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Networks & Network Services

Tesco goes VoIP Tesco has launched a free-call internet phone service in an attempt to encourage customers to switch from traditional phone services to a flat-fee package priced at £19.97 per month (including a £5 credit on calls – which are priced at 2p a minute to landlines, 10p to mobiles).Tesco Telecoms has significantly failed to match the success of Tesco Mobile, the VoIP service, which will be rolled out across 350 stores in the next few months, includes a handset and installation software on a CD. BT and Dixons are already offering a VoIP service.All-clear for mobiles A four-year project involving scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Universities of Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester has failed to find a link between mobile phone use and glioma, the most common form of brain tumour. The study tracked the mobile phone use of 966 people with glioma against a control group of 1,716 volunteers and concluded: “Use of a mobile phone, either in the short or medium term, is not associated with an increased risk of glioma”.T-Mobile drives dangerously The Advertising Standards Authority has demanded the withdrawal of one of T-Mobile’s Business Data ads for “encouraging dangerous driving.” It showed a woman in a car full of office furniture and only one hand on the steering wheel; the ASA decided that she might possibly be using a mobile phone with the other.The IBM smartphone? Lenovo, the Chinese company that acquired IBM’s PC and laptop business, is reported to be about to launch a Windows Mobile smartphone. The phone is said to be called the Lenovo ET980, it will support GPRS and MP3, there will be a 4mp camera and a MiniSD memory card slot, and it will only be available in China, Japan and Korea. Caudwell Group sale “soon” John Caudwell has said a deal for the sale of Caudwell Group would be signed by the middle of the year, valuing it at £2bn. He also noted Phones4U sells 30% of all 3G connections in the UK.