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Many small and medium sized businesses find themselves in a tricky situation today. They need to expand their IT and communications offerings, but don't have the technical staff or the expertise to achieve this.

One reason for this is that it can be very  expensive acquiring IT and communications solutions - not good news especially at times when budgets are tight.

However, help is at hand in the form of hosted solutions - also known as cloud computing. In a little over half a decade, demand for hosted solutions has spawned a multi-billion pound, rapid-growth industry. 

Inspired by the launch of Amazon Web Service in 2006, a multitude of providers have brought cloud-based offerings to market in the UK. IDC expects global turnover to rise from £13.6 billion in 2010 to £46.3 billion in 2015, at a growth rate of 27.6%, while indirect income from the cloud is forecast to total £700 billion per annum within four years, supporting 14 million jobs worldwide

One provider that is offering an innovative new hosted solution is UK communications provider Talk Talk Business. It is working with businesses by offering them a suite of Business Grade Hosted Solutions that gives them the features and functionality their business needs, without them having to purchase equipment and technology. The offerings are scaleable too, so as a business grows, or even contracts, so can the depth of the solutions.

Talk Talk Business is fulfilling this demand with a service that provides a Hosted Data Centre, Call Centre and Call Recording - all designed to make life for SME business owners significantly easier while enabling them to keep better control over IT and comms costs.

Take the Data Centre - it is a scalable solution that can easily expand in-line with a business' hosting needs. Talk Talk Business believes that it dramatically reduces connectivity expenses while at the same time ensuring that the business owner is secure in the knowledge that they are using an innovative data centre infrastructure that uses the latest technology and is protected by the highest security standards.

Talk Talk Business is also offering a Hosted Contact Centre which is controlled by Talk Talk. So there's no additional equipment that the business has to invest in. It is a solution that enables business owners to make informed decisions, route calls efficiently and manage different sites and remote workers - wherever they are.

As part of its Business Grade Hosted Solutions Talk Talk also offers Hosted Call Recording, and Hosted Unified Communications too.

So if you are looking for an innovative, inexpensive and highly effective comms and IT offering then contact Talk Talk.

John Lewis are looking to grab a larger share of the UK broadband market by offering 6 months free broadband with every sale of web-connected devices.

That includes obvious web-connected devices like laptops and tablets, alongside Smart TVs and eReaders. In fact, buying a £69 Kindle is one of the cheapest ways to get in on the John Lewis deal. John Lewis will also send out a free preconfigured router (no postage fees apply), as part of the offer.

There's a few caveats. Firstly, you'll have to sign up for a minimum 12 month broadband contract (effectively giving you a year's worth of broadband at half price), and those looking to leave before that term is up will have to pay a standard termination fee.

John Lewis will be offering an "unlimited broadband" package, costing £31.50 a month once that 6-month period is up, not subject to any traffic shaping. There's also a 38Mbps fibre option at £38.50 a month, with a 100GB monthly limit and a little traffic management. All packages require a BT-compatible line or you'll need to pay £50 to have one installed (John Lewis broadband is supplied by BT-owned Plusnet). The entry package Standard Broadband deal costs from £24.50 per month on a 12-month deal (£11 broadband, £13.50 line rental and calls) and offers up to 16Mb speeds, capped to 20GB monthly usage.

"We're going to sell millions of devices over the next year that connect to the internet, and we want to give some value back to every single one of those customers," Adam Brown, the company's buyer for tablets and telecoms told Tech Digest.

"In much the same way as when you buy a TV you get a five year guarantee from us at no extra cost, we're looking to add that principle to our broadband offering."

With broadband penetration in the UK hovering around the 80% mark, many of John Lewis' customers will already be set up with an ISP. So who's this aimed towards?

"Anyone who hasn't had a good service, anyone who hasn't had a good call centre experience, anyone who feels like they aren't getting any accountability from their current provider; those guys will see the value of coming to us," said Brown.

"Also, anyone who doesn't already have broadband equipment, we can set them up, and anyone who is perhaps a little scared of technology and the internet, as we'll take the time to help them understand what it is and what it does. Perhaps older customers too."

Brown also hinted at further tech deals from John Lewis being offered later in the year, rewarding those who stay loyal to the brand, though wasn't in a position to share details yet. With online retailers chasing bottom line pricing, this 21st Century spin on John Lewis' commendable customer services seems the veritable retailer's natural direction to take.

You may not be able to get 4G speeds on your mobile where you live just yet (check here to see if you can) but one place where it's guaranteed is in the back of these distinctly coloured cabs in London and Birmingham.

Launched yesterday was a fleet of 50 4G enabled hackney carriages offering 4G to passengers across London and Birmingham courtesy of EE. Each car has been given a hi-tech makeover and fitted with a state-of-the-art MiFi wireless router that acts as a mobile 4G hotspot connecting the cabs to the UK's only superfast 4G network.

Says Spencer McHugh, Director of Brand, EE said: "The first motorised black cabs hit the streets in 1901, nearly 70 years before the first smartphone was available to consumers, now we are bringing this icon of British transport into the 21st century with a 4G make-over.

"We hope this trial will demonstrate the benefits of a superior online experience as users can browse, download, catch up on emails, Tweet and check Facebook literally at the speed of light. We can't make taxi journeys any faster but we can certainly speed up people's smartphones!"

The free 4G service will be available for three months with 40 traditional Hackney carriages in London and 10 in Birmingham decked out with the state-of-the-art technology.

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REVIEW: EE 4G - One month living with the super-fast mobile network

Half the UK population now covered by EE 4G as network hits 13 new cities

Looking for a new, superfast broadband provider? Then you may want to check out Hyperoptic, who look set to shake up the UK broadband market by offering packages with speeds as fast as one gigabit per second.

Already offering 20Mbps and 100The Telegraph.

The speeds allow for HD movies to be downloaded in seconds, and large digital gaming downloads to be completed within a few short minutes.

Even if you are in an area served by Hyperoptic, the fast speeds don't come cheaply - you're looking at about £50 a month for the one gigabit speeds.

Does anyone need broadband that fast yet?

"You might not need one gigabit now, but history shows people will use it as time goes on," said managing director Dana Tobak.

"I wouldn't pretend there is a need for a gigabit, but there isn't a need for a Ferrari either."

Tobak was previously co-founder of Be Un Limited broadband, the first provider in the UK to offer connection speeds of 24Mbps. It was bought by O2 back in 2006, and now forms part of the service acquired by Sky earlier this month.

For more on Hyperoptic broadband, and the availability of 1Gbps speeds in your area, click here.

BT have committed to bringing superfast broadband connections to the UK's Isles of Scilly by 2014. Calling it the "the most ambitious UK project ever undertaken to bring fastest broadband speeds to a remote community", the project is part of BT's £132 million Superfast Cornwall scheme, bringing top-notch internet speeds to one of the most beautiful, yet remote, corners of the country.

The Isles of Scilly, home to 2,200 residents, will be connected up to BT's fibre-optic network using dormant cabling that is currently sitting on the bed of the Atlantic ocean. The disused fibre-optic cabling had previously been used to aid communications between the UK, Ireland and Spain. Repurposing the cabling will cost £3.7 million, and will require a purpose-built ship that is able to cut and move the cabling to its new home.

Ranulf Scarbrough, Superfast Cornwall programme director for BT said: "The remote location of the Isles of Scilly, their wonderful maritime heritage and scientific and environmental status will present a variety of unique engineering challenges. Environmentally, it is excellent news that we are able to breathe new life into existing cables which are no longer used, but still in very good condition."

At present, residents of the five inhabited islands currently only get internet access through a radio signal sent from Land's End, 28 miles away. The new network will allow for BT's superfast Infinity service to reach homes, offering up speeds in excess of 40Mbps.

Following on from the mandatory blocking of The Pirate Bay, UK ISPs BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, O2 and EE will soon be forced to block websites Kickass Torrents (kat.ph), H33T and Fenopy.

Continuing the UK government's clampdown on websites that facilitate the sharing of pirated media, High Court judge Mr Justice Arnold said the sites in question had profited from the unlawful distribution of games, music and movies "on an industrial scale".

With none of the ISPs contesting the court order, it's expected that the websites will very soon be inaccessible to customers subscribing to broadband packages from the above companies.

When The Pirate Bay was ordered to be blocked by ISPs, many ISPs demanded a court order be put in place before they'd do so, after refusing to make the sites inaccessible voluntarily. It seems that with a court order already in place here, the ISPs were not in a position to contest the ruling.

Those looking to continue to use the websites for legal means will have to either sign up for an alternative ISP, or look for one of the inevitable proxy websites that will spring up in the wake of the announcement.

Big broadband news coming out of the Sky stable today. They've just bought both O2 and BE Broadband for the actually-quite-reasonable sum of £200 million, boosting their subscriber base up to 4.7 million homes. That make's them the second-biggest ISP in the UK now, with 200,000 users more than Virgin Media, but still trailing behind BT's 6.6 million customers.

Sky until now had been merely a middling broadband player, but this move is quite the conscious effort to push them into the big leagues, in a deal that's pretty much pocket money for the entertainment empire anyway.

As for O2 parent company Telefónica, it looks as though they're looking to trim some fat after the costly UK 4G auction ahead of the superfast network's roll-out.

O2 and BE Broadband's current customers shouldn't be too concerned. Sky's broadband satisfaction rankings solid, so few if any should see any major changes to their service.

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The best and most modern broadband is that which is wireless. In an age where not just your computer, but your phone, tablet and laptop are all connected to the internet, getting the right wireless broadband is essential.

Yet you still need a decent connection. If you have a poor connection coming in, it doesn't matter how good your wireless service is. There is where you should look for the likes of Virgin fibre optic broadband, to give you the best of all these options.

The perfect deal

The main appeal of Virgin broadband, besides the high speed internet access itself, is that it allows you to mix and match deals to suit your needs. If you're after fast, wireless options, for instance, these are all easily customisable. Likewise if you're after TV and other Virgin Media options; it can all be added together to make one package designed around you. To compare broadband, find out more or see what else is on offer, look at their website.

Going wireless

The benefit of Virgin broadband is that it gives you access to all Virgin's addition quality services. Broadband options start from just £17.50 a month, which gives you access to the Virgin super hub. This little router is what gives you the best service; it takes the high speed broadband you expect and converts into a strong wireless signal that benefits the whole house.

The wireless signal allows more devices to access the router and, thus, the internet. If you have various devices to connect, and are paying for larger bandwidth to accommodate this, then this is something you'll want. Being able to save on messy cables is an added bonus, too.

Speed

Virgin broadband is available in three speeds; those of up to 30mb, those of up to 60mb and those reaching 100mb. Of course, it helps to know which is right for you. Whilst 30mb will suffice for a couple of people, families or more internet-dependant households may need 60mb to cope with the extra data traffic. If you want the very best, then you want to opt for the 100mb packages available.

All this can still be customised with the other options available, meaning you can easily take the fast connection you want and combine it with wireless broadband from Virgin. With further offers available, such as getting your first 6 months free, you can make the package even more tempting.

The end result, of course is getting the right internet for your home. With the option to choose from different speeds and wireless internet, as well as additional extras, it's a tailor-made service that gives you exactly what you're looking for, rather than charging you for extras you're not going to use.

Crack open the bubbly - the BT Infinity fibre-optic broadband service is set to go truly unlimited, with the telecoms giant announcing that it will be cutting frustrating fair use policies and traffic management restrictions.

BT, like most other internet providers, had used traffic management and fair use policies to contain users hogging the network's bandwidth by downloading huge files or tapping into peer-to-peer networks. These restrictions have now been lifted, letting BT's fibre-optic broadband customers use the network's superfast speeds to their full potential.

The move comes in response to requests from BT's customers, who felt their catch-up TV and video streaming was being hamstrung by the caps and limits.

Sweetening the deal even further is the announcement that BT will be lowering the price of its Infinity packages. The BT Infinity 1 broadband package now costs £23 a month while BT Infinity 2 costs £26 a month.

John Petter, managing director of BT's consumer division, said the company felt "confident" its network would be able to stand up to the hammering heavy users will now put the service through, not to mention the influx of new users the announcement is likely to bring.

BT have also laid down the gauntlet for their competitors, who will now likely feel increased pressure from their own customers to drop fair use policies and traffic management.

Wondering which internet service provider is the best when it comes streaming movies? According to Netflix, based on findings gleaned from connections to their own movie and TV show streaming service, Virgin Media come out on top.

Comparing speed stats from millions of Netflix members, the company found Virgin Media's average speed for streams to be 2.16Mbps, with O2's home broadband in second with a 2.03Mbps speed and BT just behind in third place with 2.02Mbps.

When it comes to mobile networks, it's a closely run race, with O2 and Vodafone both offering 0.51Mbps, with Everything Everywhere (despite EE's super-fast 4G service) and Three trailing a little behind at 0.49Mbps. See all the results in the chart below:"These ratings reflect the average performance of all Netflix streams on each ISP," reads the Netflix blog.

"The average is well below the peak performance due to many factors, including home wi-fi, the variety of devices our members use, and the variety of encodes we use to deliver the TV shows and movies we carry.

"Those factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs, so these relative rankings are a good indicator of the consistent performance typically experienced across all users on an ISP network and a great way to see which ISPs offer the best Netflix experience."

Netflix plan to update the list on a month-by-month basis, keeping you up to speed with which provider offers the best streaming service, and offering ISPs seen to be dragging their heels the opportunity to up their game.

We all remember our most inspirational teachers, and clearly Tim Groves is one of them. In  a career spanning 36 years the Norfolk Primary School teacher has seen some huge changes in the way children are taught, and he loves exploring the educational opportunities that technology brings. Among the new ways of inspiring his pupils in the classroom, Mr Groves uses the internet to help them engage with the world and collaborate with their class mates. Mr Groves has, for example, recently used the excitement surrounding the Olympics to inspire collaboration among his pupils.

With BT Compute every pupil and teacher has a single sign that allows them to safely and securely access their school desktop from any device, at any time, from anywhere. With such a simple system, schools benefit from fantastic learning facilities, and the council can cut costs and boost efficiency, helping to focus resources where they are needed most. You can see how Tim uses the technology in the YouTube video below:

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Residents of Chelsea hoping to get fibre optic internet access from BT have had their hopes dashed, as Chelsea Council have vetoed plans for BT to roll out superfast fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband, stating that new larger cabinets needed to deliver the service where too "ugly" to be placed on their posh streets.

32,000 customers and businesses would have received a substantial jump in potential broadband speeds, but council action has forced BT to abandon plans as work could not be completed without updating 96 of the boroughs 108 street cabinet to larger FTTC-equipped units.

As it stands, BT can offer no alternative. BT explained: "We can't put them underground as the cabinets contain sensitive electronics which would be affected when the chambers flood, as they frequently do. Also, whilst we can make the cabinets smaller they would serve fewer houses and thus more of them would be needed."

It's not all doom-and-gloom for the mega-rich residents of Chelsea. Broadband infrastructure in the area is already equipped to offer the majority of residents 16Mbps connections (far higher than the national average of 4.9Mbps), while Virgin's fibre cables already serve "virtually the whole borough".

Plus, they can always go for a swim in their pools of money.

Via: Telegraph

Internet service provider TalkTalk has today switched on their new porn-filtering system, meaning that all new customers to their service will have to specifically request access to X-rated, adult content.

By default, TalkTalk's HomeSafe filter will automatically block access to any website that features pornography, gambling, violence and drug-use, meaning that any new TalkTalk users who require access to such content will first have to "opt-in" through a highly embarrassing call to customer services.

Customers will also have to reconfirm their opt-in choice once a year, just to rub salt in the wounds.

However, TalkTalk see the move as merely a pre-emptive one, believing that the governments plans to use ISP filters as default will come around sooner rather than later.

Some industry experts see the move as just a few short steps short of censorship.

"We welcome a consultation but default filternets are awful," said Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group.

"They block a wide range of innocent material; and nobody should be advocating broader and simpler censorship."

Via: Metro

Name: Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini - Starter Kit

Type: Powerline networking homeplug kit

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £99.99 from Amazon

Devolo's dLAN 500 AVmini powerline networking starter kit boats superfast, reliable internet speeds over your electrical wiring, effectively knocking out wireless blackspots. However, stability and speed come with a fairly high asking price attached. Does Devolo's latest kit perform well enough to justify the cost? Read on to find out!

For all the convenience a wireless internet connection brings, in many cases they also come with a fair helping of frustration too. Whether it's a signal blackspot or significantly reduced speeds, getting the most out of your internet connection over Wi-Fi can be a struggle. Where once the only alternative was to feed unsightly Ethernet cabling around your house to combat the problem, powerline networking kits, like the Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit reviewed here, are a far more elegant solution.

The powerline kit works by plugging a homeplug adaptor into a wall power socket near your internet router, and linking the two together over an Ethernet cable. A second homeplug adaptor is plugged into the wall near where you want to be able to pick up a stronger internet connection, delivered to your device of choice over a second Ethernet cable. The internet connection is then sent down the electrical wiring of your house, bridging the gap between the router and your internet-accessing device, offering speeds near-identical to those that you'd get from a connection directly wired to your router. Extra cabling is kept to an absolute minimum, while you're left to enjoy a stable, speedy internet connection.

The Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit is one the best powerline networking solutions we've so far seen. For starters, it supports incredible connection speeds of up to 500Mbps, and while there are few (if any) households in the UK that can boast such broadband speeds, all will enjoy significant improvements when compared to a Wi-Fi connection. On our test home broadband connection (which averages out at around the 19Mbps mark when connected directly to our router) we never saw speeds drop below 18Mbps with the Devolo kit, an improvement of as much as 25% over the speed of our best Wi-Fi connection. Faster connections will easily be able to serve multiple HDTV streams and even 3D movies with the kit.

It's a shame that the 500 AVmini plugs experience a slight drop in performance when plugged into an 4-way extension plug bar. For the best performance, you're going to want to plug the gear directly into a wall socket if possible. Thankfully, the slim build of the homeplugs compared to rival offerings mean that they should be able to slip discretely into some relatively tight spaces regardless.
Set up is incredibly simple too. Though a software installation CD comes included with the set's two homeplugs (as well as two short Ethernet cables), it really is a "plug-in-and-play" product, meaning connecting all the wires up to a PC, smart TV or games console and your router at the other end is all that's needed to get things up and running. If you do opt to install the included software CD, you'll be able to configure the homeplugs to prioritize certain types of traffic, such as VoIP or video streaming, handy if more than one person is using the network at once. It's worth mentioning that if you already own older Devolo 200 AV adapters they'll work alongside this newer kit without a hiccup too.

Setting up security features is just as simple. "Push button security" enables 128-bit AES hardware encryption, making it incredibly easy to protect the information travelling around your network.

Lastly, power consumption is also incredibly low. Keeping in mind that it's likely you'll rarely unplug the adaptors or switch them off, the fact that they draw just 0.5 watts when in standby mode will be a welcome one when it comes time to face your electricity bill.

If there's one issue to be had with the Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit, it's the price. While the slim design and high potential connection speeds are a bonus, there are cheaper options that will deliver performance that will be more than suitable for the average user. Only those really keeping a close eye on the minute fluctuations of the fastest broadband speeds will see every benefit on offer here.

Verdict

We're big advocates of powerline networking at Tech Digest, and this latest offering from Devolo is among the best we've tried. With a low footprint in terms of both physical size and power consumption, paired with the stability and speed of internet connection that the dLAN 500 AVmini plugs offer, we cant recommend them highly enough.

A 10-month trail to see the viability of using white spaces to carry broadband connectivity to rural parts of Britain has been deemed a success by the TV White Spaces Consortium, which includes companies like the BBC, Microsoft, BT and Virgin Media.

White spaces (the interference found when unused radio spectrums are present) is seen as a superb alternative to expensive fibre optic connections in rural areas. The trials have found that there is "significant television white spaces capacity" for carrying rural broadband, with 20 white spaces channels equal to 160 MHz in total. 13 of the channels use 104MHz.

Speed hit 8Mbps, enough for "passable" Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity, showing that the white spaces are more than useable, if in need of refinement, lagging behind regular broadband connectivty.

"I welcome the success to date of the Cambridge White Spaces Trial," said ommunications minister Ed Vaizey.

"Leading innovators from the UK and beyond have demonstrated the potential that television white spaces can have for meeting the UK's broadband needs. Developments such as this endorse the leadership position that the UK can take in enabling more efficient use of spectrum by opening up an array of opportunities for wireless applications for consumers and businesses alike."

The Netflix app is to be rolled out to all 2012 BRAVIA, Blu-ray and Blu-ray Home Theatre models featuring the Sony Entertainment Network.

Netflix will sit alongside other popular third party services on the Sony Entertainment Network including YouTube and BBC News, as well as Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited.

"We're very excited about the addition of Netflix to our SEN portfolio" said Edd Uzzell, Sony category development manager.

"All of our consumer products - whether that is a BRAVIA, VAIO, Tablet or Xperia - are designed to provide the best quality content possible, and having great content providers offers consumers greater choice for their home cinema experience."

"Adding Netflix to the Sony Entertainment Network, gives consumers an even broader choice of devices to instantly watch unlimited TV programmes and films streamed over the Internet," said Greg Peters, vice president of product development at Netflix.

"We're always looking to provide people with new ways to enjoy Netflix."

For more details please visit sony.co.uk or netflix.com/netflixreadydevices

John Lewis have entered the broadband services market, offering a branded broadband service either instore, online or over the phone.

Three separate packages are being offered; Standard, Unlimited and Fibre. Speeds range from (up to) 16MB to (up to) 38MB, with monthly data allowances coming in at 20GB for the standard package, 100GB for Fibre subscribers and no cap to the Unlimited package.

Subscribers will also need to grab a John Lewis telephone line rental (which obviously adds its own charges)

Therefore the Standard package costs £11 as a standalone broadband charge, but £24.50 with line rental. Unlimited packages start at £31.50. Both of these services come with 16MB speeds.

The Fibre plan starts as £38.50 per month, and will hit maximum speeds of 38MB.

"This move complements the range of services and products we offer - over 80 per cent of all our consumer electronics sales are WiFi enabled and we know our customers want the same honest and trustworthy experience from their internet provision as they would expect from any product they buy from us," said John Lewis Telecoms Manager Adam Brown.

"John Lewis broadband gives customers an upfront and transparent price on a range of broadband and phone packages with no hidden terms and conditions, a simple 12 month contract with no hidden catches and the excellent customer service that we are renowned for."

The new John Lewis Broadband replaces the previous Waitrose and Greenbee services. Any customers on those plans are encouraged to jump over to the new deals.

For more info on the John Lewis broadband deals, click here.

Over 9,000 O2 broadband customers caught illegally downloading pornography will have their personal details handed over to a major porn baron pressing for a settlement payout, it has been revealed today.

Ben Dover, the pseudonym for British porn actor, director and producer Lindsay Honey of Golden Eye International and Ben Dover Productions, was awarded the court order that saw O2 required by law to match iP addresses to the personal details of those downloading Honey's films. 9,124 IP addresses in total were matched up, with Honey now expected to push for a settlement sum.

In O2's defence, the ISP at least put up a good fight, trying to defend the privacy of their users. O2 fended off twelve court orders from the porn producers before unlucky number 13 forced their hand. According to the High Court, they eventually felt that "the claimants' interests in enforcing their copyrights outweigh the intended defendants' interest in protecting their privacy and data protection rights".

O2's fight however may have strengthened the rights of pirates in the future however. O2 may have set a new precedent, having fended off so many court orders demanding the personal details of their users. The speculative invoicing of lawyers like ACS :Law will now likely require far greater proof from claimants before users' details are shared.

Via: The Telegraph

Chancellor George Osborne, as part of the UK's 2012 Budget announcements, has revealed that 10 cities will benefit from £100 million worht of investment in super-fast broadband.

Christened as "super-connected cities", Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle will all see improvements made to broadband infrastructure.

By 2015, this will deliver ultrafast broadband coverage to 1.7 million households and 200,000 businesses in high growth areas, as well as high-speed wireless broadband for 3 million residents," said HM Treasury.

"Broadband is moving up the infrastructure ladder, and the 2012 Budget recognises its importance to underpinning business, both those engaged directly in digital content creation, and more traditional businesses," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of Thinkbroadband.

"The level of funding is at a low enough level, that it should not cause distortion to the market, but should allow cities to ensure that commercial operators provide service across all parts of a city, rather than the patchy nature many suffer.

"Whether this will be enough to pull the UK ahead of the pack, and accelerate ahead of the rest of Europe and compete with the Far East with regards to broadband infrastructure, the amounts seem small, but as with the BDUK spending, £100m from Westminster, will be match funded by the local authority and similar funding from private companies, meaning that there may actually be £300m or more to spend in these ten cities."

Super-fast broadband provider Hyperoptic also welcomed the news, though also remained sceptical on the overall impact the investment will make:

"There are big questions to be asked following the Chancellor superfast broadband city proposals. It's clear that there is a need to improve broadband speed and quality for both consumers and businesses, especially in light of recent reports that the UK's economy is evermore relying on eCommerce; the UK currently ranks number one in all G20 nations in terms of the amount the internet contributes to its GDP," said Dana Pressman-Tobak, Managing Director of Hyperoptic.

"But in order to compete in a global broadband arena the government needs to take a long term view and focus on encouraging broadband providers to adopt fibre-to-the-building models in cities. Anything less is not ideal. Currently providers are taking their time adopting this approach, because they don't want to cannibalise their customer base and the technology is not compatible with their legacy network."

Rural mobile coverage is also set to be extended, with 60,000 rural homes along at least ten key roads by 2015 seeing improvements to their service. The roads set for updates include the A2 and A29 in Northern Ireland; the A57, A143, A169, A352, A360 and A591 in England; the A82(T) in Scotland; and the A470(T) in Wales, all being dependant upon planning permission, using the £150 million investment revealed in the Autumn Statement 2011.

Virgin Media has announced that they are to be the headline sponsor for this year's Eurogamer Expo 2012, and will be using the event to showcase their own superfast broadband packages.

Offering up to 120MB broadband speeds, Virgin Media will show how their service can benefit gamers who play online. Also, as the games industry moves further away from physical media and into download platforms like Xbox Live, Steam and PlayStation Network, superfast broadband speeds will let gamers grab their games (or stream them over services like OnLive) in double-quick time without even needing to leave the house and visit a shop.

"The Eurogamer Expo is a landmark, annual event for UK gamers, who want sneak previews of brand new games and be able to experience the best that technology can deliver," says Luke Southern, head of sponsorship and partnerships at the service provider.

"Virgin Media makes that happen, with superfast broadband as standard. As the UK's fastest broadband provider we offer the best speeds for downloading games, which makes our partnership with Eurogamer Expo, a perfect one."

Tickets for the Eurogamer Expo 2012 go on sale from February 23rd, available through www.eurogamerexpo.com. Virgin Media custoemrs will also be able to buy tickets through tickle.virginmedia.com on the same day. The virgin Media "Tickles" reward scheme will offer VIP early-access passes, free tickets to the show, and the chance to play exclusive titles at the event.