TelecomWeb News Digest articles from April 2005

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from April 2005

MCI Negotiates With Qwest - Again.
April 4, 2005... MCI this morning acknowledged that the ball is now back in its court to negotiate the most recent revised acquisition offer - worth more than $8.9 billion - from Qwest Communications. Following a review of the new proposal, the interexchange...

New Consortium Focuses On Network Security.(Network Intrusion Prevention Systems Product Developers Consortium established)
April 4, 2005... A group of 16 companies banded together as founding members of an industry consortium aimed at creating certification standards for network- intrusion protection products. Impetus for the new group came from information security product...

Ciena, Broadwing Settle Patent Litigation.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Fiber-optic vendor Ciena and domestic carrier Broadwing say they reached a settlement of patent-infringement litigation, agreeing to dismiss all claims. Broadwing is paying Ciena $35 million in three equal annual installments and continuing...

Intrado Lands New Wireless E911 Deals.(software firm gets contracts from SureWest Wireless, and Immix Wireless)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Public-safety service provider Intrado won contracts for wireless E911 solutions and services from rural wireless carriers SureWest Wireless, a subsidiary of SureWest Communications, and Immix Wireless. Intrado said each will use 911...

Telefonica Wins Cesky Telecom...For Today, At Least.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Although nothing official has surfaced, it looks like Telefonica outbid three other players for the 51.1-percent stake of Cesky Telecom the Czech government put on the block for the second time. The Spanish carrier reportedly will pay $3.54...

ATIS Studies IPTV 'Challenges'.(Alliance For Telecommunications Industry Solutions establishes exploratory group)(internet protocol based television)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The Alliance For Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has created an "exploratory group" to assess what it calls the "operational opportunities and challenges" surrounding the wide-scale deployment of IP-based television (IPTV). The...

Telstra Launches Global VoIP VPN Service.(virtual private line)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Australian carrier Telstra Incorporated is launching a global managed virtual private line (VPN) VoIP service to interconnect geographically dispersed main and remote offices of multinational corporate customers. The company said its T-VoIP...

Aussie Regulators Launch Three-Year Interconnect Probe.(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched a three-year program to monitor interconnection between broadband providers and to possibly begin regulating those interconnections if it finds anti-competitive...

MCI Spurns Qwest's $8.9B Purchase Bid.(Qwest Communications International Inc.'s takeover offer rejected)
April 7, 2005... MCI rejected the most recent $8.9 billion acquisition proposal from Qwest Communications, bouncing back Qwest's own rhetoric by saying its board of directors voted that the bid "in its current form, taken as a whole, is not superior" to the...

Canada Mandates 911 For VoIP.(voice over internet protocol)(Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... In a surprise move, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) mandated that voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers offer emergency 911 services to their subscribers within the next 90 days - or be shut...

IDC: 27 Million U.S. Home VoIP Subs In '09.(residential voice over internet protocol subscrivers predicted to increase)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Residential voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service clearly has come into its own in the United States as major telecom carriers increasing begin to roll out offerings, according to research company IDC. Analysts there expect the number...

Municipal Broadband Battle Moves To Colorado.(bill proposed to )
April 7, 2005... A little-noticed bill has been wending its way through the Colorado legislature that, if passed, would make it difficult or near impossible for municipalities to provide WiFi or FTTx to their residents. The bill, which also would ban...

Cray Tests Supercomputers On MCI's IPv6 Network.(contract)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... MCI is providing supercomputer maker Cray with IPv6 network services Cray will use for interoperability testing and product development on next-generation applications and software. A long-time MCI customer, Cray signed a new agreement with...

Global Crossing Adds A New Ethernet Service.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Global Crossing launched a private-line service addition to its Ethernet offering portfolio aimed at connectivity for a wide range of applications used by enterprise customers, including hosting, resource planning, business continuity,...

Michigan Attorney General Raises VoIP 911 Alarm.(Mike Cox warns voice over internet protocol suppliers to provide emergency service)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has issued a warning to consumers in that state about the inability of VoIP suppliers to provide 911 services. The warning follows on the heels of the Texas lawsuit, where Vonage is being charged with not...

Nokia Discloses India Plant Plans.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2005... Nokia, which said in December 2004 that it was planning to build a wireless handset plant in India, has filled in the details of what will be its tenth handset plant worldwide. The company said that it will spend between $100 and $150 million...

Doing Good: Dutch Telco Helps SchoolNet Africa.(KPN N.V. donates used computers)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Dutch telco KPN is donating 10,000 used computers to schools in Africa. The operator is replacing its computer park and is handing over the used computers to SchoolNet Africa. SchoolNet, an African not-for-profit organization that...

Fire Fighters Concerned About RF Radiation And Tower Sites.(International Association of Fire Fighters seeks funding)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), which says it represents more than 85 percent of the professional fire fighters and emergency medical personnel in the United States and Canada, is looking for someone to finance a study...

BPL, Wireless Vendors Pursue Multi-Tenant Market.(Telkonet and GigaBeam signs co-marketing agreement)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Broadband over powerline (BPL) vendor Telkonet and fixed wireless house GigaBeam inked a co-marketing pact aimed at the multiple-dwelling-unit market. They envision an offering where backhaul is delivered to a building via GigaBeam's...

Qwest Starts Regional Expansion.(Qwest Communications International Inc. opens new store)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... ILEC Qwest Communications is opening a company retail store in Fargo, N.D., as part of a region-wide, residential, subscriber-oriented retail expansion. This first location to open in the state brings the total number of new Qwest locations...

New Global Reports 15,000 VoIP Licensees.(New Global Telecom)(voice over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Wholesale voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider New Global Telecom reports that, by the end of the first quarter, it had signed about 15,000 customer licensees for what its calls "seat license packages" - called TelPacks - which it...

Free-Space Broadband Companies Partner Up.(fSONA Systems and LaserBit signs distribution agreement)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Free-space-optical (FSO) houses fSONA Systems and LaserBit signed a bi- lateral distribution agreement under which each can sell the complete product line of the other. The result is a combined product line that blankets the market, from low...

The Difference Between EU, U.S. BPL: Gov't Backing.(Europen Union asks power companies to exploit their power lines for affordable broadband service)
April 11, 2005... Energy market liberalization across the European Union is creating new opportunities for power utility companies to exploit their existing power supply cables to create an alternative broadband supply route. In many cases, however,...

ARINC Airborne Broadband Finally Takes Flight.(ARINC Direct gets license to provide broadband service to in-flight aircrafts)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... ARINC Direct, after more than half a decade of development and years of testing, finally received the coveted FCC operational license it needs to launch its satellite-based SKYLink broadband service for in-flight aircraft. At this point,...

Verizon Trumps Qwest With Slim's MCI Deal.(Verizon Communications Inc. acquires MCI Inc.'s majority stakes)
April 14, 2005... A battle of wits to purchase interexchange carrier MCI intensified over the weekend as Verizon Communications trumped Qwest Communications International with an agreement worth nearly $1.1 billion to buy approximately 43.4 million shares of...

SD Beats LA When It Comes To VC.(Los Angeles, San Diego, venture capital companies)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... According to local reports, the San Diego market is hot when it comes to the amount of cash venture capitalists are sinking into wireless startups there. Indeed, the entire state of California ranks number one when it comes to...

Aussie Optus In Reorg; Management Layoffs.(reorganization)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... Australian carrier Optus today said it is reorganizing, effective July 1. The carrier will aggregate its separate mobile voice and data services, melding those services into a new group of four "customer-facing units." The reorganization is...

Don't Discount Those Grassroots Lobbyists.(ban on broadband internet access gets opposition)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... A groundswell movement is starting to gain momentum to counter proposed and current state legislation that bans or limits municipal government provisioning of broadband Internet access and other communications services. Industry and...

China Goes To Israel: Huawei Adopts BroadLight FTTx.(Huawei Technologies Company Ltd.)(fiber to the X)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... China's rapidly expanding Huawei is going to use passive optical network (PON) fabless semiconductor house BroadLight's product line in Huawei products. Given Huawei's nearly exponential growth outside of China, BroadLight has grabbed the...

It's Not Your Father's TV Programming.(mobile-phone users will be able to watch television)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... Tiny TVs have been around for decades without having much impact (remember those little Casio models?). That's about to change, according to a new study from ABI Research. New technologies mean that, in the next few years, mobile-phone users...

Qwest Blasts Verizon-MCI-Slim Deals At SEC.(Qwest Communications International, Verizon Communications Inc.)(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2005... Qwest Communications International continues to criticize the merger agreement between Verizon Communications and MCI, essentially telling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the separate, higher-valued deal forged this past...

Goodbye Satellites, Hello Broadband 'Stratellites'.(Sanswire Networks develops blimp system for high-speed broadband service)
April 14, 2005... GlobalTel Communications subsidiary Sanswire Networks yesterday unveiled the first working prototype of an unmanned, helium-filled blimp system it plans to launch to provide terrestrial broadband service at a fraction of the cost of...

Cisco Buys Topspin For $250M.(Cisco Systems Inc. acquires Topspin Communications Inc.)
April 18, 2005... Cisco Systems today signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Topspin Communications for approximately $250 million in cash and options in order to gain access to the Mountain View, Calif.-based vendor's new class of server...

TIA Bulletin Tackles RF Exposure Compliance.(Telecommunications Industry Association released complance guidelines for the preparation of test reports)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Following on the heels of last week's request by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) for someone to finance a study to establish if using fire stations as antennas or tower sites for wireless communications is a health risk...

USTA Recruits ATIS In Trade-Show Battle.(United States Telephone Association signs contract with Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions )(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) has recruited the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) in its battle with the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) over which of the trade groups will inherit the mantle of...

Pan-European Flat-Rate VoIP Service Launches.(COLT Telecom Group PLC)(voice over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Colt has launched the first pan-European flat-rate business VoIP service, offering a package to businesses in 13 countries that includes hosted IP PBX services and even IP handsets. It's calling the service simply "Colt IP Voice." ...

Coming To A Box Or Phone Near You: Satellite TV.(television)(Intelsat selected Convergent Media Systems Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Global satellite-services provider Intelsat selected Convergent Media Systems as a provider of worldwide distribution services for its business-TV offering. Intelsat's global fiber and satellite network will be used to transmit live and...

US Wireless Online On The 'Verge' Of A Purchase.(acquisition of Verge Wireless Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Wireless Internet broadband network operator US Wireless Online today said it signed an agreement to acquire municipal wireless system/installation specialist Verge Wireless Networks, with the deal expected to close in about 30 days. Terms...

8x8 Slashes VoIP Videophone Prices By 75%.(voice over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... 8x8 has cut the heart out of the pricing for its VoIP-based videophone - and the monthly fee to use the widget over its Packet8 service - in hopes of stimulating sales that so far have been highly disappointing by all reports. Slow sales...

Motorola Victorious As Verizon FTTx Supplier.(Verizon Communications Inc. signs FTTx equipment supply contract)
April 21, 2005... Motorola has snagged the coveted second-source contract to supply Verizon with FTTx equipment in its massive multibillion-dollar FiOS fiber-to-the- premises project. Verizon had long said that it intended to name a second source to...

Consumer Groups Ready Telecom-Merger Challenge.(congress conducts hearings of proposed mergers of telecommunications companies)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... Consumer-advocacy groups are preparing to better organize their opposition to the proposed SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI telecom mergers that are starting to look for approvals from federal government agencies and that are being examined by...

XO Unveils Nationwide VoIP Biz Bundles.(XO Communications launches oice-over-internet protocol services )
April 21, 2005... XO Communications today disclosed a nationwide rollout of its XOptionsFlex voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) services bundle for business customers. The carrier will offer flat monthly rates said to embrace 1,000 U.S. cities within 45...

Listing Like Letterman: The Top 10 Global Wireless Services.(rankings)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... A new Top 10 list concocted by Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets now tracks what the firm is calling the world's cream-of-the-wireless-services crop. Its picks are pretty diverse overall, and while one would think Japan would be the...

Crest Hands Over Fiber Assets.(Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc. to acquire fiber-optic cable assets in the state from Crest Communications )(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... Alaska Communications Systems Group (ACS) exercised an option with Crest Communications to assume ownership of fiber-optic cable assets located between Whittier and Anchorage, and between Anchorage and Fairbanks in that state. The...

Tandberg Dilutes Microsoft's IPTV Scheme.(Tandberg Television added advanced video compression technology in Microsoft Corp.'s internet protocol television service)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... Tandberg has added support for MPEG-4 advanced video compression (AVC) to its support of Microsoft TV in a move seen as reflecting growing industry rejection of Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media 9 (WMV9). Until now, Tandberg, which had...

Lucent Jumps Into VoIP Managed-Services Market.(Lucent Technologies Inc.)(voice over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... Lucent Technologies' managed-services unit is about to become the newest entrant into the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business, with a hosted VoIP PBX offering designed for service providers to sell to their business customers. The...

Telekom Austria Fights Broadband Price War.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2005... Telekom Austria, the leading telco in Austria, slashed its broadband prices in a move to counter lower-priced competition. In its latest campaign, the carrier is set to offer its broadband service aonSpeed for $19.42 a month for the first...

BREAKING NEWS: MCI Now Singing Qwest's Song.(Qwest Communications International Inc. offers increased purchase bid than Verizon Communications to acquire MCI Inc.)
April 25, 2005... MCI changed its tune, deciding the most recent $9.7 billion purchase bid from Qwest Communications International is indeed "superior" to the already- sweetened $7.5 billion acquisition deal with Verizon Communications. The interexchange...

Covad Unveils Installation Services/Tech Support Unit.(Covad Installation Services Group )(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Broadband services provider Covad Communications Group launched the Covad Installation Services Group (ISG) to provide support in 117 major markets for what it calls "the growing need of on-site, 24/7 broadband technical support services"...

ATIS Investigates VoIP Fraud.(Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, voice over internet protocol)
April 25, 2005... The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has asked its Telecommunications Fraud Prevention Committee (TFPC) to investigate voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in an ongoing investigation expected to continue through the...

Thinking Beyond The iPod.(wireless services and music industry)
April 25, 2005... The wireless industry has to start thinking outside of the iPod box. Carriers are all a-twitter over the prospect of becoming the next big distribution platform for rock entities 50 Cent and Outkast, and they are about to be seduced by the...

Think Tank Urges More China Competition.(Progress and Freedom Foundation encourages telecom reform)
April 25, 2005... A researcher from a Washington, D.C., area think-tank organization is advocating that the Chinese government should promote more telecom competition in the country as an effective policy means of encouraging more ubiquitous usage and...

Porn's Not Selling Like It Used To.(mobile pornography market forecast)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Apparently, smut on the small screen isn't making wireless carriers or content providers the kind of money they thought they'd be making. In fact, a new report from Strategy Analytics says mobile porn will remain a small market (no pun...

Another Arby's Chain Set Goes Broadband.(Sybra Inc. signs contract with Spacenet Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Spacenet Inc. was selected by Sybra Inc. to provide a Connexstar broadband satellite network to the 237 Arby's restaurants Sybra operates nationwide. The VSAT network will support retail-networking applications that include fast credit...

Time Warner, Comcast Will Split Adelphia Winnings.(joint acquisition of Adelphia Communications Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Cable/media companies Time Warner and Comcast today disclosed reaching a deal to purchase the assets of bankrupt cable and broadband provider Adelphia Communications via a joint bid worth $17.6 billion in cash and stock. The value of the...

U.S. Falls Farther Behind In Broadband.
April 28, 2005... The United States has fallen yet further behind in broadband penetration, falling to 16th place in the world from 13th last year and 11th the year before, according to new numbers from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Of...

NYC Report Cites Telecom Criticality, Broadband Challenges.(New York City Economic Development Corp.)
April 28, 2005... New York City's telecom networks are as vitally important to its basic core infrastructure as are highways, bridges, airports and transit, yet a major challenge for the metro area is that it lags behind several other world cities in...

It's Verizon's Move in MCI-Qwest Battle.(Verizon Communications Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. battles to acquire MCI Inc.)
April 28, 2005... Verizon Communications at week's start is weighing its next move in the now-intensified battle with Qwest Communications International to buy interexchange carrier MCI. The former Bell operating company - following the weekend news that MCI...

Siemens Casts Wide Net For Handset Partner.(Siemens AG to divests its handset division to Motorola Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2005... It looks like Siemens has shopped its handset division far and wide, looking for a partner to help it get back on track. German newspapers over the weekend reported Motorola as being a prime candidate, going so far as to say "advanced talks"...

WildBlue Satellite Broadband Sets June Launch Date.(WildBlue Communications to launched satellite-based Internet service)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2005... WildBlue Communications has decided to launch its satellite-based Internet service - eagerly awaited in many quarters because of the promise of DSL-like pricing and speed along with ubiquitous coverage - in June. The service will provide...

More Telephony Plans For Adelphia Than Meets The Eye.(Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. jointly bids to acquire Adelphia Communications Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2005... Up front, and as much as most of the stock market cares, the joint bid by Comcast and Time Warner to buy fellow cable carrier Adelphia Communications out of bankruptcy is purely a cable television/media play. Yet, scratch below the surface...

PFF Fellow Cautions FCC On Merger Decisions.(Progress and Freedom Foundation's Randolph J. May sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2005... In a letter yesterday to new FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and his fellow commissioners, Progress & Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Randolph J. May wrote that the FCC "should largely defer to the Justice Department or the FTC in analyzing...

USDA Hosts Rural Broadband Loan Workshop.(United States Department of Agriculture)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2005... The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Development Rural Utilities Program has set a May 12 date for a workshop on its rural broadband access loan and loan guarantee program - the federal government's premiere effort to fund the...