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IN THIS ISSUE:
** Bell Offers Hosted VoIP for Small, Medium Business ** Rogers Firefly Targets Pre-Teens ** Bell Offers Cellular Tracking for Families ** Linton Named EVP at Rogers ** Policy Review Submissions Due Monday ** Prince Rupert Spins Off City Telco ** More Appeals Filed Against CRTC VoIP Decision ** "Spam King" Agrees to Pay Damages ** Aliant Adds Self-Service Options ** Small ILECs Want Price Cap Regime Extended ** Is Phone Penetration Falling in U.S.? ** WorldCom CFO Gets Five Years ** Work Stoppage Delays Telus TV Launch ** Enterprise Sector Leads Nortel Sales Gain ** Cisco Profits Up, Shares Down ** "Telemanagement Live" Brochure Now Online============================================================
BELL OFFERS HOSTED VoIP FOR SMALL, MEDIUM BUSINESS: Bell Canada this week launched a hosted VoIP service for small and medium-sized businesses. Business IP Voice provides local phone service, extension to extension calling, and a range of calling features including Find Me/Follow Me, Meet Me Conferencing, and Voicemail to Email.
** Bell's proposed tariff for the service received interim approval on July 26. Intervenors have until September 2 to submit comments on the tariff.ROGERS FIREFLY TARGETS PRE-TEENS: Rogers Wireless now offers Firefly, a phone designed "for pre-teens and their parents." The phone has no dialpad; parents use a PIN to program up to 22 numbers, including speed keys for mom and dad.
BELL OFFERS CELLULAR TRACKING FOR FAMILIES: Bell Mobility's new Seek & Find service enables parents to determine their children's whereabouts if the child has a GPS-equipped cellphone and the phone is switched on. Parents can check location on the Internet 20 times a month for $5.
LINTON NAMED EVP AT ROGERS: Bill Linton, former President and CEO of Call-Net Enterprises, is now Executive Vice-President of Rogers Communications Inc. Call-Net was acquired by Rogers Communications on July 1 and renamed Rogers Telecom Holdings. (See Telecom Update #488)
POLICY REVIEW SUBMISSIONS DUE MONDAY: Submissions to the Telecom Policy Review are to be filed by August 15. They will be made public on the panel's website, where some comments are already posted. (see Telecom Update #485)
PRINCE RUPERT SPINS OFF CITY TELCO: Prince Rupert B.C.'s CityTel, until now a department of the city government, has been spun off as a city-owned corporation and renamed City West. The new company has agreed to buy the northern B.C. cable business and assets of Monarch Cablesystems for $23.5 million.
MORE APPEALS FILED AGAINST CRTC VoIP DECISION: The Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada have each petitioned the federal Cabinet, opposing economic regulation of incumbent telcos' VoIP services, as ruled in CRTC Telecom Decision
2005-28.** Earlier Cabinet appeals of this decision were filed by the Government of Saskatchewan (see Telecom Update #488) and by Aliant, Bell Canada, SaskTel, Telebec, and Telus (see Telecom Update #490).
"SPAM KING" AGREES TO PAY DAMAGES: Microsoft has won $7 million in damages from Scott Richter, whose Colorado company is alleged to have sent 38 billion spam messages a year in violation of U.S. law. Richter denied the allegations but agreed to let authorities monitor his business in future.
ALIANT ADDS SELF-SERVICE OPTIONS: Using software from California-based eGain, Aliant has enhanced the customer self-service options available on its website.
SMALL ILECs WANT PRICE CAP REGIME EXTENDED: The Canadian Independent Telephone Company Joint Task Force, representing most of the small incumbent carriers in Canada, says the price cap regime under which they have been regulated since January 2002 has worked well for providers and consumers. They want the framework extended for another four years, with minor modifications.
IS PHONE PENETRATION FALLING IN U.S.? A March 2005 Federal Communications Commission study shows that 92.5% of U.S. homes have either wireline or wireless phone service, a sharp decline from 95.5% two years earlier. This would indicate that 8.7 million homes cannot make or receive phone calls, the largest number since 1983. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates has asked the FCC to investigate whether the statistics are correct.
WORLDCOM CFO GETS FIVE YEARS: Scott Sullivan, the former WorldCom Chief Financial Officer whose testimony held convict CEO Bernard Ebbers, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the US$11 billion fraud. The judge said Sullivan was the "architect" and "day-to-day manager" of the scheme, but gave him a short sentence because he cooperated with prosecutors.
WORK STOPPAGE DELAYS TELUS TV LAUNCH: Telus says its plans to launch digital TV "are on hold until we see the work stoppage through to a positive conclusion."
ENTERPRISE SECTOR LEADS NORTEL SALES GAIN: Nortel Networks reports second quarter revenues of US$2.86 billion, up 10% over the same period a year ago and 13% over the previous quarter. Sales of the enterprise networks division increased 22% on the year; sales in Canada rose 34%.
CISCO PROFITS UP, SHARES DOWN: Cisco Systems revenues for the three months ended July 30 were US$6.58 billion, 11% higher than a year ago. Net income increased 11.6% to 1.54 billion. A Cisco forecast that sales would increase only 10% in the next quarter sparked an 8% decline in share price.
"TELEMANAGEMENT LIVE" BROCHURE NOW ONLINE: Full program details for the Fall 2005 TeleManagement Live conference and exposition are now available online. This year's agenda includes a day of in-depth management tutorials on IP-Based Convergence, Telecom Cost Control, Managing Change in Telecom, and other topics.
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