JP/14/biz
Unocal, Pelangi sign MoU on clean energy
JAKARTA: Unocal North Sumatra Geothermal Ltd agreed to let its geothermal power plant, Sarulla, in North Sumatra become a pilot project for generating electricity with low emissions in an agreement with Pelangi, a non governmental organization.
Last week's Memorandum of Understanding would turn Sarulla into a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, a statement by Pelangi said on Tuesday.
As part of the Kyoto Protocol -- a convention to reduce emissions worldwide -- the CDM project tracks the amount of pollutants reduced compared to, if Sarulla had used coal instead of geothermal to generate electricity, said Olivia a spokesperson at Pelangi.
Sarulla's owners could convert the amount of reduced emission into credit points to sell them.
Buyers, Olivia said, would be developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol that could use the credit points to meet their emission reduction targets. --JP
WorldCom's Yates admits guilt in fraud case
NEW YORK: WorldCom Inc.'s former director of general accounting pleaded guilty on Monday to two felony charges connected with the accounting fraud that led to the telephone company's collapse.
Buford Yates entered guilty pleas to one charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one charge of securities fraud. Yates made the pleas in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck in Manhattan.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine, while the fraud charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
In August, a grand jury indicted Yates and WorldCom's former chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan, on fraud and conspiracy charges. The men were charged with scheming to hide billions of dollars in expenses, inflating the earnings of the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone company and helping to precipitate its collapse this summer into the world's largest bankruptcy filing.
Yates initially had pleaded not guilty to those charges. Sullivan also has pleaded not guilty. -- Reuters
Deutsche Telekom keep 3 bidders for cable TV sale
BONN: The German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom said Monday it had decided to retain three bidders for the final negotiations over the sale of its television cable networks.
Deutsche Telekom, which hopes to use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt burden, did not reveal the names of the potential buyers, but said in a statement it had chosen the three most attractive bids.
According to recent German press reports, the three bidding consortia are: Goldman Sachs in conjunction with Apax Partners; U.S. cable operator Liberty Media in conjunction with private equity firms Apollo and Blackstone; and BC Partners and GMT.
The German giant did not say when it expected to finalize the sale, but industry analysts are counting on a deal by the end of the year.
At the end of August, Deutsche Telekom said it hoped to raise 2.5-3.5 billion euros (US$2.4-3.4 billion) from the sale, much lower than its original asking price of 5.5 billion euros.
However, Deutsche Telekom remained upbeat in the statement, insisting that "the bids show that the cable TV business is still of great interest for investors, despite the difficult economic situation."
Deutsche Telekom's net debt currently stands at around 64 billion euros. --AFP
Singapore telecom firm wants 3G rollout deadline dropped
SINGAPORE: Singapore's StarHub said Tuesday the rollout deadline for third generation (3G) mobile networks should be removed to give telecoms providers more flexibility.
"Frankly, consumers do not care what we use for our infrastructure technology," StarHub's president and chief executive Terry Clontz said.
"It is the availability and price of data enabled handsets, useful applications, and premium content that will drive consumer demand, whatever underlying technology is used to provide it," he said in a statement.
One of three mobile service operators in the city-state, StarHub has written to the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) -- industry watchdog -- to "formally request" the December 31, 2004 deadline be abolished, the statement said.
In separate submissions to the IDA this year, StarHub and rival Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said 3G rollout schedules should be commercial decisions for individual companies but their arguments were rejected by the IDA.
SingTel, StarHub and MobileOne Asia each paid S$100 million (US$56 million) a year ago for a 3G license, with a fourth license on offer failing to attract solid interest.--AFP
Boeing to tap into Asia
KUALA LUMPUR: United States airplane-maker Boeing hopes to gain a strong foothold for future ventures in Southeast Asia with the official launch of its regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday.
The Malaysian office would be the base for its businesses in the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Boeing Southeast Asia Vice President Paul Walters said that the move to set up the office would provide the aerospace company vast opportunities to tap into the region.
"If Boeing wants to compete, it would have to relocate to an efficient and cost-effective place. To us, Malaysia fits the bill," Walters was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying on Monday.--DPA
Tanker blast not due to sabotage:PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's state-owned oil company Petronas does not suspect the explosion aboard a supertanker off Yemen was caused by sabotage, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday.
The French-flagged supertanker Limburg, carrying 400,000 barrels of crude and chartered by Petronas Nasional Bhd, was ablaze off the coast of Yemen after an explosion on Sunday, and the ship's owners said they thought terrorists using a boat could have been responsible.
"Petronas did not suspect any sabotage," Mahathir was quoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying. Mahathir added that the explosion could easily have been caused by a small fire due to a short-circuit.
Petronas did not incur big losses from the fire as the cargo had been insured, he said. --Reuters