Telecom firms look to watchdog for guidance on mobile ad blocking August 31, 2016 Mobile networks are looking to the communications watchdog Ofcom for guidance over their plans for network-wide ad blocking. Yesterday the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec) published guidelines to clarify rules preventing internet service providers throttling download speeds. Part of the guidelines – which are now left to be interpreted by national regulators [...]
Virgin Media to offer faster broadband for gamers August 31, 2016 Virgin Media is taking a niche approach to growing its broadband subscription base. From tomorrow the internet service provider will offer customers the UK’s first broadband tier designed specifically for online gamers. The extra upload speed – up to 20Mbps – will be an add-on to Virgin Media’s current top broadband package and cost £5 per month. Gamers are increasingly choosing to [...]
Rivals hit back at BT criticism of their campaign August 16, 2016 BT rivals – TalkTalk, Sky, and Vodafone – have hit back following BT boss Gavin Patterson’s complaints over their Fix Britain’s Internet campaign. In a letter signed by Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch, Jeroen Hoencamp, the outgoing head of Vodafone UK, and TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding, the bosses rail against the level of BT’s spending [...]
Sky plots Spain launch as online TV war escalates August 14, 2016 The battle for control of the growing online streaming market is heating up as Sky prepares to launch Now TV in Spain. It’s understood Sky plans to use Spain as a springboard in to other European markets if the Spanish launch is a success. Now TV will be competing directly with US streaming site Netflix in [...]
Former business minister calls for BT Openreach split August 11, 2016 BT is not doing enough to give customers access to high speed internet and should be split up, according to the former business minister Anna Soubry who has called for "radical action" to deliver super fast broadband across Britain. The telecoms firm last week dodged a bullet when the regulator, which pushed further reforms of Openreach [...]
Perform kicks off live sports streaming service in three European countries August 10, 2016 UK-based media company Perform has launched its live sports video streaming service in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. DAZN – inexplicably pronounced Da Zone – is described by Perform as the world’s first dedicated live sports streaming service and allows subscribers to watch games on demand. Football is expected to be the services' top draw with the English Premier League, Italy's Serie A, Frances' Ligue [...]
Vodafone has ditched separate line rental charges amid regulatory pressure over pricing August 9, 2016 Vodafone – the mobile phone giant that has recently turned its hand to broadband – has said it will scrap line rental charges in a UK industry first. Both new and upgrading home broadband customers in the UK will not be billed the £18 monthly charge if they commit to an 18-month contract. Vodafone came late to the broadband party in the [...]
A probe into Premier League broadcast rights has been dropped August 8, 2016 A major probe into the rights to air Premier League football on UK television has been dropped by the regulator. The two-year probe has been drawn to a close after Ofcom decided there was enough progress being made on making more games available to watch while football fans seemed largely happy. The investigation was first launched [...]
Three top tips for a reluctant digital detox August 4, 2016 That's it – switch off your phone, close your laptop… maybe even unplug the telly? Ok – perhaps wait until you've finished reading this, but a third of the country has considered taking just such drastic action in an effort to detox from the digital devices littering our lives. More than half of us consider ourselves hooked and a third of [...]
The way we message now: Text and email decline with the rise of WhatsApp August 4, 2016 The nation is ditching email and text messaging in favour of instant messenger services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, the use of which has surged over the last two years. IM is the fastest growing form of digital communication in the UK, with 43 per cent of people in Britain now using it at least once [...]