[al jazeera] Until recently, Tunisia held the worst record for Internet filtering in the Arab world, blocking everything from political opposition to video-sharing sites.
But along with Tunisia's revolt came increased Internet freedom: The interim government now blocks far fewer sites, mainly those considered "obscene", and Internet users attempting to access such sites now encounter a block page rather than a blank one, demonstrating an increased degree of transparency.
Syria, formerly the runner-up to Tunisia, appears to be taking a similar turn. On Wednesday, Syrian authorities granted access to Facebook, Blogspot, and YouTube, and for the first time since 2007, users of those sites could get to the social networking sites freely, without use of a proxy.
The Internet in Syria has long been censored. Frequently named an "enemy of the Internet" by watchdog group Reporters Sans Frontières, the country blocks not only social media sites but political opposition, sites with human rights information, Kurdish sites, anonymisers, and the website of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Tech-savvy Syrian Internet users utilize VPN services, web-based proxies and other tools to circumvent the blocks, though the export of those tools from the United States is also prohibited without a license from Treasury and Commerce departments, due to long-standing sanctions.
Western sanctions
The sanctions on the country also affect Syrian censorship, as US companies like Google are prohibited from marketing their products within the country. Syrians cannot download tools like Google Chrome and Google Earth, nor can they buy licensed versions of Microsoft and other software.
Though the unblocking is only a small step--Syrians have reported that the keywords "facebook" and "proxy" are still blocked on some Internet Service Providers (ISPs), as are Amazon.com and the Arabic version of Wikipedia--it may be a step in the right direction for a regime that is trying to garner further popular support in light of the recent events in the region.
The move could also curry favor for Syria in Washington. In 2010, the State Department sent a delegation of executives from major US tech firms--most of which are constrained by US export control policy from doing business in Syria--to meet with the Syrian president and his cabinet.
The meeting was focused on a number of issues, including intellectual property, but undoubtedly also involved talk of Internet freedom.
Of course, free access to these networks is not without danger: Though the average Syrian user may have little cause for concern, the newfound freedom could pose risks to activists.
Despite promised reforms from President Bashar al-Assad, Syria remains a repressive political climate. Though the Syrian constitution guarantees freedom of expression, the country’s emergency law--in place since 1962--strips citizens of most constitutional protections.
While the ban on Blogspot was still in place, no fewer than four bloggers using the service were arrested for content published on Blogspot blogs, including 19-year-old Tal al Mallouhi, charged with espionage in December 2010 for her writings on Palestine and local affairs.
Access versus expression
Activists should remember that free access does not mean freedom of expression. Social media tools have been used for surveillance in a number of countries, and are easily exploited.
In Tunisia, reports that the government had phished user passwords for Facebook and Gmail emerged in December, while in the United States, Facebook has been used by creditors to track down people with outstanding debt.
Though phishing may be uncommon, and can be prevented by using HTTPS to connect to Facebook (a feature just rolled out to all users), activists who accept friend requests from people they don’t know personally are taking a risk. Creating a profile is an easy process, and Facebook's platform allows anyone to add any individual as a friend, unless they've adjusted their security settings to avoid it.
Some Syrian Facebook users have speculated that the move could make it easier for the government to monitor their usage of the site. For its part, the State Department has commented on the concern as well, with Secretary of State Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec Ross tweeting: "Welcome positive move on Facebook & YouTube in #Syria but concerned that freedom puts users at risk absent freedom of expression&association."
Others, such as Mazen Darwish, from the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, see the move as a positive step. Speaking to the Guardian, Darwish stated that: "After what happened on the 4th and the 5th, the authorities now know that the Syrian people are not the enemy."
Sunday, February 20, 2011
M-payments - Europeans are the least interested because of privacy and security concerns
[mobile europe] European users are amongst the most cautious when it comes to expressing interest in mobile payments technology, according to research from Accenture.
Accenture surveyed early adopters (who use at least four Internet-connected devices and at least four Internet services) in 11 countries. Overall it found that nearly half (45 percent) of the most active mobile device users would welcome the opportunity to pay for goods and services using their mobile phone, but in Europe that number fell to 26%.
Consumers in Asia were the most enthusiastic about mobile commerce. Overall, 69 percent of survey respondents in Asia indicated they favored using mobile phones for most payments, led by Chinese consumers (76 percent) and India (75 percent), followed by Korea (56 percent) and Japan (47 percent). Outside of Asia, the next highest positive response was in Brazil, where 70 percent of consumers favored using mobile phones for most payments.
When survey participants were asked if they had used a mobile phone to make purchases in the past six months, nearly half (47 percent) of tech forward consumers in China indicated they had, followed by Korea (42 percent) and Japan (33 percent). Depending on the geographic region, tech forwards are also in the early stages of using barcode or near field communications (NFC) technology to interact with their shopping environment. In Asia, 38 percent of consumers surveyed had scanned a product’s barcode while shopping to get additional information; 36 percent had displayed a “digital ticket” for admission to an event or to board a flight; and, 31 percent had purchased an item or received a coupon from a “smart poster” containing an electronic tag or barcode.
A majority (64 percent) of consumers surveyed indicated they would use gift cards and coupons delivered directly to their mobile phones, led by Chinese respondents (94 percent) Korean respondents (91 percent) and Indian respondents (76 percent). Globally, 79 percent of the consumers surveyed indicated they would redeem those coupons when checking out of a store, compared with 77 percent who said they would use coupons that had to be clipped from magazines.
Asked what they would do if they received a coupon on their mobile phone for the equivalent of a US$10 gift card (expressed in the local currency) for a store where they do not usually shop:
77 percent of all respondents indicated they would redeem the coupon at the store that issued the card account;
68 percent would exchange the card for $7 in mobile voice minutes or reduced phone charges; and,
67 percent would exchange it for a $7 gift card for use in a store where they usually shop.
Fraud and privacy concerns
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the global respondents indicated that using a mobile phone for payments makes them worry about their privacy. Seventy percent said that mobile phone payments increase the risk of identity theft and fraud.
Regardless of these concerns, 62 percent of consumers surveyed who typically use a credit card for non-telco-related monthly payments said they would use their mobile phone to pay their bill, if they were to receive a 20 percent discount. More than half (59 percent) said they would welcome receiving money-off promotions based on their past purchases. Forty-seven percent said they would welcome receiving personalized mobile phone ads when they are within a few steps of the promoted product or service. And, 69 percent indicated they would gladly accept mobile phone ads sent to their phones as part of their service contract in exchange for lower mobile phone usage fees.
When asked what types of companies would play a significant role in enabling consumers to make payments or process coupons by mobile phone, most respondents (59 percent) thought that role would fall to credit card companies, followed by wireless operators (54 percent), software companies (52 percent), large retailers (52 percent) and device makers (48 percent).
“Mobile commerce – which encompasses mobile banking, such as checking balances or paying bills over a mobile phone, plus coupons, promotions, redeemable gift cards, loyalty points, and more – is poised to drive huge changes in the way we shop and pay for goods and services,” said Andy Zimmerman, director, mobility services, Accenture. “We can expect a convergence of traditional and alternative currencies, and it has huge implications on the entire in-store retail experience.
"While the survey indicates there are issues to address in terms of privacy and security, these findings are good news for mobile network operators because consumers have requirements they look to operators, technology vendors, or financial institutions to address.”
European mobile users least interested in mobile payments
Accenture surveyed early adopters (who use at least four Internet-connected devices and at least four Internet services) in 11 countries. Overall it found that nearly half (45 percent) of the most active mobile device users would welcome the opportunity to pay for goods and services using their mobile phone, but in Europe that number fell to 26%.
Consumers in Asia were the most enthusiastic about mobile commerce. Overall, 69 percent of survey respondents in Asia indicated they favored using mobile phones for most payments, led by Chinese consumers (76 percent) and India (75 percent), followed by Korea (56 percent) and Japan (47 percent). Outside of Asia, the next highest positive response was in Brazil, where 70 percent of consumers favored using mobile phones for most payments.
When survey participants were asked if they had used a mobile phone to make purchases in the past six months, nearly half (47 percent) of tech forward consumers in China indicated they had, followed by Korea (42 percent) and Japan (33 percent). Depending on the geographic region, tech forwards are also in the early stages of using barcode or near field communications (NFC) technology to interact with their shopping environment. In Asia, 38 percent of consumers surveyed had scanned a product’s barcode while shopping to get additional information; 36 percent had displayed a “digital ticket” for admission to an event or to board a flight; and, 31 percent had purchased an item or received a coupon from a “smart poster” containing an electronic tag or barcode.
A majority (64 percent) of consumers surveyed indicated they would use gift cards and coupons delivered directly to their mobile phones, led by Chinese respondents (94 percent) Korean respondents (91 percent) and Indian respondents (76 percent). Globally, 79 percent of the consumers surveyed indicated they would redeem those coupons when checking out of a store, compared with 77 percent who said they would use coupons that had to be clipped from magazines.
Asked what they would do if they received a coupon on their mobile phone for the equivalent of a US$10 gift card (expressed in the local currency) for a store where they do not usually shop:
77 percent of all respondents indicated they would redeem the coupon at the store that issued the card account;
68 percent would exchange the card for $7 in mobile voice minutes or reduced phone charges; and,
67 percent would exchange it for a $7 gift card for use in a store where they usually shop.
Fraud and privacy concerns
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the global respondents indicated that using a mobile phone for payments makes them worry about their privacy. Seventy percent said that mobile phone payments increase the risk of identity theft and fraud.
Regardless of these concerns, 62 percent of consumers surveyed who typically use a credit card for non-telco-related monthly payments said they would use their mobile phone to pay their bill, if they were to receive a 20 percent discount. More than half (59 percent) said they would welcome receiving money-off promotions based on their past purchases. Forty-seven percent said they would welcome receiving personalized mobile phone ads when they are within a few steps of the promoted product or service. And, 69 percent indicated they would gladly accept mobile phone ads sent to their phones as part of their service contract in exchange for lower mobile phone usage fees.
When asked what types of companies would play a significant role in enabling consumers to make payments or process coupons by mobile phone, most respondents (59 percent) thought that role would fall to credit card companies, followed by wireless operators (54 percent), software companies (52 percent), large retailers (52 percent) and device makers (48 percent).
“Mobile commerce – which encompasses mobile banking, such as checking balances or paying bills over a mobile phone, plus coupons, promotions, redeemable gift cards, loyalty points, and more – is poised to drive huge changes in the way we shop and pay for goods and services,” said Andy Zimmerman, director, mobility services, Accenture. “We can expect a convergence of traditional and alternative currencies, and it has huge implications on the entire in-store retail experience.
"While the survey indicates there are issues to address in terms of privacy and security, these findings are good news for mobile network operators because consumers have requirements they look to operators, technology vendors, or financial institutions to address.”
European mobile users least interested in mobile payments
Apple - Its own report found child workers, bribes, "involuntary labor" and bribery in its suppliers
[ars technica] Apple discovered underage workers, "involuntary labor," worker endangerment, and bribery at some of its supplier facilities over the course of 2010, the company revealed in its 2011 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report.
The updated report offered details on Apple's regular audits conducted on foreign manufacturers as well as Apple's response to the discoveries. In addition to terminating business with facilities with the most egregious violations, Apple also investigated the so-called Foxconn suicides, agreeing that Foxconn's actions to address worker unrest had "definitely saved lives."
Over the course of 2010, Apple found 37 "core violations" across 127 supplier facilities located across Asia—Apple defines a "core violation" as a serious breach of Apple's code of conduct, which prohibits worker abuse, the use of underage labor, intimidation of workers, and so on. According to the report, Apple discovered one facility that was exposing workers to toxic chemicals, four facilities that either presented false payroll records to Apple or gave misleading answers to Apple's audit team, one bribery attempt, one attempt to coach workers to give positive answers to Apple's audit team, and a total of 91 underage workers across 10 facilities.
Apple's responses to these violations largely involved the company telling the manufacturers to tighten up their practices—in the case of toxic chemicals, Apple required the companies to discontinue their use and improve their ventilation systems, for example. Some facilities with underage workers were found to have poor ID check systems, so they were told to send the kids back to school and improve management so that such a thing wouldn't happen again in the future. (Sending the kids back to school doesn't just mean kicking them out of the factory, either—Apple says that suppliers must pay for educational expenses and lost wages for six months or until the worker turns 16, whichever is longer.)
Facilities that were found to be underpaying workers were told to start paying the appropriate amount and to respect local law.
There were a handful of cases, however, where Apple decided the violations were too much and severed its connections with the firms in question. For example, one facility had apparently falsified its payroll records multiple times with Apple in the past and was found to be doing so yet again, resulting in the loss of Apple's business. The same happened to one facility whose manager attempted to bribe Apple's audit team into giving a good report.
Another facility that employed an unusually large number of underage workers (42) apparently had no interest in remedying the problem. "Based on the poor likelihood of improvement, we terminated business with the facility," Apple wrote in its report. Apple didn't name which specific manufacturers made which violations.
Apple's 2011 supplier report: child workers, bribes, "involuntary labor"
The updated report offered details on Apple's regular audits conducted on foreign manufacturers as well as Apple's response to the discoveries. In addition to terminating business with facilities with the most egregious violations, Apple also investigated the so-called Foxconn suicides, agreeing that Foxconn's actions to address worker unrest had "definitely saved lives."
Over the course of 2010, Apple found 37 "core violations" across 127 supplier facilities located across Asia—Apple defines a "core violation" as a serious breach of Apple's code of conduct, which prohibits worker abuse, the use of underage labor, intimidation of workers, and so on. According to the report, Apple discovered one facility that was exposing workers to toxic chemicals, four facilities that either presented false payroll records to Apple or gave misleading answers to Apple's audit team, one bribery attempt, one attempt to coach workers to give positive answers to Apple's audit team, and a total of 91 underage workers across 10 facilities.
Apple's responses to these violations largely involved the company telling the manufacturers to tighten up their practices—in the case of toxic chemicals, Apple required the companies to discontinue their use and improve their ventilation systems, for example. Some facilities with underage workers were found to have poor ID check systems, so they were told to send the kids back to school and improve management so that such a thing wouldn't happen again in the future. (Sending the kids back to school doesn't just mean kicking them out of the factory, either—Apple says that suppliers must pay for educational expenses and lost wages for six months or until the worker turns 16, whichever is longer.)
Facilities that were found to be underpaying workers were told to start paying the appropriate amount and to respect local law.
There were a handful of cases, however, where Apple decided the violations were too much and severed its connections with the firms in question. For example, one facility had apparently falsified its payroll records multiple times with Apple in the past and was found to be doing so yet again, resulting in the loss of Apple's business. The same happened to one facility whose manager attempted to bribe Apple's audit team into giving a good report.
Another facility that employed an unusually large number of underage workers (42) apparently had no interest in remedying the problem. "Based on the poor likelihood of improvement, we terminated business with the facility," Apple wrote in its report. Apple didn't name which specific manufacturers made which violations.
Apple's 2011 supplier report: child workers, bribes, "involuntary labor"
Mobile - 87% of operators at Mobile World gave 4G transition and "policy" control as the top means to solve congestion
[mobile europe] Bridgewater Systems, specialist in intelligent broadband controls, today announced immediate results from a survey conducted live on the show floor at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. During the first two days of the show, Bridgewater surveyed mobile operators to uncover their opinions on how to manage mobile data growth in the next 12 months.
Indicators from show floor reveal 87% of mobile operators surveyed ranked 4G transformation and /or policy control as key solution approaches to solving mobile data network congestion.
In comparison, service providers are increasingly reluctant to simply add costly network capacity, with only 18% of the operators surveyed indicating that this would be a primary tool for managing network congestion in the next 3 years.
David Sharpley, Senior Vice President, Bridgewater Systems said: “This live research on the show floor at ‘the must-attend annual gathering of the mobile industry’ validates the importance of policy and 4G network transformation as key topics of interest at Mobile World Congress 2011. Policy control continues to remain a key capability for operators to manage mobile data growth, while the introduction of 4G is regarded as a key and complementary strategy as operators evolve their networks.”
Survey indicates 87% of mobile operators view 4G transformation and policy as critical to resolving mobile data congestion
Indicators from show floor reveal 87% of mobile operators surveyed ranked 4G transformation and /or policy control as key solution approaches to solving mobile data network congestion.
In comparison, service providers are increasingly reluctant to simply add costly network capacity, with only 18% of the operators surveyed indicating that this would be a primary tool for managing network congestion in the next 3 years.
David Sharpley, Senior Vice President, Bridgewater Systems said: “This live research on the show floor at ‘the must-attend annual gathering of the mobile industry’ validates the importance of policy and 4G network transformation as key topics of interest at Mobile World Congress 2011. Policy control continues to remain a key capability for operators to manage mobile data growth, while the introduction of 4G is regarded as a key and complementary strategy as operators evolve their networks.”
Survey indicates 87% of mobile operators view 4G transformation and policy as critical to resolving mobile data congestion
South Africa - Telkom is trying to reduce its labourforce by voluntary redundancies
[engineering news] Trade unions have responded with vehemence towards news that telecommunications (telecoms) provider Telkom would again be offering voluntary separation packages, this time to trade union members, but Telkom emphasised that it was not retrenching employees.
“The word ‘severance’ used by Solidarity is misleading as it gives the impression that Telkom is laying people off (retrenchment). Telkom did not consult organised labour about retrenchments on Tuesday - the whole discussion was about ‘voluntary separation packages’ that the company intends to offer to its bargaining unit employees who may voluntarily want to take them,” the company explained.
Solidarity stated that Telkom said it would not give reasons for accepting applications for packages, nor would it negotiate with unions on the content of the packages. “The process is therefore not transparent and discrimination on the basis of race and gender is a real possibility,” said Solidarity spokesperson Marius Croucamp.
Telkom said that the company was “mindful of the fact that a transparent process will be followed with clearly defined criteria”.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU) said that, as a matter of principle, it would discourage workers to take Telkom’s voluntary severance packages.
“CWU regards this move by Telkom as pursuance of the neo-liberal agenda that is repugnant to everything that the ANC-led tripartite alliance stands for around the issue of job creation,” emphasised the union.
Solidarity explained that the packages would take effect on April 1, which was a day after the expiry of an agreement concluded in 2009 between trade unions and Telkom, in terms of which, employees job security was guaranteed until March 31, 2011.
The telecoms giant came under particularly sharp criticism from the unions as the company has recently been under the spotlight for irregularities at the top management level.
“South Africans are still reeling from recent allegations that the entity is encircled by a lot of corruption, nepotism, bribery and fraud by its top management,” reiterated the CWU.
“It does not make sense to get rid of skilled employees to the detriment of service delivery,” Croucamp said.
Telkom stated that voluntary packages were offered to management in 2010, and now a similar offer was being made to trade union members within the company.
For the half-year ended September 2010, Telkom said 186 managerial employees accepted the packages, at a cost of R144-million.
The benefits of the reduction in employee expenses on Telkom’s financial statements were expected in the second half of the 2011 financial year.
During the same six months, Telkom said that employee expenses increased by 8,5% owing to higher salaries and wages as a result of average yearly salary increases, as well as workforce reduction expenses of R103 million incurred for management employees, partially offset by lower headcount.
Telkom offers voluntary packages to workers
“The word ‘severance’ used by Solidarity is misleading as it gives the impression that Telkom is laying people off (retrenchment). Telkom did not consult organised labour about retrenchments on Tuesday - the whole discussion was about ‘voluntary separation packages’ that the company intends to offer to its bargaining unit employees who may voluntarily want to take them,” the company explained.
Solidarity stated that Telkom said it would not give reasons for accepting applications for packages, nor would it negotiate with unions on the content of the packages. “The process is therefore not transparent and discrimination on the basis of race and gender is a real possibility,” said Solidarity spokesperson Marius Croucamp.
Telkom said that the company was “mindful of the fact that a transparent process will be followed with clearly defined criteria”.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU) said that, as a matter of principle, it would discourage workers to take Telkom’s voluntary severance packages.
“CWU regards this move by Telkom as pursuance of the neo-liberal agenda that is repugnant to everything that the ANC-led tripartite alliance stands for around the issue of job creation,” emphasised the union.
Solidarity explained that the packages would take effect on April 1, which was a day after the expiry of an agreement concluded in 2009 between trade unions and Telkom, in terms of which, employees job security was guaranteed until March 31, 2011.
The telecoms giant came under particularly sharp criticism from the unions as the company has recently been under the spotlight for irregularities at the top management level.
“South Africans are still reeling from recent allegations that the entity is encircled by a lot of corruption, nepotism, bribery and fraud by its top management,” reiterated the CWU.
“It does not make sense to get rid of skilled employees to the detriment of service delivery,” Croucamp said.
Telkom stated that voluntary packages were offered to management in 2010, and now a similar offer was being made to trade union members within the company.
For the half-year ended September 2010, Telkom said 186 managerial employees accepted the packages, at a cost of R144-million.
The benefits of the reduction in employee expenses on Telkom’s financial statements were expected in the second half of the 2011 financial year.
During the same six months, Telkom said that employee expenses increased by 8,5% owing to higher salaries and wages as a result of average yearly salary increases, as well as workforce reduction expenses of R103 million incurred for management employees, partially offset by lower headcount.
Telkom offers voluntary packages to workers
South Africa - Competition Tribunal dismisses Telkom's attempt to quash a case against it by Internet Solutions
[competition tribunal] On Friday, 4 February 2011, the Competition Tribunal dismissed Telkoms attempt to quash the competition case brought against it by the Competition Commission. Regarding the case that Internet Solutions (IS) brought against Telkom, the Tribunal gave IS time to bring an amended case for Telkom to answer. In its judgment the Tribunal found that all of Telkom’s objections, to the Commission’s allegations that it had abused its market dominance, were without merit. The Tribunal said that Telkom’s objections to the Commission’s case were either “misconceived” or “without substance”. The Tribunal also found that Telkom’s arguments on various points of law, including that the allegations against it were unconstitutional, should more appropriately be argued in the main case when that is heard. *Background * The Tribunal’s finding follows a hearing on 11 October 2010 where Telkom argued for the dismissal of the Competition Commission and Internet Solution’s (IS) cases both parties brought against it. On 26 October 2009 the Commission referred its case against Telkom to the Tribunal for adjudication, alleging that Telkom had abused its dominant position in the market for the provision of telecommunications network facilities. IS also referred its own complaint against Telkom and asked the Tribunal to consider it together with the Commission’s referral. In its investigation the Commission found that Telkom abused its near-monopoly position in the market for the provision of telecommunications network facilities. It did this by charging excessive prices for the basic infrastructure needed by its downstream competitors, the internet service providers or ISP’s, to access a range of telecommunications services, while keeping its own ISP service charges low. In this way, Telkom also raised its downstream competitors costs, making it difficult for them to on-sell cost effective...
Telkom SA Limited vs The Competition Commission and Dimension Data (Pty) Ltd t/a Internet Solutions
Telkom SA Limited vs The Competition Commission and Dimension Data (Pty) Ltd t/a Internet Solutions
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Mobile broadband - Survey finds "63% of global consumers willing to pay for mobile broadband VAS" including video optimization
[newswire today] Acision, a world leader in mobile data, today announced the launch of its global consumer research report on mobile broadband, titled 'Seizing the Opportunity in Mobile Broadband'.
The research, which was conducted between June and November 2010, provides a unique insight into consumer perceptions of mobile broadband use in the United Kingdom, North America, Brazil, Australia and Singapore. The research explores consumer observations including Quality of Experience (QoE), customer satisfaction and video quality as well as acceptance of fairness policies and willingness to pay for possible Value Added Services (VAS).
Steven van Zanen, SVP Marketing, Mobile Data Control, Acision said: “The motivation to undertake this global research has been the phenomenal uptake of mobile broadband worldwide and the rumoured Quality of Experience issues accompanying its steady rise. One of the key objectives of the research has been to quantify this and determine whether global parallels exist in its development lifecycle. We have been surprised by the remarkable resemblance between these different markets and see a clear basis for pro active operator strategies to seize the opportunity that exists in mobile broadband.”
The Acision research shows that 71% of consumers use mobile regularly throughout the week and are simply asking operators to further develop the mobile broadband service from where it is today with 63% of global consumers willing to pay for mobile broadband VAS. Another great area of opportunity is Quality of Experience. There are of course issues to solve here, but to improve Quality of Experience, 67% of consumer’s support the application of fairness principles and another 60% would like video optimization to be applied. These are key capabilities that operators can apply to compete at an entirely new level; Quality of Experience.
These opportunities cannot be ignored with QoE issues being widespread, with 79% of global consumers suffering issues of some kind including experiencing slow speeds (62%), network coverage issues (39%) and connection drops (36%). 74% of video consumers are stating regular issues like frequent pausing and long waiting times. Worldwide this is driving a churn potential of 31% which is nearly equivalent in all countries.
“Operators are already doing all they can to expand bandwidth but our research shows that some of the QoE issues are intrinsic even in best practice networks, ” continued van Zanen. “A further investment in capability is required to reach to the next stage of mobile broadband evolution.”
To address challenges with mobile broadband services and seize the potential revenue opportunity, changes in operator capabilities are required at three main levels:
• Data layer: High performance and reliable components that handle network traffic.
• Content layer: Best-in-class components which are able to optimise specific content services such as video or browsing.
• Control layer: Highly intelligent components which enable real-time, complex and rich decision-making.
“Operators will then need to develop rich service offerings to address individual consumer requirements and support paid-for optimized or premium services, delivered via a bundle or transaction-based offering that consumers both understand and can relate to, ” concluded van Zanen.
Global consumer research key findings
Customer satisfaction and loyalty: Mobile broadband is seen as an important and valuable service by the majority of users. A significant amount of consumers, however, are dissatisfied with certain of the aspects of the service:
• 60% of global consumers stated reliability, coverage or speed as the most important service aspect. Other aspects like price, usage allowance or usage control are perceived as most important by 40 % of consumers.
• Significant levels of dissatisfaction exist with coverage (29%) and pricing levels (28%) being the most important areas.
• 79% of customers globally have QoE issues of some kind including slow speeds (62%), network coverage (39%), connection stability and unable to connect (both at 36%). Only 21% of respondents state that they haven’t experienced any issues.
• Video QoE issues are experienced by 74% of the 37% of consumers watching videos. Issues such as waiting time for the video to play and frequent pauses both affect 54% of video viewers.
• Churn potential is considerable at 31%, with remarkably low variance between countries.
Consumer support for fairness, optimisation and VAS: Operators can seize the opportunity in mobile broadband through high levels of consumer acceptance:
• Fairness policies - Consumers, once they understand the need for resource management, have a high acceptance of policies (67%) that enable a fair allocation of the available capacity. Many consumers (35%) are even prepared to pay a premium for the service if it provides an improved QoE.
• Video optimisation – 60% of respondents are willing to accept video optimisation as long as they benefit from an improvement of those aspects they find most important in their service experience, especially less stalling of videos.
• Paid Value Added Services – 63% of consumers state a clear need for some kind of VAS service and a willingness to pay an additional fee for services like notifications (41%), fair bandwidth management (35%), spend control (35%), roaming (34%), shared bundle (33%), customisation (30%), content compression to save on bundle (29%) and priority (26%). This provides a clear marketable consumer segment where operators worldwide can build a more diverse and long term revenue model.
Acision Launches Global Consumer Research Report - 'Seizing the Opportunity in Mobile Broadband
see also Acision Full report is free but requires registration
The research, which was conducted between June and November 2010, provides a unique insight into consumer perceptions of mobile broadband use in the United Kingdom, North America, Brazil, Australia and Singapore. The research explores consumer observations including Quality of Experience (QoE), customer satisfaction and video quality as well as acceptance of fairness policies and willingness to pay for possible Value Added Services (VAS).
Steven van Zanen, SVP Marketing, Mobile Data Control, Acision said: “The motivation to undertake this global research has been the phenomenal uptake of mobile broadband worldwide and the rumoured Quality of Experience issues accompanying its steady rise. One of the key objectives of the research has been to quantify this and determine whether global parallels exist in its development lifecycle. We have been surprised by the remarkable resemblance between these different markets and see a clear basis for pro active operator strategies to seize the opportunity that exists in mobile broadband.”
The Acision research shows that 71% of consumers use mobile regularly throughout the week and are simply asking operators to further develop the mobile broadband service from where it is today with 63% of global consumers willing to pay for mobile broadband VAS. Another great area of opportunity is Quality of Experience. There are of course issues to solve here, but to improve Quality of Experience, 67% of consumer’s support the application of fairness principles and another 60% would like video optimization to be applied. These are key capabilities that operators can apply to compete at an entirely new level; Quality of Experience.
These opportunities cannot be ignored with QoE issues being widespread, with 79% of global consumers suffering issues of some kind including experiencing slow speeds (62%), network coverage issues (39%) and connection drops (36%). 74% of video consumers are stating regular issues like frequent pausing and long waiting times. Worldwide this is driving a churn potential of 31% which is nearly equivalent in all countries.
“Operators are already doing all they can to expand bandwidth but our research shows that some of the QoE issues are intrinsic even in best practice networks, ” continued van Zanen. “A further investment in capability is required to reach to the next stage of mobile broadband evolution.”
To address challenges with mobile broadband services and seize the potential revenue opportunity, changes in operator capabilities are required at three main levels:
• Data layer: High performance and reliable components that handle network traffic.
• Content layer: Best-in-class components which are able to optimise specific content services such as video or browsing.
• Control layer: Highly intelligent components which enable real-time, complex and rich decision-making.
“Operators will then need to develop rich service offerings to address individual consumer requirements and support paid-for optimized or premium services, delivered via a bundle or transaction-based offering that consumers both understand and can relate to, ” concluded van Zanen.
Global consumer research key findings
Customer satisfaction and loyalty: Mobile broadband is seen as an important and valuable service by the majority of users. A significant amount of consumers, however, are dissatisfied with certain of the aspects of the service:
• 60% of global consumers stated reliability, coverage or speed as the most important service aspect. Other aspects like price, usage allowance or usage control are perceived as most important by 40 % of consumers.
• Significant levels of dissatisfaction exist with coverage (29%) and pricing levels (28%) being the most important areas.
• 79% of customers globally have QoE issues of some kind including slow speeds (62%), network coverage (39%), connection stability and unable to connect (both at 36%). Only 21% of respondents state that they haven’t experienced any issues.
• Video QoE issues are experienced by 74% of the 37% of consumers watching videos. Issues such as waiting time for the video to play and frequent pauses both affect 54% of video viewers.
• Churn potential is considerable at 31%, with remarkably low variance between countries.
Consumer support for fairness, optimisation and VAS: Operators can seize the opportunity in mobile broadband through high levels of consumer acceptance:
• Fairness policies - Consumers, once they understand the need for resource management, have a high acceptance of policies (67%) that enable a fair allocation of the available capacity. Many consumers (35%) are even prepared to pay a premium for the service if it provides an improved QoE.
• Video optimisation – 60% of respondents are willing to accept video optimisation as long as they benefit from an improvement of those aspects they find most important in their service experience, especially less stalling of videos.
• Paid Value Added Services – 63% of consumers state a clear need for some kind of VAS service and a willingness to pay an additional fee for services like notifications (41%), fair bandwidth management (35%), spend control (35%), roaming (34%), shared bundle (33%), customisation (30%), content compression to save on bundle (29%) and priority (26%). This provides a clear marketable consumer segment where operators worldwide can build a more diverse and long term revenue model.
Acision Launches Global Consumer Research Report - 'Seizing the Opportunity in Mobile Broadband
see also Acision Full report is free but requires registration
Sao Tome - Portugal Telecom is to invest in ACE the first undersea cable to connect the island
[telecom paper] Portugal Telecom's subsidiary Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicações (CST) is investing in the first undersea fibre cable linking Sao Tome and Principe to the international data network. In a statement issued on 18 February, Portugal Telecom announced that the submarine cable, called "Africa Coast to Europe", is the result of a consortium of 19 international operators and should enter service in 2H 2012, allowing the introduction of fibre optics for business and residential customers. The project is being co-financed by the World Bank.
CST to invest in undersea fibre cable
CST to invest in undersea fibre cable
Comoros - Workers on strike against transfer of international traffic to foreign VoIP provider
[afrique en ligne] Workers of the Comorian telecommunications company (Comoros Telecom), Thursday embarked on a 24-hour strike action to protest against the decision of the government to grant the management of international calls to Vocalpad, a foreign operator.
'We will fight for the withdrawal of the decree that granted the management of international calls to Vocalpad,' declared a spokesperson of the company, Amerdine Saad.
According to Saadi, 'Contrary to the declarations of the authorities, Comoros Telecom was not consulted over this decision.'
He said that Comoros Telecom had the required capacity to handle international calls.
Comoros Telecom workers on 24-hour strike
see also Vocalpad
'We will fight for the withdrawal of the decree that granted the management of international calls to Vocalpad,' declared a spokesperson of the company, Amerdine Saad.
According to Saadi, 'Contrary to the declarations of the authorities, Comoros Telecom was not consulted over this decision.'
He said that Comoros Telecom had the required capacity to handle international calls.
Comoros Telecom workers on 24-hour strike
see also Vocalpad
Friday, February 18, 2011
USA - Secretary of State warns [other] governments that blocking the Internet will backfire
[washington post] Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned governments from China to Syria on Tuesday that blocking the Internet would ultimately backfire, damaging their economies and creating pent-up demands that would boil over in demonstrations like those that have swept the Middle East and North Africa.
Clinton's speech, planned weeks ago and billed as a major address on Internet freedom, came against the backdrop of the mass protests that toppled the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia. Aides said Clinton wanted to take advantage of the attention being paid to the protesters' use of Facebook and Twitter in order to highlight broader issues.
"We believe that governments who have erected barriers to Internet freedom . . . will eventually find themselves boxed in. They'll face a dictator's dilemma and have to choose between letting the walls fall or paying the price to keep them standing," Clinton said.
Clinton has been a sometimes breathless champion of technologies such as cell phones and the Internet, urging audiences around the globe to use them to expose government corruption and help the poor.
But her speech Tuesday was sober, noting the challenges of balancing Internet freedom with the threats posed by cyber-crime, on-line hate speech and the disclosure of confidential information.
"To maintain an Internet that delivers the greatest possible benefits to the world, we need to have a serious conversation about the principles that will guide us," Clinton told the audience at George Washington University.
She did not lay out specific rules; her aides said Clinton's goal was to create a framework to discuss Internet freedom. She also was trying to respond to leaders who say control of the Internet is necessary for security or to avoid the use of incendiary speech, aides said.
Clinton said that governments that arrested bloggers or limited the Internet "may claim to be seeking security . . . but they are taking the wrong path." She added that they might be able to "hold back the full expression of their people's yearnings for a while, but not forever."
Clinton's speech reflected the increasing attention being paid to Internet freedom in U.S. diplomacy. She announced the creation of a new office - coordinator for cyber issues - to be filled by Christopher Painter, a former White House cyber expert.
She also noted that the department began sending Twitter messages in Arabic and Farsi last week, and would soon produce them in Chinese, Hindi and Russian, in addition to Spanish and French.
In interviews, Internet freedom advocates gave Clinton's speech high marks for its nuance and its support of "the freedom to connect." But Ethan Zuckerman o f Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society said he was disappointed she didn't call on social-media companies to take more responsibility for keeping the Internet open and safe for activists.
Arvind Ganesan of Human Rights Watch panned Clinton's defense of the U.S. government response to the WikiLeaks disclosure of State Department cables. Clinton said the U.S. denunciation of the leaks wasn't at odds with the Internet freedom campaign, explaining that the scandal "began with an act of theft" of U.S. documents.
"That was never the controversy," Ganesan said. "The controversy is, was it appropriate for lawmakers to threaten grievous harm against WikiLeaks and some of their staff, because they were putting information out there?"
Clinton's speech coincided with the release of a report by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) that criticizes the State Department for not moving faster to spend $30 million provided by Congress last year to help citizens to break through government firewalls in countries such as China and Iran.
Lugar, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for that funding to be administered instead by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
State Department officials say that the window for spending the money runs until the third quarter of this year. Clinton said the funds should not be spent on a single firewall-piercing technology, as some lawmakers have urged, but instead go to a variety of tools, "so if repressive governments figure out how to target one, others are available."
Clinton warns governments that limiting Internet will backfire
Clinton's speech, planned weeks ago and billed as a major address on Internet freedom, came against the backdrop of the mass protests that toppled the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia. Aides said Clinton wanted to take advantage of the attention being paid to the protesters' use of Facebook and Twitter in order to highlight broader issues.
"We believe that governments who have erected barriers to Internet freedom . . . will eventually find themselves boxed in. They'll face a dictator's dilemma and have to choose between letting the walls fall or paying the price to keep them standing," Clinton said.
Clinton has been a sometimes breathless champion of technologies such as cell phones and the Internet, urging audiences around the globe to use them to expose government corruption and help the poor.
But her speech Tuesday was sober, noting the challenges of balancing Internet freedom with the threats posed by cyber-crime, on-line hate speech and the disclosure of confidential information.
"To maintain an Internet that delivers the greatest possible benefits to the world, we need to have a serious conversation about the principles that will guide us," Clinton told the audience at George Washington University.
She did not lay out specific rules; her aides said Clinton's goal was to create a framework to discuss Internet freedom. She also was trying to respond to leaders who say control of the Internet is necessary for security or to avoid the use of incendiary speech, aides said.
Clinton said that governments that arrested bloggers or limited the Internet "may claim to be seeking security . . . but they are taking the wrong path." She added that they might be able to "hold back the full expression of their people's yearnings for a while, but not forever."
Clinton's speech reflected the increasing attention being paid to Internet freedom in U.S. diplomacy. She announced the creation of a new office - coordinator for cyber issues - to be filled by Christopher Painter, a former White House cyber expert.
She also noted that the department began sending Twitter messages in Arabic and Farsi last week, and would soon produce them in Chinese, Hindi and Russian, in addition to Spanish and French.
In interviews, Internet freedom advocates gave Clinton's speech high marks for its nuance and its support of "the freedom to connect." But Ethan Zuckerman o f Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society said he was disappointed she didn't call on social-media companies to take more responsibility for keeping the Internet open and safe for activists.
Arvind Ganesan of Human Rights Watch panned Clinton's defense of the U.S. government response to the WikiLeaks disclosure of State Department cables. Clinton said the U.S. denunciation of the leaks wasn't at odds with the Internet freedom campaign, explaining that the scandal "began with an act of theft" of U.S. documents.
"That was never the controversy," Ganesan said. "The controversy is, was it appropriate for lawmakers to threaten grievous harm against WikiLeaks and some of their staff, because they were putting information out there?"
Clinton's speech coincided with the release of a report by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) that criticizes the State Department for not moving faster to spend $30 million provided by Congress last year to help citizens to break through government firewalls in countries such as China and Iran.
Lugar, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for that funding to be administered instead by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
State Department officials say that the window for spending the money runs until the third quarter of this year. Clinton said the funds should not be spent on a single firewall-piercing technology, as some lawmakers have urged, but instead go to a variety of tools, "so if repressive governments figure out how to target one, others are available."
Clinton warns governments that limiting Internet will backfire
USA - Citizen complaints about the level of taxes on mobile phones, comparable to tobacco
[slate.com] A couple of years ago Bob McIntyre bought his daughter a mobile phone. She was living in Oakland, Calif., at the time, and McIntyre lived in northern Virginia. He told her to buy the phone in Oakland and to send him the bill. With rebates and discounts the phone ended up costing about $25. But when McIntyre got the bill, he hit the roof.
McIntyre, I should point out, is director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal nonprofit. CTJ has a well-established reputation for scrupulously honest research—McIntyre's been tutoring me about tax distribution tables for three decades—and the man doesn't waste a lot of time griping that our wallets have been picked clean by the gol-durned guv'mint. (That's Grover Norquist's racket.) But McIntyre was flabbergasted to receive a bill of nearly $60 for his daughter's cell phone, of which the majority was taxes. The city fathers of Oakland had calculated their tax based on the phone's sticker price of about $300. Consequently, McIntyre ended up paying more for the tax than he did for the phone.
Taxes on mobile phone use are so high that you might wonder whether the government considers their use a vice, like the consumption of alcohol or tobacco. A pack of smokes costs about $5, on top of which state tax will add, on average, $1.45. That's an average tax rate of 22 percent. In the states of Nebraska, Washington, or New York—where taxes on cellular service are highest—the combined state and local tax is 18 or 19 percent, which isn't too far behind. Nationwide, the average state-local tax burden on cell phone service is 11 percent, compared with an average general sales or use tax of only 7 percent.
Cellular Sin Taxes - Why are mobile phone taxes so ridiculously high?
McIntyre, I should point out, is director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal nonprofit. CTJ has a well-established reputation for scrupulously honest research—McIntyre's been tutoring me about tax distribution tables for three decades—and the man doesn't waste a lot of time griping that our wallets have been picked clean by the gol-durned guv'mint. (That's Grover Norquist's racket.) But McIntyre was flabbergasted to receive a bill of nearly $60 for his daughter's cell phone, of which the majority was taxes. The city fathers of Oakland had calculated their tax based on the phone's sticker price of about $300. Consequently, McIntyre ended up paying more for the tax than he did for the phone.
Taxes on mobile phone use are so high that you might wonder whether the government considers their use a vice, like the consumption of alcohol or tobacco. A pack of smokes costs about $5, on top of which state tax will add, on average, $1.45. That's an average tax rate of 22 percent. In the states of Nebraska, Washington, or New York—where taxes on cellular service are highest—the combined state and local tax is 18 or 19 percent, which isn't too far behind. Nationwide, the average state-local tax burden on cell phone service is 11 percent, compared with an average general sales or use tax of only 7 percent.
Cellular Sin Taxes - Why are mobile phone taxes so ridiculously high?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Jamaica - the undersea cable from Cuba has been landed, opening the way to improved communications
[jamaica gleaner] JAMAICA ACHIEVED another milestone in its telecommunications industry with the landing in St Ann on Monday of a 240-km undersea fibre-optic cable between the island and Cuba.
The occasion, which took place at Golden Sands in Ocho Rios, was part of a joint agreement between Jamaica, Cuba and Venezuela, with Lime serving as landing partner on the Cuba-Jamaica leg of a plan to link Cuba and Venezuela.
The first leg of the connection, a 1500 km cable from Venezuela to Cuba, was concluded last week. Because of an embargo, it marks the first time in decades that an international telecoms cable was being connected to Cuba.
Installation of the cable should be completed by June this year. The cable will provide direct connectivity between Venezuela, Cuba and Jamaica for voice and data traffic.
Under the agreement signed late last year between LIME and its parent company, Cable and Wireless, and Telecommunicaciones Gran Caribe - which is a joint venture between Cuba (Transbit SA) and Venezuela (Telecom Venezuela) - Lime will carry voice and data traffic from Cuba to Europe, an arrangement which means significant income for Jamaica.
The ultra-high bandwidth infrastructure will provide data download at a speed of 3,000 times faster than the satellite technology which Cuba currently uses, said a release from LIME. The upgraded facilities are also expected to result in lower cost for international calls into and out of Cuba.
Boostig all sectors
Apart from developing communications in the Caribbean, the project is expected to boost other sectors, including business, tourism, education and finance.
Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte, who represented Prime Minister Bruce Golding, said the project means increased job opportunities and will facilitate the sharing of information, but cautioned about the approach to the future.
"While we recognised this shared path, it is our approach to the future that will determine the long-term prosperity and development of our country," the senator said.
Cuban ambassador Yuri Gala Lopez said the undersea cable from Venezuela reached Cuba just a few days ago, on the south coast at the eastern end of the island. He said the arrival of the cable to Jamaica renews the bonds between the people of both countries.
Venezuelan minister of science and technology, Ricardo Mendez, speaking through an interpreter, underlined the importance of the occasion by recounting the day, October 6, 1815, when Simon Bolivar landed on Jamaican shores.
He said the venture would have benefits for the countries involved, inasmuch the same way the Petro Caribe initiative is benefiting Caribbean countries.
"Venezuela is completely committed to offer all the support because of its geographical position, to benefit the entire area of the Caribbean," Mendez said.
Meanwhile, former ministers Phillip Paulwell and Anthony Hylton, who, along with Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, were present, said the occasion was a culmination of efforts started years ago.
Undersea Cable Connects Jamaica To Cuba
The occasion, which took place at Golden Sands in Ocho Rios, was part of a joint agreement between Jamaica, Cuba and Venezuela, with Lime serving as landing partner on the Cuba-Jamaica leg of a plan to link Cuba and Venezuela.
The first leg of the connection, a 1500 km cable from Venezuela to Cuba, was concluded last week. Because of an embargo, it marks the first time in decades that an international telecoms cable was being connected to Cuba.
Installation of the cable should be completed by June this year. The cable will provide direct connectivity between Venezuela, Cuba and Jamaica for voice and data traffic.
Under the agreement signed late last year between LIME and its parent company, Cable and Wireless, and Telecommunicaciones Gran Caribe - which is a joint venture between Cuba (Transbit SA) and Venezuela (Telecom Venezuela) - Lime will carry voice and data traffic from Cuba to Europe, an arrangement which means significant income for Jamaica.
The ultra-high bandwidth infrastructure will provide data download at a speed of 3,000 times faster than the satellite technology which Cuba currently uses, said a release from LIME. The upgraded facilities are also expected to result in lower cost for international calls into and out of Cuba.
Boostig all sectors
Apart from developing communications in the Caribbean, the project is expected to boost other sectors, including business, tourism, education and finance.
Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte, who represented Prime Minister Bruce Golding, said the project means increased job opportunities and will facilitate the sharing of information, but cautioned about the approach to the future.
"While we recognised this shared path, it is our approach to the future that will determine the long-term prosperity and development of our country," the senator said.
Cuban ambassador Yuri Gala Lopez said the undersea cable from Venezuela reached Cuba just a few days ago, on the south coast at the eastern end of the island. He said the arrival of the cable to Jamaica renews the bonds between the people of both countries.
Venezuelan minister of science and technology, Ricardo Mendez, speaking through an interpreter, underlined the importance of the occasion by recounting the day, October 6, 1815, when Simon Bolivar landed on Jamaican shores.
He said the venture would have benefits for the countries involved, inasmuch the same way the Petro Caribe initiative is benefiting Caribbean countries.
"Venezuela is completely committed to offer all the support because of its geographical position, to benefit the entire area of the Caribbean," Mendez said.
Meanwhile, former ministers Phillip Paulwell and Anthony Hylton, who, along with Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, were present, said the occasion was a culmination of efforts started years ago.
Undersea Cable Connects Jamaica To Cuba
Australia - Politicians in continuing disagreement over the merits of the NBN and wireless services
[abc] North coast politicians are in disagreement over the threat posed to the National Broadband Network by new wireless technology.
The member for Page, Janelle Saffin, says she's not concerned by Telstra's to upgrade its wireless network.
She says there are major shortcomings with wireless technology, particularly on the north coast.
"When Telstra rolled out 3G, that doesn't provide universal access and in our area we still have some places where mobiles and internet access is patchy," Ms Saffin said.
"So Telstra is not about providing for the whole of Australia, government is and that's what the NBN is about," she said.
But the federal member for Cowper says experience overseas shows next-generation wireless technology could seriously undermine labor's plans.
Luke Hartsuyker says the government has been using comparisons with South Korea's high-speed broadband to show Australia was slipping behind the rest of the world.
He says it's now emerged that only about one third of Koreans have signed up for fixed-line connections.
Mr Hartsuyker says the NBN plan depends on a 70-percent take-up rate.
Pollies in broadband disagreement
The member for Page, Janelle Saffin, says she's not concerned by Telstra's to upgrade its wireless network.
She says there are major shortcomings with wireless technology, particularly on the north coast.
"When Telstra rolled out 3G, that doesn't provide universal access and in our area we still have some places where mobiles and internet access is patchy," Ms Saffin said.
"So Telstra is not about providing for the whole of Australia, government is and that's what the NBN is about," she said.
But the federal member for Cowper says experience overseas shows next-generation wireless technology could seriously undermine labor's plans.
Luke Hartsuyker says the government has been using comparisons with South Korea's high-speed broadband to show Australia was slipping behind the rest of the world.
He says it's now emerged that only about one third of Koreans have signed up for fixed-line connections.
Mr Hartsuyker says the NBN plan depends on a 70-percent take-up rate.
Pollies in broadband disagreement
Mobile - Telekom Austria and T-Mobile have launched "abroadband" a mobile data roaming package
[Reuters] Telekom Austria and T-Mobile are launching new data roaming rates to allow controllable surfing abroad in a race to get an edge in the mobile data market and monetize the explosion of data usage.
Telekom Austria will allow consumers, regardless of their domestic provider, to buy a data package -- called abroadband --- tailored to their needs and pay for the service through credit cards or PayPal, the Austrian telecom operator said late on Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The offer will initially be available in 27 countries and later be accessible in 53 countries worldwide.
While operators offer data packages in their domestic markets that allow predictable rates, consumers who use their mobile devices abroad often get what has been dubbed bill shock due to high data roaming rates.
The initial price will range between 19.90 euros ($26.87) and 49.90 euros depending on whether users buy a SIM card, a Micro SIM card or a USB modem box.
The standard usage price will be 0.59 euros per MB and allow downloading of up to 7.2 Mbps.
"With abroadband, we are enabling both business and leisure travellers to be online for the first time at a standard and cheap tariff worldwide," Chief Executive Hannes Ametsreiter said.
German rival T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), also announced new data roaming tariffs for travellers on Tuesday although they are limited to the European Union. They will be available from the second half of the year, T-Mobile said.
T-Mobile said customers can choose "virtually unlimited surfing" for 14.95 euros a week. They can also buy 10 MB per day for 1.95 euros or 50 MB for 4.95 euros per day.
Operators worldwide agree that mobile data is driving the industry's growth but are scrambling to increase revenue from mobile data and manage their network capacity as the surge in demand for data has not translated into equivalent revenue streams.
Managing data capacity amid the explosion of mobile data due to smartphones and other mobile devices is an ongoing issue and operators have just begun to retreat from the flat-rate tariffs they offered to attract consumers in the first place in an effort to ease network strain.
It has been mostly heavy data users who are taking advantage of unlimited usage but a host of other devices including tablet PC's, TVs, printers and household appliances may push the number of connected objects to 50 billion by 2020.
T. Austria, T-Mobile launch new data roaming rates
Telekom Austria will allow consumers, regardless of their domestic provider, to buy a data package -- called abroadband --- tailored to their needs and pay for the service through credit cards or PayPal, the Austrian telecom operator said late on Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The offer will initially be available in 27 countries and later be accessible in 53 countries worldwide.
While operators offer data packages in their domestic markets that allow predictable rates, consumers who use their mobile devices abroad often get what has been dubbed bill shock due to high data roaming rates.
The initial price will range between 19.90 euros ($26.87) and 49.90 euros depending on whether users buy a SIM card, a Micro SIM card or a USB modem box.
The standard usage price will be 0.59 euros per MB and allow downloading of up to 7.2 Mbps.
"With abroadband, we are enabling both business and leisure travellers to be online for the first time at a standard and cheap tariff worldwide," Chief Executive Hannes Ametsreiter said.
German rival T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), also announced new data roaming tariffs for travellers on Tuesday although they are limited to the European Union. They will be available from the second half of the year, T-Mobile said.
T-Mobile said customers can choose "virtually unlimited surfing" for 14.95 euros a week. They can also buy 10 MB per day for 1.95 euros or 50 MB for 4.95 euros per day.
Operators worldwide agree that mobile data is driving the industry's growth but are scrambling to increase revenue from mobile data and manage their network capacity as the surge in demand for data has not translated into equivalent revenue streams.
Managing data capacity amid the explosion of mobile data due to smartphones and other mobile devices is an ongoing issue and operators have just begun to retreat from the flat-rate tariffs they offered to attract consumers in the first place in an effort to ease network strain.
It has been mostly heavy data users who are taking advantage of unlimited usage but a host of other devices including tablet PC's, TVs, printers and household appliances may push the number of connected objects to 50 billion by 2020.
T. Austria, T-Mobile launch new data roaming rates
Botswana - Regulator says that the three mobile operators are overcharging customers
[botswana gazette] Public Telecommunication Operators’ customers of the three cellphone providers in Botswana, namely Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), Mascom Wireless and Orange and Botswana have been paying exorbitant call charges, it has been revealed.
Speaking to The Gazette on the sidelines of a press conference, Botswana Telecommunication Authority (BTA) spokesperson Aaron Nyelesi said they have established that the phone call operators’ charges are way above their costs.
It has also emerged that the Public Telecommunications Operators charge the customers up to 75 thebe and this will be cut to 45 thebe, when the operators implement a new BTA Directive that directs them to reduce prices.
“Every five years we relook at the costs. What BTA is saying is that their costs of providing services and charges to customers should be reflective of carrying service and that is why BTA has directed that they should reduce call costs; we are trying to align them to costs,” he said. Nyelesi explained that the directive does not mean that mobile operators would make losses. “They should make justifiable profits. We are also aware that by reducing mobile operators’ revenue, we are also reducing BTA’s revenue because we get three percent from their revenue,” he said.
Nyelesi added that the whole intention was to aid telecommunication development and BTA was not asking them to charge below their costs.
Asked how the call charges, fared as compared to other operators in the SADC region, Nyelesi said they were relatively low.
Briefing the press last Friday BTA Chief Executive Officer, Thari Pheko said the study was done in close collaboration with the public telecommunication operators
He said BTA has identified and determined challenges among others that there are incentives for distorted pricing of call termination across networks.
“There are undue discriminatory offerings to different service providers; there is ineffective wholesale pricing in general and there indications of high consumer retail tariffs; and there is potential for abuse of market power in certain market segments,” said Pheko.
“In order to address the challenges within the different market segments, the directive shall explicitly focus on fixed termination rates, mobile termination rates,” said Pheko.
In 2010 BTA carried out a study and it was on the basis of the study that BTA directs new pricing developments in the telecommunications industry.
Phone customers pay overpriced call charges
Speaking to The Gazette on the sidelines of a press conference, Botswana Telecommunication Authority (BTA) spokesperson Aaron Nyelesi said they have established that the phone call operators’ charges are way above their costs.
It has also emerged that the Public Telecommunications Operators charge the customers up to 75 thebe and this will be cut to 45 thebe, when the operators implement a new BTA Directive that directs them to reduce prices.
“Every five years we relook at the costs. What BTA is saying is that their costs of providing services and charges to customers should be reflective of carrying service and that is why BTA has directed that they should reduce call costs; we are trying to align them to costs,” he said. Nyelesi explained that the directive does not mean that mobile operators would make losses. “They should make justifiable profits. We are also aware that by reducing mobile operators’ revenue, we are also reducing BTA’s revenue because we get three percent from their revenue,” he said.
Nyelesi added that the whole intention was to aid telecommunication development and BTA was not asking them to charge below their costs.
Asked how the call charges, fared as compared to other operators in the SADC region, Nyelesi said they were relatively low.
Briefing the press last Friday BTA Chief Executive Officer, Thari Pheko said the study was done in close collaboration with the public telecommunication operators
He said BTA has identified and determined challenges among others that there are incentives for distorted pricing of call termination across networks.
“There are undue discriminatory offerings to different service providers; there is ineffective wholesale pricing in general and there indications of high consumer retail tariffs; and there is potential for abuse of market power in certain market segments,” said Pheko.
“In order to address the challenges within the different market segments, the directive shall explicitly focus on fixed termination rates, mobile termination rates,” said Pheko.
In 2010 BTA carried out a study and it was on the basis of the study that BTA directs new pricing developments in the telecommunications industry.
Phone customers pay overpriced call charges
New Zealand - Minister has proposed major changes to legislation including structural separation of Telecom NZ
[nz herald] Fundamental changes to telecommunications regulation tabled in Parliament this morning are giving Telecom its first look at the trade-off being offered in return for splitting itself into two separate companies.
Telecom is offering to structurally separate its wholesale infrastructure arm, Chorus, from its retail services arm in return for being allowed to participate in the government's $1.35 billion ultra-fast broadband initiative.
Telecom this morning reacted cautiously to the release of a proposed new regulatory framework that would come into force if the company separates.
Concerned as much as anything to prevent any perception of a "done deal" while it continues to negotiate with the government's UFB vehicle, Crown Fibre Holdings, Telecom said only that the proposals followed the Ministry of Economic Development's consultation process and that the company would "participate actively, along with other industry players, in the select committee process."
"Telecom remains focused on its on-going intense commercial negotiations with Crown Fibre Holdings," the company said.
The package unveiled today is intended to ensure Telecom can't build a dominant position in the telecommunications environment that will emerge as fibre-optic cable and wireless services gradually replace today's copper-based telephone networks.
Telecom's share price was unchanged at $2.24 in early NZX trading today.
The proposed amendments seek to preserve protections for end-users and competitors, reduce unnecessary costs and complexities, and ensure Telecom is "neither unduly advantaged nor disadvantaged by de-merging in areas such as tax and land access," said Communications Minister Steven Joyce.
Telecom has potential involvement in about 85 per cent of the proposed UFB urban roll-out, and for the $300 million rural broadband roll-out, in a joint-venture with Vodafone.
However, at this stage, Telecom's involvement has not been confirmed. It awaits the outcome of negotiations with Crown Fibre Holdings, the government's vehicle for UFB negotiations.
If successful, Telecom will then put proposals for structural separation to its shareholders.
If unsuccessful, or if shareholders were to reject structural separation, the proposed regulatory changes will not occur. Telecom made clear last year it needed substantial regulatory change because current rules reflect the telecommunications environment as it has been in the past, rather than as it will be when UFB is in place.
The company has yet to respond to the Supplementary Order Paper to the Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband and Other Matters) Bill, tabled today, but has previously indicated it could not advance structural separation without this detail.
The two biggest changes outlined in the SOP are to vital aspects of the Telecommunications Service Obligations, which require Telecom to ensure "affordable basic telephone services for all New Zealanders" and have been in place, with modifications, since Telecom was privatised 20 years ago.
However, the SOP also says that there will be a broader review of the Local Service TSO arrangements by the end of 2013, "looking at issues such as whether the current funding arrangements are sustainable."
The first major change proposed is to regulated pricing for copper-based "layer two" services, which currently deliver the platform for non-fibre, fast internet. This will change from a "retail -minus approach to a cost-based approach," according to Ministry of Economic Development notes on the SOP.
This is required because a separated Chorus, delivering such services, would not be offering retail products, so no "retail-minus" price could be deduced.
The second major change is to the way prices for telephone services are regulated nationally under the TSO.
The so-called UCLL (unbundled copper local loop) service would change from calculations based on regional differences, where rural services are more expensive than urban because of lower population density and higher costs of supply in rural areas, to a single, nationally averaged price.
This change would not occur until three years after Telecom structurally separated and is "intended to ensure that the TSO can be delivered on a sustainable basis."
"The TSO requires Telecom to deliver an averaged retail price for a home phone line across all of New Zealand. This means the price a rural household pays is the same as an urban home. Under structural separation, this obligation would remain on the separated retail arm of Telecom," the MED notes say.
However, the TSO could prove unsustainable if Telecom's retail arm was forced to offer a single national price, while its wholesale arm continued to be calculate prices for copper lines on the current basis, where true costs of delivery to urban versus rural households are reflected.
Consistency between wholesale and retail pricing was therefore desirable.
The package also envisages one-off tax law changes to neutralise tax liabilities that would be triggered by structural separation.
This was not a "windfall" for Telecom, but intended to "ensure that structural separation itself does not advantage or disadvantage or its shareholders."
The SOP contains measures that will impose a nationally consistent approach to resource consents for mobile and wireless infrastructure, and grant these technologies the same rights as currently exist for the installation of fixed wire services.
Also included is capacity for Commerce Commission "authorisations" that will allow potentially anti-competitive arrangements to be considered and permitted where public benefits outweigh the downside.
This is intended to prevent court action delaying the UFB roll-out.
A more fundamental review of telecommunications regulation is envisaged in 2018, with a view to adapting to the new commercial environment that the UFB roll-out is expected to create.
Joyce unveils Telecom regulatory relief package
Telecom is offering to structurally separate its wholesale infrastructure arm, Chorus, from its retail services arm in return for being allowed to participate in the government's $1.35 billion ultra-fast broadband initiative.
Telecom this morning reacted cautiously to the release of a proposed new regulatory framework that would come into force if the company separates.
Concerned as much as anything to prevent any perception of a "done deal" while it continues to negotiate with the government's UFB vehicle, Crown Fibre Holdings, Telecom said only that the proposals followed the Ministry of Economic Development's consultation process and that the company would "participate actively, along with other industry players, in the select committee process."
"Telecom remains focused on its on-going intense commercial negotiations with Crown Fibre Holdings," the company said.
The package unveiled today is intended to ensure Telecom can't build a dominant position in the telecommunications environment that will emerge as fibre-optic cable and wireless services gradually replace today's copper-based telephone networks.
Telecom's share price was unchanged at $2.24 in early NZX trading today.
The proposed amendments seek to preserve protections for end-users and competitors, reduce unnecessary costs and complexities, and ensure Telecom is "neither unduly advantaged nor disadvantaged by de-merging in areas such as tax and land access," said Communications Minister Steven Joyce.
Telecom has potential involvement in about 85 per cent of the proposed UFB urban roll-out, and for the $300 million rural broadband roll-out, in a joint-venture with Vodafone.
However, at this stage, Telecom's involvement has not been confirmed. It awaits the outcome of negotiations with Crown Fibre Holdings, the government's vehicle for UFB negotiations.
If successful, Telecom will then put proposals for structural separation to its shareholders.
If unsuccessful, or if shareholders were to reject structural separation, the proposed regulatory changes will not occur. Telecom made clear last year it needed substantial regulatory change because current rules reflect the telecommunications environment as it has been in the past, rather than as it will be when UFB is in place.
The company has yet to respond to the Supplementary Order Paper to the Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband and Other Matters) Bill, tabled today, but has previously indicated it could not advance structural separation without this detail.
The two biggest changes outlined in the SOP are to vital aspects of the Telecommunications Service Obligations, which require Telecom to ensure "affordable basic telephone services for all New Zealanders" and have been in place, with modifications, since Telecom was privatised 20 years ago.
However, the SOP also says that there will be a broader review of the Local Service TSO arrangements by the end of 2013, "looking at issues such as whether the current funding arrangements are sustainable."
The first major change proposed is to regulated pricing for copper-based "layer two" services, which currently deliver the platform for non-fibre, fast internet. This will change from a "retail -minus approach to a cost-based approach," according to Ministry of Economic Development notes on the SOP.
This is required because a separated Chorus, delivering such services, would not be offering retail products, so no "retail-minus" price could be deduced.
The second major change is to the way prices for telephone services are regulated nationally under the TSO.
The so-called UCLL (unbundled copper local loop) service would change from calculations based on regional differences, where rural services are more expensive than urban because of lower population density and higher costs of supply in rural areas, to a single, nationally averaged price.
This change would not occur until three years after Telecom structurally separated and is "intended to ensure that the TSO can be delivered on a sustainable basis."
"The TSO requires Telecom to deliver an averaged retail price for a home phone line across all of New Zealand. This means the price a rural household pays is the same as an urban home. Under structural separation, this obligation would remain on the separated retail arm of Telecom," the MED notes say.
However, the TSO could prove unsustainable if Telecom's retail arm was forced to offer a single national price, while its wholesale arm continued to be calculate prices for copper lines on the current basis, where true costs of delivery to urban versus rural households are reflected.
Consistency between wholesale and retail pricing was therefore desirable.
The package also envisages one-off tax law changes to neutralise tax liabilities that would be triggered by structural separation.
This was not a "windfall" for Telecom, but intended to "ensure that structural separation itself does not advantage or disadvantage or its shareholders."
The SOP contains measures that will impose a nationally consistent approach to resource consents for mobile and wireless infrastructure, and grant these technologies the same rights as currently exist for the installation of fixed wire services.
Also included is capacity for Commerce Commission "authorisations" that will allow potentially anti-competitive arrangements to be considered and permitted where public benefits outweigh the downside.
This is intended to prevent court action delaying the UFB roll-out.
A more fundamental review of telecommunications regulation is envisaged in 2018, with a view to adapting to the new commercial environment that the UFB roll-out is expected to create.
Joyce unveils Telecom regulatory relief package
Europe - Deutsche Telecom and France Telecom are exploring extending cooperation, but not a merger
[wireless federation] Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom SA are planning to explore potential areas of co-operation in several fields of technology.
The possible partnerships could include radio access network sharing in Europe, improving wireless internet while roaming, equipment standardization and cross-border services.
A France Telecom spokesman stated that this does not include any share swaps.
The two groups already own British mobile operator Everything Everywhere jointly, which has nearly 28 million customers.
France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom plan to expand tech partnership
The possible partnerships could include radio access network sharing in Europe, improving wireless internet while roaming, equipment standardization and cross-border services.
A France Telecom spokesman stated that this does not include any share swaps.
The two groups already own British mobile operator Everything Everywhere jointly, which has nearly 28 million customers.
France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom plan to expand tech partnership
Burundi - Govt to privatise Onatel the incumbent operator, with support from the World Bank
[telegeography] The government of Burundi plans to privatise its state-owned national fixed, mobile and internet service provider Office National des Telecommunications (Onatel) before the end of the year. The move is the latest attempt by the government to sell off a stake in the operator, which faces intense competition in its home market. In January 2009 a presidential decree was adopted authorising the sale of part of the state's shares in Onatel, and three months later Burundi’s Transport and Telecommunications Minister Philippe Njoni told reporters that the government hoped to privatise the PTO by the end of the year in order to make it more competitive. That date came and went, but in a new initiative the government has now appointed Projet de Development des Secteurs Financier et Prive (PDSFP), a World Bank funded project, to handle the privatisation. PDSFP began operations in Burundi in April 2010, replacing the Economic Management Support Project (PAGE), which wound up its operations earlier that year.
Onatel is a 100% state-owned company that offers fixed line and internet services and also provides GSM services through its ONAMOB unit, launched in 2004. It currently competes with five telecom companies mainly offering GSM cellular communications and internet service provision.
Government to privatise Onatel in 2011
Onatel is a 100% state-owned company that offers fixed line and internet services and also provides GSM services through its ONAMOB unit, launched in 2004. It currently competes with five telecom companies mainly offering GSM cellular communications and internet service provision.
Government to privatise Onatel in 2011
The cloud - Ericsson sees this as important for the connected society
[telecoms] As Mobile World Congress kicked off in Barcelona on Monday morning, Ericsson chief Hans Vestberg identified one of the event’s hottest topics – the cloud – announcing a new focus on the technology as the last part of the “connected society”.
The Ericsson chief’s theme was the connected society and the three elements that comprise it: mobility, broadband, and the cloud. Whereas previous MWC events have focused on mobility and broadband, this year’s focus is on the third element.
“As the industry changes, Ericsson has to change too,” Vestberg said. “Today we are focusing on the cloud – more specifically on connecting the clouds – as the last part of the networked society.”
The crux of this new focus is a partnership with cloud and content delivery specialist Akamai, through which Ericsson will offer a content delivery platform optimised for mobile devices.
According to Vestberg, the number of smartphones in use will increase four or five times by 2016 and the generated traffic will increase 30 times, so the end to end quality of contentent delivered becomes key.
Ericsson gets on cloud with Akamai
The Ericsson chief’s theme was the connected society and the three elements that comprise it: mobility, broadband, and the cloud. Whereas previous MWC events have focused on mobility and broadband, this year’s focus is on the third element.
“As the industry changes, Ericsson has to change too,” Vestberg said. “Today we are focusing on the cloud – more specifically on connecting the clouds – as the last part of the networked society.”
The crux of this new focus is a partnership with cloud and content delivery specialist Akamai, through which Ericsson will offer a content delivery platform optimised for mobile devices.
According to Vestberg, the number of smartphones in use will increase four or five times by 2016 and the generated traffic will increase 30 times, so the end to end quality of contentent delivered becomes key.
Ericsson gets on cloud with Akamai
Europe - Users use their mobile phones more often, but still worry about costs
[ec] Almost three quarters of Europeans are worried about the cost of using their mobile phone when travelling in the EU a survey released by the European Commission today shows. 72% of travellers still limit their roaming calls because of high charges even if a majority is aware that prices have fallen since 2006. Only 19% of people who use internet-related services on their mobile phones when abroad think the costs of data-roaming for (Internet surfing or checking e-mails) are fair. The results of this survey, plus the public consultation on the future of the Roaming Regulation (IP/10/1679), which closed on 11th February, will feed into the Commission's review of current EU roaming rules, due by June 2011. The performance target set by the Digital Agenda for Europe (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200) is that the differences between roaming and national tariffs should approach zero by 2015.
Digital Agenda: Europeans use mobile phones more when travelling abroad, but still worry about costs, EU survey reveals
see also full text of Eurobarometer report
Digital Agenda: Europeans use mobile phones more when travelling abroad, but still worry about costs, EU survey reveals
see also full text of Eurobarometer report
Europe - Only 19% of consumer thinking data roaming rates are fair
[isp review] A new survey conducted by the European Commission (EC) has revealed how only a minority (19%) of EU consumers think that the price of Mobile Broadband data roaming within Europe is "fair", with most regarding such costs as being unreasonably high. Overall almost three quarters of Europeans are worried about the cost of using their mobile phone when travelling in the EU (data and voice).
EC Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, said:
"Telecom companies must listen to their customers. Consumers feel there is still much room for improvement, particularly for data roaming. As I promised in the Digital Agenda for Europe, I intend to ensure better roaming solutions for European citizens and businesses."
The special Eurobarometer survey on roaming questioned over 26,500 people between August 2010 and September 2010 in the 27 EU Member States. It also revealed that 48% of European mobile phone users have travelled at least once in the last 5 years and just 10% report using Internet services while abroad.
Majority of EU Consumers Believe Mobile Broadband Data Roaming is too Pricey
EC Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, said:
"Telecom companies must listen to their customers. Consumers feel there is still much room for improvement, particularly for data roaming. As I promised in the Digital Agenda for Europe, I intend to ensure better roaming solutions for European citizens and businesses."
The special Eurobarometer survey on roaming questioned over 26,500 people between August 2010 and September 2010 in the 27 EU Member States. It also revealed that 48% of European mobile phone users have travelled at least once in the last 5 years and just 10% report using Internet services while abroad.
Majority of EU Consumers Believe Mobile Broadband Data Roaming is too Pricey
UK - Rural areas will take some time to be reached by NG broadband networks according to BSG
[bcs] Getting the roll-out of next generation broadband right in rural areas will take time, it has been claimed.
The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) has said the fact that there is no precedent set for introducing the technology to rural areas mean it will take a longer period of time to get it right.
Antony Walker, chief executive of the BSG, said: 'I think that it means that this issue isn't being ignored, it's being taken very seriously and there's a lot of work going on, but it's complicated and there's a lot to learn still about what the best and most effective approaches will be.
'It's important to recognise that nobody's really done this before in terms of building out next-generation networks into challenging rural locations and therefore it takes time to work out how to get it right.'
The comments come after Wrexham MP, Ian Lucas, told PC Pro magazine that he is 'trying to press the government to pull its finger out' on a number of pilot schemes that have been created in order to pioneer next-generation broadband in the UK.
Rural next-generation roll-out 'will take time'
The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) has said the fact that there is no precedent set for introducing the technology to rural areas mean it will take a longer period of time to get it right.
Antony Walker, chief executive of the BSG, said: 'I think that it means that this issue isn't being ignored, it's being taken very seriously and there's a lot of work going on, but it's complicated and there's a lot to learn still about what the best and most effective approaches will be.
'It's important to recognise that nobody's really done this before in terms of building out next-generation networks into challenging rural locations and therefore it takes time to work out how to get it right.'
The comments come after Wrexham MP, Ian Lucas, told PC Pro magazine that he is 'trying to press the government to pull its finger out' on a number of pilot schemes that have been created in order to pioneer next-generation broadband in the UK.
Rural next-generation roll-out 'will take time'
Monday, February 14, 2011
Cisco - New solutions offered to meet demand for rapidly growing mobile data traffic
[cisco] Cisco today announced Cisco® MOVE, a strategic framework that comprises new solutions to enable service providers to better manage, enhance and take financial advantage of the rapidly growing volume of mobile video and data traffic.
The new Cisco MOVE (Monetization, Optimization, Videoscape Experience) solutions include Cisco Mobile Videoscape™, Cisco Service Provider Wi-Fi and Cisco Adaptive Intelligent Routing (AIR). Cisco MOVE solutions represent the next phase of Cisco's Service Provider Mobility strategy, which enables service providers to better monetize and optimize their networks, while delivering personalized mobile services across wired and wireless networks.
The new Cisco MOVE solutions span the mobile network -- from client to network to cloud -- and are designed to address the increasing volume of mobile data traffic -- particularly video. According to the recently released Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2010 to 2015, two-thirds of the world's mobile data traffic will be video by 2015. Mobile video traffic will more than double every year between 2010 and 2015.
Cisco Drives the Mobile Internet for Enhanced Video Experience Across Wireless Networks
The new Cisco MOVE (Monetization, Optimization, Videoscape Experience) solutions include Cisco Mobile Videoscape™, Cisco Service Provider Wi-Fi and Cisco Adaptive Intelligent Routing (AIR). Cisco MOVE solutions represent the next phase of Cisco's Service Provider Mobility strategy, which enables service providers to better monetize and optimize their networks, while delivering personalized mobile services across wired and wireless networks.
The new Cisco MOVE solutions span the mobile network -- from client to network to cloud -- and are designed to address the increasing volume of mobile data traffic -- particularly video. According to the recently released Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2010 to 2015, two-thirds of the world's mobile data traffic will be video by 2015. Mobile video traffic will more than double every year between 2010 and 2015.
Cisco Drives the Mobile Internet for Enhanced Video Experience Across Wireless Networks
Montenegro - Telenor will renumber to +297-01 and replace SIM cards
[telecom paper] Telenor Montenegro announced that it will replace its customers' Sim Cards with new ones by September to comply with a new law that requires mobile operators in Montenegro to introduce a new mobile country code. A new code was introduced as the country split from Serbia and gained its independence. The new code of Telenor Montenegro is 297 01, which it has been successfully implemented in technical systems and networks of its roaming partners. After a phase of implementation and testing, Telenor has the appropriate conditions for the replacement of the SIM cards of all of its customers. Aside from the new code, the new SIM cards have more active content, such as direct access to the balance inquiry, activation and deactivation of a number of services, fun categories (horoscope, jokes, love puzzle) and Facebook. Replacing customers' Sim cards will not be charged.
Telenor Montenegro to replace all Sim cards by September
Telenor Montenegro to replace all Sim cards by September
Australia - Business group calls for funding switch from NBN to Queensland floods
[cio] The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has called for the Federal Government to apply a cost-benefit analysis of the National Broadband Network (NBN), further suggesting that funding to the national infrastructure project be put on hold to pay for the damage of the Queensland Floods.
In its Budget Submission 2011-12 paper to the Federal Government, the business lobby group said a major financial question for the government was whether it was currently investing in the right infrastructure projects.
“Decisions by governments to select infrastructure projects for funding and implementation must be accompanied by a cost–benefit analysis to ensure that scarce economic resources are being diverted to their most productive use,” the submission reads.
The BCA said while government should maintain its commitment to fund important economic infrastructure, the current shortage of funds and labour required in Australia’s export sectors and that needed to support rebuilding efforts from flood damage in the eastern states meant spending on infrastructure for the purpose of stimulating the economy was no longer necessary.
“Any infrastructure project that is currently being supported by government but which has not been demonstrated to provide a net benefit to the Australian economy should be strongly reconsidered,” the submission reads. “The largest of these projects is the National Broadband Network.
“The costs of poor infrastructure decisions are not always immediately apparent but become evident over time. Projects with low or negative economic and social returns effectively hold back the growth of the economy and ultimately act to lower living standards."
According to the BCA, a “coherent and comprehensive” ‘national infrastructure plan’ that would translate the large body of policy advice provided by Infrastructure Australia and others into an actionable plan that prioritises policy reforms and projects for implementation was required.
“One of the priorities of the plan should be to implement policy frameworks that leverage private funds by encouraging private businesses to invest in infrastructure,” the submission reads. “This can be achieved through pursuing infrastructure pricing reforms to better reflect costs and in making planning regimes more efficient and certain.
“Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are well-understood arrangements for transferring construction and operational risks to private partners while government retains regulatory and demand risk.”
The BCA joins fellow business lobby group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) which in September called on the Federal Government to address concerns within the business community that the NBN’s cost could be covered by future economic benefit.
"There is also a hard headed approach .... which says that we need to ascertain whether the productivity benefits and economic benefits are likely to offset the costs because the costs are very substantial," ACCI chief executive, Peter Anderson told Network 10 at the time.
"There needs to be, I think, more transparency in what those costs are, but I think business does recognise that in the short term at least there will be some costs which are not able to be returned in a direct way," he said.
"There will also need to be some subsidisation into regional Australia, that's recognised with major infrastructure like this, but we don't want to sign a blank cheque off if we are going to roll out major infrastructure like this.
"There does need to be hard headed economic approach to these kind of decisions even though the instinct in the business community is that there can be a real productivity kick and benefit with getting on with the job."
BCA suggests canning the NBN
In its Budget Submission 2011-12 paper to the Federal Government, the business lobby group said a major financial question for the government was whether it was currently investing in the right infrastructure projects.
“Decisions by governments to select infrastructure projects for funding and implementation must be accompanied by a cost–benefit analysis to ensure that scarce economic resources are being diverted to their most productive use,” the submission reads.
The BCA said while government should maintain its commitment to fund important economic infrastructure, the current shortage of funds and labour required in Australia’s export sectors and that needed to support rebuilding efforts from flood damage in the eastern states meant spending on infrastructure for the purpose of stimulating the economy was no longer necessary.
“Any infrastructure project that is currently being supported by government but which has not been demonstrated to provide a net benefit to the Australian economy should be strongly reconsidered,” the submission reads. “The largest of these projects is the National Broadband Network.
“The costs of poor infrastructure decisions are not always immediately apparent but become evident over time. Projects with low or negative economic and social returns effectively hold back the growth of the economy and ultimately act to lower living standards."
According to the BCA, a “coherent and comprehensive” ‘national infrastructure plan’ that would translate the large body of policy advice provided by Infrastructure Australia and others into an actionable plan that prioritises policy reforms and projects for implementation was required.
“One of the priorities of the plan should be to implement policy frameworks that leverage private funds by encouraging private businesses to invest in infrastructure,” the submission reads. “This can be achieved through pursuing infrastructure pricing reforms to better reflect costs and in making planning regimes more efficient and certain.
“Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are well-understood arrangements for transferring construction and operational risks to private partners while government retains regulatory and demand risk.”
The BCA joins fellow business lobby group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) which in September called on the Federal Government to address concerns within the business community that the NBN’s cost could be covered by future economic benefit.
"There is also a hard headed approach .... which says that we need to ascertain whether the productivity benefits and economic benefits are likely to offset the costs because the costs are very substantial," ACCI chief executive, Peter Anderson told Network 10 at the time.
"There needs to be, I think, more transparency in what those costs are, but I think business does recognise that in the short term at least there will be some costs which are not able to be returned in a direct way," he said.
"There will also need to be some subsidisation into regional Australia, that's recognised with major infrastructure like this, but we don't want to sign a blank cheque off if we are going to roll out major infrastructure like this.
"There does need to be hard headed economic approach to these kind of decisions even though the instinct in the business community is that there can be a real productivity kick and benefit with getting on with the job."
BCA suggests canning the NBN
Trends: hosted PBX, desktop hosting, secure online storage and converged communications
[washington post] Just about everyone in the technology industry expects 2011 to be the year of the cloud, with a mass migration of data centers to hosted Web-based services, accessed over highly secure networks.
As small- to medium-sized enterprises that already have made the switch are discovering, integration of voice and data into a single hosted communications platform provides access to new and emerging technologies and capabilities at lower investment and faster return on investment. Through cloud computing, businesses use one provider to manage their server, voice and data instead of three. The growing popularity of cloud-based services in 2011 will provide new opportunities for service providers to help fiscally cautious businesses extend their post-recession budgets and do more with less.
Here are five trends to watch:
1. Hosted PBX
Hosted cloud-based private branch exchange (PBX) over a managed Voice over Private Internet (VoPI) service helps smaller businesses communicate like Fortune 500 companies. People who are on the go can be reachable at one number -- by co-workers using direct-extension dialing, or by outside callers, who can be transferred within and between locations without ever experiencing a hard handoff. Remote access to voice mail, remote configuration of user features and handsets, content filters and wireless-based backup and recovery systems are features available now or on the way that will help make communications more efficient and cost-effective.
2. Hosted video conferencing amd telepresence
Videoconferencing using high-definition, IP-based, video telephony, 3D cameras and displays helps people feel as if they were present at a staff meeting, job interview, product demonstration or design conference taking place hundreds of miles away. Virtual video gatherings eliminate unnecessary travel time and costs, increase employee productivity and speed time to market by helping businesses make better decisions faster.
3. PC over IP (desktop hosting)
This year will see increasing virtualization of the desktop as organizations wake up to the savings and efficiencies of replacing hard-drive-equipped computers with thinner terminals and moving data storage to the cloud or Web. Virtual desktops can be set up quickly and accessed from any PC with Internet access. Hosted desktop virtualization is currently most popular with small- to medium-sized businesses and start-ups. But it's a practical solution for large organizations and individuals who want experienced IT support and 99.9 percent availability without the expense of a server.
4. Secure network-wide online storage
Security and cost savings will make cloud-based backup more attractive to more organizations. This rapidly maturing technology eliminates the need for a local tape infrastructure, keeps data secure and allows remote access from any Internet-connected device or location. Providers offer 24/7 monitoring, management and reporting features that many companies might not otherwise be able to afford. Working with a cloud provider, companies free themselves of infrastructure upkeep, allowing them to apply their savings to growing their business.
5. Converged communications
The value of converging -- or integrating -- data, voice and video communications over a single IP network comes in the improved ability of people to share, discuss and develop ideas with colleagues anywhere in the world. Voice itself can become a "killer app." The new standard environment integrates voice mail, global telephone network, directory, presence, unified messaging capability, text-to-speech, conferencing, online phone, address book and more. Enterprises adding voice to other IP-compliant applications really begin to see what the technology can do for them.
Five telecommunications trends for 2011
As small- to medium-sized enterprises that already have made the switch are discovering, integration of voice and data into a single hosted communications platform provides access to new and emerging technologies and capabilities at lower investment and faster return on investment. Through cloud computing, businesses use one provider to manage their server, voice and data instead of three. The growing popularity of cloud-based services in 2011 will provide new opportunities for service providers to help fiscally cautious businesses extend their post-recession budgets and do more with less.
Here are five trends to watch:
1. Hosted PBX
Hosted cloud-based private branch exchange (PBX) over a managed Voice over Private Internet (VoPI) service helps smaller businesses communicate like Fortune 500 companies. People who are on the go can be reachable at one number -- by co-workers using direct-extension dialing, or by outside callers, who can be transferred within and between locations without ever experiencing a hard handoff. Remote access to voice mail, remote configuration of user features and handsets, content filters and wireless-based backup and recovery systems are features available now or on the way that will help make communications more efficient and cost-effective.
2. Hosted video conferencing amd telepresence
Videoconferencing using high-definition, IP-based, video telephony, 3D cameras and displays helps people feel as if they were present at a staff meeting, job interview, product demonstration or design conference taking place hundreds of miles away. Virtual video gatherings eliminate unnecessary travel time and costs, increase employee productivity and speed time to market by helping businesses make better decisions faster.
3. PC over IP (desktop hosting)
This year will see increasing virtualization of the desktop as organizations wake up to the savings and efficiencies of replacing hard-drive-equipped computers with thinner terminals and moving data storage to the cloud or Web. Virtual desktops can be set up quickly and accessed from any PC with Internet access. Hosted desktop virtualization is currently most popular with small- to medium-sized businesses and start-ups. But it's a practical solution for large organizations and individuals who want experienced IT support and 99.9 percent availability without the expense of a server.
4. Secure network-wide online storage
Security and cost savings will make cloud-based backup more attractive to more organizations. This rapidly maturing technology eliminates the need for a local tape infrastructure, keeps data secure and allows remote access from any Internet-connected device or location. Providers offer 24/7 monitoring, management and reporting features that many companies might not otherwise be able to afford. Working with a cloud provider, companies free themselves of infrastructure upkeep, allowing them to apply their savings to growing their business.
5. Converged communications
The value of converging -- or integrating -- data, voice and video communications over a single IP network comes in the improved ability of people to share, discuss and develop ideas with colleagues anywhere in the world. Voice itself can become a "killer app." The new standard environment integrates voice mail, global telephone network, directory, presence, unified messaging capability, text-to-speech, conferencing, online phone, address book and more. Enterprises adding voice to other IP-compliant applications really begin to see what the technology can do for them.
Five telecommunications trends for 2011
Australia - Wireless networks could compete with the NBN, reducing adoption rates
[smh] The rising use of wireless technology could pose a risk to the national broadband network, a report commissioned by the Gillard government says.
The government aims to connect 93 per cent of Australian households with high-speed optical fibres by 2020.
In the longer term, NBN Co, the firm building the $36 billion network, is aiming for world-class connections of 1000 megabits a second.
But competition from wireless technology could challenge take-up forecasts of the national broadband network, corporate advisory firm Greenhill Caliburn says in its analysis of the NBN Co business case.
"Trends towards 'mobile-centric' broadband networks could also have significant long-term implications for NBN Co's fibre offerings, to the extent that some consumers may be willing to sacrifice higher-speed fibre transmissions for the convenience of mobile platforms," the report said.
The report said NBN Co should monitor the prevalence of homes with wireless-only connections.
Bad services from internet service providers selling access to the NBN, could also turn consumers off broadband, the report says.
There are also risks to forecasts about average revenue per user.
Private retail service providers, plugging consumers into the network, may experience an erosion on their profit margins, and struggle as customers remain unwilling to pay for a premium product.
During the next decade, telco giant Telstra will decommission its copper wire network and move customers to the NBN.
As this happens, pricing levels will need to be monitored before the network is rolled out nationally, the report says.
Responding to the report, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government would establish performance targets for NBN Co.
"As with any infrastructure project, there are always risks, contingencies and external factors and the government will work closely with NBN Co to put in place agreed performance indicators," Senator Conroy said.
Wireless could affect NBN: report
The government aims to connect 93 per cent of Australian households with high-speed optical fibres by 2020.
In the longer term, NBN Co, the firm building the $36 billion network, is aiming for world-class connections of 1000 megabits a second.
But competition from wireless technology could challenge take-up forecasts of the national broadband network, corporate advisory firm Greenhill Caliburn says in its analysis of the NBN Co business case.
"Trends towards 'mobile-centric' broadband networks could also have significant long-term implications for NBN Co's fibre offerings, to the extent that some consumers may be willing to sacrifice higher-speed fibre transmissions for the convenience of mobile platforms," the report said.
The report said NBN Co should monitor the prevalence of homes with wireless-only connections.
Bad services from internet service providers selling access to the NBN, could also turn consumers off broadband, the report says.
There are also risks to forecasts about average revenue per user.
Private retail service providers, plugging consumers into the network, may experience an erosion on their profit margins, and struggle as customers remain unwilling to pay for a premium product.
During the next decade, telco giant Telstra will decommission its copper wire network and move customers to the NBN.
As this happens, pricing levels will need to be monitored before the network is rolled out nationally, the report says.
Responding to the report, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government would establish performance targets for NBN Co.
"As with any infrastructure project, there are always risks, contingencies and external factors and the government will work closely with NBN Co to put in place agreed performance indicators," Senator Conroy said.
Wireless could affect NBN: report
UK - Registry opens debate on cutting off access to domain names suspected involved in criminal activities
[expert reviews] Nominet, the .uk domain name registry, has said that it will have a public debate over whether it should be responsible for cutting off access to websites suspected of involvement in criminal activity.
The move comes after the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) requested in November that Nominet was given the formal power to shut down websites. Currently, the registry is under no obligation to do so, although it will listen to requests from law enforcement agencies and act accordingly.
Current practice has Nominet expecting the domain registrar taking action first and action at the registry level only being required for urgent incidents or if the registrar failed to comply. SOCA wants to see Nominet respond faster to requests and act directly.
In addition, Nominent wants to investigate its terms and conditions to see if they need updating to take into account criminal websites.
"Nominet does not have any clear obligation in its registrant Terms and Conditions that a domain name should not be used in connection with any activity that would constitute an offence under UK criminal law. This is in contrast to many registrars and a number of registries including .org and .biz," said Nominet in its Policy issue brief.
The .uk registry is now calling for interested stakeholders to put themselves forward for a public debate on the issue. Interested parties are being called on to register by 23rd February.
A final working group is expected to be announced by 2nd March, with the first meeting due to take place later that month after members have been sent a summary covering the issues to be discussed.
Nominet creates public debate over criminal website take-down
The move comes after the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) requested in November that Nominet was given the formal power to shut down websites. Currently, the registry is under no obligation to do so, although it will listen to requests from law enforcement agencies and act accordingly.
Current practice has Nominet expecting the domain registrar taking action first and action at the registry level only being required for urgent incidents or if the registrar failed to comply. SOCA wants to see Nominet respond faster to requests and act directly.
In addition, Nominent wants to investigate its terms and conditions to see if they need updating to take into account criminal websites.
"Nominet does not have any clear obligation in its registrant Terms and Conditions that a domain name should not be used in connection with any activity that would constitute an offence under UK criminal law. This is in contrast to many registrars and a number of registries including .org and .biz," said Nominet in its Policy issue brief.
The .uk registry is now calling for interested stakeholders to put themselves forward for a public debate on the issue. Interested parties are being called on to register by 23rd February.
A final working group is expected to be announced by 2nd March, with the first meeting due to take place later that month after members have been sent a summary covering the issues to be discussed.
Nominet creates public debate over criminal website take-down
Sunday, February 13, 2011
South Africa - Potential merger of Infraco and Sentech has raised concerns about the lack of synergies
[techcentral] The departments of public enterprises and communications are reportedly in discussions to explore the synergies between Broadband Infraco and Sentech, a move that has analysts concerned.
Moneyweb reported on Friday that public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba and communications minister Roy Padayachie were in discussions to explore a tie-up between the two companies.
Infraco, which only launched commercial services late last year, is a state-owned wholesale telecommunications operator; Sentech, also owned by government, specialises in signal distribution for broadcasting.
The talks between the ministers has sparked speculation that a tie-up could result in government entering the retail broadband market, a possibility that would not be welcomed by commercial operators.
Infraco has already been denied the chance to provide retail broadband services to consumers. The company was granted a network licence only, not the service licence it would need to provide retail products.
Sentech has also dabbled in the retail broadband space, although its efforts in this area failed completely. It invested hundreds of millions of rand in a broadband product called MyWireless, which was later scrapped.
Both Infraco and Sentech have recently come under the spotlight for alleged financial mismanagement and tender troubles.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says a tie-up between the two companies would probably multiply their problems rather than resolving them. “It looks worryingly like combining two ineffectual entities in broadband delivery,” he says.
Another analyst, who asked to remain unnamed to protect a relationship with both Sentech and Infraco says the plan is not entirely without merit, but the two companies would have to make dramatic changes for it to work.
Possible Sentech, Infraco deal has analysts worried
Moneyweb reported on Friday that public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba and communications minister Roy Padayachie were in discussions to explore a tie-up between the two companies.
Infraco, which only launched commercial services late last year, is a state-owned wholesale telecommunications operator; Sentech, also owned by government, specialises in signal distribution for broadcasting.
The talks between the ministers has sparked speculation that a tie-up could result in government entering the retail broadband market, a possibility that would not be welcomed by commercial operators.
Infraco has already been denied the chance to provide retail broadband services to consumers. The company was granted a network licence only, not the service licence it would need to provide retail products.
Sentech has also dabbled in the retail broadband space, although its efforts in this area failed completely. It invested hundreds of millions of rand in a broadband product called MyWireless, which was later scrapped.
Both Infraco and Sentech have recently come under the spotlight for alleged financial mismanagement and tender troubles.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says a tie-up between the two companies would probably multiply their problems rather than resolving them. “It looks worryingly like combining two ineffectual entities in broadband delivery,” he says.
Another analyst, who asked to remain unnamed to protect a relationship with both Sentech and Infraco says the plan is not entirely without merit, but the two companies would have to make dramatic changes for it to work.
Possible Sentech, Infraco deal has analysts worried
UK - Average mobile broadband subscriber does not care about their inability to access LTE
[cable] Most subscribers just want to stream content, Nigel Wright of Spirent has argued.
The average mobile broadband subscriber does not care about their inability to access Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, a telecoms expert has said.
In an interview with PC Pro, vice president of wireless product marketing at Spirent Nigel Wright argued the length of time taken for UK carriers to roll out the technology will have little effect on consumers who do not understand its benefits.
"From an end user perspective, they do not need to go to LTE today. An end user couldn't care less," he remarked.
Although Mr Wright acknowledged the most "tech-savvy" want access to the service as soon as possible, the majority "just want to be able to stream their content".
This is something that can already be achieved with current networks, he added.
His comments come after Tim Sefton, new business development director at O2, warned it is likely to be some time until 4G becomes widely available in the UK.
Speaking to TechRadar, he said this service is "years" away.
LTE not an issue for most mobile broadband users, says expert
The average mobile broadband subscriber does not care about their inability to access Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, a telecoms expert has said.
In an interview with PC Pro, vice president of wireless product marketing at Spirent Nigel Wright argued the length of time taken for UK carriers to roll out the technology will have little effect on consumers who do not understand its benefits.
"From an end user perspective, they do not need to go to LTE today. An end user couldn't care less," he remarked.
Although Mr Wright acknowledged the most "tech-savvy" want access to the service as soon as possible, the majority "just want to be able to stream their content".
This is something that can already be achieved with current networks, he added.
His comments come after Tim Sefton, new business development director at O2, warned it is likely to be some time until 4G becomes widely available in the UK.
Speaking to TechRadar, he said this service is "years" away.
LTE not an issue for most mobile broadband users, says expert
Australia - Agreement with Telstra over NBN is a major step forward
[smh] THE national broadband network has cleared another hurdle, after Telstra and the NBN Co nailed down details of their $11 billion deal designed to lower the network's cost.
The agreement of ''key commercial terms'', announced yesterday, paves the way for Telstra to shut down its copper wire network and share its infrastructure with NBN Co, allowing for a faster rollout.
Telstra shareholders must now vote on whether to proceed with the complex deal, which will be thrashed out by lawyers before being put to a vote as early as July. The government hailed the agreement as a big step towards bringing high-speed internet to households.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy, said the government and Telstra had also agreed to a $100 million package to retrain Telstra workers for the network rollout, and a publicity campaign to educate people about the network.
The deal between NBN Co and Telstra was announced at Telstra's half-year financial results, where the company revealed a 36 per cent decline in profit.
Broadband rollout boost
The agreement of ''key commercial terms'', announced yesterday, paves the way for Telstra to shut down its copper wire network and share its infrastructure with NBN Co, allowing for a faster rollout.
Telstra shareholders must now vote on whether to proceed with the complex deal, which will be thrashed out by lawyers before being put to a vote as early as July. The government hailed the agreement as a big step towards bringing high-speed internet to households.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy, said the government and Telstra had also agreed to a $100 million package to retrain Telstra workers for the network rollout, and a publicity campaign to educate people about the network.
The deal between NBN Co and Telstra was announced at Telstra's half-year financial results, where the company revealed a 36 per cent decline in profit.
Broadband rollout boost
Tunisia - Following the revolution, the IPO for Tunisie Telecom has been abandoned
[african manager] Attributing it to the circumstances Tunisia is living through, Sami Zaoui, the new Secretary of State for ICT had initially spoken, during a press conference, of a suspension of the privatization of the telephone operator TT (Tunisie Télécom). He ended on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, by deciding the outright cancellation of any intention to privatize TT. The decision was taken and put in the minutes of a meeting with the union.
No more intention to privatize Tunisie Telecom
No more intention to privatize Tunisie Telecom
UK - Regulator criticized for lack of action on fixed line competition
[bbc] Communication industry regulator Ofcom has not done enough to increase competition among landline providers and to make switching providers easier, an MPs' report has concluded.
The public accounts committee also said Ofcom must do more to allow those that fund it to judge its performance.
It was impossible to determine if Ofcom gives value for money, it said.
Ofcom said it was "surprised" by the criticism about competition, saying that improvements had been made.
However, the report found an "overall positive picture" of competition in the UK communications market.
"The communications market is in most cases working well and consumers are enjoying the benefits of competition," said committee chairman Margaret Hodge.
Ofcom 'not doing enough' for landline competition
see also 20th Report of PAC
The public accounts committee also said Ofcom must do more to allow those that fund it to judge its performance.
It was impossible to determine if Ofcom gives value for money, it said.
Ofcom said it was "surprised" by the criticism about competition, saying that improvements had been made.
However, the report found an "overall positive picture" of competition in the UK communications market.
"The communications market is in most cases working well and consumers are enjoying the benefits of competition," said committee chairman Margaret Hodge.
Ofcom 'not doing enough' for landline competition
see also 20th Report of PAC
USA - Enterprises will increase spending on telecoms, especially mobile, from USD 146 to 269 billion by 2015
[channel partners online] Revenue prospects for the telecom industry in the United States look bright, despite a sluggish economy and slow hiring, according to new figures from Insight Research.
Indeed, even though the country still faces financial hurdles, businesses in the United States expect to increase their spending at a 13 percent compound annual growth rate by the end of 2015, Insight said. The firm expects business telecom spending – wireline and mobile – to jump from $146 billion in 2010 to more than $269 billion in 2015.
Of course, wireless outlay will outpace that of fixed services.
"The year 2010, like 2009, was all about a shaky economy, unemployment hovering at 10 percent, and retrenchment in every industry sector we examined," said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight. "With no new business formations and fewer employees in existing businesses, growth in demand for telecom services is coming from wireless, because wireless services tend to make existing employees more productive and gives businesses new ways to reach potential customers."
To that point, U.S. businesses will keep their wireline expenses flat, Insight said, but they’ll push their mobility costs up by 23.5 percent between 2010 and 2015. The biggest spenders will come from the construction, financial, insurance, real estate, professional services and transportation verticals, Insight said.
U.S. BUSINESSES TO FORK OUT BILLIONS MORE FOR TELECOM BY 2015
Indeed, even though the country still faces financial hurdles, businesses in the United States expect to increase their spending at a 13 percent compound annual growth rate by the end of 2015, Insight said. The firm expects business telecom spending – wireline and mobile – to jump from $146 billion in 2010 to more than $269 billion in 2015.
Of course, wireless outlay will outpace that of fixed services.
"The year 2010, like 2009, was all about a shaky economy, unemployment hovering at 10 percent, and retrenchment in every industry sector we examined," said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight. "With no new business formations and fewer employees in existing businesses, growth in demand for telecom services is coming from wireless, because wireless services tend to make existing employees more productive and gives businesses new ways to reach potential customers."
To that point, U.S. businesses will keep their wireline expenses flat, Insight said, but they’ll push their mobility costs up by 23.5 percent between 2010 and 2015. The biggest spenders will come from the construction, financial, insurance, real estate, professional services and transportation verticals, Insight said.
U.S. BUSINESSES TO FORK OUT BILLIONS MORE FOR TELECOM BY 2015
Spain - Govt has proposed changes to legislation, including for high speed broadband
[lexology] In accordance with its announced intention of transforming and adapting the Telecoms Sector to the EU Telecom Package, the Spanish Government has been taking important steps. In December 2010, the Ministry of Industry issued a report on the draft Bill on Telecommunications in General which is to the reform of Act 32/2003 of 3 November 2003 (on Telecommunications in General). Two of the diverse proposals are particularly worth mentioning:
The amendment of the powers and functioning of the regulatory bodies, and the strengthening of the powers of the Telecommunications Commission (NRA). In this sense, it is worth noting that the draft Bill provides that the Data Protection Agency shall carry out its activities on the telecommunications market for the purposes of protection and use of personal data.
The establishment of a more appropriate framework for investment in the deployment of new generation networks, which offer Internet access speeds above 100 Mbits per second.
The Ministry of Industry has also produced a draft Royal Decree on Actions in the area of Radio Spectrum for the Development of the Digital Society (expected to be enacted in March 2011), which will generalise authorisations to operators in order to implement the principles of technological neutrality and service, as well as the resale of radio spectrum, while opening new tendering processes for most of the radio spectrum. By accomplishing these objectives, the spectrum dedicated to mobile communications services is expected to increase by 70%.
The Spanish government rekindles the reform of the telecommunication sector
The amendment of the powers and functioning of the regulatory bodies, and the strengthening of the powers of the Telecommunications Commission (NRA). In this sense, it is worth noting that the draft Bill provides that the Data Protection Agency shall carry out its activities on the telecommunications market for the purposes of protection and use of personal data.
The establishment of a more appropriate framework for investment in the deployment of new generation networks, which offer Internet access speeds above 100 Mbits per second.
The Ministry of Industry has also produced a draft Royal Decree on Actions in the area of Radio Spectrum for the Development of the Digital Society (expected to be enacted in March 2011), which will generalise authorisations to operators in order to implement the principles of technological neutrality and service, as well as the resale of radio spectrum, while opening new tendering processes for most of the radio spectrum. By accomplishing these objectives, the spectrum dedicated to mobile communications services is expected to increase by 70%.
The Spanish government rekindles the reform of the telecommunication sector
Cuba - Ministry has confirmed legislation will soon provide for a framework for public and private operators
[havana times] Cuba will have its first telecommunications law in 2011, Wilfredo López, director of Regulations and Standards of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications, affirmed. According to the official, the legislation will establish frameworks on the use of the radio spectrum, the social role of telecommunications and the rights of operators, be they public or private, reported IPS.
Cuba to have Telecommunications Law
Cuba to have Telecommunications Law
ECJ - An ISP lost its challenge against UK Govt on the valuation for the "Fibre Tax"
[isp review] UK ISP Vtesse Networks (Vtesse Broadband) has lost its European Court challenge to the UK government, European Commission (EC) and Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) controversial Fibre Tax, which taxes their smaller fibre optic cable network in a different way from BT Group. This, they claim, can result in higher and thus unfair costs.
European Commission Statement:
"Business rates are a tax on the value of the property concerned. They are not a tax on profits or revenues. They are normally applied on all non-domestic properties, and consequently are applied to all telecommunications networks. According to British case-law, all telecommunications networks are valued as a whole. There are several methods for valuing such property. When all methods can be applied, they should result in the same valuation.
The Commission can conclude that there is no evidence that the use of this different method is not justified by the objective differences between those firms and their competitors. There is no evidence that the application of a different valuation method to BT has resulted in an advantage to (it) in comparison with (its) competitors."
Vtesse took the action after losing a similar case in the UK Court of Appeal last February 2010. The ISP later revealed in December 2010 that it had decided to stall further UK rural broadband deployment projects until the wider regulatory and tax issues could be fully resolved.
Vtesse's December 2010 Statement to ISPreview.co.uk:
"Vtesse has demonstrated through operational evidence from its recent pilot projects in Final Third communities in Cornwall, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Warwickshire that there are no real technical obstacles to deploying superfast broadband services.
There are, however, some very real regulatory and economic issues to be overcome. Vtesse looks forward to rapid progress on all fronts to remove the unnecessary regulatory barriers outlined in Chapter 5 of the Report, supported by Government.
As a result of these barriers, Vtesse Networks has suspended deployment of its own residential superfast broadband services to any more Final Third communities, pending material progress on all these issues in the New Year."
According to Computer Weekly, Vtesse has described the outcome as a procedural rejection because the court allegedly never engaged with the substance of the case itself. However, irrespective of that, it has now exhausted all of its options and will no longer install any new fibre. Broughton in rural Cambridgeshire was the last one (here).
The news will no doubt be very disappointing to all those smaller operators whom had claimed that the application of a different valuation method to BT was placing them at an unfair disadvantage. In the meantime the UK government did finally manage to meet with some of the affected operators last month and proposed an £8 per year levy on residential FTTH (home fibre optic) connections. This isn't much of a change over the current system, although the VOA is now highly unlikely to give any further ground.
Vtesse Networks UK Loses Broadband Fibre Optic Tax Appeal in European Court
European Commission Statement:
"Business rates are a tax on the value of the property concerned. They are not a tax on profits or revenues. They are normally applied on all non-domestic properties, and consequently are applied to all telecommunications networks. According to British case-law, all telecommunications networks are valued as a whole. There are several methods for valuing such property. When all methods can be applied, they should result in the same valuation.
The Commission can conclude that there is no evidence that the use of this different method is not justified by the objective differences between those firms and their competitors. There is no evidence that the application of a different valuation method to BT has resulted in an advantage to (it) in comparison with (its) competitors."
Vtesse took the action after losing a similar case in the UK Court of Appeal last February 2010. The ISP later revealed in December 2010 that it had decided to stall further UK rural broadband deployment projects until the wider regulatory and tax issues could be fully resolved.
Vtesse's December 2010 Statement to ISPreview.co.uk:
"Vtesse has demonstrated through operational evidence from its recent pilot projects in Final Third communities in Cornwall, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Warwickshire that there are no real technical obstacles to deploying superfast broadband services.
There are, however, some very real regulatory and economic issues to be overcome. Vtesse looks forward to rapid progress on all fronts to remove the unnecessary regulatory barriers outlined in Chapter 5 of the Report, supported by Government.
As a result of these barriers, Vtesse Networks has suspended deployment of its own residential superfast broadband services to any more Final Third communities, pending material progress on all these issues in the New Year."
According to Computer Weekly, Vtesse has described the outcome as a procedural rejection because the court allegedly never engaged with the substance of the case itself. However, irrespective of that, it has now exhausted all of its options and will no longer install any new fibre. Broughton in rural Cambridgeshire was the last one (here).
The news will no doubt be very disappointing to all those smaller operators whom had claimed that the application of a different valuation method to BT was placing them at an unfair disadvantage. In the meantime the UK government did finally manage to meet with some of the affected operators last month and proposed an £8 per year levy on residential FTTH (home fibre optic) connections. This isn't much of a change over the current system, although the VOA is now highly unlikely to give any further ground.
Vtesse Networks UK Loses Broadband Fibre Optic Tax Appeal in European Court
Australia - Attack by Prof Kerin on the Minister over the costs and performance of the NBN
[the australian] FOR years, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been citing South Korea to justify his National Broadband Network.
But after a report this week by The Economist's Economic Intelligence Unit ranked Conroy's NBN plan poorly against top-ranked South Korea, Conroy claimed that comparing Australia with South Korea was like comparing "apples with oranges".
This typifies that strategy that Conroy has consistently employed to defend his NBN: when comparisons (no matter how misleading) help your case, use them -- but when they don't, dump on them and anyone making those comparisons. Such hypocrisy is truly galling. This time around, Conroy is actually right on one thing: it is indeed an "apples and oranges" comparison. But that's never stopped him comparing Australian and South Korea before. Critics have pointed out many times that comparing Australia with countries like South Korea is silly (see, for example, "Scrapping NBN tender a huge waste of money", The Australian, August 4, 2009) for many reasons, particularly the enormous difference in population densities -- but he kept making them. Now, when it suits him, he has borrowed his critics' argument and bent it for his own purposes.
Conroy's continued misuse of selective, piecemeal comparisons is the very reason why a cost-benefit analysis of the NBN is required. It may sound obvious, but government policies should serve the public interest; a policy serves the public interest only if -- when implemented in Australia -- it delivers benefits that exceed the costs (and if it delivers bigger net benefits than any alternative policy). Various bits of information can help in assessing the costs and benefits, but selectively highlighting some bits and ignoring other bits is grossly misleading.
If your doctor recommended having a nose job because your mate Fred did, you wouldn't find that compelling.
If she said Fred benefited greatly from the nose job, you'd want to check out whether the benefits were real and what the job cost Fred. And you'd want to think about what benefits you'd get and how much you'd pay.
But suppose your doctor's allusions to Fred convinced you to get the nose job. Just before you're wheeled into theatre, she hands you a bill for 24 times what Fred paid. When you protest, she haughtily replies that of course it costs you more because your nose is different -- it needs much more work than Fred's.
Would you trust this doctor again? No. Would you want to reconsider whether the nose job is a good idea? Yes.
Conroy is the nose doctor of broadband. In announcing the NBN in April 2009, he led with the "Fred" tactic: we'll be joining "world leaders" in FTTH like South Korea. Of course, just because other countries "lead" in something doesn't mean we should copy them. Germany was a world leader in Zeppelin airships. Michael Jackson was a world leader in nose jobs.
Conroy later employed the "Fred benefits" tactics. For example, in a November 2009 speech, he said: "For countries targeting broadband and ICT (information and communications technology) investments to stimulate economic growth, Korea provides a significant example of the capacity to succeed."
He also said: "Although Korea was among the nations hardest hit by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the country turned a disaster into an opportunity to grow its IT sector. Spending on broadband and other high-technology equipment helped lead a transformation of the economy . . . By May 2004, about one-third of Korea's exports were from the IT sector."
Actually, South Korea's average annual GDP growth over the last decade (4.2 per cent) is less than half the 9.2 per cent it achieved in the decade preceding the Asian financial crisis. ICT exports were about one-third (33.9 per cent) of Korea's exports in 2004, but Conroy didn't mention that they were already 31.4 per cent in 1999, nor that they had dropped to 26.2 per cent -- below their level before the Asian financial crisis -- well before he gave his speech.
My point isn't that nose jobs and broadband deliver no benefits, but that claimed benefits by vested interests -- like a nose doctor or a minister whose entire credibility rests on defending the NBN -- need to be checked out.
Like the doctor, Conroy avoided cost comparisons. He happily made comparisons with South Korea on what they were doing (FTTH) and in claiming big benefits, but was silent on any comparisons of cost per capita. He only mentioned density-related costs when defending why FTTH would serve a slightly smaller proportion of premises than in Korea.
When the EIU this week said that Australia's NBN would cost taxpayers 24 times more than South Korea's fibre rollout cost its taxpayers, he tried the "your nose is different" tactic. He used population density differences to argue that "trying to compare the rollout in South Korea with the rollout in Australia is fraught with challenges".
Conroy is right that such comparisons are dangerous. Given Australia's much lower population densities, the cost per premises here will be much higher. But Conroy's response begs the key question: given the enormously greater cost in Australia, shouldn't we examine whether the costs are worth the benefits, or whether there is a better way to gain those benefits at lower cost?
Here's another comparison to highlight Conroy's hypocrisy. Conroy attempted to dismiss the EIU's report by holding up one page and saying: "For those who haven't spent the $3000 (to buy the report) I just wanted you to see the entire analysis in this document". Putting aside the fact that this gives grossly misleading impression of how much analysis the EIU did, that's still one more page than Conroy produced when he committed $43 billion of taxpayer money to the NBN with absolutely no analysis whatsoever. Thirteen months later, he produced the Implementation Study. Taxpayers were forced to pay $25m for that, which works out at $45,788 a page. The EIU report is incredibly cheap by comparison and no one is forced to buy it. The Productivity Commission could conduct a cost-benefit analysis for under $2.5m.
But selective comparisons are endemic in this government. While Ireland's economy appeared to be growing, Industry Minister Kim Carr used to it to justify state-funded "industry development" (aka handouts). He didn't present any evidence to show that state funding had caused higher economic growth, or that any benefits were worth the costs. He just hand-waved. Ireland is now one of European's biggest basket cases.
We should decide policy objectively by assessing benefits and costs of the options and choosing the one that best serves the public interest. Unfortunately, this government got it arse-up: it decided policy first and ever since has made any comparison or claim it could to defend itself. If someone makes a good argument that harms the case, the tactic is to dump on them.
Conroy claimed the EIU -- run by The Economist, the most highly respected economics magazine on the planet -- was just spouting "right-wing dogma" in its report.
Conroy does the same whenever other highly respected organisations say something he doesn't like. Last October, he said a cost-benefit analysis would be a "waste of money" because "the OECD are about to complete a major study".
The next month, he cherry-picked a statement about the benefits of broadband from an OECD report to claim that the report supported the NBN, when in fact the OECD damned the NBN as "winner-picking", competition-constraining and very costly and urged that a cost-benefit analysis be conducted.
While dumping on highly respected independent critics, he selectively chooses to cite reports written for vested interests (like IBM) to support the NBN.
Taxpayers should insist that the government ask the independent Productivity Commission to conduct a cost-benefit analysis.
Senator Conroy's hypocrisy truly galling over national broadband
But after a report this week by The Economist's Economic Intelligence Unit ranked Conroy's NBN plan poorly against top-ranked South Korea, Conroy claimed that comparing Australia with South Korea was like comparing "apples with oranges".
This typifies that strategy that Conroy has consistently employed to defend his NBN: when comparisons (no matter how misleading) help your case, use them -- but when they don't, dump on them and anyone making those comparisons. Such hypocrisy is truly galling. This time around, Conroy is actually right on one thing: it is indeed an "apples and oranges" comparison. But that's never stopped him comparing Australian and South Korea before. Critics have pointed out many times that comparing Australia with countries like South Korea is silly (see, for example, "Scrapping NBN tender a huge waste of money", The Australian, August 4, 2009) for many reasons, particularly the enormous difference in population densities -- but he kept making them. Now, when it suits him, he has borrowed his critics' argument and bent it for his own purposes.
Conroy's continued misuse of selective, piecemeal comparisons is the very reason why a cost-benefit analysis of the NBN is required. It may sound obvious, but government policies should serve the public interest; a policy serves the public interest only if -- when implemented in Australia -- it delivers benefits that exceed the costs (and if it delivers bigger net benefits than any alternative policy). Various bits of information can help in assessing the costs and benefits, but selectively highlighting some bits and ignoring other bits is grossly misleading.
If your doctor recommended having a nose job because your mate Fred did, you wouldn't find that compelling.
If she said Fred benefited greatly from the nose job, you'd want to check out whether the benefits were real and what the job cost Fred. And you'd want to think about what benefits you'd get and how much you'd pay.
But suppose your doctor's allusions to Fred convinced you to get the nose job. Just before you're wheeled into theatre, she hands you a bill for 24 times what Fred paid. When you protest, she haughtily replies that of course it costs you more because your nose is different -- it needs much more work than Fred's.
Would you trust this doctor again? No. Would you want to reconsider whether the nose job is a good idea? Yes.
Conroy is the nose doctor of broadband. In announcing the NBN in April 2009, he led with the "Fred" tactic: we'll be joining "world leaders" in FTTH like South Korea. Of course, just because other countries "lead" in something doesn't mean we should copy them. Germany was a world leader in Zeppelin airships. Michael Jackson was a world leader in nose jobs.
Conroy later employed the "Fred benefits" tactics. For example, in a November 2009 speech, he said: "For countries targeting broadband and ICT (information and communications technology) investments to stimulate economic growth, Korea provides a significant example of the capacity to succeed."
He also said: "Although Korea was among the nations hardest hit by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the country turned a disaster into an opportunity to grow its IT sector. Spending on broadband and other high-technology equipment helped lead a transformation of the economy . . . By May 2004, about one-third of Korea's exports were from the IT sector."
Actually, South Korea's average annual GDP growth over the last decade (4.2 per cent) is less than half the 9.2 per cent it achieved in the decade preceding the Asian financial crisis. ICT exports were about one-third (33.9 per cent) of Korea's exports in 2004, but Conroy didn't mention that they were already 31.4 per cent in 1999, nor that they had dropped to 26.2 per cent -- below their level before the Asian financial crisis -- well before he gave his speech.
My point isn't that nose jobs and broadband deliver no benefits, but that claimed benefits by vested interests -- like a nose doctor or a minister whose entire credibility rests on defending the NBN -- need to be checked out.
Like the doctor, Conroy avoided cost comparisons. He happily made comparisons with South Korea on what they were doing (FTTH) and in claiming big benefits, but was silent on any comparisons of cost per capita. He only mentioned density-related costs when defending why FTTH would serve a slightly smaller proportion of premises than in Korea.
When the EIU this week said that Australia's NBN would cost taxpayers 24 times more than South Korea's fibre rollout cost its taxpayers, he tried the "your nose is different" tactic. He used population density differences to argue that "trying to compare the rollout in South Korea with the rollout in Australia is fraught with challenges".
Conroy is right that such comparisons are dangerous. Given Australia's much lower population densities, the cost per premises here will be much higher. But Conroy's response begs the key question: given the enormously greater cost in Australia, shouldn't we examine whether the costs are worth the benefits, or whether there is a better way to gain those benefits at lower cost?
Here's another comparison to highlight Conroy's hypocrisy. Conroy attempted to dismiss the EIU's report by holding up one page and saying: "For those who haven't spent the $3000 (to buy the report) I just wanted you to see the entire analysis in this document". Putting aside the fact that this gives grossly misleading impression of how much analysis the EIU did, that's still one more page than Conroy produced when he committed $43 billion of taxpayer money to the NBN with absolutely no analysis whatsoever. Thirteen months later, he produced the Implementation Study. Taxpayers were forced to pay $25m for that, which works out at $45,788 a page. The EIU report is incredibly cheap by comparison and no one is forced to buy it. The Productivity Commission could conduct a cost-benefit analysis for under $2.5m.
But selective comparisons are endemic in this government. While Ireland's economy appeared to be growing, Industry Minister Kim Carr used to it to justify state-funded "industry development" (aka handouts). He didn't present any evidence to show that state funding had caused higher economic growth, or that any benefits were worth the costs. He just hand-waved. Ireland is now one of European's biggest basket cases.
We should decide policy objectively by assessing benefits and costs of the options and choosing the one that best serves the public interest. Unfortunately, this government got it arse-up: it decided policy first and ever since has made any comparison or claim it could to defend itself. If someone makes a good argument that harms the case, the tactic is to dump on them.
Conroy claimed the EIU -- run by The Economist, the most highly respected economics magazine on the planet -- was just spouting "right-wing dogma" in its report.
Conroy does the same whenever other highly respected organisations say something he doesn't like. Last October, he said a cost-benefit analysis would be a "waste of money" because "the OECD are about to complete a major study".
The next month, he cherry-picked a statement about the benefits of broadband from an OECD report to claim that the report supported the NBN, when in fact the OECD damned the NBN as "winner-picking", competition-constraining and very costly and urged that a cost-benefit analysis be conducted.
While dumping on highly respected independent critics, he selectively chooses to cite reports written for vested interests (like IBM) to support the NBN.
Taxpayers should insist that the government ask the independent Productivity Commission to conduct a cost-benefit analysis.
Senator Conroy's hypocrisy truly galling over national broadband
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Vision Mobile - MegaTrends - how software is fundamentally changing the telecoms value chain
[vision mobile] 1. The DELL-ification of mobile: The world of handset OEMs has been irreversibly changed by software and Internet players. All traditional top-5 OEMs (from Nokia to Motorola) that used to enjoy a combined 80% market share in 2008 are now reduced to below 60%, while Internet players are reaping the majority of industry profits and market growth. The OEM market now seems destined to match the shape of the PC manufacturer market, made up of price-led assemblers (Dell, Asus) and performance-led leaders (Apple). For the old guard of top-5 OEMs, the race is on to innovate or die.
2. Software: the new era for telecoms: Besides Android and iOS headline grabbers, more than 30 software platforms have risen and (mostly) fallen in the last decade; Lesson learned: big bucks and software DNA are critical success ingredients for software platforms. The 10 or so remaining software platforms are battling for mass-market smartphone reach below the $100 retail price barrier. At the same time, every major industry player – from telcos to facebook – are striving to grow their own ecosystem, spanning from UI to social networks. However, in the software era of telecoms, not everyone is born equal. Speed of innovation, addressable consumer income and access to a partner ecosystem are all home turf for Internet players, while telecoms incumbents (from Nokia to Vodafone) are taking small, naïve steps. The new rules are: if you can’t innovate in software, you will be replaced sooner than later.
3. The battle for Experience Ecosystems. Convergence between telecoms, PC and Internet has long been talked about. But it’s not about the all-in-one all-powerful smartphone. Convergence is proving to be not about technology, but about experience convergence; how the user experience can ‘roam’ from one screen to the next (phone, PC, TV, mp3 player, etc). Apple is the poster child of experience roaming by consistently integrating the key experience ingredients – from UI and industrial design to an apps ecosystem – across multiple screens. The next battle in mobile is to build experience ecosystems which create user lock-in and cross-sales – and therefore present a sustainable strategy for both handset vendors and telcos to survive commoditisation pressures.
2. Software: the new era for telecoms: Besides Android and iOS headline grabbers, more than 30 software platforms have risen and (mostly) fallen in the last decade; Lesson learned: big bucks and software DNA are critical success ingredients for software platforms. The 10 or so remaining software platforms are battling for mass-market smartphone reach below the $100 retail price barrier. At the same time, every major industry player – from telcos to facebook – are striving to grow their own ecosystem, spanning from UI to social networks. However, in the software era of telecoms, not everyone is born equal. Speed of innovation, addressable consumer income and access to a partner ecosystem are all home turf for Internet players, while telecoms incumbents (from Nokia to Vodafone) are taking small, naïve steps. The new rules are: if you can’t innovate in software, you will be replaced sooner than later.
3. The battle for Experience Ecosystems. Convergence between telecoms, PC and Internet has long been talked about. But it’s not about the all-in-one all-powerful smartphone. Convergence is proving to be not about technology, but about experience convergence; how the user experience can ‘roam’ from one screen to the next (phone, PC, TV, mp3 player, etc). Apple is the poster child of experience roaming by consistently integrating the key experience ingredients – from UI and industrial design to an apps ecosystem – across multiple screens. The next battle in mobile is to build experience ecosystems which create user lock-in and cross-sales – and therefore present a sustainable strategy for both handset vendors and telcos to survive commoditisation pressures.
4. Apps are the new web. Everyone wants to compete with their own app store these days, but only a handful of app stores are above the developer radar. Why is creating an app store so hard? Because a successful app store needs 5 unique ‘genes’ from 5 different ‘species’ across the value chain. And thanks to app stores, apps succeed where the web failed; in discovery, personalization and monetization. Apps are in fact a new information paradigm, which the web is adopting. Supported by web benefactors and technology commoditization, web is becoming mainstream application development platform, in what could be could termed the web 3.0.
5. Open + closed: two sides of the same coin. Android took the mobile world by surprise when it launched a free-for-all software platform. But like Qt, MeeGo, WebKit and many other open source projects, ‘open’ is only the tip of the iceberg, since Google et al are using closed governance models to control the direction of the product. Besides open source, ‘openness’ is used as a business strategy to commoditise product complements while closing off other products to protect core assets; in Google’s case commoditizing handset and networks while protecting its own ad network.
6. Developers, the engine behind telecoms innovation. Mobile software developers have come a long way, from back office engineers to front row success stories. However the mobile developer market is still in its infancy. We present a novel way of looking at the developer journey and reveal how most commercial products cater to just a narrow section of that journey, with opportunities abound for catering to the needs and wants of telecom’s innovation engine.
7. Communities: the new currency. Communities are the new frontier for differentiation in the mobile industry. Everyone has tried creating their own communities – from Nokia to Vodafone – but only companies with social DNA have succeeded. Why is that? while you can buy an audience (eyeballs or subscribers), you can’t buy a community (the user interactions). Building a community is a form of art where tools and techniques are being explored, from game mechanics to religion engineering. One thing is certain; that communities are now a core asset in customer attraction and are expanding into communication networks and handsets, with Facebook leading the way.
8. Telcos: stuck in the telecoms age. Telcos are in the midst of an identity crisis and losing control point after control point – location, discovery, billing and authentication – while having no innovation to show in their core voice and messaging business. Yet the real value of telcos is still untapped with micro-billing, customer insights and retailing channels gone largely unexplored. We present 8 novel strategies for telcos and argue why WAC (the telcos’ answer to competing in the software age) is repeating history mistakes and is ultimately misguided.
Mobile Megatrends 2011
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
China - Digitimes' analysis of the new five year plan shows emphasis on development of domestic markets
[digitimes] China's 12th Five-Year Plan makes it clear that the county, which overtook Japan in 2010 to become the world's number two economy, has now turned its attention from the pursuit of national strength to increasing its people's prosperity. It places far greater emphasis on internal markets and domestic demand than ever before, and includes industrial structures that emphasize added value. China's 12th Five-Year Plan also sets out seven major new strategic industries, for which investment is projected to reach CNY10 trillion over the next five years; the sheer scale of the commercial opportunities created needs no further explanation. This report looks at the core directions for development in China's 12th Five-Year Plan.
Overview of China's 12th Five-Year Plan
Overview of China's 12th Five-Year Plan
Mobile - Operators group has published "Mobile Privacy Principles" on respecting and protecting customers use of apps and services
[gsma] The GSMA today (27 Jan) announced the publication of its Mobile Privacy Principles. The principles describe the way in which mobile consumers’ privacy should be respected and protected when consumers use mobile applications and services that access, use or collect their personal information. The principles are the result of close collaboration by leading mobile operators and input from other players in the wider mobile eco-system.
“Online privacy is an important and high-profile issue across the globe,” said Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer, GSMA. “In many regions of the world, consumers’ first internet experience will be via mobile and we believe it is right to address mobile privacy challenges early to ensure the protection of consumers’ privacy. We warmly welcome stakeholders from the broader ICT industry to join us in conversation and partnership on this work.”
The Mobile Privacy Principles will be used to develop more detailed guidelines and codes of conduct to address specific consumer concerns such as the use of private data or location details by applications. They pave the way for the development of clear and simple ways for customers to manage their information and their privacy on mobile phones. The key challenge is to find new mobile–friendly methods to help consumers make informed decisions about their privacy.
One key principle relates to ‘transparency and notice’, which is about being open and honest with customers about what personal information is being collected and why. The principles also cover issues such as the need to provide consumers with control over how their personal information is used and by whom, and ensuring only a minimum amount of data for a given service is collected and that it is retained no longer than necessary.
The GSMA is examining these issues in depth and reaching out to broader industry stakeholders to establish a broad consensus on how to ensure consumers’ privacy is treated more consistently across mobile applications and across platforms and services whilst continuing to support innovation.
Phillips continued, “The Mobile Privacy Principles are a significant first step but addressing mobile privacy is an ongoing challenge that requires the support and collaboration of the wider internet industry, civil society and regulators, working together, if we are to deliver real protection for consumers. This is a call to action to the broader industry.”
http://www.gsmworld.com/newsroom/press-releases/2011/5992.htmGSMA Publishes Mobile Privacy Principles
See also Full text of privacy principles
“Online privacy is an important and high-profile issue across the globe,” said Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer, GSMA. “In many regions of the world, consumers’ first internet experience will be via mobile and we believe it is right to address mobile privacy challenges early to ensure the protection of consumers’ privacy. We warmly welcome stakeholders from the broader ICT industry to join us in conversation and partnership on this work.”
The Mobile Privacy Principles will be used to develop more detailed guidelines and codes of conduct to address specific consumer concerns such as the use of private data or location details by applications. They pave the way for the development of clear and simple ways for customers to manage their information and their privacy on mobile phones. The key challenge is to find new mobile–friendly methods to help consumers make informed decisions about their privacy.
One key principle relates to ‘transparency and notice’, which is about being open and honest with customers about what personal information is being collected and why. The principles also cover issues such as the need to provide consumers with control over how their personal information is used and by whom, and ensuring only a minimum amount of data for a given service is collected and that it is retained no longer than necessary.
The GSMA is examining these issues in depth and reaching out to broader industry stakeholders to establish a broad consensus on how to ensure consumers’ privacy is treated more consistently across mobile applications and across platforms and services whilst continuing to support innovation.
Phillips continued, “The Mobile Privacy Principles are a significant first step but addressing mobile privacy is an ongoing challenge that requires the support and collaboration of the wider internet industry, civil society and regulators, working together, if we are to deliver real protection for consumers. This is a call to action to the broader industry.”
http://www.gsmworld.com/newsroom/press-releases/2011/5992.htmGSMA Publishes Mobile Privacy Principles
See also Full text of privacy principles
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