NL Short Takes

CRTC finalizes streamlined tariff proceduresThe CRTC is satisfied that its six-month trial of streamlined tariff approval procedures have produced the results it was seeking, and has a result implemented the procedures on a final basis. Telecom Circular 2005-9 notes the commission is satisfied the new procedures are appropriate. "With these procedural changes, the commission stated that it expected to reduce its average time to dispose of retail tariff applications by 50% over the 12 months following the release of Circular 2005-6, and that major improvements would be implemented immediately. At the time of the release of Circular 2005-6, the commission’s average time to dispose of retail tariff applications was in excess of 55 business days," reads the circular. In April 2005, the CRTC implemented interim procedures designed to deal with most tariff applications within 10 business days. Cygnal installs VoIP system for LuscarCygnal Technologies Corp. has deployed a Voice over IP system across 10 locations for Luscar Ltd., a mining company with operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The new system will eliminate long distance charges and reduce telecommunications line costs by more than half for Luscar’s mining sites. Cygnal is expected to reap about $500,000 for the implementation. Luscar was searching for a single telephony solution to replace its disparate and aging system that connected its Edmonton head office with its remote mining locations. The company was also looking to reduce the total cost of ownership of the telecom infrastructure and improve employee productivity across the entire enterprise. "Cygnal designed and installed an enterprise-wide telephony system based on the Avaya S8500 server. The 10-location system essentially operates like a single-site platform – consistent with Avaya’s strategy to ‘flatten and consolidate’ the management of infrastructure," reads a news release. xwave brings electronic medical records to OntarioThree doctors in Ontario are testing a new web-based electronic medial records (EMR) solution developed for the Canadian market by xwave. The use of EMRs has shown to significantly decrease doctors’ time spent filling in paper medical records and also helps decrease the possibility of losing records. The doctors are using a subscription-based model where they pay monthly fees to use the service. Zingo to market VoIP service on MSNFollowing successful marketing campaigns with web portals Yahoo! and Google, Voice over IP service provider Zingo has started a similar campaign with MSN. The two previous initiatives helped the company increase sales by more than 400%. The company ZingoTel emergency phone system offers unlimited U.S./Canada calling for $14.95 per month. "ZingoTel will be introducing its VoIP service via top rated television shows as well as an aggressive ‘Hollywood’ marketing campaign," reads a news release. The company recently announced that the U.S. federal government will use its service. Hackers stealing long distance from VoIP systemsStuart Zipper, editor of Broadband Business Forecast, recently discovered a major security attack on a Voice over IP enterprise telephony system. According to Zipper, hackers have figured out how to steal long distance services by manipulating the IP stream. He says many in the telecommunications industry aren’t talking about the security breach. In a news release announcing the article he says, "I’ve been watching VoIP security issues carefully for months now, and I knew it was just a matter of time until one of the significant players found something amiss to tell me about." He adds it was a just a matter of asking the right questions to get to the bottom of the issue. AOL Canada debuts Canada-wide broadband InternetAOL Canada has introduced Netscape High-Speed to its existing and prospective customers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The service is available at an introductory rate of $29.95 for the first month and then $39.95 per month after that. "Netscape now delivers exceptional high speed Internet access to our customers from a company they know and trust. Our research indicates that there is a strong affinity for the Netscape brand in Canada and interest from dial-up customers to upgrade to a high speed Internet service from Netscape," said Steven Koles, VP and GM, AOL Services, AOL Canada. Features of Netscape High Speed include: up to 3 Mbps download and 800 Mbps upload speeds; unlimited Internet access; always-on connection; two mailboxes with up to eight email addresses; and 5 MB of web space to host a personal web site. Clay Electric licenses Emergis online technologyEmergis Inc., a Canadian ebusiness company, has licensed its electronic invoicing and payment technology patent to Florida-based Clay Electric Cooperative Inc. "This agreement is important to Emergis as we pursue our efforts to realize the full value of our patent for our eInvoicing technology," Emergis executive VP, business development and corporate strategy Marc Filion said in a news release. Emergis was awarded a U.S patent more than five years ago for the technology, which allows companies to pay and receive invoices electronically. "While Emergis has decided to wind down the commercial operations of its electronic invoicing and payment service, it retained ownership of the technology," reads a news release. Benefits of the technology’s implementation include saved time and money by allowing electronic delivery of billing information and allowing payment without the expense and trouble of mailing bills or physically delivering a payment. U.S. broadband subscriber growth slowing downNew data from Kagan Research suggests that growth in U.S. broadband subscribers has started to slow down. The research firm estimates that there will be 9.3 million net broadband subscribers this year, down from 9.5 million in 2004. Kagan also indicates that the growth will continue to slow in subsequent years, dropping to 8.1 million in 2006. The company forecasts that in 2009 there will only be 5.6 million new net broadband subscriber additions. This year marks the overtaking of dial up Internet access by broadband with 45.2 million high-speed Internet subscribers compared to 29.6 million. Last year, subscribers to the two services were evenly split with 35.8 million broadband compared to 35.1 million dial-up customers. RBOCs face increasing competitionThe Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) have come under increasing competition over the last few years, according to Standard & Poor’s. The ratings firm estimates that the RBOCs have lost anywhere from 2.4% to 9.5% of their retail access lines to competitors. According to S&P analyst Catherine Cosentino, competition is coming primarily in the form of resale by other carriers such as AT&T Corp. and MCI Inc. Shift improving services to small businessesShift Networks has introduced a "comprehensive and managed" suite of Voice over IP services, designed to provide small businesses with powerful, easy-to-use telephony and desktop capabilities. The Calgary-based company offers its VoIP services on a subscription basis. "With the launch of Shift Mail, we now provide the best-in-class voice and email, the two critical communications services every small business requires," Shift president and CEO Trent Johnsen said in a news release. "From a growth opportunity and shareholder perspective, this further consolidates Shift’s positioning as a leader in innovative delivery of a new generation of IP services for small business." NHC secures $500K in first phase financingMontreal-based NHC Communications Inc. has completed the first portion of a previously announced private placement of convertible debentures that is to net the company up to $6 million. This first phase will net the company $500,000. The private placement is from an as yet to be identified third party investor. The convertible debentures are to be issued in installments for a total of $2 million. The remaining $4 million will be secured "upon the satisfaction of certain conditions, including the successful completion of a bid process for major deployments of the company’s products, the signature of a contract for major deployment of the company’s products, and the receipt by the company of a purchase order from one of its customers for a significant number of products." NHC’s primary product manufacturer decided earlier this year that it was going to no longer product the company’s main product, which raised significant doubts regarding the future viability of NHC.

NL Short Takes

News | November 8, 2005

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