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The Irish Times reports that a bill which would introduce stiff new penalties for telecoms operators is to be brought before the Cabinet next week. Under the proposed bill, which has been stalled for a year already, companies could face a maximum fine of EUR1 million. The new Communications Bill is expected to be published next week if it gains approval from the Government.
The paper also reports that more than 45 firms have applied for codes to set up a new text messaging system which will enable them to provide a range of services to mobiles. The demand for certain numbers is expected to be so high that a lottery system might be used to allocate them. The system is expected to generate millions of euro in revenue for service providers.
The Irish Independent reports that the SEC is continuing to investigate whether Microsoft hoarded cash during the 1990s to make profits appear smaller than they really were. The held-back revenues could then be applied to reserves in future quarters to smooth out earnings. The investigation, which started two years ago, is ongoing.
The Financial Times reports that Guardian IT, the UK disaster recovery software company which lost nearly half its value this week after revealing accounting discrepancies, said that it had held preliminary talks which could lead to a bid being made for the company. A takeover bid had been expected by many analysts after Guardian IT saw its shares fall from STG0.74 to STG0.36 in just two days following the revelations of discrepancies in accounts.
The paper also reports that Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday said strong sales in personal computers, printing products and outsourcing services enabled it to report fiscal first-quarter results that topped already increased expectations. Including one time items, the company had a net profit of USD484 million, or USD0.25 per share, versus USD141 million a year before. Get the full story at http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=6137266.
The Wall Street Journal reports that nine US states demanded to see the secret "source code" in Microsoft's Windows software, hoping to demonstrate that the company can make the changes the states are seeking in their court battle for a tougher antitrust remedy. However, Microsoft rejected the request, and a spokesman suggested its competitors could get access to the valuable code if the states were allowed to see it.
The same paper reports that Infineon Technologies said it dropped talks with South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor about pursuing a partnership. The company said it explored several possible deals with Hynix, especially in the memory-chip arena, but found that any hoped-for partnership would be too difficult to achieve and subsequently broke off talks.
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