A strong iPhone launch, more U-verse IPTV deployment and BellSouth integration savings gave AT&T its ninth straight quarter of double digit growth in earnings per share, the company said Tuesday. AT&T had $29.5 billion revenue and $2.9 billion profit in the second quarter. Earnings per share were 70 cents, up 12 cents from a year earlier. AT&T Chief Financial Officer Rick Lidner reported the company’s second quarter results in a Tuesday conference call. He steered clear of political issues involving the 700 MHz auction and an International Trade Commission ban on Qualcomm chips.
China launched Chinasat 6B Thursday, said the Chinese government and Chinasat 6B contractor Thales Alenia Space. Thales Alenia Space helped with the launch and will do in- orbit testing once Chinasat 6B reaches its orbital location of 115.5 degrees east, the company said. Chinasat 6B, based on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus 4000 C2 platform, is guaranteed a 15-year life span. Carrying 38 C-band transponders and operating on 9.5 kW of electrical power, it will enable ChinaSatCom to offer 300 TV programs across China, southeast Asia, the Pacific and Oceania. Chinasat 6B is the second contract for Thales Alenia Space by ChinaSatCom, said Thales, whose predecessor, Alcatel, built parts for Chinasat 1 in 1984. The launch was the seventh Chinese satellite sent up year. Chinasat 9, which will offer direct-to-home satellite TV with high-definition signals, is set for a fall launch.
Spectrum allocations are not economic activities subject to value-added tax (VAT), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said Tues. The case arose from the 2000 issuance of licenses for 3G mobile phone services by the U.K. and Austrian telecommunications regulators. Several providers then won licenses in an auction, paying 22.5 billion pounds (38 billion euros) in the U.K., and 831.6 million euros in Austria. In actions in their respective national courts, the companies argued that the allocations of rights by the states were transactions subject to VAT and that their payments had included the tax, which they were entitled to deduct. The ECJ said only economic activity is subject to VAT. Allocating spectrum rights to economic operators is a necessary precondition for access of those companies to the mobile telecommunications markets and does not amount to participation in the market by regulators, it said. Only providers holding frequency rights granted can exploit them, the court said, and the fact that issuing the rights gives rise to a payment does not affect an activity’s legal status. Spectrum auctions by national regulators do not amount to economic activity within the meaning of the Sixth VAT Directive, the ECJ said.
Qwest is “strong and should stay strong” after CEO Dick Notebaert departs, Bank of America said Tues. Notebaert “accepts that a succession plan could have been developed, but wasn’t, that there is uncertainty now, but that the naming of his successor will soothe the market and there are no surprises coming,” it said. Notebaert’s decision was based on “a deep seated comfort with where the business is today” and “a strong personal desire to bring his 38-year career to a conclusion,” it added.
EU and U.S. officials Mon. noted differences of opinion over the airline passenger name record (PNR) program, but said they believe a new agreement will be reached before an interim arrangement expires in July. Meeting with the European Parliament (EP) Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs Committee, U.S. Homeland Security Secy. Michael Chertoff said extensive data, including phone numbers and e- mail addresses, is needed to help protect the U.S. against terrorism. MEPs continued to raise privacy concerns.
The EC said it won’t object to France funding an R&D project combining satellite and terrestrial networks in order to broadcast TV over mobile phones. The “Unlimited Mobile TV” project, headed by Alcatel-Lucent, seeks to develop a new mobile TV broadcasting solution in the 2.2 GHz frequency that will boost reception quality, geographical coverage and the number of channels that can be transmitted, the EC said. The project, which will benefit consumers as well as offering a crisis management service, will cost over 98 million, of which the French govt. proposed to provide nearly 38 million in state aid. Because European mobile TV markets are still emerging and don’t spontaneously generate the partnerships needed to deploy unlimited mobile TV, the state aid will make it possible to tackle market deficiencies that hamper speedy coordination among satellite manufacturers, terrestrial network infrastructures, mobile phones and semiconductors, the EC said.
Jack Valenti, 85, long-time MPAA pres. and a prime mover behind TV and movie ratings, died Thurs. in D.C., following a stroke. Valenti’s 38-year tenure at MPAA ended in 2004. After retiring, he represented the entertainment industry in frequent appearances on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Valenti is survived by his wife, Mary Margaret, and children Alexandra, Courtenay and John. A private memorial service will be held 10 a.m. May 1 at St. Matthew’s church in D.C., said an MPAA spokesman, with burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Donations can be made to the Jack Valenti Macular Degeneration Research Fund at Johns Hopkins U. or the Stroke Research Fund, also in Baltimore.
The N.Y. PSC proposed to develop a framework for rate deregulation of that state’s 38 small incumbent telcos. Apart from Verizon and Frontier of Rochester, all are under rate-of-return regulation. Since Sept. 2006, the small telcos had the option to petition the PSC for rate deregulation case by case, and 12 small incumbents have such petitions pending. Verizon and Frontier are under price caps for basic local service, with all other retail rates deregulated. The PSC wants to set up 4 “dimensions” with explicit standards for judging whether to deregulate small incumbent rates -- level of competition, revenue status, network investment and operational efficiency. In general, the PSC said, small telcos would have to show the presence of multiple competitors, erosion of revenues from competition, efforts to keep existing customers and investment to expand and improve services. Proposal author Charles Dickson, dir. of the PSC accounting & finance office, said that under the proposed 4 dimensions, only 5 of the 12 pending applicants would have a case for deregulation, and none of the other 26 companies would qualify. But he said the proposed framework would put all the small incumbents on the same field and hold all to the same standards for deregulation. Robert Mayer, dir. of the PSC telecom office, said many small telcos generate a return on equity under 5%, and that the PSC should worry about small telcos’ financial health. He said big phone and cable companies can afford the infrastructure investments needed to deliver advanced services, but the small companies may not be able to keep pace.
Cablevision can’t introduce a remote PVR service -- which would give subscribers full PVR functionality without delivering a set-top box to their homes -- unless it has licenses from the programmers it carries, U.S. Dist. Judge Denny Chin, N.Y., said late Thurs. Programmers including Time Warner’s Cartoon Network and Fox sought an injunction against the service after Cablevision announced its plans last year. The ruling not only puts the kibosh on Cablevision’s plans but will give pause to other digital media innovators including online, said industry and consumer advocate lawyers. Cablevision will continue to market its set-top box PVR service while it considers appealing Chin’s ruling, it said: “We are disappointed by the judge’s decision, and continue to believe that remote-storage DVRs are consistent with copyright law.”
Five radio broadcasters were fined $38,000 total by the FCC for filing license renewal applications late, not making documents available for public inspection and other violations, in Media Bureau orders renewing their licences. The stations are WLBK(AM), DeKalb, Ill., Fla. stations WTCL(AM) Chattahoochee, WDSR(AM) Lake City and WTGF(FM) Milton and FM translator K257AE West Fork, Mont.