Telecommunications

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ernest Hollings, the prime sponsor of a bill to rewrite the nation's laws governing telecommunications, has agreed to drop a controversial provision in an effort to remove the latest obstacle threatening its passage this year.Responding to concerns raised last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the South Carolina Democrat said he would change language in his proposal to make sure nothing in it could be considered a tax.Tax provisions probably would have been the death of the bill, because it would have required more detailed review before the Senate could vote on it, and there is little time left before Congress adjourns for the year in October.

Charles Pomeroy Ives III, a state of Maryland telecommunications worker who immersed himself in history causes from North Point to Carroll County, died in his sleep of a circulatory illness Oct. 20 at his Stoneleigh home. He was 63. Born in Elizabeth, N.J., and raised in Loch Raven Village, he was a 1967 Towson High School graduate. He had belonged to the Boy Scouts. His grandfather, C.P. Ives, was a Sun editorial writer from 1939 to 1973. Mr. Ives earned a bachelor's degree in history at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa. He worked at Baltimore banks, the Venable law firm and Ciena.

The Senate, largely disconnected from telecommunications deregulation in recent months, pushed its way back into the debate yesterday as a bipartisan coalition of senators unveiled a bill that puts universal service first and competition in second place.The bill, introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest F. Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat, will become the upper chamber's chief legislative vehicle in the effort to rewrite the nation's 60-year-old basic telecommunications law. The bill picked up the support of most of the Senate's leaders on telecommunications issues, including Republicans John C. Danforth of Missouri and Ted Stevens of Alaska and Democrat Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii.

U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger will be included in a "60 Minutes" piece Sunday looking at Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, that members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence see as a threat to national security. Here's the release from CBS News with a quote from Ruppersberger:            Huawei, a global Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer already doing business in the U.S., poses a threat to national and corporate security say members of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  Those congressmen speak to Steve Kroft for a 60 MINUTES investigation to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 7 (7:30-8:30PM, ET, 7:00-8:00PM, PT)

In a plan that would throw the telecommunications business wide open to competition, the Clinton administration wants to sweep away many of the restrictions preventing cable television outlets, phone companies and long-distance carriers from invading each others' markets.The Clinton plan, to be outlined next week by Vice President Al Gore and then embodied in legislation, would let regional phone companies into the video business, let cable companies provide a dial tone and allow aggressive competitors like MCI Communications Corp.

WASHINGTON -- The first tangible effect of the Senate's sweeping overhaul of telecommunications law, experts say, would be chaos: mind-numbing new marketing deals, outrageous prices, bankruptcies, hostile takeovers and schemes to make a quick killing amid the confusion.But in the end, most experts say, the results should be lower prices all around and a headlong rush to offer advanced communication services over fiber-optic networks and satellite.They have some models in mind: in particular, the breakup of the Bell System in 1984.

Harold E. McDonough, a retired National Security Agency telecommunications expert who worked for more than 30 years at Fort Meade, died of cancer Jan. 29 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 68 and lived in Columbia. Mr. McDonough was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and served in the Navy from 1953 to 1956 as a communications specialist. He earned his bachelor's degree in business in 1970 from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master's in management from Central Michigan University in 1982.

LONDON -- British Telecommunications PLC posted a second-quarter net loss that was smaller than analysts expected, as growth in its business combined with one-time charges, including a government tax.BT said it lost 32 million pounds, or $53 million, in the second quarter, compared with net income of 461 million pounds a year earlier.The main reason for the loss was a 510 million pound one-time tax, levied by the government as part of a drive to recoup alleged "excess profits" from previously state-owned utilities that were sold to the public.

The Maryland Municipal League has appointed New Windsor Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. chairman of its telecommunications committee.During the U.S. Conference of Mayors Nov. 14-15 in Chicago, Gullo will participate in lectures and seminars that will detail effects of telecommunications on local governments."

Six years ago, Linthicum-based Ciena Corp. didn't exist. Three years ago, the start-up had yet to make its first sale. Now, the telecommunications pioneer is being acquired for $6.9 billion.It was an article in an obscure technical journal that gave Ciena's founder, Dave Huber, the idea for a new technology. Almost overnight, it catapulted his company to record-breaking heights.At first, Huber, then a Texas engineer, believed he could sell his invention -- equipment that expands channels for communications -- to cable television companies offering video-on-demand.

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. is an Annapolis company that's racked up a big portfolio of technology and intellectual property around text messaging and E-911 services. The company's got a mix of government and commercial customers, and it routinely wins multi-million dollar federal contracts. As a result, it's a big employer in the area. But its stock price isn't doing so well. After peaking nearly $10 in late 2009, it's now down to $2.23  as of this morning. And that's got J. Carlo Cannell, managing member of Cannell Capital, apparently worried enough to start pressuring TSYS to come up with a clearer vision, and consider a sale or merger.

An activist investor's push for a sale or merger at TeleCommunication Systems Inc. may be gaining traction. J. Carlo Cannell has been accumulating shares and now holds a roughly 5.8 percent stake in the Annapolis company. In a letter to TCS last week, Cannell called for a sale or merger, citing the company's slumping stock price and lack of strategic direction. Such talk appears to be gathering momentum within the investment community, said analyst Scott Sutherland of Wedbush Securities, who has covered the company for several years.

Vision Technologies Inc., a Glen Burnie-based information technology firm, said Thursday it had acquired Government Telecommunications Inc. in a move to strengthen the company's IT telecommunications services to the federal government. "This is a strategic acquisition designed to extend our federal market presence," said Vision CEO John Shetrone in a statement. Terms of the acquisition, completed Aug. 31, were not disclosed by the companies. Vision Technologies, which employs more than 300 IT workers in 22 states, has more than $180 million in federal contracts, including on-site IT support and design and installation of voice and data systems.

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. of Annapolis, which specializes in secure mobile communications for military and commercial clients, said Monday it plans to buy Trident Space & Defense LLC, of Torrance, Calif. Trident specializes in engineering and electronics solutions for global space and defense markets. The amount of the deal was not disclosed but TCS said it involved a mix of cash and three million shares of Class A common stock. Trident, which projects revenue of about $40 million for next year, is owned by Admiralty Partners Inc., a private equity firm.

Warren Edward Bleinberger, a retired Westinghouse Electric Corp. electrical engineer and World War II veteran, died Friday at his Annapolis home of complications from a stroke. He was 89. Mr. Bleinberger, the son of an insurance broker and a music store owner, was born in Baltimore and raised in Govans. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1940, he went to work for Bendix Radio in Towson as a wireman and supervisor. In 1943, he enlisted in the Navy and served as a radioman in the Pacific aboard the destroyer USS Woolsey and later the destroyer-minesweeper USS Carmick.

Towers — of the wind and cell varieties — will likely dominate discussion at the Monday meeting of the Baltimore County Council. Members will consider a pilot wind energy program that could give Baltimore County officials time to evaluate how those alternative systems work, what effect wind towers have on surrounding areas and what they might look like. The bill would create a pilot program to test small wind energy systems for use in manufacturing or rural areas. While cell towers are vital in ensuring that drivers and residents can get reception along the county's scenic byways, officials want to limit or at least disguise the structures in less developed areas.

To help it fund a satellite-linked wireless phone network for a former Soviet republic, Omni Communications Inc. said yesterday that it has formed a joint venture with Metromedia International Group, a public, New Jersey-based media and communications company.The Baltimore telecommunications company said the new company, Omni Metromedia Caspian Ltd., based in the Bahamas, had acquired Omni's interest in Caspian American Telecommunications LLC, a company started by Omni in 1997 to operate its exclusive 20-year license to build a wireless network from the Republic of Azerbaijan.