FCC: Wireless Competition Leads to Surging Usage, Lower Rates

The FCC issued its annual report on the state of competition in the mobile telephone -- or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) -- industry.



Although the mobile telephone market has become more concentrated as a result of mergers of Sprint/Nextel and Cingular/AT&T Wireless, the FCC concludes there is effective wireless competition, based on several factors, including: the number of competing carriers providing service in an area, market shares, pricing behavior and trends, technological upgrades and product innovations, subscriber growth, usage patterns, churn, and service quality.



Highlights of the report include:

• During 2005, the number of mobile telephone subscribers in the United States rose from 184.7 million to 213 million, increasing the nationwide penetration rate to approximately 71 percent.



• Average minutes-of-use per subscriber per month ("MOUs") jumped again in 2005, to 820 minutes, or more than 13 hours of use, for the average subscriber of a nationwide operator in the last quarter of the year. This is an increase of 110 MOUs, or almost two hours of additional use, from a year earlier. Sprint Nextel, the nationwide operator with the highest MOUs, averaged over 1,000 MOUs per month per subscriber for most of the year.



• The amount of time mobile subscribers spend texting on their mobile phones has also increased and the volume of text message traffic grew to 48.7 billion messages in the second half of 2005, nearly double the 24.7 billion messages in the same period of 2004.



• Revenue per minute, which can be used to measure the per-minute price of mobile telephone service, fell 22 percent during 2005 from $0.09 in 2004 to $0.07 in 2005.



• The J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Wireless Call Quality Study found that the quality of mobile telephone service improved in the past year, with reported problems per 100 calls reaching the lowest level since the inaugural study in 2003.



• The U.S. population living in counties with access to five or more different mobile telephone operators declined as compared with the previous year, due largely to the merger between Sprint PCS and Nextel in August 2005.



• As of year-end 2005, there were four, nationwide mobile telephone operators: Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Cingular Wireless.



• Churn rates have shown a slight decline over the past year. Most carriers report churn rates between 1.5 percent and 3.0 percent per month.



• Since 1999, following a decade of declines, CTIA's estimate of ARPU began increasing, rising to $50.64 in December 2004, a 28 percent increase from the low of seven years ago. However, in the last year, ARPU declined slightly to $49.98. Analysts attribute this decline to a variety of factors, including further declines in the per-minute price of mobile calls due to more offers of free minutes and other promotions, an increase in the share of subscribers who typically spend less per month on mobile calls (such as prepaid and family plan customers), and a decrease in the elasticity of demand below one.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said "Competition among mobile telephone carriers has lowered the price consumers pay for mobile telephone service, stimulating rapid subscriber growth and greater usage of mobile phones. Competition has also encouraged mobile telephone carriers to improve service quality and to begin deploying significantly faster broadband technologies on their networks. These results demonstrate how a competitive marketplace -- rather than economic regulation -- provides the greatest benefits to the American consumer."http://www.fcc.govIn a written critique, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the report fails to provide a full accounting of "effective competition" because it neglected to take account of the effects arising out of the cross-ownership of wireless and wireline companies.



"In this era of convergence, we often hear that new technologies will bring competition to markets currently dominated by incumbents. But what about when the same company or companies dominate both the new and the old markets? Will a parent company really allow a subsidiary to introduce products that cannibalize existing revenue streams? I expect that this issue will become increasingly important in the wireless industry—especially with the next generation of broadband services—and I hope that future CMRS reports will take account of it," stated Copps.

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NTT Sets Optical Record: 14 Tbps over a Single Fiber

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) set a new optical transmission record -- 14 terabits per second (Tbps) over a single 160 km long optical fiber. Significantly, the demonstration ran optical signals at 111 Gbps over a DWDM system supporting 140 channels. This greatly exceeded the current record of about 10 Tbps over a single fiber.



NTT said its reach is driven to increase the core capacity of its optical transport network, which currently stands at about 1 Tbps. Current networks use wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) of 10 Gbps signals.



While 10 Tbps transmission over a single optical fiber has been achieved in the laboratory, NTT said it was necessary to use linear amplifiers that covered two or three amplification bands because of the limited range of existing amplifiers. However, this multi-band configuration is not cost-effective. To increase the transmission capacity, NTT set out to achieve two goals simultaneously: WDM transmission with high spectral efficiency and optical amplifiers with greatly enlarged bandwidth.



Some key points of NTT's optical transmission breakthrough:

• The experiment used the carrier suppressed return-to-zero differential quadrature phase shift keying (CSRZ-DQPSK)*1 format and ultra-wide-bandwidth amplifiers.



• 70 wavelengths with 100-GHz spacing were modulated at 111 Gbps using the CSRZ-DQPSK format and then multiplexed and amplified in the bandwidth of 7 THz.



• Each 111 Gbps signal was polarization-division-multiplexed so the number of channels was doubled to 140. This yielded the total capacity of 14 Tbps. The 160 km distance was achieved by amplifying these signals using newly developed optical amplifiers.



• The experiment also demonstrated that it is possible to transmit 100 Gbps signal with forward error correction bytes and management overhead bytes of the OTN frame over long distances allowing the construction of large capacity optical networks that offer 10 Tbps or more.



• NTT said CSRZ-DQPSK modulation and its new high-speed optoelectronic device technologies make it possible to generate dense WDM signals with bit rates of 100 Gbps and beyond per channel and transmit them over long distances.

Further details on the technology are posted on the NTT site.

http://www.ntt.co.jp/news/news06e/0609/060929a.html

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iSkoot Develops Thin-Client VoIP App for Dual-Mode GSM/WiFi Phone

iSkoot, a start-up based in Cambridge, Mass., introduced a thin Java-based client for enabling dual-mode phones (supporting both GSM/CDMA and WiFi networks) to connect with VoIP services, such as Skype, GoogleTalk, AIM, Microsoft Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.



iSkoot's Java-based thin client phone application and network server enables VoIP over three different network connections, WiFi which is typically free, 3G/GPRS data which typically is offered for a fixed monthly charge, and GSM/CDMA voice which typically is billed by the local-minute.



In addition iSkoot's thin client technology, which is approximately 100K in size, utilizes the standard resources available on the telephone so that the widest variety of devices, including lower power CPUs, can take advantage of this capability.



Dual-mode phones with iSkoot's new client software allow a user to make telephone calls over the Internet using all three networks utilizing one small application.

http://www.iskoot.com

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Fonpods Debuts Mobile Podcasting Service

Fonpods, a start-up based in Los Angeles, unveiled its new podcast by phone service. Fonpods' proprietary platform is designed to provide convenient, cost-free mobile access to digital audio content -- podcasts in particular - through the mobile phone.



The Fonpods service provides users with PC and Internet content optimized for an on-the-go mobile experience -- creating a fusion of interactive content and portable media -- and allowing users to access their audio content from a landline, mobile or VoIP phone.



This experience is supported by Fonpods' back-end services featuring a searchable catalog of available podcasts. A Web-based interface allows users to customize and create their own listening "channels," as well as produce their own content, share content, or collaborate with friends and colleagues. Additional functionality allows users to organize, tag, or rate podcasts - from any web-access device - with all major browsers being supported.

http://www.fonpods.com

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Tektronix Offers TD-SCDMA RF Field Tester for China

Tektronix announced the addition of TD-SCDMA -- the mobile telecommunications standard developed for China -- as an option to its NetTek Wireless RF Field Tester.



Tektronix said it is the first manufacturer to provide TD-SCDMA RF field test and measurement capabilities in a handheld form, enabling network providers, network equipment manufacturers and contractors to more easily diagnose TD-SCDMA Node B transmitter problems and effectively manage the roll out of the new technology.



The NetTek Tester is a rugged portable platform with multi-standard measurement capability. The instrument's modular architecture supports a range of wireless RF measurements for standards, including UMTS/WCDMA, EDGE, GSM, CDMA2000 1x EV-DO, CDMA2000, cdmaOne (IS-95), and IS-136.

http://www.tektronix.com

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DSL Forum Completes VDSL2 System Integrator Interoperability Event

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) and the DSL Forum hosted the first BroadbandAccess VDSL2 System Integrator Interoperability Plugfest last month, attracting the participation of over 20 companies. Participating companies included system integrators, silicon vendors and test equipment providers.



The 20 participating companies brought over 45 engineers from around the world to the UNH-IOL facility. The participating companies were:



2Wire, Actiontec Electronics, Adtran, Alcatel, Amedia Networks, Aware, Broadcom Corp., Cisco Systems, Comtrend Corp., Conexant Systems Inc., ECI Telecom, Ikanos, Infineon Technologies, JDSU
Lucent Technologies, Netopia Inc., Siemens, Spirent Communications
Westell, ZyXEL



The interoperability event build on three DSL Forum Chip Vendor Interoperability events to date.



Upcoming BroadbandAccess VDSL2 events include:

• November 27-December 1, 2006, DSL Forum VDSL2 Chip Vendor Test Event



• January 29- February 2, 2007, DSL Forum VDSL2 Chip Vendor Test Event



• February 26- March 2, 2007, DSL Forum VDSL2 System Integrator Test Event

http://www.dslforum.org

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California Approves Video Franchise Bill

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a statewide video franchise bill that will make it easier for new IPTV competitors to enter the market.



"The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006," which goes into effect 01-Jan-2007, replaces a decades-old, city-by-city video franchising model with a streamlined, state-issued authorization.



AT&T cheered the news. "AT&T has begun a $1 billion initial investment in California to upgrade our digital broadband network, which will deliver faster Internet access speeds and new, competitive TV/video services. This investment is in addition to the nearly $20 billion we've invested in our California network over the past decade," stated Ken McNeely, President, AT&T California.



Verizon also hailed the news. "Gov. Schwarzenegger's signing of the Digital Infrastructure and Cable Competition Act is a huge victory for California's consumers. Under this law, California sets a new standard for accelerating cable-TV competition, and customers can expect new choices, greater value and improved service in terms of video providers. This landmark legislation unlocks the vast potential of Verizon's all-fiber network and enables us to more rapidly offer a new alternative to cable -- FiOS TV -- in dozens of communities where we have already built our 100-percent fiber-optic network. The new law also provides the certainty for Verizon to commit hundreds of millions of dollars in additional investment to accelerate fiber deployment in California, creating hundreds of new jobs and stimulating our state's economy," stated Verizon West Region President Tim McCallion.

http://www.ca.gov/

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REBTEL Raises $20 Million For Cut-Rate, International Mobile Calling

Rebtel Networks, a start-up based in Stockholm, raised $20 million in Series A funding for its plans to offer unlimited international calling from mobile phones for just $1 per week.



Rebtel allows registered users to create local phone numbers for themselves and their friends abroad. For example, a person in San Francisco gets a San Francisco phone number to call their friend in London, and the friend in London gets a London phone number to call the person in San Francisco. By connecting the local calls over the Internet, Rebtel lets consumers bypass the excessive international fees charged by mobile carriers.



The new funding was provided by Index Ventures and Benchmark Capital. The funds will be used to expand business development and marketing efforts, and accelerate expansion into more countries around the world.

http://www.rebtel.com

• Rebtel was founded in January 2006 by Hjalmar Winbladh and Jonas Lindroth.

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Ixia Launches Software Only Version of IxVoice for Testing IMS and VoIP

Ixia launched a low-cost software-only solution for testing IMS and VoIP protocol implementations. IxVoice Lite contains the same features as IxVoice for testing up to 24 channels. The software enables developers, QA test engineers and field engineers of service providers to perform sophisticated IMS and VoIP functionality testing. It addresses all major VoIP protocols: SIP, SCCP (Skinny), H.323, MGCP and H.248/MEGACO. Specifically, its SIP library can be used to test critical CSCF functionality for IMS implementations.



IxVoice Lite can be downloaded onto workstations and provides the same "look and feel" and operation as the traditional version. Instead of sharing a workstation, individual users can now have their own version of IxVoice running on their workstations saving time and valuable resources.



The software also enables existing IxVoice users to quickly generate test scenarios off-line on an economical basis. Users create, test and debug test scenarios on their workstations and then transfer the test scenarios to a workstation running regression tests. Having a workstation dedicated for regression testing ensures that its results are not compromised by changes introduced by other users.

http://www.ixiacom.com

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TranSwitch Trims Q3 Expectations

Citing a change in the production plans by a major customer,
TranSwitch Corporation announced that it now expects revenues for the third quarter of 2006 to be approximately $9.3 million compared to revenues in the second quarter of 2006 of $10.3 million. Of the approximately $9.3 million of revenues, approximately $8.0 million will be net product revenues and $1.3 million will be from services revenues. The Company's previous outlook for third quarter revenues announced on the July 26th, 2006 conference call was for revenues of approximately $10.3 million.



"While we are disappointed by the production delay of a major customer, we have confidence in the long term potential of TranSwitch based on our strong customer relationships with major telecommunication manufacturers, our innovative product portfolio and our stable financial foundation," said Dr. Santanu Das, Chief Executive Officer of TranSwitch Corporation.

http://www.transwitch.com

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Interactive Enterprise and Wave7 Partner on FTTP Automated Management and Provisioning

Interactive Enterprise Limited (IE) has partnered with Wave7 Optics to deliver an automated, end-to-end management and provisioning system for operators of FTTH/FTTP networks.



Under the partnership, the companies will provide FTTP service providers with an integrated solution where IE's automated provisioning and management system will interoperate with Wave7 Optics' Last Mile Link TM (LML) FTTP platform.

http://www.wave7optics.comhttp://www.interactive-enterprise.com

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Fujitsu Network Communications Names Sr. VP of Development

Fujitsu Network Communications announced that Joe Massery, former vice president of hardware and physical design, has been promoted to senior vice president of development. Joe is replacing Mr. Takashi Wakabayashi, who will return to Japan in October to serve as group senior vice president of the Photonics group at Fujitsu Limited. Joe will be located at the company's headquarters in Richardson, Texas.http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom

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Cisco Showcases Victim Tracking and Tracing System for Disasters

Cisco Systems and partners showcased a new solution designed to simplify the registration and identification of casualties affected in a disaster.



The system, which is called BeViTTS (Belgian Victim Tracking and Tracing System), allows for the rapid exchange and automatic processing of data collected by emergency workers at the scene of a disaster. The critical information is collected in real time using Cisco's mobile and wireless network technology, and stored and made available to the emergency workers via a web-based portal.



The crisis management team can consult the personal information contained in the database remotely from a crisis center. Hospitals and other crisis support centers also could have access to the medical information stored in the database, thus allowing them to prepare for the arrival and subsequent treatment of the disaster victims.



The core of the Belgian Victim Tracking and Tracing System is the Cisco 3200 Series Wireless and Mobile Router, also called the Mobile Access Router (MAR).



The device, which can be deployed on vehicles, can support multiple network connections, both fixed and wireless, and can automatically switch from one to the other. If there are several available connections, the intelligent router automatically chooses the connection that guarantees most bandwidth.



The solution was co-developed with AeroScout, CITS, Intermec, and Orion Health. AeroScout provides the active WiFi standards-based active RFID tags, and Choke Point Exciters for detecting entry and exit from hospitals, CITS the back end and portal infrastructure, Orion Health is the vendor of the Portal and integration software CITS used, as a platform, to develop the BeViTTS Portal and Intermec the system's wireless RFID reader.
http://www.cisco.com

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Intel Announces New Ultra-Wideband Silicon and Reference Designs

Intel announced the availability of Wireless UWB Link 1480 MAC (media access controller) silicon and reference designs for ultra-wideband host solutions.



The Intel UWB host solutions could enable PCs, printers and digital TVs with existing hi-speed USB ports to be upgraded to support wireless personal connectivity through USB dongles and ExpressCards.



The silicon and host design are based on the Certified Wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification from the USB Implementers Forum and the WiMedia Network specification from the WiMedia Alliance.



Intel's UWB host MAC silicon has been integrated with multiple third-party UWB physical layers, offering a choice of radio solutions in its host reference designs. The Intel host solution enables concurrent operation of Certified Wireless USB and WiNet and has been demonstrated to interoperate with multiple device peripherals such as cameras and printers.



Intel said the release will allow independent hardware vendors, PC manufacturers and device OEMs to deliver high-bandwidth, low-power wireless solutions that provide personal area network connectivity in the digital home and office.



"UWB will allow end-users faster wireless access than ever before to their digital content -- photos, music, videos," said Rich Wykoff, general manager of Intel's New Business Initiatives Group. "We look forward to exploring a new world of unwired possibilities uncovered by UWB."http://www.intel.com

• Wireless USB enables access up to 480 Mbps within 9.9 feet (3 meters) or 110 Mbps within 33 feet (10 meters).

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SS8 Networks Names New Engineering Vice President

SS8 Networks appointed Dr. Bülent Erbilgin as vice president of engineering, where he will direct development of the company's lawful
intercept portfolio, multimedia messaging platforms and signaling products for IMS and AIN applications. Prior to joining SS8, Erbilgin was vice president of platform engineering at Brocade, where his team developed multi-protocol switching platforms.

http://www.SS8.com

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US House Judiciary Chairman Seeks DOJ Delay in Approving AT&T+BellSouth

The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary committee has requested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) delay any final decision in the proposed merger between AT&T and BellSouth. At issue is a pending ruling in federal court as to whether two previous mergers (SBC Communications + AT&T and Verizon + MCI) were in fact in the public interest, as the DOJ ruling at the time had predicted they would be.
http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/telecomrelATTAG92806.pdf

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Britain's ntl Offers Quad-Play for £40

Following its recent acquisition of Virgin Mobile, ntl Telewest announced a "Quad Play" consumer offer for £40 per month.



The "4 for £40" package includes:

• Broadband
  • Up to 2Mb with no limits on downloads
  
  • Firewall and anti-virus software included
  
  • Installed by an expert and modem included



• 
  • Over 30 channels, including Sky One, UKTV Gold, E4, Film4, ITV2 and LIVINGtv
  
  • On demand access to a huge library of programmes and films -- watch what you want, when you want
  
  • Set-top box included and no need for a dish



• 
  • Unlimited weekend calls to any UK landline
  
  • Highly competitive mobile rates and simple tariffs at other times
  
  • Standard features including 1471 and 1571 voicemail



• 
  • A Virgin Mobile SIM
  
  • 300 texts and 300 minutes a month, plus free voicemail
  
  • Access to Virgin Mobile Bites entertainment service

http://www.ntl.co.uk

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T-Com Tests 40 Gbps with Ericsson's DWDM

Deutsche Telekom's fixed network unit, T-Com, and Ericsson completed a trial for next-generation 43Gbps optical transmission technology over a 1000km link in T-Com's DWDM network in Germany. The use of 40Gbps optical transmission facilitates 40 Gbps connections between IP core routers.



The trial was conducted over T-Com's optic link between the German cities of Nuremberg and Oschatz (1047km), which is equipped with Ericsson's WDM platform.



Ericsson's next-generation 43Gbps optical transmission technology is based on the new modulation format return-to-zero differential quadrature phase shift keying (RZ-DQPSK). This modulation format exhibits high robustness against PMD (Polarization Mode Dispersion). http://www.ericsson.com

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TelstraClear Selects Ericsson for 3G/HSPA in NZ

TelstraClear selected Ericsson to build its 3G/WCDMA/HSPA high-speed mobile broadband network in Tauranga, New Zealand. Under the deal, Ericsson will have turnkey responsibility for building the network, providing network design, deployment and integration services, including packet core, radio network and service layer.



The network will use 3G/WCDMA and HSPA technology.



On average, users will be able to download up to four-times faster than with current 3G connections, and 20-times faster than a GSM/GPRS connection.



The network will be launched in mid-2007 in Tauranga. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.ericsson.com

• In December 2004, Ericsson was selected by Telstra in Australia as its exclusive 3G/WCDMA partner for the next five years.

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Sonus' Platforms Carry 37% of LD VoIP Traffic

A total of 37% of all long distance IP-based voice traffic is carried over Sonus Networks' platforms, according to a report entitled, "VoIP Minutes and Subscribers: 2Q06 Update," issued by iLocus.



In August 2006, Sonus carried approximately 25 billion minutes of IP voice traffic, representing an approximately 75% increase compared to August 2005.

http://www.sonusnet.com

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Verizon Business Expands European Ethernet Access to Private IP Service

Verizon Business has expanded its Private IP network service for enterprises to six additional countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Spain. Customers can now use Verizon Business' next-generation Ethernet services to access the company's Private IP network in a flexible way.



The announcement extends Verizon Business Ethernet Access to a total of 16 European countries. Customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have been able to benefit from Ethernet services since January. Verizon Business also offers Ethernet Access to Private IP in the United States and in seven countries across Asia.

http://www.verizon.com

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BBC and Microsoft Sign MoU

The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) and Microsoft signed a nonexclusive memorandum of understanding covering technology for the delivery and consumption of content and the evolution of next-generation broadcasting. Areas of potential investigation and collaboration include search and navigation, distribution, and content enablement. http://www.microsoft.com

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Verizon Sees Positive Uptake for FiOS Rollout

Verizon Communications outlined progress in its rollout of fiber-based FiOS services, saying the historic upgrade to its access network is ahead of plan and already delivering better than expected results.



"We are on track with our FiOS plans, and we are focused on continued execution to build on the momentum we have gained in the marketplace," said Virginia Ruesterholz, president of Verizon Telecom, in a presentation to investors and the media.




Some key points of the announcement:

• The fiber rollout plan is to pass 18 million premises by the end of 2010, or more than 50 percent of the approximately 33 million households in the company's 28-state wireline service area. The FiOS network build-out is on target to pass a total of 6 million premises by year-end 2006, with an additional 3 million a year planned through 2010.



• FiOS is expected to generate positive operating income beginning in 2009, based in part on growing revenues from FiOS services combined with declining operational costs due to fiber network efficiencies. In addition, the company's total fiber investment is expected to be EBITDA-positive in 2008.



• Verizon expects to invest $18.0 billion in net capital from 2004 through 2010. The total is net of approximately $4.9 billion that Verizon estimates would otherwise be required to maintain traditional copper-wire technologies over the same period.





• Verizon expects to realize savings of approximately $1 billion in annual, ongoing operating expenses by 2010 as a result of the efficiencies gained from fiber network facilities.



• Last month, average capital expenditures to pass a home were $873, less than the previously announced year-end 2006 goal of $890. The new year-end target is $850.



• The cost to connect a home has been higher than expected. Last month, these expenditures averaged approximately $933, higher than the previously announced year-end 2006 goal of $715. The new year-end target is $880.



• By 2010, these expenditures are expected to average $700 to pass a home and $650 to connect a home.



• By the end of the third quarter 2006, Verizon expects to have more than 500,000 FiOS Internet customers, compared with 375,000 FiOS Internet customers at the end of the second quarter 2006.



• Verizon has set a target of 725,000 FiOS Internet customers by year-end 2006, with the service available for sale to 5 million premises. This would represent a market penetration of approximately 15 percent, toward a 2010 goal of 35 percent to 40 percent -- or from 6 million to 7 million FiOS Internet customers.



• Monthly churn rates, a measure of customer turnover, have been below 1.5 percent, indicating customer loyalty that exceeds the company's initial expectations.



• By the end of the third quarter 2006, Verizon expects to have more than 100,000 FiOS TV customers, and the company estimates that about two-thirds of FiOS TV customers have discontinued their cable TV service.



• Verizon has set a target of 175,000 FiOS TV customers by year-end 2006, making the service available to 1.8 million households. This would be a market penetration rate of approximately 10 percent.



• Verizon currently has obtained franchises to offer FiOS TV to more than 1 million households.


• Verizon's goal is for FiOS TV to have a market penetration rate that ranges from 20 percent to 25 percent by 2010 -- or from 3 million to 4 million FiOS TV customers -- based on its estimate that approximately 15 million households will be video-ready by then.



• Nearly 80 percent of FiOS TV customers have purchased three services -- voice, data and video -- from Verizon.



• Monthly churn rates for FiOS TV have mirrored those of FiOS Internet, or less than 1.5 percent.



• In 2007, FiOS TV will add its own TV portal, home shopping and interactive broadcasting, gaming, and on-demand and multimedia enhancements.

http://www.verizon.com

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Teliasonera Selects Kineto Wireless for UMA

TeliaSonera has selected Kineto Wireless' UMA platform to deliver its "Home Free" cellular/Wi-Fi service.



Kineto Wireless' technology is used within the UMA Network Controllers (UNC) deployed by TeliaSonera that enable seamless handover between the GSM network and Wi-Fi access points. In addition, Kineto's technology is integrated with the Philips Nexperia platform into the Samsung P200 UMA handset.

http://www.kineto.comhttp://www.teliasonera.com/

• In August 2006, TeliaSonera introduced its Home Free Mobile IP service in Denmark. Based on UMA, the service enables a mobile phone to function as an IP phone at home through a wireless network (WiFi). The user can make calls at lower IP rates when at home and use the phone as a normal mobile phone outside the home. The user gets a simple voice service: one phone, one address book, and one bill.

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LeCroy Introduces WiMedia Protocol Analyzer

LeCroy announced a major new support initiative for Ultra Wideband wireless technology, focused on the standards promoted by the WiMedia Alliance. The company is enhancing its "UWBTracer" Protocol Analyzers to include support for the new WiNET networking protocol.



Ultra Wideband (UWB) is a wireless transmission technology, intended for high-speed wireless interconnection of devices in close proximity. The WiMedia standard, based upon UWB, is a flexible, multipurpose standard, which supports multiple communication standards simultaneously over the same radio platform. The WiMedia technology platform is expected to rapidly replace wired USB connections in many applications. WiMedia will allow simple, wireless and cost-effective interconnection of digital systems such PDAs, digital cameras, MP3 players, printers, home electronics, video gaming, cell phones, medical instrumentation and other devices.

http://www.lecroy.com

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Mindspeed Offers Pseudo-wire Solution for Wireless Backhaul

Mindspeed Technologies announced an IP-based backhaul transport solution based on its TSP3 family of network processors and PortMakerIII software suite with pseudo-wire emulation edge to edge (PWE3).



Mindspeed's PWE3 and PortMakerIII enable the implementation of an IP-based backhaul network for third-generation W-CDMA, UMTS, and WiMax services. The PWE3 architecture also enables service providers to seamlessly interconnect their existing ATM backbone networks with new Ethernet backhaul networks and a converged IP/MPLS core.



Mindspeed said its high-performance TSP3 network processors are designed specifically for wireless backhaul, access and enterprise applications requiring programmable traffic management and Layer-2 protocol interworking. The TSP3 family provides wire-speed performance by combining a networking-optimized, customized microprocessor with powerful hardware engines.



Mindspeed's PortMakerIII firmware provides fully supported binary applications for the TSP3 family of devices. http://www.mindspeed.com

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RCA Akimbo Player Priced at $179

Akimbo began taking orders for its new co-branded RCA Akimbo Player , which lets users download videos over a broadband connection and play them on their TVs. The RCA Akimbo Player, which can store over 100 hours of programming, is now available at a special pre-order price of $179.99 with a free two-month trial offer for the Akimbo Service. As of mid-October, when the player debuts at retail, its price will be $199.99 and the service will be $9.99 per month.



The Akimbo service currently offers over 13,000 on-demand video and movies from 200 providers in seven languages and 100 different categories, with more programs added weekly. The player also allows film downloads from Movielink.

http://www.akimbo.com

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Wave7 Adds Network Management Suite for EPON and GPON

Wave7 Optics released its W7 Management Suite, a standards-based element management system supporting its Trident7 Optical Access Platform EPON / GPON product line. The W7 Management Suite gives Wave7 customers "complete OAM&P" support for evolving EPON and GPON-based services, including POTS and VOIP telephony, various data services and RF or IP video.



In the area of service connection, Wave7 Optics has created a provisioning mediation system for flow through service provisioning of Wave7 Optics equipment, as well as video head-end controllers and voice switches.



The W7 Management Suite also offers an optional triple-play order entry and accounts receivable package. This flow-through provisioning interface has been extended to allow subscriber account number and address information to automatically flow from the billing system to the customer premises devices. This design supports open-billing system interfaces and currently interoperates with numerous third party billing systems.



Customer care features include a web application that provides subscriber service status views for customer service representatives, which is beneficial in open access networks with multiple service providers. Additional network reporting and notification tools are also part of this complete suite of applications for the W7 Management Suite.

http://www.wave7optics.com

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Motorola Invests in NextNine for Support Automation

NextNine, a start-up based in Tel Aviv, announced the completion of a round of financing, led by Motorola Ventures. NextNine provides support automation solutions. The company provides end-to-end support automation solutions including Self Support, Proactive Support, Managed Service, Assisted Support, On Demand Managed Service and Partners Support. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Motorola Ventures joins NextNine's current investment group, which includes Ascend Technology Ventures, Infinity Venture Capital Fund, Ofer Hi-Tech, Yuma Venture Capital Group, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity, and Redwood Venture Partners.
http://www.nextnine.com

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Zhone Cites Slowdown in International Sales

Citing weakness in its international business, Zhone Technologies warned that its revenue for the third quarter 2006 is expected to range between $41 million and $43 million compared to previous estimates of approximately $54 million. Due to the anticipated lower revenue level, gross margins are expected to be between 35% and 36% which is below the previous guidance of approximately 38%.



Zhone's chief executive officer Mory Ejabat stated, "Our revenue for the third quarter is expected to be substantially below expectations primarily due to weakness in our international business. In particular, we experienced the effects of fluctuations in the buying patterns of our largest customers in the Middle East and Latin America and a greater than expected seasonal slowdown in Europe. Due to this weakness, our SLMS revenue will also decline sequentially which is particularly disappointing after five consecutive quarters of strong growth in both our international and SLMS businesses. Despite this temporary setback, we expect our revenue to rebound over the next few quarters with continuing customer wins and expansion from our existing customer base of over 600 customers."http://www.zhone.com

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Hibernia Debuts 10 Gig Ethernet LAN-PHY on Transatlantic Cable

Hibernia Atlantic began offering a full 10.31 Gbps Ethernet capacity, allowing for 10 full channels of fiber capacity, across its trans-Atlantic cable system. Traditionally, carriers offer SONET converted to Ethernet, which only allows for 8 ports or channels. Therefore, Hibernia Atlantic's offering now provides 25% more bandwidth, than other trans-Atlantic transport services currently available, offering 10 for 10 GigE ports as opposed to 8.



Hibernia Atlantic also offers 10 Gig Ethernet WAN-PHY, allowing for 9 channels out of 10.



http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com

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Shanghai China Telecom Uses JDSU for IPTV Testing

Shanghai China Telecommunications (China Telecom) has purchased multiple units of JDSU's HST-3000 IP Video test suite with ADSL2+ options and the JDSU QT-200 xDSL and Triple-Play Probe to ensure the installation, maintenance and monitoring of its IPTV services.



JDSU's HST-3000 and QT-200 platforms can be used for installing, maintaining and monitoring IPTV services and broadly reducing IPTV mean-time-to-repair (MTTR).

http://www.jdsu.com

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Tundra Appoints Daniel Hoste as CEO

Tundra Semiconductor announced that Daniel Hoste has been appointed President and CEO, replacing company co-founder Jim Roche, who has stepped down. Hoste has also been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. He joined Tundra as Vice President of Products in 2005. Previously, Hoste served 16 years with Freescale Semiconductor (formerly the Semiconductor Products Sector division of Motorola), where he held management positions in all three business groups of the company, both in Europe and in the United States.

http://www.tundra.com

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Atheros Appoints Dr. Sam Endy to Head Mobile Wireless Business Unit

Atheros Communications announced the appointment of Dr. Sam Endy to the newly created position of vice president and general manager of the company's Mobile Wireless Business Unit. Atheros' Radio-on-Chip for Mobile (ROCm) technology, the first family of embedded solutions to be offered by this new division, enables wireless LAN connectivity for cellular and VoIP handsets, media players, digital cameras and gaming device.



Endy was most recently president and chief executive officer of TeleCIS Wireless, a leading developer of broadband wireless access chipset technology. He oversaw the company's introduction of a MIMO-ready WiMAX System-on-a-Chip to enable portable handheld subscriber devices. Prior to joining TeleCIS, Endy was president and chief executive officer of ArrayComm where he led the implementation of broadband wireless and smart antennas in PHS, GSM, WCDMA and WiMAX systems.

http://www.atheros.com

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Visto Secures $51 Million for Mobile Push Email Services

Visto, a start-up based in Redwood City, California, raised more than $51M in new financing for its secure push email for mobile professionals.



Visto said it has more than tripled its subscriber base in the past year, announcing almost a dozen new mobile operator customers across North America, Europe and Asia. Visto now offers support for over 100 of the most popular email- ready mobile phones. These handsets come equipped with Visto Mobile 5.5. It works in real time with POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino email solutions for personal to business email access.



Visto will use the funds to grow its subscriber base within some of the world's largest operators such as Vodafone and Softbank and to fuel continued global expansion while supporting the sustained development of innovative mobile technology.



In addition, Visto announced that Barry Schuler, the former Chairman and CEO of America Online, has joined Visto's Board of Directors.



Investors include Oak Investment Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Meritech Capital Partners, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, DFJ Growth Fund, Rustic Canyon Ventures, Allegis Capital, GKM and Blueprint Ventures.

http://www.visto.com

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AT&T Launches Online PC Backup for Consumers, SMBs

AT&T announced the extension of its enterprise portfolio of online PC, laptop and server backup solutions to consumers and small and medium-sized businesses. The AT&T Remote Vault service is fully automated and secure. Data from customer servers, PCs or laptops is remotely accessed, copied and stored at an AT&T Internet Data Center, where it is centrally managed and securely protected.



The AT&T Online Vault service is available for a standard monthly fee of $5.95 for the first two gigabytes of storage space. For each additional gigabyte used, the cost is an additional $2 a month, not to exceed $17.95 a month.

http://www.attonlinevault.com/

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Intel to Include Nokia HSDPA Module in Centrino Mobile

Intel will offer a Nokia-developed HSDPA connectivity module to notebook manufacturers as part of its next-generation Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology platform. The companies said the HSDPA connectivity module will be widely available as an embedded option in a variety of notebooks.



In the connectivity module collaboration, Intel takes care of platform design, software, integration and support as well as sales and marketing. Nokia, for its part, brings the 3G HSDPA knowledge, leadership in connectivity products as well as carrier relationships. Nokia also manufactures the module.



"Notebook users are increasingly interested in wireless broadband access, and 3G offers a strong solution that is available today," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobile Platforms Group. "This module complements Intel's Wi-Fi and WiMAX solutions to offer expanded connectivity options for notebook users."http://www.nokia.comhttp://www.intel.com

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New ZigBee Standard Offer Enhanced Wireless Capability

The ZigBee Alliance announced the completion and immediate member availability of its enhanced version of the ZigBee standard. Public availability of the standard is scheduled for the first quarter of 2007. The original ZigBee standard was ratified by members in December 2004.



ZigBee is a wireless technology that targets easily deployable, low-cost, low-power, monitoring and control products for homes, commercial buildings and industrial plant monitoring.

The enhanced ZigBee continues use of mesh networking to communicate over the globally available 2.4 GHz frequency and 868/915 MHz technology is available in select countries.



ZigBee uses digital spread spectrum technology and offers a large number of channels for noise immunity.



The ZigBee protocol is designed to accommodate more than 65,000 devices on a single network.



Key capabilities of the enhanced ZigBee specification include:

• Group Devices --- OEMs may create groups of devices, while allowing individual devices to belong to multiple groups. With the push of one button, all lights in a home could be turned off, or turn off all of the lights on a single floor or a single room. ZigBee enables endless design possibilities.



• Easy Maintenance --- ZigBee technology prevents a single point-of-failure on the network and allows for easy replacement or repair of devices through a simple process of storing a device's information onto a nearby device.



• Targeted Broadcasts --- Broadcasts of commands can be specified for specific types of devices: routers, "awake" or "sleeping" devices. This feature reduces RAM requirements, lowering the total cost of the components for ZigBee products.



• Over-the-Air Setup --- Opens the door for an array of new setup tools to facilitate adding devices to a network. The setup tools can be used to bind specific devices, such as a light fixture and a corresponding switch, together, and professional installers may use the tools to modify a network on a larger scale.

The ZigBee Alliance said that a typical low-power ZigBee device should run on universally available batteries for years, eliminating the need for wiring to a power source and providing unparalleled convenience and flexibility. All ZigBee Alliance certified devices undergo two rigorous certification processes administered by independent laboratories to ensure devices perform to the standard.

http://www.zigbee.org

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IBM & Intel Float "Geneseo" Proposal to Extend PCI Express

IBM and Intel, with support from dozens of other companies, have developed a proposal to enhance PCI Express technology to address the performance requirements of new usage models, such as visualization and extensible markup language (XML).

The "Geneseo" proposal outlines enhancements that will enable faster connectivity between the processor and application accelerators, and improve the range of design options for hardware developers. Applications that will benefit include visualization, such as complex weather modeling; math and physics, such as data intensive financial applications; and content processing, such as the encryption and decryption of communications infrastructure data.

Geneseo is supported by key technology companies including Adaptec, AGEIA Technologies, Altera, Broadcom, Celoxica, Cisco Systems, ClearSpeed Technology, Dell, EMC Corporation, Emulex, HP, Integrated Device Technology, Lecroy, Linux Networx, LSI Logic, Mellanox Technologies, Myricom, NetEffect, Novell, NVIDIA, PLX Technology, PMC-Sierra, QLogic, Sun Microsystems, Synopsys, Tektronix, Xambala Inc., Xilinx Inc. and Xtreme Data.

"Like PCI-X, InfiniBand and PCI Express, this new architecture defines a standards-based approach for improving general purpose server accessibility within new and emerging application areas, such as encryption, visualization, XML and complex mathematical modeling," said Dr. Tom Bradicich, IBM fellow and chief technology officer, System x and BladeCenter Servers.

http://www.intel.com/pressroomhttp://www.ibm.com

• PCI Express technology was first delivered in client and server computing platforms in 2004. Its introduction signaled the transition of computing platform I/O from the parallel bus model that had existed since the PC industry's inception to a high-speed, serial I/O standard.

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Cisco Offers Enterprise Digital Media System

Cisco Systems introduced a new product set to enable enterprises to more easily use business-quality, dynamic video and audio.



The Cisco Digital Media System allows users to create, manage and deliver live and on-demand digital media in various formats to multiple wired or wireless connected devices. It was developed in Cisco's Emerging Markets Technology Group, an internal venture team that focuses on innovation in adjacent markets beyond Cisco's traditional networking audience.

The Cisco Digital Media System comprises three product lines:

• Cisco Digital Media Encoders: The Cisco Digital Media Encoder 2000 is a studio-level appliance with multiple channel support. The Cisco Digital Media Encoder 1000 is a portable encoder that can be used wirelessly for single-channel encoding. Both encoders support live and on-demand encoding in many formats.



• Cisco Digital Media Manager: The Cisco Digital Media Manager manages and publishes digital media and provides tools for users to add and archive media; assign metadata and keywords; preview content and manage workflow; and schedule instant and future deployments. Cisco Digital Media Manager integrates with Cisco Application Networking Services technologies, including Cisco's Application and Content Networking System and wide-area content engines, for business-class digital media deployment across the network.



• Cisco Video Portal: The portal allows users to browse, search and view digital media content. It features a customizable program guide and search functions; personalized playlists and featured lineups; advanced player controls, full-screen playback; and a usage reporting system. It is also fully integrated with the Cisco Digital Media Manager and supports Windows Media, RealPlayer and Flash file formats initially, with QuickTime and MPEG4 following later this year.

http://www.cisco.com

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Intel and DIRECTV Show STB Design

Intel and DIRECTV previewed an upcoming digital set-top box with integrated digital media adapter (DMA) functionality verified to work with Intel Viiv technology. The unit will provide the ability to record and view 200 hours of standard definition content or 50 hours of MPEG 4 high-definition programming.



DIRECTV's new set-top box, the DIRECTV Plus HD DVR, marks the first time a major service provider has endorsed an integrated DMA deployment in the home through a set-top box. A software download, which is expected to be available starting in December, will enable the DMA capabilities.



The design is in the final stages of Intel Viiv technology testing and verification.


http://www.intel.comhttp://www.directv.com

• DirectTV is preparing to launch a Broadband Video by the end of the year that would deliver content-on-demand to a DVR. Hundreds of hours of popular content would be available for download via satellite, and thousands of hours would be available for download via broadband over the Internet. All content would be under DirecTV control.

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Intel's Tera-Flop Chips and Future "Mega Data Centers" with Million-Plus Servers

The coming decade will see the arrival of a new wave of online software services hosted by "mega data centers" with more than a million servers, predicted Intel Senior Fellow and Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner, speaking at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. This new power will allow people to access personal data, media and applications from any high-performance device to play photo-realistic games, share real-time video and do multimedia data mining. The new usage model will challenge the industry to deliver the one trillion floating-point operations-per-second (teraFLOPs) of performance and terabytes of bandwidth.



"The rise of mega data centers and the need for high-performance personal devices will require the industry to innovate at every level, from many-core processors to higher-speed communications between systems, while delivering better security and energy efficiency," said Rattner. "Solving these challenges will bring benefits to all computing devices while creating new markets and opportunities for developers and systems designers."



At the IDF, Intel outlined the first details of its tera-scale research prototype silicon, the world's first programmable TeraFLOP processor. Containing 80 simple cores and operating at 3.1 GHz, the goal of this experimental chip is to test interconnect strategies for rapidly moving terabytes of data from core to core and between cores and memory.



Intel said that unlike existing chip designs where hundreds of millions of transistors are uniquely arranged, this chip's design consists of 80 tiles laid out in an 8x10 block array. Each tile includes a small core, or compute element, with a simple instruction set for processing floating-point data, but is not Intel Architecture compatible. The tile also includes a router connecting the core to an on-chip network that links all the cores to each other and gives them access to memory.



A second major innovation shown at IDF is a 20 megabyte SRAM memory chip that is stacked on and bonded to the processor die. Stacking the die makes possible thousands of interconnects and provides more than a terabyte-per-second of bandwidth between memory and the cores.



Rattner also demonstrated a third major innovation, the recently announced Hybrid Silicon Laser chip developed in collaboration with researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara. With this breakthrough, dozens or maybe hundreds of Hybrid Silicon Lasers could be integrated with other silicon photonic components onto a single silicon chip. This could lead to a terabit-per-second optical link capable of speeding terabytes of data between chips inside computers, between PCs, and between servers inside data centers.

http://www.intel.com/go/terascale

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Jazz Semiconductor to be Acquired by Buy-out Firm

Jazz Semiconductor, an independent wafer foundry primarily focused on specialty CMOS process technologies, has entered into a merger agreement with Acquicor Technology Inc., a publicly traded firm focused on acquiring businesses with technologies that can be positioned advantageously in the market. The all-cash deal is valued at $260 million.



Jazz Semiconductor was initially formed upon the contribution to Jazz of Newport Fab, LLC by Conexant Systems Inc., together with a $52 million cash investment in Jazz by The Carlyle Group for a controlling interest. The Carlyle Group invested in Jazz to facilitate the company's transition from a captive manufacturing facility within Conexant to an independent semiconductor foundry. This transition has largely been completed and has resulted in over 300 design wins with over 95 new customers.



Jazz's initial customers consisted of Conexant and Skyworks Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded company created from the spin-off of Conexant's wireless business and the merger with Alpha Industries in June 2002. Since then, Jazz has successfully expanded and diversified its customer base. These new customers include Freescale Semiconductor, Marvell, Texas Instruments, and RF Micro Devices.



As a result of the acquisition offer, Jazz will drop plans for a pending IPO.



Acquicor is led by industry veteran Gilbert F. Amelio, former chairman and chief executive officer of Apple Computer, Inc. and former chairman and chief executive officer of National Semiconductor Corporation. Mr. Amelio also served as the president of Rockwell Communications Systems, a semiconductor manufacturing division of Rockwell International Corporation, which was later spun-off as Conexant Systems, Inc. In that capacity, Mr. Amelio was responsible for operation of the manufacturing facility that is now operated by Jazz.



As a result of the deal, Conexant expects to gain $100 million for its share of Jazz.

http://www.jazzsemi.com

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JAJAH Promises Free Global Calls from Mobile Phones

JAJAH, a venture-backed VoIP start-up based in Mountain View, California, is unveiling a Mobile Suite that will allow consumers to make free long-distance and global calls directly from their mobile phones.



JAJAH establishes phone-to-phone connections through the Internet for cheap calls. The process is simple: callers type in their own number (landline or mobile) at http://www.jajah.com/ , and insert their desired destination number. JAJAH then rings both parties on their actual phones.



The company said its JAJAH Mobile Suite will allow virtually any mobile phone to make JAJAH calls easily. Starting with Symbian and Java-based J2ME phones and soon with text messaging and smart-phone/browser solutions. JAJAH said it can enable virtually any cell phone, regardless of carrier, manufacturer or existing agreement to make these calls. It works existing mobile phones and plans -- no new number, no new agreement.



To use the service, you first need a JAJAH account, which is free and without obligation.

http://www.jajah.com/

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SIRIUS Introduces Stiletto 100 Portable Satellite Radio

SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced the availability of Stiletto 100, the company's first live portable radio, featuring WiFi, Yahoo! music purchasing software, and the ability to save music for playback later.



The Stiletto 100 allows users to store up to 100 hours of SIRIUS content in three ways:

• Automatically recording hours of 100% commercial-free music from listeners' favorite SIRIUS Satellite Radio channels;



• Scheduling recordings, of up to 6-hours in length, of favorite talk or music shows; and



• Allowing users to save up to 10 hours of individual songs from live SIRIUS Satellite Radio broadcasts by a simple press of the "love" button.

The Wi-Fi capability uses an Internet connection for access to SIRIUS' Internet radio services, which offers all of SIRIUS' 64 commercial free music channels, plus Howard Stern's two channels, Martha Stewart Living Radio, OutQ, and other original talk programming.



The device runs Yahoo! Music Jukebox software. MSRP is $349.99.

http://www.sirius.com/gs/stiletto/index.html

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Nokia N95 Combines GPS with HSDPA

Nokia introduced its N95 , an all-in-one multimedia computer with a 2-way slide concept, integrated GPS functionality, a 5 megapixel camera and support for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) mobile networks.



The 2-way slide concept makes it easier to switch between different modes, going from reading maps to watching a video with a simple slide. A numeric keypad slides out from one end of the device while dedicated media keys slide out from the opposite direction, converting the display into full screen landscape mode.

The integrated GPS application includes maps for more than 100 countries.

Other features include a large 2.6" QVGA 16 million color display, 3D graphics, built-in stereo speakers offering a 3D stereo effect, standard 3.5 mm audio jack, support for compatible microSD cards and mini USB for convenient data transfer.

The Nokia N95 is based on Symbian OS. It is expected to start shipping in volumes during the first quarter of 2007 at an estimated unsubsidized retail price of EUR 550.

http://www.nokia.com

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WiMAX Forum PlugFest Tests Mobile Interoperability

The WiMAX Forum's first public mobile WiMAX Forum PlugFest brought together 21 members of the equipment development and operator communities. The showcase, which hosted by Bechtel Telecommunications at its Training, Demonstration, and Research (TDR) Laboratory in Frederick, Maryland, kicked off on September 24, 2006 and will conclude on October 1.



Participating companies include: Accton Technologies, Adaptix, Airspan, Alcatel, Altair Semiconductor, Alvarion, Beceem Communications, CETECOM- Aeroflex, GCT Semiconductor, Intel, M/A-Com, Motorola, Navini Networks, picoChip, POSDATA, Runcom, Samsung, SEQUANS Communications, SOMA Networks, TTA Labs, Wintegra, and test equipment vendors: CETECOM, Invenova, and Rohde and Schwarz.



The WiMAX Forum is also announcing that an additional PlugFest will be held at the CETECOM testing facility in Malaga, Spain on October 20-24, 2006. The PlugFest at CETECOM will focus on incremental service interoperability tests for WiMAX products designed for fixed and stationary applications.

http://www.wimaxforum.org

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Chelsio's 3rd Gen Adapter ASIC Integrates NIC, iSCSI, RDMA and TOE

Chelsio Communications introduced its third generation Ethernet protocol acceleration engine, integrating NIC, iSCSI, RDMA and TOE with wire virtualization functionality to enable convergence of storage, clustering, and networking applications onto a single unified fabric. The Terminator 3 (T3) ASIC runs full wire-rate 10Gbps at less than 5% CPU utilization. It combines NIC, iSCSI Target and Initiator, industry standard iWARP RDMA, and TOE functionalities with integrated dual 1 GbpE / 10GbpE ports and both native PCI-Express and PCI-X 2.0 / 1.0 (266 / 133 MHz) host bus interfaces.



The T3 ASIC also enables 10 Gbps adapter cards to support remote management and value added features, such as traffic management, line rate traffic classification and filtering, and virtualization on top of the core offload technology. These unique features enable the use of T3 in various embedded applications such as blade servers, video servers, application gateways and performance proxies, server and storage virtualization, SAN arrays, and NAS filers.



At this week's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Chelsio Communications is demonstrating its 10 Gbps iWARP RDMA Ethernet adapter running an unmodified RDMA application over an Ethernet network. The demo features an Oracle Database using the OpenFabrics API to run indistinguishably over InfiniBand or Ethernet. Chelsio's adapter, based on the new Terminator 3 (T3) ASIC, shows the power of the Unified Wire to run InfiniBand and Fibre Channel applications with lower latency, and higher bandwidth, in addition to high performance TCP/IP applications.



Chelsio said this milestone heralds the era of Ethernet as a high performance clustering fabric, requiring no changes to existing cluster applications, while bringing in Ethernet's versatility and ease of use and management.

http://www.chelsio.com

• In June 2006, Chelsio Communications, a start-up offering 10-Gigabit Ethernet server adapters and protocol acceleration technology, announced the first close of a private venture funding round, raising a total of $12 million and adding LSI Logic as a new investor. The company said the new funding provides sufficient capital to reach profitability and will be used to grow the business and ramp production of Chelsio's next generation product line that addresses the growing demand for 10GbE protocol offload.

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Telecom Italia and Sony Pictures Reach VOD Deal

Telecom Italia and Sony Pictures Television International struck a deal to offer on-demand major blockbuster movies on "Alice Home TV", Telecom Italia's TV via Internet service, and on Rosso Alice, Telecom's Italia ADSL portal.



"This agreement marks an important milestone for SPTI as we increase and diversify our distribution platforms in Europe" commented Stuart Baxter, Senior Vice President of European Distribution for SPTI. "The Italian TV landscape is changing dramatically with the emergence of IPTV and the growth of pay TV and we are delighted to be working with one of the key drivers in this market."http://www.telecomitalia.com

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Bay Microsystems Selects IDT's Network Search Accelerator

Bay Microsystems has selected IDT's (Integrated Device Technology) application-optimized network search accelerator as the packet header processing solution of choice for its recently announced Chesapeake Network Processor. The IDT network search accelerator enables high-performance, low-power packet processing for Bay Microsystems' fully- programmable 40G line-rate network processor and traffic manager.



IDT's acceleration chip, which is the first "fourth generation" network search solution commercially available, enables enterprise, and carrier switch and router developers to create highly differentiated systems by accelerating and offloading critical search functions. In turn, this provides more headroom for value-added services, such as variable QoS for video, voice, data and security, access control lists, secure data transactions, and billing applications.



The IDT device performs at the rate of one billion searches per second - an order of magnitude greater performance than previous generation solutions - facilitating Bay's support of enhanced triple play services and future 100G Ethernet networks.



The companies have been engaged since the initial specification phases of their respective devices in order to ensure maximum performance and seamless interoperability of the combined solution. The new IDT network search accelerator works synergistically to offload classification and forwarding lookups, helping Chesapeake realize its 40 Gbps performance.

http://www.IDT.comhttp://www.baymicrosystems.com

• In May 2006, Bay Microsystems introduced the first 40 Gbps programmable network processor based on its "MTM" (Multimedia Traffic Management) technology. The new "Chesapeake" network processor is targeted at a new generation of broadband infrastructure equipment ranging from high density over-subscribed 1GE/10GE Metro Ethernet boxes to high reliability systems up to 40G and above.
  
  
  The device features 125 Gbps of raw processing power and is capable of 122 million packet-per-second sustained performance.
  
  
  
  Bay Microsystems said metro Ethernet solutions designed with Chesapeake are being implemented at price points as low as $40 per GE port and less than $400 per 10GE port. Bay is supporting design starts and accepting sample orders now. Bay also provides a complete hardware and software tool suite facilitating Chesapeake- based network equipment designs.

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Austria's Energie AG Deploys Atrica's Carrier Ethernet

Energie AG Oberoesterreich, the incumbent utility provider in upper Austria, has deployed Atrica's Carrier Ethernet System for its next-generation Layer 2 transport network. Energie AG, which supplies energy, water and disposal to customers throughout Austria, southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, will use the new network to provide customized, high-speed business communications, wholesale, backhaul, aggregation and triple play services throughout its service region.



Atrica worked with DATENTECHNIK, a supplier of professional technical services in Austria, to complete this agreement. DATENTECHNIK, who is a VAR for Atrica, assisted in the deployment of the network and will supply ongoing service and support to Energie AG. Financial terms were not disclosed.



The deployment includes Atrica's full carrier-class Carrier Ethernet product suite, including the A-4100 Carrier Ethernet Aggregation Switch, the A-2100 Carrier Ethernet Edge Switch, and the A-100 Carrier Ethernet Demarcation device as well as the Atrica Service Platform for Ethernet Networks (ASPEN), an integrated service provisioning and management system.

http://www.atrica.comhttp://www.datentechnik.com

• In July, Atrica announced that Sanef Telecoms, a business unit of the Sanef Group which operates motorways across France, has deployed its Carrier Ethernet Systems. Sanef's new state-of-the-art communications infrastructure leverages a 3,855 km fiber optic network that connects the greater Paris region with the major cities of northern and eastern France. Sanef Telecoms is using the network to deliver services to local authorities, public institutions and businesses situated near its motorways in France, and to expand its wholesale services business. Services include high-speed Internet, Ethernet VPNs, video surveillance, video conferencing and IP telephone to business parks and industrial estates. Sanef Telecoms has deployed Atrica's full product suite, including the A-8100 Carrier Ethernet Core Switch, the A-4100 Carrier Ethernet Aggregation Switch and the A-2100 Carrier Ethernet Edge Switch, as well as the Atrica Service Platform for Ethernet Networks (ASPEN), an integrated service provisioning and management system.

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Corrigent Delivers Compact Packet Transport Switch

Corrigent Systems expanded its portfolio of packet transport solutions with a compact fully-redundant and modular Packet Transport Switch (PTS) that measures six rack-units in height.
The new CM-104 PTS includes four horizontal user slots for all the generally-available CM-100 User Interface Modules, including Ethernet, PDH, SONET/SDH, and storage interfaces. It supports 10 Gbps or 2.5 Gbps network-side interfaces, and as the rest of the CM-100 product line, it is based on MPLS, RPR and SONET/SDH to provide a carrier-class packet transport solution.



Also introduced is the CM-21 Packet Transport Switch, which provides an Ethernet access solution for residential and business customers. The CM-21 may be subtended from Corrigent's CM-100 Ethernet user interface modules in ring, linear and tree configurations. It provides twenty-four Gbps of non-blocking switching capacity, making it ideal for bandwidth-intensive, and interactive applications such as IPTV, VoIP and VoD. It supports a full suite of Ethernet E-LINE and E-LAN services as defined by the MEF. The CM-21 product line comes in four different configurations, all in a single rack unit, supporting optical or electrical fast-Ethernet and gigabit-Ethernet interfaces, including redundant AC and DC power options.

http://www.corrigent.com

Corrigent Systems -- An Interview with Ehud Rokach, CEO A pioneer in the development of packet transport technology, Corrigent is now seeing increasing demand globally. CEO Ehud Rokach discusses this market, successes and customer deployments, features and functions, support and sales, applications and future directions.

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Level 3 to Provide Backbone for Germany's EWE TEL

EWE TEL GmbH, one of the largest regional carriers in Germany, has selected Level 3 Communications' to provide network services across Western Europe. Specifically, Level 3 will provide 10GigE LAN PHY wavelength service, a standard enhancement to the Level 3 intercity wavelength service, connecting EWE TEL's main Internet exchange points in Europe. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EWE TEL has approximately 300,000 customers, more than 30,000 business customers, and offers services including mobile, private line, dark fiber and other network solutions.

http://www.level3.com

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Agere Announces Low-Cost Cell Phone Solution with CD-Quality Music

Agere Systems introduced a silicon solution for delivering much more affordable entry-level cell phones that feature compact disc-quality music.



The TrueNTRY X125 platform, which consists of semiconductor system chips, software and a product development kit, provides processing power three times greater than most typical cell phones in use today. In addition, Agere's audio software and hardware electronics circuitry and processing technologies play integral roles in delivering sound quality comparable with industry-leading music players. The solution provides a dedicated applications processor separate from the communications engine, enabling users to receive phone calls or surfing the web while playing music.



The solution is aimed at entry-level mobile phones with bill-of-materials cost as low as $30. At such low cost points, the cell phone market has the potential to accelerate its growth rate substantially, particularly in developing nations such as India and China.



Other key features include:

• integrated speaker amplifier


• integrated CD quality stereo


• integrated polyphonic sound synthesizer


• integrated Universal Serial Bus 2.0 On-the-Go controller with charging


• integrated power management circuits to support all phone peripherals


• integrated battery charging circuits with over voltage protection

"CD-quality music is rapidly becoming a 'must have' application for voice- centric and basic cell phones," said Denis Regimbal, executive vice president of Agere's Mobility Division. "The challenge has been figuring out how to achieve high-quality music and other higher-end, multimedia features on cell phones while making them much more affordable."

To date, Agere has shipped chips for more than 135 million cellular phones.

http://www.agere.com

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Seagate Ships 750GB Hard Drives for DVRs, STBs

Seagate began shipping its highest storage capacity DB35 Series hard drives to DVR and digital entertainment device manufacturers for the next generation of DVRs.



The drives feature Seagate's "DynaPlay" technology, which optimizes the drive's operating parameters. Performance optimization tunes the drive for sequential streaming needed for uninterrupted digital media; drive security tools enhance fair use of digital programming by helping manufacturers implement appropriate digital rights management technologies; power optimization allows the manufacturer more leeway in selecting cost-efficient power supplies. Seagate said these features also help to keep DVR internal temperatures under control for enhanced system reliability.

http://www.seagate.com

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Microsoft Renews Xbox Live Hosting Contract with Limelight

Microsoft has renewed an agreement under which the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment service utilizes Limelight Networks' high-performance content delivery network. Limelight currently provide more than 1,000 heavily trafficked rich-media content library items -- spanning on-demand games and other multimedia content -- to the full network of Xbox Live subscribers. Financial terms were not disclosed.



:The fast-growing library of extremely popular games for Xbox Live -- led by the likes of Halo 2, Gears of War as well as premium sports titles -- has been key to its leadership among online game platforms," said Erik Gabler, senior vice president business development for Limelight Networks.

http://www.llnw.comhttp://www.limelightnetworks.com

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Huawei Completes TR-069 Testing with SupportSoft

Huawei Technologies' customer premises equipment (CPE) devices have successfully passed interoperability testing with the DSL Forum CPE WAN Management protocol. SupportSoft lab testing has validated Huawei's CPE devices and SupportSoft ServiceGateway software interoperate in accordance with the DSL Forum's specification.



Known as TR-069, this specification ensures that Huawei CPE devices can be easily configured, activated and managed from a console in the network, helping service providers to effectively control the costs of deployment and support of a CPE device, as well as tightly manage delivery of multiple services.
http://www.supportsoft.com

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NETGEAR Debuts "Digital Entertainer" Media Adapter

NETGEAR introduced the first Intel "Viiv" technology-verified digital media adapter (DMA), enabling consumers to stream digital media content, applications and services from PCs, network storage devices, USB devices, and the Internet via a home network to TVs and home entertainment systems.



The NETGEAR Digital Entertainer (EVA700)decodes a variety of audio formats (MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC), video formats (MPEG1/2/4, WMV, XviD) and image formats (JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF).



It integrates a 10/100Base-T Ethernet controller, support for 802.11g wireless networking, and a USB 2.0 port for additional connectivity with flash memory, digital cameras, iPod, or other portable music and video players.



The Digital Entertainer also includes RCA connectors for composite and component video outputs with HD video support, stereo RCA audio ports, an S-video port, and a SCART connector for regions that require it.



The Digital Entertainer complies with multiple interoperability standards, including UPnP AV, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), and emerging digital rights management technologies such as DTCP-IP and Microsoft Windows Media DRM 10 for Network Devices. It supports several security standards including WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK.



The NETGEAR Digital Entertainer (EVA700) has an MSRP of $269.





http://www.netgear.com

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Firetide and Axis Partner on Wireless Mesh Video Surveillance

Firetide and Axis Communications announced a strategic partnership to deliver high quality video over wireless mesh networks. Firetide's mesh technology allows security and network professionals to install and operate Axis network cameras, video servers, and video management software, without the expense and physical limitations of wires or cabling. Firetide's mesh technology works indoors and outdoors.



The two companies also announced a joint public safety deployment in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Initially installed in a small, high-crime area downtown, the solution consists of Firetide HotPort outdoor and indoor wireless mesh nodes and AXIS 214 PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) and AXIS 211 fixed cameras. The cameras, connected directly to the HotPort nodes, offer remote viewing and enable 10 days of recorded digital video. Designed for rapid deployment, the entire system was up and running in about an hour. One police cruiser has a mesh node, and plans call for the installation of additional nodes into other cruisers as well.

http://www.firetide.comhttp://www.axis.com

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Formula Telecom Solutions Rebrands as FTS

Formula Telecoms Solutions, a provider of Business Control, billing & CRM for communication and content providers, has changed its name to FTS. The company is based in Herzliya, Israel and its shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

http://www.fts-soft.com

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Motorola Acquires Vertasent for VOD

Motorola has acquired Vertasent, a privately-held developer of VOD resource management solutions, for an undisclosed sums.



Vertasent, which is based in Colmar, Pa., offers an application that manage the elements in a "switched" digital video network. Vertasent's Integrated Resource Management solution is based on industry- standard interfaces and protocols.



Motorola said that together with its existing on-demand hardware solutions, the Vertasent system can offer service providers three key benefits: (1) an open platform for expanding their program offering to potentially include millions of live and on-demand titles; (2) the additional flexibility to more efficiently migrate to an all-digital network architecture; and (3) the ability to stream video programming to any device.



Vertasent's management team and employees are expected to remain based in Colmar, Pa. and be integrated into the Motorola Connected Home Solutions business.

http://www.motorola.com

• Vertasent is headed by Fred Allegrezza, who also previously founded Vivid Technology, another VOD company that later merged with Concurrent Computer Corp.

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Bell Labs Advances 100 Gbps Ethernet-Over-Optical

Bell Labs, the R&D division of Lucent Technologies, announced the first transmission of 10 channels of 107 Gbps) data over 2,000 kilometers of fiber -- a significant enough distance to prove the technology's viability for the majority of networks where 100G Ethernet is a sought-after technology.



The results are being presented in a paper being delivered to the European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Cannes this week.



In this same paper Bell Labs researchers also announced the successful transmission and reception of electronically multiplexed and demultiplexed 107 Gbps traffic using hardware similar to that used in today's 40 Gbps networks. By employing differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) at 107 Gbps, the high-speed electronics and opto-electronics used were required to have a mere 25% speed-up compared to those used in today's 40 Gbps systems.



A prototype of the fully integrated Lithium Niobate DQPSK modulator was provided by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) and Sumitomo Osaka Cement, Inc.



Bell Labs said the use of technology similar to commercially available products is a significant step towards realizing the viability of manufacturing and installing 100 Gbps based networks at a reasonable cost per transmitted information bit.



"Our breakthroughs in both transmission distance and the use of commercially-viable components prove that 100 Gb/s serial is a viable technology for transmitting data traffic in its native Ethernet format," said Martin Zirngibl, director, Bell Labs.

http://www.bell-labs.comhttp://www.lucent.com

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FCC Establishes Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

The FCC voted to establish a new Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, consolidating all its public safety, national security, and disaster management policy making, planning, and outreach activities into a single department. This Bureau will provide a single central hub for the development of policies and rules to promote reliable communications for public safety, national security, and disaster management.



One of the Commission's strategic goals is to ensure that public safety, health, defense, and emergency personnel, as well as all consumers in need, have reliable communications during emergencies and crises.

http://www.fcc.gov

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Orange Launches its "Unique" Fixed Mobile Convergence

Orange announced its "Unique" or "Unik" fixed mobile convergence service featuring a single handset and offering unlimited calls to landlines and Orange mobiles from the home. Benefits include one phone number, one address book, one answer phone and one bill from Orange. At home, the mobile handset connects in WiFi mode to the Orange Livebox and calls are routed via the Internet. Outside the home, the phone works over the Orange GSM network.



The "Unique" service will be available to Orange customers in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland. Each market will tailor the service for local conditions.



Other key features of the Orange service include:

• Call initiated at home remain covered by the unlimited offer rather than count as part of the mobile service minutes.



• Each home can have up to six Unique phones, with three people able to make calls or surf the net at the same time.



• For UK customers, initially, there are three handsets to choose from - the Motorola A910, Nokia 6136 and the Samsung P200 - with more due to launch in 2007.



• Pricing will start from £50 a month including broadband package and free phone



• In France, "unik" requires an Orange broadband subscription and will initially be a limited edition, reserved for the first 100,000 customers and will be available with a mobile plan in 2 options:
  
  
  
  Unlimited calls 24/7 from the mobile connected to the Livebox to fixed lines in France: EUR10/month
  
  
  Unlimited calls 24/7 from the mobile connected to the Livebox to Orange mobiles and fixed lines in France: EUR 22/month

Didier Lombard, President and Director General of the France Télécom group, said: "The commercial launch of Unique phone announces the advent of a new generation of telephones. Today, people use the phone in a different way. With broadband, the use of Internet, mobiles, Voice over IP, and high definition technologies for sound and vision, our communication habits are changing very rapidly. Unique phone re-invents the telephone, by unifying fixed and mobile worlds."http://www.orange.com

• In July 2006, Samsung launched its Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) phone (model: SGH-P200) for the Italian market. The handset allows free switching between cellular networks such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE and wireless LAN networks (WiFi).

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Intelsat Reports Anomaly on Satellite over Africa

Intelsat's IS-802 satellite, located at 33 degrees E, experienced a sudden and unexpected anomaly on September 21. The satellite, launched in 1997, furnishes telecommunications services to customers on the African continent and the Indian Ocean Region.



Intelsat said its control center is communicating with the satellite and the satellite is under control and accepting commands. The company is making alternative capacity available to its IS-802 customers, in accordance with existing contingency plans.



Intelsat also said it did not yet know if there is a connection between this event and the Intelsat 804 satellite failure which occurred in January 2005. Both satellites were manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

http://www.intelsat.com

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Cavalier to Acquire Talk America for $251 Million

Cavalier Telephone & TV agreed to acquire Talk America, a leading CLEC, for $251 million. The price of $8.10 share represents a 23% premium over Talk America's closing price as of Thursday, September 21st, 2006.



On a pro forma basis, the combined companies are projecting over $750M in revenue, $130M in adjusted EBITDA and $50M in free cash flow (EBITDA minus CAPEX and interest expense) in 2006. The combined companies currently serve over 550,000 residential customers, 85,000 business customers and employ over 2,000 people. After the acquisition is completed, Cavalier will serve customers in 6 of the top 20 metropolitan services areas (MSAs) in the country, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia and suburban Washington, DC.



"We believe that this acquisition combines the strengths of two of the nation's most robust competitive carriers. Talk's state-of-the-art back office support system and Cavalier's advanced network architecture will help provide our combined customers the newest and most advanced telecommunications' solutions in the marketplace. Since our inception, Cavalier's focus has been to develop facilities-based networks capable of delivering the highest quality voice and data products. Cavalier's networking capability can now be leveraged with Talk's core Michigan, Ohio and Southeastern markets. Additionally, the cost savings that we will be able to capture and revenue synergies that we will generate from this acquisition, will provide substantial accretive value to the business," commented Cavalier's CEO Brad Evans.



Following closure of the deal, Evans will become Executive Chairman of Cavalier and Talk America's CEO, Ed Meyercord, will assume the role of CEO for Cavalier.

http://www.cavtel.comhttp://www.talk.com

• Earlier this year, Cavalier Telephone launched an MPEG4 over ADSL2+ IPTV service in Richmond, Virginia. The deployment uses Tut Systems' Astria content processor,
  Amino's MPEG 4 set-top box and SecureMedia's Encryptonite System CA/DRM software.



• In January 2006, Cavalier Telephone completed its acquisition of Elantic Telecom (formerly known as Dominion Telecom), which operates an 8,200 route mile fiber network connecting major cities on the Eastern portion of the United States. For the past 18 months, Cavalier has been providing management, engineering and operating support to Elantic through a management services agreement.



• The Elantic fiber network connects over 52 cities in a self-healing fiber ring design. The network reaches west from Chicago, and North thru New York, expands down the East coast and South to Wilmington, North Carolina. The network also includes former Telergy assets that were deployed throughout many metropolitan areas in New York state. The largest concentration of fiber is in Virginia where fiber rings encircle much of the state. Over $1 billion dollars was invested to create the Elantic footprint.



• Talk America recently began promoting a service bundle featuring broadband with 6 Mbps download speeds and a nationwide unlimited voice service at a price below $70 for business customers and $50 for residential customers.

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SingTel Appoints Chua Sock Koong as CEO

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced the appointment of Ms Chua Sock Koong as Group CEO, effective 01-Apr-2007.



Ms Chua, who joined SingTel in 1989, has had 17 years of experience with the SingTel Group. She currently holds the positions of CEO (International) and Group CFO. Her International portfolio comprises the key drivers of SingTel's international business, with responsibility for the Group's strategic investments, as well as its IT business arm, NCS. In addition to her International portfolio, Ms Chua is also responsible for overseeing Group Information Systems, Group Finance and Corporate Affairs (which spans group strategy, treasury, tax, legal, investor relations and corporate communications).

http://www.singtel.com

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Siemens Supplies Turnkey IPTV to T-Com Croatia

Siemens Communications has supplied a turn-key IPTV implementation to Deutsche Telekom's T-Com subsidiary in Croatia.



The Croatian T-Com IPTV service, which is launching this month, provides users with an electronic program guide to select from 13 Croatian and around 40 international TV channels. A large number of movies are also available through video on demand.



The network is using MPEG4 encoding.



Siemens provided the entire IPTV system, including the management systems for all the applications, digital rights management, and the integration of different manufacturers' set-top boxes. The middleware, which enables communication between the network and the set-top box, is provided by the Siemens subsidiary Myrio.

http://www.siemens.com/communications

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Ericsson Delivers 3G/HSPA in Indonesia

Indonesia's PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL) has selected Ericsson to build its 3G/WCDMA network based on High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA). Ericsson will supply its Mobile Softswitch Solution for nationwide deployment, as well as business consulting services. Ericsson will also supply radio access products and be responsible for the performance and improvement of the radio network, as well as providing operations & maintenance services. The 3G network deployment includes Java, Bali and Lombok, with a focus on six major cities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.ericsson.com

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Ericsson to upgrade T-Com's DWDM Network in Germany

Deutsche Telekom's T-Com division selected Ericsson to upgrade its metro and regional DWDM transport networks in Germany. Under the contract, Ericsson will deliver its Multihaul WDM solution, the Marconi-branded MHL 3000, to Deutsche Telekom's broadband/fixed network business unit, T-Com. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Ericsson said its MHL 3000 Metro offers the combination of low deployment cost and the ability to scale with minimal investment for the various topologies, traffic growth and new service demands inherent in the metro. T-Com started to use WDM platforms as a long-haul solution in 2004 and it has now decided to extend it to metropolitan and regional networks, using MHL 3000 Metro.



Ericsson also said this contract highlights the benefits of the Marconi acquisition.

http://www.ericsson.com

• In January 2005, T-Com, the fixed-network unit of Deutsche Telekom, awarded a three-year contract to Marconi to build Europe's first 40 Gbps optical network. Marconi will supply T-Com with its Multihaul 3000 DWDM transmission platform and its ServiceOn Optical network management system. The Multihaul 3000 will act as an expressway carrying high-bandwidth traffic between switching nodes in the network, with a capacity of 3.2 Tbps (terabits per second) on each optical fiber pair.

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Unconditional FCC Approval of AT&T + BellSouth Deal Urged by Chairman

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is urging his fellow commissioners to support an unconditional approval of the historic AT&T + BellSouth mergers, according to press reports circulated on Friday. A vote on the issue is expect at the FCC's upcoming meeting on October 16.

http://www.fcc.govIn October 2005, the FCC voted to approve the acquisition of AT&T by SBC Communications and of MCI by Verizon Communications but imposed a set of conditions aimed at alleviating anticompetitive concerns. These included the following:

• The applicants committed not to seek an increase in state-approved rates for unbundled network elements (UNEs) for two years (except for rates that are subject to current appeals in specific states).



• The applicants committed to a one-time recalculation to exclude fiber-based collocation arrangements established by AT&T in SBC's region and MCI in Verizon's region in identifying wire centers in which SBC or Verizon claims there is no impairment pursuant to the UNE triggers in the Triennial Review Remand Order so that dedicated transport and/or high-capacity loops need not be unbundled.



• The applicants committed to implement a “Service Quality Measurement Plan,�? which will provide the Commission with quarterly performance results for interstate special access services. This commitment will terminate the earlier of 30 months and 45 days after the beginning of the first full quarter following the closing of the mergers, or the effective date of a Commission order adopting general special access performance measurement requirements.



• The applicants committed, for 30 months, not to increase the rates paid by existing in-region customers of AT&T in SBC's region or MCI in Verizon's region for wholesale DS1 and DS3 local private line services.
  SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI committed, for a period of 30 months, not to provide special access services to themselves, their interexchange affiliates, or each other or their affiliates, that are not generally available to other similarly situated customers.



• The applicants committed that for a period of 30 months, before they provide new or modified contract tariffed service to their own section 272(a) affiliate(s), they will certify to the Commission that they provide service pursuant to those contract tariffs to unaffiliated customers other than each other or their wireline affiliates.



• The applicants committed for a period of 30 months not to increase rates set forth in SBC's and Verizon's interstate tariffs for special access services, including contract tariffs, that they provide in their in-region territory that are on file with the Commission on the Merger Closing Dates.



• The applicants committed, for a period of three years, to maintain settlement-free peering arrangements with at least as many providers of Internet backbone services as they did in combination on the Merger Closing Dates.



• The applicants committed for a period of two years to post their peering policies on publicly accessible websites. During this two-year period, the applicants will post any revisions to their peering policies on a timely basis as they occur.



• SBC/AT&T acknowledged: (1) that the merger does not change carrier of last resort obligations imposed by the State of Alaska on interexchange services provided by Alascom; (2) that the merger will not alter statutory and regulatory geographic rate averaging and rate integration rules that apply on the merger closing date to Alascom; and (3) after the merger closing date, they will operate Alascom as a distinct, though not structurally separate, corporate entity.



• The applicants committed to provide, within 12 months of the Merger Closing Dates, DSL service to in-region customers without requiring them to also purchase circuit-switched voice telephone service. The companies will make the offering for two years from the time it is made available in a particular state.



• The applicants committed for a period of two years to conduct business in a way that comports with the Commission's Internet policy statement issued in September.

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