EoW May 2013

Transatlantic Cable

Elsewhere in telecom . . . † The $35 billion US private line services market is expected to decline only one per cent annually over the next ve years, according to a market analysis study released 27 th March by Insight Research Corp, even as the shift to packet-based services o sets demand for higher-bandwidth private lines. These lines are leased point-to-point circuits for applications including the connection of enterprise locations and backhauling cell towers to mobile switching centres. The study of that US market concludes that, even as private line revenues decline modestly, equivalent circuit counts will continue to rise – driven by cloud computing and the new video applications. Director Fran Caul eld of Insight Research (Boonton, New Jersey) said: “The need to backhaul data-intensive wireless services and increased local bandwidth for wireline data and video services will prevent signi cant revenue erosion for the foreseeable future.” At least 30 of the steel rods holding together the new $6.4 billion eastern span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge have snapped Caltrans is responsible for highway, bridge and rail transportation planning, construction and maintenance in California. Recently the state agency was reported to be investigating why nearly three dozen threaded steel rods on the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge snapped while crews tightened down the ttings. As described by Lisa Vorderbrueggen in the Contra Costa Times (27 th March), the rods connect the bridge deck to the 10-foot concrete cap that sits atop the massive pier just east of the self-anchored suspension span tower. There are 288 of these rods. Roughly one-third of the 96 tightened rods broke, according to Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler. The commission is overseeing the new $6.4 billion span construction with the state. “Caltrans is diagnosing the problem,” Mr Rentschler said on 26 th March. “We are con dent they will nd a solution.” Ms Vorderbrueggen noted that the thick steel rods are among the seismic protection features on the forti ed Bay Bridge, which – though secondary in prestige to the nearby Golden Gate Bridge – is essential to Bay Area motor tra c. The eastern span was designed to remain passable for emergency and supply vehicles immediately after a major earthquake. Steel

Telecommunications

Sweeping revisions, including the possibility of 100 per cent foreign investment, seem set for the Mexican telecom sector Reporting from Mexico City, the Latin American Herald Tribune noted the passage, by Mexico’s lower house of Congress, of an ambitious telecommunications overhaul bill aimed at boosting competition, breaking up dominant players, and opening the door to greater foreign investment. The bill, approved by a 414-50 vote, then went to the Senate, where it was expected to pass. President Enrique Peña Nieto said he hoped to sign it into law before the end of April. (“Mexico’s Lower House OKs Telecommunications Overhaul Bill,” 24 th March). The bill, submitted to Congress by the federal government on 11 th March, stems from the so-called Pact for Mexico, an agreement signed by four political parties including the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. The legislation would create a new autonomous body, the Federal Telecommunications Institute, or Ifetel, to regulate the use of spectrum and oversee broadcasting and telecommunications networks and the services delivered on them. Ifetel would be charged with granting and revoking broadcast and telecommunications concessions. The bill also would allow up to 100 per cent foreign investment in telecommunications, up to 49 per cent in broadcast media. If the proposed regulatory changes become law, Mexican companies that control more than 50 per cent of their markets could be forced to shed assets. The English-language Herald Tribune pointed out that large telecommunications rms “controlled by multi-billionaire Carlos Slim, the world’s wealthiest individual, also may have to pay higher fees to connect to their rivals’ networks than what they will be allowed to charge.” The e ect on Mr Slim’s telecommunications empire could be considerable, since Telcel and Telmex, the wireless and xed-line units of his company América Móvil, control 70- and 80 per cent of their respective markets in Mexico. The overhaul could also disrupt Mexico’s broadcast television duopoly of Grupo Televisa and TV Azteca, which control 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, of that market. † If enacted, the overhaul is expected to boost economic growth in Mexico. The Latin American Herald Tribune cited a 2012 report by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which said the lack of su - cient competition in Mexico’s telecommunications sector costs the economy $25.8 billion annually. This amount is equivalent to 1.8 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel

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May 2013