Business News Holding

Tag: voices-of-the-industry

  • VoIP Vendors Failing To Re-think SMB Retail Products


    The economic crisis has frequently been held up as an opportunity for the VoIP industry to introduce businesses to the benefits and efficiencies offered by "non-traditional" telecom services.

    But Kent Hellebust, CMO and general manager of Individual and Digital Phone Services at Telanetix, believes many VoIP service providers are failing to respond to the fast moving pace of the business retail channel.

    He tells voip.biz-news how telecom vendors can effectively capitalise on potential opportunities in the US Small and Medium Business (SMB) market.

    Of the approximately 23 million businesses in the United States, more than 90 per cent have fewer than 50 employees (as reported in a recent AMI Inc Market Study). In total, 15 million have fewer than five employees.

    This is strong evidence that the business of America is truly Small Business.

    The question remains though: how is the current economic climate affecting these small businesses? In particular, how is it affecting their purchase of VoIP services?

    Kent Hellebust, CMO Telanetix

    The smaller the business, the less likely they are to have "redundant staff".

    With fewer than 10 employees, everyone does everything. There are no specialists; no dedicated IT staff, no full time HR person. If the business needs phone service, there’s a very good chance that it’s the owner of the business who does the buying.

    Since all small business employees are generalists, you can count on the fact that purchasing "infrastructure" like phones, phone service, computers, fax machines, etc. is considered an extra burden, not a job.

    The purchaser does not have the time or inclination to become expert and they do not know the industry "standard sources".

    In many respects, they are very close in their purchasing process to that of a consumer.

    These executives are likely to do some quick research online to find what they are looking for, and they are guided by a combination of a need for cost savings, a need for understandability (remember, they are not specialists; they wouldn’t know what "NPA-NXX, PBX, LNP, or RespOrg" meant if you held them at gunpoint), a need for simplicity, and finally, a need to save time and get on with their "real" job of driving revenue for their small business.

    In the current economic environment, the need for savings becomes paramount. You may have noticed that it’s the big companies that are getting offers of federal assistance, not the small ones.

    These small businesses have to reduce any expense they can in today’s market, and phone service is a prime target for them.
    Because of the economic pressures they currently face, they seem to be increasingly willing to try new brands and new services that they may previously not have been willing to try.

    Here at Telanetix, and our VoIP wing of AccessLine Communications, we have been specializing in small business telecommunications services and solutions for over 10 years, and we have never seen the SMB market more willing to consider VoIP as a solution to their infrastructure cost reduction challenge.

    However, this is not to say that selling any type of telecommunications service, VoIP or otherwise, to SMBs is getting easier.

    The SMB purchaser balances a complex set of factors in making their purchase decision. While they are looking for savings, they do not want to be pitched with complex "ROI" savings calculations.

    They do not have the cash flow to invest more upfront in order to achieve greater savings down the road and if the equipment and services they are purchasing have a significant upfront cost component, they are likely to look elsewhere.

    Beyond the savings, they are guided by brands they know and trust. Given that the purchaser is not going to be steeped in telecom industry knowledge, only the very largest telecom brands will have spent enough on brand advertising to be known by them.

    Once you get much below names like AT&T and Verizon, the chance of the customer knowing a non-traditional telecom brand is small.

    However,since the purchaser is a generalist, they are open to non-telecom brands that are affiliated with new telecom services as a sign of vendors they can trust.

    A number of new VoIP providers have taken advantage of this non-traditional business telecom buying process to affiliate with major business retail chains, ranging from Staples to Office Depot.

    Finally, there is the question of simplicity.

    Telecommunications, as an industry, has done its level best over the decades to be as complex as possible in the eyes of the customer.

    Hidden fees and processes, ranging from wiring fees to installation and maintenance fees, have made the acquisition and installation of business phone systems and service an arcane art that only the IT department specialists at midsize and large enterprises are comfortable in navigating.

    Many telecom vendors have failed to re-think their product, making it unsuitable for the fast moving pace of the business retail channel.

    At the same time some of the biggest names in the telecom and IT business have experimented with retail distribution, only to be puzzled and frustrated by their lack of success.

    Only those that have focused on simplifying their message, the offer structure, and the installation of their products and services for the generalist small business purchaser are able to profitably harness this channel.

    At Telanetix, we have taken all these lessons to heart.

    We have created an integrated solution specifically for the SMB market. The product includes a state of the art PBX phone system, sold in conjunction with fully integrated VoIP phone service, serving businesses with between two and 20 employees.

    Business customers hear about the product through major retail channels. We have invested quite a bit of "magic" in the upfront setup and provisioning of the phones and phone system, so that when the customer receives it, it is literally plug and play.

    All the key SMB buying criteria are met: savings, simplicity, and trusted support. There is no need for the business owner to hire a specialist to charge them USD $1,000 or more to install the system.

    There is no need to hire a wiring specialist that charges USD $100 per desk phone to run custom wiring through their office or store.

    We as a company are attempting to meet the SMB business owner on their own turf, talking in clear terms about value, savings, simplicity, and reliability.

    Given that the SMB market drives America’s business, we think that even in the current economic environment, this is a recipe for success.

  • Social Networking and IM Broaden Appeal of Mobile VoIP Beyond Cheap Calls


    INTERVIEW: Alan Paton, research director for independent VoIP comparison website LowCostMob.com, tells voip.biz-news about the increasingly crowded – and sometimes confusing – mobile VoIP market.

    He also explains how social networking and Instant Messaging services such as Twitter have the potential to extend the appeal of mobile VoIP beyond simply offering cheap calls.

    Q: Why did you think it was necessary to set up LowCostMob.com and how does the service address this need?

    A: Though mobile phones have been popular for over 20 years – the penetration reached 100 per cent years ago and there are more mobile phones than people in the UK, many having two or more – the industry is far from mature.

    In fact it is now entering a period of even greater changes than in the past.

    With LowCostMob.com we are currently addressing one of these great changes and that is the availability of alternative mobile calling services, especially for international calls.

    Alternative phone services are not new in themselves. They have been a big part of the fixed line business since telecoms liberalisation in the 1980s and have become even more important since local loop unbundling was introduced.

    Ofcom (the UK regulator) statistics show for the UK there are at least 350 alternative fixed line calling services.

    But alternative calling services for mobile are new and have sprung up only in the last two years.

    The great enablers for this are:

    • the increasing computing power of mobile phones allowing them to run a wide range of add-on applications
    • their improving ability to access the web and services that the web makes possible

    We see an opportunity here to explain the growing range of offerings without the confusing marketing hype and to help users to select what suits them best.

    Solutions range from the very simple (you can use your existing mobile phone as it is) to those that require you to download and install an application (usually done in a few minutes).
    Many services make use of dual-mode smartphones (they can use WiFi). Each solution has its pros and cons.

    Q: What are the most confusing/misleading aspects facing consumers when contemplating mobile VoIP or mobile calling applications?

    A: The new services use one or more of several basic technologies, call-back, call-through, local number substitution, VoIP and WiFi, and it is amazing how often you have to dig deep into a provider’s web site to know exactly what they are offering.

    It is like a garage selling a car but making it difficult for the customer to know if its automatic or manual, diesel or petrol, or four door or five door.

    One of the biggest confusions is over what constitutes true mobile VoIP.

    We think it should be only those systems that implement the transformation to VoIP on the phone itself.

    Many providers call it "mobile" VoIP if any part of the overall connection to the called person uses VoIP.

    There is very little information on the current practicalities of using mobile VoIP; does your data service allow it, what quality will you get, what are the costs of using the data channel for VoIP, and the role of WiFi.

    Q: Do consumers base their choice of which service to use solely on price or are other factors involved?

    A: A desire for cheaper calls especially international calls is a big driving force but by no means the only one.

    There is also at this early stage of market growth a lot of interest from the gadget minded who just love to get the latest electronic gizmo.

    Another very big factor is the popularity of Instant Messaging, services like Twitter, and Social Networking.

    Managing your contacts is a real headache and people want access to all their communications services, and this includes social networking, when they are on the move.

    Many alternative calling providers offer aggregation services, that is access to all the IM communities or social networks that a user might belong to through one application interface on their mobile phone, and other services such as address book management.

    Cheap calls may be just one, and not necessarily the most important, of a rich range of features and new mobile services.

    Q: Do you see a move towards a particular type of service (Mobile VoIP, Call through, Call Back etc)? If so, what is driving this?

    A: VoIP is the long term future for the whole mobile industry but there is plenty of scope for other technologies for many years, perhaps indefinitely.

    Smartphones are having a big impact and from being a few per cent a couple of years ago are expected to be at least 30 per cent of the market by 2012.

    The iPhone has given a big push to the market giving users for the first time a really good web experience on a mass market mobile phone.

    The Skype WiFi mobile application for the iPhone achieved over 2 million downloads in 9 days of being launched. Incredible.

    The user demand is there. And, by the way, Skype is certainly cheap but it is by no means the cheapest for mobile VoIP calls. (See here for a comparison)

    Over the coming months we will see what Google with its Android operating system for smartphones and Nokia with its new product response to the iPhone, can deliver.

    Q: Is the current economic situation likely to lead to a clear-out in the mobile VoIP industry?

    A: No, of itself it won’t lead to a clear out, though I’m sure it will make conditions tougher for everyone.

    Changes will happen, companies will fail, new ones will appear, services will evolve or be dropped and new ones appear, but who flourishes and who doesn’t, depends most on management skills and sound product concepts.

    Q: What are the likely implications of potential legislation by regulators in the EU and US which could force mobile operators to allow mobile VoIP calls to be made on their networks?

    A: Huge. Think of those Skype iPhone application downloads and that was just for mobile VoIP over WiFI.

  • MobiTV Readies European Expansion As Momentum Grows

    INTERVIEW: Anders Norström, managing director of MobiTV Europe, talks about the company’s expansion plans and the growing consumer appetite for mobile TV

    While the uptake of mobile TV has been a slow process, it finally appears to be gathering pace.

    MobiTV, founded in 1999, was the first to bring live TV to mobile devices and remains at the forefront of a field that is becoming increasingly competitive.

    It is firmly established in North America where it was first rolled out via carriers such as AT&T, Cingular and Sprint.

    Now the California-based pioneer of mobile TV is looking to broaden its reach and is in the process of developing its services for the European market.

    Anders Norström, managing director of MobiTV Europe, told smartphone.biz-news that he strongly believed there is now a mass market for mobile TV – something backed up by his company’s rapidly growing subscriber numbers.

    It now offers content and primetime channels to over 6 million subscribers on more than 350 handset models on its managed mobile media service.

    In February it added the iPhone to the list of supported handsets (although Apple approval is still pending).

    Anders Norström, managing director of MobiTV Europe

    "The last million only took a couple of months. It’s really taken off," said Norström.

    MobiTV’s Media Distribution Platform has shown it’s able to deliver live streaming and on demand video content.

    In March, it was used in CBS Sport’s NCAA March Madness app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which provided live streaming video and audio over a wi-fi connection from the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

    The massive popularity of MobiTv’s live airing of Barack Obama’s inauguration to its subscribers is another indicator of the way things are moving, according to Norstrom.

    "It was a huge usage of this kind of service. It’s really coming on," he said. "The network is becoming better, devices are becoming so much better and the back-end technology is so much better.

    "So we have an increased end user experience."

    Expansion Into Europe

    Norström said the US is currently MobiTV’s main market, followed by South America.

    But he said Europe is the next target. The company is currently in discussion with different customers and carriers.

    "Hopefully by the end of the summer we will be deploying our first services," he said.

    "The European market is huge. There are very good networks and really good content."

    The approach and strategy taken in Europe will be slightly different to that across the Atlantic, according to Norström.

    In the US, carriers are more interested in total managed services whereas in Europe he said media carriers often want to run them in-house.

    So MobiTV is giving them the opportunity to have either, or to begin with a managed service and transfer to their own network once they are up and running.

    Since there are very few pan-European channels – Bloomberg and MTV, being examples – Norström said most content was specific to countries and made in the local language (German, Italian, French etc).

    He said Tier 1 carriers largely did their own content deals, adding: "But we have contacts in the content and industry and can help them – we are an enabler."

    Hybrid Services In Future

    Looking ahead, Norström said the type of content likely to be made available on mobile TV services would be mixed between TV, video on demand and live broadcasts.

    It would also comprise hybrid services, which combine broadcast and unicast video on demand – a mix of content and technology.

    He said in the US this will take the form of joint ventures, providing free-to-air DVB-H/ATSC-M/H services as well as the unicast/VOD solutions.

    This is necessary for 3G carriers, which are short-cut by DVB-H, and want to be involved in the "action", according to Norström.

    MobiTV is also now offering localised services on top of its standard platform.

    Personalised Services "Essential"

    These include Mobi4Biz, a version of MobiTV aimed at the financial market which was launched recently for BlackBerry Bold handset owners on the AT&T network.

    Norström has no doubt that this more vertical, personalised approach to mobile TV is essential.

    "That is the way to go. We are starting to have some overflow of information, as happened on the Internet, with mobile channels," he said.

    "How many do we really watch? If you have 30 0r 40 channels on a mobile, does it really make sense?"

    Norström said MobiTV will aggregate the information by category – sport, childrens’, business, fashion and so on – and provide a back-end solution.

    Interactivity will also become an important ingredient of mobile TV, especially when it comes to ads.

    Last year, MobiTV did adverts for BMW that were tailored to choices viewers made while viewing.

    Personalised ads is something that Norström said will become part of a bundled package in the future.

    Interactive ads allow a profile of users’ interests to be created and allow advertising to be targeted based on individuals’ preferences.

    "It should be happening fairly soon in the US," he said. "But we are region agnostic and it will also happen in other markets."

    Too Soon For Ad-supported Model

    However, while advertising – and especially the targeted variety – has great revenue potential, Norström said MobiTV would not be moving to an ad-supported model any time soon.

    "For quite some time more it will be a pay model," he said. "It is realistic that some content will be ad-supported but it will not be the main model."

    Network overload is a common concern whenever mobile internet is mentioned, but Norström said he didn’t believe it was a problem at the moment.

    He said that even if it did become one, there were technological solutions available to ease the impact of congestion.

    These will undoubtedly be required if the way in which the iPhone has vastly increased data traffic levels is anything to go by.

    Especially as the Apple handset has spurred other mobile makers, such as Nokia, to replicate the iPhone’s end user experience.

    "We will see an increase in data traffic, but we are fully prepared for that," said Norström.

    Growth Affected By Downturn

    What is also certain is that the global economic downturn will have an impact on the growth of wireless video.

    But Norström said that, so far, there had been no increase in churn.

    "In the US, it seems people are getting rid of their fixed lines and keeping their mobile devices as the means of consuming content as well," he said.

    "But the economic situation will slow down the increase in subscription numbers."

    That may be so but improvements in handsets and technology are making the outlook for mobile TV look increasingly bright.

    Proof of this comes from growing subscribers – but also from the entry of the likes of Qualcomm in the US and Orange in France into the market.

    A healthy development – and one MobiTV appears well placed to deal with.

  • AnySource Media: Simple UI is Key To Internet-enabled HDTV

    INTERVIEW: Mike Harris, CEO of AnySource Media, talks to hdtv.biz-news about his company’s Internet-enabled TV platform that will start appearing in HDTV sets in the second half of 2009.

    Offering consumers dozens of "virtual channels" that can be viewed on their HDTVs alongside traditional TV networks – without requiring a separate box or complicated wiring – seems like a great idea.

    As does the ability to easily navigate the Internet content using a standard remote, and the fact that all of this isn’t going to bump up the price of a new wide-screen set.

    So where’s the catch?

    Well, if you listen to Mike Harris, CEO of AnySource Media (ASM), there isn’t one.

    His company provides a turnkey Internet-enabled TV platform, called the Internet Video Navigator (IVN), to silicon companies and HDTV manufacturers.

    He told hdtv.biz-news that ASM is currently working with the makers of some high-volume, mass market HDTV brands to integrate the IVN client software directly into their sets.

    While he couldn’t name names, the first ASM-equipped products will launch in the US in the second half of 2009 and will then be rolled out in Europe and Asia in 2010.

    No-Cost Embedded Software

    ASM’s embedded IVN software allows TV viewers to navigate Internet video, selecting sites and jumping to specific videos, or sit back and watch videos like a traditional broadcast experience.

    Mike Harris, CEO
    AnySource Media

    Where ASM scores highly is that its software is simply layered on top of chip technology already in HDTV sets.

    Harris said this gives it a big cost advantage – while providing manufacturers with a great opportunity to differentiate their sets in a competitive market.

    Since the intention is to get the platform into the market in "high volume, very quickly", ASM is offering set manufacturers the software licence for free.

    He said with no additional cost for the HDTV makers, the price of the television sets isn’t affected.

    Content Providers

    ASM’s full list of content providers is not yet available, however the company showed 80 different partner channels at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

    Harris said the idea is to provide complementary content rather than trying to be an alternative to satellite or cable providers.

    "What we are offering is a high quality experience at no additional cost, which is very easy to use with a standard remote and is very scaleable," he said.
    "The TV continues to grow even as you own it."

    Key to this is the idea that it is "TV on TV" not "Internet on TV". For this reason, ASM has focused on major features such as video quality and channel change speed – which Harris said is almost as quick as a TV experience.

    "It’s about sitting back and relaxing, watching content on a big screen when you have more time to spend surfing for content and discovering new things," he said.

    To make all this possible on low-cost embedded hardware much of the processing burden has been moved to the IVN Data Center.

    The back-end data center aggregates and streams content from providers to the IVN user interface on the television.

    Tailored Content

    Harris said the mix of channels and content depends on the set manufacturer – and on where the user lives.

    So when consumers buy an HDTV a certain list of channels will be available immediately.

    "That list can be modified by the consumer, so if they like sports channels they can put them at the top of the list – or they can remove channels altogether," he said.

    "New channels can appear all the time, without any change to the device being required.

    "We have taken a very scaleable approach."

    Harris said the result was that a particular HDTV, in a particular region would have its own unique look and feel.

    How that was arranged was all taken care of in the backend.

    "An HDTV in Germany will have a different list of channels to one, say, in the US," he said.

    As well as issues such as language and cultural preferences, the fact some content sites are geo-targeted will also influence channel listings.

    Targeted Advertising

    For ASM to make its money the IVN platform includes a targeted advertising and user management system, managed at the IVN Data Center.

    Harris said that AnySource’s method of monetizing content depended on the given market.

    "We have approached advertising in a way that makes it work for the content providers," he said.

    "The service is free for consumers."

    So AnySource doesn’t interfere with content providers’ existing business models, which means if they are ad-supported they keep all the revenues.

    "What we have, through our user interface, is additional ad inventory," said Harris. "There are spaces for ads during the browsing period. That’s where we generate our ad revenue."

    In addition, AnySource also receives commission for any paid content transmissions.

    HDTV And Beyond

    In March, ASM announced it had secured USD $3.2 million in additional funding.

    As well as being used to bring the platform to commercialization and increase the number of content providers, it will fund the development of new technologies that will provide long-term flexibility for viewing online video on HDTVs.

    While ASM is concentrating on HDTVs at present, Harris said the platform had been built for a wide range of devices.

    He said they had had discussions with Blu-ray, MID and mobile makers about future possible applications for the software.

    "What we have built on the cloud doesn’t know whether it’s dealing with a TV or whatever," he said.

    "It just looks at the devices capability and the back-end makes available whatever it needs."

    There’s no doubt that content quality will be a key determing factor in the race to bring the Internet to the TV.

    But it also has to be content that is easy to access. ASM would appear to have that issue firmly in hand.

  • MyGlobalTalk Prepares Single-SIM Mobile VoIP Solution

    INTERVIEW: Larry Stessel, CMO of i2Telecom, talks to voip.biz-news about a new mobile VoIP solution being readied for launch.
    The new technology will allow users to make low-cost international calls from anywhere in the world using one SIM card.

    i2Telecom’s MyGlobalTalk was the winner of voip.biz-news’ Product of the Year Award 2008.

    i2Telecom’s MyGlobalTalk (MGT) launched in the US last June as a Beta version for BlackBerry and non-smartphones.

    It allows users to bypass their current phone providers’ high international rates and use i2Telecom’s low VOIP Digital Service rates for international calls.

    Since then, support for MGT has expanded and now works on most smartphones – Blackberry, Android, Symbian or Windows devices, with the iPhone expected shortly – plus any cell phone, land line or computer.

    Larry Stessel, CMO of i2Telecom, told voip.biz-news that the current version of MGT worked "perfectly" for international calls made from the US.

    But he said that within the next few months new technology is to be introduced that allows users to call from anywhere in the world using one SIM card.

    Larry Stessel, CMO i2Telecom

    MGT’s goal has been to duplicate the ease with which callers’ were able to phone anywhere within the US – regardless of which state they were in – simply by dialling the number and not worrying about high call rates or complicated call-back systems.

    i2Telecom is also preparing a widgets launch which will allow MGT to be used from Outlook, iGoogle or Facebook.

    "A lot of companies offer the ability to call from overseas for reduced rates," said Stessel.

    "But the technology is often based on call-back systems. We wanted to create something simple.

    "We don’t want people to be carrying a pack of SIM cards when they travel overseas.

    "What we wanted to do was figure out a way to duplicate the American system.

    "In the next couple of months we will be offering a single SIM card that allows users to make calls abroad at the lowest price."

    iPhone Support Soon

    When using a smartphone the application auto detects any international call being made and instantly reroutes it over the MyGlobalTalk Digital Network.

    Stessel, a 30-year veteran of the music industry, said they were still awaiting approval of their application to Apple’s app store.

    But he said the beta worked "phenomenally" on the iPhone, with really fast connection times and crystal clear call quality.

    When the solution is used on home or business lines, callers have to dial an access number, then the international number before being connected.

    Stessel said the seed for MGT came from another of i2Telecom’s products, a flash drive Internet phone service called VoiceStick.

    He said when users sign up for that service they receive a 10-digit DID number as part of the package.

    "We realised that we were missing out a bit on the DID number and over the course of one day we started talking about its possibilities," he said.

    "We realised we could give customers the ability to call from any phone to any number at reduced rates.

    "The more we talked about it, the more excited we became and by the end of the day we had come up with MyGlobalTalk."

    That was in October 2007. Stessel said that over the next year i2Telecom’s technicians created the code that enabled MGT to be a one-touch call on smartphones.

    Users simply go into their contacts, select the one to call and the call goes through.

    By the beginning of September 2008, the Blackberry and Windows versions were completed.

    "We wanted to remove the step of dialling 10-digit numbers and then an international number," said Stessel.

    Aggressive Marketing Campaign

    Marketing of the product has so far been low-key, largely because resources have been used to create the server system and customer services. Everything is housed in a technology park in Atlanta, Georgia.

    That is about to change, according to Stessel, who said an aggressive marketing campaign is being prepared for the roll-out of the new technology, which he forecast would be by the end of June.

    "We have been very careful not to rush out a product overseas that is not ready," he said. "We wanted to get it right first time."

    Key markets for MGT are:

    • SMBs – companies ranging from 1 up to 2000 employees
    • Immigrants
    • Military

    Stessel said the i2Telecom team really understood business users’ needs.

    He said MGT could drastically reduce the cost of communications for enterprises – whether it was for calls abroad from the US or for employees who had to use their mobiles outside the US.

    "I don’t think we have a competitor," he said. "You can talk about Fring all day long, but there are complications with it. I think we are the best app on the market."

  • Gizmo5 CEO Challenges Skype For SIP


    The CEO of Gizmo5 Michael Robertson has responded to last week’s announcement of Skype for SIP by posting a comparison (see below) of the new service and his own company’s OpenSky.

    While welcoming Skype’s initiative, he described it as a "vaporware announcement" with "murky pricing details".

    Writing on his blog, Robertson said he has been a vocal advocate for open standards, both in music with my company MP3.com and in VOIP with Gizmo5.

    He said open standards have always give consumers more choices and ultimately better value.

    "V0IP standards got a huge boost this week with two announcements," he said.

    Roberston said these were Gizmo5’s launch of its SIP for Skype service called OpenSky, which lets any SIP device call Skype and receive their Skype calls, and Ebay’s announcement of Skype for SIP.

    "These announcements are a huge boost for SIP as the open standard which will let calls move freely from any calling device or network," he said.

    "It’s great to see Skype inching towards a more interoperable world. Even if this is a vaporware announcement at least their heart is in the right direction."

    Robertson compared Skype For SIP with Skype for Asterisk, announced last year, saying that Skype’s business offering is not yet available and pricing details are murky.

    In response to Robertson’s blog comments, Skype said its SIP offering is available now.

    While there are other details that will undoubtedly be challenged by Skype, Robertson’s riposte will certainly give any enterprise pondering the services something to chew over.

  • 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.

  • Turkish Mobile Market: Opportunity Beckons With Summer Launch of 3G Network

    INTERVIEW: Isik Uman, general manager of leading Turkish service provider Retromedya, talks to smartphone-biz.news about the rapidly changing mobile market in Turkey.
    With 3G going live this summer, the nation’s 66 million mobile subscribers are expected to take full advantage of new services – making it an appealing prospect for operators and service providers.

    Turkish consumers love their mobiles. As one of the fastest growing mobile markets in recent years, wireless penetration currently sits at 92 per cent.

    That’s pretty impressive – especially as Turkey doesn’t have handset subsidies.

    People buy their mobile phones and then choose their operator.

    Isik Uman, general manager of leading Turkish service provider Retromedya, said increasingly that decision is being driven by the demand for richer content – something that has progressed as rapidly as improvements to handsets and mobile networks.

    Build-up To 3G

    The potential for content is going to get even more interesting this summer when Turkey’s 3G network kicks in.

    And there is no shortage of hardware ready to use it.

    Even without handset subsidies, Uman said there were around 3.5 million 3G phones already being used in Turkey.

    "That’s 3.5 million potential users for it," he said.

    While there are no official figures, an estimated 300,000 iPhones have been sold in Turkey since it launched last summer.

    On top of that sales of other high-end handsets from HTC and Nokia – which has a 60 per cent share of the mobile market in Turkey – are strong.

    All this makes the country one of the more attractive markets for handset manufacturers.

    That is likely to continue as 3G is rolled out – with all the opportunities that will bring.

    Competition Intensifies

    The development is expected to pit operators head-to-head, with 3G and a host of new services – including LBS – being used as the hook with which to lure customers.

    As a result – and despite the global economic situation – Turkey’s mobile operators are projecting Turkish Lira-based growth this year.

    The country’s three GSM operators – Turkcell (37m subscribers), Vodafone (17m subscribers) and Avea (12m subscribers) – earned between them an estimated 13 billion Turkish Liras (approx. USD $10 billion) in 2008.

    But as Turkey is a large country – and requires a lot of base stations to provide coverage – average revenue per user (ARPU) is between USD $11-14.

    This hasn’t affected competition among the operators, which is fierce – especially following the introduction of mobile number portability in Turkey last November.

    More than 1 million subscribers have changed operator since it became available.

    The ability for users to switch operator has also led to the adoption of new marketing strategies from the operators, including the introduction of a subsidy-like model to retain or lure valuable customers.

    "Before we had number portability, people like business professionals, company owners, doctors, lawyers and so on didn’t want to change their mobile numbers," said Uman. "It just wasn’t acceptable.

    "Now with number portability, we will see subsidised handsets being used as a means to lure lucrative customers."

    Uman said it was also likely that flat-rate data tariffs would become more common when 3G goes live.

    He said this would obviously benefit service providers such as Retromedya.

    "We are counting on this as it will make our services more attractive and easier to use," he said.

    Retromeyda already offers content to all three operators in the form of:

    • music services
    • video content – downloading on-demand video
    • mobile games
    • interactive voting
    • mobile community and chat

    As well as providing consumer services, Retromedya also offers B2B gateway services to third party players in the market.

    Uman said these were white label services to companies that want to provide mobile services in Turkey.

    "We believe this year will be very interesting for the Turkish market," he said.

    "Commercial services will be very important and offer a big opportunity, which we are trying to address."

    Uman said there had been a lot of interest in Retromedya at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    He said this was a reflection on the potential revenue prospects Turkey’s mobile market offered service providers.

    "We provide the infrastructure for them so they can quickly introduce their services and operations," he said.

  • Back Office Software is "Bottleneck" Preventing Telecom Service Providers From Competing


    Telecom service providers are competing in saturated markets and many are experiencing flat or declining margins in the economic downturn.

    That’s the opinion of Jim Messer, CEO of Transverse, who said legacy back office software is often what keeps them from being agile in the marketplace.

    He was speaking after Transverse was named in the "Cool Vendors in Telecom Operations Management (TOM) 2009" report by Gartner.

    In the report Transverse is identified by Gartner as one of four TOM vendors worldwide who they consider to be at the cutting edge of telecom business support systems and operations support systems.

    The report features an analysis of the company and its Business Support Solutions (BSS) solution blee(p).

    It introduces a new way to deploy and manage back office functions and is aimed at helping service providers reduce the financial risks associated with rolling out new business models by aligning back office infrastructure with business goals.

    Messer said a technology refresh of legacy, back-office systems was long overdue for many service providers.

    He said Transverse’s state-of-the-art open source approach made it easier and more cost effective for service providers to take advantage of new business models.

    "We’re pleased that Gartner has identified Transverse as a Cool Vendor. We’re a company that can uniquely have an impact in addressing this industry-wide problem," he said.

  • FutureDial's Mobile Content Solution Can Have "Huge Impact" On Operators' Revenue Potential

    INTERVIEW: Sanjiv Parikh, vice president of marketing for FutureDial, talks to smartphone-biz.news about its mobile content management service and its potential to generate revenue for operators and retailers.

    Apple has shown how its App Store can be a lucrative earner – and has inspired similar ventures from the likes of Google’s Android, Blackberry, Nokia and even the as-yet-unlaunched Palm Pre.

    But how can wireless operators and even retailers ensure they maximise their earnings from the lucrative mobile content market?

    Software company FutureDial believes it has the answer.

    Sanjiv Parikh, vice president of marketing for FutureDial, said its Retail Management Solution (RMS) 4.0 allows mobile content to be directly loaded to handsets at store counters – an industry first.

    He said the "Buy Content" feature enables retailers to sell user-selected content from an integrated online content site at a store counter.

    "Online content is still very difficult to access using phone browsers. It’s still not very user friendly," he said.

    "So when someone is buying a new phone, the store would ask if they want the content transferred from their old phone, but also if they are interested in games, applications, music files and so on for their new phone.

    "It’s an additional up-selling opportunity."

    Parikh said initial feedback suggested this new feature was having a "huge impact" on clients’ business.

    He said the idea was to provide operators or retailers with complete flexibility when it came to providing their own content.

    With this in mind, FutureDial also offers a solution to clients that have their own music or content portal.

    Main Markets

    RMS is supported on over 1000 handsets and this number is continually being added to – at a rate of 50 new handsets a month, if necessary.

    FutureDial’s main markets are the US and Europe, with a major UK carrier deal expected to be announced "shortly".

    Parikh said the latest version of RMS – launched at MWC in Barcelona last month – helps stores to close the sale on new phone purchases, maximize customer acquisition and retention, and increase ARPU.

    As well as allowing content downloads, RMS also offers users phone-to-phone content transfer, backup and restoration services across thousands of handset models at the store counter.

    The mobile content transfer service handles personal address books, pictures, calendars, messages, and audio/video files.

    A major addition in RMS 4.0 is an operation from a tablet-sized touch-screen online terminal called Talisman for "mobile personalization" services, either for use by store staff or as a customer self-service kiosk.

    Solution Aids Content Management

    Parikh said the content transfer, back-up and restore features of  RMS essentially address the issue of how consumers manage old phone content when switching handsets.

    He said it helps consumers move personal content – and to protect it by offering a backup and restore function.

    These aspects of the solution work in two ways.

    Firstly, with operators and equipment retail stores so that when a consumer switches phone, content can be transferred and backed-up at the store counter.

    He said that the more tech-savvy user was happy to do this themself at home – and FutureDial provides a product that connects mobiles to PCs to back-up and download content.

    Backing-up: "Complex & Tedious"

    But he said for many people it was a complex and tedious process.

    "What we found based on our home back-up offering is that many customers didn’t like to do this themselves," he said.

    "They would rather have someone do it for them and they are willing to pay for the service.

    "This has turned into a major opportunity for service providers."

    Around 70 per cent of stores using RMS charge for the service.

    Parikh said a fear of losing content and data – which often involves a huge investment of time and effort – also put many people off changing their handsets.

    But he said that even if they overcame that fear, simply by changing to a new phone could result in lost revenue for operators.

    "When users start with a new phone it can take up to 18 weeks before they come back to the original usage levels of the old phone," he said. "That’s a lot of user revenue lost."

    That wasn’t the case with RMS because content is instantly transferred onto a new handset – enabling usage to continue as before.

    Loyalty Has Rewards

    Parikh said RMS’s second function is to create loyalty in users by ensuring they return to stores for future back-ups – and so creating the potential for sales of sleeves, cover and other accessories.

    He said one US operator using RMS in hundreds of its stores had seen a marked upturn in user loyalty.

    "This loyalty element really helps operators avoid churn and sell more," he said. "It’s a revenue opportunity but it also give consumers the feeling that the service provider is taking care of them.

    "That’s a major element in such a fiercely competitive market."

    Please let us have your comments on RMS – will in-store content delivery and back-up appeal to the mass market?