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Archive for December, 2004

2005: Year of the Quadruple Play

Consumers looking for a four-part package of services that includes high-speed Internet, cellphone, local telephony and television services will have a larger number of choices in 2005.
Rogers Communications Inc. will enter the fray in July with the launch of Internet telephony service, while Telus Corp. will get into the game with the launch of a [...]

Vonages Wins!

Vonage scored a major victory today when a federal court ruled Minnesota cannot regulate/treat the company as a regular telephone service provider. The decision comes on the heels of the FCC's ruling that Internet telephony falls within its mandate - not the states. The federal court decision is just another chapter in the regulatory process [...]

CRTC's 2005 Mandate

As Canada's telecommunications regulator heads into 2005, it faces a litany of challenges at a time when the $32-billion industry is poised to go through extraordinary change.
Among the most pressing issues the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission must address are whether/how to regulate Internet telephony; finding a replacement for David Colville, who retired recently as [...]

Net2Phone

Does anyone remember Net2Phone, which was offering Internet telephony - the PC to PC variety - long before VOIP became the flavor du jour? Well, the company is apparently alive and well with a new and improved strategy focused on providing VOIP services to cablecos.
Today, Net2Phone said its service has been expanded to more than [...]

Who's Zooming Who?

An Australian outfit called ARNnet has put together a list of the 50 most powerful people in networking. Not surprisingly, Cisco's John Chambers leads the pack. What's surprising is Nortel CEO Bill Owens comes in at #40 - ahead of Vonage's Jeff Citron and Google's Eric Schmidt.
Clearly, the folks at ARNnet must have indulged in [...]

What's What in VOIP

The New York Times' Thomas Fitzgerald weighs in on VOIP with a lengthy article on the basics of the service and who's it. For people who closely follow the industry, there is nothing eye-opening here but it does offer a broad overlook at who's out there. I'm a big fan of the NYT's technology coverage, [...]

AT&T Hikes Prices

With little happening in the business world - other than the same-old,
same-old post-Xmas shopping frenzy - AT&T quietly unveiled higher prices for
its CallVantage service. According to PhonePlusmag.com, AT&T is rolling out
CallVantage Plus, which will provide nine additional phone numbers for $7.49
a month. Each number will come with their own set of features such as
call-forwarding and [...]

Economics of VOIP

In response to a comment about VOIP being a US$450-billion “black hole” for global carriers due to increase competition, it is important to remember there cannot be a completely “free ride” for the technology.
As VOIP becomes more widespread, competition will naturally cause prices to fall. That's great for residential and business consumers, who will see [...]

Wireless Data Surging

With the wireless carriers' emphasis - some would say obsession - with ARPU, the growth of the wireless data market is proving to be a huge boost to the industry. According to the Yankee Group, there were nearly 47 million wireless data users in the U.S. by mid-2004, compared with 29 million a year earlier. [...]

VOIP: A Black Hole?

VOIP has been described as a lot of things, but is it a “black hole”? According to Nadahl Shocair, CEO with DeTeWe UK, it's exactly that because it was will “take away” 30% to 40% of the US$450-billion of cash flow generated by global incumbent carriers over the next thee years.
Shocair believes VOIP will hack [...]

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