Wearing my AvBrief hat with thanks for the mention from the Dutchman, this is something that we have been dealing with for some time. The issue is regulatory in that NATS's licence does not allow for other service providers. WSI and AirData who do act as service providers to the big boys get round the issue by taking their AFTN feed from the US.
Having said all that we are hopeful that there will be progress although predicting dates is still rather difficult. We would be very keen to provide a virtual AFTN connection for such things as filing flight plans.
Paul.