IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 29 June
29-06-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Government sets up innovation taskforce | Vodafone mulls T-Mobile bid
The Irish Times reports that online retail giant Amazon's Irish operations posted a 16 percent rise in turnover last year. According to filings with the Companies Office by Amazon's two Irish subsidiaries, their combined turnover was EUR41.4 million. Dublin-based Amazon Data Services Ltd's pretax profits grew by 11 percent to EUR922,372 to the end of 2008, after revenues rose 19 percent to EUR31.1 million. Accounts for the company's European Systems Network Operations Centre show that the company's operating profit increased by 23 percent, to EUR1.54 million.
The paper also reports that Taoiseach Brian Cowen has announced the appointment of an innovation taskforce to advise the Government on its strategy for positioning Ireland as an international innovation hub and to assist in making the 'smart economy' a reality. The taskforce will advise the Government on options to increase innovation and entrepreneurship and to ensure that investment in science, technology and research translates into high-value jobs and sustainable economic growth. It will also support the development of the Innovation Alliance between Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.
The Irish Examiner says that the controversial Fas Science Challenge Programme has been axed. Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan confirmed that the scheme, which was linked to lavish expenses claims at the employment agencies, had been stopped. She said the value for money report she commissioned into Fas did not see the worth of the programme, which cost more than EUR1 million annually.
According to the Financial Times, UK mobile operator Vodafone is considering an offer to buy T-Mobile UK, a move that would have major implications for the British mobile phone market. Vodafone is looking at the case for acquiring T-Mobile, which has an estimated enterprise value of EUR3 billion to EUR4 billion -- even though any transaction runs the risk of being blocked by regulators. If a purchase goes ahead, Vodafone would attain clear market leadership, with a 40 percent share of revenue of the British mobile market. Currently, O2 has a market share of about 27 percent, Vodafone has 25 percent, Orange has 22 percent, T-Mobile has 15 percent, and Three has 8 percent. Vodafone declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal says the US Justice Department has extended its investigation into Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The government's 30-day period to review the USD7.4 billion deal was set to expire at midnight on 26 June. Instead of approving the acquisition, the Justice Department made a 'second request', which asks the companies to provide more information, according to a statement issued by Oracle. Daniel Wall, an attorney who represents Oracle, said in the statement that "one narrow issue" remains about how the rights to Sun's Java technology are licensed. "I fully expect that the investigation will end soon and not delay the closing of the deal this summer," said Wall.
The paper also notes that an international group of business associations that includes most of the world's major tech firms has submitted a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urging his government to scrap a requirement that PCs come with internet-filtering software. The letter was signed by the heads of 22 organisations, including the US Chamber of Commerce, the European-American Business Council, the Information Technology Industry Council and other associations from North America, Europe and Japan. The letter reflects the deep concern among PC makers as the government's 1 July deadline approaches for shipping filtering software with all new PCs.
The Sunday Times reports that police leaders in the UK have said a new website, mypolice.org, which allows crime victims to give feedback on how their cases were handled, could be hijacked by troublemakers. The site is aimed at improving the service offered by Scotland's eight police forces and is modelled on Patient Opinion, which invites criticism of the NHS online. Officers have voiced concerns that the site could be used by disgruntled people to make unfounded criticism. The general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation said the site could be counterproductive.
The same paper says researchers at the University of Southern California are planning to use mobile phones to help 50 obese teens lose weight. The plan involves hooking them up to sensors, including a heart-rate monitor, accelerometer, GPS satellite navigation unit, blood glucose meter and a device to measure their skin's electrical conductivity. These sensors are linked to a smartphone, which passes on the data to university computers, and software will make sense of the data. The system can correct lethargy, the paper says, and too much sitting around will cause a stream of messages to the phone to be sent, urging the teenager to exercise or putting them in touch with other participants for group activities.
The Sunday Tribune reports that Gardai will be advised not to say they are officers on social networking sites, in order to prevent them being targeted by criminals. A working group has been reviewing the organisation's policy on internet usage and will soon publish a document advising members on the security implications of disclosing their involvement with the force. The paper says it is understood some officers and members of their families have suffered abuse online after it became known they were either Gardai or related to Gardai.
In other news of the Gardai, the Sunday Business Post says the Government is paying out some EUR30 million a year to IT firms for maintaining the Garda computer networks. Between EUR14 million and EUR15 million a year is going on maintaining and improving the Garda Pulse system, only operational in half of Garda stations. A EUR30 million consultancy bill is in addition to the price of the internal IT department for the force, with BearingPoint, Microsoft Ireland Operations, Deloitte, Vantage Resources, Siemens, Fujitsu, Motorola and Computer Associates all getting contracts from the Gardai in recent years. The force is now seeking to renegotiate some of the contracts in a bid to reduce costs.
The same paper says Stirk Lamont Group has sold its Northern Ireland subsidiary SLA Networks to entrepreneurs Ken Roulston and Stephen Gillespie. The ICT provider's asking price was not disclosed. Previously, however, the parent company indicated that SLA Networks generated EUR1 million in turnover. The new owners have worked together with CMI, Aurora and Sx3, and the purchase of SLA Networks is set to be a first step towards the creation of an IT services company in the North. According to Roulston, the company will continue trading under the SLA name and add complementary services over time.
Free! "In the papers" email newsletter -- get the full text to your in-box every business day. Email itp@enn.ie with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
Using the subject line to get noticed: Denise Cox argues that to get results you have to make every word work in a subject line.
