Text messaging breaks 900m barrier

New figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA) indicate that quite a few of you must have got an SMS-compatible mobile phone for Christmas. According to the figures, British mobile phone users sent a startling 900m text messages during the month of January. This figure shows a 200m increase on December's 700m messages and it looks as if the craze for SMS text messaging isn't going to slow down. ...more

BT cuts rural broadband startup cost

BT has announced that it is reducing what it charges third parties, such as ISPs or Rural Development Agencies, to independently upgrade an exchange to broadband. Previously, any organisation wanting to upgrade an exchange itself, rather than waiting for BT to do it, had to pay ?45,000 over three years for 30 connections plus ?30,00 for each additional block of 30. From January the set-up charge will drop to ?25,000 plus ?13 per month for each of the 30 connections, a total of ?29,680 over three years. ...more

Wireless broadband ISP expands into Sussex and Kent

Sussex-based wireless broadband service LTT has announced plans to expand within the county and into Kent. It is also increasing the range of services it offers, adding a business-oriented symmetric 4Mbit/sec connection at ?280 (ex. VAT) per month. ...more

Sasser and Phatbot worm writers arrested in Germany

German police have confirmed that on Friday they arrested a teenager in connection with the outbreak of the `Sasser` worm. Sven Jaschen, 18, from Lower Saxony is also reported to have been responsible for all 28 versions of the 'Netsky' worm which has been causing havoc in the world's PCs since February. In a seemingly related move, the police in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg have arrested a 21-year-old man who is said to be behind `Agobot` and later as `Phatbot` worms. ...more

And also today (20-Feb-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. TransNotes arrive IBM's TransNote - the laptop-cum-electronic note pad - is now available in the UK. The starting price for a model preloaded with Windows 98 is ?2,059. ...more