Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), Russia and Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator, has reportedly acquired a 50.91% stake in Comstar-United TeleSystems (Comstar-UTS), a leading integrated telecommunication solution provider in Russia and the CIS.   The incumbent Russian telecom carrier has acquired the stake from AFK Sistema, a Russia-based financial and industrial holding company, for RUR39.15 billion (US$1.32 billion) having received all the necessary regulatory approvals for the transaction.   Comstar-UTS comprises fixed-line operator Moscow City Telephone Network (“MGTS") and STREAM-TV, a leading Russian cable TV and Internet service provider. The company holds a major share in the broadband and IPTV markets in Moscow. Comstar-UTS also offers value-added “Triple-Play" bundled (voice, Internet and pat-TV) services to its customers.    Comstar-UTS currently operates in 70 Russian cities, covering a total population of over 48 million people. At the end of first-half 2009, the company served 4.4 million fixed telephony subscribers, nearly ...

Virgin Media Inc (VMED) has decided to upgrade its IPTV distribution platform and legacy digital TV infrastructure using Cisco System Inc’s (CSCO) digital video head-end technology. Virgin is currently rolling-out a high-speed diversified video and TV content delivery network. Cisco will install a large array of its IP core and edge network products in all the regional and central head-end points of Virgin. The product array will include Cisco 7609 routers, 4948 10-Gigabits Ethernet switches, digital content manager, RF gateways, multicast manager, and ROSA control & monitoring system.  This upgraded system will support the entire 12.6 million customers of Virgin. The simplified infrastructure will help the company to reduce operating expenses, support the rollout of new conditional-access security services, and accelerate the introduction of new standard- and high-definition services. Virgin has decided to install Cisco’s next-generation platform of video content delivery to leverage its existing DOCSIS ...

PennyOmega.com Short Highlights Before the Bell!

PennyOmega.com Short Highlights Before The Bell!

PennyOmega.com Stocks Upgraded, Downgraded and Short Highlights Before the Bell Wednesday August 19, 2009

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Optibase (NASDAQ:OBAS), a leading provider of IPTV video solutions, today announced that ZTE Corporation, a leading equipment provider of comprehensive IPTV end-to-end solution, will integrate Optibase’s advanced Media Gateway IPTV encoding platforms in its end-to-end ZTE Eye-Will IPTV solution for deployment by CANTV in Venezuela.

Pratt & Whitney successfully completed accelerated endurance testing equivalent to more than 20,000 hours of service operation on the PurePower PW1000G fan drive gear system. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

GE Security, Inc., a

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 29, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), AIG (AIG) and UTStarcom, Inc. (UTSI).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Consolidated Banking, Maybe?

Clearly the cobbled-together oversight from various federal agencies was ineffective to contain the current financial crisis that all but swallowed the U.S. last year -- institutions such as but not limited to Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and AIG (

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We expect UTStarcom, Inc. (UTSI), a provider of IP-based telecom equipments, to receive further demand for its IPTV solutions as mobile TV systems become increasingly popular in China and India due to nationwide deployments of 3G wireless networks.UTStarcom's transformation from a mobile handset developer to an IPTV and optical transport solutions provider has been favorably implemented.Moreover, the company's current valuation is below its net cash position. At the end of the first quarter, the company had approximately $2.41/diluted share of cash position with no outstanding debt.On the other hand, the markets for IPTV solutions and intelligent switching products are highly competitive and this, together with global economic weakness, may hinder efforts to improve the company's earnings power.We do not expect UTStarcom to achieve profitability any time soon. While we maintain our Hold rating, due to higher risk levels, we forecast ...