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AOL Close To Appointing Successor To Pittman Jon Miller, a former senior executive at Barry Diller's USA Interactive, is set to take the reins at America Online, according to US sources. If Mr Miller agrees to take the job, he will be responsible for reviving slowing subscriber levels and halting the slide in advertising revenue. Mr Pittman was one of the key figures behind the merger of AOL and Time Warner, which created the world's biggest media company. He left earlier this month as part of a boardroom reshuffle instigated by the chief executive, Richard Parsons. Until earlier this year, Mr Miller was chief executive of USA Interactive's information and services group, which operates several major US websites including Ticketmaster, Hotels.com and the Expedia travel site. Meanwhile, according to reports, U.S. Justice Department is investigating accounting practices at AOL Time Warner and federal prosecutors in Virginia, where AOL has its headquarters, are working in tandem with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SOURCE: Guardian unlimited BSkyB Confirms "No Frills" Broadband Deal With BT The 'no-frills' broadband package, BT Broadband, will be offered to Sky subscribers in direct competition with the 'all-in-one' phone, Internet and TV offerings of rival companies NTL and Telewest. Announced with the satellite broadcaster's annual results this morning, the deal mirrors BT's discounted offering of Sky's services to its customers, but details are still sketchy. A spokesperson for Sky wouldn't elaborate on how it will be billed, priced or branded and - even though the company has demonstrated the service on a prototype, broadband-ready set-top box to analysts - whether the service will be accompanied by a commercial roll-out of such a device. However, the company said the product would be available to its subscribers on "special terms", and would "ensure that Sky subscribers have access to a highly competitive offering as demand for broadband internet access develops." The deal will come into effect with a commercial launch "later this year", supported by a "variety of marketing and advertising initiatives". Sky.com will also now feature among the websites on the BT Broadband portal, which points users towards the telco's content partners. Although a more expensive option than offerings from smaller providers, the 'no-frills' broadband product undercuts similar packages from major players in the market such as Freeserve and AOL. SOURCE: Netimperative Tiscali In Talks To Buy Vodafone's Spanish Internet Network A spokeswoman for Tiscali's outside public relations company, Image Building, confirmed that there are talks regarding the fixed Internet network, but did not comment further according to the report. Tiscali currently moves most its Internet traffic on networks owned by rivals, however, ISPs who don't own their own networks only receive part of the revenue generated by their subscribers. In a bid to own its own network, theISP reportedly purchased 19 rivals in 2001, and, earlier this year, CEO Renato Soru said that he may make acquisitions to help Tiscali boost its number of clients and expand its network. It is also reported that Navegalia has annual sales of between 10 million euros and 20 million euros. SOURCE: Bloomberg BT Openworld Customer Attempts To Use 'Incompetence Clause' Internet user Alex Farkouh contacted BTopenworld in November last year to cancel his 12-month contact after he was unhappy with the service. Alex claims that he was able to get out of the contract by activating the 'incompetence clause' and avoid paying further payments. Alex said, "Last year I got Openworld to install ADSL on the line in my house, but I was very unhappy with the service they provided. I was happy with ADSL, but I was really unhappy with the Openworld service as I felt that they were probably the most incompetent ISP have used in over 10 years." After receiving confirmation that his account had been closed, Alex moved onto a new Internet provider thinking that was the end of BT Openworld. However, letters soon started to arrive from BT Openworld's debt collection agency demanding £501.35 disconnection fee, £80 court fees, £70 solicitor’s costs and £3.30 interest. A total of £654.65. We contacted a BT Openworld spokesperson who simply said, "BT Openworld is not aware of such a clause." Alex has taken many steps against BT Openworld including contacting Oftel as well as making many wild claims, some we are not prepared to repeat here. But we would like to hear from anyone in a similar situation who cancelled their contract, successfully or not, please let us know through the comments link above. NTL Boasts 300,000 Residential Broadband Customers The company is also upping the ante against DSL providers with a new advertising campaign and a free installation offer. Stephen Carter, Managing Director of NTL said, "Broadband Britain is arriving at high speed, led by NTL. We’re leading from the front." According to NTL estimates, in homes with a choice between NTL Broadband and ADSL roughly 85% choose NTL, and of the total broadband user base, 60% have selected Broadband Cable: NTL Home 37% (Cable Broadband)NTL is also promoting the benefits of broadband – fast, always connected and unlimited internet access, while leaving the telephone line free - to dial-up internet users. Later this month, a new advertising campaign breaks featuring Blur and Jamiroquai. Users who click through the Internet advertisements will be offered free installation for NTL’s 512k or 1Mb broadband services - saving up to £75. NTL offers a range of broadband services (128kbps at £14.99 a month, 512kbps at £24.99 a month and a 1Mb service at £49.99 a month). BT Claims Broadband Marketing Campaign A Success Paul Reynolds, Chief Executive of BT Wholesale, said, "The success of our marketing support schemes to date graphically illustrates just how hard we have been working with our service provider customers to stimulate the marketplace for broadband. "We introduced the first scheme in December 2001 to raise awareness of broadband by increasing the number of service providers marketing broadband ADSL. At that time, fewer service providers were actively advertising their services. The scheme was a joint effort, with BT Wholesale investing in more than 80 marketing initiatives." These included 7 radio campaigns, 30 press advertising campaigns, 5 online advertising campaigns and 35 direct mail campaigns. By mid-July this year, 13% of all new broadband installations were directly attributable to the campaigns that service providers ran under the marketing scheme. It is anticipated that the scheme will deliver in excess of 40,000 new ADSL broadband subscribers once all the campaigns have finished. BT To Attend Campaign's Public Meeting Malcolm Stark, BT's Broadband deployment and strategy manager, will be in Ulverston's Coronation Hall on Wednesday evening at 5pm to find out for himself about the demand for broadband Internet access in the area. Although ADSL is available in Barrow, the surrounding areas including Walney, Dalton, Ulverston, Millom and Askam have to reply on a normal narrowband dial-up connection. There is also no cable access in the area. Local business leaders and local MPs John Hutton and Tim Collins have given their backing for the meeting. Ulverston's mayor Councillor Dave Miller, who will be attending the meeting, said, "It's absolutely superb news that BT officials have agreed to come to Ulverston. I just cannot understand BT's excuses for not introducing Broadband into Ulverston. "I'm pleased BT has agreed to come to see us here in Ulverston and I sincerely hope they agree to introduce Broadband into the town." Meanwhile, business groups and communities across Furness could get up to £150,000 funding for faster Internet links. Cumbria ICT Broadband Initiative is inviting business and community organisations to bid for a slice of the £2m plus Broadband Fund held by the North West Development Agency. Cumbria ICT Broadband Initiative project Manager Jennifer Holliday said areas like Ulverston could bid for funds. "The Broadband Fund is about getting people connected to Broadband, whether they are businesses, communities, or a mixture. "A study can then be built around them and other people will be able to see the benefits of Broadband." "Before the bid is made we look at how Broadband could be supplied to that area. We talk to provides including BT, as well as looking at satellite and radio technology." Mrs Holliday will also be attending Wednesday's meeting with BT's Malcolm Stark. Source: North West Evening Mail Lessons In Speed For Broadband Novices The company's blueyonder broadband customers now receive a series of six 'bluetorials,' with a new application or area of net content highlighted every two weeks. Topics include broadband web sites, music, software and movies, streaming video, gaming, instant messaging and digital photography. The bluetorials also provide useful explanations of web jargon and the virtual classroom has already received over 25,000 hits from new customers. Chad Raube, head of Internet services at Telewest Broadband, said, "There's a myth that there isn't enough suitable Internet content for broadband access. It's simply not the case and our bluetorials have been created as a guide to some of the endless possibilities presented by ditching the dial-up for life in the fast lane." Net novices can learn basics like accessing Internet radio stations, but more experienced surfers are also catered for, with tips on more advanced applications such as creating online photo albums and becoming a deadly online gamer. The bluetorials are designed to compliment the company's existing blueyonder broadband web site, which offers customers broadband-orientated content and services in one convenient place. Although best appreciated with broadband Internet access, the bluetorials can be accessed here. Important News from Net4nowt Paul Hillbeck said "Whilst I have been at the helm of Net4Nowt I have found it an extremely enjoyable and interesting experience - one I would never of missed for the world. Although with family commitments I have to regrettably stand down. It takes a lot of time and hard work running a site like Net4Nowt, and with our exciting new plans for future I feel that it is only fair that someone who can devote the required time and effort should take over. But this is certainly not the end for the site - simply the beginning of a new era in the success of Net4Nowt." Paul created Net4nowt almost four years ago as an extension of his home page where he started listing the then new free ISPs such as Dixon's Freeserve. He was later joined by Peter Harris of QiQ Limited who assisted Paul in developing the concept further. Over the last year the site has averaged over 1 million server hits each month and has been quoted by most of the British media including the BBC, Guardian and The Mirror. This has been achieved with no major funding just kind assistance from advertisers, the many users of Net4nowt and a lot of hard work from Paul to make the site the success it is. Peter Harris will be taking over Paul's role from 1 August and will be joined by Paul Hamlington who will be assisting in making enhancements to the site in preparation for an exciting relaunch in November. We would therefore encourage you to write to peter@net4nowt.com with any suggestions for changes you would like to see made. Commenting on the change over, Peter Harris said "Paul will be greatly missed at Net4nowt. He has never ceased to amaze me with his enthusiasm for Net4nowt, knowledge of the ISP industry and dedication over the last four years. However I understand Paul's wish to spend more time with his family rather than his mouse and keyboard and wish him every success and happiness for the future. Of course, I wont be surprised to see Paul lurking in the Net4nowt forums and he has kindly agreed to assist with the ISP listings." Looking forward to the future of Net4nowt Peter said "I am very optimistic about Net4nowt and the sites future. The ISP industry is facing new challenges and as people migrate from narrowband to broadband and increasingly mobile Internet access requirements Net4nowt will be here to help consumers through their ISP purchase decisions." Paul Hillbeck added "I would like to thank everyone for helping us to make Net4Nowt as popular as it is, and hope that you continue to visit and watch it grow from strength to strength. I am in no doubts leaving the site in very capable hands and I am very excited at the forthcoming changes. So you can be sure I will still be a regular visitor to the new Net4Nowt." Spam Wastes 10% Of Working Day The problem is made worse by the fact that, unlike with email viruses, firms have difficulty determining what is and isn’t spam. This leads to an ‘all or nothing’ approach to its prevention that fails to recognise the varying interests and needs of recipients. The UK survey which involved 160 IT directors revealed that on average 15% of emails received per day contain spam – about one in seven. It also shows the problem of spam is here to stay, with only a third of email users describing spam as no problem now, and three quarters of respondents predicting that it will be a ‘much’ or ‘somewhat’ bigger problem in the year ahead. Asked what constitutes spam, 90% of UK respondents said it was promotional/marketing email from someone they didn’t know, 89% that it was an email containing information clearly irrelevant to their work, 81% said it was news/information from someone they didn’t know and 71% considered it to be an email they didn’t request, regardless of content or sender. Easynet Purchases Ision Internet Ision provides hosting services to over 190 corporate customers, and easynet will acquire the company's data centres, associated assets, related technical competence, intellectual property (including the Ision name) and 100 Ision employees if the deal is finalised. Chief Executive of easynet, David Rowe, commented: “This deal represents good value for our shareholders and accelerates the Company’s move to cash flow positive in Germany.” The pan-European broadband supplier is expecting its customer base to generate annualised revenue of €15m. SOURCE: Europemedia BT Openworld Cuts Wireless Pricing For SMEs BT Openworld Business 500 users can connect up to four computers to their broadband connection via wireless the USB desktop adapters or laptop cards, which have been reduced by 16.9% to £60.85 from £73.19. The Wireless Access Point which allows 500PLUS, 1000PLUS or 2000PLUS customers to connect up to 15 computers via USB desktop adapters or laptop cards has been reduced by 22.4% to £107.66 from £138.72. All the above products are supported by Linksys and are designed to the Wi-Fi (802.11b) global standard. To find out more, please click here. Freeserve In Wanado Rebrand The move will bring the ISP inline with its French parent company, and, according to the report, Wanadoo chief executive, Nicolas Dufourcq, is in full support of the name change. Around 2.5 million Freeserve customers will see their email addresses changed to @Wanadoo.co.uk.Recently, Freeserve also announced intentions to move its unmetered ISP service to Madeira in order to take advantage of the island's VAT regime and reduce its yearly costs by around £4.5m. SOURCE: The Register V Two One Expands With TheFreeInternet Acquisition Commenting on V Two One`s acquisition, Steve Kaye, Managing Director, said, "We are looking forward to providing our new users with the levels of service our current customers have come to expect from V Two One - as well as offering them the chance to take advantage of our ADSL offering for just £19.99 per month." Gerry Kavanagh, Managing Director, Free Internet, said, "After researching a number of possible ISPs that could take over our operations, we decided V Two One would provide the best service to our customer base." Existing TFI customers will also be able to retain previous email addresses. New Unmetered Service From One Way Internet One Way Internet will be running a special offer for new users during August. The first 100 customers who sign-up will pay £12.99 per month for the first 6 months with the remainder charged at the normal rate of £14.99 per month. A rebuild of the site is expected within the next week or two when the ISP also hopes to be running special offers on hosting. The unmetered service has a 4-hour cut-off period with speeds upto 64K. The 100mb of web space also comes with support for MS FrontPage. Totalise Now Under Ownership Of Brightview Spans Brothers Ltd handed over ownership of the Totalise email system, brand and web site to Brightview on 19th July. CEO of Totalise, Peter Gregory, said in an email to customers that it would enable them to concentrate on their new telecoms company Tspeak which is taking over the business of Totalise Telecom. The email continued: "Brightview operate several well known Internet Service Providers and have more than 500,000 users in the United Kingdom. This gives Brightview substantial "economies of scale" and puts them in an excellent position to provide the Totalise email system and portal going forward. "So remember - in addition to providing all Totalise Internet access - the "Totalise" brand, email system and web site is now operated entirely by Brightview. "Totalise" is no longer operated by Spans Partners Ltd or is "anything to do" with the Totalise Plc holding company." The Totalise portal will continue as normal. Recommended: Browser Wars! Despite the fact that IE is still widely used, the more demanding user may want to look for an alternative browser solutions to suit their own surfing needs, and this week we are taking a peek at a selection of other browsers that are freely available: MSN EXPLORER is another browser from Microsoft that can be tailored to suit your needs and can be used without having to subscribe to the MSN ISP service. Although this has a nice GUI, it may not suit those who want speed and functionality without fancy extras, however, it can support up to 9 users allowing everyone in the household to have their own email address, buddy list and favourites etc. One advantage of using MSN Explorer is that once you have signed in, you are automatically connected to MSN features such as MSN Hotmail and the MSN Messenger service so that you no longer have to retype passwords. The browser is designed for use with Windows 95/98/ME/2000 (not NT), although Windows XP already has the browser contained which can be accessed via add/remove programs - Windows components. Users are able to sign in the browser by using an existing Hotmail or MSN username, or, alternatively, you can sign up for a new MSN Explorer username and password. EXPLORER 2002 is an easy-to-use, tightly integrated Internet browser with an Image browser that lets you browse the Web, view and collect images quickly and effectively. With this browser, users are able to display up to 8 Web pages in the same window, or tabbed windows, control popup windows via the popup manager and clean up at program shutdown by purging temporary Internet files, typed URLs, history and cookies. One touch is all that is required to collect all images or image links on a Web page, and Explorer 2002 supports file drag and drop from Windows Explorer. The browser has a pleasing interface, and users can import their history list from Microsoft Internet Explorer. CRAZY BROWSER is a powerful Web browser that has the ability to open multiple sites and windows inside a single browser task. Like Explorer 2002, Crazy Browser has a popup filter so that all those annoying popup windows can be stamped out automatically. The browser has full support for the Windows XP Theme, P3P privacy policy (IE6 required) and JavaScript error suppression. Web pages are organised on tabs to prevent screen clutter. It can handle multiple monitors and has tab status indicators and multiple pages can be saved and reopened together. Crazy browser includes many preconfigured search engines, although you can extend it to use your own if desired. Although the browser incorporates different settings, it uses the IE browser to render Web pages. Supports Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP or Windows NT 4.0 or later. ARIADNE BROWSER is a Web-oriented Information Manager, browser-based organiser of information such as bookmarks, notes, images, to-do items that you can randomly pick up from Internet and your computer. Ariadne claims to offer a "safe and intelligent way" of Web browsing and users can schedule to-do items, keep bookmarks, notes and images. Ariadne comes with a built-in search engine, data recovery system, workspace builder and sites mapper, and it supports OLE objects, multiple browsing windows, linked objects and has rich set of Import/Export functions. With Ariadne, users can download, compress and view Web-pages offline, store pictures, resume download, use hot-bookmarks and create personal collections of images and assign them to bookmarks. Ariadne also has a built-in editor of offline-pages so you can edit and Web pages as you browse them. . OFF BY ONE Web browser is a completely self-contained, stand-alone 1.1MB application with no dependencies on any other browser (such as IE) or browser component. This browser can run directly from a floppy drive, offers popup free browsing and can help eliminate user vulnerability to malicious codes etc. However, daily use may be limited due to the lack of support for Java, plug-ins or Flash, although since the page and image cache are stored to the memory as opposed to the disk drive, the browser enables users to surf without leaving any tracks. Supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. WEB TARANTULA is a multiplex Web browser that can automatically loads up to 8 of your favourite Web sites in 8 independent windows. Users are able to specify an alias for each site which is also displayed in the tab and each site window is identified by its url/alias. There is a full-featured menu bar and toolbar and optional status bar with onscreen tips. Additional features include three different viewing modes - tabbed, tiled or cascaded format, periodic refresh interval option of 1-60 minutes, optional auto load on start up of each top (8 ) site and availability of all IE shortcuts. There are options to hide tool, navigation, and status bars and the "spider" icon in the tray allows fast & easy access to each URL. K-MELEON is a lite Web browser based on gecko (the mozilla rendering engine) which claims to be fast, has a minimal interface, and it is fully standards- compliant. K-Meleon is built on powerful plugin architecture, which gives developers the ability to add new features. It supports the use of your existing IE or Netscape favourites and offers some additional privacy features like pop-up window control. Although K-Melon is very basic in nature it offers a simple and efficient way of browsing the Internet with fast loading times without losing privacy features. The browser uses your existing IE favourites or NS bookmarks and offers complete control of menus and hotkeys. The latest release of the browser contains important stability and configurability changes, and is built on the latest Mozilla .9.5 milestone. NEMISES MYIE is a wrapper for the Internet Explorer engine and is similar to NetCaptor and Neoplanet without skins, adware or other "bloating" features. The aim of this browser is to enhance Web surfing without getting in the way and it also incorporates multiple search engine support and user definable search engines. Supports IE Favourites, visual bookmarks (a snapshot of the Webpage), grouped bookmarks and much more. BROWSER G! is a java based desktop browser/Web surfing application that claims to enhance Internet surfing. Enabling easy access to favourite desktop tools and Web sites, Browser G! also has the advantage of surfing different sites with a single click - users can start applications like MSN, AIM , ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, Kazza and other tools from within browserG! A new add on has recently been developed for the browser called "CalculatorG! " which is a paper tape calculator with notes facility built in although the print facility is not currently implemented. Supports Netscape 6.0/Mozilla plugins. DOMINICA was designed by Netsoft technologies to be a small, fast, fully-featured and easy to use free Web browser. The MDI interface allows you to browse multiple Web sites at the same time. The number of sites that can be opened is limited only by system memory. Dominica also allows you to open groups of sites with a single click, extract and save all hyperlinks and image links, change skins, automatically close popup windows, filters multimedia downloads and fill forms with drag & drop method. Other features include a configurable Search bar (Quick search) that supports multiple search engines, automatic HTML form completion; advanced history panel and more. Based on the IE engine the browser supports full JavaScript, VBScript, Java and ActiveX . NEOPLANET is designed to be fun and easy to use and puts the best of the Web at your fingertips. Users can control their Internet experience by customizing content Channels with favourite Websites. NeoPlanet unites content, community and communications by integrating a Web browser, e-mail client, instant messaging, chat, Web directory, search engine and user created communities all into a single application. There are over 500 different skins available for Neoplanet via the browser support page, which also offers information on how to use the email, control panel etc. Of course there are many other browsers available on the Internet for you to consider such as MOZILLA, NETSCAPE and the increasingly popular OPERA browser. Whew! That’s it for this month, however, here’s a little extra, if you like trying different search engines, take a look at KARTOO, the neat meta search engine which presents its results on a colourful map, ideal for beginners and experienced users alike. Just choose your language, type in a word or phrase to see what this search engine is capable of – nice interface too - could be one for your favourites list! Don’t forget, if you have any recommendations, just send an email to Sarah@net4nowt.com with a brief description of your choice, and appropriate link. PIPEX Tops 40,000 ADSL Customers The £2 million Fund was invested to cover the set-up cost on its PIPEX Xtreme Solo residential product saving customers £58.75. Good news for PIPEX, although bad news for new customers as they now have to stump up for the connection fee as well as the £23.44 per month for the broadband ADSL service. Freeserve Heads Off To Portugal To Cut VAT Freeserve will continue to account for VAT at the local, Madeiran rate of 13%, reducing marginally the economic advantage enjoyed by AOL. AOL continues to avoid paying any VAT on its equivalent £15.99 a month access product and £34.99 per month broadband Internet offer. On current figures, Freeserve will continue to contribute into the EU approximately £13m per annum of VAT following the change of place of supply, compared to £17.5m today. John Pluthero, Chief Executive Officer of Freeserve, commented, "We said a year ago that we would establish our services outside of the UK if AOL was allowed to retain its VAT advantage, and Madeira enables us to do this without any change to the customer experience. "Freeserve has managed to account for UK VAT and remain better value than our closest competitors for unmetered access. We will continue to contribute sales tax in the EU, though regrettably, it will be 12 months and another £40-50m later before AOL is bound by the same laws as the rest of us." Customers of Freeserve AnyTime will see no difference to their user experience as a result of this change. Freeserve dial-up network, hosting, contact centre and technical support all remain in the UK. There will be no impact on jobs at Freeserve in the UK. A new company, Freeserve LDA, has been created to administer the service from Madeira. The new arrangements, which take effect from September 2002, have been discussed with and fully accepted by the Portuguese authorities. Freeserve was influential in proceedings leading to the adoption of Europe's new ECOFIN Directive, which from July 2003 when it is incorporated into UK law will require AOL to establish itself within an EU Member State and account for VAT at that Member State's local rate. The supply of Freeserve AnyTime from Madeira is not dependent on the new Directive, but operates in the spirit of the harmonised VAT framework emerging in the EU for Internet services, and follows a similar establishment by Virgin.net for the supply of its equivalent unmetered access and broadband offers. Cheapest ADSL Launches In UK 1st of August is the date when V Two One will officially launch its home and business packages. Commenting on the launch, Steve Kaye, Managing Director of V Two One said, "We are looking forward to a high uptake of the service due to its competitive price and a high retention of users thanks to our unrivalled level of service and support." Products details are as follows: V21 Home ADSL Annual - 512 Kbps - £19.99 per month inc. VATAll business products include a free .co.uk domain name. All products also have a connection fee of £59.99 (£70.49 inc VAT) and registration is now open. Exclusive: Net4nowt Interview with Port 995 MD COULD YOU GIVE US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND, DID YOU FORM THE COMPANY? My roots are not actually in IT and I spent many years Directing TV programs for such companies for various companies such as Bloomberg and Sky News. From there I formed the ISP MetroNet via another company (Get Surfed) which I started in 1996 with my partner and from this evolved various brands. Port995 is the latest but most interesting of all as it has come about as a direct result of what our own customers at MetroNet had been asking for - a reliable and flexible advanced email service for everyone. WHY DID YOU ESTABLISH PORT995? At Port995 we decided from day one we were not going to offer a free email service based on the fact we believed a truly reliable and well supported email service could not be financed out of thin air or the reliance on advertising revenue - a realisation becoming apparent to the likes of Hotmail and Yahoo given the backdoor route to charging they seem to adopting. We realised that in a world where 'free internet' meant just that to people it was going to be a gamble to ask customers to actually pay for an email service. Not only that, but to pay for a service that was a pure email only service - no hosting or connectivty included. IS THIS APPROACH WORKING? Thankfully 6 months down the road of having launched the service that decision has been vindicated. Paying for an email service is not now so much of a taboo provided that customers are getting a service of real value. With people now being able to keep their email service separate from their connectity provider we have seen a surge in demand from those who need the flexibility to use any ISP at any time without affecting their email. ARE YOU ABLE TO KEEP THE CUSTOMERS YOU ARE ATTRACTING? Not only has the take up been quite surprising but that customer churn has been less than 2% over that period - testament to the kind of service Port995 have been providing. Customers have even taken time to praise us for not offering a free service in any shape or form as people are quickly realisng that they do not want a service they are paying for being compromised by customers who in effect would be getting the same service for free. IS THERE AN ANTI-HOTMAIL SENTIMENT IN THE MARKETPLACE GIVEN THE RECENT INTRODUCTION TO CHARGES FOR HOTMAIL? IF SO, IS THIS BENEFITING YOUR BUSINESS (e.g. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020726/152/d61m4.html )? The rather insideous route to charging some so called 'free' email providers are taking is not the only reason why we are benefiting as both individuals and businesses are seeing the merit in using a service that isn't just dedicated to email but can offer the kind of things you cannot get from a free email provider. We see Port995 really as filling a void that exists between the standard and accepted email services provided by most ISP's and free email providers and the more expensive deployment and maintenance of an in-house system with similar capabilities. HOW DO YOU OBTAIN MOST OF YOUR CUSTOMERS? We've only really marketed Port995 very lightly at the moment as there has been tremendous take up by our existing customers and the fact that 2 out of every 3 new customer has been referred I think we want to be careful not to over burden the service to the extent that we can't then support the customers properly. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR PORT995? Having been designed and instigated by many of the customers who actually use it Port995 positively welcomes the feedback provided by its users to enhance the service. We will soon be extending our offering through a new reseller channel that will allow other service providers and companies to offer a branded email service to their own customers using the Port995 platform. OK, AND FOR FURTHER INFORMATION? Visit our website, email us, or just pick up the phone and call us. www.port995.com info@port995.com Adios Vizzavi Vizzavi stopped accepting new customers for their FRIACO service back in March. Vizzavi are offering subscribers the option to migrate with Virgin.net's 24seven ISP at £13.49 a month compared with Vizzavi's £12.99 a month. Subscribers migrating receive one months free access from Virgin.net More details can be found on the Vizzavi website at this address: http://www.vizzavi.co.uk/help/ISP_migration/index.html AOL Shares Plummet Since News Of Accounting Probe As reported yesterday on Net4Nowt, US financial regulators are investigating the media giant's accounting practices as a result of the allegations, and it is reported today that the company's stock has fallen by as much as 21 per cent on Wall Street. One of the deals being probed involves AOL allegedly turning a £14.4m legal settlement with the US and UK track-based gaming company Wembley plc into an advertising sales deal. AOL inherited the settlement from MovieFone, a telephone cinema ticket booking service it acquired four years ago, but the Washington Post alleges AOL instead asked Wembley to buy £14.44m in advertising for its new greyhound racing venture, 24dogs.com. When the deal was agreed AOL executives celebrated by playing the Baha Men hit "Who Let the Dogs Out," the paper said. It was also reported that the settlement with AOL was resolved in 1999 after it paid the company £12.5m according to a spokesman for Wembley plc, who added that it was not up to Wembley how AOL booked the money. SOURCE: Sky News More 'Critical' Vulnerabilities Found In Microsoft's SQL Server Product The first two flaws relate to buffer overruns whereby an attacker could cause portions of system memory (the heap in one case, the stack in the other) to be overwritten by sending a carefully crafted packet to the Resolution Service. Overwriting it with random data would likely result in the failure of the SQL Server service; overwriting it with carefully selected data could allow the attacker to run code in the security context of the SQL Server service. The third vulnerability is a denial of service vulnerability. SQL uses a keep-alive mechanism to distinguish between active and passive instances. It is possible to create a keep-alive packet that, when sent to the Resolution Service, will cause SQL Server 2000 to respond with the same information. An attacker who created such a packet, spoofed the source address so that it appeared to come from a one SQL Server 2000 system, and sent it to a neighbouring SQL Server 2000 system could cause the two systems to enter a never-ending cycle of keep-alive packet exchanges. System administrators using Microsoft SQL Server2000 and Microsoft Desktop Engine 2000 are advised to download the patches, which are available HERE, and related security bulletins can be found HERE. The Register May Have Discovered Reason For Recent BT DNS Problems However, despite an all-round effort to acquire an adequate explanation from BT, frustration compelled some of the companies in question to contact The Register according to the report. Earlier this week,this report highlighted (BT) user problems with Web site access because of apparent problems with BT's Domain Name Servers, and now The Reg feels that they have discovered "the definitive reason" for the DNS problems: BT has upgraded some of its name servers to BIND 9 which is stricter in enforcing standards and doesn't overlook configuration errors made by many hosting companies, which are the real cause of the problem. In the case of NSDesign's name servers, for example, problems arose because it failed to contain name server records for their domain defined within the domain, counting on inheritance from the ".net" Top Level Domain. That's not tolerated in BIND 9. Some of BT's DNS servers are running older versions of BIND which are less sensitive to misconfigurations of remote servers, so surfers connecting through BT servers running BIND 8 wouldn't see a problem. Trouble-free connections were also secured when surfers logged on through ISPs other than BT, again because DNS lookups went through servers running older versions of BIND. BT outsources the running of their DNS servers, which seems to be reason why it proved so frustratingly hard to get an answer on our query. Further muddying the waters were admissions by BT support staff, when pressed, that the telco could be to blame for the problem. The Register clarified in their report that the problem was experienced by some of "the biggest tech sites" on the Internet, and not just to sites hosted by NSDesign and uksecurewebhosting.net, and thanked all who wrote in to help resolve the matter. SOURCE: The Register Nildram Introduce SQL Server Support The SQL platform components include single username access, shared SQL server, web administration console, up to 200MB of database storage and access to SQLXML v3 services. Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's marketing manager commented: "We believe this addition to our range of hosting options will prove popular and further illustrate our aim to provide the best range of web hosting options in the UK, connected to one of the fastest, most resilient networks - the Nildram Backbone." Recently, Nildram also announced a number of new ADSL services incorporating a "Centralised Firewall" allowing users more security without additional hardware/software installations. To visit the Nildram website, please click here. ADSL Guide Launch New ADSL Status Page According to the site, exchanges which have not yet been ADSL enabled and their trigger levels are listed in order of demand, and the summary list is automatically updated every hour from the BT Broadband Availability website. Users need to provide a valid telephone number connected to their local exchange, and ADSL Guide wishes to stress that these numbers will only be used for the purpose of data collection and are not given out to any other person. The status page can be viewed by clicking here. AOL's Financial Accounts Under Investigation The company now has to prove to the US financial watchdog that its bookkeeping is legitimate. The "fact finding" inquiry comes after allegations in the Washington Post that the company boosted online advertisement revenue through a number of "unconventional" deals over the past couple of years. With the investigations being at the preliminary "fact-finding" stage, it means that there is no proof of AOL being involved in accounting deceptions that brought down Enron and WorldCom. Although such "fact finding" inquiries could be the first steps towards a major investigation. A statement from AOL Time Warner said that all their transactions have been in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Source: BBC Broadband Gives Rise To British Entrepreneurs The survey conducted by BMRB Interactive found that 52% of entrepreneurs feel they couldn't work from home without access to the Internet. Around half of the 335 respondents surveyed said that home working was a lifestyle choice, with the Internet enabling them to share ideas with other people and conduct business while avoiding the drudgery of the office and the time and expense of commuting. 67% also stated that the Internet has provided them with new business opportunities. Broadband access is playing an important role in facilitating home working. More than 13% said they were already using broadband, with a further 19% planning to install a broadband connection within the next 12 months. ISPreview Struggle With Hosting Failure ISPreview’s host - NetisNet - went down around midday Tuesday and it was assumed that it was just a usual temporary outage. However according to the editor in chief, Mark Jackson, it could be something major. Mark is in the process of getting the site up and running with another host, but without access to the original server it could prove difficult. Progress of the move can be found here. Ofcom Chairman Appointed The Chairman will oversee the creation of the new independent regulatory body, OFCOM, covering broadcasting, telecommunications and the management of the radio spectrum. OFCOM will combine the responsibilities of the existing regulators in these sectors, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC), Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency. In announcing the appointment, Tessa Jowell the secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said, "I am confident that his leadership and strategic view of regulation will enable OFCOM to help achieve the Government's vision of making the UK home to the most dynamic and competitive communications and media market in the world." David Currie is currently Dean of City University Business School and Professor of Business Economics. Other current positions include Chairman of Coredeal/MTS; Non-Executive Director of Abbey National plc; Director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (Investments) Ltd; and a Member of Terra Consilia. He was a member of the Management Board of Ofgem from February 1999, and a founder member of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, stepping down in April of this year. The appointment will be for a period of 5 years with a salary of £133,000. BT Announce Rise In Profits Profits of £322m were announced today by Ben Verwaayen, BT Group's Chief Executive who said, "The group made significant progress in achieving its key goals of improving earnings per share, cash flow and customer satisfaction. Overall turnover growth of 2% was slower than expected with no growth in sales to other telecoms operators. However the improved efficiency in our businesses delivered strong profit growth." He added, "We remain committed to our targets and are confident for the future." The company also announced that it has further reduced its debts, which at one time reached £28billion. The figure now stands at £13.4billion UK In Technological Revolution According To New Survey RealityIT - Technology and Everyday Life by The Work Foundation’s iSociety project is sponsored by Microsoft and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It's the first major study in the UK into the effect of information and communication technologies (ICT) on ordinary lives. According to the figures 52% of UK adults own PCs, 74% own a mobile, and 41% of respondents live in homes with digital TV. But despite the overwhelming take-up of new technology, the vast majority of us are resisting the ‘wow' factor spun by marketing departments. ‘In true British fashion, the tortoise has out-run the hare and the UK ICT revolution has been led by the sedate, understated and practical majority," says James Crabtree, of the iSociety project. "Instead of becoming a Borg-generation, the majority of us have remained immune to the hype surrounding the digital revolution. Our use of technology is dominated by everyday concerns - friends and family, childcare and the shopping. The new economy may have taken a beating recently, but iSociety is clearly alive and well." NTL Improves Support For Its Customers ControlWorks Activation Edition allows NTL to manage the complexities associated with initiating and maintaining broadband services while reducing operational costs. With more than 250,000 high-speed Internet subscribers, NTL is the largest broadband service provider in the UK. The company began working with BroadJump in January 2002 with the deployment of BroadJump’s installation and subscriber-management solutions. Since then, NTL has recognised a reduction in support calls by 50 percent within the first 30 days after installation as well as a marked improvement overall in customer satisfaction. Through the implementation of ControlWorks Activation Edition, NTL will be able to evolve its Broadband Internet service offerings to meet the increasing consumer demand for its broadband service. BT Accepts Oftel's Price Control Proposals New licence conditions will come into effect on 1st August when the existing price controls expire. BT will be required to provide a wholesale line rental product to enable competitors to offer a complete service covering line rental and calls. David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications welcomed BT’s decision today, "The introduction of the new wholesale line rental product means that operators will be able to compete with BT offering a complete fixed telephony service on one bill." BT has also agreed to some minor changes to the workings of its Light User Scheme, including provisions to extend the number of customers potentially qualifying if the standard exchange line rental rises significantly. A BT spokesman said that this was an innovative package. The company did not like every individual element, but overall it balanced the needs of both BT's customers and shareholders The control will be revised to one which pegs prices to the rate of inflation once the new wholesale line rental product has been fully implemented by BT and is being used by other operators to provide services. McAfee Customers Could Be Infected With Klez Virus The company Network Associates has now issued a fix. David Emm, product marketing manager at McAfee, told silicon.com: "This was an issue relating to the way that McAfee scanned locked files, and we've done a hot fix to sort this out."The news comes at a time when Klez-H became the top most single most prevalent virus this year according to the anti-virus company Sophos. Source: Silicon.com BT Boss Unable To Receive ADSL Mick Reeve, the chief technology officer at BTexact, lives within 5km of an exchange although his phone is connected to an exchange outside the 5km limit. Despite this personal setback, to which he does see the irony, his team's ideas have helped improve recent rollout of ADSL in the UK. "With the 1,000 exchanges roll-out there would have been none in Cornwall. But we did some work with the regional authorities and got a grant for 12 exchanges in Cornwall," Reeve said.Source: Vnunet Police Email Interception Backed By Judge The ruling followed after an approach by ISP NTL who became concerned that it may have been breaking the law by carrying out a Police request to intercept a subscriber's email account without consent. Suffolk Police had asked NTL to set up a separate email account to enable it to monitor a suspect's email traffic, however, Lord Woolf ruled that the ISP wasn't breaking the law because the Police request had been sanctioned by Ipswich Crown Court. According to the report, as long as prior permission has been applied for, on a case by case basis to a Judge, the Police will be able to exercise their powers more widely on ISPs who, judging by the above ruling, will have to comply with future interception requests. SOURCE: NewMediaZero Council Launch SiteTo Help Local Addicts Kick Habit The primary aim of the new site is to help and encourage and local drug addicts to kick the habit. Once finished, the new site,www.streetpulse.co.uk will hopefully become a local resource for health and education information and links to drug support agencies and services in the borough will also be available. The site will contain case studies on how other addicts have quit drugs, with links to national drug agencies and services, and, according to the report, the council is to consult with young drug users on the website's design. SOURCE: Silicon 3.4GHz Bandwidth Auction Details Outlined It is understood that following extensive consultation since April of this year the auction date has been set for October. The details of the award process include: 15 regional licences across the UK with one license per region; staged payments for licences; no-roll out obligations to be included in licences; and removal of proposed service restrictions on licensees. The report suggests that the introduction of wireless services could play a key role in the Government's target of establishing a high-speed network connecting homes and businesses throughout the country. SOURCE: Europemedia Telewest Educates Dial-Up Users Via Viral Marketing The new campaign called “Web Head or Dead Head” is being carried out in the form of a quiz which determines the kind of computer user a person is in order to promote the company’s blueyonder broadband Internet services. The quiz, which is hosted on a microsite (www.webordead.co.uk), confronts users with a series of lifestyle questions about computer and web usage such as how many email addresses they have or if they have ever shopped online. When the questions are all answered, the “web-o-meter” determines whether the subject is a heavy web user who would benefit from broadband or a “Dead Head”. A Telewest spokesman commented about the campaign, saying, “We’re trying to educate users that they’ll use the web more with broadband. We’re looking at widening eyes to how the Web can be used.” The promotion was developed by web agency 1000heads, and is being hosted on viralbank.com SOURCE: Revolution Pluthero Leaves Freeserve To Take Top Position At Energis A founder member of Freeserve, Pluthero has served as CEO of Freeserve since May 1999 and will temporarily be replaced by Freeserve's Chief Financial Officer, Eric Abensur. Nicolas Dufourcq, Chairman and CEO of Wanadoo, said: "John has been an instrumental figure in the development of the UK's Internet market, and through the creation of Freeserve was directly responsible for bringing to millions of British consumers for the first time the opportunity of affordable Internet." "I thank him for everything he has brought to Wanadoo and its executive during the past two years." Meanwhile, Pluthero, commenting on his move to Energis, said that, "It's a wrench for me to leave Freeserve," and added, "I would like to thank Nicolas and his team for their contribution to the success of the business, and I leave knowing that Freeserve is in the very capable hands of Eric Abensur and the executive team." ADSL-Now! Offer Broadband For Under A Tenner The activation charge is priced at £49.99, and, after the initial three months, the price rises to £24.99 (plus VAT) per month. There is no long term commitment as the contract is on a per-month basis meaning that subscribers can cancel the service by giving notice one month in advance. A BT line is required for the service which offers a download speed of up to 512k, almost ten times faster than a standard 56k modem. For further information, please click here. London Hospital Launches Text Message Appointment Reminders According to the report, a poor (one-in-four) attendance to appointments is the very reason why Homerton Hospital in Hackney developed the service. A three-month trial of the text messaging service will run at the hospital's Sexual Health department, and, if successful, it will be extended to other departments. The scheme is the first of its kind in the UK according to the hospital's general manager Dipak Duggal, who informed the BBC of enquiries from other hospitals keen to monitor the success of the scheme. SOURCE: Ananova World-Wide DSL Subscribers Could Surpass 46 Million By End Of 2002 The figures are thought to be contrary to some published DSL reports, and show that on a whole, broadband Internet services are doing well. The report suggests that increasing user demand for faster connections to the Internet has led to substantial subscriber growth over the past year. However, it is also reported that the availability of broadband access remains the greatest single challenge to long-term broadband growth because the majority of the world's telecommunications infrastructure cannot yet support broadband access technologies. In late 2001, the number of world-wide DSL subscribers surpassed 17 million, enabling DSL service to replace cable modem service as the most widely-used broadband access technology. A sharp rise in the number of DSL subscribers in the in the Asia-Pacific region sparked world-wide DSL growth. Other broadband access technologies like satellite broadband, Fiber-to-the-Home, and fixed wireless service, only account for 5% of current world-wide broadband subscribers according to the In-Stat/MDR report. Tiscali Plan European Relaunch Of Excite Portal According to the report, Tiscali acquired the Excite brand and domain name for the whole of Europe in April, and during last week, a new message on the Excite.co.uk site greeted visitors: "Welcome to EXCITE! We are back - and we have created the most complete search channel on the web for you. Take advantage of our collection of 2,100,000,000 web sites and the world's largest man-made directory!" Tiscali logos, advertisements and links are also abundant on the site, and when The Register decided to inquire further about the pan-European launch, they were informed to wait for more news in a couple of weeks time. SOURCE: The Register BT Boost ADSL Marketing Budget The broadband registration scheme allows consumers who reside in non DSL-enabled areas to register their interest in receiving high-speed broadband services. Target levels of between 200 and 500 prospective users have been set by BT to measure demand and justify the company's investment in broadband equipment in the relevant exchanges. However, at the time of writing, the most popular exchange had only received 56 confirmed orders for broadband, and no other exchange had more than 10 per cent of the demand required - though the scheme is already in its third week. Some of this lack of demand is down to internet service providers failing to pass requests on in a timely manner, a BT spokeswoman claimed. Freeserve is thought to be among them. Rather than taking the requests itself BT has been requiring would-be customers to sign up via an ISP, and they have been slow to pass their orders on, she claimed, making the published figures lower than actual demand levels. She said: "We launched the scheme as soon as we could and it has taken a while to get all the ISPs to sign up to it. These figures represent teething troubles rather than a lack of demand." According to the report, the new sum of money, estimated to be in the "low millions," will be used for additional advertising for the registration scheme, a targeted advertising campaign dedicated to alerting business to the benefits of broadband and upping BTs existing fund for (ISP) marketing grants. SOURCE: Silicon Ask Jeeves And Google In Shared Revenue Partnership The deal is expected to generate $100 million over the next three years for California-based Ask Jeeves and Google of Mountain View, the companies said, Thursday. Beginning in September, Google will pitch its targeted paid listings product from its base of advertisers to users of Ask Jeeves' search sites, the companies said. According to the report, the Ask Jeeves' agreement replaces the previous arrangement the company held with Overture Services, who, last April, also lost an AOL contract to Google. Although specific terms of the revenue sharing agreement were not disclosed, Ask Jeeves estimates that the new partnership will help to generate double its revenue between the third and the fourth quarter from paid listings. SOURCE: Macworld Electronic Lives Of Citizens Under Surveillance From August As a result of the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act passed in October 2000, large communications companies are obliged to install technology that allows one in 10,000 of their customers to be watched: The Act demands that organisations it dubs Communication Service Providers (CSP) - broadly anyone that helps people keep in touch via the web, fax machine or phone - install technology that can automatically monitor what many of their customers are doing. It also demands that service providers start monitoring a customer within 24 hours of being told that the police or other investigation agencies want to snoop on them. The information collected must also be passed on electronically to the agency which asked for the snooping to start. According to the report, the information gathered will be passed to the police or a government monitoring station and will include content of users email messages, phone conversations and details of what people look at on the Internet. However, experts have criticised the demands because of law conflicts with basic guarantees of privacy and also suggested that the government is not doing enough to help pay for the installation of such surveillance systems. It is reported that a spokesman for the Home Office said that the first of August was the day on which the new surveillance regime would start, even though the 'snooping' technology has not yet been installed. He added that only law enforcement agencies would have the power to ask for the surveillance to start: Police would have to get a warrant from the Home Office before they could ask for surveillance to start, he said, and it would only be used to gather evidence about serious crimes. Roland Perry, public policy director for the London Internet Exchange which interconnects the networks of net service companies, said the government was still working out how best to put the surveillance systems in place. "It's a very long-term project," he said. "The whole thing will be done on a one-to-one basis with the individual companies concerned." The government is also currently working out what types of information it wants from CSPs and how it will be delivered. "In theory, an interception capability would deliver all the data," said Mr Perry. "It's the internet equivalent of a telephone tap." The government is hoping that its work on automatic surveillance will become a European standard and be widely adopted. "The Home Office has said it would contribute £20m to this but the net industry has said it will cost a lot more than that," said Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. The Internet Service Providers Association has warned about the potentially huge costs of installing surveillance equipment to meet the demands of the RIP Act and the recently passed Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act. Mr Brown said one of the few safeguards on the snooping system was the fact that the agencies asking for the surveillance to be carried out will be charged to use it. "This means agencies have to make a judgement whether it's worth making a request if it costs a few hundred pounds to do it," said Mr Brown. Clarification over the types of data its members were supposed to be catching, how long it had to be stored for and who would pay for the storage is being sought according to an ISPA spokesman. Service providers have asked for help to buy the equipment needed to set up the permanent interception capability according to the report. Source: BBC NTL Broadband Internet Trials Begin In Derby Trialists were invited to take part via the Digital Spy forums which, according to the report, received a "massive response" with some members following the Derby project since February. The ntl:home broadband team kept our members fully updated with developments, and today a member of the team posted the confirmation of the trials here on the forums. There was also good news for customers living in Southampton, Winchester and Totton, all of which have been added to the planned rollout list. Although the Winchester and Totton areas do not yet support digital TV services, according to another post on Digital Spy, this is also being worked on. SOURCE: Digital Spy More Users Consider The Internet As A Part Of Daily Life The survey in Which? Online discovered that just over seven in 10 adults questioned agreed the net had become essential, despite findings of a marked slowdown in the number of people connecting to the Internet. The number of people connecting is up 11% in the last year compared with 33% in the previous 12 months. Levels of growth are highest among over 55-year-olds, increasing by more than 40% on last year, so that 17% are now on-line. The poll also found that employees are happy to surf the net for personal reasons while at work. Almost three-quarters of workers with Internet access admitted using it for non-work purposes, 43% for e-mailing family and friends. Three in ten also like to browse for news, travel and leisure information. It is reported that the results were based upon the survey of 2,053 adults in Britain who were interviewed on behalf of Which? Online. SOURCE: Yahoo! Easynet Purchase Internet Assets From German Company Included in the assets are data centres and around 100 staff which are expected to add 15 million Euros in revenue a year. In a Regulatory News Service statement, it was said that the acquisition provides a "customer base together with the complex value added services." It is also reported that Easynet has built networks linking centres in countries such as the U.K. and France in order to gain demand from SMEs. In February, Easynet valued some of its assets by 369 million pounds, although shares in the company remain unchanged at 85 pence yesterday, for a market value of 94 million pounds. SOURCE: Bloomberg Newspaper Widens Broadband Campaign The North-West Evening Mail newspaper launched their broadband campaign at the end of June and has been inundated with support from nearly 250 of Ulverston's Internet users. BT's Broadband deployment strategy manager, Malcolm Stark has now agreed to meet the town's interested parties to find out about demand for the service. Although ADSL is available in Barrow, the surrounding areas including Walney, Dalton, Ulverston, Millom and Askam have to reply on a normal narrowband dial-up connection. There is also no cable access in the area. Mark Blanshard, a regular Internet user who lives on Walney, told the newspaper, "If I had Broadband I could get a lot more done in a lot less time. So far BT have just cherry picked the best parts of the country, the bigger cities and towns with higher concentrations, and given them Broadband. Places like Walney have simply been neglected." Source: North-West Evening Mail BT Ordered To Cut Internet Access Prices The requirement is set out in a final Determination published today by Oftel. The findings are based upon a review of the volume of unmetered Internet traffic over BT's network since BT's wholesale Internet access was launched two years ago. David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said today, "Oftel must ensure that the charges BT make to other operators for Internet capacity on its network are fair and reflect BT's costs. Until now, Oftel has had to use estimates to assess BT's charges, but new information on BT's Internet traffic volumes is now available, enabling Oftel to reassess these charges." Edmonds added, "This reduction means that operators can now buy capacity from BT cheaper than before. Operators have the opportunity to pass these savings on to ISPs and through them to consumers." Telcos Must Look Beyond Reducing Debt According to the report, The Future of Telecoms Incumbents: the impact of competition, regulation and customer demand, 14 incumbents had long-term debt at the end of 2001 ranging from around €1 billion to €67 billion, and half of these operators had gearing of more than 95%. "Management of long-term debt is clearly the principal driver of incumbents' decision-making today, as they attempt to restore shareholder value," says Tamsin Pert, the report's author. "But they also need to consider how they can create value and maintain competitive advantage in the longer term. In this respect, scenario planning will be key to assessing the potential impact of the decisions they take." According to Analysys, despite the difficulties faced by incumbent and alternative operators alike, the European telecoms market is still growing (by 9.5% in 2001), but is characterised by unpredictable demand, weak competition and confused regulation. The success or otherwise of GPRS and 3G networks will be a crucial factor for most incumbents, many of which are already under financial constraints and have capped capital expenditure for the next few years. "If GPRS or 3G networks and services do not perform as customers expect, or if costs are higher than planned, there will be huge implications for many incumbents," adds Pert. BT Chairman Comes Under Fire The shareholders were non too impressed with the company's pay and performance despite announcing that their debts have been halved to £13.7m. One shareholder said, "Your speech and annual report were full of rose-tinted verbiage and the board is full of would-be gamblers who have run up debts, buying companies while increasing their own rewards regardless. Evidently, my board has not recognised the fact that losing pole position as the global benchmark of telecoms companies is a direct result of cumulative poor judgment by our directors." Later, bonuses paid to former bosses Sir Iain Vallance and Sir Peter Bonfield came under the spotlight, "BT has had to be bailed out by its shareholders in the rights issue. How can you justify paying £600,000 to Vallance when the need to reduce debts is so clear?" Another shareholder added, "Someone, somewhere, has to stand up and say we are not lining our pockets here. When you see the Vallance payments, you have to question that." Chief executive Ben Verwaayen made a short presentation to the shareholders. He stated that since the end of June the number of BT exchanges that were broadband enabled had increased to 1,115 compared with 890 at the same time last year. The number of exchanges now covered 73% of Internet users. Ben also confirmed that orders per week for broadband were now running at about 12,000 per week and that there were now 280,000 end users connected. Source: The Telegraph Oftel Dismisses Calls To Split Up BT The committee's recommendation was to separate BT's network from its retail business that should increase competition in the broadband market. But Oftel disagrees. In its response, Oftel has stated that it has sufficient powers to deal with any potential anti-competitive behaviour in the broadband market. Oftel will take whatever decisions are justified to support proper competition using both current and new powers under the Communications Bill and the Enterprise Bill. Because Oftel has sufficient regulatory powers to develop a competitive broadband market, the option of breaking up BT is therefore not on its current agenda. Competition in the broadband market continues to increase, with prices cheaper in the UK than in France or Germany. The UK is on course for 750,000 broadband connections by the end of July. E-Voting In, Ballot Boxes Out By 2006 The four options to be implemented are voting via the post, online from work or home, telephone voting or at polling stations by online terminals. A consultation paper on e-voting has been released by Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons, which states: "The vision of an e-enabled general election some time after 2006 will require delivery of an online register and access for all voters to multi-channel means of voting according to individual preference." Over the next three years, £30m will be spent on developing e-voting and a secure electoral register will finalised next year. Standards for e-voting are to be agreed this year and online voting registration and postal voting applications are to be introduced during 2004 and 2005. According to the report, the government also intends to pilot other voting schemes including SMS, DTV, and touch telephones. SOURCE: Europemedia New Broadband Network Supplies All London Schools The broadband network is 10 times the size of 'SuperJanet,' - the UK's higher education network, and principle suppliers Equinox and Thus have got BT to lay 10 million metres of fibre optic cable in order to connect the schools to aggregation points according to the report. Cost savings for schools connected to the network are estimated by Duncan Crook, CEO of Equinox, to be huge. He said before the LGfL, a primary school on a 128kbps connection could spend up to £1,800 per year and a secondary school on a 2mbps connection could find themselves paying around £12,500 each year. Around 10 per cent, or nearly 300, of London's 2,700 schools are connected to the broadband network so far with the total expected to reach at least 500 by the end of August. The fibre roll-out began in September last year, and will extend another four million metres by the time all London's schools are connected. It is reported that the London Grid for Learning (LGfL) is the result of 33 of London's local education authorities (LEAs) working as a team to enable schoolchildren and teachers to learn and communicate more effectively. Source: Silicon ASA Disagrees With NTL Complaint Against BT "How much does it cost to talk for 'free'? NTL: 4.9p. BT: 0p. With BT standard line rental you get up to 180 minutes* free call time a month. Free. With NTL you get free calls too. They cost 4.9p each, because NTL charge a 4.9p set up charge even on their free talk time." "Feel free to find out how to reconnect free ...". Below, smallprint stated "*Based on local weekend calls of over 5 minutes duration. Excludes reconnection after non-payment of BT bill. Other conditions apply". NTL, who believed that a minimum call charge and other call charges applied to BT standard line rental, objected because they felt that the comparison was unclear and unfair because it implied that BT offered a service similar to NTL's free talktime but without a connection charge. However, the advertisers argued that the advertisement emphasised that although NTL described calls included in their talktime service as 'free' customers had to pay 4.9 pence. for each call, and added that the advertisement was meant to be ironic. They also argued that, by putting the word "free" in quotes, they had identified clearly that the comparison was in the context of NTL describing their service as 'free'. They asserted that the comparison was fair because both tariffs served the same purpose and incurred the same line rental costs. The Authority understood from the advertisers that they reduced customers' bills by £1.80 unless the number of qualifying calls had resulted in a monthly charge of less than that amount and that local calls of less than five minutes duration were charged at the five-minute-call rate, meaning customers had a maximum of 36 free local calls, with a maximum aggregate duration of 180 minutes. The ASA considered that the advertisement implied that NTL charged customers for free calls and the advertisers did not. It was noted however, that the advertisers had stated that their free calls were limited to a maximum of 180 minutes but it noted NTL's free calls were not limited in duration; It was also noted that NTL's free calls were local calls to other NTL numbers only and were limited to weekdays between 6.00 p.m. and 8.00 a.m. and weekends. The ASA disagreed with the complainants' objection that their 'free' talktime was, indeed, free because the 4.9 pence was merely a connection charge, and although the advertisement could, with advantage, have explained in more detail the complainants' free talktime service, the Authority considered that the advertisement was both clear and fair. Nildram Announce New 'Centralised' Firewall ADSL Services Nildram suggest that although broadband offers users the convenience and flexibility of an always on connection, on the other side of the scale, such users are more easily targeted by hackers. Martin Jowett, Nildram's Sales and Marketing Director commented: "It is often said when a Firewall has been breached 'the Firewall security is only as good as the knowledge of the person who configured it' - keeping this knowledge up to date is a constant battle." "As this new Firewall service is centrally located within our infrastructure, it can be of the 'industrial' strength required to stop attacks, as well as benefiting from Nildram's considerable Firewall configuration expertise." The new Nildram ADSL services are available in four versions - Secure Home500A and Secure Office500, 1000 and 2000, with prices starting from £35.99 a month, inclusive of VAT. For furthe | ||