|
Posted on 03.07.06 by Nikhil @ 3:51 pm
AT&T says it will buy Bell South for $67 billion in stock. The company will pay 1.325 of its own shares for each BellSouth share. The result will be one huge company that offers long distance wired service, wireless service and data service. AT&T’s offer price is about 18% higher than the stock was trading - so shares of BellSouth moved up signficantly yesterday. The news is significant for a couple of reasons. The deal shows that consolidation is still moving at a rapid pace in this industry and that it is necessary for the traditional telecom players to compete against new entrants, such as the cable companies. Of course, many aren’t happy about it, because as more companies consoldiate, there is a fear that less competition will lead to higher prices for subscribers. Read more about this deal at USA Today. Filed under: Stock Watch Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.06.06 by Nikhil @ 2:37 pm
Both Google and EarthLink submitted proposals to provide San Francisco with muni-WiFi. Now, the companies say they will team up and offer the city a joint proposal.The idea is that by working together, Earthlink will provide a premium service that operates at high speed for $20 per month. An alternate choice will come from Google: a free service (likely with advertising) that provides slower access. Does teaming up make sense? Here is an interesting article on the subject from Light Reading. Filed under: Stock Watch Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.06.06 by Nikhil @ 2:36 pm
Filed under: Stock Watch Comments: None |
For a long time now, I’ve had companies stopping by my office to show me Wi-Fi phones. They generally look like bricks, have poor battery lives and lack the features and the quality sound that many of today’s cell phones have. But the promise of wireless service over Wi-Fi networks, (perhaps in addition to cellular networks) is the ability to use phones for voice and data for less cost and higher speeds than many cellular networks offer today. Now, some new phones have come on the market – and they look better. |
Posted on 03.06.06 by Nikhil @ 2:35 pm
Earthlink will be building a citywide Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. The city has signed a 10-year deal with the company. EarthLink’s network is expected to be finished next spring. To put up the required hardware, Earthlink will be renting space on 4,000 city light posts, paying the city $74 annually per light post. That means it will cost the company about $21 million to build and operate the network. As far as revenue goes, Earthlink plans to charge a wholesale rate of less than $12 per month to other Internet service providers with a goal of keeping retail rates under $20 per month.How will cable providers and DSL companies deal with this? Read about it HERE. Filed under: Stock Watch Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.06.06 by Nikhil @ 2:34 pm
Motorola has been gaining market share lately, aggressively moving into Nokia’s territory. But Nokia is fighting back and doing well. A new study says that in the final quarter of 2005 Nokia boosted its market share to 35% almost twice as much as the share of Motorola. Nokia’s share rose from 33 percent year-over-year. Overall, the handset industry sold a total of 816.6 million units last year, a 21 percent increase from the year before. Nearly every major OEM increased its market share at the expense of smaller players.Read more at Reuters. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure Comments: None |
|
Posted on 03.06.06 by Nikhil @ 2:22 pm
Qualcomm is bringing mobile TV to the U.S. with its MediaFLO technology. But that isn’t stopping the company from embracing other mobile TV standards. The company just said that it has begun developing mobile TV chips based on the DVB-H standard. It’s a smart move. While the company thinks MediaFLO is better, DVB-H has a big market share in Europe – something Qualcomm can’t ignore. Read more about it from Teleclick. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Infrastructure Comments: None |
