http://www.telecompaper.com/ Business information about the telecom industry, an extensive overview of telecom-related articles http://www.telecompaper.com/images/Logos/logotph40w225.gif http://www.telecompaper.com/ http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679491 (Telecompaper) Content services provider Akamai Technologies has introduced its variable bit rate streaming support feature for live and high-quality video content on the iPhone and iPod touch. Akamai HTTP Streaming for the iPhone is available as part of Akamai's Media Delivery service. Akamai has also launched of the iPhone 3.0 Video Showcase, iphone.akamai.com, to demonstrate this new service. Content owners and publishers including Canadian Broadcasting, Discovery, Fox News, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, MTV, NPR, Turner Sports and USA Today are participating in the showcase site. Inlet Technologies' Armada and Spinnaker services are being used to encode the VoD and live experiences on the showcase site. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679491 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:23:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679500 (Telecompaper) Telekom Austria has announced plans to invest EUR 1.5 billion over the next four years to modernise the country's telecommunications infrastructure, including EUR 1 billion on a next-generation fixed-line network and EUR 500 million to meet growing demand for mobile internet access. The first phase of the Next Generation Network (NGN) project will establish pilot 'Fibre City' projects to test fibre-optic broadband connections with speeds of up to 1 Gbps for 150,000 households. It is currently installing FTTH in Klagenfurt and two districts in Vienna to test 100 Mbps broadband services from 2010. Villach will become the first 'Fibre City' from end-September. Telekom Austria is installing fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology in Villach to provide homes with up to 30 Mbps connections. In addition to the Fibre Cities, it will provide over 750,00 homes and businesses in rural areas with VDSL2 high-speed broadband at up to 30 Mbps. The NGN project will also see the existing copper phone network upgraded into an all-IP service platform, with all 2.3 million customers connected to the new system in phases. It will start upgrading exchanges to IP in Salzburg and Lower Austria by end-2009. Subsidiary Mobilkom will invest EUR 500 million over the next four years to expand and upgrade its network. The operator currently has 440,900 mobile broadband customers. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679500 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:17:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679438 (Telecompaper) The FCC has published the results of its Commission Meeting, outlining the goals of its national broadband plan to promoting access for all at an affordable price and inviting comments from all parties to establish the benchmarks for promoting that plan. The FCC said it wants have a plan for 17 February next year. The commission aims to integrate work streams so that everyone can look at the same data and create an Omnibus Broadband Initiative, gathering institutional knowledge to inform policy deliberations. The FCC will conduct a series of workshops with different groups to get input on the future plan and has launched a new beta broadband.gov website, requesting feedback from the public. The FCC has been put in charge of the broadband plan, which in turn was enabled by the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has released in a first stage USD 4 billion in loans and grants to expand broadband access across the country. The Recovery Act will provide a total of USD 7.2 billion to the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to accelerate broadband deployment. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679438 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:41:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679341 (Telecompaper) The largest media and marketing associations in the US have jointly released self-regulatory principles to protect consumer privacy in ad-supported interactive media, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said. The principles stipulate advertisers and website should clearly inform consumers about data collection practices and enable them to exercise control over that information. The collaboration represents the entire marketing-media industry and includes the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), a organization dedicated to advancing marketplace trust. The self-regulatory programme is expected to be implemented at the beginning of next year. Taken collectively, the participating associations represent more than 5,000 leading US companies across all of the key businesses that have played a role in the transformation of the way consumers experience media. An IAB study showed that the ad-supported internet represents 2.1 percent of total US GDP and contributes USD 300 billion to the economy, creating 3.1 million US jobs.T http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679341 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:47:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679337 (Telecompaper) Microsoft is preparing to launch its own mobile phone in a project code-named Pink, ZDNet reports. The Microsoft-branded phone will launch with a set of accompanying consumer services being developed largely by the Danger team that Microsoft acquired last year. Pink will build on top of the core Windows Mobile 7 platform, according to ZDnet's sources, but will look different from Windows Mobile 7 phones from other handset makers. Motorola or possibly Sharp will manufacture the phone. Pink's user interface, which is codenamed Purple, is meant to appeal to an audience not so different from the traditional Sidekick audience. Meanwhile, AdWeek reported that Microsoft has selected ad agency McCann Erickson to develop the marketing campaign for the Pink project. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679337 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:14:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679324 (Telecompaper) Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has launched a mobile remittance service on the local market. Service users will be able to remit money to other DoCoMo subscribers directly from their mobile phones. DoCoMo i-mode mobile internet service users will be able to remit up to around JPY 20,000 per transfer by inputting the payee's mobile phone number. Once the transfer is completed, the remittent receives a mail notification via their DoCoMo mobile phone. Users can either deposit the money in a domestic bank account or have the amount credited to their monthly DoCoMo phone bill. The payee can receive monthly remittances adding up to a maximum of JPY 200,000. The mobile remittance service is exclusively available for individual customers. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679324 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:49:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679250 (Telecompaper) ZTE has been awarded a contract by Telenor Group, under which it will supply UMTS/HSPA and Edge USB data modems. The agreement, which is for an initial 12 months, is expected to involve delivery of up to two million units to Telenor's 13 operating companies in countries including Denmark, Hungary, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. ZTE sold over 10 million data cards in 2008, a 426 percent increase over 2007 sales. Shipments in Q2 are expected to be over 5 million. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679250 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:29:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679166 (Telecompaper) Mobile operator Millicom announced that several parties have expressed interest in acquiring its Asian operations up for sale. The company appointed Goldman Sachs to look at strategic options for the activities, including a possible sale. The Asian operations, which include operators in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos, generated revenues of USD 68 million and net profit of USD 4 million in the first quarter. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679166 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:02:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679122 (Telecompaper) The German mobile services market declined to EUR 4.8 billion in revenues in Q1 2009, down 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year and down 3.7 percent from Q4 2008, according to the latest report from Telecompaper. The increase in non-voice (messaging and data) revenues of EUR 141 million in the last 12 months was not able to fully compensate for the continued pressure on voice service revenues from cuts to mobile termination fees and fierce competition. Vodafone and T-Mobile held on to their combined 70 percent share of service revenues in Q1, despite considerable efforts by E-Plus and O2 to win market share. E-Plus was again the one to show the strongest annual growth, mainly in the prepaid segment, helping to increase its share of service revenues by 0.7 percent point to 15.3 percent in Q1. T-Mobile's market share increased 0.4 percent point to 35.8 percent, while Vodafone lost 1.2 points to 34.5 percent. O2 showed a small increase of 0.2 percent point, good for 14.5 percent of services revenues in the quarter. In terms of mobile subscribers, the German market lost around 0.3 million in the last quarter, mainly due to Vodafone's restatement of its prepaid base. Compared to the same period last year, the market added more than 7 million subscribers, for a total of 107 million customers at the end of March 2009. Market penetration rose to 130 percent, from 122 percent a year earlier. Telecompaper estimates 2009 service revenues for the German market will come in slightly lower than in 2008, forecasting a decline of around 1-2 percent. While the short-term negative outlook for the economy is not expected to have a large impact on the mobile sector, as mobile is more and more seen as a commodity product, the market researcher expects that consumers will be more careful when prolonging their subscription and may opt for a cheaper package. Also, SIM-only and MVNO sales could see an increase as consumers seek low-cost options. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=679122 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:36:00 +0200 http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=678946 (Telecompaper) Online video provider Joost has announced a change in strategy to focus more on providing white-label services for media companies. The company is abandoning its consumer platform and will instead target cable and satellite providers, broadcasters and video aggregators, offering technology and services for building their online video platforms. Joost will reduce its staff numbers to a core team in New York and London, and close its Leiden development centre. Matt Zelesko, currently SVP of Engineering at Joost, will take over as CEO while continuing to lead the engineering organisation. Stacey Seltzer, currently SVP of international business development and content acquisition at Joost, will run the business operations. Mike Volpi has stepped down as CEO of Joost but will remain actively involved as chairman. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?cid=678946 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:53:00 +0200