News and Events - January 2002
Wed 30th Jan, 2002
Symbian raises fresh funds
The Financial Times reports that Symbian has raised £20.75m from existing shareholders and "...secured its part in the development of next generation mobile phones...".
Mon 28th Jan, 2002
Internet access charges to rise
"We are looking at pricing. We have not made a decision yet, but I think that all the pricing pressure in the market is upwards. I would be surprised if there were not price rises from a lot of players in the market this year" says John Pluthero, chief executive of Freeserve, in today's Financial Times. In the same paper, it is reported that Oftel "will attempt to bolster the provision of unmetered Internet access".
Thu 24th Jan, 2002
Forbidden milestone in online video
"While the industry is spending around £100bn worldwide on rolling out broadband at a time when broadband companies are facing bankruptcy, we have been concentrating on improving compression rates by around 2% a week since early 2000," said Stephen Streater, in an interview with ShareCast, published today.
Thu 24th Jan, 2002
Greg Hirst appointed to Board of Directors
Forbidden Technologies announces that we have appointed our Business Development Director, Greg Hirst, to the Board of Directors.
Tue 22nd Jan, 2002
Energis exits Emblaze
Energis, the independent telecoms operator, is reported to have sold its entire stake in Emblaze late last week.
Wed 16th Jan, 2002
Travel industry buoyant
"Strong consumer spending has meant that companies have been able to maintain high profit margins", says the FT today in an article on the outlook for inflation. "It's been a very good market; there's been plenty of demand", said Keith Betton of the Association of British Travel Agents.
Tue 15th Jan, 2002
New BT broadband product
BT's new "plug and play" service launched today will "cut wholesale prices from a £150 connection fee and £30 per month subscription to a £50 connection fee and £25 subscription".
Tue 15th Jan, 2002
mm02 links with Handspring
mm02 has "signed a group-wide agreement with Handspring to distribute and market Handspring Inc's Treo family of compact wireless communicators". The Treo "will subsequently be GPRS upgradeable".
Thu 10th Jan, 2002
BT broadcasting is third priority
In a change of emphasis, Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of BT, is reported as saying "Real high-quality video would require an enhanced capital expenditure which we are not ready to commit to yet... It's a judgment that has to be revisited every few months in the light of changing technology."
Wed 9th Jan, 2002
BT plans SDSL technology
Electronics Weekly reports BT as saying "Although ADSL can handle video, it's not very good. We'll have to use SDSL". In a related article, the Financial Times mentions a cable source as saying that the cost per video stream of providing true broadcast television over a fixed line is about 450 times that for ADSL, the high cost of which has been a major factor limiting its adoption. Janice Hughes, of Spectrum Strategy Consulting, justifies investment by pointing out "... consumer spending on entertainment as a share of GDP is growing". Forbidden's new codec will have a high quality broadband option that will work over ADSL.
Mon 7th Jan, 2002
BT considering broadcasting move
The Financial Times reports "Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of British Telecommunications, is pushing for the telephone network operator to become a broadcaster within two years ..." In an interview with the Sunday Times, Sir Christopher commented: "Further spending on the network would be required and we need to decide what our role will be." Forbidden's technology allows the existing network to be used to distribute video at modem data rates.
