2005/09/15

Demon founder pleads guilty to email charges - ZDNet UK News

Demon founder pleads guilty to email charges - ZDNet UK News

It seems Cliff Stanford and George Liddel have pleaded guilty to intercepting Emails under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).

This may be one of the first cases of its kind. More as it comes out.

2005/09/14

Cliff Stanford trial starts today | This is Money

This has been on-going for a while. Charges of blackmail were dropped, but the case for intercepting/diverting mail is going ahead.

Mr Standford went to Southwark Crown Court yesterday, but as yet no details.

If there is a successful prosecution under the RIP Act (RIPA) it will probably be one of the first of its kind.

2005/09/13

France Telecom to blow �1bn on LLU | The Register

1bn Euros sounds a lot and it is, but in terms of local loop unbundling it can go very quickly.

Assuming a good proportion of that will go to the UK, it still costs around £100,000 to unbundle an exchange (including backhaul and all the associated expenses), so a £1m will get you into 10. There are economies of scale, but it's an expensive business.

Then there's AOL, Bulldog, Be and everyone else going into some or all of those exchanges ...

2005/09/12

Ofcom Website | UWB: Input Document to CEPT

Ofcom today have published their recommendations for UWB to CEPT (the European organisation that deals with harmonized radio standards).

UWB operates in the 3.1-10.6GHz band allowing high data transfer rates for short range transmission. It can be used as a wires replacement service to connect devices together. It is disruptive to WiFi and Bluetooth.

Ofcom will recommend that CEPT should produce a European harmonised specification but it must used controls to reduce interference to existing bands especially in 3.1 - 4.2Ghz by using detect and avoidance technologies. UWB should also use transmit power control to limit interference to other UWB systems.

Ofcom also recommend the European Commission should conduct a review 3 years after the introduction of UWB to assess the levels of spectrum noise and potential interference.

If UWB does get the go ahead, it will allow the distribution of HDTV etc in the house as it offers data rates in excess of 100Mb/s and is highly resilient to interference.

OneTel could be flogged | The Register

This rumour has been in the works for a long time.

Centrica like any owner of a telco, would be silly not to look at selling it, however there's a big difference between being open to offers and actively selling.

One.tel have a large number of customers (mainly residential) but are now actively moving into the business markets. They've also got a warchest of about £500m to expand by acquistion. Centrica wouldn't make the cash available if they were instantly going to sell them.