Alltel Spins Off Wireline Business and Merges It with VALOR

Alltel will spin off its wireline business and merge it with VALOR Communications Group, creating a major wireline operator focused on the rural U.S. market. The deal was valued at about $9.1 billion. The following are the highlights for the combined wireline business:Revenues and operating income before depreciation and amortization (pre-synergy) for the last 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2005, were $3.4 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. The company will have about 3.4 million customers in 16 states. The company expects to gain $40 million...

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Alcatel and KT Enter WiMAX Partnership

Alcatel and KT will establish a new center in Seoul, Korea, that will serve as a venue for conducting interoperability tests of WiBro/mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) infrastructure with WiMAX-enabled devices and to showcase WiMAX technology. Alcatel said it is convinced that mobile WiMAX has enormous potential and decided to partner with KT to accelerate the introduction of new mobile broadband services in the global marketplace.For the new WiMAX center, Alcatel will provide the radio access and core network elements for this WiBro/mobile WiMAX reality...

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Yahoo! Partners with Seven in Australia & NZ

Yahoo! and Seven Network, one of Australia's leading media companies, will form a 50-50 joint venture media company focused on the delivery of relevant content across a number of delivery platforms in Australia and New Zealand. Yahoo! Australia & NZ and Seven will be combining their online teams and are expected to launch a new name and an exciting online presence in late January, coinciding with Seven's coverage of the Australian Open and the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, as well as the opening weeks of the 2006 television season. The vision...

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Portugal's Novis Selects Amino for IPTV Rollout

Novis, a major Portuguese telco, selected Amino's miNET110 set-top boxes for its IPTV launch in Lisbon and Porto this month. The service will include an electronic programme guide (EPG), Video on Demand (VOD), and a personalised choice of channels. Novis is offering 50 channels for the test launch, increasing to 100 when the commercial deployment commences. The AmiNET110 is compatible with the ReadyLinks Smartfoot and Coaxsys home networking adapter. http://www.aminocom....

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AT&T Selects 2Wire Residential Gateway for U-verse

AT&T awarded a $43 million, one-year contract to 2Wire to supply its new IP-based residential gateways for the forthcoming AT&T U-verse suite of services.AT&T said the residential gateway device will create a home network that delivers IP-based services throughout the home - IP-based video, high-speed Internet access and, eventually, VoIP.Specifically, AT&T plans to use the 2Wire HomePortal 3000 series, which supports fiber-to-the-premises...

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BellSouth Endorses IPTV A La Carte Programming Model

BellSouth announced its endorsement of the "a-la-carte" video programming model recently endorsed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and some Members of Congress. In a statement, Herschel Abbott, BellSouth vice president governmental affairs, said:"IPTV, which can be delivered over phone lines, fundamentally is about offering consumers competitive choice in video programming. Currently, one of the most significant business obstacles new competitive entrants face in offering innovative technologies like IPTV is the existing local franchising process and...

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BellSouth Teams With 8x8 for Residential VoIP

BellSouth will begin offering a residential Digital Phone Service based on 8x8's VoIP platform. This includes a suite of VoIP service components including a call switching platform, feature servers, customer portals and consumer premise equipment. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.8x8.com http://www.bellsouth....

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