IDC: Consumers willing to pay for faster Net video
By: By Carol Wilson
A new IDC study shows both service providers and content distributors may be missing revenue opportunities by not offering consumers the option of paying more for faster Internet video downloads. ...
Level 3 claims order bottlenecks resolved
By: By Ed Gubbins
Level 3 Communications claimed today to be making progress in eliminating the bottlenecks in its service-activation processes that clogged its operations last year and led to the departure of Chief Operating Officer Kevin O’Hara last month. ...
Towerstream moves to WiMAX
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Towerstream is officially embracing WiMAX, shifting its technology in the nation’s largest markets away from propriety broadband wireless gear to the new 4G standard going forward. ...
Backhaul, billing systems delay Xohm launch
By: By Kevin Fitchard
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Sprint’s commercial launch of Xohm is being held up by problems in provisioning backhaul and, to a lesser extent, in implementing its unique customer management and billing system, Xohm President and Sprint Chief Technology Officer Barry West said today...
AT&T touts macro-economic defenses
By: By Ed Gubbins
AT&T countered widespread fears of slow economic trends with growth in first-quarter profits aided by its wireless and wholesale businesses...
Mobile banking grows in prevalence
By: By Sarah Reedy
Mobile payment, still a nascent service, is expected to reach 32.9 million users worldwide in 2008 and grow to 103.9 million users in 2011, according to a study released by Gartner. While Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) sites are currently the most popular for accessing banking information, short message service (SMS) will remain the dominant mobile payment technology through 2011...
Sonus buys way into IP provisioning
By: By Rich Karpinski
Sonus Networks acquired OSS vendor Atreus Systems to add IP voice and services provisioning to its carrier-grade IP services offerings. Terms were not disclosed...
AT&T teams with Cisco on managed telepresence
By: By Carol Wilson
AT&T will soon become the first major telecom operator to launch a managed telepresence service, teaming with Cisco Systems to enable a wider range of businesses to do high-end video conferencing by eliminating the major upfront capital expense and enabling users to connect in the network with other subscribers...
Radio Disney goes mobile
By: By Sarah Reedy
Radio Disney this week launched a Radio Disney Mobile Web site and text-messaging program for Disney fans on Web-enabled handsets...
Nokia promises integration of devices and services strategies
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Nokia’s new services strategy has yet to bear fruit financially, but on the company’s earnings call Thursday, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said Nokia is not only committed to services and applications as the future of the company, but it also plans to build more devices surrounding its growing services portfolio...
Qwest CTO on femtocells, open access and wireless broadband
By: By Ed Gubbins
As the only Bell carrier without a wireless arm, Qwest Communications can claim a unique intersection with the wireless world and a unique view of the technologies and trends now bridging the wireless and wireline worlds. In the first part of a two-part interview, Qwest’s Chief Technology Officer Pieter Poll explores this terrain, lending his views on a range of pertinent technology issues, including femtocells, open access, fixed-mobile convergence, wireless broadband and more...
MediaFLO goes live in San Diego
By: By Sarah Reedy and Kevin Fitchard
Qualcomm filled a slightly embarrassing hole in MediaFLO network coverage today, announcing that the broadcast TV service has now officially launched in its hometown San Diego...
NSN Still Struggling Under Price Pressures
By: By Kevin Fitchard
In Nokia’s earnings call today, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo summed up the first 12 months of Nokia’s networks joint venture with Siemens in one statement: “Overall progress has been difficult but steady,” he said....
Fairpoint breaks silence, details integration process
By: By Ed Gubbins
Fairpoint Communications held its first conference call as the country’s eighth-largest telco today, three weeks after closing its acquisition of Verizon’s local access business in three states...
Alltel networks the phone camera
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Ontela-powered service instantly ships photos taken on the phone over the wireless network to PC and photo-sharing sites...
NAB: Independents not without IPTV options, vendors say
By: By Carol Wilson
LAS VEGAS--IPTV equipment vendors are sympathetic to the plight of independent telcos who pioneered deployment of the technology and now say they are having trouble getting advanced features. Some of those who were present here this week say there are options, however...
MetroPCS pushes PTT to any phone
By: By Kevin Fitchard
NAB: Securing the future of IPTV
By: By Sarah Reedy
LAS VEGAS – Layers of security protection for IPTV may have a place in doing more than just deterring content thieves. Measures like deep packet inspection (DPI) and digital rights management (DRM) – once somewhat controversial – are now key elements in maintaining relevancy and taking IPTV across all three screens, industry executives said today. ...
NAB: Mobile TV’s Three ‘Megatrends’
By: By Sarah Reedy
Among an array of standards for mobile television, the FLO Forum had a presence at the NAB show this week promoting Forward-Link Only (FLO) as the standard of choice to expedite the mobile TV market....
NAB: Is network-based DVR an IPTV savior?
By: By Carol Wilson
LAS VEGAS--There is a small groundswell of support among U.S. IPTV players to see network-based digital video recording become part of the video ecosystem, enabling high-definition content to be more easily delivered over bandwidth-constrained copper networks...
Jaxtr Adds Free SMS to Telco-Busting Mix
By: By Rich Karpinski
Alternative VoIP service provider Jaxtr today added advertising-supported, free SMS service to its offering, ahead of its planned for-fee premium service to be launched this summer....
Verizon, AT&T experiment with new pricing plans
By: By Kevin Fitchard
It turns out that the unlimited talk plans the major operators announced last month were just the beginning of their experimentation with new service plans...
Congress mulls what to do with unclaimed 700 MHz D block
By: By Kevin Fitchard
For the commercial operators participating in the 700 MHz auction, the question of license ownership was settled weeks ago, but for the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, the decisions over a future nationwide wireless emergency networks are just beginning....
Why Enablence is acquiring Wave7 Optics
By: By Ed Gubbins
Enablence Technologies, a four-year-old Canadian component vendor, has agreed to acquire fiber access equipment vendor Wave7 Optics....
Adtran’s latest gear gains momentum
By: By Ed Gubbins
Adtran is enjoying an increase in momentum for its new products, which helped the equipment vendor beat expectations in the first quarter, reporting a 1% sequential revenue growth in defiance of historical seasonal trends....
NAB: Independent telco exec tells IPTV cautionary tale
By: By Carol Wilson
LAS VEGAS--Phil Erli was an early IPTV convert. The executive vice president of Georgia-based ILEC Ringgold Telephone Company has been “doing” IPTV for five years, deploying well ahead of AT&T and other major global carriers. But as he told a NAB audience Monday, real-life experience has made him somewhat cynical about IPTV’s real-world prospects...
NAB: Top telcos want closer ties with broadcasters
By: By Carol Wilson
LAS VEGAS--The top content executives at the top two telcos-turned-video-distributors would like to partner and cooperate more with broadcasters and content developers...
Qualcomm the big question mark in 4G cross-licensing
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson have all signed a pact agreeing to the fair cross-licensing of intellectual property they collectively own in building new Long Term Evolution equipment and standards. Qualcomm did not...
NAB: Amino ranked world leader in pure-IPTV set-tops
By: By Sarah Reedy
LAS VEGAS--IP-centric set-top box (STB) manufacturer Amino has taken the position of top worldwide vendor in the pure IPTV STB market, according to rankings from ABI Research...
NAB: MobiTV enhances mobile content delivery
By: By Sarah Reedy
LAS VEGAS--IP-centric set-top box (STB) manufacturer Amino has taken the position of top worldwide vendor in the pure IPTV STB market, according to rankings from ABI Research. This is the third consecutive year that Amino has taken first place in ABI’s rankings, however, the distinction between pure and hybrid STBs is relatively new to the industry...
