BT gets go-ahead for PlusNet acquisition

BT has announced that it has been given the go-ahead by the Office of Fair Trading for the acquisition of PlusNet. Final approval is now in the hands of PlusNet shareholders. The UK's largest telecoms company has told PlusNet, one of the country's largest Internet service providers, that it plans to retain the PlusNet brand: subscribers will not, at least in name, become BT customers. ...more

1Mbit broadband for less than ?15

Freedom2Surf has announced a 1Mbit/sec broadband service at an extremely low price of ?14.99. The Connect Lite service makes use of BT's new capacity-based charging structure and as you would expect at that price, is capped, with a maximum of 1GB of downstream traffic per month. ...more

Ntl hits targets and reveals broadband future

Ntl is on track to meet its financial targets, has confirmed it hopes to roll out broadband to 100,000 users and is looking into a 1Mb/sec residential service. The telephony company said today that it expects to meet its goal of ?385m in earnings for 2001. Revenues for October to December were ?65m with a year total of ?229m. ...more

Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo square up for console battle

The battle for market share in the multi-billion dollar video game industry begins again this week with the US launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 on Friday and the debut of Nintendo's Wii on Sunday. A limited supply, delayed debut and drop in the number of games built exclusively for the new PS3 could choke market leader Sony's quest for mainstream hearts and dollars until after the crucial holiday season, a far different scenario from the last console battle when Sony beat key rivals to market. 'It's a significantly more competitive market this time,' said Yankee Group video game analyst Michael Goodman, adding that many parents are not brand loyal and will not let Christmas pass without a console for the gamer on their list. ...more

IBM, Cisco team up to kick start corporate VoIP

IBM, IT supplier to the world's biggest corporations and Cisco, the manufacturers of much of the internet's infrastructure has signed a deal to develop corporate grade VoIP. The companies say that they will introduce new services and products aimed at kick starting the market for corporate VoIP. IBM also says it will be offering its consultation services to support Cisco's voice, video and conferencing products. ...more