News: UK 'keener on online networking'

The UK benefits from cheap broadband deals

More adults in the UK use social networking sites such as Facebook than in other European countries, a report by communications watchdog Ofcom says.

Four out of 10 UK adults with internet access use social networking sites compared to 17% in France, 12% in Germany and 22% in Italy.

The UK is eclipsed only by Canada where 53% of internet users go on social networking sites.

In Japan and the US the percentage is 32% and 34% respectively.

International comparisons

The Ofcom report into the £873bn telecoms, radio and television sectors compared the UK with 11 other countries, including Canada and the US.

It also looked at emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India and China, where mobile phone growth is particularly strong.

The report found that the US and UK are the only places where men do not use the internet more than women.

In the UK, the split is equal, while in the US 52% of internet users are women.

Cheap deals

The watchdog also said that the UK enjoys some of the cheapest deals for telephone, pay-TV and broadband.

In the UK, about 40% of households already take a bundled service, where they pay a monthly fee for a telephone landline, pay-TV and the internet.

This can be as low as £25 in the UK for a typical family household including two parents and two children.

This compares with £27.22 in France, £39.77 in Germany and £69.54 in the US.

COST OF PHONE, INTERNET & TV UK: £25 France: £27.22 Germany: £39.77 US: £69.54 Price for triple play deals Source: Ofcom

Price may be one of the reasons the UK has the highest take-up of digital television in the 12 countries surveyed.

At the end of 2006, about 76% of UK households were digital.

But it is still Japanese and US consumers who spend the most time watching television, averaging 4.5 hours a day.

This is one hour more than people spend in front of television in the UK.

Revenue boost

Internet advertising revenues are also on the rise, particularly in the UK.

At £33, advertisers in the UK spend more money per person on internet advertising than any other country, twice as much as that spent in France, Germany and Italy combined.

Overall, the money to be made from telecom services is increasing, reflecting the growing importance of the sector.

Telecom services revenue per head increased by 20% - from £288m in 2001 to £345m in 2006 - across the countries surveyed, the report found.

Global take up

Globally, mobiles are driving growth in the communications sector, now accounting for 53% of total telecoms revenues.

By the end of 2006, there were 402 million landlines and 634 million mobile connections in the 12 countries surveyed.

Brazil, Russia, China and India are driving much of this growth.

Since 2001, more than 660 million subscriptions were added in these four countries, accounting for 40% of total new mobile subscriptions globally.

Last year, mobile phone users in China sent 429 billion text messages, or 967 text messages per user, compared with 621 per mobile user in the UK.

New subscriptions in India doubled to 150 million, more than twice the number of UK subscribers.

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News: Greenpeace takes on gaming giants

Greenpeace is hoping to speak to manufacturers via gamers

Greenpeace has called on gamers to persuade Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to make their consoles greener.

According to the environmental campaign group, game console makers have so far "failed to reduce the toxic burden of their products".

It accuses Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony of lagging behind mobile phone and PC manufacturers.

The initiative is part of Greenpeace's campaign to persuade the electronics industry to be greener.

"Game console manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of the products over the past year," said Zenia Al Hajj, Greenpeace International's toxics campaigner.

"Game consoles contain many of the same components as PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more," she added.

Workers "at risk"

As part of its campaign, Greenpeace has launched a 90-second video featuring some of the iconic games console characters - Microsoft's Master Chief, Nintendo's Mario and Sony's Kratos - competing for the prize of a greener games console.

Gamers can compare how each console meaures up on toxic materials, recycling and energy efficiency, as well as logging their support for the campaign.

The campaign is aimed at the big three game console manufacturers - Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Nintendo said that it is looking to establish a dialogue with Greenpeace but that it adhered to all European standards.

It is signed up to the European WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive - which makes manufacturers responsible for recycling their goods.

"We make sure that all of our products comply with European standards which we understand are the highest in the world," said a spokesman.

Greenpeace is engaged in a wider campaign to persuade the whole electronics industry to eliminate hazardous chemicals across the board.

It does not believe that current legislation goes far enough and on its hazard hit list are brominated fire retardants and PVC, the use of which it claims can lead to dangerous chemicals building up in the environment and in human and animal tissue.

It said that Chinese and Indian workers in production facilities and scrap yards where goods are dismantled could be at risk.

Nintendo's spokesman said that no PVC was used in the production of its consoles, although he couldn't confirm whether brominated fire retardants were banned.

Leading mobile phone makers, including Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Philips, have all implemented eco-design aspects into their production lines, including reducing the amount of hazardous substances used in their products.

Global warming

Global warming campaign launched in the virtual world

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, produces a handset every nine seconds. It has decided to implement requirements set out in the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive in all 10 of its factories around the globe.

The RoHS Directive bans six substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PDBE) from products that are either made or sold in the EU.

Greenpeace has been busy garnering support for its various initiatives from the web community. Earlier this month it teamed up with teenage social networking site Habbo to find out more about youngsters attitudes to global warming.

50,000 teenagers responded to the survey, with 74% rating global warming over drugs, violence and war as the issue they were most concerned about.

It has launched a 90 second video, aimed at gamers, in which iconic characters from each of the major manufacturers compete for a greener games console.

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