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| Key News about Fixed Line Voice | top |
Cutting the Cord on Local Service
BusinessWeek Online, October 17, 2005
This year, the local phone business has declined in consistency. Competition from cable, wireless, and -- to a lesser extent -- wholesale local services has put pressure on the voice businesses of the nation's top local phone providers. In turn, we believe some carriers will spin off or sell their local phone business.
Congress to Feel More VoIP 911 and DTV Pressure
Access Intelligence, October 14, 2005
The U.S. Congress will be seeing more letter-writing campaign pressure from lobby and industry groups to ensure that emergency call-handling capabilities are offered by voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers and that the digital television (DTV) transition carries a hard date for the turnover of radio frequency spectrum to both public safety and commercial applications, it was learned.
Emerging Stock Report: VoIP Calling All Investors
M2 Communications, October 13, 2005
VoIP, is set to grow dramatically over the next five years according to new research. A Jupiter Research report, "Broadband Telephony: Leveraging Voice Over IP to Facilitate Competitive Voice Services" forecasts VoIP adoption will grow from only 1 percent of all US broadband households in 2004 to 17 percent by 2009 (representing 10 percent of all US households).
Sprint Nextel Boosted by Expanding Wireline Base
Forbes, October 12, 2005
Anthony Ferrugia of A.G. Edwards upgraded Sprint Nextel to "buy/speculative" from "hold/aggressive" and gave the stock a $26.50 price objective.
Global Crossing's License in Mexico Expanded to Include Long Distance Voice Services
PR Newswire, October 11, 2005
Global Crossing announced today that the Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transportation has granted its Mexican subsidiary, Global Crossing Landing Mexicana, S. de R.L. ("GCLM"), an amendment to its public telecommunications network concession, allowing it to provide voice services in Mexico.
Linksys and Skype Team Up to Launch New Cordless Handset to Drive Internet Phone Calling
PR Newswire, October 11, 2005
Linksys, a Division of Cisco Systems, Inc., the recognized leading provider of voice, wireless and networking hardware for the consumer, Small Office/Home Office and small business user, and Skype, the Global Internet Communications Company, today announced their global relationship that will include marketing a new cordless phone that takes free Skype Internet phone calling off the computer and puts it into the hands of callers.
Lines in Telecom Industry Blurred
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, October 9, 2005
One of the region's cable TV providers plans to further cross wires with phone companies by offering its own phone service beginning today.
Charter Communications will use its fiber-optic network to provide local and long-distance service to residents of cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who can already subscribe to the company's cable or Internet services.
BellSouth Rolls Out 5 New International Long Distance Plans to Better Serve Small Businesses
M2 Communications, October 5, 2005
BellSouth today announced five new international long distance plans to enable small businesses to expand their worldwide reach and adjust to ever-growing market needs.
Consumers, Small Businesses Warn Telecom Rewrite Could Raise Rates
Detroit Free Press, October 4, 2005
Groups representing consumers, seniors and small businesses have a message for lawmakers rewriting Michigan's telecommunications law: don't forget about their traditional phone service.
Research and Markets: Telecommunications Sector 2005 for USA & Canada
M2 Communications, October 3, 2005
Research and Markets has announced the addition of Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in the USA & Canada - 2005 - Geographic to their offering. With over 270 pages of research, Mobile and Broadband in the USA and Canada - Geographic series contains a comprehensive analysis of the telecoms industry and the companies involved in it.
Sprint Nextel Completes Wireless Affiliate Transaction
Business Wire, October 3, 2005
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced today that it has closed its previously announced transaction with Gulf Coast Wireless Limited Partnership under which Sprint Nextel will acquire Gulf Coast Wireless for approximately $287.5 million, including the assumption of debt.
HKBN Launches Software-based 2b Broadband Phone Service
PR Newswire, October 3, 2005
Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited today announced the launch of its second generation of broadband phone services, namely, the 2b Broadband Phone service, that opens a new chapter in the development of HKBN. 2B is a software based Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone service.
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Lined Up for the Future
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, September 27, 2005
Competitors are preparing to battle for market share in a new type of telephony that cuts costs by digitizing voice signals and sending them over the Internet. It's called voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP. "The ramp up is going to start happening more and more and faster and faster," said William Stofega, research manager of VoIP services at IDC, a Framington, Mass.-based provider of market research for the telecommunication industry. Stofega estimated 3 million customers use VoIP nationally; some forecasts predict VoIP will serve at least 12 million households within five years. But that audience is tiny when number compared with the 90 million to 95 million customers using conventional land-line phone services. The old systems will likely continue to dominate telephony for now and perhaps the next 10 to 15 years, he said.
More Internet Providers Are Getting into the Telephone Game
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, August 23, 2005
With family members living in Minnesota and other parts of Wisconsin, Tara Perre was looking to lower her phone bill. Perre is riding among a wave of consumers who are dropping traditional phone services like SBC and going with companies like Vonage that use Voice over Internet Protocol service to transfer voice and data messages at a much-lower cost than analog service.
Not Just TV: Cable Competes for the Office Domain
New York Times, August 3, 2005
To attract business customers, cable companies are increasingly positioning themselves as a friendlier, cheaper, more flexible alternative to the Bells and are aiming to win the smaller corporate clients that the big phone companies have tended to neglect. They are selling data and phone services to hotels, restaurants, schools and hospitals that already buy television programming from them, and they are making headway with smaller establishments like mom-and-pop shops and gas stations. More than 90 percent of the businesses that Cox sells to employ fewer than 100 workers. (Free registration required.)
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View from the Top: VoIP Comes of Age
United Press International, August 3, 2005
Voice over Internet Protocol has emerged as an increasingly popular alternative to traditional phone connections for its ability to transport voice communications over data networks like the Internet. Users are adopting VoIP services in record numbers, attracted to its relatively low cost and the ability to make unlimited calls anywhere in the United States and Canada for a flat monthly rate, and other international calls at modest incremental fees. As telecommunications and cable service providers continue to launch an increasing array of VoIP offerings to enterprise and residential markets, potential users need to educate themselves on the technology, its benefits and current limitations.
Where the Net Has Telecom on the Run
BusinessWeek, June 27, 2005
With its cutting-edge technology, Japan offers a window into what may be ahead for the rest of the world -- and that future looks mighty bleak for traditional phone companies. Voice calling is becoming just like e-mail or instant messaging -- an application that comes free with your broadband service.
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Cable Operators Delve into Video E-mail, Telephony
Communications Engineering & Design, May 2005
In a bid to separate themselves from other broadband competitors, cable operators are adding a medium they know well -video- to their e-mail services. And a small group of technology providers are also hoping to convince these MSOs to extend that visual to telephony as well.
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What’s Next for Telecom?
Regulation, Spring 2005
For eight years, the FCC has sought to write rules implementing the 1996 Telecommunications Act that federal courts would uphold. Among other things, the 1996 legislation requires incumbent local telephone companies to make elements of their networks available for lease by competitors at regulated prices. A network element must be leased if regulators decide that the competitor's ability to compete would be "impaired" if it does not have access to that element. Courts continually concluded that the FCC failed to enunciate a clear principle defining when lack of access to a network element impairs a competitor.
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VoIP Blocking Remains an Open Question
Access Intelligence, May 4, 2005
It is uncertain at this time how extensive incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) blocking of competitive voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) traffic may be, but regulators, lawmakers, legal advisors and academic experts are wondering if solid regulatory and legislative enforcement mechanisms are in place to properly deal with the practice if it, indeed, worsens.
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Fixed/Mobil Convergence: New Hopes, New Models
Telecommunications Americas, April 2005
Uptake has been slow or has failed to deliver fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) in a meaningful way. Against this backdrop of limited success, developments such as IP multimedia subsystems present new hope for convergence. Today, one of the early front-runners appears to be fixed/mobile service roaming. The potential benefits are clear: Indoor service quality would improve, mobile operators could off-load traffic from their networks, fixed-line operators could capture the demand for mobility.
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Phone Providers Ready to Challenge
Daily Post, April 20, 2005
Choosing a phone company used to be easy. It was BT or, er, BT. Those days are long gone, however, as there is now a plethora of companies offering fixed line telephone services. BT still has an 82% share of the [UK] domestic sector but, partly thanks to regulator Ofcom loosening the firm's grip on the market, other providers are starting to offer serious competition.
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FCC Wireline Competition Bureau
The Wireline Competition Bureau develops and recommends policy goals, objectives, programs and plans for the Commission on matters concerning wireline telecommunications.
http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/
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National Exchange Carrier Association
NECA administers the FCC's "access charge" plan. (Access charges are the fees long distance companies pay to access the local phone network to complete calls. These charges help ensure that telephone service remains available and affordable in all parts of the country.) About 1,150 local telephone companies participate in NECA’s access charge revenue pools.
http://www.neca.org/source/NECA_Home.asp
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