Spirent Communications agreed to buy Metrico Wireless, Spirent announced Thursday. London-based Spirent will purchase Frederick, Md.-based Metrico for $52 million in cash considerations. Metrico is a provider of services for carriers and vendors to analyze mobile device “quality of experience,” according to Spirent. “As carriers and device vendors strive to minimize time to market, improve subscriber quality of experience and reduce device return rates, they must also contend with disruptive technologies including 4G data, VoIP and the cloud,” Spirent CEO Bill Burns said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnon9z).
There’s no truth to rumors swirling around last week’s IFA show in Berlin that CES has landed Apple as an exhibitor and that Apple CEO Tim Cook will give a keynote, CEA President Gary Shapiro told us. The iLounge Pavilion at CES is “huge, and we love Apple,” Shapiro said of the 300-exhibitor-strong Tech Zone at the Las Vegas Convention Center that will sport exhibits of third-party Apple software and accessories. But as for Apple itself exhibiting and keynoting CES, Shapiro said: “We do hope and even pray that someday we can confirm these rumors. But to my knowledge they are not true for 2013.”
North, Central and South America had 225 million 3rd Generation Partnership Project mobile broadband connections as of the end of June -- an increase of 65.6 million from the same time last year, 4G Americas announced Thursday. Connections via 3GPP represented 22 percent of the more than 1 billion total mobile subscriptions in the Americas region, according to data collected by Informa Telecoms & Media. Those statistics are an indication that mobile growth in the Americas is shifting toward 3GPP, 4G Americas said. “Non-3GPP subscriptions are on the decline in the Americas,” Informa senior analyst Kristin Paulin said in a 4G Americas news release. The number of “3GPP technologies subscriptions in the Americas grew 12.6 percent over the last year, while non-3GPP technologies subscriptions fell 2.4 percent during that time.” LTE has been most successful in North America, where the number of LTE subscribers rose from 2 million at the end of June 2011 to 15.4 million at the same time this year. North American subscribers made up 56 percent of the 27.7 million LTE subscribers worldwide, 4G Americas said (http://xrl.us/bnon79).
Princeton Hosted Solutions is partnering with Verizon Global Wholesale to resell cloud-computing services to Princeton customers, Verizon announced Thursday. Princeton will resell Verizon subsidiary Terremark’s Enterprise Cloud service. The new service will help Princeton’s New York-area customers in the automotive, healthcare and legal sectors more efficiently manage their on-demand computing services while only paying for consumed resources, Verizon said. “Many of our customers still rely on premises-based computing solutions and lack the dedicated staff and capital funding required to upgrade their IT infrastructure,” Princeton President Brad Bono said in Verizon’s news release. “The businesses that we serve have a real need for advanced IT services, and our agreement with Verizon Global Wholesale will enable us to deliver a platform that meets the reliability, security and redundancy requirements of our customers so they can focus on their core businesses” (http://xrl.us/bnon6u).
Tennessee approved a statewide trial of text-to-911 service as part of a new emergency service Internet Protocol network (ESInet), AT&T said Tuesday. “AT&T will work with the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board to provide a Text to 9-1-1 trial service, allowing for emergency 9-1-1 Short Message Service (SMS) text messages from AT&T wireless subscribers to be received by Tennessee 9-1-1 call centers,” the carrier said (http://xrl.us/bnon6d). “The trial will use the existing ESInet and statewide IP network backbone, key components in the state of Tennessee’s Next-Generation 9-1-1 plan.” National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes “applauds” the trial and anticipates text-to-911’s availability nationwide, he said in a statement Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnon5n). The trial “will enable PSAPs [public safety answering points] in Tennessee to begin receiving 9-1-1 SMS texts from AT&T wireless subscribers through the state’s ESInet” and “will allow PSAPs to develop best practices and methods to receive and integrate these types of emergency communications in the future,” AT&T said.
Comments on a dozen requests for exemption from TV captioning rules are due in 30 days in docket 06-181, an FCC public notice Thursday said (http://xrl.us/bnon5a). “Petitioners claim that compliance would impose an ‘undue economic burden.'” Outdoorsmen Productions, a producer of broadcast shows whose petition has been pending for years (CD Aug 22 p5), Victorious Ministries International, Gospel Broadcasting Network and churches including Grace Baptist of Knoxville, Tenn., are among those waiver seekers included in the public notice.
The Democratic Party got it right in its 2012 party platform on Internet freedom issues, Democratic House members said in statements on Wednesday. “A free and open Internet is critical to the freedom and economic prosperity of all Americans,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California. “This platform reaffirms our strong commitment to protecting free expression, privacy, and our fundamental right to assemble online free from centralized government control as we do in our everyday lives.” Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado credited the language’s inclusion to “an outpouring of grassroots support and the leadership of a small group of remarkable colleagues in Congress who have never stopped fighting to prevent the passage of harmful legislation like SOPA and PIPA and other assaults on Internet freedom.” Rep. Doris Matsui of California said the party’s stance reflected its commitment to the economy. An open and free Internet is “a key component in promoting innovation and growth in the American high-tech sector” as it “encourages new entrepreneurs to start their businesses in our country, creating jobs and economic growth,” she said. Rep. Anna Eshoo of California referenced her district. “Representing Silicon Valley in Congress, it’s especially gratifying to see a national party recognize that over the last 15 years venture capital funds have invested approximately a quarter of a trillion dollars in industries reliant on the Internet, including $91.8 billion on software alone,” she said, calling an open Internet “a hallmark of American ingenuity.” David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress -- which encouraged both parties to include Internet freedom language in their platforms -- commended the Democrats. “The Democratic Party this week has proven that they want to become the party of the ‘net,'” he said. “It will take more than words to protect the internet, and we look forward to working with political leaders in the Democratic Party to hold them to their promises."
Astrium Services expanded its capacity on Intelsat’s Ku-band mobility infrastructure. Maritime service providers and customers of Astrium’s business division “will benefit from the new network enhancements on the Intelsat 22 satellite and will leverage capacity on the Intelsat 22 satellite to enhance coverage for its maritime VSAT [very small aperture terminal] services ... in the Indian Ocean,” Intelsat said in a news release Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnon6q). Astrium also will use capacity on Intelsat 21, it said.
The Georgia Public Service Commission denied Transcom Enhanced Service’s request for rehearing and clarification, in an order released Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnonz3). Transcom wanted the commission to revisit the PSC’s July 17 judgment against Halo Wireless and Transcom. Halo and Transcom operated as affiliates in an interconnection agreement with AT&T that led to countrywide allegations of skirted access charges and ultimately caused Halo’s liquidation in late July (CD Aug 2 p8). Transcom has since fought in multiple states for reconsideration of state commission decisions on Halo (CD Sept 4 p11). The Georgia PSC had ordered both companies to cease and desist operations in the state due to lack of certification, the new order recounted. Transcom wanted the PSC to reevaluate the case’s submitted testimony as well as the company’s status as an enhanced service provider and its operations within the state of Georgia. AT&T and TDS Telecom objected to Transcom’s Georgia request. In early September, this situation recurred in Wisconsin with that state commission’s Halo ruling, with Transcom asking for review and the same two companies objecting. It’s still pending there.
Inmarsat partnered with Cobham Satcom, Paradigm Comm and Skyware Global as part of its upcoming Global Xpress service. The companies “will manufacture commercial land satellite terminals from 0.6 to 2.4 meters ... covering the fixed, transportable, ‘fly-away,’ and ‘manpack’ terminal types,” Inmarsat said in a news release Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnon5z). It said Global Xpress is scheduled to debut in 2014 and will offer “unprecedented” high data-rate bandwidth and global coverage.