Thursday, September 8, 2011

AT&T and T-Mobile USA Defend Merger Efficiencies

AT&T and T-Mobile USA filed a response in U.S. District Court to the Department of Justice's lawsuit that seeks to block their proposed merger.


In a 27-page filing, the carriers argue that the DOJ failed to appreciate how the efficiencies of the acquisition would lead to a healthier market for advanced wireless services, that the DOJ failed to understand the competitive dynamics currently at play in this industry, and that the DOJ failed to appreciate how the spectrum shortage they now face will lead to higher prices should their merger not go forward.


AT&T notes that T-Mobile USA has been losing customers, lacks the spectrum to deploy a true 4G network, and its parent company is unwilling to invest the funding needed to make it a viable competitor in the long term.


In conclusion, the carriers state the "efficiencies more than outweigh any anticompetitive effect from this merger." http://www.att.com
  • The Department of Justice lawsuit, which was filed August 31, seeks to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile on the grounds that the deal would result in "tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for their mobile wireless services." In its conclusion, the DOJ said it was not convinced by AT&T's arguments that the proposed transaction would yield efficiencies benefiting consumers and outweighing adverse impacts on competition. The key finding was that AT&T could achieve the same network power and reach by deploying its own infrastructure rather than by eliminating a competitor.

KT to Integrate Cisco's Videoscape Media Suite

KT has agreed to integrate Cisco's Videoscape Media Suite, a cornerstone component of the Cisco Videoscape portfolio, into its unified content management system. Videoscape is a TV platform for service providers that utilize the network, cloud and client devices together to deliver new, high-quality video experiences over the Internet. It supports PC/Mac/iOS/Android clients to efficiently manage and publish content across multiple screens.


KT serves over 16 million mobile subscribers and over 7.6 million fixed broadband Internet subscribers with nearly 2.5 million customers now subscribed to its ‘olleh tv' IPTV service.


KT is also now making various multimedia services available to its customers via PCs and third-party devices, and is creating a new culture for ‘N Screen' media services by offering connections to a wide range of content including video, audio, e-books and online games.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.kt.com
  • In January 2011, Cisco's John Chambers outlined a new "Videoscape" portfolio of five major product families aimed at "transforming the TV experience." The goal is to work with Service Providers to allow any device over any network to access any content to which they are entitled. Cisco Videoscape would enable service providers to monetize activities outside their own network or traditional device footprints.


    A key facet of Videoscape is about delivering a consistent interface across multiple devices, while providing a universal guide and search capabilities across all content sources. This requires building capabilities into the service provider's video back-office using APIs extending across content management systems and virtualized storage. The capabilities would be social network-aware and open to advertising opportunities.


    Telstra was named as a lead customer.

Cisco Supplies 3G60 Broadband Processing Engine for Virgin Media

Cisco has supplied its DOCSIS 3.0 solution to Virgin Media for use in its trial of the world's fastest cable connection -- a service boasting up to 1.5 Gbps downstream and 150 Mbps upstream. The connection is delivered over the same HFC infrastructure and technology as Virgin Media uses to provide residential customers with speeds of up to 100 Mbps, which is currently being rolled out to over half of all UK homes.


The trial includes Cisco's (3G60) Broadband Processing Engine, a high-density, cost-effective line card for Cisco's flagship uBR10K Universal Broadband Router and Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS).
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.virginmedia.com

Vodafone Opens "Xone" Silicon Valley Center

Vodafone opened a Silicon Valley research and development center to provide technical expertise, potential financial assistance, logistical support and facilities to help promising US technology companies gain a fast track into proof-of-concept trials across Vodafone's global network.


Specifically, Vodafone said its "Xone" facility is intended to:

  • identify and qualify innovative technologies from startups, R&D labs, universities and venture capital portfolios with the potential to deliver new and innovative products and services to Vodafone's global customer base;


  • provide selected companies with commercial feedback. Companies will be offered support from the Vodafone Xone team of professionals whose expertise spans business development, network and device architecture, consumer electronics, payment and billing mechanisms, data analytics and content delivery. Up to 24 companies are able to use on-site office and test space within Vodafone Xone;


  • test products and services in the Vodafone Xone™ test and development lab, a fully functional replica of Vodafone's global networks including a protected environment for developers to test solutions. Capabilities include 2G/3G/LTE radio and an Internet Protocol (IP) network together with access to the IP service framework IP Multimedia Subsystem. The lab is interconnected via a dedicated backbone to Vodafone's European networks. Vodafone Xone™ is also closely aligned with Verizon's Innovation Centres in San Francisco and Waltham, Mass., giving select companies access to Verizon Wireless's development 4G LTE network, the high-speed, next-generation platform common to both Vodafone and Verizon Wireless, as well as additional collaboration resources;


  • assess options for strategic investments in start ups via Vodafone Group's corporate venture capital arm - Vodafone Ventures.
http://www.vodafone.com/xone
  • Vodafone noted that is now serving 382 million customers in more than 30 countries.

Russia's VimpleCom Picks Motorola Mobility's IPTV Set-top

VimpelCom has selected Motorola Mobility's VIP22n2E series set-tops to expand their roll out of enhanced IPTV services to customers under its Beeline brand. The STB offers personal video recording (with the VIP2262 model), time shifting, electronic programming guides and HD content. In addition, with multi-room functionality and a built in hard disc, the VIP2262 gives operators the flexibility to offer a raft of new services – such as on-demand content and Internet via the TV – without having to invest in expensive back-end and network upgrades.
http://www. motorola.com/mobility
  • Last month, Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility.

Huawei Joins MetroPCS to Sponsor Enrique Iglesias Euphoria Tour

Huawei Device USA is joining with MetroPCS to sponsor the Enrique Iglesias Euphoria Tour, which kicks off in Boston on September 22 and will visit 19 cities across the country.



"This partnership with MetroPCS allows us to link fans to their favorite artists, while also keeping them connected to friends and family by providing affordable entertainment devices, like the new Huawei M835," said Cui Jiangao, president of Huawei Device USA.
http://www.huawei.com

Intel Invests $24 Million in 7 Start-ups

Intel Capital announced the investment of $24 million in seven start-up companies. These include:


DynamicOps (Burlington, Mass.) -- provides an Operations Virtualization platform that enables enterprise IT to evolve existing infrastructure into on-demand private and public cloud services. http://www.dynamicops.com


enLighted (Sunnyvale, Calif.) -- provides a solution for commercial energy management. The idea is to bring distributed people-aware intelligence to traditional lighting fixtures. http://www.enlightedinc.com/


IP Commerce (Denver) -- provides a Platform-as-a-Service that functions as a commerce operating system. IP Commerce enables application developers to create customized, intelligent multi-channel commerce applications and payment workflows that give retailers enhanced opportunities to interact with customers. http://www.ipcommerce.com/


Guavus (Santa Clara, Calif) -- provides solutions for timely decision-making on big data for Fortune 1000 enterprises. http://www.guavus.com


Swrve New Media (San Francisco) -- provides game personalization and testing for social games that redefine the relationship between game makers and game players. Swrve's real-time personalization allows design, product and marketing teams to continually test and adjust their games in the cloud, maximizing engagement across an unlimited range of players. http://swrve.com/


Gaikai(Los Angeles) -- provides a cloud gaming service that streams 3-D video games directly to the Web browser. http://www.gaikai.com/


Revolution Analytics (Palo Alto, Calif.) -- a leading commercial provider of software and services based on the open source "R" project for statistical computing. The company's flagship Revolution R Enterprise product brings high performance, productivity and enterprise readiness to R, meeting the production needs of large organizations in industries such as finance, life sciences, retail, manufacturing and media. Revolution Analytics is aligned with Intel's visual and parallel computing and open source strategies. http://www.revolutionanalytics.com/
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/capital

TIM Selects Cisco's CRS-3 for Core Upgrade

TIM, which serves over 55 million mobile users across Brazil, will invest 20 million BRL to upgrade its core network using the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. The project includes the deployment of 12 routers by the end of November. Eight of the routers will be installed in the core network and four will be used for peering (providing Internet access).


The deployment is being carried out in partnership with Italtel.


"TIM is the first operator in Brazil and the second in Latin America to invest in the most advanced technology in IP networking equipment. With the capacity provided by this new equipment, you can download more than 15 high-definition films per minute, enabling a higher standard of quality, for example, allowing data flows to be redirected seamlessly in case of a fault", said Claudio Merulla, the executive in charge of TIM Brazil's Transport network. http://www.cisco.com