News of the Day

• FairPoint turns to Chapter 11 to fuel restructuring effort
  FairPoint Communications has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move designed to reduce the company's debt to $1 billion. "The day-to-day operations of our business will not be impacted by today's actions," FairPoint CEO David Hauser said. "From a customer point of view, this is a nonevent." Reuters (10/26), Google/The Associated Press (10/26)

Business & Industry Watch

• Verizon beats the Street, posts wireless, FiOS gains
  Verizon Communications posted a 10% revenue increase in the third quarter as it racked up 1.2 million new wireless customers. On the video and broadband front, the operator, which announced its FiOS service attracted 198,000 net new Internet customers and 191,000 TV subscribers, plans to invest $23 billion through the end of 2010 in high-definition TV and broadband Web services. Bloomberg (10/26), InformationWeek (10/26), The Business Insider (10/26)

• Clearwire's WiMAX rollout: 80 markets, 120M customers by end of 2010
  Clearwire announced its lofty goals of providing 4G service to 25 major markets by the end of this year -- and a total of 80 markets by the end of 2010. Although Clearwire says its service area will include 120 million customers by the end of next year, there is some worry over the competition battle LTE will bring to the 4G arena. Light Reading Cable (10/23), TeleGeography Research (10/26), InformationWeek (10/23)

• Extreme Networks installs acting CEO, cuts jobs after losses
  Extreme Networks announced Chief Financial Officer Bob Corey will replace outgoing CEO Mark Canepa as the company restructures in response to dropping revenues. The company also reported plans to reduce its workforce by 70 people in a bid to cut $10 million in annual operating expenses. Network World (10/23)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by USTelecom dailyLead® readers in the past week.

• FCC vote advances process for net-regulation rules (PC World)

• Telecoms see earnings picture leveling out (The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model))

• Stankey keynote: AT&T will work closer with fewer vendors (TMCNet.com)

• Qwest sets steady capex, but more fiber spending (Reuters)

• 5 technical standards that could "change everything" (PC World)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Video Upload

• Study: Online video now makes up nearly 30% of Web activity
  While peer-to-peer Internet traffic has fallen off in the past year, Web streaming of video and audio files has increased from 13% in 2008 to 27% this year, according to a study by Sandvine. "Peer-to-peer is yesterday's Internet story," said Dave Caputo, the chief executive officer of Sandvine, a network-management systems vendor. "Every category is growing in aggregate bandwidth, but bandwidth as a percentage is undergoing a massive shift to video." Multichannel News (10/26)

• Former Disney head expanding Web video studio programming
  Michael Eisner, the former chairman of Walt Disney, is expanding his Web video studio Vuguru with funding from Rogers Communications, one of Canada's largest media companies. In a deal expected to be announced today, Vuguru will become its own company, while Rogers becomes a minority stakeholder, per this report. NYTimes.com (10/25)

• Sony PS3 users get Netflix access at no extra charge
  Looking for a competitive edge against Microsoft and its Xbox 360 console, Sony has announced a deal in which owners of its PlayStation 3 system will get access to Netflix's library of TV shows and movies for instant streaming. The key difference with the Xbox 360, which offers Netflix access for $50 a year, is that Sony will provide the Netflix gateway at no extra cost to Netflix service subscribers. Reuters (10/26)

Featured Content

Technology Trends

• Former NTIA head reveals her priorities as FCC commissioner
  In a question-and-answer session with Broadcasting & Cable, Meredith Attwell Baker, the former acting head of the National Telecommunications & Information Association and newest commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, discusses innovations and limitations for wireless technologies and her desire to create less paperwork for businesses that answer to the FCC. Broadcasting & Cable (10/26)

• Ericsson, Samsung announce LTE first
  Ericsson AB and Samsung have announced that they successfully linked what is believed to be the world's first commercial LTE device with a live network. "[This is the] first time a commercial, standard compliant LTE device demonstrated full interoperability with a live network," Ericsson said in a statement. Light Reading Mobile (10/23)

IP Download

• Genband, Kineto link with T-Mobile for VoLGA trials
  Genband and Kineto Wireless are testing the viability of using legacy voice and messaging infrastructure to route Voice-over-IP calls over future Long-Term Evolution networks. Telephony Online (10/23)

LeadQuote

Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy." --Jim Hightower, political activist, columnist