O2 boss says 4G auction forecast contained flaws February 25, 2013 GEORGE Osborne should never have expected to raise the £3.5bn he had banked on from an auction of 4G mobile spectrum, the chief executive of O2 has said. Ronan Dunne, the boss of the UK’s second-largest mobile network, told City A.M. that the £2.3bn raised for the Treasury was “not actually a surprise to us” [...]
BT takes on BSkyB in the battle for pay-TV with ESPN purchase February 25, 2013 BT has agreed to buy ESPN’s UK and Ireland television business as it bids to loosen BSkyB’s grip on the pay-TV sports market with the launch of its own channels. The deal, which includes the ESPN and ESPN America channels, will see BT take on ESPN’s live sports rights package in Britain and Ireland, including [...]
Osborne hit by £1.2bn shortfall from 4G auction February 21, 2013 THE TREASURY will bank far less than expected from an auction of 4G spectrum, with bidding leaving a black hole of more than £1bn in George Osborne’s accounts. After weeks of secret bidding, the UK’s four mobile operators, along with BT, will spend £2.34bn on airwaves to deliver the next generation of mobile services, far [...]
4G off to a slow start as EE fails to woo users February 19, 2013 THE LAUNCH of the UK’s first 4G mobile network has so far failed to convince Vodafone and O2 customers to switch to EE, company results suggested yesterday. EE, which owns Orange and T- Mobile as well as its new self-branded network, signed 201,000 new customers to contracts during the final quarter of last year. The [...]
Standard owner wins London TV February 4, 2013 LONDON will gain its own TV station next year, after the race to operate the channel was awarded to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, the owner of the Evening Standard and Independent newspapers. Communications regulator Ofcom announced that Lebedev’s London Live bid had beaten four competitors to win the rights to the contract. London is one [...]
Licences given for local TV January 28, 2013 THE UK moved a step closer to switching on its local TV network yesterday, when channel operator Comux was awarded the licence to operate the spectrum for the new channels. In addition to the 19 local TV areas already announced, Comux – owned by broadcast firm Canis Media – said it would cover 28 further [...]
Lords to quiz Ofcom chief exec January 27, 2013 Ofcom’s plans for media regulation could be revealed tomorrow as the regulator’s chief executive Ed Richards is grilled in the House of Lords. The Communications Committee will quiz Richards as part of an inquiry into media convergence, which has become an increasing issue with BSkyB selling internet connections and BT and Virgin Media entering the [...]
4G bidding war starts as Ofcom opens auction January 23, 2013 BIDDING for the UK’s 4G mobile airwaves kicked off yesterday, with communications watchdog Ofcom hosting an auction that is expected to hand George Osborne a multi-billion pound windfall. Seven parties are now vying for a slice of spectrum that will enable them to deliver the next generation of mobile internet, promising speeds around 10 times [...]
Ofcom crackdown on surge in nuisance calls January 8, 2013 NUISANCE silent phone calls received by homes and businesses almost doubled last year according to figure published yesterday, prompting regulator Ofcom to promise tougher action to stamp out the practice. Silent and abandoned phone calls are associated with automatic diallers used in call centres punching in numbers at random. The calls are silent when they [...]
Rapid responses January 7, 2013 Broadband policy [Re: Think tank slams plan to splash out on UK broadband arms race, yesterday] This is an essential look at the UK’s costly and ineffective broadband policies. But it fails to recommend immediate policy changes that would result in much-needed, competition for fixed line and mobile internet access. Allowing wholesale internet service providers [...]