AMC-12 Satellite Successfully Launched

The AMERICOM-12 (AMC-12) satellite of SES AMERICOM was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). The C-band satellite, which was built by Alcatel Space, offer 72 transponders organized into three regional beams: North America, South America and Europe/Middle East/Africa.


Based on Alcatel Space's new-generation Spacebus 4000 platform, the powerful AMC-12 satellite will deliver a wide range of services, from direct-to-home TV broadcasts to broadband Internet. SES ASTRA has committed to integrating 33 transponders offering services into Africa into their services portfolio as ASTRA 4A. Star One of Brazil has contracted to purchase 18 transponders offering services within South America in their portfolio as Star One C-12. SES AMERICOM will be using the AMC-12 capacity to interconnect the U.S. with Europe/Middle East/Africa and with South America, as well as to deliver services throughout South America.
http://www.ses-americom.com
http://www.alcatel.com

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Siemens Supplies Optical Backbone for Ethiopian Telecom

The state-owned carrier Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has commissioned Siemens Communications to supply an optical backbone for its fixed and mobile network in the north and center of the country. The 2.5 Gbps network, which will span approximately 1,700 km, will be based on Siemens' Surpass hiT 70xx platform. The ETC network will be monitored and controlled by the transport network management system TNMS also being delivered by Siemens to Ethiopia. The contract is valued at EUR 12 million.
http://www.siemens.com/communicationshttp://www.telecom.net.et

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U.S. Cable rates increase in 2004, But at a Slower Pace

The overall average monthly rate for cable service in the U.S. -- including basic and expanded basic cable programming services and equipment -- increased by 5.4% over the 12-month period ending January 1, 2004, from $42.99 to $45.32, according to the latest FCC figures. The report also provides information on the number of channels offered in each tier of service, the average capacity of cable systems, and the percentage of cable subscribers that are offered advanced services such as digital service, Internet access, and telephone service.


The FCC report also analyzes the price increases between cable operators that face competition and those that do not. It finds that the average monthly rate for basic and expanded basic cable programming services and equipment increased by 3.6% for the group of cable operators that face effective competition and by 5.6% for the group of operators that do not face effective competition.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Competition Grows in U.S. Video Delivery Market

Competition is taking off in the U.S. market for the delivery of video services, concludes the 11th annual FCC report of the state of the cable industry. Almost all U.S. consumers have the choice between over-the-air broadcast television, a cable service, and at least two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers. In some areas, consumers also can choose to receive service via one or more emerging technologies, including digital broadcast spectrum, fiber, and video over the Internet.


Additional conclusions include:

• overall cable subscribership remained relatively stable over the past year,



• DBS subscriberships continued to increase at double-digit rates of growth, which is due in part to the continued increase in the number of markets where local broadcast television stations are distributed by DBS



• As of June 2004, 92.3 million households subscribed to an MVPD -- with 71.6% subscribing to a franchised cable operator, 25.1% receiving their video programming from a DBS operator, and 3.3% of subscribers choosing service from other types of providers (e.g., broadband service provider (BSP), wireless cable operator, private cable operator).



• As a result of system upgrades and increased competition from DBS services, cable subscribers are enjoying a broad range of advanced services, such as digital tiers and video on demand, as well as more channels of video programming



• As of June 2004, DBS operators had over 23.16 million subscribers, an increase of close to 14% since the 2003 Report.



• As of June 2004, there were about 18.5 million cable modem Internet access subscribers, up from 13.7 million a year earlier.



• As of year-end 2003, cable operators were serving approximately 2.8 million subscribers with telephone service (circuit switched + VoIP)



• DIRECTV has scaled back its plans to use SPACEWAY satellites to offer broadband services. EchoStar, which has offered satellite-based Internet services in the past, no longer offers its own service.



• As of September 2004, all of the 40 stations that make up the top-four network affiliates in the top ten television markets were offering digital broadcasts and 1,468 television stations, representing 85% of all stations, are on the air with DTV operation.



• As of June 2004, an estimated 64 million Americans subscribed to an Internet access service, and 30.1 million of those subscribed to a high-speed Internet access service, or about 47% of all subscribers.



• As of July 2004, approximately 70% of TV households have a DVD player.



• DVRs: TiVo, the largest DVR maker, has approximately two million subscribers, of which 1.1 million are DIRECTV subscribers. There are 1.4 million cable subscribers that have set-top boxes with DVR functionally, and EchoStar has over one million subscribers to its DVR system.



• Cable operators' acquisitions and system trades slowed considerably in 2004. . In June 2003, the four largest operators served about 59% of all U.S. cable subscribers, whereas in June 2004, the four largest cable operators served about 58% of all U.S. cable subscribers.



• The number of programming networks has increased over the last year. As of June 2003, there were approximately 339 nonbroadcast programming networks available for carriage by MVPDs. As of June 2004, there were 388 national nonbroadcast programming networks.

http://www.fcc.gov

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FCC Adopts Unbundling Rules

The FCC formally adopted new rules concerning the obligations of incumbent carriers (ILECs) to make elements of their network available to other carriers seeking to enter the local telecommunications market. The FCC had voted to approve the new rules in December 2004. The new rules were issued in response to the March 2004 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which overturned portions of the Unbundled Network Element (UNE) rules in the FCC's Triennial Review Order.
http://www.fcc.govHighlights of the new rules include:

• An Unbundling Framework. -- The new rules clarify the impairment standard adopted in the Triennial Review Order in one respect and modify its application in three respects. First, impairments are evaluated with regard to the capabilities of a reasonably efficient competitor. Second, the Triennial Review Order's “qualifying service�? interpretation of section 251(d)(2) is set aside. The use of UNEs are prohibited for the provision of telecommunications services in the mobile wireless and long-distance markets, which the FCC previously found to be competitive. Third, the impairment test draws reasonable inferences regarding the prospects for competition in one geographic market based on the state of competition in other, similar markets. Fourth, the appropriate role of tariffed incumbent LEC services are considered in the unbundling framework, and that in the context of the local exchange markets, a general rule prohibiting access to UNEs whenever a requesting carrier is able to compete using an incumbent LEC's tariffed offering would be inappropriate.



• Dedicated Interoffice Transport. -- Competing carriers are impaired without access to DS1 transport except on routes connecting a pair of wire centers, where both wire centers contain at least four fiber-based collocators or at least 38,000 business access lines. Competing carriers are impaired without access to DS3 or dark fiber transport except on routes connecting a pair of wire centers, each of which contains at least three fiber-based collocators or at least 24,000 business lines. Finally, competing carriers are not impaired without access to entrance facilities connecting an incumbent LEC's network with a competitive LEC's network in any instance. The new framework adopts a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of DS1- and DS3-capacity dedicated transport where they are not impaired, and an 18-month plan to govern transitions away from dark fiber transport. These transition plans apply only to the embedded customer base, and do not permit competitive LECs to add new dedicated transport UNEs in the absence of impairment. During the transition periods, competitive carriers will retain access to unbundled dedicated transport at a rate equal to the higher of (1) 115% of the rate the requesting carrier paid for the transport element on June 15, 2004, or (2) 115% of the rate the state commission has established or establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004 and the effective date of this Order.



• High-Capacity Loop. -- Competitive LECs are impaired without access to DS3-capacity loops except in any building within the service area of a wire center containing 38,000 or more business lines and 4 or more fiber-based collocators. Competitive LECs are impaired without access to DS1-capacity loops except in any building within the service area of a wire center containing 60,000 or more business lines and 4 or more fiber-based collocators. Competitive LECs are not impaired without access to dark fiber loops in any instance. We adopt a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of DS1- and DS3-capacity loops where they are not impaired, and an 18-month plan to govern transitions away from dark fiber loops. These transition plans apply only to the embedded customer base, and do not permit competitive LECs to add new high-capacity loop UNEs in the absence of impairment. During the transition periods, competitive carriers will retain access to unbundled facilities at a rate equal to the higher of (1) 115% of the rate the requesting carrier paid for the transport element on June 15, 2004, or (2) 115% of the rate the state commission has established or establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004 and the effective date of this Order.



• Mass Market Local Circuit Switching. -- Incumbent LECs have no obligation to provide competitive LECs with unbundled access to mass market local circuit switching. The new rules adopt a 12-month plan for competing carriers to transition away from use of unbundled mass market local circuit switching. This transition plan applies only to the embedded customer base, and does not permit competitive LECs to add new switching UNEs. During the transition period, competitive carriers will retain access to the UNE platform (i.e., the combination of an unbundled loop, unbundled local circuit switching, and shared transport) at a rate equal to the higher of (1) the rate at which the requesting carrier leased that combination of elements on June 15, 2004, plus one dollar, or (2) the rate the state public utility commission establishes, if any, between June 16, 2004, and the effective date of this Order, for this combination of elements, plus one dollar.

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TANDBERG TV Completes N2 Merger

TANDBERG Television completed its acquisition of Atlanta-based N2 Broadband, Inc., a provider of scalable, open-platform solutions for on-demand entertainment, for $118 million in shares and cash.


TANDBERG Television said the N2 Broadband's standards-based, open solutions are a natural extension of its own core technology and have already been integrated with TANDBERG Television's video compression systems.


N2 Broadband's President and CEO, Reggie Bradford takes on the role of President of TANDBERG Television, Inc. The new combined North American concern will be headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a development facility in Denver, Colorado. The total staff for the Americas operation is approximately 180 employees.
http://www.tandbergtv.com
http://www.n2broadband.com

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Telekom Malaysia Selects Cisco Systems

Telekom Malaysia has selected Cisco Systems to help create, commercialize and deliver managed services that make use of integrated data, voice and video IP technologies. The agreement will see Telekom Malaysia and Cisco align their technology, marketing, and sales forces to enhance the delivery of new managed services from Telekom Malaysia that utilize Cisco technology. For the first phase, Telekom Malaysia and Cisco have identified the following managed services for the Malaysian market: IP VPNs, Metro Ethernet, IP telephony and security. Telekom Malaysia is a member of the Cisco Powered Network Program. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.cisco.com
http://www.telekom.com.my

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Corning Expects Growth in FTTx

While the overall telecommunications industry is showing some signs of improvement, Corning believes that a sustainable telecom industry recovery will ultimately be led by strong customer demand for new service capabilities that systems such as fiber-to-the-premises enable, said Larry Aiello, the company's president and CEO in a presentation to the financial community.


In North America, Corning is looking for FTTx growth from Verizon, SBC and BellSouth.
http://www.corning.com

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GigaBeam to Supply "Wireless fiber" Units to OnFiber

GigaBeam announced an agreement to supply its WiFiber wireless connectivity products to OnFiber Communications. A field trial deployment is anticipated to occur in the current quarter.


GigaBeam expects to provide ultra high speed wireless point-to-point communications links that operate in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz radio spectrum bands. This portion of the radio frequency spectrum recently was authorized by the FCC for wireless point-to-point commercial use.


GigaBeam expects that its technology, coupled with these large blocks of recently authorized contiguous spectrum, will enable multi gigabit-per-second wireless communications utilizing Gigabit Ethernet protocols. The anticipated speed of GigaBeam's technology is 1.25 Gbps.


GigaBeam is also working on products capable of 10 Gbps.
http://www.gigabeam.com

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Flextronics Acquires Camera Module Business

Flextronics has completed the acquisition of Agilent Technologies' camera module business. The camera modules are used in mobile handsets. The acquisition gives Flextronics additional access to tier-one customers and complements the company's overall strategy to play a major design role in all of the products it builds, ships, and services for OEM customers.
http://www.flextronics.com/

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Mpower Creates Wholesale Division

Mpower Communications has formed a new Wholesale division that aims to leverage its acquisition of ICG's California wholesale customer base and statewide SONET fiber network, in addition to Mpower's own deep and dense facilities-based network of switches and nearly 300 collocation facilities. With the acquisition of ICG's California business earlier this year, Mpower is already wholesale provider to many of the largest IXCs, CLECs and ISPs in the country.


The new wholesale division will be led by Russ Shipley, formerly New Technology Officer for Mpower. Previously, Shipley has held senior positions at Global Crossing and Frontier Communications. His most recent position at Global Crossing was Senior Vice President-Global Transport Network Operations. While at Frontier, Shipley led the planning, engineering and construction of the 20,000-route mile nationwide fiber optics network shared by Frontier and Qwest.
http://www.mpowercom.com/

• In October 2004, Mpower Communications will acquire ICG Communications' network assets and customers in California for $13.5 million in stock. The deal includes ICG's California retail and wholesale customers; a 1,412 route mile state-wide self-healing DWDM and SONET-based fiber ring connecting San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego, Anaheim and Los Angeles; 915 route miles of fully-survivable metropolitan SONET-based fiber rings in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles which connect 128 commercial buildings, 33 of Mpower's existing collocations and 11 ICG collocations that will be added to the Mpower footprint. The acquisition is expected to contribute in excess of $30 million in revenue and $8-$10 million of operating income (excluding expenses related to depreciation and amortization of the acquired assets) in 2006.
  
  In connection with the acquisition, Mpower also announced that telecom investment funds Columbia Capital and M/C Venture Partners, through their ownership of ICG, will invest $2.5 million in cash for 1,988,894 shares of Mpower Holding's common stock.

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Adelphia Files Amended Chapter 11 Plan

Adelphia Communications filed an amended plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company said its new plan facilitates the sale process by allowing for the distribution of sale consideration to Adelphia's creditors upon a sale of all or a portion of Adelphia's assets. At the same time, the plan preserves Adelphia's ability to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as an independent entity. The amended plan also adds provisions designed to facilitate potential compromises of outstanding inter-creditor disputes and governmental settlement demands in the context of a potential global settlement.
http://www.adelphia.com/about/por.cfm

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BT Issues Equal Access Proposal, Seeking Settlement with Regulator

BT unveiled a set of proposals to offer competitve operators lower wholesale prices, faster broadband services and transparent, highly regulated access to BT's local network. BT hopes the proposals could form part of a regulatory settlement between itself, the national telecoms regulator (Ofcom) and the industry. Key points of the proposal include:

• BT to set up an Access Services Division to provide transparent and equal access to BT's local network. This "fenced off" part of the business would remain within BT and would have responsibility for ensuring equal access to the services and assets associated with the local loop. Equality of Access Board, with two independent members chosen in consultation with Ofcom, would oversee its operations.
  
  
• BT to cut a range of wholesale broadband prices and introduce faster services



• BT to reaffirm its commitment to local loop unbunbling (LLU). BT also proposes a further price cut to the fully unbundled LLU product



• BT to increase the commercial attractiveness of Wholesale Line Rental



• BT to provide fair access to its 21st Century Network

As part of this proposed settlement, Ofcom would:

• Focus regulation on BT's local network through its Access Services Division



• Roll back other regulation on a progressive and rapid basis



• Allow successful investment in next generation networks to be properly rewarded



• Allow BT to compete on a level basis with other operators in the market

BT said its chief aim was regulatory certainty to invest and innovate with confidence. BT has plans to invest up to £10 billion in the creation of a 21st Century Network over the next five years.However, BT said these plans are dependent upon receiving assurances it can generate appropriate economic returns from its investment.



BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "The United Kingdom has the opportunity to create the most exciting and innovative telecoms market in the world. Ofcom has recognised this and has initiated a Review with the aim of creating a new regulatory framework to make this happen. BT has a critical part to play, and today we are making a set of far-reaching proposals towards that framework."http://www.btplc.com

• In November 2004, Ofcom, the official telecom regulator in the U.K., published its proposals to support the growth of greater competition, innovation and investment certainty in the UK telecommunications sector. The proposals are intended to prepare the ground for a new regulatory framework as the market undergoes a migration to next-generation networks based on IP. Following a strategic review of the market, Ofcom said it has identified two key problems:
  
  
  
  Firstly, an unstable market structure in fixed telecoms, dominated by BT and with alternative providers that are, in the main, fragmented and of limited scale.
  
  
  Secondly, the continuance of a complex regulatory mesh, devised over twenty years of regulation and in many areas dependent upon intrusive micro-management to achieve its purposes, yet which, in aggregate, has failed effectively to address the core issue of BT's control of the UK-wide access network.
  
  
  Rather than a breakup of BT, Ofcom said it prefers an approach that requires BT to deliver real equality of access. Ofcom is proposing that the most effective way to deliver the changes required will be for regulation to address head-on the barriers preventing competitive wholesale access to BT's network. Real equality of access would mean that BT must offer competitors the same or similar wholesale products and prices, as are made available by BT to its own retail businesses, and; transactional processes, as are made available by BT for the use of its own retail businesses



• In June 2004, BT outlined a five-year timetable for migrating its circuit-based voice services to IP. The mass migration of customers from PSTN to IP will begin in 2006 and, by 2008, BT expects a majority of the transformation will be completed. BT's 21CN initiative aims to migrate the company's existing multiple, service specific networks to a single converged multi-service IP based network. It includes work towards increasing the bandwidth of services provided over the copper access network as well as the trials of FTTP.

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BT to Raise ADSL Speeds, Trim Wholesale Prices

BT Wholesale announced plans to deliver higher speed broadband services throughout the UK together with a range of wholesale broadband pricing initiatives. The changes came as part of BT response to the Ofcom Telecommunications Strategic Review .



Starting in April 2005, BT will begin a trial of higher speed services in the 2 Mbps to 8 Mbps range using existing ADSL technology. In addition, BT Wholesale plans to run initial trials of ADSL2+ technology to support higher speed services of up to 18 Mbps. Further details of the timing, scope and location of the trials will be provided over the next few weeks.



From April 2005, BT Wholesale plans to reduce the wholesale cost to service providers of BT IPStream ADSL products by an average of about 8% in areas where there is a combination of high customer demand, high take up and lower costs. The reduction will be delivered as a rebate to the service provider of £1.10 per BT IPstream Home end user and £1.40 per BT IPstream Office and S product end user.



The company announced it will also reduce the costs for BT Datastream ADSL service providers at the same time to ensure continued compliance with the regulatory margin rule. Given current market and regulatory conditions, BT said it does not expect to make any further significant price changes to the existing ADSL IP Stream rental charges over the next 12 months, other than potentially some changes to support the take up of higher bandwidth services.



BT Wholesale has also announced it plans further price cuts for Local Loop Unbundling operators. BT would hope to cut the monthly rental on the fully unbundled local loop product by a similar proportion to the BT IPstream reduction. This will be subject to the speedy and satisfactory conclusion of two related Ofcom consultations and the wider review as well as following normal regulatory processes.



BT Wholesale expects that by the end of March 2005, LLU operators will be providing service from more than 600 exchanges with many of them having multiple operators providing service.
http://www.btplc.com

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Wabash Mutual Deploys Occam's Broadband Loop Carrier

Wabash Mutual Telephone Company, an independent operating company (IOC) in Celina, Ohio, has chosen Occam Networks' BLC 6000 System to deliver triple play services, voice, high-speed data and video, in a multi-year access network upgrade project.



Wabash Mutual is transitioning its entire network to an all-IP network. Occam's BLC 6000 Central Office Terminal (COT) is installed in the company's Central Office (CO) and connected to the company's MetaSwitch softswitch. BLC 6000s have been installed in two remote locations and are providing voice and high-speed data services to subscribers. An additional two remote locations will be brought on line shortly. Wabash plans to deliver IP video to subscribers during the year.
http://www.occamnetworks.com
http://www.wabashtelephone.com

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TelCove Acquires KMC Telecom

TelCove will acquire certain network assets and customers of KMC Telecom, significantly extending its CLEC prescence in Florida. TelCove will acquire 21 of KMC's markets, 18 of which represent new coverage areas, while three represent augmentations to existing TelCove markets. The acquisition will add approximately 1,050 local fiber route miles, 47 POPs and 202 lit commercial buildings.



Upon the closing of this transaction, TelCove will serve 70 markets throughout the eastern half of the United States and have 3,345 lit buildings. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.telcove.com/

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Kasenna Supplies IPTV for Ultra-Luxury Hotel in Abu Dhabi

Kasenna has supplied its IPTV system for what is described as the world's most advanced multimedia guest room system at the seven-star Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Kasenna's TimelessTV allows hotel guests to capture 50 TV channels in real time with the ability to record, pause, rewind and fast-forward through live video. The system also provides VOD as well as 24 hours of interactive playback of previously recorded content. Bond Communications served as the main audio-visual and multimedia contractor for the Emirates Palace hotel.
http://www.kasenna.com/http://www.bondcommunications.com/

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WSJ: Qwest in Talks to Buy MCI

The Wall Street Journal reported that Qwest Communications is offering about $6.3 billion to acquire MCI. People close to the situation report that MCI is eager for a deal, although a rival bid from Verizon is possible, according to the article. Neither company has commented on the speculation.
http://www.wsj.com

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Dust Networks Secures $22 Million for Wireless Sensor Networks

Dust Networks, a start-up based in Berkeley California, raised $22 million in equity funding for its enterprise-class low-power wireless mesh networking systems. Dust Networks' SmartMesh products provide a way to deploy wireless sensors that collect data about physical environments. The technology is aimed at enterprise-class monitoring and control applications in building automation, industrial monitoring and security markets, including energy monitoring, HVAC systems, machine-health, and perimeter security.



The funding was led by Crescendo Ventures. Cargill Ventures participated in this series B round, along with existing investors Foundation Capital and Institutional Ventures Partners. This new funding, which brings Dust Networks' total investment to-date to $30 million, comes after a recent product launch and successful customer trials.



Separately, Dust Networks announced that it had been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to participate in an initiative aimed at making America's commercial and residential buildings more energy efficient. Dust Networks will work with SVA Lighting, USA and Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to create an advanced lighting system that will enable organizations to implement wireless lighting control strategies without incurring hefty wiring costs.
http://www.dustnetworks.com/

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Nokia Signs a WCDMA 3G Contract with Far EasTone

Nokia has signed a WCDMA 3G network expansion agreement with Far EasTone Telecommunications Ltd. (FET) and its subsidiary Yuan-Ze in Taiwan, marking a new customer for Nokia. The deal covers the delivery of Nokia WCDMA 3G radio access network equipment and services in central and southern Taiwan. In addition the agreement also includes the Nokia NetAct network and service management system and an extensive range of services such as installation, commissioning, integration, project management and care services. Deliveries will begin immediately and the network is expected to be operational in 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.nokia.com

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