T-Mobile must open Truphone lines

Truphone routes mobile calls via the internet

A court has stepped into a row between mobile phone network operator T-Mobile and wi-fi phone firm Truphone.

Truphone had accused T-Mobile of hindering its service, by blocking calls made to numbers owned by the fledgling mobile operator.

In the High Court on Monday Truphone was granted an injunction to force T-Mobile to put the calls through.

In court documents T-Mobile had said it had offered Truphone a deal to route its calls, but that had been rejected.

Court papers

The Truphone service works by routing calls via wi-fi when handsets are within range of wireless hotspots the phone can connect to.

By using the wi-fi and the net Truphone hopes to cut mobile call costs, particularly those made to long distance numbers.

In its court documents, Truphone said T-Mobile was "abusing its dominant position" by not putting its numbers through.

Deputy High Court judge Robin Knowles QC granted an injunction requiring T-Mobile to activate the Truphone numbers.

He granted the injunction until the two companies can either agree terms together, or have the courts decide how the matter should be resolved.

UK engineers navigate Europe's future

A few more weeks of testing and the box will be closed on one of the most important satellite payloads Europe is ever likely to send into space.

Currently sitting in a cleanroom in Portsmouth in southern England, the container holds the critical technologies on which a new multi-billion euro industry will be built.

If all the payload's components work as designed, a constellation of similar boxes will be ordered up and flown into orbit to complete the Galileo satellite-navigation network - Europe's answer to GPS, the US Global Positioning System.

Except, Galileo will be more than just a copycat. Its next-generation technologies promise a step change in accuracy and reliability for location-based services.

Galileo is an incredibly important system for Europe and the UK is playing a very large role Prof Sir Martin Sweeting, SSTL

Where GPS signals currently struggle to penetrate our high-rise cities, Galileo will bring performance improvements that should see sat-nav receivers get a fix in even the deepest "urban canyons".

And that should spark an innovation stampede to put sat-nav into many more mobile devices. At least, that is the hope of the European Commission and the European Space Agency which are investing more money into Galileo than any previous space project.

European integration

The Portsmouth payload is currently being prepared by EADS-Astrium.

GALILEO TEST BED SATELLITES (1) GSTB-V2/A Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd Contract worth 27.9m euros Mass on lift-off of 400kg Will complete frequency filings if launched first To test space environment and key technologies (2) GSTB-V2/B Galileo Industries consortium Contract worth 72.3m euros Mass on lift-off of 525kg Will complete frequency filings if launched first To test space environment and key technologies, including first flight of hydrogen maser clock

The company's engineers have taken delivery of pre-built components from all over the continent. Their job has been to integrate these disparate elements into a working whole.

"There is a real level of experimentation attached to this test satellite - to put together all the technologies that were developed over the last few years across Europe and to demonstrate that they actually work," explains Gerrit Beyer, from the Business Development Navigation section of EADS-Astrium.

"Most of the elements come to us as customer-furnished items and it is at the point of integration that problems can arise. When you put elements together you can find they do not talk to each other properly - and we have to fix minor bugs. It's all about interface and performance checks."

First and foremost, there are the atomic clocks that provide the precise timing reference required to work out latitude, longitude and altitude.

As well as two rubidium atomic clocks, the payload will carry a hydrogen maser clock, which has a stability that is better than one nanosecond per day.

What we're doing may be a large chunk of it but it's very much dependent on what people are doing in Germany, France, Italy and elsewhere Gordon Robertson, EADS-Astrium

Its precision is greater than the rubidium devices and is one of the key design features that gives Galileo its enhanced performance.

Then there is the signal generation unit, a complex processing centre that produces the all-important navigation signal.

This signal goes through an amplification system and is converted to the three frequency bands over which Galileo will work.

Finally, a planar array antenna sits on the side of the box ready to transmit the signal to Earth.

Medium orbit

In the Astrium cleanroom, the payload is attached to a moveable work platform and is surrounded by a bank of computer monitors. Each step of the integration is accompanied by another round of testing.

The clocks' temperature is carefully controlled to ensure there is not more than a one degree deviation from the optimum.

And the cleanroom regime ensures also the payload is protected from electrostatic, magnetic, and particulate damage.

THE GALILEO PROJECT Europe's own global satellite navigation system 30 satellites in three medium-Earth orbits (23,600km) Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems Promises real-time positioning down to under a metre Performance improvements should see sat-nav expand into many more mobile devices Suitable for safety-critical systems - can run trains, guide cars and land planes

"The preparation time for this spacecraft will be under 30 months from kick-off to launch - which is incredibly fast. What we're doing is more like a completely new scientific satellite and the timescales involved would usually run to many years," says Gordon Robertson, the payload engineering manager.

"The last few weeks have been very intensive. We've achieved so much in such a short period of time that we are wary of something unexpected happening.

"We're well aware that if we get a failure now or some mystery behaviour that we cannot isolate, it could delay us for many, many weeks which is costly and also puts at risk the slated launch schedule."

Soon, the box will be despatched to Rome, where engineers from Alenia Spazio will bolt it to a spacecraft chassis ready for launch from Kazakhstan on a Soyuz rocket.

Known by the uninspiring name GSTB-V2/B, the satellite will sit in a medium-Earth orbit (MEO), at 23,600km (14,600 miles) above the Earth.

This will be a first for Europe - it has previously only flown spacecraft in low or high (geostationary) orbits.

And that brings another complication. Satellites in MEO face particular radiation challenges and one of the major tasks of the test satellite will be to report back on the space environment.

Risk mitigation

A lot may seem to riding on GSTB-V2/B - but the Galileo project is spreading the risk.

Another Galileo Test Bed Satellite (GSTB-V2/A) is being built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) at Guildford, a little under 80km (50 miles) down the road from Portsmouth.

Although not as big as the spacecraft being produced by Astrium and its partners in the Galileo Industries consortium, the Surrey test bed will nonetheless get to run the rule over a number of the key technologies.

SSTL's test bed may yet get the nod on Galileo Industries' satellite

It may even be the first to ride the Soyuz that has been booked for December. If that does happen, the Surrey satellite will perform the essential task of filing the first frequencies.

The International Telecommunication Union, which oversees the radio spectrum, has told Europe it must start using the space allocated for Galileo by mid-2006 or risk losing it.

"It's crucial we make sure there's a European satellite up there transmitting navigation signals because that will then secure our ownership of the frequencies," explained Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, SSTL's chief executive.

His company was chosen to produce a parallel satellite because of the expertise it has developed in putting together smallish spacecraft in tight timeframes.

The European Space Agency will not say publicly which of the two test beds will fly first, but either way it reflects well on the state of the British space industry that it should be asked to prepare both payloads.

"Galileo is an incredibly important system for Europe and the UK is playing a very large role," said Professor Sweeting. "It's always good if you've got some competition on these big projects, and having some friendly rivalry sharpens your approach.

"It's good for us and Astrium - and it's also extremely good for the European tax-payer because it does mean you are more likely to get an efficient and cost-effective approach."

Gordon Robertson added: "When you step back from the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day work, you are aware that this is one of Europe's greatest space projects. And it's also about having to work so closely with companies all over Europe.

"What we're doing may be a large chunk of it but it's very much dependent on what people are doing in Germany, France, Italy and elsewhere.

"We're teleconferencing every day, we're flying to meetings, sending e-mails - and pulling all that together is a challenge in itself."

Smart directions for green ideas

By Jonathan Amos

BBC News science reporter

Cities may soon be full of electro-cars (Image: Effedi)

Electro-car public transport and a scheme to track the proper disposal of waste are two of the smartest ideas for using satellite-navigation technology.

The applications have just triumphed in an international competition seeking novel ways to employ Galileo, Europe's soon-to-launch sat-nav system.

The multi-billion-euro space venture will transform the quality of location and timing data available on Earth.

And entrepreneurs are being urged to develop innovative ways to exploit it.

The transport application devised by the Vu Log company in Sophia Antipolis, France, envisages a fleet of "green" vehicles on city roads.

WHAT IS GALILEO? Europe's own global satellite navigation system Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems Promises real-time positioning down to under a metre Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances Suitable for safety-critical systems - can run trains, guide cars and land planes

Each electrically powered mini-car would be equipped with instant and highly precise positioning equipment.

Commuters could use the internet or their mobile phone to find the nearest vehicle, jump in and start it with a smartcard, and then drive it to their destination.

"There would be no constraint - you could leave the car where you wanted," explained Vu Log's George Gallais.

"The service provider would come and charge the cars up every two or three days. Being used just for short distances, they wouldn't need charging every day," he told the BBC News website.

Future skies

The electro-car concept was deemed to be the best in over 200 entries to this year's Galileo Masters competition.

The contest pushes small and medium-sized enterprises to start thinking now about how they could get the best out of Europe's satellite-navigation system, due to be operational by the decade's end.

At the moment, Vu Log's car scheme would have difficulty working because the American Global Positioning System (GPS) does not give sufficiently accurate and reliable location data to precisely pin-point a vehicle in a heavily built-up area.

THE GALILEO FUTURE Expected to be more than 400 million sat-nav users by 2015 European aerospace and electronics firms say it will create more than 100,000 jobs Rescue services will be able to pinpoint the exact location of a car driver's accident System will allow someone to find their way in an unfamiliar city using their mobile phone

But with Galileo operating alongside GPS to "beef-up" the sat-nav signal, there would be less chance of community cars being lost in the steel and glass "canyons" that characterise modern cities.

"This is definitely an application for the future," said Christian Stammel, from the competition organisers.

"But when GPS is enhanced with Galileo, you can envisage all sorts of 'navigation guardian' solutions, which would guide you through a city using a mixture of buses, subway, electric cars and on foot."

Galileo Masters 2005 accepted entries from seven European business regions, including from the UK which put forward the greatest number of ideas.

Richard White, from Melbourn in Cambridgeshire, took the prize for the best of these. He has devised a secure, web-based system he calls "TrackerBack" for keeping tabs on large or valuable loads from pick-up to delivery.

It issues secret numbers to sender, haulier and recipient which, when brought together, confirm the chain has been completed.

"Only when the Pin codes are brought together are you able to track duty of care; you can prove an audit that is legally watertight," explained Mr White.

Green solution

With tighter controls being introduced for the disposal of waste and a growing problem of illegal dumping, the entrepreneur believes his TrackerBack system could play a useful policing role when combined with Galileo.

"With the sub-metre accuracy of Galileo, you'd even know how high off the ground that consignment of tyres was," he said. "You'd know instantly if it had been dumped over a hedge rather being taken to the reprocessing plant."

The system would track duty of care

Lyn Dutton, from the Thales Group, which produces sat-nav receivers, was on the UK judging panel. "We liked the environmental aspect to Richard's solution and it addresses a real problem that exists at the moment," he said.

"If you've paid a contractor to properly dispose of waste, you want to be sure they haven't just pocketed your money and dumped the load in some quarry. This has a position record attached to it and a log of what was done."

Richard White is now working to develop his ideas further with the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBic), which manages the Galileo Masters competition in the UK.

HBic is also hoping to bring on many of the other British entrants, too, helping them to work through issues such as intellectual property rights.

The 25-nation EU bloc is funding the early development of Galileo to the tune of 1.1 billion euros (£0.7bn).

The deployment of the system - the launch of the satellites and the construction of ground stations - will cost a further 2.1 billion euros (£1.4bn), with two-thirds of the investment borne by the private sector. The latter is also expected to pick up all the running costs in the long term.

The first demonstrator spacecraft are undergoing final testing and one will be launched next month.

A full constellation of 30 spacecraft should be in orbit within the next five years.

Navigating future for road charges

Motorists are already beginning to embrace the idea of satellite-navigation units in cars.

And in a few years, sat-nav will be doing far more than simply telling drivers how to get to their destination.

This week, the first test satellite in Europe's 3.4bn-euro (£2.3bn; $4bn) Galileo satellite-navigation system blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The final global network of 30 Galileo satellites is crucial to providing the high volumes of time- and location-based data needed for new services such as advanced sat-nav, mobile location data, natural disaster surveillance and air traffic control.

Powerful applications are expected on the roads; the Galileo network would allow a vehicle's exact movements to be tracked, presenting new possibilities for road-user charging and tolling.

The precision and availability of the Galileo signal would facilitate the application of charges according to the distance travelled by a vehicle, along with other parameters.

"For example, you might want to vary the charge according to speed, or whether someone is travelling through a city centre," Hans-Peter Marchlewski, general counsellor for the Galileo Joint Undertaking, told the BBC News website.

Tax collection

The time signal produced by Galileo would also allow different charges for driving at different times of the day.

"This, we are able to do without any support from bridges or ground stations. You can do everything with the [Galileo] signal," explained Mr Marchlewski.

Each motorist would, of course, need to carry a satellite-linked "smart box" in their car, but Galileo-based systems would also dispense with much of the roadside infrastructure to collect tolls and charges.

There have been quite significant studies which show that revenue-neutral road-user charging would give you quite significant gains in congestion reduction Prof Mike McDonald, University of Southampton

Galileo sat-nav could potentially form the basis for general "pay-as-you-go" road pricing proposed for the UK as a replacement for road tax and petrol duty.

However, transport policy expert Professor Stephen Glaister, from Imperial College London, says that "tag and beacon" systems are also under consideration.

These employ two-way communication between a roadside beacon and the vehicle.

They are used in a distance-related charging scheme for heavy goods vehicles in Austria and a congestion charging scheme underway in Trondheim, Norway.

The American Global Positioning System (GPS) is used for distance-related heavy-goods-vehicle charging in Germany.

Busy roads

These current schemes reveal pros and cons for sat-nav and beacon-based systems in road-user charging.

"As you pass the beacon you have a more solid communication link, allowing you to pass information both ways. The satellite system has some problems with continuous communication when you get shadowing by buildings," Professor Mike McDonald, director of the Transport Research Group at the University of Southampton, told the BBC News website.

"With satellite navigation, you don't get a totally continuous signal but you get a much better understanding of where the vehicles are and how they are being driven."

SAT-NAV AND ROAD SAFETY 'Smart box' would automatically transmit location of vehicle Emergency request could be triggered at airbag inflation Message might contain details of passengers, e.g. in coaches Real-time traffic data would guide others away from scene Future systems could warn of road dangers and take control of vehicle, e.g. limiting speed

With Galileo and GPS, the satellite signal can be supplemented where it drops out by ground stations, although these must have a line of sight with the vehicle.

European road users pay 330bn euros (£230bn; $390bn) to governments through taxes each year. But along with its importance in raising revenue, road-user charging can play an important role in reducing congestion.

"In Brussels, we have the same transport situation as we have in London. In Germany, it is the same situation," lamented Mr Marchlewski. "Galileo will not reduce congestion directly, but it can be used for a more intelligent distribution of vehicles."

Professor McDonald adds: "There have been quite significant studies which show that revenue-neutral road-user charging would give you quite significant gains in congestion reduction."

By the same token, it could also be a powerful tool for tackling carbon emissions, say some experts. But environmentalists warn that shifting money away from fuel duty would remove the incentive for motorists to use greener vehicles.

Monthly bill

Currently, the UK is the only EU member state proposing pay-as-you-go charging. But, comments Professor McDonald: "As Galileo comes in it is quite likely to be acquired for road-user charging. The issues are political rather than technical."

...if you get a bill for a road you haven't driven on at a time of day you weren't there, what's the recourse for getting your money back? UK's Automobile Association

Galileo, like GPS, is a passive system; it cannot of itself track a driver's every move. In road user charging and tolling, vehicle information would clearly have to be forwarded to collection centres. But experts point out this data would be subject to existing regulations on privacy.

Exactly how Galileo might be used in electronic fee collection (EFC) - a catch-all term describing any toll or charge applied electronically - will in large part be left up to the individual member states, which will continue to set their own policies.

Some Galileo initiatives for the road sector are, however, being coordinated at the European level.

The European Commission is undertaking studies into the idea of equipping heavy goods vehicles and coaches with onboard terminals offering Galileo-based services, especially in EFC.

The system might work something like this: hauliers and coach operators would sign a contract with one or more operators to use the services offered through the onboard units.

The terminals would then be used to track the charges and tolls collected by vehicles on their travels. A clearance system between service operators would allow these to be issued to clients as a list of expenses much like a monthly credit card bill.

Emergency response

Initial versions of the terminals will need to work with three key technologies: satellite-navigation (GPS, then later Galileo), the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile data platform and the microwave system used for tolling in France and Spain.

A spokeswoman for the AA motoring trust in the UK said there was still some way to go in working out exactly how such systems might work in practice.

THE GALILEO SAT-NAV FUTURE Navigation for navigation's sake will not drive applications Uptake pushed forward by services that add value to data Huge potential for internet-linked services run off mobiles E.g. finding a restaurant, and directing you to nearest ATM Multimedia delivered to tourists' mobiles as they walk around 'Guardian angel' services will locate separated children Possibilities are endless; mobile firms already brainstorming Database and billing companies planning for large markets Europe lofts Galileo satellite Q&A: Europe's Galileo project Galileo puts UK on map

"It's fine having a company process all the data from each country and tell you how much you owe; but if you get a bill for a road you haven't driven on at a time of day you weren't there, what's the recourse for getting your money back?"

In addition to EFC, the European Commission wants these units to be used for fleet and freight management and to launch emergency calls.

Drivers would use a small keyboard to enter certain parameters at the beginning of a journey, such as how many passengers were on a coach, or whether a lorry was carrying hazardous chemicals.

In the event of an accident, the terminal would launch an emergency call - perhaps triggered by the activation of airbags. The call would also send the information entered by the driver, allowing emergency services to adapt their response to the situation.

Using the Galileo signal, the terminal message would also pinpoint the precise location of the stricken vehicle.

Future vision

The price of one of these onboard units is currently estimated at 400 euros (£270; $480), although it is hoped that this could drop to 100 euros by 2010.

Eventually, new trucks and coaches in Europe would be sold with the equipment already installed.

"If this system works for commercial vehicles, that same technology will be readily available for use in vehicle charging," says Mike McDonald.

Regardless of whether member states propose their own Galileo-based road-user charging schemes, onboard units for ordinary motorists could offer route-guidance, incorporating up-to-date traffic information, but would also be enabled for insurance pay-as-you-drive schemes.

"There are drivers that would encourage people to buy systems in vehicles that have location-based data, communications and mapping," Professor McDonald explains.

"As they become universal, the incremental costs for putting in road-user charging and other applications will become very much lower."

Galileo challenges sat-nav firms

Entrepreneurs are being urged to look to the future of satellite navigation.

A competition, which aims to find novel ideas that exploit the pin-point accuracy of Europe's soon-to-launch Galileo system, is calling for entries.

Previous winners include a system that monitors changes in the ground that occur before an earthquake strikes.

The eventual winner of the UK Satellite Navigation Challenge will then compete in a European tournament for cash and support to kick-start the business.

"Everybody has been amazed at what clever entrepreneurs have been able to do [with GPS]; it does far more than what anyone could have dreamed of when they invented the system," said Richard Peckham of EADS Astrium Navigation, and one of the Judges of the UK competition.

"I think the same will be true in the future when you have Galileo plus GPS."

He said the UK competition was primarily looking for something that had business potential.

"You are also looking for novelty and whether people will be one day willing to pay for the capability."

Time-keeper

Last year's competition, for example, was won by Genesys Consultancy, which suggested a product to help predict natural disasters like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Unlike previous winners, GeoSynch, as the product is known, primarily uses the increased accuracy of the timing signals from the Galileo satellites rather than its positioning application.

The company triumphed in both the UK challenge and the European Galileo Masters.

GALILEO UNDER CONSTRUCTION A European Commission and European Space Agency project 30 satellites to be launched in batches by end of 2011-12 Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service Europe lofts Galileo satellite Q&A: Europe's Galileo project Galileo puts UK on map

The system could also help oil companies keep track of their reserves and improve prospecting for gas, water or even archaeological ruins.

"The background to this is seismology," explained Conor Keegan, director of Genesys Consultancy.

Seismology is an established technique, often used in the oil industry, which allows scientists to peer beneath the surface of the Earth.

By studying how sound waves produced by earthquakes or artificial sources, such as explosions, are reflected by different subsurface layers, seismologists can build up a picture of the structures beneath their feet.

The technique can be expensive and time consuming. However, GeoSynch should reduce this cost.

"There is also a considerable gain in accuracy over what is used today," said Mr Keegan.

GeoSynch will take advantage of the Galileo satellites' onboard atomic clocks to accurately measure the time between when waves leave a controlled source and when they are picked up by an array of iPod-sized wireless ground sensors.

When a system has to measure sound waves travelling at 8km/s, tiny fractions of a second count.

"That will allow you to improve the accuracy of the time measurement by a few orders of magnitude," Mr Keegan told the BBC News website.

Disaster monitoring

This improvement will allow seismologists to gain new insights into subterranean features and processes.

"One of the main users we see for this is oil and gas prospecting companies," said Mr Keegan.

Galileo is expected to become fully operational in 2012

But rather than helping them to find new reserves, GeoSynch may allow them to work out when to stop pumping oil.

"Today there is no way of accurately measuring the depletion in an oil field," he said.

"If the oil reserves drop down below a certain level it is no longer commercially viable for them to continue working it." By mapping tiny subsurface changes, GeoSynch should have the accuracy to tell them when to stop.

But the application is not just limited to the oil industry. Mr Keegan also believes that it could be used to predict natural disasters.

"Before an earthquake there is compression of a fault and then that is released," he explained.

"When you compress earth it changes in density and there is therefore a change in the speed of sound [travelling through it]."

By measuring these subtle shifts and comparing them to areas where there is a build up of stress in the Earth's crust, Mr Keegan believes the system could help predict the cataclysmic events.

Prize draw

He is now working towards building a prototype of the system, helped along by the cash he received from the Galileo Masters.

"If everything goes to plan we could commercialise this in three years," he said.

That would mean that he could be up and running using the US GPS system even before the Galileo system is switched on, a date currently set for 2012.

Then he may be joined by a raft of other fledgling businesses given a boost by the UK Satellite Navigation Challenge.

The winners of this year's competition will win more than £35,000 worth of prizes including a patent for their idea.

The European winner will win a further 10,000 euros and the possibility of working with the European Space Agency to develop the proposal.

"A lot of the ideas coming forward are very futuristic," said Adam Tucker of the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBic), that runs the event. "What we are doing is providing them with a platform to assist them which may make them a commercial and viable business."

The competition's website will close to bids on 31 July.

Satellite navigation systems determine a position by measuring the distances to a number of known locations - the Galileo satellites The distance to one satellite defines a sphere of possible solutions; the distances to four satellites defines a single, common area The accuracy of the distance measurements determines how small the common area is and thus the accuracy of the final location In practice, a receiver captures atomic-clock time signals sent from the satellites and converts them into the respective distances The whole system is monitored from the ground to ensure satellite clocks do not drift and give out misleading timings

Global broadband prices revealed

Broadband users in 30 of the world's most developed countries are getting greatly differing speeds and prices, according to a report.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report says 60% of its member countries net users are now on broadband.

The report said countries that had switched to fibre networks had the best speeds at the lowest prices.

In Japan net users have 100Mbps lines, 10 times higher than the OECD average.

Japan's price for broadband per megabit per second is the lowest in the OECD at $0.22 (0.11p), said the report. The most expensive is Turkey at $81.13 (£40.56).

In the US, the cheapest megabit per second broadband connection is $3.18 (£1.59) while in the UK it is $3.62 (£1.81).

CHEAPEST ENTRY LEVEL BROADBAND PER MONTH* Sweden $10.79 Denmark $11.11 Switzerland $12.53 US $15.93 France $16.36 Netherlands $16.85 New Zealand $16.86 Italy $17.63 Ireland $18.18 Finland $19.49 *Source: OECD. Figures for October 2006

Subscribers to Japan's fibre networks can also upload at the same speed they can download, which is not possible with ADSL (broadband over a telephone line) and most cable subscriptions.

Sweden, Korea and Finland also offer 100Mbps net connections, as all four countries have switched to fibre optic networks.

The OECD represents 30 of the leading democratic economics, from Australia to the US, France to Japan.

"Broadband is very quickly becoming the basic medium for sevice delivery on both fixed and wireless networks," said the report.

JupiterResearch telecoms analyst Ian Fogg said: "It's very hard to draw comparisons across 30 countries globally because there are different trends happening in each of them.

However, he said the entry price for broadband was an incredibly important criteria to compare.

"Because the market is very fragmented consumers care about cheap prices."

According to the report, broadband prices for DSL connections across the 30 countries have fallen by 19% and increased in speed by 29% in the year to October 2006. Cable prices and speeds followed a similar trend.

BT (in the UK) has been very slow to switch across (to ADSL2+). Ian Fogg, JupiterResearch

The least expensive monthly subscription for always-on broadband was in Sweden, where $10.79 (£5.40) per month bought a 256kbps connection. The country with the most expensive entry point for broadband access was Mexico, where it cost $52.36 (£26.18) per month for 1mbps.

Mr Fogg said: "In many of the OECD countries those people without broadband and making the transition are feeling their way and are very conscious of price. They haven't seen the need to go to broadband historically."

The entry-level price points do not take into account bundled deals, such as incorporating free broadband with a TV contract, which are becoming increasingly important to the market.

Mr Fogg said many countries had seen a jump in broadband speeds over the last few years as many ISPs utilising existing telephone lines had started to push ADSL2+.

ADSL2+ is a technology which doubles the frequency band of a typical ADSL connection over a phone line, in effect doubling the amount of data which can be sent downstream to a user.

The theoretical maximum speed of an ADSL2+ line is 24Mbps, still much slower than speeds over fibre optic networks.

"ADSL2+ hasn't happened everywhere and it's happened at different times in different countries," explained Mr Fogg.

"France was the first country in the western world to use the technology, about two or three years ago.

"BT (in the UK) has been very slow to switch across. The only option for UK customers has been to get it from competitors, notably Be, which is owned by O2, and Sky."

Google ranked 'worst' on privacy

Google has the worst privacy policy of popular net firms, says a report.

Rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as "hostile" to privacy in a report ranking web firms by how they handle personal data.

The group said Google was leading a "race to the bottom" among net firms many of whom had policies that did little to substantially protect users.

In response Google said the report was mistaken and that it worked hard to keep user data confidential.

Hostile approach

The report by the veteran cyber rights group is the result of six months' research which scrutinised 20 popular net firms to find out how they handle the personal information users gave up when they started using such services.

None of the firms featured in the report got a "privacy friendly" rating.

Yahoo and AOL were said to have "substantial threats" to privacy as were Facebook and Hi5 for the allegedly poor way they dealt with user data.

Microsoft, one place higher in the rankings than these four firms, was described as having "serious lapses" in its privacy policy.

Other net sites, such as BBC.com, eBay and Last.fm were described in the report as "generally privacy aware but in need of improvement".

But Privacy International singled put Google at the bottom of its rankings for what the group called its "numerous deficiencies and hostilities" to privacy.

"We are aware that the decision to place Google at the bottom of the ranking is likely to be controversial," the group said in the report.

Privacy International placed Google at the bottom of its ranking because of the sheer amount of data it gathers about users and their activities; because its privacy policies are incomplete and for its poor record of responding to complaints.

"While a number of companies share some of these negative elements, none comes close to achieving status as an endemic threat to privacy," read the report.

Responding to the report Nicole Wong, general counsel for Google, said in a statement: "We are disappointed with Privacy International's report which is based on numerous inaccuracies and misunderstandings about our services."

Ms Wong added: "We recognise that user trust is central to our business and Google aggressively protects our users' privacy."

Privacy International said it planned to release a more detailed report in September produced after detailed consultation with the firms covered in the first draft.

Google cuts data retention times

Google is to cut the length of time it holds users' personal search data.

The move comes in response to a data protection group that wrote to the firm questioning its privacy policies.

The European advisory body, called Article 29, said Google's current data retention practices could be breaking European privacy laws.

The search giant has said it will now keep personally identifiable search data for 18 months rather than the previous period of 18 to 24 months.

Google currently collects and stores information from each search query, holding information about the search query itself, the unique PC address (known as an IP number), and details about how a user makes their searches, such as the web browser that is being used.

The company says it needs this information to improve its different services and to help fight threats such as fraud, spam and malicious attacks, and to aid "valid legal orders" from law enforcement agencies.

It keeps this information for a set period before "anonymising" it - disconnecting the data from an individual.

New policy

However, some are worried that this collected data from Google and other search engines may be infringing on civil liberties.

In May, working group Article 29, made up from data protection commissioners from around the EU, wrote to Google expressing particular concern over the length of time personally identifiable data was being retained on the company's servers.

It said the search engine's policy did not appear "to meet the requirements of the European legal data protection framework".

What search engines know

In a response to Article 29's letter, Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer responded: "We are committed to data protection principles that meet the expectations of our users in Europe and across the globe."

He said that Google believed their current policy complied with data protection law, but admitted a shorter period of data retention than existed at present was possible.

Mr Fleischer wrote: "After considering the working party's concerns, we are announcing a new policy: to anonymise our search server logs after 18 months, rather than the previously-established period of 18 to 24 months."

He said that the company could still "address our legitimate interests in security, innovation and anti-fraud efforts" within the shorter period.

However, he added that "we also firmly reject any suggestions that we could meet our legitimate interests... with any retention period shorter than 18 months".

Article 29 has said it will "carefully study" Google's letter, and will discuss it at its next session taking place on 20 and 21 June.

Google cookies will 'auto delete'

Google has said that its cookies, tiny files stored on a computer when a user visits a website, will auto delete after two years.

They will be deleted unless the user returns to a Google site within the two-year period, prompting a re-setting of the file's lifespan.

The company's cookies are used to store preference data for sites, such as default language and to track searches.

All search engines and most websites store cookies on a computer.

Currently, Google's are set to delete after 2039.

Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, said in a statement: "After listening to feedback from our users and from privacy advocates, we've concluded that it would be a good thing for privacy to significantly shorten the lifetime of our cookies."

He said the company had to "find a way to do so without artificially forcing users to re-enter their basic preferences at arbitrary points in time."

So if a user visits a Google website, a cookie will be stored on their computer and will auto-delete after two years. But if the user returns to a Google service, the cookie will re-set for a further two years.

Privacy campaigners

Privacy campaigners want to give users more control over what the search giant holds on to and for how long.

Google has pointed out that all users can delete all or some cookies from their web browser manually at any time and can control which cookies from which websites are stored on a computer.

There are also tools online which can prevent the company and other firms leaving cookies on a computer.

In recent months, it has introduced several steps to reassure its users over the use of personal information.

In March the search giant said it would anonymise personal data it receives from users' web searches after 18 months.

The firm previously held information about searches for an indefinite period but will now anonymise it after 18 to 24 month

None of the other leading search engines have made any statements over anonymising IP addresses or shortening cookie lifespan.

Wimbledon 2007

Roger Federer emulated Bjorn Borg by winning five straight Wimbledon titles but he was given a huge scare by Rafael Nadal in a classic final.

The world number one prevailed 7-6 4-6 7-6 2-6 6-2 after three hours and 45 minutes of breathtaking tennis.

Federer looked to be in control with a two sets to one lead, but the tireless Nadal broke twice to force a decider.

After saving four break points, Federer powered a superb forehand down the line to lead 4-2 before sealing an epic win.

After taking victory, Federer collapsed to his knees as Borg, watching from the Royal Box, joined the rest of an enraptured Centre Court crowd in giving the champion and his beaten opponent a standing ovation.

It was no more than they deserved, Federer winning by far the toughest match of his five-year reign.

"Each one is special but to play a champion like Rafa, it means a lot and equalling Bjorn's record as well..." a tearful Federer told BBC Sport.

"He's a fantastic player and he's going to be around so much longer so I'm happy with every one I get before he takes them all!

"It was such a close match. I told him at the net that he deserved it as well. I'm the lucky one today."

A superb final - one of the best in history - ensured a tournament which was marred by appalling weather and the subsequent scheduling nightmares ended on a dizzying high.

Federer, in his ninth Grand Slam final in a row and 13th overall, made a superb start, hitting seven winners before Nadal had managed one as he surged into a 3-0 lead.

The Spaniard settled, though, and at 1-3 unleashed two magnificent passing shots from well behind the baseline to rock Federer and broke back.

But a first set of dazzling quality was decided by the scrappiest of tiebreaks, Federer winning it 9-7.

The second set looked to be heading for another tiebreak until it turned dramatically in game 10.

Federer hit a first serve which both players appeared to think was wide. Nadal scrambled back the return but an off-balance Federer made a mess of his reply.

That gifted Nadal two set points and the Spaniard whipped a backhand down the line to level the match, punching the air in celebration.

The quality somehow hit a new peak in the third set, scintillating rallies and dazzling winners becoming the norm.

At 5-4 down, Federer faced deuce but produced two spectacular winners, an angled backhand smash and a jaw-dropping volley off a dipping Nadal forehand, to come through before stepping on the power to take the tiebreak 7-3.

With a two sets to one lead, Federer took a toilet break and when he returned, Nadal was ready for an ambush, earning his first break point since the second set and taking it with a magnificent forehand crosscourt return which left a net-bound Federer floundering.

More drama followed when at 2-0 and 30-30 on Federer's serve, Nadal challenged a baseline call, with Hawkeye deciding his backhand had clipped the back of the line.

A clearly rattled Federer, an outspoken critic of Hawkeye, dumped a routine forehand into the net to go a double-break down and let rip at the umpire during the changeover, blaming the electronic system for "killing" him.

Nadal, despite having treatment on a knee injury at 4-1, took the set comfortably to force Federer into his first five-set match at Wimbledon since he beat Pete Sampras in 2001.

And the Spaniard may look back with regret at the chances he had in the decider.

At 1-1 and 2-2, he engineered a 15-40 lead but Federer's serve proved impregnable and it was no surprise when Nadal himself succumbed to the pressure.

Federer delivered a rare show of emotion when his forehand landed on the line, looking up to his support camp and roaring with delight.

Nadal fought valiantly to the end but Federer had hit supreme form, swatting away a volley on his second match point to take his place in Wimbledon's history books.

Blockbuster Sides With Blu-ray

In what some have termed a "death knell" for HD-DVD, Blockbuster Video has announced that it will be moving almost exclusively to Blu-ray for its high-definition titles and away from HD-DVD. 1700 stores will be Blu-ray only, while 250 stores (and online) will carry both next-gen DVD formats. (Naturally, all will still carry regular DVDs and, I guess, VHS. That still exists, right?)

The news isn't quite a death blow for HD-DVD, though it isn't good. Blockbuster's power in the market has been fading for some time. The company's market capitalization, for example, is now 35 percent less than online-only renter Netflix. Blockbuster stock trades at $4.60. Still, Blockbuster buys an awful lot of DVDs and they won't be stocking many HD-DVDs going forward. That could be a big problem for the format in this early stage in its life.

The news is particularly sad because most users tend to feel that HD-DVD is the superior format, with people going ga-ga over its heavily interactive features and exceptional bonus content.

That said, Blu-ray has, according to many reports, been chipping away at HD-DVDs early lead. Though making predictions based on early results is difficult, Blu-ray undoubtedly has the momentum right now.

Personally, I am so unthrilled with both formats that I'm happy to see someone, finally, taking a stand in the marketplace one way or another. Even if Blu-ray is technologically inferior, it will evolve and improve. But the industry is just spinning its wheels while this format war rages on, and consumers continue to be the ones who lose while things get figured out as half the buyers are essentially wasting their money.

Still, Blockbuster is just one player, and Netflix could announce tomorrow that it is only stocking HD-DVD titles, who knows? And I hope all renters and retailers make similar decisions in the near future, one way or the other. The sooner the format war is ended, no matter who wins, the better off we all are.

Vodafone launches simple tariff for laptop internet access from abroad

Competitive price makes service straightforward alternative to WiFi
Vodafone continues to lead mobile industry in reducing the cost of roaming in Europe

Laptop users will have a reliable and competitively-priced alternative to WiFi starting this summer, when from 2 July Vodafone drops its laptop data roaming prices to e12 per day (excl. VAT) for wireless roaming across Vodafone subsidiaries in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand, and with partners in France, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium (see Notes to Editors).

With 'Vodafone Connect Abroad' customers will be able to use their laptops when overseas to surf the internet, check emails and access their company intranet, whether they are sitting in a hotel room, in a cafe or on the beach. The new tariff ensures the comfort of straightforward pricing combined with a familiar and reliable service. In countries where there is an HSDPA network, Vodafone Connect Abroad customers using a Vodafone Mobile Connect USB modem or a Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G broadband data card will be able to connect just as they do in their home country and benefit from download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps.

Any Vodafone customer who uses a wireless data product, uses their mobile handset as a modem or has a laptop with an embedded SIM card, can sign-up for Vodafone Connect Abroad free of charge. Customers will pay nothing until they choose to connect abroad for a 24hr session. They can access the internet, emails or business network as many times as they choose for e12 (excl. VAT) in the same 24 hr period on any Vodafone or partner network included in the offer.

The move to introduce Vodafone Connect Abroad, which was first announced in March 2007, builds on the success of the company's innovative voice roaming tariff, Vodafone Passport, which since June 2005 has brought lower, reassuring prices to over 12 million European customers' mobile phone bills when travelling
overseas.

Commenting on the new tariff, Frank Rovekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone, said:

"With Vodafone Connect Abroad, customers can now access internet services on their laptops for a simple, daily rate, competitive to hotel WiFi and DSL services."

Tariff details
The Vodafone Connect Abroad tariff replaces complex 'per Megabyte' tariffs with a simple flat fee for practically unlimited data usage. The daily tariff structure enables Vodafone customers to send or receive data at ease within a 24 hour period or one calendar day (depending on the Vodafone market) for a fixed fee of e12 (excl. VAT). The fixed fee covers consumption within either a 24 hour period or a calendar day, of up to 50 MB of data, after which the customer's standard per-megabyte rate applies.

Vodafone will launch the tariff across the majority of its European footprint on 2 July. It will be introduced into the remaining European markets soon thereafter. There is no activation charge for opting into the Vodafone Connect Abroad tariff.

The e12 (excl. VAT) flat rate tariff is applicable when a Vodafone customer is roaming on a Vodafone network in Europe, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand, and partner networks in France, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium (see Notes to Editors). If customers use their Vodafone Connect USB modem or Vodafone Connect 3G broadband data card on other networks, other costs are incurred for international roaming.

(c) VODAFONE, Vodafone Connect Abroad, and Vodafone Passport are trade marks of the Vodafone Group. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trade marks of their respective owners.

For further information:

Vodafone Group
Investor Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 664447

Media Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 664444

Notes to Editors

VODAFONE SUBSIDIARIES WHERE THE VODAFONE CONNECT ABROAD TARIFF APPLIES:

Vodafone Albania Vodafone Czech Republic Vodafone Germany
Vodafone Greece Vodafone Hungary Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Italy Vodafone Malta Vodafone Netherlands
Vodafone Portugal Vodafone Romania Vodafone Spain
Vodafone Turkey Vodafone UK Vodafone Egypt
Vodafone Australia Vodafone New Zealand

VODAFONE PARTNERS:

Mobilkom ( Austria) Proximus (Belgium)
SFR (France) Swisscom (Switzerland)

In order for the e12 + VAT per 24 hr session tariff price to apply, customers must remain on the Vodafone network indicated above. If they use their Vodafone Connect USB modem or Vodafone Connect 3G broadband data card on other networks, other costs are incurred for international roaming.

About Vodafone
Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group with
operations in 25 countries across five continents and over 206 million
proportionate customers by the end of March 2007, as well as 38 partner
networks. For further information, please visit www.vodafone.com