Wednesday, May 9, 2007

European Commission Approves Swisscom + FastWeb

The European Commission granted unconditional approval to the acquisition of Italy-based Fastweb by Swisscom.

http://www.swisscom.com
  • In March 2007, Swisscom announced a bid to acquire Fastweb, Italy's second largest fixed-network operator and leading provider of IP-based services, for EUR 47 per share for a maximum total consideration of EUR 3.7 billion.



    Fastweb is Italy's leading alternative broadband telecommunications provider with more than one million customers, 2006 revenues and EBITDA of respectively EUR 1.26 billion and EUR 424.6 million.

Deutsche Telekom Sees International Growth, Revenues in Germany Drop 5%

Strong growth in international revenue boosted Deutsche Telekom's total revenue in Q1 2007 to EUR 15.5 billion, a rise of 4.1 percent over the previous year. At EUR 7.7 billion, international revenue was 15.5 percent higher than in the same quarter of 2006. This means that Deutsche Telekom generates roughly half of its revenue outside Germany.

Mobile Communications in particular generated strong growth with revenue of EUR 8.4 billion, more than half of the Group's net revenue. First quarter revenue in the Mobile Communications segment was 10.9 percent higher than in the same quarter in the previous year.

However, Deutsche Telekom's revenues in Germany dropped by 5.1 percent from the previous year to EUR 7.8 billion due to sustained competitive pressure and regulatory constraints. Contributing to this were developments in Broadband/Fixed Network, where domestic revenue was EUR 318 million lower than that of the same quarter the previous year.

Some highlights from the company's quarterly report:

DT's Broadband/Fixed Network division added 572,000 new broadband lines in Germany -- the strongest growth ever achieved in one quarter, corresponding to 42 percent of net additions in the overall market for broadband lines. This gives the company a total of 7.6 million proprietary domestic broadband lines.

A loss of 588,000 access lines in the past quarter was mainly due to unbundled loop lines (ULLs) leased to competitors; this figure increased by 484,000 to a total of 5.1 million. A further 104,000 or so lines were lost to substitution by mobile communications and competition from cable services.

In Germany, revenue from Business Customers was down by 9.6 percent year-on-year, dropping to EUR 2.3 billion. The main reasons for this were the increasingly intense competition and sustained price erosion in the traditional telecommunications business.

T-Mobile Deutschland netted 251,000 new contract customers -- compared with 89,000 in the first quarter of 2006.

43 new T-Punkt stores have been opened as part of efforts to strengthen our sales platform.

T-Mobile USA recorded a high net increase in new customers of 980,000 in the first quarter of 2007 (previous year: 1.04 million). Of these, 74 percent were contract customers, slightly higher even than in the first three months of 2006, when it was 70 percent.

In the UK, T-Mobile recorded more than 100,000 new contract customers.





http://www.telekom.de/dtag/cms/content/dt/en/82410?archivArticleID=396668

EchoStar Adds 310,000 DBS Customers in Q1

EchoStar Communications' DISH Network added approximately 310,000 net new subscribers during the first quarter of 2007, ending the quarter with approximately 13.415 million subscribers.



Revenue was $2.64 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a 15 percent increase compared with $2.30 billion for the corresponding period in 2006. Net income totaled $157 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared with $147 million during the corresponding period in 2006. Basic earnings per share were $.35 for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared with basic earnings per share of $.33 during the corresponding period in 2006. http://www.dishnetwork.com

Dune Networks and Bay Microsystems Partner on 20G & 40G System Designs

Dune Networks and Bay Microsystems announced a joint design for Carrier Ethernet applications. The design incorporates Dune Network's SAND Traffic Manager and Switch Fabric Chipset and Bay Microsystems's Chesapeake Network Processor and Traffic Manager. The companies are offering design documentation that provides detailed information regarding the integration of the critical technologies into a variety of Ethernet and multiservice line card applications.




Dune's switch fabric, and Bay's network processing functionality are highly complementary and the traffic management capabilities offered by the respective solutions together solve critical Quality of Service (QoS) problems: Dune's SAND Traffic Manager optimizes for traffic profiles across the switch fabric, while Chesapeake's integrated traffic manager optimizes for customer facing traffic on the line card.



"Those building, marketing and deploying Carrier Ethernet and multiservice platforms can now achieve a faster time to market while offering the most advanced Network Processing, Switch Fabric and Traffic Management solutions up to 40G and beyond," said Charles Gershman, Bay's President & CEO.

http://www.baymicrosystems.com

http://www.dunenetworks.com


Verizon Business Supplies Global Net for Gruppo Campari

Gruppo Campari, a major player in the global alcoholic beverage sector, selected Verizon Business to centralize Gruppo Campari's business-critical applications and manage its global IP communications network. Gruppo Campari has implemented a fully managed Verizon Private IP network linking 17 operational sites spanning Asia, Europe, Latin America, South Africa and the United States. The deployment will be complemented by Verizon Internet Dedicated service, which provides secure high bandwidth for its users, as well as Verizon Network Colocation services, a superior managed environment that provides crucial backup for Gruppo Campari's business-critical equipment. http://www.verizonbusiness.com

Global Crossing Reports Q1, Closes Impsat Acquisition, Recapitalization

Global Crossing reported $504 million of consolidated Q1 2007 revenue, an increase of $16 million or 3 percent from the fourth quarter, when consolidated revenue was $488 million. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated revenue expanded by 11 percent compared with the first quarter of 2006. The company said its core enterprise, carrier data and indirect channels segment, also referred to as its "invest and grow" segment, saw revenue increase by 9 percent sequentially to $381 million in the first quarter, compared with $351 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. The "invest and grow" segment improved 33 percent year over year, from $286 million in the first quarter of 2006.
Global Crossing's adjusted EBITDA less non-cash stock compensation ("adjusted cash EBITDA" was reported as a loss of $8 million. This compared to adjusted cash EBITDA of $12 million in the fourth quarter and an adjusted cash EBITDA loss of $33 million in the first quarter of last year.



Global Crossing completed its acquisition of IMPSAT Fiber Networks, Inc. (Impsat), a leading provider of integrated broadband data, Internet, voice telecommunications and advanced hosting in Latin America, for a total estimated transaction value of $347 million, comprised of approximately $95 million in equity, $26 million of assumed indebtedness and repayment of $226 million of indebtedness. Global Crossing said Impsat's extensive IP-based intercity network, 15 metropolitan networks and 15 advanced hosting centers will provide a greater breadth of services and coverage to its Latin American operations.



Global Crossing also announced that it had completed a five-year, $250 million secured term loan facility with Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse as joint book runners, yielding net cash proceeds of $241 million. To facilitate the loan, a subsidiary of the company's majority shareowner, Singapore Technologies Telemedia (ST Telemedia), agreed to subordinate its mandatorily convertible notes due December, 2008 to the term loan and then to convert the notes into common stock and warrants.

http://www.globalcrossing.com

http://www.impsat.com

NTELOS to Deploy Tellabs' GPON

NTELOS, a communications provider serving portions of seven states, will deploy the new Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) features on the Tellabs 1150 multiservice access platform. The upgraded access network will enable NTELOS to deliver High Definition (HD) video services and faster data services.



Tellabs' GPON products deliver up to 2.4 Gbps downstream and up to 1.2 Gbps upstream./ http://www.tellabs.com

http://www.ntelos.com

Global Crossing Implements Ditech Networks' Voice Assurance

Global Crossing is using Ditech Networks Voice Quality Assurance (VQA) technology to enhance the voice quality of calls received from international destinations on the Global Crossing Ready-Access on-demand audio collaboration services network. Global Crossing provides local access to its Ready-Access customers throughout the world and recently added new VoIP access options to 31 cities in Europe, as well as six countries in Asia.



Ditech Networks' VQA substantially reduces noise and echo that can be introduced by the local carrier and transferred to the Global Crossing network. The company said acoustic echo occurs when extraneous noise from the user's phone is reflected back into the network through the microphone. Wire line and wireless handsets commonly introduce acoustic echo into the carrier's network. Hybrid echo occurs at the four-wire to two-wire conversion point on PSTN local exchange networks. This type of echo is especially problematic on conference calls when an annoying echo can affect the experience of all participants until the offending line is identified and disconnected, or muted. Ditech Networks' VQA technology addresses acoustic and hybrid echo, and increases call intelligibility, regardless of the method used to join the meeting or technology used to provide the conferencing service.
http://www.ditechnetworks.comwww.globalcrossing.com

JAJAH Raises $20 Million for VoIP via Mobiles

JAJAH, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, announced $20 million in Series C funding for its mobile calling service.



JAJAH offers a Mobile Suite application that enables consumers to make free long-distance and global calls directly from their mobile phones. To use the service, you first need a JAJAH account, which is free and without obligation.



Intel Capital was the lead investor (amount undisclosed) in the round.
Additionally, a business agreement was made with Intel Corporation that includes business and marketing components. Intel will provide JAJAH access to their extensive community of product dealers, OEM customers and developers, to further their reach into global development communities.



JAJAH was founded in 2005, and has offices in Mountain View, Calif., Tel Aviv and Luxembourg.

http://www.jajah.com

Space Systems/Loral Awarded Build Satellite for SES New Skies

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has been awarded a contract to manufacture a new spacecraft for SES NEW SKIES. NSS-12, which will be the first satellite contract that SES NEW SKIES has awarded to SS/L, will be a state-of-the-art, hybrid C- and Ku-band satellite that will be located at 57º East Longitude over the Indian Ocean.



It will be based on SS/L's 1300 spacecraft and will be equipped with 40 C-band and 48 Ku-band active high-power transponders (36 MHz equivalents). Completion date is planned for 2009.

http://www.ses-newskies.com/http://www.ses-global.com

JDSU Acquires Innocor for Broadband Test Solutions

JDSU agreed to acquire Innocor, a provider of broadband test solutions for network equipment manufacturers, for an undisclosed sum. JDSU expects to complete the acquisition in the current fiscal fourth quarter ending June 30, 2007.



Innocor's TestPoint product family is designed for development, verification and production of next-generation fibre channel, 10G Ethernet and SONET/SDH/OTN networks. TestPoint complements JDSU's ONT-506, the industry's first all-in-one portable tester for 40/43G networks, including jitter and wander.



Innocor, which is based in Ottawa, will be integrated with JDSU's Communications Test and Measurement (CommTest) business.



In a related development, JDSU also announced the appointment of Bill Mortimer as vice president and general manager of JDSU CommTest's Lab and Production division, overseeing the company's fiber optic, optical transport and Innocor business units.
http://www.jdsu.com

http://www.innocor.com/
  • In January 2007, JDSU agreed to acquire Casabyte Inc., a provider of service quality monitoring solutions for mobile network operators, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is targeted at the need for quality of service (QoS) test solutions as network operators deliver bandwidth-intensive multimedia content over converged fixed- mobile networks.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Joost Raises $45 Million from VCs and Media Companies

Joost has raised $45 million in funding to support the rollout of its Internet TV service. The funding came from five selected parties, each of whom invested in a minority percentage of the company. The investors include Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Li Ka Shing Foundation, CBS Corporation and Viacom.



As previously announced, CBS and Viacom are also content partners, providing channels and programming on Joost. In addition to its investment, CBS has contributed more than 2,000 hours of CBS entertainment, sports and news programming.

http://www.joost.com

Utah's UBTA-UBET Deploys Occam Broadband Loop Carrier

UBTA-UBET Communications, which serves Utah's Uintah Basin, selected Occam Networks to assist with building out services to new homes under construction in its service area. UBTA-UBET serves more than 20,000 residential and business subscribers with POTS, broadband, and related services. UBTA-UBET Communications has purchased Occam's 6312 Optical Line Termination blades, 6252-02 ADSL2Plus and POTS with Gigabit Ethernet blades, 6440-01 Gigabit Optical Ethernet Transport blades and 6640-01 Subscriber Trunk Gateway blades.

http://www.occamnetworks.com

Teridian Ships 100 Million Chips for STBs

Teridian Semiconductor announced a major company milestone -- the shipment of 100 million ICs into cable and satellite digital set-top boxes worldwide. Teridian's chips provide the connectivity in systems from DirectTV, EchoStar's Dish Network, Thomson, and Motorola. Teridian's broad STB product portfolio currently includes modem ICs for satellite STBs, smart card reader chips enabling conditional access (CA) features, A/V Pro video switch, and 10/100 Ethernet semiconductors enabling IP connectivity.

http://www.teridian.com

NewStep and Kyocera Wireless Collaborate on CDMA/Wi-Fi FMC

NewStep Networks and Kyocera Wireless are conducting trials for CDMA-compliant Voice Call Continuity (VCC) solutions for fixed-mobile convergence. The companies have tested a Wi-Fi enabled prototype handset with the NewStep CSN fixed-mobile convergence platform. This enables seamless CDMA-to-VoIP handoffs.

The tests used Kyocera's next-generation, VCC-enabled CDMA/Wi-Fi handsets handsets.

NewStep offers two versions of its carrier-class CSN server-based software platform: the CSN30 for enterprises and small carriers, and the CSN1000 for large carriers.

http://www.newstep.com

http://www.kyocera-wireless.com

Qwest Ready for Federal Networx Universal Contract

Qwest Communications announced the launch of products and services available under the Government Services Administration's (GSA's) Networx Universal contract. Qwest is a offering a full suite of 39 services required by the GSA. Qwest is one of just three nationwide providers for Networx Universal.



Qwest said it recently received an "Order to Proceed" from GSA and plans to take the first orders from federal agencies on the Networx Universal contract later this year.

http://www.qwest.com

http://www.gsanetworx.com
  • In March 2007, The General Services Administration (GSA), which is the central procurement agency for the U.S. government, awarded a set of contracts under its "Networx" program valued at an estimated $20 billion over 10 years -- believed to be the largest networking contracts ever issued.



    Contract award recipients include AT&T, Verizon Business Services (MCI), and Qwest Government Services.

Korea's Hanaro Reports One Million 100 Mbps Broadband Subscribers

hanarotelecom reported that its number of 100 Mbps broadband subscribers exceeded 1 million for the first time in Q1 2007. The 100 Mbps service coverage expanded to 7.3 million households as of the end of Q1, up from 4.3 million households as of the end of 2006. The company said it is on the right track to achieve the full-year target of 12.6 million households able to receive the 100 Mbps service.



Hanaro also stated that strong subscriber growth continued, with broadband net adds of 34,000 and voice net adds of 73,000 for the first quarter. The number of hanaTV subscribers grew by 230,000 in the first quarter, reaching 380,000 activated subscribers on a cumulative basis.

http://www.hanaro.com

France Telecom International Wholesale Deploys Sonus

France Telecom International Wholesale will deploy Sonus-based solutions in the United States to expand its international voice wholesale services. The deployment includes the Sonus GSX9000 Open Services Switch, PSX Call Routing Server, SGX Signaling Gateway, and the Sonus Insight Management System. In addition, they will be deploying the Sonus Network Border Switch for enhanced security and advanced peering capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

http://www.sonusnet.com

Microsoft Names VP of Communications Sector

Microsoft named Martha Bejar as corporate vice president of Communications Sector, succeeding Maria Martinez, who became corporate vice president of Worldwide Services for Microsoft. Bejar previously served as Nortel's president of Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) regions.

http://www.microsoft.com

AT&T Supplies MPLS-VPN for TransUnion

TransUnion, a global leader in credit and information management, has selected AT&T to provide a networking solution integrating more than 150 locations in the United States and Canada. Under the three-year, $11.4 million agreement, AT&T will deploy Virtual Private Network (VPN) services integrating TransUnion locations with a full range of voice, data, Internet and business-continuity services.

http://www.att.com