Correction: We incorrectly identified Vp-Legislative Affairs George (Chip) Tangen (CD March 21 p10). His company is Northpoint.
KPMG Consulting submitted to Ga. PSC its final report on whether BellSouth’s operation support systems (OSS) met requirements of Sec. 271. KPMG evaluated more than 1,170 criteria in testing how well BellSouth’s OSS handled local service orders from CLECs. BellSouth said final results showed it passed 98% of test criteria and that none of items where it failed were critical to local competitors. KPMG told PSC it would continue to evaluate metrics that monitor BellSouth’s ability to accurately gather and calculate performance data. KPMG said some of missed criteria, such as giving timely notice to CLECs of order-processing problems, could have potential adverse impact on competition, but also said it was PSC’s role to monitor carrier’s performance and compel improvement where needed. BellSouth said test results proved its local network was open to competition as Sec. 271 required.
BellSouth announced frame relay broadband data service that offered subscribers bandwidth on demand in incremental range from 3 Mbps to 44.2 Mbps. Called Subrate T3, new offer eliminates provisioning time and expense required to bond multiple 1.5 Mbps T1s, carrier said. BellSouth serves more than 80,000 frame relay customers in Southeast.
L-3 Communications said Wed. it had formed Satellite Networks Div. Satellite Networks is combination of LNR and Satellite Transmission Systems unit. Company said consolidation of subsidiaries would strengthen product base, marketing and research and development while reducing operating costs and improving margins. Move is designed to help expand product line into broadband and Internet solutions for commercial and govt. customers, L-3 said.
House passed “2% carrier” bill that would ease regulation of ILECs that controlled less than 2% of nation’s access lines. HR- 496, sponsored by Rep. Cubin (R-Wyo.), was passed Wed. in voice vote on suspension calendar, a deregulatory measure House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) recently described as “indicative of future action on telecommunications reform” (CD March 1 p3). House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton said bill would provide small to midsize carriers with “common sense regulatory relief” from price regulation, reporting requirements, lengthy merger reviews.
LAS VEGAS -- As U.S. carriers eye FCC deadline this fall for Enhanced 911 Phase 2 services, wireless industry still is grappling with finer points of which location-based services will provide best return on investment, how privacy will be guarded and how ads will be delivered, panelists said at CTIA Wireless 2001 here Tues. “The real challenge is getting handset prices down to where they need to be,” said Tom Wrappe, SnapTrack vp-product and program management. But as technological advances drive down costs, he said, “you will see this does go mass market in the next year or year and a half.”
Concurrent Computer Corp. and Pace Micro Technology announced deal to integrate their respective video-on-demand (VoD) and interactive TV technologies for digital set-top boxes. Under pact, Concurrent will integrate its MediaHawk broadband VoD systems with Pace’s digital home gateways for cable, DSL and ATM transport networks. Companies said they jointly would market and deploy their integrated system worldwide, focusing first on U.K., rest of Europe and Asia, then in U.S. and Canada.
Lockheed Martin CEO Vance Coffman received $2.5 million bonus for improving operations and increasing revenue at company in 2000, according to SEC filing. In 1999, he didn’t get bonus. Last year, Coffman received base salary of $1.29 million and restricted stock award worth $1.93 million. He can’t sell shares for unspecified period but can vote them and receive dividends. Lockheed Martin also gave Coffman options to buy 600,000 shares at exercise price of $18.50. If shares were to increase 10% annually, options could be worth as much as $17.7 million. Meanwhile, company announced it had signed contract with Jet Propulsion Lab to conduct study on low-mass membrane telescope for New Millennium Program at NASA.
New Networks Institute filed complaints with N.Y. PSC and N.Y. Attorney Gen.’s office seeking property audits of Verizon assets. Group charged Verizon was recovering costs from ratepayers on more than $600 million in N.Y. “vaporware,” equipment and assets that either didn’t exist or couldn’t be verified. Group said evidence for its complaint was taken from FCC 1998 audits of Bell and GTE operating company property records that found $5 billion in missing equipment and $14 billion in unverifiable assets. Group said FCC didn’t take action but left matter to states. Group said it would be filing similar petitions in other Verizon states and with state commissions in other Bell regions, plus petitions to IRS to explore federal tax consequences of alleged vaporware.
LAS VEGAS -- Key to wireless Internet success is “total package” of consumer value, not whether system is wide area protocol (WAP) based or i-mode or any other technology, said Takeshi Natsuno, exec. dir.-gateway business for NTT DoCoMo. NTT already has 21 million wireless Internet users in Japan, generating average of $20 revenue (plus voice fees) per month, with more than 800 companies providing more than 40,000 Web sites of Internet content adapted for wireless devices, he told CTIA convention here. Despite talk of delivery modes, other speakers agreed content was key for new service.