********************************
PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents
The TelecomDirect News Daily Update
For September 29, 2006
********************************
French Fixed-Line Telecoms Market at a Crossroads
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/20186?11228
The intense competition in the French fixed-line telecoms market
took a sharp turn earlier this week, as the key players announced
optimistic but divergent views on the future of the market. The
leading alternative residential broadband provider, Iliad, threw
down the gauntlet earlier in the month-announcing plans to invest
1 billion ...
Microsoft's Zune Player to Cost $249.99
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/20176?11228
SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp.'s Zune music player looks a lot like
an iPod, acts a lot like an iPod and will cost about the same as
an iPod. The software giant said Thursday that it will charge
$249.99 for the device, signaling that it isn't planning to
spark a major price war to gain market share. It's not ...
ESPN Pulls Plug on Cell Phone Operation
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/20174?11228
NEW YORK -- The planned shutdown of the Mobile ESPN cell phone
service marks the first major bust in a rush of specialized wireless
ventures targeting niche audiences they contend are underserved by
the Cingulars and Verizons of the world. Mobile ESPN had made the
same argument since its launch less than a year ago. But in ...
BenQ's German Mobile Unit Files for Insolvency
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/20171?11228
MUNICH, Germany -- BenQ Corp.'s German mobile phone unit
filed for insolvency Friday, endangering 3,000 jobs and drawing a
suggestion from former owner Siemens AG of legal action against the
Taiwanese firm. An administrative court in Munich, where the BenQ
unit is based, said it received the application for insolvency ...
Verizon Delivers Motorola KRZR
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/20168?11228
Hoping to build on the momentum of its popular RAZR handset,
Motorola announced the commercial debut the phone's skinnier
cousin, the KRZR. Verizon Wireless is the first wireless carrier
to offer the ultra-thin device. The MOTOKRZR K1m is17
millimeters thin, 44 mm wide and sports a reflective, metallic
gloss finish. The handset ...
New Coalition Pushes IP-Based Wireless Issues
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/20165?11228
A new wireless coalition has been formed to press for changes and
for what it considers 'enhancements' in spectrum-management
policies to help promote Internet Protocol-based technologies,
services, applications and other advancements via RF use. The
Wireless Broadband Coalition (WBC) includes as its initial
members ...
Alcatel/Lucent Wait on W OK
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/20162?11228
Approval for the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies
Inc. looks set to be granted, or denied, by U.S. President George
W. Bush. That's because the final regulatory clearance the two
vendors need, from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
United States (CFIUS), is heading for the office of the
President ...
BT & T-Mobile: No Convergence
http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/20159?11228
T-Mobile USA has denied reports that it will enter into a partnership
with BT Global Services to offer fixed/mobile services in the U.S.
Reports out of the U.K. this week claimed BT and T-Mobile USA
would partner to launch a converged service in the U.S. enterprise
market. "Information about T-Mobile and BT has been ...
TelecomDirect Editor <telecom_direct_editor@us.pwc.com>
Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers.