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ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT UPTURN IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKET?
Telecom Education and Career Week
October 22-23, 2001
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel
Marlborough, MA
If you or your company wants to be ahead of the pack in the ever changing industry that is telecommunications, then don't miss out on Telecom Education and Career Week.
Telecom Education Week, is organized by Information Gatekeepers, in cooperation with the IEEE Boston Chapter. It will feature 19 courses, many of them half-day tutorials as well as one and two-day short courses focusing on fiber optics and optical networks ranging from basic to advanced topics.
With instructors that are among the leading minds in the New England area, attending this event will keep experts ahead of their competition and give a beginner the wisdom they need to succeed in this dynamic field.
You can find out more information on speakers, times, prices, and register online by visiting our Website at: www.telecomedweek.com. For additional information or questions, call (617) 232-3111 or contact Paul Swydan, IGI Events Director, at paul@igigroup.com.
TODAY IN TELECOM - OCTOBER 9, 2001
TOP STORIES
--Sun Microsystems cuts price on its Web server software by 37%
--Agilent Technologies meets fourth quarter expectations
BUSINESS
--AMD unveils set of four chips
DEALS
--Interwave Communications makes a five-year, $50 million contract with Telstra Corporation
FINANCIAL REPORTS
--Onyx Software warns drop in third quarter revenue
--Philippine Long Distance Telephone plans to lower debt
INTERNET
--Travelocity.com lays off 19% of its workforce
LATIN AMERICA
--BellSouth will not buy 50% of Tess
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
--SingTel's Optus acquires ComVergent mobile unit
MOBILE
--Cosmote reports 55.5% increase in subscribers
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
--KPN Mobile CEO resigns, Paul Smits to replace
INDIA
--GAIL plans Bandwidth Leasing
--Profits of Cable Companies will fall
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TOP STORIES
--Sun Microsystems cuts price on its Web server software by 37%
Sun Microsystems will cut the price of its Web server software by 37% in an attempt to take market share away from Microsoft's competing software. Sun will cut the price of its iPlanet Web Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 to $940 per computer processor from $1,495 for any customer changing from a competing platform. The company said it will make available software that allows running pages written for Microsoft's format on its Internet Information Services architecture on Sun's platform without modification.
--Agilent Technologies meets fourth quarter expectations
Agilent Technologies said it will meet its fourth quarter results as expected. The company said the fourth quarter sales will be $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion with the quarter's loss forecasted to be between 50 and 70 cents a share, not including certain expenses. Agilent will cut 11% of its workforce, which is about 4000 employees.
BUSINESS
--AMD unveils set of four chips
AMD launched four new desktop computer chips, called Athlon XP. The new chips run as fast as 1.53 GHz, which is below the highest clock speed of rival Intel's Pentium 4 processor, which tops at 2 GHz. AMD disputes that a processor's frequency isn't the best measure of performance, and says that its chips outperform Intel in tests of commonly used programs.
The chips will range in prices from $130 to $252 when purchased in quantities of 1,000.
DEALS
--Interwave Communications makes a five-year, $50 million contract with Telstra Corporation
Interwave signed a five-year, $50 million contract with Telstra, Australia's mobile communications company. The company will provide Telstra with equipment that operates on the GSM wireless standard. This equipment will provide equipment for Telstra's business customers in Australia and Asia.
FINANCIAL REPORTS
--Onyx Software warns drop in third quarter revenue
Onyx Software, a maker of sales and customer-service software, warned that its third quarter revenue will fall short of Wall Street expectations. It plans to cut costs by reducing pay and eliminating 25% of its workforce, bringing it to about 460. The company will also take restructuring charges in the third and fourth quarter. Onyx sees a pro-forma operating loss of $7 million to $8 million on total revenue of $20 million.
--Philippine Long Distance Telephone plans to lower debt
Philippines Long Distance (PLDT) outlined plans to sell a stake in mobile phone unit Smart Communications, and lower its planned purchase of a stake in broadcasting company GMA Network, to reduce its debt. PLDT said about one quarter of maturing obligations, worth $1.3 billion from 2002 to 2004, could be paid by selling equity in Smart Communications. Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT's president, said half the debt will be paid using internally generated funds.
INTERNET
--Travelocity.com lays off 19% of its workforce
Travelocity.com plans to cut 320 jobs, or 19% of its workforce, and close its call center in Sacramento, California to reduce costs. Last week, the company cut about 43 jobs, or 10% of its workforce not involved in customer service, and plans to cut 285 customer-service jobs when the call center closes in two months.
LATIN AMERICA
--BellSouth will not buy 50% of Tess
BellSouth will not buy 50% of Tess. BellSouth gave no reasons for its decision and the company said it will encourage cooperation between its local subsidiary BCP and Tess.
Telecom Americas, grouping Bell Canada International, America Movil and SBC International, bought Tess, which operates in the interior of the industrial Sao Paulo state, in February for $950 million.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
--SingTel's Optus acquires ComVergent mobile unit
SingTel's Optus acquired Australia's ComVergent mobile unit for an undisclosed amount. Optus said it will acquire the mobile base of 120,000 customers and ComVergent's retail distribution network of 140 outlets nationwide. Chris Anderson, Optus CEO, said the deal will give the company additional retail revenues.
MOBILE
--Cosmote reports 55.5% increase in subscribers
Cosmote, Greek mobile operator, reported it had 2.74 million subscribers, or a 55.5% increase year on year, at the end of September. The company said it added 221,794 new subscribers in the third quarter, which 23% were contract customers and 77% were pre-paid. Cosmote said its end of May launch of "What's Up?" pre-paid product, targeted at the Greek youth market, had boosted pre-paid net additions in the third quarter.
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
--KPN Mobile CEO resigns, Paul Smits to replace
KPN Mobile CEO, Diederik Karsten, will resign in November. He will be replaced by former KPN CEO Paul Smits, who is responsible for the mobile communications portfolio within KPN's management board.
INDIA
--GAIL plans Bandwidth Leasing
Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is targeting an annual turnover of over $107 million three years down the line through leasing bandwidth capacity on its fiber optic cable network to the major telecom companies. This would constitute around five per cent of the total turnover of the gas giant.
According to GAIL sources, most of the telecom majors including Bharti, Reliance, Escotel and Shyam Telecom have shown interest in its cable network. GAIL will spend $110 million to expand its telecom network. The company will ultimately create a north-west-south telecommunication corridor with a 9,500 km network across the country covering 97 cities. An agreement has already been signed with Bharti Telesonic for leasing bandwidth capacity in GAIL's 600 km optic fiber network between Delhi and Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh.
--Profits of Cable Companies will fall
The operating profit of telecom cable companies in India will decline during the financial year 2001-02, Cris Infac, a market research agency has predicted. This has been attributed to a significant decline in the operating profits of optical fiber cable (OFC) and jelly-filled telecom cable (JFTC) manufacturing companies. JFTC accounts for 80 percent of the aggregate turnover of telecom cable manufacturers, while OFC accounts for the balance 20 percent.