Japan Reaches 9.9 Million DSL Lines

More than 320,000 new DSL accounts were added in Japan during November, according to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. The figures represent a slight decrease over the pace of DSL activations in October 2003, when some 360,000 new DSL accounts were added. About 340,000 DSL activations were added in September.As of 30-Nov-2003, there were some 9,911,306 DSL lines in service, compared to 5,117,867 at the end of November 2002.In the NTT West territory there are 4,385,551 DSL lines, of which 1,623,763 DSL...

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ARRIS Sees Stronger Cash Position

ARRIS announced that due to its strengthening cash position and balance sheet, it is terminating its bank credit facility. This action will save approximately $900,000 annually in fees and other costs. The termination will require that the company write off approximately $2.3 million in non-cash unamortized fees related to the establishment of the facility.In addition, ARRIS is discontinuing the sale of its Digicon "S" series and Digicon "T" Series model connectors due to the unfavorable outcome of a patent infringement lawsuit. The products accounted...

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DIRECTV Latin America Files Chapter 11 ReOrg Plan

DIRECTV Latin America filed a proposed Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement with the its U.S. bankruptcy court. The plan reflects an agreement reached between DIRECTV Latin America, its majority owner, Hughes Electronics Corporation, and the official committee of unsecured creditors Under the plan, Hughes will receive more than 80% percent of the reorganized company's equity upon its emergence from Chapter 11 in consideration of its allowed claim for debtor-in-possession financing, as well as for assets to be contributed to the reorganized...

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Convergys Acquires Wireless Billing Contracts from ALLTEL

Convergys Corporation is acquiring certain billing and customer care assets from ALLTEL Communications Inc., a subsidiary of ALLTEL, for $37 million. The price represents approximately one time the anticipated 2004 revenue for the contracts. Additional earn-out payments are possible based on future performance. As part of the acquisition, Convergys will begin providing billing services to more than 10.5 million additional wireless and wireline subscribers, and will add several new corporations to its list of billing and customer care clients including...

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Avvio Networks Announces New 10 Gigabit Products

Avvio Networks, a start-up based in Lowell, Massachusetts, began shipping an OC192 multiplexer with G.709 encoding and widely tunable DWDM transmitter. The device is a quad OC48 to OC192 multiplexer offering LR DWDM on the line side and SR, IR an LR interfaces on the client side at 1310nm or 1550nm. It is also available with 1310nm, 1550nm or DWDM interfaces on the line side. In addition, Avvio Networks is readying a 10 Gbps repeater for shipment. http://www.avvionetworks....

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SBC Uses Cash Flow to Increase Dividend by 10.6%

The Board of Directors of SBC Communications approved a 10.6% increase in the company's quarterly dividend, from 28.25 cents a share to 31.25 cents a share, or 12 cents a share on an annual basis, from $1.13 to $1.25 a share. The board also authorized the buyback of 350 million common shares representing approximately 10% of SBC shares outstanding.SBC Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. described the actions as "a balanced approach that will allow us both to fund important growth initiatives over the next few years and return value directly...

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Velio Sells its High Speed IO Technology to Rambus

Rambus agreed to acquire certain high speed signaling assets from Velio, a start-up based in Milpitas, California. The deal, which was valued at under $13 million, includes related Velio's patent portfolio, the existing Velio licensing business, and a number of Velio personnel. Rambus said that by adding Velio's high-speed signaling technologies to its serial interface offerings, it would accelerate its ability to deliver advanced chip-to-chip interface solutions. Velio, which is now solely focused on its switch fabric and SerDes products, said...

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T-Systems Launches Global MPLS-based Voice Services

T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom's IT and network integration business, has extended its global voice services reach throughout North America using Level 3's network. T-Systems will rollout a carrier-grade, MPLS-based voice and data service between Europe, Asia and the United States. The service is targeted at large enterprises with global operations. T-Systems can offload voice traffic from enterprise customers to Level 3 through a standard IP- port. The traffic is carried through Level 3's softswitch-based interconnections. http://www.t-systems.comIn...

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