WCA January 2014

Telecom news

Looking into the hot-button consumer issue of data roaming costs, Ms Roseman found “a big difference” between the services available from some smaller Canadian providers and those offered by the majors. She wrote: “I’m glad to see the CRTC putting pressure on big telecoms to reveal what goes into their pricing and look for ways to reduce the cost.” Ø On the vexed subject of roaming charges, London-based TelecomTV took note of some “asymmetric behaviour” on the part of Deutsche Telekom, whose US subsidiary T-Mobile has eliminated those charges to its American customers travelling overseas. Included in the operator’s standard plan “Simple Choice,” the dispensation took effect 1 st November and covers 100 of the most popular destination countries including Britain, France, China and Australia. The company also announced a reduction in charges for international calls made from within the US. Meanwhile, wrote I D Scales, “The German T-Mobile [Telekom] manages to maintain some of the highest mobile prices in Europe.” (“T-Mobile Scraps Roaming for the US,” 10 th October). TelecomTV pointed out that T-Mobile is very much the challenger operator in the US pack, and this marks the third phase of its “uncarrier” strategy to put distance between itself and incumbents Verizon and AT&T. In the first phase it got rid of handset subsidies and reworked the tariff structure to separate service and phone payments. Phase two featured a new handset upgrade programme. Ø Huawei is not planning any large takeovers, according to its current CEO. On 11 th October, Welt am Sonntag reported that Guo Ping said, however, that it would be open to cooperation with another handset company. Welt am Sonntag reported that he also rejected allegations by the US Congress that technology from Huawei might be used to spy on its users, and discounted European Commission concerns about the dumping of goods onto the market in Europe.

category of “big picture SDN and NFV management vendors.” For her part, Ms Donegan noted that Ericsson is not necessarily leading that vendor pack. She quoted Ms Chappell: “Ericsson is being very cautious about this. They’re saying, ‘We’ve got to get this right.’” Elsewhere in telecom . . . Ø The Russian telecom MegaFon has launched an all-terrestrial fibre optic cable system stretching from Germany to China. The entire cable system has a potential maximum capacity of 8 Tbps. At first, it is offering access to 10-Gbps DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) channels. Built with partners Kazakhtelecom and London-based Interoute, the Diverse Route for European and Asian Markets (DREAM) stretches 5,400 miles from Frankfurt, Germany, to the Kazakhstan-China border. It passes through Austria, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. As reported by Nick Wood in Total Telecom (17 th October), the route was laid out in part for its low seismic activity. Ø América Móvil SAB on 16 th October backed out of its planned takeover of the Dutch carrier Royal KPN NV, after failing to persuade KPN’s management to accept a $9.7 billion tender offer. The Mexico City-based wireless operator, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has a financial stake of about 30 per cent in KPN. Even if Mr Slim’s company retains its holding in KPN, Dutch law prevents him from making a new takeover bid for six months. A move elsewhere in Europe, such as an increase in his stake in Telekom Austria AG, would also help advance his goal of expanding América Móvil beyond Latin America. “We probably expect them to increase their stake in another European operator, and the natural option would be Telekom Austria,” Carlos de Legarreta, an analyst at Corporativo GBM SAB in Mexico City, told Bloomberg News (17 th October). “Europe is

an attractive market, even if it’s being pressured by the slowing macro-economy. They are mature markets with a good return.” Ø A report from the Media Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) contradicts widespread claims about the decline of creative industries as a result of copyright infringement. Copyright & Creation – a Case for Promoting Inclusive Online Sharing – indicates that the publishing, film and gaming industries are growing and new business models emerging as a result of digital sharing. For some in the creative industries, copyright infringement may actually be helping boost their revenues, the report finds. As noted by Colin Mann on advanced-television.com (4 th Octo- ber), industry data shows that, while the global music industry has stagnated somewhat in the last four years, since 1998 it has experienced overall growth; Internet-based revenues have been a significant component since 2004. In Britain, online sales now exceed CDs or vinyl as a percentage of total revenue for recorded music. Ø Effective 1 st December, Canada’s telecom regulator, CRTC, requires wireless providers to suspend a subscriber’s roaming charges in excess of $100 in a single month’s bill. The CRTC also issued a request to Canadian wireless companies to explain their roaming pricing, information previously unavailable to the public. Writing in the Toronto Star (8 th October), consumer issues reporter Ellen Roseman noted that “bill shock” is a common experience for Canadians travelling with a smartphone or tablet. She cited the example of a family of four visiting the US for a long weekend. Each member uses a cellphone “modestly” (for email and texting: no streaming video or uploading multiple photos). In a previous Star column, University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist said such a family’s roaming costs would range from $500 to $1,000 for the trip.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2014