Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id PAA09464; Sat, 24 Apr 1999 15:25:30 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 15:25:30 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199904241925.PAA09464@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #54 TELECOM Digest Sat, 24 Apr 99 15:25:00 EDT Volume 19 : Issue 54 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Tops Comcast Bid for Media One (Monty Solomon) G&M: Dial 911, We're Running Out of Area Codes (Kent K. Steinbrenner) Historic Role of Government in Internet Development (Ronda Hauben) E-zine Review: "This is True", Randy Cassingham (Rob Slade) Dialtone in Different Countries (Lucio Maggioli) Re: Lawsuit Says MCI 'Redlines' (Ed Kummel) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply-To: Monty Solomon From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T Tops Comcast Bid for Media One Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 07:09:59 -0400 By Jessica Hall NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news), the No. 1 long-distance telephone company, launched another major foray into cable TV Thursday by offering to buy MediaOne Group Inc. for $58 billion in cash and stock, in an attempt to break up MediaOne's proposed merger with Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) AT&T, which recently acquired Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMP - news) for $55 billion, said its offer represents a premium of 17 percent, or $8.6 billion, over the current value of Comcast's offer and 26 percent over MediaOne's current trading price. AT&T has been searching for a way to bypass the regional phone companies networks to find its own connection directly to customers' homes and businesses. "Together, AT&T and MediaOne will bring broadband video, voice and data services to more communities, more quickly than we could separately or, in MediaOne's case, with any other company," AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong said in a prepared statement. The AT&T offer came on the heels of a record $81 billion merger agreement between Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE:DT - news), Europe's biggest telecom group, and Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE:TI - news) announced earlier Thursday, and prompted speculation of more telecommunications mergers to come. MediaOne in March agreed to be acquired by Comcast, the No. 4 cable systems operator, in a deal currently valued at $44 billion, based on Comcast's closing stock price Thursday. Comcast is the majority owner of QVC and E! Entertainment cable channels, and owns the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team and Philadelphia 76ers basketball team. Comcast and MediaOne, which was formerly part of Baby Bell U S West Inc., could not be immediately reached for comment. AT&T's proposed purchase of MediaOne, in addition to its recent acquisition of TCI and its joint venture with Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news), would allow AT&T to provide phone and Internet services directly to customers over the cable companies' networks. MediaOne's stock soared in after-hours trading after AT&T's offer was announced. MediaOne traded at $82 in the post-session, up $12.50 from the regular close. AT&T traded at $57 on the Instinet broker system, in line with the regular close. "It's a huge, huge deal. It's all about bandwidth, it's all about Internet access, (and) MediaOne certainly is the front-runner in realizing bandwidth is important," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. Hogan predicted the bid would accelerate consolidation in the industry and predicted other stocks would get a bounce, including Cox Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp. and Jones Intercable . "These things tend to feed on themselves," Hogan said. The offer for MediaOne is AT&T's second unsolicited takeover deal in recent years, following its acquisition of computer company NCR Corp., which it has since spun-off. The offer follows a wave of hostile or unsolicited offers in several industries in recent weeks. AT&T plans to divest non-strategic MediaOne assets currently valued at about $18 billion to $20 billion. AT&T also plans to continue its aggressive efforts to reduce its operating expenses by an additional $2 billion by the end of the 2000. The majority of the expense reductions will apply to network costs, general, and administrative expenses, lower access fees paid to local exchange companies for handling long-distance calls, and more streamlined operations and systems. Additional savings in the range of at least $175 to $200 million will result from saving in combining the former TCI and MediaOne cable operations. AT&T expects the deal to damp profits by about 30 cents in the first full year of combined operation, resulting from additional shares outstanding and the cost of financing. After the purchase of MediaOne, cash earnings -- or net income per share plus acquisition goodwill -- will decline by less than 10 cents per share. AT&T said the acquisition over time would accelerate earnings, cash flow and revenue growth. It also will reduce the percentage of AT&T's revenues that come from slower growth businesses such as consumer long-distance service. AT&T said it believed the deal could be completed by the end of 1999. AT&T said it anticipated no difficulty in arranging financing for the cash portion of its offer and expected to have $30 billion of financing in place by April 30. Chase Manhattan Bank and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners L.P. already have each committed to provide $5 billion of the financing. ------------------------------ From: Kent K. Steinbrenner Subject: G&M: Dial 911, We're Running Out of Area Codes Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 02:14:32 -0700 Thursday, April 22, 1999 | The Globe and Mail | Canada's National Newspaper (well, one of them, anyway ) Dial 911, we're running out of area codes Explosion of extra phone and data lines to blame TYLER HAMILTON Technology Reporter, The Globe and Mail Internet lines, fax machines, wireless phones and increased competition in the telephone industry are causing North America's pool of area codes to dry up 23 years earlier than first anticipated. Industry experts say the last of those three-digit numbers will be used up some time in the next decade and that fixing the problem will be a monumental task equivalent to the billions of dollars and hours put into fixing the year 2000 computer bug. "Clearly it's analogous [to the year 2000 problem]. It may even be bigger because of the amount of systems that depend upon telephone numbers," said Thomas McGarry, technical industry liaison at Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., which operates the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) in Washington. NANPA is responsible for issuing area codes in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. Currently, all numbers in North America include a three-digit area code and a seven-digit phone number. When area codes run out, the industry will need to move to either a four-digit area code or eight-digit phone number, requiring all terminal equipment, network switches, data bases, and call centre software to be reprogrammed to accept at least 11 digits. Many of these area codes are being used up by U.S. states such as California, New York and Florida, densely populated regions with a high level of business activity. The number of area codes in California, for example, has doubled since 1990 to 28. There are 792 area codes in existence, with each able to accommodate 7.2 million numbers. In Canada, metropolitan areas such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton have all had to deal this decade with the addition of new area codes. Toronto's 416 area code lasted 46 years before 905 was introduced in 1993. Another code, 647, will likely be necessary by 2001, observers say. "The use of phone numbers is increasing much more rapidly than anyone had anticipated, driven by things like fax machines, second phone lines and data lines," said Ian Angus, telephone industry consultant and president of Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. of Ajax, Ont. Mr. Angus said predictions vary as to when these area codes will run out, adding that the earliest depletion estimate he's come across is 2002. A committee of NANPA has spent months poring through data to confirm its "very preliminary" prediction that the last area code will be used up as early as 2007, compared with original estimates of 2030. The committee will present a report today to the North American Numbering Council (NANC), a division of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Alan Hasselwander, chairman of NANC, said the industry lacks sufficient "microdata" to come up with an accurate date, but added that the matter is serious and that the telecommunications industry needs to act fast to delay what will ultimately become a major undertaking. "We're trying to get the industry to agree to a range that seems rational based on the best information we can get," said Mr. Hasselwander, adding that NANPA and NANC are exploring ways to extend the life of existing area codes. "I believe that if we take some of these measures, this exhaust can be delayed significantly." he said. "For decades if we try." One measure that will likely be taken is to reduce how many numbers a telephone company can be assigned at one time. Today, phone companies can get numbers in blocks of 10,000 or more, regardless of the size of the company or if the requirement is much less. Mr. Angus said more of these 10,000 blocks have been issued within the past few years because deregulation of the telephone industry has created more competitors. The problem, he said, is many of these companies have numbers they aren't prepared to use. Mr. Hasselwander said figuring out a way to free up those numbers and extend the life of the current 10-digit system should be a priority. "We have to think about these solutions very seriously," he said. "I think we have to think about them now." ------------------------------ From: rh120@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Historic Role of Government in Internet Development Date: 24 Apr 1999 16:57:56 GMT Organization: Columbia University Reply-To: rh120@watsun.cc.columbia.edu Following is proposal for a paper I am planning to work on. I welcome comments, suggestions of sources to consult, etc. Ronda --------------- The Role of Government in the Development of the Internet Paper Proposal by Ronda Hauben rh120@columbia.edu There are many myths about the role that government has played in the history of the development of the Internet. The most prevalent myth is that government has played no role, beyond funding the early research to build the Internet. This is a serious misrepresentation of the actual history and development. This misrepresentation also has important political consequences. There is a need to determine how to solve a number of problems for the continued development of the Internet and if the proper role for government is not determined, then the problems become very difficult or impossible to solve. Also, the U.S. government is currently making an effort to change its role in how it relates to Internet development. However, if there is a lack of knowledge of what the role of government has been, then there are serious consequences that can result from the U.S. government changing that role without taking into account the problems that will develop. The Internet has basically developed under government and university support and activity. However, the form of government and university support is often not obvious nor well documented. In 1945, Vannebar Bush, an MIT scholar, was invited to advise the President of the United States on how to apply the lessons that had been learned about wartime scientific research to solve the social and technological problems for peacetime conditions. His work set a basis for an important form of government structure that would nourish scientific and technological development. In my research, I plan to explore the influence of Bush's work on the later creation and development of the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). This office was created in 1962 and existed until 1987. During this period the work done by those working for this office made it possible to create and develop the Internet. The Internet was developed between 1972 and 1987 under the support and actions of people, often working under conditions created by or more directly working for the IPTO. After 1987, ARPA and the National Science Foundation continued to play an important role in the development of the Internet. So I plan to also touch on the role played after 1987, but will focus my paper on the role of government between 1972 and 1987. ARPA was created as a civilian agency in the U.S. Department of Defense. Those who were part of ARPA worked hard to provide a supportative environment that made it possible for the initial research creating the Internet to be done and also provided support for the actual development of the Internet. I want to study how this was done, and how various pressures that would have interferred with research and development were constrained. Also I plan to examine how Usenet was helpful in the development of the Internet during the 1981-83 period and to explore if there are lessons to be learned from the linking up of Usenet and the ARPANET during that period which can be helpful in solving the problems that the Internet is facing now. The process of building the Internet involved a number of procedures that made it possible for the grassroots to participate in the design and development of important aspects of the Internet. However, this was possible because there was a line of responsibility and accounta- bility provided by the government processes involved in building the Internet. Once this line of responsibility and accountability has been taken away by the U.S. government, as in the privatization of the domain name system (DNS) and other essential functions of the Internet, it has become similarly impossible for there to be any grassroots processes available to those online. Instead, those who are most powerful are active trying to seize control of the public functions and powers so that they will control the Internet. In 1996 the U.S. government announced that it was planning to privatize certain key functions of the Internet. This announcement was made at a meeting of the Federal Networking Council Advisory Committee. Then in 1997-1998 there was a Report of the Office of the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation (OIG of the NSF) which opposed the privatization of the DNS. And there were hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives about the plans to carry out the privatization of these key functions. The Office of the Inspector General Report did focus on determining what would be an appropriate government role in the continued development of the Internet. The hearings in Congress, however, in general did not raise or examine this key question. In the 1970's there were conferences and books about the need to prepare to deal with the developing computer network as a public utility. These articles and books stressed the need for a social focus for the developing network. And they described how the U.S. government would be unprepared to deal with the needed social problems that the developing network would create if such issues were not treated seriously by government support for needed research and study. Also one of the writers pointed out that the power struggle that would go on behind the scenes would be very fierce, but that those who hoped for a democratic development of the communications network might be blinded by that hope from recognizing and properly dealing with the fierce power battle. And most recently a similar concern was raised by a political scientist from the Kennedy School of Government about the need to have a government regulatory structure rather than a private nonprofit corporation as a model for the operation and protection of the essential and controlling functions of the Internet. She also pointed out that there were procedures in government like doing an FBI check on someone being appointed to a regulatory commission position and holding them responsible for honest activity or else subjecting them to criminal charges. These kinds of structures were created to protect those whose economic livelihood is dependent upon the regulators who have great power. Thus she noted that the kind of situation being created with regard to the Internet will give great power to those who have no means of oversight to stop their abuse of such power. The kind of private nonprofit corporation now being created to regulate the Names and Numbers functions of the Internet (ICANN) will make it possible for certain individuals to exercise great economic power over people around the world while there are none of the historically developed protections that governments have been created to provide. The research I am proposing will be to examine the role played by government (especially the U.S. government, but if possible other governments as well) in the development of the Internet. And there will be an effort to identify the role needed to continue that development. Also I will try to examine the kind of political forces at play which are either trying to determine the proper government role or to thwart these efforts. Other draft papers about the development of the Net and of UNIX are online at http://www.umcc.ais.edu/~ronda For NSF Office of Inspector General Report, see: http://www.bna.com/e-law/docs/nsfnsi.html Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ and in print edition ISBN # 0-8186-7706-6 ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:29:17 -0800 Subject: E-zine Review: "This is True", Randy Cassingham Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca MLTRUE.RVW 990314 "This is True", Randy Cassingham, 1999, , %A Randy Cassingham arcie@thisistrue.com %C PO Box 17326, Boulder CO 80308-0326 %D 1999 %I Freelance Communications %O TrueInfo@thisistrue.com http://www.thisistrue.com %P ~5 stories weekly %T "This is True" As with "News of the Weird" (cf. MLNOTW.RVW) and "Maddog News" (cf. MLMADDOG.RVW), "This is True" relies on real news stories that touch on the bizarre. Like NOTW, True is syndicated, and available for use as a column by newspapers. The free version of True runs weekly, and is a slightly reduced version of the full weekly column available by email as a paid subscription mailing list. The free version carries references to stories in the other edition. The free edition of True carries one ad per issue, and it must get pretty good coverage. At the top of every column is listed a rough count of the subscriber base, and an exact count of the number of countries. As of February, 1999, that was 150,000 subscribers in 164 countries. Another of Cassingham's trademarks is a one line editorial comment on the story, generally facetious. Each item is about a paragraph long, and contains a reference to the source. These items generally come from wire services. A lengthy report on Cassingham's life and doings, as well as responses to reader mail, accompanies each issue. These are well written and amusing, and it is almost possible to forget that they are basically ads for the "premium" version of the mailing list, and the various books Cassingham has written. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999 MLTRUE.RVW 990314 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca p1@canada.com And then we have P. D. Eastman's great tragic classic, `Are You My Mother?' Our protagonist struggles greatly with the issues of his own identity, and the identity of those around him. Abandoned before birth, alone in a hostile world, his first independent action almost fatal, he searches desperately, receiving no help from anyone he encounters. Eventually his relationships become completely mechanical. At the end of the tale he has accomplished nothing, having returned to precisely the point at which he started. And yet there is something poignant, and, perhaps, even noble, in the dogged determination captured in the one famous line of the book, `And the baby bird went *on*.' http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ From: lucio1974@my-dejanews.com (Lucio Maggioli) Subject: Dialtone in Different Countries Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 10:54:06 GMT Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion Hello, in Italy the dialtone isn't a continuous tone, like the one you're likely to hear in the United States. Actually we have a "stuttering" dialtone. In Italy, you get a continuous dialtone only when you have the call forwarding service turned on, or when you dial the code to place an anonymous call (so the person you're calling won't be shown your phone number). I was wondering what kind of dialtone (continuous or stuttering) is used in different countries of the world. Does anyone have information about this subject? Thanks, Lucio Maggioli nyork@tin.it ------------------------------ From: Ed Kummel Subject: Re: Lawsuit Says MCI 'Redlines' Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 01:59:14 -0100 I think that this lawsuit is a load of CRAP! It's just another way for lawyers to buy that new yacht they always wanted! Look at it from the carriers perspective. You have 100 lines in a rural ho-hum town. and you have 100 lines in Anacostia Washington DC (a really bad part of town) you notice that there is fraud in both areas, but the fraud in the "bad" town is usually to internation areas like Saudi Arabia, Turkestan, Russia and the like. So what do you do? you restrict calling patterns based on the amount of fraud you receive! Nothing wrong with that! Hey, if you feel that you are wrongly restricted becaus of a fraud restriction, then talk with the carrier, they will usually take a $1000 bond from you as guarantee that the phone you are using will not be used for fraud! (cellular or landline) And if YOU can't guarantee that you will be responsible for all fraud that occurs on your phone (yeah cell phone users, you want to be responsible for fraud? Someone clones your phone, stands on a street corner and starts selling international calls at $.50/minute to anyone who wants. You calling card users, you think you're safe? There are people in airports with binoculars looking at you while you dial your "secret" number and PIN. They get you. There are all kinds of tricks out there). So yes, tell the carrier that you will be responsible for all calls from your phone and then see what happens (they will send you a release form that requires that you sign it and send it back!) I side with the carrier, sorry! ed ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #54 *****************************