Telecommunications (International Edition) articles from November 2004

Telecommunications (International Edition) archives from November 2004

Loyalty? Don't make me laugh.(commentary)
November 1, 2004... Marketeers routinely spend a lot of time and probably--because they outsource it--millions of dollars on trying to understand the consumer. Focus groups, analyses, telemarketing and the rest fill their world. It is no different in telecom,...

ZigBee looks for market buzz.(global news analysis)
November 1, 2004... There are many devices in use around the world that would, at least in theory, gain from being networked--if this were economically feasible. Being linked up to a control centre allows individual devices to be remotely managed, or remotely...

Infonet sees gap in IP VPN market.(global news analysis)
November 1, 2004... At a time when margins for managed IP VPN services continue to fall due to fierce pricing competition among carriers, it would seem prudent to find other battlegrounds to fight on. That is what Infonet has attempted to do with the launch of its...

What did you say?
November 1, 2004... "If you give me a killer app for the car, I'll give you a killer app for 3G." Prof. Ed Candy, technical director, Hutchison 3G UK "It's very difficult to make a telecom acquisition work." Sean Collins, head, global communications...

Russian competition.(news in brief)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Rostelecom, the Russian monopoly long-distance operator, may lose its monopoly status in 2005, according to press reports of a speech by Leonid Reiman, the Russian IT and Communications Minister. If true, this would be two years earlier than...

Telstra to privatise.(news in brief)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The 50.1 per cent stake in Telstra held by the Australian government is due to be sold. It is believed that the stake could raise up to A$32 bn (US$23.3 bn), though a full float is not expected before 2006, The Australian quotes the Telstra...

Reliance Infocomm to list.(news in brief)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... An IPO of Reliance Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries is to be launched at the end of 2005, or in early 2006, Reuters reports. Infocomm, which has the largest mobile operation in India, expects to have...

3G boost for vendors.(news in brief)
November 1, 2004... European mobile operators' growing investment in 3G networks is giving a boost to the infrastructure market. According to figures released by Gartner, the mobile infrastructure market in Western Europe will reach almost US$9.7 bn this year, an...

Equant sells Radianz.(news in brief)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Corporate services provider, Equant, has sold its 49 per cent stake in Radianz to Reuters for US$110 m in cash. This takes Reuters' stake in Radianz, a networking services company, up to 100 per cent. However, Reuters is expected to sell...

Nordic CDMA450 trials.(news in brief)(Nordisk Mobiltelefon )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Nordisk Mobiltelefon and Nortel are conducting live trials--in conjunction with Digita Oy, a Finnish TV and radio mast operator--of CDMA450-based mobile services. The idea is to eventually bring 'advanced services', over 2.5Mbps links, to rural...

MAN of the people: COLT Telecom is to focus on metro and SMEs.(view from the top)
November 1, 2004... The European carrier market is not an easy ride, something that Jean-Yves Charlier (reasonably) cheerfully admits. "With the continued pressures on prices, we believe that some of the second-tier players may 'call it a day' due to re-financing...

One platform, a multitude of services: meet the big family of Huawei voice value-added services.(Huawei Value-Added Voice Services)
November 1, 2004... New Business Opportunities for Operators Facing more and more intense competition, operators must focus on protecting existing investment and capturing new revenue streams. To achieve this goal, the rapid deployment of cost-effective and...

Opening doors to profit: if mobile operators are to be competitive they will need to tidy up their back office.(Delivering profitable services)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... It might not be the most glamorous part of the mobile industry but it's one of the most important--the 'back office'. What goes on there will largely determine how cost-efficient, customer-friendly and 'different' the mobile operator can be in...

What's a network provider to do? Revenues from switched voice are still falling. Is broadband the answer to fixed-operator woes?(Delivering profitable services)
November 1, 2004... When Almon B. Strowger patented his automatic telephone switch in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1891, he--arguably--gave both operators and customers a great deal more power. Instead of a system in which a set number of subscribers requested manual...

Play the game: there are still obstacles to overcome if mobile gaming is to have a significant ARPU impact.(Delivering profitable services)
November 1, 2004... It is an accepted truth in the telecom industry that wireless subscribers must be in need of more applications. In support of this notion, and the notion of ARPU growth in general, the industry generally looks East to Japan, where wireless...

Beyond high-speed internet: by leveraging the single ATM VC architecture commonly associated with DSL, operators can cost-effectively offer QoS on IP-based services.(Delivering profitable services)
November 1, 2004... It's no surprise that carrier revenues are under fire. Wireless substitution, VoIP service providers, and commodity pricing of long-distance and international calls are all contributing to the decline of traditional voice service revenues....

Put it on my mobile: m-commerce can only realise its potential if merchants and mobile operators work together.(Delivering profitable services)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2004... It seems not so long ago that the now routine act of sending an SMS was a bit of a novelty. Now, consumer acceptance of the mobile phone as something more than simply a device for making calls is growing. The contribution of faster mobile...

The fast show: the availability of 100Mbps services over copper--courtesy of VDSL--opens up new business opportunities for operators.(Delivering profitable services)
November 1, 2004... With cable companies competing on traditional telecom territory by bundling voice and internet access into their services packages, telcos are faced with the challenge of offering comparable voice-video-data (triple play) service packages....

Mobile field testing: NetTest.(new products and services)
November 1, 2004... NetTest has launched CMA 3000, its next-generation portable all-in-one field tester for mobile networks (GSM, GPRS/EDGE and UMTS). The compact and user-friendly CMA 3000 is designed specifically for technicians who install and maintain...

MP3 and AAC playback support for mobiles: NEC.(new products and services)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... NEC Electronics Corp has launched what is said to be the first LSI device to support MP3 and advanced audio coding playback. The [mu]PD9993 chip also has 64 polyphonic tones. The chip has a digital signal processor core, which is said to be the...

Digital TV test platform: Rohde & Schwarz.(new products and services)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Rohde & Schwarz has launched a platform for developing and testing new digital transmission methods in TV. Besides DVB-T, the system--known as the SFU--also supports the handheld reception standard DVB-H, the satellite transmission standard...

XFP transceiver for network transmission systems: Link Microtek.(new products and services)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Link Microtek, which represents TriQuint Semiconductor, has launched XFP MSA compliant 10Gbits transceivers for SONET/SDH 40km and 80km, and 10Gbits Ethernet 40km applications. The transceivers are said to provide better performance by using...