Ofcom considers fast broadband outlook and pledges clarity for investors | Ofcom

Ofcom considers fast broadband outlook and pledges clarity for investors | Ofcom

Almost 1.2 Billion SIP Users by 2012

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) services will become the norm after 2010 and will rapidly begin to dominate the world’s telecom markets. By 2012 almost half of all telecom users will be using at least one SIP-based service, but more than likely will have many services from multiple devices able to communicate with other users and services across the Web and between enterprise and public networks. This will generate over $150 billion in service revenue annually with cumulative infrastructure capital expenditure of over $10 billion by that date.

A move to all-IP networks is the chosen path for introducing new services, with NGN the ultimate goal.

“The path to this all-IP goal is complicated: migrating existing services onto IP networks while retaining resources until they can be taken out of service is not a straightforward process,” says ABI Research analyst Ian Cox. “Mobile operators’ voice services are already optimized to reduce network traffic, and the move to VoIP is not an easy choice until the introduction of LTE or HSPA. One method that has gained some momentum is to use an IP overlay based on SIP. This allows new services to be designed and launched using a well-supported standard that also opens the way to bring Web services, service delivery platforms, and ultimately IMS into the network.”

Cox further comments that, “Using SIP, telephony becomes another Web application, which can be integrated into other Internet services. It allows service providers to build converged voice and multimedia services.”

By 2012, ABI Research expects almost 1.2 billion VoIP users to be active, most users also subscribing to several forms of messaging and video sharing driven by the interest in user-generated content. Additional services supported by SIP will include presence, click-to-dial, buddy lists, email and Web access which are assumed to be “core” services and will be included as standard in any service offering, and bundled with broadband access. A portion of the VoIP users will also be connected to a fixed-mobile convergence service.

Ericsson, Others Top FT's IMS Shortlist - Telecom News Analysis

Talk of FT's impending decision comes as the IMS community faces something of a backlash: Carriers and analysts are increasingly stating that IMS can deliver only some of the features and capabilities service providers will need in the future, and that service delivery platform (SDP) and Web 2.0 application development capabilities are equally as important. (See AT&T Defines Service Creation Platform, Carriers Surf the Web 2.0 Wave, and IMS's Web 2.0 Problem.)

AT&T Defines Service Creation Platform

The idea for CARTS originated years ago when AT&T developed the next-generation network vision that spawned its "Concept of One" idea -- a single, MPLS-based network that would unify all of AT&T's services. (See AT&T’s New Gods.)

T-Mobile first in US with long-awaited UMA cell-to-WiFi service

In order to take advantage of the service at home, users need to have access to an 802.11 network; they can set up one on their own or purchase a Linksys router from T-Mobile as part of the package. They can also use any number of public WiFi access points or one of T-Mobile's roughly 8,000 WiFi HotSpots. Users will also need to have one of the currently two capable phones offered by the carrier. Those phones are the Nokia 6086 and the Samsung T409—a disappointing choice to some—but T-Mobile has expressed enthusiasm about the service and has promised to make more UMA phones available in the future. Current T-Mobile phones that have WiFi capabilities can't be used with @Home service.

BT’s Bross steals CTO show

BT’s Bross steals CTO show: "Integrating Web 2.0 capabilities into IP multimedia subsystems (IMS) is another considerable challenge, said Mark Wegleitner, senior vice president of technology and CTO for Verizon. “Web 2.0 is an unbelievable enabler, and IMS won’t realize its total vision until it finds a better way to incorporate Web 2.0,” he said."

3GPP, ETSI Fold IMS Work Together

Both IMS and TISPAN comprise next-generation network standards efforts designed to forge a higher signaling and control plane infrastructure layer to support delivery of content and applications to subscribers across any fixed or mobile network or device.

Thomson Now Manages More than 6 Million VoIP Lines - VoIP Monitor

Thomson announces that more than 6 million VoIP telephony lines deployed by operators around the world are managed by Cirpack Class-5 voice switches from Thomson. This represents a 50% growth of users in just six months. Class 5 voice switches allow operators to provide primary line telephony with emergency numbers and legal intercept with advanced voice features such as call forwarding and call conferencing to their customers.

Ericsson Acquires Service Delivery Platforms Provider Drutt Corporation

Ericsson announces it has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Drutt Corporation, a world leading provider of Service Delivery Platform (SDP) solutions. This deal represents yet another step in Ericsson's ambition to become the leader in multimedia.

Aepona, Appium Announce Merger

Aepona, a global provider of telecoms software products and services headquartered in Belfast, United Kingdom and Appium, a leading technology vendor offering Telecom Application Server and Service Creation Environment products based in Malmö, Sweden, today announced that they will merge to create the world’s leading independent vendor for the Telecom Service Layer.

M&A Hotbed

If you're looking for a hotbed of telecom operator M&A action, look no further than the Disunited States of Europe, where there seems to be a price tag hanging off just about every carrier.

BT's new network heralds engineer job carnage | The Register

ADSL2+ is being rolled out at 21CN exchanges, which should offer speeds of 24mbps. Reynolds said the trial, conducted in a couple of hundred homes in south Wales, had reported no faults and would generate £1bn in annual cost savings once turned on elsewhere. 21CN will use internet protocol for all voice traffic too.

The Battle for Broadband TV

TelecomView Study Finds that TelcoTV Will Hold Its Own Against Internet TV
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 11, 2007– Internet TV has come storming onto the scene raising the question of how TelcoTV and other traditional TV services are going to survive. TelecomView’s new report The Battle for Broadband TV: TelcoTV vs. Internet TV analyzes the impact of Internet TV on TelcoTV in particular.
“We forecast that people will spend about as much time watching TelcoTV as they do Internet TV in 2011,” stated Ian Cox, Principal Analyst at TelecomView. “In addition, our forecasts show that on line and on demand services will account for nearly all of the growth in film revenues over the next five years.”
The report includes an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of TelcoTV and Internet TV and discusses how TelcoTV operators can take advantage of the creativity of Internet TV. It discusses the business case for TelcoTV services and gives forecasts for the amount of time people will watch TelcoTV and Internet TV services. It also forecasts revenues for films that include theatrical releases, DVD rentals and sales, video on demand, and Internet download and streaming services. All of these forecasts are global and by region.
“The TelcoTV operators have a strong position in this market,” stated Bob Larribeau, Principal Analyst at TelecomView and author of the report. “The increasing popularity of HDTV and the need to support multiple TVs in the home give TelcoTV an advantage serving the TV that Internet TV will not be able to match over the next five years.”
This 80 page report addresses these issues and provides the information and analysis that TelcoTV providers, Internet TV operators, and system suppliers need to succeed in this market.
This report is available from TelecomView for $3,495. For more information about it contact TelecomView at +1 415 241 9920 or +44 1626 834 224. More information is available at http://www.telecomview.info or info@telecomview.info.

Telecom Carriers Will Spend Billions to Try to Survive the IP Revolution says Gartner

Telecom Carriers Will Spend Billions to Try to Survive the IP Revolution says Gartner

And the answer is...

Nokia-Siemens Warns Of Network Spending Slowdown |

Nokia-Siemens Warns Of Network Spending Slowdown | April 2, 2007 | Telecommunications Magazine

So maybe that's why they merged? And why Alcatel and Lucent did too. And why Marconi went tits up? Let's look at carrier profits to see why...

Broadband kills off consumer ISDN

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband kills off consumer ISDN

"It's reasonable to expect that in a few years time the telecoms firms will be able to provide short-term, high-quality, bi-directional IP circuits," said Mr Davis. "They certainly cannot do it now."

FT, Telefónica Talk Up IMS

Telefónica, told a plenary session here at C5 that the Spanish carrier regards IMS as the most suitable way to attain some of its goals: network convergence, PSTN replacement, and cost cutting in terms of both capex and opex.Next year Telefónica will begin its PSTN replacement program, switching over to softswitch-based voice management.
France Telecom, also stressed the internal cultural challenge that a shift to an IMS world brings to a major carrier.

IMS teething troubles-it was bound to happen.

Ericsson IMS for TP

Under a frame agreement, the first for IMS in Poland, Ericsson will integrate the solution into TP's network and provide support and maintenance until the end of the year.

Swisscom Gobbles Up Fastweb

"Italy hasn't got a cable network, so the fact that Fastweb can offer a triple play of phone, video, and broadband on its fiber-optic network gives it a unique market position," says Ian Cox, principal analyst at researcher TelecomView in England. Cox argues that European telcos must look beyond their borders for growth.

Next-generation networks to receive total investment of over US$1 trillion by 2015,

By the end of 2007 there will be full next-generation network (NGN) standards for fixed and mobile networks allowing IP-based services to be deployed on NGNs, a process that will be largely complete by 2015 for a total cumulative investment of more than US$1 trillion, according to a new report.

Network operators are slowly beginning to roll out all-IP NGNs. The move to an IP-based infrastructure is a natural evolution for the fixed network as broadband services, including voice over IP, take over from the public switched telephone network. Mobile networks have a parallel evolution to IP at a slower pace, but the standards work is accelerating.

"As we move to the end of the decade, bandwidth-hungry services such as IPTV will need an IP infrastructure to support them. Operators will also want to control operating costs by moving all services over an IP network," said analyst Ian Cox. "This will enable deployment of service delivery platforms and IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) in the network, streamlining operations and allowing new services to be introduced quickly."

For users, NGNs provide better and more compelling services and deliver higher data rates, for video and rich voice sessions, said Cox. For operators, NGNs allow services and transport in the network to be separated and to evolve independently. This will speed up the development of content and services, to the advantage of the whole industry.