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UK GO SLOW ON BROADBAND

The UK is trailing when it comes to next-generation access, new figures show.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UK is placed 21st out of 30 in terms of speed.

That puts it below countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain. The report suggests that countries that invest in fibre networks are likely to see the best economic returns in other areas.
When it comes to broadband penetration, the UK is doing ok - placed 13th out of the 30 OECD members. But most of these subscribers still access broadband via so-called DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) rather than via fibre.

NOKIA v APPLE COLD WAR TURNS HOT

The legal battle between Finland's Nokia and its US rival Apple has taken a new turn, with Apple countersuing Nokia over alleged patent violations.
The move follows a Nokia lawsuit filed in October accusing iPhone maker Apple of 10 Nokia patent infringements. Now Apple, in turn, is claiming that the Finnish phone firm is infringing 13 of its technology patents.

"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," Apple said.

Apple has not yet revealed which patents are at issue. Nokia was unavailable for comment.
In October, Nokia said it had not been compensated for its technology, and accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".

The 10 alleged patent infringements by Apple involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.

SHELL AND PETRONAS TEAM UP

A joint venture between the UK's Shell and Malaysia's Petronas oil companies has won the right to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.

A total of 44 companies took part in a bid for 10 fields in the second such auction since the invasion in 2003. Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC.
Although Majnoon is a huge oil field, with reserves of 13 billion barrels of oil, it currently produces just 46,000 barrels per day.

Shell and Petronas have pledged to increase that output to 1.8 million barrels per day.

UK FACTORY PRICES RISE

The cost of materials and fuels bought by UK factories rose at their fastest annual pace in a year in November.

Input prices gained by 4% last month from November 2008, and by 0.4% from October.
Output prices - the prices of goods leaving UK factories - rose 2.9% on the year, the fastest pace since February.

The numbers suggest that inflation is set to rise in the short term, however, most economists do not expect any increase to persist for long.

"The time lags involved mean that this is unlikely to have much of a bearing on High Street inflation for some time yet," said Vicky Redwood, an economist at Capital Economics.

The annual inflation figures "are likely to increase further over the coming months, as last year's big energy-driven drops in costs fall out of the annual comparison. But the rise should be short-lived."

SOURCE: BBC Business News