July 7, 2008 - Canada's BCE finalizes deal to go private

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July 7, 2008 Sign up Forward Archive Advertise Read more at SmartBrief.com News for telecom industry leaders Search recent stories:       News of the Day    Canada's BCE finalizes deal to go private BCE, parent company of Bell Canada, finalized terms of its sale Friday for the original purchase price of $42.12 per share to a group led by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, with the deal set to close Dec. 11, BCE said. The $50.9 billion deal, an all-cash transaction that will take BCE private, also includes Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg (7/7) , Forbes/Reuters (7/4) Low-key Cope will steer BCE to new waters: George Cope, a 20-plus year telecom veteran, will take charge of BCE on Friday in what might be a short-term, albeit important, job of stewarding the company as it goes private. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters (7/4) FREE CASE STUDY: Operator increases new customer sales by 5% with an automated re-marketing solution. Free download of results, compliments of TARGUSinfo.   Business & Industry Watch  Breaking into China's telecom market The restructuring of China's telecom industry will open the country to foreign investors, but financial backing is likely to be the only viable entry in the short term, according to industry analysis. "Foreign investors can do little in China's telecom industry except be financial investors. This will remain the case for at least a short while," said Allan Ng, an analyst at Bank of China International who notes it is about positioning companies for the future. China Daily (Beijing) (7/7) Google ordered to release user data to Viacom A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over information on YouTube users to Viacom as part of the media conglomerate's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit. The information will include the Internet protocol addresses and viewing history of YouTube visitors, raising concerns among privacy advocates the information could be used to identify individual users. The companies have said they would take steps to prevent the information from being made public, and Viacom said it would not use the data to target individual users for copyright violations. The New York Times (7/4) Freenet closes Debitel deal, plans to divest fixed-line business Germany-based Freenet, which intends to divest its DSL assets to focus on its mobile operations, has completed its acquisition of Debitel, a mobile service provider in Germany. Telecompaper (The Netherlands) (7/7) U.K. court rules for Vodafone in huge foreign tax case Vodafone is off the hook over a British tax investigation that the telecom said could have cost the company $4 billion in taxes. In ordering the government to drop its case over Vodafone's 2001 tax return, the U.K. High Court ruled that Revenue & Customs could not charge U.K. corporation tax rates to a Luxembourg-based subsidiary. Financial Times (7/5) Other News Analysis: European telecoms look attractive The Wall Street Journal (7/7) USTelecom Spotlight Back by popular demand: The USTelecom Engineering Summit Learn about new technologies that are shaping the way services are delivered in today's networks at USTelecom's Engineering Summit, July 23 to 24. Get the latest technical updates on video telepresence, speech engine technology, mobile alerting, Web advertising, SIP survivability and security, IP network simulation and more. If you build or operate networks for a broadband service provider, this is a not-to-be-missed event. Learn more. Learn more about USTelecom -> NXTcomm  |  News  |  Join USTelecom  |  NextGenWeb  |  Webinars   Hot Topics  Top five news stories selected by USTelecom dailyLead readers in the past week. AT&T changes corporate headquarters address (The New York Times) AT&T to end Dish partnership (The Wall Street Journal) Court upholds FCC video franchising rules (The Washington Post) Verizon fights FCC customer-retention ruling (Light Reading) Momentum changing for better at Sprint (The Wall Street Journal) Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.   Video Upload  AT&T offers Tulsa U-verse triple play Tulsa, Okla., is the latest location to have access to U-verse voice, video and data services. Customers who do not wish to bundle all three services have the option of subscribing to the services individually. OneTRAK (7/7) Groups lobby for more DTV-transition resources Some consumer groups believe much of the public remains unaware of the repercussions from next year's digital TV conversion, so they are invading Capitol Hill this week to press for more money to publicize the changes. The groups are afraid viewers -- especially the elderly and minorities -- who are reluctant to make the switch will be left without an important communications lifeline. The New York Times (7/7)   Technology Trends  Firm touts "green" features of network gear Nortel has joined other Canadian companies in talking up its "green" credentials as consumers and shareholders demand greater accountability on environmental issues. But companies are walking a tightrope with investors if their plans don't pan out. Nortel has launched an aggressive campaign -- complete with YouTube postings -- promoting the energy efficiency of its network gear. Reuters (7/7) Big bucks are banked on telecom networks Separate plans for major network upgrades in New Zealand were unveiled by Vodafone and Telecom. Telecom intends to upgrade its IP network, while Vodafone will invest in its 3G network. The New Zealand Herald (7/7) Bangladesh publishes draft specs for WiMAX licenses Bangladesh regulators have issued initial guidelines for awarding three Broadband Wireless Access licenses in a process that bans incumbent carriers and limits ownership of others to 60% foreign equity. The specs call for companies to build two WiMAX networks in the 2.3GHz band and another at 2.5GHz. cellular-news (U.K.) (7/6)   IP Download  ISPs look to peer-to-peer networks to ease jams Peer-to-peer companies are teaming with major Internet service providers to design solutions to the back-breaking demands video uploads have placed on their networks. Companies such as BitTorrent and Pando Networks are working on several projects, such as development of an enhanced version of peer-to-peer technology that would ease network burdens by placing the files on servers closer to those downloading them. CNET (7/7)   LeadQuote  Whatever advice you give, be brief." --Horace, Roman poet       This dailyLead was created for webmaster@freeraovat.com Subscriber Tools       Update account information | Change e-mail address | Unsubscribe | Print friendly format | Web version | Search past news | Archive | Privacy policy Advertise Sales Account Director:  Amy Abbey (202) 737-5500 x250 Download Media Kit   Read more at dailyLead.com A powerful Web site for dailyLead readers including: Breaking News Industry Home Competitor News Readers' Choice Press Releases Search Archive       Recent USTelecom dailyLead Issues: Thursday, July 03, 2008 Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Monday, June 30, 2008 Friday, June 27, 2008     Lead Editor:  Susan Rush       Mailing Address: SmartBrief, Inc.®, 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005     © 1999-2008 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information