|
According to the Irish Times, the only bidder for a licence to operate a national digital TV network has withdrawn its application. A consortium known as It'sTV has pulled out of the licensing competition, casting doubt over the future of the government's proposed terrestrial TV network. The decision will also delay the process of selling a majority stake in RTE's broadcast transmission network.
The paper also reports that angry shareholders lambasted management at the annual meeting of telecoms equipment maker Marconi. Citing a report by Reuters, the paper says shareholders expressed their anger at the company's imminent restructuring, which will leave shareholders with a mere 0.5 percent stake in the company.
The Irish Independent reports that Swiftcall has criticised both Vodafone and O2 for a lack of transparency in their roaming charges, as reported by ElectricNews.net on Monday.
The Financial Times reports that troubled IT services group Electronic Data Systems is attempting to renegotiate n USD8 billion outsourcing deal with Procter & Gamble. EDS, which issued a surprise earnings warning last month, is trying to weather a sharp fall in cash flow due to problem contracts with the US Navy and the UK government, and also due to bankrupt WorldCom and US Airways accounts. It is understood that the deal with P&G required an acquisition of its Global Business Services group for about USD800 million. EDS wants to reduce this figure to around USD100 million.
The same paper says that Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices are in negotiations to integrate their flash-memory operations, a move that would create the world's largest flash-memory group. The talks are focused on a plan for AMD to take control of a new joint-venture company that would design, manufacture and package flash-memory chips. It is understood that AMD would take a stake of about 60 percent, while Fujitsu would hold a 40 percent stake in the new venture, which is expected to be set up in January.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a US bankruptcy court judge has ruled that WorldCom can cancel a USD182.3 million advertising contract with AOL Time Warner. The AOL ad contract was agreed in July 2001, when WorldCom said it would buy more than USD20 million per quarter in advertising across AOL's media properties, in exchange for AOL continuing to keep its network traffic on WorldCom's network. Separately, WorldCom has won the court's approval to pay its current employees and certain officers for their legal bills arising from shareholder and employee lawsuits.
The paper also reports that brokerage firm Merrill Lynch is taking a step back from small stocks. The company has decided to stop trading about 7,600 of the 10,000 Nasdaq stocks in which it is a so-called market maker. Merrill will instead concentrate on just the 2,400 most actively traded and widely held stocks.
|
