Telewest abandons ADSL plans

Cable company Telewest yesterday announced that it was withdrawing from the local loop unbundling process and will not be providing ADSL services. The company claims that the process, in which they put their equipment into BT local exchanges, would be too costly and it was not prepared to invest the millions of pounds it would take to roll out the service. Analysts have projected that it would take ?800 million from Telewest to provide an ADSL service, a price the company was not prepared to pay. ...more

New York Senator urges boycott of video game

A US senator has proposed a boycott of a new video game ahead of its launch this summer. The move is guaranteed to make the game, '25 to Life', a best seller and likely to revive the fortunes of its publisher Eidos, which has struggled to find another hit franchise after the Tomb Raider series. In the game, reports Reuters, the player can choose either to play the role of the gangster or the police and it is the former which has raised the hackles of Democrat Senator, Charles Schumer from New York. ...more

PlusNet offers broadband guarantee

PlusNet is offering anyone who signs up for its broadband services the option of switching to another ISP if they are not happy. Under the terms of the PlusNet Guarantee, the ISP will pay any migration fee charged by another service provider if, after 45 days, a new customer 'is not completely satisfied'. 'The PlusNet Guarantee is a firm statement of the confidence that we have in our service, said Marco Potesta, PlusNet's marketing director. ...more

NTT DoCoMo pulls investment out of UK 3G service

NTT DoCoMo is to offload its 20 per cent share in Hutchison 3G UK, the network operator of 3 which is the UK's first third-generation mobile network. DoCoMo will receive ?120mn for its shares over three installments until December 2006. The sum will be paid in either cash or shares in another Hutchison Whampoa subsidiary if that is publicly listed in time. ...more

Acer maps GPS to its PDA range

Acer has beefed up its PDA range with new GPS devices. The n35 'Enhanced Navigator' boasts a 12-channel GPS receiver and pre-activated software - meaning you don't have to hook it up to the Internet to get access to the maps of the country in which it is sold. The PDA runs Microsoft Windows Mobile Premium Edition, has 32MB of flash memory for the OS and embedded apps, a further 64MB of SDRAM for storage and other programs and a 256MB SD card on which is stored the navigation software and maps. ...more