News of the Day

Verizon FTTH subscribers top 1 million
Verizon Communications took an aggressive strategy for fiber-to-the-home, investing $18 billion to build its FiOS network. Verizon's chief technology officer, Mark Wegleitner, says the next steps include testing 100Mbps service using GPON technology and letting customers decide how much content they want to share with their cell phones. CNET (7/6)

Business & Industry Watch

AT&T's IPTV avoids need for FCC set-top-box waiver
AT&T didn't seek a set-top-box waiver from the FCC because its U-verse TV service doesn't use boxes that contain both channel surfing and signal features. "The intelligence that this ban is seeking to separate doesn't reside in our set-top box. It's in our network," AT&T spokesman Mike Balmoris said. Multichannel News (7/5)

Alcatel-Lucent partners to build national Russian WiMAX networks
Alcatel-Lucent has won a contract from Synterra to deploy Universal WiMAX networks throughout Russia. The deployment is aimed at towns and cities with populations on average of 100,000, with the first regional WiMAX networks expected to be operating before the end of 2007. cellular-news (U.K.) (7/6)

Loss of jobs costs Motorola $101 million in second quarter
Motorola expects to incur a second-quarter net pretax charge of $101 million as part of the company's previously announced work force reductions. Motorola has cut about 7,500 jobs in a widespread effort to reduce costs and recuperate market share. CNNMoney.com/Reuters (7/5)

Clearwire borrows $1 billion to restructure debt
ISP Clearwire has borrowed $1 billion to refinance existing debt and expand operations. About $750 million of the loan will be allotted toward debt, according to Clearwire. SeattlePI.com (7/5)

VimpelCom in talks to buy stake in Golden Telecom
OAO Vimpel Communications, a Russian cellular-telephone company, has confirmed that it's in negotiations to buy a 44% stake in alternative operator Golden Telecom. VimpelCom is speaking to its two major shareholders in regards to the possible purchase of their stakes in Golden. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (7/6)

Technology Trends

Nokia and Thomson join for 3G femto-cell agreement
Nokia Siemens Networks and Thomson have announced that they will develop a 3G femto-cell, home-access solution. The companies expect the femto-cells expansion to provide extra coverage in residential neighborhoods and allow operators to distribute expanded services. Total Telecom Magazine (U.K.) (7/6)

LG, Verizon Wireless unveil Chocolate phone update
LG and Verizon Wireless have announced a new version of the successful VX8550 Chocolate handset. The updated version will be smaller and sleeker and contain new features for the navigation wheel and keypad. Pocket-lint.co.uk (7/5)

IP Download

What you need to know about VoIP
While there's no denying that VoIP is hot, there are still questions about the companies and technologies that are involved. Network World put together a list of six VoIP-related questions, including: "Can I trust Microsoft with VoIP?" and "Will SIP ever be ready for the desktop?" Network World (7/5)

Regulatory & Legislative

Michigan telecoms oppose proposed monthly fee on phone bills
Michigan's telecoms have launched an advertising campaign that speaks out against a proposed $1.35 monthly fee on all fixed, mobile and VoIP phones. The fee, currently under consideration by the state government, aims to raise $200 million a year for emergency services. MLive.com (Michigan)/Associated Press (free registration) (7/5)

Federal rule could lock out open source for "smart" radios
A new federal rule going into effect today could slow down or block software-defined radios from using open-source software, which U.S. regulators appear to view as being more vulnerable to hackers. The ruling appears to be limited to the security aspects of open-source software, according to the SDR Forum. CNET (7/6)

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