Alcatel to strengthen business presence here.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA French telecom giant Alcatel wants to strengthen its presence in the Philippine market by pursuing infrastructure businesses in key industries such as transportation and utilities. With the dividing line between the Internet, mobile, and fixed line communications becoming increasingly blurred, Alcatel...

PLDT bucks NTC competition policy.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA The country's biggest carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) yesterday opposed regulators' ultimate policy reform via the proposed competition policy. PLDT strongly opposed plans of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) to impose Significant Market Power (SMP) obligations on dominant...

U.S. online retailers must establish Net Neutrality legislation.
At a hearing in early February, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), head of the U.S. Senate's Commerce Committee, made it abundantly clear that there will be an opportunity in 2006 legislative calendar to rewrite the Telecommunications Act, and that he expects to use this process to define "Net Neutrality" laws...

Amarillo ISD improves functionality, reduces phone costs with digital communications system.
It's said that everything is bigger in Texas. While that may be debatable, Amarillo Independent School District (AISD), on the sweeping plains of the Texas panhandle, definitely does justice to its state's reputation. The district encompasses about 70 square miles, serving 30,000 students with 4,000 employees across 50 locations....

Survey conducted by Euromoney; PLDT: 'Best Managed Company in Asia'.
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. was recently cited as the Best Managed Company in Asia in a survey conducted by Euromoney, a respected international financial magazine. PLDT topped a field of 223 major Asian companies nominated by 49 financial institutions and analysts worldwide in Euromoney's 2006...

Convergence revolution underway.
We called. They came and conquered. An avalanche of Java and vXML codes swamped the Call for Convergence VoiceXML Challenge- a contest for software developers in the Philippines by Telic.net, one of the worlds leading suppliers of managed VoIP solutions, and Sun Microsystems Philippines, Inc., the creator...

Comcast adding 19 local jobs.
Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard A new residential phone service and strong demand for cable television and Internet offerings is resulting in a total of 175 new jobs at Comcast offices in Oregon and Southwest Washington this year - including 19 in Lane County, the company said...

PLDT makes unlimited P10 per call permanent.
The country is fast moving to the phase-out of long distance calls (NDD or National Direct Dialing) and a uniform domestic call rate. Starting on Saturday (January 7, 2006), dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) will make its unlimited P10 per call between PLDT to...

PLDT ready to invest in infra projects.
Byline: EMMIE V. ABADILLA The Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Company (PLDT) plans to invest the P200 million still in its war chest for infrastructure, like a skyway, according to Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. With its PLDT Foundation Inc. (PFI) awash with cash, the telephone...

NEWS IN BRIEF; P/$ rate closes at P52.440 to $1.
The peso rate closed higher at P52.440 to the US dollar yesterday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from P52.46 the previous day. The weighted average rate appreciated to P52.431 from P52.556. Total volume amounted to $470.2 million. Growth to suffer...