* Thomas gets SCTE chapter nod
Joe Thomas, the director of sales engineering for Tropic Networks, has been appointed vice president of the SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter, which is comprised of more than 400 SCTE members in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

* Optical Entertainment Network names CEO
Optical Entertainment Network has hired from within to fill the posts of president and CEO, promoting Albert J. Estrada, who had been chief marketing officer. He will continue overseeing OEN’s marketing and sales division until a new marketing chief joins the team. Estrada’s experience includes employment at HBO, DirecTV, SATMEX and Space Systems Loral. OEN’s FTTH-based triple-play service is called Fision.

* iSuppli estimates Apple will profit handsomely from iPhone
Each Apple iPhone sold will generate nearly a 50 percent gross margin for Apple and partner, Cingular Wireless (in the process of being renamed “AT&T”), according to a preliminary functional bill of materials (BoM) estimate by iSuppli. That should afford the two of them a hefty profit, as well as plenty of room for future price cuts, iSuppli said. iSuppli performs value chain research and advisory services.

* Cingular 3G spreads through Rhode Island
Cingular has extended its 3G network coverage into Rhode Island, in a swath that reaches from Pawtucket and North Smithfield in the north to Barrington, Warwick and East Coventry in the south. It also covers all of Routes 295, 10 and 146.