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Blog: John MyersApril 28, 2008Bleak Future for the Internet and Telecommunications?Yesterday, Andrea Seabrook has an interesting interview with Jonathan Zittrain about his views on the possible future of the Internet and some of the associated telecommunications aspects: Skype, Tivo, etc. I do not agree with Zittrain's fears about Internet "censorship". However, I do see the possibility of the telecom organizations who want walled garden content and subsidized equipment limiting the access of the Internet. This would get around the Net Neutrality and "open Internet" aspects of FCC rules. NOTE - I am not quite willing to "give up" on open devices. In particular, I think that Zittrain misses the fact that the recent FCC auction included an open device spectrum and that the Internet has shown that there is always a way to open free distributed content (ie VoIP, Video, etc) past the guards of the walled garden. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Jonathan Zittrain, Andrea Seabrook, Walled Garden, Net Neutrality, FCC March 28, 2008Efficiency vs StrategyI have talked in the past about the work of Gary Hamel and his thoughts on management strategy. I recently picked up his book on the future of management. In one area, Hamel talked about the false assumption that operational excellence/efficiency equates to strategy excellence. When I read that, I thought of the immortal words from the movie Other People's Money: "You know, at one time...there must have been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made...the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw." - Larry the Liquidator This week's news about Motorola splitting their company into separate pieces confirms that while you can run a very operationally excellent business ( ... and what else could you consider the inventors/developers of six sigma ... ) you can in fact run it in a less than optimal direction. Something that I have felt that Motorola has done "very well" for quite some time. NOTE - You can't a discussion like this with bringing up this quote... "We're lost but we're making good time." - Yogi Berra Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Tara Seals, Motorola, Gary Hamel, Strategy, Operational Excellence, Yogi Berra March 21, 2008A "New" VoIP VoiceI have been reading Carolyn Schuk for years over at Voxilla. Now, Carolyn has her own blog on the VoIP space. I know that people who have interest, or want to gain an interest, in VoIP will find great value in her writings. I particularly liked her posting on open source VoIP starting to gain a foothold in the small/medium sized business (SMB) market. Again, check out Carolyn's stuff. I know that you will enjoy it. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Carolyn Schuk, VoIP Princess, Voxilla, VoIP, Voice over IP March 19, 2008A Pioneer PassesArthur C Clarke was a unique individual. He was technologist who could make the written word "fly" off the page. Clarke also saw not only what was imaginable (his science fiction writing), but what was possible (his science "fact" writing). While I am sure that someone else would have figured out the geosynchronous satellite for communications sooner or later, Clarke was the first person to put that particular pen to paper and put the telecommunications industry on its current path. And wouldn't we all have loved to have had the opportunity to write an essay called "How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time".... and actually mean it. Having been a Clarke fan for many years, I hope that science "fact" catches up to the rest of Clarke's visions for a possible future sooner as opposed to later. We have been waiting far too long for David Bowman and HAL. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Arthur C Clarke, science fiction, How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time March 10, 2008Don't Let the Door...“It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, because if one were on good terms one would not part.” Marcecl Proust (1871-1922) It is not too often that I'll quote Proust, but I thought that it was appropriate following the departure of Stu Reed from Motorola. Dan Jones captures the events surrounding Reed's departure from the #3 handset maker... or possibly soon to be #4.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Dan Jones, Stu Reed, Motorola, Marcel Proust January 25, 2008And they are off... on a 2200 mile rideAs much as the folks at OLN... err... Versus would like us to believe, the Tour de France isn't a race as much as it chess match. The old USPS team and Lance Armstrong proved that it is more about strategy, team and positioning than it is about one person ( ... note - i love armstrong and postal team. however, it was strategy and the great 'blue booster rocket' that won lance some of those titles... not just himself... ). A similar experience kicked off Thursday with the start of the 700 MHz spectrum auction. Andy Vuong's article shows exactly how many different companies just in Colorado are looking to expand with the FCC auction. In fact, the only thing that might be greater than the number of participants is the number of business plans that might find a foothold with this new wireless spectrum. Rather than this being one of those "fun" Sotheby's auctions, the FCC auction will take its own time and pace. In this it's much like the Tour de France. The process will take weeks to complete and even longer to see the fallout... It won't be about who has the most $$ ( ie Google ), but who has the best long-term vision plan ( ie who owns the current spectrum... ) and action plan associated with that vision. NOTE - Armstrong did an amazing job in his early Tours until USPS became the "Postal Team". So, there is something to be said about having the most $$ in the FCC auctions. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, FCC Auction, 700MHz, Andy Vuong, Wireless Spectrum, Lance Armstrong, Business Strategy January 14, 2008Riding the Wave part 2Earlier this month, I pointed out an effective use of wireless advertising/marketing. This week a good study ( ...warning! reserach report! warning!... ) came out that shows exactly how big the wireless advertising market could get. Again, in my opinion, this will be consumer value decision before the "wave" that started in APAC moves into the Americas. Some subscribers will embrace a way to make their telecom bills lower. Some subscribers will protect their privacy over cost. If I had to guess, this will break along "generational" lines and not be based on other demographics. Just as Gen X has had much different ideas than the Baby Boomers, the current generation of teenage "hardcore" Internet users ( ... trained by google and yahoo with ad placement ... ) will have no issues with ads place not only in their SMSs, but their voice calls as well. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Advertsing, Generation X, Baby Boomer January 7, 20082008 CES: Consumer Electronics or Consumer Content?The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show will have a "telecom flavor" with a keynote speech being presented by the CEO of Comcast. Kimberly Johnson looks at how Comcast, and other telecoms, hope to leverage their presence at CES into promotion for their content offerings. An interesting concept for a show that is dedicated to the "consumer electronics" market. The aspect of Comcast's participation that I liked most was their hopes for their "Comcast Media Center". It seems that Comcast has put a significant investment into their media center and hopes to provide services for content developers that will feed either their own "pipe" or the "pipe" of others. Either way, I like how Comcast has found an related diversification niche and looking to exploit it. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Kimberly Johnson, Comcast, CES, Business Model, Related Diversification November 30, 2007SIP Applications and Human LatencyI'm not a huge fan of SIP or IMS, but I found David Strom's podcast with Mark Damphousse to be very interesting. In a time where it is increasingly important to reduce to amount of latency between when a discprepant event happens and when it can be resolved; this use of SIP to initiate resolutions using telecommunications resources is particularly useful. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, BAM, Business Activity Monitoring, SIP, Reduced Latency, David Strom, Mark Damphousse November 16, 2007Living in a Partner EcosystemIt is one thing to dream about opening up the walled garden of mobile content. It is quite another to start enabling that "open garden". Google is planning/annoucing their vision of this open vision. However, Nokia is getting a taste of what it means to "break" the walled garden compliments of Warner Music Group. The trick in this situation will be whether Nokia can make Warner happy before their investor stakeholders feel the costs of the Ovi system are outweighing the benefits. I would bet that Nokia will bend to investor pressure first.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Nokia, Warner Music Group, Walled Garden November 7, 2007Live from DallasThe TM Forum Management World Americas Conference in Dallas proclaims the following: Lightning fast business cycles... intense competition... demanding customers... increasingly complex services to deliver With this, the stated theme of the conference is that the customer experience and business goals have replaced technology as the primary business driver for telcos and their operations. This is a laudable goal, but the conference presentation schedule still supports the concept that most established telcos are still using technology as their primary driver and not customer experience.... Another note from the show is that the training schedule provides a lot of good information. But the training is focused on providing operational best practices to the telco industry. Some of my past articles ( ...thing 1... thing 2... ) will give you a good sense about how I feel about driving an entire industry on one set of best practices. Commoditization here we come... :) NOTE - In case you don't have kids or don't remember your Seuss, here's "thing 1 and thing 2" Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, TM Forum, Telecom Operations, Seuss October 15, 2007Phantom PhoneOne of my mother's favorite phrases/jokes is: "Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you..." I thought of that when I saw this article about "phantom phone syndrome". It appears that people are concerned about the "phantom rings" that they feel when their phones aren't "attached" to their bodies. While my experiences are more of the "where the heck is my phone?!?!?!" sensation when my phone isn't on my person, I can identify with those who think their phone is ringing... somewhere.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Ellen Simon October 12, 2007Mapping the US Genome... Broadband StyleI'm not a huge fan of government intervention, but the House of Representatives did something that I'm pretty impressed with. They passed "The Broadband Census of America Act" to map out the penetration of broadband access in the US. The goal of this bill is to determine exactly which areas of the US are underserved by the "broadband" industry. Now let's see exactly what they attempt to do with that information. Scientia potentia est is roughly translated as "knowledge is power". If the Congress attempts to use this mapping of the broadband footprint in the US to "level the playing field" of broadband, I think that they are doing a disservice. The Congress should be concerned about enabling telecom service providers to innovate and not making them hold back the deployment of faster services until every county in ( insert sparsely populated Qwest state here... ) has 1.5mb of service. On the other hand, if they use this map to determine where USF like resources can be best used and/or to shame the telecom service providers into getting broadband access into underserved areas, I am ALL for it. Verizon can take some of that FiOS budget and make sure that upstate New York is just as well served as Manhattan…. By the way, that goes for AT&T supporting Yuba City north to the Oregon border just as well as they do in downtown SFO. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Broadband Access, USF, Universal Service Fund, US House of Representatives October 10, 2007Another pelt for Wall StreetWall Street analysts have claimed another "pelt" or "head" for their collective collection. Gary Forsee has resigned his post as CEO of Sprint. Kim Hart has an excellent view of the Wall Street metrics that Forsee failed to meet and/or the reasons that Wall Street used to turn against the CEO of a company that they felt was under-performing. Now, I'm not saying that Forsee probably didn't deserve to lose his job. Yes, Sprint was lagging in the several key areas including a loss of subscribers ( how do you do that...? perhaps fire about a 1000 in a VERY public manner.... ). However, this is yet another example of the short-term view that many in the US public equity markets take. Sprint has strong brand, networks, etc. I don't think that they need to fire the architect of their M&A and financial plans to justify adjustments in those plans to the investor community.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Gary Forsee, Sprint, Kim Hart October 8, 2007Testing IPTVHmmm what's the best way to test a new product? Try this approach:
Well, according to Jeff Baumgartner, TimeWarner Cable has found just that mix to test the rollout of their IPTV services - business customers who show or utilize investment "programming". I think this is a great way to go. TWC is not attempting to pilot IPTV in the home where if "Dancing with the Stars" or the Yankee game... err... Knicks game.... isn't perfect the customer will be contacting the call center with "unkind comments" about the heritage of the IPTV support staff. TWC is also going with an initial audience who has a much larger spend than most. These target customers are the same types of business customers that have ARPUs that most telecom service providers strive to find. Finally, TWC's initial SLA is only during normal hours of operation. Again, I doubt that the local NYC investment brokers are going to be calling up to complain about picture quality at 3am. And, hopefully those brokers are paying more attention to what Jim Cramer is screaming about rather than how the picture looks. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, IPTV, TimeWarner Cable, Jeff Baumgartner October 5, 2007Breaking down the wallsI'm liking the news about Verizon's new Voyager handset. Stephanie Mehta has a good look at what Verizon probably considers a bold move - to allow users to surf the web. While this move isn't an "unlocked handset" move away from the walled garden, it is a significant step toward enabling customers the freedom they want. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Walled Garden, Unlocked Handset, Verizon, Voyager, Stephanie Mehta October 3, 2007Looking before you leap on LBSAccording to Roy Mark, Nokia's move to acquire Navteq is an aggressive move against GPS manufacturers like Garmin and TomTom. According to others, this move is more of a move to place a wedge between end users/consumers and their network providers (read wireless providers). Personally, I think this is a good move to protect Nokia on two fronts. The "TomTom"s and "Garmin"s of the world will probably need to re-direct their strategies away from consumer GPS implementations if equivalent location based services (LBS) get a foothold on the mobile handset. As for attempting to push between end users and wireless providers, I think that wireless providers are doing that all by themselves ( fewest dropped calls my ..... ). Users are becoming more sophisticated every day and soon will break down the walled garden if the walls don't fall all by themselves. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Nokia, TomTom, Garmin, GPS, LBS, Location Based Services, Roy Mark October 1, 2007Unintended ConsequencesThis past Saturday I attended the Colorado-Oklahoma football game at Folsom Field in Boulder. I observed what could possibly be the law of unintended consequences of the iPhone for AT&T. While I had "5 bars" of coverage, I couldn't access the "mobile web" on my phone to check the score of my Michigan Wolverines ( that's what happens when you lose to Appy State.... ). The previous week at the Broncos game at Invesco Field this wasn't an issue. I could check how poorly my fantasy league teams were doing at halftime with little trouble. With approximately 2/3 the number of fans attending the CU game, the AT&T cell towers near Folsom Field were "overloaded" for data transport. What could have caused this? Could it be that, with high concentrations of those high revenue producing iPhones at events like college football games and university campuses, the data backhaul capacity of an already overloaded wireless network is going to need a lot more capacity? The demographics of iPhone owners and the "always" on aspects of the will probably cause trouble for AT&T in these areas and events. However, it is possible that this issue will not be limited to AT&T. eMarketer has an article about the changing usage patterns of "older" American mobile phone users. In particular, the following chart shows the trends:
September 28, 2007Opportunity Cost of Data Services may be Increased Telecom LeakageJim Barthold has a good review of a recent study about revenue leakage in the telecom industry. The study says that leakage from traditional operations continues. It also says that the increased usage of data services and applications that depend on data services could increase that leakage. This report shows an interesting byproduct of the changing mix of the voice, SMS and data. Telecom organizations, both large and small, have a fair amount of experience with the management of traditional voice and relatively mature SMS products. However, understanding and managing data-based revenue streams in terms of fraud and revenue leakage is still a new business even for establish telecom organizations. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Jim Barthold, Revenue Leakage, Fraud, Data Services September 26, 2007Go BIG or Go HomeWhile I firmly believe in the concept of building a sound foundation of a broad-based products, I found a recent announcement by Motorola to be a great example of a public company that has decided to bow to "Wall Street" pressures rather than making sound long-term business decisions. By cutting their R&D budget by 15%, Motorola is being penny-wise and pound foolish. It is no secret that Motorola has been playing catch-up in the mobile handset market with Nokia and now Apple for the past couple of years. And now they have decided to cut down on their investment in new products?!?!?! Nice... Perhaps, Motorola should follow the advice of two of my favorite bosses: GO BIG or go home… It might be the case that Motorola is spending those reduced dollars in the right product development direction ( and my cynicism is unfounded… ), but I would say this decision and announcement has more to do with what some pencil pushing Wall Street analyst decided than it does with getting Motorola back on top of the handset market. In my opinion, Motorola should be investing in new products to catch up with at least Nokia because it is possible that Apple is too far ahead already. That investment should be an increase of R&D spending not a reduction. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Motorola September 24, 2007What's Wrong with Skype?Skype is still catching grief for its recent "connectivity issues". Heck, even I had some fun with the Skype guys.... ( i wonder if they now believe in a change management strategy... "hey weren't not a real telecom so why do we need a change control board...?" ) Carolyn Schuk takes a much more technical view of the issues, short-term and long-term, associated with the recent failures at Skype. Schuk looks at the differences between Skype's closed architecture and the open alternative of SIP. It is definitely worth a look. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, SIP, Skype, Carolyn Schuk September 21, 2007Unlocking a Crime...I have commented before on the concept of the locked phone, but today Michal Lev-Ram offers additional information on the increasing habit of iPhone owners to "break the lock" that makes iPhones AT&T "only" phones. While I'm not sure that I would take a soldering iron to something that I just paid $600 for, I definitely see the interest of those who would want freedom of choice for an unsubsidized phone. Perhaps Apple can persuade AT&T to either start subsidizing the iPhone or they can convince AT&T to free the iPhone? Then again Steve Jobs hasn't exactly been successful with the DMCA in regards to iTunes either.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, DMCA, Michal Lev-Ram, iPhone, AT&T September 19, 2007Continued ConsolidationWith the recent trend of privatizations in the telecom industry slowed by capital liquidity problems, there is news of the continued consolidation of the telecom market with T-Mobile's acquisition of SunCom. Tricia Duryee looks at the transaction. There are two aspects to this transaction. The first is the addition of 1.1m subscribers that brings T-Mobile within a mere....... 25m subs of third place Sprint Nextel. The other aspect is the ability of T-Mobile to trim the roaming fees that T-Mobile had to incur in the "Carolinas" and other areas where their coverage was lacking. While I'm not impressed with the price that T-Mobile is paying to acquire "just" 1.1m subs, I am impressed with the ability to expand the network and trim associated costs. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, T-Mobile, Tricia Duyree, Consolidation September 17, 2007Granular ARPURemember when wireless providers would just report on "Additional Subscribers"? Ahh those were the heady days of wireless adoption…. Then, the next wireless metric was "Net Subscribers" to account for churn and make a more accurate portrait of the health of the wireless provider. Now we see monthly growth and churn numbers relating to subscribers. Revenue is headed down a similar track. First it was just "plain old top-line revenue" ( POTLR??.... nahhhh ). Next it was average revenue per user (ARPU) to account for the distribution of that revenue across the subscriber base. Now, it appears that the ARPU will be further segmented into different product lines as a way to measure the health of a wireless organization. A recent study investigates how ARPU for western European carriers is being used to show how each product line (voice, SMS, data) is supporting the revenue figures. This study could be the first step toward more standardized granular ARPU reporting to the investment community and by association the general public. NOTE – I still think that average margin per user (AMPU) is the better metric. However, segmented ARPU is a great way to go for a next step for reporting. Telecoms will spend many years before they can embrace a standard cost per user model that will be required for AMPU. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, ARPU, average revenue per user, metrics September 14, 2007Turning the BattleshipRuthie Ackerman recently wrote an article about the continued consolidation of the telecom market. It included the following quote: ...the big three [AT&T, Verizon, Sprint] have the capital to be innovators, while U.S. Cellular has to follow. While I don't disagree that with the concept that the larger a telecom provider is the larger their "war chest" is for investment in research and development can be. But, I do disagree with the concept that the established telecoms are innovators and that smaller players are followers. Smaller telecoms have the ability to be more flexible in making adjustments to their business plans and have the ability to move to products and services that consumers are looking for. These are things that the established telecoms have a very difficult time doing. I see ESPN Mobile taking risks ( and failing…) and then migrating to "second movers" like Verizon. I see Apple taking the risk of developing a killer app/device for mobile usage and AT&T taking abuse for “killing trees” to get the billing statements out. Yes, the larger telecom providers have the potential to be innovators, but I rarely see them exercising that initiative. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Ruthie Ackerman, innovation September 12, 2007Fraud, Risky Behavior and Free LunchA good friend of mine, Geoff Ibbett, has an interesting article regarding telecom fraud. It details many of the pitfalls associated with next generation networks. This article is backed up by a recent study that shows that not only are mobile users using less secure networks, but that they are engaging in riskier behavior on those networks that can negatively impact not only their mobile devices but the corporate networks that they connect to. Both of these show that telecom providers and IT departments need to be aware of what is going on with new mobile usage. On both sides, vendor and corporate client; the benefits associated with increased data ARPU and increased productivity due to the "de-coupling" from fixed locations need to be balanced with the appropriate level of risk assessment. Not to say that the risks should be avoided.... But rather those risks need to be measured and the appropriate mitigation strategies should be implemented. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Geoff Ibbett, Fraud, Next Generation, Trend Micro, Risk Assessment September 10, 2007Frequent Caller Miles...errr... Minutes?Just like the "under-loved" treatment that most business travelers receive from the airlines ( american is my current least favorite airline.... delta you're off the hook.... ), Bill Hughes has some interesting research relating to how telecoms treat, or don't treat, their high ARPU customers. While I'm not against getting some additional perks from high phone usage, I'm not sure if there is the driver for the wireless providers to give this type of executive treatment. The barriers to "exit" are higher and the treat of "substitutes" are lower for these ARPU business users of wireless services since they are often locked into commitments either from their own selection or their corporate account selection. That being said, this is a great opportunity for telecom providers to utilize their business intelligence envrionments to treat their premium customers in a manner that relates to their value to the organization. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Bill Huges, High ARPU, Barriers to Exit, Threat of Substitute September 7, 2007FMC in a box....It's a charger.... It's a headset.... It's Super-Phone! For anyone who has too many phones at home and not enough hands to carry/answer/toss them against the wall ( ohhh did i type that.... ), Ryan Kim takes a look at a device that has moved the Fixed-Mobile Convergence issue from the Central Office to the Home Office through a cleaver use of Bluetooth technology. Instead of waiting for the vendors to figure out a way to put all my calls on one handset/headset, Plantronics has linked VoIP, landline and wireless. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Ryan Kim, FMC, Fixed-Mobile Convergence, Bluetooth, Plantronics September 5, 2007Fewest What....Not to pick on Cingular...errr.... AT&T again, but .... Recently AT&T has decided to drop their claim of having the "fewest dropped" calls. While the commercials are AWESOME, funny and very memorable; they were a little hard to believe. For example, whenever my coverage drops, I often comment about the veracity of those "fewest dropped" calls claims. Frequently these comments are made with lots of anger and while attempting to re-dial a conference bridge while driving. It appears that I am not alone in my disbelief. Verzion Wireless, Consumer Reports and various analyst groups all appear to agree that that the claims were "a bit of a stretch" in a recent article by Alice Cuneo. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Alice Cuneo, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Consumer Reports September 3, 2007Another MVNO in TroubleStarting with ESPN Mobile, this has been a bad year for the MVNO... at least from a PR perspective. Rafat Ali reports on the recent changes at Helio. The prototypical "restructuring our operations to focus on core competencies" announcement came last week and it is possible that layoffs will follow. However, my question about Helio is....... Is this move a factor of Helio's operations or Earthlink's? Recently, Earthlink has been pulling back in the muni-WiFi arena and may be headed for further economic troubles. So, before we pull the plug on another MVNO's "life support", let's hope the investor community gives their re-org a chance to be successful. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Helio, MVNO, Earthlink August 31, 2007Comcast and Cox go TiVoOne of the worst things that a product or service can do is to become a "household name". It diminishes the brand and often opens the door to alternatives. Kleenex is an example. No one asks for a tissue. They ask for a Kleenex no matter who makes it. TiVo is another. For better or worse, TiVo has created an "industry" and a "verb". But, they have not exactly made the most money from "time shifting". However, it seems that more and more cablecos are moving toward the TiVo interface in their set-top boxes and thus enriching TiVo's coffers. Jeff Baumgartner details where Comcast and Cox are with their TiVo efforts. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, TiVo, Comcast, Cox, time shifting August 29, 2007Naked BundlingMy favorite burrito supplier has the option of a "naked" burrito. Saving people the trouble of removing the some of the carbs from their burrito strikes a cord with many consumers ( we won't go into what the queso, sour cream and cheese do for your heart... we'll just focus on the carbs.... ) It appears that telecoms are starting to understand that not all consumers want or need a landline to go with their DSL. Swisscom and other European providers have started offering "naked" DSL-based bundles. This might not be "hot news" in the US where Qwest will sell me anything I want as long as I pay enough for it. But, it shows that the products and services that telecoms offer need to be flexible to match what consumers want not just what the provider wants to provide ( see all quad-play providers ). Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Swisscom, Bundles, DSL August 27, 2007Discretion is the better part of a business planDiscretion is the better part of valor I like that quote when it comes to the fundamentals of business. In fact, many people have considered my approach to business to be a little conservative... or contrarian. I liked the "bricks and mortar" of Barnes and Noble over Amazon during the Internet Boom. I appreciate the investment style of Warren Buffet rather than Bill Gates. Also, I like to build a business slowly and surely rather than based on the "hockey stick". It appears that I have found a kindred spirit here in Colorado. Andy Vuong details the growth strategies of Time Warner Telecom. Sure and steady - Time Warner Telecom avoided many of the pitfalls of their brethren who believed in the "build it and they will come" mentality. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Andy Vuong, Time Warner Telecom August 24, 2007Ma Bell... err... GoogleSince it has been about a month since I have opined about Google and the upcoming FCC auction, I am probably in violation of some statute... However, if Richard Koman's analysis of Google is correct, they might soon be looking at the business end of the Justice Department's Antitrust division. In attempting to be "the link" to the Internet, Google may find itself in the same position that AT&T ( ... no not that one, the original... ) was in the 1970s and 1980s. While Google claims a "no harm" policy, I doubt that the telecoms that they hope to trivialize will sit around and wait for that to happen. Verizon's legal strategy against Vonage might be a precursor of how the telecoms might take on Google. Not really "toe-to-toe", but rather a "hit 'em where it hurts" approach. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Richard Koman, Google, FCC, Verizon, Vonage August 22, 2007Revenge of the SMSFor many years, the deaths of the following have been predicted:
Mobile email and data services were supposed to squeeze out text messages of the voice, SMS and data trio. However, it appears that the SMS is one of the cash cows of telecom no matter how un-cool it is to "just" send text… ( or how hard cingular tries to disable my sms service when I call about my service… :( ) James Quintana Pearce reports on how Sprint is raising their per SMS charge scheme and how much of the US based wireless telecom market may follow. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, SMS, text message, James Quintana Pearce, Sprint August 20, 2007Skype On or OffLast week, out there… somewhere… there were probably traditional teleco execs laughing at Skype's troubles. And actually, everywhere there are traditional teleco change management teams that were chuckling at what could have been one of the most impactful upgrades in history. ( ie “are you sure that you have tested this upgrade?” ) Yesterday, Richard Koman does a good job of not taking pot shots at the boys at Skype while laying out the "facts" as they are known today. While there have to be lots people who have based part or all of their lives and/or business plans on free peer to peer (P2P) telecom services I only use the free ( as in speech and not beer... ) services provided by Skype and perhaps that's exactly why I didn't get too upset about the outage. It hard to get too upset at a "nice to have" facility. But I doubt that the executives at eBay paid all that money for something that is a "nice to have"... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Skype, Change Management, Free Speech, Free Beer, eBay, Richard Koman August 17, 2007One Throat to ChokeFor many years, there has been a move toward "one throat to choke" when it comes to implementations - both hardware and software. Software companies have been either building their implementation teams or tightly integrating with a systems integration partner. Now the telecom network hardware vendors are joining the game. Michelle Donegon details a report from Caroline Chappell about how the hardware vendors have been making moves to take the service activities ( and associated revenue ) back from the systems integrators. The hardware vendors, via Chappell, claim that this move will enable service delivery. I think this is more about improving their revenue numbers for Wall Street. :) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Michelle Donegon, Caroline Chappell, Hardware Vendors, Systems Integrators August 15, 2007First Grandpa and now iJustineAhhh the joys of billing in telecom and the "drive by media" who exploit the “three standard deviations from the mean” situations relating to that billing. Just as there was a grandfather who received an $86k phone bill recently, now there is "iJustine". iJustine is the proud owner of a 300 page iPhone bill and she has posted the "reading" of it on YouTube. :) While I find it humorus to see a telecom get in trouble for billing accurately, I also second iJustine's call for eBilling... for those who want it. Let's make this an individual decision and not some type of government regulation.... But yes. Pick the eBilling option and save a tree with the Lorax. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Billing, iJustine, Lorax August 13, 2007Ammo for Non-Net Neutrality... or More NoiseMost readers know my opinions on Net Neutrality... I'm slightly to the "right" of Milton Friedman for a market based system. However, it is possible that AT&T could start me in the other direction or at least toward the middle.... Lisa Vaas details an AT&T sponsored report about how the Internet should be left alone. Hmmmm.... I think that AT&T protests too much and should focus on improving their service and not complaining about what would happen if the government were to intervene. I'm sure that similar arguments came out under the same banner ( if not a different company....) when there were rumblings about the government breaking up Ma Bell. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Net Neutrality, Lisa Vaas, AT&T August 10, 2007First Mover or Move Over?If you are a long-term reader of my writings, you know that I have degree of respect for the work of Michael Porter and his thoughts on competitive advantage. In particular, I like the "Five Forces" model that describes the competition in an industry. Carol Wilson talks about a recent study that shows how even if you are a first mover in industry that your competitors can still have an advantage. The CFI Group study talks about how traditional telecom providers (ie Qwest, Verizon, etc) have a higher "trust" factor than cable providers (ie Comcast, TimeWarner) for the same services even though the cablecos have been providing those services longer. While I have an irrational dislike of any organization that owns the remains of TCI Cable in Colorado ( read not one thin dime of pay tv budget will go TCI... err... AT&T Broadband... err... Comcast ); I find it interesting that other consumers have the same opinion from their cableco experiences.... It shows how far cablecos need to grow to provide their bundled services. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Carol Wilson, Michael Porter, Five Forces August 8, 2007Something for Nothing; And Your Clicks for FreeIn San Francisco, the concept of free love was supposed to extend to the Internet. However, it appears that after nearly three years that vision may be nothing but a mirage.... Brian Caulfield's article provides details about the trials and tribulations of the San Francisco muni-wifi/wimax. It is entirely possible that the San Francisco plan was too grand and too far reaching. On the face of it, putting muni-wifi/wimax in SFO seemed like a no-brainer. However, Caulfield points out that the political and cultural issues are preventing success. I also think that selecting a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) of 7-8m people was also an issue. Picking a less aggressive target seems like an easier task. In Western Michigan, the Grand Rapids-Muskegon MSA represents a hotbed of muni-wifi/wimax. Mark Fellows' analysis provides a good idea of how these types of initial implementations can be successful. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Mark Fellows, Brian Caulfield, Muni WiFi, WiMax, San Francisco, Muskegon August 6, 2007White Space or White Noise?Mark Long's article about the White Space initiative shows how many political... errr... technical hurdles that remain for the development of the wireless broadband in the spectrum currently being used by broadcast television. I am sure that the technical challenges are real. But anyone who has put their cell phone next to their computer speakers or a speaker phone knows that "interference free" is a relative term and I am guessing that the TV broadcasters are looking for reasons not to release that spectrum. NOTE - I never used to think that my cell phone could "negatively impact" the performance of a plane until I realized that my phone causes more havoc than seems reasonable... Please turn off those cell phones until the plane is safely back on the ground... ;) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Mark Long, White Space, broadcast spectrum August 3, 2007Viable Alternative to FiberCarol Wilson reported on what is could be Richard Notebaert's last Qwest earnings call. In that report, Notebaert has a quote about Qwest's strategy regarding video services. “Quite candidly, the team I work with here looks at those investments,” Notebaert told industry analysts. “With DirecTV, they have a new box that integrates high-speed Internet access at 20-Meg or even a 10-Meg line into broadcast model from satellite. It doesn’t matter whether it is on FiOS or the broadcast model in satellite -- why in the world would you go do that and incur all that expense when … you can still do the broadcast model with more HD than anybody else has got with DirecTV.” With that quote, Notebaert either makes a great case for NOT putting all that fiber in the ground ( ala most developing countries who skipped over upgraded POTS for wireless coverage ) or shows exactly how far behind Qwest is in its upgraded capacity planning. I'll let history be the judge.... ;) NOTE - Andy Vuong is reporting that, while this might have been Notebaert's last Qwest earnings call, it may not be his last earnings call.... Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Richard Notebaert, Qwest, DirecTv, FiOS, Carol Wilson, Andy Vuong August 1, 2007Lowest Common Denominator"It's the economy, stupid" That was the war cry / lowest common denominator of the 1992 presidential election. Now Stephanie Mehta is trying to make: "It's the network, stupid" the lowest common denominator of the recent troubles of MVNOs and VoIP providers. While having network ownership may have its advantages, Mehta underplays the role of quality business plans and competitive advantage in the failures of MVNOs and VoIP providers. In my opinion, if you provide a quality service at a quality price; consumers will beat a path to your door. Consumers will even pay more for a product/service that meets not only their "needs", but their "wants". All you have to do is look at the consumer success of .... ( warning... warning... Apple reference coming.... ) iPod and the iPhone. There are cheaper services than iTunes. There are cheaper devices than iPod. And there are certainly cheaper phones than the iPhone. But Apple has made a concerted and successful effort to build a "better mouse trap". And it wasn't always that way ( read newton and lisa ).... Apple has had to build strong business cases and competitive advantage for all of their successes. Again, I am sure that owning the network has its advantages. However, you might ask Verizon if the FTTH that FiOS is based on is paying dividends yet. I also believe that companies and telecoms in particular, need to build strong business cases and carve out unique competitive advantages to be successful. A lowest common denominator for failure like "it's the network" is just too simplistic to be THE answer. NOTE - Tara Seals appears to agree more with Mehta than with me.... :) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, MVNO, VoIP, Competitive Advantage, Stephanie Mehta, Tara Seals July 30, 2007Nacchio at the BatThe first time that I heard Joe Nacchio speak he wanted all school kids to mispell the word "quest" with a "w" - Qwest. The next time I really took notice of Mr Nacchio he was the target of much ire from Qwest and USWest employees. Last week, Nacchio was sentenced in his insider trading case. Al Lewis gives an view into the final moments of the hearing. Qwest and USWest employees give a little smirk after they read it. I just thought about the immortal poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Joe Nacchio, Qwest, Casey at the Bat, Al Lewis July 27, 2007Net Neutrality, but Premium Web ServicesJeff Pulver is once again moving his VoIP vision forward. Carolyn Schuk takes a look at the new "participatory communications" path for Pulver's Free World Dial-Up (FWD). With his Vonage efforts appear to be heading down a bumpy path, turning his FWD effort toward a "premium membership" model is interesting. The memberships aren't as capitalistic as Vonage rates, but they are a payment for a previously free service to enjoy "enhanced service". I wonder if this is inline with Pulver's Net Neutrality efforts. Perhaps it is just a case of "NIMBY" Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Free World Dial-Up, Jeff Pulver, Carolyn Schuk, Net Neutrality, VoIP July 25, 2007TomTom Worried by NokiaCould the handheld GPS market be worried about what Nokia has planned for GPS? Tarmo Virki's article talks about how Nokia is looking to improve their GPS performance and some in the handheld GPS market are starting to worry. While I doubt that anytime soon my Garmin GPS will be replaced by a GPS enabled cellphone, I'm an interested in my potential ability to move forward with a "convergence" plan for my running electronics.... For those who may not see me running in Boulder County, I look a lot like a slow moving NASA probe… :) I have a Garmin GPS to know where I am and how slow I am going; a Polar heart monitor watch to know where my heart is/should be; a cell phone so that my wife can know where I am... if I answer...; and an iPod so that I can think of other places that I might be. I privately yearn for one device, but I am not really that excited about a $1000 price tag. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Nokia, GPS, TomTom, Garmin, Polar, iPod, Running Gear July 23, 2007Google Looks to Become a TelecomDibya Sarkar wrote recently on the topic of Google unique approach to biding on FCC spectrum. Google appears set to bid for the upcoming release of spectrum to protect for the average consumer. In other words, to keep it out of the hands of traditional telecoms. I find this interesting since they have placed conditions on how the government should handle the spectrum. As usual, I applaud anyone who stands up for what they believe and/or puts their money where their mouth is.... And Google has most certainly put around $4-5billion dollars where their opinion is. But, can Google really put that much investment out for an open network in the same week that Wall Street starts asking harder questions about their business model? It could either be the best land grab since Jefferson bought Louisiana or it could be beachfront property in Arizona.... :) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Google, FCC, Spectrum Bid, Dibya Sarkar July 20, 2007Big Show on the MoveSo......... I usually don't "pimp" press releases, but I thought that this one deserved some notice. The best hour on talk radio, in my opinion, has been the hour where Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann talk about all topics on ESPN Radio. Now, Dan Patrick has decided to move on to other ventures relating to putting his unique style on all forms of telecommunication - radio, tv, Internet, etc. While I applaud DP leaving the "nest" of ESPN, I cannot help but think that he is heading off to the same pastures that Frank DeFord is currently in after his departure from Sport Illustrated for the National in the 1990s. Good luck DP. Please don't end up as the cranky, sports contributor to NPR of the 2010s.... :) Technorati Tags: Big Show, Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Frank DeFord July 18, 2007Fergie's m-commerce Concert TicketsRecently, I was reading an article/note from Michael Roberts about the upcoming Fergie concert tour coming to Denver. It appears that you cannot buy tickets for the Fergie concert, but rather you can win them by purchasing something from one of Fergie's concert sponsors. Verizon Wireless and Candies are the two major sponsors mentioned in the article. I found the fact that people do not use tickets, but rather a text messaged image to gain entrance to the concert. What an opportunity for marketers and data miners? Not only do they know who is interested in Fergie, but they know who goes the concert, when, where, how... Very impressive. Let's hope that this marks the start of something "good" (ie great imaginative targeted marketing efforts) and not something "bad" (ie big brother reducing access to concerts/games/etc). Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Fergie, Michael Roberts July 16, 2007Cable Not Immune to Market ForcesAndy Vuong wrote a good article yesterday about consolidation in the cable industry. Vuong talks about the drivers creating the conditions where cable operators could grow from their current customer and product bases to be some of the major telecom players. I particularly liked this quote: "Five years from now, I think there will be five major telecom providers in the United States," said Scott Chandler, managing partner of Franklin Court Partners, a Littleton-based telecommunications consulting firm. "At least two of those five will be cable companies." It may very well be possible that in five years there are only five major telecom providers, but that seems a little short sighted. It reminded me of the following quotes: “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” -Bill Gates (1981) Scott Chandler has probably neglected the concepts of wireless, the upcoming spectrum to be released when broadcast TV goes digital and the entreprenuerial nature of the telecommunications industry when technical advances catch the attention of the consumer. Then again, Chandler might have made the quote for the "shock appeal"... I am blogging about it... :) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Cable, Consolidation, July 13, 2007Motorola Continues to fall on Friday the 13thAndrew Farrell has an interesting article about Motorola. Farrell mainly talks about the profitability of the cell phone unit... or lack of profitability. I believe the underlying message has more to do with companies being content with a product and not innovating. Motorola rode the RAZR for all it was worth. However, the rest of the handset manufacturers caught up and past Motorola. Apple (and no this isn't the mainstream media mandated iPhone reference....) is a good example of a company that does not settle for the status quo. While this probably has more to do with the driven nature of Steve Jobs and the culture that he has created than it does with corporate strategy, I firmly believe that companies that continue to innovate will maintain leadership. Those that allow themselves to rest on their laurels will slip behind the leaders. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Motorola, Apple, Innovation, Andrew Farrell July 11, 2007FCC un-"Locking" the Future?When I blogged about Nokia looking for an un-"Locked" future for mobile handsets, I had no idea that the FCC Chairman was thinking the same thing. While we are not exactly on the same page, I like the fact that the FCC might be moving in the direction of open devices for the soon to be vacated 700MHz spectrum. It may not come as fast as some would like, if at all. However, the promise has interesting possibilities. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, FCC, Unlocked, Mobile Handsets July 9, 2007Opportunity CostI found this article on Sprint's customer service practices and found it quite interesting.... One, it wasn't on cnn.com or easily found googling around unless you were directed to a consumer "defense" website. Two, it shows how fast a bad customer service situation can go from "this shouldn't cause too much trouble..." into "...coming to you live from Overland Park; and now back to you in the studio...." Finally, it shows that some companies are finally starting to take seriously the "offloading" of troublesome or negative equity customers. For many years, the airline industry has had practices similar to this by "offloading" tourists on to other carriers only to pick up the more valuable business traveler (yep charging higher prices actually creates better customers....). While I don't agree with the way that Sprint executed their plan, I do agree with the concept that customers who longer offer value to the company should be shown the door. NOTE - All businesses beware.... Don't offload customers just because they are troublesome! There is gold in "dem dar customers". Find the right offering to make them valuable customers. Grow them from negative equity to neutral to positive. Or find the price point that will make them revenue neutral and/or churn all by themselves.... The PR costs of "releasing" them can be just too troublesome... :) Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Sprint, Customer Value July 6, 2007Fixed-Mobile Convergence Moving ForwardAnnie Lindstrom has an interesting take on Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) progress. I like the movement forward that FMC is taking. However, I have questions about whether or not the more open IMS/SIP solution will find traction with wireless operators. Unfortunately, the "walled garden" approach to features and functions seems to be the modus operandi for the US operators and that perhaps will stifle the growth in this area. Technorati Tags: Telecommunications, Telecom, Fixed Mobile Convergence, FMC, IMS, |
