Monday, January 24, 2011

NTT DOCOMO to Cut Carrier Interconnection Fees

NTT DOCOMO announced that fees it charges other telecommunications operators to interconnect with its network have been reduced by up to 35.6% for voice calls made within the same service area, effective immediately and applied retroactively to all interconnections since the beginning of DOCOMO's fiscal 2010 (April 1, 2010). The fees have been calculated based on the guideline announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in March 2010.
http://

Cisco Introduces Smart Switching Portfolio

Cisco debuted a set of new switching products aimed at small businesses.


Cisco 200 Series Smart Switches, which are entry-level managed switches, delivering quality of service (QoS) and security features.


Network Security Firewall, offering small offices true business-class wireless security. It offers a combination of faster performance with gigabit Ethernet and the flexibility offered by hybrid VPN capabilities and added security with optional Cisco ProtectLink Web security service.


Backup Service for Storage Products, a fully integrated online Mozy backup service for Cisco's NSS300 Series Smart Storage product line.
http://www.cisco.com

Ericsson Sales Up 8% YoY on Mobile Broadband

Ericsson reported Q4 2010 sales of SEK 62.8 (58.3) billion., up 8% year-over-year and 32% sequentially. Sales for
comparable units, adjusted for currency exchange rate effects and hedging, increased 7% year-over-year. The year-over-year net impact of currency exchange rate effects and hedging was negative.


Gross margin in the quarter, excluding restructuring, increased year-over-year to 37% (35%) and was down from 39% sequentially.


Sales in Networks increased 14% year-over-year and 40% sequentially, primarily driven by increased demand for mobile broadband and investments in 2G expansions in China. While the supply of components has normalized during the quarter, we are still not fully meeting the increased demand on certain mobile broadband products.


Global Services sales decreased -1% year-over-year and increased 20% sequentially. The year-over-year decline is a result of lower levels of network rollout following the industry wide component shortage earlier in the year as well as a negative impact from a strong SEK. Managed services grew 5% year-over-year and with 16 contracts signed in the quarter, the positive business momentum remains unchanged. Multimedia sales recovered and grew 3% year-over-year and 50% sequentially with positive development within revenue management.


"Group sales in the quarter increased 8% year-over-year and 32% sequentially mainly driven by a strong development in mobile broadband" said Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. "Sales in the quarter for comparable units, adjusted for currency and hedging, increased 7% year-over-year. Adjusted cash flow in the quarter was strong at SEK 16.2 (13.6) b. and SEK 29.8 (28.7) b. for the full year.


Total number of employees at year-end amounted to 90,261 (82,493) of which 45,000 services professionals. In
2010, 5,250 individuals joined Ericsson through acquisitions and about 1,300 through managed services contracts.


Approximately 5,000 were made redundant and 6,000 recruited. The vast majority of recruitments took place in
India, China and Brazil. These new recruits were primarily in R&D and service delivery.
http://www.ericsson.com

Telefónica and MasterCard Create Joint Venture for Mobile Payments

Telefónica and MasterCard will create a 50-50 joint venture focused on mobile financial solutions for Latin America. The new company will leverage Telefonica's telecommunications assets and MasterCard's payment's expertise. It will have an open model to ensure interoperability among the banked and unbanked segments, and serve as a bridge between the financial and telecommunications sectors.


Mobile payment services, which will be linked to a mobile wallet or prepaid account, could include money transfers, mobile airtime reload, bill payment and retail purchases, among others.


Telefónica is present in 12 Latin American countries with its Movistar brand and customer base of 87 million mobile users.
http://www.telefonica.com

Tellabs Post Q3 Revenue of $410 Million,

Tellabs reported Q4 2010 revenue of $410 million, up 5% from $389 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
On a GAAP basis, Tellabs recorded a net loss of $11 million or 3 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2010,
compared with net earnings of $62 million or 16 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2009. The fourth-quarter
2010 net loss included a pretax charge of $16.5 million for excess purchase commitments related to a cancelled
tender in India.


Tellabs 2010 revenue was $1.64 billion, up 8% from $1.53 billion in 2009. On a GAAP
basis, in 2010 Tellabs earned $156 million or 41 cents per share, up from $114 million or 29 cents per share in
2009.


"Tellabs' fourth quarter brought revenue growth but a setback in profitability," said Rob Pullen, Tellabs president and chief executive officer. "Looking ahead, customers continue to validate Tellabs' focus on the smart mobile Internet, and we remain focused on investing our way forward to pursue this growth opportunity."


For the fourth quarter of 2010, Broadband segment revenue was $227 million, Transport segment revenue was
$123 million and Services segment revenue was $60 million.


For 2010, Broadband segment revenue was $846 million, Transport segment revenue was $554 million and Services segment revenue was $242 million.


In a conference call, Tellabs' executive highlighted new products and new customers but a lower margin than its traditional business. The company said it was investing in new markets and cited wins in Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. However, sales with AT&T and Verizon accounted for 41% of sales in Q4, down from larger percentages earlier in the year, due especially to slower sales to AT&T as the carrier has added another mobile backhaul vendor.
http://www.tellabs.com

Largest Data Center in Asia Planned for Hebei, China

IBM and Range Technology Development Co. announced plans to build the largest, enterprise-class Cloud Computing Data Center in Hebei, China. The center, which is expected to be completed in 2016, will deliver strategic outsourcing services, business continuity and disaster recovery services in addition to advanced capabilities in cloud computing storage and mobile device management. The facility is set to measure more than 620,000 square meters, or approximately 6.2 million square feet, and will be built to IBM specifications and international green building standards. It will also serve as the IT infrastructure platform of Langfang Range International Information Hub, which is located in the Hebei Langfang Economic Development Zone.
http://www.ibm.com

Amdocs Supplies Personalized Mobile Portal for MetroPCS LTE

MetroPCS is using the Amdocs Personalized Portal for its newly launched LTE services. The new mobile portal (the home screen on a smartphone) provides an enhanced, dynamic and personalized user experience, allowing quick and easy access to relevant content based on a user's specific interests. The portal's home page is fully personalized, simple to configure, and provides easy access to social media applications such as Facebook and MySpace. It offers bilingual English and Spanish support and lets users set the level of detail they want to see on the home screen.


The portal project was developed by Amdocs in a managed services model, with Amdocs providing the portal software itself as well as the necessary ongoing support and maintenance. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.amdocs.com

Juniper's Q4 Revenue Rises 26% YoY to $1.2 Billion

Juniper Networks reported Q4 2010 net revenues of $1.190 billion, up 26% from Q4'09 and up 18% from Q3 10. The company posted GAAP net income of $190.2 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $228.6 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2010. Included in both the GAAP and non-GAAP net income per share is approximately $0.03 per share favorable impact due to the extension of R&D tax credit.


"Juniper capped 2010 with a strong revenue and profit performance in the fourth quarter. The company executed well on the operating principles it set forth for the year, and we are showing strong returns on the investments we began making in 2009 in our innovation roadmap and the expansion of our routes to market," said Robyn Denholm, Juniper's chief financial officer. 'We are focused on further enhancing our performance in 2011 by driving sustained, strong growth, improving margins, and leveraging our strong balance sheet."http://www.juniper.net

Octasic Introduces Universal Video Gateway Software

Octasic introduced video gateway software that enables its OCT2224M chipset to deliver high-quality, high-density, high-resolution (1080p) processing for enterprise media gateways.



Octasic's OCT2200 series of devices, which initially pack 24 high performance cores on a single chip, leverage several innovations in DSP architecture to significantly reduce power consumption even at high levels of processing. The performance of the OCT2224M device for media processing allows encoding of two 1080p video streams simultaneously without the need for hardware acceleration. Combined with Octasic's new software suite, the OCT2224M videoconferencing solution provides high-density transmission for multi-party, real-time visual communications.



"With this new software suite, Octasic is doing for video what the universal port concept did for voice. Our customers can quickly build a single platform that offers all codecs, services and call statistics for a next generation video gateway," said James Awad, Octasic's product marketing manager.http://www.octasic.com

Google Acquires SayNow

Google has acquired SayNow, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California that developed a software platform that allows voice messaging, one-on-one conversations, and group calls to be integrated into Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android, or iPhone applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.http://www.saynow.com http://www.google.com

Google Voice Begins Number Porting

Google has begun offering U.S. number porting to its Google Voice service. The porting carriers a $20 fee and is completed in about 24 hours after a request.



Google Voice, which is based on the GrandCentral service that Google acquired in July 2007, provides the user with a single phone number that will ring your home, work, and mobile phones, a central voicemail inbox that you could access on the web, and the ability to screen calls by listening in live as callers leave a voicemail. http://www.google.com

Ciena Wins NGN Project with Mobily in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Mobily has selected Ciena to supply Carrier Ethernet, optical transport and switching, as well as management and maintenance services for its next generation network. The deployment will bring Ethernet services to the network edge and integrate packet-optical switching and transport through the network core.



Ciena said its Packet-Optical Transport platforms will provide up to a tenfold capacity increase. as the network leverages OTN and distributed intelligence to increase network automation and resiliency. Additionally, a range of switches from Ciena's Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery portfolio enable the operator to cost-effectively support Carrier Ethernet-based mobile backhaul as well as Ethernet aggregation and delivery of high-velocity business and transport Carrier Ethernet services to its customer base.



Financial terms were not disclosed.



Mobily currently serves more than 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's mobile market.http://www.ciena.com

Verizon -- Wireless and FiOS Deliver Continued Strong Growth

Verizon Communications report solid results for Q4 2010, driven by wireless, FiOS and strategic enterprise services. On a consolidated basis, Verizon's total operating revenues were $26.4 billion in fourth-quarter 2010, a decrease of 2.6 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2009. Last year's results included revenues from operations that have since been divested. On a comparable basis (non-GAAP), fourth-quarter 2010 total operating revenues increased $592 million, or 2.3 percent, compared with fourth-quarter 2009.



On an annual basis, Verizon reported 90 cents in 2010 EPS, compared with $1.72 (as adjusted) in 2009.



Cash flow from operations totaled $33.4 billion in 2010, compared with $31.4 billion in 2009. Capital expenditures totaled $16.5 billion in 2010, down $400 million from 2009. For 2010, free cash flow (non-GAAP; cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) totaled $16.9 billion, a 16.4 percent year-over-year increase.



"Verizon ended 2010 with strong results, driven by solid execution across all our businesses," said Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "The fourth quarter capped a strong second half of the year, resulting in improved earnings, solid momentum and an even stronger balance sheet. Verizon Wireless produced another quarter of impressive growth, with record-high profitability, as we continue to drive higher smartphone adoption and data use. Following another solid quarter in our wireline businesses, we are optimistic about opportunities to continue to expand wireline margins."



Some highlights for the quarter:



Wireless



Verizon Wireless added 872,000 retail postpaid customers, and 803,000 total retail customers, which includes a decrease of 69,000 retail prepaid customers. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments.



At the end of the fourth quarter, the company had 87.5 million retail customers, which represented 93 percent of the company's wireless customers.



The company also added 152,000 reseller customers in the fourth quarter.



The company had a total of 94.1 million customers at the end of the fourth quarter. In addition, the company had 8.1 million other connections - such as machine-to-machine and telematics. This was an increase of 186,000 net other connections in the quarter, and brought the number of total wireless connections to 102.2 million at year-end 2010.



At year-end 2010, 26 percent of Verizon Wireless' retail postpaid customer base had smartphone devices, up from 15 percent at year-end 2009. In fourth-quarter 2010, more than 75 percent of Verizon Wireless' postpaid net adds were smartphones.



Retail postpaid churn remained low at 1.01 percent. Total retail and total customer churn levels were 1.37 and 1.34 percent, respectively. All churn levels improved year over year and sequentially.



In the fourth quarter, total data revenues were 37.1 percent of all service revenues, up from 31.8 percent in the fourth quarter 2009.



During the fourth quarter, Verizon Wireless customers sent or received more than 180 billion text messages. Customers also sent nearly 4.5 billion picture/video messages and completed more than 20 million music and video downloads from Verizon Wireless.



Wireline



Verizon added 197,000 net new FiOS Internet customers and 182,000 net new FiOS TV customers. By year-end, Verizon had 4.1 million FiOS Internet and 3.5 million FiOS TV customers.



FiOS Internet penetration (customers as a percentage of potential customers) was 31.9 percent by the end of the quarter, with the product available for sale to 12.8 million premises. This compares with 28.3 percent and 11.6 million, respectively, at year-end 2009.



FiOS TV penetration was 28.0 percent by the end of the quarter, with the product available for sale to 12.4 million premises. This compares with 24.7 percent and 11.1 million, respectively, at year-end 2009.



FiOS revenues generated approximately 53 percent of consumer wireline revenues in fourth-quarter 2010, compared with approximately 50 percent in third-quarter 2010.



Total wireline broadband and video revenues - including FiOS Internet, FiOS TV and HSI (DSL-based high-speed Internet) - were $1.8 billion in the quarter, up 18.4 percent from fourth-quarter 2009.



Consumer revenues grew 1.6 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2009. Consumer ARPU for wireline services was $88.85 in fourth-quarter 2010, up 10.7 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2009. ARPU for FiOS customers is more than $146.



Global enterprise revenues totaled $4.0 billion in the quarter, up 1.3 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2009. Sales of strategic enterprise services - such as security and IT solutions, as well as strategic networking - increased 7.5 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2009 and now represent approximately 44 percent of global enterprise revenues.



Broadband connections totaled 8.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2010, a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase. This is a net increase of 52,000 from the third quarter 2010, as the increase in FiOS Internet connections more than offset a decrease in HSI connections.



As of year-end 2010, the FiOS network passed 15.6 million premises, or approximately 60 percent of Verizon's domestic wireline footprint following the close of the Frontier transaction on July 1, 2010.



The wireline workforce totaled 92,300 at year-end 2010, a decline of about 16,000 year over year, primarily as a result of incentive offers that have led to voluntary separations.
http://www.verizon.com

FCC Mandates LTE as Air Interface for First Responders

The FCC adopted new rules that requires all 700 MHz public safety mobile broadband networks to use a common air
interface, specifically LTE, to support roaming and interoperable communications. The action builds
on the technical requirements that state and local 700 MHz broadband waiver recipients are already subject
to in the early buildout of their regional public safety broadband networks.



The FCC is also seeking public comment on additional rules to enable nationwide interoperability. This includes:

  • The architectural vision of the network;

  • The effectiveness of open standards;

  • Interconnectivity between networks;

  • Network robustness and resiliency;

  • Security and encryption ;Coverage and coverage reliability requirements;

  • Roaming and priority access between public safety broadband networks; and

  • Interference coordination and protection.

http://www.fcc.gov