Long Lines short-lists Embarq Logistics, Wave7
By: By Dan O'Shea
Embarq Logistics, which will be exhibiting at Nxtcomm 2007, and fiber equipment vendor Wave7 are deploying a fiber-to-the-premises network for South Sioux City, Neb., customers of Long Lines, an independent operating company serving more than 100 communities in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota...
Alltel to go private in $27.5B deal
By: By Kevin Fitchard
The mass speculation on the possibility of an Alltel buyout came to an end today as the rural provider revealed it has accepted a $27.5 billion offer from two private equity firms to take the publicly owned mobile carrier off the market...
USTelecom supports USF cap
By: By Tim McElligott
Walter McCormick, president and CEO of trade association USTelecom, threw his organization’s weight behind a recommendation from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service this week to temporarily cap further growth of fund distribution to wireless carriers and competitive service providers....
Citizens off to good start in '07
By: By Tim McElligott
Citizens Communications included the results of recently acquired Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises in its earnings call today and reported first quarter revenue of $556.1 million....
Iowa telcos seek FCC pressure on incumbents
By: By Carol Wilson
A group of Iowa telcos and their conference calling partners are in Washington this week, hoping to convince the Federal Communications Commission to pressure large incumbents such as AT&T, Embarq, Qwest and Verizon to stop blocking calls and start paying about $20 million in back access charges...
Iowa telcos: Stage set for showdown
By: By Carol Wilson
The stage is set for a David vs. Goliath showdown next week, when a group of Iowa rural telcos and their conference-calling partners meet with the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to force major incumbents including AT&T, Qwest and Sprint to continue paying the high termination fees that fund their free and low-cost calling business....
Vonage drops off radar of rural ILECs
By: By Tim McElligott
Examining the state of competition at the IP Possibilities conference hosted by the NTCA and OPASTCO in Minneapolis today, it was clear that no one is afraid of Vonage anymore....
Dossier: Pat Riordan, Nsight Teleservices
Talk about hats. As CEO of Nsight Telservices, Pat Riordan oversees operations of the Northeast Telephone Co.; Cellcom, the wireless business founded in 1987 that now accounts for 80% of the company's revenue...
Amber Alert opened to smaller wireless carriers
By: By Joan Engebretson
Cell phone-based notification program aims to help recover missing children...
Ensuring survival with a wiggle and a giggle
By: By Tim McElligott
Rugged individualism may have built and sustained much of rural America over the past few centuries, but as the Dust Bowl days proved, sometimes even the most rugged individualists must turn to their brothers and sisters for help...
In the interest of health care
By: By Tim McElligott
With all the best intentions, the FCC is encouraging rural health care providers to connect with other providers nationwide and bring telemedicine into the 21st century. And if their intentions are pure, rural service providers can help...
Unions go for a block on FairPoint acquisition
By: By Tim McElligott
Jobs, pension and economic development top union concerns about FairPoint Communcations' intentions in New England. Are they justified?...
New CALEA rules cast long shadow
By: By Carol Wilson
With the May 14 deadline for compliance of broadband networks with CALEA little more than one month away, most rural operators already have plans in place...
Anatomy of Nex-Tech Wireless
By: By Tim McElligott
In and out of the wireless business over the last 17 years, Nex-Tech says this time it's for sure...
MediaFLO in a town near you
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm CEO, was scheduled to speak at the Rural Cellular Association Annual Convention in Las Vegas this week about the magic of MediaFLO...
Stuck in the middle for triple play
By: By Ed Gubbins
Mid-tier telcos are torn over fiber-based video strategies...
Chibardun: Loneliest company in WiMAX
By: By Tim McElligott
You might think many rural providers would be using WiMAX to bring wireless broadband to their hard-to-reach areas. You might be wrong...
Cincy Bell rethinks voicemail
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Cincinnati Bell may be feeling the pressure from Time Warner Cable's quad-play strategy, but it believes it has an effective counterattack...
Iowa telcos fight back over blocked calls
By: By Carol Wilson
A group of small Iowa independent telcos and CLECs have banded together to fight back against the industry’s telecom giants, claiming AT&T, Qwest Communications and Sprint are illegally blocking calls in order to avoid paying legal termination fees...
AT&T pays to settle Citizens billing dispute
By: By Ed Gubbins
AT&T this week agreed to pay $37.5 million to Citizens Communications to settle billing disputes between the two carriers, Citizens disclosed in regulatory filings...
Windstream gets validation on consistency model
By: By Tim McElligott
Windstream Communications held an analyst conference in New York’s financial district today to assess its performance in 2006 and its position in the market place after completing its spinoff from Alltel last July, as well as lay out its reporting methods moving forward...
Deadline pressure drives CALEA compliance
By: By Tim McElligott
With one CALEA deadline having come and gone last week and another looming in three months, procrastinating service providers are scrambling to comply....
MetaSwitch goes upscale with Telebec
By: By Tim McElligott
Selling its switching and application platform to Bell Nordiq was a big deal for MetaSwitch, but it could get even bigger with the potential for expanding into other Bell Canada subsidiaries...
NTCA urges self-reliance through regional and national networks
By: By Tim McElligott
ORLANDO--With recent merger and acquisition activity among national carriers limiting rural providers’ choice of access and purchasing power and threatening their very future, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association urged members to consider or reconsider cooperating on the construction of regional and national networks...
