News Briefs: Vonage, Level 3, AT&T, PAETEC, TMC and more

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend a moratorium on state Internet access taxes for four years. The House voted 405-2 to keep the ban in place. It was scheduled to expire Nov. 1. The Senate now must decide where it stands.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is facing another patent infringement suit, this time filed by AT&T Inc. Vonage told the SEC that AT&T filed the claim on Oct. 17 in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin. AT&T says Vonage is illegally using a patent for a wide-area packet technology system and wants Vonage to stop using the platform. Whether the matter will go to court remains unknown.

Level 3 Communications Inc. has purchased certain assets from AT&T Inc. that were divested as a result of the merger between AT&T and BellSouth. The assets consist of indefeasible rights of use for dark fiber connections to 27 buildings as well as more than 450 metro fiber route miles in the nine markets where AT&T was required to divest assets.

The president and CEO of AT&Ts wireless division, Stan Sigman, retired in mid-October after 42 years with the company. He was replaced by Ralph de la Vega, a former COO of the wireless unit. Sigman is staying with the company through the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

About a month after announcing the acquisition of McLeodUSA Inc., PAETEC Holding Corp. said it also will buy equipment maker Allworx Corp. PAETEC will pay $25 million in cash. Allworx will become a PAETEC subsidiary. Allworx sells through VARs, and PAETEC will keep that distribution channel. It also will sell Allworx products through its agents.

TMC Communications has promoted two staff members, Sarah Graham Linares and Jessica Brown. Linares was named vice president of product development and revenue assurance. Brown has been promoted as a sales engineering manager and will support TMC customers and agents during both the pre-sale and post-sale order processes.

Telarus Inc. announced it has completed the integration of Covad Communications Groups commercial wireless broadband product into GeoQuote, Telarus patented real-time voice and data search engine. This addition makes it possible for agents of Telarus to quickly view availability and pricing of Covads new broadband service.

Siemens Enterprise Communications launched Go Forward!, its new Partner Accreditation Program. Initially being launched in the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands, the new model will be rolled out across all regions in January. In addition to accreditation, four customer-focused specializations, can be awarded to partners.

Nortel Networks will pay the SEC $35 million to settle a revenue and earnings management fraud lawsuit. The issue stems from 2000, 2002 and 2003 when Nortel provided fraudulent accounting schemes that allowed the company to meet unrealistic earnings guidance.

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies Inc. (AVST) has signed a global distribution agreement with Westcon Group. AVST will be participating in Westcon Groups OneVoice and ConvergencePoint programs and Westcon resellers now have access to AVSTs unified communications offerings including its flagship product, CallXpress.