UK Broadband Internet Service Provider News: 2006/06

UK broadband Internet service provider news and the latest broadband company press releases. Access the latest new broadband deals and broadband service updates, including broadband news from BT, AOL, Tiscali, Eclipse, Orange, Utility Warehouse, TalkTalk, Virgin & Telewest.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

O2 ENTERS UK BROADBAND MARKET WITH PURCHASE OF BE

O2 today announced that it has purchased Be, one of the most innovative and technically advanced UK broadband providers, for £50 million. With Be, O2 immediately acquires the most up to date broadband capability in the UK and a platform for developing future converged services that integrate mobile and the internet.

Be is building its own national broadband network. It was the first UK broadband internet service provider (ISP) to use the latest ADSL2+ technology which offers speeds of up to 24Mbps. Be has so far rolled its network out to more than 150 local exchanges and has plans to be in more than 400, providing approximately 50% population coverage by the end of 2006. This will be further extended towards 70% population coverage by the end of next year. This will make it one of the UK‘s largest broadband providers by installed local loop unbundled (LLU) exchanges.

Making the announcement, Peter Erskine, Chairman and CEO of O2 said: "The O2 Group benefits greatly from the experience of Telefónica and insight into other markets such as the Czech Republic and Germany where customers have clearly demonstrated a demand for integrated broadband and mobile packages. Building on our existing fixed/mobile capability in Germany, the Czech Republic and the Isle of Man, Be‘s superior broadband operations and services help us fulfil our previously-stated aim of adding high quality broadband capability to our portfolio in the UK."

Matthew Key, CEO of O2 UK, commented: "Be is a young but highly innovative and ambitious business. Like us, it puts customers at the heart of what it does, moves quickly, and challenges convention. This acquisition will enable us to take advantage of technology innovations to offer a wider range of joined up mobile, internet and content services for our consumer and business customers in the future."

Managing director of Be, Dana Pressman, stated: "I am delighted that we are becoming part of such a respected and dynamic organisation as O2. With 16 million customers in the UK and significant opportunities for future growth in fixed and mobile, this is the start of an exciting new era for all of us within Be."

Be was founded in October 2004 and is privately owned by its founders, employees and investors. It is currently building its own national broadband network by installing LLU equipment in local telecommunications exchanges around the country using ADSL2+ technology and an automated installation process. At the prestigious 2006 ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association) awards, the company won the ‘Best Sumo Consumer Broadband’ category for services of 2Mbps and above.

Be broadband

BT launches Total Broadband

BT today announced BT Total Broadband, the most comprehensive broadband packages yet seen in the UK - available from June 21st. Powered by ultra-fast download speeds of up to 8Mb, BT customers now get more for their money through free internet voice calls, free video calls, and a suite of security software – and all brought together through the revolutionary BT Home Hub. BT Total Broadband even gives freedom to roam outside the home with Wi-fi via free BT Openzone wireless minutes.

The launch of BT’s complete Total Broadband service demonstrates that not all broadband is equal and that simple access through a basic broadband connection is often a false economy, where customers end up paying later for additional features and services. With BT Total Broadband, new customers taking Option 3 get an estimated £370 of value included in the first year.

In addition to enjoying a comprehensive set of features as standard, only BT Total Broadband customers will be able to enjoy BT’s cutting-edge broadband-based offerings. These include the intelligent mobile service, BT Fusion, and BT Vision, the next-generation TV service scheduled for launch in Autumn 2006.

From June 21, new BT customers will get a choice of three simple Options starting from £9.95 a month, all offering ultra-fast download speeds of up to 8Mb and free Evening & Weekend UK* voice calls with BT’s Broadband Talk service.

Ian Livingston, CEO of BT Retail, said, “The broadband experience is about so much more than just having basic access to the internet. Customers want their broadband to offer a range of exciting content and services as standard, without having to pay extra for these features.”

“BT Total Broadband is the complete broadband service. Combined with the BT Home Hub, there is now a simple, powerful way to experience the full range of exciting broadband services at home or when out and about with Wi-fi via BT Openzone.

“Customers will enjoy free voice and video calls, and with helpdesks they can trust and a suite of security software included, can have complete confidence when using the internet. In fact, Total Broadband includes products and services worth over £370 a year for free in its subscription price.”

In addition to free connection charges and 24/7 helpdesk support, BT Total Broadband customers benefit from complete confidence in their broadband with a comprehensive all-in-one security software suite providing online protection and support against identity theft, spam email, pop-ups, viruses and hackers. BT’s helpdesk can even take over your computer to fix problems remotely, or arrange to visit your home.

BT Total Broadband now includes 250 free BT Openzone Wi-fi minutes per month during the minimum term. This gives customers access to the internet at any of the thousands of BT Openzone Wi-fi hotspots in places such as cafes, hotels and airports in the UK and around the world.

The BT Home Hub is a stylish, powerful device, designed to sit at the heart of the digital home. It supports BT’s full range of services including both Total Broadband and Broadband Talk, connecting wirelessly to PCs and other broadband devices. The Home Hub is future-proofed, updating automatically to work seamlessly with future BT Broadband offerings including BT Fusion and BT Vision.

The BT Home Hub is provided free of charge to all new customers taking Total Broadband Options 2 or 3. Option 1 customers can buy it separately for £30.00 online or for £50.00 via the BT call centre. A matching digital cordless phone handset is included with Option 3 or is available to buy separately for £49.99.

BT has upgraded its BT Broadband Talk suite of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products, and is launching two new services: Broadband Talk Softphone and Broadband Talk Video. Developed at BT’s Adastral Park research laboratories, BT Broadband Talk is one of the most advanced VoIP services on the market and is now available with high-definition sound for delivering crystal clear internet voice and video calls.

BT Broadband Talk combines ease of use with great features and superb value, giving free Evening and Weekend UK* calls, great low international call rates and includes calling features such as 1471 and BT Answer. BT’s new PC-based Softphone, gives free global PC-to-PC chat at any time of day and compatibility with BT Broadband Talk through one calling plan and one phone number.

Finally, BT announced the launch of BT Broadband Talk Video, including the BT Videophone. Customers equipped with a BT Videophone can see the person they are talking to, and the service is compatible with PC users equipped with Softphone and a webcam. Two models of Videophone will be available, starting from £149.99.

Further information: BT broadband

Broadband speed and availability

BT’s Up to 8Mb BT Broadband service uses new ‘rate-adaptive’ ADSL technology to automatically provide and maintain the fastest broadband speed a phone line can physically support. The actual maximum speed depends on a range of factors, including the customer’s proximity to their telephone exchange, the quality and length of any telephone extension lines in their home, and the speed of their computer and modem. So, for example, customers living close to their exchange could get the full 8Mb speed, whilst those living further away might achieve lower maximum speeds of 6Mb, 4Mb, or 2Mb. The Up to 8Mb service is also subject to local availability.

As with all broadband services, actual download speeds will also vary by time of day and will depend on factors such as how busy the internet is, the speed of the internet website or service you are accessing, and whether the connection is being shared with other users.

Extra microfilters as well a range of 8Mb-compatible wired and wireless routers are available for sale from BT by calling 0800 800 150.

* BT Broadband Talk free Evening and Weekend UK calls
Free Local or National calls of up to one hour between 1800 and 0600 evenings and weekends. Excludes calls to the Internet, non-geographic numbers (i.e. 0845 or 0870 numbers), premium rate services, mobiles and the Channel Islands.

** BT Broadband Talk free Video Calls
If you buy a BT Videophone or PC to PC when caller and recipient have BT Softphone and Webcam Offer with purchase of BT Video phone ends 31.01.07. Applies when using a BT Videophone, or BT Softphone with webcam on calls to other BT Videophones and BT Softphones used with Webcams. Excludes video calls to mobiles (3G calls) and voice calls. Requires broadband, BT Broadband Talk Subscription and compatible router or BT Home hub. Terms and Conditions apply.

Labels: bt-broadband

Tiscali launches super-fast 'Max' broadband

Tiscali, the broadband and internet company, today announces its super-fast broadband service, Tiscali Max, offering speeds of up to 8Mb. This faster speed will enable users to browse the Web faster, download a 90 minute film at near DVD quality in around 90 minutes.

Tiscali Max is priced at £17.99, the same price as its previous 2Mb service, which is now offered at £14.99. Existing 2Mb customers have the option of a free upgrade* to the faster service or a lower price, and customers choosing 1Mb will now pay only £12.99 (special offer). As with all Tiscali broadband offers, there is no set-up cost or hidden extras with Tiscali Max and it includes full technical support and free Tiscali Secure Mail spam and virus protection for your mailbox.

Max optimises the user's line performance and the speed experienced depends on various factors including the distance from your local telephone exchange and the quality of your BT line. According to BT guidelines, most users (approximately 78%) will experience speeds over 4Mb, with 42% achieving up to 6Mb. Customers are provided with a predicted speed following a preliminary remote line test.

Steve Horley, Managing Director of Tiscali UK's consumer products and services, says: "Now our customers can get even better value from their Tiscali Broadband and as always we aim to be clear and simple with our offers, no hidden extras, free set-up, free modem and one low monthly price."

Further information: Tiscali broadband

Labels: tiscali-broadband

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Try PlusNet quality broadband FREE for 30 days

With more and more ISPs fighting for your custom by cutting prices and even offering so called 'free' broadband, it’s easy to think all broadband is the same. [brand] is urging broadband users to try 'quality' broadband free for a month, before making a commitment.

If you switch your broadband to PlusNet today you'll get a free 30 day trial. PlusNet are so confident you’ll like the experience, it's free to leave at any point during the trial. After the free 30 day trial period you can opt for a monthly contract if you don’t want to commit for longer.

PlusNet understand the challenges in providing a quality connection at a low cost. The traditional way to provide broadband is to share limited capacity among many customers (known as contention).The problem is, as the number of customers increases and they transfer more and more data, the ISP will face capacity constraints.

Some ISPs do continue to add capacity beyond a financially sustainable level and then have to backtrack or risk going out of business. Most ISPs are keeping their capacity the same to save money, but as their available capacity fills up at busy times, data just can’t get through and the experience is poor.

The PlusNet answer is different - Intelligent Data Prioritisation. This means time sensitive data such as gaming and web browsing is never affected, even at the busiest times. The result is a consistent quality broadband experience at a low price.

If you are happy with your ISP now, it may only be a question of time before they start to suffer under the strain of increased customers and the associated increase in data usage. The PlusNet solution is already up and running and guarantees quality for all its customers (just under 200,000).

Neil Armstrong, PlusNet's Product Development Director, said: "With more than 10 million broadband homes in the UK it is time for customers to ask themselves, 'am I paying too much for under performing broadband?'. We believe customers demand and deserve quality broadband at all times, as well as a great value price."

"We have been compared recently to Talk Talk and Orange and their 'free' offers – but PlusNet is different. We are an experienced ISP that utilises technology, automation and customer self service to keep our prices low - not marketing gimmicks."

Armstrong continued: "Our customers recognise the value and service PlusNet provides, that's why they continue to recommend us. Some get their broadband for free because they’ve recommended us to their friends and family."

Labels: plusnet-broadband

Tiscali launches VoIP Netphone

Tiscali, the internet and broadband company, today announces the launch of Tiscali Netphone, a free Voice over IP (VoIP) service. Developed by Tiscali Lab, Tiscali Netphone enables anyone who downloads the free program to use their PC to make free calls to other PCs, send and receive faxes, text messages and make low cost international and national calls to landlines. Users can also manage their inbound calls by using Tiscali Netphone as an answering service.

Tiscali Netphone is the latest project to emerge from Tiscali Lab, an international virtual technology research and development hub with a task force of 40 experts across Tiscali's five countries. The VoIP service is available to everyone, regardless of their internet provider, and can be downloaded from www.tiscali.co.uk/netphone. Users will benefit from considerably lower call charges than those levied by traditional phone companies and all PC-to-PC calls are free of charge. Calling another Netphone user is as easy as typing in their email address.

Steve Horley, Tiscali UK's managing director of consumer products and marketing, says: "Over nine million homes already have broadband services in the UK and combined with faster speeds, users have become more sophisticated in using their broadband as an integral part of their life. Tiscali's aim is to provide affordable and reliable broadband, and on top of that, value-added services to help you get the most out of your broadband."

Calls to UK landlines are charged at just 1p per minute and UK mobiles are as low as 12p per minute. International calls from 3p per minute including the most popular countries: USA, Australia, France, Germany and Spain.

Cheaper than many standard mobile phone tariffs, Netphone's text message service is quick and easy to use and costs 6p per message sent to any UK mobile phone. Netphone is also a personal fax machine which converts documents into a digital format to be sent to other PCs free or to a fax machine in the UK for 10p per page.

"The number of people looking to benefit from VoIP services is set to go through the roof in the next twelve months," continues Horley: "Netphone brings voice, fax, text messages and voicemail together in one easy to use service. It's never been easier for people to talk for free."

Further information: Tiscali broadband

Labels: tiscali-broadband, voip

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Tiscali extends Pan Euro Media Proposition to France with Telecom Italia

Tiscali UK, the internet and broadband company, today announces a deal with the French subsidiary of Telecom Italia's Alice brand to extend its European online advertising service into France. This builds upon Tiscali's existing network in six countries where it has its own online presence. The agreement, the first of its kind for Tiscali, means that clients will benefit from having one UK based contact managing the roll-out of their Pan-European advertising campaigns.

Alex Hole, Commercial Director for Tiscali UK says: "With internet advertising now reaching over 13%* of advertising revenue in the UK and expected to shortly overtake newspaper display advertising, our new offering provides a much needed service. In line with this growth we are expanding our European proposition accordingly."

The proposition will allow advertisers and their agencies to engage in multi-country campaigns more efficiently. It will be attractive to anyone with a pan-European brief looking for efficient, consistent and cost-effective roll-outs to premium audiences.

Tiscali is looking for additional premium partners to complement its offering and extend its reach both to more countries and relevant target groups. The Tiscali's Pan Euro media proposition has the ability to target over 1 Billion page views and over 20 million unique users in 7 European countries on a monthly basis.

Frederic BELLIER, Head of Media Sales from Alice Telecom Italia France says: "With our growing broadband customer base and the increasing audience of our portal reaching 5,5 million unique visitors monthly, our offering in online advertising should be very attractive to UK based media agencies and advertisers. We are confident that Tiscali UK sales team is the best of its kind locally to represent us and roll-out Pan-European advertising campaigns for us."

"After successfully rolling out campaigns for various brands across our own European properties, we have the capability and expertise to extend and enhance our offering even further through select premium partners like TelecomItalia France," says Mr Hole.

Gianfranco Ludovici, head of international sales and operations, has been promoted to spearhead the initiative and become the initial point of contact for any UK-based media agencies with a pan European brief that needs execution across Europe.

Further information: Tiscali broadband

Labels: tiscali-broadband

Friday, June 09, 2006

BT takes the headache out of I.T. for home and business broadband customers

BT is taking the headache out of home IT with a new dedicated one stop shop advice and support service for broadband customers.

Called BT Home IT Advisor, the new service will give customers a single point of contact with a team of highly trained advisors dedicated to providing comprehensive support for customers’ PCs, networks, applications and up to 20 devices for the ultra-connected home.

The new service can even create a ‘virtual engineer’ in your home by enabling an advisor to securely ‘log on’ to a customers’ computer remotely and troubleshoot a problem, for free if they subscribe.

BT Home IT Advisor is designed to take the hassle and the worry out of using IT in the home. Whether your broadband has stopped working, you have problems setting up a wireless network or removing a virus on your PC – help is a single phone call away.
Emma Sanderson, Director, Value Added Services for BT Retail said: “People are increasingly using broadband in the home to help run their lives – with everything from online banking to keeping their homes secure. Therefore the need to keep everything running smoothly and trouble free is greater than ever before.

“Even when you’ve got the answer to a problem everyone knows how time consuming it can be to have to navigate your way through complex instructions so BT have made it even simpler with our remote engineer access.”

BT Home IT Advisor gives customers the choice between paying a monthly subscription fee and using it as often as they like, or paying a one-off fee for each visit.* The service is available to both BT Broadband customers and those with other broadband providers. The service is available every day of the year.

The service builds on the success of BT’s business IT support service launched in 2004. BT Business IT Support Manager, which currently supports around 22,000 PCs, reported over 98% satisfaction rating with the service in a recent survey.
Business customers wanting help installing their BT Business Broadband can book an engineer to visit their premises and set it up for them.

BT is also piloting a Home IT visit service, expected to launch later this summer, which allows customers to book an engineer to visit them at home to install BT Broadband and connect their computer. An engineer will connect their laptop or PC, install security software and set up their BT wireless router before providing a quick demonstration of how to connect to the internet, send and receive emails, use online help use BT’s voice over IP service Broadband Talk. The engineer can also help set up a wireless network, attach printers or other devices.

BT Broadband

Labels: bt-broadband

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Cable & Wireless announces wholesale broadband strategy

Cable and Wireless plc (“Cable & Wireless”) today (8 June 2006) announces that it will adopt a revised strategy in relation to the consumer and small business element of its local loop capability.

From 1 July 2006, Bulldog will:

Offer a wholesale product to major broadband service providers. Discussions with a number of potential customers for this wholesale service are ongoing;
Cease any further proactive sales, marketing or advertising activities to acquire new residential and small business customers;
Continue as a retail brand for existing customers with ongoing customer care and launch of new innovative services.

As a result of the move to wholesaling, Bulldog will reduce headcount by approximately 150, mainly from the areas of sales and marketing.

The local loop rollout plan is unchanged with a target of 800 fully unbundled exchanges by 30 September 2006, (411 unbundled at 31 March 2006). It is intended that, by the end of this calendar year (2006), Cable & Wireless will use this local loop capability for corporate customer access, in addition to the wholesale offer provided.

Cable & Wireless expects limited benefits from the move to wholesale during 2006/07 as Bulldog completes the local loop roll out and invests in wholesaling capability. Specific guidance will be provided at the interim results on 8 November 2006.

John Pluthero, Group Managing Director, UK said: “As the market leader in full local loop unbundling, we have been looking at the best way to maximise the return on our investment. We believe that a wholesaling approach to the consumer and SME market is the best way to optimise our return from our unique local loop network capability.”

Bulldog broadband

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Talk Talk broadband facts & figures from Charles Dunstone

Well finally it's our year-end, and I can give you an update on how the launch of Free Broadband Forever has actually gone. Since April 11th an amazing 340,000 people have signed up, this against our internal forecast by now of around 170,000. My team have been working tirelessly to try to deal with the much greater than anticipated volume and so far we have 280,000 of these customer making calls and paying their line rental through TalkTalk, with just over 100,000 now provisioned on Free Broadband. We are working through the orders just as quickly as we can, the people going live with broadband today were originally promised end of June when they ordered, so we are making real progress. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we have strained to cope with the calls and emails, we continue to answer more calls every week and the queues to get through are gradually improving.

We wanted to change the world of broadband forever, and as you can now see, there is no doubt that we have done that. It is a great result for a challenger brand that decided to rewrite the rules and believed that customers were smart enough to realise when they were being over-charged. This is just the beginning for TalkTalk, I remain absolutely committed to making it even more of a household name than it is today and the Number 1 alternative residential telephone company to BT. We will always remain the people's phone company, dedicated to providing the best value and working hard to earn your business.

If you have already signed up, thank you for being one of the pioneers, I hope it's reassuring to learn that you were not alone, if you are thinking of joining us, come and be part of the revolution - broadband is a right not a privilege now, make sure you're not paying for something that should be free.

Above taken from Charles Dunstone's Talk Talk blog.
Further information - Talk Talk broadband

Free Broadband - Biscit's Competing Offer

Biscit, the telecoms and superfast broadband provider (www.biscit.net), today notes Carphone Warehouse's final results and narrative about its free broadband offer. Of the 340,000 consumers it claims have signed up for its free broadand offer, it acknowledges that about 70% have yet to be delivered the service for whatever reason.

Nathan Relevy, Biscit's CEO, comments: "Biscit launched a competing offer to Carphone Warehouse's TalkTalk product on April 19, 2006. Called freeMAX, consumers have since flocked to the service. Our voice and free broadband bundle is available nationwide, and now, and any consumers impatient for Carphone Warehouse to deliver will be welcomed to our networks."

More on freeMAX

Since launch, freeMAX has begun to change the way that consumers buy voice and broadband services. By transferring the management and billing of their BT landlines to Biscit, consumers eliminate line rental charges forever, get 720 free call minutes to national landlines at anytime, and unlimited free calls to other freeMAX or Biscit broadband users. freeMAX costs just £19.99* per month. They also get superfast broadband of up to 8Mbps, a monthly data send/receive allowance of 2GB, as well as all the tools needed to protect and enhance their online experience.

About Biscit

Biscit is a leading provider of advanced Internet and telecoms products and services. Delivering the online world to thousands of enterprise and residential customers, the company is committed to providing the highest level of network
service to each customer every minute-of-the-year. Biscit is a broadband and communications solutions centre-ofexcellence and a regular winner of industry awards.

Biscit Broadband

Monday, June 05, 2006

COLT High Speed broadband online reporting

COLT, a leading European provider of business communications, has launched a new online reporting tool for users of its ultra-high bandwidth service, COLT High Speed Service (HSS). Typically only available with IP services, the new tool allows businesses to analyse and manage their network performance much more efficiently than ever before.

The web-based performance tool is available immediately across 13 European countries. It acts as a filter for the mass of data generated from the network and helps customers diagnose and remedy performance issues and make decisions on how to develop and configure their network. It provides key measures including network throughput, latency, availability and error rate via a range of standard and bespoke reports.

“Data is growing at a phenomenal rate driven by regulatory compliance, bandwidth hungry applications and end-user expectation,” said Andy Radley, Bandwidth Product & Services Manager at COLT. “As an example, a Berkeley University study said the world is generating 25 per cent more new information every year. Telecoms and IT managers tell us that this volume of data generates more statistics than they can make sense of. With our new performance tool, the first of its kind to be available right across Europe, it is now easy for customers to get a meaningful view of their network and applications performance.

“Simplification is an important element in all of COLT's services and this is a good example of how we are helping customers gain the maximum performance and productivity from our infrastructure."

COLT HSS was created in response to growing demand for bandwidth-intensive storage and business continuity solutions. Today, the service transports over 600 Gbit/s of data, the equivalent to around 24 million emails per second*, for more than 50 customers, including major finance, legal, IT and media companies. As bandwidth demand continues to escalate, COLT HSS also now includes 10Gbit/s Ethernet interfaces as standard features.

COLT HSS is a fully managed, optical network solution for customers with huge volumes of data to share, store, back-up and retrieve, with customer installations ranging from four Gbit/s up to more than 100 Gbit/s. It enables them to share business-critical applications, files and information safely and efficiently. With COLT HSS, customers can consolidate all their different storage and data networks on to one platform, which limits the equipment and space needed, as well as power consumption and maintenance costs. Each solution is designed to meet a customer’s specific requirements and bandwidth can be scaled up on a pay-as-you-grow basis.

COLT HSS is part of COLT’s broad data services portfolio ranging from Ethernet to IP services.

*Based on the assumption that the average email is 25kbit/s

About COLT

COLT is a leading European provider of business communications. COLT specialises in providing data, voice and managed services to midsize and major businesses and wholesale customers. It has more than 50,000 customers across all industry sectors. COLT owns and operates a 13-country, 20,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 32 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 10,000 buildings and 13 COLT data centres.

Colt broadband

Openreach cuts prices to boost LLU market

Openreach today announced the introduction of new pricing which will make it cheaper for communications providers to move their end customers on to unbundled services. LLU operators will benefit from a 27 per cent reduction in the price for migrating their end customers in bulk from BT Wholesale’s broadband products to Openreach’s shared LLU offering. The new price of £25.39 (ex.VAT) will commence on the 1st July and will apply to LLU operators who migrate their existing IPstream or Datastream end-customers to shared LLU in bulk. Openreach also announced the introduction of a new mass migration product to enable LLU operators to migrate their existing Wholesale Line Rental end customers to full LLU on an aggregated basis. This product will be launched at a price of £27.54 (ex VAT) – 21 per cent less than the price for migrating a single user. In addition, LLU Operators will now be able to request a number migration 1 at a price of 49p (ex VAT).

Anne Heal, Managing Director Sales, Products and Marketing, Openreach said, “We are fully committed to making LLU a success. This pricing reduction, along with the introduction of a new mass migration product and the ability to transfer a customer’s telephone number, will make it simpler for customers to move between operators. LLU lines have grown by over 600% in the last year to more than 400,000. This announcement will give industry additional certainty and the confidence to invest in LLU and further stimulate market growth.”

1 Number Migration allows Openreach to migrate the existing end users’ telephone number onto the LLU operator’s network at the LLU operator’s request.

Labels: bt-broadband, llu-broadband, wifi-broadband

Thursday, June 01, 2006

2006 FIFA World Cup games live on broadband in the UK

The BBC has signed an exclusive deal with Infront Sports & Media, the company responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to the 2006 World Cup, which will allow internet users in the UK to watch all the games online.

All of the BBC's TV games will be live and free-to-air with online viewers able to access the games at bbc.co.uk/worldcup and bbc.co.uk/sport - viewing of these matches will be restricted to those that live in the UK.

All of the BBC's group games will be available on these sites, as well as all the subsequent games the BBC has in the knockout stages.

The BBC will also have the exclusive rights to England's second round and quarter-final games should they reach that stage.

Furthermore, the BBC has non-exclusive rights to short highlights from every 2006 World Cup game. There will be four-minute clips from all of the 64 matches available on-demand whenever users want to view them.

For the BBC's matches viewers will be able to stream the same coverage as will appear on terrestrial television. This stream will also feature the same commentary as on TV.

Also, in addition to watching the games, online users will be able to hear and read about the latest action – BBC Radio Five Live will have an audio stream from 2006 World Cup game and there will also be live minute-by-minute reports on every match written by BBC journalists.

Director of Sport Roger Mosey said: "Our audiences now expect to get BBC Sport on television, on radio and online – and the World Cup on broadband is our biggest commitment yet to bringing people major events where and when they want them.

"You can watch the World Cup from the BBC at home on TV – or listen in the car on your radio – and now also see full live coverage on your PC.

"We know a lot of online viewing is done in the office, so we suspect this will allow people both to do their job and to keep up with the very latest action from Germany."

Director of Sports Rights Dominic Coles added: "The BBC has great traditions in sport but we also want to be the most modern provider of content, and our move into broadband reflects this."

The BBC has successfully broadcast football over the internet before, but this is by far its biggest-ever single commitment.

In 2005 the BBC showed the final of the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan between Liverpool and Sao Paulo online to UK internet users.

Similarly the BBC also broadcast online all the interactive streams from Athens 2004 Olympics.

This latest deal follows this week's announcement that the BBC will provide UK broadband users with access to five courts of live tennis action during the 2006 Wimbledon Championships.

The service will replicate coverage from the BBC's live terrestrial coverage plus the remaining digital interactive feeds.

The BBC already has the broadband rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Compare other broadband deals & offers

1Mb broadband deals
2Mb broadband deals
2Mb - 10Mb broadband deals
Cable broadband deals
Fastest broadband deals
Free broadband deals
Cheapest broadband deals
No-contract broadband deals
Pay-as-you-go broadband
Unlimited download broadband deals
Satellite broadband deals
Business broadband deals

UK broadband service news