National Regulators Back EU's "Functional Separation" Call
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Europe's national telecoms regulators under the aegis of the European Regulatory Group (ERG) have unanimously backed the European Union (EU)'s call for the functional separation of networks and services in the telecoms sector. In an unprecedented show of unity for an issue that has already divided opinion, the 27 EU member...
India's Bharti Airtel Mulling German Mobile Market Entry
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Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, plans to enter into the German market, Handelsblatt reports, citing founder and chief executive Sunil Mittal. Mittal plans to ask German chancellor Angela Merkel for a licence to provide mobile phone service in the country when she visits India this month, he said, adding that...
Nokia Siemens Network 3G Equipment Certified for Use in Russia
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Nokia Siemens Networks' 3G base station subsystem equipment has received a certificate of approval from Russia's certification body, the "Expertise and Certification Center Infocom", according to press reports. Significance: Earlier this week Ericsson also received certification for the provision of 3G base...
EU: Price Cap on Roaming Charges Brings Massive Savings
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- An EU cap on roaming charges has reduced mobile phone bills by up to 60 percent since being introduced this summer, the European Commission said. The EU has set a price ceiling of EU0.49 (US$0.69) per minute for making a mobile phone call when abroad and EU0.24 (US$0.34) for receiving one, plus...
FTTH Con: U.S. FTTH Connections Top 2 Million
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ORLANDO -- Fiber-to-the-home connections in the U.S. have more than doubled from a year ago to surpass the 2 million mark, according to data released today from Render Vanderslice and Associates. As of September, 2.14 million U.S. homes were connected to fiber, more than double the1.01 million connected99% seenin March and...
Microsoft Enters Small-Business VoIP Market
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Microsoft released its Response Point phone system software -- aimed at businesses with as many as 50 employees and/or 100 extensions -- to manufacturing, with hardware manufacturers offering phone systems based on the software to start taking orders on Friday. Response Point is a VoIP system, but it is not SIP-compliant, a fact...
Report Says the FCC Favors Lobbyists Over the Public
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The FCC keeps lobbyists better informed about pending business than it does the public, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. "Situations where some, but not all, stakeholders know what FCC is considering for an upcoming vote undermine the fairness and transparency of the process and constitute a...
Microsoft Alumni Do a 180
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Some former Microsoft Corp. employees are quietly delivering middleware services to some of the estimated 80 to 90 Tier 2 telco carriers that are trialing IPTV platforms. The company is called 180Squared Inc. and is led by CEO Mark Cooper, a former Microsoft employee who led the development of IPTV middleware platform Mediaroom...
Europe Makes Way for WiMax
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Norway, Sweden, and the U.K. will be the first European markets to auction the 2.6 GHz spectrum that will be used for mobile broadband. These early auctions will set a precedent for how much 2.6 GHz spectrum will be set aside for operators wanting to deploy WiMax versus 3G cellular technologies such as UMTS. The national...
Silver Peak Plans Scale-Up
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WAN optimization startup Silver Peak is planning to bulk up its hardware with a high-speed, high-end enterprise device, according to CEO Rick Tinsley. Speaking after a Silver Peak sales seminar in New York today, Tinsley explained that users are desperate to speed up traffic traveling over their WAN links. "Our vision is that...
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