In the papers 16 April

16-04-2007

by Jonathan Farrelly

Microsoft to unveil Flash rival | UK warned to prepare for next-generation broadband

The Irish Examiner reports that a mobile phone mast protest targeted a Church of Ireland Sunday service at the weekend. Residents holding placards mounted a picket outside the St Mary's and All Saints Church in Glanmire, on the outskirts of Cork city, in protest against plans by Vodafone to install a mobile phone mast on church grounds. Up to 15 people stood outside the building on Church Hill, chanting slogans as worshippers arrived for the 11.30 a.m. service.

The paper also notes that political candidates are increasingly turning to technology to help them wage their election campaigns. In Meath East, Labour's Dominic Hannigan and his Fianna Fail rival, Thomas Byrne, both have video blogs; Jerry Buttimer in Cork South Central has his own profile on social networking site Bebo; and Fine Gael's Lucinda Creighton, for Dublin South, has launched a candidate manifesto on CD-Rom that features an interactive computer game in which players can use a mallet to break the ruling coalition's politics.

According to the Financial Times, Microsoft is set to unveil an internet technology to rival the Flash media player made by Adobe. Like Flash, Microsoft's Silverlight player is a plug-in for web browsers that powers graphics and video. The move will kick off a fight over a strategically important internet technology, echoing earlier battles Microsoft waged against the Netscape browser and RealNetworks' media player, according to analysts.

The paper also says that UK ministers and regulators have just two years to find ways of encouraging investment in the next generation of high-speed broadband, or competitiveness will suffer, according to a new report. Existing internet access networks, and those being rolled out, will be too slow to meet the demands of the most bandwidth-hungry businesses and households by 2012, the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) warns. "If steps are not taken [by 2009] to prepare for next-generation broadband, then we may well find ourselves in a position where it is too late to catch up," said Kip Meek, BSG chairman.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Philips Electronics has posted a strong rise in first-quarter net profit, benefiting from the sale of shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, although sales showed a small decline. Net profit came in at EUR875 million, up from EUR160 million a year earlier. The 2007 figure includes a EUR697 million book gain on the sale of TSMC shares. The Amsterdam-based company reported sales of EUR5.99 billion in the first quarter of this year, down 3 percent from EUR6.16 billion last year.

The Sunday Tribune reports that O2 Ireland has said its plan to extend peak hours for voice calls for prepaid customers will have little effect on its revenue. An O2 spokesman said the company denied the suggestion it was trying to boost revenue and said the company was simply bringing its prepay peak and off-peak times in line with the rest of the industry and its own bill-pay products.

The same paper also reveals that Apple has delayed the release of its new Macintosh system after shifting engineering resources to ensure the iPhone makes its debut in June. The company released a statement that said "iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price. Life often presents trade-offs and in this case we're sure we've made the right one."

The Sunday Times says that an Irish based internet company has devised a Google-style search engine for the medical tourism industry. RevealHealthNetwork.com is a database of private healthcare providers around the world, where users can enter details of the medical procedure they want to have carried out and the country they want to travel to. The site then matches the potential patient with a suitable clinic in their country of choice.

The Sunday Independent reports that Telekom Austria is set to offload Etel, the company it agreed to acquire just four months ago for EUR90 million from Irish businessmen, including its founder, Sean Melly. Colt Telecom, Verizon and Austrian outfit Tele2UTA are seen as potential bidders. Etel has about 250,000 fixed network and internet customers in Austria.

The Sunday Business Post reveals that a major review of the regulation of the energy and telecommunications sectors is to form part of the Fianna Fail economic policy platform to be published on Monday. The party will promise an urgent review of the economic regulators who oversee the energy, telecommunications and aviation sectors. It will say it is necessary to see whether regulation is meeting the public policy goals and striking an appropriate balance between users and producers.

The same paper also reveals that a Dail Committee Report this week will conclude that the government has failed to improve Ireland's record on broadband and needs to appoint one company to deliver broadband to blackspots around the country. The report will suggest that the government should hold a public competition to select a company to deliver the state-funded broadband programme.

The same paper also reports that 250 new high tech jobs for Cork and the Mid-west will be announced this week by minister for enterprise, trade and employment Micheal Martin. Around 100 IDA-supported jobs will be created at software company DeCare Systems Ireland (DSI) in Cork City. Two more announcements of IT jobs are also expected: in Limerick more than 50 jobs will be created, while in Clare over 90 jobs are to be created.

The same paper also states that senior executives in Vodafone and O2 Ireland say that fixed-line broadband is "on the agenda", with a launch in 2007 being "the aim" of their current strategies. Gerry Fahy, director of strategy for Vodafone Ireland, said "Imminent isn't a word I'd use, but we're looking at it seriously. We're focused on what customers are asking us for." Gerry McQuaid, commercial director of O2 Ireland, said "The Irish market has been slow to catch up in terms of broadband deployment, but not for lack of demand. This hasn't been met by the traditional players. The earlier we get into it the better."

The same paper says that Irish software firm Mobile Tornado is planning a major assault on the US market after signing a deal with US mobile operator Revol. Under the deal, Revol's subscribers will have access to Mobile Tornado's push-to-talk technology, which allows mobile phones to be used as walkie-talkies. The deal was signed in recent weeks and makes Revol the Irish firm's first US customer.

Finally, the Sunday Business Post says that the 2007 ICT Excellence Awards will see a number of Irish firms compete for top honours. Telecoms firm Digiweb has received three nominations, while other multiple nominees include Telindus, Perlico, Strata3 and Sabeo. The awards recognise achievements made by IT companies in Ireland in the past year.