John Lewell

Internet Freedom, one of the leading cyber liberties groups in the UK, said Friday that Demon Internet’s failure to challenge a legal decision in a libel case was “a disaster for ISPs, Net users and free speech.” The libel case of Godfrey versus Demon Internet, is now due to go on trial later this year […]

There are too many ISPs in Western Europe, says the UK-based telecoms consultancy Analysys in a new report released Thursday. Although prices have been in free fall, the number of ISPs at the end of 1998 was over 3,000 — and many more have been launched in the past few months. The report, entitled “Internet […]

UK Internet auctioneer icollector Thursday entered a strategic partnership with Excite Europe to spearhead a worldwide promotional campaign. Under the agreement, icollector will take a major presence on Excite’s arts and leisure channel and will contribute co-branded content on many other channels as well. “With over 8.8 million users, Excite is a leader in its […]

Making a rare statement in support of a commercial alliance, Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated The Dialog Corp. and Fujitsu of Japan for concluding a software licensing agreement. Blair called the deal “a significant and very welcome development in Anglo-Japanese trading relations.” The new agreement, announced Wednesday, means that Fujitsu will be able to deploy […]

Dell Computer Tuesday announced the launch of DellNet, a free, pan-European Internet service that will come pre-installed on all new Dimension PCs with Windows 98. This latest offering in the free Internet “free-for-all” has come about as a result of the company’s agreement with BT and Excite. It uses software from BT to connect with […]

BT Tuesday announced that it has more than halved the cost of low-speed permanent Internet connectivity by introducing an entry level service named BTnet Start. Designed to meet the needs of small companies, the new service from the BTnet Services division costs £2,995 (US$ 4,800) per year for a 64kbps link. BT calls it “the […]

Analysts at UK-based ARC Group say in a new report that the wireless industry is showing us the future of the Internet. Pointing out that the number of mobile subscribers in 1999 (428 million) already greatly exceeds the number of Internet users (241 million), the report’s authors suggest that wireless will beat the “fixed Internet” […]

Granada Media Group Monday announced plans to join the free ISP fray with the autumn launch of its free Internet service, dubbed G-Wizz! Calling it an “ESP” — for “Entertainment Service Provider” — Granada said the new service represents a £30 million ($48 million) investment over three years. It will carry extensive content based on […]

Dixons Group Monday confirmed that it will float a minority interest in its highly successful Freeserve Internet service, following speculation last week that another ISP was attempting a takeover. Dixons says that CreditSuisse First Boston and Cazenove & Co. will act as joint global coordinators of the offering and as joint brokers to Freeserve. A […]

AOL UK and the Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications (CUT) are collaborating in support of the European Telecommunications Boycott, a movement to drop the local phone fees associated with the higher cost of Internet use in Europe. Following an open letter Thursday from AOL UK president and managing director David Phillips, CUT has revealed that the […]

NatWest, the UK’s premier business bank, Thursday launched Magex, a complete digital service that enables e-commerce for content providers together with copyright protection. The new service is the result of a strategic alliance with InterTrust Technologies Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., announced in September last year. Various digital content can be sold using the Magex system. […]

BT Internet Wednesday sent a shockwave through the UK’s ISP industry by offering weekend access to the Internet via a toll-free 0800 number. The service, which until now BT had repeatedly denied it had any intention of introducing, will begin at midnight on Friday, June 4. The toll-free Internet service will be available only to […]