Industry news

EE have announced the roll-out of 4G in 17 new locations in the New Year, locations are to include cities including Bradford, Coventry, Leicester and Reading.

March is the final date for 4G deployment but the 17 locations can expect to receive the new service before this deadline date.

EE is moving to expand its network infrastructure with the construction of further connections and the roll out of cabling.

Applications for start-up funding have been opened by Telefónica at its London Academy, allowing users to submit projects to the start-up initiative.

The start-up funding program named the Wayra start-up initiative provides funding to successful applicants throughout the world.

Along with funding successful entries also receive mentoring, technical support, and access to a network of similar start-up businesses.

Academy director of Wayra UK, Ashley Stockwell said: “The support we can provide is significant, not only in terms of mentoring and a place to work, but most importantly through the opportunity to work alongside other like-minded entrepreneurs.”

The global IT market saw a reduction in contract value to the lowest amount in nine years according to analyst firm Ovum.

Contract value fell to an 11- year low in the public sector with the July-September period coming in at $18.9 billion, a 33 percent drop from the same time last year.

Ovum analyst Ed Thomas said: “the global economic crisis continues to impact the performance of the IT services industry”.

Huawei the Chinese telecommunications manufacturing giant has signed a contract with £120 million to provide management services over a five year period to phone company Three.

The contract comes after Huawei announced plans to invest £2 billion within the UK market over the next five years.

Huawei have reportedly faced criticism by the European Commission in undercutting European telecommunications firms through extremely low rates.

As well as being criticised for expansion into European markets Huawei are also currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee regarding the companies security risk.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has voiced its concern on the NHS’s ability to meet savings targets of £20 billion by 2015.

The NAO reported that £5.9 billion in savings had already been achieved but that these savings had been in easy areas.

Future savings are expected to be harder to achieve and a survey carried out on primary care trusts by the NAO reported that services to patients were already being restricted.

Cornwall County Council has voted to outsource IT to BT and reject a plan to privatise large sections of the council’s services.

The approved plan will see the outsourcing of services from the council’s IT department to BT, including the development of a telehealth hub designed to stimulate the job market.

Independent cabinet member Neil Burden said: “This is a joint venture. It's not a takeover bid. And it's a means of saving jobs and the potential to create new jobs for the working population in Cornwall".

Communications giant Broadcom has acquired technology company NetLogic for £2.3 billion.

The move comes as Broadcom seeks to promote the adoption of NFC technology through chip integration with smartphones ahead of major consumer uptake.

The acquisition for £2.35 billion will allow Broadcom to extend communication chip product lines and follows on from the purchase of security services company SC Square and wireless chip maker Beceem this year.

Michael Hurlston, senior vice president of Broadcom's Mobile and Wireless Group, said: "When we were able to do a combo device with Bluetooth and wireless LAN, it really made Wi-Fi go to a 100 percent attach rate in the smartphone,” adding, "We think that by doing something similar with NFC, it will accelerate and further drive the adoption of NFC."

Analyst firm IDC have made a prediction that companies will increasingly struggle to manage Big Data.

The prediction comes as firms are faced with increasing stretched budgets combined with higher consumption.

The report commissioned by EMC predicted a near doubling of the ‘digital universe’ every two years, and that investment in storage and analysis will increase by 40 percent from 2012 to 2020.

The report predicted that: “by 2020, a third of the data in the digital universe (more than 13,000 exabytes) will have big data value, but only if it is tagged and analysed".

The creation of a new patent system for the whole of the EU has been approved by the European Parliament.

The new system has been introduced to make the process cheaper and faster, however questions have been raised over the issue of patent ‘trolls’ who will use the system to register multiple patents, with foresight to making profit through re-sale without patent development.

The move faced objection from Spain and Italy who refused to participate however the EU parliament approved all three regulations that consist the new patent system.

In a release the EU parliament said: “The international agreement creating a unified patent court will enter into force on 1 January 2014 or after thirteen contracting states ratify it”.

The Cabinet Office will provide funding totalling £8.35 million to promote its open data initiative.

The funding will be used to help departments in overcoming technical obstacles in making data available to the public.

Business Minister Matthew Hancock said: “The value and scope for open data is extremely significant. Open data can improve public services, generate new revenue streams for companies and help to stimulate economic growth. That’s why we are backing it through these new investments".

The moves comes on top of a push to help businesses to make the most of the UK governments open data policy, including an £10 million Open Data Institute.