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TELECOM UPDATE
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published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca
Number 492: August 12, 2005
Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions
** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/
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IN THIS ISSUE:
** Bell Offers Hosted VoIP for Small, Medium Business
** Rogers Firefly Targets Pre-Teens
** Bell Offers Cellular Tracking for Families
** Linton Named EVP at Rogers
** Policy Review Submissions Due Monday
** Prince Rupert Spins Off City Telco
** More Appeals Filed Against CRTC VoIP Decision
** "Spam King" Agrees to Pay Damages
** Aliant Adds Self-Service Options
** Small ILECs Want Price Cap Regime Extended
** Is Phone Penetration Falling in U.S.?
** WorldCom CFO Gets Five Years
** Work Stoppage Delays Telus TV Launch
** Enterprise Sector Leads Nortel Sales Gain
** Cisco Profits Up, Shares Down
** "Telemanagement Live" Brochure Now Online
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BELL OFFERS HOSTED VoIP FOR SMALL, MEDIUM BUSINESS: Bell Canada this
week launched a hosted VoIP service for small and medium-sized
businesses. Business IP Voice provides local phone service, extension
to extension calling, and a range of calling features including Find
Me/Follow Me, Meet Me Conferencing, and Voicemail to Email.
** Bell's proposed tariff for the service received interim
approval on July 26. Intervenors have until September 2
to submit comments on the tariff.
www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/b2.htm#6883
** In July the CRTC asked for comment on Bell's Digital
Voice, a consumer VoIP service whose tariff has some
similarities. (see Telecom Update #486, 488)
www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pt2005-9.htm
ROGERS FIREFLY TARGETS PRE-TEENS: Rogers Wireless now offers Firefly,
a phone designed "for pre-teens and their parents." The phone has no
dialpad; parents use a PIN to program up to 22 numbers, including
speed keys for mom and dad.
BELL OFFERS CELLULAR TRACKING FOR FAMILIES: Bell Mobility's new Seek &
Find service enables parents to determine their children's whereabouts
if the child has a GPS-equipped cellphone and the phone is switched
on. Parents can check location on the Internet 20 times a month for
$5.
LINTON NAMED EVP AT ROGERS: Bill Linton, former President and CEO of
Call-Net Enterprises, is now Executive Vice-President of Rogers
Communications Inc. Call-Net was acquired by Rogers Communications on
July 1 and renamed Rogers Telecom Holdings. (See Telecom Update #488)
POLICY REVIEW SUBMISSIONS DUE MONDAY: Submissions to the Telecom
Policy Review are to be filed by August 15. They will be made public
on the panel's website, where some comments are already posted. (see
Telecom Update #485)
www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/h_rx00025e.html
PRINCE RUPERT SPINS OFF CITY TELCO: Prince Rupert B.C.'s CityTel,
until now a department of the city government, has been spun off as a
city-owned corporation and renamed City West. The new company has
agreed to buy the northern B.C. cable business and assets of Monarch
Cablesystems for $23.5 million.
MORE APPEALS FILED AGAINST CRTC VoIP DECISION: The Coalition for
Competitive Telecommunications, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada have each
petitioned the federal Cabinet, opposing economic regulation of
incumbent telcos' VoIP services, as ruled in CRTC Telecom Decision
2005-28.
** Earlier Cabinet appeals of this decision were filed by the
Government of Saskatchewan (see Telecom Update #488) and
by Aliant, Bell Canada, SaskTel, Telebec, and Telus (see
Telecom Update #490).
"SPAM KING" AGREES TO PAY DAMAGES: Microsoft has won $7 million in
damages from Scott Richter, whose Colorado company is alleged to have
sent 38 billion spam messages a year in violation of U.S. law. Richter
denied the allegations but agreed to let authorities monitor his
business in future.
ALIANT ADDS SELF-SERVICE OPTIONS: Using software from California-based
eGain, Aliant has enhanced the customer self-service options available
on its website.
SMALL ILECs WANT PRICE CAP REGIME EXTENDED: The Canadian Independent
Telephone Company Joint Task Force, representing most of the small
incumbent carriers in Canada, says the price cap regime under which
they have been regulated since January 2002 has worked well for
providers and consumers. They want the framework extended for another
four years, with minor modifications.
www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8663/c136_200509201.htm
IS PHONE PENETRATION FALLING IN U.S.? A March 2005 Federal
Communications Commission study shows that 92.5% of U.S. homes have
either wireline or wireless phone service, a sharp decline from 95.5%
two years earlier. This would indicate that 8.7 million homes cannot
make or receive phone calls, the largest number since 1983. The
National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates has asked the
FCC to investigate whether the statistics are correct.
WORLDCOM CFO GETS FIVE YEARS: Scott Sullivan, the former WorldCom
Chief Financial Officer whose testimony held convict CEO Bernard
Ebbers, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the
US$11 billion fraud. The judge said Sullivan was the "architect" and
"day-to-day manager" of the scheme, but gave him a short sentence
because he cooperated with prosecutors.
WORK STOPPAGE DELAYS TELUS TV LAUNCH: Telus says its plans to launch
digital TV "are on hold until we see the work stoppage through to a
positive conclusion."
ENTERPRISE SECTOR LEADS NORTEL SALES GAIN: Nortel Networks reports
second quarter revenues of US$2.86 billion, up 10% over the same
period a year ago and 13% over the previous quarter. Sales of the
enterprise networks division increased 22% on the year; sales in
Canada rose 34%.
CISCO PROFITS UP, SHARES DOWN: Cisco Systems revenues for the three
months ended July 30 were US$6.58 billion, 11% higher than a year
ago. Net income increased 11.6% to 1.54 billion. A Cisco forecast that
sales would increase only 10% in the next quarter sparked an 8%
decline in share price.
"TELEMANAGEMENT LIVE" BROCHURE NOW ONLINE: Full program details for
the Fall 2005 TeleManagement Live conference and exposition are now
available online. This year's agenda includes a day of in-depth
management tutorials on IP-Based Convergence, Telecom Cost Control,
Managing Change in Telecom, and other topics.
www.telemanagementlive.com/PDFS/TML%202005%20Event%20Guide.pdf
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HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE
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TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
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e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca.
The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
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Angus TeleManagement Group (jriddell@angustel.ca)