Orange Business Services increases video services in cloud (France)
Orange Business Services to expand its portfolio of video services with Telepresence Pass, a new cloud offering soft, flexible and economical for companies. Telepresence is a Pass offering video services simple to implement, and perennial with multiple benefits.
Telepresence Pass provides businesses a simple way to capitalize on the benefits of videoconferencing systems “immersive” in-house and externally with partners, customers and suppliers. Pass Telepresence is an underwritten offering opex mode, which allows companies to significantly reduce their material and human investment.
Vivek Badrinath, Executive Director of Orange Business Services, said that their ambition is to provide businesses across the video, without limitation. He added that the key is to offer companies a wide range of video services so they can choose the solution that best meets their business needs.
Telepresence Pass adds to the complete and comprehensive portfolio of video services in Orange Business Services. It relies on a network supporting efficient, high on the experience of Orange Business Services in the field of videoconferencing and on a global strategy oriented businesses, allowing them to make the most of their investments in videoconferencing.
A network ready for Telepresence with guarantees unmatched capacity, service quality and coverage , the network quality is the success of the video conferencing experience. Experience Immersive Telepresence is open in 21 additional countries and continued progress of the network Orange Business Services offers a service availability of 99.95 percent.
Nicolas Roy, Director of Network Solutions Business Unit, Orange Business Services, said that of all the applications, the video is the most demanding bandwidth and quality of real-time service. Further, the group continues to invest about $ 990 million per year in its international backbone network and related IT infrastructure so that our customers can benefit from a level of coverage, bandwidth and optimal quality and an experience Exceptional video.
Interoperability: operators, terminals and access type interoperability conditions the ability of firms to collaborate with their entire ecosystem, with any type of equipment and through all the interconnected networks. Orange had already established agreements with Telepresence Interoperability four major operators (AT&T, BT, Telefonica and Tata) and announces it has signed a new contract with Verizon Enterprise Solutions. Orange also confirms its determination and leadership in taking the chair of the consortium OVCC (Open Visual Collaboration Consortium), to promote the development of uses of videoconference with increasing interoperability.
Flexibility of service management and customer support Orange Business Services offers a full range of offers video services, offering ease of use and management for users and for IT managers. Every IT department can indeed choose a management flexible and responsive to their expectations – the full support internally to the delivery of turnkey solutions and fully managed by Orange Business Services. Users have a reservation service video conferencing simple and ongoing support 24/7.
BT to offer cloud services to Australia’s financial exchange (UK, Australia)
Telecom operator BT has said that it will offer cloud services to Australia’s Financial and Energy Exchange Group Ltd so as to provide a new and flexible way for global market participants to access its exchange.
By joining the BT Radianz Cloud community – the world’s largest secure networked financial community – FEX will be able to offer easier access to the rapidly developing Asian energy and commodity markets, linking local growth with global demand.
The deal reflects the desire to increase Australia’s presence as a financial centre in the Asian region, following the introduction of new government regulations in March 2010. The rules are designed to make financial markets more innovative and efficient, supporting the development of Australia as a leading financial centre and providing a platform to attract new venues such as FEX.
Thomas Price, CEO of FEX, said that their service providers need to be able to offer them capabilities that are compliant, efficient, secure and fast. BT leads the way in providing financial services cloud connectivity. They help extend their global reach and gain greater access to the community that they need to attract new clients and grow the business.
Tom Regent, president, global banking & financial markets, BT, said that the global nature of the exchange sector and the need to work quickly, securely and compliantly across multiple time zones means that there is a growing value in exchanges – and their customers – connecting in a single community. BT´s depth and breadth in the exchange community mean that over 70 per cent of equity trades are conducted on exchanges connected to the BT Radianz Cloud .
BT to revamp internet TV service with social media (UK)
Global telecommunications services company BT, is planning to launch a new internet TV service, offering users a more personalized experience and social media elements in an attempt to compete in the pay TV market, according to a report by FT.
The reports states that the new service, which is likely to be introduced in the coming weeks, will bring in enhanced interactivity owing to its extensive library of on-demand content. The BT Vision pay-TV service offers sports and films online enabling the group to earn additional revenue.
As per the report, Ian Livingston, CEO, BT, has said that they were focused on bringing true interactivity to the TV set, which is the most watched screen in the house. He added that it means on-demand services; it means the availability of buying things as you do it; to have personalised services; to know what your friends like and what they think of it.
Voluntary code-of-practice for UK networks
A number of the UK’s internet providers and mobile networks have signed up to a voluntary code-of-practice that will govern how they advertise their internet services to customers.
Together these companies – BSkyB, BT, O2, TalkTalk, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone – account for 90% of all fixed-line broadband customers and 60% of all mobile customers in the UK.
In the mobile arena, Orange and T-Mobile are not a part of the agreement.
The new code will ensure that consumers have access to more easily comparable information about the traffic management practices of different broadband providers. For the first time, information will be provided in a common format to explain what traffic management techniques are used, when and with what impact for each broadband service currently marketed by the code’s signatories.
Antony Walker, Chief Executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group, which facilitated this voluntary industry code of practice stated that there has been more heat than light in the debate about traffic management over recent years. This commitment to provide clear and comparable information in a common format is very important. It will not only help to ensure consumers are better informed about the services they buy and use, but will also provide a clearer picture for policy makers of the way in which traffic management is actually used in the UK market.
The code of practice will also take into account any Net Neutrality issues if they crop up in the UK.
Walker added that consumers need to be able to make informed choices about the services they buy while the policy makers need to be able to make informed decisions about the policy and regulatory framework they set. This new commitment provides an essential building block for getting both of these things right.
The code will be piloted in 2011 by the signatories and its implementation will be reviewed in early 2012 to fine tune the approach. Interested parties, such as consumer groups, will be invited to provide feedback as part of the review process. It is also hoped that more ISPs will sign up to the code following its launch.
The network’s first step will be to publish a common Key Facts Indicator (KFI) table, summarizing the traffic management practices they use for each broadband product they currently market. This will be available on ISPs’ websites by the end of June 2011.
Ofcom wants BT to reduce wholesale broadband product prices (UK)
BT has suffered a setback as the telecoms regulator Ofcom proposed cuts in the price of its wholesale products. Ofcom wants BT to reduce the price of its wholesale broadband products in order to improve internet access in rural areas.
The regulator also drew a lower-than-expected estimate of BT’s cost of capital the assumption of what it costs BT to fund its business. According to analysts, it could cut BT’s earnings by up to 8%.
Ofcom is aiming to ensure that broadband prices fall for consumers in rural areas and, potentially, to increase download speeds available to them. To achieve this, it is proposing that BT should cut the price of wholesale broadband products in parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, together with certain English rural areas.
These areas where BT is the sole provider of wholesale broadband services: mainly places not covered by infrastructure owned by Virgin Media, TalkTalk or British Sky Broadcasting. In those areas, Ofcom is proposing annual cuts in the price of BT’s wholesale broadband products of between 11% and 15% over the next three years, after inflation.
Ofcom’s calculations of its price controls for BT are partly based on its estimate of the company’s cost of capital.
It proposed a lower cost of capital for BT Openreach, the subsidiary that provides the company’s rivals with access to its fixed-line connections running to homes and offices.
According to BT, Ofcom’s proposed cost of capital for BT Openreach could reduce annual wholesale revenue by low tens of millions of pounds. It added that the regulator’s price controls for its wholesale broadband products should strike the right balance between control and incentives to invest in rural areas.
BT to offer 41 market towns super-fast broadband? (UK)
UK’s fixed line incumbent, BT has revealed the 41 towns that will benefit from the next phase of its high speed fibre broadband launch.
Almost 300,000 business and consumers in these areas, which include Sandwich in the South East, Ripley in the East Midlands and Dalkeith in Scotland, will be able to access broadband at download speeds of up to 40Mbps over the fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) network from spring 2012.
The 41 market towns join the 785 exchange locations across the country that BT has revealed under its fibre rollout plan to date. These locations serve around eight million premises in total, around half of BT’s total fibre deployment plan.
The company is investing up to US$3.9 billion to deliver fibre broadband to approximately two thirds of UK homes and businesses, subject to an acceptable environment for investment. Openreach, BT’s local network business, is responsible for the deployment of fibre to these areas. The technology will be available on an open, wholesale basis to all companies providing broadband services.
BT service may lead for two-tier web (UK)
BT is all set to sell a new service that giving broadband providers the tools to create a two-tier internet, where some video content would reach consumers in a better condition than other material.
The service planed by BT’s wholesale unit gives broadband providers the opportunity to charge content owners for high quality distribution of their video products to consumers.
BT is seeking to capitalize on the fast-growing volume of video being downloaded over fixed-line and mobile infrastructure, led by services such as Google’s YouTube and the BBC’s iPlayer.
A new network built by BT should ensure that bandwidth-hungry video can be streamed to consumers without interruption, even at peak web usage times.
BT is starting to give its retail unit, and other telecoms companies, the chance to use the network by selling a wholesale service called Content Connect. BT Retail is using Content Connect to supply the company’s television customers with the BBC iPlayer.
According to sources, by relying on BT’s network, broadband providers should be able to reduce their costs partly by cutting spending on backhaul connections between telephone exchanges and their core infrastructure.
BT’s network operates by placing servers relatively close to homes and offices, so that data traffic travels short distances. It means video has a much better chance of reaching consumers without interruption.
According to Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, BT’s plans have the potential to end up with a two-tier internet, with customers increasingly tied to bundled services from broadband providers, and a reduction in competition across the open internet.
Ofcom rules BT infringed competition law over the pricing of its wholesale calls product (UK)
U.K. communications regulator Ofcom has issued a ‘Statement of Objections’ to BT Group PLC setting out its view that BT has infringed competition law over the pricing of its Wholesale Calls product from July 2008 to April 2009, a claim the telecom giant strongly disproves.
According to Ofcom, BT engaged in a margin squeeze by setting the prices charged to other providers for its wholesale calls products at a level that wouldn’t have allowed equally efficient operators to cover their costs.
According to BT, it refutes, in the strongest terms, any allegation that we applied incorrect pricing to their wholesale calls product between July 2008 and April 2009.
Ofcom stated that BT will now have an opportunity to respond to Ofcom’s proposed findings before Ofcom decides whether competition law has been infringed.
BT added that they will, of course, participate fully in the Ofcom investigation over the coming months and defend their pricing vigorously.
The regulator stated other communications providers use BT’s Wholesale Calls product to offer calls at a retail level.
This is the latest step in Ofcom’s investigation following complaints from THUS PLC–now part of Cable and Wireless Worldwide PLC and Gamma Telecom–which submitted a complaint in June 2008 under the Competition Act 1998 regarding BT’s behavior in the wholesale calls market.
The wholesale calls market involves large communications providers providing wholesale fixed line telecoms services to other, smaller communications providers. They then provide telecoms services to residential and business customers.
TalkTalk unveils fibre add-on option (UK)
TalkTalk is reportedly planning to offer its existing customers the option of boosting their downlink speeds to up to 40Mbps via BT’s fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) network from January 2011.
TalkTalk has quietly unveiled a new add-on booster pack known as Fibre Optic Broadband that for a monthly charge will allow its customers access to the higher speed connections.
The company also states that it will guarantee a minimum download speed of 15Mbps, but it has yet to confirm full pricing details, either for monthly charges or setup, while uplink speeds have also not been revealed.
BT?warned over broadband funds
Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary has warned BT and stated that the telecoms company will not get a blank cheque from the government to extend its high-speed broadband network.
According to the analysts, BT was in pole position to secure the largest portion of the US$1.30 billion of public funds the government is making available to ensure rural areas do not miss high-speed internet access.
Virgin Media has expressed its interest in tapping some of the US$1.30 billion that will come from the BBC license fee over the next seven years. Some smaller companies that build superfast broadband networks, such as Vtesse Networks and Geo, are also potentially interested in using some of the US$1.30 billion.
According to BT’s last month statement, it might be able to extend its high-speed broadband network to 90% of UK homes if the company could use the US$1.30 billion. BT is spending US$3.90 billion on its network to reach two-thirds of homes by 2015. According to Virgin, it was important the US$1.30 billion was not simply used to extend BT’s network.
However as per Ian Watt, analyst at Enders Analysis, he expected BT to be the company that secures the largest portion of the US$1.30 billion, partly because it was best placed to provide significant additional funds of it’s own to expand superfast broadband to rural areas.
TalkTalk and British Sky Broadcasting, the other big operators in the broadband market, are unlikely to bid for any of the US$1.30 billion.
Mr Hunt on Monday had unveiled proposals for every community in the UK to be within reach of superfast broadband infrastructure based on optical fibre by 2015. The fibre networks BT and Virgin are building are largely focused on towns and cities. Mr Hunt outlined plans for a fibre hub in every community, partly financed through the US$1.30 billion. The government hopes local consortiums potentially made up of councils and telecoms companies could bid for some of the US$1.30 billion to build the fibre hubs.
According to Mr Hunt, they are talking to local authorities, people like BT, Virgin, TalkTalk, Sky. . . to see who comes up with solutions. They will back the best ones.
