ROUNDUPS
For the record 3 April
03-04-2003
by Sylvia Leatham
British Telecom to cut the wholesale price of its consumer-aimed broadband product | Percana Group has secured an outsourcing deal with AZ Life Limited
The UK's former telecoms monopoly, British Telecom, said on Thursday that it would cut the price of its consumer-aimed wholesale broadband service by around STG2 to approximately STG13 per month. The company also said that some wholesale DSL services for small businesses would see prices cut by as much as 55 percent. In addition, BT announced plans to expand its DSL reach to 90 percent of UK homes and SMEs, up from the current 67 percent figure. The widely expected announcement received mixed reactions from industry watchers, with some suggesting that ISPs are unlikely to pass the cuts on to consumers.
Japanese telecoms giant NTT, the parent company of NTT DoCoMo, has warned that net profit for the year could be well below forecasts due to a new tax law. The Local Taxes Amendment Law in Japan will remove a hole in accounting rules that enables Japanese firms to include certain items on financial reports, such as deferred tax assets. NTT estimates that the law would cut about YEN560 billion (EUR4.38 billion) from the company's expected net profit for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2003. The firm's revised net profit figure for the year is YEN205 billion.
Telecoms operator TeliaSonera is to cut hundreds of jobs in Sweden and Finland in an effort to reduce costs. The company said it plans to slash around 400 jobs in Finland and an as-yet-unknown number in Sweden. TeliaSonera, formed last year from the merger of Sweden's Telia and Finland's Sonera, employs 29,000 staff between the two countries. Job losses were widely expected after the merger.
New figures from EMC have shown strong growth in GPRS subscriptions, although the technology still accounts for less than 1 percent of the world's GSM subscriber base. For the last three months of 2002, GPRS subscriptions grew 47 percent year-on-year and jumped 19 percent sequentially. The report also showed that the service is available on 147 networks in 58 countries, with 6.4 million global subscribers.
A new report from Osterman Research in the US has revealed that 93 percent of firms with more than 1,000 workers currently have instant messaging software (IM) installed on their networks. However, 28 percent of those companies are attempting to block IM traffic, even though such actions can also disrupt e-mail and Internet access. The report also said that only about a third of firms with IM on their systems have one or more products as an IM standard.
Another new report from consultancy firm CBDI says the take-up of Web services is healthy. The CBDI report surveyed 47 organisations known to be early adopters of Web services, and 75 percent of these firms had completed at least one Web services installation and said more were on the way. About 40 percent had already completed several projects. However, the report noted that most of these adoptions are internal rather than between companies.
Dermot Ahern, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, has said the rollout of broadband in Ireland will help boost IT outsourcing. Speaking at a seminar in Drogheda, Ahern said there were increased opportunities for companies to outsource their IT needs rather than handle them in-house. "Outsourcing, or buying in expertise for specific periods from IT professionals, allows a business to implement solutions more efficiently and timely than by deploying in-house staff," he said. "In the Internet economy, time is critical and where appropriate technology skills are in short supply, outsourcing is gaining in popularity."
Microsoft has announced details of its sponsorship of the 2003 Special Olympics. The software giant said on Thursday that it will provide over 95 percent of the technology required to run the World Summer Games. Microsoft has already committed EUR500 million in support, in the form of software and technical support. In addition, more than 100 Microsoft employees have volunteered their time to work at the Games this summer.
Irish software development company Percana Group Limited says it has secured an outsourcing deal with AZ Life Limited, part of the Italian group Azimut. Percana Group provides mission critical software for the Life and Pensions industry. Its flagship product is Eclipse, an Internet-ready front- and back-office policy administration system.
Using the subject line to get noticed: Denise Cox argues that to get results you have to make every word work in a subject line.
