Sprint Reaffirms Commitment to Nextel iDEN National Network

Sprint reiterated its continuing commitment to the Nextel iDEN National Network ,saying it intends to retain and rejuvenate this important asset. As part of that commitment, Sprint and Motorola have extended their long-term partnership to provide enhanced network and infrastructure support, including software upgrades, and to provide the best products and services to customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.br"The iDEN network is a key differentiator for Sprint, as it allows us to offer products and services no other carrier in the industry...

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BT Trims Guidance Citing Weakness in Global Business Services

BT Group plc trimmed its guidance for the second quarter (ending 30-September-2008) of its 2008/9 financial year and for the full year. For the second quarter, the company now expects to report that group revenue that will be ahead of expectations but that EBITDA and earnings per share will be slightly below expectations. BT Retail, BT Wholesale, Openreach and Other activities will deliver results in line with or ahead of expectations.However,...

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FCC Allows GlobalStar / Open Range to Offer MSS/WiMAX

The FCC granted in part a request by Globalstar to modify its authority for an ancillary terrestrial component ("ATC") to be operated in conjunction with the Globalstar Mobile Satellite Service ("MSS") system. Specifically, the FCC modified Globalstar's license to permit use of the WiMAX air interface protocol. Globalstar and its spectrum lessee, Open Range Communications, are now permitted to commence deployment of a broadband service consistent...

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Nortel Offers Energy Saving Incentive to Data Center Customers

Nortel introduced a promotion program that offers discounts based on three times the estimated annual energy consumption costs of a new Nortel data network solution to its customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EMEA). With the promotion, Nortel is providing a price discount equivalent to three times the estimated current yearly power bill of the data network configuration purchased.The discount value is calculated using the "Nortel Energy Efficiency Calculator". The energy efficiency tool was created by Nortel to enable decision makers...

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Cisco Boosts Investment in VMware

Cisco will acquire an increased equity stake in VMware. Specifically, the company will purchase 500,000 shares of VMware Class A common stock currently held by Intel Corporation for approximately $13.3M. Upon closing of the investment, Cisco will own approximately 1.7% percent of VMware's total outstanding common stock.Cisco said its purchase is intended to build on the strong inter-company collaboration between Cisco and VMware in the adoption of the companies' virtualization products and solutions that address the intersection of virtualization...

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NTT DOCOMO Outlines Plans for Next Gen Services

NTT DOCOMO outlined a wide-ranging plan to be implemented between 2008 and 2012 that will transform the company from being primarily a mobile voice operator in a mature market into a provider of a advanced services that enrich people's lives. After a period of rapid expansion, the Japanese mobile communications market has entered a mature phase. Now that total subscriptions exceed 100 million, it is difficult to expect further growth on a significant...

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One Minute Video: What is a WDM PON?

One Minute Video presented by Dr. Paul Morkel -- What is E-NNI?Jargon Busterhttp://www.ntt.co...

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France Telecom Sees Revenue Growth Exceeding GDP in Key Markets

France Telecom Group revenue of EUR 39.9 billion for the first nine months of 2008, up 3.4% YoY on a comparable basis. Third-quarter 2008 revenue grew 2.3% on a comparable basis. The company said its performance comes in the context of the difficult general economic environment. Other than Spain and some emerging markets, the Group saw no impact on its operations from the slowdown in the economy. It's aim is to continue outpacing GDP in its...

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Qwest to Report Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Qwest Communications has joined The Climate Registry as a founding member, and in so doing has committed to calculate, independently verify and publicly report its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across North America.The Climate Registry is a nonprofit organization that seeks to provides data on greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Registry establishes consistent, transparent standards throughout North America for businesses and governments to calculate,...

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Alcatel-Lucent Reports Q3 Revenue of EUR 4.065 Billion, Down 6.6% YoY

Alcatel-Lucent's revenues for Q3 2008 declined 6.6% year-over-year and decreased 0.9% sequentially to Euro 4.065 billion. At constant exchange rate, revenues declined 2.2% year-over-year and 2.9% sequentially. At constant exchange rate and on a year-over-year basis, Carrier revenues declined 9.4%, Enterprise revenues grew 6.3% and Services revenues grew 16.6%. The adjusted gross margin was 32.5% of revenues, or 33.0% excluding a currency hedging...

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Chunghwa Telecom Reports Q3 Revenue Decline or 1.5%

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent operator in Taiwan, reported a 3% revenue growth for the first nine months of 2008, but a revenue decline of 1.5% in Q3 2008. Chunghwa's total revenue for the first nine months of 2008 reached NT$151.9 billion, of which 28.4% was from fixed-line services, 35.9% was from mobile services, 24.5% was from Internet and data services and the remainder 11.2% was from other revenues, including handset sales from SENAO and...

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STMicroelectronics and Arkados to Develop 200 Mbps HomePlug AV Chip

Arkados and STMicroelectronics reached an agreement to develop and manufacture a 200 Mbps HomePlug AV wideband powerline modem System-on-Chip (SoC). The chip, which is planned for availability mid-next year, is being designed to power applications ranging from simple Ethernet-to-powerline bridges to full-featured products as wide ranging as HDTV distribution, digital set-top boxes, IPTV, whole-house audio, networked digital picture frames, surveillance systems, and also industrial and commercial applications, especially targeting the Smart Grid...

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Motorola Sees Separation its Businesses beyond 2009

Motorola reported Q3 2008 sales of $7.5 billion and a GAAP net loss from continuing operations of $397 million, or a loss of $0.18 per share (including special charges of $0.23 per share).Greg Brown, Motorola's co-chief executive officer and CEO of Broadband Mobility Solutions, said, "The company had positive operating cash flow of $180 million and ended the quarter with a total cash* position of $7.6 billion. Our balance sheet and liquidity position...

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European Commission Opens Investigation into Telekomunikacja Polska

The European Commission has opened an anti-trust investigation of Telekomunikacja Polska S.A., the incumbent telecom operator in Poland. EC officials conducted an unannounced inspection at the company's premises on 23-September-2008. The European Commission said it suspects that Telekomunikacja Polska may have infringed EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission officials were accompanied by their counterparts...

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"The Quilt" Research Network Extends Contract with Level 3

The Quilt, a coalition of regional network organizations representing many top U.S. research and education institutions, has renewed its multi-year contract with Level 3 Communications. The framework agreement gives Quilt members access to Level 3's Tier 1 Internet backbones in North America and Europe.Most Quilt members are non-profit regional network aggregators that provide advanced network services in support of research and education. http://www.level3.comhttp://www.thequilt.n...

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TiVo and Netflix Announce Movie Streaming Deal

TiVo announced a deal that will give users of its TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs the ability to have thousands of movies and TV episodes instantly streamed from Netflix. The two companies said they are initiating a test of the new capability in several thousand U.S. households and expect it to be broadly available in early December. Users will need to subscribe to both Netflix and TiVO service.http://www.tivo.comhttp://www.netflix....

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AT&T Provides iPhone and BlackBerry Customers with Complementary Wi-Fi

AT&T will begin offering free Wi-Fi service to current and new customers of select Blackberry smartphones and Apple iPhones. AT&T's Wi-Fi network includes 17,000 hot spots in Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and thousands of other locations.http://www.att....

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AT&T, Lenovo and Ericsson Partner on Embedded Broadband in Notebook PCs

AT&T , Lenovo and Ericsson announced an alliance to embedded 3G modems in certain ThinkPad notebook PCs in the U.S. The collaboration significantly lowers the price premium usually associated with built-in mobile broadband technology by up to $150 per PC from previous pricing.Under the agreement, AT&T's 3G service is available on a full range of Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks, which come factory-equipped with Ericsson built-in mobile broadband modules. All three of the ThinkPad SL notebooks and all notebooks in Lenovo's T and X series are...

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Verizon Cites FiOS Milestones for Q3

Verizon said customer growth accelerated for its FiOS services in the third quarter 2008 as the company's telecommunications group introduced new features and expanded the fiber network's footprint. Some milestones for the quarter:Launched FiOS TV in four new markets -- New York City, Washington state, Harrisburg, Pa., and western New York. Overall, Verizon made FiOS TV service available for sale to a record 1.2 million additional premises in the...

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Verizon Wins Defense Contracts Valued at Up to $1.12 billion

Verizon Business announced two contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) valued t up to $1.12 billion. The services will be provided under the federal Networx contracting program.Under one agreement valued at as much as $752 million, DITCO, the contracting arm of the department's Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), selected Verizon Business in a Networx Fair Opportunity...

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Department of Justice Requires Divestitures in Verizon's Acquisition of Alltel

The U.S. Department of Justice will require Verizon Communications Corp. to divest assets in 100 areas in 22 states in order to proceed with its $28 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. The Department said that the transaction as originally proposed would have substantially lessened competition to the detriment of consumers of mobile wireless telecommunications services in those areas, and likely would result in higher prices, lower quality and reduced...

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One Minute Video: What is E-NNI?

One Minute Video presented by Jim Theodoras -- What is E-NNI?Jargon Bus...

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Qwest Reports Mixed Q3 Results, Announces 1,200 Job Cuts

Qwest Communications reported Q3 net revenue of $3.4 billion, a decline of 2 percent year over year but flat with the second quarter of 2008. Q3 net income was $151 million, or $0.09 per diluted share. This compares to net income of $2.1 billion, or $1.08 per diluted share, during the same period in 2007. The year-ago period results included a one-time tax benefit of $2.1 billion and a $353 million charge for legal matters. The current quarter net income includes a charge of $63 million for severance and a lease restructuring benefit of $33 million....

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MetaSwitch and Data Connection Report Record Revenue

Data Connection Ltd (DCL) announced record revenues of $118.1 million for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2008, an increase of 15.4% year-over-year, making the company profitable for the 27th consecutive year. The company's MetaSwitch division grew 22% compared to the same period last year, and now accounts for 78% of the total revenue. Growth was driven both by larger Tier 1 carrier deployments and continued expansion of the customer base, to a total of more than 400 service provider and 250 OEM customers."Clearly we and our customers are subject...

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GMI 2008 Tests Six NGN Scenarios

GMI 2008 -- the MultiService Forum's (MSF) massive biennial interoperability event spanning three continents -- is currently underway with twenty-two vendor participants and some 225 devices under test. This year's event reflects the growing role of IMS in enabling network service integration. A particular emphasis on emerging IPTV applications has been underlined by the co-operation between the MSF and the Alliance for Telecommunications Solutions...

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ShoreTel's Revenue Rises to $35.9 million

ShoreTel, which supplies Unified Communications (UC) solutions, reported revenue for its first quarter of fiscal year 2009 of $35.9 million, an increase of 12 percent over the first quarter of fiscal year 2008 and a three percent increase over the prior quarter. GAAP net loss was $2.2 million, or $(0.05) per share, compared to GAAP net income of $2.6 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, reported in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. GAAP net loss in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 included $2.7 million in stock- based compensation expenses,...

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Comcast Delivers Solid Q3 Results, Revenue hits $8.5 Billion

Comcast 's revenue increased 10% in the third quarter of 2008 to $8.5 billion, while Operating Cash Flow increased 10% to $3.2 billion and Operating Income increased 20% to $1.7 billion. This growth was due to solid operating results at Comcast Cable and in the Programming segment, as well as the positive impact of cable acquisitions.Some highlights for Q3: VideoBasic video subscribers declined 147,000 or 0.6% sequentially during the third quarter.Added...

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Motorola Opens Broadband Wireless Lab in Malaysia

Motorola has set up a new MMU-Motorola Wireless Broadband Technology Lab at Multimedia University ("MMU"), Cyberjaya, providing a conducive wireless network environment for students and faculty members to conduct applied research on the latest wireless broadband technologies. The Wireless Broadband Technology Lab is the first of its kind in Malaysia and supports MMU's goal to "Enable the Knowledge Society through WiMAX".Motorola is providing its MOTOwi4 wireless broadband equipment, including Canopy, MOTOMESHTM Duo, wi4 WiMAX access points and...

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Australia's AAPT Selects Alcatel-Lucent to Merge Networks

AAPT, one of Australia's three largest telecommunications companies and part of the Telecom New Zealand Group, has selected Alcatel-Lucent's IP/MPLS Terabit Service Router Platform. AAPT, which merged with PowerTel in 2007, is consolidating its two network platforms increasing capacity and enhancing the overall flexibility of the network. This project is expected to be completed in May 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its IP/MPLS Terabit Service Routing portfolio including the 7450 Ethernet Service Switch...

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Japan's WILLCOM Selects Alcatel-Lucent IP Routers

WILLCOM, which provides mobile communications using PHS (Personal Handyphone System) to some 4.6 million subscribers (as of end of January 2008), has selected Alcatel-Lucent's IP service router portfolio as the foundation for its wireless IP network. The Alcatel-Lucent service routers will enable WILLCOM to support increased traffic growth and new advanced service features required for the commercial launch of their next-generation wireless services, eXtended Global Platform (XGP) in October 2009.Alcatel-Lucent deployed its 7750 and 7710 Service...

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Cox Adds Caller ID-to-the-TV

Cox, which ranks as the third largest cable operator (6.2 million customers) and the eighth largest phone company in the U.S. with more than 3 million residential and business telephone customers, introduced a Caller ID to the TV capability. TV Caller ID is currently offered in Oklahoma City, Okla., at no additional cost to Cox customers who subscribe to Cox Digital Telephone with Caller ID and Cox Digital Cable. The capability will be expanded to additional markets in 2009.http://www.cox....

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Bell Canada's Q3 Revenue Rises 1.8%

Bell Canada's Q3 revenue rose 1.8% to $3.8 billion while EBITDA was up 2.4%. Bell's operating income was $451 million, or 34% lower than last year due to restructuring and other charges of $320 million this quarter. These charges include amounts for workforce reduction initiatives, the proposed privatization transaction, and the relocation of employees and the closing of real estate facilities. Adjusted for these charges, Bell's operating income grew by 3.6%.Some highlights:The Bell Wireless segment had 113,000 postpaid net activations, or 49%...

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Alcatel-Lucent Names Robert Vrij as Head of the Americas Region

Alcatel-Lucent has appointed Robert Vrij as head of the Americas Region. Vrij will report to Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen and will be responsible for overseeing all of the company's sales and operations in North America and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America.) He will be a member of the company's management committee and his office will be in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the headquarters for the Americas region.Most recently, Vrij was president and chief executive officer of Openwave Systems where he reduced total expenses in excess of 30%, improved...

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AT&T Installs Energy-Saving Software on its Own PCs

AT&T is installing NightWatchman PC power management software from 1E on 310,000 desktop computers across its domestic operations to help improve energy efficiency. AT&T said that powering down its corporate PCs during non-work hours would save more than 135 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year and eliminate 123,941 tons of carbon dioxide emissions -- equivalent to the electricity required to power 14,892 homes.http://www.att.com/...

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Ixia and Juniper Establish Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) Initiative

Juniper Networks, Ixia and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs announced the formation of the Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) Initiative -- a framework for measuring the energy efficiency of network and telecom devices. The aim is to measure the energy consumption of networking equipment so as to be able to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the network.The ECR Initiative has produced a metric that creates a common energy denominator between different...

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Cornell University Deploys BridgeWave for Wireless Network Hardening

Cornell University has deployed several of BridgeWave Communications' 60-GHz gigabit wireless links as part of their network hardening strategy. BridgeWave's AR60 and AR60X products provide uninterrupted campus connectivity even during inclement weather or natural disaster situations. Additionally, the products' built-in Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) feature would protect University research from potential network tapping.BridgeWave said its AdaptRate (AR) products are being used by Cornell to augment a vulnerable fiber link in the campus...

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Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Vow to Defend Human Rights Online

A coalition of companies in the information and communications industries, including Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft , launched a Global Network Initiative whose mission is to protect and advance the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy. The Initiative is being launched in the 60th Anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition to the three leading Internet companies, the initiative is backed by the United Nations, leading human rights organizations (NGOs), as well as several distinguished academic institutions.Founding...

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Boingo Expands Its Wi-Fi Roaming Network in India

Boingo Wireless announced the addition of Tata Communications hotspots to the Boingo Roaming Network, giving Boingo members access to over 500 new hotspots under the Tata Indicom brand. With the addition of the Tata Communications network, Boingo members will be able to enjoy high speed Wi-Fi connections in restaurants, cafés, coffee shops and airports while traveling through India.http://www.boingo....

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Starent Posts Q3 Revenue of $66.1 million, Up 80% YoY

Starent Networks, while supplies mobile data aggregation platforms, reported Q3 revenue of $66.1 million, an increase of 80% from the third quarter of 2007. Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2008 were $183.5 million, up 93% from the same period a year ago. Net income for the third quarter of 2008 was $19.6 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.6 million for the same period in 2007. http://ir.starentnetworks....

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Tellabs Shows its Latest MSPP

Tellabs introduced a compact, fully-featured multiservice provisioning platform (MSPP) that evolved from its 6325 Edge Node. The new Tellabs 6335 Switch Node shares common modules with the Tellabs 6325 node, yet has more slots for better capital and operational expense savings versus stacking multiple nodes.Key features of the Tellabs 6335 node include:Is a dual-purpose platform that works both as an MSPP as well as a WDM transport solution. Operators...

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Verizon Launches Fast-Forward-Disabled VOD with Disney-ABC

Disney-ABC Television Group and Verizon announced deal that will make top ABC's television shows ("Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty") available via video-on-demand (VOD) to Verizon FiOS TV customers across the country just one day after their broadcast premieres. All the episodes are offered at no charge and in high definition (HD).As with other ABC VOD offerings, Verizon will disable the fast-forward option on the FiOS TV VOD service for all offered ABC content. ABC first made its fast-forward-disabled...

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Microsoft Demos Web Versions of Office Apps

As part of its preview event for Windows 7, Microsoft also demonstrated new Web applications for Office. This consisted of lightweight versions of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that could be used from within standard Web browsers. The company showed how anyone can use all of the Web, phone, and PC versions of Office to edit the same rich document, switching among them with lossless file compatibility.Office Web applications...

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Level 3 Expands CDN Capacity in Asia

Level 3 Communications has expanded its Content Delivery Network (CDN) capacity in Asia. The upgrade increases content delivery capacity in Asia by a factor of 10 and extends the CDN network into China. With this expansion, the Level 3 CDN footprint in the region includes: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.http://www.level3....

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ARRIS Reports Q3 Revenues of $297 Million, Strong DOCSIS 3.0 Shipments

ARRIS reported preliminary and unaudited Q3 revenues of $297.6 million, representing an increase of $16.5 million, or 6%, as compared to second quarter 2008 revenues of $281.1 million. Third quarter and first nine month 2008 revenues increased $42.9 million, or 17%, and $109.5 million, or 15%, respectively, as compared to the same periods in 2007, primarily as a result of the C-COR acquisition in December 2007. Third quarter 2008 gross margin was $106.1 million, or 35.7%, as compared to $92.9 million, or 33.0%, in the second quarter 2008 and $68.8...

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Equinix Unveils New Branding, Marks 10th Anniversary

Equinix launched a new corporate brand to mark its 10th anniversary. The company said its new logo, which represents a fortress structure, symbolizes the critical role that it plays in safeguarding its customers' information assets. In addition, with the increasingly global nature of its business, Equinix's Internet Business Exchange (IBX) data centers will be re-branded as "International Business Exchange" data centers, representing Equinix's...

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Verizon Beats Estimates with Growth in Wireless , FiOS, Business Services;

Verizon Communications reported strong results for Q3 2008 supported by Verizon Wireless' continued strong performance, accelerating numbers of new FiOS customers, and continued increased sales of strategic business services. Verizon's total operating revenues grew 4.1 percent to $24.8 billion in the third quarter 2008, from $23.8 billion in the third quarter 2007. This is an increase of 5.4 percent when adjusted for the spinoff of non-strategic...

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Indonesia's Axis Expands GSM Network with Ericsson

Axis, Indonesia's newest GSM/3G operator, has awarded an expansion contract to Ericsson for the next phase of the operator's national network rollout program. The agreement, which includes network operation and technical support, will allow Axis to provide improved services and greater coverage to its subscribers while reducing operating expenses. Under the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the deployment of a GSM/EDGE and WCDMA radio...

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Cox Confirms Plans for Wireless Launch in 2009

Cox Communications, the third largest cable operator in the U.S, with 6.2 million customers, confirmed plans to add wireless offerings to its bundle of entertainment and communications service. Specifically, Cox will use Sprint's nationwide network to quickly enter the market in 2009. At the same time, Cox is concurrently building its own 3G network for additional market launches in 2009. Cox will also test 4G technology utilizing LTE (long term...

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Atheros Targets 802.11g Upgrades with "Align" 802.11n Silicon

Atheros Communications introduced its new "Align" product line based on the IEEE draft 802.11n 1-stream specification. The new silicon provides a low-cost solution for enabling Wi-Fi devices that deliver performance enhancements over the existing 802.11g technology, at comparable price points. Align solutions are also forward compatible to higher-performance, multi-stream, MIMO-based 802.11n. Target applications include low-cost notebook, netbook,...

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