Wednesday Telecoms Digest

FIXED:
* Venezuela plans rural licenses

WIRELESS - CELLULAR:
* Operators: BeST launches in Belarus as #4
* Licenses: Sonofon (= Telenor) acquires #4 Danish 3G license, DKK 533m
* MVNO: Amp’d Mobile soft launches on VZW (with P2T for 1 $/day); Cablecom plans in Switzerland on sunrise (= TDC)
* 2.5G: Movistar launches EV-DO in Venezuela, Ukraine plans trial 06Q1
* 3G: Filippines plan licenses Dec 2007, operational 2008; Airtel launches in Seychelles; DNA launches in Finland
* MNP: Brazil intros in 2007
* MTA: ARCEP (France) calls for public consultation
* Data: TEM intros flat-rate data plans, capped (30 MB for 15 EUR/mo, 1 GB for 30 EUR/mo, 5 GB for 58 EUR/mo)
* Push email: Visto licenses NTP and sues Microsoft
* P2T: Vodacom launches in SA and Amp’d Mobile in US

WIRELESS – LONG-RANGE BROADBAND:
* WiMAX: Telmex and VTR plan launch in Chile in 2006; Digicel plans for Caymans, Barbados, Jamaica; Clearwire (NetyNet) expands into central Oregon; IDT Spectrum postpones IPO; Omnivision (CATV) plans in Venezuela with Samsung, 06Q3 (802.16e = WiBro); Telsima attracts $20m funding from NewPath, New Enterprise Associates, CMEA, JAFCO

WIRELESS – SHORT-RANGE BROADBAND:
* UWB: Alereon, Staccato Comms, Wisair reach interoperability

CONVERGENCE:
* VoIP: funding $250m (convertible) for Vonage (total $658m); Orb expands V4S plug-in with VoIP to email or Skype; TelTel launches PC-to-PSTN calling, 2 c/min; Martin (FCC) favors taxing based on phone number or IP address
* wVoIP: Vonage launches UTStarcom’s F1000 handset for VoWiFi (802.11b only); Saab Grintek and Verso trial VoWiMAX
* IPTV: Pakistan Telecom plans
* Gateway: Microsoft considers counterbid for Scientific-Atlanta (NY Post)
* NGN, IP, IMS: Verizon trials Nortel’s IMS

MUNIBROADBAND:
* FTTH: plan Guadelupe Valley Telecom Coop in Boerne; Palo Alto ends trial, wants to outsource to private co
* WiFi: plan Rome (US)

REGULATION:
* Jim DeMint launches Digital Age Comms Act (DACA; level playing field, phase-out video franchises in 4 years, USF reform) in Congress