A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Mobile operator 3 begins €30m upgrade of its network
Mobile operator 3 has begun a €30 million upgrade of its network which will significantly enhance the broadband speeds it can offer customers. The upgrade, which is being carried out by Nokia Siemens Networks, will enable speeds of 7.2Mbits/sec this year with 14.4Mbits/sec technology being deployed in 2009.
The latest upgrade brings 3's total investment in its network to €530 million.
North consumer confidence falls
Just one person in 10 in the North feels confident about the current economic situation, according to new research.
The Nationwide Building Society's quarterly consumer confidence index shows a sharp increase in anxiety levels in Northern Ireland about jobs, spending and the current economic climate.
The research comes as a Coleraine electronics company became the latest firm to announce redundancies in the North. AVX, which makes components for computers and mobile phones, has axed 33 jobs. The Japanese company blamed a fall in orders.
TCD course on philanthropy
Trinity College Dublin has launched Ireland's first executive course dedicated to fund-raising and philanthropy studies, in partnership with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in the US.
The course is aimed at the estimated 24,000 non-profit organisations in Ireland, which, between them, employ more than 63,000 full and part-time workers.
The five-day course, Principles and Techniques of Fundraising, aims to assist those responsible for fundraising in Ireland achieve new levels of success and sustainability.
Irish Life Permanent raises €1.7bn in securitisation deal
Irish Life Permanent (ILP) has raised €1.7 billion in a securitisation of Irish residential mortgages.
The deal, which is the bank's fifth issue under its Fastnet programme, is the first securitisation transaction by an Irish bank since the announcement of the Government's guarantee, and reflects the good standing of ILP's mortgage book.
Rating agency Moody's assigned a AAA rating to the 510 million class A1 mortgage backed floating rate notes due 2050; AAA to the 510 million class A2 mortgage backed floating rate notes due 2050; and AAA to the 527 million class A3 mortgage-backed floating rate notes which fall due in 2050.
