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20
July 2010 |
Hackers have built a computer virus that attacks Siemens AG's widely used industrial control systems, creating malicious software that analysts said can be used for espionage and sabotage.
The German company said the malware is a Trojan worm dubbed Stuxnet that spreads via infected USB thumb drives, exploiting a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability in Microsoft's Windows operating system.
"Just viewing the contents of the USB stick can activate the Trojan," said Siemens spokesperson Alexander Machowetz. "S... |
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20
July 2010 |
According to a new report from Pyramid Research, total broadband users in Africa will increase from 40 million in 2010 to 92 million in 2015 at a CAGR of 18 percent, driven by new undersea cables and WIMAX connections.
Broadband penetration rate will also increase from 3.2 percent in 2010 to 6.8 percent in 2015, and revenue will increase at a CAGR of 16 percent in the same period to US$20 billion, notes Kerem Arsal, Analyst at Pyramid Research, and author of this report.
During the forecast period, W... |
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16
July 2010 |
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has blamed a lack of funds for the government's decision to delay the roll out of 2 megabits per second broadband in the UK.
The previous government had set 2012 as a deadline for network to be in place.
Mr Hunt said he did not think there was "sufficient funding in place" to meet that goal.
BT also warned that it will cost billions to get fast broadband to every part of Britain.
Steve Robertson, chief executive of BT Openreach, told BBC 5 live's Drive programme... |
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16
July 2010 |
UK companies think improvements to their broadband networks are just as important as improvements to transport links.
New research by Virgin Media Business, showed broadband, rail and roads each getting 30 per cent of the 5,000 companies votes when asked what was critical to their enterprises.
However, when this research was broken down into regions, some found the broadband network even more imperative.
Some 40 per cent of London-based respondents said a faster network would improve their profits ... |
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16
July 2010 |
Chile has become the first nation to officially put net neutrality principles into law. In a vote by the Chilean legislature, the new law won a near unanimous vote, according to local media.
The new law forces ISPs to "ensure access to all types of content, services or applications available on the network and offer a service that does not distinguish content, applications or services, based on the source of it or their property".
The legislation also requires ISPs to provide parental controls that bl... |
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14
July 2010 |
Steve Robertson, chief executive of BT Openreach, told BBC Radio 5 Live that the goal cannot be achieved without public funds of around GBP2bn.
The costs of delivering basic broadband to rural areas may also rise, experts say.
The government says industry must find ways to solve the problems.
It has pledged to make the UK the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015 and provide a minimum 2Mbps to every home.
But, other than GBP175m set aside from the Digital Switchover project, there is little... |
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9
July 2010 |
More than a billion mobile phone connections have been added to the global tally in just 18 months, according to Wireless Intelligence.
There are now more than five billion connections worldwide.
In many regions, penetration exceeds 100 percent, where there is more than one connection per person in the country.
Ben Wood, mobile phone analyst at CCS Insight said the mobile phone may be "the most prolific consumer device on the planet".
"If you just take the UK in 1987, when the first mobile compa... |
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5
July 2010 |
Australia's third-largest city is investigating bringing high-speed broadband Internet to Brisbane homes and businesses using its sewer pipes to carry fibre optic cables, Channel 7 News reported.
It was reported Saturday that Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said residents could soon have access to next-generation broadband technology at no cost to taxpayers.
Newman said Brisbane city council is in discussions with a British company seeking to put broadband fibre optic into the city using Brisbane's sewer s... |
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2
July 2010 |
Nigeria's Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili has given a directive to telecommunication operators in Abuja yesterday, to immediately stop the sale of new SIM cards to subscribers without capturing the necessary data of the customer.
According to a report in Leadership Nigeria, the measures are aimed at addressing the increasing crime rate in the country, particularly the spate of kidnapping in the Southern part of the country.
The minister also announced that government wou... |
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1
July 2010 |
Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband a legal right for every citizen.
From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection.
Finland has vowed to connect everyone to a 100Mbps connection by 2015.
In the UK the government has promised a minimum connection of at least 2Mbps to all homes by 2012 but has stopped short of enshrining this as a right in law.
The Finnish deal means that from 1 July all telecommunications ... |
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1
July 2010 |
Nearly two million more Britons have come online during the last year, over half of which are over 50, according to new research.
The UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) found that the net audience now stands at 38.8 million, up from 36.9 million at the same time last year.
The majority of internet newbies were made up of over-50s, with more men than women joining up.
Net services are increasingly targeting the older generation.
"The internet is getting older in more ways than one. Not only is ... |
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24
June 2010 |
Virgin Media has said it is "crunch time" for broadband as it gears up to offer speeds of up to 400Mbps (megabits per second).
Virgin Media's director of broadband Jon James said 100Mbps would be available by the end of the year.
And the company has 400Mbps-ready modems and routers in the pipeline.
Virgin Media hopes to extend its network to reach out to another million customers, using overhead cables.
400Mbps data transfer is fast enough to download an album in around a second, or a high-defin... |
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23
June 2010 |
San Francisco has become the first city in the US to require mobile phone retailers to post radiation levels next to the handsets they sell.
The board of supervisors, or council, voted 10-1 to approve the measure.
"This is about helping people make informed choices," said the law's chief sponsor, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
The mobile phone industry has pointed to studies that it says show mobile phone radiation was not harmful to people.
It has fought similar legislation in California and Maine,... |
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23
June 2010 |
MTN Group will slash international call rates by about 40 percent in Zambia after the southern African country opened up access to and cut the licensing fees for international gateway facilities.
Zamtel, the country's fixed-line phone operator, used to control the sole gateway and charged private operators high fees for using it, but Zambia last week allowed other operators to set up their own facilities and cut the five-year international gateway licensing fee to 300,000 dollars from 8 million dollars.
... |
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22
June 2010 |
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that the 50p a month landline tax ear-marked for next-generation broadband will be scrapped.
Instead the government will leave the majority of super-fast broadband roll-out to private investment.
Some money will be available for rural roll-outs, he said.
The Conservatives opposed the introduction of the broadband tax and it was dropped from the Finance Bill at the end of the last parliament.
Speaking about the decision to scrap the tax, he said: "I am happ... |
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