John Lewell

In another move towards convergence, Eastman Kodak subsidiary PictureVision and NDS Group Plc Tuesday agreed to develop a new business that combines TV, digital photography and the Internet. The new venture, named NDS Interactive Photo Applications, will enable consumers to obtain prints of digital photographs by placing orders via their digital TV sets. The partners […]

Calling it “the first U.K. e-telco,” BT, Unisys and Bank of Scotland Monday launched a new e-business named Quip. Quip intends to dominate the low cost telephony market, capturing 5 per cent of it within three years. If successful in meeting this £100 million target it will be one of the largest operators in the […]

Vodafone AirTouch Monday outlined plans with Vivendi to establish an Internet company that will run a multi-access European portal. The new company is split 50/50 between the two partners who will now look for ways of building cooperation between the duo’s respective mobile operations. Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone AirTouch, said that the new […]

Broadband service provider Global TeleSystems (GTS) announced Friday that Energis Carrier Services (ECS) has ordered an Optical Sub-Network (OSN) service between Zurich, Milan, Geneva, Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg. Initially, ECS will purchase a 2.5 Gbps dedicated bandwidth channel to connect the five new cities. It already has a similar connection between London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, […]

CIA MediaLab, part of Tempus Group plc, released figures on Friday that show how the earliest Internet brands such as Yahoo! and Amazon continue to have greater name recognition in the U.K. than later brands, despite spending substantially less on advertising. For example, latecomer QXL.com spent £2.5 million ($4 million) on advertising in 1999 and […]

France Telecom announced Thursday that it would pursue an aggressive global strategy, following its acquisition of corporate telecom service provider Global One. With full control of Global One, already a worldwide brand in corporate communications, the French telecom giant is better positioned to develop its voice and IP carrier wholesale business, especially across Europe. “This […]

European business-to-business trading hub Hyperchannel announced Wednesday the completion of a $24 million funding round. The latest financing was led by GS Capital Partners III, L.P. and affiliates managed by Goldman Sachs, GE Capital’s Equity Group and MRV Communications Inc. Hyperchannel has developed an online trading system named Hyporium which enables buyers and sellers in […]

England’s largest regional newspaper publisher Newsquest plc announced this week that it is to make a strategic investment in Freeserve Auctions Ltd. In exchange for a 9.9 per cent shareholding, Newsquest will inject £2 million ($3.3 million) in cash, plus £10 million ($16.4 million) in advertising support. Most significantly, Newsquest will stop using its AuctionHunter […]

In a week that has seen major moves in the online auction industry, QXL.com plc announced that its German language site QXL.de will be the exclusive online auction for Freenet.de, Germany’s leading free ISP. The deal will put QXL.de on Freenet’s high profile pages, including the ‘Deal of the Day’ auction in the Shopping channel. […]

European auction channel Ricardo announced Tuesday a major expansion, beginning with the launch of goricardo.co.uk. The market leader in Germany and claiming half a million registered users, Ricardo plans to launch in the Netherlands, France and Italy within the next three months. “There has already been a tremendous response from traders throughout the U.K. and […]

Japan’s top Internet company Softbank Group Monday increased its shareholding in Irish e-commerce company Cognotec. From an original holding of 10 per cent, acquired in October of last year, Softbank has gained another 7 per cent for an additional investment of $20 million. “The last few months have demonstrated how Cognotec’s leading position in the […]

lastminute.com announced this week the launch of its Swedish service at lastminute.se. Already the most successful travel-related online business in the U.K., lastminute.com has set its sights on reaching a global market. The Swedish site will act as the hub for Scandinavia, where a team is preparing localized versions for Denmark and Norway. “Scandinavia is […]