TelecomWeb News Digest articles from October 2004

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from October 2004

BellSouth Makes Key Staffing Changes in D.C. Office.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... BellSouth has made some key staffing changes in its Washington, D.C., Governmental Affairs office. Gregg Morton, who had been Vice President, Regulatory at BellSouth's corporate headquarters in Atlanta, has been promoted to the newly created...

Ofcom Could Hike Some U.K. Wireless Fees.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Like its U.S. regulatory counterpart, Ofcom in the U.K. charges its communications licensees yearly fees based on number of subscribers and other criteria. The agency just released a proposal dealing with the future pricing of such fees to...

RIM pushes for a BlackBerry in Every Basket.(Research In Motion)(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Cingular Wireless is now the exclusive provider of Research In Motion's (RIM) newest BlackBerry, the 7290 Wireless Handheld, as its first quad-band, Bluetooth-enabled handset for business travelers working within the United States. Subscribers...

GM to More Than Double OnStar-Equipped Vehicles for 2006 Model Year.(General Motors)(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... General Motors is planning to produce 3 million vehicles in North America during the 2006 model year built with the GPS-enabled OnStar in-vehicle safety and communications system. That level of production would more than double the 1.4 million...

Consortium Forms to Set Network Centric Communications Standards.(Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium)(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... The Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) formally introduced itself this week at a Tuesday (Sept. 28) press conference in Washington, D.C. The new group, consisting initially of 28 companies that span the IT and...

BT Confirms Lower Local Loop Unbundling Prices.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... BT confirmed details of the latest reduction of local loop unbundling (LLU) prices, which are designed to stimulate infrastructure investment in the UK communications market. By investing in new automated processes, BT has been able to...

Blister Entertainment Launches GPS Cell Phone Game.(Blister Entertainment Inc)(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Looking to get location-based services into cell phones? The best way to do it might be to start on the gaming side and let the rest of the applications fall into place. To that end, Blister Entertainment Inc., a division of KnowledgeWhere...

FCC to Host Radio Frequency Identification Workshop.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology will host a workshop on radio frequency identification (RFID) on Thursday, Oct. 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room; TW-C305 at 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. FCC...

New Report on Privacy Protection Advances Use of IT.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... As Congress considers the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission, among the issues the lawmakers are grappling with is how government can adopt new information technologies to help protect the homeland without significantly harming privacy and...

No More Supercomm after Next Year? Say it Ain't So...(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... Next year's Supercomm may be the last for what has grown to be the largest telecom trade show in the United States. The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA), which jointly owned and operated the...

Sirius Signs Howard Stern in Multi-Million Dollar Mega Deal.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... "Shock jock" Howard Stern, the bane of the FCC, has signed a multi-year mega buck contract to join New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio [SIRI], starting Jan. 1, 2006. The deal will cost Sirius $100 million a year, but those costs would be...

House Overwhelmingly Approves Anti-Spyware Legislation.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved H.R. 2929, the "Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act" (SPY ACT) by a vote of 399-1. Authored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) and championed by Reps. Cliff Stearns...

Windhausen Resigns in Wake of ALTS Document Snafu.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... The Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) announced Tuesday (Oct. 5) that its Executive Committee has accepted the resignation of John Windhausen from the position of president of ALTS. The resignation is effective...

Dorman May Be Ringing Seidenberg's Bell, But Ivan Isn't Answering.(Telecommunications)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... AT&T Chairman and CEO David Dorman is continuing to pursue talks with the Baby Bells about a possible takeover of AT&T, according to corporate insiders who requested anonymity. TelecomWeb's sister publication Telecom Policy Report says the...

SBC Ohio Customers Face Possible Billing Errors.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), the residential utility advocate, is alerting SBC Ohio telephone customers of an error that has affected approximately 5,300 Ohio households that have signed up for the company's "National...

Opting Out of Internet Tax Effort Could Help States, PFF Contends.(Progress and Freedom Foundation)(Streamlined Sales and use Tax Agreement)
October 7, 2004... The conservative leaning Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) is warning that the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be numbered -- at least if state officials promoting the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) get their way. Those...

FCC Continues Pondering Cingular/AT&T Wireless Merger.(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... A decision could be made by FCC commissioners this week regarding the proposed merger of AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, even though one Republican commissioner last week was quoted as saying the deal was weeks in the offing. FCC Chairman...

Industry Groups Press Lawmakers for Higher Cyber Security Position at DHS.
October 11, 2004... The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), Business Software Alliance, TechNet and the Cyber Security Industry Alliance are pressing Congress to enact legislation that would authorize a new assistant secretary for cyber security...

SDR Makes More Military Inroads.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Like many other communications arenas post-9/11, the wireless industry is signing bigger and better contracts with the military for products and services. This time around, Florida-based AirNet Communications Corporation, which makes...

Galileo Given Thumbs Up on Operational Phase.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... The European Commission has approved moving the Galileo satellite navigation system for the deployment and operational phase. According to a report, the EC settled on a variety of matters that needed resolution before the project could proceed,...

D.C. Circuit Snubs USTA's Petition, Delays Mandamus Decision.(U.S. Telecom Association)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday (Oct. 7) issued an order that delays until after the first of the year action on a mandamus petition filed by the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) seeking to overturn the FCC's recent interim order...

TIA to Retire Supercomm Brand; Now Dubbed 'Globalcomm'.(Telecommunications Industry Association)(U.S. Telecom Association)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... The leadership of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is wasting no time in transitioning an end to its partnership with the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) on Supercomm, the largest annual communications exhibition and conference...

EchoStar Sustains Legislative Loss in U.S. House.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... EchoStar Communications took a political hit Wednesday (Oct. 6) when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in a voice vote that will require the company to spend an estimated $100 million to offer subscribers in 30 U.S. markets local...

Qwest, DirecTV Ink Marketing Deal.(Qwest Communications International Inc)(DIRECTV Inc)(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Qwest Communications International Inc. and DirecTV Inc., a unit of The DirecTV Group, have formed a strategic marketing alliance that will allow Qwest to offer DirecTV digital satellite services to residential customers in the Western United...

House Overwhelmingly Approves Anti-Spyware Legislation.
October 11, 2004... The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved H.R. 2929, the "Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act" (SPY ACT) by a vote of 399-1. Authored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) and championed by Reps. Cliff Stearns...

Comcast Names VoIP Gear Vendor.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... Cable TV giant Comcast has tapped Cedar Point Communications as its primary vendor of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service equipment. For Cedar Point the multi-year contract to supply its Safari C3 switching system is a big win, but...

Games Set to Lead $4.8 billion Mobile Java Market by 2009.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... New findings from Juniper Research show that Java downloads will generate more than $4.8 billion in mobile revenues by 2009, with mobile games accounting for the vast majority of revenues. The market research firm interviewed over 60 leaders...

Federal-State Joint Board Releases USF Monitoring Data.(Universal Service)
October 14, 2004... The staff of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service has released its most recent "Monitoring Report on Universal Service," reflecting information on the telephone industry filed with the FCC through May 2004. The report...

Few New Products, Thin Crowds at USTA's Vegas Telecom Show.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... A relatively thin slice of the telecom industry showed up in Las Vegas this week for the United States Telecom Association's (USTA) annual Telecom trade show. The opening day of the show looked more like a practice run for what USTA now hopes...

Decision in CoreTel Case Bodes Well for CLECs.(competitive local exchange carriers )
October 14, 2004... Of all the regulatory skirmishes inspired by the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, very few of them have been as hotly contested as the ongoing dispute over intercarrier compensation for dial-up Internet traffic. The incumbent local exchange...

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear TRO Case.(Triennial Review Order)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the D.C. Circuit's March 2 rebuke of the FCC's Triennial Review Order (TRO). Although the FCC did not appeal the case to the High Court, several parties affected by the D.C. Circuit's...

Merrill Lynch Maintains 'Sell' Recommendation on AT&T Shares.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... Despite its efforts to dramatically reduce overhead, AT&T continues being hammered by Wall Street investment houses. On Monday (Oct. 11), Merrill Lynch issued an advisory to its clients maintaining its "sell" recommendation on AT&T shares. ...

New T-Mobile Card Heats Up Hot Spots.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2004... T-Mobile USA has been pulling out all the stops when it comes to product and service announcements lately, with the most recent concerning the unveiling of its $199 Sony Ericsson GC79 PC card, a combination GPRS and Wi-Fi card that allows...

Sixty-Five Percent of Internet Households Ready to Switch to Bundled Services.
October 18, 2004... More than 60 percent of all Internet households would be willing to consolidate their services under a single provider if so doing saved $20 per month, according to "Bundled Services: Analysis and Forecasts," a new industry report from market...

DigitalGlobe Offers Images of Hurricane Damage.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... The devastating hurricanes that blasted through the southeastern United States during recent months have made for compelling imagery that now is available through Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe. The latest patch of imagery and geospatial...

Want Rural Broadband? WTB, USDA Has Cash.(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) is teaming with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to launch and maintain the Rural Wireless Community VISION Program aimed at promoting more broadband wireless services in rural America....

FCC Approves Order Granting BOCs Further Immunity from Unbundling.(Bell Operating Companies)(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... The FCC Thursday (Oct. 14) approved an order granting the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) immunity from statutory unbundling obligations for so-called fiber to the curb (FTTC) loops, the last mile connections that link every home and business...

FCC's Three Republicans Reported to Have OK'd Cingular-AT&T Wireless Merger.(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Reuters is reporting that a majority of FCC commissioners has voted to conditionally approve the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger. According to the news service, the three Republicans on the Commission -- Chairman Michael Powell, Commissioners...

Comcast Names VoIP Gear Vendor.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Cable TV giant Comcast has tapped Cedar Point Communications as its primary vendor of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service equipment. For Cedar Point the multi-year contract to supply its Safari C3 switching system is a big win, but...

Games Set to Lead $4.8 billion Mobile Java Market by 2009.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... New findings from Juniper Research show that Java downloads will generate more than $4.8 billion in mobile revenues by 2009, with mobile games accounting for the vast majority of revenues. The market research firm interviewed over 60 leaders...

Federal-State Joint Board Releases USF Monitoring Data.(Universal Service)
October 18, 2004... The staff of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service has released its most recent "Monitoring Report on Universal Service," reflecting information on the telephone industry filed with the FCC through May 2004. The report...

Progressive Policy Institute Decries Bush's IT Shortcomings.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... The Bush Administration has utterly failed to make a serious commitment to e-government-- i.e., improving the delivery of government services through digital information technologies (IT). As a result, the United States has lost its global lead...

Disconnect in IPTV Should be Addressed by Equipment Vendors.(Internet Protocol set top boxes )(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... In the near future, the market for Internet Protocol set top boxes (IP-STBs) will grow at least four times faster than that for cable or satellitebased boxes, according to frequent TeleomWeb contributor ABI Research. While the CAGR of worldwide...

SBCA Files Comments With FCC About Blocking Violent Programs From Children.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... The Alexandria, Va.-based Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the commission's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on violent television programming and its...

U.S. Consumers Now Spending More on Wireless than Wireline.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... According to new research from TNS Telecoms, the average U.S. household spends more money on wireless communications than on wired communications. According to the market research firm, the average household during the second quarter of...

Ford Plans to Begin Factory-Installation of Sirius Radio Units in 2006.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... Ford Motor Co. is expanding the availability of Sirius Satellite Radio significantly by committing to make it a factory-installed option on up to 20 vehicle lines in the 2006 and 2007 model years. Ford, Mercury and Lincoln thus far have...

Sage Research: Service Provider Confidence Rebounds in September.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... Market research firm Sage Research Inc. has just released the results of its September 2004 Service Provider Confidence Index (SPCI). In the latest report, the Current Conditions Index bounded back from the decline over the last two periods,...

Merrill Lynch Sees Verizon Divesting Rural Lines, Directory Business.
October 21, 2004... Wall Street investment house Merrill Lynch is telling its clients that Verizon could spin-off up to 10 million access lines in rural areas served by the Baby Bell as well as its directory business. Merrill Lynch's analysis suggests that Verizon...

Study: Retail VoIP Services Market to Reach $20.4 Billion by 2009.(Voice-over internet protocol)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2004... According to "VoIP Revolution 2004-2009: The Opportunity, The Market, The Players," a new study by telecommunications research consultancy ATLANTIC-ACM, the retail VoIP market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 64 percent from...

Qwest Faces Charges of Multi-Faceted Accounting, Financial Reporting Fraud.(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... More accounting problems continue to plague Qwest Communications International Inc., one of the four Baby Bells. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the company multiple counts of securities fraud and other violations of...

BT and T-Mobile Hook Up Deal.(BT Openzone )( T-Mobile USA inc.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... In a deal that will please business users, BT Openzone and T-Mobile have signed an agreement to provide customers with roaming access to each others Wi-Fi networks across Europe and the Untied States. Customers of T-Mobile and BT Openzone will...

C9 Networks' C3000 Wireless Headend Extends Cable's Service Offerings.(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... C9 Networks, a provider of communications solutions for small to midsized operators, has announced the availability of the C9 C3000, an entirely new line of cable modem termination systems (CMTSs). The advanced CMTS supports both wired and...

Lucent Technologies Scores Win in China Unicom's CDMA Contracts.(Code Division Multiple Access )(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... Lucent Technologies (China) Co., Ltd., has won China Unicom's CDMA expansion projects in Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Liaoning provinces. The contract is valued at $107 million. According to the contracts, Lucent will supply the advanced...

Naked Truth: New Applications for U.S. Wireless Market Slow to Come.(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... As new wireless technology is rolled out, the U.S. market is usually the last to get a hold of it. The latest example of an application waiting for the market to catch up to the technology is Naked News holding off on launching its video news...

Huge Support Exists for Airing Opposing Views in Sinclair Broadcast.
October 25, 2004... A new national survey on Sinclair Broadcast Group's initial decision to air a program on Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War record found that the overwhelming majority of Americans aware of the issue believe the opposing political point of view...

SBCA Files Comments With FCC About Blocking Violent Programs From Children.(Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association )(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... The Alexandria, Va.-based Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the commission's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on violent television programming and its...

U.S. Consumers Now Spending More on Wireless than Wireline.(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... According to new research from TNS Telecoms, the average U.S. household spends more money on wireless communications than on wired communications. According to the market research firm, the average household during the second quarter of...

Stern, Powell Engage in 'Live' On-Air War of Words.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... Shock jock Howard Stern launched an on-air word of words against his arch nemesis, FCC Chairman Michael Powell, during a San Francisco "live" radio talk show Tuesday (Oct. 26), telling the nation's top communications regulator that the only...

Powell: Greater Spectrum Access Needed for Wireless Broadband.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell is calling for greater access to spectrum in order to help realize the benefits of wireless broadband. In a speech Tuesday to an audience gathered at the Cellular Telecommunications...

We Told You So: FCC, DOJ Approve Cingular-AT&T Wireless Merger.(U.S. Department of Justice)(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... As predicted last February by TelecomWeb's sister publication, Telecom Policy Report, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FCC have conditionally approved Cingular's $41 billion purchase of ATT Wireless. Interestingly, the government...

C&W Says Sayonara to Japan.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... U.K.-based Cable & Wireless, which has been selling off pieces of itself or just discontinuing business in certain world markets it finds unprofitable, is trading its Japanese presence to that country's Softbank Corp. in Tokyo for a reported...

Telewest Hopes Retail Focus Will Pay Dividends.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... UK cable operator Telewest Broadband hopes a new retail focus will pay dividends in the run-up to Christmas. The operator has teamed up with leading UK retailer The Dixons Group to offer a new digital TV offer. The offer, "Essential TV,"...

EB, WideRay to Distribute Games Wirelessly At Shops.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... Electronics Boutique and proximity services provider WideRay have united to offer mobile gaming buffs a new way to shop for games for their mobile devices. Mobile gaming enthusiasts will be able to walk up to a Wireless Game Portal at one...

U.S. Slips to 13th in Broadband Service Worldwide.
October 28, 2004... The Bush Administration's Internet policy has resulted in high prices that are retarding the spread of high-speed Internet service and widening the digital divide, according to a report released Tuesday (Oct. 26) by the Consumer Federation of...

Cogent Continues Aggressive Acquisition Strategy.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2004... Cogent Communications continues to expand its network resources and customer base with an aggressive acquisition strategy, announcing Monday (Oct. 25) the company has acquired Aleron Broadband (formerly AGIS Internet). Cogent's sixth...