City Moves for 4 February – Who’s switching jobs at Saatchi & Saatchi, Barkby and Superunion? February 4, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Saatchi & Saatchi, Barkby and Superunion Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi London has announced the appointment of Andrew Kay as managing partner on its prominent BT account. Andrew takes on the new role after three years as managing director at BETC. He began his career with account management roles at [...]
Angela Merkel fails to unite government over Huawei plan February 3, 2020 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is failing in her bid to unite the coalition government over a verdict on whether to allow Huawei to build the country’s 5G networks. Merkel has attempted to rule out a total ban on Huawei, but has been forced to strike a compromise with hardline ministers in her Christian Democratic Union [...]
Oil prices fall again as coronavirus continues to weigh on demand January 30, 2020 Oil prices fell again today after a brief respite on Wednesday as the worsening coronavirus outbreak continued to take its toll on economies. Brent crude fell two per cent to $57.68, whilst West Texas Intermediate showed a similar decline to $52.32. The renewed fall came after a Brent crude rallied by 0.5 per cent yesterday, [...]
Government’s Huawei 5G cap will cost BT £500m January 30, 2020 BT today warned the government’s decision to cap Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network will cost the telecoms giant £500m over the next five years. BT welcomed the “clarity” provided by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to enforce a 35 per cent cap on Huawei’s 5G involvement. But CEO Philip Jansen today warned of [...]
UK businesses breathe sigh of relief as Huawei gets the green light January 28, 2020 UK businesses today welcomed the decision to allow Huawei a limited role in the country’s 5G networks, hailing a “sensible compromise” to the fraught row over national security. In a long-awaited ruling, the government said the Chinese tech firm, which has been classed a “high-risk vendor”, will be allowed to build non-core parts of the [...]
BT executive appointed by government to scrutinise tech regulation January 26, 2020 A senior BT executive will run a new body that looks at regulation in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Cathryn Ross, the group’s director of regulatory affairs, will chair the government’s new Regulatory Horizons Council, first reported by Sky News. The body, which is still being set up, will scrutinise whether tech regulation is keeping [...]
Sky poised to sign streaming deal with Disney January 26, 2020 Sky is said to be close to signing a deal with Disney to bring the US giant’s new streaming service to its pay-TV platform. The two companies are finalising a multi-year tie-up that could shut out rivals Virgin Media and BT, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Disney Plus is expected to launch on Sky alongside its [...]
Vodafone ranked ‘worst’ UK mobile and broadband provider January 24, 2020 Vodafone is the UK’s most complained about provider for broadband, landline and mobile, according to regulator Ofcom. The firm topped the broadband complaint charts for the second quarter in a row, between July and September last year. The Ofcom report said thousands of customers had complained to them regarding the supplier’s poor customer service, faulty [...]
Hua you gonna call? Why Britain’s 5G infrastructure decision has real implications January 23, 2020 Britain looks set to decide on Chinese titan Huawei’s role in 5G infrastructure next week. Political Editor Catherine Neilan looks at why it matters so much If campaigning is poetry, governing is prose – so goes one of the iron rules of politics. Tough, controversial decisions must be made, and one of Boris Johnson’s first [...]
Not as easy as 1,2,3: Seven accounting errors that rocked FTSE firms January 22, 2020 Ted Baker today experienced the dubious honour of joining a list of FTSE firms that have been shaken by accounting errors in the past year. The fashion retailer revealed an accounting error was more than twice as bad as it previously thought, knocking shares down seven per cent. But it is by no means the [...]