By Fran Daniel
JOURNAL REPORTER
KERNERSVILLE
An introduction-to-business course at Forsyth Technical Community College takes economic-development assistance to a new level.
Classes in the 10-week course, which ends Tuesday, are being taught at the college’s Swisher Center in Kernersville and in Ulyanovsk, Russia, by way of live audio and video using the computer. A wide screen is used at the Swisher Center for better viewing.
Local and Russian students learn more than just basic business terms and concepts.
«What has resulted is the opportunity for job creation here in the Piedmont Triad in terms of assisting the Russians in various projects,» said Suzanne Stafford, the professor of the class and the international-programs officer for Forsyth Tech.
For example, a group of Russians wants to build a golf course in Ulya-novsk, but have no idea how to go about it.M
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ELLEN SIMON
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Although AT&T Corp.’s decision to stop marketing its residential service could drive more consumers into the arms of their regional Bell companies, that shouldn’t lead to a rise in prices, thanks to increasing competition from cable TV providers, Internet phone companies and cell phones.
If the Bells try to hike rates, «Consumers will say, `Go ahead, raise your prices, I’ll go somewhere else,’» said Johna Till Johnson, president of Nemertes Research. «As a consumer, it’s time to start rethinking how you’ll get your phone service in the first place, and from whom.»
Many consumers have already made the switch, from a generation of college kids whose only phones are in their pockets to cable customers who’ve tacked phone service onto their bills. Cable companies had 3.2 million phone customers at the end of 2003, 2 percent of the total lines, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
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By Adam Kress
Slowly and quietly, SBC Communications is moving its expanding telecom business into Arizona.
Last summer, the San Antonio-based telecom giant and the No. 2 local phone carrier in the United States opened a Phoenix office and began serving customers here -- mostly on the business side.
While SBC’s current strategy is not to start pilfering customers from service providers Qwest Arizona and Cox Communications, it’s possible in the years to come SBC will become a major competitor in this rapidly expanding market.
A few years ago, SBC set out the goal to expand from the 20 major markets it was in to the largest 50 markets in America, said SBC spokesman Jason Hillery.
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By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) — Telecommunications stocks ended Friday’s trading session on a negative note, with losses piling up shortly before the markets closed.
Most wireless and long-distance phone stocks fell, as did equipment companies, though local phone companies showed strength.
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