The lower speed means the networks will be suitable mainly for business applications, such as travelling salespeople accessing their corporate intranet via their laptop computers, rather than some promised consumer services like downloading video clips onto pocket-sized devices.

It also raises fresh questions over how operators will make a profit on what is the most expensive bet on a new technology in corporate history.

"This is just one more piece of news that reaffirms our view that 3G was never going to be about things like video," said Declan Lonergan, head of European mobile phone research at the Yankee Group consultancy. "It's going to be much more difficult for the operators to show what's different about 3G services and why the average consumer should upgrade from a GPRS phone."

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Goodbye Web: The leading publisher of national newspapers in the Netherlands, PCM Uitgevers shut down its core Internet activities Thursday, saying the Web cannibalized its newspaper revenues.

The publisher will allow its newspapers to independently continue running their individual websites, but the holding company is not likely to make additional funds available, they said.

PCM is among the first major news publishers in the world to virtually pull the plug on the Internet. The parent company is cutting budgets even at its strongest titles in order to support weaker ones in today's difficult economic climate.

Chief Executive Cees Smaling said a bare-bones teletext-type service would be sufficient for a paper's website. Smaling also said too few website readers became subscribers to printed newspaper versions and expressed disbelief that Internet editions would ever become profitable.

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Gateway ready for sale: There is glee, but no takeover fever at Gateway. Until two days ago, the company was seen as most likely to be taken over in the PC industry and now, Chief Executive Ted Waitt says, it serves as a clear example of the virtues of being small.

The price is the abysmal drop of Gateway (GTW) stock to around $9 from nearly $70 less than a year ago. The opportunity arises from the Hewlett-Packard (HWP) decision to buy Compaq Computer (CPQ) in a corporate marriage that Waitt expects will be rocky, but will open up new markets for Gateway.

"There is nothing but good for us coming out of this," said Waitt. "It actually creates an opportunity –- for Dell (DELL) to grow, for us to grow."

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IBM joins eBay: International Business Machines plans to expand sales over eBay’s website, and the online retailer will run auctions on IBM's website.

EBay (EBAY) said it also selected IBM's application platform to upgrade the technology that runs its business.

IBM (IBM) will extend its activity on eBay while eBay will auction and offer fixed price sales for IBM servers, computers and software under the expanded program.

Reuters contributed to this report