2009 July

An Ofcom report published yesterday suggests that the average download speed received by UK broadband customers is only just over half the speed of the average advertised rate. Data from the report shows that while the average broadband package is sold as “up to” 7.1Mbps, the actual average speed delivered is thought to be 4.1Mbps, little more than half the average theoretical maximum.

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Be Broadband, previously known for it’s pink hues and magenta asterisk, has undergone a radical new redesign. Gone are the pastel hues and star shapes of old and in comes a bold new black and light blue design. As well as its entire site undergoing a face lift, Be Broadband has also dropped hints about other changes to come in the pipeline, by way of a cryptic manifesto:

“I am the web. I blog it, I game it, I tweet it, I create it. I build it, I break it. I stream it, I share it. I live in and on the internet. It’s my life, not a lifestyle choice. My internet provider will get this, will be hands off, will be open, collaborative, the liberators, passionate about what they provide and how they provide it.

They will be a brand that helps me create. Seeks out my opinions, challenges me, that treats me like an adult. Asks me what I want and doesn’t tell me what I want. They are fast, both in speed and attitude. They don’t brand me or exploit me, they aren’t shiny and soulless.

They let me express myself, they make my internet work for me. They do it because they are enlightened and enthusiastic about this world as I am. It’s my world, and my provider is BE.”

It’s anyone’s guess what the above actually refers to, but we reckon that this could mean either two things. Our first guess was that Be might be rolling with a TalkTalk style approach - that is, offer a basic entry level broadband package like TalkTalk Essentials, and then allow punters to sign up for additional usage, and faster speeds a la TalkTalk Extras.

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Virgin Media is launching the Freedom Netbook, its own range of branded laptops which will be offered to new and existing Virgin Media customers. The Freedom Netbook is worth over £300 and will be capable of connecting to the web at speeds of 50Mbps.

The launch of the Freedom Netbooks is timed to coincide with the rollout of 50Mbps speeds across the cable network. The Netbooks themselves will be offered free to customers who sign up with a 24 month Virgin Media bundle.

Currently the Freedom Netbook is available with a bundle consisting of  Virgin Media Broadband L (up to 10Mbps, unlimited downloads) Phone M (unlimited weekend UK calls) and the 1GB Mobile Broadband plan. This bundle starts of out at £20 a month for the first 3 months, rising to £29 a month thereafter.

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Virgin Media has just announced that it has completed the rollout of 50Mbps services across its entire network. Now more that 12 million UK homes will have access to next-gen speeds of up to 50Mbps and unlimited downloads.

To mark completion of the rollout, Virgin Media will reduce the monthly cost of its 50Mbps service for both new and existing customers. From the 1st of September, XXL broadband from Virgin Media will cost just £28 a month, when taken with a phone line, or £38 if taken on its own. Currently the service costs £35 a month with a phone line and £50 without.

If that wasn’t enough Virgin Media is also looking start a new pilot to trial a range of upload speeds of up to 10Mbps - that’s significantly faster upload speed than the top download speeds available on standard ADSL connections.

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Illegal downloads are on the wane in the UK according to a survey results published yesterday on Music Ally. A survey of 1,000 UK music fans suggested that illegal downloads and file sharing of audio content had decreased to 17 per cent in January 2009 from 22 per cent in December 2007.

Music streaming sites such as Spotify and YouTube are said to have contributed to the decline in P2P and torrenting.

Paul Brindley, the CEO of Music Ally said, “File sharing is a moving target, so industry and Government policies need to recognise this. It’s already being somewhat displaced by other means of accessing music for free. Some are licensed [Spotify] and some involve a bit of both [YouTube]…

Kids find services like YouTube much more convenient for checking out new music than file sharing. But even YouTube can become a source of piracy with some kids ripping YouTube videos and turning them into free MP3 downloads”.

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Vodafone is offering the incredibly popular Samsung NC 10 netbook with built-in mobile broadband connectivity for customers who sign up for 24 month contracts. The Samsung NC-10 is free on both a 24 month contract for £25 a month with 1GB of data and a 24 month contract for £30 a month with 3GB of data, and comes with a Vodafone SIM and Mobile Broadband built-in, meaning no USB dongle, so no extra cost.

Integrating the SIM card within the body of the laptop itself also places a significantly smaller drain on the battery, and is also frees up one of the three USB slots for greater convenience. The Samsung NC 10 comes with an Ethernet port allowing you to connect to the net at home using your fixed-line broadband subscription, rather than eating into your mobile broadband usage.

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BT has published a further list of 69 exchanges it will upgrade to offer faster broadband by running fibre connections, providing top speeds of 40Mbps, to street cabinets (FTTC) by next summer.

Crucially this upgrade list fill the gaps in some of the UK’s broadband Not Spots, such as Basingstoke in Hampshire, as well as providing access to faster next-gen speeds. The majority of the upgrades are set to fall in London and the South East, with just four exchanges in Scotland being upgraded, and three in Wales.

This news gives a clearer picture of BT’s Broadband roadmap for the next three years. Earlier this wee it was revealed that trials of FTTC broadband in London’s Muswell Hill and Cardiff’s Whitchurch areas had begun. Plans to test out faster Fibre to the Home (FTTH) next March were also outlined.

Steve Robertson, CEO of Openreach, said: “We had aimed to get fibre to half a million homes by next March but we’re now being far more ambitious. We’ve received a tremendous response to date and so we’re keen to get on with the job.”

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BT has begun rolling out its next-gen fibre optic network in Muswell Hill in London, and in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff.

Roughly 15,000 properties are covered in each of the regions, and rival providers such as O2, Sky and TalkTalk are also reportedly taking part in the trials. We expect that this is to see whether or not BT could adopt an Openreach style platform with their new network.

BT expects to have up to 29 exchanges enabled with Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology by 2010, and to be providing fibre connections to 40 per cent of the population by 2012. Internal trials of the technology reportedly saw BT able to achieve download speeds of up to 40Mbps.

In addition to this, BT has also begun trials of Fibre to the Home (FTTH) services, which offer speeds of up to 100Mbps at a housing development in Ebbsfleet in Kent. A separate trial of this FTTH technology is set to take place in March 2010, and is said to cover some 40,000 UK homes.

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Virgin Media may have reopened old wounds with a recent letter campaign. Despite the cable carrier and Sky kissing and making up last November it seems like the gloves are off again.

In a bid to add more customers, Virgin Media recently sent letters to the homes of broadband customers in cabled streets, highlighting ten reasons why going cable is better than signing up with Sky.

The letter, signed off by Mark Davidson Executive Director of Customer Care for Virgin Media, underlines the benefits of cable over both copper phone lines and satellite, both of which are used to deliver Sky Broadband and TV respectively:

“You don’t need a dish or an aerial because Virgin TV comes down a fibre optic cable (bad weather can seriously effect your viewing with a dish.) … The same fibre optic cable brings you fast, future proof Virgin Broadband at up to 50Mb the UK’s fastest.”

The letter then goes on to mention some of the various bundle deals on offer: Virgin Media L Broadband (up to 10Mbps, unlimited downloads) comes bundled with unlimited UK weekend calls (01, 02 and 03 numbers) and the M+ Digital TV offering (60 channels, free Catch Up TV) for just £19.50 a month, with no additional free for installation or connection. The offer of free connection ends on the 31st of July.

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TalkTalk has just unveiled their new ‘brighter’ look, as part of a new ad campaign due to start next week. The makeover coincides with the recent acquisition of Tiscali and the subsequent leap from third to second place in the UK Broadband League for Carphone Warehouse, behind market leaders BT Broadband and above quad-play providers Virgin Media.

According to Marketing Week, TalkTalk will be rebranded as Britain’s ‘brighter phone and broadband company’. This rebranding process will see the TalkTalk logo and website getting a redesign.

The image above shows the familiar TalkTalk logo rendered in Bonfire Night-esque ‘light graffiti’ and set against the nocturnal cityscapes of London’s Whitehall and Primrose Hill, Brighton beach and Manchester’s Canal Street.

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