2005 June | Mark Evans

Everything You Wanted to Know About VOIP

June 30th, 2005 | No Comments | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition, VOIP Services, Competition/Skype, VOIP Services, Competition/Vonage

Andy Abramson picked up on an excellent story on Slate that provides a comprehensive looking at VOIP service providers. It looks at most of the major players - Skype, VoiceWing, Packet8, Vonage, CallVantage - and grades them on sound quality, reliability, international calling, portability and bells and whistles. AT&T's CallVantage was the winner while BroadVoice trailed the pack by a wide margin. Perhaps an enterprising telephony reporter can do the same thing for service providers in Canada.

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Rogers' Telephony Plans: Underwhelming

June 30th, 2005 | 3 Comments | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition

Now that I've escaped the Nortel AGM, I've had a chance to take a look at Rogers' cable telephony plans. They may be financially disciplined but they're underwhelming. Aside from the fact none of them include LD, there are no Web-based features such as voice-mail to e-mail, call me/follow me, and online account management. If you want LD, it costs 8 cents a minute in Canada, which is premium pricing, which is higher than what Rogers' Sprint Canada unit charges. Rogers' new plans are just regular local phone service provided by a cableco, rather than Bell. Nevertheless, UBS Securities expects Rogers will have 30,000 customers by the end of 2005 and 286,000 by the end of next year.
So how will Bell respond? It could be aggressive and highlight the fact there is little difference between its service and what's being offered by Rogers. Bell could also do nothing, and let Rogers win some market share as part of a plan to convince the CRTC to deregulate the local market. And/or Bell could roll out its own VOIP service with the standard bells and whistles. I suspect Rogers will probably win over customers who already have other services as part of a bundle. Then, there will be the Bell-haters, who may already by Sprint customers.
Let the wars start - albeit one that does not involve a price war…yet.

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Voxilla Comes to Canada

June 30th, 2005 | 1 Comment | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition

Voxilla, which offers Internet telephony equipment and industry news, has decided to open for business north of the border - in Vancouver to be exact. Voxilla Canada's new online store is selling everything from IP phones and wireless gear to headsets and VOIP adaptors- and doing it in Canadian dollars with free shipping. “We realized that there are a lot of people in Canada who are interested in the products Voxilla retails as well as the support services we offer,” said Paul Crick, Voxilla Canada's president. “While they previously were willing to pay a premium in shipping for them we felt that there was a better way to service them.” Given Rogers Communications just launched its cable telephony service, Voxilla's timing couldn't have been better.

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What Motivates Nortel's CEO?

June 29th, 2005 | 3 Comments | Posted in Nortel Networks

The more I listen to Nortel Networks CEO Bill Owens, the more I believe he likes being king. He enjoys leading a major multi-national company, much like he must have liked being a U.S. Navy Admiral. Indications he is reluctant to give up the reigns to Gary Daichendt or anyone else any time soon are become increasingly apparent. If Owens makes some bonus money and a few million dollars along the way before he retires, he'll be happy but I really believe he's more motivated by having the corner office and the respect of being a big-time CEO. Here's a quote from Owens from the AGM that illustrates my point: “I like being the CEO of this company. I was in the military for 30 years and I did not make a lot of money. I was dedicated to that, I am dedicated to this.” By the way, Owens said he's a healthy, enthusiastic 65-year-old who plans to stick around as CEO until it is “time for someone [else] to lead the company forward.” In the meantime, he's looking to hire a new COO to replace Gary Daichendt.

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Rogers's Unveils Cable Telephony Plan

June 29th, 2005 | 4 Comments | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition

Anyone looking for a deal on local telephone service from Rogers Communications will be disappointed. The cableco unveiled its much-anticipated service today featuring three plans:
- an standard plan for C$29.95 - includes local calling and one calling feature;
- an enhanced Plan for C$37.95 - includes local calling and three calling features;
- an ultimate Plan for C$41.95 - includes local calling and six calling features.
None of the plans include long-distance service. Existing Rogers customers who sign a two-year contract will see prices reduced to $25.26, $32.26 and $35.66 respectively.
The plans should warm the hearts of analysts who want to see Rogers take a disciplined approach to pricing. It should also please Vonage and Primus, which should still be able to operate quite comfortably in the discount segment of the market. If you're a Bell Canada customer, jumping to Rogers may depend on how much you like calling features. The standard plan seems to be a bit of a wash given you can get a Bell local line for about $23 and one feature for $6 to $8. As you move to the enhanced and ultimate plans, moving to Rogers seems more palatable. I'm puzzled by the absence of any LD given it is a standard feature in most VOIP and cable telephony plans. On a positive note, Rogers' entry into the market should give the VOIP and cable telephony markets a serious jump-start.

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More from Nortel's AGM

June 29th, 2005 | No Comments | Posted in Nortel Networks

It sounds like Nortel may be looking to move out of its large corporate headquarters facility in Brampton. Nortel CEO Bill Owens said the facility is “too big” and the company is considering a number of options, including sharing the space. He also seemed to indicate Nortel could explore the idea of moving the HQs to Ottawa because that is where management likes to take guests given the extensive R&D activities up there. By the way, we're now 2.5 hours into the AGM, and in the midst of Q&A/venting from a lengthy string of shareholders. Looks like this could go on for another hour or two.

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Blogging from the Nortel AGM

June 29th, 2005 | 2 Comments | Posted in Nortel Networks

It feels like the calm before the storm. The AGM doesn't start for another hour but shareholders are already starting to trickle in - I guess to secure the best view of Nortel CEO Bill Owens' keynote. The company is expecting as many as 1,500 people to attend but the PR folks suspect some people may decide not to come after reading newspaper reports the AGM will could last a long time. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that Nortel may have an issued a press release last week warning about the length to deter the curious and the tourists from checking things out. As for the meeting, Nortel is alloting three minutes for each of the 11 shareholder proposals on the agenda. Shareholder questions will be limited to three minutes, although there apparently will not be a cap on the number of questions.

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Rogers' Telephony Plans to be Unveiled Today

June 29th, 2005 | 1 Comment | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition

After much speculation, Rogers Communications is holding a press conference this afternoon to talk about its telephony plans. While the company may not roll out service on July 1, it is meeting the “deadline” set by CEO Ted Rogers who want the move into local telephony to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Rogers Wireless. I'm not sure if the noise coming from Vonage's Canadian headquarters is champagne being popped now that Rogers will help educate the market about VOIP, or if it's screams of panic now that a major cableco into getting into the game in Ontario. My take is Rogers will aggressively go after existing customers who already have two service (high-speed, cable or wireless) and look for the low-hanging fruit before it pursues the mass market. Of course, if disgruntled Bell customers want to sign up for the service, which may be sold for about $40 a month, that's fine too.

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Nortel's Big Day

June 29th, 2005 | No Comments | Posted in Nortel Networks

If you're watching TV this morning, I'm appearing on CBC NewsWorld at 8:45 a.m. to talk about what's likely to happen at the AGM today. The CBC is going to have a big broadcasting truck at the Toronto Congress Centre, which should give you a sense of how newsworthy the AGM will be. For technology/telecom reporters, this is our Super Bowl. I'm hoping it will be a lively affair given this is the first time in two years investors/shareholders will have a chance to question management. It would be a major disappointment if shareholders allow Nortel quickly to through the procedural motions. I've got a feeling, however, the meeting may be like the AGM in Halifax in 2002, which lasted nearly five hours as shareholder activist Robert Verdun followed Robert's Rules to interogate CEO Frank Dunn. Nortel expects the meeting to be lengthy but doesn't plan to have any breaks, although it will serve coffee and muffins. Perhaps the company believes the lack of a break will “encourage” shareholders to quicken the pace.

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U.S. CableCos Rules the Roost

June 28th, 2005 | No Comments | Posted in VOIP Services, Competition, VOIP Services, Competition/Skype

I'm little late to the party but the U.S. court Brand X decision allowing cablecos to not share their networks could be a major blow to independent VOIP service providers such as Vonage and Lingo. It is not inconceivable to think cablecos offering their own flavor of VOIP will block the traffic of rivals. Frankly, this scenario - if it materializes - stinks because totally goes against the grain of the power of Web. Instead of offering a highway to deliver services and information to the masses, the Web could devolve into a series of private networks with “walled garden” applications/services. Sure, the carriers and cablecos have made huge investments to develop high-speed networks but they have the advantage of customer relationships and a steady revenue stream from subscribers paying for high-speed service. If the U.S. cablecos go down this path, perhaps the carriers can counter-attack by providing Vonage, et al with more love in deals that benefit both sides (co-marketing, revenue sharing, joint ventures, white-label branding, etc.). In Canada, the CRTC has extracted a promise from Bell and Telus to not block third-party traffic.

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