An Independent Review of LTE (Long Term Evolution, aka 4G): Cutting through the marketing hype

LTE (Long Term Evolution, also known as 4G) is entering the hype-cycle, and being rapidly pushed up to the ‘peak of inflated expectations’, just like IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), PTT (Push To Talk), FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence), and far too many other technologies to name here.  So to cut through the hype and hopefully present […]

The Telco API: Services examples with the potential to raise ARPU by up to 36%

In a previous weblog article I discussed how the Telco API is much more than a method of exposing capabilities from telco networks to third party applications.  As these slides show, Telco API.pdf, the Telco API impacts all services in an operator’s business.  Using the classic demand curve, we can break its impact into three […]

Start-ups to Watch: Fonolo, stopping the IVR Hell!

While at the Voice Peering Forum I met an innovative ‘Voice 2.0’ start-up called Fonolo. If you need to call your bank, airline, operator, car rental agency, travel service, or one of those many other companies that waste your time by making you wait on the phone; this service does all the IVR (Interactive Voice […]

Web / Voice / Telco 2.0 Application Developer List

For the passed two years in helping operators and suppliers innovate around the concept of the Telco API, I’ve built a list of web / voice / telco 2.0 application developers that could benefit from the Telco API.  Currently the list is at about 800 companies, but it’s always under revision as there is significant […]

Update on OSS Consolidation Part 1 Weblog Article: Service Management

At the start of April I wrote about the consolidation in the service management space and the major trends of: Consolidation of functionality.  Just like enterprise IT, as mature functions are subsumed.  For example, once upon a time a service provider would buy a VoIP fulfillment platform, now multi-service fulfillment is the norm. Emergence of […]

Voice Peering Forum (VPF) Summary

The VPF has become a must-attend conference for anyone focused on service innovation in telecoms, with over 200 attendees this year, its certainly bucking the trend we’re seeing in conferences closing.  This conference brings together a diverse mix of the telecom value chain: the IP Exchange and data center providers (Terremark, Telx, CRGWest); innovative applications […]

Understanding Where to Focus: Its all About the Operator’s Financials in Setting the Priorities

Reviewing the financial reports of many mobile operators shows a similar story in how their costs breakdown.  There’s roughly an 80:20 split between operational (80%) and capital (20%) expenditure.  Capital expenditures cover the amortized investment in the licenses and building the network infrastructure.  The bulk of a mobile operator’s costs are operational expenditures, hence the […]

Opening Up the Soft Service Provider: The Telco API (Summary)

Survival is the mother of innovation.  As customer behavior, rather than technology and competition, significantly impacts a service provider’s business, threatening the core revenues; the Telco API (Application Program Interface) is one method for operators to foster innovation on their networks.  The Telco API enables operators to expose capabilities from their networks such as location, […]

Low Cost and Mobile VoIP Study

Technology Appraisals, a consultancy based in the UK, has recently completed a comprehensive global study on “Low Cost & Mobile VoIP.”  The study profiles 30 new mobile players in detail and gives summary tables, illustrations and comparisons. It provides a clear picture of who is in this business, where they come from, where are they […]

Summary of “Where’s the Mobile Industry Going?” Panel at the Sigma System’s User Conference

Sigma Systems’ first User Conference (June 4th-6th, Barton Creek Resort), explored the next generation of consumer and business oriented services, including insight and discussion around emerging trends and technology developments in the following areas:  targeted advertising, evolution of commercial VoIP & data services, global deployments in mobile broadband services, evolution to on-demand services, converged applications […]