Reuters Technology, Media and Communications News

LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Ofcom, Britain's communications regulator, has proposed increasing the wholesale prices that BT Group charges other telecoms providers to cover the impact of inflation and rising costs over the last three years.

BRUSSELS, Dec 05 (Reuters) - Luxembourg-based satellite giant SES said on Friday that its European arm SES Astra has signed a deal to provide satellite-based high-speed internet to Dutch farmers.

LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Bloomsbury Publishing Plc has acquired John Wisden & Co, the publisher of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in a move to boost its presence in reference and sport publishing, the company said on Friday.

Dec 5 (Reuters) - Social networking company Facebook is delaying a previously announced plan to let employees sell part of their stocks, due to difficult global economy, the Wall Street Journal said.

TAIPEI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - ProMOS Technologies Inc , Taiwan's No.3 DRAM chip maker, denied a report on Friday that it would be forced to halt production at one of its advanced 12-inch chip factories as it struggles with a severe downturn. "Our 12-inch plants are still running," ProMOS Vice President Ben Tseng told Reuters, responding to a report by the Commercial Times that quoted unnamed sources as saying gas suppliers had stopped supplying ProMOS gas it uses to clean wafers at

TOKYO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp , the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash memory, will halt chip production at two plants for nine days due to weak demand, in its first output break in seven years, broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

(For other news from the Reuters Media Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Media08?pid=500)

SEOUL, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Major shareholders of embattled Hynix Semiconductor are "positively" considering providing the chip maker financial support, a top South Korean official was quoted as saying on Friday, sending its shares higher.

(For other news from the Reuters Media Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Media08?pid=500)

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor Inc said on Thursday it will use its payment-in- kind option to make an interest payment on its debt next year, taking advantage of one of the debt relief tools offered by lenders in the height of the private-equity boom.

(For other news from the Reuters Media Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Media08?pid=500)

NEW YORK/TORONTO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Some of the private equity buyers of BCE Inc , Canada's biggest telecom company, are floating an alternative deal to the C$34.8 billion ($28.3 billion) leveraged buyout that was put in jeopardy a week ago, a source familiar with the situation said.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp tapped on Thursday a former senior Yahoo Inc executive, Qi Lu, to head its online services group.

MILAN, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Debt-laden Seat Pagine Gialle SpA has asked top creditor Royal Bank of Scotland for a 20 percent flexibility margin on the main covenants of a senior credit line, the Italian directories company said on Thursday.

* Q4 revenue of $245 million below forecast of $250 mln

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday warned fourth-quarter revenue would be much weaker than expected due to widespread weakness, and particularly among consumers.

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.

* Says recent impact more pronounced in emerging markets

HELSINKI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] expects the cell phone network equipment market for CDMA technology to fall more than 20 percent in 2009, with the GSM market also falling more than the average for the total telecoms equipment market of 5 percent.