Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 480
27-08-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Chronicles of The Pirate Bay continue | Nokia braves crowded netbook market
Eircom sees revenue, profit slip
As it waits for news of a possible acquisition by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT), Eircom has reported a 6 percent drop in fourth quarter revenues to EUR479 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) came in at EUR173 million for the quarter, down 2 percent from the year-ago period. New Eircom chief Paul Donovan appeared happy with the figures, calling them "a robust set of results against the background of a challenging operating environment". The telecoms firm added just 7,000 DSL customers during the three-month period, compared to 19,000 in the preceding quarter and 22,000 in the year-ago period. As of the end of June the incumbent had 665,000 DSL customers, up 72,000 over the year. Eircom continued to lose money in its fixed line business: revenue for the unit was down 8 percent to EUR372 million, while EDBITDA dropped 5 percent to EUR138 million. The drop, Eircom said, was down to lower voice traffic and increased price competition in the market. Meteor, which is usually the bright spot in Eircom's results, saw revenue decline 2 percent during the quarter to EUR121 million, as ARPU continued to fall and it rolled out its mobile broadband offering. Between launch in March and the end of June Meteor has signed up 9,000 mobile broadband customers. EBITDA at Meteor continued to rise, up 13 percent year-on-year to EUR35 million. The mobile operator had 1,026,000 customers at the end of June, an increase of 38,000 during the year. Cost-cutting measures continued with the telco implementing a pay freeze until June 2011, by which time Donovan said it aims to have reduced its headcount by 1,200. With these measures, as well as voluntary pay cuts of 5 percent and 10 percent, Eircom expects to cut its operating costs by EUR130 million annually by 2011. Over the year the firm also said it has reduced its net debt by EUR182 million, and by EUR387 million over the past two years. Meanwhile, we're still waiting for the next chapter in the Eircom story. STT revised its bid at the beginning of August, at which time a deal appeared imminent. For now though, the waiting game continues.
Chronicles of The Pirate Bay continue
The ongoing saga of The Pirate Bay continued this week with the Swedish torrent site so far resisting all efforts to shut it down. On Monday ISP Black Internet was ordered by Stockholm's district court to stop serving The Pirate Bay's traffic. The ISP was facing a fine of STG43,000 per day if it ignored the order. As soon as Tuesday, the site was back up and running, however. On Wednesday the homepage featured a T-shirt for sale with the slogan "I spent months of time and millions of dollars to close down The Pirate Bay and all I'll get is this beautiful T-shirt", a message no doubt aimed at the record labels that have tried to get the site shut down. For their part The Pirate Bay founders remain upbeat, saying in a blog post "even though large parts of Internets and many old and famous trackers have fallen or may fall… we shall not flag or fail." As well as being pursued by the Swedish authorities, The Pirate Bay is currently in the process of a change of ownership, which is also turning into quite the drama. Doubts have emerged whether the sale, to Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X, will go ahead. The Swedish stock market suspended trading in GCF as it investigates whether the company has the funds necessary to complete the deal. Meanwhile Sweden's Economic Crimes Bureau has also launched an insider-trading probe to examine a sharp rise in GCF's stock before the deal was announced. Looks like this is one story that will run and run.
UPC bristles at Big Four order
In separate but related news, UPC has revealed that it has received another letter from solicitors representing the four major record companies -- EMI, Warner, Sony and Universal -- in which they confirm that they are going to proceed with an application for an interim injunction which would require UPC to block access to The Pirate Bay. The parent company of Chorus ntl has reiterated its stance from last week, saying it cannot agree to block access to The Pirate Bay. "To agree to such a move would be to change the nature of an ISP from a communications provider to being a gatekeeper that censors the material its users can access," the firm said in a statement. It went on to say that if it were to agree to the request, the floodgates would open from other third parties "equally convinced of the legitimacy of their position -- that we block access to other material". UPC has offered to form part of a forum that includes all stakeholders to address the issue of piracy. Meanwhile, in the UK, Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms has proposed that persistent illegal file-sharers in Britain be banned from using the internet. The proposals would force ISPs to take action against individual users -- from blocking access to download sites and reducing broadband speeds, to temporarily suspending individual internet accounts. Here in Ireland Eircom has promised the big four music labels in Ireland that it will operate a 'three strikes' rule against those downloading music illegally. As part of this agreement, Eircom will also block access to The Pirate Bay from 1 September.
Nokia braves crowded netbook market
Mobile phone giant Nokia has fixed its eyes on the burgeoning netbook market with the news that it is to launch the Nokia Booklet 3G this year. Though details of the device are scant for now, it has been reported that it will use Microsoft Windows software and Intel's Atom processor. It is also expected to offer up to 12 hours of battery life and to weigh in at around 1.25 kilogrammes. As growth in the mobile phone market wanes Nokia is under pressure to diversify. Though the firm is also the leader in the healthy smartphone market, it is facing increased competition from Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry. The netbook sector is regarded as a segment with much potential: research firm IDC expects netbook shipments to grow more than 127 percent in 2009, to more than 26 million units, outperforming the overall PC market, which is expected to remain flat, and a mobile market that's expected to decline by about 10 percent. Industry analysts have voiced their interest in Nokia's move; however, they have questioned just how the Finnish giant is going to stand out in what has become a fairly crowded market. Nokia said it will reveal full specs, market availability and pricing for the netbook on 2 September. Meanwhile, the wires have been a-flurry the last few days with reports that Steve Jobs is currently focusing his efforts on the development of a touch-screen tablet device. No further details have been revealed about Apple's plans yet.
Wikipedia to edit people profiles
Open-source encyclopaedia site Wikipedia got a tidy windfall this week with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation investing EUR500,000 into parent company Wikimedia. Wikimedia said it plans to use the money to improve the user-friendliness of Wikipedia, develop training materials to engage new potential volunteer editors, and establish metrics to track the foundation's impact. Just days after receiving this cash injection the online encyclopaedia announced that changes made to pages about living people will need to be approved by an editor before being published. The changes are set to come into effect within the next few weeks following a two-month trial of the new system. While some commentators have criticised the move, seeing it as betraying the online encyclopaedia's founding principles, an online poll of 259 Wikipedia users found that 80 percent were in favour of a trial of such a system. A similar set-up has been operating on the German edition of Wikipedia for over a year. There have been numerous incidents of inaccurate or disparaging information being added to Wikipedia pages of well-known people over the years; in January, for example, an entry on a page dedicated to Senator Edward Kennedy wrongly claimed that the politician was dead. Closer to home, in 2007, Wikipedia entries for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Ireland manager Steve Staunton and striker Robbie Keane were sabotaged.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 