Industry News

[smtm]

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=131805
Embarq to Test Telco TV Service

[jjz34]

Well if there is a connection to Rim here, and there better be a connection between Rim and Embarq, the second paragraph of that article certainly doesn't make it sound like a big deal. Maybe Embarg is trying to throw their competition off the scent.

[destiny1]

Here is an older article talking about Embarq's view toward's wireline services. Wireline is more important to them than they are letting on.

May 19, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV deemed crucial as Embarq embarks

Chief executive officer says company plans to become more than wire-line operation

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL
New telephone company Embarq Corp. is facing an age-old problem: How to expand market share when evolving technology challenges your business model.
Embarq is a spinoff of Sprint Nextel Corp., launched on Thursday as Sprint shed its traditional land-line phone business to concentrate on wireless service.
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For Embarq's local land-line users, little will change, save for the new logo on their monthly statements. But Embarq's executives hope to usher in a new growth period at the utility -- and they say Las Vegas is essential to that expansion.
"Las Vegas is our single-most important market in the country. It's our largest market in terms of customers and revenue," said Dan Hesse, chairman and chief executive officer of Embarq and a former president and chief executive officer of AT&T Wireless Services. "It's a great test bed for us."
Before you discount the idea of a land line-based phone company snaring new market share in the age of cell phones and voice-over-Internet protocol, understand that Embarq's executives intend to transform the business into more than a conventional wire-line operation.
On June 5, Embarq will launch a voice-mail program that will give customers a single in-box for both cell-phone and land-line calls. Consumers will be able to check messages online, scrolling directly to the most important voice mails in their queue. Embarq is also testing a cell phone that uses mobile-phone networks outside and switches to Wi-Fi in the office. Users will avoid gobbling up cell-phone minutes while at work, and can leave the office while on conference calls without dropping the conversation.
Embarq also sells Internet service via a digital-subscriber-line division, and the company has an ongoing Wi-Fi trial with emergency first-responders in Henderson.
"Parts of our business are declining, but our goal is to more than make up for those declines by growing in other sectors and integrating new technologies in more useful ways," Hesse said.
Yet, Embarq isn't giving up on land lines.
Hesse sees a need for wire lines that can carry an increasing volume of business data. Wireless providers will also need to continue to lease wire lines from Embarq to help transmit their customers' calls. Also, he predicted, the "vast majority" of consumers and businesses will continue to have both wireless and land-line phones for the foreseeable future.
Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with Massachusetts technology consultant Ovum, said the wire-line industry remains profitable.
"Embarq financed the whole growth strategy of the Sprint we know today. It paid for (entry into) wireless and Internet," Entner said. "Embarq today, even though it is losing lines, is still a cash cow. The way the business is structured, customers pay $30 to $40 a month for service, and it costs the company significantly less to provide that service."
In Southern Nevada, Embarq's land-line business is especially healthy.
The Las Vegas market adds about 70,000 new residents a year, and that has buffered Embarq from the slides it's experiencing in land-line customers nationwide. Some media reports have pegged those losses at 5 percent a year. In Las Vegas, however, Embarq isn't experiencing significant line loss, Hesse said.
"Our line numbers look good in Las Vegas," he said.
Hesse added that Embarq also benefits from Southern Nevada's fresh infrastructure.
"Las Vegas is a very progressive market and a very competitive market, so it's a market we really need to be on top of," said Hesse, who's visited Las Vegas half a dozen times since he joined Embarq in June. "Las Vegas is growing out all the time with new neighborhoods, so we're always putting in our most advanced fiber and routers. We have a very modern network in Las Vegas by necessity."
Entner agreed that Embarq benefits from Southern Nevada's continuing development.
"You have the opportunity to make the whole city a telecommunications nirvana from end to end," Entner said.
Embarq's fresh start didn't have the warmest welcome on Wall Street.
On Thursday, in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares in Embarq opened at $45.40 but then fell to $43.75 in afternoon trading. The company's ticker symbol is EQ.
Hesse attributed the price drop to a changing investor base. Sprint Nextel stockholders aren't too keen on owning shares in a land-line business that they might consider obsolete, he said. Hesse added that Embarq's financial advisers have counseled company executives to expect downward pressure on the stock's price for a few months, at least until investors who prefer "a more stable, higher-dividend kind of stock" discover Embarq.

[McCloud]

Originally Posted by smtm

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=131805
Embarq to Test Telco TV Service

We plan to do a small facilities-based video trial in a single market next year. We have no current plans to deploy this new technology more widely, and we envision satellite TV as a key element of our bundled offerings in most of our markets for many years to come," an Embarq statement reads.

I don't particularly like the" Small facilities based" trial or the "next year" parts. Actually most of it is a little disappointing, however, you never know and plans change. Actually, you wouldn't expect them to come out with a statement like ""we expect to revolutionalize the telco tv offerings with a new technology from Rim"

Ernie

[destiny1]

Originally Posted by McCloud

We plan to do a small facilities-based video trial in a single market next year. We have no current plans to deploy this new technology more widely, and we envision satellite TV as a key element of our bundled offerings in most of our markets for many years to come," an Embarq statement reads.

I don't particularly like the" Small facilities based" trial or the "next year" parts. Actually most of it is a little disappointing, however, you never know and plans change. Actually, you wouldn't expect them to come out with a statement like ""we expect to revolutionalize the telco tv offerings with a new technology from Rim"

Ernie

Hmmm, and the Feds aren't going the cut the discount rate either! Sounds like they are attempting to steer attention away from the trial to me. This is inconsistent with the reality of what's happening in markets like Las Vegas. Remember Embarq is largely a wireline business. Because leveraging their wireline assets is key to success, saying they will depend on satellite for video broadband access makes no sense.

In their Las Vegas market, because of distance and degraded infrastructure issues, many customers have no high speed access at all. Satellite will not allow interactive video or gaming, (generally <6 mbs download only). Everyone knows having the ability to upload as well as download is a huge part of the internet experience. Embarq is marketing itself as an innovative wireline carrier. If video customers have only one-way communication at much slower speeds than the competition, where is the value-added? Secondly, the costs for deploying satellite will be higher than a simply CupriaTM chipset upgrade to the copper loop already in place. Thirdly, satellite pipes are not as big as can be achieved by deploying Cupria chipsets. I don't believe this line for a minute. I don’t think Embarq does either.

D1

[Stoppmann]

Originally Posted by McCloud

We plan to do a small facilities-based video trial in a single market next year. We have no current plans to deploy this new technology more widely, and we envision satellite TV as a key element of our bundled offerings in most of our markets for many years to come," an Embarq statement reads.

I don't particularly like the" Small facilities based" trial or the "next year" parts. Actually most of it is a little disappointing, however, you never know and plans change. Actually, you wouldn't expect them to come out with a statement like ""we expect to revolutionalize the telco tv offerings with a new technology from Rim"

Ernie

Here is another viewpoint.

Embarq said when RSMI announced their relationship with Embarq that "Embarq is investigating multiple technologies in support of future wireline multimedia services," explained Steve Carter, Director of Network Services for Embarq. "This initiative with Rim Semi will help to determine if Embarq can leverage a new technology to give our customers new services across our wireline network”

Embarq is making a distinction between tranmission service and new product sevices

http://www.rimsemi.com/press/20060911.html

The use of the word "technology" is so generic. We shouldn't assume that the new technology only means Cupria. In the statement above, Embarq is investigating multiple technologies. I would think it multiple technologies would include the transmission technoloy which would include Cupria. But there is also a host of "technologies" that is associated with delivering TV to the home. All of these technologies have to work together in order to provide the end user with a meaningful experienc. I believe that TV service package is different than transmission service.

These headlines state that Embarq will try a "TV service package" in a small facilities-based video trial in a single market next year. When they say they have no plans deploy this new service technology, this statment can be made without referring to Cupria

The headlines don't state that they are testing a new transmission technology that will provide a last mile solution, although it could be implied. In fact, Embarq won't provide any details on the technology that will transmit the TV service package.

Anyway, all IMHO.

[McCloud]

Originally Posted by Stoppmann

Here is another viewpoint.

Embarq said when RSMI announced their relationship with Embarq that "Embarq is investigating multiple technologies in support of future wireline multimedia services," explained Steve Carter, Director of Network Services for Embarq. "This initiative with Rim Semi will help to determine if Embarq can leverage a new technology to give our customers new services across our wireline network”

Embarq is making a distinction between tranmission service and new product sevices

http://www.rimsemi.com/press/20060911.html

The use of the word "technology" is so generic. We shouldn't assume that the new technology only means Cupria. In the statement above, Embarq is investigating multiple technologies. I would think it multiple technologies would include the transmission technoloy which would include Cupria. But there is also a host of "technologies" that is associated with delivering TV to the home. All of these technologies have to work together in order to provide the end user with a meaningful experienc. I believe that TV service package is different than transmission service.

These headlines state that Embarq will try a "TV service package" in a small facilities-based video trial in a single market next year. When they say they have no plans deploy this new service technology, this statment can be made without referring to Cupria

The headlines don't state that they are testing a new transmission technology that will provide a last mile solution, although it could be implied. In fact, Embarq won't provide any details on the technology that will transmit the TV service package.

Anyway, all IMHO.

Actually then Embarg could deploy Cupria sooner, just for the broadband and then test next year for tv service package.

Ernie

[Stoppmann]

Originally Posted by McCloud

Actually then Embarg could deploy Cupria sooner, just for the broadband and then test next year for tv service package.

Ernie

I would think so, as long as Cupria can transmit at speeds and distances as advertised.

Brad published a PL in February 2007.

http://www.rimsemi.com/letters/022807.html

“There is nothing wrong with IPTV that Cupria™ cannot fix.”

There seems to be tranmission problems and software problems Cupria is designed to fix the trasmission problem. But "the telcos also struggle with software problems. There is a vast layer of protocols, computer systems and people who run the network. It is not as automated as most people think. While Cupria™ does not directly solve most of the software problems, it can help by simplifying the overall network. A Cupria™-equipped network simply has fewer nodes and less complexity. It is designed to fit within the telcos existing topology which is well understood and supported."

[doughjo]

AT&T Introduces U-verse in Sacramento Area
Monday August 20, 12:01 am ET
Customers Have a New Choice in Television
High Definition Programming and Other Compelling Features Make AT&T U-verse TV 'Cooler Than Cable'


SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A new world of communications and entertainment is now available to thousands of residents in the Sacramento, Stockton, and Modesto areas. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T - News) has announced the launch of AT&T U-verse(SM) in parts of local communities, including the city of Sacramento, Sacramento County, Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Folsom, Gold River, Lincoln, Modesto, Rancho Cordova, Rocklin and Stockton.
ADVERTISEMENT


AT&T U-verse uses AT&T's new fiber-rich network to offer cutting-edge television and high speed Internet services. AT&T is the only national provider to offer a 100 percent Internet Protocol (IP)-based television service, making U-verse TV "cooler than cable" and one of the most robust and feature-rich services available today.

AT&T U-verse offers customers a combination of next-generation digital television -- including access to more than 26 High Definition (HD) channels -- and high speed Internet access. The award-winning AT&T U-verse TV includes cutting-edge features that are unmatched in the market, and the new U-verse enabled AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet builds on AT&T's position as the nation's leading provider of broadband DSL.

AT&T will continue to increase U-verse availability throughout the area on an ongoing basis.

"We're thrilled to bring AT&T U-verse to even more Californians," said Loretta Walker, AT&T vice president and general manager for the Sacramento area. "Our current California customers have told us that they enjoy the features, value and choice that U-verse TV offers, and we know the Sacramento Valley will love it too."

The expansion of AT&T U-verse services in California follows progressive legislation passed by the California Legislature and signed in September 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Beginning today, where available, AT&T U-verse TV will offer Sacramento Valley customers:


-- A compelling variety of TV packages with more than 320 channels to
choose from, including digital music, local, movie and sports
programming, as well as a premium Spanish-language package. Most
programming packages include up to three HD-capable receivers -- one
with a digital video recorder (DVR) that allows customers to pause,
rewind, replay and record live TV -- at no extra charge. (Customers may
add more receivers for $5 each a month.)
-- More HD programming than the local cable provider. HD technology
produces images more than twice as detailed as standard analog TV and
delivers rich, realistic video and multi-channel, movie-theater-quality
sound. AT&T U-verse TV offers customers access to a lineup of more than
26 HD channels, available in both 720p and 1080i formats, along with HD
DVR capability. Access to HD service is $10 a month with any U-verse TV
package.
-- AT&T Yahoo! Web and Mobile Remote Access to DVR, which allows U-verse
TV and Internet customers to schedule recordings from any Web-connected
PC or compatible AT&T mobile phone (wireless service charges apply)
using their AT&T Yahoo! account. These features are unique to AT&T
among local video providers.
-- The ability to record up to four programs at once using a DVR receiver.
This capability is another exclusive feature unmatched in the
marketplace.
-- Built-in Picture-in-Picture functionality that allows subscribers to
"channel surf" on any television without leaving the program they're
watching.
-- Fast channel-changing, reducing the delay experienced with other
digital video services.
-- A growing Video on Demand (VOD) library with one-touch access to movies
and events.
-- The ability to search for programs using the title or an actor's name
to receive real-time, relevant results from upcoming linear or VOD
programs.
-- Easy-to-use parental controls to block live programs, recorded programs
or videos by specific channel or ratings.
-- Specially designed U-verse receivers, manufactured by Motorola, all of
which are HD-capable and include universal remote controls that provide
backlit buttons and one-touch access to VOD and other features.


AT&T plans to add more channels and interactive applications in the future.

Customers can choose from multiple combinations of TV and Internet packages to customize their entertainment experience. In addition to U100, U200 and the popular U300 and U400 packages, AT&T also offers U-family, a market-leading family-friendly programming option. Current AT&T U-verse TV offers start at $44 a month, depending on the selected programming and Internet packages (other monthly charges apply).

Now through Sept. 30, new customers can join AT&T U-verse and receive their choice of TV service for the first full month or one year of The Movie Package when they choose the U200 package or above, or customers who order a qualifying package online can receive both offers. Thereafter, customers will continue to receive regular recurring monthly discounts on their U-verse package when they subscribe to a bundle of TV and Internet services. AT&T is also offering new customers a 30-day money-back guarantee and free professional installation by an AT&T technician.

Three packages of AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet U-verse Enabled are featured for AT&T U-verse customers:


-- Elite: Downstream up to 6.0 Mbps, upstream up to 1.0 Mbps.
-- Pro: Downstream up to 3.0 Mbps, upstream up to 1.0 Mbps.
-- Express: Downstream up to 1.5 Mbps, upstream up to 1.0 Mbps.


All high speed Internet packages offered as part of AT&T U-verse include wireless home-networking at no additional charge, giving users the freedom to access online photos, streaming video, games and other information using a wireless-enabled laptop or other device. Subscribers also receive virtually unlimited e-mail storage and powerful anti-virus and anti-spam software.

The deployment of next-generation video services reflects AT&T's strategy to become customers' preferred communications and entertainment provider and to deliver a video solution that provides greater value, flexibility and simplicity than competitors' offerings. AT&T U-verse TV represents a critical new service in the company's video portfolio, which includes AT&T Homezone(SM) service and satellite broadcast offerings. AT&T U-verse TV also underscores the company's strategy to deliver integrated services to the three screens that consumers value most: the TV, the PC and the wireless phone.

Customers seeking additional information on AT&T U-verse -- or to find out if it's available in their area -- can visit http://uverse.att.com.

Note: This AT&T release and other news announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.

About AT&T

[destiny1]

Based on the advertised payload (6 mbs), AT&T is certainly not using CupriaTM tech yet. And they are very likely not using VDSL 2 (compression, more likely). But it is encouraging to note as the "only national provider to offer a 100 percent Internet Protocol (IP)-based television service," AT&T will certainly be evaluating CupriaTM tech at some point. Since we have good reason to believe Alcatel is onboard, that process may have already begun.
D1