Newswatch
“The support of IPv6 from these thousands of organizations delivers a critical message to the world: IPv6 is not just a ‘nice to have’; it is ready for business today and will very soon be a ‘must have,’” said Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer, Internet Society. “We believe that the commitment of these companies to deploy IPv6 will ensure that they remain industry leaders. Any company wishing to be effective in the new internet should do the same.”
Wi-Fi and the Mesh of Connectivity
In the last issue of Pipeline, we covered the numerous access technologies that must work in concert to deliver ubiquitous connectivity, a phenomenon we deemed the wireless mesh. One of the rising stars in the wireless mesh is Wi-Fi and for good reasons: Wi-Fi is inexpensive, highly deployed, and relies on unlicensed spectrum.
Instead of being bound by the build-it-or-buy-it dichotomy of the past, communications service providers (CSPs) are joining forces to accelerate time to market for expanded connectivity. Further, carriers can understand and shape the customer experience to a much greater degree by keeping customers “within the fold” as they transition to Wi-Fi connectivity. As an expected result, new partnerships in the world of Wi-Fi made news last month.
Bouygues Telecom teamed up with Devicescape to offer their customers global, seamless Wi-Fi connectivity. This is significant because Devicecape operates the largest hotspot network in the world. Bouygues Telecom users will have free connectivity to 8 million hotspots, and receive guaranteed quality and bandwidth. Access to the no-cost worldwide hotspot network offers an attractive option for customers who want to avoid roaming charges as they travel.
John Lillie, Vice President, EMEA of Devicescape, commented on the competitive advantages offered by partnering to immediately offer global Wi-Fi connectivity: “By providing Wi-Fi access for its customers wherever they are, Bouygues Telecom gains a major competitive advantage."
For service providers who already have significant Wi-Fi assets (AT&T comes to mind), the partnerships can go both ways. In late June, SK Telecom inked a deal with Boingo Wireless to allow Boingo customers to tap into SK's network of 75,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout South Korea. The benefits gained by reducing exorbitant roaming charges were called out in the official announcement, underlining the increasing degree that CSPs are looking to Wi-Fi to offload traffic and help alleviate bill shock and deliver economical connectivity when roaming.
In another Wi-Fi story, Comcast added mobile Wi-Fi calling to its Xfinity product portfolio, enabling customers to make phone calls and send text messages for free, whether at home or over a public Wi-Fi hotspot. As Pipeline posited when the news broke, Wi-Fi calling could become the solution to a compelling wireless model that has eluded MSOs.
Market Research
A wealth of valuable market research that impacts both service providers and vendors in the communications industry was published last month. An Infonetics report covering the convergent charging market found Comverse ahead of the pack with Huawei and Ericsson close behind, while data from ABI Research pegged Huawei and ZTE on top of the mobile broadband modem market. Saving the planet one paperless bill at a time isn't just good for the trees; Sprint commissioned a study of consumer billing preference and found that customers of major wireless service providers in the United States who receive their bills electronically tend to be more satisfied with billing than those who rely on snail mail. Last but not least, vendors take note: CSPs continue to spend more on managed services, which means solution portfolios need to include end-to-end service offerings. According to the latest research, projected spend on managed services by telcos will reach $75 billion by 2016. For more industry research and news, be sure to visit Pipeline's Newscenter.
