European Tech Wire

Spain's Telefonica to Acquire O2 Plc for £17.7 Billion

Madrid -- Telefonica SA, a telecommunications group based in Spain,
has agreed to acquire O2 Plc, a U.K.-based mobile firm, for
approximately £17.7 billion (26 billion euro). With the deal, Telefonica
stands to gain the sixth-largest mobile operator in Europe, as well as an
inlet to the German and U.K. mobile markets. Over the last 12 months,
the European telecommunications market has been the scene of a
merger-and-acquisition frenzy, and O2 has been the subject of takeover
rumours for quite some time. Earlier this year, Germany's Deutsche
Telekom AG and Royal KPN of the Netherlands were understood to
have discussed the possibility of acquiring O2, but a deal never
materialised. Telefonica was also understood to have approached KPN
over the possibility of a merger.
http://www.telefonica.com/home_eng.shtml

Qualcomm Dismisses "Inaccurate" Patent Complaint

Brussels -- Qualcomm, a U.S.-based mobile technology firm, has come
out swinging against a group of companies that claims Qualcomm is
abusing its patents on 3G technologies to wangle unfair licensing deals.
The group -- which includes Ericsson, Nokia, Texas Instruments,
Broadcom, Panasonic Mobile Communications and NEC -- filed a
complaint with the European Commission last week. Qualcomm denied
the allegations, describing them as "factually inaccurate" and "legally
meritless". "The accusation that Qualcomm has not lived up to its
commitments to standard-setting organisations to license its essential
patents on fair and reasonable terms is belied by the more than 130
licences Qualcomm has granted to a broad range of companies, among
them five of the six reported claimants," the company said.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q68C5231C

Survey Finds User-Edited Wikipedia Entries Inaccurate

London -- A recent Guardian survey has found a number of errors in a
selection of entries in Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia written and
edited by users, and some of the errors were so substantial that project
founder Jimmy Wales deemed them a "horrific embarrassment". The
Guardian assembled a panel of experts to review the Wikipedia entries
on their respective fields of expertise. While entries on musician Steve
Reich and diarist Samuel Pepys were more or less accurate, experts
found them to be either incomplete or poorly written. "Broadly
speaking, it's inaccurate and unclear," said Vogue magazine editor
Alexandra Shulman, who was asked to survey the entry for 'haute
couture'. "As a very, very broad-sweep description, there are a few
correct facts included, but every value judgment it makes is wrong."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W2C83431C
http://www.wikipedia.org 

Survey Finds User-Edited Wikipedia Entries Inaccurate

London -- A recent Guardian survey has found a number of errors in a
selection of entries in Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia written and
edited by users, and some of the errors were so substantial that project
founder Jimmy Wales deemed them a "horrific embarrassment". The
Guardian assembled a panel of experts to review the Wikipedia entries
on their respective fields of expertise. While entries on musician Steve
Reich and diarist Samuel Pepys were more or less accurate, experts
found them to be either incomplete or poorly written. "Broadly
speaking, it's inaccurate and unclear," said Vogue magazine editor
Alexandra Shulman, who was asked to survey the entry for 'haute
couture'. "As a very, very broad-sweep description, there are a few
correct facts included, but every value judgment it makes is wrong."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W2C83431C
http://www.wikipedia.org 

Israel's Tdsoft Agrees to Reverse Merger with VocalTec

Tel Aviv -- Tdsoft Ltd., an Israel-based provider of Internet-telephony
gateways, has agreed to a reverse merger with VocalTec
Communications Ltd., an Israel-based telecommunications equipment
provider. Under terms of the deal, Tdsoft shareholders will be issued
VocalTec shares in exchange for all of the share capital of Tdsoft.
Tdsoft shareholders will own 75% of the outstanding share capital of
VocalTec, with VocalTec shareholders controlling the remaining 25%.
VocalTec will remain a publicly held company, while Tdsoft will
become its wholly owned subsidiary. The companies said they
expected to complete deal in early December, pending shareholder and
regulatory approval.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z4292231C

Winners Announced for Blackberry Women and Tech Awards

London -- Hundreds of women gathered in London recently to
celebrate the inaugural Blackberry Women and Technology Awards,
which aim to recognise women's professional contribution in fields of
technology. This year's winners include Gillian Kent of MSN, who won
the category for Best Woman in Private Sector Technology, and
Annette Vernon of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, who won
the public/non-profit sector technology award. Vicky Reeves of
Chameleon Net won the SME award; Sue McDougall of IBM, the
technology mentor award; and Jo Best of silicon.com, the technology
writer award. Accenture was voted the best company for advancing
women in technology. This year's grand-prize winner was Jackie
Edwards, a lecturer at De Montfort University who also won the
academia award.
http://www.womentechawards.com/

Report: More Foreign Firms Choosing U.K. for R&D Base

London -- According to a new report by the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI), large foreign-owned companies are increasingly
recognising the U.K. as a supportive base for R&D. The DTI's annual
"Research and Development Scoreboard" said the business climate for
the world's top 1,000 companies had improved over the last year, with
overall increases in sales growth, profitability and R&D. Twelve of the
top 17 foreign-owned U.K. companies surveyed have much larger
R&D intensity than their parent companies, while the number of R&D-
intensive, middle-sized U.K. companies has increased by more than
75% over the past four years. The U.K. software industry stands out as
a leading sector, with 117 of the top 750 R&D companies in the U.K.
and a contribution of 5.2% of total R&D investment, the DTI said.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2E91290C

BSkyB Partners with Vodafone on 3G TV Service

London -- BSkyB, the U.K.-based satellite TV broadcaster owned by
media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has teamed up with Vodafone Group
Plc, the largest mobile operator in Europe, to offer a new 3G mobile
TV service. Dubbed Sky Mobile TV, the service will give Vodafone's
3G subscribers access to 24-hour news channels -- including CNN -- as
well as a sport, entertainment and documentary package including
content from Sky One and MTV. BSkyB said the service would be
offered free of charge until the end of January 2006. Thereafter, Sky
Mobile TV will cost about £5 a month.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Nov2005/2133.htm

ComReg Disappointed in Eircom LLU Proposal

Dublin -- ComReg, Ireland's telecommunications regulator, said it has
not ruled out taking steps to force incumbent Eircom to open a key part
of its network to its competitors. Eircom recently submitted a report to
ComReg and its competitors detailing how it intended to open the local
loop to Ireland's other operators. ComReg said it was disappointed with
Eircom's proposal to allow its competitors to access only connections
between its exchanges and individual consumers and businesses.
http://www.comreg.ie/

Jeff Nolan of SAP Ventures Resigns

Frankfurt -- Jeff Nolan of SAP Ventures, the VC division of German
business-software giant SAP AG, has decided to leave the venture-
capital industry, according to a posting on his weblog. "We did 73
direct equity deals, returned a boatload of cash to the company,
invested in some amazing teams, lost my ass on a few deals, regretted
making a couple of investments, glad I didn't do many deals I saw,
(kicked) myself for not doing others," Nolan said. "In short, it's been a
great ride." An eight-year veteran at SAP, Nolan said he would post on
what his new role will be another day.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B4595231C