> Verizon will make the Big Ten Network available in both standard definition and high definition in suburban Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other FiOS TV regions. Release
> Ottawa's Enablence Technologies announced
Thursday that the company has signed a definitive asset purchase
agreement with DuPont Photonics Technologies Report
> Households with FTTH drive three times more traffic than those with ASDL connections, research by the FTTH Council of Europe shows. Report
> Austria's telecom regulator TCK has decided to partially ease the regulatory restrictions placed on Telekom Austria AG's activities in the broadband infrastructure segment. Report
> Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp. is still trying to nail down $215 million in financing to help pay off $253 million in debt, money that would help it avoid bankruptcy. The company is continuing negotiations with an unnamed financing source that has signed a non-binding letter of intent. Vonage founder and chairman Jeffrey Citron has said the company hoped to get a letter of commitment in the second quarter. Report
> Inshore
and deep-water marine surveys have been completed ahead of the laying
of the new $26 million undersea telecommunications cable that will link Bermuda
with the U.S. Report
> BT is laying a fiber optic cable between Orkney and the mainland to bring their network up to date. The 43-mile cable will run from Skaill Bay across the Pentland Firth to Dunnet Bay, near Thurso. BT has awarded the contract to Global Marine Systems who will install the cable up to one meter below the seabed. Report
> Verizon announced it will begin offering its FiOS TV subscription television service to small and mid-size businesses. Report
> And finally ... More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento, Calif. couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received from Verizon ... it was for their dog, Andy. Woof. Report