NL Short Takes

CEP to oppose Bell’s income trustThe Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) will oppose plans by Bell Canada to create an income trust, which would provide telephone service in rural Ontario and Quebec. The CEP has also condemned the announcement by BCE that it will be cutting 3,000 to 4,000 jobs, and said that the income trust could endanger affordable phone service in that area. "The total package revealed by Bell and BCE today sends a strong message to its workers and subscribers that the company has a decreasing interest in maintaining first class, universal and affordable phone service," said CEP VP John Edwards in a news release. The union, which counts 40,000 members in the Canadian telecommunications industry, will be monitoring the approval and regulatory process involved in the creation of the income trust. Deloitte releases top 10 tech, media and telecom trends for ‘06The 2006 edition of Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions is based on input from over 5,000 industry practitioners, and contains the top 10 Canadian trends for this year and beyond. The predictions include: life-changing technologies like advanced mobile devices will continue to have a tremendous impact; both fixed-line and wireless telecom operators will compete on the basis of speed; Internet-based video-on-demand, IPTV and podcasting should grow because of converging technologies; managed VoIP services offered by telecom companies will gain market share, while open Internet varieties may struggle; and VoIP providers offering flat rates may find themselves "convergence losers" for not charging for services used. Cogeco speeds up high-speed Internet Lite serviceMontreal-based Cogeco Cable Inc. is now offering the "fastest high-speed Internet service of its category." The company’s HIS Lite will have its download speed increased this month from 300 Kbps to a maximum of 640 Kbps in all regions served by Cogeco where high-speed is available, at no extra cost. "Cogeco Cable has ranked among the fastest high-speed Internet providers in North America according to Broadbandreports.com, an independent website that tracks ISP speeds," said Cogeco’s VP, marketing, Ron Perrotta in a news release. Nortel, Huawei establish joint venture to develop broadband access solutionsNortel Networks Corp. has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. with the intent to create a joint venture for developing broadband access solutions for markets around the world. The companies have also formed a supply agreement allowing Nortel to begin attracting clients with Huawei’s broadband access portfolio. "Nortel is focused on seizing opportunities that will generate new revenue and expand the operating margin," said Nortel president and CEO Mike Zafirovski in a news release. "This will create a powerful new player in what is a high growth market." The project will be majority-owned by Nortel and headquartered in Ottawa. Even Technologies to help provide IPTV in the USEven Technologies Inc. of Vancouver is teaming up with Infinite Video Corp. of Duluth GA to provide turnkey solutions for IPTV to telephone companies. Under the agreement, Infinite will use Even’s PSI video compression to deliver video to a set-top box, allowing telephone companies to offer video services without upgrading their infrastructure or outside plants. The contract grants Infinite Video licenses for the technology in the US, UK and Gulf States markets. Meriton ramps up global expansionCiting a need to meet the increasing demand for its portfolio of next-generation optical transport products, Meriton Networks Inc. has expanded its global operations. The Ottawa-based company has established operations in South Florida to accommodate the Caribbean and Latin American markets. It has also opened an office in Seoul, South Korea to provide improved support for the community of Tier 1 and alternate carriers within the country. MTS Allstream selects Cisco’s CRS-1 to expand national networkCisco Systems’CRS-1 carrier routing system has been selected by MTS Allstream to enhance its national IP/MPLS backbone network. "With Cisco’s platform, we can deliver even higher bandwidth capacity and carrier-class reliability for our expanding suite of converged IP solutions," said Paul Frizado, senior VP, network services, MTS Allstream in a press release. A carrier-class routing system, the CRS-1 platform received an InfoVision Award in the "Network Core Innovation and Advances" category last October from the International Engineering Consortium. Axia reports substantial Q2 profitsManaged next-generation IP network provider, Axia NetMedia Corp., reported a 119% increase in its second quarter revenues over the same period last year. The company also recorded net income of $4.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2006, up from $1.3 million for the second quarter 2005. Axia president Murray Wallace said in a news release that about 75% of the Q2 revenues were from long-term operating contracts. The company is also conducting sales of its NOW.net software applications business in Canada and the UK. IT spending in Canada to decline slightly in 2006, IpsosSpending on IT in Canada is expected to reach $40.93 billion in 2006, down from $41.35 billion in 2005 according to a new Ipsos report. While the report predicts that spending in the large enterprise segment will increase by 7%, it won’t be enough to offset a 4% decline by mid-sized companies, the largest IT revenue-generating segment in Canada. "This report provides a sobering perspective of corporate demographics in Canada," said VP of Ipsos’ Canadian information technology practice, Lise Dellazizzo, in a news release. InstaDial to provide 911 dialing for Canadian VoIP customersInstaTelecom Inc., a subsidiary of InstaDial, will be providing 911 dialing to Canadian VoIP customers, along with information to educate them on the differences, limitations and distinctions between 911 services over a VoIP connection and a traditional landline. For instance, VoIP subscribers who register for 911 need to identify the actual service address that they want emergency personnel to respond to, and must update their location if they move because they can maintain the same VoIP number at a new address. Bell favours playing regulatory card, Videotron"Backroom maneuvering by Bell seems to have rattled the CRTC," wrote Robert Dépatie, president and CEO of Vidéotron ltée, in an op-ed article on the nature of local competition. Dépatie said that in spite of the modest regulatory restrictions put in place by the commission, Bell maintains a virtual monopoly in Quebec and receives special favours from the CRTC, such as approval of new rates within 10 days. "It seems Bell is ready to face competition in local telephone service, as long as it has no competitors!" he wrote. "When the chips are down, it would rather pressure the regulatory agencies by pulling political strings than play by the rules." Vidéotron had signed up more than 160,000 customers for its local phone service by the end of 2005, which is still less than 5% of Bell’s residential lines in Quebec. AOL to use P2P network for HD Internet video servicesAOL, a division of Time Warner Inc., will use peer-to-peer network to deliver high-definition Internet video to customers next month. The approach is similar to that of file-sharing sites like Kazaa and BitTorrent, and allows AOL to store video content on its customers’ PCs at the edge of the network, so it doesn’t constantly have to push it out from a central server. The new In2TV service is set to launch in March.

NL Short Takes

News | February 15, 2006

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