Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Cable TV Franchising
Net Neutrality Update
Merger Mania
Friday, March 24, 2006
Selling VoIP through MLM
ITC's numbers
- "2005 financial results were negatively affected by anumber of challenges," said Richard E. Fish, EVP/CFO.
- "They included churn and price deflation in our LD business,
- continuing price deflation in our wholesale business, and
- low sales productivity and
- high customer churn in our integrated communications services ...
- Refinanced its secured indebtedness raising $239M from an investor group led by Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC
- They were smart to leave Resi voice & sell colo center
- tick-tock goes the death watch clock
satellite radio on cellphones
Bells need to Pay Google
In fact, as he points out, that's exactly how it works in the video business. Verizon just worked out a deal whereby they're paying CBS to be able to carry CBS on their new IPTV offering. It's hard to see how Verizon can argue that it makes sense for them to pay CBS, but that Google should pay them. In both cases, it's about adding content or services to the same network to make it valuable enough for consumers to sign up. Evslin points out (as we have in the past as well) that none of this is an issue if there's real competition. The fact that we're seeing these threats (even if the telcos are trying to backtrack a little) suggests that the telcos don't see themselves in a competitive market when it comes to internet connectivity.
In fact, the one thing that ISP Marketing misses out on is not the price but the value of an end-to-end experience plus the many ways that the hand-holding makes the internet experience so much better.
Alcatel Buying Lucent
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
USIIA's Phantom Problem
Home Backup via NAS
Net Neutrality and the DMCA
Martin and Net Neutrality
Bundling Frustrations
Charter Cable Update
IP Pulse on Vonage IPO
Who owns the Internet pipes?
VoIP is NOT about Price
Why Attend Expos/Seminars/Conferences
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
VZ: No Common Carrier
As of January 2004, these three long distance carriers together controlled 79% of the Frame Relay market and 60% of the ATM market, for a combined market share for enterprise broadband services of approximately 75%.% In contrast, Verizon accounts for only 4.2% of nationwide Frame Relay revenues, and only 5.6% of nationwide ATM revenues. The big three long distance providers are also the major providers for other specialized high-speed data services provided to business customers, such as IP VPN. And while AT&T, MCI & Sprint dominate, other carriers, such as such as Level 3, Qwest and XO also actively compete.That's funny, because the competition NO LONGER EXISTS! Qwest and XO are reeling under debt - and really cannot compete against the new mega-telcos.
The Computer Inquiry rules impose a series of obligations on wireline common carriers that own transmission facilities and offer "enhanced services," including, among other things, Comparably Efficient Interconnection ("CEI") and Open Network Architecture ("ONA") requirements that force them to unbundle their broadband transmission services and to separate out and offer the transmission component of their services pursuant to tariff, on cost-based terms and conditions.
Common carrier was established in the 1934 Communications Act, which is the act that formed the basis of the FCC. "The concept of a common carrier is not exclusive to the telecom industry. It is a legal and social concept that dates back centuries. It was developed to ensure that the public retained access to fundamental services that use public rights of way. Other examples of common carriage include transportation services. For example, a ferry operator under the common carrier concept is free to operate a business transporting people and goods across a river, but because he is using a public waterway, he is required to provide service to everyone. He cannot indiscriminately choose to service some customers and not others. And while the ferry operator can determine the price for his services, the prices must be fair and reasonable." (From ZDNET) This begs the question: IF VZ is no longer a common carrier, do they have a right to the public right of way? Soon you will only be able to get any telecom service only if you live in a nice neighborhood.
VZ Gets a Gift, We Get the Bill: USF Goes Up!
Effective April 1, 2006, the Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) surcharge will increase from 10.2 percent per month to 10.9 percent. FUSF helps maintain affordable local telephone service for all customers, and also provides discounted service to schools, public libraries and low-income customers. This charge is reviewed quarterly by the FCC and does not result in any new revenue to Verizon.
Not directly, but who do you think is on the receiving end of much of the E-Rate monies? The BOCs. A good percentage of USF goes to rural areas like Alaska to keep the cost of local service from being $200 per month.
FCC Ducks Responsibility
Net Neutrality
- Indie ISPs are being shut out of DSL in VZ-land. Access to FiOS will only be as a sales agent for VOL. ISPs need access to Layer 2 to differentiate services.
- BST just added a PVC to the NSPs that looks like reselling the IP Product will be the next step. Commercial DSL agreements end in less than 2 years.
- NEN and Covad can offer broadband --> for now. When do those commercial agreements expire?
- WISPs - not enough subs to worry about
- Cellular/EVDO - owned by the BOCs
- CLECs - well, they only sell T1 service... too expensive to be a replacement
- BPL - who knows? First of many competing standards was just released by OPERA. Trials are underway. IBM, Google and Microsoft have jumped in the fray.
- Satellite - expensive and latency issues. Could it scale?
- Cable - the MSOs would probably launch a similar plan None of this will happen in the near term - it would jeopardize the merger plans. Also, it will require th deployment of IMS. The technical problems they are having with IPTV, ADSL2+, and VDSL, while rolling out more fiber, swapping out copper, deploying IMS, and merging all these companies together will keep them busy through 2007. Look for Net Neutrality to end in 2007.
Do CLECs still have a chance?
- How many CLECs offer Integrated T1?
- sell VoIP services?
- How many say they own their network when in fact it is leased or piecemeal?
- How many call themselves Tier 1 when Tier 2 (or 3) is more accurate?
- How many CLECs have an original offering?
- A one-page bill?
- How many offer more services than competent salespeople to sell them?
- How many now call frame relay MPLS?
- With the BOCs cutting copper pairs every chance they get, CLEcs are losing access to customers. Impaired COs. Special Access Rates. DLCs. Remote COs. No wonder everyone is praying that WiMAX lives up to the hype. (Sadly, physics is still physics and you can only do so much with X amount of power in Y unlicensed spectrum).
- With the BOCs in bed with the NSA/Intelligient community and getting special favors in return for special favors, don't you think that CLECs need a new strategy?
- Might be time for a company retreat to brain-storm some good ideas and get a focus on who you are; who your customer is; what he needs; and provide it. --->Please note: I'd be happy to accept that invitation!
- BTW, local CLECs are in a different position from regional CLECs, like ITC and USLEC. Marketing is easier. Face to face contact with the customer is more prominent. You can feel and know th emarket more intimately.
Monday, March 20, 2006
A Look at the Cable Stocks
Skype Me-Too's
NetZero Offering Free VOIP
Content Still King at AOL
Selling Managed Services
"Although there are shades of difference between company employee-size segments, the primary motivator of reduced cost is closely aligned with operational improvements. Buyers and influencers of managed services report their top six motivators behind the consideration of the adoption of a managed service include improved overall network performance, increased network reliability, increased network availability, reduced operations cost, improved network quality of service and reduced business risk."What does this tell you? It tells you WHY they buy. Shape your message accordingly.
How did the Bells Get a Free Pass?
Two-Thirds In U.S. Have Broadband
Monday, March 13, 2006
BST Merging with at&t out of weakness
"Using their own data, Verizon and SBC claimed they would spend $48.9 billion and have 36.5 million households by 2000" on hot new broadband systems, says Bruce Kushnick, who this week released his e-book The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal, which details alleged phone company misdeeds in broadband. "This was fiber-to-the-curb services ... with 500-plus channels," Kushnick says. Not only did those build-outs not happen, Kushnick says, but every time one local phone company merged with another, nascent broadband projects got shut down. "These companies failed to deliver on their fiber-optic commitments, and it is now clear that the mergers were to blame," he says. After Sunday's announcement, AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre said the combined companies would be in a better position to build new networks and compete with cable TV. But if history repeats, those projects will get just about as much priority as McDonald's gives to health food.
The other consideration is that SBC has a lousy record on merger acquisition and integration. Absorbing AT&T and BellSouth into the old SBC infrastructure will be a challenge. CNN Money writes: "With its $65 billion agreement to buy BellSouth Corp., AT&T Inc. faces one of the biggest challenges in its history: integrating two stodgy telephone companies with the nation's largest wireless company and making good on $18 billion in promised cost savings." -----> Have you read Bruce's book yet?
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Cisco's Unified Messaging Embraces SIP
Cisco at 12am March 6th will launch their new Unified Communications System aimed at streamlining business processes, and helping to drive productivity. Unified Communications (UC) will feature new presence, desktop tools, mobile integration and network intelligence to improve business agility and customer interaction, but just as importantly as I will indicate later, Cisco is fully embracing the SIP standard on their desktop phones.Coul dthere be any more marketing speak in that paragraph? streamlining, presence, integration, and productivity. Buzz words. If you are offering VOIP or UM, you need to leave the buzz behind and tell a story. Like: With the new UCS, you can point-and-click your way to easy communications and even click off the noise of the phone and email while you focus on a project or a client meeting. That is a better message than the marketing.
Jack Trout on WOMA
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
By Dropping Prices, DSL catches cable
DTV, DISH and WiMax
BST-att: the argument
- "If approved, this merger will lead to higher local, long-distance and cell phone prices for consumers across the country,'' said Gene Kimmelman, of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.
- "But AT&T says it's facing competition from all sides.
- The company competes with cable companies like Comcast over customers for television and broadband services.
- AT&T's Cingular Wireless competes with Verizon Wireless, Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile.
- And new technologies that allow consumers to make phone calls over the Internet leave AT&T battling with upstarts like eBay's Skype software and services like Vonage."
Embarq
Debt concerns slowed the process, says Sprint spokesman.
ISP Ideas
at&t-bst after-thoughts
- "AT&T’s purchase of BellSouth and Cingular means the loss of 10,000 jobs over the next three years, said CFO Rick Linder. Those cuts are in addition to the 13,000 jobs that will be phased out by 2008 from the SBC-AT&T merger."
- "Cingular Wireless LLC, a joint venture of AT&T and BellSouth, cut about 7,000 jobs after its $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless in October 2004," Forbes writes.
- Isen points out: "Don't be so sure the Duopoly will last! Here's one clue: the first draft of the Barton BITS Bill prohibited telcos from buying cablecos. The second draft didn't."
- Forbes: "The wireless operations will be the growth engine of the new company, and will account for one third of the combined revenue."
- This deal isn't about phones--it's about every other service that can be stuffed down a phone line. "This merger is about buying the lines that connect to the homes of BellSouth customers and selling them everything you can squeeze down a fiber-optic line, including television, Internet, movies and music." (It is mainly about Cingular, as cellular is the growth engine of the ILECs - just ask Sprint-Embarq, Alltel-Valor, and VZ-VZW)
- Banc of America Securities said Cablevision may be the biggest beneficiary of the AT&T deal. I say it is the lawyers and banks that win the biggest. (Consumers of course get to take another shot to the 5-hole).
- Some of the $2B in savings from the proposed acquisition would come from reduced advertising expenses and combining the backbone network and information-technology operations of the companies - as well as combining payments to lobbyists, lawyers and Congressmen.
- "The deal also makes it "highly unlikely" that AT&T would move to acquire EchoStar, the analyst said."
Ma Bell Buys BellSouth
- A great Q&A on ZDNET.
- AT&T and BellSouth Merger Fact Sheet.
- Besides the Consumer groups, others Don't want AT&T to merge with BellSouth!
- Free Press.
- Wireless networks guru Paul Callahan on AT&T + BellSouth, big and scary nonsense
- Less lobbyists because there will only be 2 companies.
- Less voices on that side as well - up against 5 cableco voices and many CLECs.
- Less customer service.
- At least 12 more months of consolidation and back-office integration - plenty of time to take market share from them in a single niche.
Seth Godin Speaking at Google
Friday, March 03, 2006
VZ Biz Gets Into Remote PC Mgmt
E-Myth and then some
Strategy + Systems + People +Passion + Execution = Success
... and you can not skip any component. My coach, Loral Langemeier, says that if you are still cleaning your house (or doing other menial tasks) then you will never be successful. You lack the ability to manage, delegate, and prioritize. (I still clean my house, so I haven't gotten their yet).
Content & Social Media
Indeed, Mr. Braun said yesterday that the way to keep users on Yahoo's site longer — and thus be able to show them more advertising — was to offer ways they can create their own content and look at content created by others. He pointed to the site Yahoo built for the 2006 Winter Olympics, which prominently featured photographs from Flickr, Yahoo's photo-sharing site, along with articles both by news agencies and by a few columnists exclusive to Yahoo. "I now get excited about user-generated content the way I used to get excited about thinking about what television shows would work," he said.
The Web 2.0 is all about sharing, connecting, communicating. Social Media works when it allows people to express themselves; kep connected to family & friends; share what matters to people; and allows for control of who sees it. As Jennifer Rice explains:
Above risk aversion we find connection and belonging. Combine this fundamental need with the fact that our society has become extremely fragmented, and you've got (IMO) the primary fueling factor for the explosion of social technologies like blogs, wikis and forums.
On the creative / business side, it is about collaboration and productivity. Broadband Penetration - the capturing of the market, the selling deep into a lit area, the creation of customers - is about telling the story from the customer side about connecting, sharing, producing, creating, expressing and communicating.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Manage Services for Money
- From Telephony magazine: "Businesses today are looking for help for a wide range of communications technologies, from VPNs and IP telephony to network security and remote access. They are increasingly interested in outsourcing these and other advanced network requirements in order to reduce capital expenditures while increasing their focus on core competencies. "
- From another article: "Managed voice-over-IP (VoIP) services will see a 65% compound annual growth rate over the next three years, according to Ovum. And managed network security is now the most commonly adopted IP service."
- And more telling: " The results indicate that these end users are now ready to accept managed services.... When technology is new, enterprises are less inclined to entrust another entity to run their network, but as technology becomes mainstream, there is more of a willingness to out-task to a service provider because it is no longer seen as a science project,” Jorgenson said.
- This means that if you can tell the story of how you are better equipped to manage their network (and they trust you to do so), they can spend those hours making money in their own business. If I spend 3 hours per week on PC and network repair, dependning on my billing, that's $300 per week wasted.
- Also, because we are storing great and great amounts of data, both personal and business, managed storage solutions will be in demand. (Can't you offer online file storage to your customers? It is disaster recovery.)
VOIP's Irrelevance
"In the short span of two years, voice-over-IP service has gone from being the hottest thing on the market to the brink of irrelevancy.... A recent InStat report stated that 73% of the consumers buying voice did so without making a conscious choice about a technology change."
NYC moves closer to broadband plan
Intrado 911 Update
BB Penetration, not Deployment
"Many U.S. households that do not have Internet service have reported they are not interested in going online anytime soon, a survey has revealed, raising speculation that Internet adoption might be on the cusp of a major slowdown.....Many stated that they do not feel the need to hook up the Internet at home because they already have it at their workplaces. Others noted that they simply are not interested in anything on the Web. And a smaller number, 8 percent, said they are not sure how to use the Internet. "For similar reasons (I suppose), many still find dial-up to be sufficient. Hence, why the price of BroadBand has to drop to dial-up rates to get conversion. OR You have to tell a story about why BB is enriching. Do you remember the AT&T ads Reach Out and Touch Someone? That same approach will be needed to get BB Penetration. (It's not about deployment; it's about getting customers on the networks that are already deployed).
Viacom & Social Networking
VPN II
(PRNewswire) "BellSouth today announced that health care organizations are relying on the provider's flexible, managed VPN service to route medical records and imaging files between multiple patient service locations. This service provides the high bandwidth needed to move large files and permits customers to mix different access speeds and types on the same meshed network infrastructure."
- Multi-location is difficult for local ISPs, but it can be done. These types of customers can not use DSL effectively. Large file uploads require more bandwidth than best-effort DSL. Wireless, frame, P2P, MetroE.
- When you have an opportunity to propose a network like this, you need to really reach outside the box and get creative.
- VPN and MPLS are all the rage, but what does that mean to the customer??
- Secure, reliable, connection, worry-free, simple bill, one-single-contact, no toll-free number, Bob-here-will-take-good-care-of-you, just-like-we-did-for-Jim --- these are the things that make the customer buy from you.
Need help with these proposals? Give me a shout at peter at 4isps dot com.
IPTV's biggest challenge
BST Net Adds of DTV Customers Q105 = 113,000 Q205 = 80,000 Q305 = 66,000 Q405 = 63,000 Source: BellSouth
Telephony mag states, "For anyone doubting the ability of communications service providers to capture market share from cable, the entertainment services market-share leader, they need look no farther than DBS." It's a good read: InFocus: How to compete against DBS and cable
BST and DTV
ELN Rolls Out Treo on Cellular
- EarthLink Wireless is an MVNO that runs on 2 major CDMA networks - the primary one being Sprint. (This means that ELNW or Helio or ELN-SK is just a Marketing firm.
- "* EarthLink Wireless network services are provided on the Sprint® Nationwide PCS Network. Where Sprint coverage is not available, your phone will roam on another nationwide CDMA network, FREE. Under EarthLink's arrangement with Sprint, EarthLink customers have access to service anywhere on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network, reaching more than 250 million people. Although Sprint provides EarthLink Wireless subscribers access to its wireless network and its wireless services, EarthLink Wireless is responsible to the EarthLink Wireless subscribers for the service. Please call EarthLink Wireless with any questions or comments regarding this service."
- Funny that they mention this: "EarthLink is one of the few companies that still operate all of their sales and customer support call centers in the USA!"
- Blackberry 7250 for $49 and the Treo 650 for $69 beats the SprintPCS deal that I can offer (Palm Treo 650 for $99.95).
VZ VOIP Plan
BellSouth, Vint Cerf debate 'Net neutrality
I had argued that letting Bells buy Internet Backbones would be a bad thing. What do they know about running a global IP network? Even the guys at AT&T, MCI and Sprint are still trying to figure it out.
ELN Extends BST DSL Deal
BST Still Fighting LUS
BellSouth Numbers
"Technological advances are increasingly integrating computers, phones, and wireless devices into the ways we communicate. That's a challenge for a company that relies heavily on traditional phone service for revenues, since the landline business is becoming less and less relevant to the average consumer. BellSouth's key to success, at least for now, is to bundle together wireless, DSL, long distance, and satellite TV service at competitive rates. This strategy will likely keep profits growing, albeit more moderately than before, and allow the company to reap higher margins via its entrenched infrastructure. "
AOL's Broadband Plan
VPN
- The Perception Problem: Is the Customer comfortable with the idea that your smaller company can deliver all the services you offer in a similar manner as a Tele-Baron? In other words, is your catalog so big, that you are not perceived as an expert at any one service. This relegates you to selling on price sometimes.
- The Sales Problem: The Key is to NOT talk about the technology, but to talk about How the Solution You Offer Makes Their Lives easier and productive and in many cases compliant. Time does equal Money. Tell a Story without the acronymns about how you can take a way the pain of running/managing the network and get back to running the business.
- The Sales Problem # 2: Do you have anyone spreading the word about your business? There was a good article about Guerilla Marketing to beat the Gorilla in BB Properties. You can't out-spend them (or follow their marketing strategy); you have to out-smart them instead. (That's where a Marketing Idea Guy like me comes in! ;)
Adidas Posts 4Q Loss on Reebok Acquisition
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Social Media - a follow-up
- Social media: Digg, Last.fm, Newsvine, Tagworld, YouTube, and Yahoo
- Mashups and Filters: Bloglines, Eurekster, Simply Hired, Technorati, Trulia, and Google
- New Phone: Fonality, SIPphone, Iotum, Vivox, and Skype
- (Funny, but in a separate article it says that MSOs are dominating VOIP)
- WebTop: JotSpot, 30Boxes, 37Signals, Writely, Zimbra and Microsoft
- (Zimbra is online email powered with AJAX)
- Under the Hood: Brightcove, Jigsaw, SimpleFeed, SalesForce.com, SixApart, and Amazon.com
- Veoh, a San Diego Internet video start-up, is taking on the the likes of YouTube, iFilm, and vSocial.
The slides from the webinar are available online. Also, get a free 30-day trial of HyperOffice collaboration suite by emailing me at peter at rad-info dot net.
How can you get unstuck?
- Is self-doubt keeping you from pursuing all the opportunities within your reach? Try Jain’s tips on reenergizing yourself: Reframe your feelings. Try a variety of techniques to shift your perspective. For example, try sandwiching a task you find difficult between two activities that relax you or give you confidence.
- Invest in ongoing learning. Read a book, take a class or find a mentor. Learning is energizing. You are moving toward something rather than running away.
- Develop systems. Whether it’s a software program that helps you organize your sales leads or just a daily to-do list, systems can help you apply best practices and boost your confidence.
- Get back to the basics. Business owners often sacrifice sleep, good meals and exercise. But you can't feel good if you aren't taking good care of yourself.
- Spend time with yourself. Don't neglect your own inner wisdom. Advisers are important, but be clear about what you want. If you are initiating a strategy, make sure you're behind it 100 percent.