Teleglobe Inc. parent company BCE Inc. announced last month that it will not provide long-term funding for the carrier. It will only offer short-term funding up to US$125 million to keep Teleglobe operational while it explores other funding options. And in an unusual move by domestic corporate standards, the CEO and chairman of BCE, Jean Monty, resigned from the company, taking responsibility for the 2000 Teleglobe acquisition that has turned sour for the company.
L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. is introducing a new way of packaging different elements needed for Bluetooth implementation. With their “Suite” concept, Ericsson wants to provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and semiconductor manufacturers with Bluetooth design solutions optimized for integration into mobile computing, communication and media devices. First to be introduced is the Bluetooth Mobile Phone Suite where new features such as PPEC, a voice improvement feature and the lowest possible power consumption, are included, according to Maria Khorsand, president of Ericsson Technology Licensing. This new way of optimizing the functionality for mobile phones makes it possible for OEMs to implement Bluetooth functionality even in low-end mobile phones, Khorsand said.
Capital spending by North American telecom carriers probably will not recover until 2004, research company RHK Inc. says. And even after the recovery, carriers as a group, including incumbent and competitive telecom service providers, likely will not return to 2001 spending levels until about four years from now. The most likely scenario shows capital expenditure staying roughly flat through 2003 before it begins to recover in 2004. Service providers’ capital expenditure will drop to around US$46 billion to US$51 billion in 2002, from US$77 billion in 2001, RHK says. It projects spending also to stay roughly flat through next year, from US$44 billion to US$57 billion for 2003. A recovery probably will begin slowly in 2004, with spending from US$46 billion to US$63 billion, and continue in 2005 and 2006.