John Lewell

Broadband supplier Telewest has announced that it will launch an unmetered Internet access service for £10 ($16) per month, starting February 14. The new service, following fresh on the heels of BT’s recent unmetered access announcement, will be run in conjunction with Microsoft Networks. Five years ago it was Demon Internet that launched the “tenner-a-month” […]

The first live telephone calls have been made on the IP telephony network supplied by Nortel Networks for BT Tel, the Spanish subsidiary of BT. With the first deployment of the network now complete, BT Tel will be able to introduce new services such as IP videoconferencing, VPNs, freephone services, and unified messaging. For business […]

Petrochemical giant BP Amoco has signed a global $600 million contract with Exult for “e-enabled” HR services. In this, the largest deal of its kind, Exult will create and operate a global HR services organisation for BP Amoco. It will use the latest web-enabled technologies and processes to transform the ways in which human resources […]

BT Cellnet’s mobile Internet business Genie Internet announced Friday that it will link with EMI Group to deliver music news to mobile phone users in the UK. To receive the news, users simply have to be registered with Genie Internet. The service will be available to all of the UK’s 20 million mobile phone users. […]

The UK’s first free ISP The X-Stream Network has signed aucland.co.uk as its online auction partner. The two comanies will carry out extensive joint promotions on each other’s sites. To kick-off the partnership, Aucland and X-Stream are auctioning a brand new Audi TT over the next two weeks. Bidding starts at just £1 ($1.62), and […]

UK business infomediary Scoot.com announced this week that it has formed a co-branding partnership with the AltaVista Company. Under the terms of the new agreement, the two brands will be blended together in the UK, with the aim of creating a wider market for both of them. “The partnership with AltaVista will bring together two […]

Top European Internet consultancy NVision has raised an additional $11 million in a second round of funding. The latest investment was led by Warburg Pincus and supported by Schroder Ventures. Warburg Pincus now has a global portfolio of 16 Internet businesses. Bracknell-based NVision says it will use the investment to acquire new offices in London […]

The government has launched NHS Direct online, the first comprehensive gateway to health information on the Internet in the UK. The new Internet service is in addition to the existing NHS Direct phone service, which itself is being expanded to 65 per cent of the country. “NHS Direct online will provide access to clear, reliable, […]

Kidz.net, which provides a subscriber-based Internet service for families and schools, has launched in the UK. It opened its European headquarters in London and its new service on www.kidznet.co.uk. Kidz.net takes an original approach to providing subscription-based services. It selects and reviews Web sites for their suitability, then makes them available through a specially designed […]

Sports.com Limited announced Monday that it was seeking a second round of funding to raise an additional $49 million. The financing through the issuance of preferred stock will represent around 23 per cent of the company’s post-funding valuation. Sports.com is the leading provider of European sports content on the Internet, and is especially strong in […]

The multimedia communications group Fininvest has taken a minority shareholding in the Sportal Network, which runs top sites for some of the largest football clubs in Europe. Fininvest and Sportal have been working together on the official site of AC Milan, an Italian football team which is actually owned by Fininvest. Next month Sportal will […]

MCI WorldCom’s UUNET has given the “thumbs-up” to Oftel’s ruling that BT must unbundle its local loop, but says more pressure is needed. UUNET’s managing director Richard Heyes told the industry that it should not simply celebrate the ruling, but insist that BT and Oftel make better progress and address all the issues of co-location […]