In The Papers 11 November

11-11-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Eircom owner welcomes takeover bids | Nortel Networks to make job cuts

The Irish Times reports that robots are more likely to be found mowing the lawn than destroying humans, according to Dr John Kelleher of the School of Computing at Dublin Institute of Technology. In a presentation for Science Week Ireland to senior cycle students, Dr Kelleher said that the robots seen in popular movies all "contrast with the reality" and today's models are "still a long way off having such capabilities". Dr Kelleher said most robots were deployed to do the jobs we hated, like mowing grass and vacuuming the carpets. "It is the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs we want them to do, the three Ds," he said.

The paper also says that Babcock & Brown Capital (BCM), the Australian investment fund that controls Eircom, has incentivised its lead corporate finance adviser to execute a sale of the fund or the telco within 18 months. After rejecting a revised non-binding indicative takeover proposal last Friday from Isle of Man fund LIT without going to shareholders, BCM initiated a formal review process on Monday to "further consider a number of approaches". Although BCM declined to provide any further details on such approaches, it indicated in clear terms that it was open to the possibility of putting other takeover proposals to its investors.

The paper also reports that Nortel Networks has posted a USD3.4 billion quarterly loss and announced sweeping new cost cuts, including 1,300 layoffs. The economic downturn also forced the US telecoms equipment maker to cut its 2008 outlook again as customers reduce spending on equipment. Nortel employs 300 staff in Ireland, primarily at a site in Galway city. The firm did not return phonecalls on Monday night on the possible impact of cuts on its Irish operations.

The same paper notes that Apple's iPhone was the best-selling mobile handset in the US in the third quarter, surpassing the Motorola Razr, which has held top spot for the past three years, according to new data from NPD Group.

The paper also notes that US electronics retailer Circuit City has filed for bankruptcy protection, as reported by ENN on Monday.

The Irish Examiner says that an increasing amount of single people are Googling prospective partners before embarking on a first date. A survey by the It's Just Lunch dating service found that 58 percent of men and women conduct an internet search for their date's name before leaving the house. And 88 percent of the 500 respondents, when asked if they would be offended that their date had Googled them, replied: "Not when I'd probably have Googled them too."

According to the Financial Times, lawmakers and lobbyists are urging the White House to freeze the implementation of proposed regulations prohibiting online gambling, after the banking industry said the rules were ambiguous and unworkable. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House financial services committee, said he was "deeply disappointed" that the Bush administration was moving forward with so-called 'midnight rulemaking' that would burden the financial industry and tie the hands of incoming president Barack Obama. The new rules would require financial companies with designated payments systems to have procedures in place to prevent payments being made to illegal gambling businesses. Banking groups have expressed deep concern over the proposed rules because they would force banks to reconcile conflicting state and federal rules on online gambling.

The paper also reports that mobile giant Vodafone has cut its revenue forecasts for the second time in four months and said it would meet its profit expectations only because of a boost from the fall in sterling. The mobile operator announced a rise in interim earnings on revenues of nearly STG20 billion, but said underlying profits were lower in the six months to September. Vittorio Colao, who took over from Arun Sarin as chief executive in July, signalled a change in style and strategy at the group, to focus on cash flow generation and operational execution in the face of more challenging trading and economic conditions. He unveiled plans to cut annual costs by STG1 billion by the 2010-2011 financial year.

The Wall Street Journal reports that social networking site Facebook is rolling out a new ad format called "engagement ads" that further blurs the line between marketing and online networking. The new ads appear on the main screen when a person first logs in to Facebook. They prompt a user to do something within the ad, such as comment on a movie trailer or RSVP for the season finale of a TV show. If the user completes the action, Facebook sends out a notice about what the user has done to their friends.

The same paper notes that Cisco Systems, reacting to a spike in video and data traffic on the internet, is introducing a new generation of hardware to help communications carriers cope with the flood. The networking equipment giant says its new router hardware took four years and USD200 million to develop and offers a sixfold leap in capacity over existing products. The new router, called the ASR 9000, is capable of moving 6.4 terabytes per second of traffic, the equivalent of 250,000 digital songs or 200 feature-length movies a second, Cisco said.

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