News

Voice networking and VoIP

• August 09, 2010 09 Aug'10

  BT Vision glitch hits Sky Sports viewers

  A glitch in BT Vision left some customers unable to view the Sky Sports channels over the weekend.

  The company was hit by hundreds of complaints over...

• August 09, 2010 09 Aug'10

  Inmarsat to set up global 50Mbps satellite broadband network

  Inmarsat is to spend $1.2bn to build a new global satellite-based network to deliver data speeds up to 50Mbps on demand to customers from 2014.

• August 06, 2010 06 Aug'10

  Google-backed IP satellite operator to compete with fibre networks

  A Google-backed satellite network operator, O3b, has signed a long-term agreement with Europe Media Port to provide gigabit IP network connectivity and bandwidth services to clients located in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

• August 04, 2010 04 Aug'10

  London councils to deliver public services via mobile phones

  London council services are being mobile-enabled in a bid to cut costs and interact with people lacking broadband access.

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  French Connection uses social media feedback to improve online retail sales

  French Connection has implemented a social media feedback platform on its website from Bazaarvoice to improve its understanding of customers.

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  Domain name sales push up profits for VeriSign in Q2

  Internet infrastructure service provider VeriSign reported a rise in profits in the second quarter following increased sales from its domain name registration business.

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  Average UK broadband speeds crawl past 5Mbps

  The average UK broadband speed has increased by 0.91Mbps to 5.106Mbps, following

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  CIOs drive app development to understand customers

  Developing business applications is a top priority for CIOs for 2010. Forty six per cent of CIOs surveyed said they were actively developing their CRM applications. In the survey of 200 CIOs by Vodafone, data collection was the second highest ...

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  Routine encryption and policing could prevent most data losses, says security report

  Most data losses in the past six months could have been avoided, according to the mid-year security threat report from Sophos.

• August 02, 2010 02 Aug'10

  Cheap 2G and top-end 3G phones drive 13% rise in quarterly sales

  Shipment of mobile phones reached 308 million units globally in the second quarter due to low-end 2G models and 3G touchphones driving sales within the industry, according to a report released by Strategy Analytics today.

• August 02, 2010 02 Aug'10

  Saudi and UAE could freeze Blackberry service

  More than one million Blackberry users in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates may be blocked from key services after authorities increased demands for access to encrypted messages sent over the device.

• July 30, 2010 30 Jul'10

  Lunchtime surfers put strain on company bandwidth

  Heavy internet usage during lunch hours could be putting too much pressure on companies' bandwidth.

• July 30, 2010 30 Jul'10

  Will BT be the big winner from spectrum auction?

  Communications minister Ed Vaizey has set the end of 2011 as the closing date for the auction of so-called 4G spectrum.

• July 29, 2010 29 Jul'10

  Virgin Media posts record sales for second quarter 2010

  Telecoms firm has reported record growth for the second quarter, with sales increasing 7.1% between April and June this year

• July 28, 2010 28 Jul'10

  4G spectrum auction set for late 2011

  The long-awaited auction for so-called 4G mobile licences will take place at the end of 2011, communications minister Ed Vaizey announced on Wednesday.

• July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10

  iPhone jailbreaking not illegal, says US government

  The US government has given iPhone users the go-ahead to bypass electronic protection on Apple's iPhones to enable them to use any wireless service provider.

• July 23, 2010 23 Jul'10

  Wi-fi mobiles threaten 3G revenues

  Most consumers will be using mobile handsets with chipsets that provide Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS (Global Positioning System) within the next five years, says market researcher ABI Research.

• July 22, 2010 22 Jul'10

  Nokia profits plunge as smartphone sales rise 1%

  Smartphone sales and currency movements helped Nokia report a 1% rise in sales to €10bn for the second quarter of 2010, but operating profit plunged 15%...

• July 16, 2010 16 Jul'10

  NTT to acquire Dimension Data in $3.2bn deal

  Japanese telecommunications operator NTT has announced an agreement to acquire UK-listed IT services company Dimension Data for $3.2bn.

• July 14, 2010 14 Jul'10

  Facebook claims 150 million mobile users

  Facebook claims to have about 150 million mobile users and expects mobile phones to be a crucial platform for the future.

• July 12, 2010 12 Jul'10

  Ofcom orders mobile operators to move to same-day transfers from April 2011

  Mobile network operators will have to provide the porting authorisation code (PAC) that mobile phone users need to switch operators within two hours from 11 April 2011.

• July 09, 2010 09 Jul'10

  Kent County Council fills in rural broadband 'not-spots'

  Kent County Council has spent £486,000 to fund the roll-out of high-speed broadband to nearly a dozen villages and parishes

• July 09, 2010 09 Jul'10

  Opera upgrades Mini mobile browser

  Norwegian browser maker Opera has updated its Mini mobile browser, which should speed up Nokia S40 feature phones with limited memory, such as the 5130 XpressMusic, 6300 and the 2700 handsets.

• July 08, 2010 08 Jul'10

  UBS bank gets CSC voice and data services

  UBS bank has signed a five-year deal with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for networking services for $580m.

• July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10

  France Telecom to buy new national optical fibre network

  France Telecom/Orange is to spend €2bn on a new optical fibre network that will cover 40% of French homes by 2012, and every French dèpartement by 2015.

• July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10

  CNBC picks BT for video distribution

  Business and financial news channel CNBC has outsourced European distribution of its video content to BT's Media Network for five years.

• July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10

  Skype hires Yahoo's customer experience expert

  Virtual telecoms company Skype has hired Yahoo's vice-president for customer engineering Madhu Yarlagadda as its new chief development officer to look after Skype's engineering and development initiatives.

• July 06, 2010 06 Jul'10

  Union calls off BT strike ballot

  The Communication Workers Union has cancelled a strike ballot that was expected to favour the start of the first national strike in 23 years at BT.

• July 05, 2010 05 Jul'10

  Apple says tests confirm iPhone 4 has best wireless performance ever

  Apple has denied a design fault in the antennae of the iPhone 4 and has blamed instead the formula used to calculate signal strength.

• July 01, 2010 01 Jul'10

  BT accepts loss on Sky sports channels deal

  BT has admitted that it will lose money on its Sky Sports offering in its online TV service as a result of BskyB's wholesale price increase.

• June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10

  Congressmen ask Steve Jobs to explain changes in Apple’s privacy policy

  US congress members have written to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs about concerns that the firm is collecting and sharing geo-location data of iPhone and...

• June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10

  Video: Droid X takes shine off iPhone 4

  While people are queuing up today to buy Apple's latest baby, Google, Motorola and Verizon have launched Droid x, their iPhone 4 killer, which offers a 4.3 inch 854 x 480 resolution screen and voice recognition.

• June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10

  NCP targets barriers to enterprise mobility

  Concern about the security of public internet access is still preventing many businesses giving mobile access to company data, says secure connection software...

• June 23, 2010 23 Jun'10

  Two London teenagers arrested in cybercrime investigation

  The Metropolitan Police's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has arrested two teenagers in an international cybercrime investigation.

• June 22, 2010 22 Jun'10

  Schroders gives staff social media services to increase productivity

  The asset management and private banking company Schroders is turning to social media to help its staff communicate more effectively and to cut spiralling volumes of e-mail.

• June 22, 2010 22 Jun'10

  FCC seeks compromise on net-neutrality

  The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun talks with unnamed parties in an effort to get consensus on net-neutrality and draw up a legislative proposal.

• June 21, 2010 21 Jun'10

  BT offers all-you-can-eat WiFi on your Home Hub

  BT is to scrap its cap on WiFi traffic following O2's announcement that it will limit data traffic on its mobile network. BT Retail consumer managing director John Petter said BT's broadband users were previously limited on WiFi minutes available at...

• June 21, 2010 21 Jun'10

  Government seeks no-cost ideas for universal 2Mbps broadband

  The government is to hold a open day on 15 July in London to hear ideas from industry about how to provide and pay for a minimum 2Mbps broadband service to the UK's "not spots", and how to roll a "superfast" service at the same time

• June 21, 2010 21 Jun'10

  Met police secures IT savings to 2015 with contract extension

  Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has extended its contract with IT services supplier Capgemini until December 2015. The original £350m seven-year deal was signed in 2005, but the police service opted for an early renewal.

• June 18, 2010 18 Jun'10

  Banks rank cable TV firms less risky than telcos for broadband roll-out

  Banks see cable TV companies as better bets than telecommunications companies in the race to deliver national high-speed broadband, it emerged last night.

  Jeffrey...

• June 17, 2010 17 Jun'10

  Broadband contract termination charges slashed

  Despite voice and broadband suppliers BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media believing their early contract termination charges were fair, they have nevertheless...

• June 17, 2010 17 Jun'10

  iPhone 4 demand exceeds expectations

  Apple has reported pre-orders of 600,000 for the latest version of the iPhone in the first day, wiping out initial iPhone 4 stocks and surpassing demand for the recently launched iPad.

• June 16, 2010 16 Jun'10

  Nokia struggles in Q2 due to iPhone effect

  Apple is squeezing Nokia, which remains the world's largest mobile phone maker, but has experienced a tough second quarter.

  As it reported its Q2...

• June 15, 2010 15 Jun'10

  Twitter wobbly after failed upgrade

  The Twitter service continued to be patchy hours after the firm said it would be down last night due to a failed upgrade.

• June 15, 2010 15 Jun'10

  iPhone 4 triggers record trade-ins

  Apple's announcement of the iPhone 4 has triggered a frenzy of trade-ins of older iPhones, according to US reports

• June 14, 2010 14 Jun'10

  World Cup 2010: Huge internet spike expected on 23 June

  UK internet traffic is expected to be almost 50% higher than normal on 23 June, when England plays its final group qualifying match in the 2010 World Cup.

• June 14, 2010 14 Jun'10

  World Cup 2010: Monitor World Cup network traffic in real time

  Internet accelerator Akamai has set up a monitoring tool for the Football World Cup now underway in South Africa.

• June 10, 2010 10 Jun'10

  O2 scraps 'all you can eat' tariffs

  O2, the UK's second largest mobile operator, is to scrap its "all you can eat" single tariff in favour of charging separately for data, to cut traffic congestion and claw back revenue.

• June 10, 2010 10 Jun'10

  Government introduces Digital Britain 2.0

  "Within this parliament we want Britain to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe," culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said, setting out the new government's ambitions with respect to creating a digital economy in the UK.

• June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10

  Government promises more ambitious broadband target for UK

  The Conservative government has pledged to give the UK the best broadband network in Europe.

• June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10

  BT strike looms in row over pay and executive bonuses

  BT may soon be facing its first national strike in 23 years after trade union leaders rejected an improved pay offer.

• June 08, 2010 08 Jun'10

  UK’s quest for a fair and rational privacy law

  The government's decision to scrap identity cards relieved privacy advocates but did not solve the basic problem, which is that citizens need a cheap, reliable, easy to use and universally accepted way to assert their identity.

• June 07, 2010 07 Jun'10

  Australia to investigate if Google violated local privacy laws

  Australian police are to investigate if Google's Street View service has breached local telecommunications privacy laws, the attorney general Robert McClelland has announced.

• June 03, 2010 03 Jun'10

  Podcast: Microsoft beefs up security in IE and Hotmail

  Microsoft is working hard to improve the reputation of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser and is set to raise the security bar even higher in version 9 currently under development.

• June 03, 2010 03 Jun'10

  Skype founders take second shot at web music service

  Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have launched an online service that sells monthly music subscriptions.

• June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10

  Sharp hike in use of internet video predicted

  By 2014 there will be 46 million UK users of internet video, a jump of nine million compared to 2009, according to Cisco's Visual Networking Index.

• June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10

  Cable & Wireless grows IP and cloud business

  Cable & Wireless has reported revenues for the year ending 31 March 2010 of £2.29bn.

• May 24, 2010 24 May'10

  Speed of light is too slow for mobile comms, says RIM CTO

  The problem with the speed of light is that it is just too slow, says David Yach, CTO of Research in Motion's software.

• May 20, 2010 20 May'10

  Licence fee could fund part of UK broadband rollout

  The BBC licence fee could be used to help fund part of the rollout of superfast broadband in the UK.

• May 19, 2010 19 May'10

  Cisco SaaS to power interactive services for London 2012 Olympics

  London's organising committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games plans to deliver interactive online content around the 2012 sporting events.

  To...

• May 19, 2010 19 May'10

  Worldwide mobile phones sales up 17% in Q1

  Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 314.7m units in the first quarter of 2010, a 17% per cent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner.

• May 19, 2010 19 May'10

  Google to buy IP phone company Global IP Solutions for £47m

  Google has announced plans to acquire Global IP Solutions, a Norwegian internet telephony company, for $68.2m (£47.6m).

• May 17, 2010 17 May'10

  Interview: Virtualise or die warns Citrix CEO, Mark Templeton

  Antony Savvas in San Francisco talks to Mark Templeton, CEO of Citrix, at the company's Synergy 2010 about virtualisation, competition and convergence of corporate and consumer IT

• May 17, 2010 17 May'10

  Phishing scam hits thousands on Twitter

  A phishing scam is targeting thousands of Twitter users hoping to increase their number of followers. Spam messages are circulating that claim to contain links to websites that will help Twitter users to increase their number of followers for free.

• May 17, 2010 17 May'10

  YouTube notches up two billion daily views in five years

  YouTube is marking its fifth anniversary by announcing the service has exceeded two billion daily views, demonstrating rapid growth in popularity since reaching...

• May 17, 2010 17 May'10

  Google says Street View cars collected WiFi data by mistake

  Google has admitted that it mistakenly collected data sent over WiFi networks using its Street...

• May 13, 2010 13 May'10

  BT pledges £1bn to increase UK broadband coverage

  BT will spend an extra £1bn to increase broadband coverage from 40% to 66% of the nation's homes in the coming year, CEO Ian Livingston, said this morning.

• May 12, 2010 12 May'10

  Mobiles save Deutsche Telekom's bottom line

  High-margin income from mobile phone customers rescued Deutsche Telekom's results as revenues stayed flat for the first quarter of 2010, the company reported today.

• May 12, 2010 12 May'10

  Verizon service aims to cut international mobile costs

  Verizon Business has introduced a service aimed at reducing international mobile roaming costs for European enterprises.

• May 11, 2010 11 May'10

  Joint Orange-T-Mobile firm promises Everything Everywhere

  Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have unveiled Everything Everywhere (E2), the new name for their combined UK mobile operators, Orange and T-mobile. The...

• May 11, 2010 11 May'10

  Nokia revamps, hires ex-Sun software boss as CTO

  Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone company, has simplified its management structure "to increase competitiveness and deliver a stronger and more differentiated consumer experience", the company said.

• May 11, 2010 11 May'10

  Threatening Tweet costs man £1,000

  A man was found guilty of sending a menacing electronic communication after he tweeted he would blow up an airport.

  Former trainee accountant Paul...

• May 11, 2010 11 May'10

  Mobile network operators reveal iPad data prices

  Mobile network operators have unveiled their data plan prices for the Apple iPad, which launches this month in the UK. Orange UK users have a wider...

• May 10, 2010 10 May'10

  BT to get back on broadband wagon

  BT, the UK's largest network operator, is expected to reveal plans to extend its broadband service to two-thirds of UK homes when it announces its annual results this week.

• May 07, 2010 07 May'10

  Nokia’s board backs shift of focus to mobile services

  Nokia's board has come out in support of a management plan to regain lost ground in the smartphone market by switching focus from hardware to mobile services.

• April 28, 2010 28 Apr'10

  Digital Economy Act – changing the landscape or crawling over the finish line?

  The Digital Economy Act implements a number of the recommendations contained in the government's Digital Britain initiative that require legislation. However, many observers feel the Act is as notable for what it omits as for what it contains.

• April 26, 2010 26 Apr'10

  BT looks to open source to increase innovation

  BT is seeking to increase innovation in its IT functions through the gradual introduction of open source methods.

  Jeremy Ruston, head of open source...

• April 22, 2010 22 Apr'10

  Inmarsat to launch €600m satellite for high-speed mobile comms

  Europe will launch an innovative telecoms satellite in 2012 to provide mobile users with high-speed data and voice communications in remote parts of Europe,...

• April 21, 2010 21 Apr'10

  BT loses bid for retrospective cuts to mobile operators' connection charges

  The court of appeal has rejected BT's application for retrospective cuts to charges by mobile operators to connect calls to their networks to win back hundreds...

• April 19, 2010 19 Apr'10

  Cisco completes Tandberg takeover and offers to open source telepresence code

  Cisco has announced it has completed its £2.17bn acquisition of Norwegian video systems maker Tandberg and is launching a compulsory bid for the outstanding 8.9% shares it does not yet own.

• April 19, 2010 19 Apr'10

  BT, Asda top mobile satisfaction table

  BT and Asda offered the best value in terms of contract and pay-as-you-go mobile contracts respectively, according to subscribers surveyed by consumer rights...

• April 15, 2010 15 Apr'10

  Ofcom starts anti-piracy code consultation

  Communications regulator Ofcom has issued a consultation on a code of conduct that aims to cut online copyright infringement by up to 70%.

  It is also...

• April 15, 2010 15 Apr'10

  China-based DDOS attack hits Australian multinationals

  A China-based distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack on a financial services company has halted internet services for several hours to some customers...

• April 07, 2010 07 Apr'10

  Comcast decision casts a long shadow on UK net neutrality

  The US government's plans to provide 90% of citizens with 100Mbps broadband access in 10 years could be hijacked by network operators

• April 07, 2010 07 Apr'10

  How the costs of the Digital Economy Bill add up for ISPs

  Internet service providers face a host of extra costs that could add up to £15m a year if provisions in the Digital Economy Bill become law.

• April 07, 2010 07 Apr'10

  Labour ditches 50p broadband tax in wash-up

  Government plans to fund high-speed broadband networks were in disarray after ministers admitted there was not enough time to debate the proposed 50p per month tax on fixed-wire phones.

• April 07, 2010 07 Apr'10

  Election 2010: The main parties' technology policies

  All three parties have pushed technology-related issues up the agenda for 2010's General Election. Here's our round-up of the main policies…

• April 06, 2010 06 Apr'10

  SIP is no guarantee of interoperability

  Session Initiation Protocol is generally held to be the dominant VoIP standard. Yet interoperability between different vendors' SIP systems remains a challenge because the standard is immature, say analysts from Yankee Group and Forrester Research.

• April 01, 2010 01 Apr'10

  Ordnance Survey data released for free on web

  Ordnance Survey data is being published on the internet today, making it available to developers and the public for free. The move is part of the government's...

• March 31, 2010 31 Mar'10

  Flood hits tens of thousands of BT broadband users in north London

  A flood in a BT exchange in the Paddington area has knocked out telephone and broadband services to tens of thousands of customers in north and west London....

• March 31, 2010 31 Mar'10

  Anti-Digital Economy Bill campaign gains momentum

  Civil rights campaigners 38 Degrees and Open Rights Group (ORG) have raised nearly £12,000 to fund an initiative aimed at persuading MPs to oppose the Digital Economy Bill's controversial disconnection clauses becoming law without being debated.

• March 31, 2010 31 Mar'10

  Interview: Paul Cheesbrough, CIO, Telegraph Media Group

  Paul Cheesbrough, chief information officer at the Telegraph Media Group, has pioneered cloud computing and web 2.0 technologies at the newspaper.

• March 30, 2010 30 Mar'10

  Ofcom wants ISPs to be upfront about broadband speeds

  Consumers may be able to get out of their broadband contract if their access speed is "significantly" below the speed they are paying for, communications...

• March 30, 2010 30 Mar'10

  Google confirms problems with mobile service in China

  Google has reported the partial blocking of its mobile internet services in China a week after the internet firm announced that it had stopped...

• March 29, 2010 29 Mar'10

  Brazilian Wax Company sees 30% sales boost with VoIP fixes

  VoIP reliability improvements boost sales by 30% at Brazilian Wax Company A small Manchester-based personal services company has increased sales 30%...

• March 24, 2010 24 Mar'10

  Budget leaves key network issues unresolved

  Alistair Darling's Budget proposal to introduce a 50p per month tax on fixed-wire phones to support the roll-out of high-speed broadband may be overtaken by events.

• March 23, 2010 23 Mar'10

  BT to open ducts and poles to rivals' fibre

  100Mbps broadband is likely to become the norm for millions of citizens following UK telecoms regulator Ofcom's proposals to let third parties roll out their own fibre networks using BT's ducts and poles.

• March 23, 2010 23 Mar'10

  HP integrates Microsoft Unified Comms Server for branch offices

  HP has introduced a suite of products optimised for Microsoft Communications Server "14," the next version of Microsoft's unified communications platform.

• March 22, 2010 22 Mar'10

  Political parties dangle the broadband carrot

  Access to high-speed broadband networks has become a hot potato for political parties. They promise it will give voters more of what they like, which is mainly better quality television and government services.

• March 22, 2010 22 Mar'10

  Quality, not speed counts in broadband, says BSG

  Politicians' plans to spend billions to provide superfast broadband are misplaced, says industry association the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG).