BT appoints former Ofcom board member as Openreach chairman November 28, 2016 BT has appointed former Ofcom board member Mike McTighe as the first chairman of its infrastructure arm Openreach. McTighe, who takes up his role from January, spent eight years on the board of the communications watchdog and will oversee the new Openreach board – which will operate from early 2017. The communications regulator is currently [...]
Three leads new campaign to curb BT’s mobile network dominance November 28, 2016 Some of the UK’s telecom challenger brands are teaming up to lobby the communications watchdog over BT’s dominance over the airwaves. Three UK is leading a group – that includes TalkTalk, CityFibre, and Relish – which is calling on Ofcom to prevent one mobile network owning more than 30 per cent of the UK’s mobile spectrum. [...]
Sky gears up for launch of mobile service with price details this week November 27, 2016 Details of Sky’s long awaited move in to mobile are expected to be fleshed out this week The pay TV giant will unveil its mobile phone subscription packages designed to complete its so-called quadplay offering, meant to encourage existing customers to sign up for more services. Sky’s rivals fear it will try to undercut them [...]
Meet the Edmond de Rothschild asset manager who launched a UK-focused fund just before the referendum (and doesn’t regret it) November 27, 2016 With the European Union referendum just two months away, April 2016 may have seemed like a bold time for a European asset manager to launch a new fund focusing exclusively on the UK – even if it looked like we were headed for a Remain vote. Shares in companies such as ITV, BT, and Marks [...]
Bletchley Park to house the UK’s next generation of cyber talent November 24, 2016 Renowned World War II codebreaking site Bletchley Park is going to play host to the next generation of the UK’s cyber experts. Under plans announced today the site is to be refurbished as country’s first National College of Cyber Security, with the first cohort of 16-19-year-olds expected from September 2018. The free-to-attend school will take on [...]
Cloud nine: IBM announces major UK expansion, following Facebook and Google commitments November 22, 2016 IBM has joined fellow US tech giants Facebook and Google in announcing a major multi-million dollar investment into the UK. The company is today announcing plans for four new cloud data centres – where corporate and consumer information is stored remotely – in the UK “to keep pace with growing client demand”. The commitment marks IBM [...]
Ofcom outlines rules for its mobile 4G spectrum auction November 21, 2016 Communications watchdog Ofcom has ruled that BT/EE will not be allowed to participate in one of its upcoming auctions for mobile broadband airwaves. The regulator has set out its rules for next year's auction of 190 MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands – representing more than three-quarters of the 4G [...]
BT boss warns Ofcom’s indecision is costing UK November 20, 2016 Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT, has warned that indecision over its control of Openreach is costing the UK economy. The communications regulator Ofcom is currently weighing to what extent BT will have to separate Openreach after its consultation closed in October. BT has promised £6bn of investment over the next three years in [...]
These are the top 10 most transparent FTSE 100 firms – showing it pays (£24bn) to be open November 16, 2016 Sometimes, reading through the London Stock Exchange’s RNS feed, it feels as though certain companies just don’t want to be understood. Others, clearly, do: a new study has named the top 10 FTSE 100 companies for transparency. Arm, the Cambridge-based chip designer that was acquired by Japan’s SoftBank for £24bn this summer, was named as [...]
New Plusnet Mobile service will expand the company’s portfolio as a quad-play provider November 14, 2016 Plusnet announced today the launch of the UK’s newest mobile provider: Plusnet Mobile. The new mobile service from the Sheffield-based telephone, TV and broadband provider is the result of parent company BT Group’s acquisition of mobile network LIFE Mobile, part of the EE business. The new service will build on Plusnet’s award-winning portfolio and is [...]