DIGESTS://Telecoms, Internet, Media: May 22-26, 2006

TELECOMS

COMPANIES:

PTT:
· PT: acquires 34% of MTC (Namibia), $160m; Sonaecom has 1% of PT
· DT: sells IT-units of T-Systems in Denmark and Sweden (150 employees) to ST Denmark
· BT: DT rumoured to plan bid, 300 p/share = GBP 25 bn (Wirtschaftswoche, Independent)
· Eircom: accepts takeover bid from Babcock & Brown, 2.20 EUR/share = EUR 2.42 bn
· KPN: acquires Enertel (business IP, data center; excluding WLL license and Worldmax; including 200 hotspots) from Greenfield, EUR 10m
· Telkom Kenya: plans IPO (34%) April 2007

MOBILE:
· Vodafone: scraps plan to sell Arcor (Times)
· Orascom: plans bid for third license Sausi-Arabia
· Econet acquires 65% of ST Cellular (Burundi)
· Telekomunikacja Kolejowa (= PKP) scraps plan to become #4 operator in Poland
· China Mobile acquires Millicom, $4 bn

ALTNETS:
· AOL (Time Warner) launches ‘AOL High Speed Powered by Covad 6.0’ (6 Mbps)
· Vonage sets issue price at $17 (range 16-18), 31.25m shares = 20% = $550m; first price $17.00

MOBILE/ALTNETS:
· Orange (Wanadoo) UK to launch free broadband with 2-year mobile subscription, June 1 (Guardian)


TRENDS:

FIXED:

Copper, xDSL, LLU:
o BundesNetzAgentur prohibits DT’s ‘DSL NetRental’ (wholesale, with higher margins for larger resellers)
o OPTA requires open access to all-IP network and requires alternative to MDF access

FTTH:
o Seattle issues RfI for ‘Seattle Broadband Initiative’
o UPC threatens legal action against Amsterdam ‘Citynet’ (excavation has started, cable roll-out from May 29) (Parool)
o Tasmanian Collaborative Optical Leading Testbed (state) plans trial 06Q4 (100 Mbps, 1k homes in Hobart)

CATV:
o RCN launches ‘Mach 20’ (20/2 Mbps)
o EC launches Framework for Partnership 6 (FP6) project ‘CODMUCA’ (COre Subsytem for Delivery of Multiband Data in CATV Networks) to bridge the gap between DOCSIS 2.0 (up to 40 Mbps) and 3.0 (1 Gbps)

WIRELESS

WiFi:
o Hardware:
. Wavion launches MIMO-based AP for better coverage
. Strix launches indoor router to connect to outdoor mesh network
o Roaming: AT&T deal with WeRoam (10k hotspots in Europe)
o Muniwifi:
. Dunedin (Fla) orders gear from Strix
. Ontario orders network from MetroFi
. Salem (Ore) postpones as ‘the technology isn’t there yet’

Cellular:
o Licenses, spectrum, auctions:
· Telecom Invest Georgia wins third 3G license in Georgia
· Powercom (= Telenor, NamPower) wins second mobile license Namibia
o Content & services:
. Internet, data: Verizon Wireless launches Motorola ‘Q’ (smart phone, exclusive; push email technology from Good Technology) May 31 ($200 with 2-year contract)
. TV: Modeo (= Crown Castle) orders equipment from Penthera for DVB-H network (wholesale)

WiMAX:
. Intel Capital forms joint-ventures with Orascom (Orascom Telecom WiMAX: Middle East, Asia) and Enertel (Worldmax: Netherlands; has 80 MHz of nationwide spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band)
. National Taiwan University launches trial with Nortel
. Entel Chile plans network with Alvarion
. MSC Management Services (= Multimedai Development Corp) plans networks in Malaysia (with Air Broadband Comms)
. Wateen Telecom (= Warid) orders Pakistan network (‘Motowi4’: 802.16e) from Motorola, operational from 06H2
. 22 cos plan setting up a WiBro & mobile WiMAX Community (WMC) within 6 mo (roaming, interoperability, information sharing)
. H1 (Croatia) plans network (with Samsung)
. Bulgaria plans awarding licenses in the 26 GHz band
. Infocom launches in Uganda


CONVERGENCE:

VoIP:
o Technology:
. Skype partnership with Spirit DSP (embedded voice conferencing engine ‘TeamSpirit’)
. SIPphone launches Gizmo Project 2.0
o Deployments: Plaxo (address book, calendar) adds click-to-call (technology from Jajah: web-activated VoIP)

IPTV: BT adds soccer from B Sky B to BT Vision from 07/08


INTERNET

COMPANIES:

· eBay: Auction Wireless Alerts launches alerts for sellers; StreamCast (Morpheus) sues for denying right of first refusal to buy ‘FastTrack’ technology (P2P) when acquiring Skype, claims $4 bn
· eBay, Yahoo: form exclusive 3-year partnership around (Yahoo to provide graphic ads and search; Yahoo to use PayPal; co-branded toolbar; click-to-call through Skype and Yahoo! Messenger with Mail)
· Google: deal with Dell (toolbar, homepage pre-installed)


TRENDS

SEARCH:
· Market shares US April 2006: Google 43.1% (+0.4 pp mom, +6.6 pp yoy), Yahoo! 28% (stable mom, -2.7 pp yoy), MSN 12.9% (-0.3 pp mom, -3.2 pp yoy) (comScore)
· Contextual: Google plans adding video to AdSense ads
· Vertical: Reed Elsevier launches Zibbsearch.nl (for businesses, beta), technology from FAST

WEB 2.0:
· Social networking:
o aSmallWorld.net (invitation-only, 130k subs) attracts funding from Wiensteins, Pittman
o Bebo gets $15m funding from Benchmark; Abebooks.com (retailer) buys 40% of LibraryThing.com
o MySpace (News Corp) plans ad deal (distribution) with Google or Microsoft (Financial Times)



MEDIA

COMPANIES:

B2C:

Entertainment:
o CBS: sells Paramount Parks (5 theme parks) to Cedar Fair, $1.24 bn cash
Cable/satellite:
o Adelphia agrees with TWC (Time Warer) and Comcast over speeding up restructuring
Publishing:
o Tribune acquires ForSaleByOwner.com (real estate)
o Telegraaf: BasisMedia (Sp!ts) acquires 50% of Info Pinnacle (Yourfuture.tv, Scholieren.tv)

B2B:

Advertising:
o Expedia.com puts account ($170m) in review, currently at Deutsch (will not defend)
o Omnicom: Gillette consolidates non-US account ($20m) at BBDO
o WPP: ‘interested in Vietnam’; Kimberly-Clark moves creative account ($200m) from Ogilvy to JWT (both WPP)


TRENDS:

STM: AAP (Association of AMeican Publishers) is opposed to Federal Research Public Access Act (S. 2695)

CABLE:
· Hutchison (Rep) introduces bill ‘Franchise Reform Act of 2006’ (S. 2989) allowing cablecos statewide video-franchise

VIDEO DISTRIBUTION:
· Brightcove: Online Broadcasting Service uses Brightcove service; About.com (= NYT) adds video player; partnership with Limelight Networks (internet content delivery network)
· Orb Networks: releases ‘Orb VideoMail’ (videomail for Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook users)
· Sling Media: intros SlingPlayer Mobile compatible with Windows Mobile smartphones
· Sling Media, Orb, Sony: talk with Sprint Nextel to enhance mobile entertainment with place-shifted content