NYT: TV When -- and Where -- You Want It

There is growing evidence that Web-based video downloads and mobile TV services are beginning to change the viewing habits of the general public, according to The Washington Post. Two key data points cited in the article:Apple's iTunes store has sold more than 12 million video downloads since the service was launched in October.MobiTV is now serving over 500,000 subscribers through its various mobile network partners.http://www.convergedigest....

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EarthLink Reaches 1.6 Million Broadband Subscribers

EarthLink ended the fourth quarter with 1.2 million PeoplePC Online subscribers, 2.3 million premium narrowband subscribers, 1.6 million broadband subscribers and 127,000 web hosting accounts.Overall, the average monthly churn rate decreased to 4.4 percent during the fourth quarter, compared to the 4.7 percent average monthly churn rate experienced in the fourth quarter of 2004 and in the third quarter of 2005.http://www.earthlink....

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UMTS Customers Worldwide Tops 50 Million

UMTS, the third generation evolution for the GSM family of technologies, now has over 50 million subscribers worldwide, according to 3G Americas and Informa Telecoms & Media.UMTS (WCDMA) is now in service by 99 operators in 45 countries, up from 61 operators offering commercial UMTS service at the end of 2004. Another 59 networks are either in deployment or in pre-commercial or planned stages. In addition, eight operators have been awarded 3G UMTS licenses and there are 72 potential licenses yet to be awarded.Additionally, 3G Americas said...

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BT Adds 700,000 Broadband Lines in Latest Quarter

BT reported 0.7 million broadband additions in its latest fiscal quarter. BT Retail's share was 31 percent. The number of BT Wholesale connections now standing at more than seven million. Some additional highlights for the quarter:Revenue was 4,946 million Pounds Sterling, up 8 percent (3 percent excluding acquisitions)New wave revenue of 1,607 million pounds, up 42 percent, now represents one third of totalEBITDA before specific items(1) and leaver costs of 1,404 million pounds, down 8 million poundsProfit before taxation, specific items(1)...

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Lucent Signs Colibria and PCTEL as IMS Partners

Lucent Technologies announced two partnership agreements with Colibria and PCTEL for its IMS-based solution, enabling the delivery of instant messages and multimedia messages to wireless devices, and the use of a single Wi-Fi/cellular dual mode phone for public and enterprise networks services.The Colibria Companion Instant Messaging and Presence Server is a carrier-grade platform, delivering Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)-certified Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS) and Session Initiation Protocol/IP Multimedia Subsystem support. Colibria's...

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SkypeWeb Allows Users to Track Presence Across Other Sites

Skype rolled out a new Web presence feature that allows people to see Skype users' online status and call or chat with them from any Web site as well as Skype people from each site with the click of a mouse. The feature is being integrated into many web sites, including social networking sites (Bebo), online classifieds, online communities, etc.http://www.skype....

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NexTone Cites Customer Gains in 2005

NexTone Communications announced a record business year for 2005, including growing its carrier and enterprise customer base and regional sales support worldwide.The company said it increased its carrier customer base by 50 percent, bringing the global customer count to 400. In addition, NexTone increased its traction in the enterprise VoIP market where our session management technologies are used to interconnect islands of VoIP.Some other major milestones for NexTone in 2005 included hiring Malik Khan as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, receiving...

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IPWireless Signs Partners for its TDtv

IPWireless announced a mobile TV partnership today with Vidiator, a leading provider of mobile multimedia streaming, to jointly develop mobile broadcasting solutions based on the 3GPP Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard. The companies will work together to integrate Vidiator's new Broadcast Multicast Service Center, or BMSC, into IPWireless' recently announced MBMS-based TDtv solution. The implementation will be used as part of a trial of IPWireless' TDtv mobile TV solution. TDtv, launched last month by IPWireless, allows 3G operators...

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Search Engines Deliver 5.1 Billion Searches in U.S. in Dec 2005, Google at 49% Share

The total number of searches in the U.S. conducted across approximately 60 search engines grew 55 percent year-over-year to nearly 5.1 billion searches in December 2005, according to new figures from Nielsen/NetRatings. Google experienced a five-point gain in search share rankings during this period.While the number of searches conducted online swelled, the number of people connecting to the Internet rose a mere three percent to 207 million people in the U.S."The double-digit increase in online search activity marks a significant milestone in...

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CSTV Streams 166,000 Sports Videos in 24 Hours

CSTV Networks (now part of CBS), a leading digital and cable programming company dedicated to college sports, reached one-day performance record for streaming videos on February 1st.Over the 24-hour period, CSTV.com streamed over 166,000 live and on-demand video clips, carrying more than 750 hours of content including press conferences and video highlights of top recruits. One event, a live press conference from Notre Dame, had over 7,700 hits, representing more than 10% of total live streaming visitors.CSTV Networks also announced a new podcasting...

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JDSU Launches Agile Optical Networks Strategy

JDSU launched its Agile Optical Networks (AON) strategic initiative. AONs are dynamically reconfigurable networks enabled by a new set of ROADM, tunable transponder, agile amplifiers and other optical communications technologies. The goal of a dynamically reconfigurable DWDM network is to accelerate triple-play service deployment and enable advanced wavelength applications at significantly reduced cost. JDSU's portfolio of AON-enabling solutions includes Agile Optical Switches, Agile Transmission Modules and Agile Optical Amplifiers.The line-up...

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Ditech Supplies Voice Processing Platform for Orascom

Orascom Telecom, a leading mobile telecommunications carrier in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, has selected Ditech Communications' Voice Quality Assurance (VQA) embedded on its QVP platform to deliver improved voice quality to subscribers across its mobile network. Mobilink, a leading GSM operator in Pakistan, and Djezzy, a leading GSM operator in Algeria, are the initial OT networks to deploy Ditech's VQA. These deployments will represent Ditech's largest installations of VQA in these regions. The deployments upgrade portions of two...

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UTStarcom Puts Q4 Revenues of $685.5 Million, Gross Margins of 12.1%

UTStarcom reported preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter of 2005 and also announced an investigation surrounding the circumstances of a specific contract in India signed in 2002. Net sales for Q4 were $685.5 million, above the company's guidance. Fourth quarter sales include $40 million in revenue related to the Softbank BB IPTV contract. Consolidated gross profit margin for the fourth quarter was 12.1%. The net loss for the fourth quarter was $20.6 million, or ($0.17) per share, inclusive of all one-time charges and gains. The...

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Occam Networks Posts First Profitable Quarter

Occam Networks reported its first-ever profitable quarter. The company reported Q4 2005 revenue of $12.9 million, setting its sixth consecutive new revenue record. Fourth quarter 2005 revenues represented an increase of ninety-nine percent over the fourth quarter of 2004 and 21 percent sequentially over the third quarter of 2005. Annual revenue for 2005 was $39.2 million, more than doubling annual revenue for 2004. During the quarter gross margins also improved substantially as a result of supply chain improvements and product cost reductions....

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European DVR Deployments Reach 2.5 Million

By the end of 2005, over 2.6 million households in Europe were using a DVR, according to a study by IMS Research. By 2010, this market is forecast to reach over 41 million households. Growth is expected to come primarily from operator deployments of integrated DVRs, although DTT and FTA satellite DVRs will make a significant contribution to the total market. Before 2005, the only successful DVR story in Europe consisted of Sky+ DVR deployments in the UK. This is now beginning to change. In 2005, various pay-TV operators, including Sky Italia, Telewest,...

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Bell Labs and mPhase Develop Nano-based Battery Prototype

Bell Labs and mPhase Technologies reported a major milestone in their joint effort to develop a nano-based "smart" battery. The researchers believe the technology could lead to a new generation of portable, programmable power with far longer shelf life than existing battery technology.In a test conducted at Bell Labs' Murray Hill, N.J. facility, the development team demonstrated that the first fully assembled prototype device could generate enough power on demand to light a light-emitting diode (LED). The prototype is based on a novel nanostructured...

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Level 3 to Add 60 x 10 Gbps Transatlantic Capacity

Level 3 Communications will purchase 300 Gigabits (30 x 10 Gbps) of transatlantic capacity on the Apollo Submarine Cable System. Level 3 now and has immediate access to the capacity. Level 3 also has the right to purchase 300 Gigabits of additional capacity, taking the contracted capacity up to a total of 600 Gigabits (60 x 10 Gbps).Level 3 said it continues to experience rapid customer growth on its network. The Level 3 global IP backbone network currently carries over 3.7 petabytes of IP traffic every day. IP traffic carried across Level 3's...

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MobiTV Offers Olympics TV Coverage for Mobile Users

MobiTV and NBC Olympics will offer daily highlights of the XX Olympic Winter Games during the course of the games -- February 10th through February 26th to mobile users in the U.S. The Olympic Winter Games highlights will be available through a dedicated channel on the MobiTV service -- "NBC Mobile: NBC Olympics." The channel will be updated daily with highlights of the most exciting and crucial competitions.http://www.mobitv....

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FCC Backs A-la-Carte Video Programming Model

The FCC issued a new report that concludes consumers could be better off if the industry adopted an "a la carte" model for delivery of video services instead of the current system of packaged content and service tiers. The new report reaches different conclusion from the Commission's 2004 research, which the FCC now says relied upon unrealistic assumptions and presented biased analysis.The first report predicted that if a-la-carte were implemented the average consumer would face a bill increase of ranging from 14% to 30%. The new study finds...

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