Just three players now account for most French broadband connections: Orange’s DSL market share is closing on 50%, Iliad’s rose to 25% from consolidation with Alice, while SFR’s dropped to 23.7%, with Neuf’s rebrand imminent. Cable remains a minimal presence on broadband

UK broadband market net additions in Q2 2008 were lower than at any point in five years. LLU data for Q3 to date suggests that a second half improvement will not be as substantial as in recent years

Tiscali UK’s H1 results showed falling subscribers, revenue and margins, as the competitiveness of the UK broadband market bites

European revenue growth fell to 1.4% in the quarter, down 0.8ppts from 2.2% last quarter, driven primarily by Spain where growth fell 4.1ppts. The deterioration was despite an improvement in the regulatory conditions, and underlying growth fell by 1.0ppts, with Italy slowing rapidly

The long awaited first Android-driven handset was launched this week, and with the Google logo emblazoned on the back it has been swiftly christened the Googlephone

Ofcom’s second consultation document on Next Generation Access raised few new issues. Ofcom continues to favour passive access and emphasises the importance of joint investment in it

Google has lost another copyright proceeding in a major European market, this time in Germany (it will appeal), on top of the 2007 judgement in Belgium that found against Google in favour of Copiepresse, on behalf of a group of newspapers. In the US, Google is also facing litigation over copyright, plus the suits filed against YouTube

Distribution connection numbers were strong (+9%), especially on contract (+21%), despite a reduction in store expansion and the consumer slowdown which is affecting other consumer electronics businesses

The Nokia Comes With Music (CWM) service bundles a music-centric handset with an unlimited music downloads service, allowing consumers to easily take advantage of their handsets’ music functionality, and have no need for a separate iPod

On 31st October BT announced that Q2 EBITDA and EPS will be slightly below expectations as a result of a sharp deterioration in performance at Global Services (GS) and that GS CEO Francois Barrault has been replaced by erstwhile Group Finance Director Hanif Lalani