Utility Week articles from January 2003

Utility Week archives from January 2003

ENERGY; Hannover puts Berlin broker stake on sale.(Stadtwerke Hannover plans to sell its 75% stake in Ampere)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Stadtwerke Hannover wants to sell its 75 per cent stake in Berlin energy broker Ampere. The north German city's municipal utility paid pound sterling3.9 million for the holding, but would probably accept half that figure now. It is thought...

eLECTRICITY; Public-owned British Energy made possible.(the government can provide funds to British Energy or take the company's assets back in a form of public ownership)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Roger Milne The government has published the legislation needed to allow it to bankroll struggling British Energy or take the company's assets back into some form of public ownership. The measures, in the form of a short enabling...

ENERGY; Brokers clash over open market outlook.(UBS Warburg notes that bankruptcies are increasing)
January 17, 2003... by Zo Grainge Leading brokers have clashed over the outlook for pan-utility competition and liberalisation in Europe in 2003. UBS Warburg issued a note saying recent bankruptcies in the sector had increased caution on the Continent....

TELECOMS; France Telecom loan faces inquiry.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Political tensions between Brussels and Paris are poised to heighten after the European Commission's decision to investigate the French government's pound sterling5.8 billion loan to France Telecom. The probe into the loan was announced...

TELECOMS; City thumbs-up for new C&Wchair.(Richard Lapthorne becomes chairman for Cable & Wireless)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... The newly appointed chairman of troubled telecoms operator Cable & Wireless (C&W) has received the thumbs-up from the City as a 'turnaround king'. Richard Lapthorne will oversee 3,500 job cuts, a programme that may see Graham Wallace...

Ups and downs.(a discussion of electricity and gas price rates in various countries)
January 17, 2003... The adoption of the Barcelona target for competition for all non-domestic electricity and gas customers by 2004 has certainly added significant impetus and elements of uniformity to the electricity deregulation agenda in Europe over the past...

WATER; Cambridge Water put on the market.(by Union Fenosa)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... The Spanish owner of Cambridge Water, Union Fenosa, has put the water supply company up for sale. Union Fenosa is trying to cut debt by selling assets and is believed to want around pound sterling55 million for the business. The...

TELECOMS; Cesky Telecom to shed 1,200 jobs.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Dominant Czech fixed-line carrier Cesky Telecom expects to dismiss up to 1,200 of its 14,000 employees this year, spokesman Vladan Crha told Utility Week. The extent of the lay-offs will be similar to last year's, when 1,200 were made...

Making the cut.(the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux fils a complaint against door-to-door salesmen)
January 17, 2003... The announcement that the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) has lodged a 'super-complaint' under the Enterprise Act against door-to-door salesmen has wide-ranging implications for gas and electricity suppliers. Since the...

WATER; Big clean-up is 'not worth it'.(WaterVoice says that customers will not put up with environmental gold-plating)
January 17, 2003... by Karma Ockenden Consumer watchdog WaterVoice has warned that customers will not stomach environmental gold-plating when prices are set for 2005-10. Maurice Terry, WaterVoice chairman, said the time had come to ask whether a...

ELECTRICITY; Czechs pull out of liberalisation speed-up plan.(the liberalization of the country's energy market)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... The Czech cabinet has rejected a plan to speed up by one year the liberalisation of the country's energy market for small businesses and households. The plan was put forward by business associations, but it was shot down because ministers...

ENERGY; Energy credit gets sinking feeling.(Moody's reports that there is a downward pressure on energy companies' creditworthiness)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... A potent brew of concerns have conspired to put downward pressure on energy companies' creditworthiness, according to ratings agency Moody's. Parent company support had been key, Moody's said, because in the absence of legal or regulatory...

ELECTRICITY; EdF privatisation delayed until 2004.(Electricite de France's partial privatization is delayed to 3/04 at the earliest)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... France is to delay the part privatisation of Electricite de France (EdF)for at least three months until March 2004 at the earliest. The sale - which was expected to raise some pound sterling8 billion for the French government - had been planned...

ELECTRICITY; Endesa bucks drought to up year's output.(Endesa controls 42% of Spain's market for electricity generation)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Spanish power utility Endesa rang in the new year as Spain's leader in electricity generation, raising its share to 42 per cent, up from 41.4 per cent in 2001. The company said it achieved the hike by focusing on fired production, which...

eNERGY; Wilson admits White Paper delay to March.(energy minister Brian Wilson says there will be a delay in the U.K.'s Energy White Paper)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... The long-promised Energy White Paper is unlikely to surface before March, the government admitted last week, as it confirmed that the nuclear generation option would be retained. Energy minister Brian Wilson revealed the delay during an...

ENERGY; Gas generation reaches new peak.(gas-fired electricity generation reaches a new peak in 2002's third quarter)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Gas-fired electricity generation reached a new peak during the third quarter of 2002 when it supplied a record 43.3 per cent of total power production, according to the latest energy trends compiled by the Department of Trade and Industry...

MULTI-UTILITIES; Eon set to auction meter reading operation.(Eon will auction its Viterra Energy Services)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... German multi-utility giant Eon is to auction its electricity and water meter reading operation, Viterra Energy Services. The deal could raise some pound sterling645 million for the company. The business is expected to prove attractive...

Catching flak, catching heat.(Ofgem is criticized for publishing confidential documents on the Internet)
January 17, 2003... The energy sector's esteemed regulator has been in a bit of trouble recently for publishing confidential documents on the web. An internal document on the problem seems remarkably unrepentant. A brown paper envelope arrives on a colleague's...

GAS; French liberalisation could open up Spain.(Gaz de France could gain access to Spain due to laws opening France's gas market to foreigners)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Ivan Castano New laws opening France's gas market to foreign competitors could pave the way for Gaz de France (GdF) to enter Spain after being blocked entry for years. An open French market would give Spanish companies the...

eNERGY; Fivefold tax hike hits German industry.(Verband der Elektrizitaetswirtschaft claims energy taxes in Germany have quintupled since the power market was liberalized)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... German energy taxes have risen fivefold since 1998's power market liberalisation, electricity trade lobby Verband der Elektrizitaetswirtschaft (VDEW) has claimed. VDEW warned that growing taxes - set to reach some pound sterling8.3 billion...

GAS; Tractebel gets Spanish ally.(Tractebel S.A./N.V. commercial deals with Gas Natural SDG S.A.)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Spain's Gas Natural is to step up commercial deals with Belgian energy firm Tractebel, whose parent Suez bought a 5 per cent stake in the Spanish gas company through its Hisusa holding. Speaking in Barcelona recently, Gas Natural's...

ELECTRICITY; Hungary opens up wires to newplayers.(Hungarian Energy Office grants licences to foreign-owned firms)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... French, German and Swiss-owned firms are among suppliers granted licences to sell and distribute electricity by the Hungarian Energy Office. The move is part of a partial opening of the Hungarian market, which allowed large consumers to choose...

WATER; Kelda denies buyout of waste arm.(Kelda Group PLC, Waste Recycling Group PLC)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Yorkshire Water parent Kelda Group has confirmed it was not the anonymous bidder in talks to take over Waste Recycling Group (WRG), the waste management company in which it has a 46 per cent stake. WRG last week issued a stock exchange...

Loosen the bonds.(Britain's water industry, merger regulations)
January 17, 2003... It's a familiar theme, but once again we enter a New Year with the issue of utility consolidation to the fore. This time Severn Trent Water's managing director, Brian Duckworth, is quoted in The Sunday Times saying 'the industry has been crying...

GAS; Grid's Grain liquid gas plant delayed.(National Grid Lattice proposes a new gas terminal on the Isle of Grain)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... National Grid Lattice has confirmed that its proposed new gas terminal on the Isle of Grain is unlikely to be operational before the beginning of 2005. The company had hoped the scheme would be up and running next year. But the project...

ELECTRICITY; Ofgem shields Midlands from parent strife.(Ofgem changes the license conditions of Midlands Electricity)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Energy regulator Ofgem has changed the licence conditions of power distributor Midlands Electricity to protect it from financial problems at its USparent. Ofgem has altered Midlands' licence to seal off cashflow from the UKcompany to...

Water sector the most efficient.(Yorkshire Water, Wessex Water, Southern, and Portsmouth Water are the U.K. water industry's most efficient firms)
January 17, 2003... The water industry's most efficient companies during the last financial year (2001/02) have been named by Ofwat as Yorkshire Water, Wessex Water, Southern and Portsmouth Water. According to the regulator's latest report on unit costs and...

Enagas.(a profile of Enagas, the top gas transportation company in Spain)(Company Profile)
January 17, 2003... by Nigel Hawkins Enagas is Spain's leading gas transportation company, whose origins date back to 1972, when the government established Empresa Nacional de Gas. Enagas's structure has changed radically in recent months following the...

BT Group.(BT is changing its focus to its core U.K. market)
January 17, 2003... by Zo Grainge BT's shift in focus to its core UK market, along with increased operational and capital efficiency, has won it approval from analysts looking to see the fixed line giant reduce its debt. Since chief executive Ben...

WATER; Ulster to set up four nitrate sensitive zones.(Northern Ireland will list four areas as 'nitrate vulnerable')(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Northern Ireland has announced it will designate four areas as 'nitrate vulnerable' to avoid contravening the Nitrates Directive. The Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said nitrate...

TELECOMS; NTL back in business as merger talks grow.(NTL emerges from bankruptcy)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Zo Grainge The UK's largest cable operator, NTL, has emerged from bankruptcy proceedings in the US after swapping pound sterling6.8 billion of debt for equity, sparking rumours of an imminent merger with fellow UK cable company...

ELECTRICITY; Top consultant backs standby payments.(several proposals will be considered to reintroduce capacity charges)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Trevor Dooley Controversial proposals to reintroduce capacity charges in the price formula for wholesale electricity were backed this week in a report by a leading consultant. And plant closures under dwindling wholesale prices...

Energy White Paper conclusions.(U.K. energy minister Brian Wilson gives information about the upcoming eneergy White Paper)
January 17, 2003... Energy minister Brian Wilson has given the clearest signal yet about key elements of the upcoming but delayed energy White Paper. During an interview on BBC 2's Newsnight last week, he made it plain that the door would remain ajar in...

water; Southern U-turn on treatment siting.(Southern Water names alternatives to the Portobello wastewater treatment scheme)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Southern Water has named eight alternatives to its controversial Portobello wastewater treatment scheme near Brighton. All are more expensive than the original. Plans to expand the picturesque Portobello site met with fierce local...

WATER; Price review sums 'unsustainable'.(Stone & Webster questions Ofwat's price review methodology)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Economic consultant Stone & Webster has questioned the sustainability of Ofwat's price review methodology. It queried the regulator's decision to push paying for the environmental improvements required by the Water Framework Directive into...

multi-utilities; Cost of foreign expansion hits RWE's bottom line.(in 2002)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Preliminary results for 2002 from RWE show profits hit by the German multi-utility's foreign expansion and weakness in non-core divisions. A strong showing from RWE's energy units lifted group operating results. Net profit fell 22 per cent...

On track for growth.(Scottish & Southern Energy keeps a tight lid on costs)
January 17, 2003... In an age where corporate excess has come in and out of fashion, few companies can show investors that their money has never gone to waste. Scottish & Southern Energy (S&SE), however, has made counting the pennies a religion. Under the...

ENERGY; Severn barrage back on the agenda.(plans for a power producing barrage across the Severn Estuary)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... The government has been urged to look again at plans for a power producing barrage across the Severn Estuary, which could generate more than 5 per cent of the current electricity demand of England and Wales by 2015. The call came in a...

Unhappy returns.(a discussion of the utilities sectors' year in 2002)
January 17, 2003... The outgoing year of 2002 was the third successive year in which the FTSE 100 registered a decline. Aside from leading tobacco manufacturers, such as Imperial and Gallaher, few other major companies managed to buck the depressing trend to any...

WATER; Bucharest fetches [pounds sterling]39m.(Apa Nova receives two loans to financing the construction of a water treatment plant)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Romania has enlisted international finance to help it upgrade its water supplies. Apa Nova, the recently privatised water company of the Romanian capital Bucharest, has been granted two loans to finance the construction of a water treatment...

WATER; Suez to cut exposure to emerging markets.(Suez is cutting back on inveting in emerging markets)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Karma Ockenden Suez is to rein in its exposure to emerging markets after getting its fingers burnt in Argentina and elsewhere. Group chief executive Gerard Mestrallet last week announced that Suez would reduce its exposure to...

Utilities market feeling flat.(stock prices for utilities in the United Kingdom)
January 17, 2003... Brisk trading in the US put a spark into the market in London, but not much of the fizz tickled the utilities. Vodafone attracted a lot of attention and BTbucked the bearish trend in telecoms in general. Elsewhere the action was largely down...

eLECTRICITY; Eon arm slammed for grid access charges.(Eon's Thuringer Energie has been accused of overcharging for grid access)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Simon Jones Germany's Federal Cartel Office has accused the east German power arm of utility giant Eon - Thuringer Energie (Teag) - of overcharging for grid access. Cartel Office president Ulf Boege said preliminary inquiries...

WATER; Swan moots new firm to ease Southern deal.(Swan Group issues a proposal to allow Vivendi to take over Southern Water and to create a new water company in Kent)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... by Paul Garrett A proposal to enable the Vivendi takeover of Southern Water to go ahead by creating a new water company in Kent has been unveiled by Swan Group, owner of Mid Kent Water. The plan would create a new business, Kent and...

TELECOMS; Vivendi set to exit Hungary.(Vivendi Universal will sell its Hungarian telecommunications operations)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Troubled French conglomerate Vivendi Universal is looking to raise pound sterling280.39 million from the sale of its Hungarian telecoms business. Potential buyers are BT's telecoms investment fund GMT Communications Partners and AIG Global...

TELECOMS; Vodafone in share buy-back talks.(Vodafone is in talkes to acquire the rest of the shares in three subsidiaries)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2003... Mobile telecoms giant Vodafone has entered into talks to buy the remaining shares in its subsidiaries in Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal for an estimated total of pound sterling1.3 billion. It has told the boards of each company that...

On the level.(WaterVoice discusses the level of price customers are prepared to pay for water)
January 17, 2003... Customers are not always after the lowest price. Most of us are familiar with the phrase 'you get what you pay for', but before customers act on this principle, they tend to need hard evidence that the product or service benefits are worth the...

TELECOMS; Italy's Hutchison first to launch 3G network.(Hutchison 3G)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... by Zo Grainge Hutchison 3G was due to launch Europe's first third generation (3G) telecoms service this week in Italy. Hutchison, which goes by the brand name 3, said its 333 'VIP' subscribers would receive the first handsets this...

water; Spain's Agbar boosts stake in Chilean unit.(Aguas de Barcelona raises 15.6% stake in Aguas Andinas to 25.6%)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Spanish water company Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar) has increased its stake in Chilean rival Aguas Andinas to 25.6 per cent, up from 15.6 per cent, for pound sterling118 million. In a statement, Agbar said Aguas Andinas was a growing company...

WATER; Pull together, says Beckett.(integrated approach to assets and water environment is advocated in guidance from UK government to Ofwat )(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... An integrated approach both to assets and the water environment has been advocated in guidance from the government to Ofwat. The document, with a foreword by environment secretary Margaret Beckett, said that in approaching the next five...

electricity; CEZ output increase led by nuclear.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Czech power utility CEZ last year raised electricity output by 3.75 per cent to 54.12 billion kWh, compared with 52.16 billion kWh in 2001. Nuclear power output increased the most, up 27 per cent, company spokesman Ladislav Kriz told...

MULTI-UTILITies; Centrica under fire for multi-utility strategy.(utility firm's home services retail strategy comes under fire)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... by Paul Garrett The home services retail strategy of utility giant Centrica has been seriously questioned by two reports published this week. One suggested that Centrica should retrench to its core energy business and ditch financial...

TELECOMS; Commission slashes mobile phone prices.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... TELECOMS Commission slashes mobile phone prices by Paul Garrett mobile phone users will soon be benefiting from lower charges when they make calls to other mobile networks, thanks to a ruling from the Competition Commission this...

Virtual war.(utilities should take the threat of cyber attacks seriously)
January 24, 2003... A cyber attack can be devastating, yet most utilities are almost completely defenceless . Debbie Ashenden says the threat should be taken seriously. We are only too aware of the danger of terrorism, but the truth is that physical acts of...

telecoms; Czech ADSL access angers competitors.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... The Czech Republic's incumbent operator, Cesky Telecom, last week unveiled its offer to alternative operators for ADSL network access. ADSL services use standard fixed lines for high-speed internet access, and both Cesky Telecom and rival...

ENERGY; Small players are thinking big in Holland.(half of the Netherland's major energy users switch suppliers four years after partial liberalisation of energy market)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Four years after the partial liberalisation of the energy market in the Netherlands, half the country's major energy users have switched supplier. Research from market analyst Datamonitor also suggested that levels of customer switching...

eLECTRICITY; Ofgem sets its face against net metering.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Ofgem has reiterated its opposition to net metering but does want a form of annualised charging and a 'banding' system to help embedded generation. This is the message from the watchdog's latest review of changes to electricity...

electricity; Ofgem plans crackdown on power network losses.(proposals could require electricity distributors to buy electricity to cover losses suffered by their networks)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Electricity distributors could be required to buy electricity to cover losses suffered by their networks under proposals just floated by the energy regulator. Last week Ofgem began consulting on ways of reducing the electricity lost on...

energy; Eneco denies cuts put supplies at risk.(Eneco Energie)
January 24, 2003... by Simon Jones Eneco Energie has rejected claims in a leading Dutch newspaper that maintenance cutbacks at the country's third-biggest power supplier threaten security of supplies. A report in business daily NRC Handelsblad - quoting...

eNVIRONMENT; EU emissions trading undermines UK policy.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... by Roger Milne Ministers have been warned that the European Union's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) undermines the UK's strategy for coping with global warming and could force major changes to key measures like the climate change...

energy; Electrabel hopes six will fly.(Electrabel seeks to acquire 6 regional gas and electricity suppliers)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... The European Commission has invited comments on the plans of Belgian supplier Electrabel to acquire six regional gas and electricity suppliers. Electrabel Customer Solutions wants to take control of gas supplier Igao and power utilities...

Fighting fit.(company profile of Enel)(Company Profile)
January 24, 2003... Eon and Edf are not the only heavyweights in town . Nigel Hawkins profiles Enel. The recent transfer of Paolo Scaroni from his post at Pilkington, the St Helens glassmakers, to the chief executive's chair at Enel was a formidable...

ENERGY; Enel targets organic growth.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Italian generator and energy supplier Enel must learn to rely on organic growth to improve its profitability rather than pin its faith on fluctuating oil prices and asset sales, chief executive Paolo Scaroni insisted last week. His...

eNERGY; Poor billing to get top billing.(Energywatch, consumer watchdog, to spend next year targeting unreliable billing, dishonest sales tactics and erroneous transfers)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Consumer watchdog Energywatch is to spend the next 12 months targeting unreliable billing alongside dishonest sales tactics and erroneous transfers. They are among the issues highlighted by the organisation for concerted effort, according...

gas; Italy's Snam told to change contracts.(Snam Rete Gas)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Italy's energy regulator has told gas transporter Snam Rete Gas to change a clause in its supply contracts that could illegally exclude traders from the gas network. The clause allows Snam to refuse capacity to suppliers who have not paid...

energy; Germany's Riva Energie files for insolvency.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Essen energy trader Riva Energie has filed for insolvency at a local court. Riva chief financial officer Michael Klein blamed the move on tough market conditions, high grid access fees and problems with grid operators. Riva was founded by...

Helen, Gavin and Ernie tooa.
January 24, 2003... The great man notes that former energy minister Helen Liddell is having a rather difficult time at present. That's putting it mildly. She should not exist. And that's official. Or to put it another way, as a headline last week in the...

energy; Germany acts on stadwerke.(Federal Cartel Office to get new powers to investigate Germany's gas and electricity sectors )(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Germany's Federal Cartel Office (FCO) is to get new powers to investigate the country's gas and electricity sectors. Foremost in its sights is the growing number of municipal 'stadwerke' utilities controlled by the big four German...

GAS; Liberalisation will cut suppliers by one-third.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... by Martha Wilson The liberalisation of the German gas market could result in the number of suppliers being slashed by as much as one-third within four years, consultancy A T Kearney has predicted. According to a study just released by...

WATER; Agency: green goals must be paid for.(Environment Agency concerned that water firms may not be able to maintain environmental progress after next price review)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... The Environment Agency is concerned that water companies may not be able to maintain environmental progress after the next price review. It is also concerned about growing pressure on the water environment in the south of England, chairman...

eLECTRICITY; Think-tank says no new nuclear plant.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... by Roger Milne Support for a new fleet of modern nuclear power stations should not form part of the government's yet-to-be-announced energy policy, a top think-tank insisted this week. That was the unequivocal stance of the Institute...

PAN-UTILITY; Italian share boom over, says broker.(Italian utilities are unlikely to do as well in 2003 as they did in 2001-02 )(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Italian utilities, which have outperformed other European utilities in 2001/02, are unlikely to do as well in 2003, according to a report by UBS Warburg. But although the broker said a third year of stock market outperformance looked...

telecoms; Holland's KPN withdraws from cable TV.(KPN quits cable television market with sale of subsidiaries in Poland and Czech Republic)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Dutch telecoms operator KPN announced on 20 January that it had quit the cable television market with the sale of subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and Poland. The sales raised pound sterling43 million. Vision Networks, the parent company...

Multi-utility retail doubts.
January 24, 2003... It always seemed like a good idea. Instead of households and businesses using a multiplicity of suppliers, they could get the whole range of utilities from one company. Multi-utility retail was going to be the future and the champion of the...

Thirst for knowledge.
January 24, 2003... If you wanted to know how many 's's there are in Mississippi, you would probably look in a dictionary. If you wanted to find out when Henry VIII died, or what the theory of evolution is, you might well leaf through an encyclopedia. If you want...

Let's get down to business.(number of firms supplying energy to consumers fall to 6 from 14 since liberalisation)
January 24, 2003... Since liberalisation, the number of companies supplying energy to consumers has fallen from 14 to six. Yet, although the market appears to be moving in the direction of a national oligopoly, there is still intense competition to lure customers...

ELECTRICITY; Giant wires merger in prospect.(PPL is late entrant in bidding for Midlands Electricity, which is up for sale)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... The creation of a giant pound sterling2.1 billion electricity distribution business covering the south west of England, the Midlands and South Wales was in prospect this week. Western Power Distribution's owner, PPL, has sounded out...

telecoms; Iberian firms cement mobile lead in Brazil.(Telesp Celular Participacoes acquires Tele Centro Oeste)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Telesp Celular Participacoes, the Brazilian joint venture between Telefonica Moviles of Spain and Portugal Telecom, has bought rival mobile company Tele Centro Oeste (TCO) in a deal worth pound sterling265 million. The deal will cement...

Barrage in comeback claim.(hydropower from the Severn)
January 24, 2003... Consultants commissioned under a government programme have claimed that there is a stronger cost-benefit case now for building a Severn Barrage compared to the position over a decade ago, when the issue was last considered seriously. ...

Bouygues.
January 24, 2003... by Nigel Hawkins Since its foundation in 1952 as a company operating in the building sector in Paris, Bouygues has expanded considerably, now employing over 120,000 people. Although the construction division remains an integral part of...

TELECOMS; Former NTL boss is chief of Ofcom.(Stephen Carter)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Stephen Carter has been appointed chief executive of Ofcom, the new regulator to be responsible for broadcasting, telecoms and spectrum management. Carter was managing director of NTL until the end of last year and before that chief...

Atomic break-in posed little threat.(energy policies in the United Kingdom)
January 24, 2003... Ministers will get a double dose of advice this week on corporate governance, in the shape of the Higgs report on the role of non-executive directors plus a report advocating more independence role audit committees. Ministers will no doubt...

ENERGY; Powergen to slash 1,000 TXU jobs.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Nearly 1,000 jobs are to go as a result of Powergen's acquisition of TXU's retail energy business. The biggest impact will be at TXU's former headquarters in Wherstead, just outside Ipswich, where 936 people are currently employed. This...

PAN-UTILITY; Vivendi failing to impress in column inches.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2003... Vivendi has got the worst press of any water company operating in Britain, according to the latest Presswatch survey. The top water company in terms of press coverage was multi-utility United Utilities, which scored 336 points, followed by...