Deutsche Telekom Claims Financial Turn Around

Deutsche Telekom issued its financial results for 2003, claiming a financial turn-around for the company based on a double strategy of debt reduction and growth in profitable services. Kai-Uwe Ricke, Deutsche Telekom's CEO, said the company exceeded its financial targets in many key areas. Some highlights of the report:

• For 2003, net revenue increased by 4% year-on-year to EUR 55.8 billion EURs.



• Net income was EUR 1.3 billion EURs.



• EBITDA was EUR 18.3 billion, a head of a target of EUR 16.7 billion to EUR 17.7 billion for the year. This represents an increase of 12.1 percent, considerably higher than revenue growth.



• Net debt has been reduced by a total of EUR 17.7 billion since 2002. At the end of 2003, net debt was EUR 46.6 billion.



• The number of DSL lines increased from 2.8 million to 4.0 million
  
  
• T-Mobile continues to be a growth driver for the company, especially T-Mobile USA, which ended the year with 13.1 million users, up by 3.1 million for the year. T-Mobile Europe ended the year with 61 million users, up by 7 million for the year.



• For 2004, the company is forecasting adjusted EBITDA of at least EUR 19.2 billion, along with continued profitable growth and flexible use of free cash flow. Ricke also reiterated a pledge to generate a dividend for shareholders for distribution in 2005.

Ricke also spoke out against proposed legislation in Germany that would require Deutsche Telekom to offer its competitors products for resale without any restriction. He said Deutsche Telekom does not reject resale in principle, but worries that the proposed law would dampen the incentive to invest in new infrastructure. http://www.telekom.de

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Reaction to Powell's 30 Day UNE-p Negotiating Proposal

AT&T: "Chairman Powell's call is not one for negotiation but rather a call for surrender. Clearly this will mean an end to a competitive local marketplace, not only for the millions of customers who have chosen competitive carriers as their local providers but also for the millions of others who are benefiting from the lower prices that competition brings," said Jim Cicconi, AT&T general counsel.



CompTel/ASCENT Alliance: "The competitive industry has been trying to negotiate with the Bells for eight years, without success. Chairman Powell now proposes that we negotiate for 30 days. And by signaling that the FCC will raise wholesale rates, absent a commercially negotiated agreement, the Chairman has eliminated any incentive of the Bell companies to negotiate in good faith. The lesson we have learned is that once the Commission eliminates access to a UNE at cost-based rates, the Bells have absolutely no incentive to negotiate in good faith," said H. Russell Frisby Jr., CEO of the CompTel/ASCENT Alliance, an industry group representing facilities-based carriers, providers using unbundled network elements, global integrated communications companies, and their supplier partners.



Citizens Against Government Waste: "Even before the decision is made as to whether or not to appeal, the FCC stands ready to flush more tax dollars into the black hole of endless bureaucratic proceedings. The Bush Administration should appeal to the Supreme Court for a clear and unambiguous interpretation of the law," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-partisan group.

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FCC's Michael Powell Calls for 30-day Negotiations on UNE-p

CLECs and ILECs should enter a 30-day negotiation period beginning now to arrive at commercially negotiated rates for local access, said FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell, speaking at the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) General Assembly. If such negotiations fail, Powell said he intends to propose an interim set of rules to protect against precipitous disruptions in services currently delivered by CLECs using ILEC facilities. The interim rules would provide an 18 month moratorium and transition period for existing UNE-P customers. The FCC would also create "new rules to advance local competition" and Powell expressed a willingness to work with state commissioners in developing such rules.



No matter what one's view of the FCC's Triennial Review Order on UNE-p, the recent court ruling overturning those rules, or the likely Supreme Court challenge to that ruling, Powell said "we are confronting an unfortunate period of continued, and perhaps prolonged, uncertainty." The current situation "creates the real possibility that local telecommunications markets will operate in a vacuum of vacated rules and changing interconnection agreements."



Powell urged the industry to move past their entrenched positions and to compromise during the 30 day negotiation period.



He also called on state and federal regulators to work together on four other issues: consumer protection, Universal Service, Disabilities Access, and Homeland Security. http://www.fcc.gov

• Earlier this month, A three-judge panel in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the FCC's Triennial Review Order with regard to network unbundling rules. The FCC rules, which were announced in February 2003 but actually issued in August 2003, empowered state public utility commissions as the decision makers on issues regarding UNE-P unbundling and local competition. The Court of Appeals said the FCC erred by not providing unified, federal guidelines and by pushing many FCC decisions to the states. The court also upheld the Triennial Review Order's exemption provided to incumbent carriers from unbundling for certain fiber-fed loops and for line sharing. The ruling was applauded by ILECs but condemned at CLECs.



• One day after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the FCC's Triennial Review Order with regard to network unbundling rules, SBC Communications issued a public offer to AT&T, MCI and other competitors, inviting the companies "to negotiate commercially reasonable UNE-P wholesale rates ." SBC Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre said, "It is time for those of us who believe in free markets to put those commitments to the test in telecommunications." Whitacre pledged to keep in place the public utility commission approved UNE-P wholesale rules and pricing for 90 days, while offering to immediately begin negotiating commercial UNE-P wholesale rates that all parties can accept.

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Intel's New R&D Center in Korea Focuses on Home Networking

Intel has established a new R&D center in Seoul, Korea to focus on advanced wireless communications, high-quality media coding, and next generation platforms for content distribution and consumption. Intel also signed a memorandum of understanding Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) to jointly develop new technologies related to multi-stream media distribution over home networks, home automation, and next generation home servers.



Intel appointed KS Lee as the first director of the Intel Korea R&D Center. Before joining Intel, Lee worked at Samsung Electronics in the Digital Media Network businesses. http://www.intel.com

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Global Crossing Reports Financials for Q4

Global Crossing reported Q4 total revenue of $719 million compared to $765 million for the same period in 2002. The decrease in total revenue was primarily attributed to the company's delayed emergence from Chapter 11 and continued pricing pressures resulting from a competitive market, partially offset by growth in the company's carrier business segment. Total revenue consisted of telecom services revenue of $679 million and Global Marine revenue of $40 million.
EBITDA for Q4 2003 improved to $13 million as compared to a loss of $62 million for the same period in 2002. Global Marine EBITDA was $13 million for the fourth quarter of 2003 compared to a loss of $5 million for the same period in 2002. Telecom EBITDA was break-even in the fourth quarter of 2003 compared to a loss of $57 million for the same period in 2002.



For 2004, Global Crossing said it is reformulating its marketing strategy to promote aggressive customer acquisition for an advanced suite of IP and data services, such as high performance IP data networking, VoIP, IP Video and other mission-critical business applications for both enterprise and carrier customers.



Global Crossing said its carrier business is an important part of its heritage would remain key to its business going forward. The company anticipates that the carrier market will enhance its revenues and margins as a result of increased network utilization, which leads to greater economies of scale.



In addition, Global Crossing said it is reviewing its lines of business in volatile and low margin services, particularly in the international long distance reseller market. The company is tightening the terms for pricing and payment and expects that these initiatives will improve cash flow, but will reduce revenue for these services by approximately $75 to $125 million annually. http://www.globalcrossing.com

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Pactolus Supplies SIP from PointOne's IP Calling Cards

PointOne Telecommunications is using Pactolus Communications' SIPware Prepaid Calling Card service and RapidFLEX Application Server in its nationwide, converged network. http://www.pactolus.com

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SAVVIS Teams with Telefonica to Expand in Latin America

SAVVIS Communications announced an agreement with Telefonica that enables it to expand its presence in eight Latin American nations, including more than 40 major cities, as well as Puerto Rico. With the interconnection, SAVVIS will deliver its "Intelligent IP Networking" and managed hosting services in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Ricohttp://www.savvis.net

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Telenor Group Chooses Nokia for DSL Expansion

Telenor Group awarded an international frame agreement to Nokia for DSL solutions and related services for networks in Norway, Sweden and other relevant markets. Under the two-year deal, which also includes options for a further two years, Nokia will supply its latest generation D500 IP DSLAM. Deployments are expected to cover around 200,000 lines during 2004. http://www.nokia.com

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Seabridge Licenses Data Connection's MPLS, OSPF and ATM

Seabridge Ltd., a developer of multi-service packet switches, has licensed Data Connection Limited's (DCL's) DC-MPLS, DC-OSPF and DC-ATM software for use in their SURPASS hiD and next generation multi-service packet switch product lines. http://www.dataconnection.com

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Axerra Introduces Multiservice Access Device

Axerra Networks, a start-up based in Boca Raton, Florida, introduced a multiservice access device that enables extensive Ethernet capabilities such as Transparent LAN Service and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), T1/E1 Circuit Emulation Service over Packet (CESoP) and dynamic bandwidth CES (DB-CESoP) for voice services, and Frame Relay over Packet (FRoP) for legacy data applications. Axerra's AXN1 Multiservice Access Device supports a variety of QoS and policing mechanisms and is available in several configuration options with both 10/100 BaseT and 100 Base Tx/Fx Ethernet interfaces, as well as the T1, E1, V.35, RS-530, and X.21 ports. It can be deployed with Multiservice over Packet (MSoP) gateways, including Axerra's own AXN800 and AXN1600. http://www.axerra.com

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Major ISPs File Anti-Spam Lawsuits

America Online, EarthLink, Microsoft and Yahoo! jointly filed six lawsuits under the new U.S. anti-spam law, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003. The companies allege that the defendants sent a combined total of hundreds of millions of bulk spam e-mail messages to customers of the four networks. http://www.aol.comhttp://www.earthlink.net

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Turk Telekom Selects Alcatel for DSL Expansion

Turk Telekom, the incumbent telecommunications fixed- network operator, selected Alcatel to supply an additional 200,000 lines for its broadband network. The deployment, which will occur in two equal phases, will extend the DSL network coverage to 2000 remote sites throughout the country. The rollout, which should be completed in 2004, will use the Alcatel 7300 Advanced Services Access Manager and the Alcatel 5523 DSL Work Station Element Management system. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Alcatel has supplied the majority of Turk Telekom's core Internet infrastructure network TTnet, 100 percent of its narrowband communications access network, as well as its initial DSL network deployment. http://www.alcatel.com

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Occam Completes Additional Funding

Occam Networks raised an additional $4.2 million in an additional closing of its previously announced private placement of Series A-2 Preferred Stock. Investments funds affiliated with Alta Partners invested $4.0 million at the closing. In connection with the financing, Occam agreed to permit Alta, at its election, to designate a member of Occam's board of directors.



Since November 2003, Occam has raised $20.7 million through private placements of its Preferred Stock. http://www.occamnetworks.com

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Mobile Top-Level Domain Aims to Simplify Mobile Web Access

A new mobile Top Level Domain ("mobile TLD") has been proposed to help bridge the world of mobility and the Internet by identifying new Internet sites optimized for mobile usage. The proposal is backed by Microsoft, Nokia, Vodafone, 3, GSM Association, HP, Orange, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sun Microsystems. The companies said they intend to form a registry company to manage the distribution of the new mobile TLD names. The mobile TLD would be designed to enable efficient application and network services and reliability for mobile customers and service providers.



The registry company will seek participation of additional, members to ensure broad customer and industry input. http://www.microsoft.comhttp://www.nokia.com

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European Telecom Ministers Express Optimism

European telecommunications ministers expressed optimism about the recovery of the electronic communications sector based on the continuing strong growth in broadband and the imminent launch of new wireless data services. During a meeting this week in Brussels, the ministers highlighted the importance of a mobile, on-line and inclusive information society to drive growth and deliver new jobs and improved productivity across the EU.



Erkki Liikanen, the EC's Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner, said the returning confidence of the industry must be matched by a new political commitment to push forward with the eEurope plan, including "the full and effective implementation of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications in all new and existing Member States."



During the meeting, the European Commission outlined its electronic communications agenda for the first half of 2004. Key goals include:

• Defining with national regulatory authorities in the Member States the range of remedies which may be applied to ensure effective competition in electronic communications markets.



• Identifying with stakeholders in the Mobile Technology Platform research priorities and developing a debate about the interoperability priorities for the sector.



• Creating a High Level Group to look at digital rights management and a new Forum on the Digital Divide.



• Reporting in May 2004 on the Member States' national broadband strategies and in July 2004 on the challenges to 3G deployment.



• Working with partner countries and other stakeholders to pursue international action against spam and, in relation to the global information society, to actively prepare the second stage of the World Summit on the Information Society.

http://europa.eu.int

• The European Commission expects the market for Information Technology and Telecommunications (ICT) in Western Europe to grow by more than 3% in 2004, far outstripping the level of 0.8% in 2003. The worldwide ICT market is expected to grow by well in excess of four percentage points. According to the latest report by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), markets in France and Germany are still performing below the ICT average, while Spain is predicted to enjoy the strongest growth.



• However, the report also cautions that constraints – among them a weak economic recovery, budget restrictions, and a lack of skills and technology culture – will inhibit ICT investment.

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D-Link offers Weather-proof 802.11g Wireless Access Point

D-Link introduced a rugged business-class outdoor 802.11g access point that delivers point-to-point and multi-point connectivity up to 600 meters. D-Link also supplies a high-gain outdoor antennae to extend the range even further. The D-Link AirPremier 802.11g Outdoor Wireless Access Point features Wireless Distribution System (WDS) offering 4 operational modes -- Access Point for creating a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Repeater to extend the range of D-Link AirPremier 802.11g wireless LANs by an additional 50% of coverage, AP-to-AP Bridging for wirelessly connecting two networks, and Point-to-Multipoint Bridging for wirelessly connecting multiple networks. The access point supports IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE). Wireless security features include IEEE 802.1X user-based authentication, AES encryption, WPA support and support for the upcoming 802.11i (WPA2) security standard. MSRP is $1499. http://www.dlink.com 09-Mar-04

http://www.dlink.com

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EZchip Raises $8 Million for its High Speed Net Processors

EZchip Technologies,. a subsidiary of LanOptics, raised an additional $8.0 million of Series C funding for its high-speed network processors. Ezchip said it now has over 30 customers for NP-1c 10-Gigabit 7-Layer network processor, including four in early production. The full-duplex network processor provides fully programmable packet classification, modification, forwarding and policing at wire speed.



The first tranche of Series C funding was invested a year ago, and the additional Series C funding concludes the round. The additional funding follows the exercise of an option held by the Series C investors, which include LanOptics, Goldman Sachs, JK&B Capital, Star Ventures, and Tamar Investments. LanOptics, which will continue to be the majority shareholder of EZchip following the option exercise with 53.4% of the company, triggered the option exercise. http://www.ezchip.com

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Swisscom's Bluewin Selects TANDBERG TV

Swisscom's Bluewin is testing TANDBERG Television's Windows Media 9 Series encoding platform for an IPTV service over ADSL. Bluewin is the first carrier worldwide to conduct a commercial trial of TV services over an IP broadband network using IPTV technology from Microsoft TV and TANDBERG's EN5920 encoder. The EN5920 is based on TANDBERG's Intelligent Compression Engine (ICE), which provides a modular and upgradeable solution for Windows Media 9 Series and MPEG-4 part 10 technologies.



The trial, which begins next month, will provide 30 channels of live television, video on demand and PVR (personal video recorder) services presented through an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) as part of a Triple Play mix of TV, telephony and high speed internet to several hundred paying customers in the German speaking part of Switzerland. http://www.tandbergtv.comhttp://www.bluewin.ch

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Equinix Grows its Multi-Network Connectivity Service

Equinix has signed more than 60 enterprises, content providers and network service providers for its "Equinix Direct" multi-network connectivity service. Equinix Direct enables buyers and sellers of Internet network connectivity to establish business relationships with each other. The service combines Equinix's multi-network environment with automated routing, billing and dynamic settlement technology. Equinix said that by leveraging a more efficient buyer-seller relationship within the same physical location, bandwidth buyers could overcome previous challenges to establishing relationships with multiple networks, such as costly and prohibitive long-term contracts and monthly usage minimums, expensive local loops with lengthy provisioning times, the installation of complex router configurations for each network service provider, and the administrative and technical requirements of establishing these relationships.



Currently, more than 30 enterprises and content companies, including Hallmark.com, Adobe, Shutterfly, Macromedia, Hotwire and ExpertCity are using Equinix Direct. The more than 20 bandwidth providers currently on the service include America Online, Level (3), Cox Communications, Global Crossing, BIG PIPE (a division of Shaw Communications), Teleglobe and WilTel. http://www.equinix.com

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Net2Phone Cites Progress in Cable VoIP in Puerto Rico

Net2Phone and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico have activated their 1,000th cable VoIP customer since activating the service in mid-December 2003. Net2Phone's back office systems integrate with Liberty Puerto Rico's network operations center, provisioning software and customer service software. Liberty Puerto Rico controls the service brand and Tier I customer and technical support, while Net2Phone supports the back office Packet Cable infrastructure, switching and transport, and Tier II+ technical support .

Net2Phone also noted that network usage averaged more than 1000 minutes of use per subscriber per month. http://www.net2phone.com

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