UK Broadband Internet Service Provider News: 2006/08

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.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Wireless Internet Use Rises as We Dream of Surfing from Our Gardens

Broadband Britons are increasingly opting for a wireless world and dreaming of surfing the Net from wherever they choose, be it backyard, bedroom or beach, according to a new survey from Internet provider AOL.

More than a third (35%) of the online population in the UK now has access to a wireless connection, reveals the survey of more than 2,000 UK Internet users, carried out for AOL by human behaviour research company Populus.

Half of all those surveyed chose the garden as their dream location to surf wirelessly, ahead of the bed or the beach. Just a quarter said they would most like to have wireless access from the bedroom, while 15% said they dreamed of surfing on sandy shores.

Those aged 18-24 were less keen to venture out of doors though, with 41% of this age group choosing their bedroom as their surfing sanctuary.

The majority (84%) of those who are already wireless have access in the home, with 12% using it at the office and the remainder using Internet hotspots. Three quarters of wireless users have started using it in the last year and over half (39%) have done so within the last six months, showing rapid growth in uptake recently.

Jemma Dunn, Director of Broadband at AOL, said: "Wireless not only stops the cable clutter, but frees you to get your email and catch up on the latest content from wherever you want, in or out of the home. As British summers get warmer and longer, it is no surprise that we all want to be freed from the phone point to be in the garden enjoying the sunshine and the Web at the same time."

Most of the people surveyed (63%) simply felt that the freedom of wireless was the greatest benefit, though nearly one in four (23%) felt it was tidier. This is more sensible than many might realise as a surprisingly high number of people suffer domestic injury from cables cluttering up the home.

According to figures from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), more than 3,000 people every year are the victim of a domestic accident involving an electrical appliance lead or extension*.

Nearly one in six say they have stolen someone else's wireless bandwidth, with men (22%) far more likely to do it than women (6%) and it being more prevalent in London and the South East than elsewhere in the UK. Four out of five people believe that bandwidth thieves should be punished, with two thirds preferring a fine as punishment over a Net ban or prison sentence.

Of the third of online users with wireless access already, nearly half are 'professionals', with 41% living in London and 39% living in other areas of the South East. Nearly half are 18-24 year olds (43%) indicating significant use by young people who have been first to see the benefits of a wireless connection.

About AOL

AOL is a leading provider of digital communications and content to UK consumers. AOL offers dial-up, broadband, voice and portal services and has more than 2.2 million subscribers in the UK, including more than 1.4 million on broadband.

AOL subscribers in the UK spend more than two hours a day on average connected to the internet. The AOL service and portal deliver a range of market-leading online content, including music, film, sport, news, shopping and community, as well as email, instant messenger, VOIP, safety and security features. AOL is also one of the leading online destinations for advertisers in the UK.

The AOL branded services are supplied to UK subscribers by AOL Europe Services SARL, a company in the AOL group based in Luxembourg. AOL (UK) Limited provides marketing and other support services. Both companies are part of AOL Europe, a business unit of AOL LLC, which operates a leading network of Web brands and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Southeast companies top UK broadband charts

The Southeast of England is this year’s “business broadband hotspot”, with almost 25 per cent more connections than its nearest rival, according to BT Business.

The figures, which show that 20 per cent of BT Business Broadband customers are located in the Southeast of England and only three per cent in the Northeast, highlight the difference in levels of take up between the regions.

London came second from the 11 regions, with 15 per cent, followed by the East of England and the Northwest, with 12 and ten per cent respectively. In fifth and sixth place came the Southwest and West Midlands.

Scotland took seventh place with seven per cent, followed by the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside tying for eighth place on six per cent of UK connections. Wales came in tenth with four per cent.

To help companies without high-speed internet understand the benefits it can bring to their business and to show those that already have broadband how they can get the most from their connection, BT has launched its latest guide for small businesses, Understanding Broadband for Business.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, said: “Smaller companies are continuing to adopt broadband at an extraordinary rate and we’re still taking orders for around 20,000 new connections each month.

“What we’re finding is that areas that didn’t have many early adopters are now really embracing broadband – and that’s where the current growth is. The other thing is, these later adopters are often more innovative and not just using broadband for e-mail and surfing the internet. Instead, they’re using high-speed internet to take advantage of services like remote support and broadband telephone services.”

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The internet is evolving rapidly, and we see our small business members across the country increasingly exploiting the benefits of broadband.

“The Northeast of England has always been more focused on traditional industries and has been slower to adopt new computer technologies, but that’s changing. Although there is a regional difference at the moment, there will be very little difference between North and South in a couple of years.”

BT broadband

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Tiscali and Video Networks: integration in the UK market

Tiscali and Video Networks International Ltd announce today that they have reached an agreement whereby their respective UK market operations would be fully integrated.

Pursuant to this agreement, Video Networks International Ltd (VNIL) would contribute 100% of their UK operations - Video Networks Ltd (VNL) - into Tiscali UK Ltd, fully owned subsidiary of Tiscali SpA, in exchange for an interest in Tiscali UK. As a result, Tiscali SpA would control 88.5% of Tiscali UK, while VNIL would own 11.5%. The agreement is expected to become effective in August 2006, upon fulfillment of certain technical conditions. Furthermore, the shareholding of VNIL in Tiscali UK could be increased to up to 20% if certain performance targets are reached. Tax losses carried forward would also be contributed to Tiscali UK by VNIL at a discount and payable on a deferred basis and according to their expected utilisation in the future. Tiscali SpA has the right to acquire and VNIL to sell VNIL's stake in Tiscali UK starting from three years after closing or earlier upon certain trigger events.

Following this integration, Tiscali UK will immediately have more than 1.3 million DSL customers, of which 350,000 customers are taking voice and broadband, over 45,000 will be IPTV subscribers, and an unbundled local loop ("ULL") network covering over 300 BT exchanges with in excess of 220,000 ULL customers.

Video Networks currently provides TV and video services under its Homechoice brand, to its broadband subscriber base using its state of the art IPTV platform. Homechoice has 45,000 customers, mostly taking triple play (broadband, telephone and TV) which pay on average £500 a year. VNL has an annualised turnover of approximately £18 million.

Homechoice's premium offering includes content from all the major Hollywood studios delivering a library of over 1,000 movies, over 5,000 interactive music videos via the award-winning V:MX service as well as a full bouquet of pay TV channels.

Tiscali UK will market these IPTV services as part of a compelling product proposition including voice, data, television (IPTV) and other on-demand video services. Tiscali UK's strategy will also be to enhance its current wholesale DSL product by adding IPTV to the proposition and syndicating this on a 'white label' basis.

"This agreement represents a very important step for the Tiscali Group not only in the UK market, where Tiscali's position would be further strengthened, but also in the other markets, allowing Tiscali to position itself as a true Triple Play operator. The Triple Play offer in the UK will be launched by the end of the year and will be immediately followed by the launch of the service in Italy and then in the other markets." says Tommaso Pompei, CEO of the Tiscali Group.

Mary Turner, CEO of Tiscali UK says: "This agreement further underlines Tiscali's position as a leading investor and innovator in the UK market. This will put us in a strong position to offer our customers an exciting and compelling package of existing and next generation communication and entertainment services."

Roger Lynch, Chairman and CEO of VNL who will head the syndication business and join the board of directors of Tiscali UK following completion of the transaction, says: "This agreement will allow many more consumers nationally to experience VNL's market-leading IPTV offer as part of a compelling triple play bundle of services. It also gives significant additional capabilities to develop and promote the growing IPTV syndication business in the UK and abroad, which will be an important growth driver."

Tiscali broadband

Labels: tiscali-broadband

Friday, August 11, 2006

Net movie fans say 'The force is strong with this one'

A nationwide poll with more than 100,000 responses has picked "May the force be with you" from Star Wars, the sci-fi adventure classic, as the favourite movie quote of all time.

From a full list of 100 films, Internet users whittled the choice down to the top ten 'quote' movies, including Goodfellas, Life of Brian and Taxi Driver. In this final top 10 stand-off, more than one in four (26%) of the votes cast were for Obi-Wan Kenobi's words of wisdom to Luke Skywalker.

Peter Stanton, AOL UK's film editor, said: "The result goes to show the enduring popularity of the Star Wars films, despite some critical derision of the scripts. The best lines are in every day use, which is down to George Lucas creating a masterpiece that has appealed to a broad audience over many decades."

With sci-fi fans clinching the top spot for Star Wars, it was perhaps the female vote that secured second place for the iconic 80's film Dirty Dancing. The line "Nobody puts baby in the corner" clocked a massive 21% overall.

Other all time favourite quotes included "We're going to need a bigger boat" from Steven Spielberg's classic 1975 movie Jaws and Arnold Schwarzenegger's "I'll be back" from The Terminator.

Having won the romance category, cheesy Jerry Maguire failed to show the money in the final, with a mere 2% of the votes for "You had me at hello", uttered by Renee Zellweger to Tom Cruise.

Film fans now have the convenient option of online rental download services direct to their PC or home network. AOL Film Downloads (www.filmdownloads.aol.co.uk), provided by LOVEFiLM, gives internet users access to a library of films that they can download, with prices starting at £2.99 for a full-length feature film. AOL's PlayLegal campaign encourages internet users to only download legitimate online content.

The poll was run on www.aol.co.uk from 17th to28th July. One hundred movies in 10 genres were voted on and the10 winners becoming the poll finalists. The full top 10 list was:

Poll results are:

The Terminator 2291 votes (10%)
Star Wars 5714 votes (26%)
Jaws 1798 votes (8%)
Jerry Maguire 335 votes (2%)
Dirty Dancing 4593 votes (21%)
Taxi Driver 827 votes (4%)
GoodFellas 485 votes (2%)
Get Carter 1158 votes (5%)
Life Of Brian 2900 (13%)
Carry On Cleo 2198 (9%)

Total votes for the final poll are: 22299

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UK broadband service news

Wireless Internet Use Rises as We Dream of Surfing from Our Gardens

Southeast companies top UK broadband charts

Tiscali and Video Networks: integration in the UK market

Net movie fans say 'The force is strong with this one'