Telecom news

• EU gives conditional OK to Microsoft's LinkedIn buy

  07-12-2016 01:00
  The European Commission has approved Microsoft's $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, albeit subject to conditions.Following an investigation, the Commission concluded that the deal does not have the potential to damage competition in the customer relationship management (CRM) and online advertising markets, but could allow Microsoft to harm rival professional social networks…read more on TotalTele.com »
  
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• Apax nears deal to buy Warburg Pincus out of €6.5bn telecoms group Odido

  26-09-2026 06:00 via ft.com
  Purchase would follow private equity owners’ decision to shelve planned listing of Dutch operator due to market instability
  
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• The London Buzz – 25th Sept 2026

  25-09-2026 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Old London – Beckenham High Street / Church Hill in 1979
  Today’s London news round-up:
  A theatre-goer fell victim to a “sophisticated phishing attack” after booking a “luxury” London apartment, only to discover the address was a Wetherspoon pub. BBC News
  ‘Unless the Greens get a grip, government will step in’: Lib Dem warning as Lambeth faces £10m overspend Brixton Buzz
  E-bike vandalism at Shire golf course leads to closure of entry points to
  
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• TfL to run London bus routes again for first time since 2009

  25-09-2026 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Transport for London (TfL) will run bus routes again for the first time since 2009, starting with Route 6 between Willesden and Victoria in late 2027.You might be surprised to learn that TfL is running a bus service, as many people assume it already does. In fact, although London’s bus network is publicly planned and controlled, eight private companies provide the buses under contract. TfL’s new company, Buses for London (BfL), will give TfL a way to run a small number of those servi
  
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• Free exhibition inside the RNLI’s Thames lifeboat station

  25-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  For a few days, there is a chance to go into the RNLI’s riverside base in central London and see a small but quite fascinating exhibition.The exhibition mainly features paintings from the RNLI’s archive, showing the range and variety of lifeboat stations along the UK’s coastline, along with archive drawings by their architects.
  As a collection, it’s both arty but also educational, as you get to learn about how early lifeboat buildings were designed with ecclesiastical des
  
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• Old masters meet surrealists in a free Marylebone exhibition

  25-09-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A wide-ranging collection of artworks, from old masters to modern, has been gathered in an exhibition that is, well, quite eclectic.The collection, which ranges from paintings by Hendrick Goltzius to Salvador Dalí, has been interspersed with modern works by the gallery owner, Glenn Brown.
  Glenn Brown’s work is very marmite and of a certain taste, but collecting a range of other artists and putting them on display around his work gives the visitor a chance to see usually private work
  
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• A once-in-a-lifetime bloom is coming to Kew Gardens

  25-09-2026 10:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Kew Gardens is advising people to stand by for a rare flowering of a giant Agave montana as it prepares its one bloom in its life.
  Anna Lim, Botanical Horticulturist with Agave montana – Photo Sebastian Kettley (c) RBG Kew
  The A. montana, which is native to the mountainous habitats of northeastern Mexico and sits in Kew’s Rock Garden next to Davies Alpine House, has produced an asparagus-like stalk (called a peduncle) growing at a rate of 10cm a day and is now measuring more than 2 m
  
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• Restoration secured for London pipe organ smuggled out of France in 1904

  24-09-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  A rare pipe organ in west London that was smuggled out of France more than a century ago is to be restored after a Hammersmith school secured nearly £248,000 in National Lottery funding.
  (c) Sacred Heart High School
  The grant will allow Hammersmith-based Sacred Heart High School to press ahead with restoring the only known pipe organ in the UK built by the 19th-century Belgian organ maker Hippolyte Loret.
  The school has raised £327,815 towards the project, which will also support edu
  
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• RMT Union opens its magazine archive to everyone

  24-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The RMT Union has made the past two decades of its members’ magazine available online for free, open to all to read.The RMT News Archive currently contains 194 editions and more than 3,900 indexed articles dating from 2004 to the present day, providing an alternative view of transport issues from the side you might have read in transport organisations’ own communications.
  Instead of searching through individual magazine PDFs, you can also search the entire collection by keyword, name
  
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• Pictures released of the railway bridge removal near Watford

  24-09-2026 12:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Over the past weekend, Network Rail carried out an urgent removal of a bridge over the railway near Watford.
  Oxhey Grange footbridge removal (c) Network Rail
  The Oxhey Grange footbridge crosses the railway line to the south of Bushey station and had already been earmarked for replacement because of its condition. However, Network Rail says routine inspections revealed it had deteriorated faster than expected and required urgent intervention. Engineers eventually decided it had to be removed as s
  
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• Friday lunchtime performances at the Royal Opera House

  23-09-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  It’s not that well known outside the usual circles, but the Royal Opera House puts on occasional lunchtime performances.
  Paul Hamlyn Hall (c) ianVisits
  Artists from The Royal Opera, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, The Royal Ballet, and a range of guest artists perform at the Royal Opera House roughly twice a month on Friday lunchtimes – and tickets cost just £5 per person.
  They used to be free, but you had to risk a long queue and not getting in. Now they charge a fiver
  
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• Tickets Alert: Nightime drone show coming to Lord’s Cricket Ground

  23-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Lord’s Cricket Ground will open to the public one evening in November as it hosts a new night-time drone show.
  (c) Wild
  The event, WILD: The Drone Light Show, will mark London’s first feature-length drone light show and the first event of its kind to be staged at the Home of Cricket. Launched in 2015, WILD follows a series of successful touring drone shows from Yuup and Celestial, including A Christmas Carol and Evolution. Since launching the UK’s first ticketed touring drone l
  
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• Plans move forward for new London Overground route across west London

  23-09-2026 13:34 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Plans for a new London Overground railway in west London have moved forward, with the first public consultation now open.
  (c) TfL
  Transport for London (TfL) is running an eight-week consultation inviting feedback for the first time on proposals to create an 18.5km passenger route on rail lines currently used for rail freight across west and northwest London.
  If built, the West London Orbital (WLO) could run up to six trains an hour and provide ten new interchanges with rail and Underground
  
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• Westminster Abbey to display a memorial to J.R.R. Tolkien

  23-09-2026 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner will get a new resident next year, when a memorial to J.R.R. Tolkien is unveiled to mark the 90th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit.
  The Tree of Amalion, 1928 (c) Tolkien Trust, 1978
  The new memorial has been inspired by Tolkien’s Tree of Tales, which he called the Tree of Amalion. Featuring the imagery of a tree in a forest as its central theme, it will be a significant new artwork for the Abbey, inlaid vertically within a stone pil
  
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• New step-free Tube entrance opens at King’s Cross St Pancras station

  23-09-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  King’s Cross St Pancras tube station has gained a new step-free entrance, replacing two staircases that used to block the pavement.The station’s main entrances are on the north side of Euston Road, on the same side as the mainline railway stations, but it also has a subway under the road to the south side. However, that subway ended in two staircases that lacked lifts and also obstructed half the pavement, creating a well-known bottleneck for pedestrians.
  The old entrance in March 20
  
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• Airtel Money poised to launch one of London’s biggest IPOs in recent years

  22-09-2026 19:24 via ft.com
  African mobile payments group to file paperwork as early as this week as it looks to raise $800mn at $8bn-$9bn valuation
  
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• TfL’s cycle hire scheme offering half-price monthly subscriptions

  22-09-2026 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  TfL’s Santander Cycles hire scheme is offering new subscribers half-price monthly subscriptions.For the next few days, new customers can purchase a Santander Cycles Monthly Pass for just £10, reduced from the usual £20.
  The Monthly Pass includes unlimited 60-minute rides using the cycle hire bikes – so is a lot cheaper than the dockless hire bikes. And they don’t clog up the pavements.
  Additional charges apply for rides lasting longer than 60 minutes. E-bike hires c
  
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• Southwark Cathedral offers local artists free exhibition space

  22-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Artists across much of South London are being offered a free opportunity to exhibit their work inside Southwark Cathedral’s café next year.
  (c) Southwark Cathedral
  Southwark Cathedral says that it will dedicate its café exhibition programme in 2027 to the work of artists with a connection to the Diocese of Southwark – which is a much larger area than you might expect.
  The Diocese of Southwark covers South London and East Surrey, including communities across Southwark, L
  
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• Tickets Alert: Talk and tour of the Bank of England building

  22-09-2026 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Next month, the Bank of England will host art history talks focused on its rich interior design, and they will include tours of the bank itself. Tours inside the bank are quite rare, so this is a chance to see inside a building you wouldn’t usually be allowed to.Boris Anrep’s Mosaics at the Bank of England
  Tuesday 6th October – 1pm to 2pm
  Boris Anrep’s extraordinary mosaics for the Bank of England are a vibrant and deeply symbolic work of art and craftsmanship across the
  
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• Barbican gets permission to restore its outdoor Sculpture Court

  22-09-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Barbican Centre has secured planning permission to restore and revive its outdoor Sculpture Court, which subject to funding, will see it reopen as a public space in 2030.
  Sculpture Court (c) Barbican Arts Centre
  Located above the Concert Hall and framed by the curve of Frobisher Crescent, the semicircular Sculpture Court was originally conceived as a space where people could experience art and architecture as part of their daily lives.
  However, limited accessibility, poor seating, and deteri
  
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• Apple opens 600-capacity music venue at Battersea Power Station

  22-09-2026 11:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Battersea Power Station has opened a 600-capacity music venue that Apple, which operates it, says has been designed for small-scale concerts while offering production facilities more commonly associated with larger venues.
  (c) Apple
  The new concert hall includes a 38ft-wide stage that can be configured for conventional or in-the-round performances, and a 48-speaker spatial audio system surrounding the audience.
  The venue will also include two recording and mixing studios behind the stage. The ve
  
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• The London Buzz – 21st Sept 2026

  21-09-2026 18:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Old London – Acre Lane in Brixton, London, around the early 1900s
  Today’s London news round-up:
  ‘Cyclists don’t stop’: disabled residents frightened of floating bus stops as council urged to reject them  Hackney Citizen
  She had no heating. It was December. The council took four months to visit Putney News
  Warren Street Tube noise waking residents in the early hours  Fitzrovia News
  Gallows Corner has fully reopened to traffic more than a year after the clos
  
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• Tickets Alert: Open days at Greenwich’s Admirals’ House

  21-09-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The usually private Admirals’ House at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich will be open for a few days this Christmas for people to wander around and photograph.
  (c) Old Royal Naval College
  One of the oldest surviving parts of the site, Admiral’s House, overlooking the Thames, was once the residence of the Governor of the Royal Hospital for Seamen.
  Dressed for the holidays, all four rooms of this historic house will be adorned with decorations, allowing visitors to explore a bui
  
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• Specialist train deployed to prevent c2c and London Overground delays

  21-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Passengers on c2c and London Overground’s Mildmay line could benefit from fewer delays after specialist equipment was used to identify potential overhead line faults before they cause major disruption.
  Greater Anglia train equipped with PANDAS-V on the London Overground (c) GBR Anglia
  That’s because a Greater Anglia train fitted with the monitoring technology travelled over both routes on two Sundays in July and August, gathering information about the condition of their overhead elec
  
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• Handel treasures go on display for London museum’s 25th anniversary

  21-09-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Handel Hendrix House is marking the 25th anniversary of its opening after successfully saving the building from partial demolition, with a new exhibition of loaned artworks rarely seen outside their usual homes.The exhibition, which runs throughout the building, tells a series of stories about the music Handel wrote within its walls and performed as he became Georgian London’s go-to composer and most celebrated musical personality.
  His importance is highlighted in a painting of the Roy
  
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• TfL to build 53 new toilets for London bus drivers

  21-09-2026 10:30 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Transport for London (TfL) is to build 53 new toilet facilities for bus drivers over the next three years, as part of efforts to ensure suitable facilities are available on every London bus route.The announcement follows a recent strike threat over conditions for bus drivers during heatwaves, which saw an agreement to install air conditioning in drivers’ cabs.
  TfL says it will invest a further £6 million in driver welfare facilities during the current financial year. The programme wi
  
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• London’s Alleys: Terrett’s Place, Islington, N1

  21-09-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  This rather shabby-looking short passageway off Islington’s Upper Street has an unexpected gem with a Dickens link in the corner.This part of London began developing in the 1720s, but even a century later, it was still largely fields, with houses lining only the few main roads.
  Terrett’s Place is developed by now, but was always what it is today – a tiny little corner passage behind the back of a couple of shops. If it was ever expected to get larger with future housing develop
  
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• Free immersive dining experience coming to Shoreditch

  18-09-2026 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  If you fancy a free meal, then there will be a free three-day immersive dining experience in Shoreditch next month.
  Lurpak 125 Good Food Vault
  It’s a publicity event by Lurpak, but free food is free food —  so over two hours, you’ll be able to taste meals from the past 125 years of dining in the UK.
  The tasting menu travels through select defining eras of British cooking, covering the 1900s, the flavour rebellion of the 1960s, the good-food indulgence of the 1980s, and vir
  
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• Tate Modern to stage large Monet exhibition in 2027

  18-09-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  Tate Modern is about to stage a Monet exhibition, presumably hoping to avoid the huge fuss about the price of tickets the last time a gallery put on a Monet exhibition in London.
  The Saint-Lazare Railway Station, 1877
  Staged 100 years after the artist’s death and featuring more than 60 paintings, Tate Modern says that its show will be the UK’s largest presentation of Monet’s work in nearly a decade.
  And a decade ago, the National Gallery took a lot of brickbats for its £2
  
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• Tickets Alert: Walk through the Postal Museum railway tunnels

  18-09-2026 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  
  The Postal Museum has announced October dates for its after-hours Tunnel Walk events, including two tours on Halloween (Saturday, 31 October), offering visitors the chance to explore London’s shadowy Mail Rail network on the spookiest night of the year.
  (c) Postal Museum
  The 1.2km walk takes guests deep underground, over tracks, into tunnels, and onto platforms usually off-limits to the museum’s visitors.
  Tunnel walkers will explore the abandoned Mail Rail platforms, left as they wer
  
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