Wednesday Telecoms Digest

FIXED:
* Licenses: Emirates Integrated Telecom Co (#2 in UAE; UAE 50%, Abu Dhabi Mubadala Development Co 25%, Emirates Co for Telecomms and Technology 25%) launches mid 2006, plans IPO
* DSL: M’’Net launches ADSL2+ (’16 Mbps’ for 41 EUR/mo or usage-based rates) in Munich; Telefonica plans VDSL from 2006 for Imagenio; AT&T intros 6 Mbps for 65 $/mo (first 3 months 50 $/mo); Telefonica expands European budget
* LLU: South Africa delays until after 2007
* FTTH: Magent Networks (Ireland) orders from Telcordia; TDS Metrocom launches in Fitchburg (Wisconsin), 1 Mbps for 20 $/mo, 4 Mbps for 30 $/mo, 10 Mbps for 45 $/mo, VoIP for 44/mo
* BPL: order from Bristol Hotel to PLC Network Solutions (= Trimax)

WIRELESS – CELLULAR:
* IPO: Austria wants IPO for Mobilkom (= Telekom Austria (state 30%))
* MVNO: Virgin SA plans launch mid 2006 on Cell C; Tesco plans Irish launch with O2, 50/50
* Budget, SIM-only: Plus enters prepaid market Germany (with Debitel), 16 c/min, Lidl plans undercutting Aldi in Germany, 12-13 c/min (Heise)
* Outsourcing: BASE (KPN) hires Atos Origin for IT services, 5 yr
* Data: Base Germany plans flat-fee unlimited internet access with datacard, 25 EUR/mo from Jan 2006; Polkomtel intros datacard for EDGE/3G/HSDPA
* Push email: Turkcell launches with Visto
* Music: Amp’s Mobile will launch with 99c downloads
* TV: Vodacom (SA) launches on live! over UMTS
* Video: Sprint launches movie downloads with Mspot at 7 $/mo flat for unlimited
* LBS: Verizon Wireless launches VZ Navigator (GPS, technology from Autodesk, Navteq, Networks In Motion)

WIRELESS – SHORT-RANGE:
* ZigBee: Holley Metering (China) launches for automated meter reading
* UWB: Ecma approves WiMedia Alliance standard (ECMA-368 and 369, unlicensed spectrum, up to 200 Mbps)

WIRELESS – LONG-RANGE:
* WiMAX: 802.16e (mobility, formally 802.16-2005) ratified by IEEE; Arcor (Vodafone) starts trial in Kaiserslautern; KT and Alcatel work on interoperability of WiBro and 802.16e; BEC Telecom (Dominian Republic) launches, with Airspan; NatCom plans trial Auckland, Jan 2006
* WLL: Iraq plans licenses (applications Jan 12, auction Jan 30, issue Feb 12)

WIRELESS – OTHER:
* ArrayComm licenses MIMO technology to Samsung (for cellular, WiMAX)
* UMTS TDD: IPWireless and Netgear launch router with WiFi and Ethernet connections
* BoS: Inmarsat launches Broadband Global Area Network, max 492 kbps, for access, streaming audio/video (4-7 $/MB) and VoIP (< 1 $/min), terminals from HNS, Nera SatCom and Thrane & Thrane ($1500-3500); FCC awards ICO 20 MHz in 2 GHz band

MUNIBROADBAND:
* FTTH: Amsterdam chooses active ethernet from Cisco (dedicated, up to 100 Mbps) over passive optical network (PON, shared, up to 39 Mbps); KPN wins Groningen tender
* WiFi: NeoReach Wireless (= MobilePro) hires Pronto Networks for managed services
* WiMAX: Netago Wireless launches 802.16-2004 for rural Alberta, 1-3 Mbps (with Nortel)

CONVERGENCE:
* VoIP:
-- Yahoo! plans VoIM to PSTN (Phone Out 1 c/min (promo), Phone In 30 $/yr for number), intros in Singapore, HK, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain (beta)
-- MCI (Verizon) and MSN (Windows Live Messenger) launch PC-to-PSTN, 2.3 c/min
-- SIPphone (‘Gizmo Project’) rumoured to intro 1 c/min PC-to-PSTN service
-- BellSouth resells 8x8
-- UPC plans launch in Czech Republic
-- Terra (Telefonica Brazil) launches
* wVoIP: SpectraLink (handsets) acquires KIRK Telecom (DECT handsets)
* IPTV:
-- China selects MPEG-4
-- BT adds content (BBC Worldwide, Paramount, Warner Music) for VoD, launch autumn 2006
-- Novis (Portugal) trials ‘Clix Smartv’ with Amino (STB), commercial launch 2006 (50-100 channels, epg, VoD, personalized choice of channels)
-- Siemens integrates Entone’s STB
-- Free deal with Canal+ for VoD
-- PLDT (Filippines) plans entry
-- neuf cegetel expects 200k subs through 2006
* F/M: Orange and Wanadoo launch ‘Mes services perso’ trial in France (unified comms)
* Gateway: AT&T orders STB from 2Wire; Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting (= See Corp, Television Broadcast) orders STB from Amino; Thomson acquires Thales Broadcast and Multimedia, EUR 130m