NL International News Briefs

U.S. federal court blocks implementation of Do Not Call listThe U.S. District Court in Oklahoma ruled that the Federal Trade Commission does not have the authority to enforce the Do Not Call registry that was due to take effect this week. Legislative scrambles by the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to reinstate the list. Americans mull banning Qwest from government contractsThe American government is considering barring Qwest Communications from all future contracts due to the indictment of four former executives in an accounting scandal. The administration is already examining MCI/WorldCom and Sprint to determine if they should be banned from government deals. DSL not likely to provide high telecom profits, Ovum saysConsulting company Ovum predicts that DSL will not produce the high profits the telecom industry is expecting. "Business revenues are one thing-margins are another," research director Mike Cansfield says. KPN broadband offer raises questions about monopolyAn offer by KPN to provide all schools in the Netherlands with free broadband for three years has caused an uproar in the Dutch parliament. Opposition members say the incumbent’s plan could jeopardize competition in the Internet service sector. VeriSign remain unrepentant on domain redirect plansVeriSign is not planning to change its plan to point unassigned domain names at its web site despite widespread criticism. The Mountain View CA company has agreed to form a technical committee to look at the problems caused by the change. European broadband connections to hit 12m by 2007A new study by IDC projects that business broadband connections in western Europe will grow to 12 million by the end of 2007. At the end of last year, the number stood at 2.8 million. France Télécom to focus on debt not acquisitions, chair saysThierry Breton, chair of France Télécom, says the company will concentrate on reducing debt rather than acquiring new properties. The French ILEC has a debt of EUR 48 billion (about $74.2 billion). AT&T introduces new business VoIP service over VPNAT&T has unveiled a new business VoIP service, to be introduced next year. The service is more secure because it operates over a VPN that the American carrier sells to business clients. Europeans confident about electronic payment systemA study conducted by the European Commission finds that people in most EU countries have a reasonable level of confidence in electronic payment transactions. The report says businesses using ecommerce need to improve the information they provide their clients on security matters. Intelsat launches broadband network in West AfricaIntelsat has added a third broadband network serving Africa, bringing to six its number of global networks. The West Africa Ku-band network expands the company’s footprint to 90% of sub-Saharan Africa. Primus eliminates US$56 million in vendor debt three years earlyPrimus Telecommunications Group Inc. has paid its US$56-million loan and lease balance with GE Vendor Financial Services, scheduled to mature in December 2006. Several assets in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including telecom switches and network equipment, are now unencumbered. Belgian minister opposes privatization of BelgacomVande Lanotte, the minister overseeing Belgium’s public enterprises, says he opposes any further privatization of state telco Belgacom. He will consider a stock listing that would permit minority shareholders to sell their stake under certain conditions.

NL International News Briefs

News | 09/29/2003 4:00 am EDT

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