NL Update

CRTC seeks opinion on using 911 information for Community Notification ServiceThe CRTC wants to know whether it is appropriate to permit “the use of information contained in the incumbent local exchange carriers’ emergency 911 databases for the purpose of providing a community notification service, and if so, under what circumstances and with what safeguards.” The commission issued Telecom Public Notice 2005-7 on June 22. The PN stems from a Part VII application, filed by the County of Strathcona, on behalf of a number of interested stakeholders, seeking the right to us ILEC 911 databases to provide a community notification service. Parties wishing to participate in the proceeding must do so by July 8 with initial comments due on July 29.TELUS-TWU battle continuesThe ongoing collective bargaining battle between TELUS Corp. and the Telecommunications Workers Union continues with the union saying it wants TELUS to do some “serious” bargaining. The TWU also tabled a comprehensive offer to TELUS’ latest addendum offering wage hikes for certain employees and a promise to reinvest money saved from outsourcing back into the province where the savings occurred. Bruce Bell, president of the TWU, wrote to Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of TELUS, asking him to “free your bargaining team from the overwhelming constraints that they have had placed upon them and give them the mandate to engage in some actual bargaining. Better still, we would welcome you personal presence at the bargaining table.”TeraSpan helps bring broadband to the NorthTeraSpan Networks, a subsidiary of Ignition Point Technologies, has inked a five-year agreement with enTel Communications Inc., an upstart telecom service provider, to bring fibre optic networks to the northern regions of Canada. The deal, valued at approximately $6 million in products and products manufactured under licence, calls for the exclusive partnership to engineer, manufacture, install and service the fibre optic networks in the North. “Supplying TeraSpan’s world class fibre optic systems allows enTel to offer competitively priced advanced products to underserved customers in the North to bridge the digital divide,” enTel CEO Gary Patsey said in a news release.BCS amends purchase agreement with Ontario numbered companyBCS Global Networks Inc., a wholesale provider of managed IP communications services, has agreed to modify its purchase agreement with 2013831 Ontario Inc., under which the Ontario number company would acquire 100% of BCS’ common shares for 20 cents each.Nomad inks agreement Galaxy TelecomNomad International Inc. has signed a partner agreement with Galaxy Telecom under which Galaxy will provide Voice over IP connectivity and a billing platform using session initiation protocol (SIP). The agreement allows Nomad to provide wholesale connectivity to ISPs, cable companies and other service providers that want to add telephony to their services portfolio. The Nomad network will now extend to service providers in North America, Europe as well as other parts of the world. “The network currently uses broadband access for connectivity, but is already resting network access from dial up analogue telephone adapters. Dial-up services are expected to begin in the fall,” reads a June 21 news release.TigerTel issues shares to directorsTigerTel Communications Inc. has issued 65,000 common shares to the independent directors of the company. The share issuance was in relation to partial consideration for their services rendered to TigerTel for the fiscal year 2004-2005. The shares are subject to a hold period that expires on October 22.INTERNATIONALBroadband to make up for lost local revenue in telecomNew research from In-Stat indicates that broadband access revenue is going to pick up the slack from declining voice and dial-up Internet revenue. The high-tech research firm notes that consumer services from telecom providers will fall to US$106.7 billion in 2009. In-Stat says that revenue from broadband services will increase as the penetration of broadband homes continues to grow. It is expected that American broadband penetration will increase from about 28.6% in 2004 to nearly 50% by the end of 2009. Last year, broadband revenue was US$13.7 billion and it will be US$15 billion more than dial-up revenue in 2009.Intelligent networks helping move business functions to near real timeA survey of Cisco users at its annual user conference in Las Vegas last week revealed that a greater percentage of them are taking advantage of intelligent network technologies to move their business interactions close to real time. Attendees at the user conference also noted that routing and Voice over IP are the most important technologies to enabling real-time interactions with customers. “No one would argue that real-time is the new mantra in business – it’s the dominant demand today in commerce information delivery and communications, regardless of the size of the organization,” Cisco’s CTO Charles Giancarlo said in a news release.

NL Update

News | June 27, 2005

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