IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 5 May
05-05-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Shannon Dev outlines jobs plan | UPC rebrands before 100Mbps rollout
The Irish Times reports that Shannon Development aims to create 1,500 jobs in the Shannon Free Zone in the next three years. In a submission to the Mid West Regional Authority, the organisation said the jobs would be created in 40 separate projects. The agency says it aims to increase sales by companies in the Shannon Free Zone by 10 percent to EUR3.85 billion and to increase in-house research and development investment by 10 percent to EUR816 million. Shannon Development said it is putting in place a regeneration plan with phase one due to start over the next two years.
The paper also says that cable TV and broadband firm UPC is dropping the NTL and Chorus names as part of a major rebranding exercise. UPC plans to spend EUR3 million over the next three months on a high-profile media campaign to publicise its rebranding. At a launch, UPC announced plans to upgrade its fibre-power broadband speeds to 100Mbps from August. "This will be available to all the homes we have cabled within the next 18 months," said Robert Dunn, UPC Ireland chief executive. Dunn declined to reveal the pricing structure for the service.
The Irish Examiner says that the funeral of broadcaster Gerry Ryan will be streamed live on the internet. RTE have taken the unprecedented decision to broadcast the mass live on 2FM while simultaneously streaming the proceedings by webcam on the 2FM website. Head of 2FM John MacMahon said the decision was influenced by the reaction of Ryan's fans and the fact that St John the Baptist Church in Clontarf, where the mass will be held, was too small to accommodate them. The mass will begin at 11.30am on Thursday. The paper also says that 100,000 people have signed up to pay their respects on Facebook pages created by fans, and tribute videos on YouTube have attracted almost 100,000 viewers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Xerox plans to use its sales contacts to help drive growth at recently acquired outsourcer Affiliated Computer Services. In March, ACS closed its first deal resulting from its affiliation with Xerox, a contract with Procter & Gamble to administer workforce benefits. P&G, already a Xerox customer, had declined to contract with ACS previously, but ACS president Lynn Blodgett said being under the Xerox umbrella had helped secure the deal. Overall, ACS has USD500 million worth of deals in the pipeline that could potentially go into contract over the next six months, said Xerox CFO Larry Zimmerman.
The paper also says that shareholders have rebuked Motorola over its pay practices. The message came via a 'say-on-pay' vote at Motorola's annual shareholder meeting. The company's compensation policies and procedures won support from only 46 percent of the votes cast. It was the first time a major US company has failed to garner a majority of support on a say-on-pay vote, according to proxy advisory firm RiskMetrics Group. The vote is not binding, but it will force Motorola into a conversation with investors about how it pays top executives.
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