NL Short Takes

Cable companies raking up telephony customers...Canada’s major cable companies are continuing to gain telephony customers at the expense of the incumbent telephone companies. Earlier this month, Vidéotron ltée announced that it had passed the 400,000-subscriber mark. Just this week, Rogers Communications Inc. announced that it now had nearly 366,000 cable telephony customers after adding 95,100 customers in the fourth quarter. Rogers says it has 920,500 total telephony customers both residential and business as well as cable telephony and circuit switched....but telephone companies coping well with landline erosionWhile the cable companies continue to make significant inroads in the local telephony market, the incumbent telephone companies believe they are doing a much better job at stemming the losses. In Bell Canada’s case, president and COO George Cope says winback activities are still showing signs of paying off as customers returning to the ILEC are becoming higher-revenue generating customers. For the fourth quarter of 2006, Bell lost 183,000 residential telephone customers and nearly 600,000 during the entire year. Telus Corp. reported losing 34,000 local landlines in the fourth quarter and more than 150,000 for the entire 2006 fiscal year. Michael Sabia, CEO of BCE Inc., noted during the company’s Q4 and year-end conference call that erosion of local landlines appears to be leveling off. "We are seeing a significant slowing in the rate of increase and in effect we think the beginnings of a stabilizing trend," he said during his opening remarks. Regulators discuss access to NGN in DubaiRegulatory authorities from all parts of the world gathered in Dubai earlier this month to discuss best practices needed to facilitate the migration of next generation networks (NGN) and forged a 38-point roadmap designed to help create regulatory frameworks that foster innovation, investment and affordable access to NGN. International Telecommunication Union secretary general Hamadoun Toure said in a news release that these types of regulatory frameworks should help bridge the digital divide. "We believe the best practices adopted at this meeting will ultimately offer the possibility of delivering the real benefits to providers and consumers, through cost reduction as well as offering innovative new services," he said. Nortel adds new partners to IMS Developers ForumNortel Networks Corp. has added some new partners to its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Developers Program. BEA Systems, IP Unity Glenayre and Vantrix are three of the companies that joined the program recently. The IMS Developers Forum aims to accelerate interoperability and convergence across wireless, wireline and cable networks to provide a more compelling communications experience regardless of the network connection or device. "Nortel’s IMS Developer Program ignites network convergence and IMS adoption by providing an open testing environment featuring a complete network architecture with multiple applications and devices," Nortel’s GM of converged multimedia networks Alf Decardenas said in a news release. "This will help fuel innovative communication services that will change the nature of communications while also helping to increase service provider competitive advantage and revenue opportunities – another example of how Nortel’s Business Made Simple approach benefits customers." Open Text software gets positive rating from GartnerOpen Text Corp. has received a positive endorsement analyst firm Gartner Inc. The analyst firm rated the company’s records management products a strong positive in its MarketScope for Records Management 2007 report, which was authored by company VP Kenneth Chin. Strong positive is the highest rating possible in the report. Open Text executive VP of the compliance solutions business Bill Forquer praised the report for recognizing that records management be considered an integral part of content management infrastructure. "Open Text’s record management solutions are among the industry’s most advanced and widely tested," he said. "Our customers are able to manage information in a compliant and transparent way, ensuring their business content is sage, searchable and readily accessible." Peer 1 expands its co-location marketsPEER 1 Network Enterprises Inc. has announced that it has completed its previously announced data centre expansion in Vancouver. The Vancouver-based firm has also announced that it will be expanding its Toronto data centre and it is expected to be complete this June. Recent expansions in North America have allowed the company to add approximately 65% more dedicated servers to its current base of more than 16,000 dedicated servers and approximately 40% more co-location cabinet equivalents to its current base of more than 1,100 cabinet equivalents. 7-digit dialing coming back to babyTEL customersBabyTEL, a Montreal-based VoIP provider, has eliminated 10-digit dialing in areas where it is required. In some major metropolitan areas, telephone customers are required to dial the full 10-digit telephone number, but babyTEL has brought back seven-digit dialing. "This will resonate with Canadians," said company president Stephen Dorsey. "The phone companies think they’ve trained us to the inevitability of tedious 10-digit dialing in our own area codes. Well, with today’s technology, it’s ridiculous and that’s why we’re offering seven-digit local calling to all Canadians." In other babyTEL news, the Montreal company has announced that it is now offering service in the United States. "Now we’re open for business in the US supplying Americans with no hassle VoIP service, US phone numbers and responsive tech support, something the so-called giants have trouble delivering," Dorsey said. "We know the key to success is serving, not alienating the customer." Customers can sign up online and have their phone delivered within two to five business days at www.babytelusa.com. Meriton decides to enter new marketMeriton Networks, an Ottawa-based optical networking company, is entering the carrier Ethernet transport (CET) market by leveraging its strengths in agile optical networking to support converged optical-Ethernet capabilities. CET combines the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of native Ethernet with the reliability and power of optical networks to deliver unparalleled flexibility, efficiency and cost savings. The Ottawa-based firm is taking a staged approach to the market, first offering to support Gigabit Ethernet and then moving to carrier Ethernet tunnel switching and aggregation for local handoff. Cogeco closes public offeringCogeco Cable Inc. has closed a public offering of subordinate voting shares for gross proceeds of $192,500,000. Underwriters of the offering were Scotia Capital Inc., GMP Securities LP, BMO Nesbit Burns, CIBC World Markets Inc., Desjardin Securities Inc., and National Bank Financial Inc. Net proceeds of the public offering, which totalled $184,800,000, will be used to reduce long-term indebtedness and for working capital purposes. Vonage Canada teams up with Motorola for Canadian marketVonage Canada and Motorola Canada have jointly announced the introduction of the VT2142 phone adapter and router for the residential VoIP market. The new Motorola device enhances the user experience by allowing the data functionality of the high-speed Internet connection to function more effectively. According to a joint news release, the phone adapter and router will allow customers "to download and share computer files, videos and MP3s fast and easy." The Motorola VT2142is available online at www.vonage.ca for free after a $89.99 instant rebate. Aliant launches new service to protect customers from phishingAliant, in conjunction with Radialpoint, has introduced fraud protection service that helps protect its broadband customers against phishing activities. Radialpoint is a provider of managed Internet services to broadband providers. "Customers expect a reliable and secure online experience," Aliant’s director of ISP, Joe Mosher said in a news release. "By offering industry leading and proven security services, customers can rest assured they are receiving quality technology in a user-friendly format." Bell Aliant trying to expand territoryRegional telecommunications provider Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund has announced that it plans to take over Amtelecom Income Fund, another regional telecom provider in low-density markets. The offer is for $13 per share, approximately a 17% premium of the average trading price over the past 20 trading days, and if all shares were acquired would be worth $119 million. A formal offer is expected to be deposited on or before February 26. "We believe Amtelecom provides a natural fit with Bell Aliant due to its focus on regional wireline customers and the proximity of operating footprints," Bell Aliant president and CEO said in a news release. Enablence now has volume productionEnablence Technologies Inc., an Ottawa-based developer of fibre-to-the-home transceivers, has announced that its volume production line with Sanmina-SCI is now operational. "This is a major development for Enablence and marks and important milestone in our ability to manufacture and supply our products in large volume and in our relationship with Sanmina-SCI," Enablence CEO Arvind Chhatbar said in a news release.

NL Short Takes

Briefs | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us