IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 17 April
17-04-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Eircom attracts surprise takeover bid | Mobile operators likely to cut charges
The Irish Times reports that an Australia-based group of former Babcock & Brown executives have made a surprise AUD175 million (EUR95 million) cash offer for the entity that owns Eircom and warned that the Irish telco might default on its debts. The takeover bid was made by a company called TaemasBridge, led by former Babcock executive and financier Rob Topfer, who masterminded the takeover of Eircom in 2006. It proposes to delist Babcock & Brown Capital Ltd (BCM), which owns Eircom, restructure its EUR3.8 billion debt and possibly introduce compulsory redundancies. "Eircom does not support the TaemasBridge proposal and believes it is damaging to Eircom's interests and its future," said Eircom management.
The paper also says that US outsourcing and web services firm Hostopia has signed a deal with Eircom to locate its European operations at the telco's data centre in Clonshaugh, Co Dublin. The EUR100 million data centre opened for business last summer. Hostopia is also opening a small office in Dublin to support the business being served from the data centre.
The paper also says that a verdict is expected in The Pirate Bay case in Stockholm on Friday afternoon, a copyright test case involving one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites. Four men linked to The Pirate Bay were charged early last year by a Swedish prosecutor with conspiracy to break copyright law and related offences. The trial is being closely watched to see to what extent the entertainment industry can protect copyright against internet users.
The paper also reports that mobile operators Vodafone, O2 and Meteor have agreed to reduce the wholesale cost of connecting a call to their networks to EUR0.05 by 2012. The voluntary reduction equates to a reduction in charges of 47 percent over the next three years and could save consumers EUR100 million annually from 2010 onwards, according to ComReg. Although there is no legal obligation for the operators to pass the reductions on to consumers, it is likely that call costs will drop.
The paper also notes that software developer Autodesk is to give its computer-aided design (CAD) software free to unemployed architecture and design professionals. Autodesk is pitching the deal as a way of helping unemployed professionals to gain skills that will put them back to work. The scheme is currently available in North America and is due to debut in Europe in four to six months.
In a similar development, the paper also says that UCD is offering courses in the Java programming language for just EUR45. UCD said it hoped to attract unemployed software developers from other programming disciplines to attend the courses, which would normally cost EUR995 each.
The Irish Independent reports that the ESB is to invest EUR1 billion a year in new green technologies. The investment has the potential to create 3,700 jobs, as reported by ENN.
The paper also reports that mobile maker Nokia posted its lowest profit in more than a decade as handset demand slumped. Read more about Nokia's results on ENN.
Over 70 jobs are to be lost in Shannon with UK IT firm Agilisys closing its contact centre in the area. Read more about the story on ENN.
The Irish Examiner reports that following the introduction of five penalty points for motorists caught driving in a car without an up-to-date NCT certificate, the NCT website has crashed and on Thursday displayed a brief notice saying there had been "an unprecedented demand" in the number of people requesting a booking for a test. The site also said people "may experience problems" getting through to the NCT call centre, but urged people to "bear with us and keep trying".
The paper also reports on the growth of online prostitution in Ireland, which it reports is now a multi-million-euro industry involving up to 1,000 women selling sex over the internet on a regular basis. The paper says these websites operate legally because they are hosted outside Ireland. This is down to a loophole in legislation whereby the internet can be used as a platform basing them outside the jurisdiction, according to the paper.
According to the same paper, Abtran, a Cork-based call centre, is to open a new innovation centre at its facilities in Bishopstown. The move will create up to 250 new jobs. The firm also announced it has won a new contract with eFlow, the barrier-free tolling system on the M50, and is currently hiring new staff to work on the contract.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has reported its first revenue decline in consecutive quarters since going public nearly five years ago. Revenue rose 6.2 percent to USD5.51 billion from USD5.19 billion a year ago, but declined 3 percent from the December quarter. The internet giant reduced expenses and cut jobs to combat the weak advertising market, which helped to raise quarterly profit 8.9 percent to USD1.42 billion, or USD4.49 a share, from USD1.31 billion, or USD4.12 a share, in the year-earlier period.
The Financial Times reports that Toshiba has said its operating profit for the year to March 2009 would be better than the forecast it made in January. Japan's largest chipmaker said it now expects an operating loss of JPY250 billion (USD2.5 billion), compared to its previous forecast of JPY280 billion, because of improved profitability in its TV business and higher-than-expected sales of memory and processor chips. Toshiba's preliminary results add to the evidence of a small bounce in semiconductor demand.
The paper also notes that SonyEricsson is to cut another 2,000 jobs after a slump in first quarter global handset sales resulted in a net loss of EUR293 million. The mobile phone manufacturer shipped 14.5 million handsets in the first three months of the year, 35 percent fewer than in the same period last year. Turnover in the period fell from EUR2.7 billion to EUR1.7 billion.
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