Verizon Wireless Pays $930M for Nextwave Spectrum in NYC

Verizon Wireless paid $930 million for the purchase of the spectrum license for the New York metropolitan area auctioned by NextWave Telecom Inc. on July 8.



The 10 MHz license is in the 1.9 GHz PCS frequency range and covers a population of 20.1 million people for the New York, New York Basic Trading Area ("BTA"). The BTA covers New York City and northern and central New Jersey, as well as Westchester and Rockland counties. http://www.verizonwireless.com

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Vonage to Add 600 Jobs in New Jersey

Vonage announced plans to hire more than 600 employees at its New Jersey headquarters over the next six months. The company said it is hiring in all areas, including customer care, product development, call processing, network engineering, sales and operations. http://www.vonage.com/

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Thai ISP Deploys Free-space Optics in Bangkok

Internet Thailand Public Company Limited (INET) has deployed LightPointe's free-space optics to expedite high-speed MetroLAN Internet services to Bangkok-area businesses. LightPointe's FlightSpectrum provides 100 Mbps building-to-building connections for INET, enabling the ISP to aggregate voice and data traffic from about two dozen buildings throughout downtown Bangkok to the company's 1 Gbps network backbone. For tenants in MetroLAN buildings, INET installs a CPE device that provides access to the Internet at 10 Mbps increments.



LightPointe's FlightSpectrum features the company's multi-beam, multi-path technology for additional resiliency and network redundancy. http://www.lightpointe.com

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FCC Approves Sales of New Skies Satellites to Blackstone

The FCC approved the sale of New Skies Satellites to affiliates of The Blackstone Group, a leading private investment firm. The deal is expected to close this week. http://www.newskies.comhttp://www.blackstone.comThe Blackstone Group, a private investment and advisory firm, agreed to acquire New Skies Satellites N.V. for $956 million in cash, equivalent to approximately $7.96 per fully diluted share.

New Skies, which is based in The Netherlands, has five satellites in orbit, ground facilities around the world and one additional spacecraft under construction. The company also has secured certain rights to make use of additional orbital positions for future growth.

New Skies said the deal a 14% premium over the price of its stock on April 28th, the day before it announced that it was considering its alternatives, and a 27% premium to the average share price during the twelve months leading up to that date.

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Rio Rancho (N.M.) Plans City-wide Wi-Fi Network

Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is planning to deploy a city-wide Wi-Fi network spanning some 103 square miles. Under the 25-year license agreement, the city will grant rights-of-way to Azulstar to install and operate Wi-Fi equipment that will provide a blanket of "cellular Wi-Fi" coverage. The high performance network, which is being funded by private investors, will use hundreds of small Wi-Fi repeater radios attached to buildings, utility poles and city infrastructure.



Azulstar will offer Internet access starting at $19.95/month for unlimited 256kbps service; mobile connections up to 1Mbps and daily passes will also be offered. Proxim Corp. will deliver a pre-WiMAX wireless backbone solution, Meru Networks will provide the access points, and LogiSense will supply operational support systems, such as billing. http://www.azulstar.comAzulstar Networks is a division of Ottawa Wireless.

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Scarlet Expands Network in Benelux with Redback

Scarlet, a telecommunications carrier with about 1.5 million residential and business customers in the Benelux, is expanding the reach and capacity of its broadband network with Redback Networks' SmartEdge platform. The existing Scarlet broadband network is based on Redback SMS 10000 systems. The upgrade provides an order of magnitude increase in scalability while supporting new, advanced services to both consumer customers and DSL-based business users. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.redback.com

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U.S. Carriers Announce MMS Interoperability Pact

U.S. wireless carriers have agreed to provide consumers with MMS (Multi-Media Messaging Services) interoperability. The Inter-Carrier MMS Working Group established a set of guidelines that will allow wireless carriers to phase-in photo and video messaging services over time. Currently, only customers of the same carrier network are capable of exchanging photo and video messaging. The carrier's decision to move forward in a collective fashion on MMS interoperability will permit customers of different networks to now swap multi-media images.



"This is the essence of the wireless industry," said Steve Largent. "Few industries are more competitive than ours, but today we have proven that competitors can and will come together to better serve the consumer."http://www.ctia.org

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FCC to Examine Impact of VoIP, New Services on Numbering System

The FCC will host a symposium n Thursday, Nov. 4 to examine the impact of emerging technologies on the nation's telephone numbering system.



The FCC said that in the face of increased demand for numbers for cell phones, fax machines and new local competitors, it has implemented policies designed to extend the life of the numbering system. By working with state commissions and the telecommunications industry, the FCC substantially increased the estimated life of the system, known as the North American Numbering Plan. But emerging new technologies, such as VoIP, raise new demand for numbers and new challenges. Among those challenges are "portable" VoIP services that use the same number no matter where the customer is located geographically. The symposium is entitled "The Future of Numbering: Will New Technologies, Innovations and Services Affect Number Administration and Optimization." Questions for the panels can be e-mailed in advance or during the symposium to FutureOfNumbering@fcc.gov. http://www.fcc.gov

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Lucent and its Unions Agree to Extend Negotiations One Week

Lucent Technologies, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) agreed to extend their negotiations for a week. Negotiators from the three parties have been meeting regularly since Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. http://www.lucent.com

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MobilePro Achieves ZigBee Development Milestone

MobilePro has completed the design of its first ZigBee wireless semiconductor chip. The chip design for the so-called "RF layer," or "physical layer," is now being converted into a prototype chip at a facility in Taiwan. The first design is a 2.4 GHz ZigBee chip. MobilePro said it already has a second 900 MHz ZigBee chip on the drawing board. http://www.mobileprocorp.com/

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Atheros Licenses PCTEL's Soft Access Point

Atheros Communications will offer PCTEL's Soft Access Point (SoftAP) software for use with products based on its WLAN chipsets. PCTEL's SoftAP software convert a PC using an Atheros based network interface card into a fully functional access point (AP) with routing and firewall capabilities. The solution enables Enterprise as well as small office and home office users to load software onto a central PC, instead of purchasing additional hardware, to wirelessly connect multiple computers or other wireless devices. Availability for Atheros' SoftAP-enabled products is expected in Q1 2005. http://www.atheros.comhttp://www.pctel.com

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Avaya Expects Growth in 2005 Revenue and Margin

Avaya issued financial guidance for fiscal year 2005 and 2006, saying its operating margin goal for fiscal year 2005 is between 8.5 percent and 9 percent on fiscal 2005 revenues that are expected to grow by between 25 percent to 27 percent compared to fiscal year 2004 revenues of $4.055 billion. Operating margin for fiscal year 2004 was 7.6 percent. Avaya said the expected growth in fiscal 2005 revenues will come from its existing businesses and the impact of its acquisition of Spectel, its majority interest in Avaya GobalConnect (formerly Tata Telecom), and assuming a Jan. 1, 2005 close of its pending acquisition of Tenovis.



For fiscal year 2006 the company has an operating margin goal of between 10 percent and 12 percent.



Avaya reiterated its existing balance sheet goals of maintaining a strong net cash position and keeping debt at a level no higher than its debt level prior to the planned acquisition of Tenovis. The company also said its longer-term goals of improving its credit rating to investment grade, opportunistically deleveraging its balance sheet and maintaining a cash position of approximately one billion dollars remain.



The company also said beginning with the first fiscal quarter of 2005 it will report product revenues in a single segment called products and applications. Avaya's services segment reporting will remain unchanged. http://www.avaya.com

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France Telecom Reaches 4.2 million ADSL lines

France Telecom reported consolidated Q3 revenues of EUR 12.05 billion, compared to EUR 11.65 billion for the same period last year on an actual basis (11.53 billion EURs on a comparable basis). This represents an increase of 4.5% on a comparable basis and 3.5% on an actual basis.



Some highlights:

• there were 4.2 million ADSL lines in service in France (not including unbundled lines) at September 30, 2004, an increase of 73% compared with September 30, 2003 (2.4 million). The acceleration of the France Telecom's "Plan Haut Débit pour Tous" (Broadband for All Plan) will enable coverage of more than 90% of the French population at end-2004.



• added almost 400,000 new Broadband Wanadoo clients in Europe in Q3 2004.



• added 2 million wireless customers in Q3, topping 60 million at September 30.



• launched its commercial 3G wireless service for businesses in the U.K. (in mid-July) and France (September 6) and accelerated UMTS and EDGE network rollout in France, as well as in other European mobile networks.



• CAPEX in Q3 amounted to EUR 1.2 billion, up 6.3% on a comparable basis and 4.7% on an actual basis.

http://www.francetelecom.com

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AMD Aims Low-cost Personal Internet Communicator at Developing Markets

AMD launched an initiative to enable 50% of the world's population with Internet connectivity and computing capabilities by 2015. A key element of the program is a new, low-cost Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) consumer device designed for emerging markets. The PIC would be branded, marketed and sold by local service providers such as telecommunications companies and government-sponsored communications programs. The deliver basic Internet functions such as e-mail, downloads and Web browsing, but uses a modified version of Windows designed to limit the installation of additional software.



AMD said microfinancing and bundled service packages could help consumers avoid large, up-front cash deployments at the point of sale. Suggested system price point is $185.00 with a keyboard, mouse, and preinstalled software; or $249.00 which also includes a monitor.



AMD has signed a number of strategic partners to help advance its "50x15" initiative.



India's TATA Group will market the PIC and offer it initially to consumers in five cities in India. CRC will work with local distributors in Mexico to offer the PIC along with a suite of educational software. Cable and Wireless is deploying the PIC in support of disaster relief efforts throughout the Caribbean. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_12095,00.html

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Oplink to Acquire EZconn for Photonic Components

Oplink Communications agreed to acquire Ezconn, a manufacturer of cable and photonics components, for $30 million in cash and stock. EZconn, which is based in Taiwan and has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China, supplies components for broadband cable and FTTX (Fiber-to-the- (Home, Curb, Premise, Node, etc.)) applications.



Oplink, which is based in San Jose, California, provides design, integration and optical manufacturing solutions (OMS) for optical networking components and subsystems. http://www.oplink.com/

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VIVO Launches CDMA2000 1xEV-DO with Lucent

VIVO announced the commercial launch of a 3G CDMA2000 1xEV-DO network in the in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro regions of Brazil. This Lucent-supplied network enables VIVO to provide mobile data services at speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps to laptops and PDAs equipped with 1x-EV-DO PC cards. For the commercial network launch, Lucent upgraded VIVO's Lucent-supplied base stations to support CDMA2000 1xEV-DO. Lucent Worldwide Services provided network integration and installation services. http://www.vivo.com.brhttp://www.lucent.com

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Voiceglo Adds Push-to-Talk Buddy Feature to VoIP Service

Voiceglo, a broadband telephony provider, has added a peer-to-peer voice messaging feature to its proprietary Web- and PC-based service, the GloPhone. The feature is similar to the push-to-talk functionality of cell phones, allowing users to send and receive instant voice messages to other GloPhone users on their buddy list. Specifically, the GloMessenger application allows GloPhone users to send voice messages to one another using MP3 formatted files - without having to initiate a phone call. Users click on a "Send Message" button and record a sound byte that is immediately transmitted to an online buddy. The recipient will then see their GloPhone display window flash - indicating that they have a GloMessage waiting - and can then listen to the audio message and reply. http://www.glophone.com

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NETGEAR's Q3 Sales Rise 34% over Last Year

NETGEAR reported Q3 net revenue of $101.2 million, a 34% increase as compared to $75.8 million for Q3 2003. Net revenue for Q2 was $88.4 million. Net income (GAAP) was $5.9 million or $0.19 per basic share and $0.18 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of ($4.0) million for the third quarter of 2003. Net revenue in Q3 2004 derived from North America was $57.1 million, the Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA, region was $36.2 million, and the Asia Pacific region was $8.0 million. http://www.netgear.com

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Leading Carriers Form ENUM Group for North America

Leading service providers have formed a new group called Country Code 1 ENUM Limited Liability Company to promote the development of consistent, standards-based ENUM technology throughout North America. Founding members include AT&T, GoDaddy.com, MCI, SBC Laboratories, Sprint, and Verizon.



"ENUM technology will play a vital role in the continued growth and development of VoIP," said Keith Cambron, president and CEO, SBC Laboratories. "It is critically important that ENUM technology is developed in a consistent, standards-based manner. http://www.sbc.com

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Alcatel Sees Q3 Sales Rise 11% over Last Year

Alcatel reported Q3 sales of EUR 3.044 billion, up 11% (14% at constant exchange rates) over the same period last year and up 3% sequentially. The company's gross margin was 37.7% of sales. Net income pre-goodwill for the quarter was registered at EUR 187 million or diluted EUR 0.14 per share (USD 0.17 per ADS) and net income after goodwill at EUR 84 million or diluted EUR 0.06 per share (USD 0.08 per ADS). Some highlights for Q3.

• Mobile communications: sales were up 28% YoY with positive indications for Q4. Alcatel cited sales breakthroughs in India and Brazil and expansions in Russia, Africa, the Middle East and China. Alcatel is now investing in a disruptive NGN cellular core technology through its association and planned acquisition of Spatial Wireless.



• Fixed communications: revenue decreased by 3.8% to EUR 1,253 million from EUR 1,302 million in Q3 2003, continuing on a flattish trend. Both the Data and Fixed Solutions businesses turned in significant growth. The IP edge service routing activity now boasts more than 40 customers across diverse geographical regions, with over 10 new accounts added during the quarter. MSWAN sales continued to be strong as a result of increased traffic in access, most notably in Europe. The growth in fixed solutions was driven by triple play services, in particular, the early adoption in Western Europe, Latin America and Russia, while NGN continued to gain momentum, exemplified by wins in China during the quarter wherein Alcatel will deliver one million NGN lines to three different Chinese carriers. Optical networks also grew during the quarter benefiting from the demand in the metro domain as well as for cross connects by the wireless carriers as they build out their network. Compared to a year ago, shipments of ADSL lines grew strongly in China, moderately in Europe, and declined in North America, which overall resulted in a softness in revenues. Alcatel delivered 4.5 million lines in the quarter, bringing cumulative deliveries for the year to 14.8 million. Voice networks continued to decline, even if, emerging countries in the deployment phase showed some strength. During the quarter an agreement was reached to dispose of the power systems business. The company said its investments in triple play technologies, as evidenced by the recent win with SBC for Project Lightspeed.



• Private communications: revenue increased by 11.4% to EUR 935 million compared with EUR 839 million in Q3 2003. Alcatel noted growth in its IP/PBX business particularly in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in Asia. Genesys continued to post solid results, particularly with large US companies as well as in Asia Pacific.

http://www.alcatel.com

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