Profits at BT soared by almost a third in the final three months of last year as new customers flocked to sign up to its broadband package. The company also revealed that the worst of the problems at its Global Services arm were over, with the troubled division expected to make money again a year earlier than forecast.

Vodafone has confirmed the outgoing boss of electronics giant Philips will succeed Sir John Bond, who was the subject of a shareholder revolt, when he steps down in the summer.

Poor old David Buik, the veteran commentator at BGC Partners, rather choked on his cornflakes yesterday morning when Vodafone, the English mobile phone giant, announced that its next chairman would be the Dutchman Gerard Kleisterlee. Never mind that as former boss of the electronics company Philips, Kleisterlee has an impressive pedigree. "I am gobsmacked that Vodafone cannot find an Englishman that fits the bill," fumes Buik. On the plus side, Andy Murray lost in Melbourne on Sunday – Buik had spent the weekend fretting about having to celebrate a Scotsman breaking Britain's 75-year Grand Slam drought.

The chief executive of Philips is top of a shortlist of possible successors to Sir John Bond as chairman of the mobile phone giant Vodafone. Gerard Kleisterlee is set to step down from the Dutch electronics giant in March and could replace Sir John at the telecoms group's annual meeting this summer. Sir John faced down a shareholder rebellion, led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund, last summer after Vodafone took a £2bn writedown on its Indian unit.

Controversial deals struck by the taxman with multinational companies that owe enormous amounts in tax are to be investigated by the National Audit Office.

Investors were hanging up on Vodafone last night, as analysts urged caution over what the year ahead will bring for the telecommunications giant. Concerns over regulation and an increase in competition led Barclays Capital to reduce its advice on the mobile phone company to "equal weight" from "overweight".

Outlook India's stellar economic growth, which was barely touched by the global downturn, has for some time been expected to prompt a mergers and acquisitions boom in the country. But while foreign corporations are keen to secure their slice of the cake – and to get results quickly, rather than starting from scratch – India has always been protective of its domestic businesses, with tough regulation limiting the access of foreign buyers to many industries.

Ricky Ponting will captain Australia again, according to coach Tim Nielsen.

Its methods are unorthodox, ranging from targeted use of superglue to hijacking Twitter-based PR campaigns, and its rapidly growing support base spanning schoolchildren and pensioners has no official leadership.

Vodafone

Vodafone has slashed the cost of using the internet on smartphones in Europe, further reducing the chance of a "bill shock".