GOVERNMENT PREPARES FOR DIGITAL TV TRIAL - The Irish Times reports that the Government is buying millions of euro worth of equipment to enable it to offer a trial of digital television to consumers in Meath, Louth and greater Dublin.
A tender for the equipment was published yesterday by the Department of Communications, which confirmed it would begin a trial of the service later this year.
The paper says the system, which is based on digital terrestrial television technology, will provide better picture and sound quality than the standard free to air analogue system owned by RTÉ Networks.
It will have capacity to offer up to 20 channels initially, however this can be extended later, according to the Government tender documents.
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MICROSOFT IRISH PROFITS TOP THE BANKS - The Irish Independent says Microsoft Ireland has emerged as the most profitable company in the State after new figures showed it made a net profit of €1.8 billion last year.
The paper reports on results filed in the Companies Office which show that Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd saw its net profits in the year to June 2004 jump by 55%. This represented a rise of €640m.
Pre-tax profits came in just short of €2 billion, leaving the country's most profitable indigenous company, AIB, in the shade. Last year, the bank made a pre-tax profit of €1.4 billion.
The Indo says the software giant's Irish operation had sales of €8.11 billion last year.
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BILLION POUND RAILTRACK PLAN EMERGES - The British newspapers report on a court case brought by shareholders in British rail network operator Railtrack.
The Financial Times says Stephen Byers, transport secretary at the time of the rail network operator's collapse, is alleged to have admitted during a private dinner at the House of Commons that the British government was willing to pay £1 billion to Railtrack shareholders if they would 'go quietly'.
According to notes of the February 5 2002 dinner, taken by Tom Winsor, the former independent rail regulator, Mr Byers went on to acknowledge that the payment had been rendered unnecessary because 'against government expectations' Railtrack itself had co-operated with the petition for administration on October 7 2001.
The FT says the report of the conversation became public on Tuesday, on the second day of a court case brought by 49,000 former Railtrack shareholders who are seeking to show that the Department of Transport and the office of the secretary of state acted in bad faith and with an intent to injure their interests.
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EU PROBES CHARITY 'DOUBLE-DIPPING' - The Daily Telegraph says the EU's anti-fraud office is investigating 32 charities, non-governmental organisations and aid companies from Britain and nine other states for suspected fraud on a mass scale.
The paper quotes a spokesman for the anti-fraud office, known as Olaf, as saying that there had been a widespread practice of 'double-dipping' by aid agencies.
'They get project funding from the commission, but then draw money from the World Bank or the US government using two sets of invoices,' he told The Daily Telegraph.
Brussels refused to release the names of the groups under investigation but said the abuses involved 'a lot of money'.
