Thursday newspaper round-up: BT, Wonga, Telefonica, RBS

Uber, the disruptive taxi-booking operator, has recruited a host of senior advisers including former European commissioner Neelie Kroes to help it navigate the myriad political and regulatory roadblocks it faces around the world. Ms Kroes, a former competition and telecoms regulator, was a vocal proponent for Uber while in office and a well-known critic of efforts to ban the company in countries including Germany. – Financial Times

BT is to unveil a multibillion-pound network upgrade programme, including laying ultrafast fibre-optic broadband lines to around two million homes and businesses, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. In the latest phase of its battle against losing control of its network division, Openreach, the telecoms giant's chief executive Gavin Patterson is expected to announce a major boost to its investment plans at a meeting with investors. – Telegraph

Wonga is considering branching out into credit cards as it seeks to move away from its payday lending roots. Credit cards are one product being considered by the company’s management team as it seeks to diversify revenue streams away from the business in which it made its name. - Telegraph

Britain’s leading employers’ organisation will tell the government on Thursday that it needs to back a new industrial strategy to halt the decline of manufacturing and spread prosperity to the less well-off parts of the country. Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI will strongly criticise the lack of preparedness for the crisis that has engulfed the steel industry as she urges ministers to do more to help in three key areas of weakness: skills, energy costs and spending on research and development. – Guardian

The European Commission is likely to block Telefonica’s sale of the British telecom business O2 to Hutchison group in Hong Kong due to fears it would inflict higher prices on British consumers, a source told AFP on Wednesday. “We expect European competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, to block the sale,” said a source close to the matter, indicating that a decision was expected this month. – Guardian

Pension investigators could latch on to the support provided by Sir Philip Green to BHS in the four years before its controversial sale for £1 to force the billionaire businessman to pay millions of pounds to fill a hole in the retailer’s retirement fund. John Ralfe, an independent pensions expert, said that a move in 2012 by BHS to make an explicit reference in its accounts to the “financial support” it was receiving from Taveta, the Green family’s Jersey-based investment vehicle, could prove vital to legal attempts to force Sir Philip to increase his contribution to the BHS pension fund. – The Times

Executives at Royal Bank of Scotland faced accusations of taking home “obscene” pay packets and being “glorified civil servants” at a stormy annual meeting. The session, held at the bank’s Gogarburn headquarters on the outskirts of Edinburgh, lasted more than two hours as shareholders took turns to grill the board on a variety of issues. There were several questions on pay packages and the closure of branches. – The Times