Rim Semiconductor/AT&T

[deeba]

Looks like AT&T really needs a boost................ from Cupria and IPSL.

Potential customers need a good reason to switch from cable to a telco that will provide them with the next generation HD Triple Play.


deeba:cool:


AT&T goes door to door for sales

By Jon Van

August 27, 2007

Companies love to interact with customers online because it's more efficient than providing a live customer representative on the phone, but as telecom competition escalates, the players find they can't always follow the cheapest pathway.

AT&T Inc. this month launched an advertising counteroffensive against cable titan Comcast Corp., which has been stealing its phone customers. It is sending salespeople door to door to drum up business.

"We need to reach out to customers in many different ways," said Steven Mitchell, vice president and general manager for AT&T Illinois. "People are more comfortable talking in their own homes. They will tell you their needs more readily than if you approach them at the mall, where they're busy doing something else. So we're sending our agents to meet them" at home.

As the phone giant loses customers to cable competitors, it has had to adjust its outlook, Mitchell said, but door-to-door marketing isn't easy.

"We start in the afternoon, talking to people who are home and noting where no one's home," Mitchell said. "Then we circle back later to hit the houses after people get home from work."

Some door-to-door activity is winding down as summer ends because AT&T assigned the jobs to college students working as summer interns who are now back on campus, he said. Other agents work for outside vendors hired by AT&T.

Comcast, AT&T's nemesis, has been going door to door to win customers "since day one," said Angelynne Amores, a spokeswoman for the cable operator.

AT&T's wired voice and Internet services are now being marketed in company stores that previously sold only wireless phones under the discontinued Cingular brand. The wired side of the company is becoming more like wireless in its aggressive ad campaigns intended to win customers back from Comcast by emphasizing lower prices.

It's a far cry from a decade ago when Chicago's dominant phone company faced little competition for residential customers and requires a new approach to marketing, said Mitchell.

"My job is to make AT&T Illinois act like a small company," he said. "We have to change to meet the changing market."

[destiny1]

Question for you. AT&T has recently spent a TON of money upgrading their cabinets (dslams, I assume) in the entire southern San Diego area. I've noticed this going on for several months now.

Yesterday, I got a mailing from them announcing their new "U-verse" service being available in our area for $59 per month. They tout this as a revolutionary new TV / internet system using fiber optics - fast, reliable, etc., etc. 26 HD channels (320 total, all digital), and download speeds of 1.5Mbps or higher.

What does this mean for us? Is this something we should be concerned about, or something Cupria can actually enhance?

I appreciate your wisdom on this, and thanks,


Thanks for your questions. At this stage AT&T is using compression technology and pair-bonding to roll out U-verse services. Clearly with advertised download speeds of 1.5 mbs, neither CupriaTM chipsets nor VDSL 2 is being utilitzed. The good news is that AT&T is feeling the 'heat' and the need to role out something new sooner rather than later. That is why U-verse is being rolled out using existing technology. A VDSL 2 rollout would require a whole new infrastructure buildout with far more DSLAMs that are located very close (1,000 feet or less) from the customer premises. The encouraging news is that Rim Semi Cupria chipsets could be plugged into AT&T's existing network and provide a seemless transition from 1.5 mbs-35 mbs and more.

D1;)

[cem727]

D1,

Is that your question and Brad's reply?

[destiny1]

D1,

Is that your question and Brad's reply?

A fellow posters question and my reply. I believe however, this is consistant with what Rim Semi might say.

[cem727]

D1,

Why don't you pass the question on to Brad so we can read his reply.

[destiny1]

Will do, however because of non-disclosure concerns, I wouldn't expect him to reveal anything that would implicate Rim Semi's involvement.

[cem727]

Let's be honest. You nor I don't know who is or isn't involved with RIM. I've heard peoples' opions about who's involved in RIM for far too long. Until a PR is released by RIM, it would be better that you not get anyone's hopes up.

[destiny1]

Will do, however because of non-disclosure concerns, I wouldn't expect him to reveal anything that would implicate Rim Semi's involvement.

Remember Cem, Brad has already stated in the 7/16/07 PL that with the deals and MOU's already established Rim Semi will do 100 million. That IS reason for hope.

http://www.rimsemi.com/letters/071707.html

D1;)

[cem727]

We all know he can say whatever he wants in a PL. Until a deal is inked and there is revenue in the coffers, it all means nothing. Seven years of PL's and hoping is a long time.

[destiny1]

We all know he can say whatever he wants in a PL. Until a deal is inked and there is revenue in the coffers, it all means nothing. Seven years of PL's and hoping is a long time.

I agree, seven years is quite a while. But if you review the historic developmental time frames of past technological innovatons, much the struggle Rim Semi has and continues to experience becomes ordinary and more clear in retrospect. More later.

D1 ;)

[deeba]

AT&T strategy lauded by business consulting firm

East Bay Business Times - 10:42 AM PDT Thursday, August 30, 2007

AT&T U-verse has been named "Best Business Strategy" by Stratecast, a subsidiary of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company.

AT&T U-verse is AT&T Inc.'s initiative to deliver Internet protocol, or IP-based, television (IPTV) service to residential customers across nine states.

The global telecom provider is building out its network with fiber cable to accommodate the IP-based platform that supports AT&T U-verse.

"Stratecast believes that AT&T's master strategy of deploying IPTV over a predominantly FTTN (fiber to the node) architecture will yield the greatest return for stockholders and maximum value for customers," says Pete Dailey, senior research analyst for Stratecast.

Lea Ann Champion, senior executive vice president for IP Operations and Services at AT&T, says the deployment of IP-based video services reflects AT&T's strategy to become the nation's preferred communications and entertainment provider by delivering integrated services to the three screens that consumers value most: the TV, the PC and the wireless phone.

"AT&T is changing the face of communications and entertainment through our deployment of U-verse services," she says.

AT&T Inc. launched its U-verse television service in the Bay Area in December, with initial availability in the East Bay in San Ramon and Danville. Along with parts of the South Bay, it was the service's first launch after the San Antonio market, where AT&T has its headquarters, and the Houston market.

The California launch followed passage of a new law in the state allowing cable providers to negotiate franchises on a statewide basis, instead of city by city. The company also announced in March that it would spend up to $1 billion over three years to upgrade its fiber-optic network in California to support the IPTV service.

San Antonio-based AT&T (NYSE: T) is a global communications holding company. Its California and Nevada headquarters are in San Ramon.

[destiny1]

This article is a bit dated. The fact remains however that for AT&T to provide HD IPTV to the majority of its uVerse customers, they will need CupriaTM chipsets.

AT&T officially announces HDTV

November 29, 2006

It's an open secret that the telcos need to offer HD content to compete with cable and satellite providers, so this week's announcement that AT&T will do just that comes as no surprise. New AT&T customers can receive two months of free HD content before having to pay $10 a month for the service. The announcement also includes advanced DVR functionality, whereby a subscriber can record up to four programs simultaneously and use a mobile phone as a remote control for the DVR. AT&T also announced new set-top boxes from Motorola that enable the functionality and some "one-click" maneuvering as well. The mobile functionality and HD in general are "nice-to-have" and necessary, respectively, but the simultaneous recording of shows is a feature I haven't yet seen in the U.S. marketplace. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a serious competitive differentiator and a step away from the "me-too" offerings.

[deeba]

From today's Chicago Tribune.
deeba:cool:


www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue_attsep25,0,7515998.story


AT&T applies for video permit
Company seeks state approval of franchise

By Jon Van


September 25, 2007

Although still a few months away from offering competitive video service in Illinois, AT&T on Monday applied to the state for a video franchise under a law enacted in June.

The application to the Illinois Commerce Commission should result in a permit granted to the phone company by the end of October to offer its U-verse video service here. Paul La Schiazza, the president of AT&T Illinois, said he expects to start offering the service in some communities early next year.

Since the law was enacted, AT&T has implemented business practices intended to comply with its requirements. These include consumer protection provisions such as requiring a service provider to tell a customer when a technician will visit a customer's home within a 4-hour time frame. If the technician doesn't meet the promised time of the visit, the customer is entitled to compensation.

"We want to make sure we can do everything required by the law," said La Schiazza. "Our application says that we believe we are at the point where we have the capability to meet the law's requirements."

AT&T workers are installing fiber upgrades to the company's existing network so that it can carry video, he said, and those upgrades will also improve the speed and reach of the company's high-speed digital subscriber line service.

A state law gave AT&T the opportunity to apply for one license from the state in lieu of having to apply to each municipality in exchange for an agreement that, among other things, calls for guaranteed customer service performance.

Under terms of the video franchising law, the company must make its video services available to 50 percent of customers within five years. La Schiazza said he expects demand will cause AT&T to exceed the law's 50 percent requirements.

"Our goal is to deploy the service as widely as possible," he said, "although there are some technical limitations."

----------

jvan@tribune.com