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Aggregate mobile service revenue growth remains reasonably strong, at 4% for the latest quarter for the five largest European countries

Under regulatory pressure, France Télécom introduced in July 2006 a wholesale ‘naked’ DSL offer, under which broadband alone is supplied to the customer, as the lower frequency portion of the line used for PSTN telephony is deactivated

At the end of Q3 2006, the UK had 12.4 million broadband connections and we estimate 45% household broadband penetration. Over the past 12 months, 3.4 million new broadband connections have been sold, generating overall market growth of 38% year-on-year. Quarterly net additions were 719,000, 83,500 higher than the previous quarter, but 178,000 lower than the same quarter last year. We believe that broadband adoption has now peaked, partly due to provisioning issues, and we envisage a gradual decline in the new connection rate over the next 18 months

Marks & Spencer’s plan to make itself the world’s most 'sustainable' retailer is an extremely ambitious proposal to make the company carbon neutral, reduce its own landfill waste to zero, and change its supply chain to improve its position as an ethical retailer

Carphone Warehouse’s core distribution business was firm, showing no signs of being harmed by Vodafone withdrawing its new contract business in the UK

Apple has introduced its long-awaited iPhone, with sleek looks and a host of innovative touches, to be launched in the US exclusively with Cingular in June and Europe by the end of 2007

BT has gone further than expected in setting a “medium term” goal of 2-3 million customers for BT Vision, remaining vague on when it will be achieved. Giving away the PVR and a cheap self-install option, due later in 2007, are essential to achieve this target

Radio groups implement further cutbacks and increased centralisation to combat shrinking audiences and revenues

In our view, commercial radio requires more than a marketing plan and cost cutbacks – a renaissance of creativity and inward investment are needed for radio to compete more effectively with the increasing diversity of personalised audio content available online

Television advertising revenues fell by nearly 7% and radio advertising by more than 4% in 2006 according to latest market estimates. We expect declines of around 4% for both media in 2007

Trinity Mirror’s decision to sell certain regional newspaper and sports assets is ill-timed in view of the severe declines in newspaper circulation and advertising revenues across the industry, which could make it difficult for Trinity to realise its target price of £600 million