Bell Canada to Acquire Québec’s Astral

BCE (Bell) announced plans to acquire Montréal-based Astral Media Inc. (Astral), which operates specialty and pay television channels, radio stations, digital media properties and out-of-home advertising platforms in Québec and across the rest of Canada. The deal was at approximately CDN$3.38 billion, representing a premium of 39% based on Astral’s volume-weighted average closing share price on the TSX for the last five trading days.Bell said the...

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Emerald Atlantis Signs TE SubCom for 100x100 Trans-Atlantic Cable

Emerald Networks has signed a system supply contract with TE SubCom for the construction of the Emerald Express Trans-Atlantic Cable System, which promises to deliver ultra-high capacity of 100 wavelengths operating at 100 Gbps along a low-latency route between New York and London.Emerald Networks' submarine cable system span 6,700 km along the "Great Circle" route connecting North America to Europe via Iceland. The company has previous calculated...

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NSN Appoints Chief Operating Officer

Nokia Siemens Networks has appointed Samih Elhage as its chief operating officer (COO), a new role at the company, reporting to Rajeev Suri (CEO).Elhage was previously a senior advisor to leading private equity and global management consulting firms, focusing on investments and improving the operating performance of companies in the telecommunications sector. Prior to these advisory roles, until August 2010, Elhage held a number of leadership roles...

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Sprint Calls Off Spectrum Hosting with LightSquared

Sprint cancelled a spectrum hosting agreement that was signed with LightSquared in June 2011, citing LightSquared's inability to resolve its regulatory issues. Sprint has returned $65 million in prepayments LightSquared made to cover costs that were not ultimately incurred by Sprint. “Sprint has been and continues to be supportive of LightSquared’s business plans and appreciates the company’s efforts to find a resolution to the interference issues...

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China Mobile: the Chase for Value Added Services

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator, saw its revenue increase 8.8% in 2011 to RMB528.0 billion (US$83.6 billion) as it user base rose 11.2% to approach the 650 million mark. Profits rose 5.2% to RMB125.9 billion (US$19.9 billion), with profit margin reaching 23.8%. EBITDA rose 4.9% over last year to RMB251.0 billion, with EBITDA margin reaching 47.5%. In a market described as "exuberant" for information and telecommunications service,...

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NXP Intros New Silicon Tuners for STBs

NXP Semiconductors introduced its latest high-performance single and dual silicon tuners for cable set-top-boxes (STBs) covering worldwide digital cable standards. The company is offering two new silicon tuners supporting zero-power loop-through, enabling STB manufacturers to comply with the latest EU Ecodesign Directive requirements, which set standby power consumption levels at less than half a watt for simple STBs starting in 2013.NXP said its...

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Anue Enhances its Carrier Ethernet Test System

Anue Systems introduced a new system designed to simplify and improve testing efficiency of mobile backhaul and Carrier Ethernet network equipment, including support for IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and Synchronous Ethernet. Some key features of the new Anue 3500 v1.1: Time of day and frequency stability testing Full real-time measurement and analysis with automatic pass / fail results Test automation API Higher Ethernet test port count. http://www.anuesystems.com...

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AT&T and Union Reach Tentative Southwest Contract

AT&T announced the highlights of a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility that was reached earlier this month. The contract covers approximately 8,800 employees in CWA District 6 (AT&T's Southwest region). Among provisions of the tentative agreement:A $1,000 one-time lump sum cash payment to eligible employees upon ratificationGeneral wage increases in each year of the contract – 2 percent the first year, 2.5 percent the second year, 2.25 percent the third year, and 2.5 percent the fourth year.Pension...

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