UTStarcom lands second IPTV deployment in India
By Traci Patterson
UTStarcom Inc. will supply its RollingStream IPTV solution to Bharti Airtel, an Indian telco with more than 46 million subscribers.
RollingStream will enable the telco to offer live broadcast TV, time-shifted TV and VOD services bundled with its current broadband and voice services.
Airtel expects to offer the bundled service to its customers in Gurgaon and the National Capital Region (NCR) by the end of the year. The IPTV offering will then be rolled out in phases across eight additional regions.
UTStarcom also has commercial deployments with Aksh Optifibre in India, with China Telecom and China Netcom, and with Softbank in Japan. According to Frost and Sullivan, IPTV subscribers in the Asia Pacific region are expected to surpass 27 million by 2013, with China and India being the largest markets.
Paetec to pay $492 million for McLeodUSA
By Mike Robuck
Paetec Holding Corp. said today that the company will buy McLeodUSA for $492 million in stock in order to gain McLeod’s high-speed fiber optic network and subscriber base.
Under the terms of the deal, Paetec will swap 1.3 of its common stock shares for each McLeod share. Paetec will also assume $65 million in debt.
The transaction creates a company with an estimated $2.7 billion enterprise value and is expected to produce cost synergies of approximately $20 million in the first year following the closing, and run-rate synergies of approximately $30 million during the second year post-closing.
The addition of McLeod will increase Paetec’s subscriber base by almost a third. McLeod operates in Denver, Detroit, Phoenix and other U.S. cities. Paetec operates phone networks for businesses, but the McLeod purchase will allow it to also offer telephony and high-speed Internet access services over McLeod’s fiber-optic network.
“This transaction is squarely in line with our corporate strategy and positions Paetec as one of the largest nationwide competitive communications providers serving business customers,” said Arunas A. Chesonis, chairman and CEO of Paetec, in a prepared statement. “We’ll now have nearly 4,000 employees and we plan to increase our presence into 82 of the top 100 MSAs in 2008. With this combined footprint, we offer a compelling alternative to the legacy carriers.”
The combined company will compete against larger entities such as AT&T and Verizon for business-telephony customers.
McLeodUSA’s fiber network contains approximately 13,000 intercity route miles and about 4,000 metro route miles. The combined company will operate 77 traditional voice switching facilities and 39 IP soft switches. McLeodUSA has operations in 20 states, while Paetec operates in 23 states and the District of Columbia.
McLeodUSA was founded in 1991 by former chairman Clark McLeod. It went on a fiber buying spree earlier this decade before the economic downturn and dotcom bust hurt the company’s bottom line and led to the demise of several fiber companies, including Enron. McLeod has declared bankruptcy several times, and after going private it announced in March that it would start selling its shares to the public again.
VoIP doubles up on network with expansion
By Mike Robuck
VoIP Inc. said it has doubled the size of its existing national network infrastructure to better serve new customers and provision increased traffic.
The Orlando, Fla.-based company said it was building out its own facilities in order to replace and expand its services in uncovered areas in the United States. VoIP said it was building out its network into four unnamed states.
Additional expansion is slated to continue throughout the year, ultimately enabling the company to offer services in 21 additional states through use of its own network to more than 200 million subscriber and enterprise lines.
“We continue to expand our network, driving and supporting increased revenue and improved margins,” said Shawn Lewis, COO of VoIP Inc., in a statement “We have also begun to build new network deployments in four additional states which have demonstrated the next highest volume of traffic, which should further decrease costs once completed and drive new business.”
Whaleback intros new version of hosted VoIP service
By Brian Santo
Whaleback Systems announced its third lighthouse-monikered version of its hosted VoIP service. The company’s Diamond Shoals release includes new functionality aimed at small to medium-sized businesses (SMB).
The VoIP options for an SMB are to get service directly from a provider, buy a PBX platform, or contract with a host. Whaleback disparages most VoIP providers for questionable call quality and service, and notes the second option is expensive.
Whaleback provides a hosted service in which it purchases a dedicated data line (cable modem, DSL, T1, or a combination of broadband links), and manages VoIP quality from its own NOC in New Hampshire. If communications are cut, the system fails over to a secondary line – a cell phone or some other alternative.
The company’s new pricing plan starts with a minimum monthly charge of $400. Pricing per seat can vary, and there’s some flexibility in the plans. For example, Whaleback pricing packages can factor in lower-priced common lines (a line in a conference room, for instance), fax lines, “courtesy” lines for customer use, etc.
Current customers will be automatically upgraded to the new level of service. The service is available through resellers and VARs in several markets, largely along the East Coast. The company said it is planning an expansion into Chicago and Dallas.
The Diamond Shoals release introduces the OrcaVision Voice Quality Management System, which provides visibility into the customer’s call path as their voice traffic crosses multiple IP networks, allowing the service to be managed.
Diamond Shoals also builds on Whaleback’s recently-announced Redundant Array of Inexpensive Links (RAIL) capabilities that allow multiple broadband links to be combined to form a single high-availability network connection.
Comcast extends financing with United Bank of Philadelphia
By Traci Patterson
Comcast Corp. has extended its credit facility with the United Bank of Philadelphia with a $32.35 million agreement.
The financing is a 364-day revolving credit facility that the United Bank has syndicated to 19 additional minority-owned banks nationwide, Comcast said.
The bank’s mission is to foster community development by providing quality banking services to underserved segments of Philadelphia. Comcast had its first credit facility with the bank in 2004, with a $24.5 million agreement.
Broadband Briefs for 9/17/07
* ECI adds compact version of C/DWDM platforms
By Brian Santo
ECI introduced its compact AccessWave optical networking platform targeting access and edge C/DWDM (coarse/dense wavelength division multiplexing) applications, such as triple-play delivery, business data continuity and storage extension.
The company said that AccessWave supports all commonly required data, storage and circuit services, with capacity ranging from less than 2.5 Gbps up to multiple 10 Gbps connections. It offers aggregation and protection features that ECI claims both reduce costs and enhance quality of service (QoS).
* Zoran’s set-top platform available to customers
By Traci Patterson
Zoran Corp.’s ATSC-compliant set-top converter box reference design is now available to qualified customers. Zoran demo’d the platform last week at IBC 2007.
The set-top reference platform is powered by Zoran’s SupraHD 741 processor with an integrated ATSC-compliant demodulator, and it includes the company’s tuner, software and memory.
* BroadLogic hires Johnson as VP of marketing
By Mike Robuck
BroadLogic Network Technologies, a developer of silicon products for broadband networks, announced today that Albert R. Johnson has been hired as vice president of marketing.
Prior to joining BroadLogic, Johnson was senior vice president and general manager of the cable group at Vyyo.