Plans by workers at BT (British Telecom) to strike in protest at massive bonuses awarded to the company’s managers and over a two per cent pay rise offer could affect broadband maintenance and troubleshooting services, according to industry observers.

Thousands of BT staff who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are to be asked to support walk-outs in protest at the bonus awards and a two per cent pay increase offer to its members. If the staff vote in favour of a strike, maintenance of millions of broadband lines could be hit.

“There are definitely going to be potential issues with maintenance. It’s (the strike) definitely going to affect day-to-day maintenance and problem resolution, Edd Dawson, editor of broadband information and comparison website broadband.co.uk, said.

“If it turns into a prolonged strike then it could very well affect the roll out of the next-generation broadband.”

The CWU represents nearly 60,000 BT staff.

A union official said: “This is about fairness. We don’t mind senior executives getting bonuses, but we want all staff to share in the success of the company. Striking is a last resort and not something to be taken lightly.”

Football fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup have been warned by a watchdog group to keep an eye on the cost of their mobile internet use while there.

Consumer Focus says that mobile operators levy huge charges for web browsing on their phones, with prices ranging from £1.25 to £8 per Mb.

That means that uploading 10 photos to Facebook via a mobile phone could cost up to £80, it warns.

Call charges for people travelling outside the European Union are between 80p and £1.50 per minute, and texts cost from 25p to 50p. This compares to a maximum call cost of 37p per minute and 9p per text for people travelling in Europe.

At £1.70 per minute Virgin Mobile pre-pay offers consumers the worst rates for making calls, with T-mobile the most expensive network to use to receive calls from the UK at £1.50 per minute.

Orange and Tesco have the highest data charges, with costs for customers on both networks of up to £80 to upload ten 1MB photos. They are closely followed by T-mobile where the same usage would cost £75.

According to Consumer Focus, Vodafone’s free Passport scheme offers consumers the best call rates and texts. Customers pay a 75p connection fee and then their normal UK rates, while texts cost 11p. 3 UK offers the cheapest data roaming fees of £1.25 per MB.

Nick Hutton, telecommunications expert for Consumer Focus, said: “The watchdog is calling on mobile phone firms to cut their mobile-phone roaming costs and set prices at a similar level to those in the EU.”

Here are Consumer Focus’s top five tips for using your mobile phone abroad:

- Check your rates before you go and ask what add-ons or bundles your mobile phone company offers on calls, texts and data as this could make you considerable savings - Remember that while abroad you won’t be able to use your inclusive minutes, texts and data allowance (except inclusive minutes under Vodafone’s passport service) and will pay to receive as well as to make calls which could add up

- Photos and videos can be expensive to upload on mobiles while abroad so consider other options such as uploading using a computer at an internet cafe or hotel instead

- Consider getting a local SIM card for use in South Africa if you will be making calls to numbers within the country

- If your phone is lost or stolen while abroad report it to your mobile provider as soon as possible as you will be liable for any calls made. Make a note of the emergency contact number for your network and keep this separate from your mobile.

New broadband forecasts for the UK are good news for broadband operators and service providers.

The total number of broadband lines is now expected to be 25.1million by the end of 2014, almost a million more than earlier estimates, according to online trends experts PointTopic.

It says that, while the increase is not huge, it will help to improve the business case for broadband, and particularly for investment in superfast broadband using next generation access.

The short-term forecasts have also been increased. The actual total of lines in use at the end of 2009 was 80,000 higher than forecast, at 18.37million. The forecast for the end of this year has subsequently been increased to 19.79million, from 19.58million.

A major feature of the longer-term forecasts is the dramatic growth projected for superfast broadband, mainly based on fibre to the cabinet or premises (FTTx). Contrary to much opinion, Point Topic is projecting a boom in FTTx similar to what happened with BT’s DSL broadband services in the mid-2000s.

“We believe that FTTx will echo the development of DSL in the UK,” says Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic.

“People with dial-up internet access converted to broadband in their millions in the boom years. We forecast that superfast broadband will do the same around the middle of this coming decade.”

The number of DSL lines grew from 550,000 to 12.3 million between 2003 and 2007. Point Topic now expects that next-generation FTTx broadband will do something similar, with 12 million lines by the end of 2016.

“The difference from the noughties is that we think there will be a quicker run-up this time,” says Johnson. “While it took DSL three years to get from almost nothing to half a million, we expect that FTTx will cover similar ground in only two years.”

Key factors on the other side of the balance are that FTTx demands much more new investment than DSL and superfast broadband is not yet fully proven as a must-have service for ordinary homes.

“We think these barriers will be swept aside as user demand for bandwidth and a quality experience spirals upwards,” says Johnson.

Google’s Nexus One phone is no longer available from the company’s own website, after the company admitted buyers had proved reluctant to buy the phone without putting it through its paces first.

In an announcement on its blog, Andy Rubin, Vice-President of Engineering at Google, said: “We’re very happy with the innovation delivery through Nexus One … but, as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others.

“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not.

“It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a range of service plans to choose from.”

Already, Google has inked a deal with Vodafone in the UK to offer the Nexus One in its stores, as well as online and via phone sales. But now it has said it will be entering similar negotiations to give the phone a presence in stores, where customers will be able to handle the phone before they decide whether to buy.

The move sees the end of Google’s vision of changing the way people buy phones, which did not take off as they had hoped.

It also appears that the company is moving away from selling the hardware to concentrate on partnerships with other smartphone makers to make the Android software, on which the Nexus runs, more widely available through other phone makers.

“We believe that the changes will help get more phones to more people quicker,” Rubin concluded.

So in Google’s eyes at least, the Android platform is clearly far more important than the vehicle which carries it. In the blog post announcing its withdrawal of the Nexus One from online sale, it openly points would-be buyers towards two other handset manufacturers with whom it has already collaborated to make Android available.

The UK Government’s annual Budget, announced on March 24, confirmed its commitment to levying an annual tax on phone landlines to pay for the extension of super-fast broadband services to 90 per cent of the country by 2017.

Chancellor Alistair Darling reiterated the government’s commitment to making Britain a digital world leader, with plans for a major broadband roll-out.

He announced that super-fast broadband would be available in 90 per cent of homes by 2017, funded by a £6 annual tax on landline phones.

The Conservatives have vowed to scrap the tax if they win the next election, which is expected to be held in May.

Fast internet services would create “hundreds of thousands” of new jobs while putting services online will help efforts to reduce public spending, the chancellor said.

He also promised more tax breaks for the UK’s computer games industry.

“The UK has the potential to be a digital world leader. It needs high-speed broadband for rural areas as well as urban, it must not be limited to the well-off,” the chancellor said in his budget speech.

The broadband tax has cause fierce debate. The current plan will see people with fixed lines being charged 50p a month to help fund super-fast broadband, although it is not clear whether those who use cable services will be included.

It has been called unfair by an all-party group of MPs who say that most people who pay it won’t see any of the benefits.

It is aimed at the so-called ‘final third’ of the country, where commercial operators’ plans to roll out expensive fibre-optic services are likely to be considered too expensive.

Some experts were surprised that the chancellor did not reiterate Gordon Brown’s commitment to bring super-fast broadband to 100% of the UK by 2020.

“We are disappointed that the budget has simply repeated the government’s previous target of 90 per cent coverage by 2017,” Sebastien Lahtinen, co-founder of broadband site ThinkBroadband, told the BBC.

In the same week as Mr Darling’s announcements, Prime Minister Gordon Brown talked up the Government’s digital commitments when he described high-speed web access as “the electricity of the digital age”.

And as the date of a poll nears, broadband is emerging as a major issue, with some key differences between the parties.

The Conservatives have said that the funds which they would not receive as a result of scrapping the planned phone levy would be made up instead by private businesses who would stand to gain the most from superfast broadband’s introduction.

Motorola has reached a deal with Microsoft that will make Bing search and mapping services available on its Google Android-packing phones.

Motorola said the partnership with Microsoft means that a Bing bookmark and search widget will be loaded on new mobile phones. The first ones are set to be made available in China.

The move came shortly after Motorola struck a similar deal to its Chinese customers use Baidu, among others, as the default web browser instead of Google on Android-based phones.

The partnerships come against a backdrop of Google’s dispute with China over censorship. With Motorola banking on its partnership with Google to offer Android to the market, it would make business sense for it to have partnerships with alternative search providers should Google decide to quit the country, analysts believe.

British-based insurance company Churchill has produced a fun iPhone app to help consumers make tough decisions.

According to Brand Republic magazine, users can ask the brand’s bulldog mascot any question, such as whether to meet up friends or take a sick day from work, and he will answer in his customary manner: “Oh, yes!” or “Oh, no!”

The company, owned by RBS Insurance, is initially limiting the ‘Let Churchill Decide’ app to the first 50,000 customers.

Vicky Perry, campaigns manager, said: “We have a licence for 50,000 downloads as it’s a limited edition app. However, we may review extending it if there’s a strong demand for it.”

Recent celebrities to have appeared in Churchill TV ads include ski jumper Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards and TV personalities Roy Walker, Rolf Harris and Melanie Sykes.

Research being undertaken by space scientists may hold the key to much more serene journeys on public transport – by helping technology experts devise mobile phones which can lip-read.

A prototype device was shown at the Cebit electronics show in Hanover, Germany, in early March.

It picks up signals from what is termed sub-vocal speech – the electrical signals generated by a person’s muscles when they are engaged in a conversation.

The new handset is claimed to be able to translate these pulses into synthesised speech which is then transmitted over the recipient’s mobile.

The device shown at Cebit relies on this technique, called electromyography, which is already commonly used to diagnose certain diseases, including those that involve nerve damage.

The prototype that is on display in Germany uses nine electrodes attached to a user’s face to pick up the signals.

The electrical pulses are then passed to a device which records and amplifies them before transmitting the signal via Bluetooth to a laptop.

There, software translates the signals into text, which can then be spoken by a synthesiser.

And while its developers acknowledge that this basic type of voice-formation technology is likely to be impractical for everyday use, they are hopeful that it can be adapted for use to offer instant speech translation.

The UK government looks likely to come under increasing pressure to offer better business phone and broadband services to rural areas.

A new pressure group has been formed to persuade the government to make sure that it delivers on its promise to make high-speed business broadband services available universally by 2017.

Included in the group Final Third First is a number of broadband service providers. They have joined rural lobby groups to press for high-speed broadband to be made available to the ‘final third’ of the UK – the most remote areas which require the highest levels of investment to achieve the objective.

Launching the campaign on the Final Third First blog, Country Land and Business Association Head of Rural Business Development Dr Charles Trotman said: “The government’s universal service commitment to provide broadband speeds of two megabits per second (Mbps) for all by 2012 will be hard to achieve.
 
 ”Those living in areas known as the Final Third still receive no proper access to broadband, putting them at a severe disadvantage. This campaign calls for faster action on the progress already made so that everyone can benefit from the Government’s increasing array of online services.”

Of course, this includes many businesses which would welcome the opportunity to access better quality broadband connections, as it would help make their dealings with Government at all levels, and hence the running of their affairs, that much easier.

There are mixed views on whether the priority should be the achievement of super high-speed broadband connectivity of up to 100Mb, or ensuring that a minimum standard of 2Mb is available universally.

Lloyd Fenton, founder of a self-help online portal for rural businesses, www.ruralbroadband.com, nevertheless says that the ‘Final Third First’ campaign would “add significant weight to efforts to connect rural communities, many of which rightly claim to be more in need of better broadband than their urban counterparts”.

Glenn Peacey, of Hampshire County Council, said: “Rural broadband is a key part of ensuring the long term economic and social viability of rural communities.  Access to the internet enables rural communities to compete on an equal footing with urban centres. It enables smarter working from home which reduces dormitory villages, increases spending in local shops and reduces CO2 emissions and road congestion. 
 
“High speed broadband also has a significant impact on social sustainability. Not only does it enable residents to access leisure and media services which they would otherwise be excluded from or have to travel to consume, it also facilitates access to online education and learning resources.”

Google's long-awaited stab at bursting the iPhone bubble with its Nexus One smartphone will see the light of day in the UK next month, according to reports.

As already announced, the company’s first own-brand mobile phone will only be available through Google.com/phone. There are no tariff details at the time of writing, but have not been announced, but clearly prices will be in the same bracket as comparable iPhones.

Google is hoping that the Nexus One will firmly cement its Android operating system in the market, as a competitor to the Apple iPhone and Microsoft’s Windows Phone system.

Vodafone, the search giant’s UK partner for the launch, was thought to have been keen for a March launch, but now that timescale seems to have slipped.

 Slow early pre-sales interest has been put down to the fact that, with Google handling sales and marketing of the Nexus One itself, it has not benefited from the same intense marketing effort which helped get the iPhone off to such a storming start.

 Google has already taken a leaf from Apple’s book by announcing that the Nexus One would be updated to include multi-touch web browsing, a very popular feature of the iPhone.