German Regulator Opens Consultation on Bitstream Regulatory Order

Germany's Federal Network Agency has invited comments on its regulatory order for ATM bitstream access. The Agency is planning to commit Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG) to offer a transparent, non-discriminatory wholesale product, the charges for which will be subject to ex post price controls."Now that we have established DTAG's dominance in this wholesale market, we want to oblige it to provide its competitors with a broadband access wholesale product whose service levels the competitors can decide for themselves. Differentiation will thus be possible...

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Yahoo! Implements Global IP Sound for Voice

Yahoo! is using Global IP Sound's (GIPS') VoiceEngine Multimedia in its Yahoo! Messenger with Voice IM client. The GIPS VoiceEngine Multimedia software handles voice quality issues such as jitter, delay, packet loss and acoustic echo. http://www.globalipsound.comThe GIPS one-end and end-to-end voice quality enhancement software provides capabilities including adaptive jitter buffer and error concealment, high-quality wideband and narrow band codecs, echo cancellers and speech enhancers. The technology provides "better than PSTN voice quality...

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Orange France's TV Portal Uses Bluestreak Platform

Orange France, the top wireless network operator in France, will launch the Orange World TV portal using Bluestreak's MachBlueT for Mobile platform. The new mobile TV portal delivers 52 channels across 3G and EDGE and allows end users to access daily program guides for broadcast and exclusive mobile TV channels via their mobile phones.This is the second rich-media portal deployed by Orange that uses MachBlueT technology; the first service, the Orange League 1 soccer portal, was launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February.The MachBlueT...

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U.S. Telecom Transport Revenue Reaches $310 Billion in 2005

Total U.S. telecommunications transport services revenue reached $310.8 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $324.7 billion in 2006, according to the newly released TIA's 2006 Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast. Total spending on transport services is expected to grow at a 4.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $372.7 billion by 2009. The Market Review and Forecast is an annual study published by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Loss of landline subscribers has hurt the local exchange market, a...

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Siemens Supplies HSDPA for Vodafone Germany

Siemens has supplied High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) technology for Vodafone's German network using the W-CDMA standard. As Vodafone recently announced, the mobile broadband service is being launched under the name "UMTS Broadband," initially in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich, at speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps. There are also plans to roll out HSDPA technology quickly in all 1,800 German towns and cities supplied with W-CDMA.http://www.siemens.com/communicati...

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Tut & Verimatrix Partner on IPTV

MBO Video is deploying an IPTV service utilizing Tut Systems' Astria content processor (CP) and the Verimatrix Content Authority Systems (VCAS). Tut Systems' Astria Content Processor (CP) platform serves as the core video processing system for MBO Video's 192 channel MPEG-2 digital headend, currently serving 10 video service providers throughout the states of Oklahoma and Missouri. MBO Video's recent announcement to add MPEG-4 AVC video to their headend will yield better picture quality while significantly lowering the bandwidth required for...

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Asia-Netcom Adds 40 Gbps Lit Capacity to Cable System

Asia Netcom completed a major network upgrade that will bring a 50% increase in lit capacity to its pan-Asia submarine cable systems, EAC.As part of the upgrade, 10 Gbps was lit up on each of EAC's four fiber pairs, effectively adding 40 Gbps of new bandwidth to EAC's existing 80 Gbps. The EAC system spans 19,500 km within Asia connecting Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and soon, China.The additional capacity will support Asia Netcom's extensive service and product portfolio, which includes MPLS-based transport and network...

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WiMAX Forum Issues New Certifications

The WiMAX Forum issued it latest set of product certifications based on the defined Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) system profile operating in the 3.5GHz frequency spectrum. The WiMAX Forum member companies and products to complete certification and interoperability testing include Airspan's MacroMAX base station and EasyST subscriber station solution, Axxcelera's ExcelMax base station, Sequans Communications' SQN1010-RD subscriber station solution, Siemens' WayMAX@vantage base station and subscriber station solutions, and Wavesat's miniMAX...

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Ofcom Proposes to Deregulate BT retail Phone Cost Controls

Ofcom, the official telecom regulator in the UK, proposed that all phone companies, including BT Group plc, be free to set their own prices and compete for customers in future. The changes, which are subject to public consultation, would take effect from 1 August 2006.Ofcom noted that the proposal comes 22 years after price controls were first imposed when the UK telecoms market was liberalized. Ofcom said new technology and the growth of competition have transformed the phone market; average call prices have fallen by more than 50% since 1996....

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France Telecom Launches Wholesale Voice Service

Starting next month, France Telecom will begin providing a wholesale voice service.France Telecom said it will provide third-party competitors with a complete telephone service, including the line subscription, most of the services related to the subscription and all calls, irrespective of the destination, including special services (audiotel, directory enquiries, etc.). The wholesale telephone line subscription offering will be available for analog access from 1st April 2006; it will be extended to individual and grouped ISDN access as well as...

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Danish Utility Selects Wave7 for Ethernet PON

Sydfyns Elforsyning (SEF), a major utility company based in Svendborg, Denmark, announced a major FTTP PON network that is currently the largest such system installed in northern Europe. Wave7 Optics and SEF announced further that 1,200 residential customers have been connected to the network and are receiving a suite of voice, RF video and data services. SEF expects to have more than 5,000 customers "on net" by the end of this year. Eltel Networks is managing the project as the equipment installer and integrator.http://www.wave7optics....

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ECI Telecom Announces Mini MSPP

ECI Telecom introduced its BroadGate-20B, a miniature optical service access platform that functions as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for enterprises, utility companies and cellular operators. The BroadGate-20B is the entry-level unit featuring a scalable architecture with the ability to add more interfaces and new services as needed. It can be used to deliver a mix of Ethernet, SDH/SONET, PDH and PCM services with QoS and Service Level Agreement (SLA) assurances. It uses ECI's LightSoft network management system to provide full remote management...

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Continuous Computing Expands in India

Continuous Computing Corporation opened a newly relocated Research and Development facility in Bangalore, India. The company originally opened an India office in July 2004 with just ten employees and now currently employs over 80 software and hardware developers.Continuous Computing provides "Network Service-Ready Platforms" that enable telecom equipment manufacturers to rapidly deploy converged communications.http://www.ccpu....

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AT&T Announces Five-Year SONET Contract in Wisconsin

AT&T was awarded a five-year optical and data-networking services contract with Advanced Healthcare, the largest physician-led, multispecialty clinic group in southeastern Wisconsin. AT&T will expand Advanced Healthcare's bandwidth through implementation of a fully redundant SONET ring to six locations throughout the state. With the additional bandwidth, Advanced Healthcare will be able to consolidate large amounts of voice, data and video traffic from its various locations to a single, fail-safe platform. The network will also support...

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FTTH Council Endorses Video Franchise Reform

The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council endorsed legislation in four states (Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and New Jersey) aimed at streamlining local cable TV franchising rules. The proposed reform would make it easier for new entrants into video delivery services. Recent video franchise reform bill have passed in Texas, Indiana and Virginia.http://www.ftthcouncil....

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US LEC Advances its MPLS Rollout

US LEC Corp. announced the expansion of its MPLS VPN service to the cities and surrounding areas of Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, completing one of the final stages of the company's MPLS VPN roll-out.The service can be scaled from fractional T1 speeds to DS3 (45 Mbs) to Ethernet Local Loop. US LEC offers both metro and wide-area networking options that allow customers to connect locally within a metro area or across large geographic distances.In addition to Memphis and Nashville, the company now provides...

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UTStarcom Appoints David King Senior VP Sales/Marketing

UTStarcom announced the appointment of David King as its new senior vice president of sales and marketing, responsible for all aspects of the company's global sales and marketing efforts outside of Mainland China. King will report to Mike Sophie, chief operating officer (COO), and will lead the development, implementation and execution of sales and marketing strategies. Most recently, King was the CEO at Visual Wireless where he secured business with top-tier operators from around the world. Prior to that, as vice president and general manager...

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