Quack

This might seem a strange topic - doesn’t everyone love the pre-paid business because it eliminates things like fraud and bad debt? This was the question on my mind as I listened to a presentation from Telstra on this very topic at a recent Billing and Revenue Assurance conference. (more…)

OK, now I have seen it all. There are certainly moves about by regulators to put the onus on telecomms providers to protect their customers from overspending, or at least making them more aware of charges that are accruing. In principle, this is not unreasonable. (more…)

There are more and more mobile phone and VOIP offerings appearing that feature a set number of “minutes” per month, and sometimes different categories of minutes. This style of pricing has always been common in the USA. I wanted to discuss a couple of issues that this raises. (more…)

I’ve been slack. Very slack. After several months of sustained production, it’s fair to say I hit a patch of “writers’ block” when it came to material for the blog. There was enough going through my head, but the discipline of putting finger to keyboard seemed to fade. Then I read a fantastic quote from the great Jodi Picoult. (more…)

Deakin University have released some research (also here) about mobile phone spending habits among youth. They are concerned about the “economic impact” of mobile phones. (more…)

Some interesting things are happening in the world that might be a step backward. In the US, ISPs are starting to lock customers in to 24 month contracts. In other developments, Orange in the UK have extended their contract periods on new handsets to 24 months. (more…)

Here’s another phenomenon that might just take the world by storm, or at least explode like some social networking sites. The twitter (also here and here) is a very short message that tells a community of people what you are doing at the moment. (more…)

I like to be a bit of a trendspotter, accumulating meaningless bits of information, and then bringing them together when, occassionally, something “clicks”. So seeing Microsoft’s IP PBX offering set off one of those alarm bells in my head.

Regular readers will know that (more…)

(this can also be found in the Communications Alliance March 2007 Newsletter)

The Telco Gospel, Chapter 1. In the Beginning, there was Long Distance Resale. And the Resellers saw that the margins were generous, and that arbitrage opportunities abounded. And the Customers saw that discounts were available, and flocked to the Resellers like the seagulls. And the Resellers enjoyed the simplicity of selling everything at a mark-up. And the Regulator saw that it was Good.

Yes, it was good back in those days. (more…)

More than I can recall for the last ten years, we find our industry at a stage of disruptive change. New products like VOIP and HSDPA are threatening to totally change the telecommunications landscape, and do so at all levels.

From a vendor perspective (carrier, service provider, technology provider), this is awfully scary. (more…)