NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 25 February
25-02-2010
by Cian Ginty
Eircom eyes new cost cuts as revenue drops | Electric Media takes over Sales Online
Eircom on Thursday reported a drop in revenue of 9 percent to EUR933 million in the six months to December 31, 2009, while pre-tax profit was down 3 percent to EUR327 million. It warned it would be forced to cut costs as the Irish market failed to improve. "The operating environment in Ireland has not improved. The group's revenues remain under pressure and our profits have declined in the quarter despite continued good progress on costs," said chief executive Paul Donovan. The number of Eircom PSTN subscribers was down 81,000 to 1,505,000, but it increased mobile subscriptions by 46,000 to 1,086,000. The company said it signed up more than 750,000 fixed and mobile broadband customers, with mobile data revenues increasing 53 percent in the last quarter of 2009 compared to the previous year. It also said it was close to the launch of its next generation broadband offerings.
Irish digital advertising company Electric Media is to take over the assets of Sales Online. Sales Online confirmed no jobs would be lost as a result of the deal. Electric Media commented that the deal makes it the largest Irish online and mobile advertising company from March 1. Its clients will include over sixty online brands including O2, eBay, Ticketmaster, Entertainment.ie, TV3.ie, CBS International, and donedeal.ie. The company is two and a half years old and is 50 percent owned by The Irish Times; Sales Online is 10 years old. Dermot Hanrahan, chief executive of Electric Media, said he estimated the share of digital advertising in Ireland is "still hovering in the late teens" but predicts it will follow international trends.
Funding for Irish tech firms was up almost 20 percent in 2009, according to Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA). In 2009, firms raised EUR288 million compared to EUR242.9 million in 2008 and EUR225.9 million in 2007. A 18.6 percent increase last year followed a rise of 7.5 percent in 2008. However, the IVCA expressed concern that Government spending cuts at agencies like Enterprise Ireland could slow the emergence of future innovative companies.
UPC Ireland said it has seen a 45 percent increase in broadband subscriptions with over 148,000 customers on its internet packages. The company said it has invested EUR400 million in its network to date and its top speed of 30Mbps is now available to 600,000 Irish homes. It said the growth of fibre broadband subscriptions clearly indicates consumer demand for the ultra-fast speeds. UPC added that its telephone subscriptions were up 116 percent to 60,300 in 2009, with 499,000 homes now capable of receiving its telephone service. Meanwhile, its digital TV subscriber based grew by over 10 percent to end the year at over 349,000. UPC's parent group, Liberty Global, reported revenue of USD11.1 billion, and a 22 percent increase in operating profit to USD1.6 billion.
Online shoppers use up to 50 percent more concentration when using poorer websites, a neurological study of consumer reactions has found. The research was undertaken by management software company CA and Foviance, a customer experience consultancy. The authors said that results show businesses need to reduce "web stress" and improve the online experience of their customers to maximise returns from their websites. Consumers have very high expectations of web applications and websites must be always available and instantly responsive, the report said. When expectations aren't met, people quickly become agitated, confused and have increased concentrate. The two most stressful points of the online sales process are searching and at the checkout.
Apple said it was rewarding the buyer of the 10 billionth song on iTunes with a USD10,000 gift card. The 10 billionth song -- 'Guess Things Happen That Way' by Johnny Cash -- was downloaded by Louie Sulcer of Georgia in the US. The company says its digital music store has the world's largest music catalogue, with over 12 million songs. The store also has over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies, including 2,500 in high definition. Apple said it is grateful to all its users for helping it reach the milestone, although only one will receive the USD10,000 iTunes gift card.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 