ST. PAUL — Attorney General Mike Hatch has sued a
long-distance telephone company, accusing it of switching the
long-distance service of thousands of Minnesota businesses and residents without their permission.
Hatch accuses Michigan-based LCR Telecommunications of consumer fraud for «slamming,» the industry term for switching phone service without permission. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court, seeks unspecified restitution and damages.
An LCR spokesman, Martin Tibbitts, said he hadn’t seen the court filings and couldn’t immediately comment.
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Under
Multi-Year ’Fusion Partnership’ Deal, VSNL to Offer to Speedera’s
On-Demand Computing Services to Improve the
End-User Experience in India
Speedera Networks, a leading global provider of on-demand distributed application and content delivery services, today announced that Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), India’s leading Telecom and Internet service provider, has entered into a partnership with Speedera to provide Internet infrastructure services for the Indian market. Through Speedera’s «Fusion Partner» program, VSNL will deploy Speedera’s technology in its data centers and market Speedera’s comprehensive SpeedSuite™ family of services to its vast customer base.
«As the leader in international telecommunications and Internet services, our aim is to consistently redefine the market by adding new and innovative services that improve end-user satisfaction while reducing the costs associated with scaling our ever-expanding infrastructure,» said Sandeep Mathur, Managing Director, Head-Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit. «VSNL’s offering of SpeedSuite Services reinforces our commitment to Enterprise customers to offer world-class, value-added services.»
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MIAMI & TORONTO YAK Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: YAKC), a
provider of telecommunication services to residential and business customers, announced today that it has launched its highly anticipated WorldCity VoIP™ services.
YAK WorldCity VoIP™ will allow customers to make and receive phone calls using their high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection instead of a traditional phone line.
«The explosive growth of broadband DSL and cable internet access, which is now in approximately 25 million homes in North America and accelerating rapidly, as well as major improvements in telephony hardware and software, has put us on the leading edge of a disruptive communications revolution that is very quickly gaining momentum» said Charles Zwebner, President and CEO. «YAK has now entered the VoIP internet telephony services arena, alongside other entrants including Vonage, Primus, 8x8, and Broadvox. With over 175 million phone lines in North America and an additional 1.4 billion phone lines worldwide, along with an anticipated 10% conversion rate to VoIP services during the next three years, the market opportunities are huge,» added Zwebner.
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David Dorman, AT&T’s chief executive, is determined not to let history repeat itself.
Ma Bellunder prior management in the 1990slet the Internet revolution slip from its grasp, as companies like America Online, EarthLink and MSN grabbed the lead in providing Internet access.
Now amid cutthroat pricing, rival MCI’s emergence from bankruptcy, and a regulatory climate that led AT&T to step away from consumer telephone service, the company is relying on voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, as one of the tools to accelerate growth in its business segment.
That segment, which comprises about 75 percent of AT&T’s approximately $30 billion in annual revenue, may not receive a huge windfall in revenue from Net telephony. But VoIP, which allows businesses and consumers to make inexpensive phone calls via the Internet, plays a significant role in AT&T’s long-term strategy of being the next HBO-like service to cable companies and the Baby Bells.
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Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Nearly one million Arizona consumers who switched to Qwest long-distance telephone service in the past year are being notified of a $2.99 per month surcharge that will be added to their bills starting Oct. 1.
The move came as a surprise to customers who abandoned their traditional long-distance carriers in favor of Qwest’s offer of 5 cents a minute with no minimums or surcharges.
Officials at Denver-based Qwest said the company imposed the surcharge to bolster its financials.
Qwest Communications International Inc. lost $776 million in the second quarter of 2004 and saw revenue slip $154 million, or 4.3 percent, from the second quarter of 2003.
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