A U.S. judge says Edison, N.J.-based VoIP service provider Vonage is not subject to regulation in Minnesota. Vonage went to court seeking an injunction after state authorities pegged the firm as a telecom service provider obliged to pay certain costs associated with that status. But Judge Michael Davis said in his October decision that Vonage is an information service provider, and that such entities are not regulated. Vonage plans Canadian services by the end of the year. Its reps said U.S. decisions could inform how the CRTC regulates the firm.
Carriers dropping the knife?
Despite further capital expenditure reductions among Canada’s service providers, it seems capex cuts are about to hit bottom, says IDC Canada Ltd. The Toronto research firm in a report says capital expenditures of carriers dropped a mere $353 million across the board in the first half of 2003 – a change of 5.6 per cent from guidance provided in January. It’s “the smallest mid-year decline since the telecom sector meltdown began in 2001,” IDC Canada says, adding that spending will not increase until 2005. For more information about the report visit www.idc.ca.
Intel WiMAXed out
Intel Corp. means to be one of the first companies to offer WiMAX-based products. The Santa Clara, Calif. microprocessor maker in October said it plans to start producing chips that can be used in WiMAX-based equipment in the second half of 2004, and it expects WiMAX products to be commercially available in 2005. Also known as IEEE 802.16a, the WiMAX wireless protocol transfers data at speeds near 70Mbps over a distance of 48 kilometres to thousands of users from a single base station. The spec incorporates technology from a Calgary firm, Wi-LAN Inc.