| June 2010 - The Insider -
Don’t think for one minute that CSPs have billing and, more particularly, ‘bill shock’ issues all to themselves. The move to ‘smart metering’ for some utility companies in the USA is proving to be a minefield. According to Wikipedia, a smart meter is an advanced meter (usually an electrical meter) that identifies consumption in more detail than a conventional meter; and optionally, but generally, communicates that information via some network back to the local utility for monitoring and billing purposes... -
I am constantly being informed of new technologies designed to generate revenue, but sometimes I hear about something that causes me to take a deep breath and say - WHY? This week’s ‘Why Would You Want That’ Award goes to an Irish software vendor that self proclaims itself as a leading global supplier of messaging and media solutions to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). This company, which will remain nameless, claims to be seeing significant interest in one of its latest Mobile Advertising offerings... -
I remember the days when Venture Capitalists (VCs) used to stalk telecoms conferences looking for software companies with potential. investing in telecoms applications was no guarantee of success but they knew that the potential market for the products had a reputation to spend up big for the ‘right stuff’. CSPs generally don’t run big, creative IT departments any more, either, so the industry relies on independent software vendors (ISVs) to produce the goods. According to analyst firm, Ovum, telecoms... -
Newspaper headlines in Australia proclaimed today that Telstra had signed a deal with NBN Co to transfer customers from its copper network onto the National Broadband Network's fibre network and share Telstra's infrastructure. Not surprisingly, a press release from Telstra was a little more muted stating it had signed a non-binding Financial Heads of Agreement to participate in the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN). The government had been seeking a commercial arrangement with... -
I guess one of the advantages of running an island nation the size of a big city with virtually no opposition is that you can make any sort of decision you like and everyone has to go along with it. However, with this level of power there is always the fear that it could be abused. Singapore is such a country but its political machine, unchanged or unchallenged, for whatever reason, over forty-five years continues to make bold, and often bleeding edge, decisions that make the rest of the world take... -
Did you know that the telecommunications industry could, single-handedly, save countries from potential bankruptcy? Here’s how it’s done. Firstly, you limit the availability of something in great demand, usually by legislation and heavy regulation (sometimes by mistake), then you hold an open auction for it that runs for weeks on end until all bidders are spent. I am talking about radio spectrum and it is tantamount to turning air into gold. Spectrum starved Indian mobile operators recently forked... -
I don’t intend to dwell on the story that Google ‘accidentally’ collected 600GB of data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in 30 countries while out taking photographs for its Street View mapping service. Nor the fact that technical details revealed in a Google audit could see the company face criminal prosecution around the world for collecting private Wi-Fi data, according British privacy organization, Privacy International. But some of this story just doesn't add up and could have repercussions... -
Please forgive me, I'm going to talk about Apple again. Yes, you've probably all heard about the iPhone 4 and how it's the thinnest, smartest, most beautiful, well-designed, remarkably constructed consumer device ever produced. And that's only what Steve Jobs had to say about it! If we can look past the hype for just a few moments, the release of the iPhone 4, whether we like it or not, is going to have a profound effect on the telecommunications industry that is potentially greater... -
I see my colleague, Stephen Fleece, beat me to the punch on this story, but I have a slightly different angle on it so please bear with me. All the signals were there and now it’s actually happening. AT&T is the first of what will certainly be a flurry of operators that will start phasing out those yummy ‘all you can eat’ packages for mobile data. AT&T will no longer offer new customers its unlimited Internet data (UD) plan for smart phones and iPads. This move coincides with the imminent... -
I must confess I know little about Kansas, except that it’s the place that Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz came from. Apparently, it’s also the place where the foremost research in mobile phone user habits emanate from, according to research at Kansas State University. Esther Swilley, an assistant professor of marketing at this fine establishment was quoted saying that cell phone users were leery of putting banking accounts, identification and other sensitive information onto a device that gets left...
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