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BT in talks to buy Ribbit

July 10, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

BT is in talks to buy Silicon Valley internet-phone software developer Ribbit as it looks to create a one-number web-based communications platform to take on the likes of Google and Skype in the burgeoning online telecoms market.

Ribbit, founded two years ago and based near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, claims to be “Silicon Valley’s first phone company”. It has created software that allows programmers to design applications that tie together mobile phones, fixed-line phones and even social networking sites into a single online communications hub.

Reports in the blogosphere said that BT is spending $55m (£28m) on the company. No actual deal is understood to have yet been signed off, and BT refused to comment today.

Bringing together the information stored on the internet with mobile phones and computers, a trend known as unified communications, has been mooted for many years. But the take-up of broadband and the creation of fast mobile phone networks has made it easier to achieve. Last year Google snapped up another Californian company involved in this area, called GrandCentral, for about $50m.

Ribbit’s technology is open to any software developer to use – a model known as open source – so they can build their own applications. London-based Square Circle, for instance, has created a web-based phone application that looks like a chalkboard. American business communications group Salesforce.com, meanwhile, has a Ribbit-based application that lets a company’s sales people keep track of all their calls and contacts through a single web page and costs $25 per user per month.

Ribbit is also testing a consumer platform called Amphibian, which looks like a social networking site with a phone attached. It allows users to transcribe voicemail messages left on their mobile as text on a web page, meaning they can search for keywords in a message. Calls can be patched through from a mobile to a computer; not only will the caller’s number be displayed but Amphibian can pull up their profile and latest postings from sites such as Flickr, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Because the system is open, calls from other web-based telephony services such as GoogleTalk and Skype can also be accessed.

Google, too, is experimenting with open-source mobile communications with its Android mobile phone operating system, due to start appearing in the first generation of handsets towards the end of the year. Application developers are likely to use the platform to create unified messaging services. Apple, meanwhile, is also letting developers create applications for its iPhone device and a Ribbit service has already been created.

Ribbit has raised about $13m from venture capital firms Alsop-Louie Partners, Allegis Capital and KPG Ventures. It was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Ted Griggs who serves as chief executive, former AT&T product development head Crick Waters and two of Griggs’ colleagues from his previous company, telecoms software group Syndeo Corporation: Peter Leong and Ramani Narayan, Ribbit’s head of marketing, meanwhile, used to be head of marketing at another Californian start-up in the web telephony market called Jajah. He previously worked for Apple.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Flickr, Google, Handsets, Internet, Skype, Social Networking Sites

BT buys into social networking directories with £20m for Ufindus

July 9, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

BT yesterday snapped up the online business directory firm Ufindus for £20m as it prepares to take on Yell.com, Google and other dotcom start-ups in the local information market.

The deal will help BT as it creates an online directory with social networking technology, so that users will not only be able to find businesses and services in their area but will also be able to rate and review them, for subsequent users.

BT has already launched a test version of such a service, called BT Exchanges, and is planning a full launch of the site in the autumn. The Ufindus portfolio will bring the company advertisers and technical expertise. BT used to own the Yellow Pages publisher Yell, but sold it seven years ago to reduce debt.

Ufindus has more than 20,000 small and medium-sized business customers and nearly 2m online directory listings on its three main internet directories: SmileLocal, MoreUK and Ufindus. It also has a host of niche directories for individual trades, such as builderregister.com and bathroomspecialistfinder.com.

“Ufindus will play an important role in the continued development of BT Directories’ online portfolio,” said David Benjamin, head of BT Directories. “Through Ufindus’ considerable expertise and experience in online classified advertising, we access further local classified product offerings, significant search traffic and new customers.”

Ufindus generates more than 9m searches a month and last year made £14m. The company was sold to BT by the AIM-listed Iomart Group. Shares in Iomart closed yesterday up 4p at 49.5p.

The local information market is booming as more people get fast broadband access at home and the new generation of mobile devices such as the iPhone make it easier for people to get web-based information when on the move. Google and Yell are already heavily involved in the online directories market, linking business information with maps and directions.

But the sheer wealth of information available has brought into fashion websites that offer feedback as well as names and contact details. There are already a number of such sites, such as LocalLife.co.uk. TouchLocal.com is a full-scale social networking site that allows users to review everything from pubs to plumbers.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Google, Internet, LAN, Traffic

Ask Jack

July 9, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Moving music

We want to put our existing iPod libraries on to the new PC.
Jane McNicol

JS: Apple’s website provides instructions for moving your music library either via a CD or DVD or using an iPod (support.apple.com/kb/HT1329). However, this requires the use of iTunes 7 on both machines. One alternative is to use iGadget software ($15), which has replaced iPod Agent by the same developer, but there are many others. The main problem is transferring any protected files bought from the iTunes store. According to Apple, you must authorise the new PC by selecting Authorize Computer on the Store menu in iTunes. You can then attach the iPod, go to the File menu, and select Transfer Purchases from iPod (support.apple.com/kb/HT1727). Of course, you can always copy your files onto CD or other storage medium and add them to iTunes on the new PC. However, this will lose the metadata you had in the old library.

TinyURL revisited

What’s the best way to follow up your many TinyURL references?
Tom Garrud

My system – Firefox 3, Zone Alarm Security Suite, Windows XP – will not let me access any TinyURLs.
David Gompertz

JS: TinyURL references work as published if you type them directly into the address bar of your browser or, at worst, stick http:// on the front, eg http://tinyurl.com/owd8n etc. But it’s probably easier to follow the links from the Ask Jack blog, where I use the full address of each link instead of the TinyURL. Some websites and security programs may block TinyURL addresses as they can be used to take people to malware sites. The Zone Alarm Suite now does this via its Spy Site Blocking tab, but this is not part of the free firewall program.

Saving boot time

I can remember having to wait for radio valves to warm up. Why do I have to wait even longer after switching on my Windows XP PC?
Hugh Roberts

JS: When correctly set up by the manufacturer, Windows XP boots in about 30 seconds, resumes from Hibernate in 20 seconds, and resumes from Standby in five seconds. The boot time for a well-used PC is generally more like 60 to 90 seconds, depending on how many applications are being loaded in the background. These will usually include a firewall and antivirus software, but most other preloads are unnecessary. Search for [windows startup manager] and you will find lots of programs that allow you to control which things are loaded. I use AnVir Task Manager Free for this purpose, though Windows Vista has a utility built in. Otherwise, you can go to the Control Panel, click Power Options, and set your PC so that it will hibernate after a specified time. This uses very little power but it will start up quicker.

Data destruction

I’ve bought a replacement for my broken down PC, and would like to dispose of it, but it still has my data on the hard drive.
Barbara Evans

JS: Simply remove the hard drive before disposing of the base unit. If the drive is big enough to be worth the effort, you could mount it in an external drive case and use it as a USB drive with your new machine. If it’s a small drive and you don’t need to rescue any data, you can do enough physical damage to render it inoperable – eg, wrap it in a tea towel and whack it with a hammer. The tea towel is to stop bits flying around, but you should also wear appropriate protective equipment such as goggles.

What’s Kontiki?

I have installed the BBC iPlayer, but every time I activate it, a program called Kontiki pops up.
Denis

JS: When you download TV programmes using iPlayer – as distinct from watching streamed versions online – they are downloaded using Kontiki (kontiki.com). This is a peer-to-peer file sharing program, which is also used by similar services such as Sky by Broadband and Channel 4’s 4oD. Kontiki seems to load and use your bandwidth, even if you are not using iPlayer: use the Windows Task Manager to see if Kservice is running. The BBC has a page that explains how to stop it running on startup and when you are not using iPlayer (tinyurl.com/4h2t26). You can remove it altogether using the kclean.exe program from tinyurl.com/5msknq. However, if you do, any Kontiki-based programs such as iPlayer may not work.

Backchat

Vista user JH Prentice wanted a photo retouching program to replace Microsoft’s Picture It! I suggested the Picnik website and Paint.net. Two readers suggested Picasa (picasa.google.com), which is mainly a photo organiser, while Marcus Fallon proposed XnView (xnview.com), which is mainly a viewer. I’d go for XnView too, if its retouching facilities meet your needs. A great pro solution is Adobe’s Lightroom, if you have £200 to spare.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: File sharing, Gadget, Google, Mac, Microsoft

Eureka! I’ve discovered the Third Law of computing

July 9, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Laws are like London buses, which come along in threes. I’ve therefore suffered a bit of teasing for only having two Laws of Computing. However, I am now thinking about a third law, which will roughly state that “the easier it is for you to access your data, the easier it is for someone else to access your data”. If you can come up with a snappy or even witty formulation, I’d be grateful. I’m obviously not Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler or Isaac Asimov, and I’m not proud.

My laws are nothing like real laws in the scientific sense. They are simply intended to help people think about the possible consequences of their actions. We all like computer geegaws, and can be sucked in by their shiny-shiny aspect. But as every teenager soon discovers, short-term attractions can have regrettable long-term effects.

And over the long term, data is the only thing that matters. In 50 years, you won’t care which computer hardware or software you used, and whether it had fashionably rounded corners. But you will care if you can’t read your old notes and diaries, play your favourite songs, or access old family photos. Data is forever.

With that in mind, Schofield’s First Law of Computing says: never put data into a program unless you can see exactly how to get it out.

This law was born in the early 1980s when I edited a monthly magazine called Practical Computing. We used a lot of incompatible machines with different storage formats including cassette tape, 5.25in and 8in floppies, 3in and 3.5in “stiffies” and Sinclair Microdrives. We used even more incompatible word processors and other software. All of this stuff was doomed, but what isn’t?

Schofield’s Second Law of Computing says that data doesn’t really exist unless you have at least two copies of it.

This one was born when we got hard drives that were so big that we didn’t back them up. When files were on floppies, you knew you needed a spare. When you could back up a 40MB or 80MB hard drive to a 700MB CD-Rom, backups were a doddle. If you had to back up an 80GB hard drive with a 700MB CD-Rom, it was easier not to bother.

But could you remember which files you had backed up, which you’d deleted to make space, and which had simply gone missing? Of course not. You only found out what you had when the hard drive failed, as all of them do, eventually.

When I figure it out, Schofield’s Third Law of Computing will reflect life in the 2000s. Over the past 50 years, you knew where your data was: it didn’t move around. Now you may have data on PC hard drives, laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players and online. This is good, from the point of view of my first two laws, but there’s a downside. While it has become much easier for us to access our data, it has also become much easier for other people to access it.

Any data that’s online is vulnerable either through mistakes, hacking, social engineering or other causes. Maybe you got the permissions wrong, maybe it was cross-site scripting, maybe it was that library or cybercafe you visited, or you used the same weak password everywhere. Any data on a mobile device is vulnerable to loss or theft, and that includes external hard drives and Flash memory cards.

Data loss has obviously become a major problem for UK government and major corporations. Protecting data could soon become your problem, too.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Mac, MP3, Mp3 Players

Frenzied demand for Apple’s new 3G iPhone

July 7, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Demand for the new 3G version of the iPhone has outstripped supply, and O2, Apple’s exclusive UK mobile phone partner, says it has run out of stock for customers wanting to pre-order the device before it goes on general release on Friday.

The new phone was made available for pre-order on the O2 website at 8am this morning. The site crashed within the first hour due to the volume of traffic, and by this afternoon O2 said it had run out of pre-order stock.

Carphone Warehouse, the only independent retailer in the UK to stock the phone, says it still has stocks available to new O2 customers who wish to pre-order it. Existing customers wanting to upgrade an O2 handset to a new iPhone will have to wait until Friday.

Some of O2’s rivals are speculating that the company limited supply in order to add to the hype of Friday’s launch.

The company used similar tactics for the arrival of high-profile music acts such as Prince, who performed at London’s O2 arena. In the past, the venue has released tickets on a show-by-show basis, even when an artist had signed up for many nights.

However O2 maintains that half the phones it ordered were made available for pre-order customers. It has given no details of how many phones it expects to stock in total.

It claims more than 200,000 people registered an interest in the 3G iPhone; 35,000 people registered interest in the previous version of the phone before it went on sale.

Carphone Warehouse reckons interest in the new phone is 10 times greater than it was for the original version, launched last November.

The 8GB version of the new phone – which can store about 2,000 songs – is free for customers willing to sign up for a year and a half at £45 per month, while the larger capacity 16GB phone is free for anyone on a £75-per-month deal.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Traffic

Ask Jack

July 2, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

SD or xD?

Looking at digital SLR cameras, most appear to use xD cards. I already use SD cards. What is the difference?
Maurice

JS: The SD (Secure Digital) card standard was developed by Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba to provide a small protected storage format for devices such as PDAs, MP3 players and mobile phones. There are now miniSD and microSD versions, plus SDHC cards.

The SDHC cards look the same but are generally incompatible with older devices that lack SDHC support, so this is the main point to watch. Digital SLRs that use SD cards are available from Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Panasonic and Samsung.

The xD (extreme Digital) storage format is similar, but was introduced later by Olympus and Fujifilm. This now has variants called Type M and Type H, so again, watch out for compatibility problems. Since xD is less popular that SD, prices are usually higher and cards will fit fewer devices. Frankly, I can’t see any reason for choosing xD rather than SD or CompactFlash – an older but very reliable format that uses a much bigger card – and I avoid the numerous Sony Memory Stick cards for the same reasons. If you have multiple devices, then it should be cheaper and more convenient to stick to a couple of popular formats, instead of having a different type of card in each device.

OE? Oui!

I like Outlook Express but cannot use spellcheck with my new laptop because it has only French spelling.
GP Ray

JS: Funnily enough, this is a common complaint, because Microsoft Office 2007 installs English, Spanish and German files that are incompatible with Outlook Express 6. This is a problem because OE does not actually have a spellchecker: it borrows one from Microsoft Office or Microsoft Works. Microsoft’s Help Centre article offers a solution. It says: “There are a variety of third-party free spell-checking programs available on the Internet”. One popular option is Vampirefo’s Spell Checker For OE, which is also available from SnapFiles. You could also use the inline spellchecker in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7 with IE7Pro. If you really want to try to fix the problem, however, Tech-Pro.net has an article on How To: Fix spell checking in Outlook Express 6.

Replacing Picture It

For several years I have been very satisfied with Microsoft’s Picture It! program. However, having changed my computer, it is no longer available.
JH Prentice

JS: Microsoft’s Picture It! was included in the Microsoft Works suite and subsumed into the Microsoft Digital Image Suite. Microsoft discontinued it after adding most of the features to Windows Vista. However, your old CD could work: according to web reports, Picture It! 9 and 10 will work in Vista if you run it in XP compatibility mode and check the box “As Administrator”. Sadly, the very easy photo retouching features were not added to Vista, and I don’t know of any other program that takes the same non-geeky approach. The closest may be an online Flash-based picture editor, Picnik. Otherwise, Paint.net is a good free picture editor for Windows, though it’s in the traditional mould.

NetSnake corralled

One of my three anti-spyware programmes keeps reporting a Trojan backdoor in the internat.exe Windows file. This has a large query as its icon, and properties describes it as a Keyboard Language Indicator Applet. If I let the program remove it, or if I delete it myself, then it promptly reappears.
Richard Parish

JS: Try running a search for internat.exe, the name of the software that detects it and “false alarm”, because that’s what it probably is. There are at least two versions of internat.exe, one of which puts a small blue square in the SysTray to let you change languages. Most UK users don’t need this feature and don’t run it. This has a question mark icon and is about 20K. The Trojan version is about four times larger and has a zip file icon. If it also says “Hello. I’m NetSnake” on startup, then it’s definitely a virus. For more information, see Symantec’s write-up.

Backchat

· Bill Taylor has come up with “a very simple typo that causes a Word document to be closed without saving” – which was Stafford Linsley’s problem. It’s “Ctrl+W – an unadvertised keyboard shortcut for Close”. He says he learned the hard way by typing “When” and hitting Ctrl instead of the shift key. I’ve previously recommended Ctrl-W as a quick way of closing unwanted popups and browser windows.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Internet, LAN, Microsoft, MP3, Mp3 Players, Samsung, Shopping, Sony

Netbytes: ‘How to’ videos on VideoJug

June 30, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Can you fold a T-shirt in two seconds, or get out of a car without showing your knickers? Do you know how to “air kiss” or eat sushi or flirt using sign language? How about undoing a bra with one hand? Thousands of these essential life skills are not taught in schools, but there’s a great place where you can see them demonstrated in living colour. And no, it’s not YouTube, it’s VideoJug. This isn’t just a collection of random videos, it’s an encyclopedia of “life explained, on film”.

Of course, YouTube does have instructional videos, but anyone can upload a spoof video to YouTube, so there’s no guarantee that the information is reliable. By contrast, almost all VidoJug’s clips are made by and for the site, and they have been researched and filmed by experts.

VideoJug was founded in 2006 by David Tabizel as a sort of “wisdom project”. It started after he got a flat tyre and couldn’t find a good online explanation of how to fix it. As Tabizel wrote on his Founders Blog, he also recognised that “the wisdom of the older generations is often discarded, and so is lost forever when they die. This is such a waste”. Finding and filming this practical experience would therefore be useful.

Although VideoJug is not based on “user generated content”, it does involve users. People can rate, comment on and share videos, and they can suggest ideas. There’s also a section called Made By You, which offers monthly cash prizes for the most viewed user videos each month. Examples include: how to fold a dollar bill into a T-shirt, how to make coffee cake, and how to apply pink and green eye shadow.

The sheer volume and popularity of cooking, make-up and hair care clips suggests the site has a very strong following among female web users. But it also has plenty of geek tips.

The idea of a “wisdom project” might make VideoJug sound a bit patronising, but it isn’t. It’s very down to earth, and often takes a humorous approach. The Love & Sex section can be funny, which makes videos less threatening and probably reduces the likelihood that people will take offence. You can watch the flirting, dating and sex clips for fun, without admitting you have flirting, dating or sex problems.

A few clips – How To Photograph A Nude Woman, How To Striptease etc – are probably not watched for wholly instructional reasons, but they’re not salacious.

VideoJug is divided into categories, starting with Food & Drink, Love & Sex, Beauty & Style, Sports & Fitness, and Health, which I assume is an indication of popularity. There’s also a search box if you are looking for something specific, and it clusters results by area. If you are just browsing, there are lists of the Most Viewed, Hot Now, and Newest clips.

What it lacks is a video called something like “How to stop saying ”Just One More’ and finish your damned article”.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: LAN

Vodafone close to Ghana deal

June 27, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Vodafone is understood to be close to buying a majority stake in Ghana’s leading telecoms company for just under $1bn (£480m) as the world’s largest mobile phone company continues to hunt for growth in emerging markets.

Vodafone has been in talks with the Ghanaian government about the privatisation of Ghana Telecom for several months and it was recently reported that the company is the only outside investor left in the process. An announcement that it is buying a 66.7% stake for $960m is expected by the middle of next week. Vodafone last night refused to comment.

Last week communications minister Benjamin Aggrey Ntim told the Ghanaian parliament that the government’s stake will be floated on the local stockmarket.

Last year France Télécom was rumoured to have secured a 51% stake in Ghana Telecom. The government, however, pulled out of that deal at the last minute because it believed the price being offered – rumoured to have been about $500m – was too low.

Filed Under: News

News sites should invest in journalism, says Lords report

June 26, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

The boom in online news sites does not mean the UK should relax its media ownership laws, according to an influential House of Lords report. It is even more important that the regulator, Ofcom, and the government should protect and promote quality journalism, it says.

The Lords communications committee warns that the race to pursue advertising cash on the internet is damaging “news gathering”, with media companies desperate to cut costs and placing ever greater reliance on news agencies and public relations handouts.

Lord Fowler, the committee chairman and a former Tory minister, added that the BBC had a vital role in maintaining the quality of news and should focus less on giving “talent” such as the TV presenter Jonathan Ross multimillion-pound contracts and more on journalism.

The report, for which the 13-person committee questioned more than 100 witnesses from the newspaper, TV and radio industries, is a rebuke to media executives such as Rupert Murdoch, who believe the advent of online news should herald the relaxation of ownership laws. Murdoch himself told the committee that the UK’s laws were “10 years out of date”.

But the report states that “much of the news available on the internet and on the new television channels is not new. It is repackaged from elsewhere”, making it as important as ever to scrutinise how the media is controlled.

Fowler also added that “with the expansion of the internet, what has not happened is … a similar expansion of news gathering and journalists being employed to get the news”. He believes the internet has reduced the amount of quality journalism available. “In almost every newspaper and TV company, costs are being cut, journalists are being cut, news services are being cut,” he said. “It is having a big impact.”

He noted that despite all the buzz about online media, most people still said their primary news source was TV and newspapers. As a result, there was still a danger that allowing media companies to merge would give one company or individual too much influence, he said.

Among the 30 recommendations made in the 143-page report, the committee wants to strengthen Ofcom’s powers and allow it to launch its own investigations into media mergers, instead of having to wait for a government minister to say a deal may raise public interest concerns.

“There is no reason why Ofcom should not be able to initiate the public interest test and that gives a further safeguard that nothing will get through on the basis of political loyalties or considerations,” said Fowler.

The committee also wants to change the way that deals are scrutinised, with the Competition Commission focusing purely on the competition issues of a deal and Ofcom looking at its effect on the public interest. This distinction would prevent the confusion that occurred last year when both the commission and Ofcom examined the threat of BSkyB’s 17.9% stake in ITV to the “plurality” of media ownership and came to completely different conclusions.

The public interest test, meanwhile, should be widened to include a new focus on the impact of any deal on the overall market for news gathering in the UK.

The Lords also want mergers or takeovers to be scrutinised on a case-by-case basis, so deals that would not fall under the current rules, such as an online company like AOL or Google buying a newspaper, could be investigated. The committee also calls on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to look at ways of getting online news aggregators such as Google News to invest in news gathering.

The report comes as Ofcom carries out a review of public-service broadcasting ahead of the switch-off of the analogue TV signal in 2012. That debate has been skewed by revelations that the BBC is using licence fee money to meet the multi-million-pound demands of its top stars. Jonathan Ross, for instance, is widely reputed to have sealed an £18m deal.

Fowler said the BBC should focus more of its energies on news: “One of the first, probably the first, priority of a public-service broadcaster is to provide a good range of news and authoritative news, and people like Jonathan Ross are a luxury after that, if you can afford them.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Google, Internet

Thus contract loss lifts C&W’s takeover hopes

June 25, 2008 By I T Leave a Comment

Cable & Wireless received a boost in its bid to persuade Thus to come to the table and start takeover talks, with news yesterday that its Glasgow-based rival has lost a flagship deal with BSkyB.

The loss of the multimillion-pound contract to BT comes ahead of C&W’s self-imposed deadline of Monday, by which time, it has said, it will make a formal offer for Thus or walk away, having seen its initial, tentative approach rebuffed in May.

BT’s three-year contract to provide Sky customers with home phone services is worth between £200m and £300m in revenue, but Thus stressed yesterday it had not expected to retain the deal and that its loss “will have minimal impact” on profits and cashflow. Coming just days before the C&W decision, however, news that Thus has lost such a high-profile long-term client is a blow to the reputation of the company and chief executive, Bill Allan.

C&W approached Thus in May with an offer of 165p a share, valuing it at £300m. The board said this undervalued it. Since then, however, several Thus shareholders are understood to have approached C&W to say they would like a cash return on their investment in the business, which in nine years as a public company has never made a profit or paid a dividend.

C&W’s initial approach has been seen by many in the City as a low-ball bid. An indication of an offer at 175p to 185p would likely force the Thus board to the table. At those sorts of levels, Thus would be valued at between £320m and £340m.

Philip Rogerson, Thus chairman, has been in no rush to enter talks because of a letter he received from his opposite number at C&W, Richard Lapthorne. In the June 4 letter, Lapthorne said he was willing to seek agreement with the Thus board within a “narrow price band”. The board of Thus has taken this to mean C&W is unwilling to significantly raise its offer.

C&W is reviewing its options ahead of Monday’s deadline but advisers say it has no appetite to go hostile and take an offer direct to shareholders. A protracted takeover battle would distract management from the main focus of working on a possible demerger of C&W’s international assets from the rest of the business.

Instead, C&W remains hopeful that Thus shareholders will pressurise its management team to the table – the loss of the Sky deal may provide further impetus.

Under its deal, BT will provide Sky with a wholesale voice service for its 1.1 million Sky Talk customers. Sky’s customers will move to the BT platform over the next few months.

Delia Bushell, Sky’s director of broadband and telephony, said: “In the last year alone, over 740,000 new customers have joined Sky Talk for great value calls. This deal with BT will maintain our quality of service and ensure we enjoy increasing cost efficiencies as we continue to grow the service.”

Brian Fitzpatrick, managing director of BT wholesale markets, said: “In the highly competitive communications industry, providers are looking for ways to improve cost efficiencies. Our announcement with Sky is further evidence that BT Wholesale is the ideal partner to realise value as quickly as possible.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Bush, LAN, Phone Service, Stress
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