SingTel Partners with Telefonica on VPNs

Singapore Telecommunications is turning to Telefonica International Wholesale Services to enhance its reach and presence in Latin America. Under a partnership agreement, SingTel initially will offer Frame Relay and ATM services over virtual networks terminating in countries where Telefonica Wholesale already has infrastructure. SingTel plans to enhance the service by incorporating MPLS-based IP VPNs. http://www.singtel.comhttp://www.telefonica.com

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Optus and Vodafone Australia to Share 3G Network

Optus and Vodafone Australia agreed to share 3G network sites and radio infrastructure across Australia. Under the agreement, Optus and Vodafone will work together to build and operate a joint national 3G radio network infrastructure. Although they will share the 3G infrastructure, the companies said they would provide completely separate customer services and continue to compete vigorously for customer business. http://www.singtel.com

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Vodacom South Africa Selects Siemens for 3G/W-CDMA

Vodacom has signed a framework agreement making Siemens the sole supplier in building its 3G/W-CDMA network in South Africa. Under the contract, Siemens mobile is to upgrade Vodacom's existing GSM and GPRS network nationwide with 3G radio equipment and switches. This is Siemens' first 3G/W-CDMA contract on the African continent. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.siemens.com

• Vodacom is a pan-African cellular carrier serving South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mozambique commenced operation in December 2003 and a 5-year Nigerian management contract has been awarded. Vodacom is the market leader in South Africa, with more than 95% of South Africans now within the coverage area of its more than 5,000 base station cellular network. Vodacom's shareholders include Telkom SA Ltd (50%), VenFin Ltd (15%) and Vodafone Group plc (35%).

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Sprint and SBC Announce Wi-Fi Roaming Pact

Sprint and SBC Communications announced a reciprocal Wi-Fi roaming agreement, enabling their respective customers to roam on the Wi-Fi networks of each company using their existing user ID's and passwords. Service charges will be billed according to the customers' current billing agreements. The parties expect to complete integration efforts and enable roaming at the respective venues as soon as possible.



This the second major service provider roaming contract signed by Sprint, which earlier reached agreement with AT&T Wireless regarding reciprocal airport property Wi-Fi access. The company has over 2,600 Wi-Fi hot spots where Sprint PCS Wi-Fi Access service is currently available chiefly through roaming agreements in effect across the United States and Canada with a number of industry players, including AT&T Wireless, AirPath, WayPort, STSN and TruckStop.net. Sprint said it is also pursuing other Wi-Fi opportunities, and plans to make at least 10,000 hot spots available to its customers by yearend.



The SBC FreedomLink Wi-Fi network encompasses more than 2,300 hot spots nationwide including airports, hotels, coffee shops and The UPS Store and MailBoxes Etc. locations. SBC said it plans to make more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots available to its FreedomLink customers by the end of 2006. It is also working with Cingular Wireless to use Wi-Fi and Cingular's wireless network to deliver enhanced coverage. http://www.sprint.comhttp://www.sbc.com

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European Broadcasting Union Streams Olympic Video via Akamai

Akamai Technologies announced that its global streaming network was utilized by leading broadcasters throughout Europe for the delivery of live and archived footage of the Athens 2004 Olympic Game. The video content was made available on the broadcasters' respective Web sites.



The agreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the EBU marked the first time in Olympics history that live Internet streaming of the Games to European end users was authorized by the IOC. To adhere to syndication guidelines set forth by the IOC for the online streaming of the Olympic Games, content was directed to authorized subscribers in each country or region. Akamai's geo-location technologies, and integration with leading content security provider Entriq, help enable EBU broadcasters to avoid violation of these acquired rights.



European broadcasters using the streaming included ARD, ZDF in Germany, Canal+ in France, SVT in Sweden, DR Denmark, and SRG in Switzerland, to name a few. http://www.akamai.comhttp://www.entriq.com

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Telewest Takes Aim at "Capped" DSL Services

Telewest, a provider of cable modem services in the U.K., is predicting that new budget broadband services from the likes of BT and Wanadoo will be a disappointment to consumers. Telewest argues that the lower cost, higher speed DSL services are made possible by imposing harsh usage caps on customers.



Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said "a low-cost 1Mbps service with a 1Gb or 2Gb monthly cap defeats the whole point of faster broadband.



Telewest said it recently increased the speed of its blueyonder broadband services by 50%, at no extra cost and with no usage restrictions. http://mediacentre.telewest.co.uk

• Telewest added 72,000 broadband customers in Q2, giving it a total of 538,000 subscribers.

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U.S. Court Dismisses VeriSign's Anti-Trust Claim Against ICANN

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has issued an order dismissing VeriSign's anti-trust claims against ICANN, the organization responsible for coordinating the Internet's root server system management, IP address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top- Level Domain name system management.



The court tossed out VeriSign's anti-trust claims and held that VeriSign has not alleged and cannot allege that the "co-conspirators" named by VeriSign controlled ICANN's board. The court also held that VeriSign has not alleged and cannot allege (based upon the ICANN Bylaws) that those Supporting Organizations within ICANN's structure that include VeriSign competitors dominate ICANN's board.



ICANN said the ruling provides "another important affirmation of ICANN's multi-stakeholder participatory model."http://www.icann.org/

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SupportSoft Rolls Out Broadband Service Automation Suite for Japan

SupportSoft is rolling out a localized version of its Service Automation Suite for Broadband for the Japanese market. The Service Automation Suite for Broadband is designed to help digital service providers deliver real-time self-service and assisted service to their broadband customers. SupportSoft provides for ongoing, automated resolution of customer service issues related to use of the customer's broadband connection. http://www.supportsoft.com/

• SupportSoft's broadband service automation software is being used by 6 of the top 8 North American digital service providers.

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Hong Kong's PCCW Gains Momentum with TV/DSL

PCCW, the incumbent operator in Hong Kong, said now Broadband TV, it's a la carte pay-TV service for broadband subscribers, has achieved "critical mass", with over 316,000 customers (or nearly half of its major competitor's customer base) signing up by the end of June 2004, less than one year after launch.



Now Broadband TV, which launched in September 2003, has since gained exclusive Hong Kong rights to broadcast ESPN and Star Sports. The company is also creating an exclusive 24-Hour Cantonese news channel.



Overall, PCCW reported a total of 753,000 broadband subscribers in Hong Kong as of the end of Q2, up by 20% over last year.



At the same time, the introduction of New Generation Fixed Line (NGFL) service has significantly improved customer retention rates in PCCW's core telephony business. The NGFL service, launched in July 2003, now has 849,000 lines signed up as of June 30, 2004. This has slowed average net monthly line loss by more than 60% since first half 2003 and helped boost customer retention in a fiercely competitive market, that has been liberalized since 1995.



PCCW also noted that over the past year it has been successful in litigating against Hong Kong regulators over what it considers to be unfair restrictions on the company's ability to compete in the fixed-line market.

As part of its quarterly financial report, PCCW said revenue for its Telecommunications Services division fell 11% in the first half to HK$7.496 billion (US$ 961 million) from HK$8.386 billion (US$1.075 billion) a year earlier, due to competition from other fixed-line operators and wireless telecommunications services. http://www.pccw.com

• PCCW's New Generation fixed-line services use "big-screen" phones to support information services such as SMS to other fixed-line phones and mobiles.

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Alcatel Claims Leading Share of Global DSL market.

Alcatel's DSL market share for the second quarter of 2004 was 40.6% of the global amount of DSL lines shipped, close to three times that of the nearest competitor, according to figures from Dell'Oro Group cited by the company. Alcatel said DSL shipment growth in APAC, and to a lesser extent EMAI, experienced a dip during Q2, whereas the regions which have shown slower relative growth so far, such as North America and Latin America, saw a higher take-up. DSL shipments in North America by about 33% compared to the first quarter of 2004. In Latin America, there was a sharp increase of 83% compared to last quarter took place, led by Mexico and Brazil. http://www.alcatel.com

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Metaswitch Cites Accelerating Deployments of Class 5 Packet Voice Switching

Metaswitch reported accelerating adoption of its VP3500 Series Class 5 Softswitch among its target customer base of independent and competitive telephone companies. During Q2, sixteen units were shipped for $5.9 million in revenue, more than all its competitors combined, according to Infonetics Research. The next generation voice products market, including Class 5 packet switches, softswitches and media gateways, is forecast to grow from $1.3B in 2003 to $4.8B in 2007. Based on Infonetics Research's latest quarterly report, Metaswitch claims 58% of total revenue in the Class 5 Packet Switch category. http://www.metaswitch.com

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Sprint Certifies Apple for Mobile Video Services

Apple's Xserve G5 and QuickTime software have been certified as mobile multimedia delivery platforms for Sprint's new PCS Vision Multimedia Services. The technology enables professional content service providers to deliver streaming audio and video clips to Sprint customers. The streams are available to customers using recently announced Sprint Vision Multimedia Services. http://www.apple.com

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CenturyTel to Bundles EchoStar's TV Service

CenturyTel, the 8th largest local exchange telephone company in the U.S. based on number of access lines, will offer EchoStar's DISH Network satellite television service to its customers in 22 states. The relationship allows CenturyTel to offer customers multi-channel digital TV as part of its full suite of bundled product and service offerings. CenturyTel expects to begin offering its co-branded satellite TV services by the end of the year in a one-bill, one-point-of-contact service.



CenturyTel will be the primary point of contact for CenturyTel | DISH customers with responsibility for marketing, account management and billing-related inquiries. Programming, installation and technical support will be handled by a co-branded DISH Network team. http://www.centurytel.com

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Intel Adds Tri-mode (802.11a,b,g) Wireless Module

Intel announced a new tri-mode wireless module (supporting IEEE standards 802.11a, b and g) for notebooks based on Intel Centrino mobile technology. The module supports the new IEEE 802.11i security standard and existing Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WEP.



Intel also released wireless software to help make it faster and easier for end-users to set up a wireless connection with any Wi-Fi network, at the maximum available data rate. The Intel Smart Wireless Solution provides a configuration wizard, advanced troubleshooting and automated security set up. The technology detects and shows all available networks and offers advanced profile management.



Additionally, Intel has implemented the most current version of Cisco Compatible Extensions* in Intel PROSet/Wireless Software version 9.0, which delivers compatibility and interoperability with Cisco infrastructure. Additionally, as a result of an agreement announced last year between Intel and Linksys, the two companies have co-developed a solution that allows Intel Centrino mobile technology-based notebooks to locate an un-configured Linksys access point and automatically guide users through a short and simple set-up process.



Intel estimates there could be as many as 700 million Wi-Fi users by 2007. http://www.intel.com

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Alcatel and Pirelli Completed Undersea Networking Deal

Alcatel and Pirelli completed the transacticion involving their respective submarine networking operations. Under the deal, which was first announced in May, Alcatel has acquired certain Pirelli related assets and obtain intellectual property rights, while Pirelli has taken a 5% shareholding in Alcatel's submarine business, with associated mutual put and call options. http://www.alcatel.com

• Linksys is a division of Cisco Systems.
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Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Reaches 2.7 Million DSL Users

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent operator in Taiwan, reported 2.7 million ADSL subscribers as of 30-June-2004, up by 138,000 over the preceding quarter and up by 33.5% over a year earlier.



Chunghwa's total fixed line subscriber base stood at approximately 13.2 million as of 30-June-2004, an increase of 1.1% year over year. However, total fixed line revenues for the first half 2004 declined by 6.9% due mainly due to fixed line competition, mobile substitution and continuous migration of dial-up subscribers to ADSL.



Chunghwa continues to be the leading mobile operator in Taiwan in both revenue and subscriber market share with 35.4% and 35.1% respectively as of the end of June 2004. Mobile subscribers reached 8.1 million, a 4.1% year-over-year increase. As the company continued to cut inactive prepaid subscribers, the percentage of prepaid subscribers decreased contributing to the increase in ARPU. http://www.cht.com.tw

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Korea's Asiana Airlines Signs On for Connexion by Boeing

Korea-based Asiana Airlines will begin installing the Connexion by Boeing mobile connectivity service on new aircraft scheduled for delivery in July 2005.



Connexion by Boeing now has definitive agreements with Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines, ANA and Kingdom Holding Co. to equip their long-haul aircraft with the service. In addition, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Korean Air have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft. http://www.connexionbyboeing.com

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France Telecom Licenses Turbo Code Patents to Broadcom

France Telecom has granted Broadcom a worldwide license to its Turbo Code patents for use in Broadcom's satellite applications. Broadcom's advanced single-chip satellite receiver is the first commercial chip supporting (8PSK) modulation and turbo code forward error correction (FEC). It allows satellite service providers to increase the information throughput by 35% in a given bandwidth or radio frequency link with no additional power requirements.



France Telecom's Turbo Codes technology has been adopted into the W-CDMA, CDMA2000, and DVB-RCS standards. http://www.spectralicensing.comhttp://www.turbocodes.info/

• The Spectra Licensing Group is the worldwide licensing agent for France Telecom's Turbo Code Licensing Program.
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Unwired Australia Launches Wired Broadband in Sydney

Unwired Australia Pty Limited has launched a wireless broadband service in Sydney using non-line-of-sight equipment from Navini Networks. The deployment is described as the largest broadband wireless network in Australia, covering more than 1,200 square miles. In addition to the initial roll out in Sydney, Unwired has targeted Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and other key regions in Australia for service expansion. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.navini.comhttp://www.unwired.com.au

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Occam Adds ADSL2Plus to Broadband Loop Carrier

Occam Networks announced the availability of two new blades for its BLC 6000 Broadband Loop Carrier System. The first is a 48-port ADSL2Plus blade and the second is a 48-port ADSL2Plus and Lifeline POTS blade. Both blades are currently in customer trials and will begin shipping in September 2004.



The new blades use ADSL2Plus technology, which delivers significant performance and interoperability improvements such as higher data rates, greater reach, advanced management, expanded diagnostics, enhanced power management and real-time rate adaptation.



Occam said its ADSL2Plus blade can be deployed as part of a full BLC 6000 loop carrier network or as a standalone unit to create a data and video overlay to an existing voice network. It can also be deployed as a remote IP DSLAM in a multi-dwelling building.



The second blade, which offers Lifeline POTS from each port, includes an internal soft splitter that eliminates the need for additional external hardware. The POTS traffic from all ports is converted to VoIP. The voice, data and video traffic are differentiated and transported over the feeder network following the provisioned QoS parameters. Voice traffic can be handed directly to a Next Generation softswitch or to a BLC 6000 Central Office Terminal (COT) to provide standard TR-08/GR-303 connections to a traditional Class 5 switch.



The IP DSLAM capability of the blades provide a conversion between the ATM protocol on the standard ADSL lines and the BLC 6000 native IP over Ethernet network. The BLC 6000 system strips away the complexity of ATM at the DSLAM port thereby eliminating the need for an ATM switch or other ATM infrastructure.



Each BLC blade includes 10 integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports. Up to six of these can be Gigabit Ethernet optical fiber ports to provide the access network with enough bandwidth to support hundreds of broadcast channels and to sustain the expected growth of Video on Demand (VoD). A single port can be used to support initial requirements, and additional Gigabit Ethernet ports can be brought online as VoD service demands grow.



Occam noted that its IP-based architecture provides streamlined network operation with digital video headend products. The BLC 6000 System transmits video streams as MPEG encoded signals in IP packets. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is included in the blade software to provide multicast capability at every node in the network. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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