Hong Kong's PCCW Plans Exclusive All-News TV Channel for DSL

PCCW, the incumbent operator in Hong Kong, will create an exclusive 24-hour Cantonese-language news channel for customers of its DSL-based "now Broadband TV" service.



The broadband TV channel, which is slated to launch in November, will consist of round-the-clock news updates including main news broadcast, finance programs and sports news.



"now Broadband TV", which is supplied via PCCW's Netvigator broadband access service, has attracted more than 300,000 customers as of July 2004. A total of 59 channels are available on an à la carte pricing scheme -- including ESPN and Star Sports, which were added last month. http://www.pccw.com

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NTT DoCoMo Extends Wi-Fi Roaming to 33 Countries

NTT DoCoMo has signed a roaming agreement with iPass for extending its public wireless LAN service to 33 countries. The 33 countries span North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. This currently includes some 3,000 hotspots in hotels and airports. http://www.ntt.co.jp

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Verizon and Granite Sign UNE-p Deal

Verizon and Granite Telecommunications announced a deal that will replace their existing wholesale UNE-p leasing arrangement. The new agreement includes restructured pricing and a number of high-value services not offered under the existing government-mandated UNE-P plan.



Granite Telecommunications is one of Verizon's largest buyers of wholesale services under the current UNE-P system. The company serves customers in 28 states where Verizon has a presence. Nationally, Granite serves over 200,000 local lines in 49 states.



Verizon said its Wholesale Advantage offer provides a framework for reaching agreements on negotiated, commercially reasonable terms, and ensures the continued availability of wholesale services. http://www.verizon.com

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Telstra Acquires UK Operations of PSINet Europe

Telstra has acquired the UK businesses of PSINet Europe from the Israel Corporation for £50 million in cash. PSINet UK supports in excess of 3,200 corporate and government customers.



The deal marks Telstra's third UK acquisition in nine months. Previous acquisitions include Powergen's telecoms network infrastructure (Oct '03) and Cable Telecom, a leading provider of telecom services to small and medium business customers (Feb '04). http://ww.telstra.co.uk

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Vonage Raises Another $105 million in New Funding

Vonage closed $105 million in a fourth round of venture funding, bring total investment in the company to $208 million. Vonage said the money will be used to accelerate the expansion of service both in the United States and abroad, including Canada, the UK, the Pacific Rim and Latin America .


The latest funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and included the participation of 3i, Meritech Capital Partners and existing investors. http://www.vonage.com

• In July, Vonage announced the activation of 200,000 total VoIP lines on its network, doubling its subscriber-base in less than six months since reaching the 100,000 line mark.



• In February 2004, Vonage closed a $40.0 million series C financing round led by 3i and co-led by Meritech Capital Partners.

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Las Vegas Installs Wireless Mesh Network for Public Safety

The city of Las Vegas is installing a wireless broadband network throughout its downtown to serve transportation and public safety agencies. MeshNetworks, a provider of mobile mesh networking solutions, is partnering with Cheetah Wireless Technologies on the project.



The network offers symmetric uplink and downlink data rates of 512Kbps to 1.5Mbps, and provides "always-on" connectivity, even to emergency vehicles traveling at high speed. http://www.meshnetworks.com

• MeshNetworks leverages battlefield networking technology originally developed for the US military under DARPA directed programs. The systems provide a layer 2 routing engine, ultra-fast route acquisition, dynamic bandwidth allocation (fairness), real-time congestion management, QoS, assignable user priority, mobile handovers and proven scalability.



• Earlier this month, Motorola agreed to resell MeshNetworks mobile ad hoc networking solution through its sales force and re-seller network. Specifically, MeshNetworks' self-forming, self-healing mobile broadband networking and precision position-location solutions will be offered as part of Motorola's advanced wireless broadband data portfolio for enterprise, utility and public safety. The agreement also gives Motorola rights to integrate components of MeshNetworks technology, including the MeshNetworks Positioning System (MPS) and MeshConnex software suites into future data products, including those in the recently allocated 4.9GHz FCC licensed band for public safety users.

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WSJ: Phone Industry Faces Upheaval as Ways of Calling Change Fast

The RBOCs have lost some 28 million local access lines since the end of 2000 -- a drop of more than 18% -- due to wireless substitution and, increasingly, competition from VoIP competitors, according to a front page article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. The newspaper compares the looming threat faced by local phone business to the ordeal of the railroads following the widespread availability of automobiles in the boom years after World War II. Doreen Toben, Verizon's CFO, is quoted as saying that cable VoIP has become a "real threat."http://www.wsj.com

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Sprint Signs Cable VoIP Partnership with Mediacom

Sprint will provide an outsourced VoIP telephone service to Mediacom Communications, the eighth largest cable operator in the U.S. serving 2.7 million homes in 23 states. Mediacom plans to offer the VoIP service as part of a triple-play portfolio that also includes broadband and cable TV services. The companies anticipate launching the telephone service in selected markets in the first half of 2005.



Under the agreement, Sprint will assist Mediacom Communications with provisioning capabilities, switching and termination of traffic to the public switched telephone network, delivery of enhanced 911 emergency service, local number portability, and operator and directory services. Among other features, Mediacom's VoIP telephone service will include caller ID with name, call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail. http://www.sprint.comhttp://www.mediacomcc.com

• Earlier this month, USA Companies, a cable and Internet service provider based in Nebraska, awarded a 5-year contract to Sprint to provide voice services to its subscribers in California, Montana and Nebraska. Using the Sprint services, USA Companies can now offer VoIP service to the 62,000 consumers in its territories.

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AT&T Builds Global VPN for Swiss International Air

Swiss International Airlines selected AT&T to provide a global VPN to connect 36 key business locations around the world. The three year $2.4 million deal will link 19 SWISS locations in Europe, 13 in the U.S. and four in Canada thorough the AT&T Global Network (AGN). The MPLS-based VPN will connect SWISS' key airport locations, sales offices and cargo centers. http://www.att.com

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Alcatel Opens NGN Reality Centre in Shanghai

Alcatel Shanghai Bell has opened a Next Generation Network (NGN) Reality Centre at its headquarters in Shanghai, China. The new Center provides an open service delivery environment for design and testing of NGN based user-centric broadband services. Alcatel operates a similar facility in Antwerp, Belgium. http://www.alcatel.com

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China Netcom Deploys Alcatel's NGN Platforms

Jiangsu Netcom, a subsidiary of China Netcom, selected Alcatel Shanghai Bell to deploy a Next Generation Network (NGN) with a total capacity of 500,000 subscriber lines in Jiangsu province.



Under the contract's terms, Alcatel will deliver its end-to-end NGN solutions from the core through to the access network as well as terminals, including the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch, 7515 trunking gateway, the Alcatel IP Centrex application server, media server, session border controller, integrated network management platform, access gateway, IAD and SIP video phones. In addition, Alcatel will provide its carrier-grade, 7750 Service Router to build MPLS VPNs. The deployment is expected to be completed this month.



The new network will enable Jiangsu Netcom to deliver a full range of services, including local and long distance VoIP, traditional voice with value-added services, multi-media conferencing, voice VPNs, IP Centrex and Find Me/Follow Me. In particular, the Find Me/Follow Me service will enable end users to be contacted through different telecom devices such as fixed line telephones and mobile handsets. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.com

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Redback Supplies Edge Gear in Bosnia Herzegovina

Bosnia Herzegovina Telecom selected Redback Networks' SmartEdge Service Gateway platform and NetOp Policy Manager for its new, integrated nationwide broadband and IP network. The network will bring ADSL access and IP services to the country as part of its post-war rebuilding initiative. Initially, BH Telecom will offer broadband and IP service within all larger city centers and then will extend the broadband network to all other urban and suburban parts of the country. Currently the country has dial-up and narrowband fixed-connection Internet service. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.redback.com

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China Telecom Purchases Multiple STM-16s from FLAG

China Telecom awarded a multi-million dollar contract to FLAG Telecom for multiple STM-16s providing a substantial 30 Gbps capacity between China and the United States. The STM-16s will provide full-circuit, high quality connectivity to carry large volumes of voice, data and Internet traffic between China and the US West Coast.



The circuits will use the FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL) system and Tyco Telecommunications' TGN Trans-Pacific cable. http://www.flagtelecom.com

• FLAG Telecom is a member company of India's Reliance Group.

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Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Selects Juniper's IP/MPLS

The Tohoku Electric Power Company of Japan has selected the Juniper Networks M-series routing platform for its corporate network. NEC, a Juniper Networks strategic partner, provided network design and implementation expertise for the project. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Tohoku EPCO's IP/MPLS network links eight sites using Juniper's M-series routers over a transport infrastructure of 2.4 Gbps OC-48 WDM optical rings. The resultant IP/MPLS network is managed by NEC's advanced network management system iNetWorX. The iNetWorX system facilitates administration of MPLS networks, allowing users to fully leverage the traffic engineering and VPN capabilities available on Juniper Networks M-series routers. http://www.juniper.net

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T-Mobile USA Awards Contract Extension to Nortel Networks

T-Mobile USA awarded a wireless contract extension to Nortel Networks to provide GSM, GPRS, EDGE and packet core wireless data network upgrades and associated professional services.



The contract provides for deployment of Nortel Networks' GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio access portfolio, Base Station Controllers (BSC) and circuit/packet core equipment including Mobile Switching Center/Call Server (MSC/CS) and Nortel Networks Alteon Switched Firewalls and Application Switches, in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Phoenix and Milwaukee. http://www.nortelnetworks.com

• Nortel Networks has supported GSM network planning and deployment for T-Mobile USA since the company's inception as VoiceStream Wireless in 1995.

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