Telecommunications (International Edition) articles from July 2004

Telecommunications (International Edition) archives from July 2004

Getting by on US$4 a month.(Commentary)(telecom sector)
July 1, 2004... If we are indeed entering a world of the ultra-low but practicable ARPU, this has big implications "Oh, no!" the conference organiser wailed, after being given his brief, "not another programme entitled 'The Digital Divide'." I...

Visto says it will overtake BlackBerry.(Global News Analysis)
July 1, 2004... If US-based Visto is to be believed, BlackBerry's reign as mobile e-mail king is drawing to a close. "We will overtake them this year [in terms of users] and within three years, we will have ten million subscribers," claims Brian Bogosian, the...

Chinese growth slows, but market still booming.(Global News Analysis)
July 1, 2004... The Chinese Ministry of Information has reported that the country's mobile penetration at end May 2004 was an overall 20.9 per cent. In the first five months of the year, China added 30.6 million mobile users, taking the total number of...

What did you say?(Telecommunications Industry)
July 1, 2004... "We could not get any viable business case at all with 3G." Charles Henshaw, CEO, Peoples Telephone, explaining why the Hong Kong-based mobile operator has opted for EDGE "Do not use a roaming data service until the prices become more...

Telstra and PCCW bail out reach.(Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd.)
July 1, 2004... Reach, the Asian wholesale carrier, has reached an agreement with its main shareholders, Telstra and PCCW, under which they will buy back Reach's US$1.2 bn term loan facility for US$311 m. PCCW and Telstra will meet the cost equally. They are...

Intel's modular customers.(News in Brief)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Chipset-maker Intel has announced the first customers to its modular communications platform: Huawei Technologies and Korea Telecom. Based on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA), which runs on the Linux operating system, Intel's...

TD-SCDMA to launch next year.(News in Brief)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... A full commercial launch of TD-SCDMA in China will be possible by June 2005, Zhang Qi, an official at the Chinese Ministry of Information, has announced. All of the equipment necessary for a launch is said to have already passed tests....

Another mobile alliance.(News in Brief)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... As this issue was going to press, news of another mobile operator alliance was being reported by the Financial Times. Including members from existing mobile operator alliances, FreeMove and Starmap, this new alliance--dubbed the Open Mobile...

France Telecom to raise [euro]1.8 bn.(News in Brief)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... France Telecom is to list a 30 per cent stake in its Pages Jaunes telephone directories business, and could raise up to [euro]1.8 bn. The indicative price range for the shares is [euro]13.20-15.20 for institutional investors and [euro]0.30 less...

Juniper goes to the edge.(Jupiter Networks)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Juniper Networks has announced the availability of its J-series of routers for the enterprise market. Previously focused on core router products for telcos, the J-series, using the JUNOS modular operating system, is designed for use by branch...

New Chapter, different plot? Phil Metcalf, managing director of European operations, outlines the Global Crossing strategy for growth.(View from the Top)(Global Crossing Ltd.)
July 1, 2004... Since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2003, Global Crossing hasn't enjoyed a good press. Once again it finds itself under the corporate governance spotlight after revealing, in April this year, its access expenses for...

Partners in time? Mobile operators have established formal alliances to increase their appeal to MNC customers. The question is, will they work?(Global Operator Perspectives)(Cover Story)
July 1, 2004... Telco alliances comprising operators from different countries don't have a good track record. Global One and Concert are high-profile examples of cross-border alliance failures, brought about--in no small part--by conflicting member interests...

The virtues of networking: running a network is expensive and can distract from customer service. Does that mean that dispensing with this chore altogether to become an asset-lite VNO is the way forward?(Operator Perspectives)(Virtual network operators)
July 1, 2004... Virtual network operators buy in capacity that they treat as a commodity and sell it on as part of a--more or less complete--managed service. Given this definition, and the fact that there is no shortage of cheap capacity, a key issue for...

Bluetooth still needs security bite: using Bluetooth can be a risky business, particularly for those in business.(Industry & Market Update)
July 1, 2004... Bluetooth has all the advantages of wireless. Without fiddling around with cables or plugs, users can set up their own personal area network. Unfortunately, it also has some unpleasant disadvantages. Stealing data, such as numbers and diary...

Can you bill for convergence? Real-time, convergent billing platforms are required if carriers are to take full advantage of emerging industry trends.(Global Operator Perspectives)
July 1, 2004... Jackson Pollock, America's most famous abstract expressionist painter, became a household name when his work of art 'Convergence' was issued as a jigsaw puzzle in 1964--almost a decade after his death. Although it came with only 340 pieces,...

The message is IP: IP-based messaging platforms can reduce carriers' costs as well as increase revenue.(Global Operator Perspectives)
July 1, 2004... The importance of messaging can sometimes be overlooked. Certainly, from the consumer's perspective, we can take messaging--such as voicemail and email--for granted. We don't view it as particularly high-tech. It's not a 'must-have' or a...

Bandwidth feast, profit famine: capacity oversupply is still making life difficult for wholesale providers. Most expect a further shakeout in the market; all are focused on trying to stand out from the crowd.(Global Operator Perspectives)
July 1, 2004... Between 2001 and 2003 international backbone capacity in the EU grew by 167 per cent, according to TeleGeography, the research arm of PriMetrica. In the EU accession countries it grew by 293 per cent over the same period. The city of Prague,...