By Alana Grelyak

Welcome to NewsWatch, where we at Pipeline do our best to provide you with what we feel is a good representation of what's going on in the OSS space, as well as the telecom world as a whole. This month, we've noticed a slight increase in newsworthy contract wins and product suite adoptions, signaling that many in the industry are hoping to streamline functionality and enhance customer services. The topics of QoS and customer service are getting more and more important as customers make greater demands on their service providers, and we hope that sharing this information with you will benefit you and your customers. We'd also like to take this opportunity to let you know Pipeline will be launching our exclusive newswire service, which will enable you to distribute your press releases directly to the Pipeline audience. Look for more details about Pipeline’s newswire service in the coming days or write to me: alana@pipelinepub.com. We wish you an excellent November and are thankful that you continue choosing Pipeline for your source of OSS information. And now, on with the show!

The CRTC, Canada's media regulator, has decided to look into the possible regulation of video content on mobile phones and the Internet. While some may see this as the government's attempt to censor media content, the official release states that the CRTC has "launched a proceeding to gain a better understanding of broadcasting in the new media environment." The CRTC, since 1999, has avoided regulating content broadcast over the Internet, but it seems that the growing number of households subscribing to high-speed Internet services has prompted the organization to reconsider their formerly unobtrusive approach. Any parties interested in submitting comments to the CRTC may do so until December 5, 2008. Public hearings will be held beginning February 17, 2009.

Amdocs has just signed a six-year support agreement with MetroPCS, a provider of unlimited, flat-rate, pay in advance wireless communications service. MetroPCS has licensed Amdocs' CES 7.5 suite of products that will help the company support its wireless plans. This win for Amdocs follows closely

Amdocs and may bring them quite a bit of future growth. Already it has brought them business from a total of sixteen different companies, the above mentioned included in that number.

Oracle has purchased Primavera Software, Inc. a provider of Project Portfolio Management Solutions. Oracle expects that this acquisition will allow Oracle to provide the first comprehensive enterprise project portfolio management solutions that they feel will help companies reduce costs, meet delivery dates, and make better decisions. The new product will be tailored to project-intensive industries, such as engineering and construction, utilities, oil and gas, among others. "Enterprise PPM is moving to the forefront of business strategy for industries managing complex and capital intensive projects, and has emerged as a global driver for value creation and business success," said Oracle President Charles Phillips. "With 20% of the world's GDP spent annually on projects, the addition of Primavera is expected to extend Oracle's leadership position in the enterprise application space." Until the