TelecomWeb News Digest articles from June 2007

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from June 2007

Appeals Court Upholds VoIP USF Requirements.
June 1, 2007... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in a blow to the VoIP industry, has upheld the requirement that VoIP services which are interconnected with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) contribute to the Universal...

Telephone Tester Tollgrade Takes Teradyne Test Unit.
June 1, 2007... Tollgrade Communications is buying rival Broadband Test Division of Teradyne, positioning itself more strongly as the world's leading vendor of plain old telephone service (POTS) copper lines and xDSL test solutions. The acquisition, for...

More Competition? The FCC Says, 'Bring It On'.
June 1, 2007... The Federal Communications Commission wants to make sure apartment- and condo-dwellers enjoy the benefits of increased competition in telephone and video offerings. In regulatory action yesterday, the commission eliminated barriers to...

Telcos Agree: Wireless Will Drive Telecom For Next 5 Years.
June 1, 2007... The Pivot joint venture between Sprint Nextel and cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications (TelecomWeb news break, April 23) may be gaining momentum, but AT&T COO Randall Stephenson and Verizon chairman/CEO Ivan...

Study Says: Consumers Keeping Their Cellphones Longer.
June 1, 2007... The average cellular phone user is keeping his handset 17.5 months, longer than has been the case in the past, according to a new study by J.D. Power and Associates. The length of ownership is up from 16.6 months in just half a year - the...

FCC Addresses Two Public-Safety Issues At Open Meeting.
June 1, 2007... Although the monthly meeting of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got started several hours late yesterday, the panel got a lot of things accomplished, beginning with its Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed...

$8B Avaya Buyout Said Near.
June 4, 2007... TPG Capital LLP and Silver Lake Partners have reportedly just about won the bidding - topping Nortel and Cisco - for Avaya, with a $17 per share offer worth $8 billion. Reports this morning said that the deal was all but done, once again...

Youth MVNO Amp'd Seeks Bankruptcy Protection.
June 4, 2007... Mobile Virtual Network Operator Amp'd, claiming the problem is that it has been unable to cope with its rapid growth, on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after burning through a total of investment equity and debt...

France Telecom Eyes An Indian Market Entry.
June 4, 2007... France Telecom (FT), in what would be its first foray into the hot Indian telecom market, is reportedly negotiating to buy the enterprise and managed services division of India's GTL. GTL put the unit, which represents about 20-25 percent...

AT&T Takes On The Cablecos In New Ads.
June 4, 2007... A new 70-market ad campaign featuring spots that attempt to differentiate its services from cable offerings and also to introduce a $99 triple-play bundle has been rolled out by AT&T. According to TelecomWeb news break sister publication...

Survey Sez: Premium SMS Revenues Continue To Grow.
June 4, 2007... According to market-research house Telephia, download purchases paid for via premium SMS (at off-portal storefronts) totaled nearly $215 million during the first quarter, accounting for 79 percent of premium SMS revenue. These off-portal...

Verizon Wireless Takes Alleged Spammers To Court.
June 4, 2007... In the wake of last week's arrest of one of the country's most prolific spammers, Verizon Wireless filed a lawsuit against Nev.-based I-VEST Global Corporation and various "John Does," alleging they sent unsolicited commercial electronic...

Avaya Buyout A Done Deal ... Maybe.
June 5, 2007... Avaya said last night that it has agreed to be acquired by TPG Capital LLP and Silver Lake Partners for approximately $8.2 billion. But, in a highly unusual development, Avaya said the deal lets it continue to solicit higher offers from...

Qwest's Nacchio Pleads For New Trial; Enron Exec Gets 2 Years.
June 5, 2007... Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading and facing up to 190 years in jail when he is sentenced on July 27, yesterday filed his third motion to get the conviction overturned and demanded a new trial...

Frontline Continues Full-Court Press At The Commish.
June 5, 2007... Nationwide 700 MHz broadband network advocate Frontline Wireless once again has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "to let market incentives meet public-safety needs by adopting its plan for a shared, open access wholesale...

Ex-Cisco Exec Gives Joost A Boost.
June 5, 2007... Michelangelo Volpi, the former Cisco senior vice president and general manager credited among other things with masterminding Cisco's acquisition of Scientific Atlanta, has joined Internet-based IPTV startup Joost as its chief executive. ...

CDMA2000, cdmaOne Subs Close In On 400 Million Worldwide.
June 5, 2007... According to the CDMA Development Group (CDG), CDMA2000 surpassed 350 million 3G subscribers by the end of the first quarter. Including cdmaOne 2G subscribers, the group says there now are more than 387 million CDMA subscribers worldwide....

Satellite Provider Goes Wireless In Rural Alaska.
June 5, 2007... Value-added satellite-solutions provider Globecomm Systems Inc. won a contract valued at $20.7 million from General Communication Inc. (GCI), an Alaska-based company that provides voice, video and data communication services to residential,...

Rockwell Collins Broadband eXchange Flies Again.
June 6, 2007... Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Rockwell Collins' "eXchange" airborne broadband service for private aviation is back on the runway. The service was forced to shut down when the Connexion by Boeing service that powered it crashed...

Investors Trash Towerstream Following Private Placement.
June 6, 2007... Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) Towerstream, which fancies itself in the avant garde of those planning to convert to 802.16-based broadband (i.e., WiMAX), today said it has secured definitive agreements from investors willing to...

U.S. House Told Spyware Bill Goes Too Far.
June 6, 2007... The Direct Marketing Association and 30 other groups told the U.S. House of Representatives in no uncertain terms why they oppose the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act (H.R. 964), which was to be considered by the full...

Alcatel-Lucent, Teknovus Win Share Of Taiwan FTTH Project.
June 6, 2007... Alcatel-Lucent and Teknovus have been tagged as contractors for Chunghwa Telecom's planned fiber to the home (FTTH) network, slated to pass 2.4 million homes by 2010. Chunghwa Telecom, the largest carrier in Taiwan, is spending about...

MMA Pursues Metrics, PTV, Global Mobile Advertising.
June 6, 2007... Lots of news coming out of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) that represents more than 400 companies across the mobile ecosystem. For starters, it just kicked off its new focus on mobile advertising measurement with the startup of its...

Technology Convergence Spurs Media Applications, Practices.
June 6, 2007... During the last two years, much of the attention on convergence traditionally has focused on its technological aspects: applications, services, devices and networks. However, new research says, the media -- through the accessibility and...

Vodafone Loses As DT, FT Get Cozy.
June 7, 2007... In what's emerged as a double whammy for Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom has offered a reported $1.76 billion for France Telecom's Orange Netherlands phone and broadband operation while, in return, Deutsche Telekom will sell its Spanish broadband...

Look Out Skype & Crowd, Here Comes ooVoo.
June 7, 2007... A video-messaging client claiming to be capable of supporting six-person video conferencing using only low bandwidths and with low latency (i.e., the sound matches the moving lips) will be launched June 11 as the latest challenger to Skype...

The U.K. Almost Gets WiMAX.
June 7, 2007... Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) Wi-Manx commercially launched the U.K.'s first wireless broadband service using WiMAX Forum-certified hardware - in the Isle of Man of all places - but the service isn't quite WiMAX. It seems the...

Patent Granted For RF Propagation App.
June 7, 2007... Saraband Wireless Inc. just won a U.S. patent protecting what it calls its "ground-breaking propagation approach that significantly enhances the performance of broadband wireless communications." Saraband, formed in 2001, claims its...

Company To Watch: ZeroG Wireless.
June 7, 2007... Low-power RF IC designer ZeroG Wireless closed its first round of funding, with money coming from Cisco, Greylock Partners and Morgenthaler. None of the three investors has commented as to why they've committed cash to this startup. ...

House Subcommittee Moves Closer To Better Rural Broadband Funding.
June 7, 2007... The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture approved by voice vote discussion drafts outlining the its plans for rural telecom development, including more broadband. In part,...

MVNO Malaise Strikes Again And Again.
June 8, 2007... Struggling French mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Ten Mobile has gone on the block, according to reports this morning, and fellow French MVNO Debitel has finally found a potential buyer after months of looking. Meanwhile across...

European Cellular Roaming Price Cuts Win Final Approval.
June 8, 2007... The European Parliament, during a plenary session in Luxembourg last night, gave its final approval to the compromise agreement on cutting cellular roaming charges, ending seven years of often acrimonious battling between politicians and...

Attention Kmart Shoppers: Fireflys In Aisle 11.
June 8, 2007... Firefly Mobile, the designer, developer and manufacturer of what it says is the industry's first "mobile phone for mobile kids," says its Firefly mobile phone designed especially for kids aged five through nine now is available nationwide at...

Joost Jouster Babelgum Betas.
June 8, 2007... Babelgum, the Internet Video on Demand (VoD) IPTV service that's fixing to do battle with the high profile Joost, entered public beta this morning, giving the world its first look at the forthcoming service. The Babelgum project (legally...

Personal Calls On Company Cellphones Cost Big U.K. Bucks.
June 8, 2007... Naughty, naughty. According to telecom-expense-management specialist Aurora Kendrick James, U.K. workers spend more than $790 million every year talking to friends and family on company-owned wireless phones, with the bills paid by their...

SouthernLINC Wireless Offers Free AGPS Phone Upgrades.
June 8, 2007... SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company, says it's making sure all of its customers own phones equipped with Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS) technology that automatically provides 911 operators, who are equipped to receive the...

Qwest CEO Calls It A Day.
June 11, 2007... Qwest Chairman and CEO Richard Notebaert, credited with turning the regional holding company around after an accounting scandal that almost forced it into bankruptcy, this morning said he's going to retire as soon as the company can find a...

China Commits Big Bucks To Ericsson For Wireless Gear.
June 11, 2007... In a deal worth $1 billion, China Mobile Communications tapped Ericsson to expand its GSM network. The signing ceremony was so significant that Chinese President Hu Jintao and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden both were in attendance, flanking...

IBM Gives Users A Sneak Peak At Lotus Sametime 7.5.1.
June 11, 2007... IBM is letting enterprises to "drive it before you buy it," allowing them a free 90-day trial of its IBM Lotus Sametime 7.5.1 unified communications and collaboration platform. Lotus Sametime features business-ready instant messaging...

Sky Angel Is Earth-Bound.
June 11, 2007... Sky Angel, the satellite-based Christian programming service delivered by Dominion Video Satellite, is coming back down to Earth, abandoning its satellite channels and converting itself into an IPTV service. The transition was prompted...

Saudi Company Funds African Cellular War Chest.
June 11, 2007... Saudi Arabia cellular carrier Hits has set up an African subsidiary funded with $1 billion and chartered to attempt to create a pan-Africa company operating across eight countries by 2012. According to reports out of the region, the new...

Wireless Experts Push FCC For Open-Access E-Block Plan.
June 11, 2007... A new group of veteran wireless entrepreneurs - the Wireless Founders Coalition for Innovation - sent a letter last week to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to provide its "real-world" perspective for why "open access"...

Nortel Embraces Big Blue's VoIP Too.
June 12, 2007... Nortel and IBM, both perhaps burning the candle at both ends, this morning announced a deal to offer "unified communications" combining IBM's hardware and software with Nortel's VoIP and multimedia solutions. The deal sounds almost like a...

Pro-Market Advocates Tell Martin To Reject Frontline Plan.
June 12, 2007... In a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin, a group of consumer and constitutional advocates this week responded to a recent notice of inquiry soliciting comments regarding the upcoming 700 MHz auction...

Wibree Merges Into Bluetooth.
June 12, 2007... Wibree, the ultra-low-power short-range wireless broadband technology developed and championed by Nokia and a few partners in what's been called the Wibree Forum, has been merged into the far larger Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG),...

American Tower Refinances To Pay Down Debt.
June 12, 2007... American Tower Corporation refinanced its existing $1.6 billion senior secured credit facilities at the American Tower operating company level with a new $1.25 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility of American Tower Corporation....

VoIP Comes To Iceland.
June 12, 2007... Iceland's incumbent carrier Siminn (the erstwhile state-owned Iceland Telecom) is going to launch both resident and business VoIP services later this, using BroadSoft's VoIP application software. The arrival of VoIP in Iceland is...

State-Of-The-Art Healthcare Facility Cuts The Cord.
June 12, 2007... On July 10, Platte Valley Medical Center will open its new $138 million regional 50-acre campus. In-building wireless solutions provider InnerWireless Inc. says the Denver-area facility has opted for Horizon, its medical-grade wireless...

TeliaSonera CEO ousted.
June 13, 2007... TeliaSonera yesterday showed its CEO Anders Igel the door, saying that it "is entering a new phase and will benefit from a new leadership." Igel has until July 31 to clean out his desk, even though the company has no idea who will replace...

Broadcom Bets A Bundle On GPS.(Company overview)
June 13, 2007... Chip maker Broadcom, placing a bet that could total as much as $226 million, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held global positioning system (GPS) semiconductor and software house Global Locate. Under terms of the...

AT&T Cell Shops Now To Sell Broadband Too.
June 13, 2007... The "new" AT&T, which just last month ripped down the Cingular logos from its wireless retail stores (TelecomWeb news break, May 21), said today that it is going to start selling small business broadband services from the shops as well. ...

Zhone Electrifies FTTH.
June 13, 2007... Zhone yesterday took the wraps off of what looks to be the world's first Optical Line Terminal/Optical Network Terminal (OLT/ONT) Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Gateway that doesn't need to be powered by the home electric circuit. Theoretically...

Colorado Cable Company Claims GPON First.
June 13, 2007... Colorado multiple systems operator (MSO) Falcon Broadband has turned to Hitachi for the hardware to build a fiber to the home (FTTH) network that it brags will be "the first commercial deployment in the United States of GPON (gigabit PON) by...

Would-be iPhone Killer Music Service Launches.
June 13, 2007... UK-based mobile music company Omnifone on Thursday will go live with MusicStation, an all-you-can-eat full-track mobile music service that it is positioning as an iPhone killer even before the iPhone itself comes to market. MusicStation,...

Sprint Nextel Buys Another Affiliate.
June 14, 2007... Sprint Nextel said it had closed yet another nasty little chapter in its acquisition of Nextel, agreeing to pay $312.5 million for Northern PCS Services, LLC of Waite Park, Minnesota, yet another of the string of irate Sprint resellers who...

Mobile WiMAX Maven Clearwire Cuts Satellite Deals.
June 14, 2007... Clearwire, which is betting its life on the success of 'mobile WiMAX,' this morning said that it has signed marketing pacts with both U.S. direct-to- home (DTH) satellite video vendors, DirecTV and Dish owner EchoStar Communications. At the...

CableLabs Releases Broadband Wiretap Specs.
June 14, 2007... Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), the cable industries research and development consortium, has released the specifications needed for the minions of law and order to "wiretap" cable broadband user's activities on the web. Legally,...

Leading S. African Cellco Eyes Fibre Broadband Play.
June 14, 2007... Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular carrier, has budgeted $1 billion to build a fiberoptic network and enter the fixed-line broadband business. At the same time, reports out of the country indicate that Vodacom's 50/50 owners, Vodaphone...

Verizon: 50K Mile 'Ultra Long Haul' Project Halfway There.
June 14, 2007... Verizon said that it is on track to add 6,000 more miles to its ultra long haul (ULH) network this year, handily passing the halfway mark in the company's multiyear plan to deploy a 50,000-mile all-optical transport network across the United...

Bright Idea: Indian Cellco Runs On Fish Oil.
June 14, 2007... Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular, in an attempt to bring cellular phone service to remote areas where the electric supply is at best spotty, has begun installing mobile base stations powered by fish oil and used frying oil from local...

Survey Sez: Wi-Fi Winner Bytes The Big Apple.
June 15, 2007... London has surpassed New York City as the financial center with the most Wi-Fi access points in the world. According to a new survey commissioned by EMC division RSA Security, RSA (which counted corporate Wi-Fi access points and public...

Protecting IT Enterprises Networks From 'Consumerization'.
June 15, 2007... One of the most significant threats to enterprise security is the "consumerization of IT," as Gartner Inc. puts it. As more consumer technologies enter the enterprise, security managers must prepare for and manage new security risks as...

Cash-Strapped Croatian Government To Sell More Phone Shares.
June 15, 2007... The Croatian government this morning decided to sell at least 20 percent of the equity in national carrier Hrvatske Telekomunikacije, these days a 51- percent-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom, to raise the money it needs to fund its...

'Modest' IPTV Service Launches In Chile.
June 15, 2007... Spain's Telefonica just launched IPTV services in Santiago, Chile, its first in a Latin American rollout expected to continue with its subsidiaries in Argentina and Brazil. The PTT is replicating the service it already offers in Spain...

Alion, ATDI Offer Help In Gov't AWS Spectrum Switching.
June 15, 2007... Within three years, the U.S. government must vacate its channels located between 1710 MHz and 1755 MHz as a requirement of the recent next-generation mobile broadband services (advanced wireless services) auction. Alion Science and...

Cisco Looks Forward with In-Store Mobility.
June 15, 2007... As part of its series of recent technology solutions developed for the wireless industry, Cisco has rolled out two In-Store Mobility Solutions for retail stores. With an eye toward improving store operations and enhancing the customer...

Investment House Courts ECI Telecom.
June 18, 2007... Following a flurry of news reports late last week, ECI Telecom admits it's been talks with a group of investors led by Swarth Investments regarding a potential acquisition of all ECI shares for $10 a share, resulting in a price tag of $1.2...

FCC Reiterates AMPS 2008 Sunset.
June 18, 2007... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has quashed any hope for a two-year extension of the requirement that cellular licensees provide analog service to subscribers and roamers whose equipment conforms to the Advanced Mobile Phone...

Research Group Cites China Mobile's Capex Spending.
June 18, 2007... China Mobile is the world's largest mobile phone operator, with more than 296 million subscribers, and a spate of recent deals has allowed it to lead the pack when it comes to capital expenditures. The carrier recently inked a deal with...

Texting: The New Way To Take A Byte Out Of Crime.
June 18, 2007... With mobile text messaging becoming more commonplace, the Boston Police Department is launching what it claims is a "first of its kind" text-message- based crime tip line. The new "Crime Stoppers" tip line, designed by Hill Holliday and...

Enhanced MyCall Traverses Fixed, Mobile Networks.
June 18, 2007... Comverse, a subsidiary of Comverse Technology Inc., is touting a new release of MyCall Converged Communications, an integrated fixed and mobile communications solution for the delivery of seamless consumer services over fixed broadband and...

The PONy Express Rides Again.
June 18, 2007... ADC has entered into an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Novera Optics to deliver what they say is going to be a new access transport platform based on Passive Optical Network (PON) and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing...

EMS Satcom, eNfusion Tout In-Flight Broadband Tests.
June 19, 2007... Earlier today at the Paris Air Show, EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies Inc., divulged details of a Fortune 100 corporate aircraft that's been trialing the company's eNfusion SwiftBroadband in-flight broadband communications system...

Redback Touches More Than Half Of U.S. DSL Subs.
June 19, 2007... Redback Networks is managing 54 percent of all U.S. DSL subscribers now being upgraded for data, voice and video services, according to a new compilation of Point Topic research and a Redback account analysis. The U.S. broadband market is...

Satellite Broadband Sales On 5-Year Ramp-Up.
June 19, 2007... On a global basis, service revenue for the broadband satellite industry will increase at an average annual rate of more than 11 percent during the next five years, with the fastest growth coming for consumer-class satellite broadband...

Stephenson: No Vodafone On AT&T's Agenda.
June 19, 2007... The new CEO of AT&T says his company isn't interested in buying Vodafone, but other smaller acquisitions may be on tap. Speaking to the venerable Financial Times in the U.K., Randall Stephenson, who was promoted to his position June 3,...

Aussie Telecom Official Backs Wireless Broadband Network.
June 19, 2007... Saying it's the best option, Federal Communications Minister Sen. Helen Coonan now says her government has decided to use wireless technology to deliver broadband Internet service to rural and regional Australia. "It's the technology of...

Energy Initiatives Will Drive Wireless Sensor Network Market.
June 19, 2007... An announcement earlier this month by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) of a new federal plan to increase energy efficiency of buildings nationwide by 30 percent will have major resonance in wireless...

Survey Sez: Most Carriers Fail To Manage Costs Well.
June 20, 2007... According to its semiannual investigation of the networking market, research firm TheInfoPro says a majority of enterprises spend more than 15 percent of their IT budgets on networking, of which telecommunications accounts for one of the...

FTTH Annual Event Focuses On Content.
June 20, 2007... The accelerating growth of high-bandwidth fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services, and the drive for enhancements in video content and new online applications are topping the agenda at the 2007 FTTH Conference & Expo. The conference is set for...

Subs More Satisfied With WAP Sales Over Premium SMS.
June 20, 2007... A new Bango survey says mobile content sales generated through off-deck WAP sites (mobile Web sites) deliver a huge reduction in after-sale customer- care costs compared to the traditional Premium SMS off-deck content model, where refunds can...

S.C. Network Taps Neustar For CALEA Compliance.
June 20, 2007... Spirit Telecom, a South Carolina-based broadband network comprised of 18 independent local exchange carriers, selected NeuStar Inc. to support its Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) compliance efforts in time to meet...

Verizon Wireless Points The Finger At Miami Telemarketers.
June 20, 2007... Back in court again: Verizon Wireless filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., against several Miami-based companies and individuals who have conducted an illegal telemarketing campaign targeting the carrier's customers. ...

Enron Broadband Services CEO Heads For Jail.
June 20, 2007... Kenneth Rice, a former CEO of Enron Broadband Services (EBS), was sentenced to 27 months in prison plus he was ordered to forfeit approximately $15 million that will be distributed to victims of Enron's fraud. According to Assistant...