Recently in Telecommunications Category

Reading ABI Research's release today, "BPL May Boost Utilities' Bottom Line, says ABI Research," I was reminded of one of the possible benefits of Broadband over Power Lines, that is, from the point of view of the electric utility providing the service.

Naturally, power companies like the idea of offering broadband over existing grids, just as a way of making money by offering a new service. But ABI's report highlights another benefit of the technology, in that it increases the utility's ability to monitor the status of its grid and read meters.

Here's an excerpt from today's release with some good explanation:

"'Innovation in powerline technologies may or may not add to power utilities' revenues immediately,' [says ABI analyst Vamsi Sistla], 'but the cost savings they enable will certainly help their bottom lines.'

"Take the ability to remotely monitor electric meters. Traditionally, a human 'meter reader' would visit every customer's household to log power use manually. Even with the later development of 'drive-by' meter reading, a driver, a truck and some specialized equipment were required. All of those cost money and time, and ultimately drive up prices.

"Grafting a broadband network onto the power grid, on the other hand, means completely remote, automated meter reading, as well as instant reporting of outages and system failures. 'ABI Research believes the utility industry should focus on these low hanging fruits, even more than building BPL capabilities to generate additional revenue,' notes Sistla."

AB -- 11/29/05

In case you haven't seen it, here is the new AT&T logo, released in the wake of the final merger of SBC with AT&T under the high-recognition AT&T brand name:

An announcement from AT&T's PR firm says the new branding will be rolled out over the next several months on nearly 50,000 company vehicles, over 6,000 buildings, about 40,000 uniforms and hardhats and over 30 million monthly customer bills, as well as literature and web sites.

AB -- 11/21/05

Today I got wind of a study to be released Monday (11/14/05) from the Customer Respect Group (CRG), ranking telecom companies on how they treat their customers online. This is particularly of interest here at TMCnet, as we cover both the telecommunications and contact center industries (and I'm always interested in how well companies do in this area -- I'm sure a number of contact centers have identified me as 'The Customer From Hell' in their operations.)

The Customer Respect Study focuses on how companies treat their customers online, according to attributes intended to measure the online customer experience. The study to be released Monday is for third quarter 2005. Here are some highlights I noted from the summary I received:

+ Based on a perfect score of 10, the telecom sector was given a CRI (Customer Respect Index) rating of 6.7 for the third quarter. This is down from 6.9 in the second quarter. The telecom industry has now lost its top-industry rating to Retail, which scored 7.0.

+ "Excellent" CRI ratings of 8.0 or more went to Bell Canada and CenturyTel.

+ "Very Good" ratings (7.5-7.9, I believe) went to Qwest, Sprint, Cablevision, Verizon Wireless and SBC.

+ The study includes a measure of "Privacy and Transparency," referring to treatment of customer personal information and clarity of policies. The study notes an aggregate decline in the industry's score in this area, down to 7.0 from 7.3 in Q2. Verizon Wireless, Verizon and Bell Canada all scored well in this area.

+ The study also measures Responsiveness to online customer inquiries. Findings show that 86% of email inquiries received a response, up from 83% the previous quarter. Interestingly, CRG finds that 74% of web users think that a day is "a valid period to wait for a response" but only 43% of email inquiries got a response within that time period; this is down from 60% in Q2 -- a big drop. The study also indicates that responses from companies have become less helpful and relevant.

+ SBC received a score of 8.7 in "Simplicity" and "Usability."

+ Verizon Wireless scored highest in "Privacy" at 9.3.

A prepared comment from CRG President Terry Golesworthy has this to say about this quarter's results:

"Trust is a critical factor for the online customer, especially in an industry that is so fast moving with the convergence of technologies and new options available. The increase in the quantity but drop in the quality of the responses may serve as an indicator of major restructuring to better communicate with the online customer.  Online customers are looking for usable websites from companies they trust to provide timely answers to questions in an increasingly complex purchasing environment."

Please visit TMCnet on Monday, Nov. 14, 2005, for more information about the results of the Customer Respect Group study.

AB -- 11/11/05

Just wanted to point attention to a good article from this morning by TMCnet Contributing Editor Susan J. Campbell:

Study Argues Market Is Ready for Broadband over Power Lines (BPL)

She discusses the results of a new study by research firm visiongain. Please see some of my previous entries for more news and info about BPL:

ABI: BPL May Go Over Better in Under-Developed Markets

Ham Radio Organization Challenges Manassas BPL Project

Broadband Proliferates in Hotels

Manassas Va. Launches City-Wide Broadband-Over-Powerline (BPL)

Broadband Over Power Lines Showing Initial Success?

BPL a Danger to Amateur Radio?

AB -- 11/11/05

Tim Krause, Alcatel's chief marketing officer and senior vice president for government relations, reportedly testified before the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee of the U.S. House today.

After that, Alcatel released a statement endorsing new draft legislation coming out of the Subcommittee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The draft legislation is called the Broadband Internet Transmission Services ("BITS") Act.

Today's announcement says that the following statement can be attributed to Krause:

"Alcatel endorses the BITS Act, and requests the Committee move it forward in the legislative process without delay. The BITS Act will ensure the continued growth of the U.S. broadband market by creating legal and regulatory certainty for the services that flow over powerful new broadband networks, such as the IPTV networks being built by Alcatel for U.S. telecommunications carriers, in several ways:

"First, it generally protects nascent broadband services from regulation at the Federal, State, and local level, and does so in a socially conscious manner by preserving important public policies, such as E911.

"The bill creates a streamlined Federal video franchise process for broadband video services that will ensure they can be a key driver of continued broadband deployment immediately. The BITS Act achieves this goal while protecting the ability of municipalities to manage their local rights of way, as well as the video franchise fee revenue streams they have come to rely on.

"Alcatel also supports the inclusion into the BITS Act of Internet Neutrality principles, which promotes consumer broadband demand, as well as protections for municipal entry into the broadband market when necessary."

The Alcatel statement is somewhat at odds with a statement issued yesterday by Google's Vinton Cerf (see "Vint Cerf Urges House Committee to Preserve Neutral Internet Architecture"). Cerf worries that the BITS Act in current form would be bad for consumers and for the development of broadband in the U.S. His statement in part says:

"My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity. Allowing broadband providers to segment their IP offerings and reserve huge amounts of bandwidth for their own services will not give consumers the broadband Internet our country and economy need."

Both the Alcatel and Cerf statements advocate 'Internet neutrality principles,' but I'm not sure Cerf and Krause would agree on exactly what that requires.

AB -- 11/9/05

Today the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce is holding a hearing about the new telecommunications bill being proposed in Congress. TMCnet writers are listening to that hearing right now and will be reporting.

In the meantime, Tom Keating has passed along a striking letter from Vint Cerf, one of the originators of TCP/IP. Cerf was not able to attend the hearings, as at that time he will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House.

Cerf's letter was published yesterday in this Google blog entry:

Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality

Because of his critical role in developing the Internet, Cerf's arguments carry a lot of power. Here is what he says in part:

"The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural characteristics that were part of its design. The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation. This has led to an explosion of offerings – from VOIP to 802.11x wi-fi to blogging – that might never have evolved had central control of the network been required by design.

"My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity. Allowing broadband providers to segment their IP offerings and reserve huge amounts of bandwidth for their own services will not give consumers the broadband Internet our country and economy need. Many people will have little or no choice among broadband operators for the foreseeable future, implying that such operators will have the power to exercise a great deal of control over any applications placed on the network.

"As we move to a broadband environment and eliminate century-old non-discrimination requirements, a lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive. Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online.

"I am confident that we can build a broadband system that allows users to decide what websites they want to see and what applications they want to use – and that also guarantees high quality service and network security. That network model has and can continue to provide economic benefits to innovators and consumers -- and to the broadband operators who will reap the rewards for providing access to such a valued network."

AB -- 11/9/05

This morning I received this announcement from Japan Corporate News Network:

Oki Electric Releases Image Processing Middleware that Supports Face Recognition for Use in Mobile Phones

The release announces that Oki has begun marketing its Face Sensing Engine (FSE), a middleware product for facial image processing. The first use for the FSE is as an embedded application in mobile phones.

Seems to me that the initial purpose must be for identification for security purposes. Today's release says that, besides mobile applications, Oki plans to market FSE for use in games and user interfaces. An application that allows your computer or network to recognize your face could make an interesting contribution to an advanced user interface, especially when combined with speech recognition technology.

AB -- 10/19/05

In a new report, ABI Research acknowledges that Broadband over Power Line (BPL) "does offer benefits to utilities, including more efficient use of the electrical grid and better telemetry for tracking faults and failures," according to Vamsi Sistla, ABI's director of broadband research.

The report, called "The Future of HomePlug/In-house PLC and Access BPL," examines market viability for these technologies.

BPL is an appealing idea to electrical utilities, as it offers the possibility of new revenue streams. And BPL also appeals to government regulators, who put BPL forward (along with WiMAX) as potential competion to cable and telco broadband services. (See my previous entry about the recent rollout of a city-wide BPL installation in Manassas, Va.)

But ABI's Sistla sees challenges for BPL in markets where infrastructure is already well-developed, citing competion from incumbent DSL and cable providers, as well as bandwidth issues and objections over radio interference. Quoted in today's announcement, Sistla says, "The best opportunities for BPL will be in regions with poor telecom infrastructure, where cable is too expensive and modest access speeds will suffice. Eastern Europe, China and India are good examples."

AB -- 10/18/05

We reported recently about the rollout of a new Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) system in Manassas, Virginia. See our previous coverage at:

BPL Has Coming Out Party - Does Anyone Care? -- Ted Glanzer

Manassas Va. Launches City-Wide Broadband-Over-Powerline (BPL) -- Al Bredenberg

Yesterday the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) announced that it has called on the FCC to shut down the Manassas installation because the system is causing interference for ham radio operators in the area. See the ARRL's announcement at:

ARRL Calls on FCC to Shut Down Virginia BPL System

In a filing to the FCC, the ARRL maintains that:

"The Manassas system currently causes harmful interference, and it is not compliant with applicable FCC Part 15 regulations, including Section 15.5. Whatever actions either Manassas Power or Communication Technologies Inc [commercial operator of the BPL system] might have taken to relieve the problem have not been successful, and it persists to the present time. This is precisely the situation in which the system must be shut down, pending successful resolution of the severe interference."

Manassas radio amateur Donald Blasdell reported to the FCC that BPL interference in Manassas made it impossible for him to operate a special event station in Manassas. He wrote to the FCC's Enforcement Bureau: "I could not read the special event station because of the noise as I drove through the City of Manassas trying to find a spot that was conducive to making a contact. The noise levels ran from 10 dB+ to 40 dB+."

The ARRL has an article on its Web site explaining why BPL is a concern for amateur radio operators.

AB -- 10/14/05

We received an announcement today that Eureka Networks, a CLEC serving Northeastern U.S. and the mid-Atlantic, has installed Equinox's Protector 10 real-time fraud management system. Eureka serves primarily business customers, providing traditional voice and data services, as well as VoIP, hosted PBX and DS3 connectivity.

Today's release is available on the TMCnet news feeds at:

Eureka Networks Purchases Protector 10 Telecom Fraud Management Software From Equinox Information Systems

Equinox specializes in software solutions for the telecommunications industry. Protector 10 provides real-time fraud-detection by "identifying instances in which a customer's actual usage varies from expected usage in a manner that suggests fraudulent activity."

Equinox says that telecom fraud costs $12 billion yearly. Sounds as if that might refer to the U.S. only, because the International Engineering Consortium (IEC) gives a higher figure for global losses at $30-$40 billion (and that's for year 2000), representing an "annual loss of 3 percent to 8 percent to the average service provider." IEC indicates that organized crime is involved in telecom fraud and that this activity might even be "more attractive than the drug market."

AB -- 10/4/05