3:45 PM -- It's official: The communications startup sector is hot again. Not white hot, but sufficiently toasty.

According to quarterly figures just released by Dow Jones Venture One, the median pre-money valuation for startups in the second quarter of 2005 was $23.5 million. That's the highest it has been since the third quarter of 2001, when it was up around $31.9 million.

To recap, startups in the communications space, prior to their most recent investment rounds, had a median valuation of $23.5 million during the second quarter of this year. The lowest median pre-money valuation in recent memory was $11.3 million during the third quarter of 2002.

The highest? Comms companies had a median pre-money valuation of $65.4 million during the third quarter of 2001.

— Phil Harvey, News Editor, Light Reading