NTT DoCoMo Tops 5 Million 3G FOMA Subscribers

NTT DoCoMo has surpassed the five million subscriber mark for its 3G "FOMA" service. DoCoMo attributes the rapid increase to the growing popularity of its latest 3G models in the 900i series, as well as its enhanced service area. The Japanese carrier said it now provides coverage in 99.7% of the populated areas of the country. Since June, the number of indoor base stations has increased to about 2000, which includes all subway stations within both the Tokyo Metro and Toei subway systems. http://www.nttdocomo.com/

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MCI Unveils Converged Packet Access Strategy

MCI outlined a Converged Packet Access (CPA) strategy for its business customers that leverages Ethernet and MPLS. The architecture aims to consolidate all services - Frame Relay, Private IP, IP VPN, Ethernet, Private Line, and voice - onto a single, customer Ethernet interface (10bT, 100bT and Gig E). Once an initial physical connection is established, MCI customers can logically provision capacity and services as needed without requiring physical changes to the network. MPLS tunneling technology is utilized to create logical channels that securely separate customer's services.



MCI's CPA architecture has four key components: (1) an Ethernet traffic aggregator; (2) a new Layer 2 and TDM grooming infrastructure; (3) an optical add-drop multiplexer; and (4) a packet-enabled service edge. This equipment allows MCI to aggregate traffic originating from one large business customer or many small business customers in a multi-tenant business building across a single, secure network access circuit. MCI is using an Ethernet over SONET infrastructure.



The initial services supported by MCI's CPA will include U.S. Private Line Ethernet Services, enhanced Metro Private Line Ethernet Service and expanded coverage of MCI's Internet Dedicated Ethernet Service. The U.S. Private Line service allows customers to connect their business locations using Ethernet on a nationwide basis. MCI is promising carrier-grade service reliability backed by 100% availability and a two-hour Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) service level agreement (SLA) for On-net services.



MCI's Metro Private Line Ethernet Service provides a dedicated, point-to-point service between locations within the same LATA through a standard Ethernet interface. It too is supported by a 100% network availability SLA for On-net services. Metro Private Line Ethernet will be available in additional speeds of 10 Mbps, 40 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. This fall, MCI will add Fibre Channel, FICON and ESCON Storage capabilities to this offering.



MCI's Internet Dedicated Ethernet Service, which will be expanded from five to 25 markets in September, delivers access to the Internet at rates ranging from 1 Mbps to 600 Mbps with 1 Gbps available upon request. The service will also be offered with MCI's fully managed IP VPN Dedicated offering. http://www.mci.com

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SBC Expands its Wi-Fi Coverage

SBC Communications announced a series of agreements that will significantly expand its Wi-Fi service coverage area. Specifically Caribou Coffee will transform its 300 coffee shops into Wi-Fi hot spots in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. SBC has also signed Wi-Fi roaming agreements with Concourse, Telmex (the company's first international roaming agreement), Wise Technologies, GoRemote, iPass and Syniverse.



Later this year, SBC's FreedomLink Wi-Fi service will be bundled with SBC Yahoo! DSL and offered at a significant discount to SBC Yahoo! DSL subscribers. The company plans to have 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in service by 2006. http://www.sbc.com/freedomlink

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AFC Sees Revenues Rise in Q2

AFC reported Q2 revenue of $118.6 million, compared to $92.8 million in the preceding quarter and $83.0 million for the same period last year. Net income for Q2 $0.9 million, or $0.01 per share.



Our revenues came in somewhat lighter than we had anticipated," said John Schofield, chairman, president and chief executive officer at AFC. "This was primarily due to a supply constraint of a key component that impacted FTTP shipments which we expect to be resolved in the current quarter, a large customer's work force issue that limited the flow of orders from that customer and the timing of certain international orders in the quarter. On a positive note we had three customers contribute over 10% of revenues during the quarter: BellSouth, Sprint and Verizon."http://www.afc.com

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ARM and Broadcom Announce Strategic Partnership

ARM and Broadcom announced a strategic partnership under which Broadcom will use ARM microprocessor technology for a range of applications, including next- generation mobile, networking, and wireless devices. The two companies also expect that through the extended partnership, Broadcom's expertise in broadband and wireless communications will assist ARM in developing better microprocessor solutions for these high-growth markets.



The new pact expands a February 2002 agreement under which Broadcom has incorporated ARM7 and ARM9 family microprocessors into its communications chip sets. http://www.broadcom.comhttp://www.arm.com

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Verizon Selects Lucent's LambdaXtreme Optical Transport

Verizon awarded a three year contract to Lucent Technologies for its LambdaXtreme Transport DWDM platform. Deployments will begin this summer in Verizon's nationwide ultra- long-haul optical long-distance network, which supports the company's Enterprise Advance initiative. Lucent's LambdaXtreme supports both 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps signals. Verizon will be the first U.S. service provider to deploy the platform. http://www.lucent.com

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SS8 Networks Granted New Patent for Enhancing Voice Processing

SS8 Networks was granted a U.S. patent for a system designed to locate subscribers using a "best guess" algorithm.



With the best guess location (BGL) technology, the telephony service first attempts to reach the subscriber at the phone number where it last reached the subscriber to connect an incoming call. Otherwise, the telephony service will use an alternative method to poll the remaining numbers associated with the subscriber. Polling alternatives can be driven by the subscriber, who specifies the order of the telephone numbers to be polled, or by a history database, which computes the likelihood that the subscriber is located at a specified telephone number at a particular time.



SS8 Networks said the technology also is applicable to other types of real-time communications, such VoIP, where the subscriber is assigned an IP address instead of a telephone number. http://www.ss8.com/

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AudioCodes Revenues Rise 25% Sequentially and 82% Year over Year

AudioCodes reported Q2 revenues of $19.1 million, compared to $15.3 million for the preceding quarter and $10.5 million for the same period last year, a rise of 25% sequentially and 82% compared to Q2 of 2003. Net income for the second quarter of 2004 was $839,000, or $0.02 basic and diluted earnings per share, compared to a net loss of $2.2 million, or $(0.06) basic and diluted loss per share, for the corresponding period last year. http://www.audiocodes.com/

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Palo Alto City Council Votes to Suspend FTTH Project

The Palo Alto City Council voted to suspend planning work on a municipal fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project and not to put the issue to a city-wide vote in November. Opponents of the city-owned fiber network cited uncertain funding for building the network and an uncertain business model for future services. Palo Alto has been running an FTTH trial network that reaches 66 homes, a school and the city's main library since September of 2001. http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/http://www.cpau.com/fth/index.html

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AT&T Wireless Launches Commercial 3G Services

AT&T Wireless launched commercial UMTS wireless service in Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. The networks, which operate at the 1900 MHz radio frequency using Nortel Networks' radio access equipment, will provide AT&T Wireless customers with average data speeds from 220 to 320 kbps -- and up to 384 kbps under optimal conditions. AT&T Wireless is also deploying UMTS technology in Dallas and San Diego, and expects to offer service in these markets before the end of this year.



The new networks will use AT&T Wireless' existing converged core -- supplied by Nortel Networks -- to add UMTS to existing GSM, GPRS and EDGE capabilities.



Lucent Technologies and Novatel Wireless are supplying their Merlin U520 Wireless PC Card Modems. Nokia and Motorola are supplying mobile handsets for the rollout. http://www.attwireless.com

• In February 2004, the board of directors of AT&T Wireless selected Cingular Wireless as the winning bidder to acquire the company for $41 billion in cash. The combination of Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless would create the largest GSM/GPRS network in the U.S. with spectrum in 49 states. Cingular currently has 24 million customers and AT&T Wireless has 22 million subscribers. Cingular operates 21,800 cell sites (of which 94% have GSM coverage as of Q4 2003) and AT&T Wireless has 25,300 cell sites. Annual revenues of the combined company would exceed $32 billion.

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SupportSoft Revenues Grow 34% to $17 Million

SupportSoft reported Q2 revenue of $16.9 million, a 34% increase from $12.6 million for the same period last year and a 7% increase from $15.7 million for the previous quarter. Net income on a GAAP basis for the quarter was $4.9 million or $0.11 per diluted share, compared with $2.0 million or $0.06 per diluted share a year ago and $3.9 million or $0.09 per diluted share for the previous quarter. http://www.SupportSoft.com

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SupportSoft to Acquire Core Networks for $17 Million

SupportSoft will acquire Core Networks, a start-up providing software products for network monitoring, management and activation of advanced digital services for DSL and cable, for $17 million in cash.



The companies said Core Networks' software products are evolving into a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for network management and monitoring, usage policy management, firmware upgrade management and remote management of home network devices. The technology will be combined with SupportSoft's Real-Time Service Management platform to form an end-to-end solution for IP-based digital services.



Core Networks is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. http://www.supportsoft.comhttp://www.corenetworks.com

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European Commission Rules Against State Aid for France Telecom

The European Commission ruled against France Telecom in a case involving an exemption from business taxes that the carrier was granted by the French state. The EC found that between 1994 and 2002, France Telecom enjoyed special conditions concerning local direct taxes and that these tax exemptions are an unfair form of state support. As a result, the EC is ordering France Telecom to pay back to the state an amount estimated at between EUR 800 million and EUR 1.1 billion plus interest.



In response, France Telecom said the EC decision lacks any economic or legal basis and that it did not receive any particular state aid due to the French tax structure. The company is appealing the decision.



On a separate issue, the EC ruled that the French state did not favor Orange over its competitors when laying down the conditions for awarding UMTS licenses. http://europa.eu.inthttp://www.francetelecom.com

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