IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 19 December
19-12-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
T-Mobile and Three in infrastructure-sharing deal | MTV recruits Hollywood producer for games development
The Irish Times reports that Irish firms will have generated EUR1 billion in new export sales by the end of the year, according to Enterprise Ireland. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also says that Nintendo has admitted it is struggling to meet demand for its Wii video game console and DS hand-held device and is unlikely to be able to do so anytime soon. "The level of demand we are facing complicates all of our future business planning," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. "All of that becomes a much tougher exercise until we have supply and demand curves that intersect."
The paper also reports that new ComReg data shows that Eircom gained 1 percent in market share in the three months to the end of September last, as reported by ENN on Tuesday.
The same paper notes that Digicel has been granted a licence to operate a GSM service in the British Virgin Islands. Read the full story on ENN.
The Irish Independent says that large parts of a massive EUR58.42 million computer system for third-level colleges had to be scrapped and replaced, a new report has revealed. It shows that the project for the country's institutes of technology ran EUR5.7 million over budget, took longer to install than expected, and is still not doing all that it was supposed to do, according to Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) John Purcell.
The Financial Times reports that Vivendi's SFR mobile phone subsidiary, the owner of 40.5 percent of Neuf Cegetel, is in talks to buy the remainder of France's third-largest fixed-line phone company for about EUR5 billion. The combination of SFR, France's second mobile operator, and Neuf Cegetel would create a powerful challenger to France Telecom and underline the industry's growing interest in offering bundled fixed-line, internet and mobile services.
According to the same paper, mobile phone operators T-Mobile and Three have unveiled an infrastructure-sharing deal that could provide them with the UK's largest high-speed wireless network. T-Mobile and Three will share 13,000 mobile telecoms mast sites in a move that should enable them to have a fast wireless network covering 98 percent of the population by the end of 2009. The deal will also generate savings in capital and operating expenditure worth STG2 billion between the two companies over 10 years.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is to expand his entertainment footprint with a deal to create original videogames with MTV. The collaboration, to be announced on Wednesday, is part of a growing effort by MTV parent Viacom to participate in the fast-growing videogame business.
The paper also notes that software developers are complaining about the large number of coding errors contained in Google's new Android mobile phone software toolkit. Google said the software kit it released last month amounts to an "early look" designed specifically to get developers started as soon as possible and to elicit their feedback. The company said it is in the process of incorporating various suggestions into new tool kits.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 