British Telecom is feeling the heat from VoIP services. It’s VoIP product, BT Communicator, is set to slash prices down to 0.5p per minute, versus about 1.2p / minute for Skype, to 27 major countries.
BT Communicator, which is available for download online, only has about 50,000 users (versus about 100 times that for Skype). BT has been slow to promote the product, fearing that it will cannibalize the firm’s traditional circuit-switched business. It now acknowledges that VoIP is where the telephony market is headed.
Here’s an interesting development - two South African companies have teamed up to offer a voice over IP over satellite product. The companies are Satellite Communication (SatComm) and HowzItOnline.com.
Using a device which is about the size of a laptop computer and weighs about 1.7kg (sells for about US$500), people can make and receive phone calls over the Inmarsat Regional Broadband Global Area Network (R-BGAN). The R-BGAN offers service across most of Africa, Asia and Australia, at speeds of up to 144kbps — faster than terrestrial GPRS.
A SatComm spokesman said the always-on Internet connectivity had sufficient bandwidth for streaming media, in addition to less bandwidth intensive services such as Web surfing, instant messaging and e-mail.
Prices for VoIP calls to major countries like the US and UK are expected to be less than 5 cents per minute.
Inmarsat’s BGAN is expected to be launched by the end of the year which will offer broadband coverage to most of the world at speeds up to 492kbps. As broadband-capable satellite service becomes cheaper and increases its coverage footprint, this could really bring down the cost of calling from remote areas on land or sea.
Broadcom announced a new integrated VoIP processor chip today at the Fall VON 2005 Conference & Expo in Boston. It seems to have a lot of potential:
Announced today is the Broadcom® BCM1161 — a second generation mobile VoIP processor that focuses on low-power and advanced multimedia and telephony functions. The BCM1161’s advanced multimedia features include polyphonic ring-tone support, a 2 Megapixel digital camera, voice record/playback and video clips record/playback. A variety of telephony features are also supported by the BCM1161 including 3-way conferencing and speaker phone support, and high-fidelity voice capabilities through the use of Broadcom’s BroadVoice technology. The new single-chip integrates an ARM9™-based CPU, analog voice codec with a direct microphone and high-output speaker interface, 262k color LCD display interface and a USB 2.0 interface.
eBay
CEO Meg Whitman outlined some plans the company has for Skype
, which it recently aquired for $2.6 billion:
- Integrate Skype with eBay. Whitman says that buyers and sellers send eachother millions of e-mails each day about products that are up for sale on the auction site. Whitman believes that users would be interested in communicating with eachother over the phone. Personally, I find this argument to be hard to believe. People can already post phone numbers on their auctions if they want to answer calls, but few do. Much of the success of eBay, I believe, is related to the anonymous nature of it.
- Continue to grow Skype. This is pretty straightforward.
- Pay-per-call lead generation. Whitman believes that eBay can charge sellers a fee for receiving phone calls from potential buyers of between $2 and $12 per lead. She estimates the annual volume of this type of lead generation to be $3.5 billion. I’m not sure what to make of this one.
Thursday, September 15th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »
From CNet:
Features of the draft include:
• Rules spanning broadband Internet transmission services, VoIP services and broadband video services. The draft defines, for regulatory purposes, broadband Internet transmission services–or BITS–as "a packet-switched service that is offered to the public," regardless of the equipment or protocol used. That puts DSL and cable providers on equal footing.
• A federal framework for regulating BITS, VoIP and broadband video services: Neither the Federal Communications Commission nor states will have the power to regulate the "rates, charges, terms, or conditions" of any of the providers unless directed by federal law. All such services are subject to "exclusive federal jurisdiction" and must register with the FCC.
• Guidance on Net neutrality: BITS, VoIP and broadband video services must not block their subscribers’ access to any content or applications and must allow their subscribers to connect to their services with whichever devices they choose. But they’re encouraged to provide protections against security threats and theft of their services.
• Recourse for VoIP providers: They’re expected to negotiate their own rates with telecommunications companies for use of their wires, but if negotiations fail, they can petition the FCC to mediate.
• Requirements for access to 911 services: The FCC is in charge of deciding those rules "based on available industry technological and operational standards," and all VoIP providers must ensure their subscribers have access to 911 and enhanced 911 services based on the FCC’s action. Those who control the e911 infrastructure must grant access to VoIP providers at "just and reasonable" rates.
• VoIP and universal service: The FCC must convene an inquiry into whether to compel VoIP providers to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, which currently pools fees from wireline, wireless, long-distance and some VoIP providers and uses them to subsidize services in rural areas.
• A nod to municipal broadband: State and local governments are permitted to run their own BITS, VoIP and broadband video services, as long as they comply with the same regulations their private-sector counterparts do.
Thursday, September 15th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »
From Entrepreneur.com:
Voice over internet protocol technology cuts telecommunications costs and improves productivity. But is it right for your business?
September 12, 2005
By Peter Alexander
You’re at an internet café and get an important business call–on your laptop. You’re on the road and receive an urgent voice mail–in your e-mail inbox. Your business has a phone number with a Florida area code–even though your office is in California.
Welcome to the world of voice over internet protocol (VoIP). With VoIP service, your phone calls travel over the internet as data, just as e-mail does. This type of service can dramatically lower your telecommunications costs while increasing your productivity. It also provides useful features and capabilities that conventional phone technology can’t offer.
Though VoIP is quickly gaining popularity, some small businesses are still on the sidelines, concerned that VoIP audio quality is substandard, that the technology is difficult or costly to implement, or that their phone service will be interrupted if their electricity goes out.
The truth is, VoIP’s benefits far outweigh any potential drawbacks. Here’s what you need to know about VoIP to decide if it’s right for your business–plus tips for making the most out of VoIP service.
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »
AOL gets into the game:
Time Warner Inc.’s AOL is set to announce a free-standing version of its VOIP product, "AOL Internet Phone Service," which will be available on the Internet to non-AOL members, Light Reading has learned.
The product will be announced at next week’s Voice On the Net (VON) Coalition conference in Boston, says a source close to the company.
AOL’s VOIP service currently requires the AOL software client and is closely integrated with AOL’s instant messaging and email applications . Several sources have confirmed the company’s intent to make a bigger deal of its VOIP service, following the rather lackluster response it got the first time around.
AOL says the company intends to leverage its brand and a significant amount of marketing money to push the new product to consumers across the U.S. during this holiday season, says the source (see AOL Launches UK Voice Service).
"I think it’s the next logical step for them," says The Yankee Group broadband analyst Jonathan Doran. "AOL, like all broadband services, has to put up with services like Skype and Vonage, going over their lines anyway, so they might as well compete against the service-independent VOIP products."
Saturday, September 10th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »
Demonstrating the huge (and largely untapped) potential that VoIP services have in a wide variety of situations, the Red Cross is using voice over IP technology to help out in the Katrina disaster relief effort.
The Red Cross is making use of VSATs (very small aperture terminals) to provide mobile VoIP communications. VSATs are satellite ground stations using dishes of three meters or less in diameter. They’re being used here to provide a two-way connection to the Internet, allowing for VoIP and other data communications to be used on the ground in a mobile format. The primary benefit obviously being that the setup only requires power, which can be provided by batteries or a portable generator, and thus does not rely on wired telephone lines or power lines, many of which have been badly damaged or destroyed by the storm.
More from eWeek:
While the Red Cross makes good use of the hundreds of ham radio operators that are willing to provide weeks of unpaid labor, there are never enough of them.
Because of its critical communications needs, the Red Cross has turned to VOIP (voice over IP). But this isn’t the VOIP you’re thinking of. This is telephony on the edge.
This is a phone service that exists in partially ruined Kmart stores, sports stadiums and firehouses.
A phone service that must serve the needs of volunteers, managers and thousands of survivors. A phone service that must provide access to the Internet and to the world.
So what do you do when you must communicate but there’s no infrastructure? You use a global network of satellites to carry your connections.
In this case, the Red Cross uses VSATs (very small aperture terminals) to provide the critical links.
Those VSATs are being assembled, tested and prepared for shipment at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross in Falls Church, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
There a team of volunteers made up of ham radio operators and engineers from defense and aerospace companies is building the VSAT equipment by hand from parts donated to the Red Cross. These VSATs then provide a TCP/IP link to the outside world.
Of course, you can route nearly any kind of phone call over a VSAT.
The Red Cross chose VOIP because it allowed phones to be set up in advance with a PBX located at the headquarters.
The Red Cross is doing some great relief work, and it’s good to see that it’s willing to think creatively to find the best solution to the problems it faces when carrying out its role.
Saturday, September 10th, 2005 | Posted in VoIP News | No Comments »
China Telecom, in an effort to protect its traditional circuit-switched telephony revenues plans to block customers from using VoIP services. One way it plans to do this is to monitor broadband customers’ data traffic, cutting the connection off if it appears that a voice over IP phone call is in progress. The controls are expected to be in place by 2006 or 2007.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the company’s Shenzhen branch said that customers are prohibited from downloading VoIP software:
Source: AP
As we’ve previously reported, the government of China may still determine that VoIP services are illegal.
