Mont. PSC told state Senate’s Energy & Telecom Committee its members unanimously were opposed to pending Qwest-backed price cap bill (SB-403). PSC said bill would remove many legal protections for customers and competitors by prematurely deregulating Qwest services before effective competition existed. PSC Comr. Matt Brainard testified Tues. that there was no reason for bill because present law allowed agency to phase in reduced regulation as competition increased, and PSC had been doing so for several years. He said measure would interfere with what PSC had been trying to accomplish in encouraging local competition while protecting consumer interests. But Qwest defended bill, saying it would leave substantial body of regulations to protect customer interests while freeing company to “compete in the marketplace in a timely fashion.” It would allow Qwest and other incumbent telcos to self-elect price cap regime that would put basic exchange service, switched access and certain basic ancillary services under nonindexed caps and cost-based price floors. All other services would be deregulated. There would be no prerequisites or mandatory obligations in return for caps. For deregulated services, PSC would lose authority to handle complaints, except in very limited circumstances. Most complaints would be shifted to state attorney gen. or state courts. For price-capped services, bill would allow cap changes only because of exogenous factors such as tax changes or new federal or state laws, but presumption would be that exogenous cap change proposed by a telco would be valid. PUC would have only 60 days to prove cap change wasn’t justified. For deregulated services, proposal would require companies to keep current price lists on file at PSC, but agency would lack any veto power over posted prices. Only grounds for complaints to PSC on deregulated services would be that company had charged rate or provided discount not included in price lists.
Intersputnik has begun selling C-band capacity on LMI-1 satellite, owned by Lockheed Martin-Intersputnik joint venture. Under agreement with Lockheed Martin Telecommunications and OAO Rostelcom, Intersputnik is selling standard C-band (Beam A) and extended C-band (Beam B) capacity on satellite, located at 75 degrees E.
ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) approved 2 standards for optical transport networks that use Dense Wave Division Multiplexing. ITU-T recommendation G.709 specifies interfaces for interconnection between service providers and network operators. ITU said specification paves way for midspan meetings of equipment from different vendors. Second recommendation, G.959.1, specifies physical layer interfaces for optical transport network. ITU-T said work also was under way on similar standards for optical networks, including automatic switched transport networks and their control mechanisms to support bandwidth on demand and other applications. Separately, ITU released: (1) Details of agreement on international standard for single pair, high bit-rate DSL transceivers (SHDSL). It said recommendation complemented existing regional standards and was written to prevent interference to other DSL systems operating in same cable. (2) issued asymmetric DSL (ADSL) recommendations, including method for DSL system to negotiate mutually supported operating modes and ADSL test methods. (3) What it said were first standards for home phone line networking transceivers. ITU said recommendation would allow home networking devices to operate over existing phone wiring.
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded Lucent’s ratings and issued negative outlooks Mon., citing operating losses and other problems plaguing company. S&P lowered Lucent’s corporate credit rating to BBB- and reduced its other ratings as well. S&P said action reflected its belief that company “will likely incur substantial operating losses over the near to intermediate term” as it implemented restructuring plans. Moody’s downgraded ratings on Lucent’s unsecured long-term debt to Baa3 from Baa1 and for commercial paper to Prime-3 from Prime-2. Moody’s said downgrades “reflect the significant operational difficulties at the company, which are partially mitigated by the material cash inflows from business divestitures” and expected benefits from restructuring plan. Moody’s said it expected Lucent’s “operating performance will remain under significant pressure for the foreseeable future.” Ratings are among lowest issued by the 2 credit rating agencies. Lehman Bros. raised its 2001 loss forecast for Lucent to 67 cents per share from earlier 50 cents. “Until we see signs that Lucent has fundamentally bottomed, we continue to recommend that investors, not to be confused with short-term traders, stay on the sidelines,” Lehman said in research report. Meanwhile, Lucent said it will be equipment and services supplier for Verizon’s planned global optical-data network. Verizon announced plans for global network to link U.S. with Europe, Asia and Latin America. First phase will link N.Y. to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Milan. Financial terms are still being worked out but companies are in last phase of negotiations, probably finalizing agreement in 2-3 months, Lucent spokeswoman said.
Two months after taking over bankrupt Iridium’s assets following U.S. bankruptcy court approval of bid, Iridium Satellite and Satellite Distribution Services (SDS) agreed Mon. to 5-year deal, terms not announced. Companies would build global network to sell satellite-based communications services.
Streaming media firm NetRadio said it reduced its loss to $3.5 million in 4th quarter ended Dec. 31 from $5.6 million loss year ago. Revenue fell to $429,590 from $669,116, but company said it cut its costs in half
Qwest said it had begun competitive data LEC services in Washington and Baltimore, offering DSL Internet connections and other data services to businesses using Qwest’s local fiber rings.
Dutch media company VNU plans to complete acquisition of ACNielsen following final approval by European Commission Mon., it said.
FCC’s Wireless Bureau issued best practices guide for identifying and alleviating radio interference between public safety and commercial mobile radio service systems in 800 MHz band. Guide was put together by industry representatives from Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials, CTIA, Motorola, Nextel, Public Safety Wireless Network. Bureau said guide contained guidance for future system deployments that could prevent interference through frequency planning, colocation, system design improvements.
Braving criticism from mostly hostile panel, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) affirmed his commitment to loosening regulations on Bell companies seeking to provide data services across LATA lines. At event in Capitol sponsored by Comdex, he said he would “dedicate the next 2 years” to having Telecom Subcommittee “deliver bills that guarantee that broadband networks are free of regulation.” Tauzin said Sec. 271’s restrictions on Bell companies offering long distance service were written with voice traffic in mind, and prospect of getting into long distance voice market was enough of carrot for Bells to open local markets. He said opponents of his plan, who said data traffic was part of carrot arrangement in Sec. 271, were “changing the intent of the Act” to add “new lever” on Bells.