BT gives staff pay rise as chief executive donates salary April 6, 2020 BT has handed out a share bonus to all staff and pledged not to cut jobs during the coronavirus crisis as the telecoms giant faces a surge in demand for its services. Each of BT’s 100,000 employees will be awarded £500 in shares in June, while thousands of non-managerial staff will be given a 1.5 [...]
Advertising giant Clear Channel sells Chinese business for $250m March 31, 2020 Clear Channel today said it has sold its business in China for $253m (£205m) as it pulled its guidance and announced a raft of cost-cutting plans to combat the coronavirus crisis. The outdoor advertising group said it will sell its 51 per cent stake in subsidiary Clear Media to Ever Harmonic — a consortium of [...]
Broadband firms to remove data caps during coronavirus crisis March 29, 2020 All UK broadband firms have agreed to remove data allowance caps during the coronavirus crisis under a new deal struck with the government. Internet service providers and mobile operators including BT/EE, Openreach, Virgin Media, Sky, O2 and Vodafone have agreed to a number of measures, effective immediately, designed to ensure all Brits have access to [...]
MWC to offer refunds after conference scrapped due to coronavirus March 25, 2020 Mobile World Congress (MWC) will offer refunds to anyone who paid to attend the conference in a move that could “lay down the gauntlet” for other events cancelled due to coronavirus. Organiser GSMA scrapped the telecoms extravaganza in February following a string of high-profile withdrawals, saying health concerns made it “impossible” for the event to [...]
BT offloads £80m legal software arm Tikit as sell-off continues March 25, 2020 BT today said it has sold its legal software division Tikit as the telecom giant’s transformation plan picks up pace. Tikit, which provides lawyers with software for time recording and case management, has been acquired by UK software firm Advanced. Financial details were not disclosed, but the business is reportedly valued at £80m. The sale [...]
Three’s ‘real’ 5G ad banned after mobile rivals file complaint March 25, 2020 An advert promoting Three’s 5G network has been banned after two rival mobile operators said the campaign was misleading. EE owner BT and Vodafone filed complaints to the advertising watchdog about the newspaper and social media ads, which claimed Three was the only provider to offer “real” 5G. Under advertising rules, a brand must be [...]
BT in talks to sell French business to Computacenter March 24, 2020 BT today said it is in exclusive discussions to sell its French business to British IT services and consulting firm Computacenter. The telecoms giant’s French division, which manages and maintains IT and network infrastructure, pulled in revenue of roughly £104m last year. The companies did not disclose the value of the deal. The move marks [...]
DAZN: UK launch of ‘Netflix of sport’ at risk of being delayed March 19, 2020 The UK launch of sports streaming service DAZN is highly likely to be delayed beyond its scheduled date in May, City A.M. understands. DAZN, which has been billed as a “Netflix of sport”, had pencilled in a major global expansion that would increase the number of countries served from nine to more than 200. The [...]
UK mobile networks suffer outages as virus sparks surge in demand March 18, 2020 Mobile phone users across the UK have reported problems with calls as operators battle to keep up with a boom in demand sparked by the coronavirus outbreak. The UK’s four network operators — O2, EE, Vodafone and Three — yesterday confirmed they were experiencing problems with some voice calls. It comes as millions of Brits [...]
City Pub Group to slash jobs as coronavirus threat looms March 17, 2020 City Pub Group today said it will lay off staff across the company as it braces for a decline in footfall caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The upmarket pub chain said it will reduce employee numbers in its head office and at site level, while opening hours will be reviewed to cut out “non-productive” times. [...]