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30
May 2007 |
Aberdeenshire and Shetland are the first local authority areas in Britain to have more than half of their homes and businesses switch to ADSL broadband, figures released by BT reveal.
In the ADSL broadband take-up league table Aberdeenshire is in first place, with 50.9 percent and Shetland close behind with 50.7 percent. Third is Stirling with 48.4 percent and then Aberdeen with 47.9 percent.
The Scottish national average of 33.3 percent is ahead of the UK average of 31.2 percent.
BT Scotland di... |
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29
May 2007 |
Around 86 million U.S. households will have broadband Internet access by 2012 according to a new report from JupiterResearch.
The report "US Broadband Forecast, 2007 to 2012: LECs Maintain Advantage over Cable Operators in Quest for New Subscribers" says that because of high-speed service there will be close to 36 million new broadband subscribers in the next five years.
"Price reductions are responsible for driving take-rates for DSL services offered by the incumbent local exchange carriers, while hi... |
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24
May 2007 |
A few months ago, desperately wanting a Sky+ box but refusing to pay hundreds of pounds for one, I ditched Sky - much to the horror of my family - and signed up for BT Vision.
As I was already a BT Broadband customer, it seemed like a great deal - a free set-top box with PVR functionality, and just £90 for setup and installation. Plus, I liked the idea of downloading movies when I fancied for around £3, so I got rid of our online DVD subscription too. Quids in, I thought.
A couple of months later, BT... |
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24
May 2007 |
BT Group is asking Spanish telecoms sector regulator CMT to break up Telefonica SA's telecoms network and adapt the model used in the UK, Cinco Dias reported, citing Luis Alvarez and Jacinto Cavestany -- BT directors in Spain.
According to BT, Telefonica (nyse: TEF - news - people ) should create a new unit to own and operate the network, with a decline in revenues due to increased competition offset by revenues from renting the network to other operators.
Cinco Dias cited unnamed sector sources as s... |
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24
May 2007 |
The digital divide between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is narrowing as more homes connect to broadband.
Broadband take-up in homes in England reached 45 per cent by the end of 2006, while 42 per cent of homes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales had broadband, according to research from Ofcom.
The watchdog found more UK homes connected to broadband last year than in 2005 with the divide between the nation's fat pipe take-up narrowing from a 12 percentage point range in 2005 to a t... |
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24
May 2007 |
Last August I commented that Sony's mylo communicator looked like a miniature PSP. Now British Telecom (BT) and Sony are working to reverse that, in a way.
In the UK, BT will be making a version of its Softphone VoIP application available for the PSP, enabling owners of the handheld to make calls to other Softphone users as well as mobile phones and landlines from any wireless hotspot. The price (which hasn't yet been determined) will also include a headset.
I'm still of the opinion that the PSP is ... |
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23
May 2007 |
The average broadband download speed in the US is only 1.9 megabits per second, compared to 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in Sweden, 17 Mpbs in France, and 7 Mbps in Canada, according to the Communication Workers of America.
CWA President Larry Cohen testified before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, in support of a discussion draft of the Broadband Census of America Act.
"Good data is the foundation of good policy," Cohen said. "We desperately need a n... |
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22
May 2007 |
Microsoft Corp. has formed a joint venture with Taiwan's Chungwa Telecom Co. Ltd. to bring VOIP to small and midsize businesses in China and Taiwan, as well as to offer customers in those regions next-generation telecom services including IPTV.
Through the deal, which was reported by Reuters early Tuesday and confirmed by Microsoft through its public relations firm, the software vendor will help Chungwa develop and deploy VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services using Microsoft Live Communications Se... |
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21
May 2007 |
HEALTH authorities have called for an inquiry into the use of wireless Internet networks in schools because of concerns they could be exposing children to the risk of cancer.
The call from a British health watchdog came after it was revealed that classroom 'wi-fi' networks give off three times as much radiation as a typical mobile phone mast.
Guidelines from the Britain's Health Protection Agency already state that masts should not be sited near schools because of a possible cancer link and other hea... |
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21
May 2007 |
Ofcom has extended the existing rules protecting consumers from the mis-selling of fixed-line voice call services to cover local loop unbundling (LLU) providers that offer voice and broadband services.
The UK telecoms watchdog defines mis-selling as inappropriate sales and marketing activities including 'slamming', where customers can be switched from one company to another without their knowledge and consent.
Since May 2005 a new General Condition of Entitlement (GC 14.5) has required providers of fi... |
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20
May 2007 |
Government agencies are still raking in millions of pounds from premium-rate 0870 phone numbers despite being told more than two years ago to switch to standard charges.
New figures given to Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tyler show that organisations such as the Driver and Vehicle Licence Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions have taken in more than £6m since telecoms regulator Ofcom demanded they stop charging money for calls from the public that is then split with phone operators.
Tyler has ... |
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18
May 2007 |
Africa has exceeded 200 million mobile connections in the first quarter of 2007, growing by more than 60 million connections compared to 2006. This is according to a report released by global mobile market information database Wireless Intelligence.
North Africa held 35% of the mobile connections in 2006 on the continent, West Africa held 30%, Southern Africa held 20%, East Africa held 12% and Central Africa held 7%.
Mobile connections on the continent are predicted to reach 35 million connections by ... |
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18
May 2007 |
Few Africans can afford broadband Internet services, but demand is so great among those who can that mobile operators reckon they have a viable business case for third generation technology in the continent's big cities.
Some market players say 3G, which delivers high-speed data to cellphones, is the best way of providing fast Internet service in countries where decent fixed-line infrastructure is often scarce and millions of people are unable to access the web.
"There's no reason why Africa shouldn't... |
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18
May 2007 |
A section of telecommunication players on Thursday criticized plans to privatize Telkom Kenya Limited terming the move as unwise and saying the Government’s involvement in the company is still required.
Former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication James Rege said the Government should own at least 51 percent of Telkom in order to ensure that it does not lose the opportunity to influence the cost and access of telecommunication services throughout the country.
“This is ... |
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18
May 2007 |
Saying that the FCC "has not kept pace with the times or the technology," Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) opened a hearing today into the FCC's methods for measuring broadband availability in the US. The US lags in speed, availability, and value, said Markey, compared to a country like Japan, where most residents can pay $30 a month for 50Mbps fiber connections to the Internet (which some senators would like to see migrate across the Pacific). But without accurate data on US broadband, neither the government nor priv... |
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