ROUNDUPS
In the papers 02 January
02-01-2003
by Ralph Averbuch
Multi-function phones pose threat to Dail | Spanish town aims to give all residents Wi-Fi access
The Irish Times reports that the next generation of multi-function mobile handsets which let users send pictures pose a threat to the decorum of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Since 1998, the use of mobile phones has been banned inside the Dail and Seanad as well as public corridors of Leinster House. The rule has been breached often, the paper says, most frequently by the ringing of TDs' and Senators' own phones.
According to the Irish Independent the electronic voting system to be used in the 2004 local and European elections will have the results within an hour of polls closing. However, in an effort to maintain the excitement of staggered polls results, returns will be announced spread over time. The government has decided that releasing results suddenly is not the way forward and aims to mix the new system with the traditional process in an effort to maintain the excitement of the past.
According to the Financial Times global semiconductor sales rose to USD12.51 billion in November, a 1.3 percent rise from October, continuing the fourth-quarter growth trend. The industry's main trade body, the Semiconductor Industry Association, said the wireless sector continues to be the strongest sector of the chip market. Sales of flash processors and digital signal processors used in mobile phone handsets were up 6.6 percent and 3.7 percent respectively over the previous month. On a year-on-year trend, global sales rose 19.6 percent.
The paper also reports that NTL, the heavily indebted cable television group, has moved closer to emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the announcement that USD630 million of standby funds, provided by the group's existing bondholders, will be rolled into new seven-year bonds. The company will replace its existing facility -- of which only USD220 million has been drawn down -- with the issue of USD500 million of bonds maturing in January 2010. It also emerged that Morgan Stanley, one of the advisers to NTL on its restructuring, is suing the company for USD11.4 million in alleged unpaid fees dating back to 1999.
The paper also reports that the telecoms company BT said it planned to sell its stake in SmarTone, a Hong Kong cellular carrier. Although it results in a large loss, the sale forms part of a move by BT to offload most of its interests in Asia. BT said it had agreed to sell its 20.76 percent stake in the territory's number three mobile operator for HKD1.03 billion (USD132 million), or HKD8.50 per share -- about one-third of the HKD25 per share it paid when it bought most of the holding in April 1999.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Dutch competition authorities imposed a total of EUR88 million in fines on five mobile phone operators for illegally agreeing to slash fees paid to phone retailers. It was the highest such fine in Europe yet and included KPN Mobile, Vodafone, O2, Ben and Dutchtone. The authorities say the companies colluded to establish the size of subsidies for mobile phones at a meeting in mid-2001.
The paper also reports on Zamora, a town of 68,000 individuals in Spain. The town is set to leap into leading-edge status as the world's first city entirely connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi high-speed wireless technology. The project in Zamora, 250 kilometres northwest of Madrid, is a new application for Wi-Fi in a location where only one in six people are on-line. Unlike the smaller-scale local hotspots appearing across Europe and the US in places like hotels, airports and coffee shops, this installation isn't aimed at technophiles who need high-speed Internet connections while on the move. Rather, it's meant to be Internet for the masses. The project is backed by the US chip maker Intel and a Madrid-based start-up.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 