Daily Digest 26 August

26-08-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

ComReg does about-turn on line share pricing | Ryanair responds to EU screenscraping probe

Communications regulator ComReg has announced that it is to "set aside" its decision of 27 June 2008 to direct Eircom to cut its line share pricing -- the price it charges other operators to rent part of the local loop -- from EUR8.41 to EUR2.94. At that time ComReg had said the price cut was for an interim period of a year while it conducted a more thorough assessment of the LLU market. In Tuesday's notice the regulator explained that following its June directive, Eircom appealed the line share decision in the High Court on 23 July. In taking into account the cost of the appeal, the "burden" on ComReg's resources and the "probability" that any High Court decision would be unlikely to be reached before 2009, ComReg has said it is going to set aside the original decision until such time as it can resolve "the price for LLU line share on a more permanent basis". Magnet Networks CEO Mark Kellet expressed his disappointment with ComReg's decision. "The directive to reduce line share pricing was a progressive step by ComReg and indicated a willingness to take a more forceful line against Eircom's anti-competitive pricing. Magnet is extremely disappointed that ComReg felt it necessary to back down in light of Eircom's legal action."

Budget airline Ryanair has published its response to the European Commission's inquiries into its banning of bookings made on so-called screenscraper sites. The airline has provided the Commission with 'evidence' that these screenscraper sites are not only illegally accessing the Ryanair site, but also "regularly and consistently over-charging consumers" on Ryanair ticket prices. "It is remarkable, but unsurprising, that a number of European government agencies and the European Commission has sought to blame Ryanair for blocking the illegal activities of these screenscrapers, instead of tackling the real consumer scandal which is the hidden 200 percent or 300 percent mark-ups being levied and over-charged on innocent consumers by these illegal screenscraper/ticket-tout websites," said Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary. Ryanair has called on the Commission and the Directorate General for Energy and Transport to take action against these sites.

DIT Hothouse, a year-long support and incubation centre for fledging companies, is looking for 16 new entrepreneurs to join its programme. The Hothouse provides participants with free office space for a year, 10 sessions with a business mentor, workshops on key business topics and access to funding. The main source of funding is the CORD (Commercialisation of Research and Development) grant. Hothouse offices are located in Dublin city centre with phone, internet, meeting rooms and call answering services provided at minimal costs. Those interested in applying can e-mail bernadette.oreilly@pdc.ie or brendan.ring@pdc.ie, providing details of their business, a profile of themselves, information on the business' potential and a current CV. Recent participants of the programme include Niall Harbison from iFoods.tv, Kevin Neary from GameStop and Gerry Shanahan CEO of Boards.ie.

Facebook has now blocked users worldwide from accessing the popular word game Scrabulous, an online version of Scrabble. This latest move follows the announcement in July that US and Canadian Facebook members would not be able to access the game. This was after Hasbro, which owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, sued Scrabulous creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla. Meanwhile, Mattel owns the rights to Scrabble in nearly 120 other countries, including India, where it has asked a court to stop the Agarwalla brothers from distributing the game. While the Scrabulous developers voluntarily took the game offline in North America, this time round it was Facebook that made the decision to remove the game. Scrabulous was an instant hit on Facebook, attracting around 600,000 users.

Research firm eMarketer estimates that mobile games will generate USD7 billion in revenues worldwide in 2012, up from USD1.9 billion in 2007. The firm predicts that the population of mobile gamers who pay directly for mobile games will increase from 155 million people worldwide currently to 500 million in 2012. The firm said that while the US will never become a mobile gaming stronghold like Japan, India or China, the US' interactive advertising economy, the availability of advanced handsets and an increase in unlimited mobile data plans will cause advertisers to look at the region in a new light in the coming years.