---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20181010143604.GA23892@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2018 10:36:04 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon praises itself for aiding first responders after= it throttled their data After a swift backlash, Verizon has removed a video highlighting the "first responders who rely on us" from YouTube. By Marrian Zhou A new Verizon's ad that touts the company's help for firefighters hasn't played well. On Monday, the carrier giant released a video on YouTube about helping first responders. It then quickly removed the video from the social network after it became the target of criticism on Reddit, where users pointed out that Verizon had throttled firefighters' mobile data during the Mendocino Complex fire in California a few months earlier. https://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-praises-itself-for-aiding-first-responders-after-it-throttled-their-data/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20181008142803.GA17765@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2018 10:28:03 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Court's rejection of DOJ's attempt to block the AT&T/Time Warner Merger is good news for companies contemplating vertical mergers By Jeanne M. Cors On June 12, following a six-week trial, a federal court in the District of Columbia rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's effort to block the megamerger between AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. on antitrust grounds. The case is of note because it appears to signal a more aggressive approach by DOJ to vertical mergers and is the federal government's first court challenge of a vertical merger in nearly 40 years. Since the late 1970s the enforcement agencies have challenged a very small percentage of vertical mergers and each of those matters was resolved by the parties without trial. The district court's refusal to block the merger has the potential to check the government's new-found aggressiveness vis-=C3=A0-vis vertical mergers, pave the way for more and larger vertical mergers in the near future and provide companies and practitioners with greater clarity regarding the standards the antitrust enforcement agencies will apply in evaluating vertical mergers. https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/10/08/court-s-rejection-of-doj-s-attempt-to-block-the-at.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20181010152045.GA24038@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:20:45 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Couple who lost home in California wildfire settles collections dispute over burned AT&T equipment By Karine Hafuta A Sonoma couple who lost their home in a wildfire last year has finally begun to heal after settling a week-long battle with their former utility company, which demanded money they claimed to have already paid. Rochelle and Richard Nyquist lost everything in the Patrick fire, one of a group of wildfires that burned through 56,556 acres and destroyed 1,300 structures in northern California in October 2017. https://abcnews.go.com/US/couple-lost-home-california-wildfire-settles-collections-dispute/story?id=3D58384735 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20181010145809.GA23937@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2018 10:58:09 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: How Verizon's $700M Outsourcing Deal May Affect Its Competitiveness With just two months under his belt, Verizon's new CEO Hans Vestberg is already making some bold bets with the telecom operator's workforce. Late last month the company offered severance packages to approximately 44,000 workers as part of an effort to cut about $10 billion in costs while at the same time upgrade its network to 5G, which it said promises more efficiency. But within The Wall Street Journal article on the layoffs was the news that Verizon had also signed a $700 million agreement with India-based Infosys to outsource much of its IT operations. The deal is structured so that Verizon employees that currently handle those jobs become Infosys employees. Verizon wouldn't say exactly how many of its IT team is impacted by the outsourcing deal but the The Wall Street Journal indicated it was somewhere around 2,500 employees both in the U.S. and overseas. https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/how-verizons-700m-outsourcing-deal-may-impact-its-competitiveness/2018/10/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 10 Oct 2018