BT and Inmarsat shatter returns at hedge fund Lansdowne February 17, 2017 One of London's oldest and most highly-respected hedge funds was hit by the poor performance of shares in BT and Inmarsat in January, according to reports. Lansdowne Partners said the shocking performance of BT in the wake of a profit warning and a £530m accounting black hole in its Italian division, together with the floundering of [...]
O2 boss: Let’s go mobile as a quick fix for Britain’s broadband woes February 16, 2017 The rollout of 5G mobile networks in the UK can be delivered more quickly than fibre broadband and provide a boost of billions of pounds to Britain’s economy, according to a report released today. 5G, or the fifth generation mobile network, is scheduled to go live in the UK in 2020. It is expected to deliver faster internet [...]
A fifth of Brits are resigned to poor rail service as more than two million complaints were made in 2016 February 15, 2017 One in five Brits are resigned to poor rail service, with complaints up nearly half a million on last year. There were 2.04m complaints made regarding trains in 2016, according to Ombudsman Services' annual Consumer Action Monitor. The rail sector was responsible for 3.7 per cent of complaints last year, making up more than half of those [...]
BT Openreach’s final board line-up is structurally flawed, says TalkTalk’s Dido Harding February 14, 2017 Openreach today revealed its final board line-up in a push to prove its independence from parent BT, only for the move to be branded "meaningless" by TalkTalk. LIz Benison, a high ranking executive at Serco, will take her place as a non-exec alongside chairman Mike McTighe, Edward Astle and Sir Brendan Barber. Openreach said the appointment means independent [...]
Verizon covers move by Sprint and offers unlimited data to US customers February 13, 2017 Competition between US mobile phone firms is set to hot up as the country’s largest operator announced plans to introduce unlimited data packages. Verizon’s move – seemingly at odds with statements made by one of its top executives last month – comes after competitor Sprint last week introduced similar plans. Through an introductory plan announced on Sunday, the [...]
London’s classic red phone boxes are getting a makeover – complete with Wi-Fi and touchscreens February 7, 2017 You may have noticed some rather different phone boxes to what you're used to popping up on the streets of the capital. Well that's because the iconic red phone box is getting a revamp and New World Payphones has been wheeling out swanky new versions complete with high-speed Wi-Fi, touchscreen functions for local services and digital [...]
Three buys UK broadband in £300m deal February 6, 2017 Mobile operator Three has acquired UK Broadband in a £300m deal. The deal comes just months after the European Commission blocked Three's parent company CK Hutchison from a £10.3bn takeover of O2. UK Broadband, the company behind home broadband service Relish, has 15,000 customers across the UK. Three will pay £250m for snapping up UK Broadband while a [...]
Piaget Altiplano turns 60, and it’s still the choice of today’s jetset sophisticate February 6, 2017 Last week the great and the good of the luxury world descended upon Geneva Airport’s Palexpo convention centre for the “Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie” – which basically translates as “glamorous showcase of mindbogglingly complicated timepieces”. So glamorous, in fact, that even the iron-clad bleakness of Palexpo was not enough to dissuade a healthy [...]
Bad line: Investors to sue BT over accounting slip-up that wiped billions off its market value February 5, 2017 BT could be hit by legal action from its shareholders following an accounting scandal that rocked the telecoms company last year. Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is mulling a potential lawsuit on behalf of institutional investors over the impact of the accounting scandal being worse than originally stated. The group announced writedowns of £145m in October [...]
Six Nations 2017: Selling jersey sponsorship for the first time is a controversial but lucrative move for France February 4, 2017 The end to a 98-year tradition was signalled last week when the French Rugby Federation (FFR) quietly slipped out that it was finally going to sell the front of the French national rugby team’s shirt to a sponsor – the last major rugby-playing nation to do so. When rugby union turned pro in the mid-1990s, [...]