll-out programme is on track to reach 25 million premises by December 2026

• November 17, 2021 17 Nov'21

  Amazon to stop accepting Visa credit cards in UK due to high fees

  Online retail giant Amazon will stop accepting UK Visa credit card payments from January next year

• November 16, 2021 16 Nov'21

  Vodafone claims solid half-year

  Hot on the heels of signing a contract with City Fibre to gain UK fibre leadership, leading European comms operator’s results for the first six months of 2021 shows sustainable growth in both Europe and Africa

• November 11, 2021 11 Nov'21

  Vodafone anchors CityFibre nationwide network for UK full-fibre leadership

  Strategic partnership expanded to anchor nationwide roll-out of full-fibre gigabit broadband to up to eight million homes, with long-term volume commitments

• November 10, 2021 10 Nov'21

  Traditional banks could get revenue boost if they copy digital challengers

  Traditional banks could see huge sales increases if they adopted the business models of their digital challengers

• November 09, 2021 09 Nov'21

  Vienna’s tech startup ecosystem gathers momentum

  After a sustained period of inactivity, Vienna’s startup environment is finally on the rise again

• November 07, 2021 07 Nov'21

  Technology spending reaches record levels, fuelling jobs boom

  Spending on IT has reached its highest levels for a decade but a shortage of skilled IT professionals could dampen growth

• November 05, 2021 05 Nov'21

  Digital secretary calls for permanent online safety committee

  Digital secretary commits to establishing ongoing oversight of the Online Safety Bill and its implementation, and suggests the grace period on criminal liability for tech company execs should be shortened from two years to a maximum of six months ...

• November 04, 2021 04 Nov'21

  Women grossly underrepresented in global fintech

  Women are CEOs at less than 6% of global financial technology firms and even fewer hold top tech jobs

• November 02, 2021 02 Nov'21

  BT secures industry-first global partnership with OneWeb

  Just weeks after increased investment from French operator Eutelsat, growing satellite firm inks distribution partner agreement with UK telco for low Earth orbit communications services

• November 02, 2021 02 Nov'21

  HSBC standardises on DevOps platform

  HSBC to standardise and automate software development through CloudBees platform

• November 01, 2021 01 Nov'21

  MPs and Lords grill Facebook over online safety efforts

  Facebook answers British lawmakers’ questions about the social media giant’s efforts to ensure the safety of its users, as part of legislative security of the government's proposed online safety bill

• October 29, 2021 29 Oct'21

  Facebook rebrands to Meta amid continuing controversies

  Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta to support its work on the next generation of “social technologies”, but concerns around trust and privacy persist

• October 27, 2021 27 Oct'21

  TechUK slams government gift to big banks that will disadvantage fintechs

  The government will put challenger banks at a disadvantage through its reduction in the bank profit surcharge, says TechUK

• October 20, 2021 20 Oct'21

  Lloyds Bank closes more branches as customers migrate to digital channels

  Banking group has announced more closures as part of the ongoing reduction of its branch network

• October 19, 2021 19 Oct'21

  Zopa becomes unicorn with latest funds to go to bank operation

  Zopa will invest in its growing digital bank operation after becoming a unicorn in its latest fund-raising round

• October 19, 2021 19 Oct'21

  Gitex 2021: Arc spans network ecosystem in Oman

  Integrated networking services provider invests in Nokia technology to offer added connectivity options for enterprise customers in key Middle East location

• October 19, 2021 19 Oct'21

  VMware refines cross-cloud strategy

  VMware’s CTO Kit Colbert talks up the evolution of the company’s cross-cloud strategy and how it stands out from other suppliers eyeing the multicloud pie

• October 18, 2021 18 Oct'21

  How Samlesbury, Lancashire became the home of the National Cyber Force

  The National Cyber Force, a new branch of the military, is gearing up to fight battles in cyber space from the fields of Lancashire. Its presence is expected to bring a high-tech renaissance to the region

• October 13, 2021 13 Oct'21

  Telstra taps Infinera for 800G subsea cable connection

  Telco chooses global supplier of open optical networking systems as part of its drive to increase capacity on all segments of its global network across its new and legacy cables

• October 06, 2021 06 Oct'21

  Apache web server users urged to patch immediately

  New zero-day in Apache HTTP Server is already being actively exploited and must be addressed immediately

• October 06, 2021 06 Oct'21

  Auto-enrolment begins for Google multi-factor authentication

  Google has started to turn on multi-factor authentication on consumer accounts by default, and aims to auto-enrol 150 million users by the end of 2021

• October 05, 2021 05 Oct'21

  Facebook unplugged for six hours due to configuration error

  A configuration change effectively disconnected Facebook from the internet, with billions affected by loss of services

• October 04, 2021 04 Oct'21

  Mastercard acquisition of Aiia is a further sign of open banking’s big future

  Mastercard’s acquisition of Denmark-based open banking fintech Aiia follows rival’s takeover of Sweden’s Tink

• September 30, 2021 30 Sep'21

  Global internet traffic, bandwidth ‘return to normal’

  Global Internet Geography Research Service analyses internet capacity, traffic and IP transit pricing and finds average traffic growth and peak traffic growth drop as world accommodates post-Covid environment

• September 30, 2021 30 Sep'21

  Vodafone claims world-first multi-supplier test of new broadband standard

  Benu Networks, Casa Systems, Cisco and Nokia join Vodafone in test to pave the way for faster open broadband networks, validating Broadband Forum global standard for interoperability between different suppliers

• September 30, 2021 30 Sep'21

  UK consumers would collectively pay over £1bn a year for control of their data

  UK consumers are willing to pay a small fee per month to have control of the data they share with Google and Facebook

• September 29, 2021 29 Sep'21

  JP Morgan Chase digital investment good for UK IT sector, but what’s in it for the bank?

  JP Morgan Chase’s digital bank allows it to start from scratch in the UK, with no legacy infrastructure to overhaul

• September 28, 2021 28 Sep'21

  Digital regulators need discrete but cooperative remits

  The UK’s information commissioner has told MPs that digital economy regulators need discrete remits backed up by strong information sharing powers to both provide clear focus as well as allow for greater cooperation between their disparate but ...

• September 23, 2021 23 Sep'21

  Satellite connectivity and video market expected to double over next decade

  Research finds the satellite industry is gaining a higher orbit with the non-geostationary market a key engine, and with recovery to pre-Covid revenues expected in 2022

• September 21, 2021 21 Sep'21

  Dutch scientist receives top award for work on digital media’s effect on society

  Utrecht University media scientist José van Dijck wins the Spinoza Award and funds for her research into the effects of social media on society

• September 21, 2021 21 Sep'21

  Open banking objectives a decade away for over a third of UK finance firms

  The completion of complex open banking initiatives could still be over a decade away for many companies in the finance sector

• September 17, 2021 17 Sep'21

  JP Morgan launch of UK digital bank expected next week

  JP Morgan will launch its UK digital retain bank next week, and continental Europe will be next if it’s a success

• September 16, 2021 16 Sep'21

  BT gifts small businesses £7.5m in street advertising as Street Hub 2.0 units go live

  Local businesses in Kensington and Chelsea are given the chance to advertise for free via digital screens in Street Hub 2.0 units while research reveals over 60% of small firms say local advertising will boost awareness of their business

• September 15, 2021 15 Sep'21

  Volkswagen supports Arm-based software-defined car standard

  Car manufacturer's software business supports industry initiative to develop a standard platform and open-source reference implementation

• September 13, 2021 13 Sep'21

  The digital road ahead: National Highways puts technology in the driving seat

  We speak to National Highways about its multi-year plan to tech-enable the management and operations of our motorways

• September 09, 2021 09 Sep'21

  Latest Microsoft zero-day being actively exploited

  New Microsoft zero-day CVE-2021-40444 affects multiple versions of Windows and is probably being exploited through convincing phishing attacks

• September 07, 2021 07 Sep'21

  ICO in bid to end cookie pop-ups

  Outgoing information commissioner Elizabeth Denham will call on her equivalents across the G7 group of countries to collaborate on an overhaul of cookie consent pop-ups

• September 01, 2021 01 Sep'21

  Tech sector spends nearly €100m a year lobbying the EU

  Study on technology firms’ lobbying efforts in the European Union shows the sector spends more than any other in trying to influence policies and legislation

• August 31, 2021 31 Aug'21

  Submarine cable network nears 500 companies over 1.3 million km

  New interactive map of sub-sea connectivity industry shows how providers are enhancing the user experience with new cables, landing stations, and upgraded search and select functionalities

• August 20, 2021 20 Aug'21

  Facebook vows to replenish more water than it consumes across its global operations by 2030

  Social networking giant is following in Microsoft’s footprints by setting itself a goal of becoming a water-positive entity by 2030

• August 17, 2021 17 Aug'21

  What will be the bank branch balance in the digital age?

  Will the traditional banks be permanently disadvantaged by the need to retain bank branches or could they turn it to their advantage?

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Banks could be blocked from closing branches through FCA legislation

  UK financial services regulator the Financial Conduct Authority considers legislation that could block some bank branch closures to ensure citizens have easy access to cash

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds UK spy agencies unlawfully collected personal data

  Campaign groups Privacy International and Liberty are gearing up to bring further legal action after a court found that UK spy agencies unlawfully collected phone and internet records

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Plans to address legal but harmful content ‘threaten free speech’

  House of Lords report criticises the government’s forthcoming Online Safety Bill for imposing duty of care on tech platforms to deal with ‘legal but harmful’ content, which it says threatens freedom of expression online

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  Nordic banks join forces to compete with fintechs

  Collaboration will be key for traditional Nordic banks to retain business amid intense competition from tech companies

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  Privacy Shield: One year on and companies are still grappling for answers

  Activist lawyer Max Schrems and Eduardo Ustaran, partner at Hogan Lovells, look for common ground in a problem with no easy answers

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Bank of England searches for new CIO amid once-in-a-generation project

  The Bank of England is recruiting a head of IT during a period of major change in its core IT system

• July 06, 2021 06 Jul'21

  Nordic fintech could lead the world

  Will the Nordics become the fintech and open banking innovation capital of the world?

• June 29, 2021 29 Jun'21

  Bank branches will be a thing of the past in five years, say bankers

  Traditional bank branches are likely to disappear from the high street in the next five years, but banking ecosystems will ensure customer service levels are high, say bankers

• June 28, 2021 28 Jun'21

  Zopa Bank to make profit in its first year

  Bank set up by peer-to-peer lending fintech firm expected to make a profit in its first year

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Google hands third-party cookies a stay of execution

  Google’s proposed Privacy Sandbox initiative – which will see third-party cookies phased out in the Chrome web browser – has been pushed back to 2023

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Online Safety Bill unfit for purpose, says new campaign group

  Campaign group set up to oppose Online Safety Bill says the duty of care is too simplistic, cedes too much power to US corporations and will, in practice, privilege the speech of journalists or politicians

• June 24, 2021 24 Jun'21

  Lloyds Bank to close 44 more branches

  Banking group has announced the closure of a further 44 branches as customers increasingly use other channels for banking

• June 14, 2021 14 Jun'21

  G7 commits to action on ransomware, digital privacy

  The G7 urges Russia to do more to hold criminal ransomware gangs operating from within its borders to account as it commits to more action on the issue

• June 14, 2021 14 Jun'21

  Vodafone announces key partners for Europe’s first commercial Open RAN network

  Operator selects Dell Technologies, NEC, Samsung, Wind River, Capgemini Engineering and Keysight Technologies to build what it says will be one of the largest Open RAN networks in the world

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  FBI planned a sting against An0m cryptophone users over drinks with Australian investigators

  Australian Federal Police and the FBI came up with the idea over drinks: build a cryptophone network with a built-in backdoor and sell it to crime gangs around the world

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  CMA secures commitments from Google on future of cookies

  The Competition and Markets Authority is opening a consultation on commitments offered to it by Google to ensure its Privacy Sandbox proposals do not harm digital advertising markets

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  BBVA to cut 3,000 jobs in Spain as digital technology transforms industry

  Spanish bank is the latest to announce swingeing branch and job cuts amid increased digital competition

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  Police raids around world after investigators crack An0m cryptophone app in major hacking operation

  Police in 16 countries carried out raids on after Australian Police and the FBI cracked an encrypted An0M communications network used by crime groups

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  EU privacy chief investigates use of US cloud services

  Use of Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services by public sector bodies in the European Union is being scrutinised by the bloc’s privacy watchdog

• June 01, 2021 01 Jun'21

  European-led consortium investigates quantum cryptography

  The arms race to a quantum internet is under way – the European Commission is looking at secure critical national infrastructure and member state comms

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  GCHQ bulk interception programme breached privacy rights, Strasbourg court rules

  European Court of Human Rights finds that the UK’s bulk surveillance programme breached citizens’ privacy rights

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Stockholm’s startup scene seeks more diversity

  Swedish capital has created a world-leading tech startup environment, but it still lacks the diversity of people needed to move it to the next level

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Microsoft EU Data Boundary dubbed ‘smoke and mirrors’

  Data protection experts claim Microsoft’s decision to create an EU Data Boundary is a tacit admission that it routinely transfers and processes the personal data of European citizens outside the bloc

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Irish High Court dismisses legal bid by Facebook over EU-US data transfers

  Latest twist in long-running legal battle sees Facebook lose legal bid to prevent the Irish Data Protection Commissioner suspending its transfer of data about European citizens to the US

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Fibre roll-outs gather pace in Europe

  Number of homes and businesses reached by fibre grows rapidly in 39 leading European territories, with FTTH/B coverage in Europe surpassing more than half the total number of homes

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  UK government publishes Online Safety Bill draft

  Bill builds on previous commitments by the government, which has added new measures to uphold democracy and freedom of speech while making tech giants more accountable

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  The Security Interviews: Why helpful bots could hurt vaccine roll-outs

  Earlier this year, spikes in traffic to websites containing information about Covid-19 vaccines were attributed by Imperva to automated bots scraping data. Why is that a problem?

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Swedish court finds ambiguities in hacked EncroChat cryptophone evidence

  Defence lawyer claims evidence obtained by hacking the EncroChat encrypted phone network has ‘no legal’ value following Swedish appeal court ruling

• April 22, 2021 22 Apr'21

  GCHQ: Cyber investment a guarantor of UK’s global status

  GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming sets out a vision for the UK’s cyber security future

• April 07, 2021 07 Apr'21

  Digital Markets Unit starts work on codes of conduct for tech giants

  Digital markets regulator officially launched to ensure tech giants such as Facebook and Google cannot exploit their market dominance to crowd out competition and stifle innovation online

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  Big Tech eclipses telecoms and arms giants as biggest lobbying spenders

  Facebook and Amazon are spending more on lobbying and campaign contributions than any other companies in the US, including those in the arms and telecommunications sectors that have traditionally been the highest political spenders

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Web founder calls for ubiquitous, safe internet access for young people

  Internet access has a direct correlation to GDP. On the 32nd birthday of the world wide web, its founder calls for improvements to safe access

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  UK digital regulators set out plans to strengthen cooperation

  Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum outlines plans for the coming year, marking a shift towards a more collaborative regulatory approach

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  CityFibre extends full-fibre network to Peterborough

  Former leading altnet to put a further £1.5m into its high-speed broadband connectivity project

• March 09, 2021 09 Mar'21

  UK's Starling Bank reaches unicorn status

  UK app-based bank Starling reaches unicorn status following its latest round of funding

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Nottinghamshire schools suspend online learning following cyber attack

  Cyber attack on central trust that manages secondary schools in Nottinghamshire leaves them unable to access IT systems and deliver remote lessons

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Bank of Ireland to reduce branch network by almost half

  Bank of Ireland is latest bank to pin its future on digital channels as customers change their banking habits

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Virgin Media trial demos multi-gigabit upgradeable bandwidth

  Virgin Media trials optical networking technology that could pave way to faster internet connectivity that is easier to upgrade

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  HSBC offers to help customers transitioning to digital banking as branch closures continue

  HSBC is offering its customers training in how to bank digitally in a safe and effective way as it, like many banks, moves customers out of branches and towards using online services

• March 01, 2021 01 Mar'21

  Covid accelerates Bradford University remote working project

  Pandemic injected fuel into university’s existing project to introduce remote working

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Nordic startups strive to fuel international e-commerce transformation

  Nordic startups are developing technology for retailers that want to improve the customer experience when buying online

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  MHRA and other agencies to offer new resources for scam victims

  New landing page resources will replace .uk domains suspended for criminal activity to help members of the public access appropriate guidance

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Internet companies should provide real-time data on disinformation, Lords told

  Fact-checking experts tell House of Lords inquiry that upcoming Online Safety Bill should force internet companies to provide real-time information on suspected disinformation, and warn against over-reliance on AI-powered algorithms to moderate ...

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  UK government set to offer fintech visa

  The importance of immigrant workers to the UK's fintech sector highlighted by government planned fintech visa

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Swedish police fined for unlawful use of facial-recognition app

  Sweden’s data watchdog has found that Swedish police failed to conduct the data protection checks required by law before using controversial facial-recognition tool

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  Swedish central bank extends digital currency project

  Sweden's central bank has extended its pilot of a digital currency for at least another year

• February 15, 2021 15 Feb'21

  Digital investments will add £232bn to UK economy by 2040

  The UK economy could grow by £232bn over the next two decades if investments in digital technologies continue

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Google Chrome update to patch serious zero-day

  A serious heap buffer overflow vulnerability means Google Chrome users should patch their browsers as soon as possible