BT transfers 31,000 staff to Openreach in ‘final major milestone’ of separation October 1, 2018 BT today confirmed it had transferred 31,000 employees to infrastructure arm Openreach in what it says is the "final major milestone" in the legal separation of the two organisations. The move is believed to be the largest ever one-off people transfer in UK corporate history. BT also announced its Northern Ireland division has been rebranded as [...]
Wirecard chief quits as shares plummet over missing €1.9bn June 19, 2020 Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun has resigned with immediate effect after the German payments firm’s disclosure of a €1.9bn (£1.7bn) accounting black hole sent shares into a tailspin. Shares have plunged more than 80 per cent since Wednesday’s close after auditor EY yesterday refused to sign off Wirecard’s financial accounts after discovering that €1.9bn of [...]
Former O2 boss in running for top role at BT September 2, 2018 The former boss of O2 is in the running to take replace Gavin Patterson at BT, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Ronan Dunne, who joined telecoms giant Verizon two years ago after more than a decade in senior roles at O2, had discussions with BT while spending time in Britain recently, sources told the paper. Dunne [...]
BT pension scheme appoints Now Pensions founder Morten Nilsson as chief exec October 9, 2018 The BT Pension Scheme today appointed the founder of Now Pensions Morten Nilsson as its new chief executive. BT Pension Scheme Management (BTPS) said Nilsson will take up the role immediately and report to the firm's chairman of the board of trustees, Paul Spencer. The telecoms giant's pension is one of the largest defined benefit [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s British broadband speech in full November 15, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has laid out plans to provide free full fibre broadband to every UK household and part-nationalise BT this morning. Labour said that the policy, the cost of which was estimated at £20bn, would be funded by taxing multinational tech giants. The policy announcement sent BT’s share price down over two per cent this [...]
Jeremy Corbyn labels Labour nationalisation plans as ‘very modest’ November 17, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has claimed Labour’s spending and nationalisation plans are “very, very modest” in an attempt to reassure people the party is “not trying to grab hold of the economy”. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell announced on Thursday the party would part nationalise BT for £20bn and provide free full-fibre broadband across the country. Read more: [...]
Sir Ed Davey pledges £100bn to tackle the climate crisis November 15, 2019 Liberal Democrat deputy leader Ed Davey this afternoon laid out his party’s economic plans, announcing that his party would spend an additional £100bn of public finance on tackling the climate crisis. Speaking at an event in Leeds, the party’s shadow chancellor said: “This includes a new £10bn renewable power fund to leverage in over £100bn [...]
O2 steps into 5G driverless car testing in London as it grows mobile customer base November 5, 2019 O2 will have a hand in an ambitious project to trial driverless cars on London roads, using its 5G network to help test the vehicles in Greenwich. The mobile phone network, which this morning announced it had hit 34m customers following its 5G rollout last month, said using the technology on the roads could reduce [...]
Ofcom to ban firms from selling ‘locked’ mobile phones December 17, 2019 Communications regulator Ofcom has proposed a new set of plans which would prevent phone companies from selling ‘locked’ handsets. BT/EE, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone still sell mobile phones that cannot be used on other networks without being unlocked first, which can cost £10. Read more: MPs say hands-free phones should be banned while driving The [...]
Broadband firms to remove data caps during coronavirus crisis March 29, 2020 All UK broadband firms have agreed to remove data allowance caps during the coronavirus crisis under a new deal struck with the government. Internet service providers and mobile operators including BT/EE, Openreach, Virgin Media, Sky, O2 and Vodafone have agreed to a number of measures, effective immediately, designed to ensure all Brits have access to [...]