NL Update

Business VoIP ready for prime time: SeaBoardA new report from telecom consultancy the SeaBoard Group says that Voice over IP for the enterprise sector is ready for widespread deployment. VoIP across the Enterprise: Proceeding Cautiously – The CompUSA story is a case study on how an enterprise can effectively and successfully deploy VoIP and realize substantial benefits. Detailing how CompUSA Inc., a computer retailer and reseller, undertook the deployment of a VoIP system across its 230 locations, the SeaBoard Group reports that the company will save between US$10 million and US$14 million, including US$30,000 per store in cabling costs, over five years. Total cost of deployment will range from US$15 million to US$18 million. The CompUSA deployment “gives us a view of the nitty-gritty of how one company implemented VoIP and their experiences. It was not without faults or glitches by everyone involved, but it shows that IP telephony is truly part of the future of telecom,” the SeaBoard Group concludes. VoIP companies to get assistance from new ventureEmerging Voice over IP companies can now count on some much-needed assistance, and it comes from two of the industry’s leading companies. Peer 1 Network and Pulver.com have joined forces to create the VOIP Acceleration Project, a venture designed to subsidize new VoIP companies in their bandwidth and co-location needs. “Together, the companies can provide a launching pad for VoIP entrepreneurs with vision, but not necessarily the financial backing, to take VoIP to the masses,” reads a March 29 news release. Geoff Hampson, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Peer 1 Network, stated: “To be successful, VoIP companies need reliable high quality bandwidth and secure servers to ensure that their product or service is always available. Their consumers demand it. Peer 1’s nationwide backbone and fully redundant data centres guarantee this high level of performance.” Vidéotron ltée announces increased Internet speedsCableco Vidéotron ltée announced April 1 that it was increasing the speed of its high-speed Internet services this month. Download speeds for its High-Speed service will increase 32% from 3.1 Mbps to 4.1 Mbps month. Upload speeds will more than double from 350 kbps to 820 kbps. Its Extreme High-Speed Internet service will increase more than 12% from 4 Mbps to 4.5 Mbps for downloads, and upload speeds will increase more than 40% from 640 kbps to 900 kbps. Vidéotron said it would invest nearly $40 million in its broadband network and Internet infrastructure this year. MTS to increase dividend further following Allstream acquisitionManitoba Telecom Services Inc. on April 5 announced that it plans to set its annual dividend at $2.60 per share, payable quarterly, following completion of its acquisition of Allstream. The figure is a 160% increase over MTS' current dividend and is 40 cents higher than was initially planned when the transaction was announced March 18. MTS also plans to undertake a substantial issuer bid of about $800 million, following the close of the transaction. The move pacified Enterprise Capital Management Inc., which indicated on April 5 that it would be “withdrawing our shareholder proposal concerning the conversion of MTS into an income fund.” When the Toronto Stock Exchange declined to require Manitoba Telecom Services to obtain shareholder approval for its proposed acquisition of Allstream, Enterprise Capital Management stated April 1 that it would “evaluate options for future action.” Enterprise, which holds about 5% of MTS, initially wanted the Manitoba telco to become an income trust rather than going the acquisition route (NL, March 31/04). Aliant launches Ultra High-Speed Internet serviceAliant on April 5 announced the launch of an Ultra High-Speed Internet service with a download speed of 3 Mpbs from 1.5% Mbps, which is twice as fast as Aliant’s high-speed service. Aliant Ultra High-Speed is available to 85% of Aliant’s current high-speed serving area. Bell Canada announces Internet enhancementsBell Canada said April 1 that it was introducing enhanced tools and services, including faster downloads, for its business and consumer high-speed subscribers. Bell Sympatico residential customers have been upgraded to 3 Mbps from 1.5Mbps, and customers currently subscribing to the 3 Mbps service have been upgraded to 4 Mbps. Other service enhancements include a $10 savings on the High-Speed Ultra monthly service rate and an extension of the free MusicMatch MX Gold music streaming service for High-Speed Ultra customers. Vonage expands VoIP service into CanadaVonage extended its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony service into Canada on March 31. The service is priced at $46.99 a month for unlimited use in North America, and $34.99 for unlimited use within a province and 50 minutes elsewhere, and $19.99 for 500 minutes. FCI, Maskatel want DSL ruling extendedFCI Broadband and Maskatel inc. have filed a Part VII application with the CRTC to extend the principle established in Telecom Decision 2003-49 to those instances where end-customers are served by parallel local networks. “This application is not a request to review and vary Decision 2003-49. There is no doubt as to the correctness of that decision. Rather, the competitors are seeking to have the Decision 2003-49 principle applied in additional market segments,” writes FCI Broadband in a March 22 letter to the commission. The principle established in that decision is that a customer must be able to subscribe to a CLEC’s local telephone service and an ILEC’s high-speed Internet service if the customer would otherwise qualify for the Internet service. Call-Net wants relief from TELUS agreementCall-Net Enterprises Inc. has filed a Part VII with the CRTC, asking the commission to declare the April 2002 agreement between it and TELUS affiliate TELUS Services Inc. null and void. Call-Net wants the agreement annulled because it says that all of the services that should have been made available by TELUS under general tariff were not. The agreement deals with the lease of components by Call-Net for Wide Area Ethernet Service from TELUS. Call-Net also calls the rates, terms and conditions of the CWAN agreement “unjust and unreasonable in all the circumstances surrounding and subsequent to the signing of the agreement, contrary to section 27(1) of the Telecommunications Act. INTERNATIONAL NEWS U.S. court rules cable companies’ broadband networks have telecom elementThe 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that cable companies’ broadband networks in fact have a telecommunications element and thus cablecos could be forced by local governments to offer bandwidth to third parties. The April 1 ruling reaffirms a decision the court made in October 2003 in which it determined the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) erred in defining cable networks as information services. The ruling effectively levels the playing field and allows for equal treatment of telephone companies’ networks, which are required to lease capacity to third parties, and cable networks, which have to date not been subject to the same rules. The decision runs counter to FCC chair Michael Powell’s belief that regulating bandwidth would stymie growth. In an April 1 statement, Powell expressed his disappointment. “The commission has worked tirelessly to advance economic growth and investment in high-speed networks. By standing on a prior decision, this court, as Judge O’Scannlain noted in October, ‘effectively stops a vitally important policy debate in its tracks.’”However, not all FCC commissioners were unhappy with the decision. Commissioner Michael Copps lauded the ruling. “This is a good day for consumers and Internet entrepreneurs. I look forward to the start of a fresh dialogue on broadband service at the FCC.”

NL Update

News | 04/05/2004 4:00 am EDT

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