Thursday Papers: Ofcom paves way for better rural 3G reception - other news

Financial Times

* Ofcom has ruled that so-called “refarming” of 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum would not harm competition in the UK mobile market, paving way for better 3G reception in rural areas.

* Government grants 144 new oil and gas exploration licences and warns the economy would lose up to £6 billion of investment a year if North Sea development was blocked.

* Britain has become a “nation of digital shopkeepers”, with the internet industry as a whole now the fifth-largest contributor to gross domestic product, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by Google; broadband access and net exports of digital goods and services made up 7.2% of UK GDP.

* Highly skilled migrants have been told to expect much tougher restrictions on coming to the UK without a job offer after Home Office research showed many recent arrivals have ended up in unskilled jobs in Britain.

* WPP had its best quarter for a decade in the three months to September, Sir Martin Sorrell has said; like-for-like revenue growth in the first nine months of the year was more than 4%.

* Shares in CSR fell 9% on Wednesday after the chipmaker said revenue for the fourth quarter would now be between $170 million and $185 million, down from $198 million a year ago and 14% below analyst’s expectations.

* For the nine months to 30 September, BAA posted a pre-tax loss of £193 million, down from a loss of £785 million in the corresponding period a year earlier, while turnover from continuing operations rose 4.4% to £1.546 billion; the number of passengers passing through Heathrow airport between July and September rose 4.4% year on year to reach 19.5 million.

* Talks on a disputed austerity budget between Portugal’s socialist government and the main opposition party have collapsed, pushing the country closer to a sovereign debt crisis.

* Britain’s next generation of fast jets could be permitted to fly off France’s flagship Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier under a defence treaty that will deepen military co-operation between the two nations.

* Network Rail has vowed to work more closely with its customers in future, after it was fined £3 million for the botched implementation of a new system for planning rail timetables.

* Procter & Gamble says it has gained market share across its global markets, as new products and demand from emerging markets offset sluggish consumer spending in the US and Europe; the volume of products sold in its first quarter had increased 8% against the same period a year ago.