Ofcom market survey for UK reveals demand for telecom services to be recession-proof

Even in a down economy, consumers are unwilling to let go of telecom services

Ofcom, the UK regulator, released a study of national telecommunications use bringing some interesting facts up for discussion. Telecom services play a greater role in our lives and when it comes to prioritizing spending in difficult economic times, users are more keen to view their mobile phones, broadband Internet connections, and digital TV subscriptions as necessities rather than luxuries.

When it comes to prioritizing spending:

Consumers were more likely to cut back on dining out (47%) and holidays (41%), over cutting back on mobile phone use (19%), TV subscriptions (16%) or broadband services (10%).

Mobile broadband means innovation can come from all over the globe

There will be 250 million mobile Internet subscribers by the end of 2009. A post on GigaOm goes into great depth about the state of wireless broadband. By September of this year EMEA (Europe, M. East, Africa) will have 60 million subscribers, North America 37 million, and Asia-Pacific will have 56 million mobile broadband users. All indicative of the reality that mobile broadband will be a key gateway for users to get onto the Internet.

These are all signs that the emerging wireless broadband network — regardless of the networking protocol is good for innovators and innovation. More entrepreneurs should be thinking about leveraging this wireless broadband platform in a more meaningful fashion. In developing and emerging markets, this could see technology helping people overcome everyday struggles and generate whole new sectors to economies.

The graphic below helps put the emergence of mobile broadband in context:

Click to view in High-Resolution

What’s Unwired Fiji thinking? New pricing for business Internet service falls way short of the mark

In an earlier post, Unwired Fiji was praised for deploying a next-generation WiMAX network. A loyal reader forwarded me me an email sent out by Unwired that details new services that take advantage of their new network infrastructure and this news should be greeted with much less enthusiasm. Unwired would have benefitted from waiting for the July 17th announcement of the liberalisation of access to the international gateway to  go to their customers with much more attractive pricing terms.

The company has unveiled two new service offerings for business users. Axxcess is a shared solution aimed at small and medium-scale enterprises. SkyFibre is a dedicated option for larger corporate outfits.

The trouble with Telstra and lessons for operators in our region

An earlier post outlined how regulators in Australia would require Telstra to agree to a functional separation of its network and retail operations. This post is an attempt to explain how a shifting regulatory environment is forcing major changes for Australia’s incumbent operator. Later this week, another post on Telstra will highlight a recent court verdict which forms the basis for why funtional separation is an unavoidable reality for network operators like FINTEL.

Leadership at telecom operators around the Pacific would be wise to look at the situation Telstra finds itself in down under. The Australian, reports on what can only be described as an implosion. Telstra finds itself battling government regulators, trying to piece together a functioning board of directors, selecting a successor

Telstra comes under attack on many fronts

for a very controversial CEO who has been sent packing, and in the latest development, likely prospect of a shareholder revolt.

Under the confrontational leadership style of CEO Sol Trujillo, the company has for years bristled at what they called burdensome government regulation. At times, this has resulted in Telstra carrying out a quite vocal campaign against Canberra. The aggressive stance of the company under the Trujillo-era culminated in the recent exclusion of Telstra’s bid to tender for construction of a national fiber network and the government opting to go the process under its aegis.

With liberalisation of access to int’l gateway in view, ATH infighting increases

With two months to go to announcement of further liberalization of the telecommunications, the ATH house seems to be in disarray as the subsidiaries try to get the best position for the arrival of real competition.

In previous weeks, we saw the removal of Telecom Fiji Ltd. (TFL) CEO, Taito Tabaleka, after he tried to make a submission on mobile call rate ceilings that would have affected what he believed was TFL’s ability to go up against Vodafone and Digicel.

Fijilive brings word of the latest round:

TFL now provides its own international call service to the Fiji market through the IDD code 052, which has replaced FINTEL’s 00 IDD code in this year’s national directory.

FINTEL has filed an official complaint with officials regarding this action by Fiji Directories Ltd, a subsidiary of TFL. This is a fight over how consumers will choose to make international phone calls. It’s not a trivial matter for these companies. Without FINTEL’s service in this year’s directory, consumers are only being informed of TFL’s facility for making overseas calls. This measure does not facilitate competition and should be properly remedied by the authorities.

FINTEL and TFL face-off in the latest round

In front of the major announcement of liberalization of access to Fiji’s international gateway, expect to see more fights in the ATH family. At stake is future profitablity and marketshare for existing and new services. We can only hope that regulators are on the ball and keeping abreast of attempts to liberalize markets overseas.

O3b announces pricing structure for Pacific Islands

Start-up satellite broadband provider O3b Networks expects to unveil an initial pricing plan for Pacific islands next week.  Greg Wyler, CEO, plans to announce a megabit-per-second pricing structure for Pacific Island countries at a meeting of the International Telecommunication Union from Feb 17-20, in Tonga:

Mr Wyler said the company’s preliminary assessment is that an island would pay around US$600 per megabit per second of throughput, plus an initial activation fee for the ground equipment of about US$350,000, for orders placed by May 2009. (Source: Pacnews)

I had the good fortune to see Greg Wyler, CEO of O3b, speak at PTC ‘09.  He described O3b’s plan for the Pacific Islands and it sounded pretty awesome as anyone addressing the needs of the Pacific Islands, is instantly my hero.

Greg Wyler at PTC '09 in Honolulu

O3b arrives on the scene just as other satellite companies like Intelsat are raising prices in the Pacific claiming the only alternative is stopping service to the islands.

Any news from O3b is good news for the Pacific islands.  Here’s some details on the satellites and the scheduled 2010 launch:

… based in the British tax haven Jersey Channel Islands, has contracted with manufacturer Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy to build an initial eight 700-kilogram O3b satellites to be launched together in late 2010 aboard a Sea Launch Co. rocket.

Launching satellites is no small task and there have been several quite prominent failures at what O3b is attempting to accomplish.  With the way technology is becoming so widespread in the world, the timing could be right for O3b.

We can only hold our breath in anticipation of the launch of the satellites in the latter half of 2010. On behalf of everyone who recognizes that O3b’s success means real competition for internet services in Fiji, we wish them well!