Broadband Deals
Monthly Archives: April 2009
BSkyB In New Customer Growth Despite Recession
BSkyB has added 80,000 new TV customers in the three months to the end of March, despite the recession.
The success of Sky+HD together with Sky’s breadth of content and value pricing were intrumental in the company acquiring new customers.
The figures also easily beat analysts forecasts of 50,000 to 60,000 new customers in the first quarter of the year.
Sky is now connected in 9.3 million UK homes, with 15% of households taking Sky TV, Sky Broadband and Sky Talk.
Despite the great news for the company, evidence shows that its growth of broadband customers slowed. Around 229,000 customers took Sky Broadband in Q1 2008, compared to only around 130,000 in Q1 2009 – leaving Sky with just over 2 million broadband customers.
There has been speculation that BSkyB were going to acquire its rival Tiscali. However, talks broke down earlier in the year and Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Chief Executive, commented in a conference call, “We don’t sit here feeling a need to make any acquisitions. If opportunities come up that we feel would accelerate our pathway, we would consider them.”
In a statement he also said: “We have made a strong start to calendar 2009. In difficult times customers are making careful choices and responding to the combination of quality and value that we offer. Looking ahead… we expect conditions to remain challenging.”
Broadband Investment Could Help Save UK Economy
A report published by the London School of Economics has shown that an investment in broadband networks could help save the UK economy.
The report, part funded by IBM, highlighted that if £15 billion was to be invested into intelligent transport systems, broadband networks and a smart power grid, it could create more than 700,000 UK jobs.
Breaking it down to just the broadband sector, a £5 billion investment into the UK’s broadband networks could create more than 280,000 UK jobs. This means that Chancellor Alistair Darling promise in his budget to give £10 billion to the communication sector could result in the creation of around 560,000 UK jobs.
The London School of Economics also advised the Government to spend more on getting broadband connected to rural areas. Jonathan Liebenau, an LSE reader in Technology Management, said, “Our report shows that in this severe economic climate the right investment in ICT infrastructure would have a significant effect in creating jobs now and in stimulating productivity and innovation for the future.”
The report comes as millions of people are left out of work due to the UK’s worst recession since the war.
The report goes on to say, “Spurring investment in the UK’s infrastructure is an effective, immediate strategy to compensate for the downturn. However, while investments to improve the country’s traditional physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewer systems, are necessary and important, investments in certain parts of the UK’s information and communication technology resources, or digital infrastructures, will have a greater positive impact on jobs, while at the same time laying the groundwork for sustained productivity and innovation.”
BT Offers UK’s Cheapest Home & Mobile Broadband
BT has today launched the UK’s cheapest home and mobile broadband offer with prices starting from just £7.78 a month.
The offer is available online only at www.bt.com to new BT Total Broadband customers signing up to either BT Total Broadband Option 1, 2 or 3 on an 18 month contract.
BT’s cheap home & mobile broadband bundle provides up to 8Mb wireless broadband speeds at home together with up to 7.2Mb mobile broadband speeds when away from the home using the BT dongle and a laptop.
BT customers will simply need to plug the supplied BT dongle into their laptop and they will be enjoy mobile broadband access over either the HSDPA or 3G network in a matter of minutes – with the service covering 80% of the UK.
A 1GB monthly data allowance is provided with BT Mobile Broadband, which means users can send 300 e-mails, surf the web for 400 minutes, download one film, 48 photos, and 144 songs. Customers who need more than 1GB of data a month can easily top up their usage by paying an additional £10 for 1GB.
John Petter, Managing Director of BT’s Consumer Division, said: “This is an absolutely fantastic deal, the most complete home and mobile broadband for only 56p a day is a no-brainer. Now you can use broadband wherever you are without worrying about the cost.”
John continues, “You can use mobile broadband on the train, in the coffee shop or in the park for all the things you go online for, to look at your e-mails, check the football results, or watch Britain’s Got Talent star, Susan Boyle on YouTube.”
BT’s £7.78 per month price point for BT home and mobile broadband option 1 applies for the first 3 months, followed by £15.65 a month thereafer. A one off charge of £49.99 also applies for the BT Mobile Broadband dongle.
Total costs, excluding telephone line rental, over 18 months is £308.18, with same deal from Orange and Virgin Media costing £528.48 and £435 respectively – which means BT customers save at least £125.
BT Broadband customers now have access to the UK’s most complete broadband solution in and out of the home. There’s BT Home Broadband using the BT home hub, BT Mobile Broadband using the BT dongle and free BT Wi-Fi minutes at BT Openzone hotspots across the UK, including Starbucks coffee houses. There’s also access to 400,000 BT FON Wi-Fi hotspots around the world.
BT Mobile Broadband can also be purchased on its own, with the 1GB prepay USB modem dongle costing a one off £129.99. An 18 month contract applies with users getting 1GB of data usage a month.
Readers can go to the BT.com website for more information, or to our BT Broadband review.
Virgin Media To Set Up Free Broadband Schools
Virgin Media plans to set up free broadband schools across the UK to help educate the British public on broadband, internet and technology jargon.
The move follows a 3,000 strong survey by Virgin Media which revealed that a shocking 18% of Britons don’t actually understand what the term “broadband” means. When asked to describe what it meant, those 18% struggled to give an explanation.
Further to that, 40% of people didn’t understand what ADSL broadband was. Blu-Ray is also misunderstood with 7% of people assuming that it is a type of internet access.
These survey results show that whilst Britain is advancing in the broadband sector, many people still don’t fully understand how it all works. Nearly half of the consumers who were surveyed didn’t understand how broadband speeds were measured. Perhaps most shockingly was that 40% of web users didn’t understand what a web browser was.
The Executive Director of Virgin Media, Jon James, said, “It’s great to see that Brits have a thirst for getting online, but there is still scope to improve their broadband experience.”
It’s reported that Virgin will set up the free broadband schools in ten different areas across the UK. As of yet the way in which the schools will work is not fully understood. However, there are plans for a drop in service where members of the public can simply drop in and ask questions.
The founder of Virgin, Sir Richard Branson, explained more about the decision to create the free broadband schools. He said, “At Virgin Media, we want everyone to feel comfortable asking questions, no matter how silly they think they are, so that they can get the most out of their internet service and enjoy everything the internet has to offer.”
The Virgin Media free broadband schools will be launched in the areas which have shown to be the least knowledgeable in the survey. No launch dates have yet been given.
TalkTalk Offer 3 Months Free Broadband & Phone
Carphone Warehouse owned TalkTalk have today launched a web exclusive 3 months free broadband and phone offer.
Available to order online at www.TalkTalk.co.uk until 6pm on Friday the 30th April, the offer also includes free connection, meaning new customers or those switching can save nearly £50 in total.
The 3 months free broadband and phone offer is for TalkTalk’s Essential package which includes up to 8Mb broadband and unlimited phone calls to UK landlines in the evenings and at weekends.
Local daytime calls from the 1st May are also free, while the broadband includes a free wireless router, 40Gb monthly download allowance and free technical support when using a TalkTalk phone line.
To receive this offer, customers will need to switch their phone line rental to TalkTalk. A line rental fee of £11.25 per month will apply and will be the only charge during the first 3 months, followed by £17.74 thereafter.
Readers interested in switching to TalkTalk and taking this offer are advised to visit the TalkTalk.co.uk website for more information.
There’s also a useful review of TalkTalk Broadband and phone packages here.
Government Urged To Go For 100Mb FTTH Broadband
The government has been urged by the i3 Group to commit to a 100Mbps fibre optic broadband to home network connection.
Since the Digital Britain Report was introduced back in January, the UK’s broadband speeds have been widely debated. With countries such as Japan already benefiting from speeds of around 100Mbps, it is feared that the UK will be left behind if it does not do something now to catch up.
The CEO of the i3 Group, Elfed Thomas, explained, “We are on the verge of a communications revolution in this country and the deployment of an infrastructure that will serve this nation for generations to come.”
Elfed continued, “For anyone to suggest that we let this opportunity pass with an “anything will do” attitude is scandulous. To say the public does not want 100Mbps is a smokescreen for the admission that BT is incapable of super fast broadband due to the limitations of its antiquated copper network.”
FTTH broadband is currently being installed by the i3 Group’s subsidiary “Fibrecity” in Bournemouth. There are 10 cities that are going to benefit from the network by 2010, but i3 says that there is no reason why other areas cannot also benefit.
Elfed also went on to explain that FTTH broadband can also be cost effective. He said, “Such low aspiration is an insult to UK plc, especially when we have a proven business model for fibre optic deployment which is already paying dividends for our customers and investors. With presence in Bournemouth and roll out starting in Dundee and South Ayrshire, we’re not simply chasing revenue by targeting the big cities like Manchester, Birmingham and London, as we want to see an inclusive, national rollout.”
Overall FTTH broadband definitely seems to be a potential answer when it comes to the cost effective implementation of a high speed broadband service. Japan uses an FTTH system and that is why it is currently the leading country in the world for broadband speeds.
