Broadband Week Direct

Today's report from Web Editor Susan Rush

• Metromedia Makes $1.36B Fiber Buy
• ITV Plays Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
• Yippee, Yipes Gets $139M
• PhatPipe Pumps Up Its Presence
• Broadband Briefs

Metromedia Makes $1.36B Fiber Buy

Metromedia Fiber Network is looking to be king of the optical networking mountain, and is hoping its latest deal will bring it one notch closer. The optical networking powerhouse is shelling out $1.36 billion in stock for SiteSmith, an Internet infrastructure service provider. Depending on Metromedia's share price performance, SiteSmith shareholders will receive between 55 million and 62.5 million shares of Metromedia stock.

The combined company will offer managed services on a worldwide basis. "We are excited by the cross-sell opportunities for both companies presented by this merger," says Mark Spagnolo, SiteSmith's CEO. The transaction, which has been approved by both companies' boards, is expected to close by the end of the year.

ITV Plays Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Cash and prizes attract potential customers. Sprint has its "Clue Mystery" game, where a lucky contestant could win a $500,000 reward or one of thousands of other prizes. Ericsson is now getting into the game with the help of interactive television. The watch and win "Ericsson and AT&T Can Make You a Millionaire" game will give away cash and prizes to promote Ericsson's new Internet-ready phone.

Ericsson has turned to VEIL Interactive Technologies to enable viewers to play the game without leaving their homes. The VEIL technology, which stands for Video Encoded Invisible Light, enables digital information to be inserted into an ordinary television's video image. The signal can be transmitted via broadcast, cable, DBS or home video, and received by low-cost detection devices anywhere the broadcast can be seen.

The interactive television commercials promoting Ericsson's R280LX Internet ready-phone and AT&T Digital PocketNet service are set to air on October 25, 26, 29 and 31 during ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

Yippee, Yipes Gets $139M

Calling all investors: offering cheap and fast Internet services is anything but cheap. Yipes Communications has reason to celebrate: the bandwidth on demand provider has secured an additional $139 million in funding, bringing its total raised equity to $230 million.

Yipes uses Ethernet networking technology to connect customers to high-speed optical networks, compared to traditional phone companies like AT&T that deliver services over older data networks. The company already offers its Just-In-Time Bandwidth service, which is scalable from 1 Mbps to 1Gbps, in 15 cities across the United States, and hopes the additional funding will enable it to expand service to 58 U.S. cities over the next few years.

PhatPipe Pumps Up Its Presence

It's full speed ahead for PhatPipe, Inc. in the real estate market. The broadband infrastructure and services provider inks a $5 million deal with RC Networks to expand its broadband services throughout the United States.

PhatPipe offers industrial real estate owners its EverOn Access, a technology that combines next-generation DSL and wireless technologies to deliver a range of bandwidth speeds up to T1 (1.544 Mbps). Initial markets targeted for the rollout include properties in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Northern California. PhatPipe plans to deploy RC Networks' equipment in more than 500 million square feet of industrial space committed by PhatPipe's owner partners, encompassing five of the top industrial Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Last month, PhatPipe received an $8 million investment from ProLogis. The two companies are working to install a combination of DSL and wireless technologies that support PhatPipe's EverOn high-speed access services.

Broadband Briefs:

A light at the end of the tunnel: the European Union is expected to approve the America Online - Time Warner $135 billion merger tomorrow. The duo is also waiting for a green light from U.S. regulators, who have been reviewing the deal with a watchful eye.
Nokia and DualStar Communications team to deploy DSL access equipment throughout major U.S. markets. Nokia will supply DCI with Nokia D50 DSL access multiplexers, network terminals, the Nokia Network Management System, as well as other components. The companies signed a three-year deal.
Level 3 Communications connects its IP network to Equinix centers, an operator neutral Internet Business Exchange, in the Los Angeles, New York and Silicon Valley metropolitan areas.
NorthPoint Communications expands its DSL network into Albany, N.Y., Harrisburg, Pa.; Richmond, Va.; and Sarasota, Fla.
Silicon Laboratories Inc. unveils an integrated RF synthesizer for high-speed third-generation wireless communications.
Hantro Products joins the MIPS Alliance Program and will integrate its scalable MPEG-4 codec with MIPS Technologies, Inc.'s MIPS32 4k family of processor cores.
New Edge Networks receives regulatory approval to deploy its DSL service in Alaska. The company has secured CLEC certification in 49 states.
Tekelec upgrades its next-generation diagnostic solution, velocity IP, to support broadband services in the cable industry.