Telecommunications (International Edition) articles from February 2005

Telecommunications (International Edition) archives from February 2005

Broadband should get a playground: in the world of 'lambda switching', scientists are getting used to running experiments involving 10Gbps, 1Gbps and 250Mbps services as almost commodities.(commentary)
February 1, 2005... What would you do with a raw 10Gbps link? Or 1Gbps? Do good applications really exist for mega-broadband connectivity, or at least no applications that couldn't be done just as well at much lower bandwidths? Of course, most of the time we just...

New generation W-CDMA: moving to an all-IP wireless future.(wireless code division mltiple acess)
February 1, 2005... As with many other major communications technology innovations, the initial licensing, deployment and commercialization of Third Generation (3G) wireless services did not proceed quite as quickly or as smoothly as some experts predicted, or as...

H3G Italy farms out network to Ericsson.(Italy)
February 1, 2005... H3G Italy announced last month that it would save around 250 m [euro] over five years by outsourcing the management of its 3G network to Ericsson. For its part, Ericsson says it's the biggest 'managed services' deal it has signed with an...

T-Mobile cuts costs in slowing market.(Europe)
February 1, 2005... T-Mobile aims to save 1 bn [euro] in its European operations by the end of 2006, a move that will involve cutting up to 2,200 staff, around 1,200 of these in Germany, the company announced mid-January. It is intended that this should free up...

Bigger, not necessarily better.(Vodafone Group PLC. revenue)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Vodafone finished 2004 with a total of 151.8 million customers, up 3.5 per cent on the previous quarter. Of the 5.4 million subscribers Vodafone gained over Christmas, 641,000 were in the UK, 843,000 in Germany and 359,000 in Italy, its three...

Czech it out.(offers to buy Cesky Telecom stakes)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Ten companies are still in the running to acquire a 51.1 per cent stake in Cesky Telecom, according to press reports. Belgacom, France Telecom, Swisscom, TDC, Telefonica and Vodafone are among those that are said to have requested the...

Northern exposure.(Telenor A/S)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Telenor has restructured its organisation and management to focus on international mobile operations. The first step is the combination of Telenor's fixed and mobile activities in the Nordics. Around half of Telenor's revenues currently come...

Into Africa.(business in Nigerian markets)(Brief article)
February 1, 2005... Virgin Group is said by The Financial Times to be interested in taking a stake in Vmobile, the second mobile operator in Nigeria with 2 million subscribers. Given that Virgin Group has, to date, followed a pattern of setting up mobile...

France entiere.(France Telecom S.A)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... France Telecom has bid 564 m [euro] to buy out the 46 per cent of Equant it does not already own. The bid represented a 16.7 per cent premium to the share price close on the previous trading day. It is believed that Equant, which is...

Hong Kong convergence.(Wireless communications services)(Brief article)
February 1, 2005... The Hong Kong telecom regulator is to set up a "critical review" of the convergence of fixed and mobile networks and services on the island. As things stand, Hong Kong regulates fixed and mobile differently, something that, given the increasing...

What did you say?(quotes from various people in the telecommunications industry)(Brief article)
February 1, 2005... "In essence, HSDPA is an easy sell to mobile operators. They understand its benefits." Anthony D'Arcy,, head, marketing communications, Nokia Networks "Mobile operators are goin to be cautious about adopting HSDPA." Ross Parsons,...

Pressing the right buttons? The Mobile Data Association wants to ease the squeeze of voice price competition with increased data usage.(view from the top)
February 1, 2005... "I think, bluntly, the two mega trends in mobile are: improved cost and improved usage for everyone in the industry. I would expect these to be the general trends," says Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association. Viewed from the...

What's the 3G attraction? How can operators make more money out of 3G services?(Mobile futures)(third generation wireless technology)(Cover Story)
February 1, 2005... It could be argued that the business model of the dotcom boom was fairly straightforward: investors were asked to hand over a cash cow and, in return, they got a bag of magic internet start-up beans. What, however, is the business model for 3G...

A soft push on PTT: mobile operators in Europe are taking a cautious approach to push-to-talk (PTT).(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... A Year is a short time in telecom. In March 2004, at the Push-To-Talk Wireless Summit held in London, vendors were predicting that one of the big barriers to PTT service rollout would shortly be removed. "Fully interoperable products will be...

By their handsets shall ye know them: as handsets become ever more of a fashion statement, established vendors face increased challenges from Asia--and tougher demands from operators.(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... Last year saw a leap in the number of handsets sold worldwide, with total unit sales rising to around 620 million from roughly 488 million in 2003 (Nomura Bank figures). This growth was driven partly by increasing demand from developing...

Plumbers required: mobile operators, like their fixed counterparts, face serious revenue leakage problems. Worryingly, it could get worse before it gets better.(Mobile futures)(problems in collecting for some mobile communications services)
February 1, 2005... Listed operators don't talk openly about revenue assurance. And why would they? It'd be the equivalent of washing their dirty linen in public. The extent of how inaccurate their billing systems were, and how much money they were losing because...

Mobile serial killers: new business empires will be created when the worlds of mobile and television merge.(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... It's often called the fourth screen. Following cinema, television and the PC, the mobile phone has become a ubiquitous window to the world. For years, the industry has been trying to bridge the gap between the PC and mobile. The PDA has...

Game on? Mobile gaming is showing potential as a rich source of non-voice revenue.(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... The mobile gaming market is rapidly evolving. Two years ago, for example, O2 UK was offering ten games (in black and white!), which ran on just two devices--it now supports around 300 games across 60 different devices. O2's range of Java-based...

Early days for MMS: interoperability and 'user education' required before MMS can match the success of SMS.(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... MMS has taken off at a slower pace than expected. Initially, the main cause was the lack of MMS-enabled phones but now it's mainly because people are used to sending text messages-they are not accustomed to expressing themselves via pictures...

The rise of the machines: due to greater ease-of-use, tangible business benefits--as well as new legislation--the machine-to-machine (M2M) market looks set to boom within the enterprise.(Mobile futures)
February 1, 2005... The jury is no longer out on the prospective role of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology in the enterprise. Early adopters have completed their pilots and built their ROI models; and network operators and systems integrators are working more...

The easy way to ARPU growth: it might not be this year's novelty, but don't write off text--particularly if you can make it easy for the end-user.(Average Revenue Per User)
February 1, 2005... With Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) levelling out or declining in mature wireless markets, the race is on to find new and replacement sources of income. Keeping it simple could be the best way forward. In the overall context of stiffer...

You have video mail: Pascal Koster, CEO of fast-growing VoxMobile--a mobile operator in Luxembourg--gives his personal view on how video messaging can be a key growth driver for 3G.(opinion)
February 1, 2005... After we were awarded a 3G licence in July 2003, we wanted to be able to offer a host of video services to all of our customers--such as video mail, music video downloads and sports clips--regardless of their technological capability. In order...

Events calendar.(cellular telephone services)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... Carriers World Asia 2005 8-10 March Hong Kong Tel: +65 6222 8550 Fax: +65 6226 3264 Web site:carriersworld.com/2005/cwa_HK CeBit 2005 10-16 March Hanover, Germany Web site: www.cebit.de Telecoms...