TelecomWeb News Digest articles from August 2004

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from August 2004

UTOPIA Fiber Project Receives Initial Funding.(Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency)(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... UTOPIA, Utah's massive 14-city fiber to the premises (FTTP) consortium, on Thursday night received its first money -- $85 million from revenue bonds sold barely 48 hours after the last of the final needed approvals by member cities and the...

Virginia to Continue Encouraging Telecom Competition.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... Despite recent changes in the federal regulatory regime, Virginia plans to continue encouraging vigorous competition in the telecom arena, says Virginia's Secretary of Technology George Newstrom. The continued growth of the telecom industry is...

ALJ Issues Proposed Decision on 'Batch Hot Cuts'.(administrative law judge )
August 2, 2004... A proposed decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) on the "batch hot-cut" process, as defined in FCC's Triennial Review Order (TRO), is now being reviewed by the California Public Utilities Commission and could be approved for...

Can the Internet Handle All POTS Traffic?(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... The rise in popularity of Internet Protocol (IP)-based applications and, in particular, the emergence of Voice over IP, has given rise to questions about whether the Internet is capable of handling the level of telecommunications traffic now...

Communications Equipment Spending Rebounding, Says S&P.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... A new report from investor advisor Standard & Poor's Equity Research contends that a rebound in expenditures on enterprise networking equipment and telecommunications -- the two main markets for communications equipment -- is now under way and...

Lightpath Plays Ring Around the City.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... New York metropolitan area local exchange carrier Lightpath, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, is about to go live with a new optical ring around New York to provide continuity services. The showpiece of the new ring is a...

San Diego Rules, Pricing Could Nix Most Tower-Siting Requests.(Brief Article)
August 2, 2004... The San Diego City Council just made it more difficult for wireless service providers to site antennas in some of the most high-use parcels of land under its jurisdiction: residential areas. A revamp of past siting rules now gives operators...

Race for Chinese Content Heats Up.(Boulder Acquisitions Inc. decided not to change its name but to trade with a new symbol CHDW)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... Two U.S.-based companies whose work centers on the Mainland Chinese marketplace are drilling down further into the converged wireless/wireline industries, especially when it comes to content and the delivery thereof. Nevada-based Boulder...

Loral Skynet Shuffles Corner Office.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... Patrick Brant is the new president of Loral Skynet, the satellite operating business unit of New York-based Loral Space & Communications, succeeding Terry Hart, who plans to pursue a career in academia. Brant had been serving as president and...

Florida Residents to See 5.2 Percent Hike for Local Service.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... The cost of BellSouth's local phone service in Florida is expected to go up by 5.2 percent, which amounts to 54-cents a month increase, starting at the end of this month. Rate increases for Florida's business will rise by 62-cents per month,...

Cingular, AT&T Wireless, Cincinnati Bell Dissolve Non-Compete Pact.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... Cingular Wireless has reached an agreement with AT&T Wireless and Cincinnati Bell that will result in sweeping changes to the existing joint venture between Cincinnati Bell and AT&T Wireless. The new agreement will becoming effective once...

FCC's CALEA Plan Excludes Messaging, Includes Push-to-Talk.(Federal Communications Commission)(Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM) regarding the controversial Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and broadband access and services. In particular, the two-pronged notice addresses "the appropriate...

Vint Cerf: 'Don't Blame the Telecom Act; Blame Its Enforcement'.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2004... The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is not failure because it was poorly written, says internationally renowned Internet architect Vinton Cerf. It is a failure because is has been poorly enforced. Cerf, senior vice president of technology...

'Nearshore' Call Centers Emerging as Choice for Western European Firms.
August 9, 2004... "Nearshore" call center destinations, as opposed to offshore operations, are emerging as the new darlings among customer care outsourcers from Western Europe according to new research from London-based independent market analyst Datamonitor....

Intercarrier Compensation Forum Poised to File Long-Awaited Proposal.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... A long-awaited telecom industry consensus plan for reforming the way the highly contentious interexchange access regime operates is said to be complete and could be filed with the FCC as early as Monday (Aug. 16), sources tell TelecomWeb's...

CHOICE Members Urge Preservation of Line-Sharing.(Coalition for High-Speed Online Internet Competition and Enterprise)
August 16, 2004... Eleven member companies of the Coalition for High-Speed Online Internet Competition and Enterprise (CHOICE) are urging the FCC to preserve line-sharing rules that allow competitive broadband providers to lease from the incumbent local exchange...

Is Intelsat Next for KKR?(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... Like most vertical markets that make up the communications arena, satellite operators are going through a sales and/or consolidation phase. Affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP -- The Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners Inc....

Disney Confirms 'MickeyPhone' Talks.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... Several weeks ago, TelecomWeb heard rumors about sports conglomerate ESPN getting into the wireless-phone game, but executives there were mum on the subject. However, parent company Walt Disney Co. now says it has been in talks about offering a...

CBO Offers Lawmakers Framework for Copyright Revisions.(Congressional Budget Office)
August 16, 2004... Three primary options are among those available to the Congress in its deliberations on the current copyright debate, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office: (1) forbearance, (2) compulsory licensing of digital content,...

Cingular Contracted to Provide Wireless Priority Service for Emergency Communications.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... The National Communications System (NCS), part of the Department of Homeland Security's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate, has awarded Cingular Wireless with a contract to provide Wireless Priority Service (WPS) to...

WildBlue to Offer $50 Satellite Broadband.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... WildBlue Communications, the half billion dollar attempt to provide affordable satellite-based broadband to rural America, has told TelecomWeb sister publication Broadband Business Forecast that it has set a $49.95 starting price for its...

DBS Surpasses 23 Million Subscriber Mark.(Brief Article)
August 16, 2004... The direct broadcast satellite (DBS) industry continues chipping away at the cable industry's dominance of the multi-channel video marketplace. The DBS industry now has more than 23 million total subscribers, based on recent secondquarter...

FCC Holds Some Satellite Operators Outage-Accountable.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2004... Some satellite-services operators now will be held to similar outageaccountability rules as other communications carriers here on Earth, and they won't be able to plead ignorance. The FCC has just released an order modifying the reporting...

Aussie WISPs May Be Out Of Luck.(wireless internet service providers)(Brief Article)
August 23, 2004... It appears that the Australian Communications Authority may have backed wireless ISPs into a corner when it comes to being able to obtain more spectrum for growing wireless broadband needs. There is some spectrum in the 2 GHz range down under,...

Swisscom Unable To Reach Telekom Austria Agreement.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2004... Attempts to merge the two biggest telcos in Switzerland and Austria have failed. Swisscom and Telekom Austria have been unable to reach an agreement about a possible merger. In a statement, Swisscom admitted that both sides saw advantages of...

Loral Reorganization Plan Supported by Creditors' Committee.
August 23, 2004... The reorganization plan filed Aug. 19 by Loral Space & Communications Ltd. and certain of its subsidiaries with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is being supported by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors...

Rollout of Free Online Telecom Business Tool Now Under Way.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2004... telx, the owner and operator of two of North America's core interconnection facilities, has announced its global rollout of the telx e-cbx , a free online tool designed to generate qualified sales leads for its carrier and network operator...

Unions Strike Out at Verizon Wireless.(Brief Article)
August 23, 2004... Efforts to unionize a wireless carrier have failed again. Time ran out for the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at Verizon Wireless, which had been targeted for unionization four years...

SBC Petition Nudges FCC Action on VoIP Numbering Policy.(SBC IP Communications)
August 23, 2004... This week, TelecomWeb's sister publication, Telecom Policy Report, scrutinizes the FCC's handling of a petition filed by SBC IP Communications (SBCIP), a subsidiary of SBC Communications, seeking permission to obtain numbering resources...

AT&T Adds 21 New Markets to its Rollout of VoIP Services.
August 23, 2004... AT&T may no longer be pursuing new wireline residential customers, but that doesn't mean the company has given up on the residential market altogether. On Thursday (Aug. 19), AT&T reaffirmed its aggressive rollout of residential Voice over...

Fiber-to-the-Premise Seen as $3.2 Billion U.S. Market by 2009.
August 30, 2004... For more than fifteen years, fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) deployments have been punctuated by various trials but have never gained traction -- until now. In its new report, Fiber To The Premises in The United States: The Promise of Universal...

3,000 American Call Centers Gone by 2008, Says Datamonitor.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Call center numbers and agent positions in the United States will take a tumble, according to new research by independent market analysis firm Datamonitor. The report, The Vertical Guide to Contact Centers in North America to 2008, says that...

FOA Proposes Standard Fiber Optic Connector.(Fiber Optic Association )
August 30, 2004... The Fiber Optic Association has proposed a new fiber optic connector concept as an industry standard, an effort to address and resolve a longstanding complaint from network equipment manufacturers and end users regarding the lack of connector...

Iridium Tests Next-Gen Handsets.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Bethesda, Md.-based Iridium Satellite LLC, a global, mobile satellite communications service provider, is in the process of developing a nextgeneration handset that could be introduced in the near future to offer improved service. Iridium,...

Vodafone and Optus Ready to Share Costs.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Vodafone Australia has signed a key agreement with Optus to share 3G network sites and radio infrastructure across Australia, which will lower costs for both operators. Both operators will build and operate a joint national 3G radio...

Telematics Market to Reach $6.5 Billion by 2008.
August 30, 2004... The total telematics revenues, which includes consumer and commercial markets, as well as hardware and service revenue, was estimated at $5.6 billion in 2003. By 2008, revenues are projected to increase at an average annual growth rate (AAGR)...

NTT DoCoMo Hooks Up With Motorola.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... NTT DoCoMo is looking to boost its services to business users in Japan with a new, more advanced handset. It has signed a deal with Motorola to jointly develop a FOMA handset targeting business users and taking advantage of highspeed 3G FOMA...