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IN THIS ISSUE:
** Bell and Aliant Create New 3.4-Million-Line Telco ** Toronto Hydro Plans Downtown-Wide Wi-Fi ** TWU Executive Fights Ouster in Court ** Cisco Offers Multimedia Platform ** Avaya, Cisco Embrace Microsoft LCS ** AT&T Inc to Buy BellSouth ** Third-World Phone Service Expands ** Vonage and Shaw Debate 'VoIP Tax' ** Bell Must Provide Equal Access on Digital Voice Lite ** Once Again, Nortel Delays Results ** Bell and Telus Launch EV-DO in Quebec City ** NEC Hosts Network Management ** Mitel Partners for Power over Ethernet ** Ceasefire at Minacs Worldwide ** Telesat Posts Record Earnings ** Canadian Telecom Conferences in 2006============================================================
BELL AND ALIANT CREATE NEW 3.4-MILLION-LINE TELCO: On Tuesday BCE announced plans to create a new income trust that will own Aliant's wireline operations, Bell's recently announced "regional lines" spin-off (see Telecom Update #515), and Bell's 63.4% share of Bell Nordiq.
** The new company, which may be created as early as July, will have 3.4 million local lines and 400,000 high-speed Internet customers, spread over six provinces. Its headquarters will be in Atlantic Canada. It will continue to use the existing Aliant and Bell brand names for most services.** Initially BCE will own 73.5% of the new company, but will reduce that to 45% by distributing units to its shareholders. It will have the right to nominate a majority of the company's directors and to control the appointment of its CEO.
** Bell will acquire Aliant Mobility and Aliant's DownEast Communications phone stores.TORONTO HYDRO PLANS DOWNTOWN-WIDE WI-FI: Toronto Hydro plans to create the largest Wi-Fi zone in Canada, installing access points on light standards throughout an area of six square kilometres bounded east-west by Jarvis and Spadina and north-south by Front and Bloor. The utility's telecom subsidiary says it will begin offering service in about half of that area by June 30, and in all of it by year-end.
** Service will be free for the first six months, and then offered in "a variety of access packages at competitive rates."TWU EXECUTIVE FIGHTS OUSTER IN COURT: On Monday, the Telecommunications Workers Union convention, meeting in Burnaby B.C., voted non-confidence in the union's leadership. The entire executive was replaced by a new group headed by Kamloops installer George Doubt. On Thursday, 67 of the 118 delegates were served with notice that ousted president Bruce Bell had applied for a court injunction to block the new executive from taking office.
** The non-confidence vote appears to reflect discontent with the process that led to approval of a new contract with Telus in November. (see Telecom Update #504, 505, 507)CISCO OFFERS MULTIMEDIA PLATFORM: Under the slogan "This Changes Everything," Cisco Systems has launched Cisco Unified Communications, a suite of integrated voice, data, and video applications. The new offering includes Unified CallManager 5.0, a Linux-based platform that supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and that will ultimately converge with the existing Windows-based version of CallManager.
AVAYA, CISCO EMBRACE MICROSOFT LCS: Avaya and Cisco have both announced plans to integrate support for Microsoft's Office Communicator and Live Communications Server into their IP-PBX offerings. Nortel and Mitel have recently made similar announcements (see Telecom Update #517, 519).
AT&T INC TO BUY BELLSOUTH: AT&T Inc., created when SBC bought AT&T Corp. last year (see Telecom Update #506), has agreed to buy BellSouth in a stock swap valued at US$67 billion. In 1984, the old AT&T was broken into eight companies -- seven regional phone companies and AT&T. Only three of the eight exist as independent companies today.
THIRD-WORLD PHONE SERVICE EXPANDS: In 1980, developing countries accounted for only 20% of the world's telephone lines. In 2005 the figure was 60%, with much of the growth driven by wireless. Even in sub-Saharan Africa, where phone penetration is still low, the rate tripled in the last five years, to 104 subscribers per 1,000 people.
** Detailed statistics on telecom and IT growth in 144 countries appear in a World Bank report issued this week. Information and Communications for 2006: Global Trends and Policies can be purchased online at** Vonage first made the claim last December, in a submission to the CRTC in support of a related application by Cybersurf (see Telecom Update #509), saying Shaw's QoS fee has a "chilling effect" on customers considering a competitive VoIP service.
** Shaw says that Vonage's accusation is "both wrong and misleading." It told the CRTC that its QoS service is an optional enhancement, offered as a value added service to its retail Internet customers.BELL MUST PROVIDE EQUAL ACCESS ON DIGITAL VOICE LITE: CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-11 gives final approval to Bell Canada's "Digital Voice Lite" access-independent VoIP service tariffs, with conditions. (See Telecom Update #496)
** Within a year Bell must implement equal access, allowing DVLite customers to choose their long distance providers. Bell must also comply with the CRTC's earlier order to implement full local number portability on DVLite by June 2006 (see Telecom Update #508).** Bell must file new tariff pages when DVLite prices change, but the maximum and minimum points of the price range approved by the Commission can remain confidential.
** Bell must inform customers of service limitations and obtain their express acknowledgement before starting service.** CEO Mike Zafirovski expressed dissatisfaction with Nortel's results which "have not been good ... since 1998."
BELL AND TELUS LAUNCH EV-DO IN QUEBEC CITY: Bell and Telus both introduced EV-DO high-speed cellular data service in Quebec City's downtown core this week. The two companies share wireless network facilities across Canada.
** Manitoba Telecom Services says it will launch EV-DO in Winnipeg and Brandon this spring.NEC HOSTS NETWORK MANAGEMENT: NEC Unified Solutions now offers two new network management offerings for small to medium businesses: Remote Management, which monitors data and VoIP network infrastructure, and Threat Management, which reports on network security.
MITEL PARTNERS FOR POWER OVER ETHERNET: Mitel and Foundry Networks have completed interoperability testing to supply power from Foundry switches to Mitel phones over gigabit Ethernet networks.
CEASEFIRE AT MINACS WORLDWIDE: Minacs Worldwide says that Elaine Minacs, who owns 46.5% of the company's stock, has agreed not sell her shares or call a special shareholder's meeting, and to tender her shares to any Board-approved transaction that pays at least $5/share. Elaine Minacs had previously called for a special shareholders meeting to replace the existing board. (See Telecom Update #516)
TELESAT POSTS RECORD EARNINGS: Telesat Canada, a BCE subsidiary, reports revenue in 2005 of $475 million, 31% higher than the previous year, and cash flow of $204 million, a 10% increase. Net earnings rose
6.6% to $89 million.CANADIAN TELECOM CONFERENCES IN 2006: Mark your calendar -- it's a busy year for telecom conferences. Some highlights:
** Voice on the Net Canada 2006. April 3-5, Metro Toronto Convention Centre.HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE
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