[Additonal Info] Pat
Here's one more on Siemens and some other noteworthy tid bits
Siemens to sell German cable service
Publication Date: 04/02/97
Synopsis:
The chief executive of Siemens, the German telecom group, Heinrich von
Pierer, anounced that the company was to sell its TV cable network that supplies 350,000 German households. Siemens has opted out from the cable TV to concentrate on supplying telecom hardware and software as part of a refocusing strategy. The Siemens cable network is thought to be worth about DM400 million ($244m), reports Frederick Studemann, from Frankfurt, in the Financial Times, although the company would not comment, as it is still in discussion with potential buyers.
Vebacom,the second-largest cable operator, after Deutsche Telekom, would be interested in the network, as it wishes to reach more end-customers for cable and pay-TV (to increase its share of the cable market from 10% to 15%), and also to be able offer digital telephone and multimedia services in the future.
Deutsche Telekom announces its global plans for 1997
Publication Date: 06/02/97
Synopsis:
The president of Deutsche Telekom, Ron Sommer, reckons his group has
everything it needs to become a global market leader. Yesterday, at an
international colloquium in Munich, Sommer announced the group's intentions to "intensify the presence of Deutsche Telekom on an international scale".
Their alliance, formed in 1994, with France Telecom and the American Spirit is the main pressure point with the common company Global One "which in just 1 year has become more important than Concert". Deutsche Telekom wants to reinforce its penetration in the major companies of Europe, North America and Asia, and to develop further in the East. Having registered a 6 % increase in turnover in 1996 (more than 63 thousand million marks) and released 6 thousand million for development (7 thousand million in 1995), Deutsche Telekom is to continue its efforts in 1997 to improve results and lighten the debt. Ron Sommer states that if cable TV is in heavy deficit it is due to huge investment in the last few years. Strongly in favour of a unique digital television standard, he equally made clear that Deutsche Telekom does not wish to be a market leader again in this field, and prefers to remain independent. The choice of its new digital decoder is currently under discussion with the Kirch group.
Internet telephony - is it good to talk?
Publication Date: 06/02/97
Synopsis:
David Evans in Computer Weekly offers a summary of developments in the
practice of Web telephony; in the USA, phone companies have formed
America's Carriers Telecommunication Association to oppose the Internet; in Britain the UK government and the regulator, Oftel, are said to be watching the situation in case web telephony threatens the vast sums made from telephone charges at present.
Companies can use an ATM link for its global intranet, and employ the new type of servers,which are able to hook up the Internet and also interface with traditional phone switchboards. Video phones are being adapted to the Internet, and the Intell MMX chip will offer much better audio and graphics, thus developing global communications to new levels.
Even as British Telecom moves into the Internet market, selling gateway facilities and intranets for business customers, it is using Web messages to set off analogue calls. For example in an experiment in Suffolk, the local police can send a text message ('shoplifter alert') to a Web server, which using synthetic speech software translates the message into analogue and then dispatches warning messages to shopkeepers via normal phone systems.
Soon BT will have one of the world's most extensive business Internet
operations,covering over 70 nations, using 8 regional hubs, and being called "Concert". Some analysts think that BT is aiming at the business user in a policy where Internet telephony could be added for little or no cost. |
