BT’s broadband network dominance is bad for customers, innovation and the country November 10, 2015 The frustrations with Openreach expressed by Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao yesterday are shared by millions of customers and businesses as well as Sky. The current structure where one provider, BT, has complete ownership of the national broadband network has led to unacceptable levels of service, reduced competition, and a poverty of ambition in terms [...]
Northern Ireland has the UK’s worst mobile phone network coverage – but smartphone users in the South East are also suffering November 2, 2015 The South East may be one of the UK's most built-up areas – but it's also one of the worst when it comes to mobile network coverage, a new study has found. The research, by Cable.co.uk. found 29.3 per cent of people in the region experience a "notspot" – an area with no network coverage [...]
ITV’s Jekyll and Hyde could be too scary for Ofcom, after watchdog receives 459 complaints November 1, 2015 Tonight’s episode of ITV show Jekyll and Hyde is bound to be filled with frights, but things have become scary off-screen too. On Thursday, TV watchdog Ofcom announced it would be launching an investigation into the show, after receiving 459 complaints. Viewers complained that the content of the first episode of the show, which aired [...]
EU competition watchdog slams brakes on O2 merger with Three October 30, 2015 The EU’s competition watchdog has slammed the brakes on a proposed merger between O2 and Hong Kong investment group CK Hutchison, a takeover which would create the UK’s biggest mobile operator. The European Commission is launching an in-depth investigation of Hutchison’s proposed takeover over competition concerns. CK Hutchison, owned by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-Shing, [...]
EE’s Olaf Swantee plans to boost UK business by billions with push into business-to-business 4G October 28, 2015 EE is flirting more with the business-to-business sector, as the telecoms giant claims that better wifi could boost the UK’s companies by billions of pounds. The company’s chief executive Olaf Swantee said to City A.M. that this is an important growth sector for EE: We’ve shown what 4G can do for consumers, and now businesses [...]
Virgin Media hits out at BT and Sky over Premier League football TV rights deal October 21, 2015 Virgin Media has fired the latest shot in the battle of the broadcasters over the way TV rights for football games are sold. Research commissioned by Virgin showed that just six per cent of football fans said they were able to watch every match they wanted to on TV at home. Media watchdog Ofcom launched an [...]
Telecoms customer complaints have risen 35pc since 2012 October 21, 2015 It might not come as a surprise, but there are plenty of unhappy telecoms customers – 15,542 of them have complained over the past nine months, a 35 per cent increase over the past three years. The Ombudsman Services will release figures today showing that there has been a five per cent increase from this [...]
London can revive its industry and double house-building by getting creative with its space October 18, 2015 The average Briton spends eight hours and 41 minutes using digital devices each day, according to Ofcom – more than they sleep. It is therefore little surprise that we are also the biggest online shoppers in Europe, and this rapid growth in e-commerce partly explains London’s resurgent industrial sheds market, required to stock goods. Transactions [...]
Government sells off its final stake in Royal Mail – but only institutional investors need apply October 12, 2015 The government has announced plans to sell off its final stake in Royal Mail, two years after it began privatising the company – but true to form, only institutional investors will get a chance to buy the shares. In a statement today, it said had begun the process of selling off its remaining shareholding, which [...]
BBC backs PLC-style board and abolishing BBC Trust for external regulation October 7, 2015 The BBC will back a radical overhaul of the way it is run that would see the BBC Trust abolished and ultimate accountability handed to an external regulator, leaving Auntie to be run by a traditional executive board. The public broadcaster will publish its arguments for the shake-up today, in a detailed formal response to a [...]