SingTel's ADSL Network Tops 200,000

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) announced that the total number of users on its ADSL network (including those serviced by its wholesale customers) was 219,000 as at 30 September 2003, a 109% increase compared to a year ago. The company claims a 60% share of all broadband users in Singapore.
http://www.singtel.com

• In September 2003, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) decided not to submit a tender for the second Subscription Television Service (Pay TV) license in Singapore. The company said that after careful evaluation of the framework of the license, it concluded that "there is no viable and sustainable business case for SingTel to make the significant investment required to enter the Pay TV market in the current environment.�? Among the factors cited for not pursuing the second Pay TV license from the government were the size of the Singapore market, the well-entrenched position of the dominant incumbent, the availability and access to media content and the infrastructure and equipment costs.



• Instead of becoming a licensed Pay TV operator, SingTel remains keen to work with content providers to offer their video on-demand (VOD) programming in Singapore over its ADSL network. In 2001-2002, SingTel conducted an eight-month Interactive TV trial that provided participants with high-speed digital video programming as well as broadband Internet access. The company said it does not need a Pay TV license to provide video-on-demand and Interactive TV services.

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OIF Begins Work on Management Plane Support of Ethernet/SAN over SONET/SDH

At its recent meeting in Berlin, the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF's) Carrier Working Group (WG) unanimously voted to begin a new Carrier Requirements document related to Management Plane Support of Ethernet/SAN over SONET/SDH. This document will enable cost-effective integration of intelligent optical control plane-based networks into carriers' operations infrastructures. The requirements will employ NMS/EMS interfaces such as the Telemanagement Forum's TMF 814 specification.


Other major developments at the OIF meeting include:

• the OIF's Physical and Link Layer (PLL) WG began a new tunable laser project. This project will extend the pre-existing industry standard 300-pin MSA for 10 Gigabit Optical Transponders to support tunable lasers. The benefit of this MSA, and tunable lasers in general, to system companies, service providers and their customers, is to simplify inventory management, enable faster introduction of wavelength-based services and reduce operational costs.



• Joe Berthold, vice president of network architecture at CIENA Corp., was re-named president of the OIF



• directors elected to an additional term include Tom Afferton, division manager at AT&T Labs, who continues as OIF's treasurer and secretary; Marco Carugi, senior advisor, advanced technology, CTO office at Nortel Networks; and Doug Zuckerman, senior scientist at Telcordia Technologies.

http://www.oiforum.com

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Broadwing Extends All-optical Core from Atlanta to Miami

The "new" Broadwing Communications, a fully consolidated subsidiary of Corvis Corp., lit approximately 1,200 additional all-optical route miles along the eastern coast of Florida, extending its all-optical core from Atlanta to Miami. Mark F. Spagnolo, Broadwing's CEO, described the expansion in Florida as "an important first step in the larger network investment plan drawn up by Broadwing's new owners."http://www.broadwing.com

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Comcast Adds 472,000 Cable Modem Subscribers in Q3

Citing strong growth in digital cable service and cable modem connectivity, Comcast reported quarterly cable revenue of $4.374 billion, representing an 8.4% increase over the $4.035 billion for the same period last year. On the one year anniversary of its merger with AT&T Broadband, the company said it has reversed the loss of cable subscribers to DBS, even in the former AT&T systems, made significant progress in its rebuilding program, and raised company-wide margins to 37%. Some highlights of the quarter:

• Cable Modems: Comcast added more than 472,000 new cable modem customers, representing an over 39% increase from last year's Q3. The Q3 growth rate accelerated over Q2. The company now has 4.9 million cable modem customers and is increasing its guidance for new accounts in 2003 from 1.6 million to 1.7 million net additions and expects to end the year with approximately 5.3 million customers, representing a penetration rate of 14.5%. More than 84% of the homes in Comcast's footprint, or over 33 million homes, now have access to high-speed Internet service. This represents the addition of over 1.3 million homes to the service's footprint during Q3. Subscriber growth during Q4 is expected to be driven by continuing increases in penetration, expansion of the service's footprint to 34 million homes, and expanded retail distribution to more than 4,000 retail outlets. ARPU was $42 and in line with the company's expectation. Comcast expects ARPU will hold at current levels.



• Telephony: quarterly telephony revenue declined by 11.5% to $189 million. There was a loss of 55,000 telephony subscribers in the quarter and as a result Comcast now expects to lose a total of 175,000 telephony customers for the full year 2003. Comcast said it continues to focus on the profitability of its telephony service. Margins are currently at 15% and the company is targeting 25% margins in 2004. Long term, the company is focusing on VoIP and is currently putting together a senior management team to lead a major push into this arena.



• Digital Cable: Comcast added over 318,000 Digital Cable subscribers to end the third quarter with 7.273 million Digital Cable subscribers, a pro forma increase of 16.6% over the same prior year period, representing a subscriber penetration rate of 34.0%.



• VOD: is now available to 31% of subscribers including in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. VOD availability is expected to increase to over 50% of our subscribers by the end of this year. Comcast said it is very bullish on the future of VOD. Last week, the company received over one million VOD orders for pay-content and free-content in its Philadelphia market alone.



• HDTV: Comcast's deployment is ahead of schedule, having already reached the year-end goal to have HDTV available to 65% of our subscribers. Comcast now plans to have HDTV available to nearly 75% of subscribers by the end of this year. Over 24% of new HDTV customers are new to Comcast.



• DVRs: Comcast plans to roll out Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service beginning in the fourth quarter of 2003 and to have DVRs available to all of the Company's subscribers by the end of 2004. The DVR service will be priced at $9.95 per month.
  
  
• CAPEX: Spending totaled $1.045 billion as Comcast Cable completed the rebuild of over 14,800 miles of plant to end the quarter with nearly 92% of its footprint upgraded to provide two-way digital and high-speed Internet services. The systems acquired from AT&T Broadband are now 89% upgraded to deliver two-way digital cable and high-speed Internet service, up from 85% at June 30, 2003. By the end of the year, Comcast will have 95% of its network upgraded, 15% ahead of its original goal. This accelerated rebuild will be accomplished while maintaining the company's original capital expenditure guidance of $4 billion. Comcast expects to complete its network upgrade in 2004.



• Cash Flow and Net Debt: the company has paid down $5.3 billion in debt so far this year. Cash flow from the cable business exceeded $1.6 billion in Q3, a 35% increase over the prior year and operating cash flow margin continues to improve from 30% last year to 37% this quarter.

http://www.comcast.com

• In October 2003, Comcast, the largest MSO in the U.S., doubled the downstream speed of its residential cable modem service to 3 Mbps from 1.5 Mbps. The upgrade is provided at no additional cost to the end user. Upstream speeds will remain the same at 256 Kbps. The upgrade has occurred in 14 U.S. markets and will be expanded to all Comcast markets based on technical readiness.

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Conexant Report Revenue of $165 Million, up 9% Sequentially

Conexant Systems reported quarterly revenues of $164.7 million, up 9% over the prior quarter and up 24% over the same period last year. There was a pro forma operating profit of $6.7 million. Revenue from ADSL modem and satellite set-top box solutions, two key growth areas for the company, increased more than 30 percent sequentially.


Dwight W. Decker, Conexant chairman and CEO, said his company had "completed its strategic transformation from a broad-based communications semiconductor supplier into a family of focused companies serving distinct markets." During the quarter, Conexant shipped a record number of set-top box components and delivered record unit shipments of ADSL client-side modems. Combined, these two key product areas grew more than 30% sequentially and nearly 60% from the year-ago period.
http://www.conexant.com

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Global Knowledge Names New CEO

Global Knowledge, a provider of IT and network training courses, appointed Joseph W. Cece as its new president and CEO. Before joining Global Knowledge, Cece served as the CEO of BTI Telecom Corp., a Raleigh, N.C.-based telecommunication provider that recently merged with West Point, Ga.-based ITC DeltaCom. Prior to his tenure at BTI, Cece held executive management positions at Digital Access, Suburban Cable, Cablevision Systems Corp. and TV Guide. Global Knowledge is owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York investment firm.
http://www.globalknowledge.com

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Alcatel Delivers 4.3 million DSL lines in Q3

Alcatel reported Q3 sales of EUR 3.039 billion, compared to EUR 3.149 billion in Q2 2003. Year over year, sales decreased by 13% (6% at constant exchange rate). Income from operations amounted to EUR 160 million, while net loss was registered at EUR 284 million or diluted EUR (0.23) per share (US$ (0.27) per ADS). Some highlights of the quarter:

• Fixed communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 4.6% to EUR 1.341 million. The company cited a strong demand for broadband access, particularly in the U.S. market, during the quarter. A total of 4.3 million DSL lines were delivered in the quarter (10 million shipped in the first nine months versus 5 million in the first nine months of 2002). Alcatel also said its IP services offering is gaining a foothold following the acquisition of TiMetra, while ATM sales were weak for the quarter. Voice networks were adversely affected by the usual seasonality and the activity in both terrestrial and submarine optical networks declined. This mitigated the good performance of broadband access. Significant restructuring continues in the optical network division.



• Mobile communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 2.3% to EUR 815 million. Mobile networks turned in a good performance in the quarter and continued to gain market share. In addition to ongoing 2G sales, a ramp-up in 3G sales was registered during the quarter. In mobile applications, commercial successes were recorded in convergent payment applications (voice/data and prepaid/postpaid) as well as next generation data messaging software (MMS, MMS premium and instant messaging). Mobile phones continued to be weak with 1.5 million phones delivered during the quarter.



• Private communications: Q3 revenue decreased sequentially by 3.7% to EUR 975 million compared with EUR 1.012 billion. The IP/PBX business enjoyed an increase in demand in Europe. Genesys' contact center software business also continued to turn in a good performance. The rail communication and control business also saw increasing demand in signaling networks for main line and urban rail systems and was a significant contributor to the quarter. The overall strategy to develop outsourcing services for carriers began to pay off during the quarter. The segment's gain was offset by a decline in space revenues, which is attributable to timing effects stemming from the lumpiness of that business. However, order intake for the space business continued to be satisfactory.



• Gross margins: improved to 35.6% , up 4% sequentially and up 8% compared to last year



• Headcount: ended Q3 with 69,000 employees worldwide, compared to 84,000 at the same time last year. Total headcount is expected to be about 60,000 at the end of the year.



• 2004 Outlook: Alcatel said it plans to focus on growth drivers in the carrier market; develop its enterprise business; and develop a complete "solutions approach" for systems integration.



• Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO, said "We are pleased to see third quarter results confirm encouraging indications of our return to profitability. Continuing cost savings and gross margin improvements have translated into reaching our EUR 3 billion quarterly sales breakeven target ahead of schedule."

http://www.alcatel.com

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Avaya to Purchase One of its Largest Resellers

Avaya announced an agreement to acquire Expanets, one the nation's largest provider of converged communications for mid-sized businesses, for $152 million in cash, less certain working capital adjustments and liabilities. Expanets, which is a subsidiary of Northwestern Corporation, is one of the largest resellers of Avaya's products in the U.S. Expanets delivers local service and solutions through its team of more than 3,000 associates based in more than 100 offices throughout the country.
http://www.avaya.com
http://www.expanets.com

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CIENA's Metro Networking Granted RUS Acceptance by USDA

CIENA's metro networking solutions have been granted Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Acceptance status by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This enables independent telephone and utility companies to obtain low-interest financial assistance from the Rural Utilities Service for the purchase and deployment of CIENA's ONLINE Metro and MetroDirector K2 multiservice platforms in order to help bring broadband services and Internet access to rural areas of the United States.
http://www.ciena.com

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Cablevision Reaches One Million Cable Modem Customers

Cablevision Systems reached the one million customer milestone for its cable modem service in the New York metropolitan region. The service now has a 23% penetration rate, which Cablevision said represents the highest penetration rate for a broadband service in the United States.
http://www.cablevision.com

• In September 2003, Cablevision, which provides cable TV service to more than 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area, launched a residential VoIP service offering unlimited local, regional and long distance calls throughout the U.S. and Canada for $34.95 per month. The "Optimum Voice" service includes five premium calling features: call waiting, caller ID, call return, three-way calling and call forwarding. Optimum Voice works over a cable modem with household electricity as its power source (no back-up). International calling must be made via prepaid phone cards as there is no other billing other than the monthly flat rate fee. E911 service is provided.

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SupportSoft Supplies Customer Service App to Comcast, Cox

Comcast has deployed SupportSoft's new LiveAssist solution to provide better customer support for its High-Speed Internet service. SupportSoft LiveAssist boosts call center productivity using enhanced online chat and Web push functionality. The companies said that Comcast averages more than 3,000 web-based chat sessions per day using LiveAssist. Service representatives are able to handle multiple customer inquires at a time via chat, as opposed to only one customer at a time via a phone call. LiveAssist also enables the service representative to push support documents out to the customers quicker than via a phone/e-mail approach.


SupportSoft noted that a recently published independent report by Zanthus Research found that over 48% of 550 broadband customers would prefer to use online chat, other web-based tools for customer
assistance or the provider's online support portal for customer assistance.


Separately, SupportSoft announced the successful deployment of its Knowledge Center Suite within Cox Communications. The system is being used by Cox's enterprise IT Help Desk Coordinators to provide technical assistance to the company's 25,000 employees. The help desk coordinators support Cox offices in 25 states and 200 customized software applications.
http://www.support.com

• Earlier this month, SupportSoft introduced its new Real-Time Service Management (RTSM) software platform that will serve as the foundation for all its products. The new release, which is a redesign of the company's existing Problem Resolution platform, is aimed at automating technical support, customer service and IT infrastructure management for enterprises and service providers. In association with the launch of the Real-Time Service Management software platform, SupportSoft also announced 4 core products:
  
  
• Knowledge Center Suite -- which facilitates knowledge-enabled self-service and assisted service. Broadband network operators could use it to automate service and support knowledge creation, publishing, management and access. Customers can use it to access self-help tools on the web.



• LiveAssist -- a highly scaleable real time, online chat solution for call centers and IT help desk organizations. Customers can simply click a button on a company's Web site to engage a service or support representative without resorting to the need to download software plug-ins or wait in a phone queue. Call center service representatives can handle multiple customer sessions at one time to maximize their productivity. This capability was developed in collaboration with a major cable MSO.



• RemoteAssist -- allows service and support representatives to provide faster, more effective resolution to user problems by taking control of the user's system remotely via the Web. The product provides for full privacy, requiring a user's permission for a service representative to remotely manage their computing system. It also works through firewalls.



• Auto Discovery and Metering -- permits enterprise IT organizations to discover, inventory and meter a company's hardware and software assets in real-time.

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SBG Labs Acquires DigiLens' Optical Component Patents and Trademarks

SBG Labs has acquired all of DigiLens' patents and trademarks through an open bid foreclosure sale held by a syndicate of DigiLens' secured lenders. DigiLens, a developer of optical components based on Electrically Switchable Bragg Gratings, had ceased operations as a result of the downturn in the optical telecommunications market. Financial terms were not disclosed.


SBG Labs, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, said it now plans to offer display products and services under the DigiLens trademark in the consumer and automotive display markets.
http://www.sbglabs.com

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Corrigent Names Lucent Exec to Lead Japanese Expansion

Corrigent Systems, a provider of packet-ADM (Add Drop Multiplexer) transport systems for metropolitan networks, announced the expansion of its sales operations with the opening of an office in Tokyo, Japan. The company has hired Akio Ogiso to serve as Country Manager. Ogiso previously served with Lucent Japan as its Managing Director. Corrigent Systems is based in San Jose, California with an R&D center in Israel.
http://www.corrigent.com

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Dartmouth Deploys Cisco IP SoftPhones over WLAN

Dartmouth College is converging voice, video and data onto its wireless IP campus network with equipment from Cisco Systems. Using a headset and Cisco IP SoftPhones on their Windows-based PCs students are able to place free local and long-distance calls from anywhere on campus. SoftPhones will also become available for Macs as well as Palm and Pocket PC handheld devices. The deployment will coexist with legacy wired phones and PBXs.
http://www.cisco.com

• In October 2003, TeleSym also announced that it is supplying Dartmouth with its SymPhone System software, which lets users dial calls from an on-screen dial pad and existing contact lists.

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