KPN Selects Alcatel for DSL Expansion

KPN selected Alcatel for the expansion of its national broadband infrastructure. Under the deal, Alcatel will supply its 7300 Advanced Services Manager (ASAM) for expansions at 300 Central Office (CO) locations and Alcatel will replace third party equipment on another 140 locations. Alcatel has already equipped over 500 switch locations for KPN with the Alcatel 7300 ASAM. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.alcatel.com

Read More

Deutsche Telekom Predicts Growth in 2004

Deutsche Telekom delivered on its financial restructuring promises in 2003, said Kai-Uwe Ricke, the company's CEO, speaking at Smith Barney Citigroup's Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix. While reducing debt, DT has once again become a "profitable growth" company. Ricke noted the considerable differences in the wireline environment of the U.S. and Germany, where core wireline revenues are stable, line losses to competitors are moderate, fixed-to-mobile substitution is not noticeable, there is no threat from cable competitors and VoIP is only slowly emerging. Among the major issues facing Deutsche Telekom are personnel cost management challenges. The company's leadership is proposing to its unions a 10% reduction in working hours and pay per year. Compared to its European peers, Ricke said DT is better positioned for earnings growth because of the market strength of its four divisions: T-Com, T-Systems, T-Mobile and T-Online. Some additional highlights of the presentation:

• Deutsche Telekom ended 2003 with over 4.2 million DSL lines. The company is targetting between 7.5 to 10 million DSL lines by 2007.



• For 2004, DT is expecting adjusted EBITDA of at least EUR 19.2 billion versus expected adjusted EBITDA of EUR 18.2 billion for 2003.



• Expected free cash flow for 2004 is EUR 6 billion



• Capex for 2004 is expected to rise EUR 1.5 billion for profitable growth initiatives over 2003 Capex of EUR 7 billion.



• T-Mobile Hotspots are becoming a "real business." At the end of 2003, the company had over 4,000 hotspots online at Starbucks, Borders, Kinkos, etc. About two-thirds of the revenues come from subscription services. Look for new partnerships with other carriers.

http://www.telekom.de

Read More

Intel Creates $200 Million Digital Home Fund

Intel plans to invest $200 million in companies developing hardware and software, as well as connectivity and supporting technologies, for the digital home. The company said its new Digital Home Fund represents a significant step in its strategy to enable people to enjoy digital content -- including music, photos and video -- on multiple devices in the home and beyond. It also builds upon Intel's existing programs to deliver core technologies for new computing devices, networking products and consumer electronics.


Prior to the fund's formation, Intel Capital has invested in companies pursuing the digital home vision. Examples include:

• BridgeCo, which designs low-cost chips for digital media adapters that link home devices.



• Entropic, which designs chips for home networking over coaxial cabling.



• Musicmatch, which sells software for recording, organizing and playing music.

. http://www.intel.com

Read More

Motorola Ventures Invests in Magic4

Motorola has made a strategic minority investment in Magic4, a start-up based in Basingstoke, England that is developing mobile messaging software. Magic4 delivers interoperability between EMS, MMS, IM, video and email applications. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.magic4.com

Read More

Scintera Raises $9.5 Million for Signal Processing

Scintera Networks, a start-up based in San Jose, California, raised $9.5 million in a second-round funding for its high-speed signal processing technology. Scintera's Advanced Signal-Processing Platform enables very high-speed signal processing at 10 Gbps and above. Based on the technology, the company is shipping and electronic dispersion compensation device for enterprise and storage applications. It also offers an electronic dispersion compensation engine for metro optical applications.


The new funding round was led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and included participation from existing investors August Capital and Sevin Rosen Funds. The new round brings Scintera's funding to date to $17.7 million. http://www.scintera.com

Read More

iBasis Posts Record VoIP Call Volume During New Year's Day

iBasis carried a record volume of approximately 19 million minutes of international VoIP phone calls on New Year's Day. This represents a 32% increase over the traffic from New Year's Day 2003.


"In addition to setting an overall record for traffic, we are experiencing a record volume of traffic that enters or exits the iBasis Network as IP traffic," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis.


More than 70% of iBasis traffic either originates or terminates through direct VoIP interconnects with service providers. http://www.ibasis.com

Read More

Broadcom Enters Consumer Television Market with HDTV/PVR Chip

Broadcom Corporation made its entrance into the consumer television market by introducing a single-chip, dual-channel HD video/audio/graphics and personal video recording (PVR) solution for digital televisions, as well as for cable set-top boxes, satellite receivers and HD-DVD players. Broadcast predicts its chipset, priced at $60 in volume, will enable consumer electronics manufacturers to deliver HDTV solutions at consumer price values. Additionally, the dual audio and video channels and PVR features in the solution offer advanced capabilities such as support for the delivery of HD broadcasting to multiple-televisions in the home, separate HD programs with picture-in-picture (PIP), and HD program watch and record PVR capabilities. http://www.broadcom.com

Read More

Verizon Selects Nortel Networks to Accelerate VoIP

Verizon Communications will accelerate the evolution of its nationwide wireline network to packet-switching technology and has selected Nortel Networks as its VoIP equipment provider. Verizon will begin deployment of the new Nortel Networks equipment in its local and long-distance voice wireline networks later this year, tying the VoIP capabilities into its Enterprise Advance and FTTP initiatives. Verizon's initial service deployment is scheduled for mid-2004 and is expected to include hosted VoIP and multimedia services for business and consumers. Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Verizon vice chairman and telecom president, described the packet migration to be "...as significant as when the industry began moving from analog to digital technology in the 1980s."


Verizon and Nortel Networks have signed an interim letter of agreement and expect to finalize a five-year contract within the next few months. Under the arrangement, Nortel Networks will be the exclusive provider of Verizon's local and long-distance Class 4 (tandem) and Class 5 (local) VoIP switches in new offices over the next 18 months. Nortel Networks will also be the exclusive supplier of Verizon's VoIP and multimedia services infrastructure over the next 18 months. Furthermore, the companies will collaborate on packet voice solutions for enterprise customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Nortel Networks described the project as one of its most comprehensive converged-network wins to date. The deal covers the full range of Nortel Networks' carrier packet platforms. Specifically, Verizon will begin the replacement of a number of its traditional local switches with Nortel Networks softswitches and VoIP gateways. In addition, Verizon will begin using the Nortel Networks switches to expand the company's long-distance network. Nortel Networks has already begun shipping softswitch equipment for Verizon's long-distance, tandem, and end-office networks, including Succession Communication Server (CS) 2000 Superclass softswitches and local and long-distance access gateways. Other Nortel Networks equipment expected to be deployed by Verizon includes Nortel Networks Passport* Packet Voice Gateway, Succession Multiservice Gateway 4000, Succession Media Gateway 9000, and the Multimedia Communication Server 5200. http://www.nortelnetworks.comhttp://www.verizon.com

• In November 2003, Lawrence T. Babbio Jr., Verizon's Vice Chairman and Domestic Telecom President said that Verizon Communications plans to begin rolling out VoIP services in Q2 2004, targeting DSL users and the consumer market. http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=9434



• Also in November 2003 -- one year after unveiling an ambitious plan to expand its high-speed data network nationwide -- Verizon Communications announced that it had closed over 900 sales with more than 550 of its largest customers, including 65 Fortune 500 corporations as well as many educational institutions. Verizon's Enterprise Advance portfolio offers Frame Relay, ATM, SONET and Ethernet-over-SONET connectivity in some 40 markets across the country. The company has previously disclosed plans to enter 56 markets. In the initiative's first year, Verizon has added over 6,800 fiber miles to its network, expanding nine regional optical rings in the Northeast, Northwest and the Great Lakes regions. Verizon also launched Verizon Optical Networking (VON), an optical service that provides long-distance, point-to-point communications over the public network. In the next phases of Enterprise Advance, Verizon plans to connect its regional optical rings across the nation. The company will also deploy almost 300 MPLS routers that will be capable of integrating Frame Relay and other protocols into an IP VPN. Verizon has already deployed more than 80 of these routers in some 30 markets. The full rollout of MPLS will support additional services such as IP-VPN on a national basis.



• Nortel Networks' major VoIP carrier customer announcements to date have included: Bell Canada, Dacom, China Netcom, Cox, MCI, SaskTel and Sprint, among others.



• On 07-Jan-04, shares of Nortel Networks (NT) closed up 19.3% at $5.68..

Read More

Covad Announces 2004 Network Expansion Initiative

Covad Communications plans to expand its nationwide coverage area and customer reach for DSL, Frame Relay access, and T1 broadband services by installing additional equipment in approximately 200 central offices across the nation around the middle of 2004. This will increase the company's nationwide broadband network to more than 2,000 central offices. Central office locations were selected by utilizing several key factors including market demographics, partner need, neighboring central office performance, and potential for growth. Covad also noted that by broadening its access network, it will be able to more efficiently utilize its core ATM network. http://www.covad.com

Read More

T-Com Completes Software-based Optical Node Switchover

T-Com, the fixed line business unit of Deutsche Telekom, performed a software-based optical network node switchover for the first time on 13-December-2003. The switchover, which was part of the SDH2000 project, involved the replacement of an existing Lucent WaveStar Bandwidth Manager in T-Com's Networking Center in Cologne with Lucent's LambdaUnite MultiService Switch.
During the procedure, Lucent and T-Com engineers virtually switched 10,000 transmission paths to the more powerful LambdaUnite network node. Normally, the paths running over a network node are switched manually. A new software tool developed by Lucent OSS Network Operations Software was used to automatically swap all paths in less than three days. The actual hardware swap was completed in just two hours. http://www.lucent.comIn October 2003, Deutsche Telekom's T-Com division launched its new "DDV-M Ethernet100" service, offering speeds of 10, 50 or 100 Mbps for connecting corporate LANs across its national SDH network. The new service, which is transported on T-Com's SDH2000+ backbone, is based on Lucent Technologies' Metropolis AM multiplexer fitted with TransLAN technology for Ethernet over SDH.

Read More

America Online Ties Into D-Link's Wireless Media Players

America Online has formed an alliance with D-Link to offer entertainment options for the digital home. The companies are collaborating to develop and deliver products and services that will allow broadband consumers to access secure, high-quality video, music and photo content, on-demand, from any room in the home.


In the first step, a new line of D-Link Wireless Media Players will enable AOL users to listen to over 175 CD-quality Radio@AOL stations on any TV or stereo in the home. D-Link and AOL are also working together to extend AOL's popular You've Got Pictures in the same way, allowing AOL for Broadband members to view their personal photos and slideshows, and exclusive photos from AOL's various photo galleries by using the AOL You've Got Pictures service on any TV in the home.


AOL is leveraging open standard technologies, such as SOAP/XML and the Liberty Alliance specifications, to allow third-party applications to easily access and interact with AOL's online services. http://www.dlink.com

Read More

China Telecom Orders UTStarcom DSLAMs

China Telecom Corporation (CTC) awarded a contract to UTStarcom to supply 220,000 lines of its AN-2000 IB IP-DSLAM. This contract follows a recent contract with CTC for a deployment of 200,000 lines in select provinces throughout China. Financial terms were not disclosed.


UTStarcom said the deployment of these IP-DSLAM lines highlights a shift for China from ATM-based to IP-based DSLAM networks and a movement from narrowband to broadband. According to figures cited by the company, the number of IP-DSLAM lines as a percentage of total DSLAM lines deployed in 2003 was approximately 15%, a significant increase from 2002. UTStarcom expects this percentage to increase to nearly 50% in 2004. http://www.utstart.com

Read More

China's Wenzhou Telecom Awards Optical Contract to Lucent

Wenzhou Telecom, a subsidiary of China's Zhejiang Telecom, selected Lucent Technologies to supply its LambdaUnite MultiService Switch (MSS), Metropolis ADM MultiService Mux, WaveStar TDM 10G and the WaveStar ADM 16/1 platforms. The WaveStar TDM 10G (STM-64) will enable Wenzhou Telecom to deliver optical services at rates up to 10 Gbps per wavelength and support currently commercialized and next generation planned services. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.lucent.com

Read More

SBC Acquires Callisma, a Network Consulting Company

SBC Communications has acquired Callisma, a Palo Alto, California-based network consulting company serving enterprise customers. Callisma, which has 125 employees, specializes in operations management, VoIP, internetworking, security, and storage solutions. Callisma consultants will augment the existing SBC consulting organization, and an SBC sales and service workforce that already has attained more than 4,300 advanced data services certifications. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.sbc.com

Read More

KT Acquire Transpacific Capacity from Tyco

Tyco Telecommunications announced a multi-million dollar contract to supply diverse, 10 Gbps, transpacific wavelengths to KT, Korea's incumbent operator. Under the terms of the Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) contract, Tyco Telecommunications will provide full circuit, high quality connectivity to carry large volumes of voice, data and Internet traffic between Korea and the U.S. West Coast. http://www.tycotelecom.com

Read More

XO Concludes $200 Million Rights Offering

XO Communications concluded its $200 million rights offering of 40 million shares of common stock at $5.00 per share. Preliminary figures show that approximately 39.7 million shares were purchased in the offering, yielding gross proceeds to XO of approximately $198.6 million. As stated in the offering materials, all of the proceeds will be used to reduce XO's outstanding debt.


Carl Icahn, the company's chairman and its largest shareholder, purchased over 7 million shares for over $35 million. http://www.xo.com

Read More

SBC Highlights 2004 Growth Opportunities

SBC Communications is looking for growth in long distance, DSL, wireless and the large-business market in 2004, said SBC Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr., speaking at Smith Barney Citigroup's Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix. He believes SBC is better positioned than it was a year ago and that the outlook for 2004 is positive. Whitacre expects to see tangible benefits at from the nation's overall economic growth. He also hailed a decision earlier this week by the state of Indiana to raise UNE-p rates by 30%, saying this trend would bode well for SBC. The company's first priority is to stabilize its wireline business. To this end, Whitacre said service bundling remains the cornerstone of SBC's consumer marketing strategy. Some highlights of the presentation:

• At the beginning of 2003, 19% of SBC's consumer retail lines had a bundle with one of its key services - long distance, DSL or wireless. By the end of the year, that penetration had more than doubled.



• Within the next month, SBC is expected to add video to its consumer bundles.



• SBC expects its retail consumer access line losses to decline about 30 percent from third-quarter levels, reflecting the launch of SBC long distance services in the Midwest.



• In DSL, SBC added 378,000 net lines in Q4 - its eighth straight quarter of increasing net adds in broadband. Whitacre claimed that SBC has now reached parity with cable modem competitors across its network footprint.



• In long distance, SBC added 1.7 million net new lines in Q3 and it expects to exceed that figure by at least 1 million in Q4.
  
  
• SBC expects 2004 capital expenditures, excluding Cingular Wireless, will total $5 billion to $5.5 billion.



• Full financial results will be reported on 27-January-2004.

http://www.sbc.com

Read More

Level 3 Files VoIP Petition With FCC

Level 3 Communications filed a petition asking the FCC to reaffirm that legacy switched access charges do not apply to VoIP. Under current rules, VoIP is generally classified as an "information service." As such, it is exempted from the access charges imposed on traditional long distance telecommunications services. Some industry participants have argued that access charges should be imposed on VoIP traffic when traffic is exchanged between carriers. Level 3 maintains that such a move would be ill conceived and not in the public interest. However, Level 3's petition would, if granted, maintain the current access charge regime for rural carriers.


Level 3 said it supports FCC proposals to move to a unified intercarrier compensation regime that eliminates non-cost-based carrier-to-carrier payments, and that governs the exchange of traffic among carriers under a single set of rules. In addition, the company supports industry development of guidelines and standards to achieve a number of social policies that would enhance VoIP as the technology continues to proliferate. They include:

• development of appropriate 911 and E911 interconnection and deployment standards for IP-originated VoIP;



• development of packet-based standards for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA);



• a universal service contribution mechanism that is "application neutral" but that ensures that IP-based communications contribute to universal service funding.

"The existing intercarrier compensation regime is based on implicit subsidies and obsolete conceptions of network architecture and technology... it simply does not make sense to compound that system's complexity by forcing VoIP into an already illogical regulatory framework," said James Crowe, Level 3's CEO. http://www.Level3.com

• In December 2003, FCC held its first public VoIP forum. http://www.convergedigest.com/regulatory/regulatoryarticle.asp?ID=9551

Read More

SkyBitz Secures $16 for Satellite-based Global Locating System

SkyBitz, a start-up based in Dulles, Virginia, secured $16 million in a Series C round for its satellite-based asset tracking and information management service. SkyBitz's Global Locating System (GLS) gives customers the ability to track powered and un-powered assets by utilizing a unique wireless satellite technology and centralized position calculations. The platform is designed to provide asset visibility within a global supply chain. For each asset to be tracked, a compact "GLS mobile communicator" featuring a multiyear battery life is used. The company claims its system is more cost-effective and outperforms GPS-based tracking systems.


The funding was co-led by Inverness Capital Partners and Motorola Ventures, with original investors AIG Highstar Capital and Cordova Ventures participating as well. SkyBitz has raised $41 million to date. http://www.skybitz.com

Read More

Cogent Acquires LambdaNet Spain & LambdaNet France

Cogent Communications has acquired LambdaNet Communications France and LambdaNet España. Financial terms were not disclosed. LambdaNet is the current trade name for what was previously Firstmark Communications, a large pan-European carrier's carrier offering point-to-point and Internet connectivity solutions to businesses. Immediately preceding Cogent's acquisition, LambdaNet Spain and LambdaNet France both received new equity investments from a group of private equity investors based in Europe and the U.S.. These investors will become shareholders of the combined company.


Cogent will continue to support LambdaNet's product suite including point- to-point transport and transit services in over 40 markets and almost 30 Cogent-owned data centers across Europe. Cogent will also introduce in Europe a new set of "radically priced" products and services based on Cogent's current North American product set.


As a result of the acquisition, Cogent's North American network now extends across the Atlantic to France, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. http://www.cogent-sp.comhttp://www.lambdanet.net

Read More