In the papers 9 October

09-10-2006

by Sylvia Leatham

Denis O'Brien denies Digicel to float on NYSE | Smart Telecom may merge with Imagine, say sources

The Irish Times reports that a new website allows users to check the amount of harmful ground-level ozone in cities or towns around Europe. The site, www.eea.europa.eu/maps/ozone, displays real-time ozone data gathered by the European Environment Agency from 700 monitoring stations in 21 countries.

The Irish Independent says that search giant Google will this week tie-up a USD1.6 billion deal to acquire video-sharing website YouTube, as noted by ENN on Friday.

The Irish Examiner reports that Maxol is to sell Plantronics Bluetooth headsets in up to 110 of its service stations nationwide. The initiative coincides with recent legislation banning the use of mobile phones while driving.

The paper also reports that business software provider SAS has named Michael Kearney as country manager of its Irish operations. The company has also added two new sales directors for its senior management team: John Farrelly and Paul Power.

According to the Financial Times, T-Mobile USA and Deutsche Telekom, its German parent, have confirmed plans to roll out 3G wireless services using the spectrum T-Mobile won in the recent US Federal Communications Commission auction. Kai-Uwe Ricke, Deutsche Telekom's chief executive, said T-Mobile USA will spend USD2.7 billion over the next two-and-a-half years on upgrading its nationwide GSM network to offer 3G services.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft's MSN unit has signed a deal with Ingenio to place "pay-per-call" advertisements on MSN's search service for mobile devices. Under the agreement, Ingenio will place one ad above the standard search results obtained using MSN's free Windows Live Search service in the US.

The Sunday Independent reports that An Post is currently examining technologies that would allow consumers to go online and print off their own barcode stamps that could be used instead of a postage stamp. This service, if it were to be introduced, would most likely be offered to the small business and personal customers of An Post.

The same paper says that as a result of a computer error, thousands of ESB loan customers were swamped by payment demands after months of receiving no bills at all. The system error came as the sale of ESB's appliance loans to Bank of Scotland went through. The affected customers now fear they may face huge arrears.

The Sunday Tribune reports that over 50 percent of the tourists who travel to Ireland annually buy either their flights or their accommodation on the internet, according to figures from Tourism Ireland. The agency predicts that in the next four years three-quarters of inbound holidaymakers will book at least one element of their holiday online.

The same paper says that Eircom alerted ComReg of the need to put an "emergency plan" in place to help Smart Telecom customers easily transfer to another operator three weeks before Eircom cut them off. However, the regulator was only told last Monday evening that Eircom had served Smart with a termination notice and it is understood that at that time ComReg had requested Eircom to delay cutting off the service by 24 hours, but Eircom reportedly refused to do so.

Still in the Sunday Tribune is a report that a dating website for people with sexually transmitted diseases has been launched in Ireland and the UK. The site, datepositive.net, was launched in mid-September has reportedly signed up 500 users since then.

The Sunday Business Post reports that Denis O'Brien has denied rumours that he is to float his Caribbean mobile operator Digicel on the New York Stock Exchange. At a conference in Dublin on Friday O'Brien told journalists: "I didn't know we were going to float... We do not have any plans right now to do anything other than focus on the operation."

The same paper reports on rumours of a possible merger between embattled Smart Telecom and telecoms operator Imagine. Brendan Murtagh, who looks likely to gain control of Smart following a shareholder vote at an imminent EGM, is understood to have said he plans to back Smart into Sean Bolger-owned Imagine. The paper quotes reliable sources who have reportedly said that talks have taken place between executives at both firms.

Still in the Sunday Business Post is a report that internet firm PrimeLearning, which is 20 percent owned by Independent News and Media, had accumulated losses of nearly EUR20 million at the end of February 2006. In addition, the firm posted a loss of EUR500,000 for the year ended February 2005, according to accounts just filed.

The same paper also says that Cork-based compliance software firm Qumas has raised funding of EUR1.1 million to help it expand into the financial software sector. Enterprise Ireland is reportedly behind the cash injection.

Still in the same paper is a report that in the first nine months of the year Information Mosaics, a financial software firm, won contracts valued at more than EUR50 million. The deals have been signed with ten large private banks and international securities organisations.

The Sunday Times reports that a number of West African gangs are operating online scams in Ireland, according to Frank Engelesman, an expert in advance-fee fraud, a practice often referred to as 419 fraud because of the section of the Nigerian penal code which forbids it. The fraud is traditionally operated by Nigerians from the Ibo or Igbo tribal group in the south of the country. The fraudsters generally request fees in return for the release of an object of value like a lottery jackpot.

The same paper reports the huge take-up of Talk Talk's "free" broadband service is expected to add STG20 million to Carphone Warehouse's start-up losses, bringing the total to about STG70 million in the current financial year. Carphone Warehouse is due to give a trading update on Wednesday.