MCI WORLDCOM’S GROWTH RATES: INTERNET 46%, DATA 26%, VOICE 3%
MCI WorldCom’s communications services revenues, net of voice access costs, increased 19% year-over-year. Including access costs paid to local exchange carriers, communications services posted revenues of $10 billion.  Data, Internet and international revenues now account for 46% of WorldCom's total revenues.  

http://www.wcom.com/about_the_company/press_releases/display.phtml?cr/20000427
MCI Worldcom, April 27,2000

AT&T WIRELESS MAKES IPO DEBUT AMIDST TEPID DEMAND
Shares of AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE), the largest mobile phone service provider in the US, rose 8% in an initial public offering (IPO). http://www.att.com
April 27, 2000

Williams Communications Aligns Into 4 Business Units
Williams Communications will realign its operating segments into four segments: Network, Solutions, Strategic Investments and a new fourth segment of Broadband Media that includes its Williams Vyvx Services group.  http://www.williamscommunications.com
Williams Communications, April 27, 2000

INFINEON ACQUIRES SAVAN FOR VDSL
Infineon Technologies acquired Savan Communications, an Israeli developer of VDSL technology, for approximately US$ 120 million (about euro 127 million).  Infineon already held an 18% equity stake in the start-up company.  Infineon and Savan have been working together on defining the VDSL ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute) standard.  Infineon said its will focus on broadband solutions based on Savan's VDSL technology and its capabilities in fiber optics.  http://www.infineon.com/news/press/004_061e.htm
http://www.savan.com
Infineon, April 27, 2000  

SwitchCore Introduces 16-port Gigabit Ethernet Chip
SwitchCore AB, a fabless semiconductor start-up based in Sweden, introduced a 16-port Gigabit Ethernet switch chip with Layer 2, 3, 4 functionality. The CXE-16GE Switch/Router offers a throughput of 24 Million packets per second performance, 802.3ad Link Aggregation, Port Mirroring, 802.1Q VLANs, Spanning Tree, Broadcast Storm Control, 802.3x Flow Control, SMON, RMON and SNMP support. Switchcore's GE chip uses a shared memory architecture and integrates includes MACs, CAMs, buffers and switching engine. http://www.switchcore.com/
SwitchCore, April 27, 2000

Philips Introduces USB 2.0 Transceiver with 480 Mbps Target Speed
Philips Semiconductors introduced a USB 2.0 compliant transceivers for connections between PCs and peripherals. The new USB 2.0 standard has a target data transfer rate of 480 Mbps, compared to 11 Mbps for the current generation of USB connectors. The new 2.0 standard is backward compatible with USB 1.1.  Philips' new device is a full-function transceiver designed as a USB 2.0 analog front-end for ASICs and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) with built-in USB Serial Interface Engine (SIE) cores. The USB 2.0 peripheral transceiver is priced at $2 in quantities of 50,000.  http://www-us2.semiconductors.philips.com/ 
Philips Semiconductors, April 27, 2000

• More on USB 2.0 can be found at http://www.usb.org/  
  
• More on next generation IEEE 1394 "FireWire" connections can be found at http://www.1394ta.org

Boeing Plans Airborne Satellite Internet Service
Boeing announced plans to offer fast Internet services via aircraft-to-satellite connections. Initially, Connexion will provide shared network data rates of 5 Mbps receive and 1.5 Mbps transmit via an onboard network of airborne servers, routers and associated wiring to each seat. Boeing has developed a proprietary solid-state phased array receive and transmit antenna and will lease multiple transponders on Loral Skynet's Telstar satellites. The Boeing service will need to receive licenses from civil aviation authorities for each country in which it operates. Service is expected to begin in 2001.  http://www.boeing.com/special/connexion/
Boeing, April 27, 2000

Equant Outlines DSL Plans for the Hospitality Industry
Equant, which currently provides bandwidth services to seven of the world's 10 largest hotel chains, introduced a suite of new DSL-based Hospitality IPNet promising "plug and play" connectivity for hotel guests and meeting rooms. The service will be integrated through an arrangement with STSN, a IT supplier to the hospitality industry. Guests would be able to plug their notebook PCs into an STSN access device in each room via either Ethernet or USB connections.  http://www.equant.com
 http://www.stsn.com
Equant, April 27, 20000

GTE REPORTS 88,000 DSL SUBSCRIBERS
As of the end of Q1, GTE had 88,000 DSL subscribers, up from a total of 12,000 DSL at the end of Q4 99.  GTE also noted 53% annual growth rate in data services revenue from Genuity, formerly GTE Internetworking; and a 30% growth in domestic wireless revenue, which includes the newly acquired wireless properties. http://www.gte.com/AboutGTE/Investor/1Q2000/summary.html
GTE, April 27, 2000  

Rhythms NetConnections Reaches 20,000 DSL Subscribers
Rhythms NetConnections had 20,000 DSL lines in services at the end of Q1, up from 12,500 at the end of December. Rhythms ended the quarter with 1,380 operational central offices, compared to 1,225 operational central offices at the end of 1999. During the first quarter, Rhythms raised $925 million in new financing to fund continued rollout or its nationwide footprint.  http://www.rhythms.com/pr/qtr1_00results.html
Rhythms NetConnections, April 27, 2000

Broadwing's Cincinnatti Bell Now at 24,000 DSL Customers
Broadwing's Cincinnatti Bell unit added 6,000 ZoomTown DSL subscribers in Q1, bringing its total to 24,000.  http://www.broadwing.com
Broadwing, April 27, 2000

COVAD AND US WEST ANNOUNCE LINE SHARING DEAL
BellSouth entered into a line sharing agreement with Covad Communications covering DSL deployment throughtout its nine-state territory.  Covad is the only competitive carrier who has reached an agreement with BellSouth so far.  Under the agreement, Covad has locked in an interim monthly loop rate of $6 per line. Ultimately, the final costs associated with line sharing will be set by individual state Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) and all interim costs will be adjusted retroactively. Covad believes that the final cost for the shared lines should be zero dollars per month. http://www.covad.com/pr/pr_2000/042700_press.cfm
Covad, April 27, 2000

HUGHES PLANS 2-WAY DIRECTPC SATELLITE INTERNET SERVICE BY Q4
Hughes Network Systems announced plans to market a two-way broadband satellite service to US consumers beginning in Q4.  The upstream speed for the new service is anticipated to be between 128Kbps and 256kbps and the downstream will be at speeds over 40Mbps, supporting bursts up to 400 Kbps for each user.  The two-way DirecPC product will require an antenna and an external device connected via a USB port to the PC.  Hughes will also offer a DirecDuo antenna system, allowing consumers to receive both DirecPC and DIRECTV on the same antenna.  The two-way version of DirecPC will operate on the current medium-power Ku-band satellites operated by PanAmSat, which is 81% owned by Hughes Electronics.  Hughes said pricing for the two-way service would be competitive with cable and DSL services. http://www.hns.com/news/pressrel/csp_pres/p042700.htm
Hughes, April 27, 2000