TelecomWeb News Digest articles from May 2006

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from May 2006

Enron Broadband Jury Tapped For First Retrial.
May 3, 2006... A jury of eight men and four women is waiting to be seated at what is now scheduled to be a series of three retrials of five former Enron broadband executives originally charged with 170 counts of various misdeeds in the collapse of the...

FCC Mandates VoIP Surveillance, Wiretap Compliance.
May 3, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today mandated that all facilities-based broadband network operators and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers interconnected with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) must...

Update: FTC Gets Tough On Phone-Record Dealers.
May 3, 2006... After a unanimous decision, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier today filed federal court complaints charging five Web-based phone-records dealers with violating federal law (TelecomWeb news break, April 26). The agency is seeking...

Nortel And Meshing Moscow.
May 3, 2006... Russian carrier Golden Telecom has decided to blanket Moscow with a Wi-Fi mesh using hardware from Nortel. This reportedly is the first mesh to be deployed in the Russian capital. Under terms of the deal, whose value was not disclosed,...

Markey Rebounds With Net-Neutrality Bill.
May 3, 2006... Bouncing back from rejections of network-neutrality amendments on proposed House video-franchise legislation (TelecomWeb news break, April 27), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill to codify prohibitions against broadband network...

Dutch IPTV: It's All 'Mine'.
May 3, 2006... Dutch carrier KPN this week launched its promised IPTV service in the Netherlands, unveiling the word "Mine" as the brand name in its attempt to own that particular market. The launch of Mine aims to put the pressure particularly on UPC...

NZ Seeks Broadband Boost With New LLU Rules.
May 4, 2006... In a surprise move, the New Zealand government has decided to mandate local loop unbundling (LLU) of Telecom New Zealand's local lines starting next year in hopes of boosting the country's dismal level of broadband penetration. The...

Amp'd Ramps The ARPU, But Can Others Make The Grade?
May 4, 2006... Will they or won't they pay? That is the question. Is mobile content compelling and important enough for consumers to ramp up the ARPU as carriers envision? If the early returns from high-profile, well-funded mobile virtual network...

Verizon Slashes VoIP Prices.
May 4, 2006... Verizon has cut the price of its voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to match that of Vonage - a defensive move that could spark a price war. The carrier also eliminated discounts for its broadband subscribers, pricing its VoIP...

Iridium Pushes Senate Bill's Satellite Booster.
May 4, 2006... Iridium Satellite today urged federal lawmakers to retain satellite communications-centric provisos in the sweeping Senate telecom bill proposed earlier this week (TelecomWeb news break, May 2) because they are critical elements in preparing...

Worker Blues: Orange U.K. Dumps 2,000 Jobs.
May 4, 2006... Mobile operator Orange, announcing sweeping job cuts, will eliminate as many as 2,000 positions in the U.K. while parent France Telecom (FT) moves to slash costs as it merges Orange and its Wanadoo broadband operation. Orange, which...

Cisco Joins Secure Communications R&D Effort.
May 4, 2006... Cisco Systems is the newest member of the French Secure Communicating Solutions (SCS) research-and-development initiative that has many worldwide software and hardware vendors collaborating on combining and accelerating microelectronics and...

Second Try: AOL AIMs At VoIP.
May 5, 2006... Time Warner's AOL subsidiary, in another run at the VoIP market, is about to launch another VoIP service - this time built around its AIM instant messenger service and offering free phone numbers for incoming calls - a disruptive "market...

U.S. Wireless Online Ponders Buyout Offer.
May 5, 2006... After disclosing last month that it had retained Morris-Anderson & Associates Ltd. to help it sort through its financial problems, it looks like wireless ISP U.S. Wireless Online Inc. - itself an aggressive property shopper - may be snapped...

House May Spurn Online Lady Luck.
May 5, 2006... Hang the dice on the rearview mirror and head for Vegas because the House of Representatives may prohibit online interstate credit-card transactions on Web-based virtual gambling halls accessible by Internet users. Online gambling is...

Optus Enters Broadband Battle Down Under.
May 5, 2006... In another shot in the escalating battle between Telstra, competing carriers and the Australian government, Aussie consultancy The Allen Consulting Group today released a report saying a competitive unbundled local loop (ULL) rollout will...

California CLECs Combine.
May 5, 2006... Calif.-based TelePacific Communications is buying Mpower Communications Corp. for $204 million in cash in a deal TelePacific brags will create one of the largest CLECs in the Western United States. The service areas of the two companies...

Global Crossing Courts Costa Rica.
May 5, 2006... Global Crossing today moved closer to tapping Costa Rica's telecom market via a planned expansion of its Internet Protocol network into that country and the signing of key agreements with the national incumbent carrier and ISP. Following...

Ready To Roll: TelecomWeb Looks At The U.K.'s Bulldog.
May 8, 2006... The U.K. broadband market is about to see some feverish activity this year, what with Carphone Warehouse's (CW's) recent moves in the U.K. residential market where it claims it will cut "more than 60 percent" off the cost of the average U.K....

Sonae Bid For PT Looks Strong.
May 8, 2006... Sonae's $12.85 billion hostile takeover bid for Portugal Telecom was looking stronger than ever this morning following both a drop in Portugal Telecom's share prices and news out of South Africa that Telekom South Africa has decided not to...

Stevens Leverages GAO Broadband Report.
May 8, 2006... Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) late last week seized upon a just-issued Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on broadband deployment in the United States to urge Senate and House support for the massive communications draft legislation...

China Telecom Eyes Network Expansion.
May 8, 2006... China Telecom is planning to operate its Internet Protocol-based multi- protocol label switching (IP/MPLS) network platform for voice and data services in North America and Europe to provide direct connections between the regions and China....

Crown Castle Inks Mountain Union Buy.
May 8, 2006... Houston-based Crown Castle International signed a definitive agreement to acquire fellow microwave tower installation-and-maintenance company Mountain Union Telecom LLC of Alexandria, Va., for approximately $309 million in cash. The...

QuickLink Partners Target Financial, Gov't Customers.
May 8, 2006... Calif.-based Smith Micro Software Inc., a company that markets and develops a wide range of software products and services for the wireless market, is partnering with Manage Mobility, a business-solution provider and reseller of Sprint...

AT&T Promises Broadband, IPTV For the Poor.
May 9, 2006... AT&T, in a move widely seen as designed to blunt criticism of its broadband and IPTV rollout plans as being discriminatory, pledged to extend its fiber network to some 5.5 million low-income households within the next three years and to begin...

Cable Chief Implores Troops To Fight On.
May 9, 2006... The head of the American Cable Association yesterday told a gathering of cableco managers and "Inside The Beltway" listeners that the business must continue to press its case among legislative and regulatory policy makers to maintain a level...

Wi-Fi Mesh Team Takes Toronto.
May 9, 2006... Siemens Communications, in its first win in the Canadian wireless market, came out on top in the bidding to supply Toronto with a Wi-Fi mesh to be built using BelAir Networks access points - expected to eventually be the largest in the...

ntl Axes 6,000 Jobs.
May 9, 2006... U.K. cable operator ntl says it will axe 6,000 jobs by the end of 2007 - more than a third of its 17,000-person staff - with the majority being eliminated during the next 12 months. That brings the total to 8,000 jobs in the U.K....

Pacific Internet Plots Regional Expansion.
May 9, 2006... Pacific Internet Limited (PacNet), which claims to be Asia/Pacific Rim's largest telco-independent Internet communications service provider by geographic reach, today outlined a five-year strategic plan that includes expanding its network...

Ascom Partners With TI For VoWiFi Gear.
May 9, 2006... Sweden's Ascom Wireless Solutions says it will be using Texas Instruments' wireless LAN IP phone platform, called TNETV1700, to power its i75 voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) handsets. The Ascom i75 handsets are part of the company's...

Microsoft, Verizon Release Their Skype-Killer.
May 10, 2006... Microsoft unveiled a public beta version of the long-expected next generation of its instant-messaging software, replete with advanced VoIP capabilities. As expected, it is teaming with Verizon to let users call standard telephones at roughly...

Greek Celco Pays Big For Germanos Retailers.
May 10, 2006... Greece's largest mobile phone operator, Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications SA, is buying multinational cellular services retailer Germanos SA for an estimated $2 billion in cash. The move is an attempt by Cosmote to beef up its operations...

Reach Out And Watch Someone (Or Something).(Company overview)
May 10, 2006... Ma Bell (excuse our moniker) is getting ready for mobile television, readying a service that will be available to anyone hooked up to any of AT&T's 7,000 of 11,000 hot spots located in airports, coffee shops and book stores. AT&T will be...

Intelsat Closer To Panamsat Buyout.
May 10, 2006... Intelsat Ltd. now says it expects its proposed $3.2 billion transaction to buy Panamsat to close in the second or third quarter of this year, thus creating what it is calling the largest fixed satellite services (FSS) operator in the world...

ARINC, SITA Push Transport Messaging.
May 10, 2006... Transportation market-oriented communications system integration/engineering organizations ARINC Incorporated and SITA are leading a new technical work group to define and develop specifications for a next- generation B2B messaging technology...

Vodafone Advised To Keep Verizon Wireless Stake.
May 10, 2006... Vodafone is being advised that unless it gets top dollar for its stake in Verizon Wireless, it should not sell (TelecomWeb news break, March 14). So says Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein telecom equity analyst Robert Grindle, who also told...

Alleged NSA Surveillance Riles Industry, Nation.
May 11, 2006... The telecom industry was thrust front stage and center into the debate over individual privacy rights versus the government need to fight terror today following a report that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been compiling a database...

Kushnick's Teletruth Alleges Auction 'Rigging'.
May 11, 2006... Industry gadfly and telco critic Bruce Kushnick today said his Teletruth organization has filed complaints in several federal-government quarters alleging that major carriers have "rigged" Federal Communications Commission wireless auctions...

Mobile Sub Growth Saves DT Profits.
May 11, 2006... Deutsche Telekom (DT) has broken through the 30-million-subscriber barrier for wireless customers in Germany, and it now has close to 88 million wireless subs around the world, including 23 million at T-Mobile USA. Strong wireless growth...

CompTel Enters Post-Merger Court Fray.
May 11, 2006... The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has decided to allow the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) to participate in a judicial review of last year's SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI "mega-mergers" - a traditional...

Dobson Picks Up More Wireless Real Estate.
May 11, 2006... Rural wireless specialist Dobson Cellular has purchased yet another little carrier, this time paying $95 million for West Virginia operator Highland Cellular LLC. Dobson gains 51,000 new customers with the purchase at a cost of about...

Sprint Nextel Seeks First-Responder Advice.
May 11, 2006... Everyone is getting into the public-safety act. For its in-house purposes, Sprint Nextel is creating an advisory board "to provide key insight from the public safety community" regarding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated...

NSA Fallout: House Dems Seek Telecom Answers.
May 12, 2006... As the flap over National Security Agency (NSA) monitoring of call records spreads over Washington, D.C.'s political and intelligence communities, House Democrats with telecom oversight responsibilities are also looking to play a role in the...

Verizon Wireless Faces Cellular TV Patent Challenge.
May 12, 2006... Speedus Corp. has filed a pair of suits against Verizon Wireless, charging the second largest cellular company in the United States with violating a pair of Speedus patents, one of which covers the delivery of television to the tiny screen...

Philadelphia Wi-Fi Mesh Gets Final Go Ahead.
May 12, 2006... In a legal formality that was almost forgotten amid the previous hype, the Philadelphia City Council yesterday unanimously approved a plan for EarthLink to build, operate and maintain a wireless Internet network across 135 square miles of...

SeaMobile Buys Its Missing (Satcom) Link.(Company overview)
May 12, 2006... Shipboard voice and data communications startup SeaMobile has bought Maritime Telecommunications Network Inc (MTN), creating a company that provides both the satellite-based bandwidth and the roaming services needed to offer voice and...

Finns First For Commercial DVB-H Deployment.
May 12, 2006... Finland's Digita Oy has placed what is being heralded as the work's first commercial Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) mobile TV platform supply contract, ordering up Nokia's Broadcast Solution (MBS) 3.0 for an installation that...

Cellular Prices Tumble As O2 and Telefonica Cater To 'High Roamers'.
May 12, 2006... European cellular customers who use their mobile phones outside of their home countries are set to benefit from lower charges as wireless operators across Europe announce plans to reduce roaming charges. In what is being touted as an...

Verizon Wireless Price Tagged At $48B.
May 15, 2006... Rumors rampant on both sides of the Atlantic say Verizon and Vodafone have finally settled on a price for Vodafone's 45-percent share of Verizon Wireless - $48 billion plus assumption of $8 billion in debt. Such a deal reportedly could be...

Public TV Snubs Microsoft As German IPTV Launches.
May 15, 2006... Telecom Italia's German subsidiary HanseNet Telekommunikation GmbH launched the first IPTV services in Germany as last weekend rolled in - beating Deutsche Telekom (DT) to the punch. Meanwhile, reports out of Munich indicate the country's...

Is Tiscali Living On Borrowed Time?
May 15, 2006... Europe's largest independent ISP, Tiscali, in reporting its latest set of results says it is closing in on two million broadband customers in Europe, up a huge 58 percent year over year. But despite increasing revenues driven by the...

Qwest Buys OnFiber, Adds 23 Markets.
May 15, 2006... Qwest Communications International will acquire privately held metro network operator OnFiber Communications for $107 million in stock, giving the Denver-based carrier new, dedicated-local-loop capability in some 23 U.S. markets outside the...

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...Teleworking?
May 15, 2006... The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) late last week reached an agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) that allows new levels of permissible and regular "teleworking" activities - a...

Higher Ed Flunks Numbers-Based USF Alternatives.
May 15, 2006... U.S. colleges and universities last week added their cost worries to the list of groups concerned about potential changes in universal service fund (USF) contribution methods, especially the often-discussed flat-fee telephone-numbers...

FCC's Copps Demands Telco/NSA Inquiry.
May 16, 2006... Without mentioning the National Security Agency (NSA) by name, the senior Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has called on the regulatory agency to initiate an inquiry into whether telephone companies violated...

Bidders Flock To Serbian Cellular Auction.
May 16, 2006... A 10-way, billion-dollar bidding battle has broken out for 70-percent ownership of Mobi 63, Serbia's government-owned cellular carrier now in the process of privatization. The bidding has attracted some of the biggest names in European...

More Nortel Good News: 1Q Loss Widens.
May 16, 2006... Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski this morning celebrated sixth months on the job with a conference call to analysts to bring the latest good tidings: The company is going to show a bigger loss when it finally reports the first quarter of this year...

Jupiter Offers Feds IPv6 Survival Guide.
May 16, 2006... Juniper Networks today issued a guide for federal agencies on transitioning data communications systems, software and networks to the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) standard in an effort to stimulate government user groups' migration to...

Cisco Nails Telefonica Deutschland VoIP Order.
May 16, 2006... Cisco Systems has been selected by Telefonica Deutschland GmbH to supply systems and software for the carrier's new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services for the wholesale and retail broadband markets, part of a strategy to deliver...

TeliaSonera: Another Strong Broadband Statement.
May 16, 2006... Sweden-based TeliaSonera made a key move to boost its position in the Norwegian broadband market by acquiring a more-than-82-percent stake in NextGenTel Holding, the Number Two broadband/xDSL operator in Norway. The deal to acquire...

Happy World Telecommunications Day!
May 17, 2006... For those who didn't happen to notice, May 17 officially is World Telecommunications Day, an event created to commemorate the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on May 17, 1865. Indeed, the ITU fashions itself...

Verizon Denies Any NSA Cooperation.
May 17, 2006... In a second statement on the National Security Agency (NSA) domestic call-monitoring flap (TelecomWeb news break, May 16), Verizon Communications vehemently denies being approached by the government's intelligence unit, and it's challenging...

Competition Authority Probes PT Takeover Battle.
May 17, 2006... Sonae's $12.85 billion hostile takeover bid for Portugal Telecom (PT), a fight that recently began moving at a snail's pace, has been slowed down even further by the news that Portuguese regulators are investigating the possibility that the...

AT&T Network Integration Goes Global.
May 17, 2006... AT&T says it is expanding on a global basis its new network integration services (NIS) - a systems-and-solutions integration activity that plans and builds infrastructure for major business enterprises - following controlled introductions in...

BT Ready To Mesh The Masses.
May 17, 2006... BT, stepping up its plans to create "wireless cities" across the U.K., says it's reached agreements with a dozen jurisdictions to blanket those municipalities with a Wi-Fi mesh, with work on the first six to start imminently. The...

Optical Networking Sales Up, Down, Sideways.
May 17, 2006... Optical networking sales crept up 5 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, reaching $2.6 billion, according to a preliminary analysis by research house Ovum-RHK. But while the total was up from the first quarter of last year, it was...

At Press Time: Senator Vows Communications Reform.
May 18, 2006... The chairman of the key Senate committee drafting a massive communications-reform bill today brushed aside warnings to take more time on such a bill. Instead, he strongly advocated that legislation should be enacted this year. Reacting to...

Sprint Spinoff Embarqs On Its Journey.
May 18, 2006... Sprint finalized the spinoff of its wireline operations, leaving the carrier as a purely mobile operation and creating the nation's newest wireline phone company: Embarq. In recognition of the prospect of pure wireline telephony, hordes...

BT Transformation Triggers Turnaround.
May 18, 2006... Earlier today, BT reported what the company trumpeted as its best financial results in four years, crediting growth in profits and sales to skyrocketing next-generation business growth, including broadband, online and international services....

FCC Keeps Cost-Allocation Process On Ice.
May 18, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put another freeze on the existing separations process used by the telephone business to share revenues pending the settlement of larger issues surrounding jurisdictional questions and new...

Vodafone, Softbank Team For Mobile Venture.
May 18, 2006... Vodafone is partnering with Softbank - the company that bought its Japanese wireless operation - to jointly develop and procure mobile technology and content in a bid to stay ahead of the game in advanced handsets, mobile portals and content....

What Game Is This, Anyway?
May 18, 2006... Last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) brought with it the inevitable announcements, promises, forecasts and pulse-taking for the mobile games market. Like TV, music, film, and print, gaming is suffering some consumer ennui and...

House Committee Unwraps Net-Neutrality Act.
May 19, 2006... Confirming earlier reports (Telecom Policy Report, May 1), members of the House Judiciary Committee introduced a bill to codify network neutrality among the Internet's broadband access and backbone providers in response to a growing debate...

Nokia, Nortel Land Chinese GSM Pacts.
May 19, 2006... The GSM business in China got another shot in the arm today as Nokia won a GSM expansion contract with a China Unicom subsidiary, and Nortel signed a framework agreement with China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) to provide circuit/packet...

VoIP Vs. PSTN Battle Gets 'HOT' In The Holy Land.
May 19, 2006... Israel's unionized telecommunications workers took the battle between voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and traditional PSTN telephony into their own hands this week, severing the link between a consortium of cable operators offering VoIP...

Smart Puts The Pedal To The Wireless Broadband Metal.
May 19, 2006... In honor of today's National Ride Your Bike to Work Day, news out of the Philippines says the next big thing in wireless Internet access is a pedicab equipped with PCs and an antenna. But make sure there's a long cord available. Smart...

Belgacom Bets On 100,000 IPTV Customers.
May 19, 2006... Belgacom, which already has 50,000 IPTV subscribers, is targeting 100,000 customers for its Belgacom TV service by the end of the year as it ramps ups competition with cable rival Telenet. The IPTV growth plans were one of the highlights...

Venezuela OKs GSM Carrier Sale.
May 19, 2006... Venezuelan regulators have given their blessing to Telecom Italia's $425 million sale of its 100-percent stake in Venezuelan mobile operator Corporacion Digitel (Digitel) as part of a deal that will leave the country with only one GSM...

Will The Real Net-Neutrality Bill Please Stand Up?
May 22, 2006... Reflecting the intense congressional flap over network neutrality and Internet access, two U.S. senators introduced a bill - the third now dropped in the legislative hopper - designed to stem potential anti-competitive practices by major...

Boingo Buys Airport Wi-Fi House.
May 22, 2006... Wi-Fi network aggregator Boingo Wireless soon will be the new owner of airport Wi-Fi and cellular specialist Concourse Communications Group LLC. A key driver behind the acquisition - Boingo's first-ever infrastructure buy - is said to be...

FCC Delays 3G Spectrum Auction.
May 22, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has delayed the bidding process for third-generation (3G) Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) by about six weeks, primarily to allow more time for discount-qualifying small businesses to prepare...

Georgia Allocates Millions For Muni Wi-Fi.
May 22, 2006... While battles rage in many states over municipal Wi-Fi rollouts, the great state of Georgia announced a state-aid program for communities that need economic help financing local wireless broadband networks. The "Wireless Communities...

Estonia Telco Turns To VoIP.
May 22, 2006... As one way to battle the coming competition in the Estonian marketplace, broadband operator Elion, using equipment from Ericsson, launched a suite of IP- based real-time multimedia services that including IP telephony (VoIP), video telephony,...

Scandinavian Portal Offers 'Pearls' Of Wireless Wisdom.
May 22, 2006... If you want to track the hottest wireless players in one of the coldest areas of the world, go to portal Wireless Scandinavia, the new keeper of information about up-and-coming companies working with mobile technology in that region. ...