Bottom Line: Royal Mail proves markets trump politics March 31, 2014 ON ITS first day as a listed company in February, shares in AO.com rose by 33 per cent. Three weeks later, Poundland followed suit; jumping 23 per cent on its debut and making millionaires of several of its senior managers. Other players in London’s recent initial public offering (IPO) boom haven’t fared so well; Just [...]
Bottom Line: Ofgem probe is for all the wrong reasons March 28, 2014 THE UK’S regulatory authorities are supposed to be independent. Ofcom, Ofwat, Ofgem – all were set up to oversee our utilities markets and protect the interests of consumers. After yesterday’s referral of the energy market to the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a full-scale investigation, many will no longer see Ofgem as objective, [...]
Government rejects TV advert ban for payday loan companies March 24, 2014 PAYDAY lenders will not be banned from daytime and childrens’ television adverts, the government said yesterday. But they will have to include details of debt advice services, and warn customers of the consequences of failing to pay back loans, in the same way as alcohol adverts and tobacco packaging. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also [...]
Britain tops European broadband league as average speed doubles March 12, 2014 BRITAIN has marched ahead of its European tech rivals with the lowest number of non-internet users and the highest take up of broadband, according to Ofcom’s second European Broadband Scorecard. The average home broadband speed has doubled in less than two years, reaching nearly 18 megabits per second (Mbps), putting the UK ahead of Germany, [...]
Britain is beating France, Germany, Italy and Spain in these 5 key tech metrics March 12, 2014 Britain has marched ahead of its European tech rivals with its internet connectivity with the lowest number of non-internet users and the highest take up of broadband, according to Ofcom’s European Broadband Scorecard. 1. Lowest proportion of people who have never used the internet, at just eight per centA drop from the 11 per cent [...]
Government to make gambling industry’s new code mandatory March 3, 2014 CULTURE secretary Maria Miller is backing new voluntary industry measures to restrict the use of high-stakes gambling machines. The changes will prevent bookies from advertising the machines in their windows and introduce an alert system to pop up after someone has been using a machine for 30 minutes, or when they have spent £250. Writing [...]
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 [...]
Price of mobile services halved in last ten years January 28, 2014 MONTHLY mobile phone bills have fallen by over 65 per cent over the past ten years to an average of £12.87 in 2012. In 2003 the average monthly spend was £39.65, but while mobile penetration has skyrocketed to over 90 per cent of households – with smartphones accounting for 69 per cent of mobiles – [...]
Commuters to see internet speeds boosted January 21, 2014 OFCOM yesterday announced it will make a large amount of spectrum available for new satellite-based technologies that could allow passengers on fast moving planes and boats to access the internet at ten times the speeds offered by current technology. Ofcom said it hopes the first commercial deployment of the technology to begin by the end [...]
Internet speed for commuters to skyrocket after Ofcom decision January 21, 2014 Passengers on boats, planes and trains are set to enjoy broadband speeds 10-times faster than they currently experience following Ofcom's approval of a new satellite-based technology. The new devices called earth stations will be mounted on vehicles and provide internet to passengers by connecting to a geostationary satellite. The telecoms regulator is also making available [...]