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IEDR dismisses rumours about the departure of CEO Mike Fagan | Newsagents to set mobile top-up prices individually in a move welcomed by the Competition Authority
Rumours about the resignation of IEDR chief executive officer Mike Fagan were smothered on Tuesday after the Irish domain registry's chairman, Professor J O Scanlan, said that Fagan remained the non-profit organisation's top executive. Fagan himself said the allegations were untrue and told ElectricNews.Net: "The only way I am going to leave the IEDR is in a wooden box or with a cheque for EUR1 million." Sources were able to confirm that IEDR company secretary John Coman had resigned from the board and would be replaced by Jimmy Joyce, formerly of Telecom Eireann.
The Competition Authority has welcomed a clarification by the Irish Retail Newsagents Association (IRNA) of its position regarding electronic mobile phone top-up charges. In early September, the Authority became aware of notices printed and distributed by the IRNA that said "because of action by Vodafone we regret that a handling charge of EUR0.40 on EUR10 and EUR0.60 on EUR15 E Top Ups will apply." The notices appeared after Vodafone decided to up the wholesale price of some of its electronic top ups, resulting in the reduction of retail margins from 10 percent to 6.5 percent. As it is illegal for trade associations to discuss prices or make pricing recommendations to their members, the Competition Authority has welcomed the IRNA's decision to inform its members that they should set top-up charges individually.
Shares in France Telecom rose on Tuesday following reports that Thierry Breton, executive chairman of electronics group Thomson Multimedia, would be named the new chairman of France Telecom, according to a report in the Financial Times. Citing French newspaper Les Echos, the FT says an official announcement will be made Tuesday or Wednesday. Breton will replace Michel Bon, who resigned as chairman on 12 September, after it became clear the group needed a massive financial restructuring. Shares in France Telecom rose 5 percent on Tuesday to EUR7.29, from a previous close of EUR6.94.
Computer maker Sun Microsystems could take an acquisitions-related charge of up to USD2.2 billion later this year, according to the company's annual report. Sun said it may reconsider the value of its investments and acquisitions in its fiscal second quarter, which ends in December, if its market value, USD8.4 billion on 30 September, did not recover to the April level of USD29.1 billion. This could result in a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of up to approximately USD2.2 billion, the company's report said. In addition, Sun revised its fiscal Q4 profit upwards, to more than three times the figure it had reported earlier. The company said it made a net profit of USD61 million in the quarter ended 30 June, rather than the profit of USD20 million it announced on 18 July.
Electronic Data Systems is considering cost-cutting measures and spinning off some of its divisions in the wake of a recent earnings and revenue warning. Company chief executive Dick Brown wrote a letter to shareholders saying the company was considering the changes along with a reappraisal of its strategy of chasing multibillion dollar contracts that take years to produce revenues. The company is also investigating how it failed to foresee the huge decline in earnings and revenue it recently issued warnings on.
HP has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against EMC in the US. The suit, filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that a range of features in EMC's Symmetrix, Clariion and TimeFinder products infringe on seven of HP's US patents. HP is seeking remedies in the form of monetary damages for past infringement and injunctive relief prohibiting EMC from using the intellectual property allegedly protected by the patents.
Most mobile portals hinder users from finding and using mobile data services, according to new research by Ireland's ChangingWorlds and Sweden's Mobile Metrix. The report, entitled "The Plight of the Mobile Navigator", is based on data collected from 20 European mobile portals. "The situation is rather acute, with the average portal click-distance [the number of clicks/menus before arriving at the desired content] in excess of 16 and often greater than 20," said report author Professor Barry Smyth. The average amount of content available within 12 clicks -- thought to be the point at which users lose interest -- was found to be less than 36 percent. The best-performing portals were found to be Finland's Sonera, T-Motion and O2 of the UK, Ireland's Vodafone and Germany's Genion.
A growing number of broadband users are watching sporting events on-line, according to new research by Strategy Analytics. The report says that although the Internet currently accounts for less than 1 percent of sports industry revenues, this figure is set to grow as sports rights holders begin to support emerging channels more actively. At present, few on-line sports services provide access to live sports Webcasts, because the rights are either not available or owned by television companies. Strategy Analytics predicts that future rights negotiations will explore the possibility of live Webcasts as a separate package and that this type of content will become more widely available on the Net.
Dublin-based Openet Telecom, a specialist in convergent mediation, has entered into a re-seller agreement with Telcordia Technologies, a developer of communications services, network technologies and Operations Support Systems (OSS). Under the agreement, Openet's FusionWorks Mediation solution will be sold and distributed as Telcordia's preferred mediation product. New Jersey-based Telcordia also intends to integrate FusionWorks Mediation with a number of its own products to develop new OSS solutions for service providers.
Computer users have been warned about a new e-mail worm, known as Bugbear. The worm takes advantage of a known vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer that can open up a backdoor into computers and keep a log of keystrokes. Bugbear shuts down anti-virus and firewall software that is designed to block intruders and can spread by dropping copies of itself into folders on shared networks. E-mails containing the worm can have a variety of subject lines, attachments and messages, and the attachment typically has a double extension, such as .doc.pif.
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