Incumbents’ service quality on wholesale side has gotten so bad that it’s starting to threaten CLECs’ ability to function, CLEC representatives said on NARUC service quality panel. They said problem was especially bad for crucial DS-1 and DS-3 dedicated service. WorldCom Public Policy Vp Chip Casteel said deteriorating service quality on wholesale side was being overlooked amid clamor on retail side. For crucial DS-1 and DS-3 dedicated circuits CLECs need to service their retail accounts, he said, installation intervals industrywide are getting longer and predictability of delivery much worse. He said that in last year, DS-1/DS-3 installation intervals had increased 1/3, with promised delivery dates missed on roughly half of all installations. American ISP Assn. Exec. Dir. Sue Ashdown said difficulties in dealing with incumbent telcos to obtain digital subscriber lines (DSL) and dedicated circuits were sapping ISPs’ strength. She said incumbent telcos were using poor service as strategic tool, employing “strategic incompetence” to put off competitors. PrimeCo Wireless Technical Dir. Richard Kane said wireless carriers depended on incumbent telco dedicated circuits to link their cellular towers with mobile switching offices, and generally had no alternative source, but in recent years had experienced installation delays, unreliable service and billing problems. He said 80% of wireless network failures could be traced to failure of incumbent-provided terrestrial line. Incumbents’ service quality problems “impair our ability to compete,” he said. “Wireless competition is intense, but it’s only just developing on the landline side.” He said wireless companies needed minimum quality standards for incumbents that were strictly enforced. But SBC Performance Monitoring Vp Michael Gilliam said his company alone must keep track of 100 million distinct wholesale service performance measurements monthly, reported on 25,000 pages, to ensure quality is maintained. “Quality of service is the number one item on our list,” he said. BellSouth Vp-Transport Services Hal Henderson said his company “has never been more quality focused.” He said BellSouth just began new quality incentive program called “The Customer Rules,” focused on keeping up with increasingly complex quality demands, along with hiring more technicians and employing new network service technologies to increase employee efficiency. “Quality failure isn’t an option anymore,” he said.
TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board chaired by MPAA Pres. Jack Valenti will hold its first full-scale meeting since Nov. 8, 1999, at noon Tues. No agenda for meeting, at MPAA hq, has been sent to board members, we were told. Board was established 3 years ago in midst of controversy following congressional passage of legislation requiring that V-chips be built into all new TV sets and TV industry’s adoption of TV program ratings system designed for use of parents.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking research projects it can fund to develop ultra-miniature and ultra-low power technology for use in GPS receivers and ultra-high frequency communications devices. Agency is soliciting proposals to create microelectromechanical system that integrates chip-scale atomic clock. Goal of project is to “drastically improve channel selectivity and density for all military communications.” DARPA specifically wants system that will enable “ultra-fast frequency hopping in synchronized spread-spectrum communications for improved security and jam resistance and strong encryption in data communications”.
Soundview Technologies said it had patent agreement with Thomson for V-chip technology used in its TV sets, settling patent infringement suit. Terms weren’t disclosed, but Soundview said it would receive royalty for all past and future sales of sets using technology. Soundview said it also recently licensed its technology to Daewoo, Funai, Hitachi, L.G. Electronics, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo. Soundview, subsidiary of Acacia Research, said it still had outstanding patent and antitrust suit against manufacturers and CEA, which it said induced infringement on patent.
Several consumer electronics manufacturers have started to develop radios with Agere chip sets capable of receiving 100 channels broadcast from Sirius Satellite Radio, Agere said Mon. Satellite radios are being developed by Alpine, Clarion, Delphi Delco, Jensen, Kenwood, Panasonic, Visteon.
Rick Attanasio named senior vp-engineering, Comcast Business Communications… Peter Marshal, ex-broadcast and satellite executive, joins Strategis Consulting Group… David Valdez, ex- NTIA, named dir.-privacy efforts, Verizon… Kim Bondy, ex-NBC, appointed vp-senior exec. producer, CNN… Promotions at CBS News: Marcy McGinnis to senior vp-news coverage, John Frazee to senior vp-news services, Betsy West to senior vp-prime time… Changes at ArrayComm: Joanne Wilson named vp-standards and Randall Coleman vp-regulatory affairs… Appointed at Information Technology Assn. of America: Kate Hammler, vp-vertical development, Interliant; Mike Harper, vp-product development, Usinternetworking; Carl Kelly, senior vp-ASP, Oracle Service Industries; Ann Reiten, IBM, joins Application Service Provider board… Russ Fields, ex- Chrysalis-ITS, named vp-operations, SpaceBridge Semiconductor.
“Capacity is coming, but not this year” on broadband satellite systems, SpaceBridge Semiconductor Vp Dick Bakker said at satellite-over-Internet conference in Arlington, Va., Tues. Satellite industry has been dominated by proprietary broadband satellite systems and special assembly construction, with resulting low volumes, he said. Satellite won’t achieve any significant share of Internet access market until manufacturers adopt standards for satellite-oriented, over-the-air protocols, Bakker said, and industry uses advanced chips to much greater extent.
In latest skirmish of long-running DTV must-carry battle, broadcasting and cable interests fought over FCC’s authority to impose dual-carriage rules on cable operators during nation’s digital transition. Trade groups representing both industries filed fresh set of comments at Commission late Fri., challenging each other’s earlier arguments for and against DTV must-carry requirements (CD April 27 p3). Commenters pitted First Amendment rights of cable operators against broadcasters’ claims to mandatory cable carriage, seeking to convince agency to revise its Jan. ruling that tentatively concluded against dual carriage but left open possibility of changing its mind.
Don Ohlmeyer, ex-NBC pres., named to i3Mobile board… Jack Gates advanced to pres.-COO, National Captioning Institute… Changes at SpaceBridge: Bernard Bleuer, ex-Alcatel, named asst. vp-product line management; Simon Morris, ex-Texas Instruments, appointed dir.-broadband wireless semiconductor solutions… Ronald Brumback, ex-pres., Navigation Technologies, named pres.- COO, Top Layer Networks… Garry Welch, ex-Activate, appointed exec. vp-mktg., business development and sales, CapitalStream… Joining Spectrum Astro’s newly created gen. counsel office: Edward France, gen. counsel; Michael Ladino, deputy gen. counsel; Courtney Phillips, assoc. gen. counsel… Julia Gilmour, ex-Martin Dawes Systems, named vp-mktg. and product management, Wireless Online… Tom Wrappe promoted to senior vp-mktg. and product management, SnapTrack… Changes at World Wide Wireless: Jack Cutter, adds interim CEO to chmn.; Robert Bowman, Enhanced Service Providers, joins board… Gregory Willis, ex-Interactive Video Technology, appointed vp-global sales operations, PanAmSat… Sally Fifer, former exec. dir., Bay Area Video Coalition, appointed exec. dir., Independent TV Service… Carlo Baravalle, ex-Exchange, named senior vp-CEO, LCC International’s Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia operations… Honore LaBourdette, ex-Nortel, appointed vp-sales, NetSolve… Joining Leventhal, Senter & Lerman: Howard Topel, as member; Beth-Sherri Akyereko and Jenell Trigg as of counsel.
SpaceBridge Networks renamed itself SpaceBridge Semiconductor.