Remain Seated
President George W. Bush last week said he expects to extend Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powells term until June 30, 2007, and put the FCC nominations of Kathleen Q. Abernathy and Kevin J. Martin before Congress.
Profit Up, Payroll Down
Corning, the biggest maker of optical fiber, lowered its 2001 profit and sales projections for the second time and showed another 1,000 workers the door last week. The job cuts now total 4,300. Cornings first-quarter net income rose to $132 million from $77 million last year — up 14 cents per share and slightly better than expectations. Still, the company says full-year results will be closer to $1 per share, rather than the $1.20 to $1.30 projected earlier.
Juno Speeds Up
Juno Online Services joins EarthLink as an Internet service provider allowed to run on AOL Time Warners high-speed cable lines. Under conditions of the merger between America Online and Time Warner, the new company is required to open its lines to other ISPs. Juno service should be available in the second half of the year.
3G Launch Scaled Back
NTT DoCoMo says it will limit the number of users of its third-generation network, set to launch May 30. Once planned as a full-scale rollout of the network that would allow delivery of advanced services such as streaming video to cell phones, NTT DoCoMo managers now say the company will do an “introductory test” of the new services until Sept. 30.
Cuts at Excite@Home
High-speed Internet provider Excite@Home says it will let go 380 workers, or 13 percent of its staff, to conserve cash and concentrate on its cable modem operations. Most of the layoffs came from the companys content properties, including online greeting card company Blue Mountain Arts, for which it paid about $780 million in October 1999, and MatchLogic, which it acquired in 1998 for $89 million.
Loral Nearer to Profit
Revenue declined in the first quarter, but satellite maker Loral Space & Communications still managed to pare its losses by half, to $59 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with $123 million, or 49 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The company says it plans to build three new satellites for launch in 2002.