TelecomWeb News Digest articles from June 2005

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from June 2005

Verizon, SBC Lose Texas IP Video Franchise Battle.
June 2, 2005... The Texas Senate has handed Verizon and SBC a major setback in their plans to roll out IP Video services, failing to come to a compromise agreement and pass a bill that would have eliminated the need for phone companies to negotiate...

Quebec ISPs Demand Fair 'Naked DSL' Fees.
June 2, 2005... A group of 15 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Quebec have banded together in a battle against Bell Canada over the additional fees they are being charged to provide so-called "naked DSL" to their customers. The ISPs are threatening to...

Industry Awaits Brand X, MGM Rulings.
June 2, 2005... With June approaching fast, so do expectations that the U.S. Supreme Court during the coming month may render its much-anticipated decisions in the Brand X Internet Services and MGM Studios cases that could impact legal and regulatory...

Trio Of Vendors Land Major Asian Contracts.
June 2, 2005... Three global communications vendors - Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Ericsson - today all reported separate major network equipment contracts with customers in different Asian region countries. Cisco signed a security/router...

SBC: DSL Now Cheaper Than Dial-Up.
June 2, 2005... SBC Communications is attempting to spur DSL subscriptions with discount prices announced today that, for the first time in the history of the industry, are lower than dial-up. SBC Yahoo! DSL includes DSL transport, Internet access and...

A Light In the Tunnel For Nortel?
June 2, 2005... Nortel recently hosted its annual analyst conference in Washington, D.C. Following closely behind its quarterly/year-end earnings announcement, the forum gave Malcolm Collins, Nortel's president of enterprise networks, the opportunity to...

Nextel, eSpeed Partner For BlackBerry Bond Trading.
June 2, 2005... Nextel Communications and eSpeed, a developer of electronic marketplaces and trading technology for global capital markets, launched a wireless market- data and trading solution that uses the BlackBerry 7520 and Nextel's nationwide network....

ZTE Lands Largest Next-Gen Network Deal.
June 2, 2005... China's ZTE won a contract from China Telecom, China's largest fixed-line operator, to build what it says will be the world's largest fixed, next- generation network (NGN). As part of the deal, ZTE will be the exclusive provider for the fixed...

As Supercomm Opens, Successor Battle Intensifies.
June 6, 2005... With the last Supercomm ever set to begin on Monday in Chicago (exhibits open on Tuesday), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has recruited the OSP Expo as an ally in its battle with the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) over...

House Bill Would Ban Municipal Broadband.
June 6, 2005... Federal legislation has been proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives to implement a national-level ban on municipal network services - ostensibly except when private enterprises fail to provide such offerings. The H.R. 2726 bill,...

Virgin Territory: St. Croix Goes Broadband.
June 6, 2005... St. Croix in the Virgin Islands finally will get broadband, starting in July. That's no mean feat for a small island 44 miles across the ocean from the nearest broadband point of presence. The service is being provided by Communications...

Utility Puts Your Communications On the Block.
June 6, 2005... U.K. utilities giant United Utilities has put its money-losing Your Communications subsidiary on the block, hiring Ernst and Young as advisors to help it decide what to do with the unit. In a review of the company's annual results - which,...

Tellabs, JDS Win BellSouth FTTC Bid.
June 6, 2005... BellSouth, completing the roster of winners for its fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) deployment, awarded contracts to Tellabs and JDS Uniphase. For Tellabs, the victory was particularly critical because it has been the incumbent at BellSouth,...

Men Continue To Lead Cellphone Gab Race.
June 6, 2005... That old saw about women talking more than men is just that...and cellular usage bears that out. For the fifth consecutive year, a survey conducted for Cingular Wireless by International Communications Research shows men gab more than women in...

Mobile-Centric Kids Just Want to Have 3G Fun.
June 6, 2005... Young people are ready to view their mobile phones as being full-blown extensions of their familiar media experiences, according to research from TMNG, and 3G multimedia services may get some traction in the in the 13-to-34-year-old age...

McAfee Buys Wi-Fi Security House.
June 6, 2005... Security vendor McAfee today disclosed its acquisition of Wireless Security Corp., (WSC) a privately held company specializing in the development of Wi-Fi security solutions for home and small-business network users. Terms were undisclosed...

Lucent Deal Leaves Cisco Playing Second Fiddle.
June 9, 2005... Lucent and consulting and outsourcing giant Capgemini disclosed details of a comprehensive strategic alliance the two have crafted - no doubt to the chagrin of Cisco, also a partner of Capgemini, which sources Cisco hardware that competes...

Qwest Accuses Utopia Of Pole Poaching.
June 9, 2005... ILEC Qwest has gone to court accusing the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (Utopia) - the $340 million, 14-city fiber-to-the-user project in Utah, of illegally stringing some of its fiber from Qwest-owned telephone poles....

FCC Chairman Reiterates Broadband Priority.
June 9, 2005... Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin stressed to a Supercomm exposition audience in Chicago that policies looking to foster U.S. broadband competition, installations and user uptake will remain a priority for the...

The Big Apple Ponders Broadband For All.
June 9, 2005... A New York City Council committee charged with finding some way to make broadband available to all residents of the Big Apple has scheduled its first meeting for this Friday (June 10). The meeting is being held under a Council directive to...

How Much Is Unauctioned Spectrum Really Worth?
June 9, 2005... The approximate market value of the 60 megahertz of unauctioned spectrum at 700 MHz, to be freed by the transition from analog to digital television, could be worth between $20 billion and $24 billion, according to a new study released by...

PBX Market Slips, IP PBX Market Soars.
June 9, 2005... With the industry in the throes of the VoIP revolution, worldwide PBX and key telephone systems sagged 12 percent to $1.5 billion between the last quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of this year. However, IP PBX revenues jumped 10 percent...

Inter-Network Optical Connectivity Passes Acid Test.
June 9, 2005... Seven of the worlds largest telecom carriers declared a 10-week test of the interoperability of their optical networks under the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) specification for the control-plane protocols needed for end-to- end...

Broadwing Details Nationwide VoIP Entry.
June 9, 2005... Broadwing Communications says it will launch a business user-oriented VoIP local and long-distance service in at least 23 major U.S. market areas; the strategic aim of the carrier is to directly interface its VoIP communications transport...

Nortel Prez Quits In Clash With CEO.
June 13, 2005... Late last week, Nortel President and COO Gary Daichendt walked out the door after barely three months on the job as the result of a clash with Vice Chairman and CEO Bill Owens. Daichendt, the one-time Number Two man at Cisco, was lured back...

Industry Group Blasts UN Internet Initiative.
June 13, 2005... The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) has complained to the United Nations that a proposal at the international body to create a group focused on the Internet would clog an already-crowded field of organizations looking at...

Sierra Wireless Dumps Smartphones.
June 13, 2005... It must be disheartening when Wall Street rewards you for killing a project. Vancouver-based Sierra Wireless Inc. saw its shares shoot up 18 percent this week after it decided not to move forward with its Voq advanced mobile- phone project....

Nokia, Intel To Collaborate On WiMAX.
June 13, 2005... Finland's Nokia and U.S.-based Intel disclosed a cooperation agreement to work on the development, adoption and deployment of so-called WiMAX broadband technology, with the collaboration to focus on such areas as IEEE's 802.6e...

FCC Moves Forward On Next Spectrum Sale.
June 13, 2005... At last Thursday's surprisingly short monthly Federal Communications Commission open meeting, Chairman Martin and the panel voted to gather comments regarding rule changes needed to implement the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA),...

Policy Makers See Growing Video Franchise Issue.
June 13, 2005... The latest monkey on policy makers' backs may well be a growing issue fueled by large incumbent local exchange carriers to alter franchising laws they say can stunt the speed of their IP video deployments and service introductions across the...

Ex-US West CEO Lands Down Under.
June 13, 2005... He just keeps bouncing back. Australian giant Telstra named former US West CEO Solomon Trujillo as its new CEO, replacing Ziggy Switkowski. Trujillo, who currently is based in California, will move to Australia with his wife Corine to take...

VNU Police Force Goes High-Tech.
June 13, 2005... According to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Virginia Beach, Va., it has the fourth-largest two-campus police force in the nation - 76 officers. And those officers now have a new crime-fighting weapon. VCU, which supports more than...

Ericsson Prepares For Airborne Market.
June 16, 2005... With the FCC smack in the middle of collecting public comment regarding commercial cellphone usage on airplanes, Ericsson wants to be ahead of the power curve, unveiling a new base station to facilitate just such an applications. The GSM...

T-Mobile HotSpot Heats Up Roaming Deals.
June 16, 2005... T-Mobile HotSpot, the U.S. commercial Wi-Fi unit of T-Mobile USA, today disclosed moves to expand its network footprint and to extend roaming relationships. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company - also revealing new customer and usage growth...

Ericsson Signs Managed Services, Mobile Contracts.
June 16, 2005... Sweden's Ericsson today disclosed the signing of two contracts to handle managed services for telecom operators - one with Bharti Tele-Ventures in India and another with Warid Telecommunications Pvt. Limited (Warid Telecom) in Pakistan; both...

Senators Intro DTV Date-Certain Act.
June 16, 2005... At press time, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and several other public-safety and law-enforcement organizations were lauding the introduction of the "Spectrum Availability for...

BT, Citrix Partner For Secure Broadband Access.
June 16, 2005... BT Group and Citrix Systems' Citrix Online division launched a new co- branded service to provide customers with secure remote access to home or office desktop PCs. The BT Remote Access Pack service - running the Citrix GoToMyPC software -...

FCC Kicks Off Key USF Inquiry.
June 16, 2005... The Federal Communications Commission is launching "a broad inquiry into the management, administration and oversight" of its problematic Universal Service Fund (USF) telecom support and subsidiary program supervised since 1997 by a third...

Code Name Bluephone, Real Name Fusion.
June 16, 2005... British Telecom is claiming an industry first by launching its long- promised and somewhat delayed combined fixed and mobile phone service - developed under the code name "Bluephone" and now renamed "Fusion." The initial launch is modest -...

State Wireless Assn. Movement Gains Momentum.
June 16, 2005... Florida's wireless industry has become the fourth in the nation to form its own statewide wireless trade group, following similar groups established in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The new Florida Wireless Association (FWA), put...

Oh No, Not A Verizon-MCI Proxy Fight.
June 20, 2005... Just when you thought Verizon Communications had its proposed $8.5 billion takeover of MCI in the bag, a hedge fund has said it wants a proxy fight to defeat the deal. Deephaven Capital Management LLC told the U.S. Securities and Exchange...

Airspan Networks Acquires ArelNet.
June 20, 2005... Broadband wireless vendor Airspan Networks completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of Israeli VoIP network system company ArelNet Ltd for $8.7 million following the definitive purchase agreement signed by the companies in...

SBC Communications, WilTel Sign New Services Agreement.
June 20, 2005... SBC Communications and WilTel Communications disclosed a new master agreement for WilTel to continue to provide SBC operating companies with long- distance voice and data services. Wiltel, a Leucadia National Corporation subsidiary, said the...

The Alamo Gets Wi-Fi'd.
June 20, 2005... The historic Alamo has become a Wi-Fi "hot zone." The legendary fort, where Davy Crocket, Col. William Travis and 200 defenders died at the hands of a Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, is at the center of a downtown...

TIA: DR-CAFTA Trade Pact Good For Telecom.
June 20, 2005... The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) praised the U.S. Congress for its progress heading toward bills that favor the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). "This agreement is good for the...

IIJ Fails To Win Tokyo 'Mothers Market' Listing.
June 20, 2005... Internet and telecom service provider Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ) disclosed that at the closing of the subscription period for its initial public share offering in Japan, fewer than 300 prospective new investors had submitted...

TeliaSonera Makes The 'Connexion'.
June 20, 2005... TeliaSonera's wireless broadband service is now available on airplanes via a roaming agreement with in-flight Internet service provider Connexion by Boeing. Subscribers to TeliaSonera's "HomeRun" wireless service will be able to use their...

Sycamore Threatened With Delisting.
June 20, 2005... Poor Sycamore Networks, which hasn't made a penny in years, has been threatened with delisting from Nasdaq because of its delay in filing its Form 10-Q for the period ended April 30, 2005. The optical-networking house said that it is going...

Telstra Leaves Microsoft TV At The Altar.
June 23, 2005... Telstra has decided not to use Microsoft TV as its IPTV platform, according to news reports from down under this morning. Instead, the Australian carrier is out searching for a new platform to launch a planned IPTV offering. No reason was...

Wounded Microsoft: We're Still In The Running At Telstra.
June 23, 2005... Microsoft, badly wounded by reports that Australian telco Telstra has rejected its Microsoft TV offering, launched a damage-control mini-blitz. It's telling anyone who will listen that Microsoft TV really is still in the running, and it...

Think Tank: FCC Model No Longer Relevant.
June 23, 2005... The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a think tank/study group that earlier this year formed five working groups to draft telecom-reform legislation as a possible model for the U.S. Congress, says one of its first outputs is a proposed a new...

Amedia Lands First FTTP Customer.
June 23, 2005... Amedia Networks, the little outfit that took over what had been Lucent's Ethernet PON (EPON) technology some 15 months ago, scored its first commercial win - a two-year contract that could be worth as much as $9 million to build a...

IDC Survey: Fliers Favor Data.
June 23, 2005... A recent worldwide survey asking respondents for information on their preferences surrounding the use of mobile phones on airplanes shows users want onboard data and messaging applications rather than the ability to make voice calls as the...

Supremes Bury Telco Fiber Settlement.
June 23, 2005... The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review lower-court action overturning a $142.5 million class-action settlement over whether a clutch of telcos illegally laid fiber along railroad rights-of-way, creating the possibility of a potentially...

ABI Chronicles The Rise Of Huawei.
June 23, 2005... China's largest domestic telecom equipment supplier Huawei could be on the brink of becoming one of the leading worldwide vendors, in part owing to an emerging wireless-centric strategy applicable to the whole global telecom scene. So says...

Corroborating Research: U.S. Broadband Still Lags.
June 23, 2005... In the continuing global battle for broadband bragging rights, IMS Research released its take on broadband uptake, country by country, as of the end of 2004, and it has a few predictions to boot. It found Asia Pacific comprised more than 42.4...

NEW! Insider Insights Into Managed-Services Market Growth.
June 23, 2005... Go to TelecomWeb's "Managed Services Report" to find out what Dave Dial, Vice President of Managed Services, Lucent Worldwide Services, sees for the future of the managed services market. Read about the growth plans during the next few years...

Microsoft Scores Key IPTV Win At BT.
June 30, 2005... Microsoft has landed BT as a customer for its Microsoft TV, which has agreed to deploy the system over 21CN, its $18 billion next-generation-network (NGN) upgrade. The deal is a key win in Microsoft's attempt to create a worldwide following...

TIA Urges FCC To Leverage 'Brand X' Ruling.
June 30, 2005... The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) yesterday urged the Federal Communications Commission to move quickly to resolve its outstanding broadband and IP-enabled services proceedings in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's...

Rural Telecom Caucus Readies Legislative Goals.
June 30, 2005... U.S. House of Representatives members of the bi-partisan Rural Telecom Caucus are expected today to outline a series of legislative goals they deem important to residential and business constituents during the current congressional session....

ATIS Sets Up IPTV Standards Forum.
June 30, 2005... The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) created an IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF) to develop a set of standards, and related technical and operations activities that enable the interoperability, interconnection and...

Cisco Wins Order For Chile's First 10Gb/s MAN.
June 30, 2005... Cisco Systems Chile today said domestic carrier Telmex Chile - a subsidiary of Mexico's Telmex Group - has selected Cisco products to build its first 10 Gb/s Ethernet system in that country, an Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching...

Motorola Buys Sendo's R&D Team.
June 30, 2005... Motorola is buying "key assets" from British mobile handset maker Sendo Ltd. for an undisclosed price. The American giant is purchasing Sendo's U.K.- and Singapore-based R&D team along with all the design and test equipment required by that...

House Reform Committee Eyes IPv6 Lag.
June 30, 2005... Sometime today, the House Committee on Government Reform is scheduled to hold a public oversight hearing on the subject "Is the Federal Government Doing Enough? Will Other Nations Surpass the U.S.?" to review next-generation Internet topics...

The New 'T' Party: Telecom Taxation.
June 30, 2005... Questions surrounding the tax status of IP-enabled services, multiple tax burdens on existing communications offerings in every state, the 107-year-old federal excise tax, new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and litigation on a variety...