LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Britain’s BT <BT.L> plans to open up its underground cable ducts to allow rivals to lay their own high-speed broadband networks, in a move that could appease critics but hurt income for the group’s wholesale division.

BT said on Monday it could provide open access to its ducts in a move to help extend high-speed broadband coverage across Britain.

However, BSkyB <BSY.L> said it does not have any plans for wide-scale fibre services at present although it said it supported the idea of open infrastructure.

Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L> and its Talk Talk unit said it would consider launching its own trial to investigate its options further.

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Vodafone Group Plc <VOD.L>, the world’s largest mobile phone operator by revenue, raised its outlook on Thursday after posting third-quarter revenue ahead of forecasts due to cost cuts and an improving picture in Europe.

Analysts said the improved trading in Europe and particularly the turnaround in Turkey should boost sentiment after fears the recent revenue weakness was more structural than cyclical.

Vodafone was the first major European telcoms carrier to report in this quarter and the news sent its shares up 4 percent at 139.8 pence at 0945 GMT, to top the FTSE gainers’ list.

“Vodafone results can often feel like a game of dodgems,” Bernstein analyst Robin Bienenstock said. “There are bright spots, but these are often overshadowed by some peripheral business blowing up (for example Turkey) or huge currency swings that muddy the waters.

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Britain’s Cable & Wireless <CW.L> will inject 30 million pounds into its UK pension scheme and raise $500 million with a bond in the final stages of a demerger for the country’s second biggest fixed-line phone firm.

The amount for the pension fund was less than many analysts had expected and helped to lift C&W shares, along with news the company had reconfirmed its dividend, its guidance and had seen no major change in trading conditions.

C&W is seeking a separate stock market listing for its Worldwide (CWW) division, which offers business communications across Europe, Asia and the United States, in the hope that investors will value it more highly as a standalone business.

The demerger of CWW and the Cable & Wireless Communications Plc arm, which provides fixed line and mobile services in the Caribbean, Macau, Panama and others, is expected to be completed by March 26.

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – British broadcaster ITV Plc <ITV.L> named Adam Crozier as its new boss, ending a drawn-out hunt with the selection of an industry outsider known for sparking controversy in a string of high-profile roles.

Crozier, who will step down from the top job at Royal Mail to take the ITV post, will take over at Britain’s biggest commercial free-to-air broadcaster later this year, ITV said on Thursday, and will be expected to develop a new strategy to ease the reliance on often volatile ad markets.

Crozier spent seven years at Royal Mail where he set about restructuring the group in the face of fierce opposition from unions. Prior to that he led the English Football Association (FA) where he clashed with leading officials over how the game should be run.

Crozier, who also worked at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, will work alongside ITV’s new chairman, Archie Norman, who was also brought in as an outsider and turnaround specialist in November last year. [ID:nLI321996]

LONDON (Reuters) – T-Mobile needs to merge with Orange in Britain or the two groups will struggle to compete with the biggest operators, the boss of the German firm’s British arm said, as he set out his argument to regulators.

Speaking at the Telecomfinance 2010 conference in London, T-Mobile UK Managing Director Richard Moat also said he thought a regulatory examination by Brussels would be faster than inspection by British authorities.

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and France Telecom’s Orange have agreed to form a 50-50 joint venture that would grab the top spot in Britain with a market share of about 37 percent, ahead of current leader O2, owned by Telefonica, and Vodafone.

The two sides are currently waiting to hear whether the merger will be examined by the European Commission or British authorities.

LONDON (Reuters) – A leading technology company is set to launch a new digital music file format which will embed additional content for fans including lyrics, news updates and images in what could be a successor to the ubiquitous MP3 file.

The music industry has been hammered by piracy in the last decade and is looking to develop new offerings to entice consumers to buy their music from legitimate sites, instead of taking it from illegal outlets.

The new proposal, which is called MusicDNA and has the backing of the original MP3 digital music file inventor, would allow fans to download an MP3 file on to their computer, which would carry with it additional content.

Music labels, bands or retailers could then also send updates to the music file every time they have something new to announce such as the dates of future tours, new interviews or updates to social network pages.

LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) – A leading technology company is set to launch a new digital music file format which will embed additional content for fans including lyrics, news updates and images in what could be a successor to the ubiquitous MP3 file.

The music industry has been hammered by piracy in the last decade [ID: nLDE60K1ZM] and is looking to develop new offerings to entice consumers to buy their music from legitimate sites, instead of taking it from illegal outlets.

The new proposal, which is called MusicDNA and has the backing of the original MP3 digital music file inventor, would allow fans to download an MP3 file on to their computer, which would carry with it additional content. Music labels, bands or retailers could then also send updates to the music file every time they have something new to announce such as the dates of future tours, new interviews or updates to social network pages.

The user would receive as little or as much of the information as they want, every time they are online. However anyone who downloads the music file illegally would receive only a static file which would not receive any updates.

LONDON (Reuters) – Global recorded music sales fell around 10 percent in 2009 and are down 30 percent since 2004 as rampant illegal downloading eats into legitimate digital and physical sales, the industry’s trade body said on Thursday.

The IFPI said in its annual report the industry had seen positive developments in 2009, with more than a quarter of all recorded music revenues now coming from digital sales after the industry embraced new ways to sell tracks.

However, the rate of growth has slowed in recent years, and sales from the likes of Apple’s iTunes and Spotify failed to counter the damage wrought by illegal downloading.

“We’ve had yet another year of new services coming to the market, great innovation, growth in our digital business,” IFPI Chairman and Chief Executive John Kennedy told Reuters in an interview. “But at the same time the problems that we’re facing with piracy have certainly not gone away.

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Global recorded music sales fell around 10 percent in 2009 and are down 30 percent since 2004 as rampant illegal downloading eats into legitimate digital and physical sales, the industry’s trade body said on Thursday.

The IFPI said in its annual report the industry had seen positive developments in 2009, with more than a quarter of all recorded music revenues now coming from digital sales after the industry embraced new ways to sell tracks.

However, the rate of growth has slowed in recent years, and sales from the likes of Apple’s <AAPL.O> iTunes and Spotify failed to counter the damage wrought by illegal downloading.

“We’ve had yet another year of new services coming to the market, great innovation, growth in our digital business,” IFPI Chairman and Chief Executive John Kennedy told Reuters in an interview. “But at the same time the problems that we’re facing with piracy have certainly not gone away.

LONDON (Reuters) – Global recorded music sales fell around 10 percent in 2009, and are down a huge 30 percent since 2004, after rampant piracy ate in to traditional and legitimate digital sales, the industry’s trade body said.

The IFPI said in its annual report that the industry had seen positive developments in 2009, with more than a quarter of all recorded music revenues now coming from digital sales after the industry embraced new ways to sell tracks.

But the rate of growth has slowed in recent years, and sales from the likes of Apple’s iTunes and Spotify failed to counter the damage wrought by illegal downloading.

The report showed legal digital sales grew by an estimated 12 percent in the year to $4.2 billion, compared to the 25 percent growth recorded in 2008 and 30 percent growth in 2007.