Deutsche Telekom Outlines Seven-Point Strategy

Deutsche Telekom's Supervisory Board has given the go-ahead for changes in DT's management structure, in line with a new, 7-point program called "Telekom 2010."



T-Systems CEO Lothar Pauly will head the areas Networks, IT and Purchasing worldwide, while T-Mobile CEO Rene Obermann will be responsible for over-the-counter sales in Germany. Kai-Uwe Ricke will assume responsibility for advertising budgets, media planning and media coordination along with global brand-management.



The Telekom 2010 Plan



1. Germany -- DT aims to safeguard current earnings on a sustained basis, thereby securing its future in the long run. It plans to defend market share with attractive package deals and excellent service.



2. Europe -- In the European markets, the objective is to sustainably increase revenue market share by 2010.



3. USA -- DT seeks to maximize its revenue market share and develop T-Mobile USA into the Group's largest business unit in the consumer area.



4. Business customers -- In the European business customer market, Deutsche Telekom intends to achieve a market position among the Top 3 across all customer segments.



5. Innovation -- DT is concentrating on IPTV, mobile Internet and ICT services.



6. Service -- DT aims to achieve a first-done rate of around 80 percent. In 2007, the company will continue existing programs, such as integrating its customer database and CRM.



7. Efficiency -- DT seeks to become the strongest company in terms of earnings in the European industry by the year 2010. Measures in this area are IP-based infrastructure, IT architecture as well as enhanced sales and marketing efficiency.

http://www.telekom.de

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Huawei to Supply UMTS for Uruguay's ANTEL

Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones ("ANTEL"), the leading telecom operator in Uruguay has selected Huawei Technologies for its UMTS network. Huawei is supplying the HSDPA-based end-to-end UMTS solution for ANTEL. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Huawei's UMTS solution encompasses its HSDPA-based series NodeB, compatible mobile Softswitch core network for GSM/GPRS/3GPP R99/3GPP R4, open intelligent network and mobile data platform, uniform network management solution and operating support system.



Huawei said it has now secured 31 UMTS/HSDPA commercial contracts to date.

http://www.huawei.comhttp://www.antel.com.uy

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Amino Announces Internet-TV Set-top Box

Amino has entered the Internet TV market with a new set-top box designed for Web-based video services.



The AmiNET125i is a multi-codec unit, designed to deliver Windows Media 9 and MPEG-4 video streams to a TV. The product features a low-cost digital signal processor (DSP) supporting a range of decoders which are widespread in the world of Internet-based content. There is also a host processor to ensure the user experience is on a par with that of a PC-based web portal.



In anticipation of DRM issues, the AmiNET125i supports Microsoft Windows Media Digital Rights Management 10 (WM DRM10). The unit will also integrate an embedded HTML 4 browser providing JavaScript. This allows content to be resized to fit the larger TV screen, regardless of its dimensions, ensuring the best possible user experience.



Amino is partnering with Narrowstep, a provider of IP-delivered video content, to bring true Internet TV to the living room.

http://www.aminocom.com

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BT Anticipates First Live Customer Upgrades to 21CN in November

BT announced details of the first steps it will take to transition customers in the UK to its 21st century network (21CN). Starting in late November this year, BT, working closely with other communications providers, will begin the planned upgrade of customers and their voice and broadband services, in Cardiff and the surrounding area.



The first stage of the new network will be delivered in three phases, increasing in scale with each phase. Phase one, to run from November this year until March 2007, will see the upgrade of voice services to some 10 percent of customer lines in Cardiff and the surrounding area. Phase two, from April to mid May 2007, will deliver a further 10 percent of upgraded lines.



By the end of Phase 3 in the summer of 2007, BT will have upgraded all 350,000 customer lines. 90,000 of these lines also support broadband and ISDN2 and ISDN30 services. Private circuit-based services, which typically support business-critical corporate applications, will not be migrated on to the new network until much later in the programme.



At the end of the final stage of the Cardiff upgrade, BT and other communications providers will begin an in-depth review before moving to the planned national upgrade of all remaining customers across the UK, some 30 million lines supported from over 5,500 telephone exchanges, from January 2008.http:///www.btplc.com

• In July 2006, BT announced that its trial 21st Century Network (21CN) was currently handling more than 625,000 live customer calls per day and more than 23 million customer calls had been completed to date. The trial involves the use of an IP link to carry voice calls between two major network nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich.
  
  
  
  
  BT said the success of its trial represents a significant step towards the creation of its next generation network. It builds on the previous trial which ran from October to December 2005 where fourteen million calls were successfully carried on the IP network and voice quality monitoring carried out.
  
  
  
  Multi service access nodes or MSANs from Huawei and Fujitsu are already in use, carrying voice services onto the core network from trial customer lines. This equipment is being installed at 18 exchanges in South East London, Kent and East Anglia.
  
  
  
  For this stage of the trial, BT has also newly introduced Cisco's media gateway; Ericsson's call server and a Cisco Catalyst Switch. Other key technology components are Alcatel's LAN switch and Siemens/Juniper routers used in a previous 21CN voice trial.

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Working Prototype of Prototype of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Receiver Developed

STMicroelectronics, in cooperation with Kenwood and the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer IIS), presented a fully working prototype of a "Digital Radio Mondiale" (DRM) receiver at last week's IFA Consumer Electronics trade fair in Berlin. The prototype could pave the way to the development of a low-power Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for DRM applications such as fixed and portable radios, car receivers, software receivers, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).



Standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Digital Radio Mondiale is a universal, open standard digital radio system with FM-like sound quality available to markets worldwide for long-wave (LW), medium-wave (MW), and short-wave (SW) frequencies. In addition to providing substantially better audio quality and interference-free reception, the DRM system benefits listeners with new multimedia content such as track title, artist, and station name, which can be displayed on DRM receivers to enhance the listening experience.



Unlike digital radio systems that require a new frequency allocation, DRM just uses more efficiently the existing Amplitude Modulation (AM) broadcast frequency bands (below 30MHz). The DRM signal fits into the AM broadcast-band plan and could be carried by many existing AM transmitters.

http://www.drm.org

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Broadcom's Antitrust Complaint Against QUALCOMM Dismissed

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey has dismissed Broadcom's antitrust complaint against QUALCOMM in its entirety. Originally filed in July of 2005 and later amended, the complaint alleged a variety of purported antitrust violations by QUALCOMM, each of which was rejected by the District Court.



"QUALCOMM is pleased by the Court's thoughtful and comprehensive ruling dismissing all of Broadcom's claims," said Steve Altman, president, QUALCOMM. "Our business model is built upon making our innovations available to the entire wireless industry through the widespread licensing of our intellectual property and the creation and supply of advanced chipsets and software solutions.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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RadiSys Completes Convedia Acquisition

RadiSys Corporation completed its previously-announced acquisition of Convedia, a leading supplier of IP media processing technologies and IP media server products.




RadiSys paid $105 million in cash at closing. RadiSys could pay up to an additional $10 million in cash determined by a contingent formula tied to achieving certain profitability goals during the twelve-month period beginning October 1, 2006.

http://www.radisys.comhttp://www.convedia.com

• Convedia's family of media servers enable fixed, mobile and cable service providers to deliver processed media streams for IMS and pre-IMS services. Convedia media servers also support media-rich applications and services on converged enterprise networks. In addition, Convedia's eXMP technology delivers a common set of IP media processing features, control and management interfaces, and can be deployed on third-party Linux-based servers, embedded in third-party proprietary platforms such as routers, switches, and gateways and deployed on purpose-built, highly-optimized IP Media Server platforms. Convedia is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.



• RadiSys is a leading provider of advanced embedded solutions for the communications networking and commercial systems markets. The company helps OEMs bring better products to market faster and more economically. Its products include embedded boards, platforms and systems. RadiSys is headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon.

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Global Crossing to Provide VoIP for UK's Inuk Networks

Global Crossing was awarded a three-year contract to offer VoIP as part of a triple-play offering being launched by Inuk Networks later this year aimed initially at the UK university student population, which totals over three million. The service will include broadband Internet access, IPTV and VoIP. Inuk's "Freewire" promises broadcast-quality television over IP networks that have a multi-casting capability. The Freewire bundle includes VoIP and Internet services.



Since July 2005, Inuk has been collaborating with UKERNA, operators of the JANET education and research network in the UK, to use this high-capacity IP infrastructure to transport both IPTV and VoIP services. Through a single connection, students will be able to receive mainstream and premium television content, as well as low-cost telephony to keep in touch with fellow students, university staff and the world at large.



Students will be able to make SIP calls from phones or "soft-phones" on PCs. Calls to other students will be free and Global Crossing will terminate fixed-line and wireless outbound calls to domestic and international destinations via its global VoIP network. External callers will be able to make calls at highly competitive rates using a single 0844 local rate number. Incoming traffic also will be routed over Global Crossing's VoIP network.

http://www.globalcrossing.comhttp://www.inuknetworks.com

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Alcatel to acquire Nortel's UMTS Radio Access Business

Alcatel agreed to acquire Nortel's UMTS radio access business (UTRAN) and related assets for US$320 million -- making Alcatel one of the world's largest suppliers of UMTS radio access solutions.



The proposed sale includes Nortel's UMTS access product portfolio made up of the Radio Network Controller and Node B products and OAM solutions, related services and associated assets. It is anticipated that the significant majority of employees of Nortel's UMTS access business will transfer to Alcatel.



The deal adds an additional fourteen UMTS customers to the Alcatel customer list. The company would then have a global footprint that amounts to one in four UMTS operators. This would include strong relationships with 12 of the top 15 mobile service providers worldwide and all of the top 15 service providers worldwide.



Alcatel said the acquisition would also significantly strengthened its research and development capabilities, especially in HSxPA and 3G Long-Term Evolution (3G LTE), fully leveraging Alcatel's expertise in multi-standard radio solutions and Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology.



"We are clearly poised to become a strong number 3 in UMTS and HSxPA," said Marc Rouanne, President of Alcatel's mobile communications activities. "Combined with our strong GSM/EDGE position, our early leadership in WiMAX and our strong commitment to LTE, this acquisition will add further momentum to Alcatel's broadband wireless access strategy. Through the contemplated merger with Lucent, the combined company will also enjoy a leading position in CDMA EV-DO, including a clear commitment to Rev C, thus offering the most comprehensive and innovative wireless access portfolio in the industry."



Nortel said the deal would simplify its business and strategically focus its investments for leadership in key markets -- next-generation mobility, enterprise transformation, and services and applications. As part of its ongoing mobility business, Nortel will continue to develop and support solutions for the evolution of GSM access and core, GSM-R, GPRS and EDGE technologies as well as CDMA access and core and UMTS core.



"Nortel is sharpening its focus on the markets in which we intend to lead. Our UMTS access business lacks the scale and momentum needed to become profitable," said Mike Zafirovski, president and chief executive officer, Nortel.

http://www.alcatel.comhttp://www.nortel.com

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