China Mobile launches new daily data roaming package (Asia)
China Mobile, the world’s leading mobile phone operator, has reportedly launched a new daily data roaming tariff package for its users. The company had earlier introduced a package offering reduced international roaming tariffs for voice, text messages and mobile data across 23 countries and regions.
According to reports, currently, the new tariff plan has been launched in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Thailand, and is largely aimed at international travelers using their mobile handset to surf the internet. As per sources, customers subscribing to the daily data tariff package can access unlimited roaming data in specific operator networks for a daily fixed charge while roaming in any of the aforesaid places. Further, reports suggest that the per day charge for the service will be around $14 in Hong Kong as compared to $15.3 payable at the other places.
EarthLink completes acquisition of STS Telecom
EarthLink, Inc., a leading IP infrastructure and services company, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of STS Telecom, a privately-held business providing voice, data and internet services to small to medium-sized business customers in Florida and Georgia.
For 2011 EarthLink expects STS Telecom to contribute approximately $15 to $18 million to EarthLink revenues and for the transaction to be accretive on a free cash flow basis. EarthLink will integrate STS Telecom into its newly established “EarthLink Business” division.
“We are very impressed with the experience level and processes STS Telecom built to sell and support a hosted VoIP platform,” stated Rolla P. Huff, EarthLink’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We will leverage this platform and the talented people at STS to launch a nationwide hosted VoIP product for EarthLink Business over our ubiquitous IP network. In addition, STS Telecom’s customer base overlaps with our fiber network in South Florida so this acquisition is an opportunity to layer a growing and profitable revenue stream onto the EarthLink Business southeast fiber network.”
Mark Amarant, Chief Executive Officer of STS Telecom, added, “STS has successfully provided a Hosted PBX solution to small and medium-sized businesses on our proprietary platform since 2005. I am pleased that EarthLink will be able to scale our capability of offering a complete hosted voice and data solution to businesses with solid average revenue per customer (ARPU) to a national level. The completion of this transaction is an extremely positive next step for our company, our employees and our customers.”
Bell wins $41mn federal telecom contract (Canada)
Bell Canada has won a multiyear contract to maintain and support the telecommunications network that connects more than 200 Canadian government offices abroad.
The deal between DFAIT and Bell Canada is worth more than $42.21 million and will run for five years, with one two-year optional extension.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s calls the multipurpose integrated telecommunications network (MITNET), its digital backbone.â€
Carrying voice, video, data and providing Internet access, the network links Canadian government offices in more than 110 countries as well as various DFAIT offices inside the country.
According to solicitation documents, as per the agreement, Bell will provide telecommunications services, as-and-when-requested hardware and software, maintenance, support, and professional services.
IBM introduces new services for communications service providers to build high quality multi-play networks
IBM today announced new services for mobile operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), communication service providers and cable companies transforming their network infrastructures to address exploding data demands while launching their next generation voice, video, data and mobile services.
With a crowded marketplace and increased price volatility, subscribers expect their providers to offer the latest cutting edge services — and furthermore, they expect superior quality of service, security and reliability. To compete, communications service providers need data and application aware networks that support new innovative consumer services and the ability to support advanced analytics in their network to ensure high quality and reduced costs.
IBM’s Communications Service Provider Network Infrastructure Services tackles the challenges in building advanced networks by enabling providers to develop new revenue generating services while controlling costs. More specifically, IBM’s services provide the professional services for solution planning, migration, architecture, detailed design, project planning, deployment, and end-to-end multi-vendor infrastructures.
Major French communication service provider, Bouygues Telecom, worked with IBM to consolidate its multiple networks — voice, data, TV and mobile — into one high end multi-vendor backbone with advanced policy control features to support quadruple play. This solution gives Bouygues Telecom the agility needed for their daily operations and provides to their consumers a higher level of quality and availability with dynamic network backup.
IBM delivered Bouygues Telecom an end to end network solution by providing services from high level design to daily maintenance,†said Jean Paul Arzel, Network Director, Bouygues Telecom. They worked with us to integrate solutions from third-parties such as BootEdge from ActivNetworks to compress and optimize data traffic over 3G to save bandwidth. Their understanding of our constantly evolving industry and the unique challenges we face has been key to the success of the project.â€
We have built worldwide expertise based on nearly a decade of helping clients build next generation network infrastructures and new services,†said Laurence, Guihard-Joly, VP, Integrated Communications & Security Services, IBM. This portfolio is the result of that experience and our ongoing investments in new solution capabilities such as mobile broadband, video distribution, cloud and the service assurance monitoring infrastructure that is the foundation for deploying the advanced analytics required by our clients.â€
IBM works with the top 1,000 communications service providers worldwide, including all 20 of the largest global providers.
Americans overpay $336 on wireless bills every year
A price-comparison website has claimed that US consumers pay an average of US$336 per year, too much for their cell phone service, by miscalculating their use of voice minutes, texts and data. It was found that people are more likely to overestimate their anytime minutes and texts, but underestimate their data usage.
Consumers are therefore purchasing wireless plans that don’t actually fit their needs and in doing so, are giving an estimated extra $79 million to wireless companies each year.
The company claims that the discrepancy likely stems from opaque bills, where vague fees get buried within utilization breakdowns.
According to sources, despite the best efforts from the FCC and the carriers to create transparency in wireless fees, they’ve found that people are becoming even more confused about how to right-size their cell phone plans. While tiered pricing creates more choice, it makes it paramount for people to accurately assess their phone usage. Even though data usage is surging, the majority of wireless customers are still throwing away money by getting plans with too much data capacity.
As per studies conducted from December 2009 to December 2010, it was found that more than 230,000 individuals are seeking advice on wireless plans. They found that over that time frame, anytime minutes increased by 229% over the last year (from 193 minutes in 2009 to 634 minutes in 2010), while text message usage increased by 170% over the last year (from 660 messages in 2009 to 1782 messages in 2010).
Less surprising, thanks to the rise in smartphone sales, is that the data usage increased by 94% over the last year (from 64 MB in 2009 to 124 MB in 2010). However, people assume that they need 54MB of data per month,but they are actually using 81MB, which is still considerably less than the current tiered data options which start at 150 MB.
While most people pay too much upfront by overestimating their need for voice and text messages, their underestimates on mobile data use leave them open to excess usage fees afterwards.
UAE operators have the capability to secure data and information: TRA
As per Director General of the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, protecting data and information is no longer an easy task because of the highly diversified and developed hacking methods. But according to him the telecom operators are capable of protecting the security of money transfer transactions.
He added that they have to keep pace with the fast-paced cyber developments….protecting cyber security for governmental departments and private businesses is a top priority for TRA and that is why the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) was set up.
Black Hat, being held for the first time in the Middle East, has brought together IT security experts from around the world, for a series of training sessions and briefings on new developments in the sector.
Vodafone introduces Freedom Account with monthly limit plan (Qatar)
Vodafone Qatar has introduced Freedom Accounts with a Monthly Limit. Freedom Accounts with a Monthly Limit give customers the ability to stay in control of what they spend each month by selecting their monthly limit plan.
This plans will help customers as there would be no hidden cost for customers who choose a monthly limit as they have a new plan added to their Freedom Account every month (30-day period) – and if they need more credit they can simply load a new prepaid Red plan. Freedom Accounts with Monthly Limit plans start from US$5.49 per month.
Freedom Accounts will offer customers great value, flexibility, and put them in control with benefits including: Great Savings wherein users can save up to 35% savings on all services – local and international calls, roaming, data, SMS and MMS. Plus users who will be registered on a Freedom Account will receive free Vodafone minutes. The bigger the plan the more free minutes they get. It will also offer the ultimate in flexibility, with no rules about how customers spend their credit. In addition to Freedom Accounts with a Monthly Limit, Freedom Accounts are also available with No Limits. A Freedom Account with No Limits means that a new plan is automatically added to the customers Freedom Account as soon as their previous plan is finished (or every 30 days, if the plan is not finished). Freedom Accounts with No Limits ensure that customers are always connected.
According to Cindy Moussa, Head of Consumer Marketing, Vodafone Qatar, Freedom Accounts with a Monthly Limit and No Limits give customers fantastic value with up to 35% savings. This saving applies across all services the customer uses. In addition to this saving all customers get great Vodafone to Vodafone minutes for FREE to use in the ever-growing Vodafone community. Freedom Accounts are a great offer for all customers who want flexibility and control with great value.
According to Dione Meyer, Marketing Manager, Vodafone Qatar, there’s never been a better time to choose a Vodafone Freedom Account, with great value local and international calls, free mobile Facebook and an extensive choice of exclusive mobiles to choose from including the iPhone 4.
US$2,000 Phone Bills Add to Carrier inquiry of Verizon, AT&T
Liz Szalay, a mother of a teenager was shocked when she saw her 14-year-old son’s phone Verizon Wireless bill. He’d run up charges of $2,000 over two months for searching and downloading songs.
According to a secretary in Niles, Michigan, she would never have allowed her son to accrue such charges, if she had known. She withdrew money from her 401(k) retirement plan to cover the expense. What she did to prevent this from happening in the future was have her Internet access completely blocked by Verizon, but not before they made off with a boatload of money.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should make it compulsory for carriers to caution customers before they get hit with high bills. Next week, the agency will consider requiring companies to alert customers when they approach limits on their contracts. Carriers including Verizon Wireless have fought against such requirements, claiming that they already give customers ways to monitor their usage.
Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, is also under investigation by the FCC for charging 15 million customers incorrectly for data. According to the company, it will refund the charges, incurred when software inside its phones received or sent signals or customers were mistakenly charged for Internet access. According to a source, the cost to the company will be about $50 million.
According to the company, data and talk time beyond a customer’s plan is generally more expensive. Verizon customers can use unlimited amounts of data on their phones if they sign up for a $30-a-month plan. Without a plan, the company’s customers pay $1.99 per megabyte of data so those who surf the Web regularly or download songs like Szalay’s son can pay substantially more. Customers who stream music for five minutes a day can use 183 megabytes of data in a month, which would cost people without a data plan $364. Five minutes a day spent downloading games can use 440 megabytes.
As per Michael Robinson, a senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, customer complaints about billing have attracted more attention to the industry this year, and the carriers are risking a perception that they’re trying to take advantage of consumers if they don’t communicate better. Any time as the company have the opportunity to reach the customer, they should take that. Looking at the opportunity to reach out the customers is a good thing.
