South Korea leads the world in broadband internet connections with Britain languishing in 21st place behind countries including Portugal and

South Korea leads the world in broadband internet connections, with Britain languishing in 21st place, behind countries including Portugal and the Czech Republic.
A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found an impressive 10 per cent of South Koreans have access to high-speed web services, against 4 per cent in Canada and 3 per cent in the US. In Europe, Austria heads broadband penetration at just under 2 per cent, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium. Britain trails with 0.08 per cent.The OECD survey of its 30 member countries, based on the most recent data, will reach government officials within the next fortnight and is expected to embarrass some European governments into boosting efforts to connect their populations to high-speed services.Sam Paltridge, the OECD’s communications analyst and author of the report, yesterday said the UK figure referred to the end of 2000, while statistics from some of the other countries were more recent. “I expect the number of British subscribers to have doubled [from 0.08 per cent] in the first quarter of 2001.”The research was aimed at providing the first authoritative picture of broadband connections by using data from operators, governments and industry associations.Mr Paltridge said the 4.3 million broadband connections in South Korea resulted from the fierce competition between providers of cable internet and Digital Subscriber Line, a technology for turning ordinary copper telephone lines into higher-speed links.. Dixons, the UK’s biggest electrical retailer, acknowledged that no one could step into Sir Stanley Kalms’ shoes as it confirmed yesterday that its executive chairman will retire from the group’s board in September 2002 The search is now on for a non-executive replacement. Dixons, the UK’s biggest electrical retailer, acknowledged that no one could step into Sir Stanley Kalms’ shoes as it confirmed yesterday that its executive chairman will retire from the group’s board in September 2002.

The search is now on for a non-executive replacement.Sir Stanley, who is credited with building Dixons into a £5bn retailer, will be stepping down shortly before his 71st birthday. He will retain the honourary title of president “to reflect his status as a founder of the company” but will take no active role in managing the group.There were mixed reactions among analysts to the announcement. David Stoddart, of Teather & Greenwood, described Sir Stanley as “the heart and soul” of Dixons He said: “He built the business. Admittedly, people like John Clare [chief executive] have taken a bigger role over the past 15 years or so…. But there is no doubt that a lot of knowledge and experience will be lost.”Others were less sentimental. Geoffrey Ruddell, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: “What they [Dixons] have lost is a charismatic father figure.

But as far as we can see, John Clare has been running the business for some years.”A third analyst said: “Obviously [Sir Stanley] was hugely important in building Dixons, and he is still a very powerful figure in the background…. But to over-emphasise his departure would be a disservice to the executive board in total.”Shares in the company closed up at 265.25p, from 259p.Sir Stanley joined Dixons in 1948, when it was a single photographic studio He took the company on to the stock market in 1962. Since then, it has grown steadily under his leadership ­ apart from a disastrous foray into the US, where Sir Stanley bought the electrical goods chain Silo, then had to sell it later at a heavy loss.As well as its core Dixons chain, the UK group now owns PC World, The Link and Curry’s. During the technology boom, Dixons founded Freeserve, the UK’s leading internet service provider, and received more than £300m by selling a minority stake when it was floated in 1999. When the boom collapsed, Dixons sold Freeserve to Wanadoo of France, in return for a minority stake in the merged business.Mark Souhami, deputy chairman, is leading the search for Sir Stanley’s non-executive successor.

There had been some concern that the company would seek to retain its current board structure by appointing a new executive chairman to assist Mr Clare. It is considered best practice for a chairman to be an independent, non-executive director.. Transport company Stagecoach has confirmed it has ordered a record 785 new train coaches at a cost of £1 billion. Transport company Stagecoach has confirmed it has ordered a record 785 new train coaches at a cost of £1 billion.The first coaches will enter service in November next year on South West Trains’ routes out of Waterloo station in London and to south and south west England.The order will eventually boost rush–hour capacity by 25 percent.The coaches will replace the old Mark 1 slam–door trains, which have to be phased out by the end of 2004.The arrival of the new rolling stock will mean more–frequent services to London on the Windsor, Woking and Basingstoke lines, and will enable through services to run from Camberley and Chertsey, with passengers no longer having to change at Ascot or Staines.Strategic Rail Authority chief executive Mike Grant said: “This deal ensures that passengers will benefit from new trains as soon as possible, with additional coaches to provide more capacity on busy commuter routes.”It marks an important step towards our objectives of increasing rail use by 30 percent over the next 10 years and reducing overcrowding.”.