Telecommunications (International Edition) articles from December 2004

Telecommunications (International Edition) archives from December 2004

Fixing the convergence problem.(analysis of fixed mobile convergence)(Editorial)
December 1, 2004... What's the hurry? After all, it has only taken fifteen years to get this far. I'm talking about, er, fixed mobile convergence. Remember the days of CT2, even CT3? And, of course, the possibilities for DECT. The industry spent a lot of energy on...

China's PHS: a long-term bet.(global news analysis)(Personal Handy Phone System)
December 1, 2004... Spare a thought for the good ideas that get trampled on by the unthinking telecom herd. But even then they may still have a new life elsewhere. PHS (Personal Handy Phone System) may turn out to be one of those--a cordless system devised in...

Ofcom calls for 'equivalence'.(telecommunications policy of Office of Communications)
December 1, 2004... It is the ultimate dilemma for the regulator: how to encourage sustainable competition to the incumbent without diminishing the incentive of the said ex-monopoly holder to innovate and invest in its network. Ofcom, the UK's regulatory...

Upwardly mobile in China.(market size of cellular telephone services)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... China had 320 million mobile subscribers at the end of October 2004, the Chinese government has announced. This means that, on average, 5.5 million new mobile subscribers were added in each month of 2004 and that the Chinese market, with around...

Charity work.(services of Telecom sans Frontieres)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Telecom sans Frontieres, a non-government organisation (NGO) that sets up emergency telecom services in areas of crisis or conflict, is also active in 'long-term solidarity projects' that aim to close the technological gap. Emergency...

Swisscom looks East.(news in brief)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Swisscom, which sold its stake in Cesky Telecom at the end of 2003, is said to be interested in buying back into the Czech incumbent, this time with a 51 per cent stake. Through its 49 per cent holding in the TelSource consortium (with KPN),...

ZTE looks West.(news in brief)(Reuters Group PLC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... ZTE, the Chinese equipment manufacturer, is to spend half of the proceeds from its planned IPO--potentially around US$220 m--on increasing its overseas presence, according to a report from Reuters. In the first half of 2004, just 13.4 per cent...

Privatisation affairs.(news in brief)(Maroc Telecom)(Reuters Group PLC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Morocco aims to list up to 14.9 per cent of the national incumbent, Maroc Telecom, raising around US$1.05 bn, according to reports on Reuters. There appears to be lively interest in Maroc Telecom--Vivendi Universal, which currently has a 35 per...

Easy goes mobile.(news in brief)(Financial Times Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... At the time of going to press, the UK's Financial Times reported that the Easy Group was close to signing a deal with T-Mobile to launch a low-cost mobile telephony service in the UK. The Easy Group's entry into the mobile market, which made...

What did you say?
December 1, 2004... "Charging models in the telecom industry have been, I would say, rather simplistic." Camille Mendler, analyst, Yankee Group "We need to move beyond doing presentations about boxes." Duncan Black, director, corporate solutions strategy,...

Saturated but no wash-out: the Austrian mobile market has plenty of competition but leader Mobilkom still sees growth opportunities.(view from the top)
December 1, 2004... Telekom Austria's fully-owned mobile subsidiary, Mobilkom, operates in one of the most saturated mobile markets in the world. At the end of September 2004, Austrian mobile penetration was 93.7 per cent and, though Mobilkom is the largest single...

Forge a superb network, focus on big accounts: a report from the Data Communications International Seminar, hosted by Huawei and Fibernet.
December 1, 2004... The Data Communications International Seminar, hosted by Huawei and Fibernet on 21st October 2004 in London, was an opportunity to share the experiences of IP network construction and operation with over 120 senior executives from 40 carriers...

A balance sheet cure? There is still excess capacity in telecom and operators need to launch new services. Can network management outsourcing ease the pain?(Critical business networks)(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... There was a time when building a fixed telecom network was a bit like railway building in nineteenth-century England. A great number of investors were very, very keen to hand over their money and the prospects for return on that money seemed...

Mobile lessons: mobile operators will need to bridge the 'education gap' if mobilisation of the workforce is to spread beyond voice and e-mail.(Critical business networks)
December 1, 2004... Mobilisation of the workforce? Mobile operators, unquestionably, want more of it. The enterprise? Well, yes, but only if the productivity benefits can clearly be demonstrated. What's more, if IT managers are really going to embrace a mobile...

Solving the P2P challenge: you can't measure it, you can't control it, and you don't make money from it. What will service providers do in the face of a tidal wave of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic demand?
December 1, 2004... This month, around three quarters of European broadband subscribers will calmly use P2P networks without thinking of the network consequences. Once set up for P2P, around one in seven of them will download at least one full length movie in the...

What's so good about IP centrex? It's been one of the most hyped up services in recent years but the arguments for IP centrex are far from clear-cut.(Critical business networks)
December 1, 2004... Not a day goes by without another IP centrex announcement. You would be forgiven for thinking that the PBX had finally given up the ghost and carriers have at last found a way to migrate users to IP telephony. But how much truth is there behind...

SANs frontieres: data storage is no longer the expensive telecom answer to the cupboard under the stairs. SANs are becoming more accessible.(Critical business networks)
December 1, 2004... The cluttered stair cupboard is, of course, not a very good analogy for data storage networks. Firstly, data stored by companies is not there simply because no-one has gotten round to sorting through it--at least, that's the theory. Secondly,...

The time of the SME? Telcos have traditionally not focused on the low-margin SME market but attitudes appear to be changing.(Critical business networks)(small- to medium-sized enterprise market)
December 1, 2004... How can telcos serve the small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) market and still make a profit? It has proven a difficult enough task serving large enterprises but at smaller companies, with tighter budgets and lower scale, the margins--it...

Making sure everyone stays in business: by addressing the vulnerabilities of their customers, telcos can demonstrate their own strengths and win business advantage.(Critical business networks)
December 1, 2004... Traditionally, enterprises have turned to in-house resources to prepare for and ensure business continuity but now they are beginning to realise the important advantages of looking outside for more experienced help and outsourcing part of the...