The U.K. is the biggest broadband country in Europe and may be on the verge of a major growth spurt, Point Topic said Thurs. By New Year’s Day, the U.K. is expected to surpass France’s 9.7 million broadband lines by a slim margin (9.8 million). Further, 2006 could be the U.K.’s “year of unbundling,” analysts said, because of major changes in the country’s telecom environment. The changes include new processes for bulk migration of existing DSL customers to unbundled phone lines; British Telecom’s (BT’s) creation of Openreach to supply broadband access to its rivals on equal terms; and the expected merger of the country’s largest cable companies, NTL and Telewest, followed perhaps by a sale of Virgin Mobile. At the end of Sept., France had over 2.5 million unbundled lines, the U.K. only 122,000. But major ISPs such as AOL, Tiscali and Wanadoo, with more than 2.8 million British customers through BT, are expected to start moving them their own unbundled equipment on a massive scale, Point Topic said. “It is just possible that the trigger level of 1.5 million local loop unbundled lines… will be exceeded in 2006,” allowing BT to cut wholesale services rates further, sparking even greater competition. NTL and Telewest, with 2.6 million customers total, are expected to achieve better marketing reach and efficiency by merging, releasing money for investment and raising growth rates in cable network broadband. Globally, more than 200 million broadband lines are expected by year-end, analysts said. Despite that, the market is slowing now that large, established broadband countries have reached high penetration and newcomers haven’t filled the gap yet, the report said. Point Topic said the U.S. remains the largest broadband market (40.9 million lines). China is 2nd (35 million) and Japan is 3rd (20.9 million). South Korea is next, with 12 million lines, while France, the U.K. and Germany each have over 8 million.
Exports to China
China Finance Online (CFO), a financial and company information provider, is teaming up with Moloon International, a mobile stream media technology provider in Beijing. CFO said it will work with Moloon to develop financial services products for cellular customers in China.
Alcatel and Tekelec extended their preferred OEM agreement Wed., which allows Alcatel to continue deploying Tekelec 8000 Media Gateways as part of its NGN platform. The gateway has been used in Alcatel deployments for T- Mobile USA, Dobson, TA Orange, Celcom Malaysia, China Mobile and VimpelCom.
High-tech sector leader Harris Miller is considering trying to move to Capitol Hill. The Information Technology Assn. of American (ITAA) president told our affiliate Washington Internet Daily Fri. he’s “seriously exploring” seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Allen (R-Va.) in 2006. While he hasn’t made a final decision, Miller said he has “received a lot of encouragement.” He told us an official announcement could come “fairly soon.”
Iridium said it’s teaming with China Space Mobile Satellite Telecom (China Spacecom) to provide Iridium services in China. Terms weren’t disclosed. China Spacecom Pres. Tong Shirong said Iridium data services will be used in water resources management, weather data collection, fishing vessel tracking, environmental protection and other industries.
China became the world’s top exporter of tech devices last year, passing the U.S. for the first time, the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) said Mon. China exported about $180 billion in laptop computers, mobile handsets and other communications devices in 2004, an OECD report said, catching the U.S., which exported $149 billion in tech devices, the 2nd most in the world. Many industry experts weren’t surprised at the development, seeing it as the culmination of a steady trend that several said helps both countries.
Intelsat said it’s teaming with APT Satellite of China in a joint marketing arrangement. Terms weren’t disclosed. The move will allow Intelsat to access the Asian market through APSTAR 5 and APSTAR 6, and will allow APT Satellite to access Intelsat’s capacity in other regions of the world, Intelsat officials said.
Digital broadcast feeds of the 2008 Olympics will be available worldwide, said the Chinese govt. It revealed plans for digital broadcasting throughout China by 2010, and analog broadcast termination by 2015.
ImaginAsian Entertainment said it will be available to Time Warner Cable digital subscribers in N.Y. and N.J. starting Nov. 17, under a new carriage agreement. ImaginAsian includes programming from Korea, Japan, India, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The FCC asked for comments by Nov. 24 on transferring control of WilTel and Vyvx to Level 3. WilTel and subsidiary Vyvx are owned by Leucadia, a holding company. Replies are due Dec. 1. The FCC has streamlined treatment of the transfer of control application. In a separate proceeding, the FCC International Bureau set a Dec. 14 deadline for comments on international aspects of the control transfer. These include transfer to Level 3 of WilTel’s interest in the cable landing license for the China-U.S. Cable Network, removal of WilTel as a joint licensee for the cable landing license for the Japan-U.S. Cable Network and transfer of satellite earth station authorizations.