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H3G Group’s growth continued to slow in H2 2007, and it is now growing at just 6%, versus 10% 6 months ago, with falling ARPU combining with static subscriber net additions

BT announced on 8th April that Ian Livingston, currently CEO of BT Retail, will replace Ben Verwaayen as group CEO on 1st June. The Managing Director of BT Retail’s Consumer division, Gavin Patterson, will replace Ian Livingston at the helm of BT Retail. We expect John Petter to take Gavin’s place at the Consumer division

The Digital Dividend resulting from analogue switch-off and digital switchover (DSO) is shaping up into Ofcom’s spectrum sale of the century. It comes at a time when the TV broadcasting industry is coming to see the progress from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) as fundamental a step change in broadcast picture quality as was many years ago the shift from black and white into colour. This report examines the Ofcom proposals, the financial costs to the commercial PSBs and the implications of Sky’s Picnic proposals for the successful achievement of Ofcom’s plan

Tiscali SpA has publicly invited bids for its businesses, the largest of which is the UK’s fourth largest ISP, a key player with 12% broadband market share

Iliad will be challenged to meet its target of a steady EBITDA margin of 36% in 2008 despite further cuts in mobile termination charges due to the continued drift of the subscriber mix to higher cost (for Iliad) full telephony packages. Some benefit to cash flow could result from reduced charges for one-off LLU services to be mandated by regulator ARCEP

Carphone Warehouse had a solid quarter, and its expectation of a currency-aided 9-10% growth rate in 2008/2009 distribution revenue looks achievable, as does guidance of 4-5% growth in fixed line revenue, unless loss of telephony-only customers accelerates

Vodafone UK has announced a tariff refresh that includes ‘free’ mobile browsing with all of its new contract plans

The recorded music market decline continued without pause in 2007, with global sales down an estimated 11% in value. Physical and internet piracy continue to drive the CD sales decline, along with substitution to downloads, and the bankruptcies of physical retailers in the US and UK. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPod+iTunes music ecosystem continues to be favoured by customers, driving the growth of the digital music market, as ringtones stabilise globally. These recorded music market trends are reducing music publishers’ associated royalty income, although offset by rising royalties from the use of music on broadcast media, film, advertising and the internet

BT’s Q4 results were a welcome improvement on Q3, with better growth in revenue, consistent growth in EBITDA and strong growth in cash flow