THE WRAP: Intel's record, PCCW "dishonesty"

 

This week Intel earned a record penalty and Hong Kong judges slammed vote manipulation in the PCCW buyout.
 
The European Commission slapped a record €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing its power in the EU microprocessor market. Intel said its behavior did not hurt consumers.
 
In a written judgment of their decision to block PCCW’s privatization, Hong Kong’s appeal court judges described the share-splitting scheme as “a form of dishonesty”. Richard Li said he would take it to the court of Final Appeal.
 
The Australian government poured €2.4 billion into its next-gen broadband company and offered Telstra a 49% stake.
 
French law-makers approved a controversial three-strikes anti-piracy bill.
 
BT said it would shed 15,000 jobs after losing €149.5 million in the March quarter. Once more the global services group, which accounts for two-fifths of sales, drove the result down.
 
Sony posted its first full-year loss for 14 years. It lost ¥120 billion (€918 million) on sales of ¥7.73 trillion and said it would close three factories.
 
Ericsson and Huawei are set to capture the lion’s share of BSNL GSM contracts worth $6 billion.
 
Taiwan authorities declined to open up basic telecom services to mainland investors, blocking China Mobile’s attempt to buy into FarEasTone.
 
The UK government will consider allowing O2 and Vodafone to keep their 2G spectrum and indefinite 3G licenses in return for providing universal mobile broadband service. 
 
Vodafone said it would open an app store by year-end – the first by a carrier.
 
The IEA called on governments to rein in the soaring energy consumption of electronic devices, which it said would double by 2022.
 
Verizon Wireless divested many of its Alltel assets to AT&T for €1.72 billion, as required by the FCC. Verizon sold a its fixed-network business in rural areas to Frontier Communications for €3.8 billion in stock.
 
Telefonica boosted its Q1 net 9.8% and its stake in China Unicom. Nortel’s revenue fell 37% as it posted a €371.4 million loss.
 
Vendors are doing it tougher than operators, said Ovum. Google announced new search features for the PC and mobile phone.
 
New Zealand’s fourth cellco, 2degrees, will start service in August.
 
Craigslist killed off its Erotic Services section following the murder of a woman, allegedly by someone she had met through the site, and replaced it with Adult Services classifieds.
 
The SpecEx, an index to track trends and sentiment in the secondary market for US spectrum, was launched.
 
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confiscated a reporter’s phone when it rang during a press briefing.
 
And NASA astronaut Mike Massimo sent the first tweets from space.