TMCnet News
Telecom Week in Review: FCC Criticized, Verizon Service OutageBy TED GLANZER
TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist
The big telecom news this week centered on a congressional investigation that slammed the FCC’s oversight of the E-Rate, a government program that is supposed to provide cut-rate Internet access to schools and libraries.
Also at the top of the news was Verizon’s service outage in Southern California. All phone service, including 911, was knocked out in some areas. ‘tis the season for the release of third quarter reports, and heavy hitters AT&T, Google, and SBC, among others, reported their respective financial results this week.
Further highlights this week included David Sims reporting that Turk Telecom, the thirteenth largest operator in the world, selected Avici Systems' TSR core routers for deployment in its IP/MPLS-based data backbone network. T-Mobile launched a next-generation, high speed wireless service in the Czech Republic.
Without further ado, listed below are the major telecom stories that appeared on TMCnet for the week that was Oct. 17 – 21.
Oct. 21
By David Sims
Some high-powered Q3 results recently announced:
Oct. 20
By Ted Glanzer
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the importance of wireless communications for first responders; local, state and federal officials; and for citizens affected by the disaster, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said Thursday in a technology briefing to a wireless trade organization in Washington, D.C.
By Ted Glanzer
SBC Communications Thursday released its third quarter results, highlighted by unprecedented gains in DSL lines.
By David Sims
Avici Systems has announced that Turk Telekom, the thirteenth largest operator in the world, has chosen Avici Systems' TSR core routers for deployment in its IP/MPLS-based data backbone network.
By Johanne Torres
Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) provider Ambient Corp. announced on Thursday that it will deploy EarthLink's new VoIP-based calling service, trueVoice, to its Manhattan, NY pilot. As a third partner, Level3 Communications announced that it joined the duo to deliver the voice communications service over Ambient's BPL network.
Oct. 19
By Ted Glanzer
T-Mobile said on Wednesday that it launched a next-generation wireless service that will enable customers to access the Internet, watch streaming video, and download music at unprecedented speeds.
By David Sims
Global Crossing is announcing that its enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol portfolio is fully compliant with Avaya's Session Initiation Protocol telephony products.
By Ted Glanzer
Local, long distance and Internet services provider Talk America Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that it will acquire Pensacola, Fla.-based Network Telephone Corp. for $20 million.
By Johanne Torres
ECI Telecom introduced on Wednesday the Hi-FOCuS MiniCAB, an Outside Plant (OSP) system that can fully replace a complete street cabinet. The size of the system allows broadband deployments for triple-play services at any location, including rural areas, by reducing the installation impediments associated with traditional street cabinets.
Oct. 18
By Jennifer C. Kerr
Washington -- Lax oversight by federal regulators has helped waste millions of dollars in a government program that helps connect schools and libraries to the Internet, according to a congressional investigation.
As the VoIP industry prepares to meet and demonstrate many new IP-based solutions at next week's INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO at the Los Angeles Convention Center, a serious telecom outage hit the Southern California area today. All phone service, including 911, was knocked out in some areas. Hundreds of thousands of residential and business customers were affected.
By Dave Carpenter AP Business Writer
Motorola Inc. said its third-quarter earnings more than tripled on record sales. The world's No. 2 maker of mobile phones said it continued to pick up market share in the global cell-phone market. By Ted Glanzer
UTStarcom, Inc. said on Tuesday that it has inked contracts valued at close to $42 million with China Telecom Corp. to expand its wireless network.
Oct. 17
By Robert Liu
Cingular Wireless has completed customer trials in 3 test markets of its next-generation cellular platform based on the Universal Mobile Telephone System - High Speed Downlink Packet Access (UMTS-HSDPA) standards, becoming the first carrier in the world to commercially roll out wireless services beyond 3G.
By Ted Glanzer
BellSouth and Yahoo! Inc. announced on Monday the formation of a strategic alliance to provide a co-branded DSL service to BellSouth FastAccess subscribers, starting in late 2006.
By Ted Glanzer
Nortel Networks Corp. announced on Monday that it has appointed former Motorola and General Electric executive Mike Zafirovski as its new president and CEO.
By Ted Glanzer
EarthLink on Monday announced new features to its plug-and-play voice over IP (VoIP) service, trueVoice.
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Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit:
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