Ofcom outlines rules for its mobile 4G spectrum auction November 21, 2016 Communications watchdog Ofcom has ruled that BT/EE will not be allowed to participate in one of its upcoming auctions for mobile broadband airwaves. The regulator has set out its rules for next year's auction of 190 MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz bands – representing more than three-quarters of the 4G [...]
BT boss warns Ofcom’s indecision is costing UK November 20, 2016 Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT, has warned that indecision over its control of Openreach is costing the UK economy. The communications regulator Ofcom is currently weighing to what extent BT will have to separate Openreach after its consultation closed in October. BT has promised £6bn of investment over the next three years in [...]
IG Group boss joins fintech startup board November 7, 2016 A top boss at spreadbetter IG Group has joined the board of a startup opening up high level investments to individual private investors. Ian Peacock, head of UK and Ireland at the FTSE 250 firm, will join the advisory board of CoInvestor, an alternative investment platform which lets investors put their cash into assets usually reserved for institutional investors. The six [...]
BT investor calls for talks over Openreach arm November 6, 2016 A major BT shareholder, Aviva Investors, has called for the telecoms giant to open discussions about a possible sale of its infrastructure arm Openreach. BT has been fighting for control of its network division for the past 18 months, following repeated calls from its rivals that Openreach should be split out of the group. Aviva is [...]
Vodafone sells Dutch broadband operations to T-Mobile November 4, 2016 Shares in Vodafone dipped this morning after the firm announced its Dutch arm had sold its fixed-line operations to T-Mobile Netherlands for an undisclosed sum in an effort to get EU competition authorities onside. The deal means 150,000 customers’ fixed-line broadband will now be handled by T-Mobile’s Dutch subsidiary. Merger master plan The sale is [...]
MPs want mobile phone network roaming in the UK as signal coverage is “unacceptable” October 29, 2016 You might have suspected it; a new report from a group of backbench MPs has confirmed it. Britain's mobile phone users are suffering from an "unacceptable" level of signal coverage. That's despite billions of pounds being spent to improve the network. The British Infrastructure Group (BIG) of cross-party MPs said that British mobile phone signal [...]
BT Group reports 35 per cent hike in revenue but earnings drop 10 per cent October 27, 2016 BT Group said today that while Brexit hasn't had any major impact on the firm, weakness in sterling was hitting its finances, as it reported a 10 per cent drop in earnings but a revenue jump of over one third for the three months to 30 September. The figures Revenue was up 35 per cent [...]
Ofcom fines Vodafone £4.6m for multiple service failings and taking customers’ money without providing a service October 26, 2016 Regulators have slapped Vodafone with a £4.6m fine for "serious and sustained breaches of consumer protection rules" across two key investigations. Ofcom said that the telecoms giant failed to credit over 10,000 customers' accounts after they paid top-ups on pay-as-you-go contracts. Over a 17-month period, Vodafone customers missed out on £150,000 of money that should have been [...]
Ofcom to slap Vodafone with multimillion pound fine October 25, 2016 Vodafone will be slapped with a multimillion pound fine for how it deals with complaints and how it handles its pay-as-you-go service. Ofcom will announce the outcome of two investigations tomorrow. Sky News has reported that the two 18-month probes have both found significant failings in Vodafone's UK business. Read more: Vodafone and Inmarsat team up [...]
BT comes under pressure from digital minister October 19, 2016 The minister for digital policy has said the government is committed to improving competition in the UK broadband market as watchdog Ofcom weighs the case for breaking up BT. Minister of state for digital and culture Matt Hancock said the government wanted to ensure “a fair market in which all providers can compete for business”. The [...]