Thursday, September 21, 2006

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

BT Offers Fee-based Broadband Customer Support

BT's introduced a set of fee-based, broadband customer support services. Home visits by a BT engineer to install broadband will cost £50.00 per visit. In addition, anyone with a BT line can request a Home IT Visit for assistance with any IT-related problem or situation for £75.00 for the first hour and £25 for each subsequent half-hour.BT said it now has a team of up to 2,000 specially trained engineers. The Home IT Visit service follows the launch in March of BT Home IT Advisor - a service which gives customers a single point of contact with...

Global Crossing Opens Facility in Monterrey, Mexico

Global Crossing opened of a new Point-of-Presence (PoP) facility in Monterrey, Mexico providing direct access to its MPLS-based IP network.Global Crossing also has facilities in Mexico City and other locations across Central and South America. Global Crossing's fiber-optic network in Mexico runs through a terrestrial system connecting Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mazatlan. Through its subsea system in the Pacific, Global Crossing connects facilities in Tijuana to the rest of its global network. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the...

Foundry to Restate Financials Due to Stock Options

Following its internal investigation, Foundry Networks has concluded that actual accounting measurement dates for certain stock option grants awarded during the years 2000-2003 differ from recorded grant dates for such awards. Therefore, Foundry expects to restate historical financial statements to record additional non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expense related to past option grants. The company could not say the amount of such charges, although it believes the charges will be material. http://www.foundrynetworks....

Westell Discontinues Development of Verizon One CPE

Westell Technologies will cease joint development of the Verizon One product with Verizon Communications. The company said it will complete its orders for Verizon One over the next month, and the companies will each pursue independent development and marketing strategies for their respective multimedia terminal product programs. Westell continues as Verizon's primary supplier of DSL modems and gateway products. http://www.westell.comVerizon One is...