BT talks up broadband achievements

BT has called for reduced regulation of the UK broadband market in its submission to the Trade and Industry Select Committee's broadband enquiry that starts today. The company's evidence to the committee focuses on the state of the UK broadband market when compared with those in the other major European and North American economies. In some areas BT has certainly outperformed the telecoms giants elsewhere. ...more

Microsoft facing ?330 million fine, EU sources indicate

Microsoft is to be fined 497 million euros (?330 million) by the EU for abusing its monopolistic position. According to sources quoted by Reuters, the figure, the highest ever imposed by Europe, has been backed by all 15 member states. The fine dwarfs the 462 million euros which was imposed on Hoffman-La Roche in 2001 for overcharging on vitamins and is said to reflect not only Microsoft's business in Europe but its behaviour world wide. ...more

Douglas Adams dies at 49

The sad news from the weekend is that author Douglas Adams died of a heart attack on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara. Famous for his Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books, which were spawned from a radio show and were later turned into a TV series and computer game, Douglas Adams was also famous for his championing of the Apple Macintosh brand of computers, owning the very first computers to be imported into the country. A new computer game version of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide is currently being developed by Pan Interactive and will be previewed at this week's E3 show in Los Angeles, with a release scheduled for the first quarter of 2002. ...more

Google UK to beat Channel 4 ad revenues this year

Google will make more advertising revenue in the UK this year than Channel 4, the publicly-owned broadcaster's chief executive said on Wednesday, as he warned the TV industry had underestimated the threat of the Internet. In an interview with Reuters, Andy Duncan said some traditional broadcasters had been slow to recognise the challenge posed by the Internet and multichannel TV, which cut into the audience and ad revenues of terrestrial broadcasters. '(This) reinforces that significant structural change has been going on and will continue to go on,' Duncan said in reference to the UK advertising market. ...more

Small businesses plug into e-commerce

Small and medium size businesses are just beginning taking advantage of the massive growth in e-commerce, according to the Office of National Statistics. Its latest figures for 2004 show that the value of sales over the Internet have almost doubled, rising 81 per cent to ?71.1bn over the previous year. ...more