Sweden's Bredbandsbolaget Rolls Out FTTH over Cisco IP NGN

Bredbandsbolaget (B2), a leading broadband communication provider in Sweden with more than 375,000 residential and business subscribers, is delivering "triple-play" services, offering bidirectional broadband access, IPTV and IP telephony services, to new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) customers over a Cisco IP Next Generation Network (IP NGN) featuring the Cisco ME 3400 Series Ethernet Access Switch.

The Cisco ME 3400 Series is an access switch family optimized for the FTTH market, providing both Ethernet-to-the-home (ETTH) triple-play services and Ethernet-to-the-business (ETTB) VPN services.

http://www.cisco.com

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Boingo Partners with Chunghwa Telecom

Boingo Wireless signed a roaming agreement with Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent telecom operator in Taiwan. The partnership expands the worldwide Boingo Roaming System by nearly 900 hot spots. Boingo now provides access to over 30,000 locations from more than 130 leading Wi-Fi operators into one worldwide network. http://www.boingo.com

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AT&T Reports Solid Growth, Adds 561,000 DSL Users

AT&T reported strong first-quarter results that reflect advances in wireless, broadband and business services, along with solid progress in merger integration. On a reported basis, AT&T's first-quarter earnings per diluted share were $0.37, up 37.0 percent from $0.27 in the first quarter of 2005. First-quarter earnings were $0.52 per diluted share, up 52.9 percent versus first-quarter 2005 earnings per diluted share of $0.34, before Cingular merger-related costs. AT&T's reported first-quarter 2006 net income was $1.4 billion, versus $885 million in the year-earlier first quarter.



Revenues totaled $15.8 billion, up 54.5 percent from $10.2 billion in the first quarter of 2005. Operating expenses totaled $13.6 billion on a reported basis and $13.1 billion before merger-related costs. Operating expenses in the first quarter of 2005 totaled $8.7 billion.



Some highlights for the quarter:

• In wireline operations, AT&T reported its best growth over the past five quarters in regional small/medium-business revenues, up 7.0 percent, driven by strength in transport and IP-based data services.



• Consumer revenue was up 2.1 percent, driven by strong consumer demand for bundled and broadband services, offsetting declines in retail access lines.



• Total consumer connections in service -- retail lines, DSL lines and video connections -- increased by 224,000 in the quarter. Regional retail consumer lines declined by 267,000 in the first quarter, generally in line with recent quarters.



• There was a smaller decline in enterprise revenues than in the preceding quarter -- 6.9 percent versus a 9.0 percent decline in this category for the fourth quarter of 2005.



• AT&T's data revenues, which include results from several customer categories, totaled $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2006, up 2.6 percent versus pro forma results for the year-earlier quarter.



• Wireline data growth was led by a 14.0 percent increase in IP data revenues, which include DSL Internet, dedicated Internet access, virtual private networks and hosting services.



• There was a total net gain of 511,000 regional DSL lines during the quarter to reach more than 7.4 million in service.



• More than 50% of new business DSL services are delivered at 1.5 Mbps and higher



• DSL penetration of consumer primary lines reached 27.7% , compared to 19.6% a year earlier.



• Data transport revenues were up 1.6 percent, and revenues from packet-switched data, which includes Frame Relay and ATM services, were down 12.5 percent, in line with industry trends.



• Data services now make 46% of total enterprise revenues.



• AT&T's first-quarter wireline voice revenues totaled $8.7 billion, representing a decline of 8.7 percent versus pro forma results for the first quarter of 2005, primarily driven by declines in the national mass market category.



• SBC/AT&T merger integration is moving forward on plan. Detailed network transition plans are in place, and front-line enterprise sales force consolidation is complete. The company said it is on track to achieve previously announced merger synergies of $600 million to $800 million this year, growing to approximately $2 billion next year.



• The integrated network buildout begin in April. Customer migration begins in June. The company expects to have all legacy SBC mass-market LD traffic migrated by Q4.

http://www.att.com

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Nokia N93 Integrates MPEG-4 Video Capture at 30 fps

Nokia unveiled the "N93" -- a mobile device that features a 3.2 megapixel camera, MPEG-4 VGA video capture at 30 frames per second,
internal memory of up to 50 MB, hot swap capability to miniSD card of up to 2 GB, and designed to work on WLAN, 3G (WCDMA 2100 MHz), EDGE and GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) networks.



The device is pitched as a multimedia computer with true digital camcorder performance. It can connected directly to a TV or images and video can be uploaded to a wireless network, or connected with other Bluetooth devices.



The Nokia N93 includes a stereo FM radio and a digital music player. The Nokia N93, which is based on S60 3rd Edition software on Symbian OS, is expected to become commercially available in July 2006 with an estimated, unsubsidized sales price of approximately 550 EURs.

http://www.nokia.com

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Yahoo! Go for TV Enters Beta Testing

Yahoo! released a public beta test of a new Yahoo! Go for TV application that delivers photos, movie trailers, music from "LAUNCHcast", music videos and other content on a TV screen. Yahoo! Go for TV, which is a free download, also provides DVR-like recording.



The recommended hardware is a broadband-connected PC running Windows XP, a TV tuner card (for using the DVR functionality), a USB remote control, and a TV.http://go.connect.yahoo.com/go/tv/index

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Enterasys Appoints New CEO

Enterasys Networks announced the appointment of Michael Fabiaschi as President and CEO, replacing Mark Aslett, who left the company to pursue other interests. Fabiaschi joins Enterasys from CA (formerly Computer Associates), where he was a senior vice president responsible for launching its efforts in the telecommunications vertical and for its fault and performance management software business. Prior to CA, Fabiaschi was President and CEO of Aprisma, a fault and performance management company that was spun out from Enterasys in 2002 and bought by The Gores Group.

http://www.enterasys.com

• Earlier this year, The Gores Group and Tennenbaum Capital Partners acquired Enterasys for approximately $386 million. Enterasys develops and sells connectivity and security solutions for enterprise customers. The Enterasys product portfolio includes multilayer switches, core routers, WAN routers, wireless LANs, network management, and intrusion defense systems. Following the closing of the transaction, the company's current senior management team will continue to lead Enterasys and its corporate headquarters will remain in Andover, Massachusetts.

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Lucent Posts revenues of $2.14 billion

Lucent Technologies reported net income (GAAP) of $181 million, or 4 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $104 million, or 2 cents per share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, and net income of $267 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.



The company reported revenues of $2.14 billion in the quarter, an increase of 4 percent sequentially and a decrease of 8 percent from the year-ago quarter. The company's revenues were $2.05 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 and $2.34 billion in the year-ago quarter.



Gross margin was 43 percent and operating margin was 12 percent.



On a sequential basis, revenues in the United States increased 11 percent to $1.5 billion, and revenues outside the United States decreased 9 percent to $642 million. Compared with the year-ago quarter, U.S. revenues increased by 3 percent and revenues outside the United States decreased by 28 percent, with approximately two-thirds of that decline related to the aforementioned challenges in China and India.



"Although our North American revenues for the first half of fiscal 2006 are slightly below the year-ago period, the fundamentals of the business remain solid. We expect wireless deployments in North America to build through the remainder of the year, with an acceleration in the fourth fiscal quarter around UMTS and EVDO Rev A deployments," said Lucent Technologies Chairman and CEO Patricia Russo. "We continue to expect growth across our portfolio in the Caribbean and Latin America region during the second half of the fiscal year, and we expect a ramp-up in network transformation projects in Europe as well. Offsetting these favorable trends, however, we expect a $500 million revenue decline in China and India for this fiscal year, driven primarily by declines in PHS sales and delays in the issuance of 3G licenses in China, and to a lesser extent our selective participation in highly competitive market opportunities in India," concluded Russo.

http://www.lucent.com

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Japan's Sentivision Selects Motorola's IPTV Set-tops

Sentivision has selected the Motorola VIP series IPTV set-top platform for providing video service to Japanese subscribers. Sentivision becomes the first service provider outside of North America to deploy the Motorola VIP set-top. Financial terms were not disclosed.



For this service deployment, Sentivision will port its advanced middleware suite to the Motorola set-top platform.

http://www.motorola.com

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Canada's Rogers Reports Subscriber Growth

Rogers Communications reported that revenues increased by 28.4% in Q1 over last year, with growth coming from all three of its operating units, including 20.1% growth at Rogers Wireless, 53.2% growth at Rogers Cable and Telecom and 9.5% growth at Rogers Media.



Highlights of the first quarter of 2006 include the following:

• Postpaid voice and data subscriber growth continued to be strong at Wireless, where quarterly net additions of 89,600 subscribers reflected a modest increase from the strong postpaid subscriber growth reported in the first quarter of 2005. Postpaid subscriber levels are up 14.8% year-over-year while total postpaid and prepaid subscribers are up 11.4%.



• Wireless postpaid subscriber monthly churn continued to decrease, down 43 basis points to 1.47% versus 1.90% in the first quarter of 2005, while postpaid monthly ARPU increased 5.1% in the quarter to $62.20. This increase reflects a 72.0% lift in data revenues, which represented 10.3% of total network revenue in the quarter as well as continued growth in roaming and optional services.



• Wireless announced that it has begun deploying UMTS/HSDPA equipment.



• Cable and Telecom ended the quarter with nearly one-half million Home Phone subscriber lines, with net additions of 48,700 cable telephony subscriber lines and 11,400 circuit-switched telephony subscriber lines since December 31, 2005. Cable and Telecom continued to expand the availability of its Home Phone voice-over-cable telephony service through the first quarter of 2006, with service now available to approximately 85% of the homes in its cable service areas.



• Cable and Telecom added 50,000 net digital cable subscribers (households) representing a 35.9% increase over the growth experienced during the first quarter of 2005 of 36,800, while residential high-speed Internet subscribers grew by 40,300 in this quarter to a total of 1,176,500.



• At the end of the quarter, Rogers launched a broadband fixed wireless service in 20 cities across Canada as the first offering enabled by its Inukshuk joint venture. This service gives customers wireless portable access to Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet services at speeds up to 1.5 Mbps.

http://www.rogers.com

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AudioCodes Partners with CompTek in Russia

AudioCodes will supply its media gateways to the Russian market via a partnership with CompTek, a leading Russian distributor of networking and telecommunications equipment. AudioCodes said its range of products, including its carrier class media gateways and servers, has successfully been interoperability-tested, evaluated and deployed in a variety of VoIP networks in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

http://www.audiocodes.com

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Nokia Teams with CommTel and Soul in Australia

CommTel Network Solutions Australia, a value added network integrator, will supply Nokia' broadband DSL solutions and related services to the Soul group of companies all operating in Australia. Deliveries commenced in January 2006 and the system will be up and running during April 2006.



The deployment includes the Nokia D500 IP Multi Service Access Node, which can deliver access in excess of 24 Mbps, IPTV, and VoIP in conjunction with Soul's SIP-based softswitch.



Soul is the new brand name for the SPT group of companies which includes Soul Pattinson Telecommunications, B Digital, Digiplus, Kooee and SPTCom (formerly Comindico) all operating in Australia. The Soul network is a fully converged video, voice and data IP-based network with distributed switching throughout regional Australia. These capabilities enable Soul to deliver broadband products and services, whether voice, video or data, through to the "last mile" on its own fully converged network throughout metropolitan, regional and rural Australia.

http://www.nokia.com

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First Avenue Networks Selects Huawei for SONET Core

First Avenue Networks, which provides U.S. carriers with wireless backhaul and access services, selected Huawei's SONET platform for its core network. The company will initially utilize Huawei's OptiX Metro 800 system for wireless backhaul applications, providing wireless carriers with T1, T3, 10/100 Carrier Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet services to meet the current and evolving needs of broadband wireless networks. First Avenue will also use OptiX Metro 800 to deliver wireless access services to wholesale service providers focused on enterprise and government markets.



Huawei's OptiX Metro SONET product line includes the M800 OC3/12 (future OC48), M1600 OC48/192 Compact and M3600 Core OC48/192 elements. This range of products share common interfaces.

http://www.huawei.com

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Intel Invests in Zensys for Wireless Home Control

Intel has made an investment in Zensys, a start-up based in Menlo Park, California that is developing mesh networking technology for wireless home control and automation. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Zensys' Z-Wave is a low-cost, interoperable RF-based wireless mesh networking technology that is already available in wireless home control and automation products from leading consumer brands. The technology can be used for digital control of a wide array of home devices including lighting, appliances, HVAC, entertainment, access and security systems and more.



The news follows closely on the heels of Intel and Monster joining the Z-Wave Alliance as principal members. The Z-Wave Alliance is a consortium of 125+ companies - including Linksys, Zensys, Leviton, Logitech, Intermatic, Wayne Dalton, Danfoss and Universal Electronics - that are actively developing Z-Wave-enabled products and technologies for residential home control applications.

http://www.zen-sys.com

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Limelight Deploys MRV for Content Delivery Network

Limelight Networks has deployed MRV's LambdaDriver for its newly built, 10 Gigabit Ethernet Silicon Valley network supporting content delivery services from its Silicon Valley location. Limelight has virtualized its Silicon Valley content delivery location with a fiber optic ring that links multiple data centers throughout the region as an ultra-scalable delivery location not bound by the power, space or networking constraints of any individual data center.



The high-speed data network links facilities in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland using MRV's LambdaDriver DWDM transport system fitted with the company's 10 Gbps transponders. Limelight is currently deploying a 60 Gbps ring around the region, with the ability to spontaneously expand the network to 800 Gbps without the need for additional dark fiber. In addition, Limelight has standardized on MRV LambdaDriver systems for all new 10 Gbps DWDM networks domestically and internationally. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.mrv.com

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Extreme Networks Reports Revenue of $85.5 Million

Extreme Networks reported quarterly net revenue of $85.5 million, compared to $91.9 million for the same period last year. Net income was $2.8 million, or $0.02 per diluted share on a GAAP basis. Revenues in the U.S. were $33.9 million in the quarter, representing 40 percent of total consolidated revenue, down from $40.7 million or 44.3 percent of revenue in the same quarter a year ago. International revenues were $51.6 million or 60 percent of total revenues compared to $51.2 million or 55.7 percent of total revenues, a year earlier.



"Our improved profitability compared to last year is a bright spot in our results," said Gordon L. Stitt, CEO of Extreme Networks.

http://www.extremenetworks.com

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Kevin Martin Renominated for FCC Post

President Bush nominated Kevin J. Martin for reappointment to the Federal Communications Commission for a term of five years from July 1, 2006.

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http://www.fcc.gov

• In March 2005, President Bush nominated Kevin J. Martin to serve as the next FCC Chairman, replacing Michael K. Powell. Martin did not need to be confirmed by the Senate because he had served as FCC Commissioner since 2001.

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