IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 25 March
25-03-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
BT's Chris Clark to return to UK | Broadband firm to be put on ice?
The Irish Times reports that IBM is to create up to 200 jobs in Dublin over the next three years at a new research centre, as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
The paper also says that BT Ireland chief Chris Clark is moving back to Britain to take up a senior role with the firm's parent company. Clark has been appointed managing director of BT Enterprises in the UK, part of BT's retail division. BT Ireland's chief financial officer, Graham Sutherland, will replace Clark as head of the Ireland operation in May. Sutherland has been CFO since 2006 and was previously managing director of NTL Communications.
The same paper reports that electrical retailer Power City saw its sales decline 9 percent in the year to 26 September 2009, according to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office. Turnover at the chain was EUR87.2 million for the year, compared to sales of EUR95.9 million for 2008 and EUR105 million the previous year. The company's operating profit fell to EUR5.74 million last year from EUR6.86 million in 2008, while pretax profit fell to EUR6.92 million from EUR8.34 million.
The Irish Independent reports that bloggers and Twitter users have been sharply criticising the Cabinet reshuffle that will see Tanaiste Mary Coughlan reassigned to the Department of Education. Teachers and observers vented their anger, with many making references to the time when Coughlan erroneously referred to the theory of evolution as having been formulated by Einstein.
The paper also says that new figures show that consumers are increasingly doing their banking online. Some 2.6 million people are registered for internet banking, and customers accessed their accounts 136 million times last year -- a rise of 20 million on the figures for 2008, according to the Irish Banking Federation. The average number of online payments per head in Ireland is seven per year, compared to 5.5 in Britain.
The same paper says that the Collector General is seeking to wind up broadband company Ice Communications, which trades as Ice Broadband. The Collector General will ask the High Court to hear a petition against the firm on 12 April. The most recent accounts filed by Ice Communications show losses of EUR3.8 million to the end of 2007. Separate Companies Office documents show Danske Bank registered a charge against Ice Communications in November 2008, while Bank of Ireland registered six separate charges in 2007.
The Irish Examiner says that the company behind the Irish Psychics Live premium phone lines grew its operating profits to EUR1.5 million last year. Financial results for Dublin-based Realm Communications to the end of April 2009 show a 7 percent increase in operating profit from EUR1.478 million to EUR1.588 million. However, there was a slight drop in pre-tax profits, from EUR1.749 million to EUR1.701 million.
The Financial Times says that data traffic has exceeded the volume of voice calls across the world's wireless networks for the first time. The crossover occurred in December when 140,000 terabytes of data content -- such as e-mails, music and video -- was handled by mobile operators, surpassing voice traffic, according to figures from network equipment vendor Ericsson. Ericsson said global data traffic nearly tripled in each of the past two years and forecast that it would double annually during the next five years. The company highlighted social networking websites as one of the biggest sources of mobile data.
The paper also says that China Unicom, China's second-largest mobile operator, has said it will remove Google's search function from new handsets developed with the US company, following Google's clash with the authorities over internet censorship. China Unicom said the Google search function would not be provided on phones using the Android operating system. Unicom said the handsets' manufacturers would choose which search engines to use instead.
In related news, the Wall Street Journal says that Google has told legislators that the US government must support internet freedom, as Congress weighs bills that would deepen the government's role in advancing free expression on the internet globally. "Internet censorship is a challenge that no particular industry -- much less any single company -- can tackle on its own," said Google's director of public policy Alan Davidson at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Davidson said the US could support free expression by bringing up the issue in foreign-policy dialogue and even making it part of the criteria for receiving development aid.
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