Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA25115; Thu, 22 Aug 1996 20:59:27 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 20:59:27 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608230059.UAA25115@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #431 TELECOM Digest Thu, 22 Aug 96 20:59:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 431 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson San Jose State University and PacBell Internet Services (Mike King) BellSouth and Newbridge Networks Forge Co-Marketing Venture (Mike King) Bells Allege Internet Growth Clogging Network (jodins@uswest.com) Rural Telephone Service (John W. Shaver) Actors Use ISDN to Remotely Tape Ads (Tad Cook) Telecom Scandal in India (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: San Jose State University and PacBell Internet Services Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 16:14:13 PDT Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 09:56:30 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: San Jose State University, Pacific Bell Internet Services Team Up To Offer Students And Faculty New Dial Up Internet Access Service FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tanya Orman, San Jose State University (408) 924-1166 torman@sjsuvm1.sjsu.edu Dave Miller, Pacific Bell Internet Services (916) 972-2811 dnmille@legal.pactel.com San Jose State University, Pacific Bell Internet Services Team Up To Offer Students And Faculty New Dial Up Internet Access Service SAN JOSE - The university that has launched the careers of many of Silicon Valley's brightest engineers, scientists, computer and high-technology experts is turning to Pacific Bell Internet Services to make it easier for the campus community to access the online world of the Internet. San Jose State University, the West Coast's oldest public institution of higher education, selected the San Francisco-based Internet services company to provide the new dial up access service for the school's 29,000 students, faculty and staff. Under a joint marketing and distribution agreement, Pacific Bell Internet Services will offer university users who live and work in the greater Bay Area special discount pricing, which includes unlimited local dial up Internet access at speeds up to 28.8 Kbps (kilobits per second). A standard, one-time setup fee for each user is also being waived as part of the deal. "The demand for Internet access is expanding so dramatically that we need to find ways to give our students easier, cost effective and routine access to the 'Net' to enhance their education," said University President Robert L. Caret. Students and faculty will be able to use the service to access online course materials, the library and other university services from their homes. Caret said the school needed more Internet access to aid academic research, enhance communications and make electronic mail as easy as making a local phone call. With Pacific Bell Internet, the university user will get: * High speed 28.8 Kbps access to every dial up point * Unlimited Internet access at a discounted price * Support for both IBM compatible and Macintosh personal computers * Free, customized version of the latest Web browser client software from industry-leading Netscape Communications * 24 hour, 7 day a week customer service and support * Specialized services and support for disabled users * Unrestricted access to the World Wide Web, e-mail and newsgroups The dial up access service, which is available free for one month, offers students, teachers and staff fast, reliable connections to the Internet, global e-mail and access to a vast array of directories and news and information, according to Regina Wiedemann, sales and channel management vice president for Pacific Bell Internet Services. "Today, the Internet is an integral part of campus and community life," she said. "Students, faculty and staff rely on it for a wide variety of academic, administrative and social activities. That's why it's important for this service to be as widely available, reliable and as easy to use as the telephone." In addition to fast, reliable and affordable Internet access, the Pacific Bell Internet service includes a free, customized version of Netscape Navigator tm , Netscape's popular browser software with simple, easy online registration (toll free 800 number), customer support and convenient payment options via credit card or the monthly Pacific Bell phone bill. The service will also support other Web browser software and offers university users another important feature -- a unique navigational tool for access to local content and information. Unlike other Internet service providers who require users to purchase telephone service from their company to receive the full array of pricing options, Pacific Bell Internet is available to all prospective users without a separate, higher pricing structure for non-Pacific Bell customers. University officials plan to promote the availability of Pacific Bell Internet through publicity and a series of direct mail campaigns beginning next week. For more information or to order the service, San Jose State University students, faculty and staff can call toll free 1-800-708-INET (4638), Dept. 705. Free registration software will also be available at the school's computer center. Located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, San Jose State University is a metropolitan campus of 26,000 students and more than 3,000 faculty and support staff. The university has aided the development of the computer industry and the resulting nationwide technological advances by supplying Silicon Valley companies with the largest source -- 6,000 annually -- of engineering, science and business graduates. Founded in 1857, it was the first public institution of higher learning on the West Coast. From its humble beginnings as a normal school to train teachers for the developing frontier, it has matured into a master's university offering 191 bachelor's and master's degrees. San Jose State University prides itself in its cultural and ethnic diversity and is pre-eminent in broadly educating leaders and professionals for an increasingly complex and global society. Introduced in May, Pacific Bell Internet is the brand name for Internet access services provided by Pacific Bell Internet Services (www.pacbell.net), a full service Internet access provider serving business and residential customers in California. The company offers a broad range of Internet access services, including e-mail, news groups, the World Wide Web and a host of other features. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Bell, the largest unit of parent company Pacific Telesis Group, a San Francisco-based diversified telecommunications corporation. Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth and Newbridge Networks Forge Co-Marketing Venture Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 16:15:42 PDT Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 14:37:44 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH AND NEWBRIDGE NETWORKS FORGE CO-MARKETING VENTURE BellSouth and Newbridge Networks Forge Co-Marketing Venture to Provide Total Digital Networking Solutions HERNDON, VA -- - BellSouth and Newbridge Networks today launched a strategic co-marketing venture, part of the BellSouth Network Complementary Applications Program (NCAP), to provide the full range of Newbridge(r) networking systems and services to BellSouth customers. Effective immediately, BellSouth and Newbridge Networks will jointly market the entire Newbridge MainStreet(r) and VIVID(tm) family of products along with the BellSouth narrowband and wideband services. BellSouth and Newbridge Networks, the first ATM networking solutions provider to be selected for the NCAP technology partners program, entered into this agreement to meet growing customer demand for comprehensive network solutions that can handle a multitude of communications traffic, interconnect diverse systems on a unified platform and provide a seamless migration path to high bandwidth applications. "BellSouth is delighted to join with Newbridge Networks to create optimal digital networking solutions for our customers," said John Thacker, BellSouth Director of Indirect Marketing. "The co-marketing agreement with Newbridge is BellSouth's first with a provider of ATM products, and we believe that the high level of performance and service we deliver will set the industry standard." Using the comprehensive suite of Newbridge networking equipment, BellSouth customers will for the first time be able to combine all of their high-speed communications traffic -- including voice, data, video and image -- and interconnect Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) on one seamless advanced network. Customers will also benefit from the convenience of having a single point of contact for the full range of digital networking needs, versus negotiating with multiple vendors, and from access to round-the-clock customer support provided by Newbridge Networks. Failsafe command and control will be provided by the powerful Newbridge 46020 MainStreet Network Manager, which interworks with the entire family of Newbridge MainStreet products, and offers features including point-and-click configuration, partitioning, and the ability to manage thousands of nodes and multiple technologies from a single site. "As customers' networks become more diverse and complex, there is a strong demand for full service, unified networking and systems solutions that smooth the path from low bandwidth to high bandwidth applications," said Mike Pascoe, President of Newbridge Networks Inc. "Now customers can benefit from the combined power of BellSouth's peerless network services and support capabilities and the world's leading network equipment and network management provider." BellSouth provides telecommunications services in nine Southeastern states, including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. With its headquarters in Atlanta, BellSouth serves more than 21 million local telephone lines and provides local exchange and intraLATA long distance service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world. Newbridge Networks (www.newbridge.com) is the global leader in ATM and TDM systems, according to independent research. The company is a world leader in designing, manufacturing and servicing a comprehensive family of networking products and systems that delivers the power of multimedia communications to organizations in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Newbridge products are the choice of an expanding range of customers which includes most of the world's 200 largest telecommunications service providers, and over 10,000 corporations, government organizations, and other institutions. The company has facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia. Newbridge Networks Corporation is a public company whose common shares are listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NN) and on The Toronto Stock Exchange (NNC) in Canada. # # # For Information Contact: David A. Storey, BellSouth, (205)977-5001 Vivian Kelly, Newbridge Networks, (703)736-5761 --------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: jodins@uswest.com Date: Thu, 22 Aug 96 14:50:59 MDT Subject: Bells Allege Internet Growth Clogging Network BELL STUDIES SAY FLOOD OF INTERNET USE IS HARMING ACCESS TO PHONE NETWORK Copyright 1996 Warren Publishing, Inc. 8-21-96 Studies sponsored by several RHCs suggest that rapid growth of Internet calls for usage-sensitive pricing for Internet service providers (ISPs). And U S West (USW) urged FCC to consider burden imposed by Internet on phone network when reforming access charges to forestall what telcos claim would be disaster. Four Bell companies -- Bell Atlantic (BA), Nynex, Pacific Telesis (PT) and USW -- said in studies that rapid Internet growth is forcing LECs to pay for costly network improvements while not providing means to recover those costs from ISPs, which pay flat fee for lines and don't pay access charges. America's Carriers Telecommunication Assn. (ACTA) submitted BA's study last week in petition asking FCC to regulate Internet telephony (CD Aug 19 p2). PT study said that company had $13.6 million in central office reengineering costs in first half of year but received no access charge revenue from ISPs. ISPs pay 12% of what long distance carriers pay for similar service, telco said. Nynex had said in July 10 letter to FCC that its Internet lines were growing 10% per month, meaning that "the rapid expansion of such traffic suggested by the explosive growth in lines portends dire consequences for network access." BA's study of traffic in first quarter of year estimated that serving ISPs would cost $30 million in 1996 but revenues from ISPs would be $8.2 million. Assuming 40% growth in Internet traffic per year, "this cross-subsidy would grow to approximately $120 million in 5 years," study said. USW said "explosive use of the Internet... will continue to require additional investment to prevent serious blockage." To solve problem, telco said FCC needs to put usage-sensitive pricing in place to "send rational pricing signals" and agency should consider issue as part of access charge reform proceeding, which it has said it plans to complete by early 1997. FCC official said privately that agency is actively looking at issue but hasn't decided on course of action. For now, it's "focused on reforming the broader regulatory structure" of access charges and universal service, he said. New technologies such as asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) and integrated services digital network (ISDN) that turn traditional phone lines into high-speed lines and cable modems could make difference, official said: "With all those uncertainties, we're trying to determine how significant a problem it is." But agency is concerned about "incentives created by our pricing structure." FCC Chmn. Hundt has said in recent speeches that he doesn't favor regulating Internet telephony as traditional telephony but that different pricing structures should be examined, official said. Four studies are first information FCC has received on topic, he said. Agency hasn't opened formal docket on issue, and received studies after asking telcos to substantiate their anecdotal arguments, official said. Executives of several Internet or technology trade organizations said they hadn't conducted studies or examined telco studies in detail. But Jack Nadler, counsel for Information Technologies Assn. of America (ITAA), said unbundling subloop would alleviate problem because data traffic could avoid going through switch. Data packets have address labels on them and don't need switches to be directed to their destinations, he said. "There is obviously a need for fundamental access charge reform," he said: "Simply taking the subsidy-ridden regime and dumping it on ISPs and saying they should pay like IXCs, that is not reform." Commercial Internet Exchange hasn't taken formal position, but Asst. Dir. Ivan Kotcher said ISPs have developed to point where "it's unrealistic to expect not to pay anything." But he said they shouldn't have to pay what IXCs do and regulators should be wary of Bell companies' claims that Internet should be regulated to "protect the public." CDviaNewsEDGE/LAN: 8/21/96 Copyright 1996 Warren Publishing, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Shaver, John W. Subject: Rural Telephone Service Date: Thu, 22 Aug 96 10:20:00 PDT I have family in eastern Colorado. US West has sold all of the service in the outlying counties beyond the metropolitan Denver and suburbs to a local Telephone Cooperative. They get rid of all their old switches, problems and let the coop struggle with it. Don't have many details, but I can't keep wondering if they didnot let go of the cellular service also since they might not have access to the transmitters and would not have service personnel or contracts in the near vicinity. I grew up on a locally owned telephone company. We were just inside the Colorado border from Kansas and were service by a Bell exchange in St. Francis about 20 miles away. We were West St. Francis Colorado. In the early 30s, a one-wire ground return system was inagurated. That sufficed with the wooden crank phones and local dry cell service in the home until the 50s. The Rural Electical Administration put in power lines and 60 cycle ground currents overwhelmed the ground returns. The service delivered to the common state line became two-wire with transformers. not improvedment. The Colorado company then put in two wire service above ground which endured until the late 70s. The exhange became a switch in Kansas. A telephone cooperative came alive and plowed underground copper cables. No ice or wind problems and gave rural customers private dial service. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Actors Use ISDN to Remotely Tape Ads Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 13:38:47 PDT Ad Agencies, Talent Use ISDN Phone Lines to Remotely Tape Radio Ads By Otesa Middleton, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Aug. 21 -- Actors no longer have to be in the same studio to tape radio commercials. They don't even have to be in the same state. When Richmond's Barber Martin & Associates recently recorded a Heilig-Meyers Co. spot, the producer was in Richmond; the engineer and an actor were in Asheville, N.C.; and an actress was in Greenville, S.C. Using a microphone, a digital stereo system and high-speed ISDN telephone lines, the Richmond-based advertising agency coordinated everything from its headquarters in the Boulders office park. Integrated Services Digital Network technology transforms sound into digital signals and then translates it back at the receiving end. The regular telephone lines are divided into two channels to carry the digital information. The result is exceptional sound quality, said Bill Martin, vice president of Barber Martin. "It sounds great compared to telephone reports you hear on television," Martin said. "(The technology) enables us to do better work, quicker," he added. "It broadens our talent search. We could use someone next door or on the other side of the country." Before Barber Martin started using this technology in March, the agency usually sent a producer to coordinate tapings. "It was very costly," Martin said. If the agency didn't send someone to the taping location, the person would listen in by telephone, then wait for the studio to send a tape of the commercial overnight. Now, just as if he were on-site, Martin can call the shots from his office. Because the sound quality is so good, he can tell the engineer when to make the music louder or talk to the actors about the inflection in their voices. "If the music or sound effects are too loud, you can't tell on the phone," Martin said. Barber Martin uses the equipment on about five commercials a month, and "I see our use increasing a great deal," Martin said. Some actors who do a lot of work have the ISDN lines and special equipment in their homes. The technology also can be used for television commercials with announcers or actors who aren't speaking on camera, Martin said. Barber Martin leases the equipment from ProComm Studio Services Inc. in Asheville, N.C. ProComm also provides the voice talent for many of the agency's commercials. "We've been using ISDN lines for two years," said Bill James, senior engineer at ProComm. Before it started using the digital telephone lines, ProComm had actors come into its studios to do commercials, while agencies listened to the sessions by telephone. Now, thanks to the new technology, ProComm has doubled the number of actors it works with to 50. "Now we can offer agencies additional voices that haven't been heard in their market," James said. The other agencies that ProComm works with do not have the equipment installed in their offices. Officials at those agencies usually listen in from recording studios in their towns. "We do so many sessions with Barber Martin, it made sense for them to have everything in their office," he said. Terry Stroud, director of marketing at In Your Ear, said his Richmond-based studio has been using ISDN lines for three years. "We also use it to send radio spots out for distribution. Everything is immediate usage vs., at your best, overnight," Stroud said. He said many local advertising agencies use In Your Ear's facilities to listen in on recording sessions. "Before we started using this, agency personnel would go to the recording facility or try to listen over a normal phone line," he said. Martin said his agency leases the equipment, which sells for about $10,000, because of the rapid pace of technology. "It's smarter to lease because by the time the lease is up, there will be something else bigger and better," he said. "It's like your first Xerox machine," Martin said. "You wonder how in the world you ever did without it." ------------------------------ Subject: Telecom Scandal in India Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 11:37:22 PDT From: rishab@dxm.org (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Reply-To: rishab@dxm.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Several days ago in the Digest I printed a report on this event from another correspondent but it was not quite as detailed as the report which follows sent to us by our regular correspndent from the {Indian Techonomist}. PAT] ----------------- The Indian Techonomist: bulletin, August 19, 1996 Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. All rights reserved Indian ex-Minister for Telecom raided; Harris Corp jv in trouble August 19, 1996: On Friday night about US$ 1 million in small-denomination rupee notes was found in the homes of Sukh Ram, who was Communications Minister during the past year's telecom privatisation process. On Saturday Runu Ghosh, a senior official in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), was arrested on corruption charges, including having allegedly favoured an Indian telecom equipment manufacturer Advanced Radio Masts Ltd (ARM) in purchase contracts. ARM, which denies being favoured, is involved in two projects with US-based Harris Corp, in equipment manufacturing and as a joint bidder (with Harris and Shyam Telecom, another Indian firm) for telecom licences. Mr Sukh Ram has revelled in charges of corruption before, notably during protests in Parliament after the announcement of changes in the bidding process to the benefit of one of the bidding consortiums (comprising the Indian HFCL, Israeli Bezeq and Thai Shinawatra). More significantly has been his instutionalised subversion of the checks and balances supposed to be present in the DoT's bureaucratic purchase process. Mr Sukh Ram liked to clear personally every purchase, and every tender for equipment. He either transferred or ignored bureaucrats objecting to this breach of procedure - which reportedly extended to his control of the purchases of government-owned but independent MTNL, which runs the phone network in Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay). The raid resulted from police investigations into a DoT contract for MARR (multiple access rural radio) systems awarded to ARM, a small (at the time of the order, in 1992) Indian telecom equipment manufacturer. The DoT allegedly paid ARM approximately $500,000 more than the order was worth. ARM claims that the DoT tried to reduce its price by that amount, and eventually paid the full price instead; it denies links to the Minister. ARM is in the process of setting up a $3.5 million joint venture with Harris Corp for assembling small exchanges in India; it is part of the Telelink consortium whose other members are Shyam Telecom (India), Harris Corp and Guangdong PTT. Telelink was the winning bidder for a licence for basic telephony in the northern state of Rajasthan. Telecom companies have for long grumbled privately about the Ministry's under-the-table "processing charges" - orders and contracts were generally delayed until a personal meeting with the right people - but lacking proof of demands for bribes and fearing that the competition may not go along nobody openly protested. Some companies in particular have been highlighted by the press for their complaisance: HFCL, ARM and Shyam Telecom among others. All three are small firms that grew over 100-fold in turnover in the past five years - coinciding with Mr Sukh Ram's term in office. This does not mean that growth was the result of bribing the Minister, of course. It coincided with the general growth of the Indian telecom equipment industry which has also occasionally been astonishing (the Telecom Equipment Manufacturer's Association estimates 250% annual growth in exports this year), as well in the opening up of the DoT purchase system to the private sector (previously it bought equipment only from govenment-owned firms). Small start-ups succeeding rapidly would be expected in such a scenario, and the huge growth figures of these three companies is balanced with their small revenues even after growth - under $100 million all. The more pertinent point is that as long as the DoT was the only (domestic) purchaser of equipment, it held the fate of small (and even large) companies in its hands. If it was a private company, it would have used its monopsony to beat down purchase costs; as a branch of government its procedures allowed that fatal control to fall into the hands of greedy bureaucrats and politicians. Almost any company, for any purpose, had to pay something to be considered. A previous Minister allegedly demanded $100,000 from all bidders for a particular tender - though the winner would naturally be decided on merit. It was hoped that the opening up of the telecom service sector to private providers would change this, offering equipment suppliers more customers (each in competition with the DoT's own network, though, which would remain by far the largest buyer). This privatisation process, though underway fairly successfully in pager and to a lesser degree in cellular services, has all but come to a halt in the case of basic wireline telephony. One reason is that basic telephony is the only service the DoT itself provides, and where it would face real competition both as a seller of services and a buyer of equipment. Mr Sukh Ram's million and Ms Ghosh's jewellery and Swiss watches form only the tip of a golden iceberg. With the DoT's $1.5 billion worth of equipment purchases every year, $1 million is an unbelievably small profit margin - particularly as the police and tax officials were only searching for half that amount. Ms Ghosh is believed to be keen on assisting in the investigations, and is thought to know much - the Minister could hardly clear all the purchases on his own, and had allegedly put her in a position of considerable power. So more details should come to light soon - and at any rate will keep the more corrupt of DoT officials worried stiff. Meanwhile, Mr Sukh Ram himself is believed to be in Britain or America for medical treatment, but according to early reports has simply vanished into thin air. The former Minister did much for Indian telecom, not all negative. He realised the economic importance of communications in relatively poor, rural areas of India and benefitted politically through his insistence on state-wide telephone connectivity in his home state of Himachal Pradesh. As last week's events have definitively proved, he also recognised the importance of telephones to his own wallet (or shall we say bedsheets, plastic bags and suitcases - which is where the money was found). Did anyone say telecom in India was not commercially viable? ------------------------ For the latest on cellular and basic bids see http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/31jul96.html On pager services: http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/15may96.html On cellular services: http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/cellular.html The Indian Techonomist: weekly summary. http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/ Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (rishab@techonomist.dxm.org) A4/204 Ekta Vihar 9 Indraprastha Extension New Delhi 110092 INDIA May be distributed electronically provided that this notice is attached ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #431 ******************************