In June 2008, Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel approved changes to Brazil’s telecoms laws so that a single telecom operator can hold two separate operating licences, effectively paving the way for Telemar, trading as Oi, to complete its takeover of Brasil Telecom (BrT). The deal is still awaiting final government approval, but should be finalised before end-2008.

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In the years to 2010, the Internet enters its fourth decade and is reaching two important limits which are inherent in the current architecture. Firstly, the exhaustion of previously unused IPv4 address space, and secondly a set of inter-related scaling problems in the BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routing system which drive up the cost of the core routers used by every ISP and large end-user network – such as those of corporations and universities.

Continue reading “Internet: Forecast says Fresh IPv4 Address Space will be Impossible to Obtain around 2010″ »

The incumbent telcos have largely failed to use triple or quadruple play effectively as a mechanism to propel themselves into the new market of digital media.

From a marketing perspective this was not exactly a forgone conclusion, but perhaps from a vertically-integrated business position (especially with hindsight) it was. Nevertheless the incumbents at least had a chance to show that they could jump the S-curve from the old telecoms market into a new digital media market.

Continue reading “Failure to Create Truly Integrated Products Means the End for Telcos’ Triple Play Model” »

In 2008 there will be further trials of mobile payments around the world, including a major European pilot being conducted by O2 in the UK using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology on mobile phones.In addition to O2, there are numerous European mobile network operators working to develop NFC applications, including Bouygues Telecom, KPN, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, SFR, SK Telecom, Telefonica Móviles España, Telenor, TeliaSonera, TIM, Vodafone, Polkomtel, Elisa and 3.

Continue reading “Taiwan: ‘Beep ‘N Go’ Payments with Mobile Phones Might Soon be Reality” »

Being in Washington DC in the midst of the financial crisis provided me with a unique opportunity to experience it as it occurred.  This report contains my analysis and comments on the financial crisis as I saw it.

The crisis will have a major effect on future infrastructure developments, and I spent some time discussing this with some of the local experts during my visit.

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Some of you might recall the campaign I launched in 2001: “Broadbanding local communities”. In all I spoke to over 50 municipalities in an attempt to make them take control over the broadbanding of their local communities. Around the world more than 1,000 local communities now do have at least some form of local broadband. After eight years of experience (more realistically however, more like three to five years of actual implementations), we are now beginning to see some trends in this market.

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A new report shows that E-health can save each country tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars over the next ten years and energy savings of 25% can be achieved by smart grids. Additionally, patients and older people can be monitored by video nurses, linked to video-based community support networks.

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Mobile commerce is potentially important for a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, IT, finance, retail and the media, as well as for end-users. It will work best in those areas where it can emphasise the core virtue of mobile networks – convenience.

Japan and Korea were one of the first to offer low-cost models to content providers, and the mobile content market is flourishing in those markets. Most of the proceeds flow to the content providers yet, in the rest of the world, the mobile operators are adamant that they want to have a much larger share of the spoils. Strategy Analytics estimated that Japanese consumers made contactless payments worth $900 million using their mobiles in 2006, including prepaid travel tickets. This can be partly attributed to Sony’s FeliCa contactless payments standard that has been adopted by banks and mobile phones companies.

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ICT industry will play a key role in dealing with problems such as global warming and saving energy. Simply by making processes and systems more efficient savings will start to occur naturally. Furthermore, by giving the end-users more control we will see an increase in energy efficiency.

Once the utilities are able to provide that level of decentralisation – with end-users increasingly taking charge of their own energy management – a large number of energy efficient devices and management tools will flood the market.

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A new report shows that the focus of wireless broadband, and in particular WiMAX has now shifted towards the area of mobility, although there will still be some opportunities in the fixed broadband markets.

WiMAX is well suited to the mobile sector as the future of wireless/mobile rests very much with ‘personal broadband’ – where broadband is delivered to individual personal devices which are enabled for mobility.

Continue reading “Wireless Broadband Better Potential for the Delivery of VoIP” »