How the Fiber Barons Plunged The U.S. Into a Telecom Glut

Aus: The Wall Street Journal, 18. Juni 2001, Seite 1 (Page One Feature). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

DENVER. As he rushed to lace America with fiber-optic cable, James Crowe wasn't the sort to let anything stand in his way – not the Rocky Mountains and certainly not his crosstown rival, Joseph Nacchio.

By 1999, when Mr. Crowe's Level 3 Communications Inc. started digging a line connecting Denver and Salt Lake City, Mr. Nacchio's Qwest Communications International Inc. had already threaded its own cable through the most direct route, a seven-mile railway passage through the granite of the Continental Divide. Undeterred, Level 3 swerved an extra 70 miles through southern Wyoming, installing fiber at a blistering 19-mile-per-day pace.

But now, Level 3 has hit a wall even Mr. Crowe may have trouble overcoming. The company's original ambition – to build history's largest, most advanced fiber-optic network to carry exploding amounts of Internet traffic – is now part of one of the biggest gluts the country has ever seen.

All told, about 39 million miles of fiber-optic cable stretch underneath U.S. railroad beds, corn fields, natural-gas lines and roads, enough to circle the earth 1,566 times. Companies racing to build or expand nationwide networks laid some $90 billion of fiber during the past four years. Merrill Lynch & Co. estimates that only 2.6 % of the capacity is actually in use. Much of it may remain dark forever.

The fiber glut underlies much of the uncertainty plaguing the telecom sector – and has even spilled over into the economy at large. Billions of dollars in shareholder value have evaporated in some of the biggest owners of fiber networks, including Global Crossing Ltd., Williams Communications Group Inc. and Genuity Inc. Many are struggling with massive debt: On Friday, 360networks Inc. said it was delaying a $10.9 million interest payment while it studies ways to preserve cash (see article).

The carnage has spread to suppliers such as fiber-maker Corning Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc. Also on Friday, Nortel Networks Corp., which makes gear for the Internet and telecom sectors, predicted a staggering $19.2 billion loss for the second quarter (see article).

Level 3, meanwhile, is fast retrenching. Its stock is off 94 % from its high, and executives are expected Monday to announce plans to lay off as much as 20 % of the work force, among other cost-cutting moves. The company's game plan: live off its stockpile of cash – some of it raised from Omaha construction magnate Walter Scott Jr., a close friend of investor Warren Buffett – until competitors die off and demand returns. "The shake-out that is occurring is good for Level 3 in the long term, although it is awfully hard to convince someone who is sitting in a dentist's chair being drilled that this is a good thing," says Mr. Crowe. "It hurts."

Level 3's troubles represent an even bigger threat to the economy than the first round of the dot-com meltdown because the telecom companies involved are so much bigger. As a group, telecoms have gorged on some $650 billion in debt and are now failing in record numbers for the industry. The debacle is shaping up to be one of the biggest financial fiascoes ever, with losses to investors expected to approach the $150 billion government cleanup of the savings-and-loan industry a decade ago. And as more companies recognize the depth of their problems, the damage is likely to get worse.

To understand the origins of the mess, it helps to take a close look at two of the industry's pioneers, Qwest and Level 3. Located just miles apart in the Rocky Mountain foothills, each sprang from the ambitions of an old-style Western billionaire. Each dazzled investors early on with visions of rapidly expanding demand for telecommunications bandwidth, only to run into difficulties when Internet usage didn't soar as expected. But in the end, only one of the companies would figure out a way to shelter itself against the coming storm.

It has been said that the fiber glut bears a striking resemblance to the overbuilding of the railroads in the late 1800s. So perhaps it's fitting that one of the first to launch a nationwide network to compete with the long-distance companies was Philip Anschutz, a Denver railroad and mining baron whose net worth last year was put by Forbes Magazine at $18 billion.

By the mid-1990s, when Mr. Anschutz turned his attention to the industry, most of the nation's fiber was owned by AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp. and MCI, along with a few upstarts. The hair-thin strands of superclear glass carry infrared light generated by tiny lasers that blink on and off billions of times per second, in a code that transmits voice calls or data traffic. Fiber dramatically increased the number of calls that could be handled at one time, making it far cheaper to use than coaxial cable, which is made of copper wire encased in plastic and aluminum.

Mr. Anschutz first became intrigued with the business through his ownership of Southern Pacific Rail Corp., which had a construction subsidiary that installed fiber along railroad tracks for other customers. When he sold Southern Pacific to Union Pacific Corp. in 1996, he retained the subsidiary, SP Telecom.

Laying fiber isn't technically difficult. Networks are built by burying plastic pipes, or conduits, in the ground and then literally blowing the fibers through with compressed air. One recurring problem is obtaining the right-of-way from property owners. It was there that Mr. Anschutz seized on his advantage: SP Telecom was already armed with the go-ahead to build along much of the nation's railroad tracks. He decided to build a newfangled network specifically designed to carry increasing amounts of data traffic – with the goal of renting space to other telecommunications companies that needed long-distance capacity. In industry lingo, he would become a carrier's carrier.

Mr. Anschutz called the company Qwest and in January 1997 hired Mr. Nacchio, an engineer by training who was then head of AT&T's huge consumer unit, to bring it public. A compulsive workaholic who once finished the New York City marathon with a badly bleeding foot, the 51-year-old Mr. Nacchio left his family in New Jersey and commuted to the Denver headquarters, routinely working until 11 at night.

When Mr. Nacchio took over Qwest, he immediately bumped up the plan to build a 13,000-mile U.S. network to 18,500 miles. It looked like a financial stretch at first. Qwest had $150 million in seed money from Mr. Anschutz, but the rest came slowly. After a two-week road show in March 1997, Mr. Nacchio secured $300 million in debt at a relatively stiff 11.875 % interest rate. Three months later, Qwest went public, raising $318 million.

But before long, business took off. As one of the first entrants to the market, Qwest was able to reel in some early telecom clients. GTE Corp., Frontier Corp. and WorldCom Inc. bought about half the fibers on Qwest's network for about $3.6 billion, enough to cover about 90 % of the cost of building its entire network. Within six months, Qwest's stock price had doubled. The success wasn't lost on one of Qwest's board members, a telecom visionary in his own right named Jim Crowe. A former WorldCom chairman, Mr. Crowe was fixed for life financially and testing out retirement.

But he was growing antsy and wanted back in the game. He had long toyed with the idea of setting up a long-distance fiber network himself. And he had a billionaire of his own to back him up: Mr. Scott, his former boss at Peter Kiewit & Sons, the closely held Omaha construction giant. Mr. Scott was receptive to the idea. At a 1995 gathering in Ireland of executives close to Mr. Buffett, Mr. Scott had been dazzled by a talk by Bill Gates. The Microsoft Corp. chairman told the audience that the Internet "was radically going to change the world," Mr. Scott recalls. And Mr. Crowe already had a stellar track record: A few years earlier, he had built a Kiewit telecom spin-off, MFS Communications, and sold it to WorldCom for $14 billion.

So in 1997, Mr. Crowe told Mr. Anschutz that he was planning to leave the Qwest board at the end of the year. "I said that I might start a company and it might be competitive," says Mr. Crowe. The move, when it came, caught Mr. Nacchio by surprise. He says he knew Mr. Crowe was drumming up a plan but believed he would focus on the local-phone business. "Jim asked me, 'What is the best place to locate a company?' I said Denver," says Mr. Nacchio. "I didn't know he was going to be a direct competitor. If I'd known that, I would have said Pennsylvania."

Mr. Crowe started Level 3 with $3 billion from Kiewit and a select group of investors, including Mr. Scott, who became Level 3's chairman. Instead of having an IPO, Level 3 simply took over a tracking stock held by Kiewit and was listed on the Nasdaq in April of 1998. He located the company in Broomfield – just 14 miles from Qwest's Denver headquarters – a spot Mr. Crowe says he picked after a national study about where high-tech talent wanted to live.

The 51-year-old Mr. Crowe, an imposing figure who could pass for a high-school football coach, started with plans for an ambitious global network. He broke ground for a 16,000-mile U.S. route in Schulenberg, Texas, in July 1998, and then drew up plans for a 4,750-mile network in Europe. Tapping an Omaha connection, Union Pacific head Richard Davidson, Mr. Crowe got permission to build on the railroad's lines for some of its routes. Before long, the company was working in 20 different time zones, with 250 crews digging at once in North America alone.

The Sniping Begins

The sniping between Qwest and Level 3 started almost immediately. A clearly hurt Mr. Nacchio groused that Mr. Crowe was pursuing a "copycat strategy" and openly wondered whether his rival had unfairly gained insights during his time on the Qwest board. "At the end of the day, I have always questioned why he would join," he says. "I'll bet you he learned something being on our board."

Mr. Crowe, who insists he was up-front at all times with Messrs. Anschutz and Nacchio, retorted that Level 3's network would be a technological leap beyond Qwest's. Level 3's innovation was to lay 12 conduits in each leg of the network, against Qwest's two. Only one might have any fiber blown through it at first, with the rest to come as demand warranted. Since one of the biggest costs in laying networks was the digging, Level 3 figured it could save money in the long run by doing it just once. It would also be able to adapt quickly as new kinds of fiber became available.

"Qwest is a fine company and I like Joe. However, we have a big disagreement," says Mr. Crowe. "Our goal is not simply to deploy one generation but to build an entirely new model that assumes technology will change quickly, and at times, unpredictably." Mr. Crowe quickly attracted an almost cult-like following with his theories of how the Internet would revolutionize the stodgy world of communications. One of his best-known principles, and one of the main reasons he built such a large network, was known as disruptive pricing – using low prices to stimulate Internet demand. "For every one percent you drop price, you get a greater than one percent increase in demand," Mr. Crowe said again and again.

He also had little patience for vertically integrated companies that try to do it all. Instead, he argued, communications would eventually drift toward a high-tech model, where each of the most successful companies carves out its own niche. Investors ate it up, especially in Omaha, where the Peter Kiewit name was legend. Generations of engineers had already become wealthy through an employee stock ownership plan, and when Level 3 was spun off, the workers' paper profits soared. The fact that Mr. Scott sits on the board of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Berkshire's legendary leader, Mr. Buffett, keeps his offices on the 14th floor of Kiewit Plaza, only added to the allure. "A lot of people thought this was the next coming, the next Berkshire Hathaway. They loaded all their assets in," says Marc LeFebvre, a stock broker in the Omaha office of Dain Rauscher Inc. who, along with his father, once worked at Kiewit.

By February 2001, Level 3 had managed to raise $13 billion, enough to finance building its entire network and – according to its plans – keep it going until it achieved profitability. Derek Scarth, an equity analyst with Berger Funds, remembers Mr. Crowe's pitch boiled down to this: "If you build it, they will come." But it wasn't customers who came so much as it was competitors, lured by the easy availability of funding. J.P. Morgan and McKinsey & Co. figure at least 50 companies, offering a range of Internet backbone services, joined the gold rush by the end of 2000.

"There was a time in 1998 and 1999 where we were getting five offerings a week, just in telecom," says Brian Hayward, head of telecom investing for Invesco Capital Management Inc. The pile of prospectuses on his floor was two feet high. Mr. Nacchio marvels at how easily the money flowed. In the fall of 1998, he remembers coming up with a second round of financing in a 10-minute call with bankers while driving to his son's soccer game. "Before the game was over, we had subscribed for a billion bucks at 8.9 % interest," says Mr. Nacchio. "To me, we had arrived."

Once the big dig was set in motion, it was hard for any one player to scale back. Each had raised money by promising investors a new fiber-optic network, and each felt compelled to forge ahead to get revenue flowing as soon as possible. Mr. Crowe, who watched competitors creep up behind him much as he had crept up on Qwest, consoled himself with the conviction that his network would be superior. And he and all the others stood firm in the belief that Internet traffic – whether e-mail, or pay-per-view movies or the frenetic transactions of day traders – would soon be gushing so fast that it would engulf all their pipelines and more.

Major Miscalculations

In retrospect, the executives – and Wall Street – made some major miscalculations. Too many companies focused on the easy part of building a network: the long-distance loops that cut mostly through rural areas. Too little money went into widening the pipes that run into homes and offices, an extremely expensive undertaking complicated by the fact that the Baby Bells already own such "last-mile" connections. With high-speed access slow to reach businesses and consumers, development of the sort of "killer applications" that might spur new usage dwindled.

Some analysts tried to sound a warning. In October 1998, an Internet researcher at AT&T Labs named Andrew M. Odlyzko published a paper debunking the widely held view that Internet traffic was doubling every three months. Mr. Odlyzko laid out an argument that in fact Internet use was doubling only once a year. "It was an extremely convenient myth," says Mr. Odlyzko. "Every entrepreneur who was getting financing could quote it."

With the flood of investment money continuing unabated, few in the business paid him any heed. But Mr. Nacchio was starting to get rattled. With so many new entrants, he figured, life as a carrier's carrier might get tough. The entire wholesale market, Mr. Nacchio calculated, was roughly $9 billion a year. "There wasn't enough revenue to go around," he says. So Mr. Nacchio began converting Qwest into a retail company instead, acquiring LCI Communications, which made Qwest into the nation's fourth-largest long-distance company.

In June 1999, he dropped a bombshell by making a bid for U S West, the Denver-based Baby Bell. Coming as it did in the midst of America's Internet euphoria, the move stunned investors, who wondered why Qwest would buy such a traditional, slow-growing company. Mr. Nacchio even had trouble persuading Mr. Anschutz that the move was justified. "All I knew is that we were not going to succeed by being a one-trick pony," says Mr. Nacchio.

Whatever the justification, the stock market wasn't buying it. Qwest's shares plunged, but the $35 billion deal still went through. Mr. Crowe, for the time being, was looking brilliant. Level 3 stock surpassed $130 per share in March 2000. Dangling fat stock options, Level 3 poached Qwest employees, sometimes driving Mr. Nacchio to distraction.

Even though Level 3 was still more than a year away from completing its network, it managed to grab headlines. In October 1999, the company snagged a key piece of America Online's business from WorldCom. Analysts estimated that Level 3 undercut WorldCom's price by 50 %. Mr. Crowe's theory of disruptive pricing was having an impact.

But Mr. Nacchio had some disruptions of his own in mind. Angered by the defections and worried about market share, the executive ordered his sales teams not to lose any contracts to competitors. The project, code-named "Operation Clean Sweep," turned the tide back in Qwest's favor.

It also kicked off a deflationary spiral the likes of which few industries have ever seen. In the wholesale market – the business of selling network space to other phone and Internet companies – prices are expected to plunge at least 60 % this year.

It's even worse for so-called "dark fiber," which hasn't yet been connected to the expensive electronic equipment needed to make it usable. A major brokerage house, say, that wanted to purchase its own strand of fiber could pick it up for $1,200 a mile, down from as much as $5,000 in 1997, according to Qwest. Such sales are becoming increasingly rare, however, because few companies are in a position to invest in the equipment needed to connect the fiber into a network. That equipment, including the ultra-fast switches called routers, costs many times more than the fiber itself.

The pricing collapse, combined with the bursting of the Internet bubble, has left the fiber industry gasping for air – and Mr. Nacchio looking like a genius.

Saved by the Baby Bell

Thanks to the constant trickle of money from plain-vanilla local phone service, Qwest is projecting revenue of as much as $21.7 billion this year, up from $19 billion in 2000. It lost $81 million last year and won't be profitable anytime soon, but its stock price has been holding steady lately at around $33 on the New York Stock Exchange. That's down 48 % from its high but still well above the initial offering price, adjusted for a split, of $5.50.

Life isn't so easy for Mr. Crowe. After trading as high as $130 in March of last year, the company's stock closed Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $7.62, off 34 cents, or 4.3 %. By some estimates, investors in the Omaha area alone have suffered paper losses of as much as $20 billion, leading to plenty of grumbling around town.

Tom Dowd, an Omaha attorney, is kicking himself for not selling his Level 3 shares earlier, but he still has faith the situation will improve. "Walter Scott has his reputation on the line with all these people getting it in the teeth," he says. "He doesn't want his legacy to be a foul ball."

It will take some doing to turn Level 3 back into a hit. Due to some environmental problems in California – the digging was disrupted temporarily by regulators when a trout turned up dead near the route – the network isn't quite finished. Of the 96 fibers in Level 3's first conduit, only two are currently lit.

And, despite winning high-profile customers such as Yahoo Inc. and XO Communications Inc., Level 3 recently lowered its projection of communications revenue for this year to as little as $1.4 billion from $1.7 billion. In 2000, the company reported a net loss of $1.45 billion on revenue of $1.18 billion, including $200 million in revenue from mining operations.

Some acquaintances have noticed that Mr. Crowe seems more subdued these days. But in public the executive remains the picture of confidence. He stresses that the company still has $4 billion in cash and says it will emerge from the shakeout. "A year ago we were in a hothouse environment where every plant, regardless of its strength, prospered," he says. "Now, we are outside in the cold world. It is a better environment, as painful as it is."

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Deutsche Telekom Agrees to Sell Six Cable Firms to Liberty Media

Aus: The Wall Street Journal, 21. Juni 2001, Seite xx (Germany). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

BONN. Deutsche Telekom AG agreed to sell cable-television operations in six regions of Germany to Liberty Media Group in a deal that is expected to top 5.5 billion euros ($4.7 billion), marking an expansion of cable-TV tycoon John Malone's efforts to push into Europe's emerging broadband market. When finalized, the accord would give Liberty entry into the lucrative German market, the world's second-largest TV market after the U.S.

As part of the deal, Liberty also will acquire the operations of Deutsche Telekom units Deutsche Telekom Kabel-Services GmbH and MediaServices GmbH in the six regions, Deutsche Telekom said. More than 10 million homes are connected to the cable network in the six regions.

Liberty has been angling to expand its reach in Europe, which is still behind the U.S. in development of the market for broadband services. Broadband is a catchall term that refers to almost any kind of service – voice, data and video – that can be shipped over upgraded cable lines.

In February, a consortium led by Liberty agreed to buy a 55 % stake in the cable firms for about $2.5 billion. Since then, Liberty and Deutsche Telekom have been working their way through a thicket of governance, regulatory and financial issues.

In the end, the two sides decided it made more sense for Liberty, without partners, to just buy the six cable firms outright, said people familiar with the matter. "It's a lot easier this way," said one person familiar with the situation. "Structurally, it's a lot cleaner and simpler, and [the parties] avoid some of the regulatory issues that might have been associated with DT's [minority] interest."

Deutsche Telekom and Liberty, which currently trades as a tracking stock of AT&T Corp., aren't expected to announce final terms until a definitive agreement is signed. Deutsche Telekom said the two companies aim to close the deal in July, subject to the approval of antitrust authorities.

Sale to Reduce Debt Burden

Telekom said Thursday that it plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the cable-TV assets largely to reduce its hefty 57-billion-euro debt load. Telekom also would be open to sell additional stakes in three other cable companies that has already sold and in which it retained minority stakes, said board member Gerd Tenzer.

The company is currently negotiating to finalize the sale of a majority stake in its cable TV franchise in Baden- Wuerttemberg state to Callahan Associates International LLC. Last year, Callahan bought a majority stake in Telekom's cable-TV network in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. "At the moment we are not talking about selling more in North Rhine Westphalia. We are open for such talks but no offer has been made yet," said Mr. Tenzer, the Telekom board member in charge of cable television.

Telekom's decision to fully dispose of its cable-TV network also will affect the company's overall strategy in the digital-TV sector. As a result of the Liberty deal, said Mr. Tenzer, Telekom and the Kirch Group plan to withdraw an application made with the European Commission to form a joint venture to design and manufacture set-top boxes for digital TV. Telekom had planned to take a 50 % stake in BetaResearch, Kirch's technology company. "If you get out cable television it doesn't make much sense to be intensely involved with set-top boxes. We are in the process of withdrawing our application" with the commission, said Mr. Tenzer.

People familiar with the situation said the current terms of the transaction include cash and Liberty securities, but don't include any assumption of debt by Liberty. It's possible, of course, that terms could change by the time the definitive agreement is signed.

Under the proposed new pact, international financier Gary Klesch would have the option to buy as much as a 25 % stake later from Liberty. In the original deal, Mr. Klesch would have been involved in the Liberty-led consortium from the beginning. Liberty also has the option of bringing in other German partners later.

Fragmented Industry

When Deutsche Telekom first began selling stakes in its cable-TV companies last year, its plan was to give up control but retain a large minority stake. The company assumed that after the cable networks were upgraded for multimedia and telephone services, they would become more valuable. Deutsche Telekom planned to float additional shares at a later date to tap into the increased value of the cable assets.

That plan ran into trouble earlier this year because of the fragmented structure of the German cable industry. When the government-owned Deutsche Bundespost – out of which Deutsche Telekom was created in 1995 – began building cable-TV networks in the 1970s, the government granted the Bundespost a cable-TV monopoly over the basic infrastructure. But it allowed independent firms to compete in hooking up customers to the network, connections known as "Level 4" of the cable network.

While some 18 million customers in Germany are hooked up to cable today, about a third of them are actually under contract with Deutsche Telekom-owned cable-TV companies. The rest are under contract with hundreds of so-called Level 4 operators. The new investors in Deutsche Telekom's cable-TV network hoped to buy out the Level 4 operators after taking control of Deutsche Telekom's cable networks. But that plan hit a wall earlier this year when Germany's competition watchdog ran interference, saying Deutsche Telekom's continued participation would impede competition in the market.

The bottom line: As long as Deutsche Telekom remained a shareholder in the cable-TV network, it would be extremely difficult to consolidate the Level 4 operators. And that, in turn, might make it difficult to gain enough cable customers to finance upgrades to Deutsche Telekom's outmoded cable-TV networks. This message wasn't lost on Liberty, people familiar with the matter said.

Deutsche Telekom is under increasing pressure to reduce its debt, and selling the cable-TV networks entirely to raise cash and pare down its 57 billion euro pile of debt would be one way to do that. Deutsche Telekom has also feared that Liberty could back out of the deal in the face of the significant regulatory uncertainty. That would have caused a long delay on any sale, possibly putting it off until next year, something the German company wanted to avoid.

In addition to the six cable-TV companies located throughout Germany, Liberty will acquire 100 % of Deutsche Telekom's Level 4 operator in the six regions, which hooks up customers to the cable network. Liberty will also obtain an infrastructure- services company that provides billing and other support services, as well as packaging some programming. In the original deal, Liberty had options on those properties. [more]

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Deutsche Telekom to Sell Units to Liberty Media

Aus: Yahoo-News, 21. Juni 2001, 12.46 Uhr MESZ (Media). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

FRANKFURT. Shares in Deutsche Telekom AG surged four percent on Thursday after the telecoms giant said it had agreed fully to sell off six of its regional cable TV units, more than it had previously said would go. Telekom said it would sell 100 percent of each of the six units to Liberty Media, having signed a letter of intent in February to sell 55 percent stakes in the networks to Liberty and UK private equity firm Klesch & Co.

Deutsche Telekom did not disclose terms of the deal as it said detailed negotiations continue but industry sources said the group should receive around $4.69 billion for the six units.

Analysts welcomed the prospect of Deutsche Telekom receiving more money from the sale than a partial sale would generate. "This is positive," said Sal. Oppenheim telecoms analyst Frank Rothauge, who has an "outperform" rating on Deutsche Telekom. The group is selling off non-core assets as it seeks to cut its debt pile of almost $51.11 billion, swollen by spending almost 16 billion euros on third-generation mobile phone licenses in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.

Deutsche Telekom bonds held firm on Thursday as analysts welcomed the prospect of the company receiving more money from the sale than was originally expected. "I would imagine if they are to sell 100 percent stakes they are going to receive more from those sales, which is obviously positive for their debt reduction strategy," said Bradley Bugg, telecoms credit analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

By 0940 GMT, Deutsche Telekom shares were 3.63 percent higher at 25.14 euros, the top gainer and most traded stock on Germany's blue-chip DAX index, which was 0.02 percent lower. The Eurostoxx telecoms index was up 0.01 percent. Deutsche Telekom stock is still trading only 10 percent above its year low, set earlier this month when it was weighed down by the "flowback" of stock into the market after its cash-and-shares takeover of U.S. cellphone operator VoiceStream.

REDUCED RISK TO DOMESTIC BUSINESS

Deutsche Telekom originally aimed to keep blocking minorities in the TV units. This would have allowed it to prevent the networks' new majority owners from developing them into telecoms operations which could threaten Telekom's domestic business.

But analysts said Deutsche Telekom no longer faced that threat, saying Liberty was now unlikely to make the necessary investments in the cable networks to perform the conversion. "The investment would be too high and, for example, an IPO is not practicable at the moment," said Sal. Oppenheim's Rothauge. "Therefore, it's very unlikely that they would invest in the Internet, or in telephony." The activities of ancillary units Deutsche Telekom Kabel-Services GmbH and MediaServices GmbH will also be sold in full, Telekom said.

Liberty is part of U.S. telecoms giant AT&T and controls Europe's biggest cable TV network provider Pan-Europe Communications NV. Liberty will purchase the cable TV regions of Bremen/Lower Saxony, Rheinland- Pfalz/Saarland, Berlin/Brandenburg, Saxony/Saxony- Anhalt/Thuringia, Bavaria, and the combined region of Hamburg/Schleswig- Holstein/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

More than 10 million homes are connected to the cable network in these six regions, Deutsche Telekom said. The final agreement will be completed in the coming weeks and regulatory approval is still required. Deutsche Telekom retains three other regional cable operations in Germany but analysts expect these to be sold in the medium term. [mehr]

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Intel says EU should push for more broadband access

Aus: c|net, 21. Juni 2001, 20.04 Uhr MESZ (Internet). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

BRUSSELS. U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp's Chief Executive Craig Barrett said on Thursday Europe should take steps to encourage the roll-out of broadband Internet access, which would lead to more Internet usage. Meeting reporters in Brussels while travelling in Europe, Barrett acknowledged the European Union's efforts in trying to fully liberalise the telecommunications sector throughout the 15-nation bloc.

But he said that adoption of broadband – which allows high-speed Internet access – in Europe had been slowed down by delays in the opening up to competition of the so-called "local loop" of telephone lines as well as high charges.

Governments, including the U.S., were therefore faced with the task of encouraging broadband take-up. "The major issue facing both Europe and the U.S. is probably more in the broadband area than it is in penetration of Internet users," Barrett told a group of reporters. "That's an area the EU should focus on. What you want is a formula that promotes competition to the consumers with broadband."

Since the coming into force of a pan-EU regulation on the liberalisation of the last mile of telephone lines, former monopolist operators have been forced to grant access of their local network to new entrants. The process has so far been slow, with some observers complaining that former monopolists were dragging their feet.

Some British Internet providers such as Freeserve or BT have been charging about 50 pounds ($70.57) a month for high-speed Internet access compared to an average of $20-$30 monthly in the U.S. Barrett said U.S. prices could be achieved in Europe through more competition.

LOW BROADBAND PENETRATION

The current lack of flat-rate pricing for Internet access in several European countries was a barrier for Internet adoption, Intel said. While U.S. operators tend to charge customers a flat monthly rate for Internet access, dial-up time charging is still common in Europe. Barrett pointed to the example of South Korea, which managed to successfully achieve the world's highest broadband penetration through a mixture of government incentives and open competition.

"It's strange that in a developing economy (Korea) we should have such a high broadband penetration. That is the result of a mix of government policy and strong competition," Barrett said. "Hopefully the EU governments and the U.S. will look at that as a symbol of what can be done."

Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, said earlier this week that it was sticking to its $7.5 billion investment plans this year despite a sharp downturn in the sector. Barrett would not comment on upcoming second quarter results. In regard to an ongoing European Commission inquiry into the company's marketing practices, Barrett said the company was fully complying with all requests for information by the European Union's antitrust watchdog.

Intel reiterated its practices had been lawful. "We think we've been acting within legal limits," Barrett said. "We think we'll be successful with the outcome of any investigation."

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Die Telekom verkauft das TV-Kabelnetz

9 Regionalgesellschaften gehen zu 100 % an Liberty Media / Geschätzter Kaufpreis: 5,5 Milliarden Euro

Aus: Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 22. Juni 2001, Seite 19 (Wirtschaft). [Original]

BERLIN (vis). Die Deutsche Telekom trennt sich von ihrem Kabel-TV- Geschäft. Nach monatelangen Verhandlungen wird der Konzern sechs der ingesamt neun regionalen Kabel-TV- Gesellschaften zu 100 % an die Liberty Media Corporation verkaufen. Die Vorstände beider Unternehmen hätten einem entsprechenden Eckpunktevertrag zugestimmt, teilte die Telekom am Donnerstag in Bonn mit. Der endgültige Vertrag solle noch im Juli unterzeichnet werden. Die Aufsichtsgremien müssen noch zustimmen. Die Börse reagierte positiv auf die Nachricht. Die T-Aktie legte bis zum Nachmittag um 4,24 % auf 25,30 Euro zu.

Veräußerung bringt mehr Wettbewerb Aus: Der Tagesspiegel, 22.6.2001, Seite 19.

Der Verband privater Kabelnetzbetreiber (Anga) begrüßt den Verkauf des Kabelnetzes. "Seit Jahren fordern wir, dass sich die Telekom komplett vom Kabelnetz trennt", sagt der Hauptgeschäftsführer des Anga, Peter Charissé. "Nur dann kann es einen echten Wettbewerb zwischen dem Kabel- und dem Telefonnetz geben." Sein Verband, der unter anderen die Kabelnetzbetreiber Tele Columbus, PrimaCom, Bosch und EWT/tss vertritt, werde sich für den schnellen Ausbau des Netzes einsetzen. "Wir werden offen auf die neuen Investoren zugehen", sagte Charissé. Ohne die Zusammenarbeit mit den anderen Kabelnetzbetreibern wird Liberty Media auch nicht weit kommen. Denn das deutsche Kabelnetz hat eine komplizierte Eigentümer- struktur. Die weiten Strecken (Netzebene 3) gehören der Telekom, die letzten Meter Kabel bis in die Wohnungen hinein (Netzebene 4) meist Wohnungsbaugesellschaften oder auch mittelständischen Handwerksunternehmen. Lediglich ein Drittel aller Kabelhaushalte sind direkte Kunden der Telekom. Liberty muss also auch mit den kleinen Betreibern einig werden. Von dem was die Investmentgesellschaft Callahan in Nordrhein-Westfalen bisher erreicht hat, ist Charissé enttäuscht. Bei Callahan habe es an Kenntnis über den deutschen Markt gefehlt. Von Liberty Media erwartet er da mehr: Liberty gehört zum US-Telekomkonzern AT&T und kontrolliert unter anderem den größten europäischen TV-Kabelnetz- Betreiber United Pan- Europe Communications (UPC).

Von Liberty Media werden die Kabel-TV- Regionen Hamburg/ Schleswig- Holstein/ Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, Bremen/ Niedersachsen, Rheinland- Pfalz/ Saarland, Berlin/ Brandenburg, Sachsen/Sachsen- Anhalt/ Thüringen und Bayern erworben. In den sechs Regionen sind nach Angaben der Telekom mehr als 10 Millionen Haushalte an das Kabel angeschlossen. Rund 2800 Mitarbeiter sind in den Gesellschaften beschäftigt. Ebenso übernimmt Liberty die auf diese Regionen entfallenden Aktivitäten der Deutschen Telekom Kabel-Services GmbH (DeTeKS) und die Media Services GmbH (MSG).

Den Kaufpreis nannte die Telekom nicht. Beobachter schätzen ihn auf etwa 5,5 Milliarden Euro. Analysten bezeichneten das vor dem Hintergrund eines branchenweiten Preisverfalls als gut. "Die Telekom hat lange gepokert", sagt Ralf Hallmann, Analyst der Bankgesellschaft Berlin. "Es hat sich gelohnt." Den Erlös aus dem Verkauf kann die Telekom zur Tilgung ihrer Schulden in Höhe von rund 56,8 Milliarden Euro einsetzen.

Überraschend ist, dass die Telekom die Gesellschaften vollständig verkauft und so kein Mitspracherecht beim Ausbau des Kabelnetzes mehr hat. Aufgerüstet mit einem Rückkanal tritt das Kabel nämlich in Konkurrenz zum Festnetz der Telekom. Über das Kabel können zum Beispiel Telefondienste, schnelle Internetzugänge und Wunschfilme auf Abruf angeboten werden. Im vergangenen Jahr hatte die Telekom jeweils 55 % der Regionalnetze in Nordrhein- Westfalen und Baden- Württemberg an die britische Investmentgesellschaft Callahan verkauft. Das hessische Netz ging zu 65 % an eine Investorengruppe um den britischen Medienunternehmer Gary Klesch und den US-Kabelanbieter NTL. Die übrigen Anteile hält die Telekom noch.

"Wir haben ein attraktives Angebot bekommen und uns auch bisher durchaus flexibel gezeigt", sagte ein Telekom-Sprecher. Das Kabelgeschäft gehöre nicht zum Kerngeschäft der Telekom, daher werde es veräußert. Es werde zwar Angebote in Konkurrenz zum Telekom-Angebot geben, "aber wir bleiben auch nicht stehen. Daher müssen wir die Konkurrenz nicht fürchten".

Analyst Hallmann sieht den vollständigen Verkauf nicht als gravierenden Nachteil. "Die Telekom konzentriert sich bei der Übertragung von Multimedia- Diensten auf das mit DSL- Technik aufgerüstete Festnetz." Zur Zeit sei das Festnetz die größte Umsatzstütze des Konzerns. Damit es profitabel bleibe, müsse es zum Hochgeschwindigkeitsnetz ausgebaut werden, um höher wertige Dienste anbieten zu können. Die Aufrüstung erfordere dabei wesentlich geringere Investitionen als im Kabelnetz. [mehr] [dazu Der Spiegel]

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Deutsche Bank verkauft ihr TV-Kabelgeschäft

Aus: Welt am Sonntag, Hamburg, 24. Juni 2001, Seite 56 (Wirtschaft – Unternehmen).

HAMBURG (cdo). Der TV-Kabel-Markt in Deutschland bleibt in Bewegung. Die Deutsche Bank will in Kürze den Verkauf ihrer Service- Gesellschaft für das TV-Kabelnetz, TeleColumbus, bekannt geben. Derzeit laufen abschließende Verkaufsgespräche. Der Interessentenkreis ist analog der Bewerber um das Telekom- Kabelnetz, erfuhr WELT am SONNTAG aus Branchenkreisen. Dazu zählen unter anderem die Konzerne Liberty Media und Callahan aus den USA sowie die britische Investorengruppe NTL.

Die AT&T-Tochter Liberty hatte diese Woche bereits von der Telekom 6 regionale TV-Kabel-Netze, darunter Berlin und Bayern, für angeblich rund 10 Milliarden Mark übernommen. Bereits im vergangenen Jahr hatte die Telekom die Regionen Nordrhein- Westfalen und Baden- Württemberg an Callahan sowie Hessen an die britische Investorengruppe Klesch teilweise abgegeben.

Für Liberty als auch die anderen neuen Kabelnetz- Betreiber wäre der Kauf von TeleColumbus ein weiterer Schritt, um möglichst bald neue Dienste wie einen schnellen Internet- Zugang per Kabel oder interaktives Fernsehen anbieten zu können. Hintergrund: Liberty hat zwar das Netz (Ebene 3) gekauft, den Endkunden- Zugang (Ebene 4) besitzen hingegen häufig andere Anbieter wie TeleColumbus, mit bundesweit 2 Millionen Kunden. Liberty ist hier zu Lande bereits im Endkundengeschäft präsent. [dazu Der Spiegel]

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Ortsnetz-Monopol der Telekom fällt bis Jahresende

Regulierer Matthias Kurth verteidigt seinen Kurs im Streit um das Ortsnetz

Aus: Handelsblatt, 27. Juni 2001, Seite xx (Telekommunikation). [Original]

BERLIN – Dienstag, 26. Juni 2001. Bereits jetzt könnten die neuen Telefongesellschaften 60 % aller Telefonanschlüsse in Deutschland von der Telekom mieten und die entsprechenden Kunden abwerben, sagt Telekom-Regulierer Matthias Kurth.

Bis zum Ende des Jahres wird es das Ortsnetz- Monopol der Deutschen Telekom AG nicht mehr geben. Davon jedenfalls ist Telekom- Regulierer Matthias Kurth überzeugt. „Ich habe die Zusage der Telekom, dass sie alle Auftragsrückstände der Wettbewerber bis Ende Oktober abbauen wird“, sagte der Präsident der Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post im Handelsblatt- Gespräch. Ein Telekom- Sprecher bestätigte dies auf Anfrage des Handelsblatts.

In den vergangenen Wochen hatten sich mehrere neue Anbieter, darunter Worldcom und QSC, bei Kurth darüber beschwert, dass die Telekom ihnen die notwendige Infrastruktur für den Ortsnetz- Einstieg in der Regel erst Monate nach der Bestellung liefere und so das Geschäft massiv behindere. Die Wettbewerber befürchten, dass es der Telekom gelingt, ihr Monopol in den neuen Markt für schnelle Internet- Zugänge zu verlängern. Die niedrigen Einführungspreise für ihr DSL- Angebot hatte Kurth der Telekom jedoch nur unter der Bedingung genehmigt, dass sie die „letzte Meile“ schnell für ihre Wettbewerber öffnet. Solange die Telekom den deutschen Festnetzmarkt beherrscht, haben alle neuen Anbieter ein Recht darauf, die Telefonleitung vom Hauptverteiler bis zum Kundenanschluss zu mieten. Um an diese Leitung zu kommen, müssen sie eigene Technik in den Hauptverteilern anschließen und weitere Leitungen bis zum eigenen Netz anmieten.

„Es ist völlig unkalkulierbar, wann die Telekom eine bestellte Mietleitung schaltet“, begründet Salomon Grünberg, Regulierungsexperte bei Worldcom, seine Beschwerde bei Kurth. Grünberg hält es für höchst unwahrscheinlich, dass die Telekom den Auftragsstau bei Mietleitungen bis November abgearbeitet haben wird. Kurth bezeichnete die Zusagen der Telekom in diesem Fall jedoch als glaubwürdig. „Wir gehen dem natürlich nach, und wenn es erforderlich ist, wird sich meine Behörde erneut einschalten“, sagte Kurth. Schon jetzt könnten in den Hauptverteilern 60 % aller Telekom-Anschlüsse auf Wettbewerber umgeschaltet werden. Kurths Optimismus über ein baldiges Ende des Ortsnetz-Monopols teilt bisher allein Arcor-Chef Harald Stöber, andere vom Handelsblatt befragte Unternehmer teilten die Meinung Grünbergs.

Nach Abschluss eines Missbrauchsverfahrens, das die Düsseldorfer Telefongesellschaft GTS bei seiner Behörde angestrengt hatte, hofft Kurth, im Telekommarkt bald zu normalen Lieferverträgen mit Lieferfristen und Vertragsstrafen zwischen Telekom und Wettbewerbern zu kommen. „Die Verträge selbst kann ich aber nicht formulieren“, so Kurth. Nach dem Telekommunikationsgesetz könne seine Behörde erst dann eingreifen, wenn der Verdacht besteht, dass die Telekom ihre Marktmacht missbraucht.

„Wenn die Lieferung der Vorprodukte richtig läuft, dann haben wir als Regulierungsbehörde unsere Hausaufgaben gemacht“, so Kurth. Neben DSL gebe es ja alternative Techniken wie WLL-Richtfunk und das Fernsehkabel, um Kunden direkt anzuschließen. „Ob sich die Investitionen in alternative Infrastruktur rechnet, ist nicht Sache des Regulierers sondern der Unternehmen“, betonte Kurth. Er sieht die Ursache der Probleme vieler neuer Anbieter in den Kapitalmärkten: Geldgeber würden plötzlich schneller Gewinne erwarten als abgesprochen.

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Telekom-Konkurrenz fühlt sich geknebelt

Aus: Financial Times Deutschland, Hamburg, 28. Juni 2001, Seite xx (Telekommunikation) von ANDREAS KROSTA. [Original]

BERLIN. Die Macht des Ex-Monopolisten über die letzte Meile erschwert Telefongesellschaften den Weg in die Gewinnzone. Das aussichtsreiche Geschäft mit Telefon- und Internet- Anschlüssen gerät in Deutschland ins Stocken.

"Im Moment ist die Hochstimmung, die wir gehabt haben, nicht mehr da", sagte der Vorstandsvorsitzende des Anbieters von DSL-Internet- Zugängen QSC, Bernd Schlobohm. Einige regionale und lokale Telefongesellschaften geraten derzeit vor allem beim hoffnungsvollen Privatkundengeschäft tief in die Krise. Der Kölner City Carrier NetCologne schreibt nicht, wie geplant, Ende 2001 schwarze Zahlen. "Das wird sich um bis zu zwei Jahre verschieben", sagte Geschäftsführer Werner Hanf. Auch der mit 7 % Marktanteil größte Konkurrent der Deutschen Telekom, Arcor, hatte bereits in der vergangenen Woche angekündigt, erst später ein positives Ergebnis vorlegen zu können.

Grund für das eher schleppende Wachstum ist offenbar die Blockadehaltung der Telekom, die alle Register zieht, um ihre Konkurrenz klein zu halten. "Die Telekom spielt auf Zeit", sagte ein Unternehmensberater. Das größte europäische Telekommunikations- Unternehmen versuche "mit allen Mitteln zu verhindern", dass die teilweise sehr viel kleinere Konkurrenz ihr Marktanteile bei DSL und im Festnetz abknüpfen kann. Das Festnetz ist der einzige Bereich der Telekom, der schwarze Zahlen schreibt. Bei einem Umsatz von 15,1 Mrd. Euro fährt die Telekom einen Gewinn von 600 Mio. Euro ein.

Die Telekom verlangsame den Aufbau der schnellen Datenübertragungs- Technologie DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), die mit Übertragungsraten von 2,3 Megabit pro Sekunde bis zu 35 schneller als die ISDN- Technologie ist, sagte Schlobohm. Dies betreffe vor allem das margenträchtige Privatkundensegment.

Damit dürfte das Geschäft mit DSL hauptsächlich die Telekom machen. "Wettbewerb gibt es nicht im DSL- Markt. Die Telekom hat alle Stellschrauben in der Hand", sagte der Geschäftsführer des BREKO-Verbandes, Rainer Lüddemann, der 50 regionale Telefongesellschaften wie NetCologne und Hansenet vertritt, die auch DSL- Anschlüsse anbieten. Die Telekom will bis zum Ende des Jahres 2,6 Millionen Anschlüsse verlegt haben. Die Konkurrenz aus Unternehmen wie QSC, KKFnet oder Riodata wird den Planungen zufolge nur rund 80.000 Anschlüsse zählen. Marktforscher der Investmentbank Merrill Lynch gehen davon aus, dass in Europa in diesem Jahr 2,7 Millionen DSL-Anschlüsse verlegt sind. Bis Ende 2003 soll sich die Zahl nahezu versiebenfachen.

Die letzte Meile

Das Blockademittel der Telekom ist das Kupferkabel, die so genannte letzte Meile. Darüber laufen die Telefongespräche sowie in einem anderen Frequenzbereich der Datenverkehr. Von den Festnetzgesellschaften kassiert die Telekom 24,40 DM im Monat pro Leitung und einmalige Gebühren von 180 DM. Die Regulierungsbehörde hatte angeordnet, die beiden Frequenzbereiche der Leitung getrennt an Konkurrenten zu vermieten. Dagegen wehrt sich der Telefonkonzern allerdings und handelte sich damit eine Strafe der Regulierungsbehörde ein. Außerdem klagte die Telekom gegen die Entscheidung – zunächst ohne Erfolg. QSC- Chef Schlobohm sagte, die Bundesregierung übe Druck auf die Regulierungsbehörde aus. "Ich habe das Gefühl, man ist an Wettbewerb nicht interessiert und betreibt Politik im Sinne der Telekom."

Die Telekom hält auch den Festnetzmarkt in der Hand. Dort stellt sie den alternativen Gesellschaften zum Beispiel keinen Raum in den Hauptverteilergebäuden bereit oder zögert den Netzanschluss heraus. Dem Chef der Regulierungsbehörde Matthias Kurth zufolge soll sich dies im Oktober ändern. Die Telekom werde alle Aufträge abarbeiten. Die City Carrier glauben nicht daran: "Bei unseren Mitgliedern sind keine Anzeichen für einen Abbau der Rückstände zu erkennen", sagte Lüdemann. "Wir glauben nicht an den goldenen Oktober", heißt es beim in Dortmund aktiven City Carrier Versatel, dessen Privatkundengeschäft ebenfalls nicht so läuft wie geplant. Auch das Wachstum der Düsseldorfer Isis stagniert. "Wir sind da noch länger in den roten Zahlen", sagte ein Sprecher.

Die Rettung liegt offenbar in Fusionen. In Nordrhein-Westfalen haben sich bereits im August unter der Holding Tropolys fünf regionale Unternehmen zusammengeschlossen. Weitere 10 bis 12 Übernahmen seien im Gespräch, sagte Tropolys Geschäftsführer Peer Knauer. Die neun Unternehmen im Verband Regionet sprechen Hanf zufolge auch über Kooperationen.

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EU beschließt Recht auf Internet für alle

Zudem neue eu-Domain gebilligt

Aus: Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 29. Juni 2001, Seite 30 (Interaktiv). [Original]

BRÜSSEL. In der Europäischen Union soll jedermann ein Recht auf Zugang zum Internet bekommen. Das sieht eine EU-Richtlinie über den "Universaldienst und Nutzerrechte bei elektronischen Kommunikationsnetzen" vor, auf die sich die für Telekommunikation zuständigen Minister der Europäischen Union jetzt in Luxemburg grundsätzlich einigten. Danach muss jeder die Möglichkeit bekommen, zu erschwinglichen Preisen zu telefonieren oder im Internet zu surfen, egal ob er in der Großstadt wohnt oder im abgelegenen Dorf. Allerdings beinhaltet dieses Recht keinerlei Pflichten für den Staat oder die Wirtschaft: Der Staat solle möglichst wenig regulierend eingreifen, solange der Markt diesen Basiszugang zu Telekommunikationsdiensten sicherstellen kann. "Wir haben hier eine sehr liberale Position durchgesetzt", sagte der Parlamentarische Staatssekretär Siegmar Mosdorf vom Bundeswirtschaftsministerium zu der Entscheidung.

So gehört zu dieser Grundversorgung zunächst kein Recht auf einen besonders schnellen Internet- Zugang, wie er technisch über Breitband bereits möglich ist. Ob dieses schließlich doch noch Pflicht für die EU-Mitgliedstaaten wird, soll in zwei Jahren auf Grund der bis dahin gesammelten Erfahrungen entschieden werden. Die Finanzierung dieser Telekom- Grundversorgung soll über einen Fonds sichergestellt werden, in den die beteiligten Unternehmen einzahlen, oder über eine Steuer, sagte dazu ein Sprecher der EU-Kommission.

Die EU-Telekommunikationsminister haben sich zudem auf die Einrichtung der neuen Top Level Domain ".eu" geeinigt. Bei ihrem Treffen beschlossen sie, Anbietern von Dienstleistungen und Informationen mit der neuen Endung für Internet- Adressen die Möglichkeit einer "klareren europäischen Identität" zu geben. Zu der Entscheidung soll nun noch das Europäische Parlament Stellung nehmen. Nach Angaben des zuständigen EU-Kommissars Erkki Liikanen könnte eine abschließende Entscheidung noch in diesem Jahr fallen. Mit der Registrierung der Adressen könne dann voraussichtlich 2002 begonnen werden.

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AOL: Telekom verdient an der Großhandelsflatrate zuviel

Aus: Heise-Newsticker, 2. Juli 2001, 19.27 Uhr (Internet). [Original]

BERLIN (axv/c't). Mit einer heute in Berlin vorgestellten Studie will der Onlinedienst AOL nachweisen, dass die Deutsche Telekom an der Großhandelsflatrate zuviel Geld verdient. Die Autoren der Studie gehen davon aus, dass die Telekom auch für die Hälfte des derzeitigen Preises noch kostendeckend arbeiten kann. Eine Preissenkung würde Internet- Providern wiederum Pauschal-Tarife für schmalbandige ISDN- oder Analog- Internetzugänge für Preise unter 50 Mark ermöglichen.

Die Telekom bietet die so genannte Großhandelsflatrate seit Dezember vergangenen Jahres an: Internet- Provider können damit für 4800 Mark monatlich einen Primärmultiplexanschluss mit 30 B-Kanälen mit insgesamt knapp 2 MBit/s Bandbreite mieten. Das Angebot kann an den zirka 1600 Teilnehmervermittlungsstellen der Deutschen Telekom in Anspruch genommen werden. Damit sollen Provider einen kalkulierbaren Internet- Zugang zum Pauschaltarif anbieten können. Sollte ein Dienstanbieter die Kanäle einzeln weitervermieten, sind damit nach den Vorstellungen der Telekom jedoch pro Kanal 160 Mark monatlich (1920 Mark pro Jahr) an Telekom- Vorleistungsgebühren fällig. Erst wenn ein Provider mehrere Kunden auf einem Kanal zusammenschaltet, sind niedrigere Endkundenpreise möglich; allerdings können die Anbieter dann keine volle ISDN- Bandbreite mehr garantieren.

Die Studie hält den Preis von 1920 Mark für erheblich zu teuer. Ihr zufolge liegen die realen Kosten der Telekom bei rund 855 Mark pro Jahr. Allerdings räumen die Autoren ein, dass es hier noch Faktoren und Szenarien gebe, die die Summe drastisch noch oben oder auch unten korrigieren könnten. Doch selbst die höchsten Schätzungen liegen immer noch knapp 150 Mark jährlich unterhalb des T-Angebots.

AOL glaubt mit Hilfe der Studie nachweisen zu können, dass die Telekom sich bei der Großhandelsflatrate nicht an den "Kosten der effizienten Leistungsbereitstellung" orientiert. Deshalb hat der Onlinedienst die Studie mittlerweile auch der Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post (RegTP) vorgelegt. Die Behörde hatte in den vergangenen Monaten einige Niederlagen im Streit um die Großhandelsflatrate kassiert. Nach dem so genannten Flatrate-Sterben Ende vergangenen Jahres hatte sie die Telekom zum Angebot einer Großhandelsflatrate verpflichtet, allerdings keine Preise festgelegt. Die Telekom kam der Aufforderung mit dem genannten Angebot zwar nach, zog jedoch gleichzeitig gegen die Anordnung vor Gericht. Sie argumentierte, dass die RegTP lediglich nachträglich Tarife korrigieren, nicht jedoch die Telekom zum Angebot neuer Tarifmodelle verpflichten dürfe. Der ehemalige Staatskonzern gewann: Das Oberverwaltungsgerichts Münster entschied vorläufig zugunsten der Telekom. Auch wenn eine endgültige Entscheidung bislang noch aussteht, hätte der rosa Riese das Angebot also vom Markt nehmen können. Dass er das nicht tat, freut jetzt die Wettbewerber, allerdings nicht wegen des Angebots selbst, das sie unisono als zu teuer einstufen, sondern weil die RegTP nun nachträglich vielleicht doch noch am Preis herumregulieren darf.

AOL hofft nun, die zur Zeit eingefrorene Flatrate für 78 Mark monatlich bald wieder anbieten zu können und zwar diesmal rentabel. Weil dies bislang nicht der Fall war, nimmt AOL bereits seit Mai keine Neukunden für diesen Tarif mehr an, auch wenn das Unternehmen nicht müde wurde, darauf hinzuweisen, dass es sich hier lediglich um eine indirekte Folge der Einstellung der T-Online- Flatrate handele: Da man nun der letzte bundesweit agierende Anbieter eine Flatrate für unter hundert Mark war, habe der daraufhin folgende Kundenansturm eine befristete Pause notwendig gemacht, um die Netzkapazitäten auszubauen. Noch in diesem Sommer will sich AOL nun mit einem neuen Flatrate-Angebot zurückmelden.

Die Telekom äußerte sich bisher nicht zu der Frage, wie viel sie denn an der Großhandelsflatrate verdiene. Sprecher Ulrich Lissek wies gegenüber Heise-online lediglich darauf hin, dass das Angebot offensichtlich so attraktiv sei, dass es bereits die ersten unterschriebenen Verträge gebe. Verhandlungen mit weiteren Unternehmen würden derzeit laufen.

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ECTA calls for regulatory action on flat-rate internet access

[Ed: kein Wunder, daß die RegTP gegen einen europäischen Super-Regulierer ist...]

Aus: ECTA-Portal, 2. Juli 2001, ??.?? Uhr MESZ (Internet). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

BRUSSELS. ECTA, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, is calling for Europe's regulators to move to implement effective wholesale tariffs for flat rate internet access.

In a submission published today, ECTA argues flat-rate internet access is an important part of the range of measures necessary to create and extend e-europe. Evidence shows that flat-rate internet access services drive up both internet access and usage; and taken together these increase the range and volume of e-commerce activity.

Flat-rate internet access call origination (FRIACO) makes it possible for independent ISPs to buy interconnection on a capacity as opposed to a per minute basis. This is a necessary condition if there is to be competiton in the provision of flat-rate internet services to consumers.

Incumbents should be required by the national regulatory authority (NRA) to provide a flat rate product if they are not willing to do so on an acceptable commercial basis. This product must have three essential components:

• first, it should be non-discriminatory in terms of price and its underlying cost structure (ie be capacity driven). Operators should be charged the same capacity charge as the retail business of the incumbent is charged by its network business;

• second, requests for this service should be provisioned on a timely basis. Again, a third party should be able to purchase it as quickly as an affiliated ISP; and

• third, the interconnection service should be provided at an appropriate point in the incumbent's network.

The FRIACO product determined by UK NRA OFTEL is an example of best practice in meeting these criteria. ECTA calls on the European Commission to:

• provide timely and accurate benchmarking data on the price, availability and take-up of flat rate internet services (retail and wholesale); and

• work with national regulatory authorities to ensure that narrowband internet access is seen as a complement to broadband rather than its poor relation and that appropriate products are made available in national markets to support the growth of commercially viable unmetered internet access products.

Louise Lancaster, chair of ECTA's Flat Rate Internet Access policy group, said: "Promoting competitive flat-rate narrowband access to the internet is the most effective means of increasing internet access and usage in Europe. It removes the "fear factor" about high phone bills that deters many from using their internet connection actively or, in some cases, >from going on-line in the first place."

"It also supports the growth of demand for broadband services – consumers who are heavy users of the internet are the most likely to want the high bandwidth and fast connections that broadband offers." [Full submission]

About ECTA: The European Competitive Telecommunications Association is the leading pan-European pro-competitive trade association for European telecoms companies. Its objectives are to:

• assist and encourage market liberalisation and competition through its communications programmes and regulatory efforts;
• represent the telecommunications industry to key government and regulatory bodies with "one clear voice" on key issues affecting competition;
• maintain a forum for networking and business development for its members throughout Europe; and
• assist new market entrants through pro-competitive policies and the provision of telecommunications industry content.

For further information, please contact: John Dickie, Head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, ECTA, Tel: +44 (0)118 979 3331, E-Mail: jdickie@ectaportal.com

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Wettbewerber der Telekom in der Krise

Verband: Sinkender Marktanteil

Aus: Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 5. Juli 2001, Seite 18 (Wirtschaft). [Original]

BERLIN (dri/HB). (das folgt).

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Softbank Yahoo Japan 20M lines at $23/month

Buys Tokyo Metallic, 1M lines by December, Annex A

Aus: DSL-Prime, 5. Juli 2001, ??.?? Uhr (???). [Original] [Übersetzungs-Service]

TOKYO. Softbank owns over $2B of Yahoo, the Nippon Credit Bank, much of eTrade, Exodus Asia Pacific, Asia Global Crossing and NASDAQ Japan, and venture investments in several hundred companies around the world. They have a $600M venture pool in Europe, and partnerships with Rupert Murdoch/News Corp, Microsoft, and Vivendi. Son is no longer almost as rich as Bill Gates, but still one of the richest men in Japan – and one of the most courageous.

The pricing makes sense when you consider tomorrow's costs. DSLAM + DSL modem, in large contracts, sell for about $170 or less – over five years, that's about $4/month. The other major hardware – big switches and routers – is plumeting in cost. Dark fiber is available to most COs [Ed: Central Offices], meaning a 622M OC-12 terminating in those DSLAMs costs less than the typical DS-3 serving today's CO.

Internet connectivity costs have been going down everywhere, but Softbank should be getting a remarkable deal from Asian Global Crossing, even without ownership. AGC has 3 multi-gigabit fibers unused across the Pacific, as well as multiple lambdas on a fourth. It connects directly to all East Asia, and supports fiber in Japan itself. Marginal cost will be very small, and a low price will stimulate demand from others. If Softbank is successful, within two years it will be transmitting the majority of Japanese net traffic between it's own users in any case.

Tokyo Metallic has a strong operation, headed by Hiroaki Kobayashi, once president of AT&T Paradyne Japan. They've 35,000 customers already, and several hundred thousand DSLAM ports available. Ambit of Taiwan (already the winner of a million unit order with Alcatel from Chunghwa) is the announced modem supplier, and a Korean vendor is the leading contender for the DSLAM contact. Softbank is considering using Annex A equipment, rather than the Annex C standard that was designed to work best with Japan's existing ISDN circuits. If that's politically and technically practical, it would eliminate Centillium's near monopoly on Japanese chip sales. But Centillium has production capacity available for the three million Annex C chips if needed, so there is no reason to expect equipment to be a limiting factor.

Hundreds of thousands of customers have signed up in the first two weeks, meaning marketing costs will be close to $0, compared to the hundreds of dollars each currently being spent by U.S. firms – more than the equipment cost. Son pointed to Yahoo Japan's 20M registered users as a way to find customers "without spending tens of millions of yen for television advertisements," but the announcement alone was enough to generate a four month backlog of orders.

Operationally, a million lines in five months is far beyond what SBC could do, but not much beyond what Korea Telecom accomplished. Like Korea, most of Japan is urban apartment buildings close to the CO, so loop distances are short. Tokyo Metallic has moved to mostly customer self-installs, with a fee to send a technician out, which has sped the install rates worldwide Softbank will presumably do likewise when service rolls in Tokyo in August, with plans to be available to 70% on the population by the end of 2001.

The million by December will be hard to achieve, and profitability will take years at this price. But Softbank has close ties to Murdoch's News Corp and Fox Pictures, as well as Vivendi and Universal, with content partnerships presumably ready to go as soon as the subscribers sign on. Softbank's several hundred investments in Internet companies will presumably flourish with the growth of broadband. If in fact Son has ten million lines in a few years, these additional revenue streams point to profitability. Voice over DSL presumably will also add revenue, as compression makes it practical even if the limited ADSL upstream bandwidth.