TalkTalk could begin bundling in home phone, mobile phone and subscription TV services with its future broadband packages according to reports.

With four services included in a single monthly bill, TalkTalk would be competing directly with Virgin Media, which also offers quadruple deals. Virgin Media does, however, have the availability of cheap cable broadband on its side, but TalkTalk would be able to reach a wider audience with its proposed services.

It looks as though TalkTalk will being instigating its new plans for extensive broadband bundles once it has completely decoupled from The Carphone Warehouse, which will cease to own the provider as of the 29th of March this year.

With over four million broadband and home phone customers in the UK, TalkTalk is one of the most significant players in the market and it will probably be able to convert many of its existing customers over to its 4 way bundles when they arrive later in the year. At this time there is no official news as to what types of mobile phone packages might be made available, although they are certain to be competitive.

TalkTalk is busy on Project Canvas, which is its own attempt to unify and standardise the provision of digital television and catchup services via broadband connections. This could see it offering popular services such as the BBC iPlayer in the future.

The one barrier that TalkTalk faces when it comes to digital TV via broadband will be getting hold of commercial content. Subscription TV from Virgin Media and Sky is already established in this area and these firms could be unwilling to offer TalkTalk a slice of the action although the lure of a cheap cable broadband subscriber base may help.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard added “When TalkTalk brings its broadband bundles to the market, it could quickly win itself many new customers who are looking for a unified deal.”

Virgin Media is believed to be in the process of rethinking its marketing strategies in order to reach a wider audience and to encourage more people to look at its high speed fibre optic broadband deals rather than focusing on BT broadband options instead.

Advertising industry experts at Marketing Week revealed that Virgin Media has talked to the firms that run its many different campaigns and has challenged them to create a new selection of marketing options in order to bolster the public profile of cable broadband.

Broadening the appeal of broadband and making people more aware of the differences between ADSL and cable connections is a sensible idea, particularly now that BT is offering its own Infinity service, which some might assume is essentially the same as the Virgin Media offering, although this is not, in fact, the case.

Along with new ad campaigns, Virgin Media is also likely to overhaul its current line up of broadband deals, although how it will go about this remains unknown. It could well choose to focus on bringing 50Mbps deals down in price, making them more attractive to a wider audience, as the benefits of high download speeds and more consistent connections are key that Virgin Media is slightly underplaying compared to its rivals.

Virgin Media continues to innovate in its offering of broadband bundles that include home phone, digital TV and even mobile service provision along with cable connectivity. Perhaps it will focus on communicating just how convenient this type of bundle offering can be, particularly if value for money is of greater concern than download speeds and monthly data allowances to consumers.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard said “Virgin Media has always created some interesting advertisements, but perhaps it should take a leaf from Virgin Airlines and follow the classic mantra of ’sex sells’ to drag consumers away from BT broadband options.”

The changes that are currently afoot in the home broadband market are set to alter the face of the industry as we know it. Whilst it appears that landline customers are going to experience a rise in the cost of their services, people who opt for bundle deals will be getting a better price for their connections.

Starting in April, BT is altering the definitions of off-peak for its inclusive call package users, moving the start time in the evenings from 6pm to 7pm. However, according to a report from Simplydigital.co.uk there is a chance that BT broadband deals will be getting cheaper after O2 launches its own home broadband and phone service bundle, undercutting rivals on price.

O2 is going to combine the price of line rental and broadband into a one-off payment that will cost customers £17 each month on a 12 month contract. Considering that Virgin Media is putting up the cost of its line rental, people who had given up on ADSL broadband and moved to cable could well be switching back to save cash.

Not every consumer will be looking for value above all else in their home broadband packages and speed has recently proven to be an increasingly important factor as fibre optic broadband connections become more widely available.

In 2010 it seems as if there is a push within the telecoms industry to encourage consumers to put all of their eggs into one basket and sign on for multiple services from the same firm. Since the majority of broadband customers also require home phone and digital television in some form, it makes sense to save money and commit to a package.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard said “It is advisable to save money by opting for BT broadband deals with multiple services bundled together, although price comparison is more important than ever.”

A new move by BT, which will see it allowing third party providers access to its network of underground tunnels, could mean that cheap cable broadband from rivals will be on the way.

Fibre optic broadband is set to be the most common form of connection over the coming years as it allows for much faster download speeds than older ADSL technology using copper telephone wiring.

Firms such as TalkTalk have expressed interest in taking advantage of BT’s offer, which will allow them to lay their own high speed networks underground using existing conduits rather than having to spend millions digging their own.

Sky said that the idea of the open access was appealing, although admitted that at this time it had no interest in setting up a cable network of its own.

BT has been partly pushed into the move after it came under pressure from politicians and other industry groups to make the broadband infrastructure of the UK more open to competition. Obviously there is the potential for BT’s Wholesale division, which resells its current networks to third party providers, to lose out in the new plans, but for the consumer it is likely to be a catalyst in the availability of cheap cable broadband across a wider area.

BT will be putting one and a half billion pounds into its own fibre optic network and it will then be able to sell this on to Sky and others in the future. Some believe that the plans laid out by BT are relatively risky, although in general the move has been regarded with optimism.

Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager Simon Gerrard added “Consumers who are crossing their fingers for fibre optic broadband in their area should consider BT’s plans a very positive step indeed. Competition in the cable market can only mean lower prices and higher speeds in the long run.”

The next general election is due to take place in 2010, with rumours suggesting that it may occur at some point in May. As a result, politicians from all parties are beginning to make promises in an attempt to win votes and the Conservatives have recently announced that they plan to implement fibre optic broadband across the UK by 2017, with download speeds of 100Mbps accessible to a majority of consumers.

George Osborne, who is currently the shadow chancellor, said that his party would use the BBC licence fee to fund the continued growth of fibre optic broadband if it was voted into power. Mr Osborne also said that his party would push for offering fibre optic broadband in remote areas, relying on both private and public funding to ensure that the targets were met.

Mr Osborne compared the roll out of fibre optic broadband to the building of the railways when speaking in an interview on the Andrew Marr show. He said that hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created by better connectivity options, in the same way that the economy grew as a result of rail transport in the 19th century.

A spokesperson for Labour said that the Conservatives were not really proposing anything new with their announcements, but rather affirming their commitment to the government’s existing plans to make 2017 the deadline for universal high speed broadband connectivity. The Lib Dems also raised questions, but were concerned as to how the project would be funded.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager, Simon Gerrard, added that “whatever your political allegiances, it is definitely a positive step forward, showing that all of the parties are committed to extending high speed broadband across the UK, expanding upon current BT broadband options.”

It appears that the average UK broadband customer is now far more in tune with the technology that powers their internet connection and many are able to recite on demand the download speed they can achieve in their own homes.

As a result, experts believe that more people are also cottoning on to the benefits offered by super fast broadband connections.

Edd Dawson, who edits a leading UK broadband website, has spoken out about the increasing number of people taking broadband speed tests to assess the speed of their current connections. He believes that many more people are seeking deals based on the download speed alone.

Mr Dawson also revealed that broadband customers are extremely receptive to new information that can help them to speed up their current connection. With cheap cable broadband coming from BT and the competition that this will bring to the market, high speed connections are likely to become an even hotter topic in the future.

Mr Dawson said that the largest factor influencing the increased interest in faster download speeds was the growing availability of quality media content online. With the BBC’s iPlayer and other video streaming services including YouTube now offering broadcasts in high definition, a faster connection is becoming ever more desirable. Video chatting and VoIP voice calls also require a higher connection speed and houses with multiple users going online can ensure optimal performance by comparing providers based upon their download speeds.

With common ADSL broadband connections still languishing with average connection speeds of 4Mbps or lower, cheap cable broadband offering faster connections on a more consistent basis is becoming more attractive.

Mr Dawson has added his opinions to the discussion generated by BT’s announcement of its own 40Mbps fibre optic cable connections, which will be going live in the near future.

The current line up of BT broadband deals has just seen a super fast addition in the form of the first of its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connections, offering up to 40Mbps download speeds and 10Mbps upload speeds.

After trials took place in London and Glasgow, BT has begun to roll out its new fibre optic technology that will still rely on copper telephone wiring for the last mile of provision, but will see fibre optic connections linking the cabinets servicing streets in the UK to the main broadband network.

By 2011 BT plans to make FTTC available to 4 million homes around the UK and the 40Mbps is a significant improvement over the current maximum download speed of 20Mbps that BT offers.

These new fibre optic BT broadband deals are set to cost from £19.99 a month with an 18 month contract, thus requiring longer commitment than other packages on offer. There will also be an installation fee, but BT is willing to waive this if you sign up for a more expensive and comprehensive monthly package.

BT has said that its new fibre services will provide better opportunities for houses with multiple internet users trying to get online simultaneously and will also offer faster downloads and higher quality video streaming.

The cheapest fibre broadband deal from BT will come with a 20GB monthly data allowance, although costlier packages will have unlimited downloads coupled with a fair use policy to watch out for.

BT will not be the only provider offering deals that use the FTTC technology, as it will be offered to third party wholesalers to resell, as is currently the case with ADSL broadband.

Simon Gerrard, Simple Broadband’s Communication Manager noted that “this will produce competition within the market that will ensure that consumers will be able to obtain the best possible deals on next-generation broadband connections”.

Although the home broadband market is always heavily competitive, it seems as though TalkTalk has just raised the bar in terms of value for money with its announcement that it will start providing a free broadband connection for new customers for the first year of their contract.

TalkTalk has been performing very well over the last year and it seems that its success has emboldened its management team and encouraged a push towards capturing even more of the market. The new package will slightly overshadow O2’s recent announcement that it will begin to offer home phone deals for its customers and could prove to be more attractive than some BT broadband options.

TalkTalk’s free broadband offer requires that you pay line rental, but not only will this allow for unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines, but 8Mbps broadband will not cost you a penny extra for an entire year. You will need to commit for a minimum of 24 months and during the second half you will have to pay £6.99 a month for the broadband connection.

If you do the maths, it turns out that TalkTalk’s bundle will set you back under £200 a year, which is competitive for both home phone and broadband bundled in the same simple deal. But the main question many will ask is ‘Should I commit for 2 years?’

The broadband market it in a state of change and by 2012 a whole host of new technologies will have arrived, including faster fibre to the cabinet and LTE mobile broadband connections. This could leave you feeling left behind with an 8Mbps connection.

That said, there will usually be opportunities for people to upgrade their broadband package with their existing provider at any point during their minimum contracted period. This is particularly easy with TalkTalk or BT Broadband options, although do bear in mind that additional commitments may be required in tandem with the upgrade.

£18 million of investment is being allocated to help boost broadband speeds across Northern Ireland for home users and local businesses looking to make the most out of fast broadband connections. The Department of Finance and Personnel has been put in charge of distributing the public funds and it will be pumping most of the money into BT to ensure wider coverage and increased download speeds.

The Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment allocated the significant funding last week and it is said to be part of a government initiative to bridge the investment gap between what the telecoms networks were going to spend and the level of funding that should ensure blanket broadband coverage in Northern Ireland.

The government aims to provide 85 per cent of homes and businesses with BT broadband deals operating at a higher speed and wider availability by the start of 2011 and the £18 million will go towards ensuring that this target is reached.

BT has been commissioned to carry out the necessary upgrades and extensions to the current networks and the good news for residents of Northern Ireland is that both urban and rural areas will be included in the upcoming developments.

Although the initial phase will be completed within the next twelve months in order to meet deadlines, the deal commits BT to continue the roll-out and support of the new network until 2015. BT will still be the owner of the infrastructure, but with the public funding it is committed to ensuring that broadband is made available in areas that it might have dismissed as not financially viable.

Simon Gerrard of Simple Broadband confirmed that “home broadband customers in Northern Ireland will really benefit from the high speed BT broadband deals that will become available once the funding is brought to bear and the work is completed.”

Homes and businesses in and around Oxford Road in Manchester could soon be able to connect to the internet at significantly higher speeds thanks to new plans to install a fibre optic broadband network.

The plans have been announced as part of an effort to instigate regeneration within the area and the organisation Corridor Manchester will be pushing through the installation with support from local businesses and individuals.

The organisation has sought the expertise of Geo Networks to carry out the construction of the fibre optic network and reports suggest that in order to connect the eastern region of the city the firm will make use of the MetroLink tunnels. This will be the first stage of what should hopefully be a relatively rapid process.

Corridor Manchester’s CEO Jack Potter said that broadband speeds were bound to increase in the local area once the work was completed. However, Mr Potter also said that he hoped local home and business users would be able to access an open network and that any limitations inherent in current broadband provision in the area.

The Salford Quays area of Manchester has already received a commitment from BT that will ensure the availability of fibre optic broadband for the MediaCityUK business park. It is hoped that by 2011 home users as well as local firms will be able to access fibre optic broadband on their premises with greatly enhanced BT broadband options.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard added “many more areas should expect similar schemes to arrive in the coming years, with urban dwellers set to be the first people to be able to take advantage of extended BT broadband options.” Along with the next generation of mobile broadband, fibre optic broadband is going to significantly help the UK to hit the target of universal broadband availability by 2012.