Telecom, Telephone, and Communications News

I've said it before and I'll say it again, competition is good. It leads to lower prices and technical innovations for the consumer, and keeps the telcos on their toes.

But the field should be level. The incumbent telephone companies should be able to compete on equal footing with the CLEC's. That's why the CRTC in Canada should pay heed to Bell Canada's petition to them:

Bell Canada Calls on CRTC to Lift Ban on Local Service Promotions

OTTAWA, March 11 -- Bell Canada today called on the CanadianRadio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to lift its suspension of promotional offers linked to local phone service, a move that would deliver to Canadians the benefits of lower prices and more competition.

In its submission to the CRTC, Bell highlights a November 2004 broadcasting decision that acknowledges promotions are in the public interest. As part of that decision, the Commission reaffirmed an earlier view that promotional offers are a legitimate business practice regardless of how competitive a particular cable television market is.

"Lifting the suspension of phone company local service promotions would be in the best interests of Canadian consumers and businesses," said Mirko Bibic, Chief, Regulatory Affairs, Bell Canada. "Competitors, including cable companies, are free to offer promotions as they see fit. Lifting the suspension would allow Bell to offer promotions on the same basis as competitors, and the result would be lower prices and increased competition for customers."

The CRTC prohibited local service promotions and special winback offers from Bell and Canada's other incumbent phone companies over two years ago, announcing at that time that it was "temporarily" suspending consideration of any such applications.

Read the full story at Bell Canada's web site

Good for BCE. The CRTC hopefuly, will take action on this. Competition means competition accross the board. The cable companies (see Rogers) have had there way with the CRTC for long enough. Come on guy's, level the playing field. It is good for consumers, the people you are supposed to be looking out for. Pay heed to what is happening in the States.

BellSouth Signs 100th Commercial Agreement Allowing Competitors to use Elements of BellSouth Network

ATLANTA -- BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today announced the company has signed 100 commercial wholesale local voice platform agreements with its competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) customers. These agreements allow CLECs to offer telecommunications services by leasing portions of BellSouth's network at commercially negotiated rates. These 100 agreements cover more than 530,000 access lines served by CLECs in BellSouth's region. CLECs doing business in the BellSouth territory have approximately 2.7 million lines in service using the complete platform of unbundled network elements (UNE-P).

The Federal Communications Commission earlier this year brought an end to the requirement that incumbent telephone companies like BellSouth lease the entire platform of network elements to competitors at below-cost prices. Those new rules went into effect today.

"The end of government-managed pricing, and the signing of commercial agreements with CLECs, brings much needed stability to the competitive telecommunications industry," said Rex Adams, BellSouth President - Interconnection Services. "We will continue to work with our CLEC customers to offer them the world-class service that BellSouth is recognized for. We want their business and we will continue to earn it."

Ericsson to share vision of Mobile Triple Play, converged networks and mobile content at CTIA Wireless 2005

Ericsson, the world's leading telecom supplier, will share its MobileTriple Play vision and demonstrate its high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO capabilities and its IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) during the CTIA Wireless 2005 show March14-16 in New Orleans. With presentations and demonstrations at its exhibition booth (#3545) and other activities during the week, Ericsson will highlight how it is constantly driving innovation and enabling growth in the industry by co-creating winning solutions with its customers.

Read the full story on Ericsson at CTIA Wireless 2005

I think I found my next project...

Upgrades with EDGE, R4 Technologies Expected to Reduce Costs, Enable Advanced Wireless Data Services

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago, Limited (TSTT) is upgrading and expanding its wireless infrastructure with advanced third generation (3G) wireless solutions from Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT]. The project is expected to significantly expand coverage and improve quality of wireless voice and data services.

Under the terms of an agreement estimated at more than US$50 million over two years, Nortel will expand and upgrade TSTT’s GSM/GPRS wireless network, deploying both core and access equipment, including base stations and switching. Nortel will also deploy an EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) solution from Nortel that will boost capacity for TSTT, and enable its subscribers to access a range of advanced, wireless services, including high-speed wireless Internet access, e-mail, corporate databases, mobile commerce (m-commerce) applications and multimedia messaging.

“The demand for sophisticated services in Trinidad and Tobago continues to drive our efforts to offer the most advanced service options to our subscribers,” said Carlos Espinal, chief executive officer of TSTT. “Nortel has always provided us with industry leading solutions and support to build the kind of networks that can help us be successful. Their expertise in the deployment of GSM is critical in this upgrade of our wireless infrastructure in order to face new competition.”

Read the full story, Nortel and TSTT

There or Belize, I'll be happy..

and from Ericsson,

Ericsson IPX payment and delivery solution - easy and reliable for mobile operators and content providers

Covering more than 360 million mobile subscribers around the world, the Ericsson Internet Payment eXchange (IPX) solution greatly simplifies the business model between content providers, mobile operators and consumers. IPX allows consumers to purchase content from different content providers and pay using their mobile phone and the existing charging relation with the mobile operator.

Requiring no new relationship, extra hardware or complicated registration procedures, content providers using IPX can gain charging access to consumers connected to IPX operators world-wide. IPX is a cost-efficient solution since it reduces the complexity and number of economical and technical relationships that an operator or content provider must manage.

Experience shows that consumers are reluctant to enter new billing relationships to pay for content. Today's penetration of mobile phones and the nature of the payments between mobile subscribers and operators make this relationship highly suitable for micro-payments.

Read the full story

Highly suitable for micro-payments, and to separate users from their money more efficiently.

Nortel Demonstrates OFDM, MIMO at Super High Speeds

Technology to Improve Spectrum Efficiency, Enhance User Experience, Decrease Operator Costs

OTTAWA – Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] has achieved another wireless technology milestone, demonstrating a significant increase in data throughput using beyond 3G (third generation) MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) and OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing).

The demonstration took place at Nortel’s Wireless Technology Lab in Ottawa. Nortel will highlight its 3G MIMO and OFDM success and recent learnings from its lab at CTIA Wireless 2005 in New Orleans (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Hall C, Booth #3125) March 14-16.

MIMO and OFDM will make it possible for wireless subscribers to download bandwidth-hungry applications – large file transfers, streaming video and mobile gaming – at speeds higher than today’s commercial 3G networks. Nortel has invested in advanced development of OFDM and MIMO for the past six years and has demonstrated the benefits and commercial feasibility of these technologies to more than 100 customers.

“Nortel is innovating beyond 3G to develop future wireless broadband technologies that will leverage existing service provider investments and enhance the subscriber experience through feature-rich services and multimedia applications,” said John Hoadley, vice president, Next Generation Wireless Access, Carrier Networks, Nortel. “We believe that OFDM and MIMO will be vital to service provider success and will be the foundation of future wireless broadband networks.”

OFDM and MIMO together can support up to two times more subscribers than OFDM alone. This will position service providers to make more efficient use of existing spectrum.

In Ottawa, Nortel demonstrated large information transfers with peak data rates at 37 Mbps over a standard 5MHz PCS mobility band, taking into account noise and fading conditions found on a real-world cellular network. The test network showed that with OFDM and MIMO, wireless subscribers can download a 128 MB file in approximately 30 seconds – four to 10 times faster than today’s 3G wireless networks.

Read the full story at Nortelnetworks

Now I know there are people out there who think Nortel is just pumping out news on anything to bolster their image. But I know for a fact they have been drumming up lots of new business and have many large projects on the go or coming up world-wide.

Later.

They released the following news today:

Intercable to Bring Triple-Play to Venezuela with Nortel Solutions

Cable Operator to Expand Broadband Services with IP Telephony and Multimedia Applications

CARACAS, Venezuela – Intercable, the leading cable service provider in Venezuela, has selected a cable voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution from Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] to expand its portfolio of broadband services.

With the upgraded infrastructure, Intercable plans to offer new IP Telephony and additional multimedia applications to both residential and enterprise customers across the country as possibly the first Triple-Play service provider in Venezuela.

“We are continuing a tradition of offering the most advanced services,” said Eduardo Stigol, president, Intercable. “Nortel has the proven solutions and solid experience in building IP networks that will allow us to add IP Telephony and other integrated voice and video communications to our existing cable and broadband Internet service options.”

The complete portfolio of Nortel Cable VoIP solutions will enable Intercable to add IP-based voice services like Local and Long Distance Telephony to its broadband portfolio. The addition of voice services will position Intercable as a Triple-Play provider, offering consumers a bundle of voice, high-speed Internet access and television services.

Intercable will deploy Nortel’s Communication Server (CS) 2000-Compact, which enables cable operators to deliver the full suite of traditional voice services to business and residential customers on a packetized network. Also included in this deployment will be Nortel’s Media Gateway 15000 and 3200, designed to help switch voice calls more cost-effectively with the public phone network.

Read the full story on Nortel and Intercable Venezuela

I wonder if I can get in on that project? I do speak Spanish. Nah, I'm off to Italy to do some upgrades next week.

Bell South announced lower long distance rates today for 3 new plans. With one of the plans offering prices, for example, of 5 cents per minute to Canada, and 9 cents per minute to Mexico, I am not exactly worried about losing business myself. We can beat those rates by a long-shot.

See: VoIP and Cheap Long Distance

An excerpt from the story is below.

BellSouth Long Distance reduces international rates, offers options with new calling plans

'International Savings' offers company's best rates for frequent international callers

ATLANTA - March 7, 2005 - BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today introduced new international long distance calling plans offering customers lower rates along with new conveniences. The plans are designed for all callers making international calls, whether it's occasional calling or frequent calling to any of more than 225 countries BellSouth serves.

BellSouth is introducing three new plans, including the BellSouth International Savings plan1 that gives callers making at least $9.95 per month in international calls the company's lowest rates to any country called with no monthly charge. Rates are as low as 9¢ per minute to Mexico and just 5¢ to Canada.

A wide range of customers can benefit from BellSouth's international plans. Customers can choose from plans costing as little as $1 per month and get rates that are on average 75 percent lower than non-plan rates2. For customers that call more, plans like the BellSouth® International Select ValueSM plan3 and the BellSouth International Savings plan provide savings that are even greater.

Read the full story

Virgin mobile has open up shop in Alberta, B.C., Ontario, and Quebec. A partnership between Virgin and Bell Mobility, they are offering no-contract, pay as you go cellular service. Since they have just opened their doors I can't really comment on their service, but as I always say, competition is good in the telecom industry.

Phones and service can be purchased from their web site, via telephone or from one of their retail partners. You can learn more here: where to buy Virgin Mobile.

Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Virgin Mobile Launches in Canada - Branson Delivers the Cure for the ‘Catch’

TORONTO, ON. – Virgin Mobile came to the rescue of Canadians today with the launch of its mobile service across the country. The company will bring competition back to the market and offer Canadian customers a mobile phone service with no catches: great rates, no hidden fees and no contracts to sign.

During an action-packed stunt in downtown Toronto, Virgin Group Chairman and Virgin Mobile Canada founder, Sir Richard Branson, zipped from the skies and crushed the competition in the Virgin Mobile “emergency services” monster truck. Richard Branson freed customers who were chained to long-term contracts, hidden fees and high rates.

“More than 11 million Canadians are stuck with ‘the Catch,’ which means they’re locked into long-term contracts that are riddled with hidden fees and extra charges,” said Branson. “Customers are losing out and they’re paying more than they need to for their mobile phone services. Virgin Mobile has taken out all the confusion and will right the wrongs of the industry.”

Read the full story: Virgin Mobile Launch in Canada.