Internet service providers in the UK have been ordered to block the Pirate Bay file-sharing website.

The High Court has ordered five internet service providers to block access to the world's largest illegal file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.

Workers at telecoms firm TalkTalk were said to be "shellshocked" today after the company announced the closure of a call centre and other plans to cut jobs.

Telecoms firm BT stepped up the pace of its broadband expansion today by promising "ultra-fast" speeds of up to 300Mb by next spring.

Virgin Media shares jumped more than 5 per cent after it said it was doubling broadband speeds for most of its four million customers.

The broadband and phone operator TalkTalk has poached a senior executive from O2 to boost its expansion into mobile phones.

Q. I am an engineering student on work placement. I am on a £20-a-month mobile phone plan with Three, entitling me to an internet allowance capped at 2GB. I moved house in April, forcing me to rely on the mobile as a wireless tether for wifi connections on my computer. But without me instructing it to do so, my phone shared the internet connection provided by my network operator with my computer.

Ofcom has fined TalkTalk the largest amount ever for a British telecoms provider after it continued to charge thousands of customers who had cancelled its service.

Ofcom has handed telecomms company TalkTalk a £3 million fine for billing customers for services they had not received.

Sally Davis, the chief executive of BT's Wholesale arm, is set to step down at the end of October after four years over "personal reasons".

Profits at BT Group rose 20 per cent in the second quarter as it attracted 250,000 customers to its broadband services.

Outlook Broadband speeds are rising – hooray – but not as fast as the UK's internet service providers are claiming. The conclusion of the latest Ofcom report is that ISPs are telling bigger whoppers than ever about the speed of their connections. Their advertising is more BS than Mb/s, you might say.

It is fair to say it has been rather a dramatic few weeks for BSkyB, but now that News Corp has withdrawn its bid, investors' attention will be back on the broadcaster's numbers when it announces its full-year results on Friday.