PR Newswire's Business Technology Round-up, 20th November 2012

LONDON, November 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Quanta announces telecoms sale, Urbanspoon app bolsters international offering and eLearning value set to soar  

US infrastructure services company Quanta Services has signed an agreement with telecoms experts Dycom Industries, with a view to selling its lucrative telecommunications subsidiaries.

The deal will be worth approximately $275million, transferring all of Quanta's telecoms subsidiaries to Dycom by the end of the year. The sale is part of Quanta's efforts to refocus on its core energy business, with the bulk of the proceeds being used to fund new electric power and pipeline infrastructure projects. According to Quanta CEO Jim O'Neil, "This transaction enables Quanta to further strategically focus on energy infrastructure markets", which he believes will become a major source of revenue for the company in the coming months.

Popular iPhone app developer Urbanspoon has significantly bolstered its international offering this week, after it announced a number of strategic partnerships with online restaurant booking services Livebookings and Dimmi.

The new partnerships allow Urbanspoon customers to access more than 7,000 restaurant locations across the globe, including 2,000 options in the Irish Republic. Already offering comprehensive reviews and extensive restaurant information, users will now be able to make reservations directly through the Urbanspoon mobile application, in a move designed to simplify and enhance the end user experience.

The Urbanspoon app has proven to be something of a phenomenon since its launch just a few years ago, with the company now seating over 2 million diners a month in the US alone. Urbanspoon SVP Kara Nortman enthused over the new partnership, noting that "partnering with great companies, like Dimmi and Livebookings, extends our reservation coverage to millions of Urbanspoon diners internationally".

According to a new study by online market research firm Global Information Inc, the eLearning and online private tutor markets are set to explode over the next few years. The market for eLearning alone is set to be worth $169billion by 2018.

The rapid uptake of eLearning systems by educational institutions across the globe is said to be the main driving force behind this staggering rise in value, on top of increasing demand from companies who are looking to educate their employees online.

The online private tutoring sector is also predicted to swell over the next six years, with unprecedented demand for tutors in Asia and Eastern Europe contributing to a total market value of $102.8billion by 2018.

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