TELECOMS
Orange eyes Spanish firm
French telecom giant Orange on Monday said it was set to make a 3.4 billion euro offer (US$4.4 billion) to acquire Spanish fixed-line operator Jazztel. If the acquisition goes ahead, Orange expects synergies worth 1.3 billion euros from the deal, which would create Spain’s second-largest fixed broadband carrier and third-largest mobile network operator. The offer, expected to be presented to Jazztel shareholders yesterday, would mark the latest consolidation in the Spanish telecoms market and “bring together the two most dynamic players in the sector” with “a real potential for growth,” Orange boss Stephane Richard said in a statement.
ECONOMY
Argentina predicts growth
The Argentine economy will grow 2.8 percent next year, the government said on Monday, despite the recession gripping the nation. In its annual budget proposal to legislators, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s government forecast the country would return to growth next year and slash annual inflation to 15.6 percent. Economic analysts are forecasting that the economy will shrink at least 2 percent this year. Annual inflation has topped 20 percent since 2007.
INTERNET
Tech firms tally requests
Google Inc said it was facing increasing pressure from governments around the world to reveal user information in criminal investigations amid ongoing revelations about national surveillance programs. The number of requests increased 15 percent sequentially in the first half of this year and 150 percent over the past five years, the company said in its semiannual transparency report on Monday. In the US, demand for information jumped 19 percent in the first six months of this year and more than tripled since 2009, when it started publishing the report. Meanwhile, Dropbox received 268 requests for user information from law enforcement agencies in the first half of this year. The company also disclosed that it received 37 requests for information from outside the US during the period.
AIRLINES
United offers severance
United Airlines Holdings Inc reached a deal with the flight attendants’ union to offer up to US$100,000 in severance for workers who leave the company. United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said on Monday in Dallas, Texas, that the airline hopes that at least 2,100 of its 23,000 flight attendants will accept. The company, formed by a 2010 merger, also said that it would recall about 1,450 furloughed flight attendants to fill jobs in places where United is understaffed. United did not say how much the severance payments would cost. Last year, the company said it spent about US$64 million on early-out payments to 1,200 ground workers and pilots.
SOFTWARE
Microsoft event set
Microsoft Corp on Monday sent out invitations to a Sept. 30 event in San Francisco at which it is expected to provide a glimpse at the next version of its Windows operating system. The US software titan revealed little with invitations that read: “Join us to hear what’s next for Windows and the enterprise.” Microsoft was said to be working on a separate version of Windows for smartphones and tablets, as it works to adapt to lifestyles centered increasingly on Internet-linked mobile devices.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day