Broadband for every man, woman and child

The Government is hoping to bring fast broadband connections into the home of every child in the UK in an effort to improve their education, it has been announced.

Schools minister Jim Knight is quoted in the Guardian saying that as a tool for education and research, the internet is “hugely powerful” and said that “you need to make that universal otherwise you just advantage those who can afford it… we know from the research evidence the difference that information technology can make.”. According to figures, more than 1 million UK children don’t have access to a computer at home.

Under new laws, parents may be required to provide broadband so that children from poorer families do not miss out on the opportunities offered by the internet – it is understood that in order to facilitate this, families will be able to apply for discounts on IT products and broadband services.

This is something of an about-face for the government; the wonderfully named Ed Balls – secretary of state for children, schools and families Jim Knight’s boss – in November blamed the slump in child literacy in the UK on computers and games.

There are now more than 10 million broadband connections in the UK according to the Ofcom website.

360 HD Vision

BT and Xbox manufacturers Microsoft have just announced a deal that will allow BT Broadband customers who sign up to the BT Vision service to watch and access on-demand digital TV in another room through an Xbox 360 console.

This new venture will allow BT Vision customers with an Xbox 360 to effectively turn their games machine into an all purpose home entertainment station – combining digital TV with BT Vision through the V-Box, with the online social networking/shopping aspect of Xbox Live.

In addition to this, BT have announced that mobile phones giant Motorola have been given the go-ahead to manufacture the new range of HD-Ready V-Box receivers that will allow Xbox gamers to download new titles from the Xbox Live marketplace in HD.

Dan Marks, CEO of BT Vision was confident that the partnership with Microsoft will go some way in helping the BT Vision brand name expand: “Our aim is to provide BT Vision on multiple platforms – giving customers greater convenience, control and flexibility over what they watch, when they watch and how they watch TV. It also means that we are able to potentially expand our BT Vision customer base by tapping into the popularity of Xbox 360.”

Motorola have been chosen to manufacture the second generation V-Box for both their already established working relationship with Microsoft and their “extensive experience in IPTV”. Mr Marks also added that the partnership “underpins our medium-term goal of securing two-three million customers for BT Vision.”

If we can take ‘medium-term’ to mean the period between 2009 (when the new V-Boxes become available) and 2012 (when the digital switchover will be complete) then this means that BT are aiming to beat or at least equal the goal of 2 million IPTV customers by 2012 set by fourth-place rivals Tiscali.

Tiscali: Four play? Toucan play at that game

Not content with snapping up Pipex, ploughing ahead with LLU, and IPTV rollout, Tiscali are all set to ascend follow in the footsteps of Virgin Media, by becoming a ‘quad play’ provider, by using the mobile network previously ran by ISP Toucan, who Tiscali quietly acquired in the summer.

ToucanMobile, which currently piggybacks on T-Mobile’s network and has 7,000 customers, will be rebranded under the Tiscali name; proposed launch of the four-play platform is said to be somewhen in the last quarter of 2008. Mary Turner, Tiscali chief executive, said to The Telegraph: “The assessment is not if, it is who and when. The business case has already been approved by the board.”

This development will Tiscali in direct competition with Virgin and eventually Orange, when they get their IPTV service sorted, on all four fronts. Bundle providers such as BT and Sky who offer fixed line calls and digital TV services along with their broadband should also be worried – Tiscali have begun the new year with renewed optimism, a desire to win customers and shake up the broadband league table.

Ex-Virgin takes up the reins at Orange

Tom Alexander, the chap who co-founded Virgin Mobile along with Sir Richard Branson and went on to become a key figure in the development of Virgin Media, has taken over as head of Orange’s UK mobile and broadband operations. Orange hope that Mr Alexander, with his considerable “experience [in] leading some of the biggest brands in the industry” will help see the firm return to the glory days of Hans Snook, who lead the network operator into a period of prosperity.

Orange currently enjoys a comfortable third position in the mobile phones market in terms of subscription numbers, and a slightly-less comfortable fifth position in the ISP league table. Orange’s launch of its digital TV service has stalled, something that Mr Alexander will want to get back on track if he wants to improve the lot of his new charge.

Mobile and broadband rivals O2 are keen on getting an IPTV platform up and running, hoping to replicate the success of their Czech venture, Tiscali are ambitiously aiming to add 200,000 broadband plus digital TV customers in the next few years, and customers are slowly but surely warming to BT Vision. Of course, Sky‘s See Speak Surf package has been phenomenally successful throughout 2007, and the arrival of Virgin Media’s Quadplay offering profoundly altered the ISP landscape.

Tom Alexander’s move mirrors the departure from Virgin Media of Steve Burch earlier in the year; Neil Berkett has taken over the reins, and has placed broadband services at the top of the list of Virgin’s priorities.

Sky told to offload majority of ITV stake

The Competition Commission has insisted that Sky should reduce the size of its stake in ITV to something around the size of 7.5 per cent, down from its existing 17.9 – a stake that size could potentially limit competition in a market in which Sky already enjoys quite a comfortable position.

The satcaster and comms provider bought 17.9 per cent of ITV earlier this year, in what was widely regarded as a preemptive strike to block a takeover by the cable group Virgin Media.

The Commission enquiry, launched in May last year will undoubtedly have a bearing on the ultimate decision taken by the secretary of state for business John Hutton, who is set to make an announcement on the 29th of January.

At the moment, this means bad news for Sky, who stand to lose over £200million if forced to make a loss-making sell. The media group are thought to challenge the ruling or seek compensation for any loss as a result of the sale.