Pictures: BT chief Gavin Patterson abseils down BT Tower March 10, 2014 When Gavin Patterson took on the role of chief executive of BT back in June 2013, we’d wager he didn’t expect his tenure at the top to involve abseiling down BT’s famous totem, the BT Tower. But sure enough, this morning, Gavin Patterson stepped into a harness, plonked on a hard hat and took [...]
Downloads to be ultra-fast at Virgin Media February 27, 2014 VIRGIN Media customers can now download a high definition movie in just four minutes after the cable broadband provider increased its service’s top speeds to 152Mb, double BT and Sky’s top consumer broadband speeds of 76Mb. Virgin’s ultrafast speed will not come at any additional cost for existing customers of Virgin’s fastest service, who will [...]
City Moves for 27 February 2014 | Who’s switching jobs February 26, 2014 Royal London GroupThe mutual life and pensions company has announced the appointment of Tim Harris as a finance director and member of its board. He joins from Torus, where he is currently group chief finance officer. Harris has previously held senior finance roles at Aviva and PwC. InceThe law firm has appointed Hugh O’Donovan as [...]
Desmond sets a deadline for Channel 5 bids February 20, 2014 RICHARD Desmond has stepped down from the board of Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited in a sign that the media boss may be preparing for a sale of the broadcaster. An information memorandum has been sent to would-be buyers and City A.M. understands that a deadline of 27 February has been set for initial offers. Last [...]
London Report: Third straight day of gains sees FTSE erase 2014 losses February 18, 2014 BRITAIN’S top equity index erased its losses for the year as it rose for a third straight session yesterday, boosted by BHP Billiton and telecoms giant BT. Shares in global mining firm Billiton rose 1.9 per cent after first-half profit beat forecasts and it hinted at a share buyback in August, despite a cautious outlook [...]
BT’s clash over Sky Sports goes into extra time February 17, 2014 BT’S DISPUTE with BSkyB over the price and availability of Sky Sports on its YouView set top boxes will go into an epic eighth year following a court ruling yesterday. The Court of Appeal decided that the competition tribunal should re-examine its decision from August 2012, which stopped BSkyB being forced to offer Sky Sports [...]
Capita wins a £325m contract to connect Scottish public services February 17, 2014 OUTSOURCING firm Capita has won a £325m contract to deliver a single shared network for Scotland’s public services. Under the contract, which is for nine years, Capita will connect more than 4,600 sites, including schools, hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacists and local council offices. The Scottish Wide Area Network (Swan) is aimed at reducing costs, improving [...]
Former BT chief joins CityFibre board February 17, 2014 CityFibre, provider of fibre optic infrastructure, has appointed Sally Davis to its board as non-executive director. Davis previously worked as chief executive of BT Wholesale before stepping down in 2011 after four years. Davis also serves as a director at Logitech and Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor. “Sally’s expertise in delivering large scale telecoms solutions in [...]
Vodafone eyes UK broadband and TV markets February 6, 2014 VODAFONE is considering a move into the UK broadband and television market, its chief executive confirmed yesterday, while its UK mobile revenue declined for the seventh consecutive quarter. When asked about Pay-TV chief executive Vittorio Colao said: “We are watching the space. Today, there’s not an urgent need to be there. It could be different [...]
Bottom Line: A tie-up to take on BT could put Voda within range of new growth February 6, 2014 VODAFONE’S investors were yesterday rightly pleased about a plan for the company’s future that doesn’t include the initials A, T and T. With a takeover from the States off the cards for a few months, and its Verizon stake gone, the telecoms giant has got some time to put its affairs in order. Pressing on [...]