California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs an executive order requiring all state agencies to install broadband. It’s a little hard to imagine a state agency that wouldn’t already have broadband, but there you go. Next comes maybe some of those new-fangled websites and maybe even some of those Net phones. Article
> Vonage is now available in Montana. (You mean it wasn’t before?) The carrier now has numbers in the 406 area code, so people within the state can now place local incoming calls. Article
> Cincinnati Bell is now offering business VoIP service, and uses provisioning software from Atreus to automate it. Article
> Fusion Telecom says its Efonica service will be available soon in Jordan. Article
And finally… Maybe Calvin did it. Article
Local research firm, Market Clarity, has launched an innovative new report destined to become a staple for telecommunications salespeople and large corporate users alike.
The new database, which details the infrastructure holdings of 104 different infrastructure owners is expected to be an invaluable resource for carriers, service providers and government agencies seeking fast and reliable information on the location, ownership and components of Australia’s telecoms infrastructure, says the company.
Entries have been correlated and indexed into key categories covering location, technology and ABS population, household and business demographics. The data can also be cross correlated with the firm’s Market Tracker forecast databases to more accurately assess likely take up rates of a service or a technology, said Market Clarity CEO, Shara Evans.
For the first time, organisations and government are able to gain highly robust information on Australia’s transmission infrastructure with very fast turnaround, she claimed.
“The information may be small or large. It may be on specific infrastructure type and its owners as well as corresponding demographic information at a regional, suburb or postcode level. The information can then be used to identify the most likely candidates for investment, and the equipment needed to deploy a telecoms or technology service,” said Evans.
“It can also be used to refine a business case or a proposal to provide a more tangible outcome, or used in a third party review of a business case to verify information, fine tune proposals or identify areas that may have been missed.
“This is important for initiatives like the Government’s $1.1billion Connect Australia fund, for example. The database service provides organisations looking to participate in this initiative with a third party independent resource that can assist them in identifying specific areas they should target in their proposals or provide an independent business case verification check. This can be a very affordable way to check assumptions behind their business case.”
Evans also hopes the service will be of use to SMEs, enterprises or government agencies which needed to identify a way to connect a given site to a customer’s network in a remote area.
“The customer may want to know the options to connect one or more sites. The database service allows us to identify the providers that have broadband access infrastructure in that postcode along with the contact details for each organisation - providing an infrastructure locater service,” she said.
The database features key details on 4,000 DSLAM locations, 600 access fibre service areas, HFC network coverage and more than 1,000 fixed wireless broadband base stations. Also included are location details of 2G and 3G mobile network base stations as well as long-haul networks covering 200+ towns served by fibre and microwave.
Each of the new technologies, systems and builds are being tracked separately by Market Clarity and will be progressively added to the database as they came on line.
“We expect to see these new developments - including BPL, fibre in residential property developments, 3G upgrades, and existing carriers expanding their networks - moving from trial to live through 2007,” she said.
Evans said the Infrastructure Database was developed over the past 10 months drawing on primary research, carrier and service provider resources and ACMA radiocomm license applications.
The firm also used diverse secondary research sources such as news articles, press releases, service maps and published industry studies by the federal government, industry groups, as well as state and local governments to pull together the telco map.
“The database allows you to identify telecoms infrastructure by ownership and location captured to State, Statistical Division, Statistical-Sub Division and postcode levels. Infrastructure identification can also be correlated to the presence of competing infrastructure.
The database also includes the technology and location of backhaul services, access services, and information about residential, business and population demographics,.” said Evans.
Competition in the enterprise telephony space is so intensearound the Asia Pacific that industry analyst Frost & Sullivan is warning oftough times ahead for both traditional and IP telephony markets.
Flat revenues and declining equipment prices are forcing vendorsto focus on niche strengths, selected verticals, and platforms offeringcommunications, applications and service expertise to create a differentiation,says Frost & Sullivan.
The company’s newly minted Asia Pacific Enterprise TelephonyMarket, report for Q2 2006, reveals that revenues across 14 major Asia-Paceconomies grew a meagre 0.1 percent sequentially taking the figure to US$611.9million in Q2.
It’s the second quarter on the run the enterprise telephonymarket has recorded lackluster performance, says Frost & Sullivan which reflectsthe intense competition amongst the top vendors.
“The top six vendors account for approximately 60 percent ofthe market and are fiercely competing amongst themselves. IP (InternetProtocol) telephony continues to replace traditional PBX (private branchexchange) systems, but price pressures have diluted the additional revenuesexpected of IP telephony, hence contributing to the overall tepid revenues,”notes Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Anoop Manghat.
Australia,India, Thailand and the Philippines managed strong growthin the quarter with the major vendors devouring the cream of the growth opportunities.
As expected PBX and KTS (key telephony systems) bore thebrunt of the slowdown with a 3.0 and 2.6 percent (respectively) dip in revenuesquarter-on-quarter. This slack was taken up by IP telephony (IP-PBX) segment whichregistered a high growth of 6.5 percent in Q2 2006.
Driving that growth is the incredible pricing being achievedin the market with IP telephony endpoints and digital handsets at near-equalprices as part of the vendor push, says the analyst.
And while this trend seems certain to continue there areclouds ahead for the IP telephony market also says Frost & Sullivan whichpoints out that the diverse regulatory environment across Asia Pacificcontinues to restrain IP adoption, particularly in countries such as India and China.
“Intense competition in the market is reflected in thedownward pricing trends seen across customer segments in the region,” saysManghat. “Success in the marketplace will require the right pricing anddistribution model for the SMB (small and medium business) segment, whilemoving away from mere box-pushing to up-sell service expertise andvertical-specific applications.”
Compounding the difficulty is the fact that “applicationssuch as unified communications are yet to generate the requisite customeradoption” says the company.
With vendors, distributors, telcos and Internet serviceproviders (ISPs) all vying for the same customer dollar, vendors in the AsiaPacific enterprise telephony market need to clearly articulate a strongbusiness case showcasing the benefits of moving onto an IP platform, explains Frost& Sullivan.
Although cost savings may continue to be the principaldriver for migration to IP, garnering greater mind- and market share in thelong-run will require demonstrating the larger benefits of the platform such asglobal connectivity, mobility, integrated communications, and customizedapplications, says the report.
www.frost.com
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered on his promise to get California and its cities connected with the rest of the world, in a broadband manner of speaking. Today he signed an Executive Order for building broadband networks in all of the government agencies.
“California is home to the greatest technology entrepreneurs. Let’s show the world what we can do,” said Schwarzenegger. “If we want to stay number one in technology, we need action. In countries like Japan and South Korea, the people have access to great technologies at lower costs than anywhere in America. We can do that. Michigan has one of the largest wireless broadband networks in the country. We can do that. That’s why I’m signing an executive order to help make California a leader in the telecommunications revolution. Broadband will help build California so we can grow our economy by competing in the global marketplace,” said Schwarzenegger. “California must remain competitive so we continue to attract the best, brightest and most creative workforce in the world.”
Who said he’s nothing more than a stiff actor? Or that he’d pander to a hot issue in a technological state less than a week before he’s up for re-election?
A recent survey by Skype revealed probably more than we really wanted to know. After polling 1000 people, Skype learned that the Brits could use a lesson or two from Emily Post, particularly on telephone etiquette. Nearly 75% of those surveyed admitted that they carried on phone conversations while using the restroom. Okay then.
Skype was conducting the survey as part of their Talk for Britain campaign that launched last week. The campaign offers Skype users free calls made within the UK, to UK landlines, for the next six months if they purchase 10 pounds of Skype credit.
Think the toilet talk was the worst of it? It probably was, but the survey also found that 17% of people had fallen asleep whilst in the midst of a telephone conversation and nearly a quarter were talking to people they shouldn’t have been. Do tell.
What are other people talking about this week? Let’s take a look.
Page 1 of 6With the amount of media coverage Skype gets, itsa little difficult to understand the difference between it and thegrowing band of specialist VoIP service providers or the increasingnumber of ISPs offering IP telephony services. VoIP News readersoften contact us to ask what which type of service they should use. While theanswer is different for every individual, we though a closer look atthe options might make thecomparison easier for them.
One of the huge advantages Skype has in the marketplace isthe sheer number of users it has been able to amass to date. If it’s totallyfree calls you are after, then signing on with Skype is a sure way to instantlygive yourself access to millions of people to call. The inclusion of telephonyfunctions in a growing list of Instant Messenger-type applications like MicrosoftLive, GoogleTalk and Yahoo! Messenger puts them in pretty much the sameposition as Skype.
In most cases calls within a service provider’s network are free, so if yousign on to a IP phone service with your ISP or a dedicated VoIP serviceprovider, you will only be able to make free calls to other people using thesame service.
This is the same with Skype, of course, but there are already a hundred millionpeople or so using that service so your chances that the person you want tocall has a Skype account is relatively higher than with your other options.Skype also has a global directory of users, so you might even be able to findwho you are looking for by searching online.
Cheap Not Free
Of course, the cost of IP Telephony is very low, so you may be willing toaccept cheap instead of free. Keep in mind that even Skype to Skype calls arenot literally free. You still have to pay for your broadband connection andalthough voice calls don’t take up much bandwidth they are very sensitive delayscaused by other traffic as we will see later.
If the person you want to contact isn’t on the same network, its unlikely youwill be able to call them computer to computer, so you are going to have tocall a regular phone number on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)also called the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). This is going to cost youmoney because your VoIP provider has to pay the telco that owns that system (inAustraliathat’s Telstra) for the service. This is done at wholesale prices which shouldmake it cheaper depending on how your provider structures their rates.
The main difference between Skype and other VoIP providers here is likely goingto be that your ISP will charge you after the fact (post paid) while Skype willrequire you to buy a block of credit up front (pre-paid). This will mean usingyour credit card online.
Many dedicated ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Providers) will charge you amonthly subscription. Some, but not all include a bundle of ‘free’ local,National or International calls in that price, much like a mobile phone contract.
Some are now offering free un-timed local calls - your ISP may structure theircharges in this way and if you make a lot of local calls, this could be asignificant incentive. But be wary if they are charging a high rate for timedlocal calls, a long chat with your mum down the street could end up costingmore on a timed VoIP call than using the normal phone.
The call rates are likely to be pretty close to each other as they are in acompetitive environment, but don’t take this for granted. There’s plenty ofroom here for price gouging, so it’s going to be a matter of understanding yourcalling patterns and comparing the offerings.
Unless you want a normal phone number attached to your account, Skypesubscription is free. So if your ISP expects you to pay a regular monthly rate,or an establishment fee to set up your account, you need to factor that into acomparison between the two.
SkypeOut calls (from your Skype phone to a regular land line) are charged atthe same rate pretty much regardless of where it is. So if you are calling yourmum down the street, it’s going to cost the same as it would to call your old schoolbuddies in another country. Skype offers what it calls The SkypeOut GlobalRate which is good for about 20 of the most popular countries.
If you are calling a person in one of the other countries, Skype’s rates arestill pretty competitive. The SkypeOut Global rate at the time of writing was1.7 Euro cents per minute (about AUD$0.03).
All SkypOut calls originating and terminating in the United States are currently freeuntil the end of this year, so the situation there is a little different.
You also need to consider whether you make a lot of calls to mobile phones.SkypeOut calls to Australian mobile phones are 0.16 Euro’s or about 28 cents.This is pretty competitive with most Australian ITSPs (even with fixed tomobile rates), although you can pay as little as 20 cents on the right plan.
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Industry research outfit, IDC Australia, reckons itsuncovered the secret to making money out of the VoIP market. Services it saysare the Golden Egg resellers and integrators need to pursue if they are to maintainrevenue in an increasingly competitive environment.According to IDC’s latest report “Australia BusinessVoice over IP Services and Equipment 2006-2010 Forecast and Analysis: GoldenEgg Hidden in Services.” The convergence of voice and data grew at acceleratedpace in 2005 and 2006.
But the forecasts are less rosy says the number cruncherwarning that IP Phone and IP Private Branch Exchange (PBX) revenue growth isset to slow down to about half the rate of 2005 and 2006, due to competitionprice squeeze.
IDC Research Director for Telecommunications. Landry Fevre,warns convergence integrators that they must not become too reliant onequipment sales revenue. “Opportunities over the next 5 years will be inmanaged convergence services, specifically in managed VoIP security, networkcapacity/support, application management, hosted voice solutions and contactcentres,” he said.
To compete in the increasingly aggressive market, equipmentvendors, ISPs, carriers, service providers and system integrators will have totarget specific industrial verticals and provide value and usage basedsolutions rather than technology solutions, says the report.
In its research, IDC finds that vendors are introducing VoIPapplications along with their IP PBX solutions to provide improved productivityand work efficiency to their customers.
“As VoIP market penetration increases and thecomplexity of deploying applications decreases we expect to see wider use ofopen standards. In addition we predict the integration of voice functionalityinto critical business applications that can be deployed out of the box,”added Fevre.
IDC expects the IP Phone and IP PBX revenue to grow at CAGR14.49% to reach A$606.76 million in 2010. The market growth will slow down from2007, at about half the 2005 and 2006 growth rates with Cisco, Avaya, Norteland Alcatel leading the way.
The total market revenue of Australian VoIP service,including Managed/Hosted VoIP and IP Centrex will increase to A$462.12 millionin 2010 at a CAGR of 39% with Telstra, Optus and a slew of smaller playersstill tuning their offerings and pricing.
As IP telephony penetration is increasing across companiesof all sizes, competition will become increasingly aggressive. Besidesproviding appropriate solutions, equipment vendors will also need to constantlycondense their margin to maintain market share.
This becomes more important if they want to lead on the SMBfront. Consequently, they need to find additional ways to generate profit, suchas VoIP application licensing fee and system upgrade services.