Recently in Telecommunications Category

This news item just appeared:

SBC Communications Announces Five-Year, $59.7 Million Contract with the American Red Cross; SBC Companies to Deliver and Manage Voice and Data Networks for the American Red Cross

This excerpt gives an outline of the services SBC will provide:

"Under the terms of the contract, SBC companies will provide and manage voice, data and wireless transport services, as well as audio and Web conferencing services to the American Red Cross where available. In an attempt to reduce its capital expenses, the American Red Cross sought new telecommunications providers and chose SBC companies."

Ongoing management of network performance is a key requirement of this project, according to Bob Ferguson, group president and CEO of SBC Enterprise Business Services: "The American Red Cross provides life-saving services to millions of Americans, day in and day out," he said.

"The American Red Cross manages nearly half of the nation's blood supply, provides relief to victims of disasters, and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies," says SBC's statement issued today.

AB -- 4/18/05

This morning Verizon announced that it has agreed to purchase all shares of MCI controlled by Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helu. Read the announcement here on our news feeds:

Verizon to Purchase All Shares of MCI Owned by Entities Affiliated With Carlos Slim Helu

The purchase amounts to 43.4 million shares at $25.72/share. The total purchase is $1.1 billion in cash. Slim (that's what insiders seem to call him) is receiving a higher price than other shareholders would under Verizon's MCI. Qwest objects to Verizon's creating "two classes of shareholders" in their announcement also issued today:

Qwest Responds to Verizon Announcement

Seems to me that Verizon's move on the Slim holdings is in part designed to head off a hostile takeover by Qwest.

AB -- 4/9/05

According to this report from Infonetics, telecom carrier capital expenditures are continuing a comeback trend:

North American Telecom Carrier Capex to Grow 5% to $61B in 2005 After Holding Steady in 2004

The 5% growth comes after only a fraction of a percent growth in 2004, but that was after three years of "drastic cuts," according to Infonetics analyst Kevin Mitchell. "Another noteworthy trend," says Mitchell, "is how fast mobile subscribers are closing in on access lines, with mobile subscribers now at 90% of PSTN lines, up from 77% at the close of 2003. North American mobile subscribers grew 13% between 4Q03 and 4Q04, from 145 million to 164.3 million. We could easily see mobile overtake access lines in 2005."

Infonetics' release cites these telecom capex highlights from 2004:

-- DSL subscribers increased 44% between 4Q03 and 4Q04 to 16.5 million
-- Cable Internet subscribers increased 27% between 4Q03 and 4Q04 to 21.4
million
-- RBOCs and Canadian ILECs increased their capex in 2004 and will
increase it again in 2005, particularly on IP/MPLS routers
-- Cable companies decreased their capex between 2003 and 2004, but will
increase spending a bit in 2005, mostly on voice equipment and IP/MPLS
routers
-- Broadband lines equaled 21% of access lines in North America
-- North American carrier revenue is projected to be flat in 2005 after
inching up in 2004

AB -- 4/7/05

This news release, which appeared today, outlines some of the architecture and strategies cable companies are using to roll out triple play services:

ABI Research Finds Cable Companies Looking to IP to Enable ''Triple Play''

This excerpt is particularly interesting:

A key component, says Michael Arden, the firm's principal analyst of broadband and residential entertainment technologies, is the DOCSIS Set-Top Gateway, which incorporates a broadband modem allowing high-speed delivery of video and other rich content through an IP connection rather than by the conventional cable. "That allows for easier and more interactive delivery of certain services," says Arden. "Video-on-demand will be the first, but later the architecture will permit additional, interactive services: Voice over IP, wireless, on-demand music channels, network-based personal video recording, HDTV, messaging, gaming and more."

Using switched-video technology, it also allows the cable company to know which channel a customer is requesting. That means more efficient use of bandwidth, but will also provide the cable operator with detailed knowledge of users' consumption patterns for marketing and advertising.

Telcos are already starting to offer such packages with their broadband and triple-play offerings, and, says Arden, the cable companies are desperate to catch up before their rivals gain an irreversible lead.

AB -- 4/7/05

MCI's board has said no to Qwest's latest merger offer. See the announcement here:

MCI Concludes Qwest Proposal Not Superior

MCI says that Verizon's offer provides more certainty on some key points, including:

* A guaranteed minimum of at least $23.50 per MCI share (including MCI's
March 15 dividend payment of $0.40 per share)

* Certainty of closing

* Realistic synergy projections

* Strength of capital structure

* The ongoing ability and commitment to sustain network service quality
and invest in new capabilities

Qwest, still insisting that its offer is superior to Verizon's, issued its own statement, which you can read here:

Qwest Responds to MCI Board's Action; Qwest Weighing its Options; Shareholders Will Dictate Next Steps

Qwest believes its offer provides better value to shareholders because:

-- With a total cash and stock offer of $27.50, Qwest's bid stands at nearly a 20 percent premium over Verizon's offer of $23.10.

-- The cash component of Qwest's bid -- $13.50 per share -- is 62 percent greater than Verizon's $8.35 per share.

-- As a result of the roughly 40 percent equity stake MCI shareholders would have in a combined Qwest/MCI, shareholders will enjoy greater participation in synergies -- up to $17 per share. With a Verizon deal, MCI shareholders are left with a roughly four percent stake in a combined entity. Synergy upside in such a scenario is only about $1 for each MCI share.

-- Given the nature and geographic distribution of the combined Qwest/MCI assets, Qwest continues to assert that regulatory approval will be quicker, giving shareholders faster access to the proceeds and synergies of the combined organization.

-----

AB -- 4/6/05

I thought this news item was interesting in that it reports the collaboration of Cray Inc., an important outfit in the supercomputing field, with service provider MCI in efforts to advance the development of the next-generation Internet:

MCI Connects Global Supercomputer Leader Cray to IPv6 Next-Generation Network

MCI has been deeply involved with IPv6 interoperability testing. Cray's customers tend to be in scientific, academic, government, and engineering fields, where advanced computing is necessary -- thus their particular interest in IPv6 interoperability.

The release gives a helpful overview of IPv6:

"IPv6 is Internet Protocol Version 6 which is designed to replace the current Internet protocol called Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4). Known as the next-generation Internet protocol, IPv6 is addressing limitations in IPv4, including limited IP address space for the growing number of devices connecting to the Internet and private IP-enabled networks. IPv6 is also expected to add several improvements including enhanced network routing, network auto-configuration and stronger security. It also allows for better support for mobility and more easily enables renumbering. IPv6 will gradually replace IPv4, with the two protocols co-existing for a number of years during the transition."

AB -- 4/5/05

When I read news about the rollout of triple-play solutions (voice, video, data), I wonder sometimes how the telcos are going to compete with the cable companies in the content area.

For example, in the geographic market where I live, the chief players are Comcast on the cable side and SBC on the telco side. Well, SBC is at an obvious disadvantage in providing video content against Comcast who already has deals in place to deliver a gazillion TV channels into the home.

So I was interested to see this announcement about a partnership to bring digital "edutainment" into homes:

ICTV, Flying Rhinoceros Bring Star-Studded ''On The Farm'' Channel to HeadendWare Interactive TV Platform

Reading the release, it seems to me that this partnership illustrates what might be done through converged communications to bring to market a whole new level of video content, of a completely different character than the 2-dimensional passive TV entertainment delivered today by cable and satellite providers.

Interestingly (well, for me anyway), I have worked with Flying Rhinoceros before in producing Web-based content for K-12 audiences. They are amazingly creative producers of interactive materials for children. See examples of their work at: http://www.flyingrhino.com/

AB -- 4/3/05

I ran into this press report and was intrigued by it:

Datatel Launches TeleSafety - IVR Solution for "out-call" Health Care Environments

Apparently this is a hosted telephone-based service designed to improve the safety of health care workers who go out in the field into risky situations. In some ways, though, the release is puzzling. It speaks of workers going out into "hostile environments" but doesn't give examples. A news release like this would be much more effective if it gave some specifics. Are we talking about ambulance workers or other first responders? Doctors on house calls? Visiting nurses in inner city neighborhoods? Disaster workers? Why not cite some examples?

The release does give some idea what the product is for in this excerpt:

By providing a continuous channel for monitoring, tracking, and communications between field practitioners and internal employees TeleSafety provides Health Authorities with the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to any situation where there could be potential risk.

AB -- 4/1/05

In the past couple of days, two releases appeared on TMCnet about video relay services that facilitate communications between deaf and hearing people:

Increasing Popularity of Hands On Video Relay Service Spurs Opening of New Call Center

Innovative Video Relay Services Launched by CSD

I don't know why I was never familiar with this kind of service before, but it seems to me a fantastic use of video conferencing and Internet telephony technologies. These services make a live sign interpreter available remotely to interpret between a deaf person using a webcam and a hearing person using a telephone.

The two organizations that put out these releases each have fascinating and amusing videos on their Web sites showing their systems in use:

See the Hands On video here. (Requires QuickTime.)

And the CSD video here. (Click on "Watch Video Now.")

Here is a still shot showing a hearing man on his cell phone using the Hands On service to communicate with his deaf girlfriend (the woman you see is an image of the remote sign interpreter, who is communicating with the deaf user via webcam):

This picture below shows a deaf man using the CSD video relay service to call up and make a reservation at a restaurant. He's using a D-Link videophone system to make his call:

I was interested to learn that Sprint has been operating a video relay service since 1994.

AB -- 3/31/05

An announcement just came out today that Harlem Park has chosen communications service provider RCN to provide triple-play services at its new $230 million multi-use complex going in at 125th St. and Park Ave. in New York City.

RCN describes itself as "the nation's first and largest facilities-based competitive provider of bundled phone, cable and high-speed Internet services delivered over its own fiber-optic local network to consumers in the most densely populated markets in the U.S."

You can see today's release at:

RCN Gets 'Triple Play' at Harlem Park

Here's an architect's rendering of the exterior of the complex, scheduled to open late in 2006:

AB -- 3/31/05