Doug on IP Comm » wireless

Verizon ditches Hub – but was it doomed from the start?

Doug Mohney — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:05:58 +0000

This week, word came out that Verizon is pulling the plug on its Hub media phone and VoIP service — all the more ironic given a report out this week saying media phones will be big business in the future. In retrospect, Verizon’s Hub product was doomed from its launch for three reasons.

1) Hub was neither fish nor fowl — it was a broadband service being sold through Verizon Wireless stores/outlets because Verizon (wireline) had no consumer outlets. There was no real champion for the concept and you didn’t see it get the (advertising) airwaves that the stock Verizon Wireless service did week after week.

Sure, it had some whistles that allowed it to access Verizon Wireless services, but you could get those through any vanilla web browser.

2) Priced to fail – You needed a two year contract for the Verizon Hub AND pay for the hardware. Oh yes, let me run to the store, pay $35 per month for an (overpriced) VoIP service and then shell out another $200 bucks for the hardware.

It’s the same sort of “Let’s charge more” strategy that has kept femtocells on the backburner at wireless carriers. Which leads me to the final point..

3) It wasn’t anything Really Special. People will pay more for better service, but Hub was a glorified cheap tablet PC with a vanilla VoIP contract anchoring it. I could be catty and say it would have been better with HD voice, but that’s an apples and oranges comparison — HD would have been a superior service to vanilla VoIP.

FCC puts down its markers for Net Neutrality

Doug Mohney — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:59:36 +0000

Net neutrality had been relatively dormant under the previous administration, but an all-Democratic Congress and Administration has put the issue front-and-center. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski drew a line in the sand this week to carriers and they’re reacting with their usual party lines.

In a Monday speech at the Brookings Institute, Genachowski indicated the FCC would formalize net neutrality rules and tossed in two additions to the “Powell Principles” while he was at it. The first four are: consumers must be able to access the lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, and attach non-harmful devices to the network.

Added to the list are : 5) To prevent Internet access providers from discriminating against particular Internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management and 6) Ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement.

In October, the FCC will start a formalized process with a NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), asking for comment from the community — yes, that sound you hear is the spin up of corporate lobbyists and their “paidroot” shills — and then maybe sometime next year, there will be actual rules that emerge for a vote.

Among the biggest complainers so far are the wireless network providers who already have been under fire for exclusive deals on phones. The mobile guys say that they need to be able to manage their networks due to bandwidth constraints — which kind of begs the question as to why AT&T offered the iPhone in the first place and the move to a data-intensive LTE world. Verizon’s stock response to any suggestion of government regulation boils down to “Everything is OK, we don’t need more government rules, these are not the droids you are looking for, please move on…”

Look for the real fireworks to cut loose this fall once the NPRM is issued and the PR machines of AT&T and Verizon start cranking.

Ericsson buys Nortel wireless assets for big money

Doug Mohney — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:00:53 +0000

Ericsson announced its interest in Nortel’s wireless assets late, but it came home the winner, paying $1.13 billion for Nortel’s LTE and legacy CDMA business. The deal will likely almost double Ericsson’s revenues in North America over the short term; Nortel’s CDMA operation ran at about $2 billion last year as compared to Ericsson’s $2.7 billion in North America for the same time period.

As a part of the deal, Ericsson is expected to offer about 2,500 former Nortel employees jobs. Ericsson says it is getting the assets debt free, so life is good.

Nokia Siemens Networks and vulture capital firm MatlinPatterson had also put in bids. NSN had reportedly put up a $650 million bid as a stalking horse offer while MatlinPatterson had offered $725 million.

Wall Street analysts view both the deal and the price offered by Ericsson as a good deal, describing the former wireless unit as “very profitable.” They also view the CDMA purchase as a bootstrap for LTE business as customers migrate off the older technology onto (shiny new) Ericsson gear.

Nortel and RIM – WTF?

Doug Mohney — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:59:13 +0000

BlackBerry daddy Research in Motion (RIM) wanted to put in a $1.1 billion bid for Nortel assets, but walked away from the deal when Nortel put too many conditions on the deal. Seriously, what is wrong with this picture? A) Nortel dictating terms to anyone offering $1.1 billion (Canadian, US, whatever, a billion is a lot of money). B) RIM bidding for Nortel wireless assets or C) All of the above.

I’m leaning towards C) at the moment.

From a Canadian nationalistic standpoint, I get that RIM was bidding on Nortel’s wireless business, but I’m not sure that paying $1.1 billion U.S. for CDMA and LTE assets isn’t overkill, since the next closest bids were in the $600-$750 million range. RIM was told if could be qualified only if it promised not to submit offers for other Nortel assets for a period of one year — in other words, after the rest of the company had been sold off in bits and pieces around the globe.

It looked like RIM wanted to Do The Right Thing (apologies to Spike Lee) and keep ownership of Nortel assets in the Great White North, but it would have put RIM into a business of wireless infrastructure rather than end user devices. It would have been a big bold leap for RIM.

Ah well, bidding for the pieces of Nortel’s corpse closes out on Friday, so we’ll have to see what happens between now and then.

Alcatel-Lucent: Consumer spending survey says broadband good, PPV, mobile data not so much

Doug Mohney — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:02:09 +0000

Over at TMCNet, Gary Kim has unearthed survey data generated by Alcatel-Lucent on global consumer telecommunications spending in these tight times. People are cutting, but they’re going to keep VoIP and multi-channel video services (i.e. TV) pretty much the same.

Getting chopped are pay-per-view movies downloaded from the Internet and mobile data service. Customers plan to reduce spending on network based services if the economy – i.e. their pocketbooks – doesn’t get better, moving from fee-based services to free alternatives. People will also shift from wireless voice to using email and text messaging to save pennies and dollars. Pre-paid voice and bundled service packs offering discounts get a thumbs up over post-paid plans.

Mixed results when the economy improves: 29 percent of consumers will increase their spending on network-based services while 13 percent will tighten their belts regardless.

Google Voice opens the doors, finally

Doug Mohney — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:41:51 +0000

After two weeks of hype and rumors, Google Voice is starting to hand out phone numbers to its waiting list. Although, after yesterday’s “Today” show segment, the company might not have had a choice.

I guess I am suffering from Google-burnout, between the hype for Google Voice, how Google is supposed to respond to Bing, Chrome, Android, Google’s troubles with China on censorship, Google Wave, and Google Book Search…

In the “Today Show” segment, there was happy gushing from NBC News user Janet Shamlian, how it made her life easier and for her family to get in touch with her yadda-yadda. Little downside was given in the piece other than potential privacy concerns since The Google gets access to your recorded voice conversations, voicemail (probably a more valid point if they start datamining the contents, even in a generic fashion) and everything else that flows through GV, like call data. Heaven forbid that The Goog use that data to target ads!

We’ll see how long it takes for me to get a Google Voice number. I’m not really convinced it is going to do anything greater for me than my current phone service(s) of Cox (landline) and Sprint (mobile). Cox has added online Phone Tools, so I’ll get the visual voice mail component and call forwarding set on line. I don’t have a gazillion phone numbers to manage, so being able to simultaneous ring a bunch of devices Does Not Make Sense for me.

Finally, there’s the whole “hand Google my primary phone number when they finally get around to supporting it.” So, I give Google my house number, and I need a new number (no doubt provided out of the million number stash Google has allegedly built) for my landline and this makes sense because…?

If Google Voice such a big-deal/game changing service, it won’t take too terribly long for everyone else (translation: Any voice service provider with a softswitch and purchasing a service pack upgrade) to do the same thing After all, GrandCentral/Google Voice has had about two years of “betas,” so it has given those mean old phone companies and the vendors who support them plenty of time to figure out how to replicate the services on their own networks.

Summary: 29 things I learned at the HD Communications Summit

Doug Mohney — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:57:27 +0000

If you don’t feel like plowing through all of the HD Communications Summit pieces, here’s a recap of what went on.

1) Jeff Pulver can still pull over 100 of the “right people” to an event just after InterOp and just before the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

2) The baseline for a PSTN/POTS phone call hasn’t changed since 1937 or so – unlike everything else in the modern world.

3) Pulver plans an FCC petition this fall to upgrade PSTN to HD; digital TV provides a case justification to move to a new technology.

4) Frequency range for a PSTN call is 300-3000 Hz

5) AudioCodes Google Search on “HD Voice/VoIP” – Past 10 years, 190,000 hits. Past 12 months, 82,000 hits, so the trend line is going up and to the right.

6) Depending on who’s talking, HD audio would use a range between 100-7000 Hz. Diminishing returns after 7000 Hz delivery.

7) The tighter PSTN clips consonants.

8) FM radio sounds better than a PSTN call.

9) HD Connect is the working name of the HD Communications trade association Pulver is starting because a) Polycomm has a trademark on HD Voice and b) AudioCodes has a trademark on HD VoIP

10) Everyone wants a “HD Connect” logo to put on their boxes

11) When HD voice (generic) happens [in North America], it will happen really really fast, predicts everyone.

12) But right now, [North American] service providers are on the fence waiting to see who jumps first.

13) Nobody can agree on a single HD codec, but most agree we need fewer codecs and there seems to be sufficient codecs out there

14) More codecs = more part cost, more support costs, so the fewer, the better

15) Ain’t no such thing as a “free” codec. Support costs and potential indemnification issues lurk.

16) Wireless and wireline will likely use different codecs because the cellular carriers need to get the most out of their leased spectrum (i.e. spectral efficiency)

17) Transcoding will be necessary to move between HD codecs; AudioCodes is happy.

18) North American cable companies are getting ready for HD, but until the business case is clear (i.e. “Show me the money”), they aren’t in any rush.

19) Cable may have a leg up by locking in DECT CAT-iq as a standard so service providers can provide an end-to-end experience without transcoding or other tweaking.

20) The Europeans are ahead of us (again). BT, France Telecom, T-Mobile are all deploying HD today in their respective territories.

21) France Telecom expects to be able to exchange HD voice calls with other carriers by the end of the year.

22) Enterprises are likely to be the earliest adopters of HD. They control their own infrastructure, are deploying VoIP, HD gets rolled out as “just another app” onto the existing infrastructure.

23) Avaya has incorporated wideband codecs in all of its phones; Polycom is adding wideband codecs to all of its phones.

24) HD is a “killer app” when it comes to talking to a non-native language speaker and you can’t understand his/her accent. The broader range means you can understand what someone is saying rather than having to work at interpreting (i.e. filling in the blanks) as to what they are really saying.

25) HD on cell phones is happening – in Europe. France Telecom is (once again) leading the way with mobile HD.

26) Truphone says it is working with HD in the lab and is ready to roll when the time is right.

27) Qualcomm has done demos/field trials of HD on cellular.

28) In the trials, Qualcomm used the Swiss-army-knife of IP telephony – Digium’s Asterisk – to transcode between its 4GV-WB codec and G.722.

29) Qualcomm is still trying to fight the EVDO/LTE battle.

Earlier pieces on the HD Communications Summit

HD Communications Summit: Pulver announces HD marketing association, FCC petition, fall event

HD Communications Summit: Codec convergence, “HD” logo take center stage

HD Communications Summit: Cable bides its time

HD Communications Summit: Islands of HD, trending upward

HD Communications Summit: HD Cellular is happening

HD Communications Summit: Analysis – Will international needs bootstrap HD voice?

Presentations at the HD Communications Summit – pictures

HD Communications Summit – A PR/marketing view

Verizon unloads wireline operations in 14 states to Frontier

Doug Mohney — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:44:32 +0000

Verizon is selling off its wireline operations in predominantly rural areas across 14 states to Frontier. Ba-be, we can hear you now…

The transaction is expected to return around $8.6 billion to Verizon and its shareholders as Verizon continues to “transform its growth profile” (i.e. shed parts of its business that aren’t making money so fast) and focus on wireless, FiOS, and global IP networks. As CEO Ivan Seidenberg pointed out in Verizon’s press release, ” All of Verizon’s remaining local landline operations have high concentrations of FiOS in more densely populated markets. We believe our focus on reshaping our asset base will drive higher growth over time and improve long-term returns.”

As a part of the deal, the company is transferring over around 110,000 FiOS Internet customers and 69,000 FiOS TV customers, so it will be interesting to see how the numbers are juggled for FiOS growth moving forward. Assets transferring over to Frontier include Verizon’s switched and special access lines in the affected areas, as well as its Internet service and long-distance voice accounts. Also included are fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) assets (i.e. FiOS) deployed by Verizon in 41 local franchises and the state of Indiana, which pass approximately 600,000 homes and small businesses. Frontier will continue to provide video services in these areas after the completion of the merger.

NOT included in the deal are anything involving Verizon Wireless, Verizon Business, Verizon Federal or anything that says Business in the title. Verizon Business will purchase local services from Frontier in order to serve existing customers.

Approximately 11,000 Verizon company employees are being transferred over and are expected to continue to be with Frontier after the merger. Verizon is touting Frontier as a reliable partner (gotta sell the deal to the shareholders, since they’re getting Frontier stock) that has successfully acquired, operated, and invested rural telecom propers, including landline assets purchased from Verizon between ’93 and 2000. Operations Frontier is getting from Verizon include all of Verizon’s local wireline operating territories in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin annnnd a small number of Verizon’s exchanges in California, including those bordering Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.

Testing, Testing: Ixia buying Catapult Communications

Doug Mohney — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Testing shop Ixia is buying 3G/4G wireless testing firm Catapult Communications for around $63 million net, at $9.25 per share. If you want to get picky, the transaction is around $105 million, less Catapult’s cash and investments.

Ixia says Catapult’s 3G and 4G wireless networking testing solutions are an excellent complement to Ixia’s complete line of IP performance test systems and service verification platforms, so Ixia gets to be a one-stop shop for testing converged multiplay IP services, be they wireless or wireline. Catapult’s test systems work out the buzzword’s service providers and telecommunications equipment manufactures have come to know and love: LTE, IMS, WiMAX, CDMA, VoIP, GPRS and GSM.

The transaction is expected to add to Ixia’s non-GAAP earnings as early as Q4 2009.