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2013/07/25

| 07.25.13 | Rogers CEO: Keep U.S. carriers out of Canada

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FierceTelecom

July 25, 2013

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This week's sponsors:
Intel
Cisco
Kony Solutions
Windstream

Today's Top Stories:
1. Rogers CEO: Keep U.S. carriers out of Canadian market
2. Ikanos pushes 300 Mbps through single pair cable in 'significant step towards G.fast'
3. Communities forge ahead with their own broadband initiatives
4. Kansas county dumps AT&T, plans own telco and ISP
5. Mexican telco Maxcom files for bankruptcy in U.S. court

Spotlight:
TechAmerica names Verizon's McAdam as Packard award recipient

Also Noted:
Worldwide network security threats on the rise; Savvis launches virtual data center Much more...

News From The Fierce Network:
1. AT&T exec: U-verse success shows Project VIP will succeed
2. Google Fiber kicking off mobile marketing tour
3. Why vulnerability data doesn't tell the whole story
4. More headlines...

Commentary:
Parker: Justin Bieber, the cloud and the quest for virtualization
Justin Bieber is a mobile network's worst nightmare. A little more than a year ago, the teen heartthrob temporarily took down Norway's mobile networks by performing a short concert in central Oslo, prompting frantic teens to share images of the landmark event via their smartphones with friends, neighbors and anyone else who might be interested. Read more


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This week's sponsor is Intel.

Intel® Software Adrenaline Magazine
Get the latest in touch and sensory technologies. This edition explores the frontiers of touch computing, mobile lifestyles and more. Download today


Sponsor: Kony Solutions

Events

> ITEXPO 2013 - August 26-29 - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
> TIA 2013 - October 8-10 - Washington D.C.

Marketplace

> Whitepaper: Knowledge Management: 5 Steps to Getting it Right the First Time
> Whitepaper: eBook: Smarter Service: The Contact Center of the Future
> Whitepaper: Intel Software Adrenaline Magazine
> eBook: Backhaul Strategies for Next-Gen Networks
> Whitepaper: How Mobility Can Transform Your Business
> Whitepaper: Cisco ONE: Framework for the Internet of Everything
> Whitepaper: The Financial Benefit of Cisco's Elastic Core
> Whitepaper: How HR Is Solving the Puzzle of Leave Management
> Whitepaper: Touch Technology Extends Mobile Gaming

Jobs

> Wireless Store Manager – Florham Park, NJ – Cricket Communications
> Sr. Account Executive – San Diego, CA – Cox Communications
> Inventory Specialist /Revenue Analyst – Oklahoma City, OK – Cox Communications
> Field Auditor I – Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Cox Communications
> SAS Administrator – Atlanta, CA – Cox Communications
> Senior Director, Technology Delivery Assurance – Atlanta, CA – Cox Communications
> SMB Account Exec (Cox Business) – San Diego, CA – Cox Communications
> Need a job? Need to hire? Visit FierceWirelessJobs

This week's sponsor is Cisco.


Cisco® ONE: Framework for the Internet of Everything


Prepare service provider networks to harness network value, increase business agility, and achieve greater operational efficiency. Learn more


Today's Top Stories

1. Rogers CEO: Keep U.S. carriers out of Canadian market

By Jim Barthold Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Rogers Communications (NYSE: RCI) CEO Nadir Mohamed wants the same opportunity to acquire new Canadian wireless companies as U.S. carriers that are allegedly sniffing around the market.

Nadir Mohamen, Rogers Communications

Mohamed (Image source: Rogers)

Rogers, which started as a cable company but expanded into the wireline voice, data and wireless businesses with a quadruple play offering, has always been a bit feisty in defending its competitive role. It would welcome the opportunity to compete on level ground with intruders from the U.S., Mohamed said.

"We're absolutely against a tilted or stacked playing field where you have a massive incumbent U.S. carrier that would be given favorable treatment, and frankly better treatment than Canadian incumbents," Mohamed said during a second quarter earnings call with analysts yesterday. "We can't have a U.S. foreign incumbent be allowed to buy new entrants at depressed pricing by blocking the ability of incumbent Canadian players to do the same. So it's about parity."

The Canadian government has indicated that it wants to increase competition among carriers in the country and is not looking favorably on existing wireline carriers swallowing up any smaller wireless players. As such, the government already blocked Telus from acquiring Mobilicity.

This policy has opened the door for the likes of Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which has been said to be interested in acquiring Wind Mobile and perhaps Mobilicity. Verizon CFO Francis Shammo touched on the carrier's preliminary interest during a conference call with analysts after the company announced second quarter earnings last week.

"This is really an exploratory exercise for us," Shammo said, noting that at least part of the interest is based on spectrum the Canadians are auctioning in January. "We continue to just look at this market. If you look at the population of Canada, about 70 percent of that population is between Toronto and Quebec. That's adjacent to Verizon Wireless properties."

Shammo, too, acknowledged that the regulatory situation could be prickly for a carrier like Verizon to move into Canada. Still, he said, the prospect of purchasing spectrum or moving into Canada has piqued the carrier's interest.

"We're looking at all of these, but obviously some of the cautions here are the regulatory environment, a foreign investor coming into the Canadian market and what does that mean," Shammo said. "(We're) cautiously looking at it, not ready to make any announcements today. And we continue to explore and have discussions, but at this point it's just really just an exploratory exercise."

Mohamed, in his comments, made it clear he wasn't in favor of that sort of exploration if a Canadian carrier wasn't invited along on the trip.

"We welcome competition, frankly, it's in our DNA," Mohamed continued. "Those that know the history of the Rogers company would know that our company has been built on taking on telcos. We always took on the big phone companies and we thrive on competition."

Encouraging a giant U.S. carrier to enter the market, however, would unbalance the competition.

"We can't have it stacked against us and we don't see how a government policy would make sense that the Canadian government would favor a U.S. player. Frankly, we'd never be able to get the reciprocal rights that are being offered. So our view is very straightforward: we can't have a U.S. foreign incumbent be allowed to buy new entrance at depressed pricing by blocking the ability of incumbent Canadian players to do the same."

Mohamed emphasized that his objections carried beyond a company purchase into Verizon participating in the spectrum auction.

"If we're going to be restricted to 10 megahertz of prime spectrum, so should everybody else, including very large foreign incumbents," he concluded.

For more:
- Seeking Alpha has this Rogers earnings call transcript
- and this Verizon earnings call transcript

Related articles:
Canada's new spectrum transfer rules could open door for Verizon
Reports: Verizon makes $600M-$800M bid for Canada's Wind Mobile

Read more about: second quarter earnings 2013, Rogers
back to top


This week's sponsor is Kony.

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2. Ikanos pushes 300 Mbps through single pair cable in 'significant step towards G.fast'

By Jim Barthold Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Ikanos has reportedly pushed 300 Mbps of aggregate throughput over a standard single pair copper cable over 200 meters using an existing Velocity-3 central office chipset.

The chipmaker said that the demonstration is a "significant step towards G.fast," the emerging industry standard designed to wring a gigabit of bandwidth from existing copper facilities using DSL technology.

"Ikanos has a history of challenging the industry by pushing the performance envelope and continuing to raise the bar on our competition," Kourosh Amiri, the company's marketing vice president said in an Ikanos press release. "With Velocity-3, in a matter of a few months, we have received widespread recognition of our industry leadership in performance and scalability for high-port-count deployments of 192 lines at distances reaching 500 meters and beyond."

The company said that the chipset is an integral part of the company's fiber to the distribution point (FTTdp) architecture that uses existing copper to deliver high bandwidth to residential and commercial customers at distances ranging from 100 to 200 meters and in compliance with the G.fast movement.

"While the G.fast promise of gigabit performance is still on the horizon, our ability to demonstrate hundreds of megabits for lower-port-count short-loop configurations using our currently shipping CPE and CO silicon establishes Ikanos as the leader in the pre-G.fast' era as we enable telcos to remain competitive against mounting pressure from MSOs and continue to enhance the consumer DSL experience," Amiri continued.

Even as Ikanos offered up hope for triple digit bandwidth, ITU put the G.fast initiative on a fast track that could result in workable standards by 2014.

A recent ITU-T Study Group 15 meeting in Geneva resulted in first stage approval of the ITU-T G.9700 standard that specifies ways to obviate interference between G.fast equipment and broadcast services such as FM radio and put the standards body on the fast track for a G.fast standard approval by early 2014.

For more:
- Ikanos issued this press release

Related articles:
ITU puts G.fast on track for 2014 approval
ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, others participate in VDSL2 plugfest at Univ. of New Hampshire

Read more about: rate-reach performance, Ikanos
back to top


3. Communities forge ahead with their own broadband initiatives

By Jim Barthold Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Continued impatience about when--or if--traditional service providers will start offering ubiquitous broadband connectivity has led state and local governments to take their own steps forward. Oklahoma, for example, will institute a program that expands rural access, and Leverett, Mass., plans to hire a contractor to build a fiber optic network. In each instance, public money is being used to build necessary facilities.

Oklahoma is using a $74 million grant from NTIA to build out the Oklahoma Community Anchor Network (OCAN) to cover schools, hospitals and tribes throughout the state. The project is running under the joint auspices of the state's Office of Management and Enterprise Services, Department of Transportation and State Regents for Higher Education's OneNet Division, a telecommunications network for government and education.

The 1,005-route mile network, which is expected to go online Aug. 1, covers 35 counties and includes 33 "community anchors" with plans to partner with local telecom companies operating in rural communities.

However it's accomplished, Rep. Todd Thomsen told The Ada News that it will provide better connectivity and that "will always improve the way people function."

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, town selectboard members have awarded New Jersey contractor Millennium Communications Group a $2.27 million contract to build and maintain a fiber optic network that board member Peter d'Errico said is "comparable service to what Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is providing in Kansas City."

The goal, he said in a story carried by The Recorder of Greenfield, Mass., is to make Leverett "a desirable place for all kinds of people who work in mediums that require that level of technology."

Ninety percent of voters at a town meeting approved spending $3.6 million for the project, which, d'Errico said, will give Leverett a "state-of-the-art worldwide telecommunications capability."

The network, which is expected to be completed by December 2014, will connect to the Massachusetts Broadband Initiative's middle mile network.

"I see it as having economic benefits for the town, cultural benefits for the town, and when you add in things like telemedicine, it means that it's more than lifestyle; it's quality of life," d'Errico said.

For more:
- The Ada News has this story
- and The Recorder has this report

Special Report: The Contenders: Municipal fiber providers meeting or beating the incumbent competition

Related articles:
Kansas county dumps AT&T, plans own telco and ISP
U.S. broadband speeds increase 27 percent, but EU countries lead growth
Google closes deal to acquire iProvo

Read more about: OCAN
back to top


4. Kansas county dumps AT&T, plans own telco and ISP

By Jim Barthold Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Douglas County, Kan., is looking to save money by ousting incumbent provider AT&T (NYSE: T) and reconfiguring its telecommunications setup. The county approved a contract with nonprofit KanREN (Kansas Research and Education Network) to serve as its ISP and approved the expenditure of $82,289 to replace phone systems in five remote offices.

KanREN is a consortium of colleges, universities, school districts and other organizations that promote communications among themselves and provide its members with Internet connectivity via a statewide network. It recently began offering service to local governments.

Douglas County, because it's rural, depends on Internet connectivity to communicate between remote areas, including using videoconferencing for some hearings in its district court, the newspaper article said.

The county's IT director said moving from AT&T to KanREN will save the county in excess of $5,400 and provide its rural offices with five times the bandwidth they get through AT&T.

The telephone system purchase, he added, should save about $34,000 for services previously offered by AT&T. That expenditure is only part of an eventual $200,000 project to replace all the phone systems in the county, the story said.

While not specifically citing the Douglas County situation, AT&T did touch on the needs of rural customers during its second quarter earnings call this week where executives touted the rollout of Project VIP, the carrier's broadband expansion into rural areas. That project is expected to benefit U-verse and U-verse is moving to cover small-medium business customers such as Douglas County.

For more:
- see this story in the Lawrence Journal-World

Related articles:
FTTH Council wants FCC to launch gigabit challenge
Google closes deal to acquire iProvo
Cedar Falls Utilities takes on CenturyLink with 1 Gbps service
AT&T exec: U-verse success shows Project VIP will succeed

Read more about: KanREN, rural telecommunications
back to top


5. Mexican telco Maxcom files for bankruptcy in U.S. court

By Jim Barthold Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Mexican telco Maxcom Telecommunications has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware as a way of restarting a recapitalization plan that creditors initially rejected.

That plan, led by private equity firm Ventura Capital and others, would inject $45 million of capital into the company in exchange for full operating control. It would also allow the investor group to bid for Maxcom's outstanding shares and 44 percent of its current equity interest.

Maxcom has had a tough time competing with America Movil (NYSE: AMX), which controls about 80 percent of Mexico's fixed lines.

Maxcom's creditors narrowly rejected the recapitalization plan, which includes "an exchange of 80 percent of existing notes for new notes with reduced coupon payments and extended maturity," a Reuters story said. About 48.7 percent of senior noteholders have now agreed to the plan, however, and Maxcom is hoping to use the court-administered bankruptcy process to move forward.

In the filing, Maxcom, which provides fixed line services in five Mexican cities--Puebla, Mexico City, Queretar, San Luis Potsi and Tehuacan--said it had assets of $11.11 billion and debts of $402.3 million.

For more:
- Reuters has this story

Related articles:
Maxcom's shares jump 18 percent on restructuring, Ventura Capital takeover
Mexico may lift foreign ownership cap on telcos

Read more about: Bankruptcy, Maxcom
back to top


Also Noted

This week's sponsor is Windstream.

eBook | Heralding the Data Center Renaissance

FierceTelecom discusses the very latest in data center development and teaches you how to build more successful service models. Download for free today.


TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT... TechAmerica names Verizon's McAdam as Packard award recipient

Lowell McAdam, Verizon

McAdam (Image source: Verizon)

Because he's been instrumental in "erasing the line between telecommunications and technology," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has been named the 55th recipient of TechAmerica's David Packard Medal of Achievement Award.

The award, to be presented Nov. 7 by an organization that bills itself as "the leading U.S. technology trade association," recognizes "significant contributions to the advancement of the high-tech industry for distinguished service to the community, the industry and humankind," the organization said today in a press release. Continue...

Wireline news from across the web:

> New data from Alcatel-Lucent shows that security threats to fixed and mobile broadband networks are going up concurrently with global consumer usage. Press release

> CenturyLink said its Savvis Cloud Data Center, a virtual data center service is now globally available to offer businesses a simplified platform for complex hybrid cloud solutions. Press release

> Swiss police are investigating the apparent suicide of Swisscom Chief Executive Carsten Schloter who was found dead at his home in Freiburge, Switzerland. Story

> CenturyLink donated a Mitel 3000 communications system to Disabled Veterans Insurance Careers to assist the nonprofit organization. Story

> Italy's telecom regulators have given Telecom Italia permission to spin off its fixed line business. Story

> Pyramid Research has predicted that the proliferation of data service-enabled feature phones and smartphones, data services, both mobile data and fixed broadband will combine with Vietnam's relatively young demographics to drive the country's over the next four years. Press release

Cable News

> Comcast has signed Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts to a one-year contract extension, the MSO disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday. Article

IPTV News

> Americans who want competitive video services are getting their wish--for the most part--according to the FCC's 15th Report to Congress on the status of video programming competition. Article

And finally … Angolan service provide TVCABO is deploying a range of Metaswitch solutions to run its integrated voice service offering for residential and business customers secure. Press release

News From The Fierce Network:

> Cablevision hits back at Verizon with 10 tuners on new Optimum Multi-Room DVR Post
> Germany's WISI Communications, Austria's IP.NETCOM deliver IPTV with HbbTV Post

Events

> ITEXPO 2013 - August 26-29 - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

ITEXPO is the business communications and technology event. Gain knowledge, solidify partnerships, and form new relationships to keep your company ahead of the curve. You won’t want to miss this year’s keynote from Apple Co-Founder, Steve Wozniak. To register and for more information, please visit www.itexpo.com.

> TIA 2013 - October 8-10 - Washington D.C.

TIA 2013 will address disruptive technologies and changing business models as companies position themselves for success with wireless, the transition to all-IP networks, Cloud, M2M, smart buildings, and more. The conference will offer ideas for thriving in the changing ICT environment. www.tia2013.org. Registration opens June 2013.

Marketplace

> Whitepaper: Knowledge Management: 5 Steps to Getting it Right the First Time

This eBook sets out 5 simple steps for optimizing customer service and support with an effective, best-practice-led knowledge management initiative. Download today!

> Whitepaper: eBook: Smarter Service: The Contact Center of the Future

This eBook explores the challenges facing traditional contact centers and the benefits of deploying the contact center of the future. You'll find links to further resources on the final page. Download today.

> Whitepaper: Intel Software Adrenaline Magazine

Get the latest in touch and sensory technologies. This edition explores the frontiers of touch computing, mobile lifestyles and more. Download today.

> eBook: Backhaul Strategies for Next-Gen Networks

Wireless operators are considering various strategies when dealing with network capacity challenges. This eBook explores backhaul best practices and solutions. Download for free today.

> Whitepaper: How Mobility Can Transform Your Business

Mobility is more than just smartphones and tablets. IT professionals need to get their arms around on four key elements of the mobile ecosystem as the rise of mobile devices in the enterprise offer untapped opportunities for businesses...Download today!

> Whitepaper: Cisco ONE: Framework for the Internet of Everything

Prepare service provider networks to harness network value, increase business agility, and achieve greater operational efficiency. Learn More

> Whitepaper: The Financial Benefit of Cisco's Elastic Core

This whitepaper describes the financial benefits of an intelligent, converged, and programmable network. Read Now

> Whitepaper: How HR Is Solving the Puzzle of Leave Management

Over half of HR professionals are unsure how much employee absence costs their organization. This unsettling statistic was revealed in the Optis survey conducted in June at the SHRM 2012 Annual Conference & Exposition in Atlanta. Find out more and download today!

> Whitepaper: Touch Technology Extends Mobile Gaming

Get the latest in touch and sensory technologies. This edition explores the frontiers of touch computing, mobile lifestyles and more. Learn more today.

Jobs

> Wireless Store Manager – Florham Park, NJ – Cricket Communications

Cricket Communications offers nationwide wireless voice and mobile data services over high-quality, all-digital wireless networks. Every day, our Store Managers at Cricket run all aspects of the Cricket retail business including, but not limited to, financial management, business operations... Learn More

> Sr. Account Executive – San Diego, CA – Cox Communications

The Sr. Account Executive - Enterprise is responsible for meeting or exceeding sales goals for large accounts. The position is responsible for initial contact with customers, follow-up, proposal preparation, making customer presentations and seeing the sale through to the signing of a contract...Learn More

> Inventory Specialist /Revenue Analyst – Oklahoma City, OK – Cox Communications

The Inventory Specialist is responsible for providing accurate and detailed reports regarding inventory sell-out levels with recommendations and guidance to assist sales leadership in yield management through the development of optimized rates...Learn More

> Field Auditor I – Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Cox Communications

The Field Auditor will maintain the security of the cable system by designing and implementing an effective and efficient audit program, asset and loss prevention programs; investigate internal and external security problems; implement internal and field security programs with other departments... Learn More

> SAS Administrator – Atlanta, CA – Cox Communications

SAS Administrator is responsible for providing senior level expertise on overall technology, infrastructure and administration as it relates to the SAS Grid enabled architecture, installed on RHEL/JBOSS server platform. Manages, configures and supports SAS...Learn More

> Senior Director, Technology Delivery Assurance – Atlanta, CA – Cox Communications

This position is accountable for driving Standard Processes, Governance, and Continuous Process Improvements across the Technology organization to improve the consistency and repeatability of our delivery processes. This role supports all technology organizations and closely partners with our enterprise portfolio management team...Learn More

> SMB Account Exec (Cox Business) – San Diego, CA – Cox Communications

The SMB Account Executive promotes, sells, and retains commercial business solutions for voice, data and video to SMB level customers. Sell bundled telephony, data and video products to existing/new commercial business customers based on assigned revenue targets...Learn More

> Need a job? Need to hire? Visit FierceWirelessJobs

Announcing FierceWirelessJobs, the new FierceMarkets careers site. Find the perfect job or post your openings at http://www.fiercewireless.com/jobs.


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