NL Short Takes

Call-Net to buy local, IXC assets in NB, NSAs part of its acquisition of the 360networks Corp. customer base in Eastern Canada from Bell Canada, Call-Net Enterprises Inc. has announced it will purchase various local and IXC assets in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (NL, Nov. 25/04). The deal foresees Call-Net buying virtually all of the former Group Telecom (GT) assets in those provinces including long-haul and access fibre, as well as switching and networking equipment. Call-Net will take ownership of the assets sometime in the third quarter of 2005, at a price of $12.6 million to be paid on closing. Call-Net’s services and maintenance contract with Bell will be amended to reflect the change in ownership. Besides these assets, Call-Net will buy an option from Bell Canada to purchase over 90% of the remaining GT CLEC network in Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The maximum price on those assets has been set at $22.4 million. Call-Net paid Bell $1.7 million on account of the option fee. Finally, Call-Net and Bell will extend their maintenance and operation agreements from 12 to 18 months beyond Dec. 21, 2006 to "minimize disruption during the migration of the former Group Telecom network assets to Call-Net. Call-Net and Bell Canada also expect to enter into agreements, at closing, giving each other certain access to each other’s network during the transition and migration phase," according to a May 2 media release. TELUS Corp. late last year filed a Part VII application with the commission arguing that the abovementioned Bell/Call-Net service agreements left Bell effectively in control of the assets, and that services offered on those facilities should be treated for regulatory purposes as being offered by Bell (NL, Dec. 22/04). NetSuite expands workforce, customer base in MississaugaNetSuite Inc. says it has doubled its workforce and customer base at its Mississauga headquarters, opened in November 2004. The company is an application service provider offering a customer relationship management/enterprise resource planning/ecommerce suite for small- and medium-sized businesses. It has recently inked deals with Canadian customers including Casalife, Warehouse Direct, GILL Technologies, WinCruise, Canadian Model Trains and Nightingale Informatix Corp. TWU/TELUS battle heats upThe four-and-a-half-year collective bargaining fight between Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) and TELUS Corp. is getting uglier by the day. Three days after the TWU launched its "Another Wrong Number" campaign, TELUS announced that it was no longer going to collect union dues from unionized employees and cease to remit them to the union. "This action is the latest in a series of lawful lockout measures TELUS has taken to put pressure on the bargaining process and achieve a replacement collective agreement," reads a May 5 news release. The union dues decision follows an April 21 settlement offer the company made directly to employees, something the TWU says goes against bargaining practices. TWU president Bruce Bell said in a May 2 news release, "We have been trying to bargain a new collective agreement with these guys for nearly five years. But bargaining involves give and take on both sides. TELUS’ current game plan involves us giving and them taking…You might understand them taking such a hard-line position if the company was hurting financially, but TELUS’ share price was up 40% last year. At the same time, the company was the global telecom leader with respect to revenue, earnings and cash-flow growth rates. Meanwhile, the company’s customer service leaves a great deal to be desired." SaskTel CEP members ratify agreementMembers of the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) at SaskTel voted 67% April 20 to ratify a new collective agreement. The current agreement expired March 20. The new deal will be in effect from March 21, 2004 to March 24, 2007. IP Applications closes financingIP Applicatons Corp. has closed a previously-announced $800,000 financing, which represents completion of the second stage of its reorganization begun 15 months ago. With closing of the financing, members of the board and management, including the Pender Growth Fund and Pender Financial Group, now control over 55% of the company’s issued shares. "Everyone’s interests are now aligned and we have a common goal to enhance shareholder value," said chair Kelly Edmison in a media release. BorderWare releases firewall to protect against attacksBorderWare Technologies Inc., Toronto, launched at NetWorld+InterOp 2005 a new version of its Mxtreme Mail Firewall with improved performance, policy enforcement and management, content control, and ease of use. The company is citing the release of this fifth version of the software as part of a IP communications security push that included the hiring of Tim Leisman as president and CEO in January. Shaw Communications expands VoIP to EdmontonEdmonton residents will now be able to subscribe to Voice over IP services from Shaw Communications after the company announced on April 27 that service is now available in the Alberta city. This is the second city in the province to get the service. The company launched VoIP in Calgary on February 14. Shaw says in a news release that it has now introduced VoIP services to 25% of the homes it passes. Shift to provide VoIP services over SuperNetShift Networks Inc. has inked a solution partner agreement with Strategic Information Systems Inc. (SIS) to provide hosted IP telephony services to SIS customers over Alberta’s SuperNet. Using Shift’s IP telephony services, SIS can now more effectively service its customers, which are primarily located in rural and remote areas of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. "Shift’s technology provides SIS customers the ability to link together multiple locations via the SuperNet creating a ‘virtual switchboard’ environment. Clients who previously had limited and expensive access to telephone services will enjoy state of the art IP telephone services," SIS’ Lyndon Lobo said in a news release. Allstream expands hosted services for SMB marketAllstream is making it easier for small- and medium-sized businesses to collaborate by enhancing its collaboration suite software to include Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005. The Allstream SMB service provides companies with multi-party videoconferencing, among a number of other capabilities. Bell launches more services for SMB market segmentBell Canada is continuing to expand its presence in the small- and medium-sized business market with the introduction of PC Care and Network Care. The two services are designed to take network maintenance off small businesses’ plates, allowing them instead to focus on running their business. "Creating a single point of contact for Bell’s business Internet high-speed customers with help requests regarding connectivity, hardware or software can now call upon one trusted IT advisor for a solution. Combining secure and reliable Internet connectivity and IT customer support will result in faster, better and more responsive problem solving for SMB customers," senior director, products and services for SMBs at Bell Canada Kate Batty said in a news release. Recognize convergence in telecom review: CCTAThe Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association is calling on the federal government to make sure the upcoming review of the telecommunications regulatory and policy framework recognizes "the growing convergence of consumer technologies by promoting more competition and choice across the communications spectrum, from broadband networks to broadcast content." Michael Hennessy, president and CEO of the CCTA, said in a news release that the association is advocating for a new consumer-based convergence policy. "Consumers are making convergence a reality, but little has been done in the last two years to integrate the needs of consumers into communications policy," he said. Zero-Knowledge changes name, inks new dealsZero-Knowledge Systems Inc. has changed its name to Radialpoint, the company announced on May 4. On the same day, Radialpoint said that it had signed an agreement with ntl, the United Kingdom’s and Ireland’s largest cable operator and a major broadband Internet provider. Ntl will offer Radialpoint’s anti-virus service free to its subscribers under the Netguard product name. Radialpoint’s new web site can be found at http://www.radialpoint.com.

NL Short Takes

News | May 10, 2005

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