AMC-12 Satellite Successfully Launched

The AMERICOM-12 (AMC-12) satellite of SES AMERICOM was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). The C-band satellite, which was built by Alcatel Space, offer 72 transponders organized into three regional beams: North America, South America and Europe/Middle East/Africa.


Based on Alcatel Space's new-generation Spacebus 4000 platform, the powerful AMC-12 satellite will deliver a wide range of services, from direct-to-home TV broadcasts to broadband Internet. SES ASTRA has committed to integrating 33 transponders offering services into Africa into their services portfolio as ASTRA 4A. Star One of Brazil has contracted to purchase 18 transponders offering services within South America in their portfolio as Star One C-12. SES AMERICOM will be using the AMC-12 capacity to interconnect the U.S. with Europe/Middle East/Africa and with South America, as well as to deliver services throughout South America.
http://www.ses-americom.com
http://www.alcatel.com

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Siemens Supplies Optical Backbone for Ethiopian Telecom

The state-owned carrier Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has commissioned Siemens Communications to supply an optical backbone for its fixed and mobile network in the north and center of the country. The 2.5 Gbps network, which will span approximately 1,700 km, will be based on Siemens' Surpass hiT 70xx platform. The ETC network will be monitored and controlled by the transport network management system TNMS also being delivered by Siemens to Ethiopia. The contract is valued at EUR 12 million.
http://www.siemens.com/communicationshttp://www.telecom.net.et

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U.S. Cable rates increase in 2004, But at a Slower Pace

The overall average monthly rate for cable service in the U.S. -- including basic and expanded basic cable programming services and equipment -- increased by 5.4% over the 12-month period ending January 1, 2004, from $42.99 to $45.32, according to the latest FCC figures. The report also provides information on the number of channels offered in each tier of service, the average capacity of cable systems, and the percentage of cable subscribers that are offered advanced services such as digital service, Internet access, and telephone service.


The FCC report also analyzes the price increases between cable operators that face competition and those that do not. It finds that the average monthly rate for basic and expanded basic cable programming services and equipment increased by 3.6% for the group of cable operators that face effective competition and by 5.6% for the group of operators that do not face effective competition.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Competition Grows in U.S. Video Delivery Market

Competition is taking off in the U.S. market for the delivery of video services, concludes the 11th annual FCC report of the state of the cable industry. Almost all U.S. consumers have the choice between over-the-air broadcast television, a cable service, and at least two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers. In some areas, consumers also can choose to receive service via one or more emerging technologies, including digital broadcast spectrum, fiber, and video over the Internet.


Additional conclusions include:

• overall cable subscribership remained relatively stable over the past year,



• DBS subscriberships continued to increase at double-digit rates of growth, which is due in part to the continued increase in the number of markets where local broadcast television stations are distributed by DBS



• As of June 2004, 92.3 million households subscribed to an MVPD -- with 71.6% subscribing to a franchised cable operator, 25.1% receiving their video programming from a DBS operator, and 3.3% of subscribers choosing service from other types of providers (e.g., broadband service provider (BSP), wireless cable operator, private cable operator).



• As a result of system upgrades and increased competition from DBS services, cable subscribers are enjoying a broad range of advanced services, such as digital tiers and video on demand, as well as more channels of video programming



• As of June 2004, DBS operators had over 23.16 million subscribers, an increase of close to 14% since the 2003 Report.



• As of June 2004, there were about 18.5 million cable modem Internet access subscribers, up from 13.7 million a year earlier.



• As of year-end 2003, cable operators were serving approximately 2.8 million subscribers with telephone service (circuit switched + VoIP)



• DIRECTV has scaled back its plans to use SPACEWAY satellites to offer broadband services. EchoStar, which has offered satellite-based Internet services in the past, no longer offers its own service.



• As of September 2004, all of the 40 stations that make up the top-four network affiliates in the top ten television markets were offering digital broadcasts and 1,468 television stations, representing 85% of all stations, are on the air with DTV operation.



• As of June 2004, an estimated 64 million Americans subscribed to an Internet access service, and 30.1 million of those subscribed to a high-speed Internet access service, or about 47% of all subscribers.



• As of July 2004, approximately 70% of TV households have a DVD player.



• DVRs: TiVo, the largest DVR maker, has approximately two million subscribers, of which 1.1 million are DIRECTV subscribers. There are 1.4 million cable subscribers that have set-top boxes with DVR functionally, and EchoStar has over one million subscribers to its DVR system.



• Cable operators' acquisitions and system trades slowed considerably in 2004. . In June 2003, the four largest operators served about 59% of all U.S. cable subscribers, whereas in June 2004, the four largest cable operators served about 58% of all U.S. cable subscribers.



• The number of programming networks has increased over the last year. As of June 2003, there were approximately 339 nonbroadcast programming networks available for carriage by MVPDs. As of June 2004, there were 388 national nonbroadcast programming networks.

http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Adopts Unbundling Rules

The FCC formally adopted new rules concerning the obligations of incumbent carriers (ILECs) to make elements of their network available to other carriers seeking to enter the local telecommunications market. The FCC had voted to approve the new rules in December 2004. The new rules were issued in response to the March 2004 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which overturned portions of the Unbundled Network Element (UNE) rules in the FCC's Triennial Review Order.
http://www.fcc.govHighlights of the new rules include:

• An Unbundling Framework. -- The new rules clarify the impairment standard adopted in the Triennial Review Order in one respect and modify its application in three respects. First, impairments are evaluated with regard to the capabilities of a reasonably efficient competitor. Second, the Triennial Review Order's “qualifying service�? interpretation of section 251(d)(2) is set aside. The use of UNEs are prohibited for the provision of telecommunications services in the mobile wireless and long-distance markets, which the FCC previously found to be competitive. Third, the impairment test draws reasonable inferences regarding the prospects for competition in one geographic market based on the state of competition in other, similar markets. Fourth, the appropriate role of tariffed incumbent LEC services are considered in the unbundling framework, and that in the context of the local exchange markets, a general rule prohibiting access to UNEs whenever a requesting carrier is able to compete using an incumbent LEC's tariffed offering would be inappropriate.



• Dedicated Interoffice Transport. -- Competing carriers are impaired without access to DS1 transport except on routes connecting a pair of wire centers, where both wire centers contain at least four fiber-based collocators or at least 38,000 business access lines. Competing carriers are impaired without access to DS3 or dark fiber transport except on routes connecting a pair of wire centers, each of which contains at least three fiber-based collocators or at least 24,000 business lines. Finally, competing carriers are not impaired without access to entrance facilities connecting an incumbent LEC's network with a competitive LEC's network in any instance. The new framework adopts a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of DS1- and DS3-capacity dedicated transport where they are not impaired, and an 18-month plan to govern transitions away from dark fiber transport. These transition plans apply only to the embedded customer base, and do not permit competitive LECs to add new dedicated transport UNEs in the absence of impairment. During the transition periods, competitive carriers will retain access to unbundled dedicated transport at a rate equal to the higher of (1) 115% of the rate the requesting carrier paid for the transport element on June 15, 2004, or (2) 115% of the rate the state commission has established or establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004 and the effective date of this Order.



• High-Capacity Loop. -- Competitive LECs are impaired without access to DS3-capacity loops except in any building within the service area of a wire center containing 38,000 or more business lines and 4 or more fiber-based collocators. Competitive LECs are impaired without access to DS1-capacity loops except in any building within the service area of a wire center containing 60,000 or more business lines and 4 or more fiber-based collocators. Competitive LECs are not impaired without access to dark fiber loops in any instance. We adopt a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of DS1- and DS3-capacity loops where they are not impaired, and an 18-month plan to govern transitions away from dark fiber loops. These transition plans apply only to the embedded customer base, and do not permit competitive LECs to add new high-capacity loop UNEs in the absence of impairment. During the transition periods, competitive carriers will retain access to unbundled facilities at a rate equal to the higher of (1) 115% of the rate the requesting carrier paid for the transport element on June 15, 2004, or (2) 115% of the rate the state commission has established or establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004 and the effective date of this Order.



• Mass Market Local Circuit Switching. -- Incumbent LECs have no obligation to provide competitive LECs with unbundled access to mass market local circuit switching. The new rules adopt a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of unbundled mass market local circuit switching. This transition plan applies only to the embedded customer base, and does not permit competitive LECs to add new switching UNEs. During the transition period, competitive carriers will retain access to the UNE platform (i.e., the combination of an unbundled loop, unbundled local circuit switching, and shared transport) at a rate equal to the higher of (1) the rate at which the requesting carrier leased that combination of elements on June 15, 2004, plus one dollar, or (2) the rate the state public utility commission establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004, and the effective date of this Order, for this combination of elements, plus one dollar.

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TANDBERG TV Completes N2 Merger

TANDBERG Television completed its acquisition of Atlanta-based N2 Broadband, Inc., a provider of scalable, open-platform solutions for on-demand entertainment, for $118 million in shares and cash.


TANDBERG Television said the N2 Broadband's standards-based, open solutions are a natural extension of its own core technology and have already been integrated with TANDBERG Television's video compression systems.


N2 Broadband's President and CEO, Reggie Bradford takes on the role of President of TANDBERG Television, Inc. The new combined North American concern will be headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a development facility in Denver, Colorado. The total staff for the Americas operation is approximately 180 employees.
http://www.tandbergtv.com
http://www.n2broadband.com

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Telekom Malaysia Selects Cisco Systems

Telekom Malaysia has selected Cisco Systems to help create, commercialize and deliver managed services that make use of integrated data, voice and video IP technologies. The agreement will see Telekom Malaysia and Cisco align their technology, marketing, and sales forces to enhance the delivery of new managed services from Telekom Malaysia that utilize Cisco technology. For the first phase, Telekom Malaysia and Cisco have identified the following managed services for the Malaysian market: IP VPNs, Metro Ethernet, IP telephony and security. Telekom Malaysia is a member of the Cisco Powered Network Program. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.telekom.com.my

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Corning Expects Growth in FTTx

While the overall telecommunications industry is showing some signs of improvement, Corning believes that a sustainable telecom industry recovery will ultimately be led by strong customer demand for new service capabilities that systems such as fiber-to-the-premises enable, said Larry Aiello, the company's president and CEO in a presentation to the financial community.


In North America, Corning is looking for FTTx growth from Verizon, SBC and BellSouth.
http://www.corning.com

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GigaBeam to Supply "Wireless fiber" Units to OnFiber

GigaBeam announced an agreement to supply its WiFiber wireless connectivity products to OnFiber Communications. A field trial deployment is anticipated to occur in the current quarter.


GigaBeam expects to provide ultra high speed wireless point-to-point communications links that operate in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz radio spectrum bands. This portion of the radio frequency spectrum recently was authorized by the FCC for wireless point-to-point commercial use.


GigaBeam expects that its technology, coupled with these large blocks of recently authorized contiguous spectrum, will enable multi gigabit-per-second wireless communications utilizing Gigabit Ethernet protocols. The anticipated speed of GigaBeam's technology is 1.25 Gbps.


GigaBeam is also working on products capable of 10 Gbps.
http://www.gigabeam.com

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Flextronics Acquires Camera Module Business

Flextronics has completed the acquisition of Agilent Technologies' camera module business. The camera modules are used in mobile handsets. The acquisition gives Flextronics additional access to tier-one customers and complements the company's overall strategy to play a major design role in all of the products it builds, ships, and services for OEM customers.
http://www.flextronics.com/

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Mpower Creates Wholesale Division

Mpower Communications has formed a new Wholesale division that aims to leverage its acquisition of ICG's California wholesale customer base and statewide SONET fiber network, in addition to Mpower's own deep and dense facilities-based network of switches and nearly 300 collocation facilities. With the acquisition of ICG's California business earlier this year, Mpower is already wholesale provider to many of the largest IXCs, CLECs and ISPs in the country.


The new wholesale division will be led by Russ Shipley, formerly New Technology Officer for Mpower. Previously, Shipley has held senior positions at Global Crossing and Frontier Communications. His most recent position at Global Crossing was Senior Vice President-Global Transport Network Operations. While at Frontier, Shipley led the planning, engineering and construction of the 20,000-route mile nationwide fiber optics network shared by Frontier and Qwest.
http://www.mpowercom.com/

• In October 2004, Mpower Communications will acquire ICG Communications' network assets and customers in California for $13.5 million in stock. The deal includes ICG's California retail and wholesale customers; a 1,412 route mile state-wide self-healing DWDM and SONET-based fiber ring connecting San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego, Anaheim and Los Angeles; 915 route miles of fully-survivable metropolitan SONET-based fiber rings in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles which connect 128 commercial buildings, 33 of Mpower's existing collocations and 11 ICG collocations that will be added to the Mpower footprint. The acquisition is expected to contribute in excess of $30 million in revenue and $8-$10 million of operating income (excluding expenses related to depreciation and amortization of the acquired assets) in 2006.
  
  In connection with the acquisition, Mpower also announced that telecom investment funds Columbia Capital and M/C Venture Partners, through their ownership of ICG, will invest $2.5 million in cash for 1,988,894 shares of Mpower Holding's common stock.

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Adelphia Files Amended Chapter 11 Plan

Adelphia Communications filed an amended plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company said its new plan facilitates the sale process by allowing for the distribution of sale consideration to Adelphia's creditors upon a sale of all or a portion of Adelphia's assets. At the same time, the plan preserves Adelphia's ability to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as an independent entity. The amended plan also adds provisions designed to facilitate potential compromises of outstanding inter-creditor disputes and governmental settlement demands in the context of a potential global settlement.
http://www.adelphia.com/about/por.cfm

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