Telecommunications (International Edition) articles from March 2003

Telecommunications (International Edition) archives from March 2003

Will Wi-Fi fly? User demand for public access Wi-Fi is, at the moment, unknowable and operators could quickly find themselves in red ink. (Commentary).
March 1, 2003... The venture capitalist smiled an almost conspiratorial smile before leaning over to his microphone at the conference to offer the delegates some hard-won wisdom. "I know of a Wi-Fi service provider in the US" he began "with a large number of...

Hard lessons in project finance. (Global).
March 1, 2003... Telecom financiers have not had it easily recently -- a fact wryly underlined by Robert Stuart, CEO of InDepth Financial Advisers, at the PTC event held in Hawaii in January. "It's a pleasure to be here," he quipped. "In fact, for a telecom...

Content with your mobile billing? (Europe).
March 1, 2003... Mobile operators, at last, appear to be getting serious about how to address the problem of content billing and managing third-party content suppliers. According to a report by Intec Telecom Systems, a UK-based supplier of mediation and...

Siemens ICN targets profitability this year. (Global News Analysis: Germany).
March 1, 2003... "We're on track to be EBIT positive in 4Q 2003 [end 30 September]," declares Thomas Ganswindt, CEO and president of the Information and Communications Networks (ICN) division at Siemens. Addressing an international press briefing held in Munich...

ICANN reforms put future internet governance in question. (Global News Analysis: Global).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... ICANN was perhaps the very embodiment of the way the internet itself works: a flexible, ad hoc, bottom-up, international, self governing (and regulating) way to organise the very basic features of the global internet. The Internet Corporation...

ILECs' dominance growing, warns ECTA. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The latest DSL scorecard published by ECTA, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, reveals that incumbents continue to rule the roost when it comes to broadband access over the twisted copper pair. In 40 2002, a mere 60,000...

France Telecom sells Eutelsat stake. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... As part of an on-going effort to reduce its debt, France Telecom has sold its 23.14 per cent stake in Eutelsat for [euro]477 m to Eurazeo. Under the terms of the deal, the French incumbent will reinvest a maximum of [euro]74 m (and no less than...

Mobile industry now more 'mature'. (News in Brief).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... According to Northstream, a consultancy for the global wireless industry, mobile operators are now adapting to the 'life of a regular industry with average margins'. "The industry is suffering from stagnation after a dramatic growth period over...

ITU MoU with League of Arab States. (News in Brief).(Memorandum of Understanding)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... To help coordinate efforts in setting up and implementing projects of common interest in the realm of telecom and IT, the ITU and the League of Arab states have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). As part of the agreement, the League of...

Small but perfectly formed? Not all telco operators ae in kire financial straits. Just ask Simon Rogan, managing director of Sirocom. (View From the Top).
March 1, 2003... UK-based Sirocom -- a virtual network operator -- is by no means the biggest of telecom players. Providing managed P VPN services to mid-ta-large UK corporates for both their domestic and international needs, the company projects its revenue to...

In need of a lifeline? With the boom years a distant memory, is the submarine telecom industry now in need of rescue? (Telecom Recovery Strategies).
March 1, 2003... It may be a global paradox. At the very time everyone acknowledges that the submarine telecom industry provides the critical connectivity and bandwidth for telecom worldwide -- and internet traffic is still a burgeoning source of growth --...

MPLS boost for IP VPNS. (Telecom Recovery Strategies).
March 1, 2003... Until end-users are convinced that IP VPNs offer comparable QoS and security levels to ATM and frame, their appeal will be limited -- enter MPLS. Many large enterprises have created their own private networks by deploying ATM or fame relay...

The MNC battleground. (Telecom Recovery Strategies).
March 1, 2003... With corporate spending on IT and communications showing little sign of improvement, operators and service providers will have to think carefully how they target multinational corporations (MNCs). In the market for telecom services to big...

The Las Vegas guide to liberating the network. (Telecom Recovery Strategies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Las Vegas and heavyweight boxing (a favourite Vegas past-time) can both illustrate, believe it or not, a way forward for service providers. Can telecom service providers learn something from the gaming capital of the world? Standing at the...

The profitable road to IP convergence. (Telecom Recovery Strategies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Carriers moving to a 'converged' IP network need not stretch themselves financially. Reduced opex and capex (compared with the PSTN), along with greater revenue possibilities, can make IP migration a self- financing process. Running a...

A testing time for 3G licence holders. (Telecom Recovery Strategies).
March 1, 2003... QoS and content diversity hold the key to 3G success. UMTS technology, by itself, is not a value proposition to end-users. It may be tempting to conclude that, after loll the bad press that 3G has received, the vast amount of money spent on...

China: more haste, less speed? China, despite WTO accession, still remains as inscrutable as ever. (Industry & Market Update).
March 1, 2003... China watchers in the telecom sector will not be short of work for some time yet. Continuing changes in the world's largest mobile market and second largest fixed-line market look like making life interesting but as complicated as ever...

10Gbps transponder. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Lumentis Lumentis, a Sweden based manufacturer of non-amplified metro DWDM systems, has announced the availability of a mux 10Gbps transponder. A single-slot, single board solution, it is a plug-in that requires no extra cost to the...

Broadband Access System. (New Products and Services).(Intracom Access System)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Intracom Intracom, a Greece based supplier of telecom hardware and IT software, has announced a new addition to its Intracom Access System (IAS) -- IBAS, the Intracom Broadband Access System. Located at the local exchange, the IBAS is...

Desk-top videconferencing. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Aethra Aethra, a telecom vendor from Italy, has developed Vega Pro, which, the comp any claims, is 'the first professional videoconferencing set-top dedicated to small office and home office (SOHO) users'. Vega Pro is indeed compact (20cm...

Cellular antenna. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Radio Frequency Systems (RFS) Antenna-specialist, RFS, will be showcasing its new family of 'premium grade' antenna technology -- the Optimiser series -- at the Cebit fair held in Hanover, Germany, this month. Designed for 2G and 3G...