 Although starting small with 4million homes, BT's fibre optic network kicks off against Virgin's 12.5million home territory:
>> Research by Eurostat has shown that 93% of companies in the EU which have 10 or more employees have access to the internet and 82% specifically use broadband connections. These businesses can also boast that 12% of their business is through online retail channels. In the UK alone, 15% of turnover has been generated from e-commerce and 85% of businesses have a broadband connection.
>> BT has revealed its pricing structure for their fibre optic superfast broadband service. Known as BT Infinity, the packages will start at £19.99 per month for 20GB usage and will be available from this week. The price is £8 cheaper than that offered by Virgin Media, the only current rival to BT. They are hoping for 40% coverage of the UK for their Next Generation Access by the summer of 2012. In addition BT has claimed that the introduction of super fast broadband will have positive effects on business, improving the use of video conferencing and allowing people to work from home or on the move. Those who were hoping that the new package will improve peer-to-peer downloads have been disappointed by the news as the download cap will restrict access, particularly at certain times of the evening and weekend. Virgin Media applies fewer restrictions.
Virgin Media has responded to the announcement from BT regarding the price of its BT Infinity product by pointing out that it already has superior product in the marketplace. BT is offering a maximum of 40Mbps, whereas Virgin can already offer 50Mbps. Virgin can also offer their service to 12.5 million households compared to just 4m who have access to BT's service. Virgin customers can also take advantage of a 12 month deal compared to having to sign up to 18 months with BT.
>> Students in Exeter have called off a protest outside their local Virgin store after the company promised them a faster broadband service. The 7 students from one household in Exeter took on the fight on behalf of the whole community. The protest was called off after Virgin agreed to look at their proposals and start work to rectify the problem. Compensation has also been offered. The students say the area had been oversubscribed and this led to poor broadband speeds for everyone. They also claim that the company had refused to acknowledge the problem.
>> An increasing number of broadband users are opting to use Skype for their phone calls. In the last 12 months around one eighth of the total calls made in the UK were on the online telecommunications service. When using a super fast broadband service the Skype system can offer free calls around the world which are reliable and fast. Recent studies have shown that the rate of increase in the use of home phones has reduced, showing that systems such as Skype are growing in popularity.
>> The UK video games industry is asking for the government to offer the same support as it already offers to the film industry. The industry has been in decline in recent years and may be overtaken from its third worldwide position by Canada and France, both of which have the benefit of tax breaks. TIGA, the independent game developers association is asking for tax credits to be available in this country, to offer a level playing field. They say it could create 3,500 jobs and £400m to the treasury over 5 years. The film industry receives £100m in tax credits per year. They are also pointing out that the industry is increasingly hiring people from overseas due to a lack of suitable university courses and that broadband speeds in the UK were not good enough and could limit the development of the area.
>> The effects of global warming are to have a profound impact on the communication between Asia and the UK. The Northwest Passage has melted to such an extent that it is now possible to lay fibre optic cabling to connect the UK with Asia, in particular Tokyo. Kodiak-Kenai Cable Co is behind the proposal which is hoped to knock speed times in half. The project will be able to be completed during the summer months without the use of ice breakers making it financially more viable. Although at US$1.2bn it is still an expensive project. Branches will come off the line to provide communications between the east coast of the US and Asia, as well as Europe.
>> Research from Talk Talk has found that one fifth of people in the UK expect that broadband access will impact more on their lives in 2010 than it did last year. 61% expect to use the internet to shop around for good deals and 37% hope to improve how they manage their finances. Mark Schmid for Talk Talk commented that it is clear that the internet is an important tool for improving lives and it further emphasises the fact that getting faster broadband to more homes is more important than ever. †
    
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