All the latest broadband news from the Broadband Genie news team.
In a further step to take on multimedia giants Apple Nokia has announced a deal with wireless broadband provider The Cloud, to allow customers to get free access to Nokia’s Music Store whist they are in the range of one of The Cloud’s 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots.
Customers will be able to access the Nokia Music Store via their laptop or through a number of different Nokia devices via Wi-Fi. Currently, Cloud Wi-Fi networks are available in many consumer locations including McDonalds, Coffee Republic, BAA airports and across London’s Square Mile.
“If I am out and about and I hear a track in a shop or a friend recommends something, I want to be able to download it immediately – not wait until I get home,” said Owen Geddes, director of Business Development at The Cloud. “It is this immediacy that The Cloud caters for. The high speed connectivity of Wi-Fi means it is the only real choice for consumers wanting fast and easy access to all types of multimedia content on the go.”
Currently through the Nokia Music Store individual tracks cost 80p each and albums are available for download from £8. The Nokia Music Store offers a flat subscription rate subscription allowing users to stream music to their PC for £8 per month.
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BT Vision customers will be able to download films for free, thanks to the launch of a new advertising-funded service from BT.
Broadband users will be able to download movies on a three-month trial basis from BT’s online download store. There are currently three free trial films available for download to anyone with a broadband connection, BT or otherwise, through the BT Vision website including ‘Mischief Night’, gangster crime thriller ‘Played’ and 1978 London punk-rock doc ‘The Punk Rock Movie’. Customers will be able to watch the films for free as they include accompanied advertisements that cannot be skipped through. If the viewer is online at the time of watching the film the advertisements will vary on each view.
BT have recently linked up with Intel, Fremantle Media Enterprises and Hiro Media, who have developed the inescapable adverts in order to fund the movie project.
Interactive and commercial media director at BT Vision, Anthony Carbonari said: “This will be a fascinating trial: the concept of targeted TV advertisements is now a reality through the combined technology behind BT Vision Download Store and Hiro’s software solution.”
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Ireland currently has the highest growing broadband connection rate in Europe, according to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Eurostat. According to recent figures, the country is currently seeing an increased annual connection rate of 18% year on year.
Results from Eurostat showed that 54% of European homes have internet access compared with 49% in 2006. Currently, 57% of Irish homes now have internet access, a rising figure compare with 50% one year ago.
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Be has announced a new home security system that can be connected up to customers’ broadband connections. The new wireless indoor camera can be armed when the customer leaves the home todetect and record any movement. The service can be set up to alert members of any home movement by SMS or MMS by text or email.
The home monitor service costs £150 to set up with a £5 monthly service charge. On set-up, members are given a camera and unlimited access to their personalised account to view alarms and live streaming, plus unlimited email alerts, subject to a fair-use policy of 100 SMS and 10 MMS alerts per month.
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Rupert Murdoch carried out some dramatic shuffling of roles in his global media empire last night, moving his son James in position to succeed him and repositioning the editor of the Times and chairman of his UK newspaper titles to oversee his recent Wall Street Journal buy-out.
James Murdoch will leave his position as chief executive of BskyB to take up his new role overseeing the News Corp’s media operations in Europe and Asia. However, he will take over his father’s position as non-executive chairman of BskyB.
Rupert Murdoch has commended his son for the success of his position of chief executive, noting that he had boosted subscriber numbers and expanded into broadband to push the company’s green credentials.
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A survey carried out by national statistics offices across Europe has found that in the first three months of 2007 54% of European households had an internet connection, a figure that as risen from 49% in 2006. Broadband usage had increased 12% since 2006.
The study also found that Internet access varies strongly throughout Europe with large trend shifts that showed 83% of Dutch households having internet access, compared to 19% in Bulgaria. Denmark household internet access stood at 78%, followed by Germany at 72%. The UK was placed fourth in the list.
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BT Wholesale is set to distribute a new software suite that will help to enhance the performance of broadband connections through the use of multiple lines.
The Sharedband suite, which will be distributed to BT’s ISP customers will allow two or more standard broadband lines to be added together to boost the speed for uploads and downloads up to four times the current rate.
“Using Sharedband means that two 2Mbps lines will perform as one connection of up to 4Mpbs, four 2Mbps lines will deliver up to 8Mbps and so on,” said Paul Evans, Sharedband’s chief executive. “Crucially, the upload speeds will also be transformed. Working with BT will provide us with tremendous market awareness and scalability to meet the expected demand fuelled by new online applications, especially where upstream bandwidth is needed.”
Angus Flett, BT Wholesale’s director of product management is optimistic that the patented technology could play its part in the development of a new generation of services: “Complementing our existing and future broadband portfolio, Sharedband presents an opportunity for ISPs to further satisfy their customers’ requirement for additional performance while improving their own revenues and profit margins,” he said.
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Market research firm JD Power has revealed results from a survey looking at broadband services in the UK. The survey, which has now been taking annual results for three years, showed that customer complaints now outnumber service-related enquiries by 52% to 48%. Call waiting times are the biggest annoyance with customers having to wait an average of 17 minutes to get any technical help from their support line.
Tiscali came on top as the most favourable broadband service, scoring 668 out of a possible 1,000 with BT slumping at 626 out of 1,000.
Commenting on the trends Caspar Tearle, director of service industries research at JD Power said: “Last year broadband was still a novelty and people were wowed by how much faster it was than dial-up…This year everyone expects it to be fast and get angrier when it doesn’t work.”
Despite the finds on poor customer service the survey by JD Power also found that the average amount people paid for their broadband has fallen from £21 a month from £26 in 2006.
JD Power and Associates ranked the broadband providers on a 1,000 scale. The results were as follows: Tiscali (668); Virgin Media (660); Sky (657); AOL (646); Industry Average (645); Orange (636); Pipex (634); Talk Talk (630); BT (626).
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Independent regulators Ofcom and BT have both raised concerns over whether the push for faster broadband could be premature, according to reports from the BBC. Both lack of demand and the high upgrade costs of up to £15bn are the main concern for Ofcom and BT: “We need significant evidence that such a network is required and I don’t think it exists yet,” said Peter Philips, Ofcom’s head of strategy. “We have to ask ourselves what would be the disadvantage if your investment comes later than others. Would be able to learn from the experiences in other countries.”
So far only BT has offered funds for the new fibre network on new housing estates. “No-one would be more delighted if a commercial incentive emerged that enabled us to fibre the nation,” said Peter McCarthy-Ward, BT’s director of equivalence. However, recent talks with Ofcom has raised concerns with him over whether high-speed broadband demand exists in the UK. McCarthy revealed that any commitment to a fibre network would need to be backed by reassurances from Ofcom that it would be able to recoup its investment.
Talks of the super-fast broadband upgrade reached Westminster in recent months, with minister, Stephen Timms hosting a summit on the broadband issue and a debate forming on the Westminster eForum.
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It has been announced today that BT have entered an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Frontline for approximately S$202 million. Frontline currently provides IT consulting, infrastructure services, system integration and IT outsourcing to local, regional and multinational customers.
François Barrault, CEO BT Global Services said: “This acquisition will create one of the leading providers of networked IT solutions that will be able to offer a broader portfolio of solutions to local, regional and global customers. Frontline will bring to BT major new contracts in Asia and BT will be in a position to offer Frontline customers the full suite of BT products and services.”
In separate news, Frontline Wireless, as expected, are set to go against Google to bid for the 700-MHz that will be auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission in January.
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