Verizon Wireless

Telcos Have Google Envy

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A new report by Heavy Reading asserts that when it comes to delivering differentiating next-generation services, Internet companies like Google have the edge, while major carriers aren't sure what to do. Surveyed firms--France Telecom, NTT, TelaSonera, and Verizon Communications--know what they don't know and realize they will have to partner with third-party application companies to deliver the advanced services consumers will ultimately want.

Telcos are looking at third-party applications and trying to find ways they can add value to them. Most of the carriers feel they bring value to the table with billing, security, and QoS; policy control is also an area which carriers are looking at, but it's very controversial and kicks up the net neutrality crowd.

The bottom line--traditional telephony--is a dying asset and if they want to keep growing revenues in the future they will have to partner up and open up their networks to third parties. Sprint and Verizon Wireless have already taken the first steps in opening up their network and movement is expected on the wireline side as well. When it comes to advanced services, carriers see Google as their biggest threat, but Google doesn't make money as a service provider. Instead, Google relies almost exclusively on online advertising for revenues.

For more:
- Light Reading's GoogleEnvy writeup
- Reinventing the Telcos Report

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FCC Chairman says no to Skype, forced open access

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:55 -0400

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told CTIA conventioneers this week he'll oppose a Skype petition to open up existing wireless carrier networks to outside devices because the industry already is working toward that goal. "In light of the industry's embrace of this more open approach, I think it's premature for the commission to place any other requirements on these networks," Martin told the audience.

Skype was looking for a "Carterphone" regulation to force mobile operators to connect any device that doesn't harm the network. Martin said he was working to balance the needs of device makers and operators. Skype is currently banned on most networks.

Granted, recent statements from Verizon Wireless that it would open its network to outside devices may sound like movement forward, but the company's caveat "as long as" (device and apps meet their certification process) puts a bit of a damper on any outward exuberance among VoIP providers.

For more on Skype's stumble:
- read FierceWireless' story on the Chairman's remarks Article
- Read the InformationWeek story
- Skype responds to FCC Chairman Martin's keynote remarks
- check out CTIA Live's photos from Martin's keynote

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Mobile VoIP changes the game

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Apple's announcement that it will allow WiFi VoIP on its iPhone is one of those big tech moments. With the imminent arrival of Google's Android platform and even industry conservatives like Verizon Wireless opening its platform for third party apps, no one wants to be left as the only platform/device not offering mobile VoIP. Just mix Skype's massive user base and tens of millions of open smart phones together and you quickly see the future.

And while the limitations of the 3G platform means VoIP will only be a WiFi game for the time being, the arrival of 4G is going to change that once and for all. In any case various bridging widgets such as those offered by Packet8 and Truphone will give users a viable and much cheaper "VoIP like" service. T-Mobile's new @home WiFi service and Vodafone's not dissimilar German play, suggests the carriers know the game is up for pure cellular and are already accepting that if you can't beat them, it's better to join them. Tom

Vodafone swings behind VoIP

Tom Burton — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Vodafone Germany is launching a mobile VoIP service using WiFi that expands the reach of the cellular service indoors and removes international roaming fees. The converging of the WiFi and Cellular service makes Vodafone the first major carrier to embrace mobile VoIP in Europe. Vodafone is a 45 percent owner of Verizon Wireless and is the world's largest operator by turnover.

The move to use WiFi to expand the footprint of the service follows a similar announcement by German-owned T-Mobile to offer WiFi coverage in homes of their U.S. customers. T-Mobile customers can talk on this service to anyone in the U.S. for a very competitive $10 a month.

Cellular operators have been predicted to embrace mobile VoIP for several years. But the technology was largely resisted by operators because of concerns it would cannibalize their profitable cellular plays. The move by the industry leader to begin using VoIP represents a significant new development and comes as several start-ups have begun promoting new VoIP calling widgets for smartphones.

The current 3G networks are generally considered not ready to provide a quality VoIP service, but the transition to super-fast 4G networks is likely to herald a rapid switch to data-based calling. Most of the cellular players are looking to adopt LTE platforms with timing still up in the air, but around 2011. Sprint may move sooner and adopt WiMAX as its 4G platform.

For more:
Back to the future of mobile voice Article

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T-Mobile offers $10 a month VoIP

Tom Burton — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

T-Mobile has dramatically challenged the market structure of the residential VoIP market offering a bundled cellular and at-home VoIP service for an extra $10 a month with a cellular plan. The deeply discounted VoIP offering is almost certainly to be matched by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which already have access to stand-alone VoIP offerings.

The T-Mobile announcement most obviously threatens Vonage, which has a stand-alone VoIP offering starting at $25 a month. But it also challenges the cable companies, currently without wireless offerings to support their VoIP products.

Deutsche Telecom-owned T-Mobile is trialling its "Talk Forever" VoIP service in Seattle and Dallas; its success is likely to depend on its quality and its ease of transition. Users of the VoIP offering will pay a one-off fee of $50 for the VoIP converter, which connects to a line between the phone jack and the telephone. New VoIP providers have typically had to endure high churn rates from customers dissatisfied with the quality of both the actual service and customer support. Vonage is still losing a third of its customers each year.

The VoIP PR was overshadowed by the flat price announcement by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile itself, each offering unlimited mobile calling for $100 a month.

For More:
T-Mobile Advertisement

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SMS growing five-fold in U.S.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:59:54 -0500

SMS or text messaging does not have much to do with VoIP, but its stunning usage is a stark reminder that the simple often works best when it comes to personal communications. SMS is also a great example of an application no one saw coming.

The IP Carrier blog reports that CTIA researchers have found U.S. SMS traffic volumes have boomed over the last four years growing at 37 percent a month. "As of December 2006, over 18.5 billion text messages are sent every month and that number has grown by 250 percent each year for the last two years," the blog reports.

Some have predicted SMS may plateau as more and more phones are email and IM enabled. This is not so according to Verizon Wireless which is predicting text messages to grow nearly five times from 400 million per month in July 2005 to over two billion per month next year. The U.S. was relatively slow to the SMS phenomena but is wasting no time catching on.

For more:
- IP Carrier carries the report in its blog

Related articles:
- Carriers lose SMS revenue of $4.9B Report
- Worldwide SMS revenues to hit $67B Report

Verizon game changer

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:59:58 -0500

It is hard to overstate how profoundly Verizon's decision to bring down the walls on its wireless network changes the U.S. competitive and technological communications landscape.

Only a fortnight ago a respected London analyst, Dean Bubley, predicted the number of VoIP Mobile users would grow from virtually zero in 2007 to more than 250 million by the end of 2012. This is well in excess of an expected 100 million users with dual-mode VoWLAN/cellular phones. The push, he said, would come from the operators themselves, who would quickly realize how much more efficient the VoIPo3G system would be for spectrum, for integrating fixed and mobile core networks and for the roll out of new services such as voice mash-ups.

The caveat Bubley put on his prediction was if the big incumbent carriers found it just too hard to change a hundred years of controlling the playing field and resisted any opening of the network to 3rd party devices and applications.

The signs had not been good with Verizon among the chief lobbyists mid year against Google's Washington push to open any new U.S. wireless networks to all players. And Verizon chief, Lowell McAdam, later described the FCC's open access rules for the 700 MHz block as an "experiment." At the same time, fearing years of walking the DC power corridors, Skype had petitioned the FCC to force carriers to open their mobile networks.

But with a deep pocketed Google on a crusade to open the proprietary world of wireless telephony--and maybe with an eye to history--Verizon surprised the telco world and decided it was time to swim with the tide, announcing earlier this week it would open its network in 2008

Our sister publication FierceWireless is rightly skeptical how far Verizon will be prepared to go, but it is worth recalling it was the allowing of a simple two way radio (the Carterfone) to connect to the telephone network in 1968 which led to collapse of the then all dominant AT&T, and arguably the deregulation of world telecoms thereafter. At the risk of oversimplifying, history tells us you can't be half open and once the decision has been made to open the network, then it is almost impossible to hold out. This is especially so in a world of high speed data applications. And even more so if "open phones" can enjoy a zillion applications - some not useful , some very.

Which will be food for thought for the (new) AT&T which yesterday was saying it did not intend to go down the Sprint/T-Mobile/Verizon/Google open pathway. Maybe AT&T intend moving to Beijing?

For More:
- Wall Street Journal has a good summary

Related articles:
- Is open the new closed? Comment
- Google: Verizon thinks open access won't apply Report
- iPhone a catalyst in open-access debate Report

Cellcos yanking VoIP from subsidized Nokia phone

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

If you're not smart about how the cellular business works, you might want to educate yourself because some cellcos have gotten the bright idea of crippling VoIP-able cell phones. There are reports out of England that Orange and Vodafone (which owns just under half of Verizon Wireless) have disabled the VoIP capabilities of the high-end Nokia N95 handset. One commentator cites a cellco official as saying it would make no sense for a carrier to subsidize a phone that came configured in a way that would undermine the business model of the subsidizing company. You can still buy an "unneutered" N95 with the VoIP hooks intact; you'll just pay more for it because a friendly cellco won't be paying any of the freight.

For more about the VoIP-less N95s:
- read this article

Related Articles:
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EV-DO Rev. B chipset readied

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Qualcomm and Broadcom may be embroiled in a trade dispute that touches the EV-DO market, but Qualcomm keeps pushing ahead. The chip company this week debuted a chipset for EV-DO Rev. B. (Remember, Verizon Wireless and Sprint are just now finishing their roll-outs of Rev. A.) Rev. B promises to deliver an average of 9.3Mbps downward over just 5MHz of spectrum. Sample quantities will be available later this year, and a software upgrade to Rev. A cell site modems will be ready this week; it's probably giving bean counters at the two U.S. CDMA carriers a headache just thinking about it. Qualcomm also this week announced single-chip Rev. A systems, so at least handset makers will be able to save a few bucks.

For more information about CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. B:
- read this article from InformationWeek

Related Articles:
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Trade spat could kill U.S. EV-DO

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Could EV-DO wind up as collateral damage? Could be, as a trade dispute between Qualcomm and Broadcom reaches the International Trade Commission. The two companies are grappling over a chip patent, and one possible outcome could be to ban the U.S. importation of phones that use EV-DO chips. Verizon Wireless and Sprint are both completing expensive upgrades to their EV-DO networks and are both spending millions of dollars in ads. A halt to EV-DO would be little short of catastrophic for the companies, which are relying on the technology to push a number of data applications--not the least of which is wireless VoIP.

For more information about the Qualcomm and Broadcom spat:
- check out this coverage from FierceWireless
- read this FierceWireless report

Related Articles:
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Vodafone takes a Starfish approach to wVoIP

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:01:34 -0400

Over at CeBIT, Vodafone's taking a hybrid approach to the problem of mobile VoIP. Its prototype Starfish service promises to give cell callers a Skype presence by letting them dial into a gateway that bridges the call onto an IP network. Presence is handled via a GPRS connection. (Vodafone is a GSM service, unlike its partly owned U.S. company, Verizon Wireless.) Vodafone likes the service because it doesn't require downloaded software, it's available anywhere there's a GSM signal, it claims better voice quality than WiFi VoIP, and they can bill for the airtime. For Vodafone, sounds like a win.

For more about Vodafone's Starfish:
- read this article from PC World

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Verizon Rev. A rollout near completion

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:01:34 -0400

Not to flog our sister newsletter too much, but it's pointing out that Verizon Wireless says it's almost finished rolling out its EV-DO Rev. A network upgrade. That was way fast; final field tests of the technology weren't finished until September, so Verizon got the entire buildout done in about six months. It's all the more notable because Verizon's been much quieter about Rev. A than rival Sprint has been; Sprint's been talking up its market-by-market upgrade, while Verizon's stayed pretty much mum entire Rev. A is everywhere.

For more about the race to Rev. A:
- read this FierceWireless article

Will A-IMS help or hurt wireless VoIP?

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:01:38 -0400

You'll recall our coverage a couple of weeks ago of the unveiling of A-IMS, the extensions to IMS proposed by Verizon Wireless and a bunch of other big networking companies. VoIP News is carrying an careful business analysis of A-IMS and comes to the conclusion that by supporting non-SIP traffic in an IMS environment, A-IMS will make it possible for cell carriers to avoid carrying wireless VoIP for the foreseeable future. Of course, VoIP is hard to do for cellcos; it siphons money away from the existing cellular network, it's expensive to provision for, and it sucks up data bandwidth. On the other hand, it's the coming thing--and you know how hard it is to stand in the way of a tech tsunami.

For more information about A-IMS:
- come to the FierceMarkets IMS Executive Summit. Register now and use promo code Dan to save $200
- read this article from VoIP News

Big gear vendors back expanded IMS

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:01:38 -0400

If you're in the phone business (whatever that is these days) and Verizon Wireless, Cisco, Qualcomm, Lucent, Motorola and Nortel are suggesting a technology direction, you'd best at least pay attention. Those six heavyweights this week announced an initiative they're calling Advances to IMS. A-IMS, the companies say, enhances IMS and allows non-SIP applications under the IMS tent as well as boosting security. The vendors will be proposing their ideas to the 3GPP consortium that developed IMS; Verizon Wireless hopes to start deployment in the next year to 18 months.

For more information on A-IMS:
- read this article in Telephony
- get A-IMS documents by sending an email to a-ims@verizonwireless.com

Verizon goes with Lucent for Rev. A EV-DO

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:01:38 -0400

Attentive readers will recall earlier articles about successful tests of a new, VoIP-friendly, revision of EV-DO--the data service of CDMA. The news now is that Verizon Wireless says it's picked Lucent to deploy the Revision A hardware and software across its network. Revision A, which supports speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps down and 1.8 Mbps up, will allow services including push-to-talk, VoIP and other multimedia services. Expect Verizon to get less starchy about using its data network for IP-based calling.

For more information about Rev. A of EV-DO:
- read this article in TMCNet

Verizon to sell 3 CALA units for $3.7B

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:40:06 -0400

Verizon is selling its 100 percent stake in Verizon Dominica and its 52 percent stake in Puerto Rico Telephone to Mexico City-based América Móvil. Verizon is also selling its 28.5 percent stake in Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela to Telmex, a joint venture between América Móvil and Teléfonos de México. Verizon said that these businesses are profitable but not central to its focus. So, what could the focus be? Gaining the remaining 45 percent of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone is likely goal. That will help the operator compete with rival AT&T, which has become stronger after a string of recent acquisitions. However, Verizon has been unable to convince Vodafone to sell its stake in their highly profitable joint venture. Verizon also plans to sell its telephone directories business or spin it off to shareholders as early as this year, which could raise another $15 billion. For América Móvil and Telmex, the acquisitions add 15 million wireless, landline and broadband customers.

To learn more about Verizon's decision to sell its CALA units:
- read this article from The New York Times