The week ahead, 1-5 February: FTSE heavyweights front up to third lockdown January 31, 2021 After a turbulent opening to 2021, with new Covid-19 lockdowns around the world, spats over “vaccine nationalism”, and chaos on both Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, a slew of FTSE heavyweights are set to update the market in what will be a crunch week for London’s indices. Despite a strong opening week, the FTSE 100 [...]
Mobile networks to tackle rural not-spots with mast building plan January 27, 2021 Mobile networks O2, Vodafone and Three are teaming up to build hundreds of new masts as part of a push to tackle so-called signal not-spots in rural areas. The companies will build and share 222 mobile masts in an effort to improve 4G coverage across the UK. In total 124 sites will be built in [...]
BT faces £600m claim for historic overcharging on landlines January 17, 2021 A £600m claim has been filed against BT at the Competition Appeal Tribunal that relates to historic overcharging for landlines. The claim could result in payments of up to £500 each for 2.3 million BT customers. The case is being brought by Justin Le Patourel, a telecoms consultant who worked for Ofcom for 13 years. [...]
BT poaches Bharti Airtel executive in digital shake-up January 11, 2021 BT has poached a top technology executive from Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel to lead its digital transformation plans. The FTSE 100 behemoth today announced the appointment of Harmeen Mehta in the new role of chief digital and innovation officer. Mehta, who will report directly to chief executive Philip Jansen, will oversee a new digital [...]
Today: UK to outline roadmap to removing Huawei equipment from its 5G networks November 30, 2020 The UK will today set out its plan to remove all “high risk” Huawei equipment from its 5G networks by 2027. The government announced earlier this year that it will be illegal to purchase Huawei equipment to use in UK 5G networks from the end of this year. All existing equipment procured from the Chinese [...]
BT boss Philip Jansen hints at sale of Openreach stake November 20, 2020 BT has opened the door to a sale of a stake in infrastructure division Openreach as the telecoms giant battles a declining share price. Chief executive Philip Jansen said he was “open minded” about offloading a stake once a regulatory review into full-fibre networks has been completed next year. “We feel — I feel — [...]
BT threatened with strike action over job cuts and pay November 5, 2020 BT could be facing its first major strike action in more than 15 years after union members accused the company of “putting profit before people”. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) today asked members to vote on whether to hold a strike ballot at the company over an “increasingly aggressive” approach by management across BT, Openreach [...]
BT profit drops a fifth but telecoms giant boosts guidance October 29, 2020 Telecoms giant BT said that half-year profit had slipped 20 per cent this morning but still boosted its earnings guidance for the full year. Post-tax profit dropped from £1.07bn last year to £856m, while revenue at the FTSE 100 firm fell eight per cent to £10.6bn. The company said that the fall was due to [...]
BT taps Ericsson to provide London 5G networks October 28, 2020 BT has chosen Swedish telecoms firm Ericsson to provide 5G radio equipment in London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and other major UK cities. The deal means that when rollout is completed, Ericsson will manage around 50 per cent of BT’s 5G traffic. It comes just months after the government said it would ban Chinese firm Huawei [...]
UK regulator to ban telecom providers from selling ‘locked’ smartphones October 27, 2020 Mobile phone operators across Britain will be banned from selling ‘locked’ handsets, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom announced this morning. Most of Britain’s largest providers, including BT/EE, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone, sell mobile devices that cannot be used on other networks unless they are unlocked, a potentially complicated process which often costs around £10. Ofcom has now [...]