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  • SpiriTel wins EURO 1.1m VoIP contract


    SpiriTel has announced that it has won a network services and hosted VoIP contract with a major European hotel group.

    The business communications service provider said the value of the three year contract is expected to exceed £1 million.

    Under the terms of the agreement SpiriTel will provide integrated network services across all of the group’s UK estate of 21 hotels and its head office.

    The hosted VoIP solution is a managed service which includes the provision of teleworking facilities for field based staff.

    The deal is SpiriTel’s second significant cross sale contract win this month.

    Earlier this month, the Company signed an agreement with another international hotel group, under which SpiriTel replaced BT as the provider of a private UK voice network.

    The two deals take the total value of cross sales orders since the company’s April 2008 year end to over £3 million, according to a company statement.

    Alastair Mills, CEO of SpiriTel said: "I am delighted to have secured another significant contract win for SpiriTel which provides further evidence of the viability of our integrated model in a challenging economic climate."

  • Snom To Reveal First Touchscreen VoIP Handset


    Snom Technology is to unveil the world’s first touchscreen VoIP handset at this year’s CeBIT tradeshow.

    Called the snom 870, the German VoIP telephone maker said the device has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

    This allows users to easily connect calls and set up telephone conferences.

    The latter are set up by dragging and dropping the button icons of contacts onto the relevant area of the display.

    Snom will also be exhibiting its entire VoIP product suite at CeBIT, which runs from 3-8 March in Hannover.

    This includes the MeetingPoint model, snom’s first VoIP conference handset.

  • eBay To Sell Skype?


    Skype’s future as an eBay company is looking increasingly unsure as speculation mounts over its possible sale.

    eBay’s chief executive, John Donahoe, has done nothing to ease expectations of a sell-off. Last week he told analysts that "synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal" and that it is "a great standalone business".

    This follows his comments early last year when he said the company would be reassessed and sold if it did not benefit eBay or Skype.

    Analysts point to the lack of a logical integration between the telephony service and the auction site.

    Names being touted as potential buyers, include Google, which has shown interest in Skype in the past, and US telecoms giants AT&T and Verizon.

    eBay purchased Skype for USD $2.6bn purchase of Skype in 2005.

    In the auction company’s financial results for the last quarter of 2008, revenue fell 7 per cent to USD $2.04bn, below market expectations.

    Skype has seen revenues rise by 26 per cent.

    Skype is also said to be preparing new applications for its VoIP software which could be introduced at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Spain.

    These are expected to involve a dedicated application for Apple’s iPhone, a similar app for the BlackBerry Storm and via an update to Windows Mobile 6.5 itself.

    This month, the company introduced Skype lite, a no-frills client meant for Android-powered devices and the many mobile phones that are capable of running Java applications.

  • AdMob Strengthens Position With $ 12.5m Funding


    The mobile ad network AdMob has raised USD $12.5 million in a further round of venture funding.

    The new investment is its third round of funding, which now totals USD $28.2 million.

    Chief executive Omar Hamoui said the new funds will be used to make investments to ensure AdMob comes out of this "challenging economic environment" in a strong position.

    The San Mateo, California-based company has made a number of announcements recently.

    These include offering, first iPhone-customized ads and metrics, and then earlier this week a similar service for Google’s Android smartphone.

    The new funding comes from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

  • Blackberry Offered As Pay-As-You-Go


    Orange UK is to offer a pay-as-you-go Blackberry – the first carrier in Europe to launch a PAYG RIM device.

    The move underlines RIM’s intention to re-position itself as a provider of handsets that appeal to the consumer market as well as its traditional enterprise stronghold.

    The smartphone will be an exclusive indigo-colored BlackBerry 8120 that will cost £145.

    An estimated two-thirds of UK mobile customers use PAYG.

    To take up the Orange offer customers must take out one of the operator’s existing PAYG Animal packages before taking a PAYG BlackBerry Internet Service for just £5 per month, on a monthly rolling subscription.

    This will give them access to email, messaging and the web.

    An Orange statement said the new offering was a result of the growing demand for a BlackBerry smartphone with PAYG service.

    The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 has a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and media player.

  • Bid To Delay US Switch To Digital TV Fails


    A bill intended to delay the US’s transition to digital TV has been defeated in the House of Representatives.

    An estimated 6.5 million Americans are not yet prepared for the switch, which now reverts back to the original date of 17 February.

    The action comes less than two days after the US Senate unanimously voted to move the switch date to 12 June.

    The House blocked the bill, saying postponing the action would only cause confusion for consumers and increase costs for broadcasters.

    It needed two-thirds of the votes of the House under "special rules adopted for the vote," but the result was just 258 to 168 in favor of changing the date.

    From 17 February, all television broadcasters are legally required to shut off analog signals and air only digital programming.

    Viewers using analog TV sets and antennas to receive broadcasts will need to upgrade to a digital TV set or install a converter box to get signals.

    Funds totalling USD $1.34 billion for government-issued vouchers to help consumers pay for digital TV converter boxes has been used up.

    The converter boxes cost between USD $50 and USD $80.

  • Thirst For HD Drives Freesat Sales To 200,000


    Demand for HD content has helped drive sales of Freesat devices past the 200,000 mark since the UK service was launched last May.

    While the figure is impressive, it further highlights the gulf that has opened up between the US and Japan and the rest of the world.

    An In-Stat report earlier this week showed that the bulk of households with an installed high-definition television is decidedly biased towards these two countries.

    That said, steps are being taken in the UK to improve the amount of HD content available.

    Freesat has quickly established itself as a leading provider of high def channels.

    The BBC-ITV joint venture said that HD had become a key selling point, with 61 per cent of a "customer panel" choosing the availability of high definition content as their "primary reason" for purchasing.

    Freesat offers its HD channel with no subscription.

    BSkyB announced this week that 779,000 now have its HD receiver and it hopes to make further investment in HD programming.

    Apple has also just announced that the first HD show is available for download from the iTunes store for AppleTV owners in the UK.
    Other European nations are also making in-roads into the HD world.

    A study from market researchers GfK states that the German market for Blu-ray players is in great shape, with strong sales in the final three months of 2008.

    GfK said that with average prices approaching the €300 barrier, sales figures of Blu-ray Players finally reached the 100,000 mark in December when more than 30,000 units were sold.

    Despite this positive development in the last quarter of 2008 the new format is not yet a resounding success.

    In December, there were already more than 11 million HD-ready or Full HD TV sets on the market in Germany compared to only 110,000 Blu-ray Players.

  • Final Chance to Nominate VoIP Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year is firmly underway and time is running out for submitting your nominations and votes for voip.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    But with voting expected to be close in both award categories there’s plenty of opportunity for latecomers to make their mark.

    In the product section, submissions can be made for any product launched in 2008 that has particularily impressed.

    Among the leading contenders in this category are Ifbyphone, HelloSoft, ShoreTel and Cypress Communications.

    Described as an "innovative telephone application platform" Ifbyphone is praised for the introduction of its "innovative new data mash-up, which links phone call data to web-based ad information".

    Fans of HelloSoft particularily highlight the company’s move from desktops to mobile handsets and the potential that offers.

    ShoreTel is picked out for showing it "can stand up to the big boys and dominate". Readers have no doubt this is a growing company people are going to hear a lot more about.

    Eli Katz, CEO XConnect

    Equally, Cypress Communications is praised for its hosted and managed IP Telephony solutions, which are "unmatched by any within the VoIP industry today".

    For Person of the Year, XConnect’s founder and CEO, Eli Katz, is vying with Peter Dietrich, CEO of Mobivox, for the honor.

    They may be favorites but don’t let it stop you putting forward other contenders.

    But please don’t delay – we need your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • BSkyB Adds HD Customers And Promises More High Def Content


    BSkyB has added 171,000 new customers in the second quarter and reduced churn to below 10 per cent.

    It will be hoping to build on the interim results for the six months to 31 December 2008 helped by the the news that further investment is to be made in HD programming.

    The announcement that the price of the Sky+ HD receiver is to drop to £49 will undoubtedly provide a massive boost to that ambition.

    Over 50 per cent of BSkyB customers now opt for either Sky+ HD or Sky+.

    The standard definition product is installed in 4,650,000 homes, while 779,000 have the HD receiver.

    As of December 31, 2008, the number of subscribers to the DTH platform in the UK and Ireland stood at 9.24 million.

    BSkyB’s commitment to increasing HD content comes as Apple announces it is making the first HD show available in the UK through its iTunes service.

  • UK Gets HD Programmes For AppleTV


    Apple has announced that the first HD show is available for download from the iTunes store for AppleTV owners in the UK.

    The first offerings in high def are episodes of the current series of ABC’s Lost, which will be sold for £2.49 each.

    This compares to the standard USD $2.99 rates charged for HD downloads on the US version of the Apple digital store.

    A season pass will be £41.99.

    A free five-minute HD trial is available from the store to give UK users a flavor of what’s on offer.

    Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the arrival of HD TV shows last September – without mentioning that it would take a bit longer before they arrived in the UK.

    Worth waiting for? Please let us have your opinions.