TelecomWeb News Digest articles from September 2005

TelecomWeb News Digest archives from September 2005

Verizon Wireless: You Can't Call Me Now.
September 1, 2005... Verizon Wireless is striking out in a new direction - reining in telemarketers. In separate lawsuits coast to coast, believed to be the first of their kind by a U.S. wireless carrier against telemarketing firms, Verizon Wireless wants...

FCC: Should Automatic Roaming Be Codified?
September 1, 2005... Now that wireless competition is rampant and many subscribers regard their handsets as their only form of voice communications, the Federal Communications Commission wonders whether its current roaming requirements applicable to Commercial...

BT Taps Texas Company For Outsourced Services.
September 1, 2005... U.K. giant BT has chosen to simplify its business life, moving the hosting of its broadband customer self-help software to the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Motive Inc. BT signed with the company to host its Motive-based management solution,...

Ohio Med Center Signs TWT For Connectivity.
September 1, 2005... Littleton, Colo.-based CLEC Time Warner Telecom won a multi-year contract to deliver metro Ethernet and switched native local area network (LAN) services between 52 in-network facilities for the Kettering Medical Center Network (KMCN); the...

Update: Slim's Colombia Diet Could Crash.
September 1, 2005... After making such a big splash last week (TelecomWeb news break, Aug. 26), Mexico's Carlos Slim may have to slow down his proposed takeover of government-owned Colombia Telecomunicaciones (Telecom) for $350 million in cash and stock - plus...

DT Commits To Massive Fiber Buildout.
September 1, 2005... Deutsche Telekom (DT) plans to make a major new network investment in Germany. The telco, which is one of the largest globally, will invest $3.7 billion in the rollout of a high-tech fiber-optic network with speeds as fast as 50 Mbit/s in...

Hurricane Aftermath Spurs FCC To Action.
September 2, 2005... Amid widespread destruction, population displacement and telecom-network disruptions in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Communications Commission has taken several steps aimed at helping individuals...

Two Montana Co-Ops Under New Management.
September 2, 2005... There's a new telecom player in Montana. 3 Rivers Communications, a Fairfield-based cooperative, sold its wireless business to a new self-funded venture named MTPCS, which also purchased wireless business owned by Missoula- based Blackfoot...

VoIP 911 Joint Task Force Takes Shape.
September 2, 2005... The FCC and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) late yesterday named 10 members of a joint federal/state task force to handle compliance and enforcement of the commission's rule ordering voice over Internet...

Update: Wireless Group Backs Verizon Suits.
September 2, 2005... CTIA-The Wireless Association essentially took sides with Verizon Wireless following that carrier's filing suits against two telemarketers for allegedly making calls to cellphone customers using pre-recorded messages and auto-dialers in...

Video Networks First To Market With ADSL2+.
September 2, 2005... U.K. telco Video Networks says it completed its first ADSL2+ tests, enabling the carrier to be the first in England to deliver Internet speeds as fast as 24 Mbps, particularly to its HomeChoice customers. Video Networks offers digital...

Happy Labor Day From TelecomWeb.
September 2, 2005... TelecomWeb's reporters are bidding summer adieu by taking next Monday off. The news will publish again Tuesday, Sept. 6. [Copyright 2005 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

Netcentrex Claims 2M VoIP Lines; Vonage Tops 1M.
September 6, 2005... Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) softswitch vendor Netcentrex has claimed the honors as the first company to have topped the 2-million milestone for the number of Class 5 VoIP lines in service using its gear - and it says that number is...

MCI Slates Verizon Merger Vote.
September 6, 2005... MCI is starting to mail proxy materials related to its special October meeting during which shareholders will vote on the proposed $8.5 billion merger agreement with Verizon Communications (TelecomWeb news break, July 29). As things stand...

Bankruptcy Court Okays Vertical/Comdial Combo.
September 6, 2005... Internet Protocol system vendor Vertical Communications says that, through a bankruptcy court-approved transaction worth about $20 million, it will acquire Comdial Corporation, a long-standing customer premises equipment maker that filed for...

Cisco Seals KiSS Acquisition.
September 6, 2005... Privately held KiSS Technology A/S, a Horsholm, Denmark, developer and maker of networked entertainment devices, now is a bona fide part of Cisco Systems. The now-completed acquisition will see KiSS added to Cisco's Linksys Division, which...

Tandberg Set To Boost KPN TV Plans.
September 6, 2005... Tandberg Television signed a deal enabling Dutch telco KPN to advance its IPTV plans. A new contract with Siemens will provide KPN with a flexible EN5930 encoding system able to simultaneously transmit both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC...

Caprock, BellSouth Step Up Hurricane Relief.
September 6, 2005... Earlier today, Caprock Communications Corp. said it's been working around the clock to package and deploy transportable satellite communications systems since Hurricane Katrina's making landfall on Aug. 29. In response to the need for...

After Katrina: Congressman Slams Comms Funding.
September 7, 2005... Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) late yesterday called on the White House to fund and implement an interoperable, inter-agency communication network for first responders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast region of...

Ericsson Discloses $1B China 3G Assault.
September 7, 2005... In a string of announcements, Ericsson has disclosed plans to make a billion-dollar, long-term investment in the Chinese mobile communications market along with key deals in Israel and Portugal. Speaking at the Ericsson Strategy &...

BT Faces Local-Loop Price Cap.
September 7, 2005... In a major victory for independent ISPs competing with the U.K.'s dominant telecom carrier, U.K. regulator Ofcom plans to impose a price cap on what BT can charge ISPs for use of its local loops. At the same time, Ofcom revealed plans to free...

Avaya Sets Equant Alliance, Offshore Product Moves.
September 7, 2005... U.S. customer premises equipment supplier Avaya formed an alliance with France Telecom's global accounts carrier Equant to jointly deliver advanced Internet Protocol (IP) communications solutions to customers. Avaya also disclosed product...

Global Crossing, TeleWare Unveil Hosted VoIP.
September 7, 2005... International carrier Global Crossing today launched a series of a hosted VoIP services developed in collaboration with TeleWare Plc, a U.K. provider of intelligent business communication solutions to enterprises and service providers. The...

Broadband On The American Road.
September 7, 2005... He's tanned, he's rested and he's sniffing out unprotected wireless broadband access in the American West. Stuart Zipper, editor of sister publication Broadband Business Forecast, spent last week in the car, touring the area from Denver to...

Hurricane Katrina Hits Capitol Hill.
September 8, 2005... The full House Committee on Energy and Commerce yesterday held a grueling marathon hearing on government reaction/recovery efforts and long-term implications of Hurricane Katrina's Gulf Coast damage, concentrating mostly on the overwhelming...

IPTV Franchise Bill Signed In Texas.
September 8, 2005... Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry decided to sign a telecom-reform bill that includes statewide Internet Protocol (IP) TV and cable franchise rights, just two days before the controversial legislation would have been enacted into law without...

Belgian Elderly, Disabled Get 'Social Rate' Cell Service.
September 8, 2005... Belgian wireless operator Proximus, a subsidiary of Belgacom, has become the first operator in country to offer the "Social Rate," in accordance with a new Belgian law cutting the cost of wireless for those in need. The Belgian carrier also...

Convergence Contract: BT/HP Snags Hertz.
September 8, 2005... BT and HP, which last year signed a $1.5 billion "go to market" pact, have landed Hertz Europe Ltd as a joint customer under a five-year contract that will see the pair managing Hertz's voice and data networking needs. Included in the deal...

T-Com Tries WiMAX.
September 8, 2005... Deutsche Telecom's T-Com subsidiary has launched field trials of WiMAX in an assessment of whether it can use the technology to provide broadband to users it can't reach with its DSL infrastructure. Getting its foot in the door as supplier...

Listen Up! Podcasting And Cellphones.
September 8, 2005... In what is sure to be the first of many similar announcements, Pod2Mob has entered into the beta cycle of its podcasting solution for mobile phones. The Los Angeles company is providing a downloadable application that allows users to...

Katrina Update: Cingular Claims 75% Service Restoration.
September 9, 2005... Cingular Wireless is claiming a "75-percent overall service restoral" in the mobile radio operating areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, with full restoration in many places. The SBC Communications/BellSouth joint venture also said about 50...

CA Regulators Ease BPL Regulation.
September 9, 2005... The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is taking what it calls an "unusual step" of setting rules for broadband over powerline (BPL) deployments, even though so far there are no BPL deployments and only a couple of current tests...

ITAA Knocks Euro Data-Retention Idea.
September 9, 2005... The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) recently told European Union officials it opposes a plan to require technology and telecom firms to retain data on Internet traffic and telephone calls, although it clearly understands...

Global Crossing Partners With Scotland's Albanet.
September 9, 2005... International carrier Global Crossing inked a new channel partnership with Albanet Group, one of Scotland's leading IT services companies, in an agreement that enables the companies to deliver customized paths to all-IP networking and...

Telenor Targets Kids With Cheap New Plan.
September 9, 2005... Telenor's djuice mobile subsidiary - an operation targeted at children - is introducing a new mobile subscription plan called "djuice allstar" to entice the youth market in Norway with rock-bottom rates. The Web-based allstar mobile...

India Opens First WiMAX R&D Center.
September 9, 2005... The first WiMAX R&D center in India - a $46 million joint venture between Alcatel and India's Center for the Development of Telematics (C-DOT) - opened its doors for business today. Initially, about 300 Indian engineers will man the center,...

Are Americans Cutting The Cord?
September 12, 2005... Market study/consulting house The Yankee Group says minutes-of-use calling patterns over wireless networks are surpassing traditional wireline counterparts, leading the Cambridge, Mass.-based researcher to suggest that exponential growth of...

Lucent Takes On Endforce Security Portfolio.
September 12, 2005... Lucent Technologies and software developer Endforce Inc. today signed an agreement that has Lucent reselling Endforce's Enterprise product line that automates design, deployment and management of configurations and security policies in both...

BroadSoft Passes Nortel VoIP Interop Test.
September 12, 2005... BroadSoft says its BroadWorks voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications platform was awarded a certificate of compatibility from Nortel, confirming that the products can be used with Nortel systems in carrier, service-provider and...

Alcatel Lands Turkish, Finnish IP/MPLS Jobs.
September 12, 2005... Alcatel landed a $28 million IP/MPLS order from Turk Telecom for the design, deployment and management of an IP/MPLS-based data backbone network and, coming up with a pair of aces, has been given the nod as supplier for Finnish carrier...

Globalstar, New Horizons Ink Alaska Gateway Deal.
September 12, 2005... Late last week, Globalstar LLC and New Horizons Telecom Inc. signed a contract for the first phase of construction of a new satellite gateway in Wasilla, Alaska. The two say the gateway will enhance the quality and coverage of Globalstar's...

Ohio Group Still Protests SBC/AT&T Merger.
September 12, 2005... "It ain't over until it's over," so Ohio's official public utility consumer advocate wants the proposed $16 billion SBC Communications/AT&T merger rejected unless benefits to residential subscribers can be demonstrated as required under...

BPL: The New Tasmanian Devil.
September 13, 2005... Tasmania's Aurora Energy and Mitsubishi this week launched what is being touted as the world's first full commercial test of 200 Mb/s broadband over powerline (BPL) technology developed by Mitsubishi. The trial was described as an initial...

Avaya, SITA Ink Global IP Partnership.
September 13, 2005... U.S. manufacturer Avaya and systems/services integrator SITA SC today disclosed a worldwide alliance to develop and deliver next-generation Internet Protocol (IP) communications products and services to the travel and transportation industry...

U.S. Cellular, Alltel Swap Markets.
September 13, 2005... Wireless carriers United States Cellular and Alltel forged a definitive agreement to exchange 850 MHz cellular properties; under the asset-swap agreement, U.S. Cellular will acquire 15 Rural Service Area (RSA) markets in Kansas and Nebraska,...

Wi-Fi Alliance Adds Ninth Test Lab.
September 13, 2005... The 200-member Wi-Fi Alliance industry association tapped the Beijing- based China National Telecommunication Metrology Station (CNTMS) as a Wi-Fi certification test laboratory, authorizing CNTMS as the first group in mainland China to test...

Swisscom Buys Comit To Stem Bank Biz Loss.
September 13, 2005... Swisscom, in a move to boost its position in providing IT services to the financial sector (where it is said to have been losing business), is buying Comit for $47.7 million. COMIT has been in business for some 25 years, and its clients...

Mobile Gov't On Track For Accela Wireless.
September 13, 2005... Amtrak may be having technical problems with its East Coast racer Acela, but Calif.-based Accela Inc., a provider of government enterprise management solutions, is moving forward at a fast clip with Accela Wireless, a dot.net software...

Katrina Update: FCC Waives interLATA Rules For BellSouth.
September 14, 2005... The Federal Communications Commission has given BellSouth special permission to handle long-haul traffic over its own interLATA corporate communications network in order "to most effectively restore the services of other carriers and its own...

Intel-Led Revolt Could Delay High-Speed Wi-Fi Standard.
September 14, 2005... A secret group that includes Broadcom, Intel, Atheros and Marvell - which combined account for a majority of the Wi-Fi chip market - reportedly is writing what would be a new proposal for 802.11n, the long-awaited 100 Mb/s standard. With...

France Telecom: First 100 Mb/s VDSL2 Success?
September 14, 2005... France Telecom (FT) is claiming a world first in VDSL transmission speeds - the successful R&D laboratory tests of VDSL2 transmission systems with speeds as fast as 100 Mb/s over standard copper lines. The FT claim is believed to be the...

$23B Telstra Privatization Squeaks Through.
September 14, 2005... Australia's Senate voted 37 to 35 in favor of selling the government's 51.8-percent controlling stake in national incumbent Telstra Corp., setting the stage for an estimated 6.4 billion-share offering late next year that could bring in at...

Survey Slams Telecom Mega-Mergers.
September 14, 2005... A recently released University of Connecticut survey says large corporate enterprises believe the proposed $16 billion SBC Communications/AT&T and the $8.5 billion Verizon Communications/MCI mergers will have a "strong negative impact" on...

More Katrina: The Push For A 700 MHz Free-Up.
September 14, 2005... The communications problems experienced by public-safety and first- responder officials in the three-state Hurricane Katrina area has spurred congressional activity across the aisle and on both sides of the Capitol regarding the immediate...

BT's 21CN Takes Off With Ethernet.
September 15, 2005... BT has launched its first Metro Ethernet Virtual Private LAN (VLAN) service, called 'BT EVLAN,' delivering on one of the first pieces of its highly touted 21st Century Network (21CN) next-generation network (NGN) project. The Metro Ethernet...

World's First: TD-CDMA VoIP 'Woosh'-es Into New Zealand.
September 15, 2005... New Zealand wireless broadband provider Woosh Wireless is about to begin rolling out what is said to be the world's first commercial VoIP offering over a TD-CDMA mobile broadband network. The company, which has been busily building out its...

Nortel Adds Intel, Airspan To Its WiMAX Team.
September 15, 2005... Nortel today disclosed plans to offer industry standards-based fixed and mobile WiMAX broadband products in cooperation with development activities at Intel and Airspan Networks. Nortel says efforts with the two U.S. companies are expected...

Verizon Wireless, Vodafone In Global Access Deal.
September 15, 2005... Verizon Wireless and Vodafone just inked an agreement to jointly offer a mobile access service for international travellers. The offering, dubbed GlobalAccess, will provide business customers with secure connections to the Internet in more...

Flag Claims 500% Trans-Atlantic Wavelength Surge.
September 15, 2005... London-based global networking carrier Flag Telecom claims orders for wavelength capacity on its trans-Atlantic optical fiber submarine cable system have increased by more than 500 percent compared with the first half of 2005. The wholesale...

Free Weighs VoD Options In France.
September 15, 2005... French telco Free is considering launching video-on-demand (VoD) services into that market. The carrier, which has more than 1.3 million French ADSL customers, is one of the most progressive TV-over-DSL operators in Europe, offering a...

Katrina Recovery: FCC Chairman Proposes $211M USF Grant.
September 16, 2005... Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin yesterday outlined a series of new initiatives to help the telecom business and telecom users deal with Hurricane Katrina, including a special-circumstance provisioning of approximately...

Challenge to WiMAX: Sprint Nextel To Look At Korea's WiBRO.
September 16, 2005... Sprint Nextel is going to test Wireless Broadband (WiBRO) - the home- grown South Korean implementation of the IEEE 802.16e standard that's also behind WiMAX/HiperMAN. In a deal with Samsung Telecommunications, which has set a commercial...

U.S. Telecom Reform Legislation Finally Unveiled.
September 16, 2005... The long-awaited draft of sweeping telecom reform legislation has surfaced at the House of Representatives - a bill which, among other things, proposes giving the same regulatory treatment to all broadband Internet services regardless of...

Canadian Telcos Team On National Wireless Broadband Network.
September 16, 2005... Rival Canadian Telcos Rogers Communications and Bell Canada have agreed to pool their resources to build what will be a nationwide wireless broadband network that will be able to reach two thirds of all Canadians within the next 36 months....

KPN Mobile Users Get An Instant Message.
September 16, 2005... Dutch Telco KPN is making Microsoft's MSN Messenger available on its i- mode devices. The carrier said that its aim is to deliver an enhanced messaging service between mobile phones and PCs. i-mode subscribers will have access to their MSN...

Australian House Vote Seals Telstra Privatization.
September 16, 2005... Australia's House of Representatives yesterday by a relatively- comfortable 75-58 vote approved legislation authorizing the national government's sale of its 51.8 percent, controlling stake in telecom incumbent Telstra Corp. The vote, which...

Vonage Taps Level 3 For Key E911 Services.
September 19, 2005... With the clock quickly ticking down, Level 3 Communications today signed voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) agreements covering enhanced 911 services with Vonage and TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) - with Vonage as a customer and TCS as a...

S&P: European Telco Merger Mania Invites Credit Risk.
September 19, 2005... Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has issued a warning about the potential for European telcos - which it says have so far been mature in their judgement through a period of massive merger and acquisition activity not seen in half a decade -...

Global Crossing Launches TDM-To-VoIP Service.
September 19, 2005... International carrier Global Crossing today unveiled two upgraded VoIP services, one aimed at carriers that are not fully Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-enabled and another enabling carriers to address enterprise end-user markets. The...

Cable Consumer Group Vets Telecom-Reform Draft.
September 19, 2005... Advocacy group Consumers for Cable Choice are applauding the draft of a proposed telecom bill that has surfaced in the U.S. House Of Representatives (TelecomWeb news break, Sept. 16), in large part because the potential legislation would,...

Swisscom Survey Shows Viewers Ready For IPTV.
September 19, 2005... With Swisscom getting ready for an admittedly delayed IPTV launch, the carrier's Fixnet subsidiary has released the findings of a survey looking into consumer PC and TV behaviour in Switzerland, coming up with findings that show the Swiss...

APCO Presses First-Responder Needs.
September 19, 2005... In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's damage and disruption of both enterprise and official communications capabilities, the Association of Public- Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International continues to underscore the urgent...

Verizon Snags Troika Of EV-DO Resellers.
September 20, 2005... Verizon, scoring a triple play, signed deals with Dell, HP and Lenovo under which all three will offer their laptops pre-configured to use Verizon's EV-DO wireless broadband. The deals cover both built-in EV-DO capability and the use of...

Reach Out & Text Someone: AT&T Adds 2,100 Hot Spots.
September 20, 2005... AT&T today says it has expanded Wi-Fi access to its global telecom network, adding more than 2,100 Wi-Fi hot spots across China, Japan and Greece along with in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity from select European and Asian airlines. The carrier...

Siemens Buys Into Wi-Fi Mesh House.
September 20, 2005... Wi-Fi mesh-network supplier Tropos Networks says Siemens Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Siemens AG, has made a "strategic" investment in the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company. As part of the deal, Tropos says the companies will team to...

125 And Counting: Nortel Enlists More SIP-ers.
September 20, 2005... Nortel has enlisted additional partners to develop and deploy Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) systems, software and solutions for a wide variety of IP communications services and applications including, of course, voice-over- Internet...

IPTV Standards Effort Gets Serious.
September 20, 2005... With telcos banking on video as a key service - perhaps the key service - in their battle with cable companies, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has taken the next step in its self-appointed role of ensuring...

Vodafone Spain: 3G Goes Grande.
September 20, 2005... Vodafone Spain, reporting explosive early growth for the 3G version of its "Vodafone live!" service, says the number of Vodafone live! 3G devices reached 225,000 as of the end of August - an increase of 87 percent in the last two months. At...

U.K. Startup Challenges Vonage, Skype.
September 21, 2005... Switch Call, a little 16-man U.K. telecom startup that, until now, has specialized in B2B services, has launched itself into the consumer arena with a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offering that sets new lows for pricing and vows to...

Verizon Chief Urges Nat'l Video-Franchise Solution.
September 21, 2005... Verizon Communications Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg yesterday called for national policies to encourage communications-industry investment and innovation, with his "to-do" advocacy list embracing an item dear to telco hearts - looser...

Broadband Digital Divide Leaves Small Biz Behind.
September 21, 2005... An estimated 43 percent of the small businesses in the United States still don't have access to land-based broadband, according to a survey done by Survey.com for satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems (HNS). Hughes - which...

Hey, Biz Is Buzzing In Slovenia.
September 21, 2005... Described by the CIA as being slightly smaller than New Jersey, Europe's little Republic of Slovenia (population 2.1 million) has been buzzing with telecom business activity in recent days, with forward-looking optical system contracts given...

Telenet Unveils Plans For $1B IPO.
September 21, 2005... Shareholders in Belgian cable operator Telenet have approved an initial public offering (IPO) that is expected to raise an estimated $1.23 billion for the multiple system operator (MSO) that provides cable TV, telephone, broadband and, most...

Here Come Da Judge: No Autodialers, No Autotexting.
September 21, 2005... Here's another one for the benchmark books: Not only are telemarketers banned from using those pesky autodialers to get to your cellphone, an Arizona appellate court unanimously decided yesterday that sending text messages containing...