Business telecoms group Thus squared up to rival Cable & Wireless today with a proposed bid worth £800m (€1.2bn) for counterpart Energis.

TELECOM giant Cable & Wireless is the target of a £4 billion (€5.96bn) takeover bid being prepared by France Telecom, it was reported yesterday.

Rising mortgage costs and the future direction of house prices will be a major consideration for British investors this week as banks and property-based firms are among those companies due to update the market.

Freeserve, the internet service provider that gave millions of British consumers their first taste of the web, is to be renamed Wanadoo.

Former state monopoly France Telecom has offered to purchase the 29% of shares it does not already own in its internet service provider Wanadoo.

France Telecom, which owns UK mobile phone operator Orange, said today that it would cut 7,500 jobs in its home country this year.

Internet service provider Freeserve has confirmed it may rebrand in a move that could change the email addresses of 2.5 million customers.

The EU has hinted that it may broaden its fight to bring down internet access charges after claims that newcomers are still being blocked from entering the market by entrenched telecoms firms.