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Today's report from Web Editor
Susan Rush
• Sprint Follows AT&T, WorldCom
• BellSouth Forks Over $750,000
• Siemens And Toshiba In 3G Talks
• What A Ride!
• Broadband Briefs
• Next Week In Broadband
Sprint Follows AT&T, WorldCom First
AT&T, then WorldCom,
and now Sprint. It looks like the
business refocusing charge can officially be called a trend in the
telecommunications industry. Sprint has joined the rest of the Big Three
long distance carriers in detailing its strategic shift from voice to data
services, and the resulting ramifications for its near-term earnings.
"The big telecom providers believe that their
long-distance business is holding back their stock," explains Mike
Paxton, senior analyst at Cahners In-Stat
Group, which is owned by the same parent as Broadband Week.
"It almost signals a little bit of desperation on their part, but
long-term it is probably the right thing to do." The deteriorating
long-distance market has caused all three companies to miss analyst earnings
forecasts. Sprint expects to report earnings of $1.80 to $1.90 per share
this year, and $1.65 to $1.75 per share next year; Wall Street was
predicting $1.90 in 2000 and $2.10 in 2001.
Sprint's current business mix is 70-30 voice to data, but by
2003 the company expects its FON Group, Sprint's wireline communications
unit, to be 50 percent data and broadband services. "Demand for
bandwidth is nearly insatiable. Customers want fast access at work, at home
and on the go," said William Esrey, Sprint's chairman and CEO, in a
statement.
Sprint's shares remained flat at $22.50 during morning
trading following the announcement.
Related Stories:
WorldCom
Jumps On The Restructure Wagon, BroadbandWeek Direct,
11/01/00
AT&T:
Split Personalities; Earnings Drop Off, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/25/00
BellSouth Forks Over $750,000
Telecommunications giant BellSouth
agrees to pay $750,000 to end the Federal
Communications Commission's investigation that the incumbent phone
company violated terms of the 1996 Telecommunications Act in its dealings
with rival Covad Communications.
The FCC alleged that BellSouth failed to promptly disclose
the rates it would charge Covad to offer high-speed Internet access over its
phone systems. Under regulator's rules, companies must supply pricing
information in a timely fashion, so competitors can determine whether or not
its access network rate is fair.
In agreeing to the settlement, BellSouth conceded no
wrong-doing. "While we believe our method of assuring that confidential
pricing information remain confidential was reasonable under the law, the
new language we have adopted serves our need for confidentiality and
clarifies for everyone concerned...that there is no intent to shield pricing
information from state or federal regulators," the company said in a
prepared statement regarding the FCC-BellSouth
consent decree.
Related Stories:
Covad
CEO Hangs It Up, BroadbandWeek Direct, 11/01/00
BellSouth
Rings In Q3, BroadbandWeek Direct, 10/19/00
Siemens And Toshiba In 3G Talks
The 3G race is on, and companies are scrambling to be among
the first out of the box. Handset makers Siemens
AG and Toshiba Corp. confirm that
they are in talks to jointly develop third-generation handsets.
If the deal goes through, the two companies would work
together to develop video-capable handsets that can transfer data at much
faster speeds than currently possible on existing mobile phones.
Siemens is currently hovering near the top five list of the
world's largest mobile phone makers. A deal with Toshiba could ultimately
push it into the number four slot, a coveted spot that would place the
handset maker behind Nokia, Motorola
and Ericsson in worldwide sales. An
official announcement regarding the deal is expected next week.
Related Stories:
Ericsson
Unleashes 3G Handset, Wireless Week, 11/01/00
Here Comes
3G Wireless...In A Bit, Broadband Week, 9/00
What A Ride!
The semiconductor market stays on track to reach $200 billion
in sales this year, following record setting numbers in September. Worldwide
sales jumped 45.2 percent to $18.4 billion during the month of September,
according to numbers released by the Semiconductor
Industry Association.
Regions experiencing the most growth were areas where wired,
wireless and Internet infrastructure build out is exploding. The Japanese
and Asia-Pacific markets grew 51.2 percent and 46.6 percent respectively
over last year. The Americas experienced a 46.2 percent growth rate, while
Europe's sales grew 35.9 percent.
Grow was tabulated based on the SIA's "Global Sales Report," a
three-month moving average of sales activity.
Related Story:
Chip
Market Tops $200B, BroadbandWeek Direct, 11/02/00
Broadband Briefs:
- Portal Software
acquires wireless voice mediation developer SOLUTION42.
The move enables Portal to extend its customer management and billing platform
to include a solution for the 3G wireless data and voice markets.
- Five broadband product companies join Tut
Systems' Connected Partner Program to conduct interoperability testing of
its IntelliPOP MTU multi-service broadband system.
- Nortel
Networks grants VPI Virtual
Photonics global supplier status and will use the company's design tools
on its corporate wide area network.
- Cablecom AG and
TANDBERG Television team to deliver a
broadband television network to Switzerland. SWISSFUN is expected to be on-air
by next spring and will offer pay-per-view, near video-on-demand, e-mail,
e-commerce and home banking.
- Akamai Technologies
will supply its FreeFlow and FirstPoint software to enable Intel
Online Services to deliver enhanced content delivery solutions to its
hosting customers.
- British
Telecommunications pledges to speed up its time to market with its
high-speed Internet services in the United Kingdom by March 2001. BT has hired
a staff of specialists and consultants to help it deliver its wholesale
services to ISPs at up to three times the current rate.
Next Week In Broadband
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