IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 3 June
03-06-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
EU says BT must unbundle fibre network | Zuckerberg defends Facebook privacy
The Irish Examiner reports that Eircom is set to take on one or more corporate financial advisers over the next month or so to help it reach a decision on its long-term financial strategy. While a report in the Financial Times on Wednesday suggested that the services of London-based financial advisers Gleacher Shacklock were being lined up, it is understood that a number of investment banks are in the frame and no appointment has yet been made.
The Financial Times reports on the upcoming launch of Rdio, a subscription music service that allows nearly unlimited live streaming and playback from computers and mobile devices. Rdio is backed by Skype and Kazaa founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom and has approved applications for Apple's iPhone and works on some models of Blackberry. Its USD9.99 monthly plan joins deals from Rhapsody and others in offering content from the big US record labels. Rdio has been tested by a small group, due to be expanded this week.
The paper also says that Sonic Solutions is buying DivX for USD323 million, a deal that creates a significant force in digital content delivery in the internet TV market. Sonic digitises and delivers video from Hollywood studios in a range of formats to a number of devices and owns the RoxioNow streaming movie service, which is available through internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. DivX's video encoding and content protection has been shipped on more than 300 million consumer electronics devices. Its DivX TV service, mixing internet content and streaming movies, is due to launch on LG Blu-ray players with integrated internet connectivity this year.
The same paper reports that the European Commission has ruled that UK telco BT must provide rivals with the same sort of access to its new super-fast broadband infrastructure it currently provides to its legacy network. Brussels said it wants BT's rivals to have access to its fibre network through "physical unbundling" of the lines that go into customers' homes. Under the existing unbundling arrangements, other telcos take control of BT's copper-based lines running from phone exchanges to homes so as to offer broadband services. Neelie Kroes, the European telecoms commissioner, partly endorsed a decision made by UK regulator Ofcom that temporarily allows BT to offer a more limited, "virtual" version of unbundling on its new fibre infrastructure. But she stressed that "physical unbundling should be imposed as soon as possible".
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has defended the company's privacy practices and expressed regret for some of his behaviour during the company's early history. Speaking at the All Things Digital technology conference, Zuckerberg said a team of engineers worked non-stop for two weeks to develop new privacy controls for the social network. He added that the company is doing a "reasonable job" of giving customers control over their privacy. He also addressed the personal scrutiny he has faced, including embarrassing instant-messaging conversations from the time he was starting the company in his Harvard dorm room. "When I was 18 or 19 years old I did some things that were pretty stupid," he said.
The paper also reports that US telco AT&T is to stop selling unlimited internet data plans to new customers who buy smartphones and iPads, and will instead begin charging more for heavy bandwidth users. New customers will have to choose between two data plans with monthly usage limits, and pay additional fees for extra use. Existing customers can stick with their current plans, AT&T said. The change could mean lower rates for people who use their phones mainly for e-mail, web browsing and phone calls, but higher bills for people who use their smartphones to watch online videos or listen to internet music.
The paper also notes that six big tech firms are joining forces to fund a non-profit company to help speed development of Linux-based software for mobile phones, tablet PCs and other devices. Initial backers of the venture, which is called Linaro, are ARM Holdings, IBM, Samsung Electronics, Texas Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor and ST-Ericsson. The venture is expected to develop key parts of operating systems, programming tools and other software, initially targeting chips based on ARM designs.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 