Cisco Systems announced Thursday that it has appointed Michael K. Powell, former chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, to a spot on its board of directors. The appointment was effective immediately. Powell, an alumnus of the College of William and Mary and Georgetown University's law school, was first appointed to the FCC by then-President Bill Clinton in 1997 and promoted to the chairman spot in 2001 by President George W. Bush. He served there until the beginning of Bush's second term in 2005. As chair of the FCC, Powell was known for significant telecommunications deregulation as well as an "indecency" crackdown on explicit material over the airwaves.

Powell on Cisco Board

Network gear maker Redback Networks filed on Monday a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan that would erase $467 million in debt.

The plan calls for the company to use a reverse stock split of 73-for-1 to make major creditors Creedon Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group and Ramius Capital Group into owners of a collective 47 million Redback shares.

Redback files for bankruptcy | CNET News.com

] The FCC commissioners, voting 3-2 with Chairman Michael
] Powell dissenting, agreed to let the states maintain a
] strong role in regulating the Bells.]
] Under current rules, the Bells have to let rivals use
] their local networks at sharp discounts. They also have
] to let rivals "share" their local phone lines to deliver
] high-speed Internet service.]
] The FCC did rule that line-sharing rules will be phased
] out over three years, with the Bells allowed to raise
] prices "incrementally" each year on the portion of copper
] wire used to deliver high-speed Internet. But the agency
] stopped short of the more drastic changes the Bells
] wanted.

FCC largely keeps phone rules intact

] The Federal Communications Commission plans to vote today
] to uphold a strong role for states to regulate local
] telephone service, sources said yesterday, a system that
] has led to recent price wars between the major regional
] phone giants and their rivals. ]
] The vote would be a defeat for the more deregulatory
] agenda of FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell, and for the
] former Bell local telephone monopolies that lobbied the
] FCC relentlessly during the past year to abandon rules
] that require them to lease their networks to rivals at
] discounted rates set by the states.

Divided FCC Set To Force 'Bells' To Keep Sharing

] "Federal regulators are preparing to stop making local
] phone companies rent their networks to their main
] competitors at cheap rates, a move that could reverse the
] increasing competition for customers that had begun to
] push prices down, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.
]
] Those familiar with the plan say FCC Chairman Michael Powell
] is acting on his long belief that real competition requires
] the regional Bells' competitors to have networks of their
] own. That is also the position held by the Bells, which
] after several mergers now consist of Verizon
] Communications Inc. (VZ), BellSouth Corp. (BLS),
] SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and Qwest Communications
] International Inc.

blah...

FCC Change to Local-Phone Rule to Benefit Baby Bells

"Under the new pricing, Sprint PCS said it will offer features such as unlimited calling to and from other PCS phones for $5 a month. Plans at $85 or more will include unlimited data usage, unlimited PCS-to-PCS calling and a second line to share at no additional charge.
Sprint PCS eliminated the unpopular $3 customer-service fee previously charged when customers wanted to speak directly with a service agent instead of using automated options. "

I think I am going to sign up for the Sprint PCS to PCS service.
That is totally worth $5, since all my friends use Sprint as well. :)

Yahoo! News - Sprint PCS Rolls Out New Price Plans

"AT&T Corp. and Comcast Corp. said on Wednesday 1,700 jobs would be cut at AT&T’s cable unit in Denver after the two companies close their $28.6 billion merger combining the nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 cable companies."

AT&T Broadband to cut 1,700 jobs

"America Online has signed a five-year deal with Covad Communications that gives it access to the DSL provider's network, the companies said Thursday. "

AOL to offer Covad's DSL - Tech News - CNET.com

"If this $2.6 billion break-even point is the bottom, I still don't expect a rapid level of growth or much growth from this point sequentially. We're looking at a very weak environment," said Shayna Malnak, an analyst with Williams Capital Group in New York, who has the stock rated "sell."

No shit Sherlock.

Nortel Sinks After Guidance and Jobs Cut

"Now, after talking up and praying for speedy adoption of broadband seemingly for ages and getting no response, Microsoft (MSFT) is trying a more direct approach. It's offering its MSN.com content to providers of high-speed Internet access to spice up their offerings. The Colossus of Redmond is also building out Xbox Live, an online gaming network with supercool graphics and interactivity, to lure gamers into going broadband. Finally, it's striking more deals with Internet service providers, perhaps in an attempt to help them financially -- essentially subsidizing broadband access for consumers. "

Microsoft's Booster Shots for Broadband