The United Nations has set “ambitious” new targets for broadband uptake around the world.
It calls on all countries to put in place broadband strategies by 2015.
By that time it wants to see 60% of people in the developed world online, with a slightly lower target of 50% for people living in the developing countries.
It also wants net access to be made available to 40% of households in the developing world by 2015.
It emphasised that broadband services must be “affordable” – amounting to less than 5% of average monthly incomes.
The four …

BT and TalkTalk will launch a fresh challenge against the controversial Digital Economy Act.
The companies have been granted permission to appeal against a High Court ruling that upheld most of the anti-piracy law.
Like many service providers, they believe that the law unfairly compels them to police users’ behaviour.
The government has said it wants to protect the creative industries such as music and film making.
The Digital Economy Act had been subject to an ongoing legal challenge since it was passed during the wash up period before the last general election.
Creative industries …

BT is to launch a fibre optic service that will deliver speeds of up to 300Mbps (megabits per second) to some UK homes by spring next year.
The service is only likely to be made available to a minority of people with others promised speed boosts of up to 80Mbps.
The UK government welcomed the news.
But broadband figures reveal the UK still has a long way to go to achieve its goal of being the fastest in Europe by 2015.
BT said it will begin trialing the super-fast technology known as Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) …

BT has confirmed that a “power failure” at a major exchange in Birmingham is causing problems for broadband customers across the UK.
Customers have reported problems from as far afield as Belfast, Edinburgh, Swansea and London.
Many users have taken to Twitter to complain that the company is not answering its helpline.
BT has told the BBC it has been made aware of the issue and is working hard to get information to customers.
Users first began reporting a loss of connection at around 13:00 BST.
By 15:00 BST many customers on consumer packages reported …

ISPs face changes to the way they advertise broadband services.
From April next year, providers will no longer be able to advertise maximum speeds for net packages unless 10% of customers can actually get them.
The new rules come from the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), the body responsible for writing advertising codes.
But Which?, one of the main campaigners for change, said the new rulings do not go far enough.
There has been huge pressure from industry and consumer groups for changes in the way broadband services are marketed with many feeling current …

Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections, according to the Office for National Statistics.
45% of people surveyed said they made use of the net while out and about, compared with 31% in 2010.
The most rapid growth was among younger people, where 71% of internet-connected 16 to 24-year-olds used mobiles.
Domestic internet use also rose. According to the ONS, 77% of households now have access to a net connection.
That figure was up 4% from the previous year, representing the slowest rate of growth since the …

Mobile operator Three is giving away 3G broadband to rural areas struggling to get fixed line services.
Initially it plans to give 11 communities in the UK free dongles and access for a year.
It claims the initiative is part of its commitment to government, which wants to ensure isolated communities have decent broadband services.
But some experts think it has more to do with a desire to lobby Westminster for valuable wireless spectrum.
First to benefit will be residents of Gringley-on-the-Hill in North Nottinghamshire who will receive 30 dongles and free data access …

Rural areas in England and Scotland have been allocated £363m to improve their broadband connections.
The government money is part of its drive to ensure 90% of homes and businesses not served by the market will have super-fast broadband by 2015.
Local authorities and residents can decide how the money should be spent.
Wales and Northern Ireland have already been given their share of the £530m broadband fund which was set aside from the TV licence fee.
English counties will get £294m and Scotland £68.8m to help the estimated one-third of households which are …

Cable telecoms supplier Virgin Media is taking a “punt” on rolling out free wi-fi access across parts of London.
Speaking at an investors conference, CEO Neil Berkett said the company was in “quite advanced negotiations” with London boroughs and councils to complete a “metro” roll-out of a wi-fi network in the “not too distant future”.
Berkett said it would “provide free wi-fi access for all at 0.5Mbps with full access to Virgin Media customers up to 10Mbps”.
“We may consider speaking to one of the mobile network operators for wholesaling as an activity,” he added.
Berkett …

Supermarket giant Tesco has confirmed that it is running trials of a FREE Wireless ( Wi-Fi ) internet access service in 4 out of its 2,700 UK branches. Plans are already being drawn up for a national rollout, although this will depend upon the success of their pilot.
The service, which was first hinted at by The Grocer magazine, would also offer customers an easy way to compare in-store products and prices. However Tesco’s CIO, Mike McNamara, warned that anybody caught “streaming video all day” would probably be “switched off”.
Tesco already …