Stories from Abroad

Welcome to the Era of Internet Blackouts

The Iranian government's attempts in recent months to stifle protests through internet blackouts, digital curfews, and content blocking have presented a particularly extreme example of how far regimes can go in restricting digital access.

Millions of UK mobile and broadband users face 14% bill rises from April

As if household budgets were not already under enough pressure, millions of broadband and mobile phone customers look set to face rises of more than 14% in their monthly bills from April 2023. BT, TalkTalk, Three, and Vodafone are among the big operators that are contractually allowed to increase their bills in line with the previous year’s inflation rate, as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) in December – plus a further 3%-3.9% on top. If the increases are passed on in full, as many experts expect, it would result in home broadband customers typically paying about £50 ($60) a yea

UK government warns mobile and broadband groups against 14% price rise

The UK government has warned mobile and broadband providers that it is not “right” for them to raise prices by more than 14 percent from April 2023, as customers contend with the surge in living costs. Much of the fixed broadband and mobile and phone market has in recent years implemented price increases in April of each year for new customers and those already in contract. Telecommunications groups tend to base rises on the previous year’s annualized rate of inflation, plus about 3.9 percent.

Q4 2022 Market Reports

In the United States during the fourth quarter of 2022, T-Mobile was the fastest mobile operator with a median download speed of 151.37 Mbps. XFINITY overtook Spectrum as the fastest fixed broadband provider at 226.18 Mbps. In Mexico, Telcel had the fastest median download speed over mobile at 43.04 Mbps. Totalplay was fastest for fixed broadband (80.36 Mbps). In Canada. Rogers was fastest for fixed broadband (249.08 Mbps). Telekom was the fastest mobile operator in Germany with a median download speed of 90.33 Mbps. Vodafone was fastest for fixed broadband at 116.19 Mbps.

England just made gigabit internet a legal requirement for new homes

The UK government introduced new rules that make it easier to install faster broadband into apartments and flats across. Additionally, a new law has been introduced that requires new properties in England to be built with gigabit broadband connections, sparing tenants from footing the bill for later upgrades. Amendments to Building Regulations 2010 were announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) on January 6 mandate new homes constructed in England to be fitted with infrastructure and connections required to achieve gigabit internet connectivity.

The Speedtest Global Index Shows These Countries Sped Forward for Internet Experience in 2022

Internet connectivity continues to speed ahead for people around the world, especially as countries prioritize and improve mobile and fixed broadband networks. The improvement of global median download speeds has been somewhat asymmetrical over the past year on the Speedtest Global Index. Fixed broadband speeds made greater strides over the past year than mobile download speeds, with fixed broadband speeds becoming at least 28% faster and mobile becoming nearly 17% faster from November 2021 to November 2022.

Canada’s competition tribunal clears Rogers-Shaw merger deal

Canada’s competition tribunal approved Rogers Communications’ CAD 20 billion ($14.77 billion) bid for rival operator Shaw Communications.

Data Protection Commission announces conclusion of two inquiries into Meta Ireland

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the conclusion of two inquiries into the data processing operations of Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (“Meta Ireland”) in connection with the delivery of its Facebook and Instagram services.

Twitter Aided the Pentagon in its Covert Online Propaganda Campaign

Twitter executives have claimed for years that the company makes concerted efforts to detect and thwart government-backed covert propaganda campaigns on its platform. Behind the scenes, however, the company provided direct approval and internal protection to the US military’s network of social media accounts and online personas, whitelisting a batch of accounts at the request of the government. The Pentagon has used this network, which includes US government-generated news portals and memes, in an effort to shape opinion in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, and beyond.

Iran’s Online Crackdown Prompts Smuggling of Starlink Kits

Iran’s government has throttled down bandwidths, stepped up filtering of social-media sites and taken down virtual private networks, according to analysts and reports by nongovernment organizations. It has also sought to intercept Starlink and other satellite internet devices, which are illegal in Iran. The number of Iranians with access to Starlink is a tiny fraction of the millions who use virtual private networks and other platforms to evade government restrictions, users say.

Microsoft Fined $64 Million in France Over Advertising Cookies

France’s privacy watchdog fined Microsoft for not making it easy enough for users of its Bing search engine to reject cookies used for online ads, as part of a broader increase of enforcing Europe’s privacy laws. France’s data-protection regulator, the CNIL, fined a Microsoft subsidiary in Ireland 60 million euros, equivalent to almost $64 million. The company hadn’t—until earlier in 2022—offered users the option to reject so-called cookies alongside the button to accept them, the regulator said.

European Commission accepts commitments by Amazon barring it from using marketplace seller data, and ensuring equal access

The European Commission has made commitments offered by Amazon legally binding under European Union antitrust rules. Amazon's commitments address the Commission's competition concerns over Amazon's use of non-public marketplace seller data and over a possible bias in granting sellers access to its Buy Box and its Prime program. Amazon's practices raised three competition concerns:

Microsoft and Viasat announce new partnership to deliver internet access to underserved communities globally

Microsoft and Viasat announced a new partnership to help deliver internet access to 10 million people around the globe, including 5 million across Africa.

Ofcom probes transparency of telecoms price rises

Ofcom has today launched an industry-wide enforcement programme into whether in-contract price rises were set out clearly enough by phone and broadband companies before customers signed up.

China Clamps Down on Internet as It Seeks to Stamp Out Covid Protests

China’s internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration, instructed tech companies to expand censorship of protests and moved to curb access to virtual private networks, as a government clampdown succeeds in keeping most protesters off the streets after 

Elon Musk’s satellites to be part of UK trial to get internet to remote areas

Elon Musk’s satellite Starlink technology is to be part of a UK government trial to get better internet connectivity to remote parts of the country. Starlink will initially be trialled at three remote locations—Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire Moors national park, Wasdale Head in the Lake District, and two sites within Snowdonia national park. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it was continuing to look at the capability of the system, as well as looking at other solutions and services with different suppliers.

Starlink prices in Ukraine nearly double as mobile networks falter

The list prices of Starlink communications devices have nearly doubled in Ukraine, as mobile networks have started failing under Russia’s assault on the country’s electricity grid and increased demand for the SpaceX-manufactured satellite communication device. Starlink terminals, which are made by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, will increase in price to $700 for new Ukrainian consumers, according to the company’s website.

‘It’s discrimination’: millions of Britons frozen out in the digital age

Many people in Britain can’t live without their smartphone and use it to manage all aspects of their lives, from banking to shopping and socialising.

Global legal perils beset a downsized Twitter

Twitter faces a mass of forces abroad and in Washington that aim to compel the company to obey privacy rules, speech limits and other regulations as Elon Musk remakes the service. Musk's word is law inside Twitter now, but his disdain for rules will encounter tough pushback from governments around the world — just as the company has lost most of the people who managed its relationships with regulators and legislators. Twitter's biggest challenges lie abroad, particularly in Europe, which has been steadily tightening tech regulations for years.

SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink

Elon Musk’s aerospace business SpaceX has ordered one of the larger advertising packages available from Twitter, the social media business he just acquired in a $44 billion deal and where he is now serving as CEO.

Tech for good, evil and companionship at Web Summit

The future-of-tech conversations at Web Summit  in Lisbon could have played on a split screen.

UK regulator Ofcom considers scrapping requirement that BT provides dedicated landlines for the devices at affordable prices

British communications regulator Ofcom said it had started the process to scrap legislation compelling BT, the former state-owned monopoly, to provide dedicated landlines for the devices at affordable prices.

BT’s Openreach looking at lowering cost of wholesale broadband

BT networking division Openreach is looking to reduce its broadband prices to attract new customers and lock in big wholesale clients like Vodafone, TalkTalk, and Sky as rivals lay full-fiber cables across the UK. The incumbent network operator, part of BT Group, has met some of its biggest corporate customers to suggest a number of changes to its pricing structure that would make its offer more attractive and help them move customers from copper to full fiber. Openreach makes money by wholesaling its broadband to internet service providers, including its parent group BT.

US tech giants face pressure from Europe’s telecommunications companies to pay for building the internet

In Europe, the battle between US Big Tech companies and telecommunications firms has reached a fever pitch. Telecom groups are pushing European regulators to consider implementing a framework where the companies that send traffic along their networks are charged a fee to help fund mammoth upgrades to their infrastructure, something known as the “sender pays” principle. Their logic is that certain platforms, like Amazon Prime and Netflix, chew through gargantuan amounts of data and should therefore foot part of the bill for adding new capacity to cope with the increased strain.