Fixed operator strategies

Telefonica and KPN have signed an interconnection agreement. KPN will benefit from Telefonica' s network in Latin America, while the Spanish incumbent is set to benefit from KPN's European coverage.

Danish broadband operators have convinced more than 200k Danes to switch from fixed lines to IP Telephony in about 2 months, and the move continues with about 130k new users per month.

Verizon is on track to connect 3m customers to its fiber-optic broadband service, called FIOS, with a rate of connection of about 35,000 new households every week.

Bellsouth will launch new pilot wireless broadband FastAccess Internet Service in August.

T-Online and its French unit, Club Internet, is entering a price war in France in order to gain market share. ADSL2 will be proposed at €9/mo the first three months, then €15. ADSL2 and VOIP will cost €20. T-Online will invest €1bn for expansion in France and Spain in next two years and will build its own network.

AT&T, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, NTT Laboratories, Telecom Italia and Verizon, seven of the world's largest telecommunications carriers have successfully tested worldwide Interoperability of thirteen optical equipment suppliers (Alcatel, Avici Systems, Ciena Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Fujitsu, Huawei Technologies, Lambda OpticalSystems, Lucent Technologies, Mahi Networks, Marconi, Nortel, Sycamore Networks and Tellabs).

French alternative operators, organized in Aforst association, argued on FT's wholesale local loop tariffs. They estimate tariffs are 30% too high.

SBC continues to plan launching commercial Lightspeed service by the end of the year (or early 2006), while analysts predict a shift due to difficulties in trialing its IPTV service. Scalability, processing power and availability of a commercial-grade product are the main issues.

T-Online France will trial Microsoft IPTV solution.