TelecomWeb News Digest articles from January 2006

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from January 2006

Local Franchise Flap Surfaces In Jersey.
January 3, 2006... Last year's hotly contested battles over telco-lobbied local video- franchising bills are getting a fresh start in 2006 with a state-wide franchise measure currently under consideration in New Jersey as the legislature reaches the final...

Motorola Readies Converged VoIP/Cellular Gear.
January 3, 2006... Motorola is coming to market with its first significant play in converged voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)/cellular telephony - an in-home system to support dual-mode handsets that allow users to make both VoIP-over-Wi-Fi and regular...

Cisco/Scientific-Atlanta Merger Passes Legal Milestone.
January 3, 2006... Cisco Systems and Scientific-Atlanta today said the waiting period for U.S. review of their proposed $6.9 billion merger under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act was terminated Dec. 30, 2005, ostensibly meaning there are no...

Research: M&As, Deal Values Up In 2005.
January 3, 2006... Mergers and acquisitions were the stronger exit option for U.S.-based, venture capital-backed companies in 2005, especially on the information technology side. At least, that's what industry tracker VentureOne says. The company, owned by...

Pacific Internet Targets China.
January 3, 2006... Singapore's Pacific Internet (Hong Kong) Limited, in its first foray into the mainland China market, inked a joint venture deal with Zhong Ren Telecom to market integrated IP communication applications in southern China. Financial terms...

SkyCross Nabs New R&D Funding.
January 3, 2006... Fla.-based SkyCross, a developer of advanced wireless antenna solutions, just closed on a $14 million round of financing led by investment firm TL Ventures, which focuses its funding on companies involved in communications, IT and...

BellSouth To Test IPTV Via Satellite.
January 4, 2006... BellSouth, which has been carefully feeling its way into IPTV, has added satellite content delivery to the technologies it's testing in a deal with SES Global American subsidiary SES Americom. Under terms of a pact disclosed earlier...

SpectraLink's KIRK Purchase Ends Up Costing More.
January 4, 2006... Wireless system vendor SpectraLink Corporation wrapped its acquisition of Denmark-based counterpart KIRK telecom A/S for approximately $62 million in a move the Boulder, Colo., company says "significantly increases its international reach...

Orbcomm Earmarks New Funds For Next-Gen Birds.
January 4, 2006... Narrowband data-communications satellite operator Orbcomm has picked up more than $110 million in new equity financing to spiff up its aging fleet of 30 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites with new birds now under development. The biggest...

NTT DoCoMo Eyes Philippine Telco Stake.
January 4, 2006... Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has made a series of international investments in recent months, reportedly is on the verge of investing in the largest telecom company in the Philippines. According to local Filipino press reports, NTT DoCoMo is...

8x8, QDI Ink Distribution Pact.
January 4, 2006... Broadband service provider 8x8 Inc. just signed an agreement with QDI Quality Distributors LLC, a master distributor of cellular products and services in the United States and a major T-Mobile reseller, to market the company's...

TI Chips Go 'Hollywood'.
January 4, 2006... While some still disparage the idea of watching sitcoms and soap operas on a tiny screen, major players continue to buy into the mobile-TV concept. Today, Texas Instruments Incorporated unveiled its "Hollywood"-brand DTV single- chip...

Finnish Carrier Fights 'Surprising, Contradictory' License Decision.
January 5, 2006... TeliaSonera Finland is fighting the decision made yesterday by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) to transfer rights of use to 19 of the carrier's channels related to its just-renewed P-GSM 900 radio license to another...

Belgacom Wins Telindus Takeover Battle.
January 5, 2006... Belgium's state-controlled telephone company, Belgacom, apparently won the takeover battle for network equipment maker Telindus - at a price of $719 million - following the withdrawal of France Telecom from the fray early this morning. ...

Indiana Ponders Update For Antique Telecom Law.
January 5, 2006... Telecom-reform legislation proposed yesterday in the Indiana General Assembly would, among other things, mandate a statewide system for video franchising and would impose new conditions on the establishment of municipal government-owned and...

Under New Management: 3G Chip House.
January 5, 2006... Qualcomm snapped up four-year-old radio frequency IC (RFIC) fabless semiconductor house Berkana Wireless, paying $56 million in cash. What the buyer is getting for its money is RF CMOS intellectual property, including a portfolio of 37...

New FCC Commissioner Staffs Up.
January 5, 2006... Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, the newest member of the Federal Communications Commission, yesterday added Aaron Goldberger as one of her legal advisors in what is expected to be the first in a series of appointments in the Tennessee...

The Three Prongs For Applications-Market Success.
January 5, 2006... There are three prongs for success in the applications market: Increase revenue, lower costs, and improve time to market for new and innovative end-user applications. In a new feature story written by Keith Chappell, managing vice...

Done Deal: Verizon and MCI Close Merger.
January 6, 2006... Verizon Communications and MCI today closed their $8.5 billion merger transaction, with one of the first orders of business being the formation of a new operating unit encompassing enterprise and government customers, and related functions...

Motorola Googles As Nokia Yahoos!
January 6, 2006... Motorola and Google signed a pact under which users will be able to access Google services directly from Motorola cellular handsets. Not to be undone, Yahoo! announced its own cellular service, including everything from search to video,...

Lame-Duck Legislature Delays N.J. Franchise Bill.
January 6, 2006... A proposed cable-TV franchise bill in New Jersey pitting Verizon Communications against the state's cablecos has been dropped from the current lame-duck session of the legislature, but it is expected to be resurrected again in a month or so...

ntl Wins Opal Telecom Deal.
January 6, 2006... U.K. cable provider ntl inked a five-year, $17.6 million contract with Opal Telecom, beating BT and other competitors for the lucrative deal to supply national Ethernet services via its spanking new Multi Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS)...

Telecom Cambodia Slated For Privatization.
January 6, 2006... The Cambodian government has set up the government-owned wireline phone network in the country's capital, Phnom Penh, as a separate company named Telecom Cambodia, with plans to privatize the company by 2008, according to reports trickling...

Survey: Phoenix Motorola Continues To Beat Nokia.
January 6, 2006... New research from ChangeWave Research says Motorola has the most market share among current cellphone owners, gaining two points since its last user survey on this topic. Motorola also is the top choice among those who plan to buy a...

India, Pakistan Agree To Overland Fiber Link.
January 9, 2006... Despite their continuing hostility, India and Pakistan have agreed to establish what will be the first direct land fiber link between the two neighbors. According to reports out of Islamabad, state-run Pakistan Telecommunications Company...

Cesky Telecom Reports Explosive Broadband Growth.
January 9, 2006... Czech fixed-line operator Cesky Telecom, reporting phenomenal growth in the broadband arena, said that, during the first week of January, it reached 275,000 ADSL subscribers, a 175-percent year-over-year increase. During the last 12...

Network Installation, Spectrum Communications Divorce.
January 9, 2006... Here's a divorce story you don't hear every day: Two small U.S. companies in the communications/computer installation-and-supply business have completely reversed their merger transaction that closed more than two months ago - apparently due...

CWA Cries The Blues Over Big Blue's Benefits.
January 9, 2006... The Communications Workers of America, which for months has been critical of a number of employment policies and practices at Verizon Communications and the new AT&T combination with SBC Communications (TelecomWeb news break, Dec. 12, 2005),...

Nokia To OEM Israeli 3G Backhaul Gear.
January 9, 2006... Israeli wireless backhaul manufacturer Ceragon has grabbed the brass ring - Nokia is going to resell its products under the Nokia brand name. Under an OEM pact disclosed today, Nokia will take on Ceragon's FibeAir family of microwave...

BT Makes Gartner's 'Magic Quadrant'.
January 9, 2006... BT has been listed in the leader quadrant in Gartner's 2005 Magic Quadrant for Global Network Service Providers (NSPs). The quadrant evaluates eight Global NSPs on such criteria as "ability to execute" and "completeness of vision." ...

Ethernet Alliance Is Born.
January 10, 2006... The broadband industry gave birth to yet another trade group last night - the Ethernet Alliance, a combine of industry players created with the avowed goal of supporting Ethernet standards of all ilk, rather than just one flavor or another...

Motorola Purchases BI's Cable-TV Assets.
January 10, 2006... Motorola today said it has acquired cable TV-oriented radio frequency (RF) and digital technology assets from Broadband Innovations (BI), a privately held San Diego-based developer. Terms were undisclosed. According to Motorola, the...

Telenor Tunes Top Management.
January 10, 2006... Telenor announced a handful of management changes, starting with key executives named to head newly created business units for Eastern/Central Europe and Asia, where Telenor has strong mobile commitments. The operator says two of its...

Nokia, Kyocera Settle CDMA Patent Fight.
January 10, 2006... Finland's Nokia, and Japan's Kyocera Corporation and its Kyocera Wireless Corp. subsidiary today said they have resolved a nearly two-year-old patent- litigation dispute over wireless mobile telephone products and technologies via new two-way...

WildBlue Scores $200M In New Financing.
January 10, 2006... Satellite broadband provider WildBlue says it nailed down a secured credit facility of more than $200 million to help pay for its planned launch of a second satellite in the fourth quarter of this year. The credit facility - whose exact...

Corpus Christi Ramps Up Wireless Broadband Project.
January 10, 2006... The city of Corpus Christi, Texas, awarded Northrop Grumman a $23 million contract to complete deployment of what was once touted as potentially the largest municipal wireless broadband network in the United States - a 147-sq.- mile network...

Boeing Next-Gen Trio Set For 2009-10 Launch.
January 11, 2006... It's been nine long years between mammoth deals, but Boeing has signed what is calling its largest such satellite order since 1997 with Mobile Satellite Ventures, which is purchasing three next-gen satellites and associated ground systems...

Optus Takes Control Of Virgin Mobile Australia.
January 11, 2006... Optus, in a significant move to put the heat on archrival Telstra in the Australian mobile market, is paying $22.5 million to acquire the 74.15 percent of Virgin Mobile Australia it doesn't already own plus roughly $50 million during the...

TDC Buyout In Doubt.
January 11, 2006... The tender period for what would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts in the history of telecommunications - the $15.3 billion takeover of Danish telco TDC - is expected to be extended tomorrow following the refusal of TDC's largest...

Indiana Committee OKs Telecom Bill.
January 11, 2006... During its hearing yesterday, the Indiana Senate's Homeland Security, Utilities and Public Policy Committee approved by a 8-2 vote proposed telecom- reform legislation that reportedly could go before the full State Senate for a vote as early...

MTNL Looks East To Expand.
January 11, 2006... India state-controlled telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is in talks to buy a stake in an unidentified Chinese carrier in what would be the first-ever investment by an Indian company in the explosive Chinese telecom market,...

Martin Names Interim FCC IG Personnel.
January 11, 2006... Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin yesterday named Dr. Kent Nilsson as acting inspector general to replace longtime IG Horace Walker Feaster III, who retired Jan.3. Another FCC staffer, Jon Stover, also was named as...

$15.3B TDC Buyout Back On Track.
January 12, 2006... With a little fancy footwork, the venture-capitalist consortium trying to take over Danish telco TDC in a $15.3 billion leveraged buyout looks to have nailed down the deal by modifying the terms of its offer to match the number of shares so...

Georgia Eyes Telecom Deregulation.
January 12, 2006... During its 2006 session, the Georgia General Assembly will be considering at least two key pieces of communications legislation currently in the hopper: One effectively deregulates voice telephony regardless of technology and another...

Swisscom Ramps Up Broadband Speeds.
January 12, 2006... Swisscom's Fixnet Wholesale broadband unit is jacking up the speed of most of its ADSL offerings - in some cases more than tripling the download bandwidth that will be available to users - as it battles against the cable side of the...

Missouri Court Foils Rural Access Charges.
January 12, 2006... The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that rural local exchange carriers (LECs) can't impose access charges on wireless operators on the termination of calls originating within the same geographical boundaries. In a unanimous judgment...

40% Of Finns Ready To Cut The Wires.
January 12, 2006... A massive 40 percent of Finns who used traditional fixed-line phones now plan to eventually cut the wires, according to a new study by the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications released today. The ministry interviewed almost...

VOCEL Apps Poke Through The Deck Abyss.
January 12, 2006... The perennial problem for mobile-content providers is not just discovery but rediscovery. It's hard enough for users to locate and understand the content offers they want. But even if you get that initial buy-in from a customer, your...

S&P Downgrades The Telephone Industry.
January 13, 2006... Standard & Poor's this morning downgraded the credit ratings of a majority of U.S. Tier One wireline carriers - a move it says affects more than $100 billion in aggregate debt held by the likes of Verizon, the "new" AT&T, BellSouth and others...

Grassroots Group Fights Online Cellphone-Account Sales.
January 13, 2006... In response to stories in the two Chicago news mainstays, in the Washington Post and to a blogger's successful purchase, MoveOn.org is asking for signatures on its petition to stop the sale of personal cellphone records by parties operating...

Vonage Claims 'Breakneck' 911 Progress.
January 13, 2006... In tracking its nationwide progress to meet the Federal Communications Commission order that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers handle 911 emergency services, Vonage says, as of yesterday, it's turned up enhanced 911...

Missouri Senate Maintains Laptop Ban.
January 13, 2006... A Missouri State Senate committee recently decided to continue its ban on the use of laptops by elected officials while they are conducting official business, including debates and votes in the Senate chamber. The Senate Rules Committee,...

Hungary's Magyar Plans To Double Broadband Subs.
January 13, 2006... Hungarian carrier Magyar Telecom has taken out a $230 million loan to finance investment in a broadband expansion it believes will more than double its customer base to some 600,000 in only one year. The service provider, majority owned...

A Note From The Editors.
January 13, 2006... Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday (Jan. 16), there will be no daily news update. We'll be back Tuesday (Jan. 17). [Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

ntl Sweetens Virgin Mobile Bid.
January 17, 2006... ntl, in its continued quest of the fabled quadruple play, upped its bid for U.K wireless operator Virgin Mobile by 15 percent to $1.7 billion in an unusual takeover bid that would see billionaire Sir Richard Branson accepting less than other...

Meanwhile, BT Unveils IPTV Content Deals.
January 17, 2006... BT, which is launching Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services in the U.K. later this year, has announced a series of major content deals in hopes of better attracting viewers as the venerable British carrier prepares to do battle on the video...

Motorola Buys Swedish IPTV Developer.
January 17, 2006... Motorola today signed an agreement to acquire Kreatel Communications AB, a Swedish developer of digital set-top systems and software for Internet Protocol television (IPTV). Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the U.S. giant says...

Qualcomm-Flarion Deal Gets DoJ OK.
January 17, 2006... Qualcomm and Flarion Technologies say their proposed $600 million merger (TelecomWeb news break, Aug. 11, 2005) cleared a federal-government approval hurdle Jan. 13 when the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division terminated its...

Vatican Turns To Israel For Ethernet.
January 17, 2006... The Telephone Service of the Vatican State has turned to Israel's RAD Data Communications for Ethernet access solutions for the Holy See's fiber-optic network. The Vatican installation is said to include RAD's ETX-102 and ETX-202...

States Could Face Regulatory Pre-Emption From The Feds.
January 17, 2006... One Washington, D.C.-based researcher believes individual states will be seeing more legislative action on three communications fronts this year: telecom deregulation, franchise changes, and Internet and e-commerce-oriented bills. ...

Insurgents May Have Kidnapped Cellphone Team.
January 18, 2006... Reports at press time are sketchy but Iraqi insurgents are said to have killed as many as 10 security guards and drivers, and to have kidnapped two engineers working for Egyptian telco Orascom's wireless subsidiary Iraqna early this morning....

Customer Records Resale Draws FCC Fire.
January 18, 2006... The nefarious practice of obtaining and brokering what were thought to be private wireline and wireless customer calling records for subsequent marketing lists and databases drew new fire this week as two Federal Communications Commission...

Siemens Wins Nationwide Indonesia Wireless Deal.
January 18, 2006... Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited today said PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications (HCPT or Hutchison Telecom Indonesia), its joint venture with Indonesia's CP Group, selected Siemens as its supplier for a...

Sprint Nextel Throws Another $10M At IPWireless.
January 18, 2006... Sprint Nextel says it has made an additional $10 million investment in mobile product and technology developer IPWireless following the $4 million the pre-merger Nextel threw into the San Bruno, Calif.-company in July 2005. Sprint Nextel...

Turkcell On Track For 30 Million Subs.
January 18, 2006... Turkish wireless provider Turkcell believes it will break the 30-million- subscriber barrier for mobile customers this year. The carrier ended 2005 with 27.9 million customers, an almost 20-percent increase compared with the end of 2004, when...

BellSouth Predicts 2007 IPTV Launch.
January 18, 2006... Incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) BellSouth likely will introduce full IPTV services a year from now. Don Granger, BellSouth's president of entertainment, told sister publication Inside Digital TV, "We will be expanding our current...

UWB Standards Effort Crashes & Burns.
January 19, 2006... IEEE members, meeting this week in Waikoloa, Hawaii, have voted to abandon the group's effort to create an ultra wideband (UWB) standard following two-and-a-half years of constant battle between two warring factions promoting their own...

Bidding Ends To Un-Wire Big Apple Subways.
January 19, 2006... Bidding closed yesterday on a plan to bring wireless service to all 277 subway platforms in New York City, with four players reported to have thrown their hats in the ring, including consortia embracing all of the nation's largest wireless...

Senate Bill Criminalizes Phone-Records Resale.
January 19, 2006... Legislation is being introduced in the U.S. Senate to combat what policymakers describe as a growing black market in stolen and resold telephone call logs as pressure builds to stop the practice of obtaining and brokering of what were thought...

Consumer Groups Demand Net-Neutral Internet.
January 19, 2006... Consumer-advocacy groups have asked federal regulatory and legislative policy makers to keep the Internet as open and free-wheeling as possible via stronger network-neutrality measures, with the position garnering on the scene support from...

TDC Details Danish Triple-Play Network.
January 19, 2006... Danish telco TDC is embarking on an aggressive plan to create a nationwide triple-play network during the next 24 months that will enable the carrier to offer broadband at speeds as fast as 50 Mb/s. The operator aims to transform its...

Wireless Carriers Gear Up For 2.5B Subs.
January 19, 2006... According to new research from the Strategy Analytics Wireless Network Strategies service, the cellular industry should be serving 2.5 billion subscribers by the end of the year and 3.5 billion by the end of 2010. The group also predicts...

Thailand Set For Largest Corporate Telecom Takeover.
January 20, 2006... There are a number of telecom dynasties worldwide, including the Carlos "Slim" Helu family in Mexico, the Uzan family in Turkey, the Galvin family in the United States and the Shinawatra family in Thailand. It's the Thai family that stands...

First WiMAX Certifications Issued.
January 20, 2006... Fancy this: There finally are a few products that legally can claim use of the WiMAX imprimatur. The WiMAX Forum yesterday said it had certified the first four applicants. No matter that the industry has been inundated with companies...

House Intros Its Own Phone-Records Bill.
January 20, 2006... Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) yesterday disclosed that the House of Representatives is planning its own legislation to criminalize the selling of private telephone calling records in light of a Senate bill in the works to stop the brokerage...

Telecom Italia Sheds Another LatAm Operation.
January 20, 2006... Telecom Italia (TI), continuing its policy of shedding Latin American wireless carriers in markets where it can't cover an entire country or can't meld fixed and mobile operations, is selling its 100-percent stake in Venezuelan mobile...

Motorola/Tropos Team Scores At EarthLink.
January 20, 2006... ISP EarthLink has hired Motorola to provide the wireless mesh wherewithal - using its own gear and widgetry from Tropos - for the first five municipal Wi- Fi networks that EarthLink will deploy, including its already-won deals to Wi-Fi...

Professor Disputes Think-Tank Reform Proposals.
January 20, 2006... A university professor from Alaska maintains that telecom-reform legislative proposals from the Progress & Freedom Foundation fails to take into account the need for future rural network investment and that the PFF is wrong to gauge the...

Hi-Speed Wi-Fi Standard Finally Gets The Nod.
January 20, 2006... The draft specification of the 802.11n standard for the new generation of Wi-Fi, which will provide speeds up to a blazing 600 Mb/s, finally won IEEE approval yesterday after more than a year of wrangling; although technically only a draft...

AOL Targets BT With DSL War Chest.
January 23, 2006... Time Warner subsidiary AOL has disclosed plans to spend as much as $214 million to build its own DSL infrastructure in the U.K., taking advantage of the local loop unbundling (LLU) rules that force BT to allow other carriers to use its...

Supremes Refuse RIM Petition.
January 23, 2006... Anxious U.S. BlackBerry users are clutching their messagers close to their chests now that the possibility really exists for their wireless email and voice service to be shut down, even temporarily. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court...

Telefonica Takes Over O2.
January 23, 2006... Telefonica today said it has acquired more than 75 percent of the voting rights attached to U.K. mobile operator O2 plc shares and, thus, it's $31.4 billion offer to acquire O2 plc (Telecom Web news break, Oct. 31, 2005) has gone...

Avaya, Siemens Ink IBM Collaborations.
January 23, 2006... Avaya and Siemens today separately disclosed collaborative agreements with IBM on systems and software marketed with Internet Protocol (IP)-intensive customer premises equipment for business enterprise accounts. Both arrangements involve...

FCC Cites Call Brokers For Noncompliance.
January 23, 2006... Executives and attorneys of Data Find Solutions Inc. and 1st Source Information Specialists Inc. - the same companies being sued by Cingular Wireless over alleged phone call record brokering - have been reprimanded by the Federal...