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Xeround Enables Telco Services By Virtualizing Data Silos

by Derrick Harris in April 16th, 2009   
Topics: Cloud Computing, Grid Computing, Infrastructure, Virtualization, data, telco     

Database virtualization proprietor Xeround said yesterday that it received a Billing & OSS World 2009 Excellence Award for “Best Operational Support System” based on its deployment at T-Mobile. Both companies have been mum on the details of the deployment (trust me, I asked), but given Xeround’s value proposition, it’s not too difficult to imagine ways […]

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Fairpoint Rural IPTV

by On Rad's Radar? in December 3rd, 2008   
Topics: , IPTV, VoIP, economy, fairpoint, new england, telco, telecommunications     

Fairport is trialing out IPTV in a New Hampshire town. As DSLR points out, VZ couldn’t (or wouldn’t) roll out fiber to the New England tri-state region, but Fairpoint thinks it can. How when Fairpoint got stuck with such huge debt over the deal with VZ that the PUC offices of the 3 states weren’t certain that Fairpoint could remain solvent.

Fairpoint doesn’t have much choice as TWC has launched digital voice service in region causing POTS line loss for Fairpoint. With the economy, some folks (about 25%) are shutting POTS lines in favor of a cellular only option for voice. This also does not help Fairpoint, Embarq, CenturyTel, and Windstream.

Meanwhile, Jim Crowe, telecom visionary and CEO at Level3, pontificates that the overall industry is healthy at the Colorado Broadband Summit. Just some players are sick.

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Is there any value left to Telecom?

by On Rad's Radar? in December 1st, 2008   
Topics: , agents, channel, duopoly, folks, price war, sales, selling, telco, telecom, telecommunications, value     

Let’s examine today’s telecommunications sales landscape:

Case 1: If the pricing starts discounted at $9000, but ends up being sold at $2700, is there value in Telecom?

Case 2: If Carrier A sells a 1GB Private line for $17K between two lit buildings, how can Carrier B offer the same for $6800? 

Case 3: If BellSouth used to charge a company $680 for their service and now presents a “Winback” offer of $320, what’s the deal?

Where’s the value? Or is there none and it’s just a matter of putting revenue on the books, any revenue?

How do you pay down debt and commissions when you sell underwater?

In Case 3, I just think that the ILEC’s have been overcharging us for years (and still do when they can). Their monopoly mindset does not have room in it to fathom Competition.

Savvy customers play carriers against each other. Then they throw a reseller into the mix to really shake it up. Then they get an agent or account exec involved to really stir up a price war. The only one who wins is the customer, temporarily.

It’s a race to the bottom.

In the real estate boom, many telecom sales folks left for RE careers. (I don’t know how many came back). We are seeing mortgage folks moving into telecom. But how many professional telecom folks have left the industry?

It used to be that if you sold a FastE pipe, it was a good month. But today, you need to sell a couple per week to make a living. Are there that many deals to be had every month?

While price erodes and good sales folks leave, the Industry is training their customers that everything is FREE. From all the VoIP players, widgets, gizmos, to the executives in the ivory towers who just look at quarterly reports.

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The Pain of The Switch

by On Rad's Radar? in November 25th, 2008   
Topics: , Broadband, Customer Service, Switch, cableco, duopoly, install, satisfied, telco, telecommunications     

Interesting report from Strategy Analytics: More folks would switch their triple play provider if they didn’t have to waste a day or two waiting for the install.  With that kind of stat, will any of the duopoly companies fix their install process?

People often claim to be satisfied with what they already have. 76% of broadband subscribers in the US suggest they are very or somewhat satisfied with their broadband service. But when they are asked if they would be willing to switch, three in every four say they would do so, depending on the price and performance of an alternative service.

Can’t be too satisfied if you would switch.

And really the perception varies greatly. In Tampa Bay, I have used Bright House for broadband for 10 years at home and at the office. Rock solid. Someone on Twitter was complaining today about the Verizon install. In the course of the conversation, she mentioned that she hates BH. Me? I don’t want to give Verizon a dime, but I want that one POTS line for my business - which they keep charging me more and more for - almost as if they were forcing me to switch. (If they would stop mailing me something every single day, they could lower my rates!)

I think the surveys are flawed. Or people don’t understand what satisfied means.

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Is the $100 Triple Play viable?

by On Rad's Radar? in November 21st, 2008   
Topics: ARPU, Broadband, Internet, LinkedIn, Marketing, Triple Play, Video, Wi-Fi, Wireless, bandwidth, cableco, duopoly, economy, lower, mso, network, profitable, services, telco, telecommunications, triple     

So on Linkedin, Neal Lachman, asked if the $100 Triple Play was Viable in today’s economic molasses. Neal writes:

Bundling voice, video, data services for a higher ARPU was an obvious, great move when broadband services and advanced digital services were first introducded……  However, the market is moving more towards a lower ARPU for the triple play services. This is especially going to play a big role in future operations. The time of high ARPUs is going, and soon it will be history.

I believe operators have to lower their ARPU estimates from 2010 onward, simply because the customer won’t be willing to pay as much. Today operators generate $100+ revenue per month on their triple play services. In 2010 and later, they should be happy if they can reach ARPU of $50. One example is the FTTH service in Holland, where people do not even want to pay more than €50 for their triple play bundle.

My thoughts on it are here:

Telcos like AT&T and Verizon are actually losing money on triple-play. Think about the fact that they were getting $35 for a phone line and $35 for DSL (averages for consumers 2 years ago). Now they have to upgrade the network to offer TV, which is the least profitable service. And do that for $30.

Install and maintain the network that they will be capping. Install home equipment like ONT and STB. To give it away for $100. Now usually the telcos will add taxes and fees on that to increase their profit.  But its the MSO’s who are making out. They went from the least profitable service (TV) to the more profitable services of phone and Internet.

With all of the CAPEX for DOCSIS upgrades as well as FTTx and WiMax build-outs, these companies won’t be able to lower ARPU for triple play.

The cost of TV content is increasing. Must carry TV channels are now asking for a bite of the pie. You have seen the battle that NFL Network and the other sports networks are having to get carried by the systems — and to be carried in the most popular packages.

I can see how the MSO’s and telcos would have to lower ARPU averages in the face of the economic tsunami we are experiencing, but they won’t be offering triple play for $50.

Remember that for the Bells, RGU’s include security, cellular, and now tech support. Cablevision rolled out a $350M wi-fi network in NY. The duopoly knows that to keep churn down, they have to get sticky with ubiquitous Internet Access and to get close to a quad-play. Surprisingly, while Verizon has the quad play in my town (Tampa) - FiOS TV, Internet, phone and Cell - that is not the package that they advertise to my house Every Single Day.

 The cost of customer acquisition, retention, advertising, tech support, customer care, bad debt, security, upgrades, and maintenance are too high for the triple play ARPU to drop below $99.

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Typical Situation

by On Rad's Radar? in November 19th, 2008   
Topics: agent, agents, bidding, buyer, carrier, price, price war, sales, sales and selling, telco     

Typical Sales Situation: So I meet a prospective buyer. We exchange cards. A couple weeks later, he has a circuit need to be quoted. We have a conversation. It gets complicated. Next thing you know I am competing against the inside sales team and the Reseller.

So why is an Agent in a price war with the direct account exec? No idea, but it happens more and more. Who loses? The carrier usually. Why? Because they are losing margin with each pitch and counter pitch. At some point - like in the beginning - Siebel should flag that client and a floor should be established. That way the carrier makes a profit; the sales cycle doesn’t spin out of control; and the conversation with the buyer can move beyond price to solutions and value.

Who else loses? The agent. Why? Usually direct can get lower than indirect. Also, the agent is spending a lot of time on a deal that may not close, but one that certainly has diminishing return.

I can understand it from a Buyer’s perspective: get in a bidding war and I win. Short term, certainly. You win lower prices. Long term you get poorer service. Less profit equals less service. Period. The next time you want a deal, word is out. It’s going to be the low price RFP bidding war again. Not everyone wants to get into that. As an agent it is a waste of my time and effort, because people only interested in price, are a PITA.

As an agent for 9 years, I provide value to my clients. One way is as their advocate to the carrier - if they have billing, provisioning, or other issues that need resolution. In provisioning, I interface with carrier and coordinate the installation times with all parties - hardware vendor, buyer, tech guy, carrier and installer. Another way is in the information I provide - beyond who the carriers are that I can quote. Maybe I need to do a better job with messaging this to avoid the Price War later.

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Bandwidth Caps

by On Rad's Radar? in November 17th, 2008   
Topics: , Broadband, FTC, Internet, Web 2.0, bandwidth, cableco, caps, companies, customer, duopoly, preserving, telco, telecommunications     

Bandwidth caps have more to do with preserving TV revenues than network management business. Yes, there are issues of last mile and node congestion for both telco and cableco networks. It is also a function of the band-aid approach that these companies take. instead of one huge upgrade (like say Verizon with FiOS), there have been baby step fixes.

It’s also about preserving revenue. If you switch from watching Broadcast TV to just downloading Netflix and Amazon, how do the TV Providers make money from VOD (video-on-demand)? If you are watching shows via Joost and Hulu (and the coming network to replace Showtime), how does the big upgrade get paid for? The duopoly is preserving its content revenue - plain and simple.

Personally, the FTC should be investigating false advertising by the carriers - both on cellular data and broadband. In many cases, it is sold as Unlimited, but isn’t. That’s false advertising.

This will present an interesting challenge as people will switch. The duopoly is doing everything it can to compete on price and not value. Neither company is trying to court customer loyalty.

The ripple effect on this may be to stymie Internet business growth. Software and Application companies (SAAS, ASP), Web 2.0, and entertainment companies will find it hard to maintain customers and grow revenyue under a bandwidth cap.

I wonder how AT&T’s partner, Apple, who makes the Apple TV and owns iTunes, feels about a cap, which will eventually flatten its revenues.

Not for nothing but these companies can’t bill correctly anyway. There are certain to be many folks billed for overages where there are none. An even bigger erosion of customer satisfaction is coming.I guess we forget about Customer Acquisition costs and the lifetime value of a customer.

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Fiber Lit Buildings

by On Rad's Radar? in November 17th, 2008   
Topics: Level3, bandwidth, buildings, fiber, quarter, telco, twtelecom, wonder     

Rob Powell has an update to his fiber list on Telecom Ramblings blog. What is interesting about the chart is that TWT and L3 have about the same number of route miles - 26,000 - but TWT has way more buildings lit that Level3. TWT has 10,700 buildings lit and L3 has about 7550. TWT lights about 250 per quarter. That’s an impressive number. I wonder how TWT does that because 250 buildings times $7000 minimum build comes to $1.75M per quarter of CAPEX.

I also wonder how much overlap there is in lit buildings. For instance, much of XO’s fiber is an IRU on L3, so likely they have a lot of overlap on lit buildings. Cogent is mainly in telecom hotels so that is a redundant lit building. (It’s rare that just Cogent is in a building).

I also wonder how TWT can sell 250 new buildings per quarter, since their channel is not as active as Level3’s. Maybe they have a highly motivated sales force that is told where to sell (as close to the fiber route as possible).

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Telecom Peek

by On Rad's Radar? in November 10th, 2008   
Topics: , Earthlink, economy, isp, mergers, telco, telecommunications     

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Where Does AT&T Get the Money?

by On Rad's Radar? in November 10th, 2008   
Topics: , AT&T, channel, mergers, telco     

Fresh off of buying Wayport for global wi-fi expansion, AT&T buys Centennial Wireless - $944M for 1.1 million cell subs.  AT&T is either at the point that they have to keep buying to keep the growth going or they have Monopoly Madness.

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FCC Voted Today too

by On Rad's Radar? in November 5th, 2008   
Topics: Broadband, CLearwire, Sprint, Wireless, alltel, cableco, cellular, fcc, inter-carrier compensation, mergers, telco, usf, vzw     

The FCC voted today too. They took the Inter-Carrier Compensation and USF off the agenda, much to Martin’s dismay.

“Federal regulators have approved a plan to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as “white spaces” to deliver wireless broadband service.” [Y! news] [fcc.gov]

FCC approved, with conditions, the mergers of Sprint-Nextel/Clearwire and  Alltel-Verizon. [fcc.gov]

FCC opened an investigation into the pricing policies of major cable operators and Verizon. “The agency wants to ensure the companies’ customers are getting treated fairly, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in an interview with The Associated Press.” [Y! news]

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Frontier Adds a Cap

by On Rad's Radar? in November 3rd, 2008   
Topics: , Internet, bandwidth, caps, telco     

Frontier Communications has added a download cap to its Internet service. It will charge folks for heavy usage.

The company caused confusion and some dismay among customers earlier this year, when it said it would charge for Internet use above 5 gigabytes per month, starting next year. [tbo.com]

What’s most interesting is the comments. People are not happy about caps.

Caps are not new. We had time limits in the dial up days. (When you can only access at 33K, time is the limiting factor.) Satellite has always had bandwidth caps on its Internet service. It will become more pervasive as revenues for ISP’s decline in this economy.

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Call for Telecom Startups

by On Rad's Radar? in October 29th, 2008   
Topics: Conferences, Investor, VC, Venture Capital, conference, forum, investor forum, telco, telecom, telecom council, telecommunications     

from today’s HARO:

“The Telecom Council of Silicon Valley is now accepting applications to present to their Investor Forum on December 5th, location in Silicon Valley (TBA).

 Over the past 6 years, 50% of presenters to our Service Provider and Investor Forums have started talks with our members and 20% of those lead to a deal.
This Quarterly Investor Forum meeting attendees include both the Service Provider and Investor members of the Telecom Council who gather for one purpose - to invest in new telecom technologies and companies. As a start-up in the telecom industry, there is no better room to be in, and no better audience to pitch to. In addition to providing high level networking and quality investment opportunities to our forum members, another one of the Telecom Councils goals is to help interesting start-ups kick start their business development cycles. For an idea of who to expect at our December meeting, past attendees include AT&T, Sprint, Orange, Vodafone and many more.

It is free to apply and applications to present to the 12/5 Investor Forum will be accepted until 11/8. Please submit requests at:
http://www.telecomcouncil.com/speakers.php
All applications are reviewed by the Investor Forum steering committee, and companies selected to present will be notified on November 10. Presenter registration is free for Telecom Council members, or $500 for non-members.
Feel free to contact Liz Kerton for more information on the forum, liz (at) telecomcouncil.com.”

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Sprint is at risk of default

by On Rad's Radar? in October 28th, 2008   
Topics: AT&T, Sprint, VZ, cellular, commercial, commercial paper, debt, paper, telco, telecom     

According to Businessweek, telecom could get squeezed by the credit crunch - and Sprint could get hurt the most.</p

“To start with, rising capital costs are likely to take a bite out of earnings. In addition, the softening economy will probably crimp demand for such telecom services as land lines, cell phones, and Internet connections.”

AT&T sounded the first warning signal in late September, when CEO Randall Stephenson said the telecom giant was unable to sell commercial paper for terms longer than overnight. AT”T is the industry’s biggest user of commercial paper, with about $8.5 billion in paper outstanding at the end of June.

Although Verizon is not a big player in the commercial paper market, it does have $7 billion of debt coming up for renewal in 2009. The company also needs to borrow another $22 billion to pay for its acquisition of wireless carrier Alltel Wireless….

Sprint is the most leveraged carrier. It holds a junk bond rating and its ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (or EBITDA) is expected to reach 3.2, Bernstein’s Moffett says.

And again, these companies building out 3G and 4G networks with massive backhauls at a huge cost while revenues are dipping. How does that math work?

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Every Where But Here

by On Rad's Radar? in October 28th, 2008   
Topics: , China, international, mergers, telco, telecommunications     

There is a lot of activity in the International arena. Here are some highlights:

  • Vodacom is acquiring Gateway Communications in West and Central Africa. 
  • C&W is partnering with Vietnam Data Communications Company and BSNL in India.  
  • France Telecom (Orange) acquired 51% of Telkom Kenya. 
  • Telefonica now has a 9.9% stake in China Netcom. 
  • XO reaches into China with China Netcom. 
  • Google, Liberty Media and others are launching 03b, a satellite internet service that will consist of a cluster of 16 satellites delivering wholesale internet access to Asia, Africa, Mid-East, and Latin America.
  • Verizon and Google are launching  Trans-Pacific cable (separately).

That’s the round up in a nutshell (thanks to Capacity magazine).

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FCC Doing Heavy Lifting

by On Rad's Radar? in October 23rd, 2008   
Topics: VoIP, White Spaces, Wi-Fi, carrier, duopoly, fcc, inter, inter carrier, inter-carrier compensation, martin wants, mergers, phone, rural, telco, telecommunications, wireline     

The FCC is holding a meeting on Nov. 4. On the agenda: Inter-Carrier Compensation, Alltel-VZ merger, Clearwire-Sprint merger, and a vote of White Spaces. Lots of heavy lifting on this agenda. Martin wants to give his pals at VZ one more gift before he goes.

The VZ-Alltel merger is big, but the topic that can really rock telecom is the Inter-carrier Comp issue, which has been a stagnant FCC docket for years.

If companies can show high costs, they will continue to benefit from the subsidy program. Martin also wants to eliminate wireless providers’ right to claim government subsidies for offering service in hard-to-reach areas. Martin wants all companies, wireless included, to show they have incurred losses in providing rural service before they can collect the subsidy. Without those changes, Martin worries that the subsidy fund will collapse of its own weight and rates will go up anyhow. [CNN]

It depends want the Compromise looks like — and it will be a large compromise. Democrats want one thing. Republicans another. Cellcos versus Wireline. Rural versus Urban. Inter-Carrier Comp even bleeds into the USF issue. How? Because rural carriers count on both Universal Service Fund subsidies AND rather high call termination charges to keep afloat.

Why now? The ISP inter-carrier comp rule has been in court for six years. Earlier this year, the DC Court ruled that the FCC had to get off the pot:

The court set the deadline for an order from the FCC at November 5, 2008, six months from the date of oral argument, stated it will not grant an extension and warned that if an appropriate order is not timely issued, it will vacate the interim inter-carrier compensation rules.

Consumer groups are against another largess for the monopolies at the expense of the ratepayers.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission wants a massive overhaul of the fees that phone companies pay each other when they connect calls. Supporters say the reforms will help fund improved broadband Internet access for rural America, but consumer advocates question how much the plan will raise people’s phone bills. “This could be potentially a billion-dollar giveaway to phone monopolies, paid for out of consumers’ pocketbooks,” said Chris Murray, an attorney with Consumers Union. [AP]

Intercarrier comp is how the various phone companies pay each other for traffic. VoIP providers and cellular carriers, especially Sprint, would like a fairer shake. The old RBOCs would like the Rural LEC’s to stop getting so much money. (see Free Conference services not getting paid by RBOCs).

The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, which represents small phone carriers, told FCC officials earlier this month that a new rate of $0.0007 per minute puts many of their members’ livelihoods at risk.

And then there is the White Spaces issue. When broadcasters make the DTV transition in 1Q09, there will be unused spectrum that the Wireless World would like to use for its own bandwidth needs. However, due to bleed over (interference) with cordless microphones and other broadcasting devices, the NAB is opposed. [see dailywireless]

All of this is at one meeting while America votes.

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Is Nuvox Buying One?

by On Rad's Radar? in October 21st, 2008   
Topics: , mergers, nuvox, shrinking, telco     

Nuvox is out kicking tires to see who they can buy. Rumor has it that Greenville-based Nuvox is looking to buy One Communications in the Northeast to expand their footprint, especially their MPLS reach. (I didn’t know Nuvox sold MPLS. I thought they were just a cheap Integrated T1 supplier).

Rumor also has it that One Comm. is having problems. Provisioning being one of them, which usually leads to sales declining. Customers don’t like install issues and neither do agents, since it costs them time - time they need to be out selling to make up for the shrinking commissions. (The shrinking commissions correlate to the shrinking prices).

Nuvox is coming off its merger with FDN last year that created a good amount of internal strife as former Nuvox folks didn’t relate well to FDN people. Maybe that has been straightened out. Here’s hoping another merger will have better integration.

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IMS isn’t Killing It

by On Rad's Radar? in October 10th, 2008   
Topics: IMS, backoffice, based, im/chat, person, telco, telecommunications     

In a discussion on LinkedIn, it seems that IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) isn’t killing it in terms of measuring up to the hype. According to Ericsson, an IMS proponent and vendor,

“IMS is defined by 3GPP/3GPP2 as a new core and service ‘domain’ that enables the convergence of data, speech and network technology over an IP-based infrastructure. It is the operator choice of control and service logic for primarily IP/packet-based person-to-person communication but also for person-to-content communication.

For users, IMS-based services will enable communications in a variety of modes - including voice, text, pictures and video, or any combination of these - in a highly personalized and secure way.

The most widely deployed application on IMS are: Instant Messaging, Presence, Push-To-Talk and Video Sharing. There is lackluster customer appeal so far.

IMS was supposed to help to be like cartilage between the legacy telecom architecture and IP-based next gen systems. It was supposed to reduce OPEX and enable new services quickly to the end users. Likely that has not all been worked out yet, although SKT and AT&T are working on it.

Informa’s IMS Conference is next month. Here’s one guy’s preview.

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Bandwidth isn’t free

by On Rad's Radar? in September 28th, 2008   
Topics: , Broadband, Internet, bandwidth, cableco, consumers, net neutrality, network, network management, problem, telco     

“The leaders of three of Australia’s largest ISP’s have declared the Net neutrality debate as solely a U.S. problem–and further, that the nation that pioneered the Internet might want to study the Australian market for clues as to how to solve the dilemma….. “The (Net neutrality) problem isn’t about running out of capacity. It’s a business model that’s about to explode due to stress.” [CNET]

Basically they are saying that someone has to pay for the plumbing, which is exactly what Verizon’s Ivan and AT&T’s CEO were saying last year (but a lot less diplomatically). As prices start to decline for bundles, DSL, and wholesale IP (down to under $10 per MB), the business models are having a problem catching up. Consumers are using the Internet more, especially for entertainment - whether that means video, music, streaming, or what have you. All of that is taxing the US ISP broadband network. Cablecos want to do preferential network management and the FCC says no. Now there are caps.

Here’s where I differ. We in the US pay more than Korea, Japan or France for broadband - and get less of it. (2007 data here or directly from OECD). How come these telcos don’t have network issues? 

Here’s the problem with caps: No one understands what they mean — And the ISP’s are still advertising it as Unlimited! You can’t say Unlimited and then have a cap. That’s dishonest.  

People are encouraged to use the web. It’s the communications medium - email, VoIP, IM/chat. Companies would prefer to support you via the Internet - web, IM/chat, email or forums. The average page size is over 1MB though. Add interlaced videos, pop-ups, flash intros, animated banners, and the like makes for heavy use just with surfing the web. People will switch back to phone use for support, which will tax the corporations to hire more bodies. It will also tax the cellular network as more folks go all cellular.

How about Apple TV, TiVo, and iTunes automatically downloading podcasts and shows in the background? Or Microsoft updates? Those are 300MB a pop at times. If you have more than one PC, that’s a GB per update.

In these tough economic times, families getting hit with overage charges will have problems - as will the ISP’s with bad debt collection.

I don’t think consumers want something for free. I think consumers want what we pay for - and what is advertised to us.

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Where’s the growth?

by On Rad's Radar? in September 28th, 2008   
Topics: 4g, LTE, cellular, growth, telco, telecommunications, vzw     

“Global Wireless Penetration to Hit 80% in 2013, Says Portio Research” [via teleclick]  If all the growth will be in Africa, China, and India, what does that mean for European and US carriers? Cellular penetration is now more than 50%.

Looking at the ARPU stat: “Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) declines to $15.80 in 2013, down from $23.20 in 2005.” With debt piling up from building out 3G and now 4G networks, how do you pay it back with declining ARPU? As more folks use the network (and use more of it), upgrades are needed to meet capacity demand, including in tower backhaul. Not to mention that the cellular folks have to pay inter-carrier comp for dropping traffic on the ILEC networks. I just don’t know how this will work out, specifically for the US Cellcos. 

VZW will be adding debt if (when) it buys Alltel. Add in LTE roll-outs as well as FiOS construction, where does all this money come from? (DSL adds are down).

Growth is not the end all. ARPU and profit (earnings) are. (According to Dan Caruso, the end all is cash flow).

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Best Kept Sprint Secret

by On Rad's Radar? in September 23rd, 2008   
Topics: MPLS, Sprint, telco, telecommunications, wireline     

Here’s something to do: surf over to Sprint.com and try to find any wireline services. After 5 minutes of searching Business Services, navigation takes you to Nextel.com for Sprint’s MPLS offering. On that page, you can find info about MPLS, VPN, IP Convergence, and Internet Access. Yesterday, Sprint gave a presentation to re-affirm to agents that Sprint was still in the wireline game. Of course, Sprint still has a robust backbone, it is what the cellular network runs on. It is also the backbone for Sprint’s MSO partners for voice termination. The problem I see (that I expressed to the Sprint team present) is that during a 45 minute presentation about Wireline, 20 minutes of it was about Wireless Convergence, so the message that Sprint is a Wireline company is not very clear. And if you can’t convince the agent, how do you convince Enterprise CIO’s who have been trouble choosing Sprint for WAN options due to its lack of focus on wireline and its shaking financial situation. It’s an uphill road for Sprint.

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FCC Grants Reporting Forbearance

by On Rad's Radar? in September 10th, 2008   
Topics: , ARMIS, Broadband, commission, fcc, forbearance, quality, reports, service, service quality, telco     

SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATING DATA GATHERING. Granted forbearance from legacy reporting and accounting requirements. Seeks comment on industry - wide reporting. (Dkt No. 07-21, 07-139 , 07-204). Action by: the Commission. Adopted: 09/06/2008 by MO&O. (FCC No. 08-203). WCB.

The CommLawBlog writes, “On Saturday, September 6, the FCC released a decision granting forbearance from filing Automatic Reporting Management Information System (ARMIS) Report Nos. 43-05, 43-06, 43-07, and 43-08 to all carriers currently required to file those reports. (Editorial note: Who knew the FCC ever did anything on Saturdays?)  These reports were originally designed to monitor what the FCC calls a “theoretical concern” that price-cap carriers might reduce service quality or network investment to increase short-term profits. The FCC has now concluded that the information is of only limited benefit to consumers, because the reports are filed by only some large wireline carriers and not by smaller wireline carriers or cable or wireless telephone service providers, so the reports paint an incomplete picture of the industry. It rejected complaints by states that they need the reports for state regulatory purposes, finding that it does not have the authority to maintain federal regulatory requirements solely to help state commissions undertake intrastate regulation.”

On the one hand, most of the FCC reports are flawed and/or old. On the other hand, the FCC hasn’t done much enforcement any way, so why collect all that data.  However, Bruce and TeleTruth have a reply to the FCC:

Harms to Small Competitors: FCC “Consequently, we estimate that the majority of these firms are small entities that may be affected by our action.”

“We all know the consequence of bad data - Entering Iraq and the missing weapons-of-mass-destruction debacle should be an indicator just how bad it gets when data is flawed, intentionally misleading or missing. While Congress and others have been holding meetings about the paucity of the FCC’s data on broadband, on Monday, September 8th, the FCC decided to erase your ability to know the truth about AT&T, Verizon and Qwest’s behavior and acts on multiple topics pertaining to America’s telecom and broadband future.  It is a slap to the face of everyone reading this.  Now, even the analysts will not be given enough data to see just how badly we’ve been hosed.

“The FCC today essentially granted “forbearance” meaning, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest no longer have to collect data on say, quality of service, the build out of the infrastructure, or other important issues.

“In this Order, we grant significant forbearance from carriers’ obligation to file Automated Reporting Management Information System (ARMIS) Reports 43-05, 43-06, 43-07, and 43-08 (collectively, the “ARMIS service quality and infrastructure reports”).  In particular, with certain limited exceptions, we find that the section 10 criteria are met for the ARMIS service quality and infrastructure reports, subject to certain conditions.” - To read the document
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-203A1.doc       

“ARMIS reports” are the basic data the phone companies should be supplying to the FCC; now strip-mined to nothing useful.

Dissenting in part, FCC Commissioner Copps wrote: “The collection and analysis of solid communications-related data is a linchpin in the Commission’s ability to make sound decisions and provide useful guidance and assistance to consumers, states, industry-participants and other stakeholders. That is why it has been so troubling to see in to many instances the Commission headed down the road of collecting less data.”

Commissioner Adelstein wrote: “I have long believed that the Commission has a responsibility to collect accurate and reliable data in order to develop effective policies and fulfill Congress’s goals for the evolving telecommunications marketplace.  Just as an airplane pilot would not land a plane with eyes closed and instruments off, the Commission must ensure that its decision-making is guided by sufficient data.”

You can read the rest of Bruce’s report at NewNetworks (TeleTruth) website.

I’m beginning to believe that maybe the FCC is an expense we can cut from the federal budget along with the FAA. We have to save money some where!

BTW, the FCC has even more chances to move to Deregulation (or what I call UnRegulation). See them here.

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