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The Irish Times reports that Global Crossing has told Dublin City Council and Irish property firm, Mallia Properties, it will not pay around EUR500,000 in rates and rent owed on a Dublin-based lease. Last week, Global Crossing's corporate recovery firm KPMG sent an e-mail to the Irish parties involved informing them that "the rent and rates due on 01 April 2002 will not be paid by Global Crossing Holdings." Dublin City Council said it would pursue Global Crossing for payment but admitted the situation was unclear because of the bankruptcy filing. However, John Flynn, managing director of Mallia Properties, said the company did not have the right to withhold payment as it was only in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US and not in Bermuda, where Global Crossing Holdings is registered.
The Irish Independent reports that Finnish telecom operator Sonera is in merger talks with the Nordic region's largest operator Telia, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said on Sunday. The two firms have repeatedly been reported to be in merger or co-operation talks over the past two years and a link-up would create a stronger carrier with a market capitalisation of around USD17.2 billion and better placed to fight off challenges from larger European rivals.
The Financial Times reports that the Microsoft anti-trust violation remedy case presided over by Judge Colleen Kottar-Kotelly is due this week to hear testimony from executives from Red Hat, the Linux group, Liberate, the interactive television company, Palm and SBC, the telecoms giant, are scheduled to appear.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Pulsent Corp., a Silicon Valley start-up, has devised a radically different way to compress video, hoping to spur movies on demand. The company says it can shrink digital video to about a fourth the size of conventional compression techniques. Instead of the distortion and small images familiar to computer users, Pulsent aims to deliver broadcast-quality video that fills large TV screens.
The paper also reports that former Lucent Technologies workers have filed a lawsuit accusing the company and their union of luring them into early retirement deals that were less generous than packages that were offered later. Paul Fici of Haverhill and Anthony Boremi of Salem, New Hampshire, filed the USD25 million class action lawsuit Friday on behalf of about 450 of their fellow retirees who accepted packages in the spring and summer of 2001. A few months later, more than 1,100 workers were offered and accepted a much better package. The suit filed in federal court in Boston claims the company and the Communication Workers Union Local 1365 knew about the better deals when the first batch of employees retired but did not warn them.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Bluechip Technologies, the Belfast-based voice recognition company has just closed a EUR3 million funding round led by Enterprise Equity. The company has also signed a contract with O2, which will resell Bluechips' Guardian application to its corporate clients in the UK.
The paper also reports that Bo Parker, the managing director of PricewaterhouseCoopers' European technology centre claims that it could take several years before the recession in the technology sector passes. He claims that wireless technologies will boost the next boom but that their widespread adoption could be eight years away. The Business Post also reports that Digicel, the Jamaican mobile operator consortium led by Denis O' Brien, has run into problems securing GSM licences in Trinidad & Tobago and Grenada.
The Sunday Tribune reports that management and technology consultancy company, Accenture, has proposed a new idea to staff, asking them to take up to a year off during which time they would receive up to one third of their normal wages if they agree. The idea, American in origin, is designed to reduce costs and avoid job cuts.
The paper also reports that directors of Digital Channel Partners have claimed that Manro International is still contractually required to pay the liquidated company nearly EUR2 million. The Tribune also carries a report from SummIT, which claims that with the improving financial climate Irish companies may look at IPO's this year. Companies cited as likely candidates are Fineos, OpenNet Telecom and Orbiscom.
The Sunday Times reports that Marconi, which in Friday said that difficult trading conditions are predicted to persist until 2003, now face the prospect of banks taking control of the company.
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