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The Irish Examiner reports that the ban on the use of mobile phones by motorists is to be enforced from next month. Under the law, drivers caught using phones will be fined EUR190 for a first offence, up to EUR435 for a second offence and EUR435 and/or given a jail sentence for a third offence. The use of stabilised hands-free sets will be exempt from the ban, as will mobiles not in use that are kept in a motorist's pocket, on a seat or in a bag. Gardai have confirmed they will enforce the regulations when the Attorney General's office issues its guidelines in mid-September.
The Irish Independent reports that Irish venture capital investment fell over 60 percent in the first half of 2002, according to a survey by Ernst & Young and VentureOne. Read the full story as reported by ElectricNews.net on Thursday.
The paper also reports that Horizon Technology has confirmed that its chief executive has stepped down after the completion of a restructuring that involved selling off three units. Charles Garvey, who will remain a non-executive director, has been replaced as chief executive by founder and executive chairman Samir Naji. Horizon recently sold Webfactory, iFusion.net and Fusion UK. The company denied the restructuring and executive changes were a precursor to a bid by the management to take the company private. ElectricNews.net reported on Wednesday that Horizon was in the process of selling off Webfactory.
The Irish Times says that Enterprise Ireland has issued an upbeat report on growing IT sales but warned of increasing business scepticism. EI is forecasting that sales will grow 17 percent to EUR350 million in 2002 at its client firms in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. It also predicts that exports will increase by 23 percent to EUR200 million this year. However, the agency warned its board about the "challenging" economic environment, saying that businesses and consumers have become sceptical of certain types of technologies, such as wireless.
The paper also reports that the passport application process is to go on-line in 2004. KPMG is expected to be the prime contractor for the integration of the technologies required for the automated system. The Department of Foreign Affairs, which first issued a public tender for the high-tech system in August 2001, has entered exclusive negotiations with KPMG Consulting and is expected to sign a contract within weeks, according to sources.
The same paper reports that Clonmel-based Pegasus Data Solutions wants to install hundreds of coin-operated mobile phone charging units in public places around the country. The charging units, which have been branded Yaps, enable people to recharge their mobile phones in 20 minutes. The Yap device uses speech technology, an LCD display and a PIN code system and is compatible with almost 90 makes of mobile phone. The company has negotiated the rights to market the recharging device from the European distributors of a Korean-based firm called Protopia.
The paper also says that Afilias, an Internet domain name registry with corporate headquarters in Tallaght, is in line for a USD14 million-plus annual contract to provide technical support to the Internet Society (ISOC). ISOC is currently the frontrunner in a tendering round to run the .org domain registry. ElectricNews.net reported the deal on Thursday.
The Financial Times reports that fibre-optic equipment maker Ciena has reported a third-quarter net loss and an 88 percent drop in revenues. Ciena had a net loss during the period of USD160 million, or USD0.42 per share, compared with a net profit of USD5.65 million, or USD0.02 per share, a year earlier. Revenues were USD50 million, down from USD458 million in the year-ago period. Analysts' consensus estimate was for revenues of USD68 million, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. The company, which cut 300 jobs during the quarter through a merger with rival ONI, is expected to make further layoffs.
The paper also says that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is set to investigate a series of upbeat forecasts made last year by executives of AOL Time Warner. Fifteen senior executives and directors of AOL made profits totalling almost USD500 million by selling shares between February and June of last year, while the company repeatedly said it would meet its earnings projections. The SEC is expected to examine the forecasts and the timing of the share sales as it widens its probe into AOL's accounting practices.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Novell reported a fiscal third-quarter swing to a profit as revenue rose 13 percent. For the quarter ended 31 July, the company had net income of USD9.9 million, or USD0.03 a share, in line with a May forecast. A year earlier, the company had a loss of USD19.3 million, or USD0.06 a share. Revenue for the period rose 13 percent to USD282.3 million from USD249.1 million, topping Novell's projection of USD274 million.
The paper also reports that Sony's chief financial officer said his company is on track to meet full-year earnings forecasts. Teruhisa Tokunaka said that despite the stock-market collapse and other troubles facing the US economy, Sony remains on track to post net income of YEN150 billion (USD1.27 billion) and sales of YEN7.7 trillion for the year ending 31 March 2003.
The same paper says that long-term users of some first-generation mobile phones face a risk of developing brain tumours that is as much as 80 percent greater than those who did not use the phones, according to a new Swedish study. The study, published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, considered 1,617 Swedish patients who were diagnosed with brain tumours in 1997 to 2000 and compared them with a similar group without tumours. Researchers found that those who had used Nordic Mobile Telephone, or NMT, handsets had a 30 percent higher risk of developing tumours than people who had not used that type of mobile phone. For people using the phones for more than 10 years, the risk was 80 percent greater.
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