Business News Holding

Tag: carriers

  • Apple Expected to Extend iPhone To Multiple Carriers


    Apple will almost certainly break with its exclusive AT&T agreement and allow other carriers to support the iPhone, according to analysts.

    Citigroup’s research firm say that while the arrangement with AT&T has benefitted Apple, the company is likely to open its smartphone to more US operators within the next two years.

    Analyst Richard Gardner cites a number of reasons for this, including the fact Apple is in a strong position and so can have its demands met by carriers.

    These extend to generous data plans, a lack of co-branding and an absence of revenue sharing at the App Store.

    What is also likely to be a major issue for Apple is the potentially dwindling pool of new iPhone users at AT&T.

    It is estimated that rivals Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile combined could offer a target market of up to 150 million subscribers by 2010 (although only around 20 per cent are likely to become iPhone owners).

    While it has been suggested that AT&T is interested in paying to extend exclusivity, the cost to do so might be prohibitive.

    As Gardner points it would need to be high since the revenues offered by going with multiple carriers are large.

  • EU Rules May Force Operators to Allow VoIP


    The European Union (EU) is preparing legislation to force carriers to allow VoIP to run on their cellular networks.

    EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has said that "action" should be taken against carriers that use their market power to block "innovative services".

    The EU has already prepared draft legislation that would open smartphones to the technology, according to a report published in Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper.

    European carriers view VoIP technology as a threat to their business model and have widely banned VoIP from being used on their networks.

    Currently each EU country has to decide on how they deal with blocked Internet services. The recent decision by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom to block VoIP could lead to the EU raising antitrust charges against the carrier.

    It wants to ban use of Skype on both its 3G network and its extensive Wi-Fi hot spot network.

    The company’s reasoning is that the program’s high data use would choke the network infrastructure and that it violates the customer contract.

    T-Mobile USA is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

    The issue is also likely to come to the fore in the US.

    Last week, an open-Internet advocacy group asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether Apple and AT&T are violating federal rules by limiting use of Skype’s iPhone service.

    The request by Free Press could open up a broader review of the ways in which wireless companies control the use of their networks in the US.

  • HD Voice Has Potential To Reverse Decline in Landlines


    Deploying HD voice services on both landline and mobile systems would provide carriers with a service differentiator and a product with a price premium people are willing to pay for.

    That’s the opinion of VoIP industry expert Jeff Pulver, who says HD voice has the potential to reverse the trend of declining landline sales.

    "People will start to purchase home lines again because it sounds so damn good," he told FierceVoIP.

    Pulver is organizing the HD VoIP Summit, an event which will explore issues associated with the widespread deployment of HD VoIP.

    It is being held in New York on 21 May and will include vendors demonstrating products and platforms, as well as discussions on the issues and challenges in transforming the existing communications infrastructure into one which supports HD.

    "I believe HD voice holds the same promise for the telecom industry as format changes in the entertainment industry," he wrote on his blog.

    "With enough interest, together we can trigger a replacement cycle like the one observed currently with HDTV."

    Pulver said failure to change the communications infrastructure would put traditional communication networks at risk of becoming disintermediated as better sounding means of communication naturally evolve.

    He said the purpose of the event is to bring together a leadership team, built around vision and change, and to bring together telecom catalysts to effect this change.

  • Skype Taking Larger Share of International Voice Traffic


    International voice traffic continues to rise – despite the availability of an ever-broader range of substitutes for standard telephone calls.

    Cross-border telephone traffic grew 14 per cent in 2007 and is estimated to have grown 12 per cent in 2008, to 384 billion minutes, according to data from TeleGeography.

    Due to declining call prices, however, revenues have largely been flat.

    But if international telephone traffic is increasing at a modest pace, Skype’s international traffic has soared.

    TeleGeography estimates that Skype’s cross-border traffic grew approximately 41 per cent in 2008, to 33 billion minutes.

    This is equivalent to 8 per cent of combined international telephone plus Skype traffic.

    TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert said Skype’s traffic growth has been remarkable.

    "Only five years after its launch, Skype has emerged as the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world," he said.

    Not all of Skype’s traffic is a net loss for international carriers.

    Skype’s paid-for ‘Skype Out’ service, which lets users make calls to standard telephones, generated 8.4 billion minutes of calls in 2008.

    Skype relies on wholesale carriers, such as iBasis and Level 3, to connect this traffic to the telephone network.