Vodafone has struck a deal with BT to offer broadband by the end of this year. The deal will allow Vodafone to “bundle” broadband and mobile products together. Vodafone is entering a very tough market, with three major players, Carphone Warehouse, Orange and Sky, offering free broadband. Although there is no doubt that Vodaone has the muscle to make it.
Pipex has purchased two businesses, Toucan and Bulldog, increasing its customer base by 1.14 million.
Toucan has been bought from American firm IDT for £24 million. Toucan has 185,000 broadband, home phone and mobile customers.
Pipex has bought Bulldog from Cable and Wireless for £12 million. Bulldog has around 100,000 broadband customers.
This move will allow Pipex to offer “triple play” products. Triple play is the term used to refer to a provider that can offer broadband, mobile and home phone products (or broadband, digital TV and home phone products). Triple play is becoming an essential strategy for telecoms companies to survive in an ultra competitive market.
BT has launched a new service called BT Movio that will allow customers to view TV programmes in real time on a mobile phone. BBC One, ITV 1 and E4 will be available live, without some movies. A streamlined version of Channel 4 will also be available.
The first mobile network to offer the BT Movio service will be Virgin Mobile and it will be available from October 1st. The service will be available on a new phone called the Virgin Mobile Loster 700TV. Virgin customers on a tariff of more that £25 will get the service and the new Loster 700TV for free. Other customers can buy the phone for £199 and the service costs £5 per month, with the first 3 months free.
China is on the verge of becoming the biggest broadband country in the world according to consulting firm Ovum. The current leader is the USA, with 51 million subscribers. Broadband connections in China are increasing at a massive 79% per year and are expected to reach 79 million by 2007.
“We believe that China’s broadband development will continue to benefit from a booming economy, growing incomes, expanding PC penetration and new applications such as VoIP and IPTV. The Olympics will provide another boost,” said Kevin Lee, senior analyst at Ovum’s Hong Kong office.
DSL (Digital Line Subscriber) will be main platform, unlike the US where most broadband connections are cable. This is similar to the UK, where all broadband providers apart from Telewest and NTL use a DSL line.
China’s continuing economic growth and relative prosperity are helping drive the population to broadband.
Voice over Internet provider Vonage has purchased Freetalk. Freetalk was set up be Dixons Store Group (DSG) less than one year ago. Vonage is a market leader in Voice over Internet and, along with Skype, is the most well known brand.
Existing Freetalk customer must transfer to Vonage before Sept 16th by calling 0808 178 3403.
Sky is now half price for the first 3 months across all of its digital TV product range. You will also receive a £10 credit for signing up online.
Once you are a Sky digital customer, you can apply for free Sky broadband.
Offer ends September 30th.