By DAVID ROYSE
Associated Press WriterState phone regulators refused Wednesday to throw out a request by the state’s three main local phone companies to raise basic rates by a record amount, beginning at least two days of arguments over the merits of the proposal.
Attorney General Charlie Crist wanted proposals by BellSouth, Sprint and Verizon thrown out for lack of evidence that the requested rate hikes were in line with a new law requiring that consumers see benefits that make up for higher phone bills.
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PORTLAND, Oregon, -- Nettel Holdings Inc. (OTCBB:NTTL) is pleased to announce a six month status update on the Company’s progress and various lines of business.
Since its inception over two years ago as a provider of residential and commercial long distance using VoIP, Nettel has diversified and expanded its operations substantially. Today Nettel, through subsidiaries and offices in the U.S, Russia, India, and Vietnam, provides a full range of services in telecommunications, software development, digital animation, and import-export of computers electronics, metals, commodities, and foods.
Over the past six months the Company has developed a strategy to reshape itself, taking stock of the dramatic changes occurring in the hi-tech industry. This strategy should enable us to grow and prosper in this environment.
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The Dallas Morning News
By Roger Yu
DALLAS _ Faced with sinking profit and rising expenses, SBC Communications Inc. said Tuesday that it will lay off between 3,000 and 4,000 employees by the end of the year and take a one-time charge of up to $150 million as a result.
The San Antonio, Texas-based telecommunications giant, which has 172,540 employees, said attrition and «an enhanced retirement program» will eliminate the jobs.
SBC said last month that its payroll cuts will accelerate in 2004 from the 28,000 job cuts the company had in the 12 months ended in September.
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WASHINGTON, /PRNewswire/ -- A fierce debate is raging at the FCC over the future of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony. At first glance, the ferocity of the debate seems out of proportion to the reality -- retail VoIP subscribers account for less than 0.2% of US phone lines. However, recent research on the international long-distance market by TeleGeography, a division of PriMetrica, Inc., suggests that VoIP can transform a century-old business in just a few years.
According to _TeleGeography 2004_, VoIP providers carried only 150 million minutes of international telephone calls in 1998, less than 0.2% percent of the world’s international traffic. By 2002, cross-border VoIP traffic had grown to just under 19 billion minutes, about 11 percent of the world’s international traffic. «While the FCC debates the future of retail VoIP services, millions of consumers already use VoIP to make international calls every day,» stated PriMetrica analyst Stephan Beckert.
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Introduction of phone service by the cable company will result in the hires.
By Tim Knauss
Time Warner Cable’s plan to provide phone service over its cables will bring more than 40 jobs to Central New York.
The company will begin hiring technicians, sales agents and customer service representatives early in 2004 and plans to begin offering phone service by the end of the second quarter, said Jeff Unaitis, speaking for Time Warner Cable.
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