Telco Magnet investing €5m to attract new homeowners - US-backed Magnet Networks is to invest €5m in a new telecommunications service for new homeowners in the Dublin region, writes the Irish Independent. The company, owned by investment firm Columbia Ventures Corporation, will provide telephony, broadband and multichannel TV services which will be connected to new homes through a single fibre optic cable. It has already signed partnerships with developers like Gannon Homes, Menolly Homes and Killoe Developments, with the first users scheduled for connection later this month.
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SkillSoft to cut up to 120 jobs in Dublin - Up to 120 highly skilled technology jobs are to go at the Dublin headquarters of US e-learning company SkillSoft. Employees working for the company are expected to be informed by management later today about the results of a review of its global operations. SkillSoft's review will recommend outsourcing the editorial division that develops e-learning courseware content. It is likely the firm will retain its software development centre in Dublin, sources said yesterday. The Irish Times has seen an internal email sent to staff yesterday asking those employees eligible for voluntary redundancy to apply no later than 5pm on Tuesday December 7.
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SEC bows to pressure on trading reforms - The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday bowed to pressure to publish its revised proposals to reform US stock trading rules to allow further public debate, writes the Financial Times. The SEC said its staff would recommend publication of the proposals to a meeting of the commissioners on December 15. The move follows intense lobbying by stock markets, investors and securities firms after it emerged that SEC staff had privately changed the proposals after nine months of public debate. There was widespread concern that the plans, called Regulation NMS, could be put to a vote on December 15 without further public comment.
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CAA proposes 20% cut in air traffic control charges - A 20% reduction in the charges that airlines pay the UK's air traffic control service was proposed yesterday by the industry regulator, says the London Independent. The Civil Aviation Authority also said that the penalties paid by National Air Traffic Services for flight delays should be trebled to as much as £27m and linked more closely to the time of day to avoid hold-ups in the morning peak period. A consultation document published by the CAA goes on to recommend a 20% cut in Nats' £520m investment programme and a reduction in its allowed return on investment from 7.75% to 6.5% to reflect the low-risk nature of the business.
