Telecom Market

Telecom awaits President Obama

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:10:41 -0500

We elect a president on promise, but how much of that promise can he fulfill, and how will he have to compromise lofty goals in the name of actually accomplishing change? Perhaps no one wants to think about that this morning, but we will have to think about it soon. And while President Obama may have other worthwhile priorities during his initial days in office, issues affecting the telecom market and broader high-tech industry will bubble to the surface soon enough.

Will Net neutrality policy now be a slam dunk with a Democrat leading the country and more Democrats in Congress or, in the wake of network management controversy and with the advent of overage charges and other new thinking, will hard-line Net neutrality ideas fade?

How soon will we get the national CTO that Obama promised us? How will this person get a multitide of companies and an entire industry to settle on and execute progressive broadband goals? Could telecom companies facing potentially higher taxes find it hard to make good on the broadband mission?

What about telecom immunity in the wake of the wiretapping scandal? Obama supported telecom immunity, but those against it have recently revived their fight.

President Obama soon will face all of these questions.

For more:
- Web Pro News has this evaluation of Obama and McCain

New Reding reform plan in the works?

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:15:10 -0500

Viviane Reding, the European Union Telecom Commissioner, may be about to announce a revised set of telecom market reforms for Europe, after her initial radical reform plan got minced into a much softer approach by members of the European Parliament. The plan included the creation of a pan-European regulatory agency capable of over-ruling national regulatory bodies.

Details of Reding's revised proposal could emerge as early as today, and the proposal may involve the creation of another centralized group that could veto proposed national telecom regulations. "This new group would be advised by, but not controlled by, representatives from the national regulators, a marked difference from the wishes of the European Parliament," according to reports by Light Reading Europe. Currently, 27 national regulators are responsible for their own countries' regulatory slates.

For more:
- Light Reading Europe reports

Orange bundles free broadband in UK

Doug Mohney — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:08:04 -0400

Battling back against poor customer service reports, Orange has released new deals for customers that take advantage of upgrades to its network.

New Orange Mobile customers will be offered a "free" 8 Mbps broadband connection, free wireless router and a 10GB monthly usage allowance on an 18 month contract. Any user who just wants broadband can get an 8 Mbps connection with a 10GB data cap on an 18 month contract for around 10 pounds a month with no connection fee. Other deals are available with no download limits (but with a fair usage policy clause).

In the past, Orange has been beaten up for inefficient spam filtering and poor customer satisfaction. Customer service upgrades include quicker call answering and "empowered" employees to deal with problems more effectively.

For more:
- Web User reports on new Orange UK broadband deals. Post.

Also Noted: Germany has Europe's largest telecom market

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:14:08 -0400

A large and affluent population that's receptive to emerging technologies has helped Germany become Europe's largest telecom market with Internet usage above European averages, according to Research and Markets. DT continues to control the fixed network and broadband markets in the country.

Source: Research and Markets

Telco sector to pass $2 trillion revenue mark in 5 years

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:45:41 -0400

Revenues from fixed voice services may be sliding downhill like a kid on a waterslide, but the telecom market has plenty of upside, says a new report from research firm In-stat, which is predicting a 5.7 percent annual bump in consumer telecom network services over the next five years with global revenues topping $2 trillion by 2012.

Study author Keith Nissen says that although mobile service will make up 60 percent of the revenue pie, the strongest growth will be in broadband and pay TV.

Some other points to note:

The number of VoIP subscribers will more than double in the next four years.
2008 is the year that revenue from Pay TV services surpasses revenues from fixed voice services.
By 2012 broadband revenue will be getting close to fixed voice service revenue.
While the Middle East and Africa region has the highest growth rate, the Asia-Pac region will be by far the largest market in 2012.

For more:
- See the In-stat release

Related articles:
U.S. broadband growth slowest since 2003 Broadband report
Credit Suisse recently downgraded telco stocks, partly on broadband concerns Credit Suisse report

Africa lures telecoms with promises of untapped bounty

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:09:05 -0400

With Europe becoming hypercompetitive (and saturated) and Asia quickly following, more telecom firms are looking to Africa to brighten bottom lines and as an opportunity to broaden networks.

A relative storm of deal-making has swirled across the continent—from top to bottom—as mobile and fixed-line operators look to get into a rapidly emerging market that promises plenty of new consumer demand as once-somnolent economies awaken because of the global commodities market boom. Add to that a period of relative political stability and—viola!—a telecom market is born.

"A lot of people are looking to Africa as the bastion for growth," said Irnest Kaplan, managing director of independent South African equity-research house Kaplan Equity Analysts. "It just took them until fairly recently to see that it was possible to move into some of these markets and make money."

For more:
- Check out the Wall Street Journal story

Related articles:
Vodacom courts South Africa's Telekom Vodacom report
$50 billion Bharti Airtel/MTN deal bites the dust Bharti Airtel, MTN story
MTN left with single bidder, Vodafone goes own direction MTN report