EoW May 2010

Transat lant ic Cable

“Haiti is very mountainous and the people are very fond of their cellphones,” Raymond Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, told the Post . “A wireless system would just be leaping over all sorts of impediments to connect the whole country.” Elsewhere in telecom . . . Last year, Internet Protocol television (IPTV) had its strongest ❈ growth year ever, adding over 10.8 million subscribers worldwide (compared to 9.4 million in 2008) to exceed 33 million by the end of the year, according to a report prepared by Point Topic, the London-based source for broadband statistics, for the Broadband Forum. The Americas posted the strongest IPTV growth in terms of region, with 58% more IPTV subscribers in 2009 than in 2008. Both North and South American countries are described as having started to show signi cant signs of IPTV adoption; and, according to the report, “the prospects for 2010 look good.” The USA ended the year with over 5.6 million IPTV customers, up more than 60% from 2008. By way of comparison with Europe, ipTV News for 29 th March noted that the Point Topic report sees IPTV take-up there as driven by keen competition and the success of product bundles, especially in France. The estimated 8 million-plus French IPTV subscribers by the end of last year (up from 6.1 million at the end of 2008) accounted for 42% of the country’s 19 million broadband lines. Point Topic places France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain all in the top ten IPTV countries by the end of 2009.

Automotive

The 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study ❈ published by JD Power and Associates (Westlake Village, California) based its rankings on the responses of more than 52,000 owners of three-year-old cars who reported on problems presenting over the previous 12 months. The study, published 18 th March, shows USA manufacturers of 2007 model-year vehicles dominating the top ve spots, re ecting their growing competitiveness in both actual and perceived vehicle quality and dependability. The head of the list, however, was claimed by Germany’s Porsche AG, whose namesake sports car brand was up from a tenth-place nish in last year’s JD Power survey. Lincoln, the luxury brand of Detroit’s Ford Motor Co, came in second this year. Buick, from General Motors Co, and Toyota Motor Corp’s Lexus brand tied for third place. Ford and Toyota rounded out the top ve. Chrysler LLC, which makes Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles, is the only major USA brand that came in below average in quality. In 2007 the company was going through its sale from DaimlerChrysler AG to Cerberus Capital Management. Overall, JD Power found that vehicle dependability has improved by 7% since the 2009 survey. The European Investment Bank approved a loan of $543 million ❈ to Saab Automobile, clearing the way for Spyker Cars of the Netherlands to buy the brand from Detroit-based General Motors. The European Commission endorsed an o er by the government of Sweden to guarantee the loan on condition that

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EuroWire – May 2010