You have to spend money to make money: [18th Oct 2009]

>>> FairPoint Communications have this week said it has completed an $85m upgrade to its fiber optic network, installing more than 368 miles of cabling throughout the New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine areas. They say this is just the beginning of their future plans. They expect to be able to offer "fiber to the node" systems to most areas which involves using fiber optics to connection boxes and copper cabling to the homes. This system is slower than fiber optics direct to the home. The company has experienced some well publicized financial problems over the last few years since it purchased land lines from Verizon.


>>> Ciena has won court approval to bid on Nortel Network's Optical and Ethernet division. It is expected they will offer more than $532m. The optical business includes some of Nortel's most sought after business units and their employees. In recent months Nortel have been selling off much of its business after it filed for bankruptcy in January. Cienas offer would see them enhance their fiber optic networks by as much as 10 times. They also expect to be able to offer 2000 jobs as part of the deal.


>>> The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received comments from 6 public interest organizations regarding how to protect consumers from misleading advertising and billing practices in the telecoms industry. Practices such as hidden charges, introductory rates and surcharges are common place in the industry. In particular the organizations want the FCC to look at the bundling of broadband services.