CSG Systems sells its billing division
Colorado’s CSG Systems International Inc. is selling its billing unit for $251 million to New York-based Comverse Technology Inc., the world’s largest maker of voice-mail software.
Demand is rising for software that handles merged billing for customers that operate a variety of networks including satellite, Internet and traditional phone lines, Comverse chief executive Kobi Alexander said Friday.
The unit and other assets being purchased had $83.6 million in sales and were slightly profitable in the first six months of this year. About 900 employees work for them. The deal is to close by the end of January.
Cogent, Level 3 spar over prices, sharing
Cogent Communications Group Inc. and Level 3 Communications Inc., U.S. high-speed Internet-access providers, are feuding over prices and network-sharing terms, causing disruptions to millions of Internet sites.
An agreement to share online traffic ended two days ago, executives from Washington-based Cogent and Level 3 said Friday.
Cogent is using more of the network than the companies had agreed upon, Level 3 president Kevin O’Hara said. Cogent chief executive David Schaeffer said Level 3 ended the agreement because Cogent’s prices for Internet usage are too low.
The disruption of traffic between the Internet backbones, fiber-optic equipment that is capable of carrying vast amounts of Web traffic, may mean Internet users are unable to connect to millions of Internet sites, Schaeffer said in an interview Friday.
Witness: Newmont caused his illness
A fisherman testified Friday that Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. dumped pollutants into an Indonesian bay that caused lumps on his neck and dizziness, but the defense argued that the witness was faking the illness.
Two other witnesses told the court that locals began suffering “strange diseases” after the arrival of Newmont, but that no formal link to the water pollution had been established.
The trial that opened nearly two months ago is being closely watched by business leaders, who say a guilty verdict could set back Indonesia’s improving foreign investment climate, and environmentalists eager to see if the government will crack down on a multinational company.
DENVER POST WIRE SERVICES
